One of the governing elements of standard villains is their refusal or even inability for remorse and redemption.
"Whisper"
makes this inescapably clear as Jeong-il and Soo-yeon try to one-up
each other in being horrible until the very bitter end. Dong-joon and
Yeong-joo can taste victory, but this victory comes at a price. As
Dong-joon comes collecting dues, his own cannot be overlooked.
It is time to enjoy more backstabbing from the two villains as their
time is up and while their poor characters have left me unable to get
completely into it, there is still fun to be had. Soo-yeon (
Park Se-yeong) and Jeong-il (
Kwon Yul)
hit an unfortunate middle ground of not being cliche enough to find
entertaining or nuanced enough to feel engaged by. Even so, there is a
good enough dose of satisfaction to be felt as Jeong-il pays Soo-yeon
back with her own medicine.
Jeong-il is not the only one who means business, however. Despite
knowing he will be left with great stigma and despite the fact that some
of the people he crosses could try pinning more on him, Dong-joon (
Lee Sang-yoon)
continues to walk on the right path. This is a really solid redemption.
That being said, I do still lament the sudden nature of his change. A
more gradually and deeply conveyed struggle would have given these
decisions greater dramatic weight.
Dong-joon did and said horrible things without spending much of his
personal time contemplating them through the eyes of the person he had
been presented as to us. Perhaps the plans for his character were
originally different or maybe his epiphany was not conveyed well enough.
Regardless, his current self allows the romance to work well and that
is one of the elements I do appreciate in the series by now. It does not
overshadow Yeong-joo's (
Lee Bo-young) mission and it is based on true bonding.
As far as happy surprises go, I am also glad that Kyeong-ho (
Jo Dal-hwan) and Bo-yeon (
Yoon Joo-hee) do not go the predictable way of accompanying Tae-gon (
Kim Hyeong-mook) into betrayal. My favorite bit, however, is seeing Dong-joon's mother, Myeong-seon (
Won Mi-kyung)
giving him a send-off and bringing closure to his redemption.
Parenthood has been an important theme of the series and I feel her
presence has been underutilized.
As for major regrets before the end, I have many. Most of all, I wish
the lead characters' morality had been a bigger focus. That being said,
Dong-joon's arrest somewhat completes that theme by provinding one
element which truly separates heroes from villains. When all is said and
done, the heroes take responsibility for their actions. Even if this is
not as prominent a focus as I would have liked, I will take what I can
get from
"Whisper".
"Whisper" is directed by
Lee Myeong-woo, written by
Park Kyeong-soo and features
Lee Bo-young,
Lee Sang-yoon,
Kwon Yul and
Park Se-yeong.
Written by:
Orion from '
Orion's Ramblings'
