You Should Watch This! Prospective on Prison Playbook
3 episodes in and I can tell that I’m going to enjoy this. There’s a lot of little elements that come together to make it all work. First off, if you like deadpan, slow-roll type of humor, you have to watch this! But it’s also got some great flow to the story. It’s only been 3 episodes, but the combination of the genre, the pace, and the potential rotating cast of characters make me really look forward to the rest of this series.
They use the believable scenario of inmates cycling in and out of a specific room to introduce new characters. It works because every character comes in with a story. It feels like an acting class come to life in a sense; it’s like the director is telling them to really show what differentiates their character, cause they’re only going to get so much time…they’re not going to have the whole show to develop their character. What this rotating cast of characters does, is that it makes for strong character building moments.
Another great “character” in this story is the slow pace. It mimics the main character, who plays a man of few words, but it accentuates this genre of slice-of-life. It’s a genre that I see a lot more in Japanese shows to great effect, but it doesn’t seem as popular with the hectic, Korean, fly-by-wire drama production.
But it’s this slow pace in combination with this rotating cast of characters, that makes it all work. With other stories, the constant introduction of new characters can make it unwieldy for the viewer to keep track of what’s going on. But this slice-of-life genre + the slow pace allows the writer to slowly introduce these characters over time before their “15 minutes of fame” comes.
The slice-of-life genre makes it even easier for the viewer because the story isn’t driven by large, momentous events. With other shows, new characters are introduced for the purpose of driving the story a certain way. Here, since it’s slice-of-life, new characters are there, solely to make an observation on life.
It makes it easier on the viewer because they don’t have to scramble to try and figure out why this character is important or what their backstory is or how they’re connected to everything. You can just enjoy the moment.
There are major themes around friendship, relationship, and justice, which do drive the main storyline, but the beauty here, is that you can enjoy the show without those driving elements.
The premise of the show didn’t entice me: about life in jail for a baseball player who gets unduly convicted. This explains why I’m so late to starting this, but after hearing some rave reviews, I had to give it a try. Plus, I’ve really enjoyed listening to the OST, which made me look forward to this even more.
OVERALL: 8.0/10
- STORY: 8.5/10
- DIRECTING: 8.0/10
- LEAD Actors: 7.5/10
- SUPPORTING Cast: 8.5/10
- CINEMATOGRAPHY: 7.0/10
- MUSIC: a definite plus!
