Backstreet Rookie (2020)

dorama extramente criminoso

eu acho que ficaria horas falando sobre o quanto esse dorama é ruim, tudo nele me incomoda, é machista, racista, sexista, o romance é tão péssimo, nada nele é bom.
primeiramente, vamos falar sobre como o protagonista usou a protagonista como segunda opção, ele só terminou com a namorada dele no episódio nove, e nem foi ele quem terminou o namoro, FOI ELA, pelo menos se ela tivesse terminado o namoro né, mas não, quem terminou foi ela, e logo depois disso, os protagonistas simplesmente começaram a namorar (???) isso não faz o mínimo sentido
tinha um cara muito fofo, rico e legal afim dela, mas ela não quis, ela simplesmente rejeitou ele, pra ficar com aquele chato, sem graça e sem sal, criminoso

ele não correu, nem um pouco atrás da protagonista, nem se fosse por um episódio só, ele não correu atrás dela, ela simplesmente passou o dorama inteiro se humilhando, correndo atrás dele, pra não ter uma cena dele tentando se redimir com ela, era uma pataguada sem fim, dele o dorama inteiro correndo atrás da namorada e da protagonista correndo atrás dele, era um ciclo que só acabou quando a namorada dele terminou com ele
ele obviamnete ainda amava a namorada, e usou a protagonista como tapa buraco, se ELA não tibvesse terminado com ele, ia ser isso até o final do dorama, ele nunca iria terminar
sem contar que esse dorama teve tanta polêmica, apropriação cultural, machismo, racismo, até o próprio ator principal foi racista, mas ninguém se lembra disso.
dorama criminoso, não recomendo de jeito nenhum assistir uma atrocidade dessas.

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Listen To The Reviews But Not The Good Ones

Ill Tell Ya Right Now The People Saying This Is a Good Show Call All K Dramas Good Shows Which I Like To Call a K drama Delusionist These Are The People That Say Every Single Korean Drama is Good Just Because it is Korean, My Friends Let Me Tell You Now Outta All of The Really Good Korean Dramas You Could Have Watched in The Time You Watched This You Would Have Wished You Listened To The Bad Reviews Over The Delusional "Good" Reviews The Story Get Wild And Confusing And There Are So Many Unnecessary Scenes That Had Nothing To Do With The Main Story Its Hectic and Chaotic I Wanted To Stop Around EP 12 But For The Sake of A Committed Review I Watched On And For Every Episode I Watched After 12 I Cried, Reaching Almost 5am In The Morning Hitting The 16th Episode and Asking Myself Why I Didn't Stop At EP 12, Anyways I'm Telling You Know Don't Believe All Good Reviews Bad Reviews Are Because The Review Itself Is Bad But Because These People Really Know What They Are Talking About, I Sleep Now Good Luck If You Still Watch It <3

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Original series

Overall it is a cute series, which deals with a serious question (franchisees), which is totally worth watching.
Originality is a key factor here.
The depiction of the fights in Episode 1 proposed points, which I had not seen elsewhere (see it for yourself), and reproposes one of the tough girls from the movie "Sunny".
The small group of girls is interesting as each one has her own personality. Also look at the initial reaction to the convenience store's friend ("an austrolopithecus? werent' they extinct?").
The series also shares several points with the series "The fiery priest" (e.g. some of the music is almost identical, and a sense of sarcasm here and there) due to the fact that both series were directed by the same person.
Finally, I loved the way they made fun of Joseon series (though I do like some series portraying Joseon), imitating the speech, announcing with loud voice and drums the arrival of the secret (some secrecy!) royal inspector, the actress getting called on the set while she was removing her Joseon zombie attire and speaking with a normal eye and one with the zombie lens.

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Uncomfortable "fluffy romance"

I love fluffy romance, don't get me wrong; however, this drama is just bad.

Why?
- The fact that JSB had not finished high school (by itself would've been okay, with context not so much) and that they made her kiss CDH in a high school uniform was uncomfortable. Some say, "oh, but the actors are both adults!" and? It is a harmful portrayal of relationships because it looks like some sort of pedophilic fantasy. The drama started with this sort of power imbalance and continued with a similar pattern: CDH (30+?) is JSB's (early 20's) boss who scolds her all the time while she continues to act like a stalker teenager, then all the scenes of him having to teach her because she wants to pass high school and all the other times where he has to save her.
- The dreadlocks of Han Dal Shik. By itself problematic; however, the combination of them with HDS as a character perpetuates harmful stereotypes. HDS is lazy, dirty, poor, nasty, and unlikeable. So we get scenes with flies coming out of his dreadlocks and people making a note of his "weird hairstyle."
- None of the characters are likable. CDH is dull and quick to get angry; JSB, while being all for justice and punishing others, will ruin the pre-existing relationship of the person she loves, but because she's a cute damsel in distress, that's okay; YYJ has the annoying typical rich girl behavior.
- It's boring and cliche. The latter would've not been a problem at all if I liked the characters.
- Annoying CGI
- I couldn't root for either of the CDH's romances.
- 16 episodes was too much for this drama.

I can't stress enough how much I would've liked this concept had it been actually done well.

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Don't take it too seriously :)

Short: It's so over the top in places you can't mistake it for anything trying to take itself seriously. I loved the various characters and the general story,. I liked the little nods to other things like a scene from Parasite and it had lots of energy. It's not going to be top of your list, but it's fun and easy watching. I certainly enjoyed it. I don't think it was bad at all, it was silly and OTT but also lots of fun :)

Detail:
Ok first I have to call out the little cameo moments that I thought were amusing as heck. In one, the father goes to be a driver for the ex-girlfriends family and takes a test drive - and it's ripped straight line for line out of Parasite, and also refers to how she had to fire the last guy because he stank from living in a basement (which the guy did in Parasite). In another, Ahn Chang Hwan turns up in the store, and immediately Dal Shik - played by Eum Moon Suk, who was also in Fiery Priest along with Ahn Chang Hwan - start doing a riff where Moon suk starts asking Chang Hwan to say "peter piper picked a peck of pickled peppers" just as his character did in Fiery Priest. Later, he re-assumes that role when he goes to help Saet Byul who visits someone that's trying to blackmail the store - he dresses up exactly as his character in Fiery Priest, including the voice etc. I love these little cross overs, they don't matter if you don't recognise them but they're a fun "aha!" moment when you do... though they perhaps tell me that I watch too much KDrama, I shall meditate on that point as I watch another KDrama...

Fiery Priest had the same Director, Lee Myung Woo - so you can kinda expect the same slightly OTT pace and style to everything.

I also noted the similarity between Ji Chang Wook's name (the ML) and Kang Ji Wook (the character name of the actor friend of Saet Byul's) :)

The main leads have some great chemistry, and I really liked the independence and strength they gave Saet Byul. I also liked that Ji Chang Wook's character knew when to back off and leave her to her own thoughts and come to her own decisions no matter how hard it was for him, he supported and encouraged when it was right and backed off when it was needed.

I think the take away message from this is about really understanding what's important, understanding what defines success for you - is it money? what is happiness? Once you understand that (and there's no point fooling yourself, only you lose out), you can make decisions you might not otherwise have made and find that happiness.

Second leads Seo Ye Hwa and Eum Moon Suk make for a very amusing pair as they go through turbulent times (probably more over the top than the main leads) but are also heartwarming in how things develop between them.

The drama has the usual tropes lined up almost numbered so you can call them out one at a time. Multiple Love triangles, the wicked girlfriends mum (well, ex-girlfriend but interfering none the less), misunderstanding after misunderstanding, you name it, it's probably there. But, as I said, it's kinda all hammed up a bit so rather than frustrating it becomes quite amusing more than anything.

Oh, and those endings where something key is about to happen and the screen freezes for it to conclude next episode, yeah, few of those, swore a couple of times at the TV for that :)

Probably not everyone's cup of tea but heck I enjoyed it :)

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I loved this series

I find it hard to understand the negative comments about this drama and the controversy about the age gap between the two main characters . It is a light hearted romcom , a bit of a farce verging on the satire . It is brilliantly acted with clever action scenes . As usual in Korean dramas it shows two aspects of society , the rich and powerful , who think they can do anything to keep to their status , and the less fortunate , who have to struggle to make ends meet , fight daily against fraud and bullying and carry the stigma , but who manage to keep their integrity and , at the end of the day show themselves more capable than their counterparts in the executive world , because they care about each other and help each other and believe in their worth .
Dae-hyun played beautifully by Ji Chang Wook belongs to both worlds and understands how both work and so can make his choice of a less glamorous life in order to be with friends , family , with honest and hard working people whom he knows he can trust . As everyone says " he is a good man " . We need someone like him these days . I laughed a great deal , I felt emotional and applauded the witty ending mixing behind the scenes with the make believe of filming . They did not even kiss at the end , but who cares . Let your imagination work for you , as these two Dae-hyun and Saet-byu are made for each other and will be a couple for as long as they live .

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A Drama So Great that it was my first ever Rewatch!

This drama is the complete package when it comes to romantic-comedy dramas. First off the drama expertly paces itself with the highs and lows which make the viewer really enjoy the happy and funny moments alongside really feeling the sadness of the low points. The development of both Dae Hyun and Saet Byul's relationship throughout the drama was fantastic, the way they grow on each other overtime feels so natural, likewise with Saet Byul being accepted into Dae Hyun's family especially with Dae Hyun's mother.

The casting choices for all the characters were so spot and they instantly clicked together, they all interact so well with each especially the secondary romance between Dal Sik and Geum Bi. Everytime those two had a scene I couldn't help but laugh, Dal Sik alone is probably one of my favorite support characters out of every single drama I've watched. He's so incredibly memorable, likewise with many of the other support characters.

The soundtrack for the drama is an instant classic from songs from Kang Daniel, April, Kim Tae Woo, Rothy, and Colde which were instantly put into all of my playlists after I had finished my first watch. Even the OST is fantastic, it fit every single scene perfectly. This drama definitely is worth a watch, a re-watch, and even more. It just leaves you with this happy, fulfilled feeling after watching the whole series!

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Lacking but Definitely Enjoyable.

Backstreet Rookie was a fun drama that did have much lacking but was entertaining. It was good, not great, but good enough that I don't regret taking the time to watch this drama.

Story
First of all, the story wasn't anything special. The love story in particular was quite confusing. I really don't see why there was a need for so many twists and turns. However, the writers did manage to entertain me, putting in perfect comic relief every episode. Also, because the writers tried to cover so much in such little time, there were way too many subplots for one drama, and was messy. On the other hand, I did find myself rooting for the main couple and all the other minor characters and couples to do well. Overall, the story wasn't amazing, but it was entertaining.

Acting/Cast
The acting and cast were amazing. The chemistry between the couples was amazing. All the actors and actresses, from Ji Chang Wook and Kim Yoo Jung to Han Sun Hwa, Solbin, and Kim Min Kyu acted well at least as far as I could tell. :) Anyways the cast's acting and chemistry were amazing.

Music/Rewatch Value
The music was good. There wasn't any song particularly memorable, all the songs fit well with the mood and were used well. I don't think I would rewatch Backstreet Rookie in full, but I'll definitely look up clips and rewatch bits of the drama.

Backstreet Rookie didn't have the best storyline as messy and confusing as it was, however, the comic relief and the chemistry and acting skills of the cast really managed to make this ride enjoyable. As you watch this drama, you'll find yourself rooting for everyone, from the main couple to all the supporting characters to get a happy ending. I recommend watching this drama though it won't wow you, it will most definitely be enjoyable and you won't regret it.

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Meh

I liked the plot that takes place inside the store but only this. Some things bothered me a lot about the characters, like the first kiss between the two main... I mean... The girl was still a highschooler and the guy was already an adult. Besides this, I liked the interaction when both were adults. The chemistry between them was ok and the main girl was so lovely. But I have to say about the disrespectful way the authors treated Jamaican culture. What the hell was that blackface???? They portraying his dreadlocks as dirty. I dont know WTF the authors were thinking, I was so shocked

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It was bad but not that bad

So I got into this show because of Ji Chang Wook as my mother is a big fan (not sure why). The promo videos looking entertaining so I thought why not give it a shot. I was looking forward to watching Kim Yoo Jung play a modern role as in my mind I have crowned her the princess of sageuks as these are her strengths. I've watched some of her other moderns but they didn't strike the right note.

First Let's just put this out there that the show had some inappropriate moments. The webtoon it was based on is scandalous to say the least and though they tried to water it down it didn't help much. The inappropriate underage romantic scene that portrayed so many problematic issues got reported and flagged. The show literally tried to gloss over sexual harassment, age disparity, bullying, school/gang violence and cultural appropriation/racism that was cringe worthy to watch. Han Dal Shik's character - just no!

Got that out of the way now on to the review.

Ji Wook (family nick name) is such a temperamental actor in my mind because he flops back and forth between hits and misses. I think this is sign of him willing to take risks in his career but unfortunately it didn't work out in this show. His character Choi Dae Hyun was insignificant despite being the star. Jung Saet Byul was the embodiment of strong female lead who's character had the most growth and evolution in the show.

What I enjoyed:
Plot wise it was an interesting take on everyday life people with some splashes of excitement. I liked Jung Saet Byul strength and skill. Did not like her aggressiveness with chasing a man who was in a relationship no matter how bad it might have been. The family ties and support systems were sweet to watch as well and despite the controversy the show was funny (from ep5 it calmed down a bit to being actually funny and not a desperate funny).

What I did not like:
The 'met when they were young and now meant to be' trope. Can we be done with this Please?
The best friends' side story - skip button was my friend

This drama is going to be an acquired taste. You will either love it or hate it

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