110
216
84
Kate
hell, where all the cool kids are
Oversaturated plot with underdeveloped relationships.
I’m quite conflicted about how I feel right now. Honestly speaking, the things that made me curious were not explored enough or did not happen at all. The few elements I loved were just a part of the overall messy plot that tried to include too many side characters and stories.What I enjoyed? Exploration of motherhood presented through Yu Ri, Min Jung and Eun Sook. What does it mean to be a mother? How much is a mother willing to sacrifice for her child? What makes a mother - giving birth to a child or having a bond with them? The show presented in a beautiful way the connection that moms have with their kids. That was the true heart of the show.
Going against the stereotypical depictions - in this case: stepmothers. I’m a sucker for fresh takes on the overused themes. We have seen enough evil stepmothers in the media, it’s amazing to see good examples once in a while.
The few scenes of sismance and female friendship and Oh Min Jung’s character. Min Jung was simply the best and most interesting part of the whole show, with real stakes and proper conflicts - both internal and external. Somehow, her journey was more heartbreaking, but also motivating and uplifting than anything the female lead presented.
Lee Kyu Hyung - he is an acting monster. What a performance he delivered. I rewatched quite a few of his scenes. He aced both the subtle and the exaggerated. I am even tempted to say, this was his strongest performance I have ever seen.
What I disliked or was disappointed about? My biggest issue was the dynamic between Yu Ri, Kang Hwa and Min Jung - or rather the fact they kept telling me what these characters feel for each other, but it was never really presented so I did not believe a word they said. You can tell me even a hundred times how much Kang Hwa loves Min Jung, but if you don’t actually show it, I see it as a big, fat lie. For me, the emotional connections were poorly presented and explained. I might understand what the writer and director wanted to depict, but it was not actually there in the final product.
Cha Yu Ri - both with how the character was written and portrayed. Is it me, or is Kim Tae Hee getting worse in acting with each new project? I did not buy the majority of her scenes. There was something really… fake about her delivery. The character itself also offered little to nothing. It’s the first time when I felt like the main character is nothing more, but a plot device…
Too many useless characters - wasted screen time. Did we need so many ghosts and their stories? No. At the end of the day, they were there to present the regret and the longing for life. Not to mention the new exorcist by the end that served exactly zero purpose. The same plot could have been told with the use of the already established characters.
The production was good. Your typical mainstream kdrama. They tried to solve a lot of storytelling problems with flashbacks and compilations of scenes, and while they looked nice, they also made the plot feel more empty, as nothing was truly established.
Overall, a decent watch, but not something I would recommend.
Was this review helpful to you?
Less means more, more means less…
At least in terms of number of cliches, politines, schemes and unnecessary side characters. Develop and elaborate on what you already have - sadly the writer did not get the memo.Yes, I am aware that all these unnecessary side plots and twists were part of the source material, but I am also quite aware of the fact one should be selective of how much they decide to bring to the adaptation. It’s okay to remove some characters from the plot if they don’t really add much to it anyway.
First half of the show was honestly pure perfection. Female lead with good character that you want to root for. Too perfect to be true male lead. Supporting characters that feel like real people. Well paced drama and conflicts and get reasonable resolutions. Villains that are so awful you kind of start to appreciate how much of a hazardous waste they are.
And then the second half happened… Adding one dimensional characters just to annoy the viewers (since the same plot could have been achieved with the already existing cast). Why? Tell me why they decided adding side plots and characters to never develop them, never give a proper closure and actually make the already existing set up more messy and unrealistic, would be a good idea. Adding one dimensional, poorly written and poorly acted characters will never increase the quality and value of your project.
But even with that messy last few episodes, the drama managed to end on an enjoyable note. One thing I for sure appreciated was the message - you do not really need magic powers and time travel to change your life. Pay attention to your surroundings, see the value in people who support you, don’t be scared to ask for help, do not let people treat you badly - you deserve better. You have more power in your hands than you might think, you just have to take that first step and start using it.
That would be the “message” part, how about the romance? As for the chemistry, it was mediocre. I honestly think Park Min Young does not have good chemistry with any of her romantic co-actors. All of her rom-coms usually feel one sided - I see a lot of feelings and passion from the men, and then… not much from her. It’s the same case here. For how unreasonably perfect and poorly developed Yoo Ji Hyuk was, Na In Woo truly sold the character and even if by the end of the drama I did not feel like I know Ji Hyuk that well, I knew how much he loves Ji Won.
While I did not vibe with Park Min Young’s romantic scenes, I do think she did a great job with the personal journey of Kang Ji Won - from the shell of a human, defeated, angry, dying, to a confident, driven and strong woman. I felt her pain, I felt her frustration, I felt her fear, but I also felt the satisfaction and the sense of victory with each and every positive step she took.
All that said, I think we can all agree that the true stars of the drama were Lee Yi Kyung and Song Ha Yoon - what a powerful duo. They could be given as a definition of characters you love to hate. Cannot believe I’m saying it, but I will miss their selfish, crazy, self pity shenanigans.
Production value? Soundtrack? Set design? Makeup and costumes? All typical mainstream drama level - great, but not outstanding and for sure not memorable.
Overall, it was extremely entertaining, then it became extremely frustrating, but still entertaining. Closer to the end it hit rock bottom and almost made me drop, just to finish on a high note again.
Was this review helpful to you?
The loop of framing Wei Young.
The drama went from solid 9 to 5.5, the plot went from entertaining cunning politics and schemes to repetitive ploys as if everyone got repetitively hit by the white truck of doom and got amnesia every few episodes, deciding to create the same schemes over and over again, for 54 episodes. Not to mention the IQ of the characters going from 150 to -10 as the drama progressed.You know a show is full of clownery when a character that just has been tortured is being asked “Is it very uncomfortable?”...
I think the most disappointing aspect of the show were all the female characters. All the lead ones, except for Wei Young, had one focus and one goal only - to get the guy they love to love them back. All of them were scheming, plotting, risking their families’ and their own lives for dudes. How pathetic is that? Some characters were literally identical - copy paste. While at first they seemed to show some diversity of personalities, the second half reduced them all to just obstacles on the female lead’s path.
Every few episodes I tuned in for another “Who framed Wei Young this time?” game. By like 5th time it should be obvious that whenever someone accuses Wei Young for anything, she is innocent. The fact that even characters that did not even have a chance to meet her, and she did not affect in any major way wanted to kill her became a comedy of itself.
While I loved the female lead at first, the same traits that made me appreciate her, later became a reason for my dislike. Being patient, more reactive than proactive, acting low-key, never attacking first made sense in the early episodes - she had no power and no allies. Not being hot headed and thinking things through before jumping to action was smart at that time. Enough is enough though. When 90% of people around you want to see you dead, it’s high time to slowly eliminate them one by one, and not just react to what they try to do to you.
Male lead was a boring low-key psycho, who did some amazing job with gaslighting Wei Young in the last few episodes. There is close to nothing to say about him. He was supposed to be intelligent, good, noble, strong, empathetic, without flaws… boring?
I know a lot of people liked Tuo Ba Yu, but for me even he barely delivered as a character. Making his internal conflict more prominent would be better. I felt like with all his plans, he did not really risk that much when he took detours for personal reasons.
Since all the villains' motivations were either weak or boring, there was not that much thrills nor excitement. It’s obvious the female lead will not die 30 episodes before the drama ends, so all the life risking situations did nothing to me. For all the scheming, not that many people died and that’s a bummer.
That said, the drama for sure delivers in terms of acting. Tiffany Tang is a goddess in terms of looks and quite a talented actress. She did an amazing job acting as Li Wei Young. Sure, playing an 18 years old in your mid 30’ mid be a lot, but her performance was strong enough I did not even pay attention to how ridiculous that casting was age wise.
Production wise it has some amazing shots. Some locations they filmed at were breathtaking. There was quite a lot of work put into the details of the set designs. One thing I have to praise the show for is the make up - no one looked like a ghost with the foundation too shades too light cutting off when the neck starts.
Overall, the first 20-25 episodes were quite fun. The set up was strong enough, motivations of the characters clear. But then I got another 30-35 episodes of exactly the same thing. It was the same story told over and over again with few details changed. Instead of this person framing Wei Young for some crimes, it’s this person. How much of that can I take before I fall asleep?
Was this review helpful to you?
Yeo Joon is for sure the star of the show, the most interesting and well portrayed character. They did a good job with his introduction and character development. It was gradual and realistic. We witnessed him try to fight his demons alone, still learning how to open to others, even as the drama got closer to the end. Park Ji Hoon did an amazing job acting - some scenes giving me real goosebumps.
That said, it was disappointing to see just a little of the screen time used to explore his relationship with the family, seeing how it defined who he was and how he acted for the majority of his life... so for it to not have more importance in the healing aspect was a bit... weird?
Soo Hyun might be the main character, but he did not get enough screen time as one. With that, his character development is nowhere near as well written as Yeo Joon's. It was not as organic and natural. He was one of my favorite characters, so I was a bit sad with the fact there wasn’t more focus placed on him.
And then there is the issue of Soo Hyun being straight in the show, when he is gay in the webtoon - truly hate it. It’s infuriating. They could have not given him any love line and use that time to develop his character more. Some people can ignore that, but some people would not pick up a show that is straightwashing characters, so do with this information what you want.
Last but not least from the three heroes of the show: Kim So Bin, who technically could have worked as a main character, if she would be well written and incorporated into the story. She got a good character introduction, they set up some nice conflicts - both internal and external… but then did nothing with them. Her existence revolves around Yeo Joon - she is there for him to like, to make him want to change, to save her…
She had enough screen time for an amazing development, it was just not given to her. Even almost at the end of the show... she is there to be saved by Yeo Joon after making stupid decisions and not being able to say no... by now she should have been more than that.
Young Ran and Mi Joo showed a realistic portrayal of "love rivalry" between friends. As much as I dislike the love triangle and how unnecessary it was, I still appreciate it gave us a good representation of female friendship.
That said, as individual characters... I find it sad most of their arc is focused on unrequited love as if they don't have anything else going on in their lives. Especially with Mi Joo… girl needs a hobby or something.
For a show that is suppose to focus on healing, realistic portrayal of college life and growth… The lack of consequences characters faced is staggering. How they resolved some of the conflicts involving the seniors was simply unrealistic. Sorry, but you cannot make a character that unlikeable and then for no reason say “well… maybe they are not that bad after all” - yes, yes they are unless you give me character development which would make me believe they are not trash.
Honestly speaking, I went into the drama without reading the webtoon, ans started reading it only half way through the show. Was hoping for friendship, and romance as side plot. Sadly, the romance was the center of the directing, getting the most screen time out of all plot lines. By the end, they started to pair everyone up, was it really necesary?
If you want to watch it only for bromance after reading the synopsis, don’t bother - just check fanmade videos on youtube. Otherwise, there will a lot of skipping scenes ahead of you.
Overall: I would be lying if I said I did not enjoy even a second of At a Distance, Spring Is Green. Some aspects were great, but some were annoyingly bad. It’s a good drama for a younger audience, far less tragic and serious than the first two episodes present. As long as you don't expect a masterpiece, and are willing to forgive some underdeveloped and forgotten plot lines, you will enjoy it. The production value is obviously high, and they use the university setting well. Not to mention great summer vibes OST.
Was this review helpful to you?
The Exorcist meets MARVEL.
Rather than a horror movie, it felt much more like a superhero origin story with a religious twist, and I loved every second of it. It was extremely entertaining, the effects were nice, and so were the fighting scenes. The acting was believable. Except for a bit of a false advertisement (the trailers made it seem like more of a horror than action movie), I'd say this is a solid film.The best part was definitely Park Yong Hoo's character and how amazingly unimpressed he was about all the crazy stuff happening around him. I chuckled a few times simply because of his reactions, or rather lack of it. He was a rather well written hero, who struggled with accepting his true calling. As I said, it sounds like a superhero origin.
Since I myself don't believe in any of the things presented in the movie (hi there all the atheists) I cannot rate how scary this movie was, coz for me it was not at all. That said, I've been watching horror movies since I was around 6 years old, so it's not easy to scare me anymore.
All the characters were nicely done, we got a believable main villain (in terms of his motivations), the side stories and characters fitted the overall tone of the movie. It was a consistent storytelling without any plot holes and unexplained storylines. The ending felt a bit like a final boss fight in a video game, but that was fitting with how "superhero versus the villain" the whole movie was.
It's obvious how high the production value was. The shots were extremely aesthetically pleasing, the background music was fitting, the set design was amazing (the last scenes in the club: loved them). I also want to thank the demon for not ruining Do Hwan's face close to the end of the movie. He knows the true beauty and how to appreciate that.
Overall, really enjoyable. I might rewatch some scenes with Park Yong Hoo from time to time, since as of today, he is my favorite "horror" movie character.
Was this review helpful to you?
So many timelines, so little development.
I want to start with - I really did enjoy the show a lot, I hyped it at the beginning like crazy and got quite a few people to watch it too. That said, I cannot act as if it had no flaws. In fact, it had many.Started as a fun and entertaining rom-com delivering some well established cliches in a refreshing way, with just enough angst to keep you invested. And next? It turned into its worst nightmare - poorly written development making the last few episodes lose the initial charm. The fate of many dramas in the past. The fate of many dramas to come.
Truth to be told, I have no idea how to write the review in a way that will point out all the issues I had, while also delivering the clear idea of the fun and joy I felt while watching. The drama is honestly mediocre, but it’s such an excellent presentation, you just forget and ignore how mediocre it is.
The plot was messy, with little explanation of how anything works. Time travel had close to zero rules truly established, the villain had literally nothing going on for himself and I feel like the yellow umbrella had more personality than him. He had no business being so important to the plot with this little fucks put into actually writing it in engaging and coherent manner.
Kim Tae Sung and Baek In Hyuk were pure sunshines, but it’s a joke to call them main characters (and they are named as such even on namu.wiki). The supporting couple was painfully unnecessary and the whole drama had overall too many filler scenes and flashbacks of things that happened even in the same episode.
And yet it was fun and adorable. The chemistry between Byeon Woo Seok and Kim Hye Yoon was amazing from literally the first scene - they aced the romance, comedy, drama. Lovely Runner is filled with scenes that will make you smile and laugh and lighten your mood. The down to earth comedy driven by the characters’ personalities and daily accidents was probably one of my favorite aspects of the show. Even though I felt like the characters were not truly complex and well developed, at the same time I fell in love with their quirky personalities. Seon Jae and Tae Sung? Surprisingly great and fun chemistry. Now I wish to see the two of them in a drama together as close friends.
What’s more to love? Amazing soundtrack with many uplifting and moving songs. Sudden Shower (소나기) just melts your heart when you listen to it. With a great soundtrack goes beautiful visuals - loved the set design, lighting, camera angles. The drama also had amazing timing - turning some romantic and dramatic scenes into comedy bits with a fun presentation. So many things worked, so what didn't?
Ryu Seon Jae is technically the main character, but the writing matches the supporting ones more. Where is the development? Where is the rich characterization? Where are the flaws and personal goals? Why is he Haru 2.0? On paper he is perfect, but would I want a man like that in real life? A person with little to no individuality, whose whole existence revolves around me? That’s how Seon Jae is presented. He is a 1+1 deal with Im Sol and that’s it. Yes, he is good looking, yes he is adorable with his loser charm, he is dedicated, killing viewers with his puppy love towards Sol. But I need more from my lead characters… I need some spice with that sugar.
Sol is not much different, so at least we have equality here. Everything she does is done for Seon Jae’s benefit. I get it, it’s a plot driven show about preventing the bad thing from happening - it does not mean they cannot use some screen time to develop the characters a bit more beyond what the plot needs them to do. Why are they giving so much screen time to a side romance when your main characters are 2-dimensional plot puppets even half way through the show?
And it’s not like the plot was well developed. As I already said, time travel has no rules established except how to get back in time. The crime/mystery part is laughably bad with ridiculous conclusions. 80% of the show is just cute and fun moments, and there would be nothing wrong with that if the drama did not try to pretend as if the reminding 20% were interesting and important. Make it 12 episodes and switching a crime to depression and we would get top quality heart warming healing rom-com. You could feel how they did not have enough material for 16 episodes when they started to show flashbacks of events that happened maybe 20 minutes ago in the same episode.
Acting wise I overall loved it. There were a few moments when I found Kim Hye Yoon’s performance not quite convincing, especially during a few lighter romantic scenes - the smile was just too much, it did not seem real. Something about her being so excessively happy did not vibe with me, as if she tried to convince me she is happy with her smile instead of showing it with her eyes. But these were truly just a few moments and overall I truly loved her as Sol. When you think about it, at least in some aspects it was in fact noona romance. Byeon Woo Seok did an amazing job too. Loved how he could be both cool and charismatic and a dorky loser and it made perfect sense.
Overall, often after I finished watching the episode I had this thought: wow, that was really a filler episode, but I had so much fun. It’s happy and bright, overdramatic with its mystery when the mystery is shallow and barely working for this plot. I had a great time watching, but I would hesitate to recommend it.
Was this review helpful to you?
It took quite a few detours for them to reach the destination.
Flight to You is a drama that somehow manages to be both amazingly realistic and painfully ridiculous at the same time. How? The characters represent the realistic part, while the plot, especially in the last 8-10 episodes gets a little bit too close to a mental circus you just have to accept and not question the logic behind.The best aspect of the drama is how the characters have real flaws which have real consequences. Cheng Xiao might be smart, driven and friendly, but she is also impulsive and overconfident which affected her career quite a few times. Gu Nan Ting might be patient, fair and hardworking, but he is also closed off and too strict. Similar descriptions can be written by other characters, even the “bad guys” - no one is just good and pure, or evil and flawed.
Speaking of which - I loved Jiang Tao (or loved to hate him would be more fitting). What a well written antagonist. He was just a normal man that was painfully sexist and too power driven - something we see in real life more often than we should. At some point I even started to feel bad for him - his old fashioned and full of prejudiced worldview was simply limiting - both for him and for the company he cared so much about.
I also appreciated how the supporting characters felt both familiar, as many followed well established tropes, and fresh, by adding small twists to their characterization. The whole show is truly driven by how likable and relatable these characters are.
Onto the plot. Romance was so slow at times it felt like we were walking backwards. It was all in the hands guys, all the romance, love, frustration, pinning, doubt. Pay attention to the hands (not like you can miss it with all the close ups…). Truth to be told, I was completely fine with this snail pace. I appreciated and enjoyed the relationship between Gu Nan Ting and Cheng Xiao not only for the sparks, but also the partnership and friendship they built. How much they influenced each other and grew to be better pilots and better people because of it.
As for the airport related plots - you gotta close one eye and ignore some illogical aspects of it. Closer to the end you might need to close two, since the show just gives up the realism as it struggles to keep up with the plots and give them all a proper closure. That said, by then I was so in love with the characters, I was not even frustrated, but rather amused by some of the developments.
The performances were strong. Wang Kai can deliver any role and make it believable. He makes any character seem like a real life person. Tan Song Yun also aced her portrayal of Cheng Xiao - she was literally THE center of the whole drama and she carried the show on her back with no issue. Each and every supporting cast member did a fantastic job and I honestly have no complaints.
The production value was on the high end of the drama/slice of life workplace c-dramas. Something I want to compliment the show on were the transition scenes - the sped up shots of the sceneries showcasing different times of the days were beautiful.
Overall, a great show that focuses on self-improvement, fairness or lack of it in the workplace, taking on responsibilities and dealing with the aftermath and consequences of both the achievements and failures. It tackles the issues of mental health (at times in a questionable manner) and sexism and how hard it is to fight against it in a workplace. It’s easy to binge watch and surprisingly engaging.
Was this review helpful to you?
This had no business being this long.
Taking into consideration the unexpected, but extremely anticlimactic ending that made me regret ever starting this show, I’d say this should have never had more than 20 episodes.Sometimes I’m fine with just the journey being the trip of a lifetime while watching dramas, even if the destination turns out to be a dumpster. Sadly, at some point the cases started to be boring. Visually speaking - beautiful. The innovative (yet extremely ridiculous) concept of psych gave the writer and director a free from jail pass to show the most wacky set designs and over the top representations of reality. But the plot itself? Ain’t special.
They set up this mysterious mastermind behind all the deaths in the city, told me he has some elaborate plan, and when we finally find out who he is and why he did what he did… I truly never saw a dumber plan ever. It made no sense. Did he want to fail? I just don’t understand why a good 80% of the plot happened - it was completely useless.
On the topic of useless - female lead. Why did she exist, except from getting in danger so Jiang Shuo can worry a little bit. The plot would not change even a little bit without her. And it’s not like she was awful - quite fun, loveable, energetic, enthusiastic. Does not change the fact she was there just for the sake of the romance, that was not needed anyway. What made me even more angry? She was shown to have some mad fighting scenes that she stopped using after a few episodes and literally any random person could overpower her.
The actual main duo Jiang Shuo and Qin Yi Heng were fun to watch, though I feel like most of the on screen chemistry happened on Liu Dong Qin's side. One could easily fool me, it's a censored romance type of a deal.
As I already said, visually speaking the show was amazing. I took almost 500 screen shots, I think that says it all. Especially liked a few horror elements in the earlier episodes. If only they improved the wire work and green screen - these, as basically a standard in Chinese dramas, were laughable.
The performances were solid. I don’t think any of the characters had enough depth for the actors to struggle with the delivery. Nothing seemed off.
Overall, I just get angry when I think about the ending. It hits too many things I dislike. Sadly, if one does not like this type of ending, it makes the whole drama seem pointless. that’s me - I feel like 90% of things that happened were pointless.
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
La Ri Ma’s supremacy.
What could have been an interesting take on the reality of idols, turned into a cliché rom-com with important issues as background noise. Pure escapism without much logic.The show opens with the mysterious disappearance of Eunjo and the tragic end of Annie. One would think this is going to be an important element of the plot - it’s not. They bring it up a few times for a few seconds, and then solve it by the end, without any solving actually happening.
For the majority of the show, we follow Tea Party as they struggle trying to make their debut work for the 2nd time, but…. There is not much of a struggle going on. Every problem and conflict they face is solved right away without many lasting consequences.
They hint some problems idols might face like not getting paid for the training period, or even after debut (because of the training debt), how rookie idols can be used to bury bigger scandals, even if it ruins their careers, how idols might be viewed as products that can be easily replaced and not as individual people, obsessed and possessive fans, and many more… but all of them are just mentioned with one or two lines and not properly explored.
The main focus is the relationship between Maha and Ryok, which is so lukewarm and boring, I had to watch it at 1.5x speed. They hit too many cliches that are not well executed, it’s sad to watch at times, especially since both Jeong Ji So and Jun are rather talented actors that can do more than this.
Of course, how it always is with teen/young adult romance stories - no one can be single, hence every Tae Party member gets their own love interest.
Even the main love triangle is there… and then one day it’s not. There is no tension, no conflict between interested parties… no nothing.
The best character with the most interesting story, charming personality and depth was La Ri Ma. She could easily become the main character, coz even as a supporting role, she overshadowed everyone. Without lying, I survived this show mostly for her (and one of the side couples, that overall, throughout the 12 episodes, had not more than 6 minutes of screen time together).
Production wise… I do have my complaints. The budget could not have been high, looking at the Award Show at the beginning. If you can’t make it look realistic (whenever the reason is lack of money, or the pandemic), don’t do it. There were other ways to show who is the top idol and respected performer. Another thing was the distracting, poorly done make up. Ma Ha looked like her lips kept bleeding, and Jun at times could play a 30+ years old guy.
With all that, I somehow got attached and the last episode made me slightly emotional, especially the scenes of the few characters I liked.
Overall: Honestly speaking - waste of time. I was initially interested because of the mystery element and more realistic portrayal of the idol's life, but it was all gone by episode 3. I don’t even want to talk about acting. Some of the idols did better than others, but damn, the majority of supporting roles of the two boy groups were not great.
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
Stunning visuals and the thrilling game of wits.
Your expectations will make or break this show. If you expect a typical noble king versus corrupted officials power struggle, this will be a huge disappointment. You need to be aware of the fact that for a lot of the show the king takes the side lines in this power political scheme and the focus is put on other main characters and the overall context of the current court situation. Lee Tae for many episodes is shown being too preoccupied protecting Yoo Jung taking detours in his plan.This is not a story of a hero fighting for power to create a better world. This is a story of a king with no vision, trying to gain power for the sake of power. A king who is willing to sacrifice many innocent lives and put the whole country in danger for his personal goals. A king who, while possessing some wits and strategy skills, has no wisdom and is unable to foresee the consequences of his actions. A king who should never be a king (until they give him last minute change of heart, I don't want to talk about it...)
While most of this review is my personal subjective interpretation (which mostly talks about the events excluding the last episode, as I feel like ot did disservice to the whole show) of the events and the characters, it is a fact that this is not the good versus evil type of a story. It’s a great portrayal of the aftermath that could happen in the country after deposing a tyrant king. Putting a new one on the throne is not the end of the struggle, It’s just the beginning. The subject and officials learning how to trust the new ruler, and the new king proving his worth and gaining power with their wisdom and not the political schemes would be the ideal scenario, which could not be more different than what the drama presents.
The new king tries to gain more power against the officials. The officials fear the tyranny they just ended, so they try to limit the power of the royal family. The royal family works even harder to gain more power. Both sides started to use evil tactics to achieve their goal. No one is right, no one is good. To understand the motivations of the characters you need to take into consideration the context the drama sets.
Let’s start with the characters, as they are the core of this story. Before you proceed though, know I am a pro Gye Won type of a girl.
Lee Tae and his family reminded me of all the evil royal families in all chinese dramas - creating a mess because of their bad planning and actions, and then blaming other people for them. No one was willing to be accountable for what they have done. The late Queen would rather “die a queen” which led to many innocent lives being sacrificed, than lose the honor. The late king would rather put the blame on innocent people for her death, instead of telling the truth. Lee Tae would rather risk the whole country’s safety with his poorly planned schemes (I mean, dude was surprised Queen Dowager turned into a full tyrant after he led her to take over… the lack of insight was amazing) than put in the effort to unite the people.
And none of the Lee Tae’s family members had a real goal, except gaining power and honor for the royal family. The country was not in chaos. People were not living bad lives, the officials (while there will always be some bad apples) were not all corrupted groups who used their power for their own benefit. Yes, they limited the royal family, but they did it out of fear, not out of greed. And The royal family did nothing to make the officials trust them. Who decided to make a queen a daughter of the killed tyrant and then act surprised when officials start to be more on edge?
Lee Tae was not fighting against the bad guys, he was fighting for power, and that’s where his plan ends. He never presented any ideas of how he will use said power to make the lives of his subjects better, how to make the country stronger. From episode one they showed countless hints how he is in fact a tyrant in making, even though being one was never his actual goal. Throughout the show he kept seeing himself as a victim and justified all his actions. In his mind, the people that died because of his schemes were not victims of his ploy, they were sacrifices he made. But he failed to see that one cannot sacrifice what is not theirs, and their lives were not. One can scarify THEIR life, THEIR dignity, THEIR possession. Taking it away from other people for your own gain is NOT sacrifice.
I think from the start we saw how he was not fit to be the king. The more episodes I have seen, the more on Gye Won’s side I was, even though he himself was nowhere near being a hero. With how the story was told, it made complete sense that he tried to keep the royal family’s power in check after surviving the tyrant king, especially since Lee Tae never showed any signs of possibly doing a better job at ruling. He was pretending to be a foolish king not interested in politics, so why would Gye Won put the trust in him? And when Lee Tae finally started to make some moves, they were all focused on fighting against the officials, and none on trying to make the country a better place. We saw how Gye Won was willing to give up his power as long as someone shows the qualities of a good ruler - putting the people ahead of their goals, plans, honor and pride. The moment he saw Yoo Jung has these qualities, he was willing to serve her and respected her plans and decisions she was making. He was supporting her and trusted her.
Gye Won became one of the most interesting characters in all 2022 dramas. At first it might seem as if his goal of “putting the righteous king on the throne” is just a way of keeping the power to himself, as no king will ever meet his arbitrary ideals, but later on we can see that’s not the truth. He was never loyal to the royal family, he was loyal to the country. He was willing to sacrifice his life, and in consequence dooming his whole family, just to make sure no tyrant will ever gain the absolute power. He went against the love of his life the moment she seeked the power she should not have. He was willing to lose all his merit, honor and pride, becoming a traitor if it meant saving the country.
Truth to be told, both Lee Tae and Gye Won did some shady things during the drama. The difference here is the motivation - Gye Won was fighting FOR the country, while Lee Tae was fighting AGAINST the officials. One had a vision of a prosperous country in mind, the other had a vision of absolute royal power. One was willing to sacrifice themselves for the country, while the other was willing to put the country in danger for his goal.
It became a question - what makes a good king? Political strength of the royal family as Lee Tae wanted? Or wisdom and benevolence that Gye Woon sought in the new king?
And then we had the brilliant Yoo Jung. While the first 4 episodes made her seem like nothing more than just a love interest for Lee Tae and a pawn in political schemes, she quickly became one of the sources of power in the court. Compared to Gye Won and Lee Tae, she, from the start, used her own wits, at times putting her own life at risk, instead of using people around her. She was able to gain the trust of both Gye Won and even the most trusted person on Lee Tae’s side, to help her with her plans. She knew when to compromise for the good of the people, putting her own wants to the side. Since her goal was to protect the people, fighting against others was not always her go to opinion, as it more often than not created more victims. She tried to negotiate and find a common ground. As a true ruler should.
Her trust in Lee Tae by the end of the show was a bit delusional, I have to admit it. Her trying to whitewash his crimes, acting as if he was different than Queen Dowager or Gye Won was simply laughable. Stating that he will not take the same path that Queen Dowager took, when he was the one who created the path himself was just painful to see.
The complexity of the characters and the no obvious morals were the best part of the show. Putting a complete twist to the typical court period drama was a delight and got me engaged on some next level. I was analyzing and discussing the characters and their actions with many users after each and every episode, and they always left me with some issues and ideas to reflect upon.
All that said, the show is not without flaws in terms of the characters and writing. The biggest issue I had was Queen Dowager’s characterization. I honestly had no issue with her becoming just a pawn in the game. She was never shown to be a witty, smart and driven person. From the start she was passive and relied on Gye Won to make all the decisions. What bothered me was her motivation which made little to no sense. They did not set it properly. Yes, I understand that her fear of abandonment made her seek the power, but with how she was presented, her reasoning behind it should be “I will give you the country to rule, you don’t need Yoo Jung” instead of “I will take away everything you have and burn the country you tried to protect”. Her out of the blue defiance and war against men in power was just laughable, because nothing about how she was presented before fitted that scenario.
Another character that had questionable presentation was Jo Won Pyo. I understand that he was supposed to represent a person who “goes with the flow” does not fight for nor against to keep themselves safe. I understand it’s supposed to give us the viewers commentary on how not standing up against evil does not mean you are neutral, it means you are on the side of the bad guys, as it supports their actions. I don’t think they truly delivered that message well. We knew from the start that he and Gye Won worked together to depose the tyrant king. We know he took the right actions when needed, so this “will he/won’t he” closer to the end seemed a bit out of place.
What’s more, the show relied a little bit too much on surprising reveals to deliver impactful plot twists, which led to sacrificing some character development and limiting the attachment the viewers might have had. Some of these tactics worked well - Yoo Jung deciding to stay in the palace against Lee Tae’s wishes. It was a short, one episode side story, did not take a lot of the screen time and with all the other information we had about Yoo Jung, did not impact how viewers saw her in terms of her wits and intelligence. We knew she was smart, we did not need the step by step explanation on how she did it. On the other hand, they tried to use the same style of storytelling for some longer plotlines, and that just failed. I’m not the biggest fan of making Lee Tae the mastermind of it all in the last 4 episodes, when he was presented as a smart, but impulsive and emotional person during all the previous ones. My issue was the fact he was shown to behave like that even when there were no people around him, when he did not have to pretend for his plan to work. I honestly felt lied to. The direction of the plot was brilliant, but the writers trying to keep it hidden for so long was not the best choice for me.
Same story happened with the young monk - with how much of an impact he had on the plot, we knew nothing about him, he was added to the plot in later episodes. Before we could try to understand him and his motivation, he was gone - a painful case of a character being just a plot device and nothing more.
Some people might also dislike how the schemes were mostly just talking and plans, and close to none of them actually happened, as they were stopped or negotiated before they took place. It was not - kill, poison, lie, hire assassins, over the top type of political schemes. It was far more based on the game of wits, threats and mutual convincing that the actions someone wants to take will not be beneficial, as the other person might have hidden some tricks up their sleeves. One could say the plot is slow and barely anything happens. It’s true that there are just a few big events. The plot is the shifts in dynamics and creating new alliances. The core of the show are the characters, not the plot itself. Why do they do what they do? What do they stand for? What are they willing to do to achieve that? Whom should the viewers root for?
What’s worth mentioning are the visuals of the show. The whole show is like a moving painting. The number of breathtaking scenes was high. Some of my favorites were the aerial shots - I’m a sucker for these. If dramas have them, I will always give some bonus points. This is for sure the most visually stunning drama I have seen in 2022. And these visuals are supported by the amazing soundtrack. While I loved all the songs, the instrumental arrangement had more impact for me.
The acting was almost perfect. I cannot stop myself from thinking Lee Joon exaggerated some line delivery. Especially when he added that raspy quality to his voice every time the character got angry, sad or emotional - after a while it became just too much. Instead of getting emotionally affected by the scene, I was thinking how much his throat has to hurt after all that.
I was also not amazed by Choi Ri’s acting as Jo Yeon Hee. Even though the character was rather unlikeable, I felt indifferent because of the portrayal.
All the rest of the cast did amazing. Jang Hyuk is an actor that was born to act in period dramas, so no surprise for her. That one that caught me off guard with how well they did was Kang Han Na. She is an amazing actress, but the role of Yoo Jung was extremely hard to deliver correctly. Being both strong, but also delicate. Empathetic, but also assertive. Emotional, but also rational. Give that role to a worse actress and the character will be all over the place. Kang Han Na aced the role and made Yoo Jung one of my favorite female characters.
I honestly don't even want to talk about the ending. Pacing wise it made no sense for any of the characters to do a 180 like that. If they wanted this conclusion, the events in episode 15 should have happened at least 2 episodes earlier, so the change would be more gradual. My issue is not even the ending itself, but how it was delivered.
Overall, you can enjoy the show if you just casually watch it, but the true value comes from truly analyzing it and trying to understand the characters and context of the show. The more you invest your attention and time into this show, the more you will enjoy it. It leaves you with many moral questions that are truly not easy to answer.
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
The best as the support.
I honestly fail to understand how the weakest of the actors and the most basic of the plot were picked to lead the show, instead of showcasing a great, but uncomfortable to witness story of the supporting couple… make it make sense.Don’t get me wrong, I did enjoy Tae Yi and Se Heon, but I also could not stop myself from feeling like it’s basically The Eighth Sense 2.0 with no improvement that would validate its existence in my eyes. Their story was unnecessarily complicated and too simplistically presented.
On the other hand, even though with criminally little screen time, I totally bought everything going on between Do Yoon and Joo Ha and if given more chance and focus, this could have been quite a refreshing concept to see in BL.
I’d love a story of how the one that protected becomes a bully and how it creates conflicted feelings in the leads. How it would be hard for Do Yoon to forget the warmth he felt when he first met Joo Ha - the hope that what he first saw is still in him. The internal conflict - for how long and how much he should put up with to keep that hope alive? When to give up?
How one magic kiss does not cure your internalized homophobia. I loved the locker scene. I loved how Seo Do Yoon said: I won't confess nor kiss you, let's just stay like that in a hug for a little bit. And that was as much as Joo Ha was conformable with at the moment, and it was fine. Relationships are almost never 50/50 all the time. There are times when one gives 80 and the other 20, and then other times when one gives 30 and the other 70. And I think they could have had something real good with this side couple. Would it be uncomfortable to watch? For sure, but some of the best stories are the ones that make you face some unpleasant feelings.
What’s more? Realistically speaking, Tae Yi was far more violent towards Se Heon, but somehow people don’;t really have as much issue with him. Poor boy was slammed across various surfaces quite a number of times.
Acting wise… it had its ups and downs. Ji Ho Geun and Kim Jin Kwon did great with lighter scenes, but the more emotional ones did not really reach me. Song Han Gyeom aced everything. It’s a fact. Kim Jung Ha surprised me with the more vulnerable scenes, especially since most of what the character presented was being a douche.
Visually speaking it was good. Each year we can clearly see improvement in the quality of production, filing and editing in Korean bls.
Overall, perfect for a binge watch, but made me crave a full story of the side couple and I will be forever salty if I won’t get it.
Was this review helpful to you?
I’m here for pity fights and family drama.
Not many dramas can make a certified clown out of me, but this one did, and I kind of appreciate that. Countless rants in the first half, but at the end I became speechless - the twist did its thing.What got me to start the show was the premise of the female spy assassins arc. What made me stay were the family drama and pity senseless fights when the focus should have been on the enemy. The dynamics between all the siblings were extremely entertaining to watch. While I still believe some of the motivations were… not the smartest, I don’t think it’s the case of characters being poorly written - it was intentional. Because the reasoning was flawed at times, it made the characters more relatable, even if the setting of the drama itself was something none of us could relate to.
Did I care about any of the romances? No. Funny, because that was also one of the things I actually wanted to watch this drama for. The puppy love was too puppy, the “toxic” romance did not get enough highlight to be well developed, the comedy crush was too much. Personally I would prefer if they switched the pairings around a bit - get the puppy with the cunning one, and the cold and heartless with the good natured one.
What the drama did perfectly though were all the visual aspects of the production - from set design, costumes, make up, accessories to the way it was all shot. The fighting scenes? Perfection. This is how you use slow motion to highlight the sequences and certain moves, instead of overusing it to hide bad choreography and lack of skills. Each fighting sequence deserves to be watched at least two or three times to fully appreciate it.
The acting was great. I was kind of traumatized by Yu Shu Xin in Love Between Fairy and Devil and her toddler character, and I’m glad to see how well she does in more mature roles. Personally, I think they fit her better. Zhang Ling He was fine. I do believe Gong Zi Yu’s character was the most boring, so I never truly focused so much on him… My favorite performance goes to Lu Yu Xiao - easy choice. Ad for Ryan Cheng, let’s say I get why everyone got so obsessed with him in that role.
On the bad side - I hated the line delivery of most of the main cast. Separately, they were great. The issue is: they all spoke with exactly the same whisper, slow mannerism, it became exhausting. Any dialogue heavy scenes between Yun Wei Shan and Shangguan Qian? Close your eyes and it’s impossible to tell which one is speaking - they sounded the same. I get it, they are all mysterious spies, but that does not mean they have to speak in the same way.
At the end of the day, it’s a great show. The middle part is the slowest and probably the reason why someone might drop it (I was close to dropping it too), but it picks up later when a lot of things get slowly revealed and explained.
Was this review helpful to you?
Felt more like 2005 than 2015.
I enjoy Japanese rom-coms for how cringe they often are, but this show just took a few too many steps too far. While the beginning was so ridiculous, it was actually entertaining, at some point I just got tired watching.All the men in this drama were a mess and should stay single looking for a therapist rather than a girlfriend. God bless Kimura Arthur for being the only good guy. Kiyomiya Makoto also had his moments and great potential to be the lead.
On paper I should like it, but there was something… cheap about this writing. Random stereotypical feminine gay men, child stripping professing their love towards female lead, random almost sexual assault to give a chance for ML to save FL, awful future mother-in-law, both best friend and boss being in love with female lead, but then this leading nowhere and barely being addressed, questionable romance with teenager. And most of this just felt meaningless and useless.
The leading couple? Insufferable. I honestly wanted the drama to end with a tragic ending, and the idea of them together just annoyed me. The male lead was a weak selfish ass, and the female lead was a true doormat cross-dressing as a competent lady.
What’s more? I wanted to make it a murder mystery “Who killed the grandma” and end it with an open ending - the culprit getting away with it, never being found. That’s a happy ending I would be satisfied with.
While the ending was great, the characters were just not it. Hard to enjoy the performances, when you don’t even want to see the characters on screen…
Overall, had a fun and ridiculous start, but somehow ended up more boring than entertaining. Did not like the ending at all, the closure for many plotlines felt too easy to achieve taking into consideration all that happened throughout the show.
Was this review helpful to you?
It's 4 episodes if you skip all the walking.
This show left me in a state of complete confusion. What happened? How did it happen? Who approved it? At some point, I was 5 episodes in and I could not comprehend how there are 3 episodes left. How dumb will they make the characters to fill that screen time?I’m not kidding when I say nothing made sense. The investigation was laughable - the worst I have ever seen in any drama. The killer was just mediocre and was able to kill for so long only because everyone else was so dumb. The male lead… I don’t even want to talk about him. Each and every choice he made was making me question my sanity. Not to mention Bae Tae Jin who was there to add “spice” to the typical story, but failed to do so.
I am honestly impressed by how bad this show was. It can fool you during the first 2 episodes - they are generic, but not tragic. How fast it changes though. The longer you watch, the dumber it gets. Protect your brain, don’t watch it. And if you like to suffer like me, at least don’t binge watch it. Your brain could fry.
The characters don’t even share one brain cell. There are no brain cells being used by anyone in this show. Zero brain cells. Negative brain cells energy. Basically a black hole for brain cells.
Sure, the acting was goodish, the production itself was not bad. But no amount of technical aspects being done well can save this project.
Overall, why does it exist?
Was this review helpful to you?
The story behind the Sewol is extremely complex. It’s not just a case of one person negligence - it’s a story that involves individual workers, coastal guards, press, police, politicians - you name it, more or less everyone was involved.
So does this documentary tell us how it happened? Why it happened? Does it provide any concrete explanations? No. But it paints a horrifying picture - when people on the site were too scared to even talk about what was going on. It focused on just a small portion of the events - the use of a diving bell, and how the government was doing its best to not make it successful. Exposing that lie in such detail, with interviews and video/recordings proof is how you break the well crafted picture the government and press created.
The movie shows how much effort was put into creating and upholding a lie and shifting the blame on others, when half of that effort would probably be enough to save the people trapped in the sunken ship.
Was this review helpful to you?
