Satisfying ending, however the Netflix issues were worse.

I enjoyed Moon Dong-eun and Joo Yeo-jeong's stories a lot! I was so relieved as, there was a point there where it almost seemed like they wouldn't get a happy ending. This part really hit hard on obstacles in Moon Dong-eun's way, especially her mother, but I felt satisfied that the punishments doled out were proportionate.

This part digs more into Moon Dong-eun's terrible mother. In some ways, the ending of her career at the school felt unaddressed. She says farewell to Yeon-sol, but since we didn't get many shots of Moon Dong-eun at the school in this part, it almost felt like she wasn't there that much, despite it being her job. A couple of things felt somewhat dropped in this part.

We find out that Jae Jun apparently got Yoon-hee pregnant, but we don't really dig into that any further. For a character that was so important to Yeon-jin's story, his ending seemed a little brushed aside. Sa-ra's undoing was a little confusing as everyone seemed worried she'd be in big trouble after the press photos at the church, but then she was just at home playing around on her computer like nothing happened. It took her stabbing Choi Hye-jeong in the neck for her to get in any serious trouble, and I don't think Moon Dong-eun could've predicted that.

Ha Dong-yeon's ending was happy, I think. I was a little curious why he didn't have any further goodbye with Moon Dong-eun, but I was glad he wasn't caught in the crossfire too badly after Yeon-jin's conviction.

Again, my issues with this series were Netflix produced drama's tendency to have unnecessary nudity, unnecessarily drawn out violent scenes and unnecessary sex scenes. I have never seen a kdrama with bare breasts - I also don't think that was necessary. We have an unnecessarily drawn out (and repeated) sex scene with Myeong-o and Sa-ra. Also, a really weird note, the scene where we find out there's a creep at the elementary school taking pictures of children showed the pictures and I don't think they needed to. You can convey what he was doing with that. There were a lot more scenes of characters just screaming at each other and that didn't make for drama, it skewed into melodrama, in my opinion.

However, overall, I enjoyed the series and it's ending. I think it would've been even stronger if there didn't seem to be this focus on adding the kinds of scenes that draw in international audiences.

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Disappointing

This has all the issues I see with Netflix produced kdramas. Unnecessary sex scenes, female nudity (it’s always women), and really bad dialogue. I came to understand Netflix subtitles don’t translate exactly what’s said, but what they translated made it sound as if the script used swear words the way a twelve year old would if they just discovered them. In addition, I didn’t think any female character was written well or treated all that well development wise. It was a huge bummer because the premise interested me. I can’t help but wonder what this would’ve been like produced by another network.

Anyway, I don’t have complaints about the acting of the MLs. Some of the cinematography was interesting.

Sometimes I can ignore some bad spots if the story is intriguing enough but I found this drama also dragged a lot. Disappointing.

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Dramatic in the way that webtoons always are

The premise of this show is interesting: mistreated girl gets a second chance at life and revenge. Even if I hadn’t already found out this was based on a webtoon, I would’ve figured it out eventually. The plot twists and hard to believe coincidences would’ve spelled it out for me.

The acting is pretty good. There are a few points where the adoptive mother and daughter dipped into melodrama. There were also a few times where people just behaved strangely like slapping others or throwing drinks which felt more like children throwing tantrums more than adult behavior.

There were a ton of plot points that were just impossible to believe. Also many points where the bad guys used the press to villainize others and I couldn’t understand why the public opinion was so nonsensical. Also, there were some pretty dramatic accusations and a general lack of reaction to them. So, I’m a little confused at the directional choices.

Also, the end of the revenge plot was a little anticlimactic in my opinion. I just wanted it to hit a little bit harder.

Simply put, this is a melodramatic soapy show and if you like revenge shows, you’ll probably get something out of it. If you’re expecting something closer to Penthouse or The Glory where the plot seemed a lot more intricately planned (at least, s1 &2 of Penthouse), you’re going to be a little disappointed. However, it’s the best Viki original I’ve seen thus far.

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Very thought provoking

It’s been a while since a drama left me this morally conflicted. The story is heartbreaking, the acting was phenomenal, and I empathized with Risako more than I thought possible considering I don’t have children.

Considering what I know from trials like the Andrea Yates trial, I was set to feel that the defendant most likely had some sort of psychological break. The more the show delved into her family life, the more I felt sorry for this woman that received nothing but criticism from the people that were supposed to support her. The more they showed Risako’s connection with her, the more the show sucked me in.

I actually teared up a few times and that’s not something that happens often for me. This show really shows the struggles of women to feel like they’re succeeding in life, regardless of if they’re stay at home mothers, working mothers, or women without children. Every female character in the show had moments of doubt forced into their heads by outsider’s opinions and the show did a great job finding common ground here.

The ending was a little open ended in terms of one relationship I wanted to see ended, but other than that, I was incredibly loved while watching this.

Definitely a recommend if you can stomach the subject matter.

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Enjoyable!

I've seen most of the criticism of this series being who the Jo-Kyung ends up with in the end. Unpopular opinion: I never had a problem with that. It was foreshadowed pretty much from episode one.

My beefs with this show are:
- plot hole from ep one regarding a voicemail left for the mother. It just never comes up again
- I'm not a huge fan of the "actually they knew each other years ago" thing. It pops up in a lot of dramas, but this one used it better than most, I will say. It's still a pet peeve of mine
- Soo-jin was turned into a woman scorned for no reason at all, in my opinion. Why must female friendships involve this type of plot?
- The last episodes were annoying with the time skip and then back and forth with Su-ho in a way that just felt odd to me?

Anyway, I enjoyed this show. I've watched it twice all the way through and I've laughed out loud both times. It's fun, it's cute, the vibe is entertaining and light throughout the majority of the show. I love the music. The acting is great and Moon Ga-Young is so charming and adorable! Perfectly cast! Definitely a recommend, especially if you're new to k-dramas.

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Most fun I’ve had in ages!

I love Korean variety shows and this one had so much heart! Admittedly, I wasn’t all that sure given the really long introduction episode, but the cast is just so wonderful. Not only do you laugh a lot watching them learn the basic rules and techniques of basketball, but you get attached to the players and really root for them. I knew absolutely nothing about basketball and learned along with the cast. I found myself cheering and screaming at the TV because I could see how hard they were trying and I was just so proud!

Honestly, Netflix recommended me shows of athletes learning other sports or amateur men’s baseball players forming teams but I just don’t think it’d be the same or nearly as entertaining as this was. This was a perfect storm of a group of women that were so willing to let themselves look a bit silly at times and truly put the work in to become a good team. I would honestly watch them learn other sports like volleyball or soccer or anything really. They had such fun chemistry with each other and the managers.

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Thrilling start!

I love a great revenge story! Moon Dong-eun aloof, reserved and seemingly cold mannerisms draw you in and, similar to the Ha Do-yeung described her, you start waiting for her reactions to things. Her story was awful and the lack of flashbacks from when she was happy leaves the viewer to wonder if she ever was. All of this makes for a lead character you root for and it was enough to keep me watching when some of the aspects of Netflix kdramas became especially off-putting.

I really liked the 2 male characters that get caught in her web, so to speak. Joo Yeo-jeong was a sympathetic character the decision to write him as both adorably smitten and quietly vengeful was a nice touch. Both he and Moon Dong-eun bonded over the the darkness resulting from great injustice done to them and people they cared about. I was just as interested in his story as Moon Dong-eun. Ha Do-yeung is a character I didn't expect to like, but he was the austere, quietly powerful male character that usually shows up as the main love interest in a drama. Surprisingly, I was invested in his story, as well.

Kang Hyun-nam's story was heartbreaking. She was such a lovely, strong woman and I loved how much she cared for her daughter and Moon Dong-eun. The first part ends and I just really hoped nothing would happen to her in the second part.

Now, my issues with this series are purely related to the strange things Netflix kdramas seem to have. There's unnecessary nudity, unnecessary sex scenes and unnecessarily drawn out violent scenes. I understand they wanted to convey just how horribly Dong-eun was treated, but there's a tendency for Netflix dramas (Korean and otherwise) to sort of draw out these kinds of scenes for shock value. Some of the acting choices, particularly for Lee Sa-ra's character were cringey to watch. I'm not a fan of when characters appear to scream 99% of their lines, but it felt like the sort of acting you'd see in a Netflix k-drama.

Anyway, having seen both parts, in some ways, I think part 1 was a bit more solid overall. However, both parts were moving to watch.

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Started great, but didn't finish great, IMO

This started out pretty great. I realized that there aren't a lot of k dramas I've watched where the female lead isn't supposed to be the more welcoming, sweet character and the male lead the surly, serious one. In this story, Ma Yi Deum is unlike any other female protagonist I've seen in a drama, so far. She's rude, gruff, impolite and willing to do anything to get the verdict she wants. At first.

I watched a clip of the second episode's ending court scene on YouTube and there was a comment saying that she was fierce and they wish she stayed that way throughout the drama. I don't quite agree, as I think it was important for her to learn to see the victims as people. However, I will say that it felt like the show let her character sort of become aimless about halfway through. As did the show, to be honest.

I enjoy procedural court dramas. I know not every one of them can be Miss Hammurabi, but it sucks that this is the second one I've seen that does a case every ep for like 5 episodes before stopping and becoming more about the season long plot. Also, like Miss Hammurabi, there was a romance between two coworkers where I felt zero chemistry. I don't think it was necessary and it added nothing to the story.

Towards the end, everything just felt all over the place. Disappointingly, they turned a strong female protagonist into a damsel.

Despite the dark subject matter, I did enjoy seeing the victims get justice. I spent most of the show just waiting for them to finally put Cho and Baek behind bars. I didn't love that the prosecutor that took over for Min defaulted to doubting victims, though. I also thought, while they got the outcome they wanted, Ma Yi Deum tactics in the second episode were cruel to the victim.

So, I enjoyed the first 6 episodes or so, but what made the show unique to me in terms of character work slowly disappeared.

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Really enjoyable!

The best thing about this series was the interaction between Terius and the family! That sounds like a summary of the show, but there's quite a bit that covers the other agents, the bad guys, the other parents in the building, etc. I was most interested in the family interacting with Terius and that's where the show really shines.

The performances were all great! I really loved seeing a strong, bad ass character like Yoo Ji-Yeon, but I also loved that Go Ae-rin got some badass moments, as well! This show never relegated her to just being a mother. She also got to be a hard working career woman and she was very clever.

I enjoyed some of Terius' moments with the other parents, too at times. I liked that he was learning more about how to interact with others after spending so much time alone.

Very cute! I thought the stuff with Jin Yong Tae dragged on a bit, but overall, I enjoyed the show.

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Ending left a lot to be desired, but I think I understood the point

Overall, this was one of the best plotted kdramas I’ve watched in a long time. The ending was a tad frustrating, but ultimately, I think I understand what the reason behind it was.

This story digs into generational wealth/poverty and tells the story of the South Korean economy from the 90s-the present. As an American, I learned a lot more about the stock market, South Korean conglomerates and how their legal system changed to accommodate them. On its face, not something I would’ve thought I’d be interested in, but the story weaves in the family plot is of the Jin family empire and it all makes for a really interesting drama. I found myself finishing it much faster than I thought I would.

The only weak parts of this drama (for me anyway) were the romance between DJ/HW and the prosecutor and some of the acting choices. I pitied the prosecutor because I just never thought DJ/HW really cared that much about her. She was constantly an afterthought and she thought about him all the time. To find out she waited so long after their failed romance dating no one and hoping he’d be into her again… that’s just sad. We don’t even really get to see her working cases that weren’t involved with him so it made it look like her life revolved around him.

I also was annoyed at how often someone would say something shock to DJ/HW and he wouldn’t react until they’d already left. They did that several times and the leaning in to whisper intimidation tactic was used a lot, too.

The strongest parts of this drama are the scenes with the family. Both DJ’s and HW’s. Watching HW's family struggle, especially what his father went through, was heartbreaking. DJ's relationship with the Miracle Investment team was great. DJ's constant fight with the Jin family was very interesting to watch. Of course, the most outstanding relationship was between DJ and his grandfather. I was surprised by how much this drama made me invested in that relationship.

The ending was not what I wanted. It did feel like a sudden turn to punish HW for things we didn't even know he'd done. I think the writers wanted to say that the solution to his death wasn't being reborn rich and paying it forward. Instead, he had to reconcile with his own actions and greed and take the Jin family down with the resources he had. In a world where rich people don't ever get the punishment they deserve, this ending falls a bit flat because obviously, the desired ending was DJ taking over and having the Jin family see the results of their own actions. Instead, we get a very quick ending that didn't feel nearly as satisfying.

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This series was fantastic! I found it on the recommendations page for shows like Psychopath Diary and I am so glad I watched it!

The Groundhog Day plot is one that could've gotten old, very quickly. The transition from the repetitive days to the longer plot as they dig into the boss' issues was seamless. For once, I was invested in the corporate espionage drama (though not as much as what was happening with Lee Roo-da and Mr. Baek. The coworkers were interesting, as well. I really felt for the contract worker.

This is a show that does the redemptive jerk plotline so well., I was doubtful they would try to redeem Mr. Baek or that I'd find it believable if they did. However, as we see him wanting to change and actually taking solid steps to do that, I found myself rooting for him. The ending was really great, although it was frustrating to go backwards.

Definitely a recommend from me! I had a great time watching it.

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The differences between Disney/Hulu K-Dramas is interesting

Barring my disappointment that Seonwook was hardly in the show and died anyway (💔) this show was okay for a thriller/action drama. It’s still a bit jarring seeing k dramas with this much knife play, blood, and violence in general. The dramas produced for Hulu & Netflix always feel different.

The writing, particularly the scenes about philosophy and morality, were quite heavy handed. There’s a scene where Jiyong and Seonwook play basketball and Jiyong is wearing a black shirt and Seonwook is wearing a white one. We get it; Seonwook believed in reform and second chances and Jiyong thought using crime to fight crime was the answer. I really wish they’d done more to push Seonwook as a character because it just made his death feel unearned (?) because he wasn’t that much of a presence. He was just cute and believed the system could work. Why did he have to die?

Reporter Choi’s character was confusing to me. At the start of the drama, it felt way too over the top. The “okay” thing was odd. I appreciate that she was a tenacious reporter and despite people dying because of some strange choices she made, a lot of things wouldn’t have happened without her.

Honestly, the story beats already reminded me of Daredevil or your average vigilante hero story. The way characters were just tossing grown men through the air, it felt like there was some super soldier serum going around.

Anyway, it’s not my favorite vigilante story, but I thought the lead actor was good and it kept my attention.

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Enjoyable, however I acknowledge I can't speak to the autistic rep

I had put off watching this drama for a while, despite some stellar reviews, because the general vibe I got from the trailer and the crowd I saw praising it made me wary of the representation. Americans are no stranger to the (hopefully) well meaning "inspirational" stories of "extraordinary" people with disabilities. These stories are usually meant to inspire people without disabilities, while infantilizing and sensationalizing, people with disabilities. This story fell into that trap at times, (that I noticed) while I did enjoy some aspects of the show.

The good:
- lead female character with autism. I actually can't think of any other examples of this in media.
- legal cases that were engaging and interesting to watch
- story that was pretty well paced, complex enough to stay interesting with family dynamics
- i loved Woo Young-woo's friendships with her Dong Geraumi and Choi
- a cast that was fun to watch for the most part (I still hate Kwon. I don't care about the attempt to redeem him)

The bad:
- this story falls in line with implying that people with disabilities are worth loving/paying attention to/existing if they're extraordinarily skilled at something. There's an entire episode where Woo Young-woo tries to help another young man with autism and she explains that people would view her worth differently if she had a similar presentation to the defendant she was representing and the entire show sort of enforces that. She's literally named as "extraordinary" in the title of the show and it felt like another example of a disability being presented as an added "bonus" because she's a great lawyer. I don't really remember people saying she'd be valued even without those skills.
- the attempt for WYW to be independent from her father is never furthered or addressed. Maybe in the next season? In a way it almost seemed to imply she'd go from relying on her father to relying on Jun ho
- Kwon is trash and that's never really addressed. Also, it bothered me that WYW's friend and Choi both wanted to date the guy that had it out for WYW the whole time
- Jun ho is cute and all, but his interactions with everyone in his life were discouraging. This guy repeatedly encountered horrible ablelist comments from his roommate (Kwon) and his college friends and yet he acted like a surprised child every time he did. It happened over and over and then he decided to bring WYW around his family, who he hadn't vetted? I get that the show wanted to show that you can have autism and still be in a romantic relationship, but if someone really cares about you, they should do the bare minimum and make sure you're going to be in a safe environment when they bring you around people in their lives. As it was, Jun ho's friends, family, and roommate were not welcoming people for WYW to be around and it bothered me that he was shown to be so thoughtful in so many other regards, but this was a blind spot for him.
- it did start to bother me that WYW's father and Jun ho really had no lives outside of WYW. On one hand, a change of pace as its usually female characters without the side missions. However, it made Jun ho seem to only exist to be in love with WYW and I actually felt really bad for her dad that he just... had nothing else going on. I thought he would have something with the CEO but he really did just sit in that shop cutting vegetables all day

So, overall, this was an enjoyable watch for me. However, I acknowledge that I'm not equipped to discern if the representation of autism was harmful and would render my enjoyment in consequential.

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Started off interesting and devolved with a confusing message ???

This story started off interesting. I was crediting it with being the first kdrama in a while to get me out of my slump.

The MC Seo Ari is not the most compelling MC I've seen because the show seemed intent to flip flop between her being meek and her being strong when it felt like it. I truly think the actress did the best she could, but it was often frustrating watching Seo Ari just bite her tongue and freeze when bad things were happening. Like the entire plot at the nightclub.

The Gabin Society, minus Min Hye and Si-hyeon, felt interchangeable. The only thing that separated them were their secrets, to be honest.

I called who was doing the livestream early, but it only confused the message, to be honest. I think it may have been better if bbbfamous had been someone that was close to Seo Ari. The show established that it hurt her the most to have her best friend be one of her detractors. Turning the mastermind behind her rise and fall into a jealous, minimum wage worker, living in a messy apartment with roaches kind of removed any sort of message, IMO. Sure, the only reason the Gabin Society and Seo Ari were able to prosper was through regular people supporting them. However, part of the reason people rooted for Seo Ari in the first place was because these women couldn't be torn down by a regular person. It had to be someone with a following.

Even if the end result was that a regular person was behind bbbfamous, it would've made more sense for it to be a group of regular people getting revenge on the Gabin Society. Seo Ari could've joined them or the show could've made her into someone who'd actually done something wrong because in the end, the message is clouded by the biggest fall from grace being Seo Ari's. She is ruined, Park from the warehouse is ruined, her mother was in jail for tax evasion. The show focuses more on Seo Ari's struggles and doesn't focus on the Gabin Society's fall nearly as much. So, what was the message?

The regular people can make or break you? (Where the regular person was an obsessed psycho who went after someone who also used to be a regular person and still had morals. You know, and not the rich people that were cruel to others.)
Fame can make or break the people around you? (Where she ended up forgiving her backstabbing friend and they helped fool the public together?)

Whatever the message, this show took a swan dive into melodrama in the last 2 episodes and some of the acting choices were cringey. Starting a romance where the FMC accuses the love interest of sexual harassment is a weird choice and I also never warmed to that guy. It felt like the screenwriters were told to insert as much cursing into the story as they possibly could and that sometimes made the dialogue really cringey.

So, would I recommend this show? Yes, if you want to turn your brain off. No, if you're looking for something to make you think.

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I get the obsession, but the execution left some things to be desired

This show is captivating. While it took a little while to grab me, once it did, I found it hard to stop watching.

I put off watching this one for a while because I knew it was a remake of an English show. The plot line is nothing new: Guy cheats on his wife and refuses to take responsibility for the damage he's done. What made this particular take on this story interesting was the choice to have pretty much every adult on the show be guilty of some moral failing. There's Dr. Ji's "friends" who know of the affair and say nothing. There are her friends, the same ones, that plot against her professionally, as well. There's married men who can't stay faithful and married women that shame the women who refuse to tolerate the infidelity. The only women who come out completely clean in this are Min Hyun-seo and the medical director's wife that was cheated on. Everyone else has wronged someone else in some way, purposefully.

There's the politics of the Women's Association to deal with, as infuriating as that was. There was the drama with Dr. Ji trying to help Hyun-seo. While I didn't care for it, the drama with Joon Young's classmates was also a plot. There was a lot going on, so the show was never boring.

Dr. Ji is one the more interesting female protagonists I've seen in a kdrama and that's largely because I didn't understand a lot of the decisions she's made. I found it frustrating how much she continued to be dragged into Tae Oh's mess, but Hyun-seo's explanation makes the most sense. Dr. Ji just couldn't turn her back on him, no matter how abusive and selfish he was, because she pitied him. It made the character of Dr. Kim so much more confusing to me.

Why have a character that follows her (a bit concerning, btw) and constantly shows up to help her when others hurt her? Nothing comes of that. Even if they'd just remained friends, there wasn't enough shown of that to make it seem like this character was properly utilized. We have Joon Young tell Dr. Ji that she should find someone nice, but apparently that wasn't a set up for her and Dr. Kim? We also drop the plot about Joon Young knowing why his parents fought that day before the restraining order. The handling of Joon Young's character was quite confusing at times.

Anyway, this show is entertaining, somewhat like Penthouse. However, unlike Penthouse, I feel like some of the choices were so baffling it was frustrating to watch at times. The things Dr. Ji and Da Kyung let Tae Oh get away with made me doubt their intelligence. It wasn't always pity, it was delusion.

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