wow what a drama! literally a crossover between Vagabond, Chief Kim and The Man from Nowhere. i don't exaggerate this. the way the story and aggression escalated in the second half was totally unexpected and came as a really pleasant surprise. anything more than what i say would be a spoiler but suffice to say, the murder case is a trigger point to bring down the bad crooks involved in a huge corruption which is almost like what you get in Chief Kim. but here, you have Priest Kim who almost somehow, live a double life and a very badass one at that.

if you noticed my early comments on the first half of the drama, i actually thought there were so many things that i didn't like about the comedy. i thought ahh if only they'd lose the comedy bit it would make the drama less annoying.

but then when the dream team slowly came together, the slapstick comedy has reduced a lot, and the comedy part has gotten significantly better. there's almost a marked difference between the first half and the second half in terms of quality.

i thought carefully about how best to score this drama between 9.5 and a 10, and then i consider other dramas that i have rated a 9.5, and thought i liked this so much more overall; i could not deduct points from it even though i acknowledge its obvious flaws. IT'S REALLY THAT GOOD.

this drama is also one of those where ALL the actors i thought are perfectly cast for their respective roles. some characters can be annoying at first, but the way the writers skillfully threaded redemption arc for them while maintaining that sense of realism is just outstanding. Kim Nam Gil ouh my God what can i say about this gorgeous, very fine specimen of a man LOL. you're my new crush in town WTF my heart is weak. >.>

if you can ignore some of the more ineffective/lame comedy in the first half, i guarantee you are down for one of the best story/dream team written in kdramaland ever!