This review may contain spoilers
Is it just me?
This is not going to be a popular view, just feel I can’t be on my own.I find it difficult to find anything good about this drama. The story is very predictable and two dimensional - sometimes not a problem, but it’s so full of stereotypes that after two episodes, you feel you’ve seen it 1000 times before. The writers might have had a day off. There was too much details and repetition of one event and yet, there is no investment in how the relationship between the two main character developed. The script is full of overtop scenes, which make no sense as the story doesn’t take me on a journey to the deep - you just get thrown there. The characters are predictable and flat.
The acting is the second bad in this drama for me - I suspect there are many fans of the cast judging by the high rating, but I just kept cringing! This is my first drama with Lee Joon Gi and quite frankly, if this is the extend of his acting skills, it would be my last one to. I love Sto Yae Ji to, but for me there was no chemistry between the two. At all. I just felt like the actors just had some free time and fitted this one in as it is an easy one..
Saying that, there are a few names worth mentioning, as for me, they did their best with the material they were given - Yeo Hye Ran, Ahn Nae Sang and Kim Kwang Gyu.. all three excellent actors!
I really gave it a chance 10/16 hoping it will get better, unfortunately, I got more of the same.
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Kept me hooked up til the last episode
This is a good thriller/crime for those who havent tried the genre. Great plot, story and actors.The main roles all had strong personalities that didnt overlap each other. I just didnt feel much of the main casts' chemistry taking their good looks aside, I wouldve personally loved it more if they did some couple outfits (not making too cheesy).
I loved Ha Jae I, Seo Ye Ji's character the most. She has very strong principles from start to finish, always stood at her ground and for not being a damsel in distress.
The female protagonists were also so great at their roles that I hated how power hungry and corrupt they are. Lol
I was actually worried in the first 4 episodes if this drama was gonna be worth it. The plot was a bit easy to predict ( for me, maybe ive been watching too many crime/thriller dramas) because they gave too much of the backstory at first, good thing it wasnt like that til the end.
A for the comic relief and A++ for the action scenes.
And i dont think the all of court proceedings(?) were realistic.
This drama isnt heavy for my heart. I felt happy and hopeful with its ending.
I watched this after IONTBO, wasnt really disappointed. Im a lowkey fan of Lee Joon Gi, and Seo Ye Ji.
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Another Lee Joon Gi Masterpiece
Let me preface by saying I came to watch this because I was waiting on Flower of Evil to drop new episodes. But let's get started with this review...Story: This is an ACTION-PACKED phenomenon. (yes there is a little romance but mostly its ACTION). It's not the typical boy meets girl type of show. It does, however, have the typical tragedy that brings boy and girl together - like a normal k-drama. The shocker here is when you find out who is really in control of this entire plot.
Acting/Cast: I LOVED all of the actors, a lot of whom I saw for the first time. I also loved that the actors speak in a different dialect, not the typical Seoul dialect. I loved the chemistry and the family dynamic of the cast as well. Hyungnim is my favorite word EVER in this series! lol
Music: the OTS is a BOP!!
If you are like me and follow the works of actors you like, and you like Lee Joon Gi, do yourself a favor and watch this. his acting is superb! Next Lee Joon Gi stop for me is Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo.
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So yes, Lawless Lawyer (it's a better title) is a dope and cool drama.
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Don’t watch if you don’t wanna be stressed!
Seeing Seo yeji and Lee joongi in one screen was kinda awesome because you know? their both powerful. I simply watched this drama because I thought it was just a stury about love but boy was i very wrong. This drama really boiled the blood out of me hhshsha. Watching it every episode makes me mad because of what is happening so don’t watch if you don’t wanna be stressed. I loved the drama but it was stressful! My rewatch value is low because I don’t wanna be stressed anymore but overall this drama is really good especially every cast in this drama really did well. And ep 16 was epic !!Was this review helpful to you?
LEE JOON GI- SEO YE JI DID IT AGAIN
I started this show for my love, Seo Ye Ji, but i ended up falling in love with Lee Joon Gi too.This drama has a great and very intresting storyline that will keep you focus the entire time. The main lead Bong Sang Pil is an amazing character with depth and great development, he is badass but at the same time extremly funny. His chemistry with the female lead is breathtaking, their relationship is one of the most healthy relationships i have seen yet. The truth is that we didnt get to see them a lot together, but afterall this drama isnt a romantic comedy, so i am glad they didnt fill it with romance. They had enough scenes to make you fell in love with them. Ha Jae Yi is an amazing female lead too, badass herself and nothing stopped her.
The bad guys were written with respect and they had many layers, so they were really intresting and fun to watch. Even the side characters were written well, they were giving us the comic relief that sometimes was needed.
it didnt bored me for one second. I recommended it 100% to everyone who is into the action- mystery dramas.
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Music: The theme song is great. I still listen to the music from this show, even though it has been a month since I wachted it.
Action: The action scenes in this show are exciting.
Overall: This is a great show. If you have a chance you should watch it.
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This review may contain spoilers
Fun, energetic, tense. And despite itself, the show somehow succeeds.
The plot isn't the deal. The deal is the acting and the pulpable tension. So, our hero Bong Sang Pil is an outgoing, fun-loving, secretly revenge-seeking (or maybe that's not so secret🙄) and a Batman level martial artist lawyer. After receiving a notebook full of incriminating details, he's back to his hometown Kisung from Seoul after 18 years, to tie some loose ends and finally meet the girl he was stalking for all these years🙄. I think I've established that I'm not a fan of the plot which kept unwinding in an incrementally poor way as the series went on. So many of the actions of so many characters don't make sense and can be put to questions that you have to turn a blind eye to those plot aspects. Which is why I won't go towards that route.Instead, lets talk about the things I found absolutely unforgivable.
1. Lee Joon Gi is an amazing actor and I'm here partially for him and if he came off as anything close to cool, cute or even redeemable that's only because he's freaking good at his job; the script didn't help him at all. His character is this mix of two opposite spectrums, a flashy, quirky, charming guy and also a tortured, deeply vengeful and intensely driven man who was internally grooming himself for 18 years for revenge. Yet somehow his dialogues are the least powerful. There's no fun, punch or riveting sensation in the words he utters, especially later in the show. Joon Gi is still very good and he nails the 'fooling around charming guy ritual' and comes off as both cute and crazy at the same time but as the lead, he needed all the help from the script.
2. The romance needed work. Ha Jae Yi is a strong woman, understanding and smart too, but with attorney Bong her attitude needed to be established with care. Does she understand him better? Sees some parts of him others don't? Does she feel the same drive for a similar kind of revenge? We didn't get that. Their brief 'alone moments' had impact but they had no buildup and so felt out-of-place at times and ultimately did not amount to much. It was a little sad because I felt they could do better with more time or a better script.
3. The employees at the law firm: to be honest I'm not sure why they were needed. As the series progressed, they started to appear more to nibble at my brain😑. Most of the romance was hijacked because they kept interrupting, and they are so absolutely unfunny that it's awful on a new level.
4. The dialogues: God did they need a complete makeover! Both our leads suffer because of it and at times the entire story.
All these complaints, but I still loved this show. Rated it 8 when the average suggested 7.5. Why?
1. Ahn Oh Joo played by Choi Min Soo. This dude knocked it out of the park. He got better every episode. He had amazing chemistry with both Bong Sang Pil and Cha Moon Sook. Just when I thought his face-off with Judge Cha would be the thing to look forward to, he had that fun battle alongside Sang Pil, he was like those fun Marvel villains that you end up rooting for, but this is a guy who doesn't flinch from killing a kid. He was so tremendously good at being larger than life with his attitude, outlaw swag, cool stares, quirky noises and believe it or not, fitting dialogues that he's literally my highlight of this show. The MVP without a doubt.
2. The music: I liked the music for the tense scenes. They conveyed more than the crappy dialogues. There was tension, loss, grief, haziness from the end of a long-running game in the tunes. Especially towards the final episodes I appreciated the music.
3. Suk Kwan Dong. I didn't give much credit to the guy at first, but man did he deliver! He was funnier than that 'gag reel group' and yet had a weight to him. I couldn't believe it when his character ended up being the best the show offered. His character had real growth marked by a very real end. And the actor, Choi Dae Hoon - I've seen him in Flower of Evil where he plays a completely different role - I'd say he's pretty phenomenal.
4. With all the bad af writing the show still somehow brings up a sense of giddy excitement that have you at the edge of your seat until the end. I read somewhere that the ending was hasty, but it wasn't. I liked how the plot stretched to the very end. On the reflective side of the good guys this show was miserable, so I was glad they did not focus on that.
All in all, a fun ride. Lee Joon Gi, Choi Min Soo and to some degree Lee Hye Young are the real heart of this show, at their best they show what this drama could have been, and I was sort of content with that.
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Nice revenge drama
Likes1. The sudden relationship between Sangpil and Jaeyi was a surprise but since they focused on their working relationship more than the romance, it was fine. I liked how their minds clicked and how they discussed things.
2. I loved the lawless lawyer team, esp Kwangsoo, Geumja and Geun Gang. They may have an unorthodox way of investigating but it still worked.
3. Really hated An Oh Ju from the start but the actor was so good that i actually felt bad for him in the end.
4. Cha Moon Sook was so bad i wanted someone to please slap her face and see her unruffled. But even when she got jailed she had the same frowning expression and remained calm. I wanted her to at least go crazy for once.
Dislikes
1. For a drama that mostly featured lawyers and prosecutors, there were not a lot of court case scenes where they actually did the hearing. Most of the time the defendants were acquitted so we never got a real sense of how good bong sang pil or Jaeyi was in their jobs.
2. The finale was not that impactful since there were no big twists or shocking events. It is more like will An Oh Ju or Nam Soon Ja betray Cha Moon Sook or not? Still it was satisfying.
Rating: 8/10
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This review may contain spoilers
The plot is weak
I watched this because it has 2 of my favorite actors- Lee Joon Gi and Seo Yea Ji. I will keep my review short here.Overall, it's not bad. You wouldn't waste your time watching it so you should give it a go. However, I think there are so much room for improvement in the story line. I think 16 episodes are not enough for the story. Similar to other reviews, I think the villain was brought down too easily and this could have been improved if they extend the story a little bit. In addition, I am not a lawyer but I can tell that the evidence to bring down the villain was way too weak. And to be honest, with that type of evidence, the villain could have been brought down since episode 1.
The couple: there is no chemistry between the couple. It's more like a friendship to me.
Acting: I think all actors performed well in this drama.
Warning- Spoiler below-
The most frustrating part for me was how the samchon died. The way he died was like: sorry guys, my character has to die here because I need to move on to another project. That's how stupid his death was.
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Lee Joon gi
I kept putting this drama of on hold for many times and i don't know why. Ofcourse this was not a best watch but it was not bad either. This drama has a good star cast and you can feel all the different range of emotions too. It has humor, love story, villains and great fight scenes. Strong FL lead, if you are someone like me who can't tolerate sissy FL . This is my first drama of Lee Joon gi and i realized man, he is hot and sexy. That smile is a killer. He is a good actor. May be little too thin....hahaha but enjoyed watching him. Seyo Ye ji is not sexy or beautiful in traditional asian way but her voice is mature and soothing. She was a kick-ass FL in this drama . Though ML was bent on protecting her all the way and due to valid reason but i felt it still did not make her look distressed or weak. Their chemistry is awesome on the screen. I am going to watch more of Lee Joon Gi drama, i really can't believe i kept putting this drama on hold becoz of him Lol!Was this review helpful to you?
we half-assed that ending huh?
Let me start my saying that I decided to watch this strictly for Lee Joon Gi. Alright, now that y'all know what type of girl I am, let's continue. This drama? Wasn't horrible. What was horrible? That ending.I won't say too much, but they had a really solid plot to work with. That's why I'm so disappointed that the end played out in the manner it did. I can't believe I sat through murder plots just to see the villain not even be tried in the very place she had power. They spent so much time, with the side characters and everyone's motivation that I didn't even get to have a satisfying ending.
Ignoring the ending though, the drama actually wasn't that bad. It was a bit corny at times and everything didn't have a resolution, but it wasn't horrible. It felt like a parody at times.
I will mention that I didn't really see any chemistry between the leads other than friendship. I don't get why they were in love lol. I know they said it, but I don't see how they got 7 from 2 + 2. I must've been too high because this drama feels like a fever dream.
Give it a try, it had action so maybe you won't be as bored.
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