Train was such a suspenseful thrill ride. It's one of the few dramas in recent memory that left me feeling anxious for what will happen in the next episode and wishing the week would pass by quickly just so I could feel some resolution. The pacing was fantastic and each episode felt tightly written and executed. It's also one of the rare dramas where there wasn't much filler and the number of episodes felt justified and satisfying.
At the heart of this suspense is it's love story, which stands on it's own as a genuinely moving romance. Enmeshed in this love story is the theme of second chances. It is a universal characteristic for people to look back on their life choices and wonder what could have been if only one thing had happened rather than the other. Our lives can be so consumed by the "what ifs" that it can be hard to see past that and live in the present. This in itself can create even more what ifs and if onlys. Do Won and Seo Kyung A truly loved each other, but Do Won's insistence on living in his regrets mars all chance of happiness that they had. In getting a second chance, Do Won learns that doing his all in the present is a much more fulfilling life than punishing himself for his past mistakes.
While Train is a satisfyingly well crafted suspense, what ultimately leads to it working so well is Yoon Shi Yoon's performance. Here again we have one of those roles that I can't imagine anyone else inhabiting. He delivers such an amazing performance, and at times. it felt like this drama was written just to revel in the joy of watching ysy flex.
In the last 4 dramas, ysy has played 7 distinct characters, not to mention the shifts in characterization seen in his performances in The Nokdu Flower and Psychopath Diary. The versatility of this man is astounding. In Train alone, he played 3 characters and each of them are done so well. Even at a glance, it was easy to detect which Do Won was in the scene. While makeup and styling played a big part, ysy's facial expressions and mannerisms really helped to pull off the distinction with ease. This is most notable in the scenes where Do Won A and B are interacting with each other. The set of their mouths and jaws and the look in their eyes distinguishes the two at a glance. Yoon Shi Yoon does a remarkable job playing against himself and portraying these two as very separate and well defined identities. It was easy to forget that they were played by the same person. The feelings evoked by both characters were also starkly different. I was left wondering how I could root for one while feeling revulsion for the other, and all the while it was the same person under it all.
It would have been so easy for ysy to be trapped in cutesy typecasting, but he's really pushed himself over the years to grow and pursue such varied roles. Never did I imagine that loveable ysy would take on roles where he played a villain that murdered people in cold blood or a junkie that shot up at every chance he got. It is one of his most admirable qualities that he is more than willing to continously challenge himself and take the risk to play characters like these. Not only does he take them on, but he immerses himself in them and pulls them off convincingly. As a fan, it's exciting not knowing which direction he'll go in for his next role and I hope he keeps stretching and being unpredictable. Whatever he chooses, it's a given now that ysy will more than deliver.
