The Uncanny Counter 2: Il contrattacco (2023)

This Is How To Do A Good Second Season. Well... Mostly

When they announced a second season for The Uncanny Counter my first reaction was: "Yay!"
The second was: "Please don't fuck this up."

And in my opinion, they did an excellent job with this. The effects were good, the cinematography was on par and the ost SLAPPED just like in the first season. There are three points in particular that I want to talk about.

Writing Difference: I didn't know this when I started watching but there were pretty significant changes in the writers for this season and that difference is definitely noticeable. From the very first episode the dialogue felt slightly different and the way the villains were set up also felt very new. I've seen people say that they felt this was to the detriment of the show. Personally, I believe that if you're able to get that fact out of your mind, you can easily enjoy this new way of writing just as much as the first since the difference isn’t THAT big imo.

Characters: There are a bunch of new characters joining the original cast in this season and I enjoyed almost every addition. Na Jeok Bong fits into the team perfectly and I thoroughly enjoyed Ma Ju Seok's character and his journey. I love Kang Ki Young as an actor, but Hwang Pil Gwang was a villain I had to get used to. Ji Chung Sin was such a great antagonist in season 1 for his likeness to So Mun, something that Pil Gwang obviously lacks. He is very much just plainly evil without much reason, but it honestly didn't bother me much as I don't feel like every villain needs a sob story background. Some people are past redemption and allowed to be labelled just 'evil'. Furthermore, I really enjoyed the dynamic between the trio of evil spirits.

Love(possible spoilers incoming): And then we arrive at my one complaint about this season. So Mun and Ha Na's love story line that was hinted at continuously in season one, was just abandoned and a new love interest was introduced. Do Hwi was fine as a love interest, but I really expected Ha Na and So Mun to at least get some development in this season. But there wasn't even a hint at jealousy on So Mun's part when Do Hwi entered the picture. It’s like they expected us to just ignore that he clearly had feelings for her in season one. I can agree that Ha Na and Do Hwi's story line is cute, but this is just a case where my expectations were just horribly let down. What a waste of the chemistry we know Kim Se Jeong and Jo Byeong Gyu have.

Overall, this season was a success to me. I'm going to be honest and say I don't really anticipate a third season, nor am I hoping for one. This season tied up all the ends neatly for me.

Leggi di Più

Disappointed but not suprised

Honestly, after hearing that there will be a second season I wondered what it would be about as I thought that S1 ended on a good note without any plot left to discuss. I didn‘t have the highest of expectations going into this season, even though the cast is incredible and I love seeing a lot of them act.
I personally think that in terms of the storyline this season was quite one dimensional, not going into the detail of why the bad guys are doing their stuff, nor having a explanation for the very overpowered Ma Juseok. The close bond and history of lots of the new characters relationships remained questionable for me, for the expeption of Dohwi and Jaeyoul.
Something I really liked about S1 was the fact that the characters seemed to be genuinely close to each other and that closeness not being based of one single event in their past like it was for Mun and Juseok. Over time I got very bored of the endless „Juseok is good because of the incident with my grandmother“ and then them being as close as family. Also the bad guys, especially Pilkwang did not seem like they had any purpose exeot being bad. No reason for their action, not insight in how they got so strong and havent ben noticed, nothing at all. I feel like Gelly got a little better with her attachment thingy and rivalry eith Hana, but Pilkwang lacked any relevance other than being super strong.
Another thing that got really really repetitive is the use of telekinesis. Like, I get that it is the new strong power and so on but all the choking and throwing each other around got old real quick. I must admit at this point that I wasn‘t half as invested in the fighting scenes as I was in S1 ans that the final fight and summoning felt extremely underwhelming to me.
Additionally, Wigens daughter and the new counter and guide guy could have been explored way better by putting more context into their situations and more substance to their characzer other than being comedic relief.

Other than that I think that the OSTs were great (although I prefer the S1 ones a little personally) and despite the underwhelming and boring writing the acting was, as expected very nice.

I just hope that they won‘t go through with another season, though it seems like there will be another one.

Leggi di Più

Desapontada

A primeira temporada foi incrível, mas a segunda me deixou bem desapontada.
Achei a história muito repetitiva, só andava em círculos, o que deixou muito cansativo e tedioso e quase me fez dropar.
Achei os caçadores e o humor bem sem graça nessa temporada e terem adicionado um novo foi totalmente desnecessário, todos me irritaram um pouco.
A ideia inicial dos espíritos malignos conseguirem pegar os poderes dos caçadores foi muito legal e estava ansiosa pra poder ver como seria isso ao decorrer da série, mas honestamente foi tudo bem decepcionante nessa temporada.

Leggi di Più

The Unnecessary Counter

This is not a must watch show - this is a "watch this show if you want to see a continuation of the characters from The Uncanny Counter with very few tie-ins to what happened in the first season."

I watched this show because I had the time and I enjoyed the first season. I don't regret watching the sequel nor am I going to flame it, but simply put it's not something you *must* see. I watched simply so I know what happened. Curious? Okay, go watch. It's watchable. It has its moments...sometimes. You get to see Kang Kiyoung be a bad guy for once. And also unfortunately hear a lot of hissing from Kim Hieora.

But MOST UNFORTUNATELY, you also get to see Yoo Insoo being COMPLETELY WASTED AND A BLIGHT ON THE SHOW. My God. I don't know who thought it would be a good idea to introduce an *utterly useless* and annoying new counter who is extremely weak while the new baddies are extremely overpowered. You think he'd get better as the season went on, but somehow he got even worse. (You'll see what I mean if you make it that far...) Towards the end, I was like, "Seriously??? Why??" Which writer or producer thought this would be funny or add value to the show??

All right, sorry, I didn't realize I had an actual torch out for part of this show since I said I wasn't going to flame it. He legitimately is the Unnecessary Counter who didn't make anything better!!!

Also further explaining one of my points - the show did feel a bit emotionally hollow as there weren't many tie-ins to what happened last season. You would not have known Motak had undergone some serious trauma last season from watching this season at all! So on that front, there is a bit of disconnect with their histories.

All in all, The Uncanny Counter 2 still has its moments and is for the most part entertaining, but definitely not without its flaws.

Leggi di Più

It started strong but...

This is going to be just a short review.

Story: 6/10

The plot for the season 2 is not giving. Something is not right. First, the development of the story. You know that the first 3 episodes of the series was okay, but the subsequent episodes were meh, at least, for me. They felt draggy. Second, the dynamics of the plot. I appreciate that they tried to add some sub-plot to the whole plot of the S2 but it turned out not so well for it felt like its addition was rather unnecessary. For instance, Dohwi and Hana's so called love line. In addition, they know that the series will only have at most 12 episodes but some episodes weren't maximized because there were a lot of fillers despite the fact that the plot was kind of fast-paced and despite that the story covers only a certain extent of the story. Lastly, character story. What is actually the purpose of the three evil spirits and Jeok Bong? Were they added, so the plot will have, at least, a path to take? The villains weren't given some stories to tell aside from Maju Sok, so at least we would know how they went from good to evil. What are their motivation? Other villains have a crucial part, but they came out as kind of unnecessary with how they were used in the story. Further, the counters sure have changed. Character, they have improved, at least, to me. However, it's sad that there weren't much focus on their abilities. There were no clear development on their abilities. The power they have on the first episode seemed to have remained until the very last episode. Why are other counters train their psychokinesis if they aren't going to really use it? And what's going on with Jeok Bong? Why did he remain clumsy and always so afraid at the end of the season? We didn't even get to see him really fight aside from that specific episode back at his hometown.

Cast/Acting: I love their acting, especially So Mun, Ha Na, that guy that Ms. Chu cared so much, and the villains. Others were okay in their acting, but others weren't just effective in capturing my full attention; hence, they didn't leave a mark to me.

Music: I didn't remember much the song used in the series but that song that Ha Na sang was good. Music scoring was brilliant!

Rewatch Value: The series wasn't good enough to deserve a rewatch.


Overall: Although the story has some shortcomings, it was still good. Plus, they really did a good job on the editing. Also, I love the fighting scenes! They were top notch!

Leggi di Più

Review in response to the hype of the 2 first episodes - no, it's not so great

After watching four episodes with very mixed feelings, I saw three 10/10 reviews (written after watching 1-2 episodes or 12 when only 4 were shown) and decided, for contrast and balance, to add my own unfavorable ones.

The first season was ok, and what I liked most was the conflict of the young protagonist, where we had his goal and the difficulties standing in his way. We had good team building, and interpersonal relationships, the character of a caring mother, a strong but protective father, a strong, trustworthy older sister and an eccentric uncle. The characters were diverse, interesting and multi-faceted. We also had a strongly constructed main plot and equally interesting side plots that complemented each other neatly. In season two we have none of the above. Instead, we have a flattening of the characters and making them into overpowering buffoons who are not funny, they are instead pathetic. We have cheap visual effects straight out of She Hulk. We have overpower villains, generic to the point of being more so, and sh*tty humor, literally, since the four episodes so far revolve around a cow sh*t guy who can't talk about anything but sh*t.

Is the comedy funny? A matter of taste. Personally, I don't like it when serious characters are made into buffoons and talk about sh*t all the time. Are the stakes high? No. The stakes are artificially high. Am I still interested in the fate of the heroes? Not a bitt. How is the acting? It's like the actors got checks and just played their badly written roles. The second season doesn't stand a chance at all compared to the first, it's idiotic, empty, embarrassing, generic to the point of pain. It is simply weak.

Leggi di Più

If you loved season 1, don't watch season 2

Dropping at episode #4 because everything that I loved about season 1 is gone:
▪️ The writers don't even respect the rules of their own universe.
▪️ It's not enough for So Mun to just look strong and cool. Yeah we get it, he's their Ace. But where is the rest of his personality? I miss it.
▪️ Too much dumb humor, not enough genuine emotion.
▪️ The villains only look cool and mean but make little sense
▪️ Ga Mo Tak is made into comic relief. He was my favorite character. He had LAYERS.
▪️ The new Counter is also comic relief - such wasted potential.
I'm just going to give up here and maybe re-watch season 1 at some point.

Leggi di Più

A dull sequel

I put this on hold after ep6 and decided to binge watch to the end. Honestly it is disappointing. The story can be written on a paper of cigarette. "Mun's friends is in a sad predicament, and he does everything to save him". End of story. The rest is a lot of useless brutality, violence and fights that become tiring and even unsufferable. The fun is no fun. That new sniffing whining making faces character is not funny at all. The grinning bad guys are either ridiculous and useless or pointless with no real purpose. There is no sense of danger for the good guys as it is like they will always get out of the situation.

I would not recommend this as it tries a lot to impress and entertain with actions, CGI, cheap cornelian dilemma, cheap emotional moments apart from the Ha Na story... But in the end, it was not interesting and not entertaining for me. The actors do the most with the little base material but they can't save this. 6/10.

Leggi di Più

Best Thriller Suspense drama ever seen till date

This season was the most best and exhilarating drama I have ever seen I am a big fan of suspense and this drama has kept me in toes till last episode the cast was the best as always the villian uff ? his acting was fire both the villians and obviously the counters were good too this season showed us more power they had and also gave us a cute but heartbreskibg love story too it's a total package for me this is 4x better than the first and it's says a lot because first was good too ? their group dynamics and how the character development was there of everyone was good too

Leggi di Più

Worth the Wait!!

This was a wonderful continuation of this series which is rare for a second season. Overall, the writers did a great job making you always guessing what was going to happen next. They also did a great job successfully connecting multiple elements and characters together. Yes, the story had a few inconsistences from the previous season, but it didn’t distract me from enjoying the series. It had a little more gore than the last season which some individuals may not like. However, it does reflect the high stakes the counters were dealing with in this season. My only real complaint is the ending was a little weak for me. The series did a great job introducing all the new characters and their back stories. It was also nice to see many of the supporting characters from the last season. On that note, the entire cast did a wonderful job portraying their characters. The cinematography, special effects, and FX make-up was outstanding.

Leggi di Più

I feel like they bungled this one :(

I was so amazed by season 1, and I was INCREDIBLY excited for season 2. I feel like it began okay -- I liked the setup for the next all-powerful demon dude, and his two lackeys seemed super interesting -- but the rest of the drama's progression was wonky and everything seemed...convenient or convoluted. I'm really disappointed that the lore didn't hold up the same as it did in the first season (I remember Ms. Chu almost dying because she was healing too much in the previous system -- did that mechanic completely disappear??? she was healing every episode practically), there was a lot more that was left out about who the demons were and how they knew each other (Pil Gwang kept talking about the demon like he knew it, but then auto-killed it when he entered the body of Mr. Ma? so random), and I feel like So Mun was made to be the god of the group, carrying till the finish line. They seemed way more diverse and balanced in the first season, and it was a lot of pressure to put on So Mun to fix everything and be the one who went after the most powerful again and again. They even added a new counter, but he didn't really do anything but serve a single function? Like, don't get me wrong, he was fucking hilarious. But he didn't fight well, he whined a lot, and he just seemed like he was in the way most of the time. Also, what the heck was that ending with Wi Gen and Jade??? That English dialogue was awful and jarring, and it makes no sense that Jade, this random person from Germany, is Wi Gen's daughter. Tf?! Like, did I miss Wi Gen history and that's why this scene makes no sense? Idk, it was such a miss tbh. If not for my admiration of some of the green screen work and the actors themselves (as I've seen them in many dramas at this point), the rating would probably be a five or below.

Leggi di Più