Notes On "Loss Time Life"
I've been watching LOSS TIME LIFE recently, that suspense drama where heavenly referees appear at the end of someone's life and gives them additional time to make any last chance actions or decisions before they go on to meet their maker. Each episode is self-contained and stars a different actor or actress as the lead.
The first episode featured actor Eita as a roving photojournalist who gets shot down by the mob as he's investigating a case. He's given an additional 3+ hours to wrap up his life the way he'd like. When the time runs out, he's placed back in front of the bullets, and the show fades to black.
The second episode featured Koyama Keiichiro (at the time, it DID occur to me that this dude looked like a Johnny's guy, then Car verified that he was in fact a member of NEWS) as a green police inspector of the first day of work. He gets shot on the trail of a murder case that his senior has been trying to solve for years. With the extra time given him, he has a chance to make the arrest.
Now, up until this point, the drama series has been only so-so with me, though both episodes held my interest long enough, it just didn't have enough impact squeezed into one episode, and certainly not enough time to make me really "care" about the characters.
Then I saw episode three, "Sukiyaki" which dealt with a family mother (played by the wonderful TomoChika) whose sole purpose is to take care of her family, and on the day she's killed in a bicycle accident, has her mind set on getting some rare beef for the night's sukiyaki dinner. Now, I have to say that for the most part, this was a mostly comedic epsiode, as most shows that feature those "ladies that charge the supermarkets on sale days to battle other housewives like madmen" tend to be, but I have to say that somehow, this episode really GOT to me!
After the accident and she's realized that she has only a few hours left with her family, she tries to make their sukiyaki dinner a memorable one. While prepping for the meal, she realizes how "dependent" on her her two children and Husband are, so gently and thoughtfully, she tries to get them to be stronger for the inevitable time she won't be there to take care of them.
Scenes like tenderly teaching her daughter how to prepare the sukiyaki, reminiscing with her husband, or chit-chatting with her son, "You'll be in High School next Year, right? You can play soccer, ne?" just broke my heart. In the end after saying goodbye to her unknowing family, she is brought back to the site of her death, she walks towards the bicycle, and slowly steps into the shadows. SO SAD!
I should also mention that the ending song "Kimi Station" by Orange Range is a very fitting song for this drama. After watching the first two episodes, the song had already taken on a kind of melancholy feel to it, and when it went to credits in "Sukiyaki", MAN, I just. could. not. stop. crying!
Ahh, maybe I'm just getting old, but after this episode, I was, like, destroyed! Man, I haven't been that sad since I saw the opening scenes in Pixar's UP...and that's saying something!
(Wipes away tears) Now off to watch Episode 4 featuring none other than sweetie Ueno Juri!
