Absurdity at its finest. Free falling after a good start.

If I had a dollar for every time I thought to myself how the show started interesting but got progressively stupid, I’d be on a Hawaiian vacation. I’m beginning to wonder why I keep watching K-dramas at this point. So many shows have similar unrealistic storylines that I’m coming to a conclusion that writers have to steer their stories to ultra absurd territory to satisfy the fans. It’s maddening because the writers have to take everything so far that it’s hard to go along with the characters’ choices. Toward the end, you’re just staring at the screen in a mixed state of unbelief, frustration, anger and amazement. Obviously, different shows fall differently in the spectrum of ridiculousness and some are better than others. Itaewon Class is definitely near the top of “What the hell just happened and/or why is this happening?” spectrum.

Good stuff
- Revenge plot. The premise was good and refreshing.
- All sorts of colorful characters. Some felt tacked on and unnecessary like Toni and his grandma but they were interesting.
- I like the message of perseverance and second chances.

Bad stuff
- Main bad guy, Jang, is so evil it’s almost comical. So they want you to believe he’s an evil businessman who’s willing to do anything for his company. But it’s done so terribly, it’s not even believable. Anytime he or his messed up son does anything wrong, he asks the victim to kneel and apologize. Every freaking time. As if it’s his MO. What?
- People that work for Jang. He is basically a criminal and people in his company know it but they still work for him. Like for years! They tried to make it sound like Su-ah was plotting her own coup but it was too late and done sloppy.
- Multiple time-skips didn’t work at all. Only things that change after time skip were people’s clothes and hairstyles, except Saeroyi. You wonder what the hell they’ve been doing for the last whatever years because there’s no character development at all. Exact same people as if there was no personal growth during the time skip.
- Transgender cook couldn’t even make simple pub dishes and almost got fired. Then within a few weeks or so, we are told to believe that trained chefs are no match for her and she wins the competition???????????
- Personally, these K-dramas are not doing Korea any favor by portraying it as a country full of violent drunk people who get into fist fights all the time. The main bad guy assaults his own son in front of his employees like it’s nothing. Why are they so proudly exporting this crap?
- Forced love story was awakened. I liked Yi-seo but she’s more of a psycho little sister material than a lover material. Saeroyi knew this and kept things that way until the end when the writer forced him to see flashbacks and “realized” he loved her. Major cringe.
- Geun Soo turns crazy evil like his dad just so he can have Yi-seo. The change is so jarring and unbelievable. It’s like Anakin Skywalker killing little Jedis all of a sudden. Another example of storyline being pulled out of thin air.
- the kidnapping plot line at the end. Just please stop. Why do they take things so far?? End the show if you have no more storyline.
- Searoyi wakes up from a head injury and gets into a car collision and then gets into a fistfight and gets hit in the face multiple times but wins the fight at the end. Is the writer delusional or are we stupid for watching this nonsense?
- At the end, my wife and I just couldn’t wait for it to end.

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Slooooooooooooow but addictive so far

Slow burn is not slow enough to describe the show. It’s so full of cliches and so utterly predictable that you can safely guess whatever’s coming a mile away. The problem is that it takes soooo long for the story to unfold that you’re just sitting there tapping on your watch waiting for the show to catch up with you. This story definitely could’ve been told in a few episodes but it just drags on.

Despite all that… I can’t get mad at them because I love the main characters. I get extremely frustrated with Ung-i because he’s so passive and slow-witted sometimes (appears to be at least) but he’s so likable.

We’ll see what happens going forward. Hope everything will work out for everyone.

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Funny and quirky

I was so pleasantly surprised by this after watching a string of bad k-dramas. This show deals with some interesting topics and sometimes they do take some storylines a bit too far but as long as you don’t take things too seriously, you’ll have a good time.

What worked:

1. Main storyline. It was so bizarre in a good way that everything else kinda fell into places without rocking your sense of logic too much. I think the overall flow of the story stayed within the confines of the world they created. They didn’t rely on (not too much anyways) crazy logic jumps to push the story forward. I hate that so much!
2. Main characters. Definitely one of the main reasons why this show worked. I really liked Ji-ho and Se-hee. I did find Se-hee a bit weird at first but he grew on me. I really liked Ji-ho’s journey and where she ended up at. I also loved her constantly surprised look on her face.
3. Challenging traditional Korean men/women values. Like I said, some storylines were taken too far to keep up with the established characters and their behaviors but they mostly succeeded in getting people to at least think about things.
4. CEO Ma was great. He was a great character. Caring for his best friend and standing up for his girlfriend (would be) even though they both treated him badly at first.
5. Ho-rang. Not everything about her made sense but she was relatable and the actress did a great job portraying her. She’s upbeat (when she’s not crying) and had a goal. I just wish she didn’t get back with the loser. Sigh...
6. The ending. I really like the way they handled the inevitable “temporary” break up. Ji-Ho had a plan, albeit only she knew about it but she stuck to it. Good for her!

What didn’t work:

1. Soo-ji. She was made to fulfill the strong, independent career woman type. Did not work at all for me. Maybe her storyline or maybe it’s the actress. Well, both but I really couldn’t stand the actress.
2. Ho-rang’s boyfriend. How big of a loser can you be? It’s one thing to chase your dream and struggle in the beginning but he has an understanding of a 5 yr old when it comes to life in general. He also looks like he’s about 5, too.
3. A lot of these characters are supposed to be in their early 30’s but they behaviors/ lack of knowledge of life in general made them seem like they’re just starting out in life.
4. Inevitable relational conflicts. Kidnapper story was so dumb and it just came and went. They started the obligatory love triangle which was bad enough but decided to sprinkle in kidnapper elements, too!!! And after all that, Se-hee once had a lover/wife and she was the reason why he’s the way he is!!! What???
5. Se-hee’s ex. It’s really not the character but the way they introduced the storyline and the character really went nowhere. I think it could’ve been anybody off the street.
6. Challenging traditional Korean men/women values. I know I put this as one of the pros but like I mentioned, the writer had a certain narrative she wanted to tackle and either went too far or stuck with it even though it didn’t make sense/ didn’t work within the given storyline.

All in all, I really enjoyed the show. Like I said, it probably helped that I watched it after seeing some horrendous shows. I feel so attached to the main characters. I wish I could stop by to check in on their life here and there. Sigh.

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Funny but formulaic.

Update after Ep. 10.

I’m lowering it to 6.5. Story line is getting messier and messier. It’s all over the place. They’re even trying to make a social commentary about Korean education system.

They made Kwok Do Won’s character way too much. He’s gotten a bit too naive, too goofy and too witless. Like trying to sneak into the forbidden basement room. Like yelling at his wife for wanting their son to study instead of hip hop.

Also, the son’s story line about hip hop and teenage romance got way too absurd. Hip hop makes me happy, he says. What the hell?

Please stop making characters run into each other exactly when they need to. It’s getting dumb.

Review after Ep. 5.

Story about two idiots. One’s likable and the other’s definitely not. I’m watching the third episode and Kwak Do Won basically carries the show all by himself. He’s such a great actor and watching him cough can be entertaining.

There are a lot going on. Venture capitalists , betrayal, back stabbing between friends, different mysteries involving the loan shark lady, school mom competition, money problems, housing price issues… on and on. But at the end of the day, these are just set ups so two idiots can do their things. It’s not necessary a bad thing since Kwak Do Won is so great. The other guy, though, not only his character is hard to like, I’m not sure if acting is his main thing. He’s stiff for the most part and sounds like he’s just reading the script.

There are other side characters including the wife, loan shark lady, the son, some girl from New Zealand (who, by the way, is strangely sexualized for a middle schooler) and other school moms. Also, there’s a potential extra marital issue after the wife’s old college friend shows up. But nothing really special, yet. Just predictably formulaic storyline that you’ve seen many many times in other shows.

Also, weirdly enough, all characters also happen to have their lives intertwined and run into each other as if they’re the only people in this city. Seoul’s huge. How do they all live in the same neighborhood and run into each other after 20+ yrs? They all know each other and went to school together and live in the same area. Lazy writing?

Side characters are stiff. Not much acting going on.

They spend way too much time on Middle school kids’ lives and romance. Like, who’s actually interested in that? Speaking of, Koreans and hip hop shouldn’t mix.

Another thing that bothers me about this show is how easily characters lie to cover things up as if it’s nothing.

Despite all that, I’m curious to see what’s coming next. I would love to see how Kwak Do Won’s character got to where he got to. We’ll see how it goes.

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Messy plot with bad romance

This show is everywhere. It’s so messy. It’s has a bit of corporate slice of life, artsy film, rom-com, social commentary, philosophical discussion about internet ethics, government corruption, feminist agenda, corporate greed, terribly spoken English, arranged marriage, terrible parents, and random English names. I know I’ve left some out but you get the point.

Wow. That’s quite a list.

None of it is really offensive except the main couple’s romance and random English names.

First, the romance. There’s no chemistry at all. And you constantly wonder what Morgan sees in Tae-mi. She doesn’t have much going for her except that she’s the main character of the show but Morgan, who is 10 yrs younger, keeps on pursuing her. Why? She keeps rejecting him but he’s persistent. Their time together is the worst part of the show. They spend most of their time together talking about how their relationship can’t happen. On and on and on. It’s slow and ridiculous. But Morgan comes back for more every time. And the romance scenes really messed up the pacing because when they ran out of corporate ideas, they would just interrupt the flow and insert slow and dull romance scenes.

I know Koreans are obsessed with English. But, wow…. Nobody, I mean, nobody wants to see these actors speaking in terribly memorized English. It’s so embarrassing for them. People outside Korea are watching these shows. Please stop. Stick to Korean. There’s no shame in speaking your own language. And the company Tae-mi works for uses random English names instead of titles??!? When the characters call each other in broken English, it is so jarring and disruptive. Sigh. It took me a minute to snap out of these name callings and get back into the show.

I think the three main characters themselves were acted and casted well. Tae-mi and Scarlet played off of each other well and their scenes were funny. I liked the way their relationship progressed from untrusting rivals to love-hate friendship. I wish they showed a bit more about why Director Song became what she is other than she’s married into an evil rich family under an evil mother in law. Especially, how ruthlessly she was treating Tae-mi. And how all three seemed like they were all friends at the end didn’t make sense considering how evil Song had been to Tae-mi. Maybe they made up off screen.

The supporting characters were great, especially, Tae-mi’s team members. I wish they spent more time on them instead of needless romance scenes. I didn’t care for the YouTube girl. She didn’t add much to the show.

I wish the show’s main subject matter of internet ethics was explored more. It was fascinating to me, especially, in the age of big techs with agendas controlling who sees what. But at the end of the day, it was only used as a backdrop and ended up being a black and white issue with the government being the bad guy. Let’s get more creative with bad guys, please.

Another show with an interesting premise that was hurt by trying to be all things to all people. I wish the writers would just stick to their guns and just tell a story they wanted to tell.

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Korea… Still stuck in the 80’s in 2018?

Never mind the ridiculously shallow plot and embarrassingly awful CGI. But the subject matter, itself… was it for real? Are they really forcibly evicting business owners so the areas could be redeveloped? I’m sure stuff like that happened all over the place in the 80’s and 90’s but in 2018? Or are they trying to tell us that Korea is still a violent third world country?

I mentioned this in my other reviews but but the way Koreans portray themselves in these shows are really terrible. After so many shows, I’m thinking maybe they’re actually telling us the truth.

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Outrageously far out there but entertaining and cute

The first episode was a bit hard to sit through because Min-Kyung’s character was so outrageous and jarring. But I really liked Hwi-O’s character and kudos to Jung Woo for portraying someone with an anger issue with such charms. The only thing about him was that for a cop, he repeatedly incriminated himself. Like didn’t he know how the system worked?

As for Min-Kyung, I get that she was traumatized and violated but I had no reference as to how people like that act. Personally, I felt like her character was over done but still likable.

Most of the side characters worked fairly well. I thought the ladies of the neighborhood association were fun addition as well as Hwi-O’s cop buddies. The only unnecessary ones were the cross dresser and the singing part-timer. They added nothing in my opinion.

The length of the show was perfect as well. There were some slow spots but thirteen episodes of thirty minutes were perfectly concise and didn’t allow for much unnecessary fluff. All other k-dramas need to follow this format.

Unfortunately, they almost ruined the show toward the end. When the ex-boyfriend showed up and Hwi-O finds Yang. The way Hwi-Oh lost control and went crazy and didn’t even bother defending himself at the station was a bit too much. It was a clumsy attempt at creating a major conflict at the end. Oh, and that car chase… sigh…

All in all, a recurring theme for me is the likable characters. Realistically or unrealistically portrayed, I got to feel for the people and grew to root for all of them. I will miss them.

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Messy but enjoyable

It took me a while to get back to this series after watching the first episode. It failed to grab my attention so I moved on to other shows. I finally came back to it once I ran out of things to watch.

I did enjoy the show for the most part and the parallel universe concept, albeit clumsily done, was kinda cute. I thought most of the characters were done/acted fairly well except the king and the traitor. Both of them were wooden and emotionless throughout the show. I chalked it up as a character trait from being a part of the loyal family. I really loved the side characters, especially, the head court lady and the unbreakable sword/his other self. I loved their acting and roles they were given. Fantastic. I didn’t like the prime minister character. The acting didn’t seem genuine and she went from being ambitious to being evil big time fast. It’s one thing to play political games but conspiring with a traitor and letting her friends get killed…. Hmmm…. As for Tae Eul, her character development went from a strong female cop to a cry baby girlfriend. Hmmm….

I read a lot of complaints about the king being a super human, kingdom of corea being a super power and the lack of solid foundation for time travel/parallel universe concept. I do agree with most of what I read but it didn’t bother me much since this is a K-drama and they tend to dial things way up to the unrealistic realm. But once they introduce the time travel element, things started to get real messy fast. The show was already confusing because of the chaotic nature of the way they edited scenes from different universe. It was hard to follow along with how the king was able to travel in time and impart different memories to people without changing anything? If I learned anything from all those Marvel movies is that you can’t change the past because it’ll birth another timeline. 😂😂😂 And the Kingdom of Corea smacking Japanese navy around. 😆😆😆 It’s a wet dream for Koreans. I’m Korean and I found it stupid.

And the ending!!! The way everything and everyone was changed except the king, unbreakable sword and Tae Eul… pretty unbelievable but I guess I saw it coming. But how the writer chose to make sure everything turned out well except for the traitor and the prime minister… I feel like it was a cop-out which led to the absolute worst case scenario for the main characters. A long distance parallel universe relationship? What? This just doesn’t make sense in so many ways but that’s what happens when the writer doesn’t have a clear vision. I think she should’ve been more bold and given herself permission to not give every single person the “best ending”. Sigh…

I think the writer got drunk on her own past successes and figured that she could write anything and people will watch it. The word “Indulgence” comes to mind. After all, this series seemed to have a huge production budget and a stellar cast. I do remember Mr. Sunshine, one of her other works, getting real messy toward the end so I’m thinking the writer knows how to start good story threads but doesn’t know how to wrap them up. I see this in a lot of other K-dramas, too.

I’m hoping Netflix will start carrying Goblin. We shall see.

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Another doozy of a show

This review isn’t necessarily about the show itself. It’s another crap of a show with absurdity dialed up to 100. The plot is so ridiculous, I won’t be getting into it. I think you’ll see a plenty of negative reviews with spoilers so that’s that.

It occurred to me after watching about a dozen or so K-dramas, I’m finally getting the pattern. Here’s what I think these shows are trying to communicate to us living outside of Korea.

1. Korean Chaebols (conglomerates) are not only greedy and immoral, they actually are the ones ruling the entire country. Actually, in this show, it’s just one person.
2. Employees who work in these companies (especially higher ups) have no moral compass or ability to think for themselves so they only do what they’re told to do no matter what even if it’s criminal. Like, really, criminal.
3. Korean Justice system is corrupt and incompetent all around at all levels.
4. Korean politicians are all corrupt.
5. Korean cops are mostly bumbling idiots.
6. K-drama writers can’t advance the plots in natural and organic ways anymore. They either don’t have the ability or ran out of all good ideas so they need to rely on absurdities and super coincidence.
7. Hitting each other is the favorite and possibly the only way for Koreans to resolve any conflicts.
8. Koreans hate authorities and conglomerates and blame them for everything. But at the same time, they’re the ones enabling what they hate by keep buying from these companies and voting for these people.
9. At some point, Koreans have to really ask themselves why and how same things happen over and over again even under different political regimes and shows like this calling out the entire system.
10. Maybe I’m taking things too serious. 🧐
11. I’ll most likely be watching other shows saying the same thing thus enabling bad shows to be made.

Like I said in another review, these K-dramas are terrible at representing Korea well. I keep wondering why.

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What a let down

I can’t say much about other people’s opinions but I’m pretty sure some people are just rating everything 10.

I liked the first season. There was an awkward charm to the show, especially, while the main character was becoming a counter. The new season has no charm. They, obviously, tried hard to be cool and edgy but ended up just being cheesy and angsty. The main villains… major sigh.

The new addition to the counter was downright annoying to watch. I get that he’s a country bumpkin and he’s new but he was so whiny and stupid, it was hard to watch. This has to be a career killer for the actor. It’s a shame.

Trying to one up a popular season must be hard and I empathize but I’m not feeling it for this season.

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Inoffensive but Swiss cheese plot holes

It’s a part murder mystery, part supernatural, part romance and part comedy. So as expected, it doesn’t excel in any. I’m constantly wondering where the show’s headed.

I liked the premise of a town full of lost dead people whose bodies are yet to be recovered. The ML somehow stumbles upon this town and it turns out, he can see dead people. He takes it upon himself to stay there and get himself wrapped up in their affair.

The biggest fault of the show, beside the slow pacing and Swiss cheese plot holes is that the ML could’ve prevented (at least greatly minimize) so much of what happens by simply mentioning that he saw Yeo Na being kidnapped to the detective. But he continues to keep his mouth shut about so many things. This show literally could have been done in 4 episodes. There’s no clear reason why he keeps his silence knowing that what he knows could help others. What’s funny is that even other characters in the show ask him why! It’s just so bizarre and frustrating.

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Predictable so far…

Three episodes in, it’s a standard bad rich people vs. the normal people show. There’s a small twist that reveals the son-in-law to be a bad guy as well. Big surprise! The biggest problem I have so far is the way the writers handled the main character’s change of heart. After years of cleaning up after her employers’ illegal and heartless activities, why was she so shocked to believe they didn’t take the girl’s death seriously? Maybe she was still in shock from seeing someone's death in front of her but she was supposed to be not only super smart and resourceful but ruthless and heartless herself. If she was more shrewd and calculating when she found out her employers would just cover up the girl’s death, it would’ve been more in line with her established character and believable. Instead, she just marched in and told the main evil boss how she really felt!!! Then she was surprised to find out she was fired and all her company issued stuff taken away!!! What!?!?

And another character surviving after falling off of a skyscraper? Like I said, it’s a typical K-drama.

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Is this a joke?

I was happy to see Lee Young-ae’s come back K-drama as I’m a huge fan of her. I’ve never seen her taking on a role like this and no matter how ridiculous her character’s gotten, she stuck with it and did her best. So kudos to her.

As for the show itself and everything about it, it’s an absolute joke. There’s no logic here. Things in this world just happen because that’s what the writer wanted at that moment to make it convenient for the story. I get that it’s a comedy but the character of Koo is so far out of normal human behavior, watching her waddling around acting outrageously crazy gets so infuriating after a while.

And what is up with the Santa character? Is he deaf? Is he pretending to be one? Are they trying to say he’s on the spectrum? One of the main characters just doesn’t talk for reasons unknown. The way they execute the chase scene between Santa and the main villain (ep. 4?) tells you everything you need to know about this show. He’s another infuriating character who doesn’t act normal.

I won’t even get into the main villain…. They may explain this later on but there’s a network of random people just doing her bidding without any knowledge of who she is. And it’s almost like she sees and knows and controls all things. She’s like a Bond super villain. And she’s just some random girl. I guess I’ll never know.

This show is so bad and characters are basically just cartoon characters who I refuse to root for.

I give up.

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Highest highs and lowest lows

I’ve watched 7 episodes so far. I think this is one of the best/funniest K-drama I’ve seen. I’m really enjoying it. There have been many laugh out loud moments that were brilliant. The FL has been doing a great job playing this character.

Without going into too much detail, I think the show’s biggest strength is also its biggest flaw. The majority of comedy comes from the characters ( especially, the Queen) acting outrageously nothing like how people in this time period would’ve acted. The comedy part is easy to overlook because it’s meant to be funny. The issue is when they completely ignore rules and customs during serious situations, it completely takes away from what’s happening. For example, how the Queens cousin’s behavior toward the king and how he had his soldiers surrounded the king with their sword drawn was taken way too far and would have never happened.

I’m curious to see how they’ll end the show. I’m looking forward to it.

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Stupid show with a good start

The biggest problem with this show is that they made a 16-episode show with only 3 episode worth of content. They resort to filling the episodes with meaningless side characters and their stories that don’t amount to anything substantial. They shamelessly try to distract you by showing endless flashbacks and repeating the same scenes over and over again from slightly different angle to fill the run time. I keep seeing this in other K-dramas, too. Why do they have to be 16 episodes? Is this from some K-drama constitution that everything has to be 16 episodes long no matter what?

The other problem is that characters don’t act like normal human beings. I get that this is a show about a dead person coming back to life, etc. The dead wife can’t control herself every time her daughter’s around seemingly because she missed her daughter so much. She forgets everything that’s going on around her. The husband might as well be dead because he’s detached from everything including his daughter, the new wife and his job. I’m not sure how he’s still employed. The new wife has no personality whatsoever and doesn’t talk much. The mother-in-law pretends like she doesn’t miss her granddaughter. Characters keep making unrealistic decisions all across the board. I do like the actors in the show and I feel like they could’ve done better with better story and directions.

You also get to see the K-drama staples like needless misunderstandings, incredible coincidences (it’s incredibly amazing how the characters somehow run into each other no matter what/where/when all the time over and over again), long stares, multi-genre confusion and so on. In fact, everything is turned up to 150%. Man, I had such a high hopes for this show based on the first episode.

I’ll continue to watch to see what will come out of this. The show is pretty good when it’s good but when it’s bad, it’s really bad and frustrating. Sigh...

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