Crying Through Inhumanity...if you laughed during this drama, just straight uninstall your brain.

The acting in this drama was very well done on all counts, especially the lead and his eventual partner. Whoever titled their drama review "laughing through the misery",,,or something similar to that....is a legit barbarian. This show was immensely depressing and raw, there might have been a few mildly funny moments from the lead's partner, but for the most part it just piles depressing circumstances upon depressing circumstances. I legit hate the things men do to each other in this drama. It's worse than a prison drama. The intense bullying, abuse, and violent depravity made me angry and disappointed, yet again, with the depths to which humanity will sink if allowed. Joy, humor, comradery...these were all dim candles ruthlessly snuffed out by the writer as the events unfolded.

The storytelling was very good, even if the subject was miserable. The pace of the episodes is perfect, the stories have sufficient detail and background to be meaningful even in such a short format by KDrama standards. The overarching theme, apart from commentary on the S.Korean military system, was essentially about the battle to retain some semblance of humanity in the middle of inhumane torment. In the end, the system they were stuck in gave them little opportunity to achieve that goal, and instead they were continuously losing battles in which honor and dignity were weak cards in a doomed hand that stood no chance against opportunistic torment.

I wouldn't watch this again. It was horrible to see the extent of the bullying and I'd rather just pretend people don't actually treat each other that way. I hope Kdramas like this, and all the ones about school bullying, eventually drive change so that people don't have to ever face situations like these. In watching the drama, I hope in some small way I add my one tiny voice to the litany of people screaming in outrage at a system that would allow even a fraction of this inhumanity. I think it's important for these stories to be told, and I think it's important that people are brave enough to tell them.

Leia Mais

Horrendous sideburns aside, this drama was INTENSE in the best possible ways.

NGL, I skipped over this drama soooo many times because the female lead's hairstyle just looked so ugly with those weird chunky sideburns. I know that's a stupid reason to skip a drama...but dudes, they are like a toupee for her ears. It grew on me though, after awhile...or at the very least it stopped bothering me. Once I did finally start watching this drama I was floored by how great the acting and chemistry between the two leads is. The story is also super engaging and entertaining, especially in the first several episodes where the leads are essentially enemies. Their interactions were intense and clever and so so funny. They both have exceptional facial expressions and know how to use their eyes to deftly convey messages without words. The female lead, especially, dude she shoots harpoons from her eye holes...not daggers, literal harpoons. She's SO intense. Although, with all that badass intensity it was pretty hilarious to see her walking around with a grandma level phone chain.

The side characters were also all extremely well done, each had a very distinct presence and well defined reactions. The acting in this drama is impressively coordinated. I mean...not to play favorites too much but any comedy with Jun Suk Ho and/or Hwang Bo Ra is going to be hilarious as a given, those two are stellar at supporting character comedy. But really, all the comedic side characters were so well performed down to the lowest screen time thug. Whoever cast this drama did an amazing job.

I will say...there were several points where I wasn't sure if the male lead was maybe having seizures. Like most of his body comedy is really funny, but every once in awhile he'll do something that seems...well...like he's got Tourette's. Like episode 4 at about 41:20. What is he EVEN doing with his face there. I was 900% sure he was having a stroke (at this point in my review I popped out and googled him a little to make sure he wasn't actually having a stroke cause it would be pretty mean for me to poke fun at that right). I just cannot figure it out at all...like I guess if it's not a "oops I have brain damage" plot twist, then he must have been trying to express annoyance or...hold in his anger? IDK. It was SUPER strange though. Like if he were actually having a medical issue they would have refilmed or cut that segment right? So it must have been intentional? IRL if you see someone do that...idk wouldn't you ask him if he's ok? Like she just doesn't even seem to notice his face is spazzing out in the middle of delivering a serious line. I'm still astonished tbh.

The OST was also really well done, however I was super confused when I looked up the OST online because it felt like the songs listed weren't the songs I was hearing. The OST you'll find online is all filled with lovey dovey slow songs, but the actual music in the drama has so many upbeat and badass lyrical songs. This is the first drama where I haven't been able to find all of the soundtrack songs on Spotify/Youtube/etc. I'm a huge fan of dramas that use the OST to amplify the story being told, and this drama did it so so well.

I would 100% watch this drama again just to see the great character development and the intense interaction of the exceptional lead actors. ...maybe it was gagging? Based on his dialogue at that moment, he says she disgusts him right after he makes that face...maybe he was like...idk trying to gag? Like to show how disgusted he was? If that's the case, dude needs to seriously eat or smell something disgusting in front of a mirror so he can understand what disgust actually looks like...to prevent himself from having seizures on screen in the future XD

Leia Mais

The eyebrow gods have intervened!

The front end of this drama is pretty funny, lots of easy laughs and funny interactions. The back end makes you feel like a bit of an asshole for laughing at some of the things that happened in the first half. The latter probably 10 episodes have far less comedy and far more drama, which is pretty common I've noticed in K-Drama comedies. Sometimes they bring you back to high comedy at the end, this one kind of brings you back to this sort of fragile mild comedy, which sort of mirrors the kind of fragile new beginnings state of all the character's lives toward the end.

The script itself wasn't mind blowingly impressive, but it did the job well enough. The acting was pretty solid from most characters, though some of the side characters had pretty weak story arcs to work with. OMG the American/English speaking acting was horrible. Like ok....toward the end there's this one scene with this big sort of grey haired, stocky, Richard Branson looking bad guy and he opens the crate to see the robot isn't in it and he screams "WHAT THE HELL" and throws his body backward in shock....but his dead eyes stay 100% dead no expression or emotion....not like in a cool way but in sort of a "braindead but my body is moving" way. It was the hardest scene to watch and the MFers play that thing TWICE....so much cringe. The English speaking (non-Korean) actors were all pretty much like that. It ends up really highlighting how Koreans in dramas act with their eyes masterfully. Even the tiniest Korean part in a Kdrama has such huge emotion poured into it....but not in an over-acted sort of way, more like in a way that's multi-dimensional and feels relevant to real life.

The two lead actors are super cute and fun to watch together. The lead male actor impressively has his eyebrows under control in this drama. He seems to have extreme OMFG THERES A HAMSTER ON YOUR FACE level eyebrows in a lot of the dramas he's in. So it was nice to be able to focus more on his beautiful eyes and less on the bushy caterpillars dancing around his forehead. The lead female actress is super pretty and does well with emotions and comedy even though they've written her part like every boring K-drama female trope...she definitely did a lot with what they gave her to work with.

Overall, there's no reason to rewatch this drama, it was definitely worth an initial watch though. I skipped over it several times cause it sounded so boring, but it ended up being plenty entertaining and I never felt like "omg another 10 episodes to go".

Leia Mais

An extravagance of fast paced visually appealing action

Whelp...I watched this cause I'm a fan of the lead actor, especially in action dramas, he puts so much emotion into most of his roles and he's a total hottie. I really didn't expect much more than some late night eye candy, but this Movie definitely did not disappoint. This movie combines the "gamer friends meet up IRL to battle bad guys" theme with the "wrongly accused and fight to prove your innocence" theme. To be fair, I'm probably predisposed to liking this movie because I'm a gamer chick and anything where gamers kick ass is a 10 in my book (plus, let's be honest, I'd really like to think the dudes on the other end of my Discord calls are as hot as Ji Chang-Wook).

The movie itself is a fire hose of action and splashy high-tech concepts all sort of projectile vomited at you while Ji Chang-Wook sprints and spins across your screen. The lead antagonist is essentially a serial killer whose turned his passion into his occupation. At first, I wasn't sold on the actor choice for the bad guy or his acting, but as the movie progressed I ended up 100% on board with hating his rotten guts. Dude has an outburst at one point where he's so excited and pissed off at the same time that he's literally drooling on himself while he grins and flops his inept body around a kitchenette. He looked legitimately evil and I was pretty impressed by his performance from that point on.

The biggest downside to this movie is that it tries to do SO MUCH in such a small amount of time (vs a 16 hour drama setting). So whereas in a drama like Vincenzo you'd see them pull off crazy shit and then they'd backtrack to show you the setup, in this much shorter platform they've basically kept the "pull off crazy shit" and just not bothered with the how of it all. That leads to some pretty sizeable plot holes where you have to suspend your disbelief a little bit. But then...it doesn't seem like they were really going for in-depth cerebral mind blast so much as pure action badassery.

One scene I really enjoyed was a fight scene in a pitch dark room between the hero and a group of bad guys. He cuts the lights and throws grains of rice to hear from the sound where the bad guys are. The way they've depicted that scene is pretty cool, the sounds are represented by sort of splashing paint on objects in an fluorescent aqua light. It was pretty well done and looked incredibly sick. I appreciated the typical Korean storytelling mastery of taking an innocent seeming object (in the case the rice) and planting it earlier in the movie with an innocuous scene and then tying it back in as a key plot point later on.

Overall I'd give it a pretty high rating as a fast paced action with extravagant fight/car/tech scenes. I'd for sure rewatch it, but mostly because the lead actor is legit badass.

Leia Mais

SO MUCH NONSENSE....but I liked it.

Man, this show was silly. I really liked the constant revolving door of different characters playing the lead as her faces changed. I thought it was clever and cute the way she related to each of her faces and kept track of them. The male character was funny and did a great job interacting with each of the people playing the lead. I especially liked the overarching theme of it being the soul he loved not the face, age, race, or even gender of the person.

This show deals really lightly with a lot of deep topics without becoming too preachy or too invested in a social message. It's fun and engaging and entertaining. The only real issue I had was the weird best friend hot male priest sub-plot. That side character made literally zero sense to me and added nothing to the show at all during his struggle with god vs sex story arcs. I'm also not a fan of the actor who played the priest because he's SO listless. I've seen him in several dramas and dude has like taken a shot of botox to the heart or something. He can't seem to get any emotion into his roles, so he ends up just being uninteresting eye candy (although to be fair I don't think he's hot either, though the show repeatedly tries to convince you that he is hot....by telling you constantly that he is hot....).

Overall, I wouldn't watch this again, but it's a good light piece of entertainment to watch some night when you're slightly drunk and feeling like you don't want to focus too intently on much at all.

Leia Mais

GIRL POWER, YO!

Full disclosure, I am a female gamer and I freaking love shows with powerful female leads and video games. This drama is one of my absolutely favorites, I've seen it twice and I incredibly rarely ever re-watch shows. The lead actress is ADORABLE. The lead actor is ADORABLE. I like them together so much, they play off each other really well. It's refreshing, to me, to have a male lead that's more about being cute and silly and less about being brooding and aloof and a total dick.

I think the best part of this show was combining the super emotional female with the super strong female. That is so relatable to me. Even on my stronger days when I'm feeling most triumphant and like a total badass I might burst into tears over the dumbest stuff. The lead character is like that too. You get to watch her beat the ever loving crap out of bad guys, but she's emotional and weak sometimes too. As a side note...have you literally EVER seen a chick cry that cutely? It was like watching a cartoon kitten cry crocodile tears.

The comedy in this show is top-notch. It's hilarious watching this tiny cute child-like woman punch a dude and then make little sympathetic noises and apologize and then hit him again. It's so entertaining. It's like watching a 2-week old kitten smack a bulldog. The male lead is hilarious too, his constant good natured trolling and pranks are super fun to watch. Together their chemistry is outstanding.

The side characters in this drama are so well done. Kim Won Hae is exceptional in literally every drama ever, but in this one he plays two comedic supporting characters masterfully. The entire group of gangsters is fun to watch. The group of school-aged street thugs is fun to watch. There are SO MANY supporting characters and they do such a good job developing each one individually. The lead antagonist is excessively creepy and I would love to have seen him get the living crap beat out of him about 20 more times during the show...but that probably means it's really well acted if I hate him that much right?

The only character I actually didn't like at all in the drama, AT ALL, and could have done without was Kwon Hyuk-Soo as the weird fake Indian monk guy. The acting was SO SO bad and nothing he did was remotely entertaining. He added no value to the show at all. The voice he used and the gestures he made were offensively flamboyant in a way that Kim Won Hae's gender fluid tech lead character was absolutely the opposite of. I literally hated everything about this monk dude and wouldn't have minded him getting a little smack in the face at some point.

Leia Mais

Can someone help me understand how Lee Sang Yoon's face works?

Can someone help me understand how Lee Sang Yoon's face works? Seriously...it's the strangest thing I've ever seen. Dude smiles a ton, but the corners of his mouth like...never move. His entire face smiles while his lips are busy frowning like they haven't got the memo. And sometimes...the universe basically flips over and the little guy seriously smiles upside down. Like in most people, that's a frown. How is it even possible to smile upside down?? 100% my brain is like, this dude is smiling. Like it's unmistakable dude is for sure smiling...why his mouth corners point down when he smiles idk. Some strange metaphysics BS going on here.

Don't take this as hate though, like definitely the guy can do a range of emotions and is a good actor. Just playfully negging on his smile because it legit breaks my actual brain to look at.

This drama was so much fun to watch. Anything with Honey Lee in it is honestly fun to watch, she has such a fun personality. It always impresses me that someone so beautiful can pull off slapstick humor the way she does. She brightens up the screen the moment she's in the shot and you can't wait to see what she'll do next. They definitely cast her perfectly in this role and played up every advantage she had to offer. From the first minute to the last second of the epilogue the entire thing was impressively well done.

The side characters were phenomenal as well...although to be fair I absolutely adore Na Young Hee and Kim Won Hae in everything they've pretty much ever been in. They have such a broad range, the both of them. Although I was a tiny tiny bit disappointed they didn't ham up Kim Won Hae's character a little more. His character, as written, was a little too shallowly portrayed to really take advantage of the actor's innate skills. The household director was great, the gang members were super funny, the prosecutor sidekick little dude was insanely handsome and did great with his role as well.

The OST was pretty banal, which was disappointing, but not a show stopper. The sets and costumes were colorful and expertly meshed with the various personalities (like come on, the widow of the eldest son and those constant massive puffy sleeves fit her timid-but-trying personality very well). I wish there had been more fight scenes though, like I really wanted to see the FL rescue the ML in a 1 vs 17 fight and watch his expression of amazement.

Overall, this drama is definitely worth a watch! It's engaging and fun and breaks out of serious moments with the sweetest interactions while constantly promoting one of the most supportive and healthy romance relationships I've seen in a kdrama. I think this style of "never mind about the tropes" romance suits both the characters and lead actors very well.

Leia Mais

A Must Watch for the Ear Wiggles

This show was very well done, a little violent but if you can get past that it's a great drama. There is lots of suspense and some huge mysteries for the viewer to mull over and some really great action scenes. The acting was ok, it weirded me out a little at first that the ML, unlike in other action Kdramas, spends so much time looking around mid conversation. It fits, however, with his PTSD and occupation, constantly scanning for threats. So even though it was distracting to watch as a viewer, I think it was a very tastefully done addition to the character's personality portrayal.

The other thing that was a little uncomfortable to watch was the ML trying to walk. Poor little dude bulked up so much it looks actually difficult to move around. He still manages agility and precision with the action scenes, but the tight suits he wore seemed to be especially restrictive with all that bulk. He ends up with a walking posture that reminds me of hardcore cowboys who spend their days on horses and end up walking with their legs spread as though an invisible horse back is keeping them spread apart.

I'm glad they branched off after the show and made a special with the Seo Soo Yeon character, because she felt a little unjustly served in this drama. All the women in this drama were badass except for fight scenes, which annoyed me a little. I would have liked to see some female characters competent in fighting, but I get that the main showcase was the ML and his aggressively bulky body. Instead of having the ML and FL anything close to equals, they went with a mouse and a lion strategy. It plays out ok, since in the end the mouse saves the lion, just like in the fairy tale...but I'm not sure it would have detracted from the story to have it be a lioness and a lion instead.

All in all, this was a very well done show with very clean and smooth visuals, decent acting, and a really well thought out storyline. The conundrum at the end was very emotionally engaging and really brought the whole psychological overtones of the story full circle. It's definitely worth a watch.

Oh and the ear wiggles...the ML, especially toward the end, does some insane acrobatics with his ears. It was fascinating to watch. I didn't even know human ears could move like that.

Leia Mais

I can't take this dude seriously...elevator make-out with a squirrel embroidered on his butt?

Gosh, this is one weird drama. The story isn't actually that bad, it had lots of twists and turns and lots of bad selfish generally evil people. I think what drags this drama down is the acting by the male lead, if I'm honest. Dude has issues with where to look when he's being filmed, so often he ends up with really awkward eye darts toward the camera and it's a little distracting. He's also got a weird time delay on his line delivery and a general lack of emotional range. The female lead is ok, she does a good job with a sort of tomboy character, but the whole first half with her hair in her face is a little awkward to watch. The FL is probably the best part of this drama...actually, all the female actors in this drama are pretty powerfully written and the males are almost all written as whiny losers (aside from the 3rd wheel failed love interest ML).

Apart from those minor inconveniences, what really drags this drama down for me is the soundtrack/sound effects. IDK who they had making the instrumental soundtracks but it's pretty jarring and often doesn't seem to fit the scene at all. The sound effects, too, are often slightly off and not well fitted to the activity on the screen, so it breaks immersion often.

The other thing that really bothered me was how perfect and kind and beautiful the 3rd wheel male lead was. Like...IDK in most dramas I can sort of understand what draws the FL away from the obvious choice to the "bad boy" who doesn't seem like the best option. In this drama, I can't find a single reason why any rational female in her shoes would turn away from what is essentially the perfect man to instead be in love with a legit man child with virtually no redeeming qualities. While this happens a lot in dramas, the writers usually give you SOME insight to hold onto that makes the FL love choice make sense on some level. This drama didn't do that at all. I still, after having watched the whole thing, have zero idea why she would choose the whiny man baby ML over the considerate, kind, compassionate one. Especially when her personality is so focused on helping others and being kind.

The filmography in this drama is also pretty low quality. I had to stop the show once or twice to double check the year it was released because it felt more like a 15 year old drama than a 3 year old drama. Everything is so cheesy and cheap, the style of filming isn't pretty, it doesn't flow well from scene to scene, and it's filled with random inconsistencies.

Overall, I don't regret watching it, I wouldn't watch it again, and the first few episodes are a terrible slog to get through. If you do make it to like episode 10 things start to pick up and make more sense. Although they drop a lot of the comedy from the first several episodes in favor of overly dramatic bickering sessions. I missed the comedy a lot as the story progressed. Like...pick a genre...either you're a comedy or you take yourself too seriously and end up losing your audience during the trip.

Leia Mais

Can I please be reborn in my next life as a kid this adorable?

Ima be straight with you....there is not, anywhere on the entire planet, a kid as cute as the one that plays the daughter in this drama. Her expressions, tone of voice, emotions, and mannerisms were all exceptionally well done. She was a joy to watch every single time she was on the screen.

This was a solid, well executed drama. The premise makes it sound a lot more shallow than it actually is. The description makes it pretty difficult to tell how they'd fit romance into a secret serial killer husband plotline without it being trite and cliche, so I avoided watching it for a good while. I'm glad I finally gave it a chance though! The actors are engaging (even with pretty limited side character development) and well cast, the dialog is clever without trying to be pretentious, and the plot has enough twists and turns to keep you engaged. The focus of the story is clearly the male/female lead and everyone else gets pretty light treatment in terms of development, but it's enough. They did such a good job with the two lead roles and their interactions that it didn't matter much to me the side characters were pale shadows in comparison.

I will say, from a purely plotline perspective they do manage to hit on pretty much all the classic soap opera style tropes. Like...coma patient, amnesia, evil meddling parents, spouse hiding a dark past.... it was all a bit overkill. But in the writers' defense, they pulled it all off really well in spite of itself. It also doesn't fall into the trap of trying to be "too clever", everything felt realistically flawed.

There were only two things I didn't like about this drama....the coma dude....like he's good later on mostly, but initially he's trying to play someone who just woke up from a 14 year coma and somehow in his pretty boy actor's brain this is equal to talking like a mentally handicapped drunk toddler. The facial expressions during that phase of his character story arc were horrifically overexaggerated to the point of appearing like a caricature of what the character should have been. He gets better later on...sort of...they really didn't give him too much in terms of character development, he's honestly just a beautiful man with beautiful hair and some weird facial expressions. The role was so shallow it could have been filled by literally anyone.

The other thing that annoyed me was this chick that's been in a mental hospital for 14 years and can barely function but somehow has on perfectly executed thick winged eyeliner...it seemed pretty out of place, especially because none of the other characters on the show had anything close to that degree of makeup.

Leia Mais

The living mop is the star of this show.

Not to diminish the effort of the actual human actors, but that dog was the cutest, and so talented!

This is an excellent example of a drama that deals with heavy and dark themes but does it with such grace and humor that you fall in love with it. This drama resonated so much with me and my life experiences, they did a great job representing mental health struggles and the stigma associated with getting help, as well as the burden of affair shame that often seems to affect women so much more than men. The people were real, the solutions were messy, the conflict was approachable, and the comedy was exceptional. The female lead actress is super good in every drama she does, I feel like she just -gets- what her characters are feeling and experiences at the time. The male lead was also very good, though I didn't like the parallels toward the end between his character and the bad guy. There's a fine line between chasing after a chick and aggressively stalking her and I feel like his character skirted that line a few times. He was an excellent crier though!

I will say...it's a frustratingly short drama. They did a great job with the plot and dialogue, the acting was great, but because of the dramatically shortened format (13 episodes 30-40 minutes each) there wasn't a lot of space for viewers to really experience the depth of different relationship dynamics that are so hallmark to the Kdrama format. That said, they did a wonderful job really developing the side characters even in the short format, which is something many long-format Kdramas can't seem to get right. I guess my disappointment with the shortened time has more to do with my selfish desire to spend more time in the world the characters inhabit because it was so much fun.

Another thing I really liked about this drama was the Samantha character. Kdramas are difficult to watch sometimes because they get so awkward about alternative lifestyles, especially when it comes to gay people. It was nice to see a straight people romance comedy drama that embraced a cross dressing man while still keeping (but overcoming) the inherent awkwardness. They used that same format, actually, to deal with the reactions of the neighborhood ladies to the scarlet letter situation. The women approach the situation clumsily, awkwardly, but eventually learn to embrace the truth instead of remaining intolerant and ignorant.

Overall, the drama did such a good job at masterfully exploring a wide variety of themes in a truncated but effective format. I might watch this again in a few years because the comedy was good and the initial bickering between the two leads was fun to watch.

As a side note, can someone please explain to me the trope at the end of every romance Kdrama ever where the female lead leaves and returns a year later? Like you finally get everything you wanted, your problems are solved, you found the love of your life...and you bail? I can't fathom it at all. Maybe they do it so you can have two happy endings instead of just the one?

Leia Mais

SOMEONE GET ME SOME HAIR CLIPPERS STAT, THAT PERM GONNA DIE TODAY!

So before I say anything else about this drama, I need to say....on no planet is a pushing 40yr old whole ass man gonna pass for a high school student complete with a school uniform....even in flashbacks. I forgive him for dressing in a school uniform though, but only because little dude has such a peaceful and calming voice. Other actors can for sure pull off the bleak and aloof good guy, but not everyone could do it with such a beautiful relaxing tone.

This drama is classified as Action, Suspense, Thriller, Mystery, Crime, Drama....but what I can't figure out is how it's not classified as a comedy. The lead actor is hilarious. I mean...dude is badass and haunted by his past, for sure and he does an amazing job playing the silent brooding type, but 50% of this drama is him doing overly exaggerated caricatures of stereotypical side characters. Little dude must have studied super meticulously, he nails every absurd aspect from the nerdy dude's awkward blinking and mouth shapes to the flashy thug's spread legged saunter. Ridiculously funny physical comedy.

That aside, gosh this drama was good. The stories were so compelling, the acting was great, the fight scenes were badass, all the action sequences were so well done. Whether it's the lead dude beating up a room full of badguys or spinning his taxi about to inflict wild maiming chaos, dude definitely comes through in every scene. The female leads in this are really well done too, the lead villain chick is brutal and evil to the core, the sidekick rainbow chick was exceptionally well acted and her character was written super well without relying on typical kdrama female character tropes. The prosecutor was also very well cast, and it was fun to watch her character's journey throughout the show.

I will say...whoever permed that comedic side character's hair needs to lose their cosmetology license. The bowl cut was also terrifying, but that perm should have had its own entry in the credits. I cringed every single time that poor dude came on screen (except the few times they styled him differently). The travesty of this show is definitely that no one murdered that perm with a nice pair of sharpened clippers. The characters were good, but whoever tf made the decision on how to style their hair is for sure on my blacklist from now on.

The ending was being pretty boring, sadly...like the last 2 episodes really drag on. They pull it off at the end with an appropriate level of baddassery, but you can't give your audience 14 episodes of constant action and then dip them into mediocrity for entire two episodes and expect them to retain their excitement. I was, honestly, pretty annoyed with the little old dude taxi boss guy. Like ok, you want revenge but you don't want to kill people. So what, you try to play god by locking people up and "reforming" them? His character got pretty dark and I was disappointed that he didn't receive more punishment for the choices he made, especially when his choices put literally everyone else in danger. BUT...I guess grieving people are allowed to be a little crazy and make mistakes here and there.

I never thought an "action" drama about a taxi driver could be even remotely interesting, but this one somehow made taxi driving cool. I don't usually rewatch dramas, but I might revisit this one again in a few years just to watch the crazy action scenes. ....providing I can stomach the perm situation....

Leia Mais

DO NOT PUT YOUR GLASSES LENS-DOWN ON THE PAVEMENT YOU MONSTERS!

TBH, I skipped over this one many many times before I decided to watch it. The plot sounded weird and I wasn't sure what sort of drama it would be. After having watched it...the plot is definitely weird and sparse and it probably would have been a really bad drama, but the actors and the director for sure took this thin weak plot and turned it into something entertaining. The dialog is written pretty well at various points, so that helped. The music was well timed and themed to the drama's events, which is always nice.

By far, the best written and acted role was Yi Do's secretary (played by Kim Ki Doo). That little dude, I liked him so much. He was never judgy or overbearing, he listened when he needed to listen and always asked the right questions or made the right comments with genuine concern. Usually these side roles in dramas end up being overbearing and annoying because they are designed to keep the leads from accomplishing their goals to create...well...drama. But that little dude was 100% of the time the friend all of us wish we had. He didn't get much of his own character development or back story, but somehow every scene he was in was outstanding.

The other actors/actresses were good as well. They did a great job with their emotional responses and chemistry with each other. The villain was appropriately evil, that dude always plays a great villain. He's got a sort of wobble in his voice that just makes him sound so greedy and spiteful and mean. Most of the fashion in the show was decent as well...except...why the literal crap did they keep dressing the main lead like he was the child of Herman Munster?? Like...ok, dude has massive cheekbones and always looks a little gaunt anyhow, and he's beastly massive, so your plan is to dress him in obscenely oversized clothes with chin to waist ruffles?? TWICE...he wore that god awful ruffle shirt TWICE. Or harsh lined weird full box box clothes?? When he wasn't cosplaying as an Amazon box painted black, he was cosplaying as a vampire from the 1500s. It was SUCH a weird choice. Like...imagine a cute anime goth boy with an oversized hoodie that has arms so long they drag the floor...but then stick that outfit on an 8 foot living gargoyle...that's what his outfits were like. Dude is super hot, it's like they went out of their way to make him look freakish.

The film effects were a little weird. Like intentional shaking and unsteady camera at times that seemed a little extreme for the scene, or these massive screen spreading lens flares. Initially I thought, oh the weird diffused light and lens flares are comedy for whenever the idol dude comes on the screen, and so I was fine with them. Like lol it's the hot guy again. But then they started doing them all the time and it got a little painful to watch. Not like painful-ugly but like actually physically painful from having bright lights glaring at you while you're trying to watch the actors speak.

Aside from those few small complaints, the one thing that really rubbed me the wrong way in this drama...like made me cringe and want to just shut the whole thing off... was the scene that played a few times where the child version of the lead dude falls onto the ground, takes his glasses of, PUTS THEM LENS DOWN ON THE FLIPPING CEMENT, and cries. Look. I'ma be honest with you here. I've been wearing glasses my whole life, and at no point in my life ever have I not cringed when accidentally setting them lens down. The pure unbridled rage I feel watching those lenses, which are for sure scratched to hell now, being set roughly onto pavement almost ruined the entire drama for me. Mr. Director, do you have ANY idea how ANNOYING it is to look through scratched lenses? People who wear glasses take GREAT CARE, even while having a tantrum on the ground, to not scratch their MF GD lenses. That alone should have put this drama in the horror category.

I should also say, I thought they did a decent job dealing with the whole fat person vs thin person social issues. Sure, they could have done better, but they could have done a lot worse too. Mostly they came out on the winning side of the equation though. They handled things respectfully but realistically without trying to stuff social justice down your throat or fat shaming the characters.

All in all, it was a much better drama than I anticipated. I wouldn't watch it again because it's a one-and-done sort of drama, but I do not regret watching it.

Leia Mais

Post-Apocalypse Super Hero Origin Story.

This show took a little bit of getting used to at first cause the "zombies" are all super strange and widely varied and it's not really clear initially what makes them that way. Some of them are cartoon level weird. As the show progresses and you learn, as the main characters also learn, what's causing people to turn into really odd and specific zombies things start to make sense. As things start to make sense, you begin to understand the deeper social meaning behind the show's plot. I really started to relate to the characters and zombies at this point and the show became much more interesting to me.

The lead actor is definitely the main character, but this show does a surprising amount of side-character development. The main character's story becomes mostly about uncovering the stories of other people until the last couple episodes and it's really fascinating to follow him along this process. In the end, once I had digested the entire show, every episode, and the full plot, I found it to be deeply meaningful and compelling. The plot threads are all pulled together end you end up with a masterpiece of storytelling.

Apart from the story, the visuals were really good in this show. The production values are extremely high quality. It's entertaining to watch, your eyes always have interesting things to look at even when the scenes slow down and there's less action. I'm really hopeful for another season of this since the story is more like a super hero origin story. I'd like to where the super hero goes from that origin point and how the wider world changes as the virus becomes more widely understood.

Leia Mais

This dude is legit a kissing god.

This drama was my first foray into non-fantasy/supernatural/sci-fi k-dramas. I watched it because the male lead was in Healer. I didn't expect to like it because it's basically an action romance and that's really not my thing at all. However...I ended up really enjoying this drama. The story is really well done, the actors play off each other with a lot of chemistry, and the action is really well scripted. I'm not usually into succession type storylines, but this one had enough mystery and intrigue without being banal and overplayed. It ended up being one of my favorite dramas.

Part of that, while I'm ashamed to admit it, were the exceptional romance scenes. There's this one scene under a blanket where the male and female lead share their first kiss and wtf level of god-like thirst goes into this dude's facial expressions when he's kissing. It's not in every role he's done, but it's for sure in many several of them. Dude like...idk...half closes his eyes and they get a little red and he looks almost drunk with passion and it's like melt-your-bones level sexy. Some kdrama leads are plenty hot but their kiss scenes are just like...eh.... but this dude TURNS UP THE HEAT. Dude alternates between being disgustingly cute watching the chick cook ramen, being super stoic and quietly forceful interacting in powerplays, and being super engrossed in his romance. His range is really great in this drama.

The main female antagonist is also really well done. She gives a very memorable performance that resonates with every expectation you'd have for a power hungry but still vulnerable matriarch. The other side-characters are ok, but she is really impressive to watch.

Overall I'd watch this again...not for the story but for the lead actor's unearthly hot romance faces. XD

Leia Mais