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Strong leads, enjoyable, but the plot and focus are a bit of a mess
I thought the cast for this was very strong, especially the three leads. Bong Soon and Min Hyuk have near fatal chemistry and that's the clear highlight of this drama. Bong Soon is adorable and Min Hyuk's mannerisms and romantic approach are overpowering. The rival character is also one of the strongest I've seen in this role, even if I had such a strong distaste for him early on. I don't care at all for love triangles but this one was relatively reasonable and well-acted.The show has way, way too much comic relief and non-central character focus, to the point that I felt like every episode had nearly 10 minutes of filler. The comedy itself is often very lowest common denominator (don't get me started on the wine gag and loud is funny humor), though the main character centered comedy is pretty good. I'm also an opponent of overarching psycho pervert thriller-style conflict, though here it sort of makes sense given the comic-book/action movie premise. This conflict trope is extremely overused and very often distracts from what actually works for the central relationships. In my mind, Strong Woman Bong Soon should've been a more focused romcom with episodic villains; for instance, they should've made housing development and local thugs the central source of conflict - the show teases this possibility before diving into the thriller stuff. I think defeating villains and converting them to acquaintances/friends would work way better for the tone this show sets early than using the genius evil sicko. One example of why this fails - the main antagonist, despite the job he has, carries around basically tens if not hundreds of rolls of cash; honestly, if the plot needed it, I'm sure he would've had more money on hand than the ML. He's meant to be taken seriously but the overall presentation of his character doesn't make a lot of sense. The slice of life side of this show is undoubtedly the best part so the conflict should be on that level; as it is, there's a sharp divide between what works tonally and the conflict the show forces.
Also, I didn't like the use of wealth in this show (though I'm not a fan of this dynamic in general). Min Hyuk is a very young CEO entrepreneur-type who's absurdly wealthy and who uses it and its influence to basically coerce the main character to him. I don't like rich guy/poor girl dynamics because it leads to a lot of plot expedients and holes in logic. For instance, "if he is so rich, why didn't he do X, Y, and Z" that anyone with that money would do in the circumstance? Beyond such plotting problems, Bong Soon is also extremely economically dependent on her relationship's success to maintain her job. I think having a character be filthy rich actually robs us of layers that their personality could've taken on otherwise and, in this case, moves the relationship further towards the concerning side of the spectrum. I had to bracket off dimensions of their relationship to fully enjoy it, but Bong Soon as a character is so compelling that eventually the wealth problems fade a bit into the background.
Still, a lot of this could be ignored because the show doesn't take itself too seriously and aims mostly for fun over logic. Even so, I think the lack of a clear focus and the weak overarching conflict are major detriments. I would recommend this because it has so many features that one might connect to when watching. Even if I'm pretty critical above, it has a lot going for it at the character level.
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A bit too much? Yes!
Honestly, I only watched this because I love Park Bo Young, but the first half of the season was funny and entertaining. Even tho it looked like it was made in the early 2000s.? The base of the story was great, but I was disappointed, because they didn't do anything with it. I mean, why she's so strong, where comes her power etc. The main characters, Bong Soon and Min Hyuk were great together. Bo Young and Hyung Sik had a great chemistry. It really is a feelgood show with some crime story in it. Nothing special, but overall, a decent drama. One of the most predictable drama too.What I didn't liked, is the second part. The romance was good, but sometimes it was too childish, still it was funny. The biggest problem with this show is the writing. It was all over the place and over the top. One normal guy is smarter and tougher than anyone, basically. Also, this show should've been a 12 episode max. There were way too many filler episodes with the school kids and those mafia guys. I don't skip parts in anything, but this time I felt I have to because neither of those scenes added anything to the story. Not even the scene with Bong Soon's parents at the shop.
The love triangle was weird as hell, but I was happy that they didn't do the same cliché stuff, but I didn't like it when they started it again in the finale. It was 100% unnecessary, and also, childish.
Overall, it's a good, fun show, if you're not thinking about the plot too much. Park Bo Young is probably enough to carry the show until the finale.
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What a batshit crazy useless show!!!!!
I am seriously questioning the sanity of people who found this show even remotely likeable.The story was a hot mess. There was no particular plot. The plot was the basically 3 good lead actors trying to be cute along with useless unfunny fillers and bunch of people overacting. That's it. That's the plot.
What were those bunch of goons getting beaten up all the time? Why is a very loving father getting beaten up funny?? What was that priest kind of dude trying to do all the time?
Where was the story? Just looking cute can not be whole plotline of the show.
Also what was the really dark weird creepy thriller doing in between??
Basically.. What was this show?? WHY WAS THIS SHOW EVER MADE?
Plus oh my god the amount of homophobia. Yeah i understand most romcoms are not progressive or even give much thought to it but OH MY GOD. The "gay is funny" thing was so on the face. I get it. You think homosexuality is some kind of disease. But can you please have a limit.
The re watch value is actually 0 but that is not allowed.
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Are Korean people so homophonic?
I have been always appreciating Kdrama, but this drama despite its high rank, has gravely dissatisfied me. It is so Pejorative toward LGBT community to garner the high rate acceptance of society. You can clearly trace this disparaging by hearing phrases such as:1- I am a normal man and I like wemen.
2- he is not gay he is a decent person.
Are gay men not decent or normal??
Is the prove of male lead being heterosexual a strenghtening point of his character??
I didn't consider the Korean people as a modern society to be homophonic but this drama makes me mull over again.
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still the last 2 episodes made the show justice which is the reason why i was able to give this a high score
the acting was fine but during some scene Ji Soo was quite akward and not believeble as a detective.
i don't think i'll ever rewatch this
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So cute
This drama is very good because there are many aspects similar to real life, such as the fact that there are many strong women in reality but are still seen as weak or the discrimination that occurs both in the family and in society,the woman being seen most of the time by the bottom. I love this drama because it has the best chemistry among the main characters and how everything it takes a turn and become very thrilling and dangerous. Especially this backward turn of power,this time the women being the strongest not a man it's the aspect that I love the most and the behavior of the main lead when he is in love it's just very funny and cute. I wish I could give this drama the highest rating of 1000000 stars but till then I'm gonna give it 10 stars plus my heart because I love it and sorry if I made some mistakes, English is not my first language.Was this review helpful to you?
Watch it for Park Hyungsik :-)
I loved this drama. I started watching it, because Park Hyungsik is in it, after having watched and loved the actor in High Society. He is adorable, and it is worth watching SWDBS just for him. Actually, when I rewatched the drama, I skipped everything but the romance plot. This is the kind of drama that, despite being cheesy, is also extremely charming, and that's because the main leads "sell" the romance so well. I'm an ahjumma, but while watching it, I felt like a young girl again, loved and falling in love. If you are looking for a realistic drama - skip it. But if you want to feel romantic - this drama is just right (unless yu don'r fall for Park Hyungsik, but is that even possible?)Was this review helpful to you?
- Interesting characters with a diverse set of personalities.
- Unique animation that communicates ideas, and sentiments well.
- Nice blend of dark and light drama in the first two-thirds of the series. I found that the way the two major plot points of the story were transitioned between suggested a sort of "life as it is". At the same time that, say, a major romantic relationship milestone was met, a dark, immoral act was committed concurrently, and these scenes would follow one another. It was really good at keeping the darker elements from becoming uncomfortable and created a more realistic and not-to-scary lens to witness the darker sides of the drama from.
Cons/ Overall:
- The drama had a great start, the characters were interesting, to say the least. Even when some characters became unrelatable, and unrealistic, the personalities of the others would redeem the overall impression of the show. I feel that this series suffered from the usual trend that I find with Kdramas: It starts off with an engrossing cast of characters, a compelling storyline, and great progression, but by episode 12/13 the characters behave in a way that seems inconsistent with how they were initially portrayed. There is an argument with no directed intention, which felt contrived, relationship problems that could have been avoided by simply communicating the problem, and responding in earnest, the female lead becomes incredibly passive in the relationship. The characters begin to react very emotionally to their circumstances and the drama no longer feels true to itself. The sense of immersion is lost because the initial draw of believable and even relatable characters is lost, and now you, if you're like me, just have to finish because you started. Personally, I thought the outfits were nice, so that also motivated me to stick around. ^_^
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The kidnapping sub-plot was also super intriguing, and I was really invested in how the characters would deal with it. It scared me but also ended up creating a really good balance between light, fluffy scenes and darker moments.
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feel good but some problematic elements
this show is a powerhouse in and of itself. it's got good rewatch value and the leads have good chemistry. it's worth a watch, but there are a few things that are frustrating to have to watch. my only two issues is the problematic way Bong Soon's mom will beat Bong Soon's dad (until he's got bruises in one scene) and that's played for laughs. The gay character is also used as comic relief in a way that gets really tiring. it feels uninspired to have the punchline of a joke be that the gay character is a stereotypeWas this review helpful to you?
The story is unique but I felt it's empty somehow
The characters were fine but not impressive and no characters development
No comment about the chemistry of the leads because I am not investing too much on romantic part of any kdramas.
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