..... and I’d say it’s the AltBalaji show I’ve liked most so far.
If you’ve watched A Few Good Men, there’s going to be absolutely nothing surprising for you in this one. It’s quite easy to guess what’s coming up plot-wise. But it’s worth watching anyway, to see how they adapted it to the current Indian socio-political climate (unintentional, I’m sure since it was filmed before the whole NRC/CAA thing, but quite serendipitous in their release timing.)
Okay, some quick pros and cons....
Pros:
The characters are strong and competent. All the main players are credibly written and performed well. What I really liked is that Jen’s character (Monica) was a badass, take-no-shit type, but not at the cost of her femininity or being a kind, empathetic person. I hate when “strong” female characters are written like men, just macho and brash and obnoxious. Monica is an excited bride-to-be (in 2 weeks!), but when duty calls, she’s fully committed to the thing that is most important to her: her career. She does have her emotions in taxing situations, but as an officer of the army AND a lawyer, we see her keep them in check until she has a moment alone. Multiple men try to push her around (personally and professionally) and she just does NOT give a single fuck, and does what she thinks is right. Overall, I really really liked her character.
I also appreciate that the pacing of the show is really good; there’s no extra scenes just lying around for drama and pathos. It’s very tightly scripted and edited. I really liked that we didn’t waste time dawdling with B-plots like Monica’s impending shaadi and all, as if the wedding was a priority at a time like this.
The leads deliver competent performances. Jennifer really delivers on her strongly written character. A good, measured performance, and a testament to her talents when she’s freed form the bounds of crappy tellywood histrionics. I haven’t watched Tanuj in anything before (I just realized that he’s the lead of Inside Edge, which I haven’t watched; what I actually knew him from was the Ijaazat song from that Sunny Leone movie) but I quite liked him in this show. His is a straightforward character with not much nuance or challenge to it, but he plays it nice and likable. The two accused characters were decent as well (one of them being a guy I’m used to watching in these Filtercopy, RVCJ type videos.)
I’m meh on Rajat Kapoor since the #MeToo allegations against him so, whatever. Seema Biswas was utterly wasted in a blink-and-miss appearance that could have been played by any woman of that age, really.
Good chemistry and camaraderie between Jen and Tanuj. Their characters are exes and I was kinda dreading two possible cliche scenarios; that either they would constantly be at each other throats over non-issues, or there’d be unresolved feelings and angst. Thankfully, there was neither. They have a nice, easygoing chemistry; mostly friendly but their banter sometimes has a sharp edge to it (as one does with an ex.) The two of them work really well together through; both, the characters, AND the actors.
The English dialogues and conversation patterns were normal. Some shows really overdo it and the transition between Hindi/English is awkwardly noticeable. Not so in this show; even the F bombs were strategically placed and came naturally in the conversations instead of just being shoved in there because this is a web series and they can get away with cussing.
Aesthetics are top notch. Some AltBalaji shows have an elaborately ornate, yet tacky feel to them, but this one is quite nicely done.
Cons:
Predictable af. Like I said, if you’ve seen AFGM, you know what’s gonna happen here. Like they literally took so many of the scenes from there, that at the beginning of some ~*suspenseful~* beats I knew exactly what was gonna happen. It shouldn’t be a problem for those who aren’t as familiar with that movie as I am though.
Use of some bullshit tropes that I hate; like making Monica smoke to denote that she’s a “strong woman”. The one I hated the most though is the othering gaze towards Muslims; making places like bazaars and dargaahs with a large Muslim population seem ominous; long, lingering shots of the natives of the area in skullcaps/niqab having conspicuously kohled eyes, just glaring maliciously at the protagonist who is an outsider. Even shots of normal things like bags and suitcases they’re carrying get the suspicious gaze. Jaise har koi bagal mein bomb lekar ghoom raha ho sabzi mandi mein. For fucks sake. Stop with this garbage already.
summary ⟶ MNET reached out to MMG AGENCY to have the the 3 units to be the artists’ staff as well as a bodyguard.
timeline ⟶ December 2019
characters : Park Jinyoung (Got7), Got7, Jung Ahrin, Ahn Eunhee (𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐃𝐘 𝐑𝐎𝐒𝐄𝐒), Yoon Minsung, Takeo Goto, Ichiyanagi Daisuke of 𝐂𝐎𝐃𝐄 𝐌, mention of 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐋𝐎𝐒𝐒𝐎𝐌 𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐋𝐒.
warnings ⟶ none. just fluff.
❝ You didn’t tell me you were coming, ❞
“Gosh, MNET are lazy asses.” muttered Eunhee as she was somehow arranging the chairs for the artists that will be attending MAMA 2019.
She can’t believe that MMG accepted their offer with The Bloody Roses being a staff and a bodyguard for MNET.
Fortunately - that’s what Eunhee thinks - the other girls had to reject MMG request as they were struggling with the subjects that they individually learning in the university, in Virginia.
Unfortunately - for Eunhee, MMG decided to pick Eunhee and Ahrin, due to the fact that they had been scoring well for the past 2 months in the university.
It was beyond ridiculous.
Though Ahrin didn’t voice out any complains, she actually felt that this wasn’t necessary. MNET has the best security team.
Both Ahrin and Eunhee had to cancel classes for this.
“This is seriously—
“Eunhee. Watch it. There are people.” Ahrin cuts off the younger one as she could only groan in annoyance.
Though she was complaining, Eunhee managed to finish her job and somehow her focus were onto the stage, seeing how blinding it is.
Eunhee’s eyes slowly widen as she quickly tapped onto Ahrin.
“What?”
“It’s Got7! I think they rehearsing!” pointed Eunhee, already caught Ahrin’s attention as the older one turned towards the stage, to indeed see Got7.
As they were watching the performance, they didn’t know that Got7 already noticed them - It was Yugyeom who noticed Eunhee who was somehow arguing with Ahrin, that’s how it looked like from far.
“It can’t be! They should be in Virginia right now. I just ended my call with Haejin as soon as manager hyung came and remind us.” stated Jaebeom as his eyes were still on the 2 girls who were checking the seats of the artists area.
Jinyoung looked towards where the 2 were, seeing them looking annoyed. He was about to turn away when one of the girls decided to look around - Jinyoung saw her.
“Yah! It is them! Eunhee and Ahrin!” Mark announced first as he was somehow waving towards their area, but the 2 girls were too busy doing their work.
“I wonder what are the noonas doing here.” Bambam questioned himself, as the boys began to start rehearsal.
“Hurry up, Ahrin!”
“Oh my god, Eunhee! Can you relax for a minute?” Ahrin exclaimed as she was being rushed and pushed by the younger one. Eunhee was panicking while looking around the hallway.
“Are you sure it’s them, Eunhee?” Ahrin questioned as they finally stop in front of Got7′s waiting room. Looking a little offended, Eunhee looks at the older one as she scoff.
“Is there any staff in these event wearing suits? No?” Eunhee deadpanned as she fold her arms in distressed.
“It can’t be. They were suppose to be back next year.” Ahrin muttered as they went into the room, as usual seeing the familiar Got7′s stylists.
Eunhee saw the members of CODE M walking around the area. As soon as she sees them, Eunhee felt flustered that she had to grab Ahrin away before the boys of CODE M noticed them.
The reason why Eunhee was flustered is - she used to date one of the members.
“Don’t tell me you’re panicking just because you used to date one of them.” Ahrin raised an eyebrow towards her and the older one totally was right as soon as she sees Eunhee with widen eyes.
All the younger one could respond was a sigh.
“It’s the past - take it as a memory I guess. Besides, you are with Jinyoung now.” added Ahrin with a smile - mentioning Jinyoung’s name made Eunhee smile.
At that moment, the 2 girls were too engrossed on the conversation that they didn’t realized the owners of the room are about to enter the room.
“Oh!” With a slight shriek, both Ahrin and Eunhee’s head turned towards the door to see Mark standing at the door, slightly frozen - causing the next member to slightly look in the room.
Somehow, Mark went in the room as he walked towards Ahrin. Strangely, Mark felt shy - Ahrin could see it and she didn’t hesitate to make the first move by hugging him, just for 3 seconds.
“It is them!” Jinyoung voiced out, as he immediately waved towards Ahrin. His attention then turned towards Eunhee - he was too shy to even walked towards her, knowing the other members were there.
“Noona!” Yugyeom somehow shove Jinyoung away, who was waiting for the other members to go in. The taller one ran towards Eunhee, waving at her excitedly - causing Eunhee to smile, shaking her head a little.
Then came Jackson who was screaming while fanboying at the back, turning towards where Mark and Ahrin was, and towards Jinyoung and Eunhee.
“Oh god.” Bambam commented, as well as Youngjae who was laughing to hear how loud the room is, although all of them looked exhausted.
“We saw you while we were rehearsing! You should see the look on Jinyoung’s face.” Jackson teased, pointing towards Jinyoung who was folding his arms - pouting towards Jackson, as he stands beside Jaebeom.
“I called Haejin like about an hour ago. I thought you’re suppose to be in Virginia.” Jaebeom questioned towards Ahrin, as the girl looked towards Eunhee who was somehow gazing at Jinyoung.
Eunhee and Ahrin had to explain everything while some of the boys’ were getting ready for the real event.
Jinyoung gave Eunhee a look - a look that he wanted some privacy with her and Eunhee immediately stood up.
“Jinyoung and I are going to grab coffee. Anyone wants anything?” Eunhee questioned as he stood up looking at the others had their make-up being done.
Yugyeom raised his hand.
“Me! I want—
“You can grab it yourself.” Jinyoung cuts off the younger while dragging Eunhee away. There were giggles and laughter at back as the couple exited the room.
“Gosh, they are so loud.” Jinyoung muttered beside her, causing Eunhee to giggle away. Her eyes turned towards his side profile and she can’t help but to be mesmerized by how good looking he is.
“Yah.. Stop staring and watch where you are going.” said Jinyoung as he grabbed her wrist, walking passed other staff.
“You didn’t tell me you were coming,” added Jinyoung an Eunhee sighs.
“It was last minute. Ahrin and I had to cancel our lessons - anyway, we saw your performance. It was.. sexy...” Eunhee decided to change the topic as she might get pissed because of her agency, so she genuinely complimented the performance.
That includes her fangirling about her favorite song, which is the recent comeback they had done - ‘You Calling My Name’. Eunhee was too engrossed that she didn’t realize Jinyoung was trying to let out a chuckle - he had that eye whisker smile.
“You never change, don’t you?” Jinyoung questioned softly and Eunhee looked towards him, before turning to the front.
“I never change.” muttered Eunhee and her vision suddenly focus to see a group of men wearing suits going towards their way.
Oh no.
“I think I know what Yugyeom— Hee?!” Jinyoung slightly shriek as he felt strong hands grabbing his arm, slightly pulling him back. Jinyoung saw Eunhee’s expression to see her visibly panicking.
“Why? What’s wrong?” questioned Jinyoung with concern as he stood nearer towards Eunhee.
“My ex is here.”
“Your ex is— You have an ex?!?” Jinyoung repeated, his eyes were enlarged as he was taken aback. Eunhee looks at him with a straight expression.
“Well.. yeah.. and he is here..”
“You didn’t even tell me if you have an ex boyfriend, Hee-ah.” said Jinyoung with a disappointed voice - causing Eunhee to slightly frown and of course heartbroken. Eunhee didn’t even want to tell Jinyoung because there is no point on telling him.
Eunhee’s relationship with her ex boyfriend were okay, they are still friends now. The reason why they decided to broke it off was understandable too.
Both of them were busy. He was busy with his own missions and Eunhee was busy training.
“I’m sorry. I should have tell you sooner.” answered Eunhee and Jinyoung knew she was sincere this time - seeing her gaze went downcast, usually Eunhee would answer back with a sneaky or witty reply.
Jinyoung could only caress her hair, knowing it wasn’t a big issue to turn into an argument. He guessed that maybe she felt uncomfortable so he will wait for to tell him comfortably.
“You said he is here - why is he here in the first place?”
“Well, they are—
“Oh look who it is! The great Ahn Eunhee!”
Eunhee closed her eyes in annoyance to hear the familiar voice. Jinyoung sees her reaction as he turned towards the voice, to see 3 men wearing suits - walking towards his way.
One of them had open arms but the other man grabbed his arm, shaking his head a little - turning towards Jinyoung’s way.
Jinyoung awkwardly watch the scene.
“Right! You didn’t tell me you are dating someone.”
“It wasn’t necessary to tell you everything, Daisuke. Besides, you already find out anyway.” dead-panned Eunhee as she folded her arms, looking at the smirking Daisuke.
She glance towards Jinyoung was standing slightly a step back behind her - Eunhee quickly turned towards the 3 men.
“Guys, this is Jinyoung. He—
“I’m a fan! Minsung and Takeo too! That’s why we came to greet you!” Daisuke said cheerfully as he pointed towards the other 2 guys at the back of him. Daisuke let out a hand towards Jinyoung for a handshake.
Jinyoung took his hand as a basic courtesy. Minsung and Takeo shook Jinyoung’s hands too with words of ‘I’m a fan of your dramas.’
“I know you are with the others.” Eunhee voiced out and Minsung smiled a little.
“They are sectioned at the red carpet as well as The Blossom Angels.” answered Minsung and Eunhee nodded.
Eunhee somehow relaxed as soon as she didn’t see the one she was trying to avoid.
“Well I love to stay and have a conversation but we have to go before the others find us. I don’t think you want to see Juno, seeing how you avioided us.” added Takeo with an amused smile before giving a bow towards Jinyoung - a cue that he is leaving, followed by Minsung, bowing towards Jinyoung then walking away.
“We’ll see you soon, Eunhee! Bye!” waved Daisuke with a wink towards Eunhee then giving Jinyoung a slight bow before catching up with the 2 older men.
Eunhee could only stare at their wide backs with clenched jaw.
“I assume that your ex boyfriend’s name is Juno.” Jinyoung voiced out and Eunhee nodded.
“They are in a unit called Code M, they are in the same agency as us. Their unit consist of 9 guys and they are specialized in international missions so they are always going abroad.” Eunhee explained and Jinyoung slightly nodded.
“They don’t look like bodyguards to me.”
“That’s because they aren’t. Code M are considered CIAs. One of them that you have just met - Takeo, he is a dean of a police academy in Japan called Public Safety Academy. They have their own division. Minsung mentioned The Blossom Angels - they are too in our agency. They are a duo girls group and one of them is my cousin and another member is Haejin’s cousin.” added Eunhee with a smile, turning towards Jinyoung who somehow was processing everything.
He couldn’t even question anything because everything was so cool to him - and new too. He knew his bodyguard - now referred as his girlfriend, is working closely with the law enforcements.
He was more amazed that MMG Agency has other units other than his girlfriend’s units.
“It’s surprising isn’t it?” Eunhee questioned with a wide smile, examining Jinyoung’s expression.
All he could do was giving her a side hug, and a quick peck on the cheek.
“C’mon, let’s go grab our coffees.” mumbled Jinyoung before grabbing her wrists.
Apart of Jinyoung was curious of Eunhee’s ex boyfriend but another part of him was bothered by his ex boyfriend being in the same agency as her, what’s worst there are 9 guys in the agency who somehow have a connection with her - after seeing how they interacted with each other.
I don’t want to sound judgmental or elitist or something, but can writers please stop handing actors dialogues in English when they clearly bring down the performance of the actor?
One of the things that made The Family Man the best Indian web series (for me) was that it chose to stay true to the characters and demography it’s portraying. There are dialogues in Hindi, Tamil, Malyali, Kashmiri (with subtitles, of course) because that’s honest with the material.
It made sense for Made in Heaven to have plenty of English dialogues, because it was true to it’s characters who were majorly upper-class/rich families in Delhi.
Which is why CLACM bothered me so much (apart from it’s 100 times recycled plot line). They forced so many English dialogues for Nitya just to appeal to the younger audience. But those dialogues were distracting af and seemed to take a toll on Divyanka’s performance (DT is not at all a bad actress, she is good and speaks English fluently), because communicating in English and acting in English are two different things. DT’s effort was visible; it strained her dialogue delivery.
Jennifer was much better in Code M, because she was at ease with her dialogues. In any case, Code M wasn’t so much of an ~acting~ experience.
Coming to the latest in line, Inside Edge was terrible in this department. I hated, hated, hated, Vivek Oberoi’s dialogue delivery. Like the series isn’t great, we had seen everything else (my aunts and I) so we had no option, and went for this. Every character is playing a type in the series (only authentic characters were Suri and Prashant, the only good acting was also by them). But Dhawan was especially bad, not just the sketch but the performance as well. I don’t remember Vivek being so bad in Saathiya and Kurbaan (the only movies of his that I have watched properly, I guess). He was so bad, ugh, and I believe it was because of all those dialogues in English.
Please, can we stop pleasing the world, and stay true to our roots, our culture, our demography? Matlab international ya urban audience ke liye bana rahe ho that doesn’t mean that you cater to what you suppose are their likes and dislikes. Writers should write, would comes organically to them.
Good looking, boring first episode however and when the car talked I just got Knight Rider vibes. Probably not going to watch this, well at least today who knows in the future maybe.
Its no secret from the time the trailer launched, that Code M is inspired from Shaurya, which in turn was a rip-off of A Few Good Men. i don’t mind remakes or rip-offs as long as they are done well. Shaurya was done really well, Code M...not so much.
Most Alt shows are inspired by books, movies, or in some cases, Ekta’s already successful telly shows. No problem with that. My thing is that if Ekta wanted to remake something similar to Shaurya, she should have gone straight ahead with it. Not chickened out mid-way and taken a U-turn. But I guess a selfie with Modiji carries its own burden.
Throughout the first half, it almost seem like they are trying to couch the Muslim identity aspect of the show, even though that formed the crux of the storyline for the first four episodes. Of course, it can be seen subtlety, perhaps the writer did not want to underline that fact.
Then suddenly the writer takes this turn towards homosexuality and then moves on to Article 15. Then again for the final episode comes back to Shaurya.
A good drama may be centered around one character, but centering a show around one actor is always going to result in problems. The makers of the show were very clear that they are going to rely on Jennifer Winget’s popularity to sail the show.
From her recent interviews, Ekta seems pretty keen on her idea of “women-centric movies/webseries”, where women lead the show. She said so recently in the Film Companion Producer’s Adda. So, I’m guessing the germination of Code M was thus, first, let’s make a show led by a woman, second, let’s get a popular female actress to star in it, who has done single-lead shows in past. Jennifer Winget’s name leaps to mind, third, what kind of script can we give her? Here the writers eventually zeroed in on Shaurya, fourth, okay, but we can’t copy everything (especially in these hyper-nationalistic times), so let’s add other things caste, homosexuality, sexism at work toh hoga hi, and voila, we have a show ready.
The problem in this approach is a lack of integrity. Except for Monica’s character, none of the characters have any depth or good writing. Maybe Shakti and Gaurav in the last two episodes, but none otherwise. This was especially a tragedy for Rajat Kapoor, who is usually a dependable actor. I think the brief to him was to imitate Kay Kay Menon (Shaurya), which he tries but fails miserably. He is clumsy in his performance, and thus, unconvincing.
As a JW fan obviously, I liked the show. She was controlled, and effective. She is able to add the right amount of sarcasm and wit to the character, that would have otherwise become too rigid. I liked her performance and that I believe this was the whole purpose of the web series.
But coming back, objectively the show could have been better. If you’ve got actors like Rajat Kapoor and Seema B. give them something substantial and well-written to do, otherwise cast lesser actors.
On the whole, despite my criticism, its not a bad show. Its fast paced, engaging, the sets and camerawork is not the best, but adequate and smooth. The best part is that they’ve kept the romance to the minimum, and not done any faltu ka locha in that angle.
Haq Se is still the best Alt webseries, but Code M is not bad.
Yup, and I’m interested! Very A Few Good Men vibes (one of my absolute fave movies ever), and more refreshingly, doesn’t seem to be whitewashing the army and its shadiness. Will watch!
கோவை நகரின் அவிநாசி சாலையிலுள்ள ஒரு பிரபலமான மருத்துவமனையின் எதிர்புறம் அமைந்த ஶ்ரீஅன்னபூர்ணா உணவகத்தில் ஒரு சாப்பாட்டின் விலை ரூ.145. அருகிலுள்ள ஆனந்தாஸ் உணவகத்தில் ஒரு சாப்பாட்டின் விலை ரூ.115. ஆனந்தாஸிலே சாப்பிடலாம் என நண்பனுடன் அமர்ந்து சாப்பிட்ட வேளை.. மே 28 ஞாயிறன்று நண்பகலில் பெய்யத் தொடங்கிய மழை, மே 30 செவ்வாய்கிழமை வரை பெருமழையாக பெய்ததை கண்டது.
ஜியோ சினிமாஸில் ரிலீசான Code M வெப் சீரியஸில் 2019ம் ஆண்டு மே 30 வியாழன்று.. மேஜர் மோனிகாவின் அகவை முப்பது..(30). Code M முதல் பாகம் வெப் சீரியஸை காண Zee5 ஓடிடியை எழுநூறு ரூபாய் சந்தா செலுத்தி காணலாம். இந்திய நாட்டின் பிரதமர் நரேந்திர மோடி அவர்களின் பிறந்த தினமாக.. எழுநூறு ரூபாய் சந்தா செலுத்தி Zee5 ஓடிடியில் வெற்றிகரமாக உறுப்பினர் ஆனது.
இந்த ஆண்டின் மே 30 செவ்வாய்கிழமை முதலாக.. ஜியோ சினிமாஸில் Code M வெப் சீரியஸின் இரண்டாம் பாகத்தில்.. மேஜர் மோனிகாவின் மிரட்டலான நடிப்பை இலவசமாகவே கண்டு இரட்டிப்பு மகிழ்ச்சியானது.
