My brain is dead, but at least I had fun?
I get people loving it because it was entertaining, but damn this was extremely poorly written. Too many plot points were simply ridiculous and beyond unrealistic and too many things were just vaguely explained. Some scene progressions were questionable at best, distasteful at worst. One of the best examples - the way they switched from showing physical abuse to a silly rap battle made me so uncomfortable. Or when the witness starts with “she almost made me blind”, but they end the statement on “she asked me to buy her sanitary pads” as if that was the worst thing he had to deal with - is this a joke? Social satire? What is going on?I think the biggest flaw of the drama was Cha Woo In. She was stagnant throughout the whole show, and her character development happens before the story starts. She is presented as a basically flawless person - smart, strong, righteous, caring, determined. Anything she had to learn she already did, anything she had to improve she already did.
On the other hand, we’ve got some great development for the other characters, including many supporting ones. Stories that focused on admitting to your wrong doings, facing the consequences and learning from them. Lessons that show kindness can change a person, even if we think they can never improve. Surprisingly a lot of depth considering the over the top scenario.
The highlight of the drama? Everything Noh Tae Nam related. I would love to see a drama focused on him as the main character. This could be some great character study.
Production value was the standard high quality we get from tvN - nothing stood out either on the positive or negative side. The soundtrack was great, especially the opening song - Ha Hyun Woo has simply magical vocals.
Overall, it was fun, but painful for my brain.
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Too reliant on cheap tricks to really shine
If you want an easy laugh, an abundance of twists and don’t care too much about credibility or depth, this show may well suit you. But if you are looking for something more sophisticated, challenging and suspenseful it will disappoint.Okay let’s start with some of the good stuff before weighing in with the problems.
Such a cool sound track. I think this is my favourite soundtrack so far from all the dramas I’ve watched. The opening credits track really remind me of “The The”. The vocalist has a similar vocal style. Even the title font and colour felt like a graphic nod in that direction. Is this just me? Overall, the rest of the OST has got some great voices, with gritty undertones and pulsing instrumentals.
The military setting was a strong point, allowing for the investigation of a number of scenarios around the abuse of power and authority which offered a different slant from the more normal political or business environment. It examined some really good issues that had a lot of potential.
Do Bae Man was a quirky character well executed by Ahn Bo Hyun, although in the later stages I think he lacked subtlety. Jo Bo Ah as Cha Woo In also made a sound job of the action scenes. Oh Yeon Soo was less persuasive as their arch nemesis, Noh Hwa Young, for me she didn’t quite convince in the steely coldness that the role demanded. I thought that Kim Woo Seok gave the best performance as the damaged and unstable Noh Tae Nam and his screen time made for compulsive viewing.
This is a show of two halves. The first half is much lighter and quirkier than the second half. At first, there was a great mixture of the believable and the ridiculously unbelievable. I liked the way the writer managed to keep you clinging to the edge of credibility before tipping you over the edge. However, on a number of occasions, ridiculously unbelievable was not the writer’s intent and it really cast a shadow of stupidity and incompetence over the protagonists. That they would not properly protect vulnerable, mission-critical witnesses for instance. This is short-cut, sloppy plotting that requires manipulating the integrity of the characters. Of all writing faults, for me, this is the one that is absolutely unforgivable. Your characters are your connection to your audience, undermine them at your peril.
The one thing that this writer excels at is twists and there are some absolutely classic ones, along with a few oh-dear-whoops moments that completely cracked me up. The one at the end of Episode 7 was brilliant and showcased the vein of black humour running through this production.
However, a primary fault is its inability, particularly in the early stages to build sufficient tension. The blame can partially be laid at the door of cheap tricks to grab the attention, rather than systematically building suspense that carries the viewer with it. Particularly in the first half the writer allowed himself to get distracted by making a joke or trying to look cool, rather than making a point and again character integrity was compromised for the sake of a passing punchline.
Throughout there was all too frequent use of flash forwards and flash backs often at the start of an episode to try to peak interest. The fault might be laid at the writer’s door or maybe the director in the editing suite, but whoever did it the result is not persuasive. It’s a cheap way to get attention and smacks of covering up weak plot planning.
The mode of choice is to show the action and then tell the twist afterwards, as in a “gotcha”. This can be effective sometimes, but it is used too often here so that the viewer soon learns not to trust anything they are seeing. Instead of drawing the viewer in, it serves to alienate them, as though they are not part of the inner circle in the know. This technique is something to be used sparingly when it’s a huge twist that comes like a slap in the face. The cost for frequently using it is losing the building of suspense that the viewer does for themselves in anticipation of what might come.
Overall the plot lacked drive and coherence, jumping from scenario to scenario, with way too many plot threads. This meant that some of the serious issues aired in the second half of the drama were explored in less depth than they really deserved. Whereas more minor ones were left dangling for long periods only to be picked up again as a convenience. There was an awful lot to try and pack into the drama, a more in-depth exploration of either the corruption or the social issues would have made a full length drama and I felt that trying to do both meant that neither was fully done justice. The resulting shortage of time lead to a naive, fantasy land treatment of many of the complex issues, for instance, the development of a new weapon.
It’s a necessary skill for a writer to work out how to dump info without requiring the actors to do it for them in unrealistic and clumsy conversations. This is a skill not yet mastered by Yoon Hyun Ho and there are way too many pedestrian lines for the actors to say that slow the pace and muddy the credibility. Later on, there is a shortage of sophistication in the playing out of scenarios, including the legal ones, and the script is amateurish. That injuries on someone’s back from a beating could somehow be construed and accepted as self-harm is ludicrous.
The script was not helped by the lacklustre directing and the choices in the editing suite, which served only to disjoint further, rather than unify the disparate pieces of the plot.
The FL, Cha Woo In, says at the end of Episode 1 “A world where justice and truth have been reversed. Only from upside down can you see it properly.” Which has echoes of the twist in perspective of this writer’s previous offering, “Lawless Lawyer”. I like the sideways approach that he takes, he has good ideas and themes worthy to be explored, it’s just the execution of them that is sadly lacking.
What my rating means: 7+ A watchable drama, but nothing exceptional. Good enough to qualify for the race, but finished with the pack. The sort of thing that promises more than it delivers.
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Entertaining story and Characters
The headline summed it up.The changeover of the ML who was initially concerned with himself, his ambition and the money he can get in the beginning is typical but the character is interesting in that he's physically talented, smart, discerning and perceptive. He could read the room and the people he interacted with and immediately get on with them.
The FL is as capable and on par with the ML so it's fun to watch them get together when they realised they have the same goals. Their journey has its ups and downs but they overcame to triumph so it's satisfying to see them seal their relationship at the end.
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A fun experience
Before you start watching MPD, you have to be prepared for a wild ride. The drama is very fast-paced and action packed. There really wasn't one boring moment.The characters were well-written and roles were successfully executed by actors. The chemistry between main leads was great, the same goes to their colleagues in the office.
Beside the main plot, I especially liked the part with the Private Pyun, he was so sweet and chill until... until he wasn't. The development of his story was quite unexpected, to say the least.
The fascinating aspect of this drama was a bizzare form of love between Noh Tae Nam and Noh Hwa Young. I just couldn't grasp it. I couldn't figure out NHY's real feelings and didn't understand why NTN was still trying to build a relationship at the end.
Now, there's this little thing that was hilarious to me. Generally, I don't pay a lot of attention to music in dramas, unless it is annoying. In this one music was fitting and one song will be added to my playlist, but...
~ the song in the outro ~ holy moly I loved it! There was this really intense build-up and cool bass, and suddenly some guy starts singing like a crazy-scientist-type villain in kids cartoons. It was so funny to me
Extra things:
+ the little marching song when there was a funny situation
+ scenes from the future with no context at the beginning of some episodes
+ the happy and giggly tailor
+ the cut-off leg - what the hell was that
Some things I didn't enjoy that much:
- some parts were ended too abruptly because of too many things happening at the same time
- the fast-forward to one year later at the last 10 minutes - this just seems lazy
- the dialogue between FL and her late father - made me feel weird
- conclusion of the main leads' relationship - the kiss seemed like a formality to let us know that they are now dating - come on, they spent more time on Noh Tae Nam feeding the dogs
Although this drama definitely wasn't perfect, it was a really fun experience and it will be on my soon-to-be-rewatched list
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Refreshing
Maybe I've been watching way too many historical dramas about kings in disguise and ladies in disguise who are smart and read books and stuff, but I found this drama a genuine breath of fresh air. It is very fast-paced and there is virtually no romance and the main leads are generally likeable and they have a dog so it's all great. In all seriousness though, there are many tropes that are so often found in law dramas - the heroine is a petite boss lady who beats up gangs of cartoonish villains in her spare time and there is revenge for dead fathers and dead mothers and good always prevails against insurmountable odds - long story short, it's cliché-studded. It's almost a miracle that among all that there is a moving story with two-dimensional villans and a friendship and some truly profound moments, and yet here they are.The ending is stupidly rushed, that's true. I took half a star away for that.
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This drama got dog actor
Military Prosecutor Doberman 8/10-plot: whole drama goes around military crimes and military prosecutors.
Male lead is prosecutor which sold himself for money and does dirty work for others.
Female lead is newbie prosecutor which got into business for personal revenge.
Both got complicated past connected to military and each other.
Mystery is part of story, but not very big mystery they will let you know most of it early on. Since this drama is about law and military its focus will be how to show mystery to world.
Genre -Action, Military, Mystery, Law. Little bit of romance
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a criminal enquiry that will keep you hooked
the story is about the life and experience of a military prosecutor in the korean's army. the thing is I am not interested in army's stuffs and one of the things I love the most in korean's dramas is the absence of weapons (especially fire arms) and the controlled violence. but it won't be the case here. it's bearable but it's definitely here. you'll also get to see uniforms all the time, and all their rank's stuffs.despite all this, the story is really captivating. they managed to take unexpected turns many times, a lot of characters have unusual relations, or change their relations. you won't be able to wait to know what happens next. I also got to learn a lot about korean's military system, wich you hear a lot about in many dramas because they have two years of mandatory military service between their 18 and their 30. I wasn't aware that south koreans feel like they ARE in war with north korea, or that they could be anytime.
I didn't like the (none) chemistry between the 2 main characters, and their love story just felt odd. if the villains personality was well documented, it wasn't the case for the support roles. nonetheless I watched this drama in 4 days and enjoyed it. if you love weapons, action, a sprinkle of violence and army's stuffs, this will definitely make your day!
enjoy this with friends and beer after work. have fun!
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Exciting and action packed military crime drama with a very light romance element
9/10 is my rating. This is a 2022 South Korean military action drama with 16, 60 minute episodesFirst I will provide a synopsis then review
Synopsis
A tragic "accident" takes the lives of Do Bae-man's (Ahn Bo-hyun) parents as a young child and he is raised by his aunt. Not wanting anything to do with the military because of its association and reminder of his parents, he drops out of school in middle school which makes him ineligible for mandatory military service. He becomes a lawyer though and applies to many law firms. No-one is interested because of his educational history. Despair sets in and an offer he cannot refuse comes along from Yong Moon-goo (Kim Young-min) who tells him if he serves as a military prosecutor for five years he will hire him in his private law firm once he finishes the military stint. What Doberman (nickname) does not know is Young-min is closely associated with Major General Noh Hwa-young (Oh Yeon-soo) who is evil and corrupt. She is the first female to rise to such ranks and got there through nefarious means. Additionally she owns a defense company she acquired through her criminal activity. As Doberman approaches the end of his enlistment and prepares to join the private law firm, Cha Woo-in (Jo Bo-ah), joins his command. Some of her actions immediately capture Doberman's interest and he knows there is more to her than the by the book outstanding military prosecutor she portrays. It is not long before he discovers she was the heir to a conglomerate and leads a double life as "red wig woman." In her other persona, Woo-in seeks justice against corruption where acting outside of the law is the only way to capture the bad guys. Over time, Doberman comes to realize she has very personal reasons for going after Noh Hwa-young and that they have connections and reasons to work together.
Review
It is very exciting when the "red wig" lady takes down the bad guys. Her martial arts prowess is super hero level. Doberman is also a formidable force but the red wig lady is a level above him. If you like action and exciting fight scenes then this would be an appeal. The central conflict is very heavy on the good versus evil. And the lines between good and evil get blurred frequently. The characters were all very well developed and there wee some redemption arcs. There was a love triangle and a hear warming bromance. The back story on what happened in their past was very interesting. I enjoyed this show from start to finish and would highly recommend it. I read before I watched it not to be off put by the title. And I have to agree it is not some overly serious series with some by the book military prosecutor where you watch case after case of them towing the military line. The nickname doberman has more to do with how the main character's name sounds than a central part of his personality. It is mentioned and he does compare himself to attributes but he is a way more complex character than that and he is one of the characters on a redemption arc.
Spoilers*
There were some minor things that I felt could have been improved that kept this from being perfect to me. For me, they danced around the romance between Woo-in and Bae-man the entire series. It made sense early on that wasn't a focus but I was expecting more to develop with it after they were on the winning end of their conflict. But they literally wait until the fade out scene for them to kiss and you cannot even fully see their kiss as it is behind a tree and the camera both fades and moves out of the scene. If you are not a romantic or do not like series where romance is a central aspect, that would be a plus. As someone who enjoys the romance, it was disappointing that they waited that lone to show that they would be together then gave us so little of them as a couple. I was disappointed that Doberman was such a money driven prosecutor in the beginning. And there was no really good reason for it. He wasn't aware of what happened with his parents so it wasn't like well the whole system is corrupt so I might as well be. That wasn't the reason. The only reason seemed to be he quit school early to avoid becoming a soldier because of what happened to his parents and then it impacted his ability o get a job as a lawyer under normal conditions. Even so I could have seen him talking that offer he couldn't refuse but he didn't seem to have any moral issues with it. They tried to show he had remorse over that after she "changed" him but there was no basis for him to be like that in the beginning. Because he had no believable reason for being a corrupt prosecutor it did not make sense when he changed because of her. A big deal was made out of him learning about how his parents died and who was responsible but then, in the end, he did not have the moment with his parents where it was like "see I got them" like they had with Woo-in. It was like it bothered him just not overly so. His Aunt's relationship with his superior was cute and unexpected but the redemption arc for his superior was missing. They implied that his aunt changed him, and had him acting more like a "military prosecutor" but it was very brief and not well developed in that regard and it was hard to believe his moral to a fault aunt would have accepted a man that had any level of corruption. CEO Kang had feelings for Woo-in and was part of a very obvious love triangle but they did not dive into that at all which is a factor of them just not focusing much at all on the romance. I liked CEO Kang and felt like making him have enough wrong doing that he gave up his company in the end and just went off to start over was disappointing. Winning would have been like his company was restored. No Tae-Nam (Kim Woo-seok) had a huge redemption arc going from an evil character to one of the heroes of the day by taking down even his own mother to root out the evil. There was the whole story with Tae-nam and the bullying and abuse that was going on, on the front line. One of the characters was set up to make his military life hell but that became such a minor scene that the build up was disappointing. There was also sexual abuse occurring and a point was made of focusing on that as part of the "hell" going on in those front lines but it was never brought up again. It would have helped to explain why the soldier snapped. It was also an opportunity to show how Doberman had fully changed in that he could have showed some empathy for the soldier that snapped by allowing his mother to give him the glasses but he didn't and it was Woo-in who showed that glimmer of mercy. They could also have had his sentenced reduced and not pursued the death penalty in acknowledgement of the horrible abuse that soldier suffered. Life in prison seemed a more fitting sentence than death and it would have been more in line with being a moral prosecutor. Tae-nam mentioned several times how his Doberman was like his only family so for him to give his dog up, when he actually could have used the support for his Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) was out of character for him and unfortunate they did not use that as part of Tae-nam's redemption arc - that he never gave up on "family." He even volunteered to work with dogs so it would have been more logical he got his dog back. I wanted to see them more in action as military prosecutors the show was so focused on central conflict that there were no interesting side stories that gave that "slice of life" of being a military prosecutor. I am going to circle back though and say despite all of this it was a very good and exciting series with an interesting and unique premise.
#MilitaryProsecutorDoberman
#AhnBoHyun
#JoBoAh
#KimWooSeok
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I think this drama is beautifully written. Even the subplots were really engaging, I wasn't tempted to skip any episodes even if I sometimes feel like the villains are too powerful or too many to fight.ML is the male military prosecutor named Do Bae-man (hence the name Doberman), who loves money.
FL is also a military prosecutor, fiery and mysterious at the same time, who wants justice at all cost.
Both were victims of greedy and power hungry people. Both were hungry for justice. They found each, fought side by side as comrades and then as friends with the same cause.
I just wish for a bit more of romance. Not just the hint of romance they gave at the last minute of the show. Anyway; good story, good actors, good OST, sure rewatch.
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This was my first drama with Ahn Bo Hyun and I've definitely become a fan.My favorite thing was, I think, the message that you can mess up, even badly so, but in most cases - murder excluded, of course - you can turn your life around, make amends and become a good person in the end.
I really liked the fine balance between funny banter/kick-ass scenes and very serious issues, especially when it came to mistreatment in the military. The drama knew when to pull back, when not to try and be funny.
Another great thing was the unexpected pairing that was Doberman's boss and his cop aunt. They were hilarious. And so sweet at the same time. And the fact that Doberman was very, very happy for them was the cherry on top for me because I expected the drama to go down the usual route of the ML not wanting his aunt to be in a relationship with his boss. So, thank you for that.
I must say that the role of a soldier really fits Ahn Bo Hyun. He's just the right type to play a guy in a uniform, he has the perfect presence for that. I very much approve!
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