Disclaimer: this is a review, and as such it contains spoilers of the whole series. Please proceed to read at your own risk if you still plan on watching this show or if you haven’t finished it yet. You have been warned.

SF8
(에스에프에잇 / Eseuepeueit)
MyDramaList rating: 7.0/10

Hi y’all! A bit of a different layout this time as this series has quite a unique structure. It’s an anthology, which means that it consists of several independent episodes containing different individual stories. A bit like Black Mirror, if you will (it certainly reminded me of that). As the episodes are separated on the majority of my drama source websites, I’ve decided to write separate reviews for each episode as well. I first thought of combining all eight episodes into one large review, but as I was going through the episodes and my reviews I realized that would make an actual 🦖MONSTER🦖 review, so I decided to divide them up like this. It’s a method that I haven’t used before, so I’m pretty excited to try something different. In hindsight, it was basically like reviewing eight individual drama specials, similar to what I’ve done before with What Is The Ghost Doing? and If We Were a Season, but in this case I’m compiling them under one link as a collective series. Consider it a special drama review package, my Christmas present for you. 🤗

SF8 is a science fiction anthology series that consists of eight separate episodes which were all written and directed by different people. It tackles a wide variety of science fiction-related topics, and the stories are all set in near-future contexts. The episodes each have a duration of 40~60 minutes.
The anthology series was created through a collaboration of MBC, the Directors Guild of Korea and the OTT platform WAVVE. Five of the eight episodes are based on short stories from different writers.  

I have structured my reviews in the following order:

SF8: The Prayer

SF8: Manxin

SF8: Joan’s Galaxy

SF8: Blink

SF8: Baby It’s Over Outside

SF8: White Crow

SF8: Love Virtually

SF8: Empty Body

I discovered later that this order is different from the order that’s depicted on the episode posters. According to those, the order would be: The Prayer, Blink, Joan’s Galaxy, Manxin, White Crow, Love Virtually, Baby It’s Over Outside, Empty Body. I couldn’t find any source that clarified the correct watch order, but the order I followed seemed to correspond with the previews at the end of each episode. Who knows, when I find some time someday I might even try the other order to see if there’s any difference in narrative or something.

My expectation for this series was that it would be like a Korean version of Black Mirror, eight different stories set within different futuristic worlds that have started to depend on specific types of advanced technology that both benefits society and contributes to the downfall of human authenticity. I also wondered whether there’d be overlapping elements in the episodes, like the Easter eggs and references that are hidden throughout Black Mirror as well.
After finishing the series, I think it’s safe to say that it can definitely be defined as a Korean version of Black Mirror, and there are indeed some recurring elements throughout the episodes, although not in every single one. What I noticed was that the first half generally seemed to depict stories that took place in more distant (or at least more dystopian) futures than the second half, which might as well take place several years from now. Some episodes had much heavier emphasis on the advanced technology theme and the relationship between humans and machines, others were lighter and more comical and focussed more on character development.
I personally really like sci-fi, and I also like it when things get a bit darker and edgier, so overall I liked those kinds of episodes more. I just like how stories become a bit more raw as they convey messages that are applicable to our own modern-day societies as well. If I were to pinpoint what pulls me into these stories I’d probably have to say it’s the fact that sometimes I like being reminded of the risks that advanced technology can bring to the world. We’ve already started living in a world that’s become highly dependent on technology without even fully noticing the changes as they happened, and I think it’s a good thing some shows point out those elements, even as a warning. Because let’s be fair, it’s not all rose petals. There’s enough to look out for and many developments aren’t particularly ‘positive’ either in terms of ethical issues.

If I had to rank the episodes to my personal preference, the list would probably look something like this:

1. Baby It’s Over Outside
2. Joan’s Galaxy
3. Manxin
4. Blink
5. White Crow
6. Empty Body
7. The Prayer
8. Love Virtually

I really liked how every episode seemingly took place in a different kind of setting, even though there were recurring references to for example the android manufacturing company TRS. Some actors also appeared in more than one episode. Apart from that, there were many references to (classical) literature, philosophy and music in order to keep a balance between human traditions and history and the new scientific developments. I liked that there was diversity between the types of science fiction as well. The stories all had unique world settings, from dystopian to robot-dominated, app- or game-oriented to actual Armaggedon. While some episodes jumped out to me more than others, I was overall very impressed by the writing, the cinematography, the casting and the acting. Some stories were very straightforward and easy to follow, others held a lot of symbolism and references that I wasn’t always able to grasp or understand. But none of that took away from the fact that I really enjoyed watching the whole anthology. I ended up watching each episode at least twice because I found that I tended to overlook things the first time and I really wanted to describe everything I discovered in as much detail as possible in my reviews. Typically, I’d first watch an episode from beginning to end with no breaks, then when I felt like I hadn’t fully understood it the first time I’d watch it again to get a better picture (often in combination with some comments and reviews I could find) and finally I’d watch separate parts back as I was writing the review. In other words, I spent a whole lot of time on this review package but it was definitely worth it.

Let me address a couple of practical things before I conclude my final review of the year (I still can’t believe I actually managed to finish all eight reviews for this antholody within two weeks🙉).
First of all, I want to take a look at the poster of the collective series as depicted above and just go over the people depicted on there. Generally, it features two key characters from each episode.
We can see Gan Ho Joong and Sister Sabina from The Prayer, Seon Ho and Ga Ram from Manxin, Yi Oh and Jo An from Joan’s Galaxy, Ji Woo and Seo Nang from Blink, Nam Woo and Hye Hwa from Baby It’s Over Outside, Juno and Ms Shin from White Crow, Min Joon and Ji Won from Love Virtually and Hye Ra and A-796/Young In from Empty Body.

I also found another version of the poster which features some people that aren’t on the first one. We can see that on this poster, Jeong In is featured instead of Gan Ho Joong from The Prayer and Ah Young is featured instead of Juno from White Crow. I’m not trying to make a point about the posters or the featured characters or anything, but I just found it interesting to see in what way the characters of this anthology were depicted on the promotional posters. Each episode of course has its own poster, as you’ll be able to see when checking each review.
What I also found interesting was the anthology’s opening sequence, as it was basically a compilation of short clips that each referred to one of the episodes. At first I wasn’t completely sure about all of them, but I found a Director’s Cut clip on YouTube that clarifies which clip corresponds to which episode. Starting from the beginning, we first see the scene from The Prayer where Sister Sabina enters the TRS warehouse, then we see a cityscape that changes from light to dark with two lights in the sky that refers to Blink – I’m guessing the two lights are the AI lenses? -, the final scene from White Crow with the broken window and falling white feathers, the purifying/astronaut suit from Joan’s Galaxy (why the forest though?), the astrological symbols of the fortune-telling app from Manxin, the floating cyborg bodies in boxes from Empty Body, the couple with the bean pod-shaped temple patch refers to the app from Love Virtually, and the flickering TV on a barren wasteland with a falling meteorite in the background is from Baby It’s Over Outside.

To briefly elaborate on my rating above without spoiling too many details (please read the individual reviews for that) I ended up putting Baby It’s Over Outside first much to my own surprise. When I finished the episode for the first time I was rather disappointed by the anticlimax, but as I was diving into it deeper while writing my review I discovered that I actually found it incredibly genius. Of course it helps that time travel is one of my favorite tropes in existence, but I just generally thought it was really well written and I’ve never been so mindblown after such an incomplete storyline before. It still haunts me as I’m writing this. It’s the story that left me craving for more the most out of all episodes, which is why I decided to put it on top.
Joan’s Galaxy is a close second because it’s the only episode that sincerely touched me and even made me cry at the end. The depiction of friendship and genuine love this episode holds is both heartwarming and heartbreaking, and I found the way it was structured very clever as well.
Manxin comes in at third place because I genuinely liked the optimistic plot twist at the end. I thought it was cool how it depicted how an addiction to an app could have such serious consequences and lingering effects on people’s lives, and how people would have to get used to their own instincts again as soon as their gadgets fell away.
Blink was the first episode that really felt like a breather in-between a couple of quite dramatic stories. It was lighter and more comical in tone and had a more straightforward storyline so it was very easy to follow. I did like how it still left a certain tension when it came to the future of human-AI collaboration.
White Crow was definitely the scariest episode out of all of them, but I really liked the symbolism and references to Greek mythology. I also thought it was interesting how it predominantly focussed on the lead character’s psyche through an in-game psychological analysis of human trauma.
Empty Body was very somber in tone, but I found the underlying theme of dealing with grief and loss very powerful. It’s a very grim episode with little color and many silences, but it fitted really well within the anthology and I also thought it was a very fitting concluding episode, also because it tied back to several themes from earlier episodes.
The Prayer undoubtedly made a strong impression on me and I found the way inwhich the double-edged relationship between humans and robots was depicted very interesting and relatable. The only thing with this episode was that there were too many references and symbolisms that I wasn’t able to understand, and I also found the ending quite ambiguous.
Love Virtually was the only episode that I felt was kind of out of place in this anthology. In contrast to the other episodes, I felt like it lacked depth and the lead characters didn’t invoke any real sincerity for me. While I grew to sympathize with all the lead characters from the other episodes in one way or another, I found the portrayal of the main couple quite shallow and I just didn’t really get pulled into it. Still, it was enjoyable enough as a sort of pallet cleanser, especially coming after White Crow.

All in all, I’ve rated this series a 7/10 because I was generally impressed by it. I may have liked some episodes more than others, but there wasn’t a single story in there that I genuinely disliked or thought wasn’t good. The stories were brilliantly written and structured, and I also really loved the casting overall. It was nice to see new sides of actors I already knew and to get to know actors I hadn’t seen in anything before. I was able to make a lot of references between the episodes, but also to other shows and things I was reminded of. I always like it when I can think of similar themes and stories from other shows and sources while I’m writing reviews, so it really helped that the stories each provided so much room for discussion and interpretation.

And with that, I have finished my final review for 2023! I actually managed to watch 29 dramas this year, which is a new record! For next year, I’m actually going to try something new, and I thought it’d be nice to mention it here because it kind of ties in to the theme of this anthology: I’m going to have an app determine what I’ll watch next! It’s just an experiment and I might just decide to switch back to my original order, but I actually thought it would be nice to try out my new ‘Wheel of Fortune’ app, lol. That way, I will also not know in advance what’s next on my list and this will create an element of surprise for all of us.

For now, I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas, happy holidays and a very blessed 2024.

I’ll be back!🫡