Ok wow. Black is a conundrum with equal parts things to love and equal parts things to hate. It is excellent at times but tragically bad at others and after you’re done with it, you’ll find yourself fully understanding where both the highly positive and negative views are coming from. Your final rating will simply depend on the aspect you choose to focus on. So here’s the spoiler-free break down of the good and bad that comes with the show:

The Bad:-

Bad Acting and Annoying ASF Characters:
1) Our Female Lead:Kang Ha Ram was your everyday damsel in distress/dumb but kind/self-sacrificing/self-blaming/bumbling-fumbling idiotic heroine who should’ve been as unmemorable as they come. And she really was that way as long as Go Ah Ra didn’t attempt to “act” but then somebody gave her the awful idea that she should “try and make an effort” and that’s when things went sour for me. Her acting was so monotonous and try-hard that at times I too wanted to stab my eyes with a metallic chopstick. Just at the slightest inclination of danger, she started this weird hyperventilating/gasping/whimpering regime and trust me, nobody wants to hear that kind of constant panting in the ear in, what is supposed to be, an emotionally intense scene. Simply put, it made me feel violence.

2) Kim Won Hae:Ladies and Gents, let me introduce you to the supporting ahjussi version of Lee Jong Suk (minus the looks ofc) He has the classic “same character, different drama” thing going on and that’s why what was supposed to be the role of a quirky and passionate police officer soon turned into the “same ol’ bs” for me. It didn’t help that I had watched two of his dramas (WYWS/CHIEF KIM) back to back (in which I really liked him) before Black and his acting chops (or lack thereof) were quite apparent to me .

3)The Second Male/Female Lead:The second female lead was a slightly updated version of Kang Ha Ram. Atleast, she had some reason for her constant hyperventilation. The poor woman was literally used as a plot device for the show (with zero character development) and spent the entirety of the drama getting abused/hit/humiliated/kidnapped and you know the routine…The second male lead was the male equivalent of the female and second female lead combined so you know there’ wasn’t much hope to begin with. There was equally bad acting done by all three of them to wrap their disastrously written characters with a sparkly bow on top.

4) Side Characters:There are a lot of side characters with straight up cringey acting which made me question my own existence. Like why? Their roles weren’t even hard. It was like watching a bad rehearsal instead of the actual thing.

-Pacing and Plot Development:
Black’s pacing is admittedly very messy. The drama starts being all over the place, it’s draggy and confusing and you almost want to drop it but then episode 5 kicks in. And somehow it turns from “meh” to “holy shit that’s awesome”. And then just when you’re ready to give it a 10, the drama reaches the 12th episode mark and things start to go downhill. The last couple of episodes were probably some of the most badly executed/poorly written/sappy and disappointing episodes I’ve had the displeasure of witnessing in a drama. The ending was also done in poor taste. Some of the reveals could’ve been brilliant but the show failed to pull it off, so much so, that when everything finally hit the fan, I was almost yawning like “So this what was all the hype was about?” Not impressed.

-Bullshit-O-Meter on Level 100:
Honestly, if you’re watching the show objectively you’ll find a lot of loopholes and things that don’t add up. Some scenes were flat-out ridiculous and laughably unbelievable. There’s a level of “illogical” I can put up with under the label of fantasy but when you just start bullshitting your way through things, just to wrap it all up, I’m sorry but I’m not buying. The amount of convenient plot devices in the last coupla episodes were tragic and the poor props used by the production team just made things more tacky.

The Good:-

Well Done Anti-Hero/Male Lead:
I simply adored Grim Reaper 444/Black. He was the life of the show and could often be seen carrying it on his sexy back. I actually think Song Seung Hoon pulled it all off quite brilliantly. I loved the way he went from this cold/blunt/almost selfish jerk to this kind hearted man. I loved everything about him- his hilarious antics, his cute attempts to adjust to the human world, the way the actor delivered his dialogues and his poignant expressions that actually made you “feel” so much for him. He pulled both his roles as the “clumsy police officer” and “the stoic Grim Reaper” perfectly. Even though his character took some hits because of the bad writing towards the end, they weren’t nearly big enough to downplay all his awesomeness. Plus those black suits were mighty good to him. I couldn’t get enough.

-Suspense/Mystery:
Even though the ending reveals and the wrap-up could’ve been much much better, the journey towards the revelations was excellent. There were some genuine thrilling moments and the show executed the suspense marvellously. I was dying to know what was going to happen at times and was clueless about how it was all going to end (except one of the big reveals that I had figured out quite early in the show). The way some things connected to each other in some of the individual cases had me gripping the edge of my old rusty futon. As a hardcore fan of the mystery genre, I really appreciated some of the twists and turns the story took. After a very long time, I had myself a show where I was genuinely interested in knowing the results. I was badly anticipating the “wow-wow-superwow moments” and even though the results disappointed me, I’d never for a moment take back the beautiful process.

-The Middle:
For me the middle of the show (ep 5-11) was definitely the best of it. There were some legit interesting cases that our main guys took over. The show pulled off the darkness and violence of every crime quite nicely and ended up being fairly impactful. In this phase of the show I was sure I was going to give it a solid 10; for the execution of these episodic stories was far better than the over-arching plot.

-Black’s two “Reaper Best Friends”:
Jo Jae Yun is my favorite supporting actor and I’ve loved him in all his roles. Joseon along with our adorable Rapper brought some much needed comedic relief and warmth to the show. Their interactions with Black made my day.

-The Killers:
A few of the killers/criminals in the show were just the right flavor of creeptastic.*Scarface, I’m looking at you.” This did wonders for the psychological aspect of the drama. You get a glimpse of how horrible some humans can be and it is ugly. I loved it.

-OST:
The OST was very appropriate and the soft vocals gave a very melancholic feel that was just right for the show. The instrumentals helped too.

-Leo:
Lmao ok so he was actually quite irrelevant and one-dimensional but still oh so cute. I’m  a girl. I have two eyes and two ovaries. I liked what I saw.

So anyway, that’s about it folks. That’s all you need to know about Black. Do I recommend it? Actually, yes.
If you can look over some things/don’t mind one and a half hour episodes/ are a fan of mystery and crime, then definitely give it a go. Chances are you will really enjoy, if not most, then at least some of it. Do I think it deserves to be one of the very top rated shows? Personally, no. Not by a long shot.

Best of luck!