ilovedramas293

I don't see SFD in your watchlist. Anyways, it probably matters on the person. NiF is a lot more of a slowburn and Mei's schemes rely a lot on convenience which isn't enjoyable to watch. Considering dropping

I was really impressed with PBY's acting and how mental illness is portrayed in a very refreshing, respectful, and realistic way, which is exactly what I wanted more of. This had some really great insight and breakdown explanations of certain illnesses. Obviously, the writer and director did their research. However, this felt a little hollow because the focus continued to shift back and forth between patients and the light romances going on. People mention the romance is understated here, but I felt it ate up most episodes.

Main complaint is the unnecessary love triangle. Character development is great here (especially PBY), but the love triangle isn't. The colorectal doctor isn't needed in this drama. He's not developed as a character or even involved with the psych ward. He exists for the sake of crushing on PBY due to a lackluster reason, which made the romance between doctor and PBY meaningless. Had they only developed PBY's relationship with Yu Chan, the story would have been much more cohesive showing how it's never too late to pursue the one you love, as well as show how normal romantic partners can help support a loved one and be educated together. There's such great chemistry, great character developments, and really touching moments between the two that it just makes sense. Instead, the doctor coincidentally finds himself in the right places at the right time to extensively help PBY. Their relationship doesn't feel natural, and it also takes away from the long pain-staking process of recovery from mental illnesses by breaking the realism.

I tend to write longer reviews for every drama I watch, but overall, this is really average with nothing special to it. The ML FL and side actors carry this hard, as well as the director who knows how to take really great shots of scenery and moments in the drama. It was a really well-balanced drama about the consequences of memories with romance, healing, and mystery until around the halfway point, where the main storyline is lost, and the drama relies on boring tropes to stretch until the final episode. These tropes are overdone and really poorly-written for the sake of adding unnecessary drama, but the actors still do their best to make their characters shine. 7.5/10

Fun ride that hits some really emotional notes, but you have to ignore all the plot holes and nonsense. The writers didn't even give enough effort to think of any real motives for the killer's murders and just skipped that completely with a half-assed backstory. Killer wasn't even hard to figure out based on typical kdrama tropes. Also had a really hard time connecting with the FL who somehow always needs saving, is constantly shown to be inept, and switches emotions every minute like from sad to cheeky to rude to arrogant. None of the times that she was upset over the ML made sense to me, because she was the root cause that kept hiding everything about her family at the start. I think the FL and ML growing close was written alright, but wow did the FL mess so many things up for the ML out of her selfishness and not listen at all to his warnings even after they opened up. She didn't really do more than expose 2 small things for the ML. The chemistry between the two for romance is really not there, and it comes across super forced.

Wow, I can't stop smiling. I have not seen such a perfect finale for a kdrama in a long time! I'm just so happy for all the characters here. All loose ends were tied, and justice was truly served in the best way possible with all characters getting closure. The character development of several characters really sticks and served to bring that insanely well-written outcome in the finale. I don't understand why people seem to say the story gets boring in the middle, but I agree you have to really suspend your disbelief to enjoy the ride. I only got hooked from Ep 4 onwards, not to say the early episodes weren't already interesting. It just felt as though the main plot of this drama begins around that point, which is when the ensemble of characters surrounding Ro Um began to get involved, and we start to see more backstory, real character development, connections that form between everyone involved, and serious moral dilemmas. It's also so unique seeing a girl group leader in a drama, and one that's really competent and ruthless. The actress plays the sly and partly evil-genius of Ro Eum really well.

Somehow, it feels the synopsis of this drama really doesn't do it justice, since I didn't really expect this to be so heavy and depressing. It's also portrayed like a heist at major moments, with spy music, and a lot of scheming. The mindfucks are really great, and this should have sci-fi and thriller tags. The cliffhangers are really well-done, and there's so many segments where I was on the edge of my seat waiting to see what would happen in unpredictable situations. Not much comedy at all except Ro Eum with her 4th wall breaks and the hilarious probation officer.

My favourite part of this is definitely Ro Eum. She is so damn entertaining with all her ruthless schemes, plots, and disguises. Seeing Ro Eum's relationships grow was my highpoint of this drama, as well as seeing how two extremely opposite ends of the spectrum finally manage to find a middle ground (aka the hyper-empathetic law-abiding Moo Yeong and the sociopathic law-breaking Ro Eum). It's so heart-warming seeing Moo Yeong be challenged repeatedly, but continue to be the protector Ro Eum needs to reintegrate into society. There's undeniable romantic chemistry between these two that I would have really loved to see more of! Everybody embodied their character so well and grew into such a memorable and lovable cast that I'll deeply miss.

Ro Um is paid a large amount yearly for the 10 years stolen of her life. Legally, the final case, and her 10 years case are considered separately. They can't consider it in the verdict.

Hey, I highly recommend not skipping the middle. I'm on episode 8 right now, and I have to say the story picks up a lot, and I've been hooked ever since episode 4. I'm not sure what this person means by the story gets aimless, cause all I'm seeing are connections being built all over the place with really great development for character relationships and their self development.

Rewatched this for the 5th time. I still can't get enough. I have yet to find a crime/political drama on the level of Secret Forest. One of the few dramas I can call a masterpiece from beginning to end.

It took two episodes for me to get into it, since I found it too corny in the beginning. But then it hooked me and got funnier as it toned down the comedy and I was captured by this silly group working together. Overall fun and engaging, with some serious character moments sprinkled throughout. I'm really going to miss this silly group. They couldn't have picked a better cast for this drama, and I wish we could have got a s2. Largely liked how unique the crimes were and that this had no mention of police corruption unlike most crime dramas. Nothing was left unanswered by the last episode.

Ending was a little unsatisfying and rushed, and some parts of it feel dragged out. But overall, the drama continued to get more exciting with each episode from episode 4 and onwards. There's a lot of mindfucks and plot twists where you see everything introduced subtly connect together. Just know the early episodes are mostly comedy, but if you push through to when the plot begins, the drama turns very serious. Now, the OST is the best part about this and it still makes me teary when I re-listen to it and remember some emotional moments. Almost every character here has some form of really well-written character development, but especially the ML and FL. The ML is really insufferable at the start, but that's mainly the point, since it's mostly a self-discovery about the consequences behind him selling his soul to the devil, how that stole away his own heart for music, how he fight to get his soul back, etc. JKH kills all the high emotional and hilarious points of his role and it's great to see him and PSW act together after Life in Mars 9/10

One of my favourite actors of all time. His performance in Cruel City has got to be his best for me. Happy Birthday! 🎉

I love the older episodes like episode 164 is one of my favourites. So much fun

Now, I'm super pleased with the finale and drama as a whole! However, only minor flaw for the ending I'll mention is that after having researched the time period of this drama, I dislike the severe lack of historical context in the finale. There was no time spent mentioning Taejong's accomplishments as King, or the reasons for his tyrannical actions. It only briefly mentions the main accomplishment of his son (Sejong the Great) in developing the alphabet, but Bang-won (Taejong) also promoted press, education, commerce, military reform, new offices for the people's concerns, etc. It's mainly Bang-won's story, so I just wish he got a little more recognition for his feats in the finale. I also feel that the actions he took for the throne are justified. He contributed far and most out of all his other brothers to his father's takeover, as well as supported him from behind the scenes by even agreeing to go to Ming for him where they respected and treated him as a Crown Prince. If he had got the throne from the beginning, like he deserved, none of the horrible things he had to do for it would have had to happen but Sam Bong stood in his way and in reality, Taejo was love-blind towards his second wife and her sons. Taejong (Bang-won) is considered as one of, if not the most, charismatic and powerful kings of all of Joseon history right behind his son (Sejong). He even allowed citizens to write him feedback, which is amazing, and should be seen more in modern politics. Also remained close to Wonkyung until her death, making medicine for her, even though he didn't love her. They had a very interesting deep sense of comaraderie and sense of partnership towards one another that I felt should have been explored further. The main reason he had her brothers killed was because they were close to Taejong's oldest son and setting him up to be a figurehead that supports the Min clan, plus Taejong's wife asked her brothers to throw one of his concubines and her new-born infant out in the frigid winter weather without a blanket for which he decided to not have her deposed, but her brothers punished. It's also said that it's because Taejong took out so much of the opposition, aka his in-laws, and his son's in-laws which is why Sejong (his son) was able to rule so well and focus on other matters to focus on the lives of the people. Taejong even ended the 20-year massacre of the Wang dynasty (previous royals) after he took the throne, claiming it was ridiculous to get rid of all the previous royal descendants including children, and that he'll protect them. The worries he had over his son reading books was also because he wanted to protect his health. Bangwon essentially had the best of intentions, but his ambitions got the best of whatever methods he chose to do to win. The more I read about him, the more I love him..

No problem, thanks for the suggestion. Hope you enjoy the drama if you watch it!

OMG Jae Hyuk (Le-Hoon) is such a piece of trash. Even after Yeong Gul's (Yoo Ah In) matured, turned straight from a criminal and womanizer, and has done his best to make peace with Jae Hyuk, Jae Hyuk keeps on trying to ruin everything for Yeong Gul who's finally having a healthier relationship with Ga Young. "I won't misunderstand you, so don't misunderstand me" made me finally think that Ga Young and Yeong Gul will be happy together and away from all the love triangle misunderstandings and garbage, but Jae Hyuk screws everything up cause he can't stand losing to Yeong Gul after his own relationship with Anna ended. His obsessions are ruining this drama for me. Yeong Gul has done so much to scrap together everything he can get for supporting Ga Young's dream, and now they're finally on a path to success to be happy, but Jae Hyuk THE PETTY TRASH HE IS just can't stand it and has to resort to blackmail to separate the two. I don't know if I can continue anymore..just let Ga Young and Yeong Gul be happy. Anna and Jae Hyuk really do deserve each other cause they're insecure PIECES OF TRASH that need to ruin people they're jealous of to be happy for themselves.

Well I continued and finished. Jae Hyuk is HUMAN GARBAGE, but I love to see Anna's growth. It's really sad to see that Yeong Gul has abandonment issues from his parents, and all that Jae Hyuk did to hurt him has made him into someone seeking revenge, rather than just looking to peacefully be with Ga Young. He's a little too happy about being able to provide everything for Ga Young and the money's gone to his head, so his priorities are messed up, but I still blame Jae Hyuk for everything. "People who grew up in a normal environment like myself don't give pain to others unless they hurt us" What a LYING ASSHOLE, when he was the one who caused Yeong Gul all the pain first for a woman who doesn't even love him. Imagine trying to repeatedly buy someone's love and being told no, to just do it all over again in the most pathetic way....

Just a heads up, but in reality, King Taejong (formerly Lee Bang-won) was never in love with the Queen. It was just a political marriage and she was mainly his political partner from the moment they were married as teenagers and they just shared a sense of camaraderie and companionship. He even attended to her deathbed, doing prayers, making medicine for her, and caring for her till her last breath. Maybe there was some love there, but nothing has been mentioned in the historical records. This is completely fictional about some real historical events, with a lot of bias towards King Taejong. Despite all the killing he is famous for, he was a good king who did so much for the people, and all the killing he did to prevent any opposition to Sejong as his heir paved the way for Sejong to become the greatest Joseon king. Unlike other princes, Sejong never had to fight for the crown, since Taejong did all that for him. Sejong spent all his time as King in improving society and the people around him.

It was alright and I enjoyed it. I first watched it for YJG (the legend that he is), but then I read the webtoon. The drama side characters are hollow shells of their former webtoon counterparts, but I liked the relationship b/w Jae-Min and Ma Ri more here. YJG really makes Jae-Min more interesting and likeable with his acting than his webtoon counterpart, and has a great chemistry with the FL.

There's various different skills in this drama. If you mean the strongest swordsman, it changes between a couple people

Since the writers have taken a lot of liberties with historical accuracy in this drama, I highly recommend not watching this for an accurate history lesson. Even as a fictional series, I only found the first half to be strong where relevance is given to every main character almost equally, but then the second half is poorly planned out, nonsensical, and horribly written.

In the second half, there are horribly-written incidents and murders that ruined my suspension of disbelief. Characters who are previously thought to be dead are repeatedly brought back to life, just to repeat the same plots again or get offed in another way. Only Dae Gil is treated like a main character by the writers. Prince Yeoning loses all hints of his confident, cunning, and admirable self, to become helpless at all times and rely on Dae Gil who suddenly becomes very "tactical" for everything. Yeoning's character is written so inconsistently, that Yeoning's personality shift becoming King seems so abrupt, but YJG does his best to save it with his acting. This is even more disappointing, because Dae Gil's actor is not as captivating as YJG(Yeoning) or CMS (Sukjong) who are legends that manage to express intense emotions and thoughts through their eyes alone. Dae Gil is also not an interesting character on-screen since he's written as a typical, generic hero in this drama overshadowing all of Yeoning's development or accomplishments. There are no grey sides to him, so even though Yeoning's more interesting as a character, the writers decide to not pay attention to his development.

I only ended up finishing this cause I like the music and I wanted to see more of YJG until the very end, but otherwise super disappointing for a saeguk, and I don't recommend it.

There's plenty, but I've found that only older kdramas usually have white people speaking normal english for some reason.