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This review may contain spoilers
Payback did NOT do Payback well
To be honest, I'm confused how to rate this drama. There are parts that I enjoyed and several things that I didn't enjoy. For it's hype, I'm quite disappointed. 6.5 feels a bit too low yet 7 also feels a bit high. Maybe this is a 6.8 but I'll round up.
Trigger warning - this drama depicts sexual assault, self-harm and rape which did make me uncomfortable so keep that in mind. These scenes didn't affect my ratings (with 1 exception). Details and several spoilers ahead.
The drama's main protagonist is Sun who has a violent past but since losing his mother and brother, he decides to change his life and works as a delivery man. While making deliveries, he meets a manager who would like to scout him as the next actor at their company. Soon after he finds out that his ex-boyfriend was actually the one that got his brother killed but he's now a big shot actor. So he swears to get revenge and decides to take up the acting offer. While at the company, he meets Jay who is narcissistic and they end up butting heads. Unbeknownst to Sun, Jay is actually the director at the company and he ends up needing his help at various stages in order to get his revenge.
So far the plot is great, the set up is great but nothing about Jay was worthy of liking. Not only does he behave horribly towards Sun for no reason, he even beats him up later. Eventually he progresses to kissing him forcefully and practically molesting him at one point. Considering the power dynamics, this is sexual harassment and assault and the reason why I did not like Jay. What frustrated me is that Sun is capable of fighting extremely well but he could never seem to overpower Jay. The drama failed to coherently explain why Jay even started liking Sun and likewise why Sun ended up liking Jay beyond needing his help at times. It was explained to me by people who read the novel but the drama was useless at relaying that important information. I'll add an additional spoiler related to this in the comments.
Sun and Jay's relationship mostly feels forced because of this power imbalance and Jay's actions. I actually felt uncomfortable even during their NC scenes. Especially since Sun seemed miserable. The actors were performing bottomless and I did question if that was really necessary. Also I wish they had highlighted safe sex practices. Another triggering scene was Jay forcefully making Sun cut Jay's wrist. Despite all this, Jay does have softer moments were I liked him. Just wish there was more of that at the end but it was quite rushed which was another disappointment. They were also joking about jumping off a building which was in poor taste.
There are like 3 good characters in the drama - the kind manager who scouts Sun, a trainee with trauma named Sky and a sweet director. I swear I shipped Sun and Sky at one point. I also thought a photographer and Sky might start dating but the vibes I was getting went nowhere. Majority of the show is filled with horrible characters which made me pity Sun a lot. There is one main man who is running a prostitution racket by supplying budding actors to other men. He also expects sexual favours for himself. All this was happening right under Jay's nose. He even mentions that he has recordings of everyone's conversations, yet till the end he never used those to destory that industry and everyone involved.
Jay also has his own reason for seeking revenge and the show ended up focusing more on Jay and how he manages to get what he wants. Meanwhile Sun's payback completely took a back seat. His desire to be the top actor just never happened. He didn't even really start his journey as a lead actor. His ex, Sunny, stayed unapologetic until the end and his end just felt cheap and unrealistic. The bad guys were toppled easily which seemed like it could have happened earlier and too many people were hurt for nothing. Nothing needed to wait till episode 10. Because all the wrap up happened in the final episode, it all felt rushed and lacked impact and satisfaction.
The main reason I could watch Payback is because the pacing of the show was fast and there was never a dull moment even if it got a bit predictable towards the end. The thing I liked is the use of humour to cut through several of the tense scenes. However it's not the kind that makes you laugh till your stomach hurts. It's the kind where you feel relieved that the thing you dread is not about to happen. All the actors did well. There were some actions scenes that were decent.
IMHO I don't think Payback is for everyone. I feel like there were plot holes because the novel probably wasn't adapted well enough which is a shame. If you do decide to watch it, you might like it more than I did.
Trigger warning - this drama depicts sexual assault, self-harm and rape which did make me uncomfortable so keep that in mind. These scenes didn't affect my ratings (with 1 exception). Details and several spoilers ahead.
The drama's main protagonist is Sun who has a violent past but since losing his mother and brother, he decides to change his life and works as a delivery man. While making deliveries, he meets a manager who would like to scout him as the next actor at their company. Soon after he finds out that his ex-boyfriend was actually the one that got his brother killed but he's now a big shot actor. So he swears to get revenge and decides to take up the acting offer. While at the company, he meets Jay who is narcissistic and they end up butting heads. Unbeknownst to Sun, Jay is actually the director at the company and he ends up needing his help at various stages in order to get his revenge.
So far the plot is great, the set up is great but nothing about Jay was worthy of liking. Not only does he behave horribly towards Sun for no reason, he even beats him up later. Eventually he progresses to kissing him forcefully and practically molesting him at one point. Considering the power dynamics, this is sexual harassment and assault and the reason why I did not like Jay. What frustrated me is that Sun is capable of fighting extremely well but he could never seem to overpower Jay. The drama failed to coherently explain why Jay even started liking Sun and likewise why Sun ended up liking Jay beyond needing his help at times. It was explained to me by people who read the novel but the drama was useless at relaying that important information. I'll add an additional spoiler related to this in the comments.
Sun and Jay's relationship mostly feels forced because of this power imbalance and Jay's actions. I actually felt uncomfortable even during their NC scenes. Especially since Sun seemed miserable. The actors were performing bottomless and I did question if that was really necessary. Also I wish they had highlighted safe sex practices. Another triggering scene was Jay forcefully making Sun cut Jay's wrist. Despite all this, Jay does have softer moments were I liked him. Just wish there was more of that at the end but it was quite rushed which was another disappointment. They were also joking about jumping off a building which was in poor taste.
There are like 3 good characters in the drama - the kind manager who scouts Sun, a trainee with trauma named Sky and a sweet director. I swear I shipped Sun and Sky at one point. I also thought a photographer and Sky might start dating but the vibes I was getting went nowhere. Majority of the show is filled with horrible characters which made me pity Sun a lot. There is one main man who is running a prostitution racket by supplying budding actors to other men. He also expects sexual favours for himself. All this was happening right under Jay's nose. He even mentions that he has recordings of everyone's conversations, yet till the end he never used those to destory that industry and everyone involved.
Jay also has his own reason for seeking revenge and the show ended up focusing more on Jay and how he manages to get what he wants. Meanwhile Sun's payback completely took a back seat. His desire to be the top actor just never happened. He didn't even really start his journey as a lead actor. His ex, Sunny, stayed unapologetic until the end and his end just felt cheap and unrealistic. The bad guys were toppled easily which seemed like it could have happened earlier and too many people were hurt for nothing. Nothing needed to wait till episode 10. Because all the wrap up happened in the final episode, it all felt rushed and lacked impact and satisfaction.
The main reason I could watch Payback is because the pacing of the show was fast and there was never a dull moment even if it got a bit predictable towards the end. The thing I liked is the use of humour to cut through several of the tense scenes. However it's not the kind that makes you laugh till your stomach hurts. It's the kind where you feel relieved that the thing you dread is not about to happen. All the actors did well. There were some actions scenes that were decent.
IMHO I don't think Payback is for everyone. I feel like there were plot holes because the novel probably wasn't adapted well enough which is a shame. If you do decide to watch it, you might like it more than I did.
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