12
30
4
Poia
Italy
The definition of lacking.
Even if I overlook the bad special effects I just can't find anything peculiar.The theme of arbitrary and despotic justice has already been dealt with in both Taxi Driver and The Devil's Judge. Among other things, both titles have very eccentric tones, and Hellbound also tries to replicate that vibe by adding neon influencers.
I didn’t like the casting pairing and the storytelling that focuses separately in characters certainly didn't help in the chemistry. Add in the weak supernatural genre, inserted for the sole purpose of generating the story, and the drop is done.
Overall "Hellbound" was presented as a very dark "supernatural" title, but in reality it is the usual story about human behavior in the face of the collapse of civil society, only instead of zombies there are black Michelin men.
To hide the weak storyline they threw in eccentric elements and splatter scenes (beatings and blood.)
The overall idea was good but it lacks on all aspects.
Was this review helpful to you?
A scam within a scam!
What happens when a group of scammers seek revenge and become embroiled in a scam that has roots in high political circles? This is the premise of Private Lives.On the surface, Private Lives might seem like the classic crime-team where several people collaborate to try to get what they want. In reality, the drama leads us to discover a political thriller where the scammers act as if they were the players of the game, unaware that they are pawns manipulated by powers that are far above them. When some of these pawns decide to go their own way, things get complicated unleashing a trail of action and revenge that leads to unpredictable events for the viewer.
If the direction favors us by trying to focus on individual characters, even with beautiful cinematic cuts, the editing decides instead to respect the 2020 trend. Even Private Lives has in fact chosen to tell its story in a NON-linear way, this means many different timelines that overlap each other to the point of proposing flashbacks in matryoshka style. I do not deny that following the plot during the broadcast was quite difficult, especially for those like me who follow many dramas at the same time, for this reason, I think that this title is more suitable for a good binge-watch.
As mentioned above, the drama tells us the story of five scammers who try to survive, but who gets involved in a plot bigger than them that gets further complicated when old wrongs and grudges lead them to act alone, often one against the other, rather than joining forces. Although I appreciated this type of concept, I must say that the drama suffers a little from the lack of team-bonding that usually accompanies this type of storyline. In the same way, I appreciated the idea of introducing a bit of romance, but I must report that the plot is so twisted that there was no room to develop this element properly. On the other hand, the interpretation of the cast is excellent. In the face of these two underdeveloped elements, the romance and the bond between the characters, they still managed to propose crazy chemistry on the screen.
Along with the acting, among the positive elements, I certainly include the cuts of scenography and the excellent camera work, especially during action scenes. The script, which although it did not go where I wanted, still managed to propose an interesting and captivating plot. For the record, I must say that the quality of the episodes is fluctuating, almost always one is quieter while the other reveals important plot implications. The soundtrack goes well with the rhythm of the drama, but in my opinion, was a bit repetitive with the usual 4 songs.
Overall Private Lives managed to tell a story of scammers in a very different and eventful way, the cast gave their all to convey all those emotions on the screen that are easy to lose sight of when the plot is so full of events and secondary characters. . Unfortunately, it fails on the editing front as this production too, has chosen to overturn the narrative chronological order.
- Translated from my Italian review -
Blog dailykdrama
Was this review helpful to you?
Let's talk about politics!
Last year I started this drama with the expectation of an epic revenge-historical story given the high ratings and reviews. However, the drama turned out to be more of a political story than a historical drama and being too boring for my personal taste it ended up on my drop list. This year I decided to give it a second chance trying to put my prejudices aside, but the drama did not pay off my patience and proved to be an extremely overrated title.The promise of revenge in a historical setting is transformed from the first episodes into a political drama told through the dialogues of the characters. I cannot declare in a review that the drama is boring and that this type of directing is not good because it depends on personal taste, but I can judge if the directing is suitable for the type of story being told and the answer is NO.
As I always say, a drama can have the best story in the world but it is useless if it is told badly, and the storytelling chosen for NIF is bad. Not only is the action reduced to a minimum, but a large part of the story is told through the dialogues of the characters, listening to them or rather by reading the subtitles, we will discover facts and/or people that we have not yet seen on the screen and, in some cases, we will never see. Add to this a story that is not as exceptional as many say.
The protagonist is a strategist acclaimed by many since he has been planning his revenge for years, thanks to a dense network of spies. He is also afflicted by a disease of which very little is revealed to us for the sole purpose of being able to then exploit it for twists related to pills and various poisons. In addition, he refuses to reveal his identity to his allies even when some of them still discover the truth, the reasons behind it is the same as above, being able to exploit the relationship of friendship, trust, and distrust that is created precisely because of his false identity.
From this type of protagonist, who can only fight with the intellect and not with brute force, I expected refined strategic plans, instead, he actually limits himself to waiting for his enemies to get into trouble, when this happens, he maneuvers the court to bring them down and replace them with trusted people. Being enemies of high rank, the punishments they go against are summed up in exile or loss of rank - political power, leaving the viewer with a sense of dissatisfaction, as the main purpose would theoretically be revenge.
The more the story progresses, the more we realize that the protagonist is infallible, even in the few moments of difficulty, which obviously occur when he is unable to act due to his illness, we already know that he will be able to get away with it. All this makes the story particularly tedious, but also predictable and above all unexciting, since we already know that there will be no serious consequences for the enemies and that the ML will win at the end. Rinse and repeat for 54 episodes and you will start to not feel anything for anyone, included for those few twists plot placed along the way.
Overall, the author is one of those who makes everything fit together in a convenient way and the story develops in a very repetitive pattern, including the characterization of the characters. The clever and lazy style of the author stands out particularly in the ending, where not knowing which alternative to choose, he proposes both, with a protagonist that in the penultimate episode declares one thing and then does the opposite in the final episode.
Add a non-existent romance, some stupid characters to the point that the protagonist always has to explain to them the reason for his actions, villains of little depth, more annoying than bad, and what remains? Great cinematography, music, and good acting, definitely not enough to balance almost 54 hours of political chatting.
Overall, NIF is a political drama where conspiracy rules instead of revenge that it takes courage to call it such since the main purpose was actually to bring justice to innocently slaughtered people. The convenient writing that passes itself off as intellectual and the direction that uses dialogue to tell a story that should be shown have damaged the entire production. Cinematography, music, and acting are saved, but they are not worth the hours it takes to finish it.
Was this review helpful to you?
When sci-fi leads to a mess
TKEM is a title that has undergone the exact same fate as Hotel del Luna. The drama has been hyped and declared a possible masterpiece even before airing, due to the combination of cast-screenwriter plus romance-fantasy. But as HDL, the plot didn't live up to the hype.The author wanted to propose an ambitious sci-fi fantasy that tells us the story of two parallel worlds, where each member of the cast has a double role and is involved in a "save-conquer two world plot-line". The main concept may be brilliant, but the script is not well written and definitely it is badly executed (editing and direction).
The author was unable to manage the amount of information she wanted to offer, failing on multiple fronts. Between plot holes, errors on space-time theories, which casually favor the hero while disadvantaging the villain, bad characterization of characters and useless characters who steal precious screen time, penalizing both the main plot and the main couple, who also lack chemistry due to a hasty and forced romance.
The director wanted to tell the story in a non-linear way, jumping between sub-plot, often using flashbacks. All this has unnecessarily complicated a plot that was already complex of his own due to the number of characters and plot-line, plus the space-time theory, and two different worlds that looked almost the same.
Add the bad CGI, an OST that lack of impact, the controversy over product placement and japan style building and what positive aspects are left? The great cast, some acting, the scenography & costume. Definitely not enough to save a drama. Overall TKEM is an ambitious project with great potential, which unfortunately has turned into a giant mess because both the author and the director wanted to overdo it.
Was this review helpful to you?
However, as it often happens with kdramas, it has failed to entertain me in the long run, the solidity of the plot begins to lose its charm towards episodes 7-8, when the story begins to forget more and more about the revenge that the protagonist initially aimed for, fitting him into a forced love triangle and in a power struggle inherent in Jangga Co.
At the same time, the characterization of some characters will begin to falter, first of all, the protagonist, from revengeful man to martyr, he didn’t do anything for his own pub, other people have worked hard to make his dream come true, while he was busy helping & supporting everyone, enemies included. This kind of character totally clashes with his initial revenge plan. Overall Itaewon Class deserves to be viewed because as a whole it stands out from the multitude of drama that comes out every month, offering excellent performance in various aspects but it fails in the most important, the screenplay and the ML characterization, due to the inconsistency of writing. The drama had the potential to do more, especially without the romance part.
Was this review helpful to you?
Jang Hyuk's role and acting performance.
His character was one of the few based on true history. Very well written, a strong, smart and sneaky prince who is after the throne and want to be recognized by his father, the first king of Joseon. Overall the acting of all the main cast was good, from Kim Yeong Cheol to Jang Young Nam, closing with Ahn Nae Sang, he did a great job as villian, unfortunately his role also suffers the draggy plot, making his actions very repetitive, together with the two main leads.
The bromance between the two protagonist, and the acting skills of Yang Se Jong & Woo Do Hwan, both actors did a great job despite their roles being very repetitive. The drama is full of actions with many battles and spilled blood, the revenge and tragedy gave a strong and dark vibe to the plot. The part of the plot based on true history was more interesting than the ficional one. The OST was great despite sometimes being too modern for a historical.
NEGATIVE:
The plot was extremely fictional, repetitive, and draggy due to unnecessary long episodes. To fill such amount of hours they had to add fillers, which came in the form of ripetitive situations, like endless political scheming between factions that keep switching side every 15 minutes. In addition it didn't matter who won the current battle, cause in the next episode everything will start all over again for the sake to drag the story till the end.
Some roles were really weak and added only for the sake of the plot and for the sake of justify the main leads' decisions. Such as the sister of Seo Hwi and the girl Han Hee Jae. Both actress weren't that great in the acting department, specially the sister.
The romance, I didn't feel any chemistry between the cast involved in a romance situation, considering what was happening the romance part was weak and unnecessary. The two male main lead, with the bromance they have showed, they had more potential as a couple than not the one they proposed.
Endless bromance, despite their bond being quite facinating, on the long run it became very annoying to see the same things happen all the time. They keep switching from friend to enemies from start to end.
Immortal characters, despite all the sword and arch injuries they had received, characters always survived and recover, ready to fight again a few episodes later if not the next one. In addition to being extremely unrealistic, it denotes once again that it is all due to the need to fill the episodes and drag the story.
Waste of talent not putting the focus on Jang Hyuk's role, specially toward the end. He was put a bit aside to let the two main lead shine in their ending.
MY FINAL OPINION:
Overall My Country focused too much on the fiction, ruining a great potential historical drama, to feed us with the same repetitive and draggy situations. The acting, specially Jang Hyuk performance, some well written roles, the action battles and the ost saved the drama from a flop.
Was this review helpful to you?
Misleading premise
I really enjoyed the first part of the drama, for once in a while we have a caring ML who harbors a secret crush on the FL, while the FL is strong, has her own friendships and admires the ML from far away. This premise was good enough to make me think this would be a lovely fresh school romcom that would mature a bit once the college part step in.Unfortunately the drama wasn't able to deliver what promise and end up adding tons of typical silly clichés and draggy elements. Once reach the college the main leads are soon stuck in a friend zone loop where misunderstanding kept them to became a real couple for most of the drama. In the meanwhile we have to suffer tons of mean and repetitive tricks made by their antagonists, as also a futile love triangle.
In addition to this delusion the FL characterization was a mess, she was strong but she couldn't do anything without the ML's helping, once she fall for him she became a puppy lover, and her strong character was transform into a short/bad temper. Throwing away any possibility to mature a bit during college age.
the acting was at least enjoyable, at least most of them. Overall this is just another school romance were cute and silly counts more than a logical plot. But if you like romance, brace yourself cause nothing major will happens for many episodes.
Was this review helpful to you?
A group of rich families live in a high-class residential neighborhood called "Sky Castle". Wives manage homes and children while husbands work as important surgeons in the same hospital. Their biggest concern is to ensure that their children excel at school and the ultimate goal of their life is to have them admitted to the most prestigious universities SK. Once again a South Korean drama that talks about the pressing SK school and working system.
So what makes it different from the others, so much to have won so many awards?
There are three strong elements of this drama: satire, mystery and acting.
The lives of these families are shaken up by a tragic unexpected event, shrouded in mystery, this event will immediately capture the viewer's attention. Because of this event, a new family moves into the neighborhood, a family that lives more modestly. This creates new complex relationships and compares life and priorities between high-class people and common people.
The first part of the drama is divinely written, the daily life of these families intertwines with each other and is told to us in a perfect way with a mix of tragic and satirical, the characters are many and complex, often contradictory. The viewer will often find himself hating some characters, and then sympathize with them a few seconds later and laugh with them a few minutes later. Perfect acting certainly helps this variety of emotions.
Why I am piss then? Simple, the initial mystery dissolves immediately, the characters don't learn anything from what happened and they continue undeterred to hammer their children by dumping on them all their dreams and unrealized ambitions. The topic has been widely discussed and after 9 episodes the story has nothing more to tell about it, too bad that the drama lasts 20 episodes. Therefore it needs fillers, which arrive in the form of makjang, secrets of birth, bad mother-in-law, school tutors who hide secrets and trope related to the classic power struggle in the workplace (hospital).
Satire and acting are not enough to make up for a plot that has turned into lazy writing. Seeing a well written plot expire in the usual clichés has been frustrating and depressing. In addition I didn't appreciate at all a few sub-plots, in particular all the drama created by the neighborhood, when one of them wanted to write a novel, about the mystery that happened. Useless and roughly managed sub-plots.
Nothing to say about the cast, good work. Excellent idea but overall they have not been able to dare, offering less episodes but all dedicated to the characters and the consequences that the pressing South Korean society has on people and families. Avoiding all the trope and clichés.
Honestly speaking, I have too many dramas to watch in order to waste my time with the same trope.
From episode 10 I skipped a lot the clichè parts. At the end the drama had finally shown some characters development and the evil turn out to be who I initially tought.
Overall, between all drama that dealt with this topic and between all makjang, I can't deny that this is one of the best written, acted and executed. But I also can't deny that the drama lost his charm along the way.
Was this review helpful to you?
A peculiar journey through the soul
I can't deny that I expected something different, or at least I didn't expected this.The drama turned out to be more peculiar than I expected and the reference "inspired on Faust by Goethe" is not accidental. It is in fact a psychological drama that analyzes and compares human free will with the laws dictated by the deities (deity / evil). The story is completely character driven and evolves around the lifestyle choices made by Ha Rip, his actions influence the lives of others and both he, and the other protagonists, will have the chance to experience a strong character development. The drama has some flaws but on the whole it has been able to differentiate itself from all these similar dramas that run lately. The whole cast did a great job but the couple JKH and PSW obviously is the one that shined the most.
It is difficult to describe the plot of WTDCYN without making spoilers, so I will limit myself to describing to you what are the main topics:
1) the complex relationship of love / hate between father and son, this theme is the trigger of all the actions committed by the protagonists.
2) sell the soul to the devil, a good part of the drama analyzes how humans are willing to sell their soul and for what reasons, not only for greed, but also for sacrifice, love and above all desperation.
Unfortunately, as already mentioned the drama is not perfect, the author has chosen a difficult subject to deal with and not everyone can be Goethe. (no offense). Both the plot and the direction were a bit of a mess, the initial part is very confusing, it's a mix of genres and sub-plots, a sign that the author wasn't sure which way to go. When he finally decided to choose the tragedy, things started to improve. From ep. 6 the true story begins to take shape, the pieces of the puzzle are recomposed and each character shows us a heartbreaking story.
I didn't like the direction because it changed too quickly and too often from one character to another, passing from comic scenes to tragic scenes within a few seconds, at first I liked the switch comedy/melodrama but when it became clear this was tragic I found the comedy a bit annoying.
You didn't have time to digest what had just happened that the plot moved to another character. (Perhaps it is a common problem of character-driven plots, I don't know, I usually don't watch them unless it's a slice of life.) At one point they also tried to play the romance card and then immediately withdraw it, luckily for us. But there are some "side crush" and romantic implications.
The music / entertainment component is only the sector chosen to set this story but it is not a music drama, despite the soundtrack being magnificent, at least if you like old rock style ballads.
Overall it was an interesting ride inside the most difficult and obscure subconscious of humanity, the soul.
Was this review helpful to you?
The plot is totally unbalanced when it came to quality of writing, one part of the story is about Jang Man Wol's past and her personal story, a wonderful story about a character who is serving an eternal punishment for a revenge happened in the past. The flashback moments are basically the best part of this show and the contrast between old/present Jang Man Wol is superb, IU did a great job in portraying different personalities.
Instead of making a drama entirely dedicated to this plot, the Hong Sisters decided to fill in the rest of the drama with boring sub-plot about hotel management and ghost hunting. Qualitatively speaking, the present story doesn't hold up to the past story.
In addition, the Hong sisters failed to develop interesting characters outside IU's role. None of the other characters can compete with IU's performance, the show was made for her, written for her and invested tons of "money" on her, with beautiful outfits, make-up and accessories. It almost seems that the Hong sister first wrote the role of IU and her personal story, then when they realized that they had to fill 16 episodes they added crap as much as they could.
Even the great Yeo Jin Go couldn't do much about it, his role was weak from the start, a scary kid that end up working in a hotel full of ghost, despite his good acting skills, the personality of his character wasn't strong enough to compete with IU's charater. Other characters were mere filler, they explained a bit about them but most of the sub-plots were closed only during the last 4 episodes, sign that the show didn't give them much space and importance.
The romance is another giant failure of this show, the initial chemistry felt between IU and Jin Goo during the first episode disappear complety when the role of Go Chung Myung came out. I was too curious about their story to care about a Jin Goo, in addition IU and Ji Goo moments together were very slow and the romance take a long time to sail.
If we consider that most of the drama was shot inside the hotel, the director had to exploit a lot of other elements to entertain the viewer, as already said, they have invested a lot in the appearance of IU, with beautiful outfits. They also used a lot of scenes that provided color games (the tree in the hotel) and the beautiful soundtrack. But as I always say, making the most of some good element of the drama doesn't hide a weak and poorly written script.
They say that Hong sister are a hit or a miss, HDL was a miss and it survived only thanks to the hype.
Was this review helpful to you?
In my opinion this drama was more characters driven than plot driven, and the cast did an awesome job in portraying a plot that was unnecessarily over complicated. The writer took us on a very long detour to keep us engaged but at the end he failed to delivery the “twist plot” we all were waiting for.
When you take down one enemy after another, but there are still episodes to air, it is very easy to see, between the suspects, who is still standing.
I really would love to give this an 8 but despite the great acting, the wonderful soundtrack and some thriller/dramatic moments, I didn’t appreciate how the writer play with us.
Plot: unnecessarily complicated, full of thrilling moments strategically placed to grab the viewer, but the overall consistency of the story was lacking, the ending was predictable. Most of the plot focus on the corruption within the police/justice SK society.
Characters: well-written, the story was characters driven, each member of the team has his own story, all of them show the true colors of human kind, the trauma they suffer affected them not only psychologically but also physically, and bring them to make decisions that not always are the rightful one.
Acting: superb, the cast did an awesome job and save a lot this drama.
Soundtrack: wonderful and perfect to give the thriller vibe and dramatic vibe when necessary.
Personal opinion: I am more into pure thriller where the enemy is a psychopath than into corruption plot, but this can definitely be added in the OCN best work.
Was this review helpful to you?
Despite having a few couples, each one with their respective sup-plot, the romance shown is very little.
Lee Sang Woo & Han Ji Hye are set as the main couple, but they weren't the real OTP, they got the same screen-time as others, if I have to be honest their sub-plot wasn't even that interesting and I end up loving more other characters.
The main topic of the drama is the relationship between parents, children and siblings. An old man met his first love and the two decide to start a relationship. While the eldery couple is facing its own love/hate relationship, their respective children are having an hard time to get along with the idea about becoming a "new large family".
In particular the woman's son is strongly against this relationship and while he try hard to break them up, he also clashes and established an ill-fated relationship with his future step-brother. This two characters will delivery one of the best enemis/bromance ever seen in a drama.
In the meanwhile all the other siblings, all daughters, are dealing with their own problems, each sub-plot will add drama to the already complicated dynamic and the two eldery will end up suffering a lot while dating and trying to cope with their children needs.
Each sub-plot is filled with typical family drama clichés, but despite the classic elements, the writer was able to write a balanced plot, giving to all the characters enough screen-time to properly develop each story, some more interesting than other depending on you personal taste. Despite some dramatic moments the story is full comedy, in particular the trio twins VS step-brother will make you cry from laughing several times.
Even if everyone have his own story, from the beginning it is obvious that Kim Kwon's role is the most important one, his behavior is what create the major conflict for the eldery couple and the sibling, it is also the character more involved in the main plot-line and different sub-plot. It's the glue that holds the story of the two families together.
It is one of those character that you cheer for cause he truly deserve a "character" development and an happy ending.
Although this character will have a strong change, unfortunately the writer failed to provide him with the romance he deserved, forcing a love-line that we all know it will not work out, cause from ep. 1 it's clear that the girl's heart is already taken.
During the last 20 episodes the writer decided to do some "lazy" writing and came out with a few draggy and ripetitive sub-plot. Some of the characters face the exact same issues already seen in the first part of the drama, with the addition of two hated clichés related to birth secrets and memory problems.
Overall it was easy to overcome those "eyes roll" moments and enjoy the rest of the story.
I hope you will enjoy Kim Kwon's role and the twins as much as I did.
Was this review helpful to you?
Unfortunately this great start came soon to an abruptly end, the show change environment and explain in a rushed way what happened, at this point you ask your self “now what?”
I stick around to see where the plot line wanted to go but nothing major happened, they start adding sub-plots after sub-plots. There are so many that is hard to get attached to one of them, because the show switch constantly between them. Each sub plot is moving slowly making very little progress, I dropped this half way and I still can’t tell you what the drama is trying to tell us. It’s a romance? It’s a medical? It’s a legal?
The writer try to fit too many elements and this create an unbalanced story where one of the main lead is almost relegated to a supportive role because there is no time for him.
The various sub plots steal tons of screen time, therefore there is no space to develop any of the other character involved in the story, specially the other main lead. Definitely a huge mistake made by the writer.
Another problem is that, as always happens with kdrama, they forced the romance and they use it as a bait to grab the viewers, in fact many viewers are over hyped about it. I watched half drama and there isn’t actually a romance plot-line, there are sweet moments here and there but that’s it. The FL has a crush on the ML and follow him around like a puppy, this is the extension of the romance during this 16 episodes. Besides considering she is a trainee much more younger than him, I find the romance very forced whereas a doctor/trainee relationship where she respect her mentor without falling in love would have be more realistic. The FL is also one of those doctor that feels empathy and for this reason her character came out as one of those kdrama girl who cry a lot.
Nothing to tell about the acting that is superb like always when Ji Sung is involved, but unfortunately the plot is a mess.
Overall this drama has a great concept but it is obvious that the writer didn’t know how to fill the plot and end up adding too much stuff without being able to control it.
Dropped at ep 16 out of 32.
Was this review helpful to you?
The mother is selfish and treat like shit all of her daughter in law, and when things doesn't go like she want she throws tantrums. Her three childern are even worse, they are all spoiled brat/mama boy. The father is the only one to have common sense but he is one against four.
The eldest son is useless, he try hard to to the right thing but always end up in trouble, at some point it became almost comical to see such a character, I felt sorry for the actor. Of course his wife is the perfect troublemaker and the two of them are the perfect pair when it came to create drama.
The second son suffers from an inferiority complex, desperately looking for his mother's attention while treating her wife like shit. While her wife is a saint, she is the only character I cared about and I felt sorry she had to put up with such a family.
The third son is very immature and of course he end up marrying an immature spoil brat girl, the perfect couple, their story is based on misunderstanding and their back and forth became soon boring and repetitive.
This drama is the classic example of lazy writing. After 20-30 episodes it becomes clear that the drama has nothing to tell, the characters don't improve and the story is stuck in a loop.
Even the characters were written in pairs of two, the writer wrote the male version and then he copied it for the female. The troublemaking son marries a troublemaker, the immature son marries an immature, and the son with the inferiority complex marries a woman who doesn't respect herself but bears everything.
Overall is really a bad makjang about a family who suffers every kind of trouble, there are better family drama out there to waste 70 hours on this one. I really felt sorry for the cast, what a waste of talent.
Was this review helpful to you?
Obviously there were small elements that didn't suit my tastes. For example, I didn't appreciate the fact that the FL looked more like a child, both in behavior and in clothing than a young woman. As well as the ML was always brooding and almost mono-expressive. But overall the author was able to write a wonderful friendship/love story around the concept he choose, e-sport. The soundtrack became my addiction, specially the intro/ending music of each episode.
Was this review helpful to you?
