Black (2017)

I wish the story was better executed

I have to say that I really enjoy the story in the beginning, but somewhere a long the way, I start to notice some inconsistencies about the plot and uneven pacing. The last episode is just a disaster. I hear that it was supposed to have 20 episodes, but it’s been cut down to 16 and then they decide to extend it to 18, no wonder you could really feel the unevenness of the pacing in the last 4-5 episodes.

I love the messages they try to convey, that changing fate doesn’t always lead to a better ending, every decision we make have consequences and also that a single person lives have a lot of impact in this world, no matter how small or insignificant they think they are. Ha-Ram try to save everybody lives, even when they suppose to die, some times this bring happiness to a lot of people, other times, this lead to a lot of heartaches. We cannot play god, by changing fate as we like them. There are consequences for every decision we make. Some times we could see the consequences right away, but sometime it take years to be visible.

I love Kim Joon or Black, he’s character is well written, but I really wish they went for a different ending. It feels like a cop out, like they just don’t want the ending to be a sad one and force some unreasonable event to make it a happy ending. I really don’t understand what the director’s thinking by making him hide a really important fact from Ha-Ram, if he only say the truth, I’m sure they could come to an understanding. It’s probably not a happy ending, but I think it’s still a much better ending than the one we have. Why is most Korean movies that I have watched loves to hide the through for some inexplicable reason? I get that miscommunication is a really good way of developing plot and exploring character, but sometimes it’s just cannot be explained.

I think all the actors portray their role really well and the story does a good job in developing the character of most of them. A lot of the side character end up having quite an important part to play in the overarching story even when you think they are not connected to one another.

I really love the twist and turn in this story, but near the end, I think they put one too many. They try to be smarter than they are, making it a bit too much. But overall, I’m happy with this drama, if you exclude the last few episodes. I love the opening and ending songs. The music fit the tone and mood of the story.

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Black is a good grim reaper crime drama! At first, I was put off in the first ep by that (too long) slapstick hospital gown scene of Song Seung Heon (Black), and Go Ara's (Haram) hysterical plane scene. But after that things picked up, and it became a substantial riveting watch. (Warning, this drama contain triggering content like rape, suicide, and child prostitution, among others.)

Writer Choi Ran presents you this big puzzle, giving bits of clues here and there, slowly letting you earn and piece together a few at a time, and get a clearer picture with each episode. Even that early standalone episode about the 2 kids, ugh, I'm still bothered and outraged by it. If I have one hangup, she goes overboard with her twists, it's one too many for me. Twists keep things exciting but should still be reasonable within the story.

I was also initially misled by misconceptions about Song Seung Heon and Go Ara's acting. Yes, SSH may struggle a bit with melo scenes, and Go Ara can go overboard at times, but SSH really suited Black, he is the classic k-hero we love with a supernatural twist and oozing with charm. Black is that standoffish, arrogant, unfeeling Reaper 444, just collecting the souls of humans who just tragically died, without any pity at all.

It was such a delight to see his cold heart gradually melt, and it's not only because of Haram, that turning point when he saw the heartless way the husband and wife (who lost their kid in Mujin Mall collapse) were killed. He tried to keep distant but cannot stay as casual observer anymore. SSH also has good comedic chops, it was a hoot to watch Black trying to resist his growing empathy, and even falling for a measly human he used to look down on.

I wished SSH and Go Ara had more romantic chemistry though (Mr. Director, those are the most awkward kdrama kisses ever!), but I like how the OTP's friendship grew. Go Ara also surprised me, she has quiet crying moments that were heartfelt. But of course, this drama cannot escape that trope of the heroine putting herself in danger for others, and Black will be in trouble because of it. The supporting characters were also mutifaceted, memorable, and tragic.

Supernatural dramas are right up my alley, and I'm happy to say Black satisfied those buttons. Yes, it has less supernatural elements than more big budget grim reaper shows like Along with the Gods or Goblin. But the way Choi Ran presents the best and ugly, very ugly faces of humanity, it will touch and hurt you at the same time. The story and life lessons of Black, Haram, and their world will stay with me for awhile. As they should.

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Top notch narrative! Marred, if only by a little, by the infamous ending...

Black had an intricately woven plot with each plot point slowly unraveling the mystery in a manner possible only if the story was based upon the supernatural. The way the show was presented was some of the best tv I have watched among kdramas until now. Anyone contemplating about giving it a watch should go ahead and do so. Performances were top notch, especially Song Seung Hoon (ML) and Kim Won Hae (Crazy dog!). Music was apt for the atmosphere of the drama, but nothing game-changing (except maybe for the opening score). Special hats-off to the writer Ms. Choi Ran for thinking of such a uniquely entertaining concept! But my score of 9.5 stands because of the ending, and that too, the last 10 minutes or so (which I am choosing to ignore and consider my own personal ending as head-canon). In spite of that, the story stands strong and is definitely worth a watch.

P.S.: I watched the drama Mouse before Black, and I loved watching the scenes in Black where Mouse was referenced (fore-shadowed?) Can't believe the writer sat on that gem of a script for 3 long years! (Mouse is a hot favorite of mine!)

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Funny and Entertaining

Black was great. I though it was funny and entertaining with enjoyable characters. The only issue I really have is the ending. I feel as though thinking to hard about it makes it harder to understand and messes up the rest of the show. Despite that, Black is a great drama and totally worth watching. I liked the story and the characters. The plotline of Moogang and his brother was crazy and incredibly intriguing, one of the coolest plotlines I've seen. I thought Haram was a strong female lead. All in all, while Black is not my favorite drama, I still think it's great!

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Black is a great series but it has a lot of twists and turns. Every time you think you've figured something out in this series, there's a turn. You'll definitely be kept on your toes. That's one of things that made the series so great. Every time something new was learned, I became more and more interested.
There were a lot of suspenseful and serious moments in the story but they did a good job adding comedy in at the right times to lighten the mood.
The reason I didn't give Black a higher score is I did skip through parts when I was watching. I think there were some parts that weren't really necessary for the story. It could have been cut down an episode or two in my opinion.
I will say I was happy with the ending though. I know there were some people that thought it was worse towards the end but I think they ended everything well.
Overall it's a great watch!

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I personally think this drama chooses its audience because of the unique story line that the writer chose. If you're not into the mystery solving and critical thinking, I think this drama is not for you. This drama makes you think a lot especially when you reach episodes 15-18. It will really blow your mind once you get there. But before you get there, you'd feel bored, annoyed, confused, whatsoever. In my experience, I got bored while watching the middle episodes. I lost interest in watching the drama to be honest. But the first few episodes were good actually that's why I managed to cope up until episode 8. But starting from there, the progress went slow and it took me a long while to finish the drama.

As for the acting, I still don't like Go Ara's acting ever since I've watched her in Hwarang. I don't know if it's her character or what, but her facial expressions doesn't buy me. Instead, I was rooting for Lee El's character to end up with Seung Heon's character. That's one of the reasons why I disliked the middle episodes. After reading some reviews after the drama ended, I gained some encouragement again to continue watching the drama. True enough, the episodes 15-18 reveals everything. The plot twists were crazy, it really blew up my mind. That's when I realized that this drama chooses its audience because the flashbacks are real. You have to pay attention in all the details every episode because it will all connect at the end.

If there is an award for the Best Plot Twist, I would want Black to receive that award because the plot twist was really insane. You can never trust anyone that easily. Despite my annoyance with Go Ara's acting, I still give this show a 8.5/10 rewatch value because of the amazing story they got here.

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Bad direction

Even though having 18 episodes ,it had many plot holes and unanswered questions . Is ha ram , immortal , as she is half grim reaper ? Her other told she cannot be taken even by a grim reaper . Ha ram should have known the truth with her father , mother , moo gang and everything , the story should have been shaped after her knowing all this and how she reacts and live .. Does ha ram saving lives cause any future issue , like the old blind man told her ? The grim reaper side should have been shown and explored more .. Instead of confusing viewers , should have shown the past as first episode , so that the whole series would have a good base .

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I liked the dramatic opening. After a slow start in episodes 1 and 2 , where it was very unclear where this was leading, I found it riveting - as much for the characters as the mystery, plot and supernatural interest. I also liked the way it still managed to inject comic moments into what was basically a very dark story. I have rarely come across a story with so many twists. Just when you think all has been revealed another twist arrives. I am still not clear who was the ultimate villain. A very unexpected ending, nice but illogical in view of the fate outlined just before. I think the main (or perhaps only) reason I would re-watch a series is not for the story but from feeling for the characters - and this is high on my re-watch list for that reason. Highly recommended for anyone who likes supernatural mystery with some romantic interest without it completely dominating the drama.

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Why did they have Christmas decor on Halloween?

The headline explaines everything, no one knows whats going on in this drama.
Its not necessarlly bad, it just could have been better.
Story : The story was good, it had interesting twists and turns, I just think it had too many of them and many were very cliché. I explained this entire plot to my boyfriend and went through the entire story with him and every time he thought " this is it " it actually wasn't. The story jumped from one moment to another and every scene was repeated at least once in a flashback or something, which made the entire drama look a bit hectic. I think that this was the directors and the writers way of filling up plot holes and a few of them were left unfilled. I think that if we got rid of the flashbacks and just explained the story in its entirety without changing the plot 7 times it would have been better. The story also either progressed a lot in short time or sat in one place. ⚠️ The ending was really weird with the " ill make the entire world forget me " and " she has to be happy, so ill disappear " cliché. And don't get me started on the actual ending of the ML bringing her to her death after she remembers him.⚠️

Acting/Cast: I think that the FL's acting could have been better, ive seen her other work and I think it looks like this because the FL is simply written badly. Kang Haram is just a typical messy heroic idiot that tries to solve a problem but instead fails and ends up crying and being saved.
The ML isn't actually that bad. His charachter could have been written better then this, but the actor saved everything. I couldn't remember his name so i always called him fake Ok Taecyeon because they really look alike.

I never actually noticed the OST or any of the soundtracks so thats that.

Its not a bad drama, i think that if you like dramas with a lot of suspence and generally crime and thriller dramas, I think that you will like it. You just need the stomach for horrible clichés and weird plots. You should read a review from someone who really liked this drama and decide if you want to watch it.

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ALL THE FEELS

I am not sure what I expected from this drama, but once I got into it, it blew me away.
Which is funny because I remember talking to one of my good friends in the beginning, basically agreeing that it would take us a little more time to watch and finish it because it didn't catch our interest. And the things that did catch it, were very heavy topics that we needed to take a day to digest. It was a lot of information and misfortune. Honestly, in the first couple of episodes, I rated the drama...a 6 or 6.5. It was heavy and I didn't like Han Moo Gang nor the Grim Reaper.

But OMG...once you get past episode 7, and the Grim Reaper (444?) finally starts to get a little bit of a clue, the drama kept getting better and better. It was like the first 7 episodes were very blunt and needed to set up and give us all the information we needed for the rest of the drama, but with zero context. It was very, "it is what it is" and zero surprises. It wasn't until my favorite character, Oh Man Soo, got into some trouble, where I was like...if this drama is going to continue to be blunt, then I'm dropping this. But it wasn't. That was when the drama started to throw twists and turns around every corner, that not only were really good but were clean and made total sense. Most dramas I see where they add twists, I am like, "oh ok...sure...not sure how you got from point a to point b...but I'll go with it." But not this one. They give you all the information you need from the beginning, and it is your job to almost be a detective with Ha Ram and the Grim Reaper and piece the information together.

It was a wild ride, and I am mad that I couldn't give this drama over a 9, but I had to because the drama started off very poorly for me. I wish the consistency was there from the beginning. I wish that I liked one character from the beginning, but didn't.

A few things that didn't make sense to me though, were I enjoyed Ha Ram and the Grim Reaper working together, but at some point, Ha Ram just disappeared and became a minor character. It was random and inconsistent. It made sense why she wasn't in those few episodes, but it was odd that one of our main characters, who played a huge roll in this drama, wasn't relevant.

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Also, SPOILER. Don't read ahead if you don't want to be spoiled:

I think the ending is what also saved it for me. It showed major character development for the Grim Reaper, especially when he found out exactly who he was when he was a human (hence, grim reapers were souls of people who died, but their bodies were never found or were laid to rest). I was literally in tears in the final few minutes of the drama. It reminded me of Edward Scissorhands in a way. BUT, I was also up all night thinking about the ending.

In the end, The Grim Reaper basically asked for his punishment to be that he never existed as a human, therefore no one would remember him because he was never...alive...right? Yes. But I wasn't sure how that affected Ha Ram's parents getting into that car crash in the beginning, therefore her farther being a grim reaper, and her being born as a half grim reaper and seeing ghosts. Therefore, she was able to live a healthy and happy normal life, like she always wanted. BUT if that were true, that means that there was still underground minor prostitution, and no one was there to catch it, or to save Kim Sun-Young because she still got raped? Right? Maybe some other police officer figured it out? But this ending doesn't seem very happy for that whole prostitution side. And when his existence never happened, did Moo Gang still exist? Or did he still have that heart issue? Was he saved? It also makes me a little sad that because of his lack of existence, Ha Ram and Man Soo never met. Honestly, they would have been such a cute couple and they should have tied that in somehow. Man Soo can get the girl and so can the Grim Reaper. But imagine...at the end, The Grim Reaper coming to get Ha Ram so they can spend eternity together finally, and her poor husband who was deceased and waiting for her in the afterlife is forgotten.

I have hope that I am just missing a minor detail in the ending because everything else tied in perfectly.

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Spoiler over!

Overall, this took me by surprise, and normally I am not into crime dramas, but the supernatural aspect got me.

This drama hurt my heart because it was super intense and evil, but the ending made me believe in happy endings and that anything is possible. I had almost lost hope, but the whole drama had amazing writing (yes...including the first 7 episodes that I wasn't a fan of) and I knew there was one more trick up the writer's sleeve and I thank them for coming up with a drama, that made me feel all the feels.

ALSO: Can we take a second to appreciate that whole Halloween party ep. Yes, The Grim Reaper was funny and dressed up like Joe Black and made hella Meet Joe Black references throughout the drama....BUT CAN WE TAKE A SECOND TO APPRECIATE that both Ha Ram and Man Soo both dressed up as Shrek and Fiona, unintentionally? It was so funny how this billionaire's son could have dressed up like anything in the whole world for HIS party, but chose to dress up like Shrek...and painted himself with glow in the dark green paint. He would have been a perfect husband for Ha Ram. Just saying. If she doesn't want him, shoot, I'll take him.

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