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Story/Plot: It's one of the best one's ever narrated and put to film to be honest. I love how each character was so unique and complex and flawed that it's easy to love everyone of them. Je Hyeok is the lead we all never knew we needed. He is kind and soft and fluff but he is also manipulative and resourceful as he has displayed multiple times in the drama. It breaks my heart to see Han Yang end up the way he did but it was realistic. Would have wanted to see how Captain Yoon's case go or how Min Cheol adjusted with living out of prison after 2 decades but that's that. There was never a dull moment in the drama. It was full of plot twist in every episode that I finished it in 1 sitting. That's how good it was.
Acting/Cast: The dynamic of the cast is amazing. I can't stress enough how perfectly fit or how amazingly portrayed every character is. Yes, even the Warden and the Deputy was on point. They were beautiful to watch interacting on screen. I feel like their acting spoke to me as a person.
Music: on point but not as exceptional as the story itself.
Rewatch Value: Definitely a must watch and if you're feeling down, or want a good laugh or two or just in the mood of binge watching anything, this should be your first choice.
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This has been the best K-Drama in a long time for me. The humor, the acting, the story, the music, EVERYTHING.
This story was overall, amazing. I have been looking for a drama that consists of comedy/crime and holy cow did this deliver everything I was looking for.
The acting was the best of the best for me. You could tell these actors and actresses knew what they were doing and they did it astoundingly.
But the best feature of the drama was the comedy. It wasn't cringey or mellow. It consisted of the most funniest lines and scenes I have seen in a K-Drama in a while and for that I praise the writer for this. I don't find anything funny easily but this had me laughing so hard I nearly choked on a lung.
I wasn't so much for the romance side, I felt like the were just added to fill in some gaps. Maybe not so much with Je Hyuk and Ji Ho but the relationship between Joon Ho and Je Hee was completely unnecessary to me. The drama would have still been amazing without it.
I must say though, Han-Yang (Looney) was my favourite character, not only did he make me laugh all the time, he was just open about everything but he was stupid at the most basic stuff (which is why the ending SUCKED [But I won't spoil it for people]).
The OST went well with the scenes, especially when Nostalgia by Woo Won Jae played in intense scenes. Overall, the OST was beautiful. It had different types of genres and all of them are enjoyable.
The only downfall was the ending, I was more interested about the other characters over the main character and wanted to see more of where they ended up but unfortunately I feel like they just vanished? Became irrelevant in the end? I would have preferred to know what happened to EVERYONE (i.e Looney, Min Chul, Kaist, Dr. Go, Jean Valjean etc.) But this is just my preference.
Overall, this drama is everything I want, need and love. I've already re-watched this and still find this to be highly entertaining. We need more incredible dramas like this in the future.
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This review may contain spoilers
Won't feel bored but plot holes will keep you wondering
A really fun series to watch with it's own weaknesses.The Bad(s) :
Character storylines go missing for characters who developed good enough.
Not a good ending for everyone, especially the BL/LGBTQ part and will keep making you ask "why?" (Korean series are well known for this but still could have been worse though)
Some storylines can feel like being clichéd.
The rap is really misplaced and ruins the really good bg music.
The negative roles didn't always get the same level of punishment that the good ones feared they will earn if they went rouge (this comes under the clichéd section I guess).
Once you finish, you may not want to re-watch it.
And yes, you will feel like a few cliff hangers too if you watch all characters as closely.
The Good(s) :
Amazing direction by the director.
Even though the episodes are so long, you will enjoy every second of it and never feel it is over-stretched.
The mix of emotions are phenomenal, you will be laughing out so hard and be touched really deep too, not to mention hit really hard by the sadness at times. The transitions will make you go crazy.
A never ending movie watching experience that you won't regret and you will never know when you passed almost 2 hours for every episode.
Great cast.
Conclusion :
Overall it was fun to watch with it's own frustrations and cliff hangers which probably will never be cleared and hence you won't feel like watching it again.
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This review may contain spoilers
Fell in Love with Loony
I've been watching this show for the past several days. I wouldn't say this is a show that is great for binge watch since each episode is long and has a gamut of feelings in it. I was often either crying my eyes out and also laughing at their little antics. However, I decided to see what others commented on the show because I wanted to steel myself in case the main lead has a tragic ending. What I found was the typical decision to give the gay character a tragic ending where they can't overcome their tribulations. Also, when watching the show I noticed how they did not show the ml romance kiss even on the cheek and just focused on their feet? I know that they may been constrained from being able to showcase their romance but I found it irritating, so along with the fact that Looney does not get his happy ending his love life is shrouded in secrecy. This left a distaste in my mouth and while I loved the main character and want to see him get his happy ending and overcome everything I can't move on with the drama knowing that the gay character doesn't get to see his own victory.Was this review helpful to you?
The story is very different and runs away from the cliché of dramas. It may seem boring at first but believe me, it's very interesting and each episode will get you more addicted to the drama.
Even focusing on the main lead, the drama tells different stories of the prisoners of the prison, so the drama never gets boring. The story is touching and very fun to watch.
Acting/Cast (9.5/10):
The actors acted very well. Each character had a very different personality and they all knew how to interpret each one well. It's very difficult to choose one favorite character because this drama have a lot of great characters.
Both the prisoners and the cops were interesting to watch and was really cool to see their friendship growing during the drama.
Music (8.5/10):
Music isn't the strong point of the drama and doesn't have so much presence ( at least for me ). The OST was comppose by rappers so anyone who likes hip hop will probably like it. They had one song that i really like it :)
Rewatch Value (9.0/10):
The drama is very interesting. They had a lof of funny scenes and the friendship of the prisoners is very cool to watch, so I think it's worth watching this drama more than once, it's probably going to continue interesting and fun.
Overall: (9.0/10):
This drama was one of my favorites of 2017. Didn't impact me so much in the first episodes but after episode 3 I started to loved it. I loved the story and especially the characters. Give a try and watch, I think all of you will like it :)
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Unsatisfying/Incomplete Ending(Beware Main Couple)
This is a wonderful and heartwarming drama.The male lead is one of the kindest and most principled male lead and characters that I have ever seen on tv. He cares so much for others, especially those who have ever shown him a slither of kindness. He’s meant to be “stupid”, but I feel he’s actually an incredibly intelligent person-he resolves every problem that comes his way without ever compromising his values/principles.
The other characters are just as great-everybody brings their own brand of special to the story.
My issues with the show are as follows:
Loony- I don’t have as big an attachment to looney as most people seem to but I still have issues with the way his story ended. It was poor writing with really crappy logic. For starters, who gets into their dealer’s car the moment after they exit prison from serving time for drugs? It’s also highly unlikely that someone who spend months in agony to get sober for a reason tied to their sobriety, chooses to shoot up or use literally a minute after they get out and when they’re like 30 mins away from getting the love of their life back. That’s stupid and I know the show was basically a “anti-drug” ad and they were trying to show how bad addiction is but that was just ridiculous. Sober people don’t necessarily crave drugs the way those using do-he went through withdrawal, and he no longer had any in his system which means his rational faculties should’ve been intact enough for him to say fuck off and keep walking-if he had fallen off the wagon a month later or something-I’d get it-but this was a minute after he got out. You’re telling me that a sober person decided that all the pain he went through to get clean for his boyfriend was worth throwing away 30 minutes before he’s reunited with his boyfriend because someone gave him a syringe? Also, this whole thing was illogical as hell-there’s entrapment and there’s ENTRAPMENT and this was ENTRAPMENT. The entire sting was pointless because it would never hold up in a court of law, they intentionally caused a citizen they are meant to protect harm, and they essentially admitted that the justice and prison system are useless by entrapping looney. It also made no sense that the cops were so worried about a junkie being back on the streets that they wasted valuable hours and resources to find his release date, locate his dealer from Japan and carry out a sting operation to coerce him to use again so they could arrest him-no one would do this unless he was freaking El Chapo or something. Why did they do it? What are they going to say when they try to indict him-we waited until this completed his sentence for his crime and then we coerced him into re-using so that we could arrest him for using because…? This would make sense if like a month later he was dealing drugs, they knew and sent an undercover agent to try to buy some from him and then arrested him-but he wasn’t committing any crime(s). They created a crime and then forced him to be the main player. The only way this ends out is looney is released and suits are filed against the department, but all his efforts would have been wasted as he would have to start all over to get clean.
The male lead’s relationship-why? Why did they show us the flashback of who she is? It was a really cute relationship until then. I loved their story when I thought they were best friends from grade who ended up falling in love, but they ruined it by showing us that she was actually they child of their coach whose house they used to stay at. I can’t reconcile with that. Some people have argued that there’s nothing wrong with their relationship because they aren’t blood related and big age differences in adults dating is a non-issue but no, just no. They aren’t blood related, but they knew each from when she was like 8 and he was like 18-he lived in her house, and she called him and his best friend uncle and then it changed to brother as time went by. He looked after her and she looked up to him as an older figure in her life. It’s one thing if he knew her when she was 8 and he was 18 and then he left and never saw her again until she was an adult and while getting reacquainted, he fell in love with her, but this is not the case. He was in her life the entire time-that’s low-key grooming. Like how can we be certain that the emotional attachment she feels towards him rn is romantic and not admiration mistaken for romantic feelings?
The ending-I understand that the show is about Je hyeok but it was also sort of an ensemble cast yet we never got to see how everybody else was doing after the time jump and that bothered me. Min-Chul who’s been in prison for like 22 years finally gets out and also gains 2 children in the process-I want to see how they are, how is he acclimating to the new world and so much more. We never get to see Captain Yoo walk out of prison, I also wanted to see if his brother’s life got back on track after pausing it to help captain yoo. Even Crony-we don’t get an estimate on how much time he has left, if he got out-has he remembered how to “be a human/person” on the outside or did he regress? What is he doing? -i thought he had a real knack for catching and could’ve potentially become a catcher.
I don’t know, if felt incomplete without knowing how everybody fared-it would have also been cool if they ended it with them in the stands at his first game back, but this really is a great show and despite this issues that I personally had with it, you should give a try. You won’t regret it.
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One of my favoutites…
I don’t think I could write a long review without dissecting every part of the story told by this drama. This drama has a bit of everything, friendship, romance, comedy, tragedy.This story is so well written and I catch myself re-watching this every few months, it isn’t overly dramatic or overdoes it in any other aspect of it.
You will laugh, cry and scream at the screen as if it is a football game. Amazing acting, I don’t think I could pick one actor over another. And the main story is not the only interesting one, the story of side characters are so well thought and even though we get bits and pieces all over, it all comes together.
Phenomenal watch, 10/10.
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a story about friendship.
this series is a beautiful story about friendship. it's about facing struggles and leaning on one another when the going gets tough. i love ALL of the characters, and they're developed in a clear and senseful way. this show takes place mostly in a prison, but it reminds you that all of the people in a prison are indeed people. with their good sides, their bad sides, and their crazy sides. the ML is just incredible, his personality blossoms and grows throughout the series like a flower as he's faced with adversity and has the trajectory of his life hit by an asteroid. characters you started out hating, you'll grow to love, understand, and root for. watch it now.Was this review helpful to you?
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Soooo Pleasantly Surprised!!
So most of the dramas I watch are romcoms, and for this one, I let my co-worker choose from my "plan to watch" list as I have such a hard time deciding what to watch next. I was unsure for the first 1-2 episodes, but I find I feel like that with almost all dramas just because it's new at the time and I'm still not over whatever drama I just finished. lolSo for this review I actually made notes on this site as I watched it so I wouldn't forget things so some of this will be written as if I'm currently watching it. I'm going to make bullet points.
* So far the sister is irritating because she is VERY "woe is me". I get he's where he is because of her (at least in her mind), but it's enough already. He's the one in prison, then he's the one forced to retire from the job he loves, and she's over here sobbing away feeling sorry for herself. To make it worse, she won't even visit him. She's really pissing me off.
* I feel ZERO chemistry between ML and his girlfriend. Maybe it's his dry personality in the beginning, but I don't care about them as a couple at all. He has more chemistry with his best friend and other prisoners than he does her.
* I was SO happy that Crony turned out the way he did. That was a great direction to take that storyline. I also (at the time) loved the college girl visiting and writing a paper on Min Chul. Little did I know!!! ML's girlfriend being "too busy" to visit was just as annoying as the sister doing the same thing to him.
* He just can't figure out how to pitch straight, and 'ex-gf' comes up with the idea to put an X in the glove and suddenly that solves it and she's a genius who knows him better than anyone and no one else could have pulled that off. Really? Like it hadn't occurred to him to aim at the glove before the X? *eye roll*
* I do NOT want to do another villain arc where someone tries to kill him but here we are with the wood shop guy scheming in the greenhouse.
* NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO Please tell me this was a fever dream and he did not do ALL that hard work, for a year, quitting drugs, only to immediately do them again the moment he left. I swear to god, I will riot.
* Stating the obvious here, but Lt. Na is an insufferable grunt.
* His POS sister has still not visited. On top of that she's dating his best friend, who is also a guard there. What a shitty sister.
* I'm so happy that Lt. Paeng went to his daughter's career day. Crony being left behind made me sad, even though he did some heinous shit, and he'll obviously have the company of Captain Yoo for awhile. Also, would've liked to see him get out as well, maybe even Crony, so they could all meet up like they talked about.
* I love that Min-Chul had a daughter and that she reached out.
* The entire story is amazing and the friendships and chemistry is unmatched with this cast. I could've done without the girlfriend as there's no chemistry there. I also could've done without the sister because she was insufferable and selfish. They could've just had him saving any random chick.
I wanted to give this a 10/10 but I cannot forgive Loony's ending. It doesn't make any sense for his character. NONE. Also, I hated that we didn't get to see them all out of prison living their lives, or at least meeting up. Even if they just did a flash forward like they did with ML.
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If you like the American drama Orange Is The New Black, you'd like this drama too!
I have one episode left, and I am shocked. I guess this drama was so good, that I didn't realize that I had made it to episode 15. If you like the American TV show, Orange Is The New Black on Netflix, you'd like this drama too! It's 90% similar, the main difference is Orange Is The New Black, setting is in a female prison, and Prison Playbook setting is in a male prison. Even the characters are very similar (e.g. the female lead in OISTNB vs male lead in PP - they are both ditsy, and Crazy Eye in OISTNB vs Looney in PP). Essentially the same show, but different actors/actresses, and a different country.This drama is not your typical Korean drama, the whole vibe is different (it rings American lol). I really liked the male lead character, besides his wonderful physique, his character was so likeable, I actually really found the actor attractive. BTW, I am not into BL, and that's the reason why I rated this drama a 9.5, instead of a 10.
Oh yeah, the soundtrack is dope (meaning good). There's this one song that is sung by a woman Korean singer on this drama, it plays every time the female and male lead characters are together, and I freaking love that song. It gives me 90's R&B vibes!
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The ost are great. Each actor/cast did a wonderfull job
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