To be honest it took me about three month to finish this drama. I don't know why, but I watched a bunch of episodes all together and then stoped because I get tired,but then, after a while away I would comeback for more, by the middle of the series I would find myself a bit bored from watching it and I would stop again. I think that the drama should had just 32 episodes, they stretched the story line to much so in the middle it just got bored. But at least the ending was quite good.
The premise for this drama is interesting. We follow the lovably and naive (and a bit crazy too) Eun Bong-Hee as she becames a trainee prosecutor under Noh Ji-Wook our other main character. As the story moves foward Bong-hee ends up becoming a suspect of a murder and it's when the mystery part of the show starts, as both Ji-Wook and Bong-Hee try to find the real culprit.
During the drama we have other small cases to fill the holes and a whole character's backstory wich makes everything connect or disconnect (when you watch the show you will understand). Something that made me a bit sad it's how poorly, in my opinion, the second couple story was handled and how they let to the very end to tie up everything, which made everyting look rushed. I really liked Eun-Hyuk and Yoo-Jung chemistry during the whole show and I think their story deserved better.
Hyun-Soo divide me, because I really hated him, but by the middle of the drama I was in love, I just wanted to know how everyting would turned out. In the end I think I felt a bit sad for him. I also loved all the support cast from Mr. Byun to Mr. Bang and his amazing personality, but the one I loved the most was Ji-Hae, she might not have a big role in the drama, but that girl is kinda of amazing, I love how sassy she is and the all love-hate relation she has with Bong-Hee, simply amazing. (But in the first half of the drama I hated her a lot, but she gets much better after that).
Cast / Acting: The acting was amazing, Ji Chang Wook and Nam Ji-Hyun were amazing together, and I just loved the way Chang-Wook portrayed his character, I just fell in love. Nam Ji-Hyun did also a good job even though at some point in the middle of the drama I felt that her character was a bit to naive and to innocent for her age, but that's not the actress fault, it's more the writer fault. She did a great job despite that. Choi Tae Joon and Nara were great too even though I think the writers didn't do a good job with her character, Yoo-Jung was there, sometimes, not as much as I expect from a main role, but she was there doing her job, and I kinda liked her character more when she was drunk.
Dong-Ha, I don't have words to describe the mix of feelings for his character, like I said before I really hated his character but for some reason I also liked it a lot so I'm confuse. But overall his portrayed of Hyun-Soo was simply brilliant I really want to see more of him in the future.
The cast was brilliant and I really could feel the overall chemistry between them!
Now let's talk abou the whole romantic comedy mystery thing. I mean it wasn't bad but it wasn't good either. I think they weren't able to blend well the two genres together, so sometimes we had a lot of romance and lack of mystery, other times we had to much mystery a lack of romance. So it wasn't well balance principally by the beginning of the second half of the drama, the romance and the murder mystery were unbalenced which originated a regular romance and a regular mystery, it didn't outstanded and I felt a bit disappointed.
I liked the OST, was not the best ever, but it really suited the moments. I liked the cinematography, the light thing they did in the kiss scenes looked kinda pretty and it was like a sign that something romantic was about to happen.
Will I watch this drama again? Maybe, but like any other mystery or suspense drama, it is intriguing just the first time, because you don't know what to expect, but when you have already watched, it kinda lost the fun, but when I forget about the plot I'll maybe give it a shot again, maybe. I recommend this drama if you like cute couples being cute and brutal villains. It's not the best in this new trend of mixing romantic comedy and death but it's not the worst and definitely deserves a shot at least once.
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It could have been done in 25 episodes
Got so bored halfway through and had to force myself to finish it and only by skipping through more boring parts. They could have made it 10 episodes (1/3) shorter. I did really like the twists and turns with Jung Hyun Soo's story and the actor that played him did an incredible job. Really all the actresses and actors did a great job. They were able to convey so much feeling, gah, I mean Ji Chang Wook and Nam Ji Hyun were the main characters. That is all that need to be said. They were the reason why I came, and the reason why I stayed (and for Hyun Soo. Bad characters are even harder to act out). I particularly loved Na Ji Hae and Eun Bong Hee's relationship/interactions. and Eun Hyuk and Section Chief Bang.Still, they could have 100% left the drama about their fathers out.
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The story is interesting, but I agree with others that it got a tiny bit draggy sometimes. Yet, there is still enough to keep you watching so I wouldn't say it's negative. There are a lot of comedy scenes in this which loosen up the otherwise more serious story about the murderer. I loved how the story makes Ji Eun Hyuk not a second male lead that also falls for the female lead, but a supportive friend who's secretly cheering for the couple and encouraging them.
What I loved the most was the cast and wonderful chemistry. Ji Chang Wook and Nam Ji Hyun make such a cute couple on screen. The other actors such as Choi Tae Joon, Nara, Dong Ha, Kim Ye Won, Yoon Bok In, Nam Ki Ae and Lee Deok Hwa (to name a few) were a pleasure to watch as well and totally fitted in making the whole drama complete. I must admit that the murderer gave me chills. Very good! They all portrayed their character so well. I knew Jang Hyuk Jin from Mad Dog already and enjoyed his wonderful acting here again. He became a favorite of mine. :) Just because of the cast this drama is worth a try.
The music picked my interest and I like it. It's fitting the drama very well and contains nice ballads such as "The Same Day" by Ra. D, "The Memory Of That Day" by NELL or "How About You" by CHEEZE aside lighthearted tunes like "Why You" by SEENROOT.
I'll definitely rewatch this when I want something more lighthearted. The scenes with Ji Chang Wook with others from the cast like Nam Ji Hyun or Choi Tae Joon alone are worth rewatching. XD
The 30 minutes long episodes are easy to watch in between.
Overall I highly recommend this drama to anyone who enjoys law themed dramas with a good portion of romance and comedy. I liked how well they balanced the different genres. It's funny without giving you the feeling of forced slap stick humor, is exciting without being too dark and has just the right amount of law to not make it boring. It's one of my favorite dramas now.
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So..."Suspicious Partner" is very unrealistic, don't think it is a serious drama about Law and Thriller, it's actually more a RomCom. I love Ji Chang Wook (I miss him so badly TT) but I prefer seeing him in more "serious" or "action" roles, like "K2" or "Healer".
Nam Ji Hyun it's such a cutie, even her voice is cute!
The chemistry between these two was awesome and adorable.
Nara is pretty AF
The drama is very funny and enjoyable in every minute.
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This review may contain spoilers
Like other reviews have pointed out, Suspicious Partner started off very strongly, but started to wane gradually as the story progressed. I would have like to have seen the Bong Hee murder suspect storyline last a bit longer, especially as the major storylines wrapped up just before the finale, leaving the last episode as a meaningless filler. The production team opted for quality over quantity; 40 episodes was just too much to maintain a strong enough plot.The acting was impeccable, particularly Ji Chang-wook and Nam Ji-hyun's chemistry as the two leads, as well as Dong Ha as the disturbed murderer Jeong Hyeon-soo. Da was infact sensational in his role - the laughs, the sudden bursts of violence, and his complete disregard for those around him really helped to portray him as a deeply disturbed and dangerous psychopath who genuinely felt his acts of revenge were justified.
I recommend Suspicious Partner for first time viewers, but as far as rewatch value is concerned, that's relatively low, especially for a 40 episode series.
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This review may contain spoilers
The most lovable frustration in small doses
This series is a hot mess, but the one you actually enjoy watching. Let me explain.Quick summary, Suspicious Partner is about young intern Eun Bong Hee, who just started working in a prosecutor’s office. Her boss, Noh Ji Wook is the type of guy that nobody likes professionally, but gets the job done. The problem arises when in a weird turn of events Bong Hee is accused of killing her ex boyfriend and prosecutor in charge of her case is Ji Wook. She manages to partially prove her innocence but now wants to find the true killer.
So first thing that I want to talk about is how weirdly the show is divided. Instead of standard 16 or 20 one hour long episodes, we have 40 30 minute long ones. That wouldn’t be a problem, I’ve already seen drama that has shorter episodes, but the thing is that it doesn’t work here. It just looks like the episodes were divided like that in post production and weren’t made to be like that. Sometimes episode just end abruptly without sense. Do you have in your country international series that commercial break were made for other format, and commercial just gets in the middle of the scene? Sometimes I felt exactly like the watching Suspicious Partner. Luckily I’ve just binge watched it, but still the credits showing out of nowhere were simply annoying sometimes.
Let’s talk plot then. Honestly there’s not much going on there. Mostly it’s just back and forth romance based on understatements and lack of communication and it’s incredibly annoying to watch characters break up only because they cannot talk about what’s bothering them. Main plot line, with murderer case that Bong Hee is pursuing is so thin that sometimes it’s just get’s abandoned all of a sudden, like nothing happened. And it’s a shame, because villain in this drama is one of the most interesting I’ve seen in a while. And I’d love if this motive was expanded a bit more, since it was so interesting, and I think that in terms of acting Dong Ha showed some amazing skills portraying Jung Hyun Soo.
For most of the time it looks like one of those dramas where characters think that other side doesn’t like them so they don’t admit to their feeling and it’s just vicious circle for like ten episodes till they finally find out that they love each other from the beginning. But in this case it’s not ten episodes, but almost forty. Every time it was close for the main couple to end up together weird event occurred and they’ve just managed to find reason not to date. That was a wild ride, honestly.
The thing that for me dragged the show down were all those cliches. We basically have everything here. There’s childhood trauma that shows in adult life of a character and it’s magically cured by presence of one particular person. We have a relationship that nobody wants to admit to. We have a whole pile of understatements and lack of communication that spoils everything and slows down the whole plot. There’s even a bit of amnesia. At that point I wasn’t sure if I really want to continue watching this show. But…
But the thing is, that beside all of those cliches and filler episodes the show for most part is just enjoyable to watch. If we don’t expect much out of it. If we don’t mind lacking plot and slow development of both action and characters, if we just admit to watch it for fun, this drama is actually not that bad after all.
In the end I’ve found it somehow cute and endearing, with lovable characters (like all of them, seriously). I’d just like for some plot parts to be more developed I missed some closure at the end and felt that some important motives were closed just too quickly. Like, how fast can you forget about psychotic murderer that was about to kill you? And of course, the fact that it took almost forty episodes for the main couple to get together was really infuriating. If those two acted their age, this drama would be ten episodes long. Which, obviously would be a great shame.
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This one has soooo much potential!
I had quite high expectations going into this drama and most of them were met. However, there are a few things that just took the joy out of the drama for me.1) It was way too long. The series could have been completed and wrapped up nicely in 16 episodes rather than 20 episodes in which they really had to add in useless sub-storylines in order to make the characters' lives more stressful. They really tried to drag it out in the last few episodes.
2) The cheating aspect. Now maybe it's just me and my own personal opinions, but there are a few reasons I hated this aspect of the show. I didn't like how it was handled, the way in which the characters reacted to it, the way it was brushed to the side as if it was inconsequential and how everyone involved ended up being great friends at the end. For me, I don't think it added anything to the show and I don't think it was portrayed in a realistic way.
3) The discovery of the murderer and what came afterwards. When the series finished I just felt dissatisfied with this part of the story.
On the other hand, there are other parts of the show that I adored!
1) The natural development of the romance and how it wasn't rushed (however I felt like the FL became kinda annoyingly slow and wishy-washy towards the end)
2) The acting. Thumbs up to all the actors/tresses! <3
3) Ji Chang-Wook as the ML (Don't think I need to explain why)
4) The first 8 to 10 episodes were a joy to watch! They just hit the mark each time!
So Overall, give this drama a go. It is certainly worth watching, just don't take it too seriously. Also, don't feel bad if you skip/skim through the slower parts; it'll make it more enjoyable to watch :)
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This review may contain spoilers
Surprisingly, I found myself more emotionally invested in the murder plot than the ship. I'm not saying the ship wasn't cute, which it was—but it was also some back and forth wishy-washiness that kind of annoying after a while. I didn't really like how they kept keeping secrets from each other—this is always the most frustrating thing in dramas because you just know that realistically being honest would have made everything so much easier.The actor for the murderer is honestly SO GOOD. That courthouse scene is one scene that I will definitely keep rewatching because of the small gestures and facial expressions, and just the raw emotion that comes across in that scene. Amazing. That guy deserves to be a main lead. Though I don't think I could ever see him as anything other than a murderer now because of this drama, haha.
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