Just like part 1, this is intriguing in parts, but it falls flat as a whole...
After a long wait, though no longer than any wait that we could possibly expect coming from SM, the drama version (episode) of Growl & its companion tracks was finally released! All in all, I like Ep 2 better than Ep 1, if only because I know the characters slightly better, which partially excuses most of the lack in character development that is pretty much the trend of this dramatic story-thing. I have been left no less confused than I was at the end of Ep 1, but I'm much more satisfied with it because frustration is a thing you can sometimes get over when the story's got enough potential. Seriously, the fanfiction that this whole thing is generating is phenomenal. Also, I'm pleased with it because even though the ending was not at all an ending, it hints that Exo will be returning with yet another comeback this year, presumably with several new songs as all of the ones on XOXO have now been utilized. SM might be milking their one big cash-cow pretty hard these days, but hey, at least Exo is keeping us all interested. Again, this MV needed to be about 5 minutes longer than what we ended up with, and honestly I'm hoping SM has a horde of footage that is going to be attached to each of these episodes at the end of next year (or whenever they get around to the finale piece) and they'll release an hour and a half movie-ish drama thing that combines the properly made versions of each episode into a single massive thing that they can sell on DVD. I would totally spend real money on that DVD, a lot of real money.
In terms of confusion in the second one, a lot of my concerns are actually carry-overs from the first one. I still don't quite understand the whole point: like who are the bad guys? And why exactly are they the bad guys (I mean aside from the fact that wanting to beat up on any member of Exo is a crime against humanity)? Kris gives Luhan this special mission thing, and that mission thing is . . . ? And why are they the only to with the glowy hand thingies? Don't all of the Exo members have super-powers? Does Luhan turn human at the end of this one? Is that supposed to be a good thing or what? And why is Kris pissed when he comes back at the end (and where on earth did he go to begin with)? When Luhan escorts the girlie out and is more or less assaulted by her friend . . . she just goes home? And our mysterious bad guy appears again . . . Why doesn't anyone walk this chick home? Seriously, there's currently ten perfectly healthy, theoretically masculine & protective guys revolving around this one girl and NONE OF THEM WALK HER HOME IN THE DARK WHEN THERE ARE CREEPY THUG-GUYS ROAMING ABOUT? Even the bad guys are carrying flashlights for heaven's sake, someone should have realized that letting a teenage girl walk home alone in the dark in the middle of a city was probably a poor life decision... Why do the bad guys have Luhan's cell number? (This one can be excused supposing that the chicka had his phone number, but there's really very little to make that idea logical. They've known each other for maybe a month, and he hospitalized one of her older friends, getting his number in my phone would totally be on the top of my list of things to do this week, were I her.) Why exactly does Luhan lose control when he goes into super-power mode? He's telekinetic. He moves objects with his mind. In no definition I have ever heard of is telekinesis connected to rage-monster. An how on earth does Kris have any idea what's going on? His power is flight. He can FLY. The whole magical wave-hand-over-bed-and-know-mission-aborted is not a part of flying. (Granted his hand-sign is a a dragon and dragons are supposed to have super sagely wisdom, so I suppose that could be a part of it, but still . . . It would be nice to have that explained.
And then perhaps the most important question of all: When is Ep 3 going to surface?
Good points about Ep 2 include the fact that Luhan is adorable, Kai is macho-man protective & and has a nicely dramatic moment with Luhan, Kris has more than 3 seconds on camera, and well, part two came out after all so we can be pretty sure that we'll eventually get part three... Also, the part where our leadin lady follows him home is fabulous, it conveys concern and fear in equal parts and it shows the building trust between them well. And how it transitions into the next scene is another great moment, easily the best part of the video, cinematically speaking.
Over all, like Ep 1, Ep 2 falls flat on a a story with some epic potential. However, Growl's dance version (at least the 1st one) is fabulous, where as Wolf's dance version is . . . sub par. Unfortunately, as they are separate MVs the dance versions have no impact on the grade here, so this is another from Exo that fails to score high.
In terms of confusion in the second one, a lot of my concerns are actually carry-overs from the first one. I still don't quite understand the whole point: like who are the bad guys? And why exactly are they the bad guys (I mean aside from the fact that wanting to beat up on any member of Exo is a crime against humanity)? Kris gives Luhan this special mission thing, and that mission thing is . . . ? And why are they the only to with the glowy hand thingies? Don't all of the Exo members have super-powers? Does Luhan turn human at the end of this one? Is that supposed to be a good thing or what? And why is Kris pissed when he comes back at the end (and where on earth did he go to begin with)? When Luhan escorts the girlie out and is more or less assaulted by her friend . . . she just goes home? And our mysterious bad guy appears again . . . Why doesn't anyone walk this chick home? Seriously, there's currently ten perfectly healthy, theoretically masculine & protective guys revolving around this one girl and NONE OF THEM WALK HER HOME IN THE DARK WHEN THERE ARE CREEPY THUG-GUYS ROAMING ABOUT? Even the bad guys are carrying flashlights for heaven's sake, someone should have realized that letting a teenage girl walk home alone in the dark in the middle of a city was probably a poor life decision... Why do the bad guys have Luhan's cell number? (This one can be excused supposing that the chicka had his phone number, but there's really very little to make that idea logical. They've known each other for maybe a month, and he hospitalized one of her older friends, getting his number in my phone would totally be on the top of my list of things to do this week, were I her.) Why exactly does Luhan lose control when he goes into super-power mode? He's telekinetic. He moves objects with his mind. In no definition I have ever heard of is telekinesis connected to rage-monster. An how on earth does Kris have any idea what's going on? His power is flight. He can FLY. The whole magical wave-hand-over-bed-and-know-mission-aborted is not a part of flying. (Granted his hand-sign is a a dragon and dragons are supposed to have super sagely wisdom, so I suppose that could be a part of it, but still . . . It would be nice to have that explained.
And then perhaps the most important question of all: When is Ep 3 going to surface?
Good points about Ep 2 include the fact that Luhan is adorable, Kai is macho-man protective & and has a nicely dramatic moment with Luhan, Kris has more than 3 seconds on camera, and well, part two came out after all so we can be pretty sure that we'll eventually get part three... Also, the part where our leadin lady follows him home is fabulous, it conveys concern and fear in equal parts and it shows the building trust between them well. And how it transitions into the next scene is another great moment, easily the best part of the video, cinematically speaking.
Over all, like Ep 1, Ep 2 falls flat on a a story with some epic potential. However, Growl's dance version (at least the 1st one) is fabulous, where as Wolf's dance version is . . . sub par. Unfortunately, as they are separate MVs the dance versions have no impact on the grade here, so this is another from Exo that fails to score high.
RSS Feed
