Magma ep 1

Hohum, yet another great first episode from WOWOW. It seems like a standard thing for them. They churn out doramas with good directing and acting with such regularity. Problem is the last few WOWOW doramas have all faded towards the end including Tsumi to Batsu. Still, I'd rather watch a WOWOW dorama that crashes and burns rather than the usual generic, cliched ridden jdorama that plays it safe and doesn't aspire to be great.

There are three layers to Magma's story. Firstly, it is about geothermal energy. After the 15 March 2011 quake, much attention is being drawn towards alternative forms of energy. It is becoming an important political platform and politicians and businessmen have much to gain from it. We also have people who would like the ensure the continuous use of nuclear energy.

The second layer is that it is about a company restructure. Japan Geothermal Development has gone bankrupt and was bought over by a foreign fund shades of Hegataka. Taeko (Ono Machiko) has been appointed by the fund to restructure the company and make something happen.

The third layer is a politician, Ryuzaki Daisuke (Ishiguro Ken) who is backing another geothermal company and has a vendetta against the former president of Japan Geothermal Development, Ando Koji (Tanihara Sousuke). You've got politics, real life issues of alternative energy and people losing jobs along with a strong female character who is going to be fighting with a small geothermal company against plenty of odds. Sounds like a recipe for a great dorama.

I'm not going to award 'must watch' status to any promising 1st episode anymore unless its so bloody awesome like the first episode of Hatsukoi or Shokuzai that it doesn't matter if the rest of the series goes downhill. Highly recommended and I'm keeping my fingers crossed it doesn't suffer the WOWOW curse. Potential to be a Soratobu Taiya.