The Quiz Show Ends
So, I just watched the final episode of The Quiz Show. Need to debrief and decompress. Cut for spoilery goodness.
Wow.
Wow.
Just. Colouring me fucking impressed. It was a rather strange episode, in that it was 75% Honma/Kamiyama with the occasional cuts to the control room where everyone there is just watching the screen. I think the rest of the cast got a total of 3 lines in the whole show. But it wasn't about them, it was the resolution of what happened to Misaki and what went down between the boys.
But the acting, wow. I have always been in the "Matsujun is a good actor" camp but he just got totally blown out of the water by Sho with this one. He's on par with Nino now. And Yoko. Holy shit. Those were real tears, absolutely 100% real. On that note, does anyone elses nose run like a tap when you cry? Maybe it's a Japanese thing. Ohno's did the same thing in Maou. I've said this before, but I sure hope that they get nominated for some kind of an award. They deserve it for this episode alone.
I can't speak completely to the sense of the story--I don't know why Honma's memory was fucked up, other than he was so distressed that it got fucked up and he thought something else had happened. I don't know how plausible that is. And apparently they weren't such good friends as was made out before; Kamiyama was kind of a dick. So I'm still kind of unclear on how they were friends in the first place, other than the fact that they both had a boner for the same girl. It could happen, I guess. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer?
As a whole... sure, it's TV and I'm totally willing to suspend my disbelief for an hour and enjoy some hot boys in sequined suits. The whole plot with the guests being hand picked but that random guy and having their dirty laundry all over live television is total BS. And did get kind of repetitive with Saejima and all the staffers whining but letting it go on anyway. In the end, they didn't really have anything to do with Kamiyama and Honma. I don't get how that was revenge. They made some references to the previous season so I wonder if it would have made more sense if I'd watched that first. I didn't know until the very end that Yamanabe was the previous MC.
There were some things they didn't fully explain. They didn't explain what happened to Kamiyama after he fell from the roof. Or why he was fucked in the head and in a coma for 8 years and then warded up in what we can only assume is a mental hospital. Amnesia? He doesn't have a past (according to the TV station database). Honma was plotting this elaborate scheme for the last 2 years, to expose his ex-friend as the murderer of the girl he loved on TV? Yeah, okay.
But if you just gloss over the technicalities and lapses in realism, it was entertaining and what more can you ask for from a show? I have only seen Yoko in Haikei, Chichiue-sama, where his role didn't even register for me--I just thought he was some random retarded extra they had there. And he didn't make much of an impression on Yukan Club either, but... it was Yukan Club. Watching him here makes me want to go back and see some of his other work. I will definitely be looking out for his next role. As for Sho, this is something he should be extremely proud of. His character had depth and a distinct personality, which is as much a well-written script as it is the calibre of the actor.
Wow.
Wow.
Just. Colouring me fucking impressed. It was a rather strange episode, in that it was 75% Honma/Kamiyama with the occasional cuts to the control room where everyone there is just watching the screen. I think the rest of the cast got a total of 3 lines in the whole show. But it wasn't about them, it was the resolution of what happened to Misaki and what went down between the boys.
But the acting, wow. I have always been in the "Matsujun is a good actor" camp but he just got totally blown out of the water by Sho with this one. He's on par with Nino now. And Yoko. Holy shit. Those were real tears, absolutely 100% real. On that note, does anyone elses nose run like a tap when you cry? Maybe it's a Japanese thing. Ohno's did the same thing in Maou. I've said this before, but I sure hope that they get nominated for some kind of an award. They deserve it for this episode alone.
I can't speak completely to the sense of the story--I don't know why Honma's memory was fucked up, other than he was so distressed that it got fucked up and he thought something else had happened. I don't know how plausible that is. And apparently they weren't such good friends as was made out before; Kamiyama was kind of a dick. So I'm still kind of unclear on how they were friends in the first place, other than the fact that they both had a boner for the same girl. It could happen, I guess. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer?
As a whole... sure, it's TV and I'm totally willing to suspend my disbelief for an hour and enjoy some hot boys in sequined suits. The whole plot with the guests being hand picked but that random guy and having their dirty laundry all over live television is total BS. And did get kind of repetitive with Saejima and all the staffers whining but letting it go on anyway. In the end, they didn't really have anything to do with Kamiyama and Honma. I don't get how that was revenge. They made some references to the previous season so I wonder if it would have made more sense if I'd watched that first. I didn't know until the very end that Yamanabe was the previous MC.
There were some things they didn't fully explain. They didn't explain what happened to Kamiyama after he fell from the roof. Or why he was fucked in the head and in a coma for 8 years and then warded up in what we can only assume is a mental hospital. Amnesia? He doesn't have a past (according to the TV station database). Honma was plotting this elaborate scheme for the last 2 years, to expose his ex-friend as the murderer of the girl he loved on TV? Yeah, okay.
But if you just gloss over the technicalities and lapses in realism, it was entertaining and what more can you ask for from a show? I have only seen Yoko in Haikei, Chichiue-sama, where his role didn't even register for me--I just thought he was some random retarded extra they had there. And he didn't make much of an impression on Yukan Club either, but... it was Yukan Club. Watching him here makes me want to go back and see some of his other work. I will definitely be looking out for his next role. As for Sho, this is something he should be extremely proud of. His character had depth and a distinct personality, which is as much a well-written script as it is the calibre of the actor.