Completed
Jinyoungie
0 people found this review helpful
Jun 7, 2022
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 7.5
Story 7.0
Acting/Cast 7.5
Music 6.5
Rewatch Value 7.0
This review may contain spoilers

Starts out well, but loses it's way

Strongest Deliveryman I remember seeing all over my recommended on my streaming services when it first came out years ago and I am only now having watched it after having been stuck on Kim Seon Ho in Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha.

To me the strongest elements of this drama were prevalent in the first half or so, the comedy and dialogue was fun and entertaining and it was interesting seeing how the characters meshed with each other. It wasn't clear where relationships would end up and how people would come together and over the first few episodes, seeing characters come to understand each other and see the value in each other was a hopeful set up. However, as things went on the lost potential became clear.

I would argue that Kang Soo & Jin Gyu's relationship was a large element laying the framework to the drama's first big conflict, their relationship sparked a lot of intrigue and seemed to indicate that it would be a steady constant throughout. They started out immediately butting heads coming from two completely different backgrounds, to becoming quick friends with a mutual respect learned on the job, to feelings of betrayal and desperation. Their budding bromance was special & heartwarming, making the inevitable conflict all the more heart wrenching and exciting. It seemed clear they both had things to learn from the other and yet once that first major conflict between them was resolved they slowly had less and less scenes together. I understand that the storyline shifted, but there was a lot lost when there ought not to have been. I also am a sucker for a good bromance, so to see that this potential was there and that both characters had a really fun banter, well it was more than disappointing that the writer's left this unexplored. All in all the relationship between the two felt like a great set up with little pay off.

Kang Soo & Jin Gyu's interactions weren't the only ones that seemed to have a great foundation to only be abandoned later. Dan Ah & Jin Gyu as well had an interesting dynamic and meaningful relationship which was tossed to the sidelines later. I mean Dan Ah literally saved Jin Gyu's life and witnessed him at some of his most vulnerable points, she even defended him when no one else would. And then flip was switched and suddenly she no longer had a care or worry for the struggling, emotionally damaged human that suffered through some really horrible familial abuse and suicide.

At a certain point the writer's seemed to want to completely shift the audience's attention and care to the romance between Kang Soo & Dan Ah, but beyond their playful banter I found their romantic relationship forced and quite honestly uncomfortable to watch. The chemistry for me wasn't there and to make things worse their dialogue became so cliched and shallow that I started to cringe every scene they had together. Needless to say it wasn't a good thing when the attention shifted to spotlight their relationship.

Alongside the increased screen time for Kang Soo and Dan Ah's relationship meant the lessening of screen time for our other main leads. This was odd to me for a couple of reasons. One, Jin Gyu's character was raw and his struggles real and begged sympathy from the audience, thus making every emotional break through his character had quite impactful. He went through some extremely difficult life hurdles only to continue to surprise us with a renewed verve and hope for living a good life despite all of his past trauma and regrets. All of that growth coming with little to no support from anyone else. Also, considering he was nearly beaten to death seemingly on multiple occasions by his father, couldn't his character have had more justice then him just having the ability to walk out on his father's offer to join the company? It just seemed like he had too much of a stake in the beginning of the drama for the writer's to drop him off at the half way point as just the remaining love interest for Ji Yoon and then to have no major scenes any time after. (Don't get me wrong, as a couple Jin Gyu & Ji Yoon were surprisingly cute & believable together). This brings me to Ji Yoon, who I found super annoying in the beginning but once the writer's shifted her direction onto Jin Gyu she seemed to mature leaps and bounds and her puppy love and endless support and care for him seemed so genuine. Some of her scenes with him were so outlandishly hilarious but made her seem like a real person for how weird and raw they were. Her character, like Jin Gyu's, seemed like she could've become much more integral to the plotline or at least have had more screen time as she had to make some pretty difficult life choices herself, like completely emancipating herself from her parents and starting her own career.


Overall, this was enjoyable, but I felt a lot of potential lost and I feel like the message was also muddled a few times between a disconnected romance and imbalance of character development and storyline.

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Completed
flunderingchipper
0 people found this review helpful
May 25, 2021
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 1.0
Story 1.0
Acting/Cast 1.0
Music 1.0
Rewatch Value 10
This review may contain spoilers

Holy Fricking Shit This BLURSED Shit Rocked My World

Let me clarify here: this show was - without a doubt - written by two people who either snorted something or developed episode ideas by chucking absurd one-shot pitches into a hat and drawing them out at random. Strongest Delivery Man is a steaming, reanimated Frankensteinian corpse of a drama. And

I LOVED IT.

Many dramas delve into the harrowing, alienating world of the corporate drone, the working class shmuck, and the rich heir. All the ones I've seen that have contradictorily shown their characters squirm under the acute and malicious thumb of wealth inequality and given them a way out by like, doing capitalism "the right way" by starting a company and just being super nice and friendly or marrying out of poverty and never thinking about how sucky that shit was anymore. That is, they identify a social problem, and rather than grapple with the contradictions of the ideology they live under, they buy back into it. Dramas don't have to find solutions to the prevailing issues of the day of course, but if your characters are driven because of their socioeconomic status and the drama pretends the issue isn't latent in the society the character lives in, it's trying to have its cake and eat it too. You don't get to write a social drama without the social criticism.

This drama, with its plot constructed through word association games using fruits at a supermarket, actually looked at one of the core contradictions in Korean society and showed an honest to god alternative way. Dan-ah wants to leave the country. She hates toiling away and dealing with the country's competitive and thankless atmosphere. Kang-soo, literally Jesus, has assembled an actual army of delivery men by saving their lives in near-fatal traffic accidents around Seoul to earn their loyalty. They pair up and start a Door Dash/SkipTheDishes type company that's organized HORIZONTALLY. Everyone gets the same wages and has a stake in the company! They don't charge ridiculous commissions from the restaurants they deliver from and BY THE WAY the delivery guys are working with independent mom-and-pop shops to fight off a predatory chain restaurant that's trying to drive away its competition (a real thing that Starbucks did to kill the independent coffee house culture of the USA). It shows the community coming together, leaving competition behind and thriving for it.

That said, though, this show is complete, utter, catnip. I lost my shit while watching it. I've never had so much fun with pure shenanigans, of which this show is UTTERLY, 100%, UNDISTILLED SHENANIGANS. You could feed this to me and it would have the same effect as steroids. It's not GOOD by any stretch of the imagination. It is bloody entertaining.

The first episode is basically a remake of the Fast and the Furious movies. It's billed as a rom-com, right? Well in the first, like, 10 minutes of the first episode you see a delivery guy on a scooter get fucking nailed by a driver while he's parked next to the main character. Blood on the ground and everything, Kang-soo LEAVES THE MAN BLEEDING IN THE STREET TO CHASE AFTER THE CULPRIT WHO HIT HIM. He calls he poor guy an ambulance and CHASES AFTER - DUDE YOU ARE NOT A TRAINED PROFESSIONAL.

Throughout the rest of the first episode there are MULTIPLE accidents or near-accidents, there's a street race somewhere in there - and bear in mind, this is before the audience has any idea that this show is going to be Uber Eats in Itaewon. Kang-soo POPS A FRONT WHEELIE to avoid colliding into his soon-to-be love interest, and then you're supposed to accept that this man is going to be doing his own stunts for the rest of the show. This insistence on sporadically and randomly inserting wild action scenes culminates in an offensively hilarious one where Dan-ah and her boss lady track down boss-lady's boss-husband to a mafia hide out and Kang-soo, with a band of delivery men, storm the hide out and FIST FIGHT ARMED MAFIA MEMBERS TO RESCUE THEIR FRIENDS 3 TO 1. THEY'RE OUTNUMBERED AND THEY WIN THE FIGHT. WHAT A WORLD.

REMEMBER, THIS IS A DRAMA IMAGINING WHAT DOOR DASH WOULD BE LIKE IF IT WAS OWNED BY A WORKER CO-OP.

Kang-soo is able to muster every delivery man in Seoul on a whim. PHSYICALLY. When he wants to tell them something, he texts 327 delivery men in a group chat to meet him by a floodway and every single one of them will ride to him on their identical scooters like it's a battle scene from Lord of the Rings and SIT on the vehicles until he's done his speech. This show has a weird tendency to center technologically-mediated communication AND treat it like a superfluous detail in its world at the same time. Kang-soo calls his warrior delivery boys to him to ask them to delivery flyers that encourage pedestrians to VISIT A WEBSITE. JUST ADVERTISE ON INSTAGRAM, KANG-SOO. WHY can't he tell them what he wants to say THROUGH THE GROUP CHAT? WHY is he mustering them so they can sit, peeking out of their helmets, like their scooters are horses and they're the king's knights, WHEN HE CAN JUST --- TEXT THEM --- THROUGH. THE. GROUP. CHAT?

The delivery men are extremely loyal to Kang-soo because, again, he's saved each of their lives and lacks the ability to type on a keyboard with more than one finger at a time. Kang-soo ends up in prison after he's wrongfully accused of his friend's actions, which were attempting murder on an heir who street raced and blocked a road that could have been crucial to sparing their friend WHO GOT HIT BY A CAR from falling into a coma. When Kang-soo gets out of prison, that friend is there to greet him AND THEN GOES BACK TO THE HOSPITAL FOR MANDATORY BED REST. He's also KANG-SOO'S HALF-BROTHER ON KANG-SOO'S LONG LOST MOTHER'S SIDE. The feud between Jin-gyu (the heir) and Kang-soo threatens to lead to an all-out war between the delivery men and the chain restaurant until a grandma steps in and says, "hey guys, let's stop now because there's no other way for the writers to feasibly restore the levity we're hoping for." And that's how the revenge cycle stops. OH, and Jin-gyu and Kang-soo are part of a love square.

I want you to be skeptical of the people who reviewed this show and said they could relate to it, because I haven't even spoiled half of this show's high octane ludicrousness for you. Every possible trope a K-drama could have is introduced and used up in the span of SECONDS in this show. Itaewon Class could NEVER.

Dizzying, that's what this show was. It was dizzying. It's the fact that it took itself too seriously and completely facetiously at the same time. The fact that it pulled the mafia and the corporate world together around socialist SkipTheDishes. Maybe it's the way Kang-soo slaps down his ancient manuscript business bible like he's got the answers to humankind's deepest questions when it's a handwritten notebook that just says "DoorDash, but more equitable." There's hallucinations, death, flirty jokes and climactic kiss scenes, off-the-wall stunts, delivery boy cavalry, HORRIBLE MUSIC - the whole package. Everything you could never know coexists in this blursed drama. And let's be real, people, there's no other word for this shit. it's BLURSED.

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Completed
Anshul
0 people found this review helpful
Jul 21, 2021
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 10
Story 10
Acting/Cast 10
Music 10
Rewatch Value 10

live is all about struggles and friends

Perhaps I feel differently than most because I'm in my early 20s and felt a connection to most of the characters in this drama. For me personally, this drama really grew on me to the point where I was a little disappointed that the end came so quickly. I didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did.

The first few episodes were kinda meh to say the least, not terrible, but not amazing. However, I always had an affinity for slice of life dramas and I continued watching. I think the shift happened right around when they decided to become 'Strongest Deliveryman' and that's when it started to feel like I was watching a whole new and exciting show. I will have to disagree with the majority and say that i absolutely loved Kang Soo and Dan Ah's relationship more than I did the second leads. Don't get me wrong though, the second leads were lit and sooooo funny but the first leads were more impactful to me, because I wasn't sold on their compatibility as a couple initially. In the earlier episodes I never felt the chemistry, but as the episodes progressed I fell for how well it was portrayed as a realistic relationship.

What I really enjoyed in this drama was how it made me feel as young adult who often felt like the world and everything was against me. Dan Ah calling Korea hell resonated with me so much because I feel that everyday here in America. I'm not rich, I'm not even "comfortable" in that sense. I have student loans and car payments and rent and its hard to not feel discouraged at times. Kang Soo was relatable to me because I'm the type of person that would give the clothing off her own back if it meant someone else was comfortable. Min chan, I saw myself in the way he was trying to live up to his parent's expectations; i also saw my friends who have graduated from college, but still cab't secure a job. This drama really was like a breath of air and a word of encouragement for me (so corny, I know!).

I appreciated Kim Sunho's portrayal of Jin Gyu so much because brought such depth to his character that it was ridiculous to even think that he was supposed to be a "villain" earlier in the story. Honestly, Ji Yoon's character was comedic, but that's really the extent of it which wasn't bad in the least.

I'm kind of rambling now, but yeah, I really digged this one. And I'll definitely miss it.

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Completed
summerfancy
0 people found this review helpful
Apr 28, 2022
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 8.5
Story 8.5
Acting/Cast 10
Music 7.0
Rewatch Value 3.0
This review may contain spoilers

Although not the best K-drama, it's still worthy of watching

It wasn’t as good as most K-dramas, but it was better than the typical C-drama. The supporting cast, as usual, was made up of unique characters and relationships. The plot itself was interesting enough to hold the viewer’s attention, although it took several episodes before we got to where the ‘Strongest Deliveryman’ title entered into the picture. I think the weakness was in the male leads – not the actors – just the characters they were portraying. Both men spent too much time wallowing around in self-pity while the female leads provided the backbone they both needed.

Let’s start with Kang-Soo (ML) – without a doubt, he was nice, friendly, honorable, everybody loved him. He had made tons of friends. However, I found him a bit too righteous, especially in his quest to put Jin-Gyu (SML) behind bars because he and his cohorts closed down a highway to race, which delayed Kang-Soo’s friend/half-brother from getting timely medical care. I really dislike this need to seek justice/revenge (in other words, find somebody to blame) in Asian dramas. The half-brother ran a red light so he was ultimately responsible for the accident, however, Kang-Soo insisted on bringing Jin Gyu to justice as though he deliberately and maliciously harmed Hyun-Soo. Putting JG behind bars isn't going to make HS wake up, ok? And if we're going to be fair, why are they only targeting JG? There were other rich kids at that race. (BTW, what is it with Korean Chaebols and golf clubs? This is the second guy I've seen getting beat with a golf club!) I just wish Kang-Soo had shown this kind of tenacity when Ma Jung tried to destroy his business. He’s like Samson - once he changed his hair style, he lost all his strength/backbone. I really preferred this actor as the ghost in Chicago Typewriter. Although Kang-Soo was a likeable character, I didn’t love him like I have other MLs. He was too soft and squishy for my tastes.

Jin Gyu (SML) – I actually liked him better than Kang-Soo because he was a redeemed character. He started out as a good for nothing rich playboy and ended up being a useful member of the Deliveryman team as well as society. I liked how he refused to return to his family in the final episode, preferring to remain independent. I wish more rich MLs would do that instead of letting mom and dad tell them who to marry, etc. Although he wallowed around in self-pity for far too long, he was shrewder than Kang-Soo and thought outside the box when it came to business. It was really Jin Gyu as well as Min Chan who saved Strongest Deliveryman. Jin Gyu told them what I was telling them from my armchair several episodes prior to the ‘takedown’ by Ma Jung – don’t focus solely on the food alley and deliver something besides food. A good businessperson knows not to put all your eggs in one basket. I felt really bad for Jin Gyu having to be paired with that dingbat, Ji-Yoon. Yes, their bickering was cute and amusing, but she was SO annoying! I would have preferred him with Dan-ah and let Kang-Soo have the dingbat.

Dan-ah (FL) – she was the most likeable lead character of the group, in my opinion. She was tough and gutsy, having got that way by experiencing the ups and downs on life and coming through them still standing. She was really the backbone of this group, having saved Jin Gyu from drowning and smacking some sense into Kang-Soo when he ran away. I only wish she hadn’t joined the others in ostracizing Jin Gyu when she found out about his role in Hyun-Soo’s coma. I had hoped that she would have stood against the group and remained Jin Gyu’s friend. And let him keep his promise to you - accept his money, girl! She definitely had a cynical streak, but once she’d made a promise to Kang-Soo to stay, she had the strength to keep that promise when circumstances became difficult.

Ji-Yoon (SML) – unlike some bloggers I’ve read, I simply couldn’t warm up to this character. She was a dingbat and really annoying, especially when she was tormenting JG when he was trying to sleep. It felt like she was a little rich girl who was playing at being independent. I give her credit for not running back home when things got tough, but that didn’t overcome the annoyance factor. I honestly don’t know how Jin Gyu could stand being with her, let alone marrying her someday.

I’d like to comment on the other characters, but simply don't have time, and I'm sure you don't want to read a book. As with most K-dramas, the supporting cast was unique and memorable and added to the overall drama with humor and heart-warming togetherness.

This wasn’t the best K-drama I’ve watched, but it was solid and certainly better than most C-dramas. You won’t be wasting your time by watching it.

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Dropped 16/16
perpy
0 people found this review helpful
Jan 20, 2022
16 of 16 episodes seen
Dropped 0
Overall 5.0
Story 7.0
Acting/Cast 6.0
Music 5.0
Rewatch Value 5.0
This review may contain spoilers
I watched this drama consistently till the 10th episode and then kept skipping till the last episode. it started off strong with characters who piqued my interest, this unfortunately lasted only for the first 7 episodes and went downhill from there. This drama should have ben a movie because it was a story which could have been told in 2 hours.
The writer was grasping at straws with the premise for suspense, nothing was said about the person who hit the comatose guy, also the second ML wasn't racing against himself, so why was there no mention of the others involved. if you are watching for romance, this will be a disappointing watch because neither the main nor second leads had chemistry between them.

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Completed
apprayo
0 people found this review helpful
Jan 4, 2021
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 7.5
Story 8.0
Acting/Cast 7.0
Music 7.0
Rewatch Value 7.5
This review may contain spoilers
While the main character is a young man named Choi Kang-soo, for me the drama actually run the story by a series of strong women characters: Lee Dan-ah, Lee Ji-yoon, Soon-ae, Jung-im, and also Hye-ran.

Though Oh Jin-gyu and Ji-yoon characters are really annoying, it's still interesting to follow Oh Jin-gyu, Ji-yoon, and also Dan-ah characters development.

The drama is wrapped up "in a hurry", especially in second half of the last episode.

The drama itself is not that bad, even I don't really like Kang-soo character (very simple-minded and played awkwardly by Go Kyung-pyo).

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Completed
Ciepao
0 people found this review helpful
Mar 16, 2021
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 9.0
Story 8.0
Acting/Cast 10
Music 10
Rewatch Value 5.0
After watching Strongest Deliveryman, this drama is not your typical Korean drama but I found nothing special to this either. But this drama is still amazing for me. I don't find it boring and this drama will still make you feel some feels. I both really love the 2 couples and there actings. I like the character development of Oh jingyu too.

Overall I would rate this drama a 9/10. This drama is above average but somehow I cannot pinpoint any special about this drama. The storyline isn't that captivating, but maybe because of the characters and their actings, I stay and didn't find it boring. You can give it a try if you want to watch this.

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Completed
50FiftillidideeBrain
0 people found this review helpful
Dec 2, 2023
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 6.5
Story 7.0
Acting/Cast 7.5
Music 6.0
Rewatch Value 5.0

Kang-soo To The Rescue °6.6° °Good° +Family Positive+

Here's a fable for the underdogs.

SDM follows the overlooked, everyday workers. They deliver when c☃ld in winter, and h♨t in summer, s⛈aked in spring, and through the lugubrious fall. They are sneered more than cheered. SDM finds them forming a supportive group that gives all of them a lift.

Kang-soo is the catalyst who turns friends and acquaintances into family. This is contrasted against several real families in the show that tear each other apart. The family we choose is often the best we get.

Kang-soo shows up in town and lands a job at Lively Handmade Noodles. From there, he deconstructs the whole delivery system and then rebuilds it, all while outsmarting the powerful corporate eateries.

The storyline is entertaining, though formulaic. I don't see formulaic as necessarily the worst criticism. Life, and our shared human experience can be formulaic. It's the journey that is most important. The journey you will take with this crowd is fun, like a Disney Channel show.

This would be a good show to watch with kids as soon as they can keep up with the subtitles. It reinforces hard work, honor, helping others and living right. Kang-soo is a perfect role model. He exemplifies all the above. He inspired Ji-yoon to follow suit. He makes loyal friends out of strangers by helping others.

The actual romance falls slightly flat. I'm not sure if the cause is the dialogue, the directing, or just a lack of chemistry. Perhaps it's a little of all the above. The secondary characters' relationship was a better story.

SDM is actually best suited for tweens and teens, and parents won't mind watching along. It is a simple story in the After School Special tradition, and solidly PG/PG-13.

IMHO...

Directing 7
Acting 8
Romance 5
Thought provocation 5

Suggested Age 10& up

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Completed
Rabbil
0 people found this review helpful
Aug 10, 2021
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 7.0
Story 7.5
Acting/Cast 7.5
Music 6.0
Rewatch Value 7.0
This review may contain spoilers

Let down badly by the ending

If there's one thing I don't like about shows, it's unravelling a character's primary motivations and goals with some weak storytelling. There was a tension built early into this story because of Chae Soo-bin's character having a dream that would put her at odds with anyone wanting to be in a relationship with her. The show had a potential to see it through and deliver something with a beautiful ending but instead concluded tamely. I really could not get my head wrapped around how easily the show got around this.

Unfortunately the male lead was also very hard to like. I was glad he got a haircut but that barely improved my opinion of him. He went back on his word to Chae Soo-bin's character in terms of respecting her wishes and for the life of me, I cannot bear characters who have an everlasting capacity to suffer with dignity and honour. No-one behaves like this in real life without appearing like an ant beneath a boot. By the end it was hard to root for him.

To be honest, the premise of the show was interesting and offered an insight into the socioeconomic dynamics of how big power can be fought through collective organising. That was pretty cool. But that was about it.

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Completed
Emyya
0 people found this review helpful
Jan 7, 2018
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 8.5
Story 8.0
Acting/Cast 10
Music 9.0
Rewatch Value 8.0
This drama was such a good surprise for me! I enjoyed it from the beginning to the end. It has been said that the second part of the show is dragging a little bit, but at that point I was so attached to the four main characters that it didn't bother me at all.
I absolutely loved the character of Choi Kang Soo (how can you not?) and I'd like to thank Go Kyung Pyo for existing.
I loved both female leads for the same reason: they were both young women doing everything they can to be independant, despite their families dragging them down / pressuring them. A lot of people seem to think that they were annoying, but I found them courageous and funny, and I enjoyed watching them evolve a lot.
I've had mixed feelings about Oh Jin Gyu as a character, but Kim Sun Ho did such an awesome job at portraying him (his facial expressions are the best) that I ended up loving him too.

The setting around deliverymen is very unusual for a drama, which is one of the reasons why I wanted to watch it in the first place. If you've had that kind of "service industry" job before, you will probably find the characters really relatable and get a lovely kind of "hommage" [to service workers] feel to the drama.

The story is simple, with no big surprises, but that's what I loved about the drama too. The focus is on the characters, their hopes and dreams, rather than on a complexe plotline, which makes it easy to watch.
 It's a simple, yet touching drama about the power of kindness, friendship and persistence. It made me laugh and cry, and left me with really warm, happy feels. I definitely recommend it!

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Completed
Sidhika Trisha
0 people found this review helpful
May 7, 2022
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 7.5
Story 8.0
Acting/Cast 8.5
Music 7.0
Rewatch Value 6.0

Respect the the Delivery Person...

Everyone is trying to survive in this world rich or poor, but everyone's ways are different. some people do hard work and some people take the road to gambling. The struggles of being a delivery person are portrayed well, and how they are abused for not being on time, and the cold food etc, it had a realistic touch.

LIKED
-The first half of the story dealt with finding a person blocking the road, but I think wouldn’t it be better to find the person with whom the accident happened. Also, we could see clearly accidents happened due to the reckless driving, ALWAYS BE CAREFUL WHILE DRIVING AND FOLLOW TRAFFIC RULES.

- Dan Ah, is the only female delivery woman. She was a strong girl from head to toe, though she had a mean personality I could clearly read her pain.

DISLIKED
-Kang Soo's hairstyle was very distracting, but it was never made fun of, and it eventually gets fixed without any reason.

-Ko Won Hee's character didn’t exist, it wouldn't have made a difference. She was annoying and clingy in the initial but was fine later on, but still, think her role didn’t make a difference.

-The unreasonable love triangle could have been done better. Or say why was it even there. It could have been totally avoided. couldn’t it be two people meeting and helping, why do writers have to make them into a one-sided love experiment?

-The ending was too abrupt with the 16-episode length. It could have given a good closure for at least one full episode rather than just a few minutes. also, the blooming of the STRONGEST DELIVERYMAN app could have been done more better, not just for food but like the Amazon app, more benefits in just one app.

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Completed
ltspada
0 people found this review helpful
Oct 28, 2022
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 10
Story 9.5
Acting/Cast 10
Music 9.5
Rewatch Value 9.5
This review may contain spoilers

Great Slice of Life - if you like "Fight My Way" you will likely like this

9.5/10 is my rating This is a 2017 South Korean slice of life romantic drama series with 16, 60 minute episodes.

Synopsis
Choi Kang-soo (Go Kyung-pyo) vowed to find the woman who abandoned him and his father and to become powerful enough to protect those around him. He has been a food deliveryman in most neighborhoods in Seoul in his quest to develop the skills and connections to start his own delivery service all the while seeking his mother. Lee Dan-ah (Chae Soo-bin) is a take no prisoners delivery driver who is earning money for the sole purpose of emigrating elsewhere. She wants out of Korea convinced it is the root of all her problems. Oh Jin-kyu (Kim Seon-ho) is the middle son of a Chaebol family and has always been told he was a loser so he set out to prove them right. That is until he encountered Dan-ah who has no patience for self pity. Lee Ji-yoon (Ko Won-hee) is the daughter of a CEO and her goal is to lead her own life not dictated by her family's wealth. These four young people are forever changed and enriched by their encounters with each other. Love and friendship develop in the course of their daily lives.

Review

I really love slice of life dramas. I feel like I get to lean some things about aspects of the culture. In this case it was food deliver and being a delivery person. It reminded me a lot of another drama I like a lot "Fight My Way" where the characters struggle with making a living in jobs that don't pay much beyond necessities. I loved Chae Soo-bin in "I am Not a Robot" and had I known she was in it would have watched this a lot sooner. Like most Korean dramas the title and summaries really do not do it credit. There is a villian, bromances, secrets in the past, and all the elements that make these compelling. The 2nd couples romance was well paced, believable and very heart warming. And there was even a third and forth couple although their stories were much more in the background. The rich versus the poor was another aspect explored in this drama and there was a thread of good versus evil. It was, for me, practically perfect in every way. I highly recommend this to anyone who likes romance, slice of life or who likes these actors. It was enjoyable the whole way through.

Spoilers** I do wish it was clear in the end whether, or not, the grandmother knew he was her grandson. She was such a nice person and he was so good to her I would have liked to have known she was told he was her grandson. It was not clear whether his brother was his half brother or if his mom had been pregnant before leaving with him where he would have been his full brother. That also was not fully fleshed out. Kang-soo and Dan-ah had really started the more intimate portion of their relationship so it really felt like they just got together fully. I think that is a cultural difference in the US they would be viewed as maybe a serious dating relationship no guarantee it was headed to anything permanent. But in Korean culture it may be obvious that there relationship was permanent. I liked that Kang-soo and his mom seemed to be on better terms but that he had not completely forgiven her. So there were some really small points that could have been clarified but there were very minor detractors.

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