watch this for Choi Jin Hyuk, not sure about Lee Tae Kyung

well i watched this in skips mainly because of CJH doing another law drama after Pride and Prejudice but i might rewatch later.

first of all, this is one of the least sophisticated law dramas i have ever watched, writing wise.

this shouldn't be a thriller at all contrary to the tagged genre, it could've been anything else but that. most likely noir.

in terms of cinematography executions, it reminds me a lot of Confession (2019) which uses this dark/greyish undertone a lot to keep the mood mellow.

first of all, in terms of writing. this is probably the simplest way to write a law drama LOL. you can predict the big picture almost right away after the first two sub-cases were thrown in.

usually in better law/thriller dramas, they keep throwing plot twists in the sub-cases to keep you engaged in guessing the real culprit. yeah, that's the biggest problem in the writing here. the real culprits are as clear as day, there's no surprise at all about that. so usually in situations where writers decide to go down this path where there's very little surprises, it's in the skillful threading of the story sequences that really makes the biggest impact.

which has been really mediocre in this drama to say the least.

i get that the story meant to focus or revolves itself around the two male leads, namely Lee Tae Kyung and Song Woo Young, and the 'development' of their relationship for lack of better terms, i.e. the brokenness/crashing down of their relationship. so the cases to be solved really focused on these two.

however, that is problematic because this is a slow paced drama with the entire storyline almost served to you on a silver platter, as early as the first half of the series. i believe that if the pace is decisively slow, then the developmental building/entanglement/resolution of the cases should also be slow, complex or gradual to build better tension. i guess you can see how i am almost saying that the writers are failing miserably at that.

it's pretty damn obvious to me that this drama severely lacks the beautiful complexities that most well written thriller law dramas have of its genre. i can explain why. it's because the writers not only focused the cases around the two male leads, they also decided to focus on:

1) the sub-cases that use supporting casts that appear or are mentioned about often but actually do not contribute much to the advancement of the story, unless to keep the links to the big picture therefore end up being repetitive and highly predictable.

2) the resolving of cases between a small number of working teams who are mainly focused on cases only and not shown much personalities at all outside of it. LOL! booooringgggg.

i also feel that it's quite a problem that both the leads cooperating to seek justice are people of law (a prosecutor and a lawyer), so there's not much push and pull dynamics that happen, compared to if the other partner is someone from the police force, i.e. a detective.

don't even get me started on the hints of romance, bloody hell. the pair is such a good looking couple, and what a missed opportunity it has been not to explore so much more.

they are presented to the story as exes, but we hardly have a meaningful flashback of the time they shared together. and all the moments sharing how they still care for each other are very minimal. there's only two meaningful skinship moments between them, 1) was when she wanted to lift up his shirt to check on his injury when he keeps declining to admit (well not really, since his hands were too fast to block her), and 2) when he hugged her after a huge tragedy in her life.

gosh, i wish they explored more. i always love a good visual couple, LOL.

and i'd finally end with the characterization of Lee Tae Kyung. i read one of the reviews saying that he's probably the weakest link in the drama. well i thoroughly enjoy the lead actor who plays him, so i am going to try to be at least objective here. come to think of it, i might painfully admit that he comes across really flat, blerghh.

and i have to say i am kinda disappointed with this character because with it being so controlled and subdued, there's not much that Choi Jin Hyuk can show within his usually full-on acting range like it was spectacularly evident in Tunnel. this is when i realise that you can have a world class actor playing a character but if the range is very limited, then not even him can save it LOL.

also between the two villains Song Woo Young and Tak Soo Ho, i actually preferred Tak Soo Ho more but it's really a shame that he's only the secondary villain in this. this guy's a straight up psychopath but he doesn't get as much screen time to show how brutally evil he can get, rather they only makes him come across as demented and creepy when he could have delivered much greater impact. i wished they had given him better opportunity to shine like Vincenzo's writers did to Jang Jun Woo's character played by Ok Taec Yeon.

all in all, highly recommendable mainly for Choi Jin Hyuk's eternal gorgeousness, LMAO~

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somewhat salvageable as a female-centric drama

HA HA HA.

i don't know anymore.

first of all, i always read comments wanting Sunny to end up with the Emperor LOL. i could never understand this. she even lost respect for him as a human (she only sees him as a monster until the end), so love is clearly not in the discussion.

she never once admitted to herself or to Wang Shik that she has fallen in love with him. we can see it from her eyes when she look at him, and worries for him that it's the look of love, but she never pursued it to protect her dignity as the Empress and as a married woman.

in that sense, i can totally respect the love line that was never pursued to its full potential. love is not about owning, anyways.

i cannot however, make sense that they never killed Wang Shik's character when he was out in Chungeum Island with the Empress and Min Yu Ra to inspect the greenhouses (poppy fields). his last scene in the drama was literally him fighting off the guards there. and when they decided to extend the story with no CJH acting his extended parts, they decided to simply kill his character during the press conference explosion without showing his face!!!!

WHAT FCKIN COMICAL WRITING.

i really believed they should have killed Wang Shik's character when CJH was still there to shoot it since he was dying anyways. and therefore leave his character out completely of the extended episodes. his distasteful character ending really left a bad taste in my mouth, damn. i also wished had they ended Wang Shik's character properly with his death while CJH was still acting it, Sunny was there to embrace him in his final moments, and let him know that she too has loved him back deeply.

ouh, how one could wish. i would have been so satisfied with that.

i liked that the Emperor ended up dead with the greedy ED killing him with her own hands. that shows how damaged beyond repair they both are. the Emperor would rather go out on a suicide mission than take the hard way to rectify Imperial Family mistakes on public, and the ED is not shy away from killing her own sons to pursue her greed, and she ended up going insane in prison.

well at least ep. 52 was pretty salvageable, with me being reminded that this was a female centric drama anyways, and the female characters writing have had more impact on me than the two male leads.

i really couldn't care less about the Emperor until the end though many viewers kept rooting for him. i literally get dumbfounded when people say he had the best character development. B*TCH, WHERE??

what i can say is, i am happy i skipped parts and fast forwarded this drama to quickly reach the sinking ship ending that it is instead of giving it my full attention intently from the start. LOL!

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the best melodrama i have watched to-date, hands down

finished, yasss!

honestly this drama was brilliant in every sense of the word. particularly for the lead couple, they are the perfect cast for this drama. can't praise them enough!

i am however slightly dissatisfied with the business aspects of the story. Attorney Ahn kept repeating that he worked very hard to climb to the top, but it seemed like things got easy for him because of So Yeon, LOL. also the last plan of them when him and So Yeon teamed up to make sure Min Hyeok agrees to the marriage if he doesn't want to destroy both him and So Yeon together. they literally glossed things over and didn't elaborate properly about what exactly they threatened him with, and how those dealings came to be. they have also never bothered to show Se Yeon's politician father not even once, LMAO. would have been so nice if that part was included properly into the story. mostly we got Min Hyeok who was seen always busily chasing around Yoo Jeong for his revenge LOL, but it's a missed opportunity that they didn't show exactly what type of a businessman he is.

i feel like ep. 15 of this drama could have been ep. 19 instead, with those bits filled in that would make the story a lot more complete. i came away feeling mainly dissatisfied with how weak Attorney Ahn tried to topple him, and how rushed everything felt at the end LOL. the story would have gotten more dynamic and stronger if they made him a smarter, more ruthless/wicked villain who is willing to do just anything and more evil things to avoid the fall.

i kept comparing this drama in my head with The Innocent Man, which the latter could be said more complete (3 main characters, able to be stretched out to 20 episodes). they fleshed out the power struggle story really well there, whilst here it's the main love story and the melodramatic life of the FL that they did extremely well.

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quite fun for its genre, but has a surprisingly deep, sad undertone

yasss, finished finally!

what a great drama. really enjoyed this.

obviously this can't beat Mad Dog. Mad Dog was like the perfect drama for its genre in my book, it's full of sass and badassery.

the story here caught me by surprise by its very sad undertone, as the FL is a single mother who suddenly mourned and sought revenge for the loss of her only child. and the ML's backstory is very sad too. in fact Bo Mi and Kyung Soo's stories are also very sad and traumatic, making this drama very heavy to the feels. so, i wasn't able to watch this drama as a time-pass.

in terms of the last 2-3 episodes after the Chief Prosecutor was finally caught, the story moved on to the story of his teenage psychopath son and his 'final' move to screw them over. some people think that this part was unnecessary, but i actually really liked that. the father villain didn't give that much of an impact for me, and it was the psychopath son that really steals the show throughout and keeps me fully engaged (Solomon Park, boyyy you're too good!!!). and i really appreciated how the writers ended the story by showing his part instead because the ending for his father was nothing special (just send that bastard to jail once the evidence is secured, that's it).

so i can appreciate them giving full screentime to the psychopath son to wrap the story though the ending's execution was weak AF (the writer made the detective team leader a fool, just like her daughter LOL) for complying completely to the abductor request instead of reporting and approaching the case strategically as a seasoned police officer, lmao.

i don't like the ending. i don't know. i am probably in denial because the tragic ending somehow fitted the drama's undertone so much and i can somewhat respect that, but i was at least expecting a happy reunion between the team members, sighh. people also seemed to notice that it was an open ending that should allow for second season, and i am hopeful for that though i'm not sure if MBC has done multiple season series. i only know of such a thing at OCN's dramas. i really liked that although Prosecutor Jang is the secret team leader, Soo Ji is the first cast in the actor's order list which means this drama can indeed continue on using her as the main character just like Director Kang in Voice series.

actually, i am really happy to be watching this drama LOL. i get introduced to so many actors i haven't watched or watched much like Kim Young Kwang, Lee Shi Young, Key, Kim Seul Gi, the hot priest and Solomon Park, haha. i don't know if i should feel grateful that the boy plays his psychopath character so well that i really wanna choke him to death, LOL.

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4 friends is the constant/glue holding this drama together, Choi Ja Hye's character is your variable

Wow. What a great drama despite its flaws. I'm satisfied with most of the things that other people would have or have had problems with, which becomes the reason why i could still score this drama highly.

As i explained in the title of this review, the story of the 4 friends is the constant/glue that holds this drama together, and remains a drama very worth watching for them till the very end. On the other hand the biggest variable for most people is the character of Choi Ja Hye itself, be it their disalignment over the lead actress change midway drama, the character disconnect on the part of the writing when the switch happened, or with the ending itself (resolution of her character).

I for one don't have much problems with these primarily because i think the new actress did such an outstanding job playing the character she's supposed to play, and the ending also made sense to me though it can be disturbing or dissatisfying to some people.

I particularly think the overall story is strong, though some disconnect and messiness are visible in parts. It's heart-wrenching and can drive you crazy at the same time, and this drama was utterly enjoyable because of that.

Acting by everyone is spectacular, and i almost felt relieved that the new actress took up the part in the second half because i thought she fitted the part better. I loved everyone else in the cast ensemble, Lee Jin Wook, Shin Sung Rok, Park Ki Woong, Bong Tae Gyu, Yoon Jung Hoon and Jung Eun Chae. They all did such phenomenal jobs with their characters. Hak Bom especially LOL, his temper tantrums really reminds me of the antagonist character that Namgoong Min played in Remember (2015), LMAO. At times you just wanna laugh and facepalm really hard at his antics because he's that nonsensical and despicable LOL.

I definitely enjoyed this drama more than I think i would. Whenever someone asks me, "is there a drama where the characters are so interesting that they made up to the weakness of the plot"? Yup, I can confidently say that there is, and it's this one. ❤

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one of the best 12 episode k-dramas out there!

wow, goodness me. my chest feels so heavy after completing the finale. and that ending at the final episode totally broke me. it's beautiful but heartbreaking at the same time. if you are more on the optimistic side of life, then it may not be as heartbreaking for you.

one of the best 12 episode k-dramas out there, i believe. the episodes are neatly crafted with sufficient thrills and twists to keep the viewers engaged from the start which made my binge-watching experience very smooth. i particularly find the mock trial format, or the amateurish court trial setting delivered very well that not once did it make me question whether it's going to start to feel cartoonish. the dedication and sincerity of the characters to unravel the real truth about the tragedy that happened in the school ground successfully tagged me along, and i was not lost or felt disconnected, not even once. really credible writing on their part. they established very cleverly early on that although there are no legal repercussions as a result of the verdict, it's still an important due process that needs to be undertaken to unravel the truth, that too taking into account multiple attempts by the school administrators to shut them down and expel them out of school. how brave of them to persist despite all of that!

i think the reason i couldn't score this a 10 is because of the FL. she's the heroine in this story without a doubt, but at the end of it all, she still comes across as somewhat an outsider to the story, sometimes quite bland at that, because the story did end up revolving very much around Lee So Woo and Han Ji Hoon, the two best friends. these are the characters whom i have grown a close affinity to, despite the former's very limited screentime.

i'm so happy i watched this for Jang Dong Yoon. when he, Han Ji Hoon revealed that he was a domestic abuse victim as a child, my heart was absolutely torn apart. no child deserves such cruelty ever, and i am also very sad at how real the issues addressed in this drama are: peer bullying, domestic abuse, mental health, crime of perjury (lying during trials) and school corruption. this drama was absolutely outstanding at highlighting them all.

Jang Dong Yoon was an absolute rookie in this, and he looks so baby-faced still but already so talented and well immersed into his character. i'd happily move on to watch his newer projects now that i have watched this. what a promising young actor!

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A really good sageuk for what it's worth

Glad i gave this a chance. Lee Joon Gi's phenomenal fighting scenes in this reminds me of Warrior Baek Dong Soo that i have just finished recently, but his acrobatic moves here is probably a notch higher because he's so agile and fast like a ninja, and the way he moves around and makes use of spaces in ep. 18 fighting scenes kinda gives me some Jackie Chan vibe. So so good!

The story is well done for the most part. I really liked the twist at the end about the main culprit of it all, it has similar energy to main villain's plot twist in City Hunter, Time Between Dog and Wolf, and Cruel City. But the ending proved that Yong was the most un-ruthless revengeful person i have ever known, he turned his back from his enemies because he just can't bring himself to killing people, and ended up being sliced because his enemies are ruthless. In that sense it really made us question whether taking revenge is really worth all the pain and sufferings. But perhaps it's something that can't be helped too since regaining his memory proved to be too painful a price for him to bear.

If I have to explain my score, then it's due to some plot holes that makes the viewing experience not as smooth.

First, in the first half, often times the drama gives confusing flashbacks or snapshots between stage-i Iljimae who was already an expert burglar to someone who's still novice about stealing and breaking into noble's houses with tight security. Not once in the duration of the first half were we ever exposed to Yong's upbringing whether he was passed down the skills properly by his father who is a retired petty thief so to have to connect the dots by ourselves was quite a jump.

Second, it wasn't very obvious for how long stage-ii Iljimae trained with the Monk Master to sharpen his sword fighting skills. We could see that he became very fast and very advanced in the later fighting scenes with Ja Dol/Shi Hoo, so that part was quite a mess. It's unlike in Warrior Baek Dong Soo which made it clear that the ML trained for a solid 3 years with his swords master in the mountains which was more reasonable.

I don't really have any problems with the romance. The chemistry feels very muted and considering her parents, it was always meant to be forbidden love so I was able to enjoy it for what it was, and for how short-lived it is. Quite sad that Bong Soon is hinted to abandon her adopted father who she found out he was the one who killed her family, and because of that she also stayed away from Yong because he's remained close to his Monk Master.

Aside from all the support characters that i found really elevated this drama, Lee Joon Gi's phenomenal action scenes are making me contemplate to watch all of his sageuks, even the non-recommended ones LOL because I really do enjoy them. The man's talent is no joke.

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fckin incredible drama, but should have been a full 16 episode!

my goodness. what a journey. truly incredible, more so because of the leads acting especially Im Shi Wan and Lee Dong Wook, bravo...!!!

despite so, this being an OCN dramatic cinema style drama, i have to judge it precisely based on that. i definitely think there are multiple plot holes in the drama that could have been resolved if the number of episodes were increased to at least 12, or better if it was a full 16 episode kdrama. they could have tied up the loose ends a lot better if this was written like Memorist (2020) where they introduce the villains/culprits one by one, and try to foreshadow and confuse us about the real one. that i believe would have made the quality and thrill of each episodes much more consistent because some of the episodes in the middle seem to have been filled with filler scenes that do not contribute much to the tension or the story.

some plot holes that i could think of:

1. the first guy who was introduced as Seo Moon Jo's "chagiya" (honey), he was killed too fast literally in ep. 2. and it was also the same episode that they revealed to us the true identity of Seo Moon Jo (the dentist). would have been nice if he had a bigger role and more screen time since he had the look and physicality of someone creepy/dangerous as well, rather than just a lackey of the dentist like the others.

2. Yoon Joong Wo's PTSD at the military service was quite unclear to me. we get throwbacks that he had huge anger management issues but i feel it would have been better if he had some sociopathic tendencies like the male lead's character in Flower of Evil (2020) instead of PTSD. i don't think people with PTSD are the ones to actively hurt others, but in the flashbacks, we saw that he was the one who joined brutally in the beating of his fellow soldier.

3. the manipulation of Seo Moon Jo into Yeon Joon Wo's brain that the latter is as capable of murdering people just like him, i think was not fleshed out enough. again, a problem of the lack of a number of episodes. in the rather limited screentime that Seo Moon Jo had in the drama, he was more of a 'psychotic sweet-talker' guy to Joon Wo rather than someone who truly comes across as a highly manipulative narcissist who's also physically intimidating/terrifying. Moon Jo for the most parts before his self-revelations, comes across as more shady than outwardly frightening. would have been nice if we get to see more of how Moon Jo directly tries to terrorize Joon Wo mentally and psychologically. also, Joon Wo's stay at the Eden Studio has not been that long at all and it did feel they made such a huge leap in the story just to portray him as someone who was suddenly going insane from all those crazies.

4. i also think the story could have been made more complex if there were stronger motives to the whole tenants and owner of Eden Studio conspiring in serial murder cases. the crime case mention in the final episode about a whole family who was brutally murdered in a vacation house was literally brushed over, and would have been so interesting if that plot was integrated more centrally to add mysterious/suspense elements to the story. also, Joon Wo and the new tenant Seok Yeon had speculation of sort that those tenants were involved in some kind of organ trafficking deals or something, but this potential plot point was never pursued, which would have added an interesting motive to the killings rather than just for the sake of creating 'dental arts/souvenirs'.

5. more importantly a full background story of how the long-term tenants of Eden Studio got entangled with one another through their upbringing in Spring Orphanage was never fully given to the audience. We also don't know very clearly what triggered Moon Jo's character to become a serial killer eventually at that point. He definitely should have had more screen time than what was given to him.

also, i found this very helpful comment on the last episode:

"Okay but... if Jongwoo really did kill those 3 (in a very messy matter), why is it that the detectives never found evidence that would point him as the killer? His fingerprints would've been on the wrench, knife, and the landlady's wrist. Plus, they knew that the vacations house killer was meticulous. Sure they got testimonies to cover him but isn't it also part of the investigation to look for concrete evidence?? Technically they only had Jongwoo's statement to tell them that Moon Jo was the murderer. The thug and Ji Eun's statements also proved that Moon Jo was the leader of the group but they had no idea who actually killed the 3 members. And during the Eun Jin's statement, she said that she heard the pervert getting killed by the landlady. If that's the case, she should've heard Jongwoo's voice instead of the landlady's. Lastly, forensics would've found evidence of Moon Jo's teeth collection, and detectives probably already knew that the vacation house victims and other victims of the Eden Studio had missing teeth. Why didn't they question Jongwoo's teeth bracelet??"

...which kinda points to how crime thriller dramas that focus on the complex psychology of human characters would always downplay the precision of forensic science. i get that they probably wouldn't have ended the drama any other way, but addressing this issue (or at least foreshadowing a lot more clearly that Moon Jo has now indeed has become a twisted psychopath with an unbroken thirst to kill other people who knew he had to somewhat clear his traces from the murder scenes) would have made the ending scene more neat and crisp.

overall, i must comment about the finale episode, which was utterly remarkable! the fighting scene between Joon Wo and Moon Jo was very deliberate and so well done, and it was quite a shock for me to see how they went all out with the killing rampage in that final episode, almost the same feeling as when i watched Parasite LOL. that's literally the scene where we could see Moon Jo using his towering height and strength over Joon Wo who's much smaller than him. just based on their fighting scene alone, i was able to imagine that their roles could also have been played by Park Hae Jin (Moon Jo) and Lee Joon (Joon Wo) respectively based on their body size differences. the casting really worked extremely well in this drama and the actors who played them also did such a marvelous job!

all in all, this is not exactly a drama anyone would want to rewatch, but someone who became a fan of Im Shi Wan and Lee Dong Wook through this drama might wanna rewatch it to relish/remind themselves of the phenomenal actors they both really are.

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Jang Keun Suk oppa, jjang!

ahh when i finished this drama just a while back, i should have written a full review. i didn't write one because i only posted a short synopsis upon finishing. seeing how there are literally only 11 reviews on this drama so far really compelled me to write one.

i have to say the story is really great. i found the first several 30 minute episodes a bit dry, mainly because there's not enough sass in the supporting characters of the con team of Sa Do Chan. the other con-dramas i have watched are Legend of the Blue Sea and 38 Task Force, so compared to this drama, those two engaged me a lot quicker because the side characters are as interesting/funny. it didn't help too that the female lead was almost plain unlikeable and boring as hell at the beginning.

but the story and rhythm definitely improved as the episode progresses which pleased me tremendously. i must say the stronghold of the drama lies in the acting of Jang Keun Suk who played both characters of Sa Do Chan and Baek Joon Soo brilliantly and his performance is very gripping and enough to hold your attention for the entire show. but we also have a villain here who gives off a solid performance, of course, played the veteran actor Jung Woong In. i first watched him in I Hear Your Voice and i am glad i found him again here.

the one thing strongly holding me back from almost a full score is with the distasteful outcome of Sa Do Chan's father which was so floppily executed, almost to the point of the writer-director combo clowning themselves. gahh, i still get angry at how badly that scene was executed.

the romance that were hinted at, at the end of it, they ended up with nothing. sighh. i mean she would probably be better off with Baek Joon Soo the stuck-up/righteous/boring prosecutor, but the growing chemistry between her and Sa Do Chan was really cute, so it was such a huge dilemma at least for me, after all those signs of budding romance. but at least we get a small character development on Baek Joon Soo's part when he remembered to call the female guard at the entrance, pretty Mi Ran as Sa Do Chan sweetly addressed her. that was insanely cute!

overall, definitely a very solid con-drama totally worth giving a shot. i don't understand how the rating average gets below than 8.0 but that's honestly sick and fckin ridiculous. a show this good should be rated higher, and i am telling you that it is really a great one! enjoy. ^^

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Jang Keun Suk, you bad boy!

wow, finally got around to watch this.

i am honestly happy that this movie was made and it stirred enough interest with the public to re-open the investigation and have the real murderer caught and extradited back to South Korea for sentencing after 18 years have passed. amazing what movies or art pieces can do to help serve justice.

when i watched the movie, i really could not understand why was the victim suddenly murdered brutally in the bathroom of that Burger King restaurant, i mean of all places for God sake. turned out i watched a commentary video about this case and they reaffirmed that the victim was truly innocent, and he was simply 'at fault' for being at the wrong place at the wrong time. my heart truly breaks at this. i mean we can literally say no one deserved to be killed unless that person is as evil as a satan, and for someone to be killed just for the fun of it. it's beyond despicable. literally, there are so many possible motives for a murder like revenge, jealousy, robbery, accidental manslaughter and etc, but to have no exact motive to kill someone and do it so brutally like that...is just insane to think about!

i am not someone who do well with these kinds of stories. the movie is as straightforward as it gets (i mean it's not an original script, rather a story that was developed from research to the case materials), almost a total re-enaction of what happened to the two main suspects. i don't care much about the other guy, but i thought Jang Keun Suk played the character of Robert J. Pearson really well especially when he acted like he was the real culprit all along, behind the prosecutor's back. that insinuation of him being the real killer is quite remarkable because after the DNA confirmation, the investigators indeed confirmed that he was the real culprit back then. this is Jang Keun Suk's first dark role he has played and i don't think he has played something like this after it. i hope he can do something similar to this in the future.

the scene when the youngsters were at the Burger King restaurant hanging out the night before the murder happened, so many vulgar words were spoken that i thought my ears were bleeding from hearing them. can never get used to this much swearing in Korean movies, LOL.

to the real-life victim Jo Joong Pil, R.I.P. and i also hope that your family can at least find peace that the real killer has finally been caught. truly, utterly heartbreaking.

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i can see why it's so popular!

first of all, i must thank Jung Yong Hwa oppa for being one of the casts in the drama LOL, he's the reason i feel compelled to watch this. if not because of this drama, most likely i would not have found Jang Geun Suk oppa who then became my ULTIMATE bias in kdramaland ever, kekeke.

in terms of story, i think the story is really lacking. i have not watched Coffee Prince, and i am not someone who actually would ever choose gender bender love stories. i mean the story would be quite standard all-across, a girl for some reason had to pretend to be a boy and live with a group of boys, and slowly the male lead discovered that she's a girl and eventually fell in love with her. the writers would try to introduce some conflicts or tensions to separate the two apart, but the ending is always a happy ending LOOOOOL! i could be a writer-nim too if the level of story-telling is always this simple and shallow.

and that's exactly what this drama has given us. but i think what really stands out most particularly in this drama is the three male leads, especially Jang Keun Suk as Hwang Tae Kyung. MAN, HE'S SO FCKIN GORGEOUS! his deep voice, the way he portrays the character of a superstar, his gorgeous face, his spiky hair LOL i love everything about him. this is definitely one of the weak-to-average scripts that is really lucky because they managed to secure the perfect casts to play the lead characters.

with regards to second and third lead syndrome, they left me with bitter taste in my mouth. especially the second lead syndrome with Kang Shi Woo, i am mad because the writers really just put him on the main love triangle to screw him over and play with us. that feels so sh*tty. he was repeatedly stood up and that was so uncomfortable to watch. i mean he seriously deserved better. the writers should have given us some moments where Go Mi Nam sincerely relied on Shi Woo, so that our memory of the second lead syndrome was not that he was always rejected and cast aside. that was painful!

also the third lead syndrome with Jeremy, wow i salute Hong Ki's acting on the bus when he finally found out that the girl liked their hyung. he's such an angel, a breath of fresh air in the midst of our heartache observing kind-hearted Shi Woo who was always dejected and Tae Kyung who's always grumpy, moody and arrogant LOL.

i have said this in many places but i will write here one last time. Jang Keun Suk would have made THE most perfect Gu Jun Pyo in BoF. his portrayal of someone with deep/intense and dark charisma of a true tsundere is really spot on, and is really similar to how Matsumoto Jun played Domyouji Tsukasa. gahh one can wish~

any dramas with Jang Keun Suk oppa has perfect rewatch value for me, JUST FOR THAT SMILE. yeah i live for it. gosh oppa, you're so fckin perfect and i discovered you so late. I LOVE YOU.

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a full re-watch, i finally upped the score from 8.0 to 9.5!

yeah. actually when i re-watched this, i thought i was just gonna re-watch this in time pass and only skip to the scenes that made my heart flutter, but i can't stop pressing ep. 1 so there i was. and once i began, i kinda had the determination that i was gonna give it my full undivided attention and really try my best not to compare it to the Japanese version at least once, so i did. and it handsomely paid off.

i don't remember when i first watched this, but it was on TV. so i had some scenes i have not seen then (because we don't have a recorder, we still don't), so i think especially in the second half when the drama was showing how Jan Di-Ji Hoo's chemistry was building and deeply intensifying, i didn't catch that.

another theory i am throwing here is that Yoon Ji Hoo's beauty is something i had a hard time coming to terms with, back then. he's somewhere in the middle of being pretty and manly, and i didn't know what to make of that (i have not seen the works of similar actors to him then, the one i can name now is Lee Jong Suk).

they have the kind of beauty/gorgeousness that you can only appreciate once you watch more of them. in my (toxic) culture, pretty boys like this are very easily mocked by other guys to be effeminate, which obviously they are not. THEY ARE MANLY, AND PRETTY PERIODT.

i almost wanted to score this drama a 10 just like the Japanese version that i have always loved so much, but the ending ruined it for me. it ruined it then, and it still ruined it now.

i think they really rushed through the ending. i find the proposal scene very lackluster, and i also didn't really like the high school graduation prom party scene compared to the Japanese version - it's the finale anyway, i have some liberty to be more harsh here. it really just doesn't give off much impact. but i really do love the fact that both she and Ji Hoo went to attend medical school together to forge a new path for themselves. i find that really wholesome.

also, the one thing that irked me the most is how they totally omitted that Tsukushi saved a man from suicide who later on became the key to helping to turn around Domyouji's company from financial crisis (which became the ultimatum for how his mother can finally accept her). there's nothing about that here, only the fact that we see how Jun Pyo's father finally became awake after the long comma, but they don't even give us a scene of them interacting after he woke up. shame.

i feel sad that with Ji Hoo's quiet personality, it's probably hard for him to find a girl as great as Jan Di as his life partner. but with his newfound profession as a medical doctor, maybe he'll meet someone who's as normal and warm-hearted as Jan Di in the future. i really hope that!

i definitely think that the F4 is the best in the Korean version. but i still love Domyouji Tsukasa more, his character comes across more sharp/crisp and a lot more charismatic than Jun Pyo, maybe because of the lead actor really. i have no comparison for the lead actresses, i think they are both phenomenal in their own ways.

finally, i love how well-balanced this drama is. you get to see the luxurious life of the ultra-rich F4, but also how normal and basic the life of the FL. i find the harmony very seamless and absolutely well fckin done.

i actually revised the score this time from 8.0 to 9.5. KUDOS!

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WHAT THE ACTUAL F***.

i cried like a baby watching this, this was such a difficult watch.

my two biggest criticisms of this movie:

1. the star of this movie is the innocent man who was incarcerated for forced false confession of a murder charge, so when the director took the creative liberty to tell this story from the perspective of a shady lawyer who turned a good one because of this case (and a "good" lawyer turned bad), i feel like it took away the actual re-trial that should have unfortunately been included in the movie.

2. which brings me to point no. 2, the ending i find unsatisfying because the actual outcome of the re-trial is only given to us in the ending credit; i think the movie would have been so much better if the re-trial process is documented in the movie itself, something like Juror 8. i personally would have appreciated it better if the lawyer is an upright one from the start (like the actual lawyer who represented the defendant in the re-trial), and we get to see more of his actual efforts to overcome the investigation stumbling blocks and present new evidence/witness in the court.

i had extremely strong emotional roller coasters watching this. honestly, i have not seen a bigger trash of a detective anywhere in dramaland but this one. he's not a grey character anymore, but honestly a downright satan. NO DETECTIVE IN THEIR RIGHT MIND WOULD FORCE A FALSE MURDER CONFESSION OUT OF SOMEONE IN A SHADY MOTEL SOMEWHERE, INSTEAD OF IN THE POLICE STATION WHAT THE FCKIN HELL.

i have seen some videos about prisoners in the USA who were freed and cleared of their murder charges after a re-trial after the DNA technology has developed, but that's more on the weakness on the growing development of forensic science at the time, rather than a deliberate act of oppression by the investigating officer.

I am so insanely mad that this thing actually happened to someone, because i would not in the wildest of my imagination have believed that this was based on a true story if i wasn't told.

bless all the lawyers who try to correct an injustice by using the law, and my solidarity to all the people who were wrongfully accused of any criminal charges in real life :(

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okay the one and only character i love in this drama is Coach Kim's daughter, Kay. she's warm, innocent, sweet and loves her mother undyingly. i am glad she's not hurt even after eating the curry, i was so scared for her. the last scene when she reunited with her mother in the cell was just heartbreaking, i hope she's always happy and healthy.

as expected, this is a weird drama difficult to get through because literally wherever left or right you turn, there's always a crazy person doing crazy sh*t that it gets so tiring/torturing to watch.

i am borderline glad that i finished this drama but it traumatizes me a lot that it's a real projection of how modern society functions. i also don't see a twist where it made me gasped for air or something (like you know, that dramatic moment). i was waiting for it, and it was not enough of shock value for me.

well the one message you can take away from this is given in the last episode when the four ladies were dining among themselves, and one of them said that as long as you make sure that your kids know you love them, and you mould them properly as a person of good character and emotional strength, they should be able to sustain the enormous pressure of growing up in a modern society.

this really hits home, and i hope that i always remember this message when i become a parent myself one day.

P/s i love twins mom and the twins too. what a wonderful, sassy and classy trio.

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Actually this drama is not bad at all. The story may be light and fluffy, but that is not everything there is to it. It's warm and reminds us of the meaning of love very successfully especially considering the path that the writer has chosen at the end.

I came into this drama for Yeo Jin Goo, and he definitely did not disappoint. In fact I could not think of other replacements for any of the other actors who played the main characters from Ma Wang Joon, Eum Da Da and to Diana. They really did justice to their parts, although admittedly their characters can be lacking in many ways which would be explained below.

First off, some people are bothered by Ma Wang Joon's action as he acted as the over obsessive guy who could not accept that his ex-girlfriend has moved on. Indeed, he can be a very annoying pushover at times, but his actions are well justified for anyone else who would have been at his place. Therefore, although I understand why some people may be really bothered by him, I am by no means annoyed at his character and actions.

Second, Diana's character is the one that has the most potential to really elevate this drama but was wasted and under-utilized. Diana has motives, but the background to the present self was bland and uninteresting, and that was exactly how they concluded her character in the end as well. She said sorry for her evil actions but certainly did not look regretful at all. It's a real pity that such an opportunity to create an interesting character out of Diana was not properly delivered.

Eum Da Da and Young Gu's relationship feels nice and warm, but there is still the unavoidable lingering question of whether or not their love was real. I get it that the writers tried really hard to make us believe that their love was real to stay true to the original premise of the drama, but I can't help but find it a bit superficial. An AI robot may be able to gather the data intelligence about what is love and what maketh love among human, but he would never be able to experience the feeling. Therefore instead of thinking that Young Gu is Eum Da Da's real love, I would think that it is actually more appropriate if the writers make it clear that Young Gu's purpose is more to teach her about love, rather than give her love. That part just doesn't seem right to me.

In that sense, I am more in resonance with how the writers of Are You Human Too has made the character of Nam Shin III a bit more realistic, where he admits that he knows what is love, but he can't give it back because he does not know how it feels until the end. What he was able to provide instead was accompany, support, comfort and friendship which could have also worked very well here in this drama, instead of trying to convince us that they Da Da and Young Gu are indeed a couple in love.

I also have a discussion with fellow MDL user (Kate) who mentioned that the gradual process of learning, understanding and developing human-like feelings by Zero Nine felt more ambiguous in this drama, and not as good as expressed in Are You Human Too (Nam Shin III) where he learnt human emotions by asking a lot of questions mainly to his eomma, David, Kang So Bong and his secretary.

Another thing I was really bothered by was the lack of attention to detail with regard to how Zero Nine's skin actually looks on screen. Even when I am streaming at 480p definition, I could clearly see the textural impurities of Young Gu's facial skin especially in the second half of the drama onwards. This frustrated me to no ends because only a human's skin can have such textures! In that sense, the visual director in Are You Human Too did a much better job in comparison because I remember they completely airbrushed the facial skin of Nam Shin III compared to the human character.

Other than that, I'm actually glad I watched this because even though the rating in South Korea was really bad that they had to cut down four episodes, it was not entirely nonsensical, and there are many love lessons that were delivered beautifully in this drama, such as the importance of appreciating and spending quality time with your partner while you are together, always caring for the other person when you are in a relationship, and being respectful of your friend's decision and continue to advise/support them, but remember that you cannot control their lives. The way the main character's relationship was written may be lacking, but the storyline itself is pretty solid and satisfying.

The BGMs are fantastic, in fact I will remember this drama for a long time because I really love their OST especially by Lena Park - Like a Starlight. Rewatch value is average-to-high for me because I think I will miss the early happy and cute parts of Young Gu and Da Da at some point and will certainly revisit them in the future.

Note: I actually watched this drama twice because I mistakenly watched the cut 36 episodes version instead of the international version of 40 episodes (both versions are available on the streaming site so it was confusing). Nevertheless, I can safely say that you won't miss anything important if you watch the 36 episodes version only.

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