This review may contain spoilers
I think this drama started off strong, but lost steam as it went along. The ending episode was meandering and pointless, honestly. It had a happy ending, but was lackluster and bland. I think that if they had cut this show to 16/32 episodes instead of 20/40, they could have written a tighter story. There were some things that got lost in the story, some things that were never explained, and some things that dragged on way too long. The romance sizzled in the beginning and then flickered and died, and then when it rekindled, it was barely an ember. One thing that some people liked, but kind of annoyed me was the lighting in the show. Every time the main characters were about to have a real kiss - there was always this bright light shining between them. I guess it was supposed to be artistic? Once would have been plenty for that and it might have been ok, but it happened at least 3 or 4 times. Most of the actors did a good job. Ji Chang Wook and Nam Ji Hyun are both fantastic actors and I love to watch the play of emotions on JCW's face. NJH is so earnest and sincere in her acting. Choi Tae Joon as Eun Hyuk was such a cutie pie and his awkwardness and his boyish charm and enthusiasm were fun to watch (this was my first show with him.) I wasn't really impressed with Nara or her character. She was bland and we didn't learn much about her. I thought Kim Ye Won was a scene stealer though! KYW as Ji Hye started off as an unlikable bully and a cheater, but she quickly became one of my favorite supporting actors in this show, and I kind of wished she had been the second female lead instead. I loved her snarky comebacks to Yoo Jung - she made me laugh a lot. And Dong Ha, as the villain Hyun Soo, did an amazing job. It's the first time I've seen him in anything that I recall, but he nailed his role.
The music was decent, nothing stand out, but appropriate.
I won't re-watch this. It was ok, but not one of the best I've seen. I think the longer run time severely hurt the pacing.
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Reason 1. Jong Hyun Soo/ Dong Ha . The villian in this drama did outstanding job, this is the first time I followed specific character, witch is not the lead with such intencity!He actually was the one who kept my interest to this drama, and the only one who I really wanted to know more about! I just have no words. If he doesn't get an award, it will be final disapointment in SBS after they missed Lee Joon Gi last year!
Reason 2 The office team scenes. I truly enjoyed every single moment of them, they were hilarious and pleasure to watch! Great interaction and chemistry between all cast!
Reason 3 Ji Chang Wook and Choi Tae Joon - and I don't mean just looks, but acting :)
The rest.. I'll just say, starting from the middle of drama there were more and more moments, were I felt bored, except scenes with Jong Hyun Soo... And the worst for me was the last episode.. After great ep 37 and 38, two last ones were just.. well, I would't miss anything if I wouldn't watch them.. And it's a pity, because last episode is the one that leaves final impact from drama, and unfortunatly I felt nothing... But overall there were a lot of moments that I enjoyed, laughed and cared. And all the actors dida great job! It wasn't a bad drama, but it didn't left strong feelings in me...
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This drama has such a good start. The chemistry between the leads was perfection. Watching Noh Ji Wook get drawn into always aiding the helpless Eun Bong Hee was so endearing. As this couple is forced to live and work together, their relationship drives the drama forward.
So it shouldn't be surprising that when the relationship between Ji Wook and Bong Hee hit the breaks so does the momentum of the show. During the last third of the show, the noble idiocy runs rampant. As always this is supposed to show depth and character development, but it just kinda falls flat. I just wanted to see my OTP back together again.
The suspense portion of the story could have offered more. Throughout the drama, there is a main murder mystery that weaves its way in and out of the story. Dong Ha does a very good job as the main antagonist. His interaction with Ji Chang Wook is very compelling. It seemed like whenever the tensions were high between these two, viewer ratings saw a spike. This arc is supplemented by short one to two episode vignettes that do little for the overall story. Personally, I think these one off cases, distract from the main story and delude the tightness of the plot. The time taken to spend of these little cases took time away from answering questions about the main story.
This drama's best selling point is its cast. Ji Chang Wook and Nam Ji Hyun do amazing jobs portraying the main leads. In addition, the dynamic of the supporting characters was so entertaining and funny. Noh Ji Wook's firm consisting of Bong Hee, Eun Hyuk, Chief Bang and CEO Byun kept me in stitches. Their regular office banter was a highlight of the show.
Overall, I really enjoyed this drama. I do feel that there is a lot of untapped potential, but the characters are too endearing to pass up. This show is a pretty light and breezy watch. I did enjoy the 30 minute episode framework. It made this show very watchable. If you do hit a bit of snag in the last third, I recommend you stick with it, since the ending is very cute.
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Really, you should watch me watch him.
I have a huge school-girl crush-y grin on my face, my heart starts palpitating and all the Aaahs and Ooohs on the spectrum emit from my mouth.
However, my personal bias aside, there is no denying that he is an excellent actor. No matter what role he's given, he puts in his 11O% and owns it. Unsurprisingly, he does the same in Suspicious Partner. I spent all my time swooning at his adorable actions, fawning at his beautiful face and admiring the way he is able to smoothly deliver so many expressions all at once.
My obsession with him is exactly the reason why I hate giving any drama JCW stars in, a rating less than 8. It makes me feel all sorts of 'disloyal', but unfortunately sometimes you just gotta tell it how it is.
And the 'it' here is the fact that aside from Ji Chang Wook, this show has little to nothing going on for it.
Suspicious Partner starts as a strong, romantic suspense drama but somewhere in between it loses its identity. So much so, that when we're done with it, it fails to properly execute either of the genres.
I want to give credit to the female lead, for she does try and do her best to be quirky but unfortunately, I don't feel much for her. She feels like a support role, at best. There's also the fact that I had to put a lot of effort in getting over her role as the annoying kid Queen Seon Duk, which was a feat in it self 'cause ten years later, her mannerisms are exactly the same as before.
While there is a good dynamic between Ji Wook's Law Team and some hilarious moments between them, nothing really stands out. The sisterhood and bromance has so much potential to be a golden point of the show but unfortunately, it is left untapped.
There is some majorly good acting put out by the antagonist but the show does not develop his character as much as it deserves to be.
The whole crime mystery is dead and very predictable. The second lead romance falls flat and more often than not, the drama stumbles into the realm of utter boredom.
There are some good OST songs here and there but again, there's nothing I would lose sleep over. A lot of questions are given unsatisfactory answers, plot-holes are abundant and so are convenient plot-devices.
The story-line is mediocre, if we're being kind. They use so many ideas from Ji Chang Wook's other shows. Some scenes are copy pasted from The K2, a whole plot-line regarding the heroine's father is taken from Healer and it is all just more of the same ol' same ol' bs.
If it wasn't for JCW, I'm sure I'd rate it even less. And even though I am an eternal fangirl; I love him to the moon and back and I think he is as perfect as always in this show, I will still say that I didn't see him go the extra mile here. This role couldn't have been a challenge for him and because I know that he's an incredibly versatile actor; I'm so ready for him to bring us something phenomenal and better than this.
So over-all I guess it's a good time-pass.
Not too bad, not too good but extremely forgettable.
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Also, that element in the past of both main characters that brings them together, I had the feeling I've seen this many other times in other dramas.
It's not that I think it wasn't well made or that it was bad, but it wasn't that extraordinary to me, at least compared to other dramas that have been airing this season.
Things I liked, though? Dong Ha. He was great as the psycho. I usually don't like that cliché-ish super-evil portrayal of most villains in dramas. I know it's the melo factor, but I hate it. However, he did a great job and I hope it didn't go unnoticed and he can be featured in more dramas in the future.
Also, I liked the second OTP and I think Hello Venus's Nara did a pretty decent job. And the resolution of this couple's story was satisfying enough for me.
They also managed to at least create a different and kind of endearing ex-girlfriend character. It ended up being the source of comedy because of its pitifulness.
All in all, this was a good drama, but I recommend not having too much expectations before watching it and maybe you'll end up enjoying it much more than I did.
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Dirty But Pretty(Pretty Actors but no gripping story)
There were countless times when I just wanted to drop this drama in between, that is how bad I felt this drama is. I felt this drama could have been 30 episodes instead of 40, It was way too stretched! The first 3/4 episodes were bang on and fast paced but after that the drama loses its lustre and goes completely downhill. It never regains its pace and is barely watchable after the 20th episode. You already know who the antagonist (an amazing Dong Ha) is by then and there is no suspense left.I am a huge fan of Ji Chang Wook, He looks amazing and puts a lot of effort into all the characters that he plays. In this drama all his antics and mannerisms as the frustrated attorney No Ji Wook will make you swoon over him. He looks hot even when he shouts and screams out of frustration.
But Besides Ji Chang Wook's amazing screen presence and there is nothing more in this drama.
The FL in this drama is annoying and stretches the story even more by trying to resolve things on her own / getting into difficult situations on purpose. She is an attorney but tries to act cute / clueless in more than half the drama. Plus are scenes of her in yellow and pink coloured business suits in the drama to add to the cringe.
I actually liked the second lead - Prosecutor Cha more than her, She atleast looks elegant, intelligent, shrewd and impressive, just how a prosecutor should look.
Even though the drama has a decent ensemble cast, there are not many moments that shine and the supporting cast feels like props. The story is all over the place and the sub plots are neither logical nor gripping enough for a legal suspense drama, take for example a murder sub plot of a man who is assumed to be murdered by his wife / his son when neither of them are the real murderers but are just presumed to be! The many such pointless legal cases / sub plots which are supposed to add to a story, stretch this pointlessly lengthy drama even more...Talk about beating a dead horse!!
Watched it only for Ji Chang Wook
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It still worth it
Are you scrolling through the reviews to figure out if you should watch this drama or not? Then my answer is definitely: yes, you should give it a try. And I'm a 90% sure you will watch it to the end (especially if you're Changwook biased like myself).The main reason for it is the cast. I want to acknowledge that for a romantic drama the characters here are nice written as such: there are backgrounds, traumas I believed in, interests and traits. But without these actresses and actors portraying them this drama wouldn't have had the same effect on me. Main leads and supporting cast did a really amazing job making me care about them all (or hate some of them from the bottom of my heart).
And yes. Yes, I do admit that Ji Changwook still outdid them all. Endearingly nerdy, a little bit awkward, sometimes too emotional, but nice and caring he made me fall in love with his character again (istg why am i so weak for this man).
The plot of 10 first episodes was good written as well: the detective story was exciting, the romantic line was lovely and the struggles the character had were relatable. I was anticipating every episode and excited how they are going to catch the killer.
But
But then the drama-makers made their main (but so common) mistake: they added the second subplot with father's issue and everything turned into mediocre story with a bunch of cliches. On my opinion this plotline was really unnecessary. Focusing only on suspense around the serial murder and the relationship between the main leads would allow to reduce the amount of episodes and keep audience involved till the very last minute.
As many reviews have already said this drama is way too long and yeah, I agree with it. But let's be honest it's something we all know and even used to, don't we? And since the first part of this story makes you fall in love with characters, you could still enjoy the last couple of the episodes, even if they are indeed kinda boring.
The one thing I want to insist on: DO NOT choose this drama as your first one with Ji Changwook. Don't do it. Watch "Healer" and "The worst of evil", allow yourself to fall in love with him deeply and irrevocably. And then enjoy him in "Suspicious partner".
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The story had me drawn in since the very first episode. I had a heart attack from the main characters' chemistry. I mean, Ji Chang Wook is a gorgeous and handsome actor, no doubt. Even though I wasn't familiar with any dramas starring Nam Ji Hyun, she made a very positive first impression, which was more than enough for me to become interested in her, and eventually becoming her fan. The other actors were spectacular as well, especially the lawyer squad and the main suspect, Jung Hyun Soo. I was really surprised at how much I pitied a very dark criminal. The storyline wasn't boring at all and I liked how it progressed right until the end. I was in two minds whether to give this drama a lower review, however, I loved how the creators of this drama didn't run out of ideas and finished this series with a boom.
Another thing I want to point out is the OST. It translated all of the emotions and the songs were very fitting with the situations and the characters. I would highly suggest you not only to watch this drama, but to check out the OST as well!
Overall, a lovely drama that surely became one of my favorites on the list! Very interesting, tragic and romantic storyline with leave you with many different (and of course unforgettable) emotions!
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Really a lovable drama with lovable cast. The journey comes to an end. Woah! What an incredible journey. If you are up for story then it may keep you glued to the screen or may not. Cause this drama has mixed viewers. The ending was amazing with every character giving you space for open analysis. These are like real life characters. Nobody is perfect, nobody is strong all the time, sometimes love loses in front of circumstances but in the end find their way. The amazing chemistry between NJH and JCW is really a huge factor why this drama has been loved they did more than justice. No other couple can really make me fall for them like jibong.
So if you are here for the reviews ignore the hate comment and go and see it for yourself.
This drama gifted me my new favorite korean actress. Nam ji hyun. What an incredible showcase of emotions she can convey. The ending-she caught me off guard. I cried only when she cried. She deserves super appreciation!
And of course ji chang wook you will always be my bae I love you more after this drama
I may be wrong but I have noticed one thing Koreans have loved this drama when I see the comments on korean and other digital platforms koreans have always been supportive most of the negative comments about the drama have been made by immmature fangirls and jcws previous costar fans or shippers
This drama is definitely a must watch
SUSPICIOUS PARTNER SARANGHAEYO
JIBONG
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