Woman of 9.9 Billion (2019)

Warning

This review is full of spoilers.

Korean crime drama all have the same trajectory - crime gets committed by good main characters which becomes entangled into something more evil, and then the real evil people are only there to justify the main characters role because 'I'm bad but not that bad' and then naturally they'll meet another character, possible shipping couple, and then you get unpalatable amounts of lecturing along the same lines 'don't do crime kids' and then the villain gets their comuppence. Everything from Watchers, Voice, to Psychopath diary, to Gap Dong, ALL follow this same pattern and no one besides me gets bored? Lol i dont understand!

The only ones that broke the mold -- WHITE CHRISTMAS. And HELLO MONSTER to some extent because at least it was obvious Jang naras character was being judgemental and self-righteous to some kid who grew up thinking that killing was the norm. But Seo in Guks character DID NOT which makes more sense and is more realistic because things change drastically when a sibling you think of as your own baby becomes a murderer. Even DUEL was extremely nuanced. Save Me. Children of Nobody. The Smile Has Left Your Eyes.

But that was years ago!

These dramas had nuance and complexity. I see this frequently in Jdramas like off the top of my head Aku No Hado, SCAM (Scum), Todome No Kiss, death note, Bokutachiga yarimashta, and even DYING EYE , again most of these are CURRENT DRAMAS or a year old at most.

But this preachy self-righteous lecturing really isn't the mature way to do things imo.

So, naturally this drama was no exception.

That said I was truly entertained watching this drama and Lee Ji Hoon s characters death gutted me. As did pretty much all the cast performance at some point. So I will say this, acting and direction was great no doubt. But the script was really just a very typical Korean crime drama.

So, not terrible but nothing memorable either. They kept killing people off because the story was just so bland so all the death of the brother and Lee Ji Hoon was so pointless! No character acts the way they were set up and the so called 'growth' felt more like the characters doing something really convenient to bring about a plot twist. Eh. Okay I'm done lol

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I loved this drama and sorry to see it end; glad both Seo and Kang survived and I am sure they end up happily ever after in Tahiti someday, at least that is my ending to it. I enjoy Kim Kang Woo in whatever he does as he is one of the most intense and brilliant SK actors I have seen to date. I am glad to know he has another drama coming out this year in Snowy Sun (2020), I look forward to it. A job well done to all involved and particularly to Jung Woong In (Psycho Husband) for his great acting as well as to Oh Na Ra (Hee Joo) ????????.
Congratulations to Cho Yeo Jung for winning the SGA awards last week for the best ensemble cast for the movie Parasite and for her excellence award for her portrayal of Seo-yeon in this drama

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