I think the story that stayed with me the most in this season was Choi Hyun Wook's character, Shin A Hwi. I swear I'm not being biased just because I love Hyun Wook. A Hwi's character is just so tragic. He's stuck in the worst placement of the army: the DMZ zone. I guess I never realized that the DMZ zone was the worst but it makes sense. They're so closed off from the rest of the country, they're basically at risk of danger 24/7, and because they're so closed off all bets are off within the military when it comes to the terrible bullying/abuse soldiers go through inside. We get introduced to Shin A Hwi and right off the bat he seems arrogant and tough and cold and he isn't scared to go head to head with Son Sukku's character, who is a high ranking Captain. We're also told the story from Son Sukku's perspective so it's already painting A Hwi to be the asshole bully who got an innocent man killed. But then we see these little glimpses crack through his tough demeanor where he says "you won't even believe me" or "you don't know what you're talking about." And finally he gets brutally beaten up by Son Sukku's character for no reason. A Hwi was just another kid (he has to be one of the younger soldiers) who was trying to keep his head down and finish this nightmare of an enlistment and he was the one being bullied. He understood the risks of his superior's careless actions and he dealt with the consequences. A Hwi saw a man blow up before his very eyes and as a result he was permanently scarred, both physically and mentally. The trauma of it being so horrible that his brain just flips on him and he starts acting like his abuser, possibly as a way to protect himself from other bullies. And yet, he's misunderstood and further abused because of Son Sukku's character's own misplaced anger. A Hwi also has to live with the fact that his abuser is portrayed as a hero who saved his life because the military wants to cover up its own mistakes/shortcomings.

Idk this is a lot but I just think Choi Hyun Wook did such an amazing job. He went head to head with Son Sukku where they verbally sparred and it was so exhilarating to watch because Sukku is literally 19 years older than Hyun Wook and is understood to be a very good/intimidating actor. But Hyun Wook held his own. And while he was portraying an angry man, he was able to leave the audience heartbroken. I think about his character being left in that place and I know it's just a character but I think of all the men his character represents and my heart aches for them.

"[Turtles] can live for so long, just taking things one step at a time, and at the end, when the turtle ends up close to Cardinal Lawrence, it beat all the odds to make it all the way there. So it's a reflection also on himself, not just on Benítez." -Carlos Diehz, who plays Cardinal Benítez, to Letterboxd on the significance of the Conclave turtle

Conclave (2024) dir. Edward Berger

CONCLAVE 2024 | dir. Edward Berger