I finally finished Trunk after five days of trying to watch it. Lol, no, it's not long. Trunk is only eight episodes; I was just taking a long time to watch it.
In it's core, Trunk is a romance drama set in a murder mystery backdrop.
The beginning was a bit slow and it seems like the show itself was taking its time finding its bearing. It's started picking up about 3,4 episodes in and that's slow for a show that only has 8 episodes.
Typically I don't watch trailers and only read short summaries on Imdb. I would skim through the reviews if I felt unsure. For shows, unless it's playing on tv, half the time I'd start watching something if I found it intriguing based on comments or recommendations online. So generally, I don't depend too much on the promotional materials acting as a guide, telling us what to look forward to and how to view it. I wait for the shows to unfold on it's own.
The first episode felt ambiguous. It feels like eavesdropping on a conversation. The characters already know what's going on but it missed inviting the audience to come in. It missed telling the audience what we're supposed to do here. What are we supposed to expect? What questions should we be asking? It leaves the viewer grasping for context. In leaving these tasks to the audience, it takes a lot more to get invested in the story, potentially alienating casual viewers.
This distant, standoffish feel permeates the series, from the settings, to the acting, to the dialogue, seemingly echoing the mental state of the main characters. At times, it does feel like a choice of style over connecting with the viewers. Too cold, too guarded.
Push halfway through the series and you can finally see things pick up as the pieces start falling into place. I'd describe the romance to be little bit messy, a little petty, which is its charm. At first it did seem like there was uncertainty at how they wanted the romance to play out. I was initially annoyed at how it was starting to shape up like a destiny type of love story but they managed to make it to be significantly less cliche.
Overall, while the style dominates and the story feels a bit thin, I like it. While I would have wanted to have either the story or characters fleshed out more, it's a different approach to portraying the same old story about love.
