The thread is now open.
Let’s try this one for a few weeks. If we find it disappointing, we can always drop it. Like evolution, our search for a good drama isn’t a linear progression. The task is messy, meandering, time-consuming, and complicated. Some forms of drama will mutate and give rise to new branches (e.g., these romcoms with heroines falling in love with comicbook characters that cropped up after “W”). Some will die out. And some will improve as kdrama writers and directors learn to adapt and hone their craft. That’s Charles Darwin’s natural selection at work. 🙂
Hopefully, this show doesn’t turn out to be primitive in both scope and depth.
Let’s enjoy the show.
Thanks @pkml3. I watched the first episode. It was intense. The fights and chases… stressed me out so much I had to watch without sound.
It was a promising start. We quickly know who’s whom and some whys. There should be a more compelling aspect to the plot with Gu Reum, otherwise it would be not much else than a cat and mouse game, with the mouse wondering why he’s being chased (while we, the viewers already know).
I’m relieved to find that Kim Rae Won (Zi O) and Lee Da Hee (Gu Reum) are playing gritty, disheveled and unbeautified characters (well to some extent). I have a problem with KRW when he’s supposed to be dashing. His dashing smile has the opposite effect on me. I’ve also only ever seen LDH in roles where she was a professional or rich. It’s a nice change to see her taking on some action scenes and looking like a convincing, less made up, tough cop.
We know that L.U.C. A. stands for Last Universal Common Ancestor. And the title is L.U.C.A: the Beginning. And there’s Zi O, which of course sounds like ‘zero’, or ‘0’ which is also the beginning of an endless series. We gather that he’s the fluke, the first and only one of his kind, created in a lab, and the one from which many others like himself are to be propagated.
There is a buyer for ‘people’ like him who is chillingly a cult-like church, whose leader speaks of ‘sacrifice’ (as in making a sacrificial offerings maybe?) and who welcomes pregnant women and their babies to be “one of the 101 baby angels who will save the world.”
Show has already thrown out a question on the morality of experimenting on animals, and cruelly at that, in the name of science and research. The bigger moral concern, that viewers already can see is for the humans or clones (or whatever they may be), and those babies, who are treated as commodities, or lab subjects or err… possibly sacrifices? *shudder*
Let’s draw more accurate conclusions after a few episodes. 😉 (*≧▽≦)
I want to test this drama but I need to stop my brain to focus on the curly perm >_< Nam Goong Min was so swoony in Awaken that was the same genre.
Thanks for the recap @GB! I watched episode 1 in parts and wasn’t paying attention so I don’t actually know how I feel about this yet and wasn’t even piercing together the story. Your write up helped.
It’s definitely more of a movie feel than a drama. I’m curious to see how the plot will pan out, it’s been a while since I’ve watched an action drama. I find that it’s easy for the story to be threadlike but bulked up with lots of fighting and cool stunts. But hopefully with ethical and sensitive topics like gene manipulation and human testing, we’ll be dealing with a lot more and thinking more too.
Good observation about Ji O’s name! Another thing, the FL full name is “Hanul Ae Gu Reum” which translates to “Cloud in the sky”. Apparently the writer named her that because when you draw a sky, you add clouds. Clouds complete a sky, Gu Reum completes Ji O.
A few interpretations to a cloud in the sky theme
1. She’s the cloud and he’s the lightening
2. A dark cloud is usually a bad omen signifies rain, disruption…
3. Clouds/Skies are symbolically for the celestial realm
Like Uncanny Counter names seem to be significant here, let’s see how writer uses it.
I hate when I realise typos after posting my comment. I meant piecing 🙄 Also I said I haven’t seen an action drama in a while, that’s a lie because Uncanny Counter just ended and that was very much action😂 Talk about out of sight out of mind! Lol, what can I say, it’s been a long day.
Hey everyone,
I just finished watching Episode 1.
I will say that the Ethical questions of the Series are rather impressive.
So here are some of the Philosophical Questions this Show wants to explore:
1.Is it ethical to experiment on animals as @GB pointed above?
2. Is is ethical to create a hybrid ?
3. Is it ethical to create a hybrid in order to create the perfect soldier?
4.Is it ethical to create a (human-animal?) hybrid in order to experiment on it?
5.Can this hybrid have consciousness / morality ?
6. Does that hybrid have any rights?
6. Can this hybrid learn the difference between good or evil?
7. Who is the evil one here?
8. Does Humanity know what are the limits of Science?
8. Can Science play God?
*Isn’t this Hybris?*
The same philosophical questions apply on AI.
This is a debate that doesn’t have definite answers.
I am curious to see how they will try answer to any of them…
So many intriguing questions! This has piqued my interest and will put this in my watch list.
@Esst3 @Cleopatra
Thanks for the meaning of the name of Gu Reum … I did wonder why her name was so long. She chose to be called ‘Cloud’ rather than ‘Sky’, and we see that Zi O can generate his own lightning bolts. A scary combination … electrical storm, anyone? Somehow this image of her being cloud and he being lightning (or electricity) gives this show a manhwa feel, but I gather this is an original work by the writer of The Package, 7th Grade Civil Servant and Fugitive: Plan B.
Thanks @Cleopatra for the many questions that show can raise. It would be nice if it dealt in any detail with at least one of them. It definitely portrays science trying to play God, but it might have accidentally, ironically, created a far more humane ‘monster’ while it dehumanises the people who made him and want to acquire him.
I am in the middle of Episode 1 and like it so far. I started watching the drama for 2 reasons:
1. Lee Da Hee
2. The writer also wrote my favorite historical drama, Chuno (The Slave Hunters).
Hey @GB and et al!
I haven’t encountered Kim Rae Won and Lee Da Hee in a k-drama before.
I was thinking in the morning that basically we are talking about a Modern Frankestein. Frankestein became alive because of the Lightning / Electricity.
So, it is like a homage to Mary Shelley’s work, Zi O to have that power.
@esst3
If Gu Reum is the Sky. She then represents the Divine. See below “The Creation of Adam” from Michelangelo’s work in Sistine’s Chapel Ceiling.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Creation_of_Adam#/media/File:Michelangelo_-_Creation_of_Adam_(cropped).jpg
Zi O saved Gu Reum using lightning. Basically he electrocuted her heart to start over.
Since, we are deciphering names, a wordplay that came into my mind is the following:
Zion as in Matrix. https://matrix.fandom.com/wiki/Zion
Zion as Jerusalem in Hebrew Bible. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zion
@GB and @Janey,
The questions that arise are very challenging. Philosophy is trying to answer to all that. But at the same time Theology and Science is in the debate and they have different and very contradicting POV’s.
Can you call Zi O a human being? He looks like one, but from what I understand his genes are a plethora from other species too.
Are the Human beings who created him really humane?
I mean the fundraiser wanted to cut Zi O into pieces in order to study his genes and create more of him.
His Creator / Scientist doesn’t want to cut him, but he has a God-Complex!
The Cult Leader wants to sacrifice innocent people like they are animals. I believe she has done it before.
What we know is that she has funded several Labs to create this hybrid but she gave orders everyone to be executed.
Life doesn’t matter to her!
Is she a Spiritual Leader ? NO! She is a cult leader. A manipulator who uses people who are believers for her own agenda and definitely a killer.
Who is the Wolf and how is the Lamb over here?
For that reasons alone I will continue watching it. I do hope they will answer some of our questions and the Arc will fascinate us! 🙂
Hi @Cleopatra and everyone, Episode 2 was electrifying LOL. There was so much action, so many fights, so much running…. I was so stressed and I felt so tired just watching the action. And boy oh boy did the poor FL have to suffer sooooo many times. I lost count of the number of times she was injured and attacked. Hats off to Lee Da Hee for taking on such a tough role. I guess there had to be a body double for some scenes. TVN is almost as violent as OCN.
After 2 episodes of cat and mouse, I hope we get the meatier stuff like investigating and bringing down the cult and the lab with all those illegal experiments, not to mention lighter times with the police team and relationship growth for Zi O and Gu Reum.
I was disapointing by the 2 first episodes. THe ML has superpowers but the FL too : she was hit by a trunk, had a heart attack, was resurrected but had just a a sprained wrist at the end. Then, she was in a “electric” explosion, was unconscious but no problem she could fight after against strong people, run a marathon, fight again. When the ML uses the train tracks to prevent the train from stopping, she had her head on it…
We know nothing about the ML. The FL is reckless. The most interesting character was Yi-Son, at least he looks good with his haircut, not weird perm like the ML and the FL 😀
Same. I’m here for Lee Da Hee. Big fan since Mrs. Cop, The Beauty Inside, and Search: WWW.
She’s beginning to grow on me, John L, although I agree with Sayaris. What good is a kickass heroine if she can’t even cross the road without looking both ways? Her character should be sent back to kindergarten.
But I’m liking the actor here. This might be the first ever. This role fits him.
I’ll write my first impressions but need to watch it on another site to check the subs. The Viki subbers did their job fast. I was impressed.
Dark, dark, dark! I’ve only watched Episode 1 so far, and the brightest thing in it visually was the incinerator fire. Drama also loves its god view shots, looking down on scenes from directly above. Heaven and hell.
I note that cats figure frequently in the title sequence, so it’ll be interesting to see where that is leading us.
Pardon my paraphrasing, but two lines stood out to me from episode one and I’m too lazy to go back and get them word for word. The first happens early in the episode. Ji Oh, standing in the aftermath of a battle, memory gone, asks himself if he’s prey…or hunter. This uncertainty may be key to his character. Another important line is his response to his senior co-worker’s musing whether humans have the right to torment animals for scientific or economic gain. Ji Oh’s answer is that right isn’t what makes it possible, it is power. This is not quite the Machiavellian “might makes right.” Ji Oh’s answer takes it outside the realm of morality. His answer seems to align with the thinking and lack of empathy seen in the researchers and those that fund them. Yet we see through Ji Oh’s actions, his frantic efforts to stay alive, that he believes he has worth beyond what is seen in him by those who want to overpower him. It is a battle of powers: those that would use him, sacrifice him, for their purposes; and Ji Oh’s self determination, to survive and live his life as he chooses. By Ji Oh’s definition, whoever is left standing at the end of the war is the most powerful.
After watching Episode 1, I had thought but wouldn’t continue with this drama. It’s painful to watch: heartless rich people and corporations causing untold suffering, abuse of animals, human sacrifice, evil science, twisted faith, gullible adherents…not exactly the entertainment I need to take my mind off the real world problems currently in the news. But I’ll give it at least one more episode before I decide whether or not to drop it.
Okay, it’s a good sign if a drama keeps me mulling.
Here are some points I want to bring up after watching Episode 1.
Ki Oh’s mother loved him, but we assume from what we see that she chose to kill him herself rather than let him be tormented through experimentation.
There may be a supernatural element to Ji Oh being saved from his fall as a baby. When his mother, running from pursuers, crossed the ground floor of the circular building, it was unbroken, smooth. When she stood at the top floor of the building and held the baby over the railing, the floor far below had a hole in it directly under Ji Oh. As he dropped, he went into that hole which hadn’t existed minutes before, and which appeared before his electrical storm exploded.
Ki Oh’s mother ended up with a bloodied foot after losing her shoe while running from her pursuers. Later we see a young woman at the Human Tech facility sitting in a room; one of her legs is partially missing. Who is that woman? Is she imprisoned at Human Tech?
We see adult Ji Oh come back to consciousness at a site where a fierce fight took place. Many combatants are laying about, battered, bloody, and burned. The scene is what I’d imagine the aftermath of fire and brimstone judgement to look like. A god’s view camera shot shows us that the setting of the battle looks like a place designed for rituals. It must not be far from the Human Tech facility because one of the injured combatants is brought there for treatment. A group of heavily pregnant women dressed in red watch as he is rushed past them in the hallway.
Pregnant women in red willing to dedicate their babies to a “world-saving” purpose. Shades of The Handmaiden’s Tale? I’ve neither read nor watched that, so someone who has should be the one to pick up this thought train.
Ji Oh loses his memory when he expends his powers in large volume. He doesn’t seem to be able to call up his powers at will to protect himself: they appear when he’s driven to intense anger or fear, and by then they’re enormously powerful and damaging. Except we see him call up his power at will and keep it within limits when he saves Gu Reum’s life by shocking her heart back into action. Why can’t he call up his power when he’s being chased, beaten, and cut by the Human Tech minions?
Going back to my previous comment about rights vs. power. One definition of right is that which is morally correct, just or honorable. Power, as Ji Oh speaks of it, is amoral: nothing right or wrong about it, it just is. Viewing power in such a way means it isn’t open to judgement because the only thing that really matters is, was it enough to prevail?
I know where I stand in the debate between rights and power, but as of the first episode, Ji Oh is ambivalent. Others we’ve met in the first episode are firmly in the pro-power camp, and we viewers recognize them as typical drama villains, so the filmmakers want us to side with rights, justice, honor. Ji Oh’s philosophical journey could be part of what makes this drama engaging.
Hi there!
After several weeks, I have again the opportunity and the motivation to watch dramas. I started with Start-Up (I’m halfway through). It’s almost work as I still haven’t finished Train or Ok to be not Ok. I don’t know if I’ll get into that at first. For sure, I’m going to watch The Penthouse, next-gen Makjang. LUCA looks good for SF/mystery drama. For action maybe, but it will be difficult, I’ve seen a lot of action movies lately, HK style, Gunfu, americans blockbusters with Gerard Butler, some korean movies like Man of Nowhere, Vilainess, All nine 24h seasons, and John Wick trilogy x3. The biggest action bombs, nothing can be better than that. ^^
Other dramas titles I want to try: Flower of Evil, Search, and Lie after Lie +one drama about music. Brahms or Laladolasilasol, I don’t know witch one.
And of course, tons and tons of olders dramas. I feel that at some point it will be stronger than me, I will need a historical drama!
For LUCA, I would wait until the end of the broadcast and binge watch afterwards. It doesn’t work for me to watch the dramas on the air.
Hi @WEchanteur! So you took a break from all dramas or just kdramas?
On Start Up – We are doing a slow group re-watch of it on Saturdays at 13:00 UTC (err.. 14:00 your time?). The Episode we’re Group Watching tomorrow is Episode 5.
I seldom bother about shows that are done … it’s too hard to catch up. Unlike you, I enjoy live watching. However Start Up was an exception for me. I ignored it when it was airing, and only started on it in January. I found it a very satisfying watch. So satisfying that I’m watching it again for fun.
Which reminds me … @pkml3, please open a thread for us soon!
I may or may not continue watching L.U.C.A. but I will try Sisyphus: The Myth when it airs.
Catch you some time on one of these threads!
I just finished the two episodes and I am staying. LDH is badass. KRW is badass. He is really good at melo-intense. I am laughing hard at her remarks to her new boss. I wish my boss would delegate me to go home just like the Chief did to GR. lol
Anyway, childhood acquaintance yet again. One thing that I have issue with is the use of babies for experimenting. Awaken used orphan kids. And they used babies here? urgh. I dropped Awaken. Let’s see if LDH can pull the detective role convincingly throughout the series, the plots remain engaging, and the action flicks don’t get me rolling my eyes. To the next episodes!
L.U.C.A. is unfolding very nicely. The film makers packed a lot into the first episode by way of introduction, but I found it coherent and reasonably easy to follow.
The initial setting that looks a bit like a Faraday cage gives a symbolic hint of big powers that need to be contained, and Ji-oh obviously is the one who needs containing. His mother seems to have learned what the HumanTech/L.U.C.A. project has done to her baby and has decided to make the classic move of putting her child into the hands of Fate/Destiny. Lots of unknown back-story here. How did Ji-oh come to be with Goo-reum’s parents on the night her childhood world exploded and her parents disappeared?
I thought Lee Won-jong played his too-brief part brilliantly in episode 1, and on the whole I thought the screenwriter did very well to deal with the big ethical questions so early and so directly.
I was completely engaged by the acting skill of Kim Rae-won in ‘Black Knight: The Man Who Guards Me’, and I’m looking forward a great deal to the development of this new character. I’m also anticipating an interesting development of Lee-son. As an adversary he’s not quite the same as Shirtless Shin in ‘The Uncanny Counters’, but he promises well.
Lots and lots of action in episode 2, with some good lighting in some the difficult settings. However, the plot moves along at a good pace, and the horrible nature of HumanTech is further revealed. I was particularly pleased by the jar of something organic and slimy (leeches?) on a shelf in the very high-tech lab.
Only three more days until the next developments.
@Juriel, yes that black thing looks like it’s furry too. I wonder what is it.
I watched Episode 2 and I am impressed so far. I was trying to understand what exactly they did to Ji Oh.
Was he a clone?
Was he something else?
So far, we have learned that he is an advanced human being.
He is indeed a human embryo that undergone experiments while he was in the womb? (THAT IS UNETHICAL!)
So, Human embryo + DNA Experiments / Alterations.
The Lab From HELL, courtesy of the Cult Lady, changed drastically his DNA and his Blood Type. If the God-complex scientist is right to what he said, they used cells from an animal i.e. electril eel and altered his genome.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/fish/e/electric-eel/
So far, he can regenerate his cells so fast that he loses his memory in the process.
That means they added something else to the mix. I am kinda impressed, disgusted and I haven’t done Biology for a long long time.
I cannot recall which organism can regerate that fast, or they just experimented with something else.
Still, I am with Ji-Oh and to me, he is definitely a person, not a thing or something else aka a weapon of doom.
Let’s see what is next!