This review may contain spoilers
Watched it cause of Kim Jae Wook
First of all... I started watching it because of Kim Jae Wook but ended up liking the series.But...
What the hell was the ending...?
Maybe it was the 'karma'
He was not doing it with a sane mind then why he met with such a fate.
I know he killed and stuff..but he was sick.
I understand not all psychopaths are killers, some even try to live a life but he chose different cause of his father. Then why?
Isolation could have done the job but why such fate.
- Now on to the reality -
Every single cast were on point. Not a single complain (expect for the ending).
Kim Jae Wook.. gives his everything for any role he plays and that's why he is my favourite and forever will be.
Must watch.
- Maaya
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Watchable, but that's really about it
The only reason I'm giving this a 6 is because I don't finish dramas that I would rate below a 5 but looking back, I'm not sure how this gets a 6. There was nothing compelling about the plot, but it's somehow very bingeable because I finished this in 4 days (which is the fastest I've ever watched a 16 ep kdrama)Honestly, if you take away Kim Jaewook as the charismatic eye-candy villain, there's nothing to look forward to. The main problem with the show was that there was no character that you could truly feel attached to, since they didn't build anybody's personality outside of the case. I was hoping the male and female lead would become friends or form sort of bond at least but they didn't, which felt like wasted potential. On the other hand, those 2 random side characters from the golden time team were given bonding moments????? I think they tried to have them be some sort of rom-com relief but they were both horribly annoying characters, and part of that might be because their acting was also quite bad.
As to the actual plot, the amount of repetition was probably the only actually funny thing abt the show. Every single episode they would arrest culprit A, FL would say "something feels wrong...." and then thanks to her hearing they would realize that the real culprit is culprit B; case solved after identifying the red herring that somehow occurs every time. The main plot only picked up once Kim Jaewook's chara was introduced, and he kinda carried the show from there... and he wasn't even that great of a villain. It's just that he's really attractive. But to be fair he genuinely acted well, very convincing. The ML did have some moments that made me think he's cool but as a whole his dialogues were awfully written and repetitive (take a shot every time he says gesaekki, u might die of alcohol poisoning 20 mins into an ep), and the fact that someone had to stop him from bashing the culprit's head every episode made me laugh bc how many times can u make him do the same thing over and over...
Overall:
Positive points: kim jaewook is hot, some of the side plots that the golden time team solved were interesting, leads were occasionally cool, fl's hearing ability (this isn't technically a positive point bc altho it was a nice idea, it was poorly executed. maybe it's because the FL herself wasn't an interesting chara, but having an ability like that should've made her cooler... but it didnt.... like how do u manage to make superhearing boring and normal. for example in stranger, hwang simok not having emotions wasn't an "ability" but that trait of his was executed so well and made him such a compelling lead)
Negative points: every plot twist (if u can even call those "twists") was predictable, no character was interesting or likeable enough to get invested in, aside from the flashy name the golden time team had nothing to offer bc there was 0 attachment value, soundtrack was cheesy
Final words: just watch stranger instead. if you've already watched it, then watch it again
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Character with superhuman powers is not something that is new to Korean Dramas. But it is unusual to find one in which the powers are not well defined and used casually to make up for lazy writing. The ability bestowed upon the character by the writers were not overused. Yes, the stories were bent to suit the power but they did not seem forceful at any point.
The other lead, a tortured police officer on the path of vengeance might come off as a little irritable and at times getting on the nerves of the viewers. But he served as a symbol of defiance against a hierarchical system mired in corruption, bureaucracy and lethargy.
Different cases handled by the team, individually, had a nail biting screenplay and/or exuberant pathos. The evil in each of the cases were progressively diabolical from one to the other. So the victims needed to be really powerless and their weakness was written really well by amplifying the dementedness of the bad guy/s.
It is because of this very reason the main big bad of the show seems weak with a cluster of cliched psychopathic tropes amped up by dark biblical and literary references. He is neither astute nor enigmatic. There is nothing remotely engrossing or even likable about him. A flawed attempt at writing a character with flaws.
This show has the one of the most alluring cinematography and elevating music with nice balance of sound designing. Some of the shots transcended the screen to show pure evil while the music just enhances the experience. Since this show is more about the minute sounds, there needs to be an amplification of the same during a tense situation along with background music. It had its fair share of appropriate scoring with the congruent noises enhanced.
A show need not picturize all the events in a particular arc or phase of the story. Some of those would be obvious and it is subconsciously understood by the viewer. But here, they have ignored including some scenes assuming those fall into the above category. It is really difficult to conclude how the characters came upon that clue or a particular revelation. The chain linking it all seemed to have forgotten to include a few things. Adding to this some logical errors, it causes a massive harm to an otherwise decent thriller.
The flow of a good thriller with immersive cinematography and chilling sound design and music were interrupted sporadically by these errors which are not negligible enough.
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Besides the well-known male main cast, the main story and some of the side stories is/are compelling and riveting. Suspenseful and thrilling. I never got bored but sometimes antsy when the show was going off on tangent stories unrelated to main thread. While they served to create a drama, I would rather have seen more time spent on character development for ML and some of the supporting characters.
The writers/producers timed it so that only when half way thru, they could re-engage the existing viewers and possibly draw new ones with the exposure of the killer...a favorite male leading actor who happens to be a scene-stealer and stunningly handsome. He was superbly evil. At this point in the show there is no turning back. You are seat-belted in.
I have a bias toward Jang Hyuk, he’s one of my top 5 fav male K-actors, so I knew I’d watch anyway, BUT it is worth mentioning that after first 6 eps, I put this show on hold for long while. When I re-picked up I watched those eps over again. Good thing — becuz there are some foundational clues in those eps. I tend to not like side filler stories that deviate from the main path. That’s just me though, and I realize this is a kdrama that needs content to fill 16+ eps. :D
Overall I am glad I watched and restarted. If you are watching and getting bored, just make it to ep 8. Then all will be well...and crazy. Will I watch the following seasons? Not sure I can watch them without Jang Hyuk. As the lead, he carried this show from start to finish. (<—Thank u JH). I dropped some points due to some of the way they drove the plot along here and there. And becuz they trusted me to make it till ep 8. In the end I did and enjoyed it. I never got bored.
Note: there was nothing memorable or bad about the OST this a middle of the road score.
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Lead Actor & Actress:
The male lead Jang Hyuk is one of the actor I like since I been watching his dramas since I was young, so I was excited to watch but the actress Lee Ha na is one of actress I tried to avoided watching as lead because of her kind of awkward acting but surprisingly she did her job pretty well in this drama and she suited her character. But character Jang Hyuk was playing kind of annoyed me for some reasons. I feel he should listens more to female lead, not always act tough and get in fights all the time but his character does improved in later eps.
Kim Jae Wook did an amazing job as psycho character. And he was pretty handsome which is a bonus for us.
Storyline:
It was quite an interesting concept and loves the cases they had in the drama but somehow in later eps I got bored. I feel like I was more interested in those small cases rather than finding out who the actually killer was because I feel like it was pretty obvious who is actual killer is. When they concentrated more on catching that killer I lost interest but I did watched till the end.
Sometimes I feel like cops in the drama were too slow and I got so frustrated watching when they dont move quick enough and just standing there or started talking with each other and I be there like:"Hey she/he is going to die....Stop fighting..Go and save them". Overall the drama was okay and I finished till the end but is not the best crime drama I ever watched. The acting was great but some of the characters were annoying or useless. I dont hate the drama but I dont really recommend anyone to watch it unless you have too much time and love the leads.
OST:
I dont think I even remember any songs from the dramas.
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Then, I didn't know who the protagonist even is, is it the Golden Time Team leader woman? Or Jang Hyuk? His partner Baek Sung hyun gets severely injured and he's just going about doing other things. WTF? The characters interactions with each other is strictly business so what the hell am I supposed to root for? The son who I barely saw in maybe two episodes, tops? Who also btw they conveniently forget unless they want to use him for a plot line. I enjoyed the little mysteries constantly coming up, that was pretty much the only enjoyable thing because the main story arc was ruined by two main leads who had zero relatability. They just went about solving the plot lines, no deep actual conversation, no insights into their psyche, their needs wants, nothing except for 'that bad thing that happened in the past.' It just started to drag and became pointless after a while. Let's say leave the fact that the main leads don't feel any emotions for anyone period ???? (call me hyung or unni and I'll care for you BARELY for the length of an episode WTF ????) no relationship building over time, it doesn't have to be a romance, can't they just still care for SOMEONE???? It was all just a surface, shallow, story until then.
They put so much emphasis on making everything look good, they forgot to add substance to the script. Even the mystery plot got affected by the fact that the SECOND the ACTUAL villain appears, you know it's them ???????????????????? literally, where was the suspense? The person appears in way too late in the story! I've seen romantic comedies with better mystery plots (Do Bong Soon for instance). See, if you don't want to have romances and bromances, then make the main story arc something epic and subtle like Fargo. There was nothing subtle about Jang Hyuk's acting or anyone else for that matter! It was the typical "who screams louder" Korean drama fest so just make it Korean drama good then! The script was again, just okay.
Bad Guys at least had a fabulous script and epic bromance but Vile City had the same kind of issues VOICE has. All glitter and glamor but zero substance. I did cry a bunch of times, mostly for the secondary characters, like Yesung, when they show the stories and solve that was done brilliantly. Honestly, I was considering ditching it when Kim Jae wook showed up! !!! In love with him ???? even his acting was subtle and not loud, just wow. Honestly, I wouldn't have actually finished it if it wasn't for him. Btw, this show is really disturbing but that was the one thing I actually liked! They were not afraid to get their hands dirty. But having a script where at one point Jang Hyuk says to his nine year old son "Men should always be brave" when he's crying after being traumatized, made me question what year this show was made in ???? so yeah. Some really good stuff but an overwhelming amount of pointlessness and by the middle I was honestly cringing every time Jang Hyuk went on one of his stupid and pointless and terribly delivered tirades mostly "I'll rip you apart blah blah" and the female lead wasn't much better. The secondary characters were acting so much better.
The things that I fell in love with: The messed up darkness, visually it's shot so well aesthetically pleasing, the OST, and of course Jae wook! Even the story started getting more addictive after Birth of the Devil. But I have to admit, the final two episodes, sheer BRILLIANCE. I was completely speechless. Even the main leads annoying habits couldn't destroy that, so I basically went from a ten rating in the beginning, to a six in the middle, to an eight when Jae wook enters, to a straight ten for the last two episodes! So, I'm going to rate an overall 9 because in the end, this show gave me a lot more than it annoyed me and because Jae wook deserved it and whoever decided to make it so dark and messed up deserves it.
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If Kdramas had a cinemasins, the sin count would be 1000+
This drama wants to be cool, but it fails. Because the writer and production crew are lazy, this drama messes up on the smallest of details. It was waaaaaay too distracting for me to overlook, causing me to drop this at episode 9 and just skip to all of the Kim Jae Wook scenes. (I had watched this drama for him, and I was going to watch all of his scenes no matter what) Kim Jae Wook was just brilliant. It was such a shame that they didn't use him until episode 8 or so, because he could've made it soooooo much better and more engaging. I liked the scene when MTG was caught and arrested, and he's still taunting MJH. It's all a game to MTG, and he truly is psychotic.ML and FL did not have much dimension to them (up until episode 9. I don't know if their characters improved in the later episodes). ML has terrible self control, almost beating up every criminal, only to be stopped by FL or another officer. He keeps calling people bastard and says, "I'll rip you to pieces" over and over. FL was very emotionless. I know she's emotionless for her job, but she's just boring. I was ok with her breathy voice, and then I started to hate it when that was ALL I heard. She was so monotone.
Some of the lines were so out of place. In episode 5, ML and FL talk about the criminal and his possible motives. ML then says, "Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you'll get." lol, WHAT IN THE WORLD?!?!
I hate how the first 5-10 minutes of a new episode was a recap of the old episode. They needed to fill the time, I guess.
I kept pausing and cringing, and my sister asked me why I was watching the drama.... sigh. Only for Kim Jae Wook...
I will say that one good thing this drama does is tension build up. Often times, I had to turn down the volume because it was creepy/suspenseful and I was scared of a possible jump scene. The killings did get to be a bit too much for me, so I had to fast forward through some of them. Don't watch this alone at night. You'll either get bad nightmares or start wondering if there's a serial killer nearby in your area ready to strike.
(and OMG, I HATED the "clicking" sounds!!! It was obviously teeth grinding noises and my teeth could feel it.....)
Kdramasins rant begins:
In episode 1, police was ok with drunk ML contaminating his wife's murder scene. ML's fellow officers said they couldn't ID her because she was so badly beaten, but when ML lifts up the cover, what was seen wasn't bloody and beaten at all. Investigators and criminals refuse to wear gloves alike. There was no DNA evidence when the murderer was touching the victims and their phones with his bare hands. In episode 4 when ML rescues the boy, he lets the boy talk to FL and doesn't rush upstairs, while the boy is supposedly bleeding out to death. In episode 5, they did not think to trace the IP and see who the website belonged to track down the criminal. FL is in the field when she's not a field officer, but head of the call department. FL interrogates suspects when that's not her job. FL makes a call while with a suspect in the interrogation room to warn ML that he was being set up. FL knows exactly what sounds to hear and hone in on when it should be an overload of noises for her. In episode 6, police is so incompetent the suspect finds cuff keys on the floor of the police van. It took FL a good couple of seconds to hear the struggle happening in the bathroom on the other side of the door (and she's supposed to have superhuman hearing). Chief Jang was so intent on arguing with FL that it was a suicide and not homicide, when strangulation marks should've been obvious, or at least logic should've been used as to HOW he set himself on fire (assuming they did their jobs and took away his belongings when they cuffed him, he has nothing to set himself with on fire). Even if one officer was corrupt, they all seem to miss the obvious evidence (i.e GDC's fall. Police should've seen blunt force trauma to his head and determine that it wasn't a suicide....). FL says with 100% confidence, "the voice was of someone in their thirties," when in reality, some people sound older/younger than they really are.
I didn't include everything from the 9 episodes I watched. I'm sure that if I had watched the entire drama, I could write a whole lot more too.
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Nothing Simple of Amazing!
I had high hopes for this drama and it exceeded each of those hopes. The plot was engaging, I didn't want to wait for another episode. I couldn't wait to see what happened next. The show had one overlapping case with smaller cases thrown in the mix so you didn't get bored waiting on developments of the bigger case and the villain. Another amazing villain actor that I never expected. Definitely worth a watch if you're into a bit of supernatural (her hearing was bordering supernatural levels) and detective work.Was this review helpful to you?
One of the best crime show I have seen ever •love it☄️
This is one of the best crime drama like you will definitely not regret picking this movie m Nt really interested in voice2 this voice 1 is more interesting to watch as in every episode keep u guessing and the fact that one episode has it own problem and they managed to solve them at d end of the episode before another episode is amazing I really love crime drama like that .....the main leads are very good with their acting I give show 10/10 I have never seen a movie like that ? if u want to another drama to bench-watch again you can go for •Remember war of a son ,you definitely won’t regret watching it too ✨✨Was this review helpful to you?
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To completed my 2022 Alphabet Drama / Movie Challenge
I've watch this for completed 2022 Alphabet Drama / Movie Challenge for V letter. Hoping to find Japanese version, but as ususal, find J-drama with eng sub is hard as hell. So here I am watching the original Korean version. Turn out this is much more intense & interesting than what I've expected. But once again, they succeed blew my mind...Yeah this drama is thriller & mystery genre. If you hope to find a little bit romance, just get the hell out of here, you're in the wrong drama my friend. For thriller drama this is very successful drama. This drama just keep my heart boil almost all the time, especially very last few eps... Making the 60 min ep drama not that long. Really excited to watch the ending wrap. How are they gonna pull down that giant tyrant...
What I like from short ep drama like this is, they don't waste time for useless stuff. They put together everything that important. I really like how they keep circling in that bigger plot, and not really go outside that plot. In the end everything still connected to that bad guy & their company.
Like Charming92 wrote in their review. What makes me interesting is also the concept of voice profiling. Yeah don't know if that really exists or what, but really interesting to see it on the field & making it as the main key to solving cases. And I also really like our vilain here, yeah his smile also make my skin crawl...
Oh and that BGM also not too annoying. They just perfect. Sometimes for mystery drama they like to put intense BGM & scene in unnecessary scene that turn out to be nothing. Here that's not the case....
Overall if you looking something to make your heart beats faster, your skin crawl, voice can be your choice....
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I strongly recommend it, if you love to be thrilled.
I was already in love since the first airing. If I should compare it with the second and third seasons, I prefer this one, the second and third are kinda similar. It's a good quality product, to begin with. It's getting fiery when it's almost getting in touch with the end. The acting and cast, I really pleased with it. But about the ost, it does not really matter coz you'll focus more on the story. But some background music help construct the story. I'm not so close to re-watch but I definitely see myself do it!I strongly recommend it.
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