This is a gripping watch! I'm not usually into political dramas/tv shows (I haven't seen the original American show so I don't know how it compares), but I really liked this one.
I loved watching Moo Jin gain confidence as acting-President and see him solve controversial quandary after controversial quandary by thinking outside the box and never settling for the lesser of two evils. It's probably an extremely optimistic take on solving political issues, but still, I liked this story's optimism. It reminded me a little bit of the American TV show Madame Secretary, but this felt less episodic and a lot less soapy/dramatic.
My favorite character ended up being Young Jin, though (the actor did a fantastic job, too). I did not care for him at first but as he became inspired and impressed by Moo Jin' repeatedly wise and thoughtful solutions to seemingly unsolvable issues, he slowly became the most compelling character for me. Just as the Chief Secretary in some ways was the linchpin to the original President's cabinet and administration working properly, Young Jin (due to his adept and brilliant political insight) came to be the one who could choose to make or break Moo Jin as the new acting President. I loved watching him turn from his cynical, calculating self to someone re-awakened to goodness and justice by choosing to go all-in in his support of Moo Jin by the end of the drama. Moo Jin reminded me of the sort of person in power everyone says you want: a person in power who doesn't want that power. They are the only ones who won't maneuver for self-gain and who will not get corrupted by the immense possibilities of their influence. At one point they play with the possibility that Moo Jin might be falling into the perspective of a normal politician, but it's a red herring, don't worry!
The budget felt a bit limited at times for the scale and ambitious nature of this drama, but if you overlook that, the struggles of the characters to always do the right thing in the middle of crisis is really satisfying (though a bit stressful) to watch.
I unfortunately don't have a Disney+ or Hulu subscription, so I haven't watched this yet, but I'm curious if it feels like Western superhero movies/tv shows (like Marvel stuff), or does it have a different feel to it? Or is it a Kdrama/Marvel hybrid? 🤣 It seems like a mix of genres from the comments I've read.
If the response continues to hold strong, I'd like to watch this eventually. (I might just wait until it's over so I can binge it in the timeframe I would have a free trial for Hulu 😏). It seems most people on MDL are enjoying it, and I love Han Hyo Joo and Go Yoon Jung.
I'm still team Do Ha, but I did like the scene where we find out when Kang Min started liking Sol Hee. I enjoyed his reaction and seeing the growing smile on his face when Sol Hee apologized for her mom and told the police to go ahead and prosecute her if she did something wrong. 😅 That he fell for her because he admired how she handled a tough situation made me like him more.
I'm almost done with this drama (in Episode 15), and it's wonderful! I've found it compelling and interesting,…
Completed now, and still loved it. There was a bit of a weird twist at the end that doesn't get fully explained, but I didn't mind that it made no sense because it was kind of adorable.
Also, I enjoyed the little cameo at the end from Jin Young! He and Dong Wook were really cute together.
I thought Park Seo Joon was fantastic in this, and it was fun to see him in a role where he was serious rather than comedic; this showed he can do both genres very well.
I actually liked the romance in this, since the 2FL just didn't support the ML and was so wishy-washy and (sorry) weak; Yi Seo was far from perfect, and had a lot of immaturity and selfish quirks, and I can see why some people didn't like her character (she definitely crossed professional boundaries when they were working together near the end of the drama), but I thought their relationship made sense and ended sweetly. I think it made sense that Saeroyi was so oblivious about his feelings towards her for so long because he had tunnel vision for revenge, and along the way took her presence for granted since she was such a huge part of making his dream come true. I found the part where the pieces started to fall into place for him about Yi Seo very satisfying; it was a long road getting there, though, with so much time watching him be clueless.
My favorite moment was probably when Saeroyi was talking on the bridge with his father in the vision he had while in the hospital. It was just beautiful; I loved the stuff about being willing to give life another try, even though it was riddled with suffering and hardship. The idea that such difficulties get so much easier when you have people to do life with. He was finally able to face life because he had people who gave him hope for a better future, and allowed him to see life outside his desire for revenge. Love that!
I got kind of over the revenge plot by the end, but I still think this drama was enjoyable and well-written.
This drama also has my favorite score from any Kdrama. I have no idea who Studio Curiosity is, and I'm very sad they've never written music for another Kdrama. But I just love, love "I Don't Have To Convince Others About Who I Am" and "You Are Always Shining Too Bright To Me."
But this drama is just so cozy, like being wrapped in a soft blanket while drinking hot tea on a cold night. Love the friendships of all the young'uns, and the way they learn to support one another. Highly recommend!
While everyone is lovable I think Na Woo Chan was the show stealer in this. He was also fantastic in Weak Hero Class 1. Can't wait to see what he does in the future!
I don't think there's anything to write home about regarding this story's plot, since I thought it was pretty messy, even sloppy, and not very "realistic" (I know, no Kdrama has a realistic plot, but this one felt even less realistic than the average Kdrama plot). I didn't care for the anachronisms in this, either. Not one of the better fusion sageuks, in my opinion (I even like Hwarang better in this respect). I wouldn't recommend this drama for a tight, well-written plot.
The leads had really excellent chemistry, though, and the only scenes I really liked in this were theirs. Young Dae was so cute as Lee Heon and while So Rang was a little less likeable (I don't like deception plots very much), I think she still did a good job. She kind of went Victorian lady on us near the end, which always frustrates me in Kdramas. It's one of my least favorite tropes.
The really memorable part of this drama for me was the BGM. I couldn't wait for the drama to finish airing so I could add some of the tracks to my Spotify playlist. My favorites: Night Walk, Sorang's Theme, and Shinwon's Theme. Going music nerd here: very lovely orchestral arrangements that showcased real string players rather than a synth, which is one of my struggles with Nam Hye Seung's scores (IOTNBO, CLOY, Mr. Sunshine, etc. she has nice melodies, but the synth just doesn't cut it for me). This is why I prefer music by Lee Nyeom/Kim Min Ji/Park Sejun (Extraordinary You, True Beauty, The Crowned Clown, Start Up, Racket Boys, etc.) and Fara Effect (Tales of the Nine-Tailed, Temptation, King's Affection, Rebel: Thief Who Stole The People, etc.). Sorry, music producers, but technology can't beat out real musicians. At least not yet.
As others have commented, this drama is a hard one to pin down. Some scenes were breathtakingly beautiful and powerful (when Shunji and Kang To were riding the bike through the field together and sobbing their hearts out as they grieved their loved ones, when Kang To finds out Gaksital is his brother, when Shun Ji finds out Kang To is Gaksital, and when Kang To reveals to Shun Ji that he killed his own brother without realizing it--these moments sold me on this drama.). The music is beautiful, and the time period and setting (minus the cheesy 30's sets and how over dramatic everything is) is unique and fascinating. I love the idea of a person playing two roles at once and trying to sell both convincingly.
But the plot goes in circles, especially later on in the drama. They could have done the dual roles of Kang To as a policeman and Gaksital so much better in terms of him disappearing and reappearing and how he manages to elude detection and the notice of his policemen peers while playing their mortal enemy, and I wanted to see Shun Ji and Kang To as friends longer before we see them wanting to rip each other apart (this was one of my main issues with My Country: A New Age as well; this and that the plot made no sense from start to finish). And the torture, gosh, so much torture! Seriously, enough with the revolving door of getting captured, tortured and released. That on repeat over and over.
This is why I really, REALLY want this redone. If someone kept the premise and all the really strong parts and improved the weak ones, this could be a fantastic and unique drama, especially with the improved production value of Kdramas now. Someone, please remake this!!!
I'm almost done with this drama (in Episode 15), and it's wonderful! I've found it compelling and interesting, well-paced with characters you care about and root for, and plenty of twists and turns. Kept me guessing the whole time who the killer was.
It has a very similar feel to Signal and Tunnel in terms of the tight writing and pacing (I think it was easier to follow than the two I just mentioned, as those at times got super twisty and confusing), but maybe more character driven, with a big emphasis on family (think Back To The Future, but without the comedy). It has romance but it doesn't distract from the main plot. I can see why people said the leads had no chemistry, but I think it's because the romance shows more as a deep admiration and companionship that grows between the leads as they work tirelessly to save people and improve everyone's future. That's why we see no lovey-dovey behavior in this; it would have immediately given the drama a different feel and tone, and shifted the emphasis from its main focus. There is another romance in this story that actually sometimes becomes more of a focus than the one between the main leads.
I think the part that made this story feel different than Tunnel and Signal and which gives the drama its unique flavor is that because the leads are not detectives and because of the family emphasis, they have a very different perspective than the main leads you normally find in mystery/thriller dramas and that causes them to go about investigating the case(s) differently (since they are trying to save people from their fates that they already know about AND find the killer all the while navigating deeply personal connections to people in the town of Woojeong; these dynamics made it difficult for the characters to see everyone around them objectively, which made for a fascinating setup for this drama).
My only gripe is the 80's downtown of Woojeong. It's painfully obvious it's a set. It looks like the lot used in The Bridal Mask that was supposed to look like the 30's and in this, it's meant to be the 80's. Another part looked like the neighborhood set used in Reply 1988 that somehow looked less like a set than here (do they think we can't tell the plants are all fake? C'mon, we're not that oblivious!). This aspect pulled me out of the story a bit more than I would have liked, but it's still well done in other ways!
I actually loved both the leads in their roles; 1987 Hee Seop (as a character and the actor himself) was a highlight for me, and I thought the actress who played 1987 Mi Sook did an excellent job making me shudder every time she was on screen cause of how psycho she was; just her expressions and the way she talked drove me nuts, and I think that was intentional. She reminded me of K from Inspector Koo (which I thought was terrible; there was way too much screen time for K in that as she was SO crazy and yet I felt like the drama kept trying to make us like her and empathize with her which I couldn't stand); if Mi Sook had as much screen time in this drama as K had in Inspector Koo, I would have bailed on this drama.Thankfully, that was not the case! In this drama Mi Sook is shown to be a person with a really tough life, but who still has no excuse for some of the awful things she chooses to do.
Love the BGM. This screenwriter writes consistently awesome stories and characters but somehow always manages to include a hokey premise (in her dramas that I love most). Once you get past the beginning of her dramas which introduce main leads who are aliens, mermaids or dropped in North Korea due to a tornado while paragliding, it's smooth sailing from there with well-crafted storytelling and endearing characters.
This story also has one of the coziest happy endings I've seen in a Kdrama. Vastly prefer it to the open ending of CLOY which was sweet but ultimately unsatisfying for me or My Love From The Star which was even weirder. They're all "happy" endings, but this one is the only satisfying ending (again, in my opinion).
In addition to the ones shared by others, two longer ones that are excellent are Rebel: Thief Who Stole The People…
Yes, Arthdal Chronicles is also quite good! Part 3 was actually my favorite, though it's more of a fantasy than historical drama/sageuk, and pretty violent/gory. It has fun world building and is well-acted. I can see why people compare it to Game Of Thrones (though AC is much cleaner, no sex or incest, being a Kdrama), and the CG is sometimes not the greatest. But a very ambitious drama nonetheless!
This drama sold me on Lee Jong Suk. He piqued my interest in Secret Garden even though he had a super tiny role, but in this he was so endearing and lovable! I proceeded to watch all of his other dramas because of his role in this one. He didn't disappoint.
I also thought the teachers were an awesome part of the story, and I loved how they interwove the students' stories with the teachers' stories. The way the problem students were dealt with was not very realistic, but I liked the focus on teachers in this drama that the other dramas dropped. 2015 had some focus on teachers, as well as 2021, but I don't even remember the teacher in 2017. This is also the only school drama where any "school" is shown to happen in the classroom. The rest of the dramas (except the woodworking focus in 2021) just have their stories happen AT school. Another way of putting this is that in the other School dramas besides 2013, school is just the setting, not the focus.
With all that said, this is definitely the best of the "School" dramas (ranked from best to worst: 2013, 2017, 2015 and 2021 (the writing for this one was very strange; nowhere near the level of quality you get in the other School dramas)), though I can't stand all the parent/principal/teacher politics in ANY of them (All the administrators in these school dramas are MESSED UP. I hope the school politics is exaggerated for the sake of dramatic effect and isn't remotely how schools function in Korea... I know some parents can be very tough to deal with and their portrayal here might not be that far off in some cases, but the way these schools' leadership functions is a joke.).
While the age gap is a little wide for me between the leads, I love that not only does this drama have a clear theme woven throughout the drama, it's also a beautiful, poignant theme. It highlights how love (not just romantic love, but selfless, unconditional love) can empower someone to do what is right, even when it's difficult to do so.
The two most powerful parts for me were when Hye Seong's mom, right before she dies, tells Hye Seong: "You know something? An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. If you live that way... everyone in this world will become blind. All those people who are rude to you because you're fortunate, it's just because they're jealous. So don't hate them, don't be mean to them, and feel sorry for them. Just promise me. You won't hate someone to the point that it'll ruin your life. Once a person is born into this world, this life is not even long enough to love each other, right?"
This theme is further developed at the end when Kwan Woo asks Do Yeon what the difference is between Soo Ha and Joon Gook. She says she doesn't know and he responds with, "Min Joon Gook had no one. No one who trusted him. No one who listened to him. No one who loved him. And he had no one to protect. But, if he'd had that one person, he might have lived differently. Like Park Soo Ha."
This drama highlights that two people with similarly horrible circumstances and good reason to hate and want revenge can turn out differently just through the presence of love in their lives. I think that's an insightful observation!
I didn't care for the somewhat ambiguous ending, but it was fun to see these actors/musicians while they were still up and coming. And Kim Soo Hyun totally holds his own with the dancers and singers (assuming the singing and such is actually done by him)!
I also just love the thoughtfulness of this screenwriter's dramas. She's my favorite!
Beautiful story! CLOY was my first drama and it drew me into the world of Korean Dramas/Asian entertainment and it's still one of my all-time favorites. I was not as into the second couple's story and sometimes the North Korean villager women were a little too much for me, but overall, wonderfully done.
I loved watching Moo Jin gain confidence as acting-President and see him solve controversial quandary after controversial quandary by thinking outside the box and never settling for the lesser of two evils. It's probably an extremely optimistic take on solving political issues, but still, I liked this story's optimism. It reminded me a little bit of the American TV show Madame Secretary, but this felt less episodic and a lot less soapy/dramatic.
My favorite character ended up being Young Jin, though (the actor did a fantastic job, too). I did not care for him at first but as he became inspired and impressed by Moo Jin' repeatedly wise and thoughtful solutions to seemingly unsolvable issues, he slowly became the most compelling character for me. Just as the Chief Secretary in some ways was the linchpin to the original President's cabinet and administration working properly, Young Jin (due to his adept and brilliant political insight) came to be the one who could choose to make or break Moo Jin as the new acting President. I loved watching him turn from his cynical, calculating self to someone re-awakened to goodness and justice by choosing to go all-in in his support of Moo Jin by the end of the drama. Moo Jin reminded me of the sort of person in power everyone says you want: a person in power who doesn't want that power. They are the only ones who won't maneuver for self-gain and who will not get corrupted by the immense possibilities of their influence. At one point they play with the possibility that Moo Jin might be falling into the perspective of a normal politician, but it's a red herring, don't worry!
The budget felt a bit limited at times for the scale and ambitious nature of this drama, but if you overlook that, the struggles of the characters to always do the right thing in the middle of crisis is really satisfying (though a bit stressful) to watch.
If the response continues to hold strong, I'd like to watch this eventually. (I might just wait until it's over so I can binge it in the timeframe I would have a free trial for Hulu 😏). It seems most people on MDL are enjoying it, and I love Han Hyo Joo and Go Yoon Jung.
Also, I enjoyed the little cameo at the end from Jin Young! He and Dong Wook were really cute together.
I actually liked the romance in this, since the 2FL just didn't support the ML and was so wishy-washy and (sorry) weak; Yi Seo was far from perfect, and had a lot of immaturity and selfish quirks, and I can see why some people didn't like her character (she definitely crossed professional boundaries when they were working together near the end of the drama), but I thought their relationship made sense and ended sweetly. I think it made sense that Saeroyi was so oblivious about his feelings towards her for so long because he had tunnel vision for revenge, and along the way took her presence for granted since she was such a huge part of making his dream come true. I found the part where the pieces started to fall into place for him about Yi Seo very satisfying; it was a long road getting there, though, with so much time watching him be clueless.
My favorite moment was probably when Saeroyi was talking on the bridge with his father in the vision he had while in the hospital. It was just beautiful; I loved the stuff about being willing to give life another try, even though it was riddled with suffering and hardship. The idea that such difficulties get so much easier when you have people to do life with. He was finally able to face life because he had people who gave him hope for a better future, and allowed him to see life outside his desire for revenge. Love that!
I got kind of over the revenge plot by the end, but I still think this drama was enjoyable and well-written.
This drama also has my favorite score from any Kdrama. I have no idea who Studio Curiosity is, and I'm very sad they've never written music for another Kdrama. But I just love, love "I Don't Have To Convince Others About Who I Am" and "You Are Always Shining Too Bright To Me."
But this drama is just so cozy, like being wrapped in a soft blanket while drinking hot tea on a cold night. Love the friendships of all the young'uns, and the way they learn to support one another. Highly recommend!
While everyone is lovable I think Na Woo Chan was the show stealer in this. He was also fantastic in Weak Hero Class 1. Can't wait to see what he does in the future!
The leads had really excellent chemistry, though, and the only scenes I really liked in this were theirs. Young Dae was so cute as Lee Heon and while So Rang was a little less likeable (I don't like deception plots very much), I think she still did a good job. She kind of went Victorian lady on us near the end, which always frustrates me in Kdramas. It's one of my least favorite tropes.
The really memorable part of this drama for me was the BGM. I couldn't wait for the drama to finish airing so I could add some of the tracks to my Spotify playlist. My favorites: Night Walk, Sorang's Theme, and Shinwon's Theme. Going music nerd here: very lovely orchestral arrangements that showcased real string players rather than a synth, which is one of my struggles with Nam Hye Seung's scores (IOTNBO, CLOY, Mr. Sunshine, etc. she has nice melodies, but the synth just doesn't cut it for me). This is why I prefer music by Lee Nyeom/Kim Min Ji/Park Sejun (Extraordinary You, True Beauty, The Crowned Clown, Start Up, Racket Boys, etc.) and Fara Effect (Tales of the Nine-Tailed, Temptation, King's Affection, Rebel: Thief Who Stole The People, etc.). Sorry, music producers, but technology can't beat out real musicians. At least not yet.
But the plot goes in circles, especially later on in the drama. They could have done the dual roles of Kang To as a policeman and Gaksital so much better in terms of him disappearing and reappearing and how he manages to elude detection and the notice of his policemen peers while playing their mortal enemy, and I wanted to see Shun Ji and Kang To as friends longer before we see them wanting to rip each other apart (this was one of my main issues with My Country: A New Age as well; this and that the plot made no sense from start to finish). And the torture, gosh, so much torture! Seriously, enough with the revolving door of getting captured, tortured and released. That on repeat over and over.
This is why I really, REALLY want this redone. If someone kept the premise and all the really strong parts and improved the weak ones, this could be a fantastic and unique drama, especially with the improved production value of Kdramas now. Someone, please remake this!!!
It has a very similar feel to Signal and Tunnel in terms of the tight writing and pacing (I think it was easier to follow than the two I just mentioned, as those at times got super twisty and confusing), but maybe more character driven, with a big emphasis on family (think Back To The Future, but without the comedy). It has romance but it doesn't distract from the main plot. I can see why people said the leads had no chemistry, but I think it's because the romance shows more as a deep admiration and companionship that grows between the leads as they work tirelessly to save people and improve everyone's future. That's why we see no lovey-dovey behavior in this; it would have immediately given the drama a different feel and tone, and shifted the emphasis from its main focus. There is another romance in this story that actually sometimes becomes more of a focus than the one between the main leads.
I think the part that made this story feel different than Tunnel and Signal and which gives the drama its unique flavor is that because the leads are not detectives and because of the family emphasis, they have a very different perspective than the main leads you normally find in mystery/thriller dramas and that causes them to go about investigating the case(s) differently (since they are trying to save people from their fates that they already know about AND find the killer all the while navigating deeply personal connections to people in the town of Woojeong; these dynamics made it difficult for the characters to see everyone around them objectively, which made for a fascinating setup for this drama).
My only gripe is the 80's downtown of Woojeong. It's painfully obvious it's a set. It looks like the lot used in The Bridal Mask that was supposed to look like the 30's and in this, it's meant to be the 80's. Another part looked like the neighborhood set used in Reply 1988 that somehow looked less like a set than here (do they think we can't tell the plants are all fake? C'mon, we're not that oblivious!). This aspect pulled me out of the story a bit more than I would have liked, but it's still well done in other ways!
I actually loved both the leads in their roles; 1987 Hee Seop (as a character and the actor himself) was a highlight for me, and I thought the actress who played 1987 Mi Sook did an excellent job making me shudder every time she was on screen cause of how psycho she was; just her expressions and the way she talked drove me nuts, and I think that was intentional. She reminded me of K from Inspector Koo (which I thought was terrible; there was way too much screen time for K in that as she was SO crazy and yet I felt like the drama kept trying to make us like her and empathize with her which I couldn't stand); if Mi Sook had as much screen time in this drama as K had in Inspector Koo, I would have bailed on this drama.Thankfully, that was not the case! In this drama Mi Sook is shown to be a person with a really tough life, but who still has no excuse for some of the awful things she chooses to do.
This story also has one of the coziest happy endings I've seen in a Kdrama. Vastly prefer it to the open ending of CLOY which was sweet but ultimately unsatisfying for me or My Love From The Star which was even weirder. They're all "happy" endings, but this one is the only satisfying ending (again, in my opinion).
I also thought the teachers were an awesome part of the story, and I loved how they interwove the students' stories with the teachers' stories. The way the problem students were dealt with was not very realistic, but I liked the focus on teachers in this drama that the other dramas dropped. 2015 had some focus on teachers, as well as 2021, but I don't even remember the teacher in 2017. This is also the only school drama where any "school" is shown to happen in the classroom. The rest of the dramas (except the woodworking focus in 2021) just have their stories happen AT school. Another way of putting this is that in the other School dramas besides 2013, school is just the setting, not the focus.
With all that said, this is definitely the best of the "School" dramas (ranked from best to worst: 2013, 2017, 2015 and 2021 (the writing for this one was very strange; nowhere near the level of quality you get in the other School dramas)), though I can't stand all the parent/principal/teacher politics in ANY of them (All the administrators in these school dramas are MESSED UP. I hope the school politics is exaggerated for the sake of dramatic effect and isn't remotely how schools function in Korea... I know some parents can be very tough to deal with and their portrayal here might not be that far off in some cases, but the way these schools' leadership functions is a joke.).
The two most powerful parts for me were when Hye Seong's mom, right before she dies, tells Hye Seong: "You know something? An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. If you live that way... everyone in this world will become blind. All those people who are rude to you because you're fortunate, it's just because they're jealous. So don't hate them, don't be mean to them, and feel sorry for them. Just promise me. You won't hate someone to the point that it'll ruin your life. Once a person is born into this world, this life is not even long enough to love each other, right?"
This theme is further developed at the end when Kwan Woo asks Do Yeon what the difference is between Soo Ha and Joon Gook. She says she doesn't know and he responds with, "Min Joon Gook had no one. No one who trusted him. No one who listened to him. No one who loved him. And he had no one to protect. But, if he'd had that one person, he might have lived differently. Like Park Soo Ha."
This drama highlights that two people with similarly horrible circumstances and good reason to hate and want revenge can turn out differently just through the presence of love in their lives. I think that's an insightful observation!
I also just love the thoughtfulness of this screenwriter's dramas. She's my favorite!