ColourMePurple

Enjoyable except for the ending

I did enjoy the show overall especially towards the beginning but I didn't enjoy the finale. It felt a bit lacklustre to me. It is also predictable.

But if I stick to everything other than the last 2 episodes, I actually loved it quite a bit. I do miss the guest actor but the male lead performed the double roles well. The female lead was also good as well as the supporting characters. The comedy wasn't bad despite it not being what I usually enjoy. The fantasy historical genre was a good mix. I would have rated it higher if there were more impressive fight scenes.

The best thing about the show is the chemistry between the leads. But you won't see much romance in this. I also loved the ghost of the well. She was my favourite side character till the end.

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Immensely dull in between

When the series started, it was great... for about 4 episodes. I loved the comedy, the breaking of the fourth wall, the genius straight-faced confident female lead and the idea that it was the male lawyer who was the emotional one was also a great change of pace. I also liked the involvement of the SML cop character. But the story sharply declined after that with nothing happening and everything like I was enjoying about the series had turned into the most dull plot to the point that I kept falling asleep while watching it. There was no chance of me speeding up the show because there was a lot of complicated points being discussed which I would have then missed.

It's only from the 12th episode that the story really picked up again. It was funny again. The breaking of the fourth wall was back and the story was FINALLY moving forward. And even though I loved the last four episodes as well, I was just annoyed the entire time before this because I couldn't recognise the show. I really wanted to see things through and I'm glad I persevered because it has a satisfying ending.

I get that they wanted to build up the story, the suspense and the drama but from episode 5 - 10, it was a struggle. 11 th was good at first and then had a boring second half again. This caused me to avoid watching the drama and I fell back and only when I read that the show finally picked up did I finally binge the remaining 6 episodes. So the team basically is struggling throughout this time and it feels like there is no momentum to the show. I feel like many episodes can even be skipped as you won't miss too much.

This drama would have been better as a 10 - 12 episode series rather than a 16 episode one and then my rating for it would also be far higher but considering how difficult it became for me to continue, 7 is fair on my part.

Some additional points to help you make your decision - I liked the mystery element despite the overcomplicated story; there isn't any romance but there is a some good teamwork and friendships established; the actors did a good job and there was no character that I hated though one of the "kids" was slightly annoying.

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Terrible direction with a rape to romance trope

This show was recommended to me so I was initially excited to watch something new (Omegaverse) even though I had minimal prior experience with such plots. And for a first experience this was a really disappointing one.

The story revolves around 4 people or at least it is advertised as 4 main leads with 1 of them (Gao Tu) getting minimum to no screentime (so don't get invested). The original source (which I hadn't read but got plenty of insight on during the course of the show) had potential and the director could have improved upon it. Not only did they not improve it but there are so many scenes that simply make no sense if you have never read the original novel. It means the director did not hope to attract any new fans with their work. For example, the intro to omegaverse is rushed, the new vocabulary is never explained (which a good storyteller can do during the show), crucial scenes that were supposed to depict darkness are shot in extremely bright lights with those lights in clear view, unable to show passage of time which also leads to confusion, etc.

Regarding the rape/noncon trope - this truly got to me. Not only because these things make me uncomfortable but because it is normalised in this drama through omegaverse. "They can't help themselves" is such triggering messaging. Worse is one perpetrator is supposed to be in love with the victim and can see his love interest is in pain but is enjoying that and even laughs at their misery. The other doesn't know who his victim is and is victim blaming them for seducing them. I truly don't care that it is fantasy. To me this omegaverse felt like an excuse to normalise rape by using pretty and handsome faces.

Red flag characters. Both Hua Yong and Shen Wen Lang are toxic. Though I have enjoyed BLs with toxic characters too, the problem is again normalising it rather than calling it for what it is. All's fair in love and war? No. That's an excuse.

Hua Yong is an extremely manipulative character who has no trouble lying to the man he loves. All he cares about is the end result. Think stalker who succeeds in his goals. If you have never been stalked, let me say that it can be very harrowing and distressing and not at all romantic. Though the stalking is a bit downplayed, it is one of his most minor sins. The manipulation and lying and rape are far more egregious sins. He could have been the character you love to hate but it's more terrifying that he is portrayed as heroic and lovesick, rather than insane. Romaticising this character felt shocking since they are never really apologetic or empathetic.

Shen Wen Lang is horrible but nothing compared to Hua Yong because he is portrayed as a dumb guy who reacts on emotions and makes decisions as per his ego and arrogance. He constantly makes Gao Tu feel horrible about himself and want to hide and protect himself. SWL is also supposed to be caring but he simply is incapable of expressing it. Though he has some softer moments as opposed to Hua Yong.

The only characters I liked were Sheng Shao You and Gao Tu, who became my favourite despite barely given much of a presence. He still managed to make an impact. Shen Shao You has the most range of emotions in this show. Though he has his arrogant moments, ultimately he is a caring, nuturing and protective person. To be honest, I think Gao Tu deserves someone like him. These two characters don't really interact with each other.

ABO universe - in this universe, because men can get pregnant, 2 men being with each other is considered normal just like a heterosexual couple. What is considered abnormal is 2 of the same kind like two Alphas being together. So it doesn't really deal with the issues that real life LGBTQ couples face. Instead you have class issues where the rich look down on the poor, the alphas look down on omegas, etc. Again this isn't explored much on how society deals with these class injustices because it causes a character to hide themselves for their whole life.

There are few moments of humour that I enjoyed. The opening theme song is beautiful too. These are the main positives in my eyes.

The finale was extremely lackluster and anti-climactic. It simply didn't feel like a finale. Imagine watching this show spanning months and you don't even get a satisfying ending? When you have 16 episodes, you don't get to make excuses of not having enough time especially when you have time to add in supporting characters in the end that don't really support the plot.

Final thoughts - this show could have been made well but the director did not have the presence of mind on how to depict their source material. They invested a lot into locations which are grand but the scenes especially romantic ones are more or less slow or really blurry shots (no passion from the characters nor the director). The characters all speak slowly, mostly dispassionately and everything seems quite toned down. I haven't seen the other works of these actors so I don't know if it is them or that is the direction they were given. But I'm going to blame the director since it is their reponsibikity to get the required emotions out of their actors. They just wanted everything subtle. Whether it is pain, fear, anger or love (exception being SSY).

Bottom line - Quite disappointing. If you are fans of the main couple, you might have a better time watching but otherwise, not something I would recommend.

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Stripped everything that made ORV good

They turned Dokja into a nervous loser. I could have accepted various other changes but ruining Dokja's character from an unabashedly confident, strong, incredibly smart on-the-go thinker, and strong-willed character who LOVED Three Ways To Survive The Apocalypse (TWSA) into a weak-minded, loser-ish, selfish man who hates TWSA? And on top of that they used his trauma to turn him into becoming a murdeous bully. Why? They also got rid of his main trauma. My heart actually broke with the way he was portrayed in the movie. I admired Dokja in the webtoon and that's why so many things made 0 sense in the movie.

SPOILERS/COMPARISONS

Dokja's reality is now the novel that he alone read which is what gave him his confidence and even arrogance in several instances. He never lowered himself to anyone. Not the Dokkaebis, not the constellations (which are barely given importance in the movie whereas they are crucial in the webtoon), not even when he faced the protagonist Yoo Joonghyuk, whom he admired in the novel. In the webtoon, he challenges Joonghyuk to throw him off the bridge. He also NEVER calls himself the prophet but let's Joonghyuk think whatever. And because they got rid of the fourth wall skill, he couldn't block off Junghyeok's lie detection in the movie. The fourth wall is an incredibly useful protective skill for Dokja and I don't understand why they decided to get rid of it. In the movie, he is practically shaking while talking to Junghyeok. Their back and forth in the webtoon is so good. The movie ruined it.

In the novel/webtoon, Dokja levels up his skills extremely quickly because of how in-depth his knowledge is of the book which impresses constellations and their curiosity gets them to sponsor him a lot of coins which just does not come across in the movie and is not given importance. His actions also shock the constellations and that is why BiHyeong agrees that Dokja is impressing them and decides to strike a deal. But in the movie, Dokja has not been impressive in any way. In the train, he is so timid he allowed his boss to take control of the ant box. In the novel, he is the one in charge of the situation and gets everyone scrambling for the insects. He leads the group in every scenario which gets them to trust and respect his leadership. Like telling them to leave the train as soon as possible and run across the bridge. This is why he gets so many constellations who want to sponsor him. And he knows that tying himself to a sponsor early on isn't wise which is why he rejects the selection. In the movie it is Lee Hyeon Seong who tries to escape the train and not Dokja guiding them. They don't explain why he rejects picking a sponsor and barely goes through the list. Can fans of the movie really say they were impressed by Dokja at that point?

Dokja having the fourth wall also helps him to offset the memories of his past haunting him. He also understands the importance of having companions because he read the novel. Because movie Dokja hates the novel, he has no foresight into the importance of his companions either. He even becomes selfish at crucial moments wanting to abandon them and survive alone and his survival comes across as more luck and not active use of his knowledge. The original Dokja also works hard to help them grow their skill set and become more powerful. Movie Dokja is like - oh btw you can use coins to power up.

Honestly I could complain about his rescue of Hui Won (leaving her to breath poison gas), not being able to expose the mayor (who is now a monster for some reason) of killing people for coins and how coins "spill" out rather than directly being transferred to the killer, the kid (Gilyeong) being so much younger than in the webtoon and Bihyung shooting lasers from his eyes. But it's not as important. But little things build a character and they took everything away from Dokja that made him Dokja. Also getting rid of Heewon's backstory of being SAed? This is what explains her anger and her seeking justice. Sang Ah became an average healer instead of a brilliant woman turned assassin.

On top of that they even tried to make Junghyeok a horrible person in the movie when he asks Dokja to ditch the kid while they are surrounded by monsters. Nothing of that sort happens in the webtoon. If anything Joonghyuk tries to get the kid to team up with him. They made him into such a lackluster character. The guy who is supposed to be a looker by the way.

Gong Pildo was also a big character but I can let it go because they didn't have enough time to set up every character.

Also the use of guns in this movie is ridiculous especially for Junghyeok. Even Lee JiHye should not have been using guns. But then they removed any connection to constellations.

The final fight, as everyone said, did not exist in the webtoon. The closest is the lesser dragon disaster which was way above their level that the Dokkaebi acknowledges but in the movie the Dokkaebi is like, yeah let's make this harder. But the situations were entirely different. It was really funny when Junghyeok lay charred to death because if he dies, he actually moves to a parallel timeline and Dokja has 1 less hero in his. But in the movie, everyone dies. Half of those characters were not supposed to be there in this fight. This is the problem when the movies decides to spend all it's budget on a star-studded cast. The director changed the plot so much in order to give everyone importance in a limited time. So now the main character is a shell of himself with no redeeming qualities or useful skills besides strength and even that he seemed tired at many points of the movie.

All that remains in the movie is a lot of different action sequences to wow audiences that have never read the source material and are missing much enjoyment from the original plot and true character of Dokja. Because you could have gotten action from any action movie and disaster scenes from any disaster movie.

I don't normally hand out 1 stars but the director chose to forego the whole OMNISCIENT READER part! They could have made a movie using elements of ORV and called it something else. That would have been better than reducing this incredibly detailed and complex story with great character arcs to action and CGI.

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Rage Watched It

Normally I really love body swap or soul swap shows because they are quite entertaining and the potential for comedy is great but this one was frustrating for me. Now that I know the ending, I would say they saved themselves from becoming a disaster which is a relief. Unfortunately I was irritated right from ep 1 to score this an 8 or higher. Ep 9 really raised my blood pressure.

The story begins where a talented football player's career is ruined after an accident when a high profile chairman's car is involved in a hit and run. The chairman unapologetically throws a blank check in the man's face. To make matters worse, during their second meeting, the chairman falls on top of the footballer while falling down a flight of stairs resulting them in switching bodies.

What irked me right off the bat is that the footballer (now in the old chairman's body) is unconscious and the chairman now has a youthful body. The entirety of the drama focuses on the chairman and his twins fighting for the position as the next chairman.

The problem also lies in my expectation because I hoped for some comedy gold but the drama is quite serious and a lot of office and family politics come into play. There is some comedy in the final episode but not really what I expected.

The actors all did a good job. I simply could not forget about the footballer's plight. It felt like his life and problems were simply not as important as an old rich man. Though they managed to wrap up the plot well, I couldn't enjoy myself. Also the romance aspect involving the youngest daughter is a bit weird considering the circumstances. That's a bit of a plot hole.

You'll probably enjoy it more if you know what you're getting. I just wouldn't expect much comedy.

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When Drama Gives You Depression

Unlike most people, I couldn't enjoy this drama at all. I felt miserable throughout barring a couple of episodes. I laughed maybe once or twice. It took me 4 months to complete because it was my personal hell. Perhaps a bit too real for me. I was desperately hoping things work out for them but some misfortune or the other kept coming into their lives. They struggled so much and I just felt sick to my stomach watching helplessly.

The actors were all great since I could feel their emotions and connect with them. Perhaps connected too deeply that it triggered a lot of negative emotions in me. I was reminded of some of my personal struggles as well as my mother's. Because of how sad it got, I had to watch at double the speed and it still didn't prevent me from crying buckets. One beautiful thing that I did love was Park Bo Gum's character's love for IU's character and standing up for her and being there for her always.

This is not a direct critique at the show. It is just not something I could enjoy. I'm glad I made it to the end despite how awful it made me feel. Not something I would recommend personally but I probably won't need to seeing it's popularity.

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Strong Start But Flawed

A goddess chooses to be by the side of an immortal man in possession of a divine artifact. There is a lot of like and dislike about the drama so let's start with the positives.

What I liked:
- The plot, though not exactly unique but it was enjoyable. The set up was good I was and sold instantly.
- Strong Female Lead. I love when women are depicted as wise and strong and being able to handle themsleves.
- The cast. I can't say there was a dull character. Boring moments perhaps but as characters go, they were all interesting in their own ways. Leads especially were quite good.
- The action scenes were extremely enjoyable especially in the final few episodes.
- I usually hate slow burn romances but I didn't feel too bothered by it in this drama. I understood why the FL cannot confess her feelings.
- The OST is quite nice.
- The slight humour. I wish there was more to properly appreciate. It is not enough to call comedy so i'm surprised people were appreciating it when there is so little of it. It is mostly quite serious.

What I disliked:
- There is a trend in wuxias/xanxias that the gods/immortals will commit the worst crimes and this drama is no exception. The gods are selfish, useless, or have essentially checked out. Towards the end, their existence is next to none which was the most ridiculous part of the story and put me off the most
- The story started to drag in the middle and that is where I started to use 1.5x and 2x speeds to watch the drama. If I do this for most of the drama, then that drama has lost a high rating from me.
- I do enjoy dramas with adventures involved but not when it goes on and on and characters are stuck in one place too long then it gets frustrating.
- Worst was that I fell asleep watching and just skimmed the episode. And yet I didn't miss anything of the story.
- Second Female Lead being too afraid of the Second Male Lead seeing her true form. Get over it already. He already knows everything.
A Moment But Forever commited all these sins.

The ending was ok. I neither liked or disliked it.

Started off quite well but was slow for most of the middle of the drama and the final few episodes had great action. It had potential and I could forgive it for being slow if they didn't make the gods so ridiculous. That is where they lost me completely.

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Sweet but could have been better

Being a remake of a cdrama, naturally this series will be compared a lot to the original. The Thai remake is far from being a perfect adaptation but in many ways, I find that to be a good thing.

One of the aspects that I disliked in the original is that I grew tired of how many episodes the series had and how long they kept the main leads separated. The SML had more of a presence in the original. Though he was a better character than this version, it still irked me to have to wait for the leads to find each other again. This was the biggest negative of the original for me. Made me feel like watching that series was pointless. But because the Thai version has cut down episodes to 16 instead of 41, I quite enjoyed the pace of the series.

The other thing I disliked in the original is the FL's brother, who original was a wonderful character and I loved the siblings together, turned into a massive hypocrite regarding his sister's relationship. Though the brother's character was not as fleshed out in the Thai, at least you don't start to hate him. At least I didn't. He showed growth towards the end.

The negatives of the Thai drama are that the chemistry is not great between the couples. The best moment was when the FL got drunk. And no, there is no RAPE scene or non-consensual sex happening in this show. All will be cleared regarding that situation if you continue watching.

My favourite secondary characters were the office staff. The leads also did a good job considering the script.

I loved the OST - I'm Missing You. It's really beautiful!

Hope people give this version a chance.

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Slow yet Enjoyable

Miraculous Brothers is a slow paced story about a murder and how 3 men get embroiled into the case spanning 17 years. The second mystery revolves around a teenager who seems to appear out of nowhere in front of the ML's car and can't remember anything about himself. They discover he has some special powers that allows him to see more than what others let on.

Both mysteries are good and overall plot is interesting with a satisfactory ending as long as you are patient. Even the bromance takes time to develop. Sometimes a few characters can feel annoying, eg. ML's mother, but one can look past it. Unlike plots of other shows where things get left out, the writers don't leave any plot holes with this one. Just don't watch this show because of the sci-fi element as it's not present throughout the show. Whenever it is there, it's enjoyable and I do wish we got a bit more of it at times. Miraculous Brothers has a bit of a Signal feel to it. But instead all the work is being done by ordinary citizens and the police is terrible at their job which can be frustrating to watch at times.

Apart from the pacing, I don't really have any complaints with the story. So if you feel the same at any point, just watch on 1.5x speed. That was the biggest drawback for me. While watching the finale episode at normal speed, I noticed that many of the characters, other than the main leads, would all talk slowly with unnaturally long gaps between their dialogues. It's not one particular character but way too many of them which is clearly the director's instruction to the actors. Because of which I wasn't sure if there would be enough time to cover everything but they did.

The ending seemed to tease the possibility of a second season or to just say that more adventures await. :)

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Plot as annoying as the disturbance faced by the tenants

The first half of the movie was intriguing. A regular office worker buys his first apartment while slaving away at 2 jobs just to make ends meet hoping to cash in when the market value of his apartment rises. He has put up with so much, what's a noisy neighbour at 4am?

Then the neighbours come into picture and everything becomes a dumpster fire. While I understand the movie tries to recreate the frustration and distress faced by the male lead in the minds of the audiences but it was more irritating than just building tension. I never wanted to get through a movie faster than this one!

I couldn't STAND these characters and at some point that included the male lead. Nor did I care for the way the movie ended. It all felt super pointless.

If you love horror or thrillers, this is not worthy of a watch let alone a rewatch.

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Fun and Satisfying

I picked up Miss Night and Day with 0 expectations and it has been a fun ride. I especially liked that the female character was shown as a smart capable person who unfortunately was struggling due to other circumstances and shined when given an opportunity.

Jung Eun Ji and Lee Jung Eun both portrayed the FL character well especially the veteran actress. Enjoyed all her fun moments and she made me forget the outer appearance and made me believe this was a 29 year old woman. It is definitely difficult to perfect two people playing the same role but they definitely did well.

Both male leads did well but I often got second lead syndrome because of his helpful yet unimposing nature.

Though the leads share chemistry, they aren't given too much time to explore it. So there isn't much romance. But I enjoy mixed genres so it wasn't an issue for me but it could be for some people who prefer more romance.

I also enjoyed the roles of the supporting characters. They did great!

One thing I found strange is the leads did not discuss the connection they discovered at the end. And they also decided to write the leads apart when they would need each other the most emotionally. Withholding the secret for so long would also be one of my main gripes.

Overall I found the ending wonderful and satisfying. The series is a good source of entertainment.

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Action-packed entertainment

This is one of those rare shows where I couldn't wait for the next episode! It is a crime drama with action, comedy, heartwarming moments and you can't help but applaud every character for their performance.

The story introduces a male prosecutor, Do Be Man, who reluctantly joined the military to only make money by throwing cases. During the first episode or so, you might destest the male leads actions but don't give up on the show.

Soon he is teamed up with a new female prosecutor, Cha Woo In who appears naive and helpless but Do Be Man doesn't quite buy it. He turns out to be right because she part-times as a red headed vigilante to fight bad guys that the law can't reach.

Eventually she manages to get him to team up to take down the entire unjust and corrupt authority figures in the military. The entire process is exciting because the female lead has been given equal relevance in the show which is rare to see. She can hold her own both in fights as well as the court of law. And the male lead is flexible in both guiding her with his experience in the courtroom as her senior as well as following her lead in the fight against justice behind the scenes. A very healthy relationship is seen between the pair.

Besides the strong female lead, we also get to see a strong female in a negative role that manages to scare even the men. Not only is she strong physically but also cut throat and an intelligent adversary. It was a wonderful portrayal!

A third strong female was Do Be Man's aunt who played a police captain and also provided many light moments in the show.

One thing that truly impressed me is that the show doesn't shy away from presenting the negative aspects of the military that can plague any institution like corruption and bullying and how the military court is required to be impartial in order to serve justice.

A final bonus is that not only does Do Be Man's sound like doberman, a breed of a dog, but an actual doberman also features on the show adding more joy to the wonderful show.

There are many other wonderful characters on the show that add to the brilliance of it through their depictions of positive, negative and grey characters. The show might seem predictable but the journey has many surprises in store and will make you rethink your position on some of the characters and situations. Please give it a watch!

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Too much talking

I gave this series a fair shot by watching every episode but sadly I never got emotionally invested with any of the characters though I was intrigued on how it would end.

The series is good but not great. The CGI initially was just awful. It did gradually get better. The FL was intolerable to me for most of the storyline except towards the latter part of the series. The ML is okay. Didn't really feel much for him which is a bad sign. There is just too much talking and very little action. Because of that I had to watch all 40 episodes in 2x and I still wanted it to go faster. The slowest part of the plot was the 'mine'. It just annoyed me.

The set design was actually pretty good. I can definitely see the work that went into it. The plot itself is decent and just elaborate enough so you don't lose interest. But I would have liked it more if there were fewer episodes.

The series ending was not great. Guess we will get some extra scenes. The final fight was okay. Still way too much talking for my liking which dampened my interest.

It was my least favourite wuxia drama as I kept hoping it would get better but the feeling of wanting to skip ahead or wishing to play in 3x never went away. It didn't help that the poor subs made the dramatic scenes hilarious instead of upsetting.

The secondary characters were quite decent. I just wish the main characters were superior. The action scenes are okay. Mostly flying and CGI. You don't see any special fight moves because of the light and sparks.

The OST didn't make me want to go back and listen to it. But it's not bad.

I was conflicted on whether to rate this a 6.5 or 7. But if I am being honest, I wouldn't recommend this drama though I can appreciate some of the complexity to the story. It just didn't interest me enough. Some parts didn't quite make sense to me like the entire immortal realm being evil and overpowering any of the good. Another airing drama like The Legend of Shen Li is far better in holding my attention, the CGI and the dialogues are interesting. You don't feel like skipping ahead because it has good drama.

Burning Flames is good but even if you skip, you won't miss out on anything special, IMO.

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No Redeeming Quality Whatsoever

The dullest drama I have seen EVER! There was a small chance that this drama would be good with the male lead playing a double role but I couldn't even tell the two roles apart. It was portrayed so badly. Even the flashbacks felt pointless and uninteresting. I was not invested in their friendships nor their relationships. The leads had no chemistry and the romance bored me as well.

The majority of the drama revolves around the architecture and city planning work and the fight between the two leads. It is only in the last few episodes that the couple finally get together and it is completely uneventful.

The second couple are slightly better but there is something about this drama that manages to make their story utterly boring as well. Even the supporting characters were incredibly boring and I fell asleep multiple times watching the last few episodes. The entire drama was seen on 2x and I still wished I could speed it up further.

There is some good scenery but not enough to raise the score of this drama. I didn't enjoy the music and there were no memorable dialogues. There is something about the way this drama was shot that makes it so unlikeable. Only I know how I didn't drop this show. I had read the last couple of episodes were good so I held on but it was not worth it.

I really urge people not to waste time with this drama even if you love the actors. This is easilly the WORST drama of 2025.

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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.

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