Island Nation (2020)

Informative, touching

I decided to watch this one more for educational purposes and was really impressed with the way history and politics were intertwined with personal stories. Like The World Between Us and Copycat Killer, two other Taiwanese dramas, Taiwan is really good at character-driven social commentary and this show was no different.

The production value also seemed higher than the typical Taiwanese drama, but there are still some moments that felt oddly timed, or some scenes that felt like they were missing. Maybe it was the result of having to cut down on runtime but sometimes I didn't realize what plot developments had occurred off-screen.

I don't think you necessarily need pre-existing knowledge of Taiwanese politics and history to understand what's going but it certainly wouldn't hurt.

I'm definitely a little more interested in the characters that are not at the center of politics but more on the edge of it — a woman who experienced generational trauma from the White Terror, a journalist who can't write the story she wants to, etc. And those stories were really worth watching.

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