A Superior Day (2022)

Eww! What is this?

This will be a short one.
You don't have to watch this drama, I mean it's always wise not to waste time. Not bcs it's not even slightly average, it's one of the worst that's ever been produced. I am describing the reasons throughout (without spoilers ofc), though only those who have watched will be able relate. But for several reasons, if you haven't started, drop this off, for it's not even worth.

Produced by IWill Media and created by Studio Dragon, "A Superior Day (우월한 하루) [2022]" is an OCN original drama (though it didn't feel like one at all). Written by Lee Ji Hyun and directed by Jo Nam Hyung, the show is a live-action adaptation of the popular webtoon of the same title, authored by Team Getname that include Kim Carnby (Sweet Home) and Aurani (Meloholic).

The story follows Lee Ho Chul (Jin Goo), a responsible fire fighter, who lives with his small family of wife and a daughter. One day his daughter gets kidnapped and soon follows the order from a stranger who wants Ho Chul to investigate and find out out the culprit of a serial killer. The chase leads him to unforeseen situations where he finds himself and his family entangled between the stranger and the culprit.

Detective Choi Jung Hye (Im Hwa Young) plays Ho Chul's wife while Lee Soo A (Cho Yu Ha) is their daughter. Ha Do Kwon plays Bae Tae Jin, an ex-convict whereas Kwon Shi Woo (Lee Wo Keun) is the family's next door neighbour. Some other familiar faces in the show are: Park Min Jung, Song Young Kyu, Na Chul and Lee Seo Joon.

I don't wanna talk about the plot development, for its of no use, but let me bcs everybody needs to know. This could have been a decent chase thriller but the plotline given, however, the screenplay writing was choppy and not up to scratch. It's so bad I can't even cite it as an average show. The introduction didn't create any firm impression but by the end of the 2nd episode, I was looking forward, but then, came the 3rd episode. It suddenly became off, which I took, as momentary inconsistency. However, it never improved further. The kidnapping and taking hostage stuff was so funny lmao, it felt like two table tennis players were tossing the ball against their opponents (I will start crying). It gets extremely frustrating by the 5th episode and then everything just feels duh. I finished it just for the sake of having a closure, ngl, I can't leave anything unfinished, even so I have to watch them at 3x. For this, I watched the 2nd half (5th-8th) at 2x and finished them in one go.

I have always emphasized that it's not always an easy task to turn a book/webtoon into live-action adaptation and it's been many debutants doing an amazing job has been evidenced. However, Kim Ji Hyun jakkanim failed to do so, quite miserably. There are more than dozen of flaws which are unarguably too many for a 8 episode show. The responses to the drama should be a lesson to them for bettering themselves.

Director Jo Nam Hyung PDnim, as well, needs to work more on his skills. The direction was shoddy and substandard for most of the parts. There seemed no space for improvement, nor the efforts to fix what was already been ruined in the initial demo.

What I liked...
There is not a single that that's likeable, so this is it.

What I didn't like...

# The biggest turn off about the show is it's plot development. What didn't feel any impressive in the pilot episode, does pick up interest in the next, but again, it immediately goes downhill midway through the ep 3, and there is no going back; it keeps getting worse worse with each further episode.

# A firefighter, a serial killer, a contract killer, police investigation, full-time chase: all these that might excite you, are elements often seen Kdramas, nevertheless, proper utilisation is what matters, which the show could not do at all.

# The reasoning and the deals made on it were laughable and stupid. The number of times people change their sides makes it nothing less than a dumpping bin.

# There is very little context to the story, telling which, the show should have been a decent 2 hours movie, provided how it turned crap just after 2 episodes. All that they do for the rest of the show is unasked exaggeration and uncontrollable dragging of the tiny plotline.

# The latter half is miserable as a story; the number of times they repeat 2 or 3 events indeed frustrates the viewers and the show ultimately feels useless.

# The acting was bad per se. Obviously, there are actors who are hugely talented, but what nourishes and shapes the acting they do for a particular character, is the direction and the understanding for the roled they are gonna play. I feel it's hugely the direction and editing that reflects in the under-standard acting of the actors. Jingoo has disappointed, and so has Lee Woo Keun (he couldn't play a proper...... not spoiling).

# The police investigation was as useless as a ruptured protection. I mean why make it a part of the show when there was zero significance. I admit, not all show has to have extensive investigation and stuffs but the cops over here were committing absurd deeds and have been portrayed as completely incapable. The team leader, the chief detective & the partner and the new detective aka Jung Hye who was expected to play a major role as thd ML's wife, all of them had zero contribution to the show.

# Why would they indicate another season at the end of the finale? I guess the webtoon has more but provided that this one is awful, another season should be avoided at any cost.

# Lastly, this doesn't even qualify as a chase thriller. I would rather sit at one place than running around idly, like the ML does here.

Final Remarks... Overally, A Superior Day is one of the worst Korean shows ever made with not a single factor to look forward to. So don't watch. Okay bye.

P. S. Was so frustrated after finishing, ended up writing it in 10 mins -_-

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This series should have never been created

I intended to write a typical review with the aspects of the drama that I enjoyed and the parts I disliked, but then I realised that there was not even one positive thing I could say about this series, not even one. If you enjoyed this drama, please don't read further.

This is probably one of the worst series I have watched in my life and in the thriller-mystery genre it may actually be the worst.

I will get straight to the point which is the plot. Imagine a chessboard where the players can move their pawns however they like, without considering the rules. That’s how this series is like. The writer uses the characters, which are equally badly written, however she likes without taking into consideration that there is something called logic. The genre of this series does not allow plot holes. It is not a drama where a pigeon and his friends can appear to save the day and you are fine with it, because the genre allows it. They are not even the types of plot holes that you can dismiss, because you are having a good time.

We all have watched kdramas where the police officers are portrayed as idiots and they don’t use their brain to think. Well, comparing to the characters in this series where everyone acts like they have only one brain cell left, those police officers should have won some medals for their exemplary behaviour.

The actors were mediocre, but to tell the truth, I am not sure if it is because they are not good actors or it’s because their characters were so badly written that they couldn’t do anything better than that. Even the OST has nothing to offer and it was one of the few times that the music felt so out of place.

This may have sounded a bit offensive, but since I felt like this series insulted my intelligence, I couldn’t write what I felt in a more positive way.

Do yourself a favour and forget about the existence of this series, because it shouldn’t have been made to begin with.

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