Ah, how do I even begin this review?
Sci-fi isn’t really my cup of tea, I admit. I rarely watch sci-fi films or dramas, and even though I subscribe to the belief that we are not alone in the universe, I’m not easily lured into watching alien-related stuff. I did pick up Glitch, however, because I liked both lead actresses Jeon Yeobeen and Nana’s works I’ve recently watched (Vincenzo and Into the Ring, respectively), and I was curious about how they’d play off of each other’s energies.
But while they delivered chemistry in spades (you should have made it gay, Netflix, just saying!), the storytelling was a clunky mess.
We begin with Hong Jihyo, who, for some reason is having visions of an alien creature in random places and experiences weird glitches in her tech (phone, laptop, etc). The story gets propelled further when her boyfriend, whom she just broke up with, mysteriously disappears and leaves behind a glitching watch. She’s convinced there’s a higher being at play here, but of course the police wouldn’t believe that story, so she looks to other places for help. This is where we meet Bora, de-facto leader of a small community of UFO nerds, who shares a strained past with Jihyo and initially refuses to offer her assistance.
What follows is a shenanigan-filled investigation that is both quirky and creepy, which would have been such a great combination if it had been better executed. I appreciated that the show delved into the dark possibility of humans manipulating evidence of alien presence to establish a cult-like community and take advantage of their naivete (see also, Hellbound), but the build-up felt so slow that I’d started losing interest mid-way.
I truly felt that the story was promising, but it could have been tighter in execution. This could have been a two-hour movie, and it still would have showed me everything I needed to know. Most of the characters were underutilized (Bora’s UFO nerd gang would have been a great squad to follow, but they were mostly reduced to bring comic relief, and even then, it didn’t work) and even Jihyo, the main character, was so frustrating I wanted to bang my head on my keyboard a couple of times because of the choices she made. Honestly, the show’s saving grace for me is the chemistry between the two lead actresses, because my interest in it flickered back alive whenever I saw them on screen together.
Number of episodes: 10 (could have done with 4)
Where to watch: Netflix
Favorite character: Heo Bora, Captain
My constant question while watching the show was: Why the fuck did Jihyo want her boyfriend back? (When Bora was RIGHT THERE?) LOL I’m sorry, Jihyo looked miserable with her boyfriend, and her initial drive to be so determined in looking for him felt off to me.
WTF moment: That part where Jihyo could have used the truck to barge through the gate so they can escape, but stopped for no reason other than to get herself captured. I was so frustrated like…WHAT WAS THAT FOR???
Is there romance? No, but you can fanfic the shit out of it if you want because both Yeobeen and Nana were GIVING IT THEIR ALL FR
Trigger warnings: Alien faces, mass suicide, cult behavior, violence, mentions of substance abuse, underage drinking
Overall rating
