It never fails. Every time I watch a superhero series show or movie that’s not a product of Marvel — I swear, every time! — I come away with the same reaction, wishing that the entertainment giant behind wildly successful properties like The Avengers would step it up a notch and quit giving us TV shows that feel like they were crafted by a committee instead of by passionate artists. Secret Invasion? As much as it pains me to say it, given how much I love spy shows, that one was absolutely a dud. Moon Knight? Thumbs down. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier? Forgettable.
Let me tell you, instead, who’s doing this whole superhero thing right.
One great example is Netflix’s Ragnarok, which just released its third and final season and which basically tells the story of a pair of teenage brothers in Norway who learn they’re the reincarnated versions of Thor and Loki (although, I should add, Ragnarok dropped an extremely controversial twist on its fans at the end of the series finale — obviously, I’ll say no more than that). Needless to say, Marvel’s Thor movies are just forgettable silliness compared to this great Netflix drama.
Of course, there are certainly exceptions to my frustration with Marvel’s TV shows — WandaVision and Loki being two that buck the trend. But for a really good example of the best of the genre, I wish the powers that be at Marvel were paying attention to a new-ish Hulu series — a Korean drama titled, simply, Moving.
Hulu, for whatever reason, just sort of flings its non-English shows out into the ether and hopes someone manages to find them — which is a shame, because there are plenty on Hulu like Moving that amount to really great TV.
“Moving,” raves The Daily Beast, “is making waves for all the right reasons … with a take on superpowers that feels fresh, heartfelt, and keeps the weepy among us persistently dehydrated with how adorable it is.” And I couldn’t agree more.
The superheroes in Moving‘s multi-generational story aren’t larger-than-life. They’re not cape-wearing daredevils. They’re just … people, like everyone else, who happen to have a gift. They’re trying to survive, and also grappling with loneliness, in a world that needs them — and learning to lean on each other, while living according to their own terms.
The story: Back in the 90s, South Korea’s National Security Planning Agency set up a black ops team of elite operators who all have superpowers. They carry out classified missions and achieve the impossible in order to safeguard the country. One day, the team goes dark and scatters across the country, and that’s (supposedly) the end of that.
Decades later, a boy named Bongseok befriends a girl at school named Huisoo — both of whom, we come to find out, are extraordinary. He could float before he even learned to walk, while she survived a horrific car crash unscathed. They confide in each other, learn there are more people out there like them, and that children can inherit powers from their parents — all while a mysterious man starts murdering people across Seoul who have superpowers.
“It’s nice to meet you, monster … I’m a monster too.”
Based on the hugely popular webtoon of the same name, there is no reason whatsoever that this Hulu series should feel as under-the-radar as it does. The action scenes are as great as you’d expect from a Korean drama. The story is overly sweet at times, but it’s nothing too distracting. Moving takes some big swings, and the result is a satisfying and very impressive drama that’s better than almost anything you’ll see from Marvel over on Disney+ right now (take notes, guys).
