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.

Read More

Directionless and incredulous show with a psycho mom

The show started out pretty good. Initially, I figured the show would be about a prosecutor on a path of revenge or a path of corruption that took away his father’s life. Either way, both interesting. Then the accident happen which was an unexpected twist that could’ve made things more interesting.

But once Kang-Ho came back home, the story devolved into a bunch of country bumpkins acting like fools. There’s no clear direction and the writers just randomly tossed in every known K-drama cliche such as family car death, major illness and unnecessary misunderstandings. All happening at once! Once country bumpkins take over, we see less and less of two villains who are much more interesting. They’re wasting so much time adding incredulously improbable plot lines during Kang-ho’s “recovery” process, it’s gotten hard to watch. The show constantly switches from comedy to cringy drama trying to make you cry.

What really gets me about this show is how Kang-ho’s mom comes across. I get that she’s had a hard life but she’s an absolute nut job! The way she treats Kang-Ho is way past child abuse and she should be jailed for it.

Speaking of child abuse, how Min-Joo lies to her two kids about their father is a next level psychological abuse. How will they recover from this?

We also cannot forget newly discovered ways to treat quadriplegic people. Starve them so they can use their own hands and then throw them in water so they can start walking. Someone actually wrote this crap.

Who else is so sick and tired of the main character losing her crap every other scene?

Read More

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.

Read More

Middle school romance played by adults

After a few more episodes in, this show is rapidly turning into a major disappointment. Besides my initial concerns listed below, every characterization and plot decision has been childish and terrible. I am getting so tired of back and forth between Jang Uk and Jin Bu Yun. It’s like a middle school romance being played out by adults. So cringy. The infamous Hong sisters are famous for not knowing how to wrap up story threads and it was evident toward the end of the last season. They obviously gave themselves an out by doing a time skip without much explanations and we’re just supposed to go with whatever.

Every episode, I see either Jin Mu or Lady Jin, I’m reminded of their crimes and how everyone knows about it. But they treat these two like some annoying neighbors instead of treasonous criminals. All they can do is take shots at them and make sarcastic remarks. So stupid.

Initial concerns:

What bothers me is how Jin Mu and the Lady Jin are still around even after all they’ve done. Like they kidnapped the queen and swapped her body??? Maybe they’ll explain later but that’s a big plot hole to start the new season with. But what I’m thinking is that by keeping the same villains intact, they’ll recycle the same plots and schemes? I hope not. I initially thought Jang Uk and Jin Bu Yun will take a while to meet but they met right away and ended up “getting married” right away. Anticlimactic, it was.

I also wish they just picked up where they ended. We shall see how this goes.

Read More

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.

Read More

Overdramatized convoluted mess

A murderer husband and his detective wife.

What has he really done in the past? Who is he? How about his parents? Is he a psychopath? How long will he be able to keep this from his wife? Will he end up killing her? Will she kill him?

Maybe the show will answer all these questions or not. I’m only 5 episodes in and I’m beginning to not care. As usual, the show started out well but this is just another unfortunate case of the writer falling in love with his own cleverness and didn’t know when to stop. The story gets more and more absurd and convoluted with bait and switch tactics and red herrings.

The FL does a good job playing her role. I’ve never seen her but she’s good at expressing her emotions. The ML often overplays his character like he’s giving a performance instead of playing a character.

The relationship between the ML and his frenemy, the reporter, is probably the dumbest thing so far. The ML kidnaps the reporter for recognizing him and keeps him in his basement for days and threatened to kill him. Well, after all that, they sort of work together because the ML has a video of some sort? Er…

I also have to point out how terrible of an actress that plays the ML’s mom is. She’s beyond terrible.

Also, there are so many names to keep track of and it gets harder to track because you don’t really see these characters but they get mentioned a lot.

We’ll see how it goes from here but not expecting much. I’m beginning to think that a lot of people just give 9s and 10s no matter what.

Read More

Cross dressing prince and his understanding mother

I typically enjoy historical dramas as I find them fascinating. I prefer the traditional ones where characters act and talk like they belong in that time period. I guess this one is called fusion drama (?) where it’s a mix of old and modern ways of doing things. I did enjoy the first couple of episodes because even though these historical shows are all about palace politics, I found this angle to be fresh and intriguing. The queen trying to save her own princes from certain death while trying to hide the crown prince’s seemingly incurable illness. This premise was fascinating and I loved Kim Hye Su’s performance as the queen.

Well, that was until I watch the third episode where we find out one of the queen’s own sons is a cross dresser who likes to wear make up. The palace people find out about it including the queen grandmother who seems to have no love for these princes. I guess all that is certainly a possibility and the queen trying to hide the fact is also a possibility. What I have a hard time believing is that the queen not only empathized with the prince, she took the prince out of the palace in the middle of the night (without even trying to cover themselves) and took him to some guy who painted the prince dressed up as a woman? What? Wouldn’t this artist tell others? What was he told in the first place? Completely ridiculous. I don’t know where this is going but it’s completely out of the question in this time period. If you wan to insert your 2022 PC stuff, at least use the appropriate time period. I have no idea why they thought a plot line like this was even necessary but hopefully, they’ll move on from this arc.

Read More

What were they smoking?

I don’t know what they were smoking but must’ve been good for them to come up with this. The main characters seem like they’re pretty well known and for them to be in this show, they were smoking something good, too.

I’ll get to the main story later but this show is mainly about watching two nutty and not so bright women acting crazy. They spend a lot of their screen time sneaking into places and hiding. They’re always in danger of being found out but they somehow get away and it’s mainly because of dumb luck. You get to see them standing around with their mouths open in shock. Like every other scene shows their dumbstruck faces at something or someone. After staring at their open mouths for about 5-7 seconds, the show finally let you see what got them so spooked. Sometimes they’re pretty funny but mostly absurd. Completely unrealistic behaviors do get repetitive after awhile. It’s hard to root for them when they act like such idiots. However, I do have to give them major credit for committing all the way. Professionalism at its finest.

So the main storyline started out as your typical alien abduction stuff and it followed. that formula pretty well. There’re flashbacks, bright lights, levitation and little green dudes. You see the main character collecting old articles about UFOs and missing people, etc. It’s strongly implied that the main character came into contact with aliens in the past. She runs into her middle school friend while looking for her lost (ex)boyfriend and the absurdities start. Then, after a couple of episodes, you kinda lose sight of the plot watching two women doing crazy stuff and next thing you know, it’s become a show about a cult. Huh? But then, hey, why not?

The side characters, especially, Bora’s friends are atrociously stupid and useless. They’re cartoon characters and it’s infuriating to watch them doing their things. The worst of them all is the skinny dude with long hair. You know which one and why. The muscle man isn’t much better but at least he knows how to drive. Speaking of, what are the chances of only one person being able to drive in a group of 5-6 adults? Is this for real?

I must say, this was one of the most frustrating shows I’ve ever seen but also one of the most interesting. I see some reviewers calling this show “misunderstood”. Maybe. But otherworldly absurd behaviors propelling the story forward isn’t good.

I see three huge faults of this show. First is that the main character isn’t smart enough to navigate the complex world of cult and go up against a cult leader. Second is that the writer also isn’t smart enough to keep up with all plot holes and inconsistencies. Third is the main character gets less and less likable as the show goes on because they pushed her stupidity and craziness to such an extreme.

Read More

Just way too much of everything

So my first thought was about what kind of messed up society Korea must be that they made a drama like this??? A lot of K-dramas seem to insert some type of social commentary here and there but this show brought down the house with it. I get it. From what I understand, the lack of any meaningful laws against juvenile crimes is a serious problem over there. But the problem is that the writer and/or director took everything to such an extreme, you basically get numb to it all.

Here are some of my thoughts after finishing it. Mainly about the main character, really.

1. Main character should be likable or at least relatable. They failed at this completely. Kim Hye Su is basically an emotionless robot who’s not afraid to proclaim her hatred for juvenile criminals.

2. Can’t comment on Korean justice system but based on the show, it’s pretty loose. Anything and everything is basically allowed.

3. The main character is a judge except that she also investigates, chases people down to arrest them all night and shows up to work early. She goes to creepy parts of the city at night looking for bad guys alone. She has no fear and she physically recovers like she’s an anime character. Toward the end of the series, she gets a serious beating and stabbed in her arm. Instead of going to an ER, she somehow goes back to her office to confront her boss… with blood gushing from her arm and all. What’s funny is that her boss actually tries to patch her up without calling an ambulance. I don’t think she eats, either. Can’t make this up.

4. Not only she’s a judge, she’s always right. In fact, she is so right, part of her MO is to make her superiors kneel and admit that she was right all along.

5. The last episode was so nuts. You need to watch to believe it.

6. The way Korean and its people are being portrayed in K-dramas, how accurate is it? It’s not flattering how violent and shallow normal everyday people are in these show.

7. It’s as if every scene, every conversation and situation was designed to hammer us with lessons and overwhelm us with emotions. Its just too much. Let the viewers read between the lines and give us some room to breathe and feel. We’re not idiots. We just need a nudge. Constant onslaught of what I should learn and how i should feel completely failed to connect with me.

Read More

Show about nothing but at least it’s cute

Predictable and loaded with cliché. I would love to see how pitch meetings go for shows like this. It’s been done a million times and you can see it coming a mile away. It’s mainly about two grownups acting like middle school kids not knowing what to do with the opposite sex and being awkward. This happens a lot in K-drama and I seriously wonder why. But here, it’s kinda cute and inoffensive.

I do find two male leads being passive aggressive pretty annoying after a while.

The main male lead suffers from the sudden-silence syndrome where he can’t say anything intelligent or intelligible whenever he’s being misunderstood and/or accused. It is a common disease among a lot of K-drama characters. They portrayed him, in the beginning, as someone who’s rigid and inflexible but that kinda went away and he became indecisive.

The second male character so far has no storyline other than making snarky remarks to the main guy and generally making it difficult for him to be with the main girl.

The female lead is great. She basically is everywhere and does everything. Most importantly, she’s likable. I do wish she was a bit forthcoming and assertive when it comes to the male lead but then we wouldn’t have a show. She’s a cop but mainly spends her time doing everything except her cop duty. It’s kinda funny.

We’ll see how they end this show.

Read More

Outrageous but interesting plot led by three unlikable sisters.

My final review after the series completion. I’ll just list some questions and comments and end it.

1. Deep down, I knew they were going to bring back Hwa Yong. I was so hoping not but they did it. And the explanation about another woman who was suicidal she met happened to be at her place to be killed? Maybe I missed some details but major sigh.

2. So everyone saw Sang A murdering someone. I get that it was a video they couldn’t verify but at least, she’d get detained for investigation? She just walked out of the courthouse and business as usual. This enabled her to go on (almost) a murder spree.

3. Speaking of Sang A, how is she so powerful and rich? I get that her dad set up some stuff and his people infiltrated the society at different levels for a long time but I’m not sure if that explains the influence and wealth. Does she own Samsung? Hyundai or both?

4. If she’s so powerful, why did they try so hard to be the mayor and then the president? Apparently, it wasn’t that important at the end because she casually “killed” her husband.

5. Is the Orchid Society a cult? How do they control the members so that they would just give their lives? What were they promised? Eternal life? Maybe some members may feel like they owe a lot to the general but really?

6. If Sang A owns the police and the media and whatever else, why didn’t she own the judicial system?

7. When Haw Young entered the courtroom, she was given the most underwhelming response to her being alive by other characters, especially by Sang A. I would’ve fallen off the chair and screamed at the least.

8. I think, ultimately, the writer and director just fell in love with their crazy ideas and kept adding more and more shocking/convoluted stuff and things got away from there. I wish they actually thought about how all these ideas would work together or were even remotely feasible in that fictional world before they kept adding.

9. Maybe Kim Go Eun’s movie career is winding down? I think she’s great and she’s acted well here but this show feels like it’s beneath her?

10. So Sang A was so nuts that her father’s people didn’t choose her as the successor. But they left her to do her crazy stuff and risked ruining everything? Which she did. Hmm.

Review after Ep. 10

So I came to realize that this is a soap opera rather than a drama. Soap operas often sacrifice logic and realism for the sake of sensationalism. Storyline has gotten more and more convoluted and extreme with constant bait and switch. Rating lowered to 5.

Review after Ep. 8

This show just became one of the dumbest show ever.

The main character is literally the dumbest person ever. She thought her friend was alive after seeing her dead. She walks in to her dead friend’s apartment and drinks an iced drink without asking why or who made it. OMG.

And, of course, it’s the wife of the bad guy…. I knew it. This is nuts. I see the rating dropping but we’ll see.

Initial review after Ep. 5

For whatever reason, I thought this was a comedy. So I was a bit dumbfounded after the first two episodes. I’m looking forward to how the storyline unfolds. I do think it’s a bit coincidence heavy with every sister being involved with the villain’s (?) family but it is K-drama’s favorite way to advance the plot so…

I hope the villains don’t turn out to be the usual bad people. I hope they try a bit harder to be creative this time. But so far, the shadowy villain seems all powerful so most likely not.

Kim Go-Eun is such a great actress. She’s so natural but I feel like she’s overacting here, especially, when she’s in trouble. The way her face contorts basically shows she’s guilty. Also, the character she plays isn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer. She can’t put two and two together and can’t act cool if her life depended on it and it literally depends on her trying to hide the fact that she’s got the money. And the way she just brought a pile of cash to a strange woman right after being told to be careful with money! Wow. It’s like she wants everyone to know she has a pile of cash.

And by all means, let’s talk about the secret ledger in the middle of a freaking cafeteria loudly! But the plot must advance, I guess.

I can’t figure out the middle sister. She seems like the smart one but we’ll see what role she plays here. The youngest one seems to be there just to play the impressionable kid acting like a pawn. Not interesting at all.

The biggest flaw of this show, so far, is that none of three sister is likable. The oldest is dumb and clueless, the second is a drunk, pseudo-activist hothead and the youngest one lives in an alternate reality. It’s like she’s not affected by the way her friend’s parents act. She’d rather live with violent rich people rather than her poor sisters. They want us to sympathize with them but failed miserably.

Where are they going with the orchid? Is it super natural? Drug induced hallucinations? They keep digging deeper and deeper to make everyone suspicious but I hope they know what they’re doing and tie all this up in a satisfying way.

Hope it goes well. It’s promising that it’s a 12 episode show so hoping for a tight storyline without much fluff.

Read More

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.

Read More

Good show but meanders a lot

Update during the final episode.

As predicted, they ruined the show at the end. They gave themselves a little over 40 minutes to wrap up Nak-su/Mu-duk/Jin bu-yeon story thread. Nobody received any consequences of their actions including Lady Jin and her husband. How did Jin Mu escape and went missing when he was literally surrounded by the entire assembly of sorcerers? The prince just casually runs into Jin Mu in the “secret” room everyone knew about? Worst yet, the prince basically listens to Jin Mu and gets manipulated? Jin Mu had a bell that he can use to control Nak-Su? Now that Nak-Su resurfaces, everyone forgot what Jin -Mu did? What?

I haven’t see many Hong sisters’ work but I guess this is their MO and they couldn’t help themselves.

Update after Ep. 17.

I’m lowering this show to 7.

I’m a little shocked after the latest episode where the king wanted to kill a person just to see the ice stone’s power. What’s more shocking is that people actually went along with it. This is so nuts.

Basically, this episode is the culmination of how this show meandered the entire time. They knew who the bad guys were but they were busy doing stupid stuff to justify 20 episodes. Now, here we are…

Review after 15 episodes.

I’ve watched 15 episodes so far. I’m enjoying it quite a lot so far.

A few points.

1. It’s not as action packed as I thought it would be. Mostly just drama. Lots of talking but done fairly well.
2. It meanders quite a bit. We find out who the bad guys are fairly early on along with the main characters. But they don’t do a whole lot with it for a long time. They do mention it and do some digging around here and there. But the good guys spend a lot of time doing trivial stuff in between. I guess they need enough filler for 20 episodes.
3. Main character Jang Uk is pretty unlikeable. He had a chip on his shoulder for not having the power first. Then when he actually gets it, he wastes his time refusing to train. He knows that a lot depends on him getting strong including Nak-su getting her power back. It’s frustrating watching him wasting his time. But of course, him being the main character, he continues to get strong without putting a lot of effort. He’s also petty and cocky. Hard to like this guy.
4. Mu deuk is great. Love the character herself, her story and acting were all great. Jung So Min is great as usual.
5. Four heirs to the four great families were advertised to be the elites of the elites. But they mostly turned out to be major duds. Incompetent and goofy except Yul. Huge let down.
6. This show has no shortage of great supporting characters. Maid servant Kim, Master Lee, Songrim’s leader, and the prince. So much fun watching them. Love the prince!
7. Jin Mu, the main bad guy so far is done well. He seems sinister and dark. Well done.
8. Not a big fan of how the story unfolds. They show you something and then go back to show what really happened. It gets tiring after a while.
9. Looks like they spent a lot of money and effort creating the world. CG looks pretty good for the most part. Wire-fu… not so much.

I’m looking forward to see how this ends. Just found out that there will be a part 2. Interesting.

Read More

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.

Read More