ManaSura
>>Story (9):
The story is just so special and sooo well written, the slice-of-life, the medical, the romance, even the comedy....all aspects were given the utmost care to come out so convincing and at the same time emotionally attaching.
A big point that adds to a good story and script is the character developments, and Good Doctor didn't miss a character however small it was and gave each the motive and the chance to change so beautifully it simply gives you ENERGY and HOPE.
Also, all the characters even the side ones all had their of their own little stories going about, so it feels like they're all breathing life into the main big story and giving it more depth.
Why I gave it a 9 not a 10? It's because there was this side story line progressing all through the drama, at first it didn't really bother when we were still being introduced to the characters and their relation ships progressing, but later on with the drama it just felt like "I honestly don't give a da** about this stupid business war, it's a medical drama for God's Sake!!". It would have been a LOT better if they had settled the whole matter a bit earlier not in the final episode like they did, so we can concentrate on our main characters. But anyway, it's a GREAT story so I honestly feel bad giving it a 9.
>>Acting (10)
A definite OUTSTANDING!! if there we no other actors other than Joo Won it still deserves a firm 10!! It's never easy to bring out a mentally disabled person so convincingly, having to act like a little pure child but at the same time always showing proofs of being a real grown-up man deep inside. From the expressions to the smallest gestures to the posture and body moves, Joo Won was simply PERFECT!
All the other cast also delivered a very firm acting all along *thumbs up*
>>Music (9)
Great OST!! though there were rarely any instrumentals that stuck (I'm a bit into instrumentals rather than vocals) but there were some beautiful songs in this one, and their lyrics was always soooo fitting the story it always manages to put you in the right mood.
>>Re-watch Value (10)
I'm positive I'll be watching this one again, especially coz I can then skip the take-over business fight filler scenes and jump to my favorite scenes to my hearts content ^^
>>Overall (10)
Good Doctor deserves to be watched, deserves to be added on your favorites list too.
come to think of it, Good Doctor might as well be my first medical drama, and though sometimes I was a bit dizzy from all the complicated medical terms, and at times I was never quite sure what was wrong with the patient and what they were supposed to do, or what went wrong with the operation, but it never mattered. In a sense it felt refreshing, I think I'll be watching more medical dramas afterwards.
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A psychological crime thriller of many layers
Beyond Evil definitely deserves recognition as one of the best dramas depicting psychological crime detective thriller.With a dark gripping and highly thrilling plot to keep you at the edge of your seat.
the story first starts as a whodunit mystery of a 20 year old case that haunts our protagonist and essentially destroyed his family and life. and the story is written in a way that makes you doubt each character, if not for being the criminal, but for harboring evil and hiding a dark side in one way or the other. The first couple of episodes were a bit slow paced but serve a very important role in setting the stage, introducing the characters and the background story. The pace then steams up into a rollercoaster, you will be amazed at how each episode brings a new bomb of a revelation that leaves you shocked and intrigued. Starting halfway through the drama, I found myself constantly wondering "If all of this is revealed now so early on, how will the writer fill the rest of the drama?!", and each episode just proved me wrong. I will not say that the plot never loses steam, but let's just say that this drama left me feeling like peeling an onion. You think you've uncovered the truth, only to discover that you've only just hit the surface and a lot more is yet to unravel.
The story itself had many aspects which were all well balanced and perfectly written, it portrayed deep sorrow and hope, psychological pain and strength of character, vengeance and trust, frienship and enemosity. And the smart script, marvelous cinematography and direction helped bring out such a story in a gripping and truthful way (the story takes place in an undeveloped rural area, and I appreciated how the lighting especially in dark scenes was kept to a minimun to convey both the natural and mental feeling of darkness)
Above all the acting was one of the strongest points to the drama, thanks to solid performances by the two male leads, and their friends from the police force. In particular Shin Ha Kyun delievered a stellar almost-flawless performance, his acting was perfect shifting seamlessly from sad to mysterious to crazy to scary to evil to cute. He at times showed how broken and unstable he was, other times he was strong with a unwaveringsebse of justice, he was vengeful and other times forgiving. He had the best smile to send shivers down someone's spine. His acting alone could have carried the whole drama, but our second lead Yeo Jin Goo also delivered a very strong and believable performance that helped the viewer care for the two male leads' dinamic and how their relationship will evolve.
The music was very good with a lot of great tracks both instrumental and vocal that all fitted the atmosphere of the plot.
This is a strong recommendation to all crime/detective drama fans out there. Do not be fooled or put off by the slow paced plot the first couple if episodes, for you will be soon thrown down a dark pit of mystery and evil.
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Despite always following a fixed pattern, the episodes were never boring on the contrary this pattern leads one to expect always the same flow of events which makes any change however slight it might be a surprise in itself. That's what makes the whole idea behind the repeating a fixed pattern a Plus.
The Story(8): The drama is an adaptation of a series of mystery novels, but according to what I've read on Wikipedia, there are numerous differences between the drama's screenplay and the novel, like the fact that in the novel Enomoto is a thief who makes use of his vast knowledge of keys and locks to help Aoto who is a lawyer solve murder cases that take place in a seemingly locked room believed to be impossible to break through. The contradiction of being a thief but yet helping solve criminal cases, is explained by Enomoto's argument that although he steals he definitely can not tolerate murder.
Another difference, is the creation of a character that doesn't exist in the series, this character is none other than Serizawa who plays the role of Aoto's boss and the owner of the law firm.
The Drama basically focuses on the crimes and solving the mystery, so the character & their background development is found to be rather slow. this and the fact I found some of the cases and the basis on which they were solved a bit far-fetched are the main reasons why the story didn't get more than an 8.
The Cast/Acting (10): was by far the biggest merit in this drama, the choice of the leads in particular was spectacular and they all played their roles wonderfully(it's said that the producer/scripwriter had Ohno in mind while preparing for the show because he fitted the image he had of Enomoto Kei's character). Ohno's poker face and robotic moves were AWESOME, and the best part of it were the moments when you catch a glimpse of facial muscle movement that shows how excited or moved he was. I also loved the chemistry between the leads (the three of them) and although this drama has no romance, I still enjoyed the "Enomoto X Aoto" couple a lot
The Music (10) I enjoyed the OST in this show a lot, the music was utterly unique, fitted the scenes very well, and I also liked how the BGM was used to give shape to the pattern that I explained earlier, i.e. the same pieces were always played at the same parts of the pattern. I also LOVED Arashi's Face Down and the lyrics which perfectly fitted the show, it might just be coz I'm a big Arashi fan myself ^^
Though I feel I'll mostly be rewatching this show or some parts of it sometime soon, I only gave it a (9) not a (10) for rewatch value because I'm sure I'll still be fast forwarding and looking for my favorite scenes only and not watching the whole thing all over again. But I can never tell, coz I've just finished it and I rarely rewatch a whole drama through right after I finished watching it for the first time though I HAVE done that before :D
This is one drama that I definitely enjoyed.
I won't be spoiling anything, but the finale is BY FAR the BEST episode in the show so please if you haven't given this show a try or have started it and for some reason decided to drop it, at least try watching the last two episodes (since the 10th episode is a to-be-continued)
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As every one knows this is a drama-remake of a very popular and high grossing Korean Movie of the same title, of course the story is a whole lot different than the original movie's of course because we're talking about a 20-episodes-long drama compared to a 2-hour-movie.
This Drama had potential, the story's layout is quite interesting by most standards, bit of a "Mr & Mr's Smith" with all the spy Vs Spy missions and the romantic line involved causing the dilemma. But despite all that it would be fair to say that this drama didn't make the utmost use of all these weapons it had at hand, and sent most of them down the drain.
The first few episodes (to be specific until they got assigned to the NIS) weren't interesting enough to keep me hooked, but as an old K-Drama fan I know how most Korean dramas are a bit hard to warm up to at the beginning. To be honest with you, one of the main reasons why I couldn't get myself to warm up to the show quickly was my annoyance at the female lead's choice. I don't want to keep talking about how old she looks comparing to Joo Won (he should just call her "Noona" lol)coz I guess many people must have already killed this issue discussing, but also her acting wasn't that great and to add insult to injury the character she played had so many nasty points to it, in a nutshell it was mostly hard to sympathize with anything she said or did.
The romance developed quite fast, too fast that it made the watcher go all anticipating as to just how much we'll be getting busy through out the rest of the drama, and no argue we REALLY did get busy!! but not with the romantic or comedy plot, but rather with the plot that the writer just simply sucked at; "The Spy Game"
If this drama was a spoof for spy movies it would have made sense, I mean why the hell did nothing those NIS agents did that made any sense whatsoever. Let's say that this is a Rom-Com in the first place and that it shouldn't be judged on the whole spy line. OK even if I manage to agree with that, let's be honest, the whole idea behind the drama is that they are both agents who fall in love but have to keep hiding their identities from each other, so ultimately the two lines; romance and spy, have to end up getting tangled. And this is where it all felt so frustrating.
I enjoyed the first half of the drama, to say before the Baddies made their first appearance. I enjoyed it because it was full of cuteness and funny silliness not the type that frustrates you though. At the beginning I could to a certain extent feel empathy towards Seo-Won's character and even sometimes feel bad for her, but later the more the plot developed and all cards got revealed, her insistence on not sharing everything with him and acting all mighty made me just hate her and wish he would just do the same.
I know I said the plot evolving around the NIS' missions and spy work should not be my main point in reviewing this drama but I still can't hold back some of my comments concerning that one.
The whole baddie guys' revenge was stupid and badly written so I on purpose tried my best to ignore it so even if some parts didn't make any sense i wouldn't linger and wonder a lot.
The NIS itself and all of it's agents felt like a bunch of dummies playing 007 and not even managing to make it close. The mere idea that they get to cover such missions after only one year of training (which I bet involved basically drinking and dancing and gambling classes) felt so unbelievable. But I must congratulate the writer on one thing, the agents did seem like a bunch of rookies who just didn't have any idea what they were supposed to be doing.
Starting with the supposedly strongest and most experienced of them all; Do-Ha with all his spilling and tripping and pink-panther-sneaking during a mission! to Sun-Mi who fires a gun at headquarters by mistake, and instead of feeling any remorse just goes butterfly on her crush covering her!! (she should have been told to hand her resignation just there) To Seo-Won who can't even drive properly but can still snowboard and use a sniper even while shaking and sobbing!!!
Even the baddies most of the time seemed they just had no idea what they were doing, going around in circles not even reaching an agreement on the meaning of taking revenge.
Let all these plot-holes aside and concentrate on the romantic story line and you might enjoy the drama more (like I can say I managed to).
Putting the action aside and concentrating on the characters and their relations, you will still notice some irritating flaws with the characters:
(as I previously mentioned) Seo-Won with her meaningless wish that Gil-Ro believes her although she does absolutely nothing to gain his trust but rather act all the more suspicious.
Do-Ha, who says that he can even do bad things if it's for the good of his country but later on with the drama ends up conniving a crime that of course has nothing to do with anyone's good.
Sun-Mi, was by far the most childish character and should have never been an agent in the first place. So although I really liked her tomboyish character at the beginning I ended up hating her bad-loser clinging puppy personality.
The big guys (Won-Suk and Director Oh) with all their "if anyone finds about what we did we will be dead" bullshi*
(Needless to say) the Bad guys!!!!!!!!!!!! GO TO HELL!!!
So the writer nearly sucked badly at the spy parts which covered most of the drama, but somehow I still managed to enjoy this one, but only for the laughs. So the serious emotional parts I watched with one eye closed, and the action spy parts I watched looking elsewhere. lol
So why did I give it 7 and not less? it's because I loved the silly/funny/cute comedy scenes a lot, and also found some heartwarming plots to cling to (like Gil-Ro and father conflict).
one last advice, if you're going to watch this one through, better skip seo-won's parents' scenes, these are simply a waste of time and energy.
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This drama is unfortunately one of the biggest disappointments I have had in a Korean drama in years, including the ones I chose to drop midway. I have to admit I decided to watch it ever since news came out of the casting, because as a fan of both seasons of Stranger, I have come to admire Cho Seung-Woo greatly, and was excited for his next project, and for this reason solely, I didn't hesitate to watch, and for the same reason I kept pushing through no matter how frustrated I became with the drama.
Sisyphus is a scifi futuristic drama years in the making, boasts a high production cost, and casts a great ensemble, so what went wrong you ask?
while the production budget aided in creating hollywood-worthy looking scenery thanks to great CGI, and insuring rich cinematography, making the drama come out sleak and eyecatching, but alas the core element of any drama was deeply flawed; the story.
It was a drama whose creators may have well utilized a big production budget, but ended up focusing more on the visuals, and losing focus on what matters the most which is the story, and the cohesiveness of the science fiction plot.
While I admit the premise of the drama is original and cool (time travelling back in time to prevent a war and save the country), the story at its core turned to be a mess and plagued with plot holes, incohesive sequences, unexplained rules, and above all the science behind time travelling if any provided was illogical to say the least.
It goes without saying that any scifi media that discusses time travelling or time bending elements in many cases can prove to be a bit complicated and even sometimes dizzying to watch. But a neatly weaved plot and well written script that establishes a set of cohesive rules to the science behind it, are the key to help the viewer follow along. But in Sisyphus' case, especially during the second half of the drama when the plot finally started shifting from all the meaningless cat-and-mouse-like action phase and started to focus more on the time travelling aspect and the mission to change the past, the scenario in many times ended up creating more questions than it did provide answers, and even when it did provide answers they came too late, were sometimes unconvincing and other times downright illogical.
First, let's discuss the directing and general pace of the drama.
As I mentioned earlier the first half heavily leaned towards elaborate action, featuring a lot of car chases, gun fights etc. Although most of those (especially the post-apocalyptic future scenes) were craftly made and it showed the huge budget and amount of dedication put into creating them, I found myself feeling detached and not interested most of the time. The cinematography was top notch with many of the action sequences relying on sophisticated camera angles (using drones etc) fast moving shots, and wirework, but unfortunately like many other things did in this drama prove, too much of a good thing is not always to the better.
Proof to that, is how the writers time and again chose to assign precious airtime to slow-building action sequences in the future arc, that do little to the story's development other than maybe shedding a bit of light on how the Female Lead survived the harsh distopian post-war Seoul and came to learn to fend for herself, which many times unfortunately felt dragging and a distraction from the present day arc, and created problems in the pacing of the drama.
Or how, for the sake of creating catchy frames and thrilling action scenes, they chose to make everyone fire live ammunition at each other, even though the plot stresses on the fact that one side needs the other alive at all costs....and don't forget to mention that during such shootouts the leads rarely ever get hit, and if they do it is just a graze or a small cut to the arm, but the enemy always falls dead!
Second issue that made the show difficult to enjoy was the characterization, especially that of the antagonists, which was to put it mildly a total train wreck.
First off, the arch nemesis; Sigma, who was supposed to be the ultimate evil criminal mastermind who causes the demise of a whole nation, but who in reality ended up feeling like a silly cutout villain straight out of a comic book. No matter how I found him silly and laughable I always wished the writers had in store a strong background story to explain his grand agenda, but alas it was all just a childish and immature loser's grudge, soooo frustrating.
Also the Control bureau were just so incompetent and dumb watching them was a cringe-inducing ordeal that eventually required major adjustments to my villain-worthy standards.
Now to the main issue at hand; the story.
To end up watching a Scifi drama with half your brain occupied trying to wrap your head around what the hell anyone; both protagonists and antagonists alike; is trying to achieve (with all the gun fights and assassinations you no longer understand if they wanted him dead or alive?), or how a villain's warnings from a physical point of view make no sense whatsoever (kill me and my minions no longer look after your brother who is in limbo thanks to me existing?!!!!) , then It is not an issue of a sophisticated or smart plot, it is simply an issue of an ill-written plot.
There was a constant sense of incompleteness about everything regarding the plot, starting from the simplest and most basic of points (what was Quantam & Time intially selling that made it such a high stock company with a CEO fearured on the cover of Forbes?) to more pressing questions (what circumstances turned Sigma & the control bureau into allies and why?) To most fundamental matters on which the ending depended (If the uploader is never created shouldn't all time travellers from the future vanish simultaneously and not in such a convenient delayed fashion? Also wouldn't travelling back in time a couple of mere minutes ago to save oneself create an unescapable time loop?) And on and on...
The more you watch, the more you find yourself rolling your eyes at the caricaturish villains, and the more interactions you see between the leads and the villain, the more you scratch your head in wonder is it meet or the writers who do not fully comprehend the concept of time travel and the consequences of changing the past on the future?
All in all, Sisyphus may have been a fun to watch in terms of visuals and production, but the more you dive deeper the more you will get disappointed. I started to seriously wonder why such stars chose to take on such a project, and if they had received the full script before shooting started?
This is a drama that gives proof to the old adage, Not all that glitters is Gold.
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It is simply a drama which has compelled me to reevaluate my standards, to reconsider a lot of the 9 and 10 ratings that I have been so easily giving to other dramas.
Some may consider my review a bit exaggerated or over-the-top, but to me this sensational drama, was a huge surprise on many levels. It’s a drama that has sucked me in and left a very deep impression on me just after watching the first episode, I was determined to watch the whole thing and confident I would love every second of it. And so it was.
On paper this drama may seem like it does not differ from many other detective and law dramas, but with a mystery woven with utmost precision, a thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat, and a highly engaging battle for justice, all aided by a perfect cast and direction, this drama was anything but usual.
The drama's title was perfectly fitting to its premise, it delivers an intricate web of mystery and doubts, that just as advertised, anyone can be guilty. Watching this drama, you will constantly find yourself doubting a certain character, then trusting it, only to later harbor even stronger doubts toward him/her. The story was so smartly written, that it can so easily trick the smartest of viewers, sending fake signals; seemingly flags pointing to a certain character, only to later turn out to be a complete red-herring.
But one of the main strong points of this drama was, the perfectly executed characterization aided by the cast’s very strong and solid performance. Most of the characters, particularly the main ones, were multi-layered, with complicated backgrounds, some even deeply messed up. You could hardly label anyone “Protagonist” or “antagonist”, you find yourself liking and at the same time harboring doubts towards the same character. The characters are so believable and realistic, that however much their actions may seem unethical or outrageous, you still mysteriously relate to them, feel for them, and even sometimes love them.
But what really made such beautifully written story, script and characterization shine was the acting. There was not a single easy character to portray here, all thanks to the concept of the detective mystery; where you never know who’s not to trust and who’s to trust. The story also relied on a highly sophisticated script, which made use of a lot of blank sequences of silence with minimum or no monologues, but which still served to convey a ton of information and emotions.
All such aspects, required high acting techniques, where even the slightest look, change of expression or even lack of one, can make all the difference.
This is a drama that have time and again surprised me. Not because of all the obvious strong points that I mentioned above, but because it redefined even the small things, like what defines two characters’ chemistry, or what counts as a strong cliffhanger. Does chemistry have to be of a romantic type, involving gestures, confessions and skin-ship? Or is there another type of chemistry; a mental and emotional one, where two minds and souls so mysteriously and effortlessly relate, and share feelings of deep trust and respect. Such are the chemistries that do not require a major progress on a romantic level to attract and excite a viewer, but where a small gesture of courtesy, or an expression of high-regard, can leave you more satisfied than any other stomach butterflies.
With a very unique story, and an even more unique set of characters and events, this drama to me felt like I was rediscovering just how much perfect K-Dramas can be. Watching it, I felt so impressed, I sometimes thought how blessed I am to have been a K-Drama fan. I kept saying to myself, Hollywood should really learn one thing or two from Korean thrillers and detective dramas, feelings which made me all the more delighted to hear that it was actually airing on Netflix! It also posed as a reassurance, that this drama is receiving the attention and recognition it is worthy of.
I normally do not ship for sequels however much I love a drama (like Signal or Misaeng), but I found myself strongly wishing they’d consider producing a sequel for Stranger, preferably with the same cast. Keeping my fingers crossed that news circulating of an intention for a sequel is not a hoax.
Normally, I’d give different recommendations to different genre fans, like for instance if a certain drama lacks romance or comedy aspects, I’d advice a Rom-Com fan to approach with caution. But in this drama’s case, I send my strongest recommendations to every one! Including newcomers to K-Drama land. By all means, give the first episode I try and you won’t regret what happens afterwards.
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At first I wasn't warmed up to the idea that is this drama, for mostly the exact same reasons why everybody was looking forward to it and dying to watch it.
To rely on a popular drama and sell another one that's neither a sequel/prequel, remake or either a spin-off, by advertising it has a similar feel and story to it + share the same director and main female lead, hmmm to me that doesn't make any sense.
But I put all that aside and gave the first episode a try. Good thing I only did that after the drama had finished airing completely, for boy! was I hooked.
I loved the bad boy lead! loved the quirky comedy, the past & present story lines intermingling, but above all simply enjoyed watching the characters interactions to pieces. I found Lee MIn Ho (strangely) delivering a very strong performance, and (as expected) Jun Ji-Hyun who was just perfect as a cute, curious & lovable mermaid. I liked the story too and how it unfolded, especially appreciated that the method used to build and maintain a connection between the two leads was believable and not so reeking of drama-script-made-up encounters and unbelievable coincidences like many Kdramas fall prey of.
I also loved the overall pace of the drama, and rarely felt bored with the story (though sometimes I was bored with some characters portrayal or interactions esp. the villains). Also appreciated that the Joseon story unfolded early on, leaving well-deserved space to focus on the present seoul story.
I have to admit that certain characters' past actions portrayal felt a bit rushed and insufficiently accounted for, in a way that really didn't help flesh them out and invest me in their drama (the father). Some other characters' actions were a bit ill-written, and seemed a bit contradicting with the eventual portrayal of their strong and independent personality that it was difficult to relate to them let alone sympathize with (the mother). But still, the drama somehow succeeded in getting me invested in not only the fantasy and romance which are the main two lines of the drama, but also the family drama and friendship, I was crying in scenes involving both the two above mentioned characters so I can't say that my deeper considerations of their not-free-of-flaws script, or the gripes I have against how they were written, prevented me from enjoying the angst and drama intended overall.
Liked the music, the camerawork and direction. And LOVED the scenario.
Just admitting that after I had completed the drama that I was compelled to rewatch the thing over again (though of course with a lot of fast-forwarding and skipping all the scenes that don't involve the leads) is enough proof how I enjoyed it.
I totally recommend this drama to anyone who enjoys a bit of fantasy mixed up with comedy, and a little spice of drama and thriller.
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the acting performed by most of the leads (especially Kimura and Shibasaki) was simply a waste for this drama. Definitely a waste of talent and effort on such a meaninglessly stupid drama.
I gave it a 3 and not less, coz I really liked Matsushima Reiji's character which felt kind of fresh and found his love story with Andou Asahi to be super cute, and well you can add to that the fact that the drama made me laugh a lot at it's ridiculousness....period. I honestly can't seem to think of anything else that I found positive about this whole drama.
I guess they were trying to deliver a very profound and deep message to the human world or something, but they just used the wrong method, it all felt so hackneyed in particular the final episodes, plus the obvious fact that similar ideas have already been used over and over again in previous media all over the world. Add to that the story which was soooo full of holes big enough an elephant could fit through, it made me kind of surprised coz it was against my previously perceived image that Japanese particularly excel in sci-fi and horror. Seemed after all I was wrong to generalize that idea, and need to accept the fact that not everyone can write a sci-fi story that feels convincing and above that execute it in a manner that saves it from seeming ridiculous and laughable.
I can't say it had been a waste of time watching this, coz after watching I had the great satisfaction of taking one drama off my PTW list, but I'M POSITIVE I won't be EVER watching this drama again, EVER! (no need to worry, I already deleted the thing from my hard drive "waste of space")
I'm not used to writing negative reviews this bluntly, so sorry if I may have offended anyone in anyway, it's all just my personal opinion, no ill feelings please.
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I'll get to the point. The movie was as expected and publicized a BIG HIT. I loved the touching story, not just the romantic side of it but the humane part as well. In other words, not just the relationships between the two main leads but also the ones between the family members (especially the mother and Choel-Soo's) But of course the main attraction was how Sun-Ee's feeling towards Choel-Soo gradually develop from "Disgust" to "Curiosity" to "friendship" and finally to "Love".
The acting....well there's nothing to say above the rating I gave. more than anything Song Joong-Ki did a MARVELOUS job expressing all the character's complex emotions through his eyes (I've noticed through watching Innocent Man that he particularly excels in that field) To think that such a new and rarely played character came out so nicely expressed without the use of a single word!! Park Bo-young also did a wonderful job there's not one scene where you felt her acting was not good enough.
I have some minor objections mostly regarding the action scenes especially the CG used in the transformation scenes was simply horrible, a bit of an insult to the Korean Cinema industry.
I have yet to watch the director's cut with the alternative ending, looking forward to it.
It's a movie that has laughs, smiles, tears and even sobbing. If you're the type that easily cries watching movies and dramas, don't forget to get packed with some tissues, and if you're not the type that cries easily, I think you should also keep some at hand just in case ;-)
So, now that decent (but not official) English subs are out, anyone who had been looking forward to watching this, I suggest you do now fast.
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A fast paced bullet train of a revenge drama, that almost ended in a train-wreck
[DISCLAIMER] MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!!!READ ONLY IF YOU HAVE FINISHED WATCHING THE DRAMA
I binge watched the whole drama in 3 days. With a unique and fast paced plot, it felt like riding a roller coaster. The whole cast did a marvelous job, especially SJK as the grandson and the magnificent LSM as the grandfather. That duo was everything for me, how their relationship progressed from suspicion, to enemosity, to camaraderie, to trust was a work of art.
Now I wish to discuss the main issue at hand, which is the plot itself.
While the fast paced first episode pulled me in, the fantasy element in ep2 initially put me off (my mistake for not checking out the original work's synopsis first and not taking the title literally), but eventually we come to accept the fact that our hero HW had died and was reborn (for some reason midway) as DJ; the grandson of the soonyang family, the owners of the corporation he had previously worked at as HW. We also soon learn that the person he was reborn as, the youngest grandson DJ, had been dead and long forgotten by the time we saw HW working at Soonyang in 2022.
Although at a loss as to why and how he was reborn as DJ (just as much as we are), he accepts the truth (too swiftly tbh) and soon finds a purpose in this newfound life he was bestowed; he decides to take revenge on the Soonyang family that were behind his murder as HW, while also trying to salvage his poor family and save his mother from her untimely death.
First, He has to fight his way towards success and power in order to establish a place for himself in the family that he was initially not considered a part of (his father is an illegitimate son of the founder, who married an actress against his father's wishes and got disowned). He uses his knowledge of future events and the mental capabilities and expertise he acquired in his previous life, to one-by-one beat down all the evil and corrupt members of the Soonyang family, in order to reach his ultimate goal of becoming the chairman of the company, a promise disguised as a warning that he had made early on to his grandfather and the founder of soonyang.
So, in essence the story at first seems to depict an elaborate, smart and meticulously plotted revenge. He chooses to squash the business of the evil and corrupt members of his family, whom he knows one of which had orchestrated (in the future to come) his murder as HW and most probably had been behind DJ's death.
We are also shown clearly, that despite DJ's ability to utilize his knowledge of the future to change certain outcomes in the present, it is clearly established that when it comes to matters of life and death, there is nothing he can do, and no matter how he manages to change details in people's lives, ones who were destined to perish will ultimately perish (like HW's mother). So by this point, any rational viewer would realize that DJ as well is bound to meet his demise sooner or later. And despite an initial failed attempt at his life, I for one knew I would be disappointed if the drama ended with him alive.
So for that reason, I was not shocked or angry like others seem to have been when the writers opted to show him getting killed. On the contrary, that was one thing that made sense to me (much more than the mechanics behind his reincarnation into DJ or his shifting back to HW did). In all honesty, somewhere in my brain that was already exercising a major amount of suspension of logic, I somehow had the feeling that the drama will choose to use the card of "HW hadn't died", and I foresaw the possibilites that he might as well die as DJ as destined to happen, and return to his previous/future self as HW.
And that was exactly how it unfolded, but with a major plot twist. A twist that helped answer a question that must have been on everyone's minds since ep 1; namely the unrevealed background story of how a impoverished high school graduate managed to climb his way up to become a team manager and the trusted right hand man of the chairman of a large corporation, it managed to provide a convincing albeit sad, dark and unexpected answer. That exact same twist, served also as a kind of hint as to the important question that we as viewers had chosen to push to the back of our minds all through the drama; none other than why he was reborn as DJ in the first place. The "how" is impossible and futile to try to wrap your head around at that point, but "why" he, HW was reliving his life as DJ, was a question that certainly needed answering.
In that sense, the twist that was revealed at the end of ep 15 although shocking and somewhat disappointing made absolute sense, and neatly tied all the loose ends. HW was partly responsible for DJ's demise. We had also been shown at that point brief flashbacks of HW's miserable life at the time, paving the way to our understanding of how he was pushed into silence and obedience, and why he chose to do that against his conscience in order to secure himself a stable income that would help pull him and his family out of misery and poverty, living for 20 years serving his masters, the same people that he always had known were capable of the most heinous of deeds, without questioning their orders or judging it. One can say that he kind of brainwashed himself into becoming their ever-so loyal servant and slave.
Having a rego at life as DJ, he thought, his purpose lied in taking revenge. But he ultimately found out that it was all for repentance. He needed to right the wrongs that were done to him, both as HW and DJ, and hold accountable the people responsible. He was reborn as DJ to gain insight into the person he had witnessed getting killed with his own eyes and chose instead to erase all memory of his existence and untimely death. He was reborn as DJ, to learn about the machinations of the chaebol family he once served, to achieve the things he had long craved for; a higher education and a stable family life. But although he was focused and determined to prove himself and make the most out of the miracle that is him being reborn as a chaebol family's youngest grandson, he must have known that no matter how much he tried, he could never alter his destiny.
Logistically and logically speaking, him switching back to HW at first felt ridiculous. How come a week-long coma could enable someone to experience 17 years worth of life? But, seeing the events that unfolded, how HW chose to give justice to DJ's wrongful murder, while also ridding his grandfather's legacy, that is soonyang, of the corrupt and evil family that almost but all destroyed it. But, how the writers chose to achieve that feat was somewhat laughable imo (check the finale's recorded phone call, a conspirator for murder who forgets to end a call, and address his criminal mastermind boss who comically names himself for the audience LOL), and although that kind of dampened my enthusiasm in the plot that up to that point was neatly and tightly woven for the most part, setting my frustration aside and focusing on the outcome, that is HW took revenge for himself both as HW and DJ and that although DJ was tragically killed by his kin, his death wasn't totally in vain, soonyang was rid of the poisonous venom that was choking it.
On a side note:
I learned after watching the final episode, that the original web novel has a totally different ending, what could be considered a conventional happy ending. Some people might be enraged as to why the writer of the drama chose to change the ending in such a drastic way instead of simply adapting the same ending. I can not speak with certainty since I haven't read the original, but as a rule, I am of the firm belief that if a story that has a fantasy or sci-fi element chooses to establish certain terms and codes, it MUST stick to it. And since Reborn Rich had chosen to (rightly) establish that altering people's death is out of the question, it only makes sense that they stick to their rule, however much it might upset the fans.
Watching the final couple of episodes, I had a suggestion to how differently the story could have been written. they could have instead chosen to adopt a parallel universe scenario (one which was almost alluded to near the end with a side to side shot of HW and DJ) ie, that two peoples' souls swapped into each other in two different universes. My suggestion although a bit confusing would have been then that they make another actor play the role of HW after our lead was reborn as DJ, and when he returned as HW they show DJ as the same actor in flashbacks. I know Some might laugh at this, but look me in the eye and tell me you were not bothered by the fact that no one recognized HW's face as that of DJ. *side eye*
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A story that had a smart concept but dumb execution.
As you can see from my rating this review will not be of the popular opinion.First I would like to state that I had started defendant when utnhad just finished airing, but then I put it on hold since then, only to decide to rewatch it 3 years later simply because I had all the episodes downloaded so I thought it would be a waste not to. I do not regret having watched it, maybe because it helped me rethink the concept of rewatching or watching an older drama however popular it may have been , especially after watching many dramas of the same genre that have come out since.
I was hating a lot of things with this drama's story but deep inside I knew it was mostly because my standards as a viewer had become high thanks to many other solid dramas of the same genres, whether it be law, crime, prison, or revenge. I have watched shows that share similar genres like stranger (forest of secrets), signal, prison's playbook, and I hear your voice, dramas that are by no means masterpieces but which enjoyed strongly woven stories that above all showed respect to the viewers' intelligence and boasted solid and believable character development for both protagonists and antagonists.
First let me discuss where this drama scored points...the acting. Ji sung and full stop! Solid performances by all, especially uhm kijoon, but ji sung's alone would have been more than an enough to still make me give acting such a high score. He was able to capture the raw emotions and pain of our hero, you felt for him from start to finish. As for our antagonist, while uhm kijoon performance was to point from start to finish I had my reserves as to the relatability of his character as a villain, which was due to the writing and by no means due to a problem on his part.
Now to where this drama did poorly; the story.
This is in a nutshell a story that had a smart concept but dumb execution.
Let me put it this way, If a drama forces its viewers to have to exercise a fair amount of suspension of disbelief in order to watch, guessing and questioning plot holes and filling in missing gaps every now and then, then the story writing is simply failing right there. End of story.
First off, this story relied on too many conveniencies to work, ranging from the trivial to the huge. To give just a few examples, the brother in law who works as a correctional officer, the mother of the villain who has dementia so can't cause too much trouble recognizing the identity swap, the wife of the good twin who was previously dating the evil twin and also has a son from (ie can be blackmailed into silence.), The DA in charge being a friend of the suspect who happened to visit his house minutes before the murder (in turn becoming an accomplice in the cover up).
The story also stretched the chaebol power card too far (which was in itself one of the biggest conveniencies of all). They show us the cheabol who not only has connections in multiple sovereign bodies such as the police, the DA and the prison, but almost has total control over some corrupt high ups, with such corruption reaching extreme heights at some points (forging fake lab results, stealing confidential case files from the NFS and killing off suspects in prosecution custody etc). The writer must know that the more his villain has to use his connections to cover up his tracks, the more he is creating loose ends and leaving behind even more evidence. Which is exactly what happened in the final epidode where everything unraveled....so miraculously if I may say (to be discussed later).
Another thing that bothered me with the story was that a big portion of the drama felt like a cat and mouse scenario, where the good side takes a step forward, the bad side takes couple of steps back. This while in no means an uncommon tool in this genre, here was done in a very obvious (like minho declaring at one point that it was a race to find the daughter), repitive and following an almost never changing pattern. it became kind of frustrating to be watching the good side plotting a way out and only awaiting the bad side to squash their attempts with a simple wave of the hand (through a call to the high ups or another hit job or both). And for God's sake how easy is it to run a car over with the same huge orange dump truck and get away with it each and every time!!!!!
Worst thing of all was the finale.
In terms of making fun of the viewers' intelligence, those last two episodes were by far the worst. It felt like the writer thought to himself "well they stuck this far, didn't they" and decided to go crazy with the story.
Not only does multiple sides who had sided with the villain for so long decide all of a sudden to come clean (from secretary to wife to corrupt DA friend), but also the smart and conniving villain does a bunch of unbelievably dumb stuff such as meeting with his minion, who is being charged with murder, inside the DA office after interrogation and straight out telling him where he hid a murder weapon!! I was screaming to the screen "haven't you ever heard of voice recorders?!" Worse, the supposedly smart manipulative villain who in an attempt to keep an accomplice under control had been blackmailing him with a recording, turns out that recording included his voice admitting to murder all along!!!! If you have to resort to sudden and inexplicable change of character whether it be intelligence-wise or conscience-wise then you are doing something wrong, Mrs writer.
To sum it up..this drama had a good premise and marvelous cast, but the execution of the story and the details felt sometimes sloppy, sometimes rushed, and other times downright dumb. The pace also felt awkward rushing through the important parts especially at the begining and towards the end, but going super slow and thorough at other parts to the point it felt draggy.
__________________________
The above is my review of the drama and below are some of the points that bothered me the most while watching this drama.
only read if you have watched this drama recently or have an excellent memory of the plot :D
Any discussions regarding regarding these points will be greatly appreciated ;)
1) First and most importantly why did minho choose such a complicated method that involves framing jung woo of murdering his family instead of just killing him. If he had killed him on the same night he would no prevented him from holding the press conference where he had planned to reveal minho's true identity. And please do not try to convince me that he was working by the concept of an eye for an eye, and that he wanted him to feel the loss of a family member just like he did when he was forced to kill his brother!! Not buying it because most surely minho must have suspected jung woo to be receiving help from his colleagues who most surely will continue digging into the case even after jungwoo was incarcerated.
2) so min ho was surprised to learn that the bag that was supposed to be carrying hayeon's body was found empty, and we see a flashback where they explain that sungyu's job was to put hayeon's body inside the bag (or did I get this part wrong?). my question is how did that happen, if minho's plan was to kill hayeon and dispose of her body how come jung woo ended up with an empty bag? Or was minho angry not at the bag being empty but that it was found in the first place?! I didn't quite understand that.
3) how did jung woo know at the crime scene that minho's blood was on the knife he used to stab ji soo?!!! We know he is a DA and all but sure he has no forensic lab at his house. And also how cine minho didn't notice he had a cut through hus gloves, That was too much of a stretch by the script writer imo. Also for crying out loud, what kind of shi**y CSI job did they do that they can't even make a proper comparison between the weapon found at the crime scene and the wounds inflicted on the victim.
4) during the prosecutors investigation it was mentioned that the CCTV footage didn't show anyone other than the apartments' tenants going in and out of the building. we know that the prosecutor friend jung hyuk covered up the fact that he visited the apartment on the day of the murder by deleting the cctv footage. But later on he mentions to minho that the cctv showed him exiting the building after the murder. Minho surely had the dep. Head at the DA's office ready to alter any evidence that connects him to the crime scene, so how come the DA in charge was able to access the footage in the first place.
5) concerning the sequence of events at the night of the murder, if jung woo took the empty bag in his car and buried it, How did he return to the house and get arrested there when we know he left the car with the knife hidden inside at a parking lot near where he burried the bag. Did he take a ride home?! And if he had done just that, what kind of a sloppy investigation was it that they never bothered searching for the missing vehicle.
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It was certainly a fun watch, not just for the think-instigating interesting premise, the lively and endearing characters, the perfectly balanced thriller and humor, but above all for the story of how one man learned the meaning of trust and what it means to be a part of a team, not just work colleagues but essentially comrades of a common goal and purpose in life. What it means to embrace oneself, one’s past, one’s shortcomings and weakness, essentially one’s need to lean and depend on others.
Knowing this drama was based upon a popular English series that I have never watched before, I obviously decided not to read anything about the original and to simply venture on this one with a fresh perspective. So my review will not be discussing how this came short or excelled its original, rather I will be discussing what I liked and did not like about it as a separate drama.
Story (8.5/10)
The story of a police officer who wakes up after an accident to find himself mysteriously 30 years in the past also as a police officer. The premise wholly depends on the constant questioning, of whether the lead is in a coma and what he’s experiencing is a kind of a dream/hallucination, or if he’s actually time-travelled to the past….or something else more ominous.
There is a main recurring case that offsets the story, we are introduced to it in 2018 and continues into the past, but the main drama follows a one-case-an-episode format for the most part. I have noticed some people did not appreciate that and would rather have had the main case in more focus rather than just popping up every now and then, but I personally found most of the cases rather interesting and were in my point of view a necessity as a catalyst for the main characters’ relationship development, without which the drama would have lost most of its meaning.
Another point I noticed people bothered with, was the suddenness of the time travel in the first episode. I agree to just a certain extent. I found The drastic and sudden swap, where the character just awakes in a moment to find himself transported to the past, was totally understandable, because it served in making the viewer as surprised and bewildered as much as the character itself. However I do believe that the first episode was somewhat lacking in paving the base of the story and more importantly introducing the main lead’s character. We are shown who he is as a police officer, but not as a human-being. When we get to explore his character further during the past arc, we are never quite sure if the traits he display (being mostly timid and depressed for example) are out of amazement and frustration at his current situation or just who he is. I would have appreciated if we could have had a more intensive glimpse of him and his life prior to the time-travel, not just the fragments that show that when it comes to his work he only believes in himself and the evidence and nothing else.
Of course, one cannot discuss this drama’s story without mentioning the ending! I would rather not discuss that in details out of fear of any spoilers, but I will just say that the ending here was an open one, and by open I don’t mean just pointing to a sequel (it most certainly keeps that option available) but rather than that the questions we are constantly having all through the drama along with the main lead are not clearly answered. The final two episodes helped in showing the viewer all the possible options to the answer and providing hints to support each, in other words, we are dealt several cards to pick the one out that suits our own interpretation.
As much as that type of endings seems cool and unique, I have to admit I never found them as my cup of tea. I would swallow a certain degree of ambiguity as to what happens next (a la Signal), but open as in “now you will never know for certain what that drama was all about” kind of way, felt a bit a pinch too much for my taste. The ending is one of the main reasons I score the story 8.5 and not higher, as I have said I am reviewing this drama separately from its original that I know had the same ending. (if you have watched and felt like you wanted a closure like I did, you can check the original series’ sequel “Ashes to Ashes”’s ending for a theory).
The Acting: (9.5/10)
Very strong performances from all the cast with no exceptions. In particular and as usual, another stellar performance by Jung Kyung Ho <3
Music (9/10)
Rewatch Value (9/10)
It was definitely a smartly written and exquisitely shot drama, interesting in terms of story and characters. I might give it a go again in the future.
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The story had it's strong and original points, and it also had its normal and not-so original parts.
But all in all, as a medical drama script, this one balanced all the aspects nicely, in a way that saved it from going through the muddy waters that is hospital business wars and all that unrelated areas that many good medical K-Dramas delve too deep into, and end up boring us most of the time (I am looking at you Good Doctor)
As I mentioned the general feel of the dialogue was witty and sharp, a bit quick during the medical scenes, but just within the norm. But the best part was the bickering and fight scenes between the main characters.
The medical part was certainly above average, and although it mainly concerned one branch of medicine ie. surgery, it still showed a wide array of cases and although I am no medical student and my knowledge in the field is null, I could sense that the depiction of the medical proceedings were mostly accurate and delivered in a very professional manner.
The only grope I had with the story, was how the main female lead's PTSD was depicted. At the beginning they sure played it in a way that made it seem quite serious, but then it just kind of magically gets cured with no much as a mention or a proper closure. You are left to satisfy yourself with the explanation that her love overcame her trauma, I guess?
The main OTP as I mentioned had great chemistry and the romance was very well done, it was not the main story line but that's exactly how I prefer it.
As for the characters, I won't be discussing all in detail, I will rather focus on the character that was the first to give me a WOW factor.
One of the first thoughts I had watching the first episode, was "WOW! I love this guy's boldness!!". I won't be going into details lest I reveal any spoilers (it is the first episode but still) but watching the main male lead interact with the female lead right from the beginning, was quite unique and bold, to me it felt like a fresh breeze among all the common self-denials and bashfulness in accepting and acting upon one's emotions that plagues most of K-Drama leads. You don't just give credit to the guy's guts, but you just fall in love with him right then.
The characters other than the main trio (Teacher Kim and the OTP) sometimes felt 2 dimensional, but I couldn't say that that was necessarily a bad thing, because some other dramas try to create separate plot-lines for the side characters, but end up either slowing up the overall pace of the drama, or boring the viewers out with mediocre characters/stories.....or come to think of it in some rare cases, a side-character's plot-line end up being more interesting than the main OTP's and you are secretly kind of watching just to see how it will work ouy, which let's be honest is not a good sign at all! (I am looking at you One more happy ending)
My least favorite character and the thing that felt like one of the weakest points of this drama, was the villain.
At first, when you learn the background story of his animosity with teacher Kim and how their rivalry started, you are convinced of where he's coming from and that there is a long history of clashing between them. But then the more the story develops and the more the villain sharpens his claws and acts out all his villain-y antiques, you start to question the whole character and its motives. Like is it a conflict of interests, is it sheer hatred, is it jealousy, is it pure evil?? You just don't know and kind of don't care any longer.
Another frustration I had with this drama (the direction in particular) was that at many times the details of a certain medical case at hand could be very interesting, and I could be at the edge of my seat waiting to see how the emergency will work out, but then what hinders the whole thing from feeling believable and genuine, is none other than the human/doctors interactions during the procedure, which was at many times packed with overly dramatic acting.
to elaborate more, there is a part where the doctors are arranging for a major operation, and they are struggling to reduce the time required for the said operation as much as possible, like trading even minutes in order to shorten the time the patient is put under anesthesia. But during the actual OP, they find time to waste on looong expressions ranging from staring, glaring, smiling ,clapping and many others.
When you're a viewer of a drama, and you're like distracted from enjoying the thrill in a scene by the characters' facial expressions, then I think it is a sign that the DP/actor should have kept it a notch down.
To sum up, this drama like any other drama is far from flawless but was still a very fun and interesting watch, that I would totally recommend especially to medical drama fans like myself.
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From the drama's kickoff, you become attracted to the original premise, the fast paced plot and the sleek execution. An Italian mafia family's consigliere of Korean origin heads back to Korea to retrieve a vault full of gold.
The first few episodes while a little slow paced served well to introduce the characters and pave the ground for the story, and during that phase the comedy was just to the right level and served its purpose, to show the sudden shift in the hero's life and the jarring difference between his background in Italy and what he finds himself thrown into in Korea. I was laughing with tears at vincenzo's demise upon arriving at Korea, and enjoyed the comedic relief in the simple interactions with the side characters and even simple moments like our mighty hero begging a pigeon to shut up so that he can go to sleep, only to have the pigeon raid his bedroom.
The start of the drama was craftly done to show the gap between our hero's true identity and past, and how his move to a different environment surrounded with simple common people affected his demeanour, state of mind and even somehow his priorities. The more he dived deeper into the lives and struggles of the simple plaza tenants, the more he drifted a little further from his dark mafia background, though eventually he relied on his mafia expertise but this time for nobler causes.
As I said, earlier on in the show the comedy served a purpose and was to a degree well-balanced, giving the right amount at the right time. For example, I was LOLing at the scenes where the undercover NIS agent with a Mafia-mania spying on Vincenzo always seemed to see things from an angle that made him mistake vicenzo for an angel in disguise, a mafia with a huge soul and a good conscience.
But the more the drama progressed, the more I guess the writers wanted to stay true to their forte or something, and slapstick comedy started to hit in huge doses. I have no problem with mixing comedy with other genres however serious and heavy they might be, but the right formula depends on the type, amount and timing of the said comedy. In Vincenzo's case, the comedy scenes were sometimes so sudden and ridiculous they kind of felt like a hit in the face especially if they came right after a tragic and intense scene, it left me sometimes with an urge to rub my eyes in disbelief. Comedic relief is one thing, but it should never be so sudden and so slapstick that it totally takes you out of the mood of the drama and pulls you away from the story. (Side mention, the excessive PPL as usual was extra distractive. ugh!!!!)
Putting the comedy aside, like any thriller the main plot relies on a series of confrontations, of attacks and counterattacks. The antagonists plot a scheme, and the protagonist hits back. This format is expected, but unfortunately in vincenzo's case it eventually caused a certain sense of repititiveness. The more the plot progressed, and the more complicated and elaborate the attacks became, the more it relied on unexpected twists and fake cliffhangers, where it essentially became a loope of "the bad guys plot against vincenzo > a cliffhanger shows vincenzo in a pinch > flashbacks in the first few minutes of the following episode show that vincenzo was informed or expected the bad guy's plot and was well prepared and that the whole thing was a ruse and he comes out without bearing even one scratch". While the first few times it felt cool and smart, the more such gotcha moments increased the more it started to feel annoying, repetitive and strangely and ironically predictive. Having our all-mighty anti-hero always conquering and ending up having the upper hand does feel good, but having it happen in that manner most of the time could end up dampening the suspence and killing the thrill, as if the writers start a huge fire only to dump water on it after mere seconds before it even reached a point of being thrilling. You're left watching not worried whether or not he will come out fine, but rather wondering what he has up his sleeves this time.
The acting overall takes a 7, a special shoutout goes to Taecyon for his marvelous performance, hands down the strongest out of all the cast. SJK as usual gave a very solid performance, though at times a little monotone, which I think was mostly due to the writing than anything. The FL's performance was my least favourite among the the main cast (more on that later), first drama for her and I am no fan.
In terms of characters;
First, Vincenzo was a very well written anti-hero and SJK was perfect in the role. He was charismatic, cunning, smart, mysterious and strong-willed, The perfect villain to fight off villains, though to be honest I would have preferred it if the writers had toned down his invincibility level a bit, he doesn't have to lose the fight, but at least show him with a more serious injury than a little scratch every once and a while you know. the background story of his birth and upbringing while very brief, still helped flesh out his character and give it more depth. In terms of character development, under layers and layers of endless charisma and coollness, SJK was able to portray the slighest hints of change of heart nothing major to call development though, and eventually the drama stuck to the point and chose no major redemption, which personally I found more convincing and believable.
The FL on the other hand I had mixed emotions concerning her. I started off hating her and not because of how intially she was ambivalent to justice and rude to her father, but simply because her whole personna felt obnoxious and her nonchalant attitude was sometimes over the top and annoying. The actress' comedy portrayal felt somewhat theatrical and ridiculous, she was supposed to be a smart, strong and competent lawyer, but she sometimes came out as naïve, noisy and spoilt brat. There were moments early in the drama where I genuinely doubted if the actress was doing an impersonation of Jun Ji Hyun in Legend of the Blue Sea, that'show much comical her acting was, she felt like a mermaid out of sea 😅. I did eventually manage to come around and accept her only to start questioning her principles in aiding vincenzo's agenda wholeheartedly the way she did, no matter how brutal and lawless it became.
But unfortunately one impression that never changed when it came to the main leads.... was the lack of chemistry between them. I never truely felt a spark between the two of them, but it might just be me, cause he acted so cool and composed all the time, and she was so over the top with her reactions and expressions, that I felt he surely must be annoyed by her as much as I am (LOL), also I never bought the fact he developed romantic feelings for her, it felt kind of forced. And although It is always a downer not to feel enough chemistry to be rooting for an OTP, but thank God this is not a rom-com and romance was never the center plot here. The first kiss scene was pretty good though I gotta admit :)
The side characters (Geumga Plaza tenants) were mostly endearing and I was especially grateful that the writer chose not to delve too much deep and give each of them an episode with a detailed story like other dramas choose to do. Above all they served as a catalyst to Vincenzo's purpose in staying in Korea, helped give him a certain sense of beloging and taught him the meaning of trust, and later became sorta his secret sidekicks, which might have been fun at first but later I found was a bit of a stretch and overdone on the writers side, like others pointed out here in the reviews, having all these people with hidden fighting abilities somehow gathered under one roof by chance was too farfetched!!
Last but not least, the villains (since the show had its fair share of those, 80% of the characters were evil for God's sake) some of them were portrayed too evil and too much lacking a conscience to a degree that was hard to swallow, but they still somehow came out believable, and thankfully they never felt as incompetent like in other shows, which was a great feat considering vincenzo was literraly undefeated all the time lol.
Though personally I would have preferred a bit of an origin story for lawyer Choi, other than being a weird ajumma who dances zumba in public, since imo she was the most worthy adversary to vincenzo. And considering the fact that the drama already had its share of bornt-psychopath main villain, not being provided with any background knowledge of what turned lawyer choi to the path of evil (to a murderous degree at that) made it feel like we had two murderous psychopaths that just happened to cross paths and join hands.
The OST (mostly instrumental) had a bunch of cool tracks, and some were very well utilized to enhance the comedy scenes.
Vincenzo was a drama loaded with originality in terms of premise, interesting characters, and an overall thrilling vibe. although it suffered from minor issues with the plot, the pace and the balance of the comedy, I still have to admit I appreciated its originality and high end production, and overall enjoyed watching it, flaws and all.
I apologise for the lengthy review.
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The story at first seems (through reading the synopsis) as a simple story, which you'd think might be rather dull or not original enough, but then you watch and you're swept off your feet.
I am just genuinely so thankful for the boom the drama had in Korea and among the Korean drama fans on the internet, because otherwise I would have lost the marvelous chance of enjoying and falling in love to pieces with this one of a time drama.
This drama might seem heavy to some people at one look, and I can imagine people who would read people's reviews on how they felt they could relate to Jang Gu Rae and feel like they all experienced his efforts and hard-times, they'd think &quot;we are not old enough/ we have not been employed yet/ I am housewife&quot; and etc...just not expecting to feel any relation to the drama or its characters, but oh are they soooo wrong. I am positive any viewer whichever age they might be whichever their background or education and employment status might be, will see themselves beautifully reflected in many of the characters of the drama and not just the protagonist Jang Gu Rae.
I can never explain how I was so glad I gave this drama a chance, and I can never tell you how you will be attached to each and every character in this well-written drama even the nasty characters which are supposed to portray a negative aspect, because you will still relate to their imperfections and their errors, and you will at one time be cheering against them and the next moment cheering for them.
This drama portrays company life in Korea, and many parts and developments in the story rely on certain cultural aspects in Korea, the former and/or the latter might differ slightly ~ greatly from other countries' but I believe the main message the drama aspires to convey, and the biggest picture it is trying to draw through its story and characters, is a universal one that is similar everywhere.
One of the best Korean dramas I have watched and will mostly ever watch (I have to be honest I can never be sure about the last part because the Korean drama industry keeps surprising us with well-worthy dramas like this one). I believe anyone who for any reason didn't/decided not to watch or has been putting off this drama for later, is definitely missing on a great and exceptional experience...you're thinking I'm exaggerating? with that thought give it a try and judge for yourself.
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