CrusadingAngel
Prison Playbook is a story about Kim Je Hyuk who is a baseball player that was unexpectedly sent to jail. He witnesses a criminal perform a criminal act on someone he knows. This enrages him and sends him in a frenzy. He proceeds to beat the crap out of the criminal. He is sentenced to jail as a result of his actions. Prison Playbook primarily walks us through Kim Je Hyuk's journey through jail. From time to time you will see flashbacks from the past which will help you understand how Je Hyuk (and some of the other characters) ended up that way.
Story: [9.5/10] Prison Playbook is one of those shows that sort of starts out slow and provides you with very little information. The series begins with an episode that is very vague. You learn very little about the character as well as the over-arching story at the very beginning. The story begins to unfold as you continue deeper into the series. You begin to learn about Je Hyuk and his personality. You also get to learn about his many different cell mates as well. Some good, others not so good. The good ones are awesome though when they group together and sort of form a little brotherhood of sorts with Je Hyuk. I'm definitely enjoying the mini-brotherhood/sisterhood themes that have occurred in dramas in 2017. I.e. the brotherhood you see in Prison Playbook and Save Me, the sisterhood you see in Avengers Social Club. I also enjoy the fact that the series is not very predictable as well. Overall it's a very well written drama about prison. The comedy needs a little more work though, hence the 9.
Acting/Cast: [9.5/10] I found the acting/characters in this show to be really refreshing. The first reason is the fact that our main character Kim Je Hyuk isn't really the brightest of the bunch. Why does this seem refreshing to me? It's refreshing because it makes the show a lot more realistic and credible. There are so many different shows I've watched where the main character had everything. He/She is usually the smartest, good looking, richest, and the best at a certain skill. Je Hyuk became a character that was easy to relate to for me because he seemed more like any other every day average joe. Well... other than the fact that he was one of the best baseball players in Korea at the time. Even that though is evened out by the fact that he uses his perseverance in order to help him get better at baseball. It's a lot more realistic to see a character struggle to get to his/her goal (rather than be born with the skill). It was also nice to see Jung Woong In play a nice person for once. I swear he has played the villain in every other drama that he's in. Again I found his character very relatable and admirable. His character acts tough on the outside, but on the inside he's a teddy bear. He takes a lot of scorn from the prisoners but he often tries to do what is best for them. In fact I was a big fan of all of the prison guards except the Captain Na guy (You can't have all nice prison guards, that would make for a boring story).
Music: [9.5/10] Music is pretty likable. It uses an array of different tunes for different situations. The whole -cricket- whistle thing sort of gets old though.
Rewatch Value: [7,0/10] I possibly see myself rewatching this show in future. However it definitely would not be one of my top priority dramas to rewatch. The problem that I had with this show was that it was about 90 minutes long. Each episode is generally about one main topic/struggle that the main character(s) have to go through. Generally most Korea dramas have episodes that are 60 minutes long. The fact that this show is 90 minutes long meant that some events were essentially dragged out 1.5x longer than usual.
Overall I'm a big fan of the show. I thought the show started out pretty slow, but I began to like the show more and more as I learned more about the characters. It was an easy show for me to relate to because it is a show in which you have average Joe characters proceeding through life and going through some very realistic misfortunes. My only gripe about this show was that I was use to the 90 minute episodes. I found it hard to binge the show. I ended up watching about 2 episodes a day before deciding to go do/watch something else. Prison Playbook definitely distinguishes itself from its competition though. It's one of my most favorite dramas for the winter season. I recommend you give the drama a try.
Story: [9.5/10] Prison Playbook is one of those shows that sort of starts out slow and provides you with very little information. The series begins with an episode that is very vague. You learn very little about the character as well as the over-arching story at the very beginning. The story begins to unfold as you continue deeper into the series. You begin to learn about Je Hyuk and his personality. You also get to learn about his many different cell mates as well. Some good, others not so good. The good ones are awesome though when they group together and sort of form a little brotherhood of sorts with Je Hyuk. I'm definitely enjoying the mini-brotherhood/sisterhood themes that have occurred in dramas in 2017. I.e. the brotherhood you see in Prison Playbook and Save Me, the sisterhood you see in Avengers Social Club. I also enjoy the fact that the series is not very predictable as well. Overall it's a very well written drama about prison. The comedy needs a little more work though, hence the 9.
Acting/Cast: [9.5/10] I found the acting/characters in this show to be really refreshing. The first reason is the fact that our main character Kim Je Hyuk isn't really the brightest of the bunch. Why does this seem refreshing to me? It's refreshing because it makes the show a lot more realistic and credible. There are so many different shows I've watched where the main character had everything. He/She is usually the smartest, good looking, richest, and the best at a certain skill. Je Hyuk became a character that was easy to relate to for me because he seemed more like any other every day average joe. Well... other than the fact that he was one of the best baseball players in Korea at the time. Even that though is evened out by the fact that he uses his perseverance in order to help him get better at baseball. It's a lot more realistic to see a character struggle to get to his/her goal (rather than be born with the skill). It was also nice to see Jung Woong In play a nice person for once. I swear he has played the villain in every other drama that he's in. Again I found his character very relatable and admirable. His character acts tough on the outside, but on the inside he's a teddy bear. He takes a lot of scorn from the prisoners but he often tries to do what is best for them. In fact I was a big fan of all of the prison guards except the Captain Na guy (You can't have all nice prison guards, that would make for a boring story).
Music: [9.5/10] Music is pretty likable. It uses an array of different tunes for different situations. The whole -cricket- whistle thing sort of gets old though.
Rewatch Value: [7,0/10] I possibly see myself rewatching this show in future. However it definitely would not be one of my top priority dramas to rewatch. The problem that I had with this show was that it was about 90 minutes long. Each episode is generally about one main topic/struggle that the main character(s) have to go through. Generally most Korea dramas have episodes that are 60 minutes long. The fact that this show is 90 minutes long meant that some events were essentially dragged out 1.5x longer than usual.
Overall I'm a big fan of the show. I thought the show started out pretty slow, but I began to like the show more and more as I learned more about the characters. It was an easy show for me to relate to because it is a show in which you have average Joe characters proceeding through life and going through some very realistic misfortunes. My only gripe about this show was that I was use to the 90 minute episodes. I found it hard to binge the show. I ended up watching about 2 episodes a day before deciding to go do/watch something else. Prison Playbook definitely distinguishes itself from its competition though. It's one of my most favorite dramas for the winter season. I recommend you give the drama a try.
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