#wave makers

Every exchange with a family member or coworker, every flashback, every snap decision she makes shows us the kind of woman Wenfang is. Dutiful, equipped with a strong moral compass and somewhat hot-headed. She is respected by her coworkers and her family, though the latter may be a little more unwilling to show it. Wave Makers also drops some heavy hints about Wenfang’s lesbian identity through an ever-present rainbow lanyard on her phone and the two cake-topper brides we see in the background of her room. (More on that later.)

Politics 365 Though expertly crafted, Episode 1 can sometimes feel like a lot. A proper introduction to Wenfang and her world would obviously require some understanding about the movers and shakers of Taiwan’s political circle. This information is sometimes is given to us at a decidedly breakneck pace.

There’s a scene where Chang Ya-ching, one of GZD’s newer hires, goes to work. In a frenetic assembly of shots that bombards us with a dizzying array of political ads in Taipei, we see President Sun Ling Hsien’s face plastered on a bus and a GZD ad on a digital billboard. Names of political parties and figures, along with their titles disappear and reappear with their corresponding subtitles in a flash.

Will we ever get to know these people? Will we need a spreadsheet or a flow-chart to keep track of all of their names and faces? I guess we’ll have to keep watching to find out.

LGBTQ people just be doing people things On Ya-ching’s bus, we’re treated to a scene of two men poring over a magazine write-up featuring aspiring Vice President Chao Chang-tse from the ruling MHD. They both gush about how handsome he is. It’s a short throwaway scene, but it showcases Wave Makers’ refreshing treatment of same-sex relationships. There’s no fanfare, no need for any preface, gay people are simply shown living their lives. Much later in the episode, we are also introduced to Julia, Wenfang’s wife, in a scene that recalls the cake-toppers we saw in Wenfang’s room earlier in the episode. They catch up at the end of their busy day over the phone. They banter easily, like all long-time couples do. (We also learn that they have a slightly nauseating habit of saying “Muack muack” to each other before they hang up.)

You get a rich internal world, you all get a rich internal worlds If Wave Makers had lesser writers, Episode 1 could easily devolve into a low-stakes, political crisis of the week drama. Fortunately, the writers of the show, Chien Li-ying and Yan Shi-ji, have created a world that seems as real and lived in as our own. Nearly every main character has an internal world that feels rich and multi-layered. Everyone has a past that has shaped the person they are today.

Wenfang herself is still recovering from various losses that happened before the events of Episode 1. In a chance encounter with an old acquaintance, we learn that she nearly got elected councilor but lost due to yet undetermined reasons. Her acquaintance blames her bad temper but Wenfang retorts with, “There’s a gross oversimplification. You weren’t there.”

Wave Makers masterfully repeats this process several times this episode. We get snapshots of a character’s history, scenes that hint at their character-defining turning points. There’s Ya-ching, who has a habit of breathlessly scouring the internet for nudes and checking up on aspiring Vice President Chao Chang-tse. Then there’s the potential VP-to-be’s daughter, Chao Jung-chih, who’s just received a message about her father’s supposed infidelity just as her parents initiate an embrace that is as passionless as it is free of affection. Are these plot points all rigged to blow? Only time will tell.

Conclusion