Wasted potential

It is puzzling why a movie that has at least 3 great actors, gorgeous cinematography, a reasonably good soundtrack and over the top hilarious gripping sequences, is not better as a whole. I need more background on the main character, on his motivation and personality. I also need more character development scenes, some quiet moments maybe. Why should I care for any of these people. So much wasted potential.


Things I loved

- Kim Joo Hyuk who steals the movie from Cho Jin Woong

- Cho Jin Woong forced into a double mascerade while still visibly being who he actually is

- Ryu Joon Yeol, particularly his reaction shots, he actually steals the movie from everyone

- several sequences where the action is energized by the soundtrack

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Over the top superhero cop thriller

Great stylish, anarchic, over-the-top, quasi-superhero-cop-thriller with typical Japanese sadistic/horror elements, a cast of hilariously evil characters, great production values and an amazing score. The acting is a mixed bag overall. More than solid J-Drama.

Kiriko is such a bad-ass, irritatingly epicene, gorgeous, inspiring heroic villain. The way Shibasaki Ko speaks, soft and muted yet delicately enunciating, absolutely hypnotizes me.

Takahashi Issei, in a slight deviation from his usual acting choices, manages the worn-out toughened-up physicality of this role as well as everything else he has done before, which is to say outstanding.

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Better than its rating suggests

Cursory watch.

There is a lot of meat on this despite it having a lot of flaws. The two leads are great, the many dysfunctional family dynamics are intriguing, although some of the actors are underwhelming or seem to be acting in a different, comedy script while this is clearly a drama. I like how both lead characters never resort to screaming and try to stay calm, collected, kind and thoughtful while navigating job and personal troubles that are infuriating. I like how these infuriating issues are thrown at the viewer in a manner that deems them mature enough to work through it and never give them an easy out.

The treatment of the lgbt storyline is despicable, it seems this writer is so sexuality/gender illiterate that they can not even make the distinction between workplace harassment and merely being gay, one is bad, the other is not. There are not enough characters with an explicitly lgbt friendly stance. This is just not good enough in 2020.

On the whole there is a lot of good, some bad, but this drama gets an unfairly bad rep.

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Leaves you wanting more

It started as a masterpiece with an episode that is so tightly scripted, with such an immediacy, you just know they don't fool around. It ended with a masterpiece, with two episodes that felt like Memories of Murder's tunnel scene made into a dark, gritty drama.

I am not entirely convinced about the tonal changes throughout, the humor might serve as necessary comic relief but other dramas like the immensely underrated 'The King Of Pigs' didn't have that and worked better in that aspect.

What worked very well was D.P.'s brevity. Although you could fill several seasons with material the brevity serves the urgency of the topic, rather than fizzling out in mediocrity they finish on a high note.

The acting was top notch throughout, Jung Hae In and Jo Hyun Chul in particular were phenomenal.

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Introvert heaven

This drama is not only about introverts and highly sensitive people, it also feels like it is directly made to calm the exhausted nerves and overwhelmed minds of those. Liberation Notes is about acceptance of yourself just the way you are in a world that isn't always too kind to people straying from the herd. It is healing and soothing, inspiring and encouraging.

One thing I got from almost all of the storylines: to find someone you can talk to about your deepest feelings and thoughts and they don't run screaming is all you actually need. Whether you are that person for yourself or someone else is.

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