REVIEW: ‘Wonderful World’ Mishandles Its Emotional Twists And Turns

Grief is a force that, if left unchecked, is enough to destroy worlds. It can be the driving force of revenge, and, in Wonderful World, it is the excuse and facilitator for the chaos that ensues onscreen. Starring Kim Nam-Joo as Eun Soo-Hyun and Cha Eun-Woo as Gwon Seon-Yul, Hulu’s latest KDrama, Wonderful World, is written by Kim Ji-Eun and directed by Lee Seung-Young. Starting off strong, the series plunders its momentum halfway through with its uneven pacing clashing with its need to take us down multiple twists and turns.

Wonderful World starts off in media res, technically. There is a dramatic faceoff between Soo-Hyun and Seon-Yul without context before the series dives into the past. Soo-Hyun loses her son in a tragic accident. If that were not tragic enough, the legal team for the person who committed the hit-and-run uses gaslighting methods to shift the blame towards her. This leads to a sentence of not guilty, adding salt to the wounds of both Soo-Hyun and her husband, Kang Soo-Ho (Kim Kang-Woo).

The only thing that can convince Soo-Hyun to move on is the driver apologizes for his part in her son’s death. This leads to a public confrontation, where the driver shows a horrendous lack of remorse. This is all it takes for Soo-Hyun to crack. She was already teetering on the edge. His actions pushed her to the point of no return. Soo-Hyun kills him, and viewers see in real time how quickly the justice system acts when there is a power imbalance. Soo-Hyun spends a decade in prison to atone for her sins.

Unfortunately, there are people on the edges who desire to punish her further. After Soo-Hyun is released from prison, she aims to live a better life for her deceased son. However, the people in her life don’t have her best interests at heart. Despite innocent reasons for checking in on Seo-Yul after getting out of prison, the young man doesn’t reciprocate her good intentions. In Wonderful World, it’s best to assume there’s nothing wonderful about the characters in this series.

Two performances keep Wonderful World worth watching.

Played with an air of mystery, Cha Eun-Woo’s Seo-Yul is an enigma. At times, he is almost emotionless, bottling up everything instead of addressing the trauma of his parents’ deaths. This proves a sharp contrast with actress Kim Nam-Joo. Her Soo-Hyun wears her heart on her sleeve. She dances on a razor’s edge, where, at any moment, she can be pushed back off again. These two performances hold Wonderful World together, even when twist after twist disorients.

These two come into direct conflict because of Seo-Hyul’s grief. Caught in a web of lies, he fixates on Seo-Hyun as the orchestrator of his own misery. Each bomb drop aimed at breaking Seo-Hyun down is a result of his own misguided revenge. In Wonderful World, and its many reveals, it is plain to see that grief is transformed into revenge, which leads both the deliverer and the recipient down a dark path. It is no wonder Seo-Hyun and Seo-Hyul create compelling foils for one another.

Despite how these two characters dance around one another, Wonderful World sinks under the weight of its storytelling. Uneven pacing creates episodes that drag and race, creating a cadence that feels more unnatural than not. A mid-season sink makes it more difficult for things to move along.

By the time the series reaches its final episodes, it’s as if writer Kim Ji-Eun realized they needed to wrap things up. The final episodes move at whiplash speed, quickly aiming to resolve loose ends whilst dropping the remaining bombs still left to deploy. There’s little time to fully process what’s going on. A shorter episode count might have helped trim the fat of Wonderful World. In doing so, it might have addressed its pacing issue in the process.

Nothing can really correct bad pacing in Wonderful World.

Dramatic swells of music render some scenes more over-the-top than necessary. Sometimes, these score decisions completely take a viewer out of the scenes. When there’s a crescendo underlying an otherwise sedate conversation, it draws more questions than needed.

Ultimately, the draw of Wonderful World is in the relationship established between Seo-Yul and Seo-Hyun. As pawns for more corrupt puppeteers, they were left to reconcile with their grief. Denied closure, they retaliated whilst their puppet masters cackled behind the scenes. Power imbalances are a favorite element to play around with in Kdramas. Here, it’s a tool rather than the primary focus. Instead, it is the grief and how it can ruin lives that take precedence.

Does Wonderful World live up to its title? Not particularly. With its uneven pacing and need for twists over fleshing out a stronger story to stand on, it struggles to find solid ground. However, Cha Eun-Woo’s and Kim Nam-Joo’s performances create a compelling, messed-up duo that will keep viewers transfixed from beginning to end.

Wonderful World is now streaming on Hulu and Disney+.