Best Bromance trio in Kdrama land!!!

To sum this drama up, this is a quick enjoyable watch that will leave you moved and with a big smile on your face most of the time.
With a solid story, strong cast, witty dialog, and awesome characters, what's not to enjoy.
The winning recipe is by far the bromance between the three male leads, it surpasses any I have seen in Kdramas (better than My Mister), it will leave you feeling moved, happy, warm, and strangely jealous at the same time. Who would say no to such a strong long lasting bond between three single middle aged men, friendship that is shown to have endured many lige events, up and downs, with each of them going through their highs and lows, and their two buddies always there to share the laughter and the tears giving the best support and shoulder to each other.
There were many silly and funny things that they pulled on each other (like crashing on their friend's first camping date) but many more moments that showed how they truly cared and genuinely worried about each other, like how whenever they felt even the slightest possibility that one of them was feeling under the weather they would fly to be by his side. It was heartwarming and moving beyond expressions. For me above anything else that part of the story made this drama all the more worth the watch.

I know I might be hated for this, but I lately realized that I am a sucker for dramas with a 12 episode format.
I honestly don't know if in this drama's case it had been by choice or if it was a result of some mid-production decision, and I don't care to know in all honesty, cause what I care about is that I much prefer it over the usual 16~24 episode format, and I am positive that it was the perfect format for this specific drama. Someone might clap back saying "if you realy enjoyed a drama, you would not say that, no, you would be appreciating every second of it and wishing for more", and I would reply to that with "what is your proof to that?! What proves that a favorite drama of mine would have been any less favorable if it had been shorter, also haven't you ever heard of sequels that destroy a series? Too much of a good thing is not always the right way to go about it".
Haven't you ever loved a drama to pieces, while still wishing a certain character or story arch had been cut even a little bit? I have.
There are drama who have a simple main premise, but choose to plant many side characters each with an intricate web of side plots, and while it sometimes turns out with a positive outcome with viewers sometimes even rooting for and more invested in one of the side plots, I find that in most cases the opposite happens with too much filler stories, where in the best case scenario if it doesn't completely put one off or ruin the whole experience, you're still left fast forwarding a lot of scenes on a second watch or even sometimes first watch.

In the case of Divorce Attorney Shin, everything was to the just the right amount, each character was carved in a way that made them interesting, and you sometimes find yourself intrigued by their background story, but you're just shown the perfect amount of back-story enough to flesh out the character and make it relatable without going into too much details that could jeopardize the flow of the main storh. Even for a plot that heavily relies on past events that took place before the story picks up, We don't get too much flashbacks played over character brooding into the distance or getting drunk in the current time. There are details and events that although highly relevant to the plot are only ever hinted upon which is kind of refreshing and something that I appreciate in the directing of a drama or the writing of works of fiction, where the writer leaves a space for the viewer/reader to imagine and build their own version of events based on their own personal interpretatio.
I also really liked how this drama didn't follow in the tracks of other rom-com dramas nowadays, where it almost feels like the writers had a prior wish to become matchmakers or something, with the drama ending with not even one single character not in a romantic relationship with another character, however much it may feel very forced.

For fans of romance dramas, this drama might sound lacking in this sense, but trust me, such slice of life type of dramas that depict everyday characters going about their everyday lives (check my other favorite kdramas like Misaeng or My Mister) can be in some cases even better that the usual romantic and melodramatic stories in making the viewer think and appreciate what it means to be blessed to be surrounded with people who care about you. This drama left me wishing I had such a strong and powerful bonds with my friends, that's how great the main trio's friendship was.


All in all, I highly recommend to all, especially to fellow fans of Cho Seung Woo he was very charismatic and endearing in this one.

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A shorter oddly more draggy sequel, that traded epicness for romance

A deeply flawed yet highly entertaining ride this drama has been.
☆DISCLAIMER☆
This review is only to those who have watched season 1 and season 2.
I will be discussing each aspect of my rating separately.

Story and writing:
The story, in terms of the fantasy and lore, unfortunately suffered a lot this season.
Season 2 hits off with a flash forward 3 years after the end of S1, we are shown quite a lot of clumsily put-together flashbacks to explain to, or rather mystify, the viewer as to what exactly took place after the death of the FL in S1's finale, and even after we manage to satisfy ourselves with the explanation given to us, we are still dealt some comically mystifying and convenienty mashed up rules to the magic involved in order to satisfy the needs of the plot and make it move forward.
To elaborate further;
Much of the rules, if they were ever properly explained didn't make much sense and left one *rolling eyes* mumbling okeeeeey!. We also come accross a couple of contradicting aspects and sudden power shifts like healing powers etc, that in hindsight leaves one wondering why they were never utilized prior. Also seeminly highly wise and powerful characters would constantly be changing their explanation of how the magic behind soul shifting works, and even worse things just ultimately transpire in a totally different manner. other times powerful side characters (park jin, seo yul, master lee) would mysteriously vanish at the most critical moments only to suddenly reappear after sh*t had already hit the fan to stand around and discuss it. A lot of these minor frustrations add up to make one feel like the writers were giving themselves enough viable cards and options to wriggle their way out of any tight spots that come up, all thanks to the highly sophisticated and complicated world that they themselves created in the first place.

Among the other smaller gripes that I had with the story writing, was how everything was built in a way that ensured our main leads were brought together, and despite that being a common trope of many a rom-com plot in K-dramaland, it still felt forced and too convenient, I guess one just has to accept the "they are destined to be together" card and simply roll with it.
But what I hated above all was creating emotional dying scenes and even holding a funeral, just for it all to turn out to be fake, only for the sake of creating a cheap cliffhanger. It made me just wish they were actually dead. I don't mind the suspense with a grievously wounded lead like Seo Yul, but to fake deaths, that was such a sick move by the writers. Also in my humble opinion, you can create an epic saga about good fighting evil with the good prevailing, while still showing sacrifices and deaths on the good side, not every single character has to survive physically to be considered a happy ending. Just saying.

The pacing was not one of the best apsects about S1, but still overall it was highly enjoyable. But season2 easily outdid its predecessor in bumpy pacing, with 2/3 of the drama wasted running in circles of ( missed hints>confusions>angst>break up>making up>and back to more missed hints ). Although watching the two re-fall in love from scratch honestly felt fun to watch, the romance plot line just took comparatively too much run time for its own good, it reached a point where it felt clichéd and dragging I just wanted the big reveal to happen already (and when it finally did oh boy was it lackluster), and it also took away much needed time from the core issues at hand that needed to be addressed to insure a proper closure, those issues were only given less than a third of the running time, leaving us with 2 last episodes that are too rushed, one almost feels like gasping for air watching them, and with sudden shifts between scenes feeling like whiplashes. We are promised a grand and epic battle, only for it to end in mere minutes with every one watching at the sides in a safe environment and Jang Uk doing all the work. Honestly, nothing made much sense with that fire bird plot, evil plotting wise or how it was handled (if it is destined to hatch then let us hatch it earlier duh!)

the characters:
Our all so mighty ML who is supposedly feared by even the greatest of mages thanks to the power of the ice stone, was somehow rendered into a middle schooler both in emotions and inconsistency. Still his journey climbing up from the dark pit he had thrown himself into at the beginning, and how the FL helped warm and light up his world was endearing and heartfelt.
The bigger problem though was our FL, who was, even by her own words, foolish and weak especially during the first half of the drama. She had the face of Naksu (for reasons that made not much sense to begin with) so I would assume that most viewers were like me in hoping that she would regain her powers and we would finally be graced with more scenes of our bad-ass FL for a change , a prospect that was dangled in front of our eyes since the character was introduced S1ep01, but alas, we only ever witness a shrivel of Naksu in character, and even Jin Bu Yeon's powers are only ever displayed briefly. There were a couple of instances where I thought there had been an ample opportunity for the writers to choose to show her stand up and defend herself, to be deserving of the powerful souls that lies within her, like when after regaining her memories she decided to face Jin Mu, the man behind her madness and death in S1, and chose to dive into a treacherous place for the sake of beating him. I thought surely then she will somehow survive and come out on her own (after all we know that among the remaining powers left within her is the ability to cast away evil writhes and spirits), but God forbid no! they still chose to create an unbelievable sequence (involving coming up with the idea that she is the reincarnation of an old powerful mage) just in order to make the ML be the hero of the day and save the damsel in distress. Even in the final scenes of the finale, they totally had the chance to show that Naksu, whose soul had been spared the owner of the body, was working on regaining her long lost prowess. But no! The exact opposite, She adamantly expresses her absolute wish NOT to train, and to stay completely dependent on the ML. That was just disappointing tbh.

As for much of the side characters, they were mostly just that, side kicks stored on a shelf only picked up and utilized for conveniency's sake or to provide some elements of humor and immediately shelved back thereafter.
while I really liked how the crown prince was portrayed here and was somewhat satisfied that his character was thankfully one of the ones that witnessed a redemption, I can not still get over the fact that he left Jin Mu to become gwanju after all his evil deeds in S1.
Seo yul, felt bland as ever for the most part, but on a positive note his brooding sad expression here perfectly matched his lone wolf life in this season more than the previous one. The only instance were I felt emotionally connected to him was in the plot concering So I , which I honestly was moved and brought to tears by.
Jin Mu this season was too comical of a villain, he was powerless and totally dependent on his minions and other higher ups to realize his evil master plan (which was utterly stupid to begin with)

The acting
Superb on the most part.
A lot of people were turned off and disappointed by the FL casting. story-wise aside, I have to say I found her acting to be very good, especially in the second half when she had started to regain parts of her memory as Naksu. I also strangely felt more romantic chemistry in this season than season 1 (which made me feel kind of torn up), maybe owing to more physical intimacy and kiss scenes, dunno.
Seo yul was a nice cool dude but I have to admit I found the actor's portrayal to be a bit lacking, and how the character was written this season didn't help either.

I can't say I didn't enjoy this drama both seasons, but to be honest, I am of the belief that if there had been less filler plots in both seasons, both could have then been made to fit nicely into a 20 episodes format drama. Then I think with such high-end CGI and great casting, this could have easily been one of a kind classic.

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A fast paced bullet train of a revenge drama, that almost ended in a train-wreck

[DISCLAIMER] MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!!!
READ ONLY IF YOU HAVE FINISHED WATCHING THE DRAMA

I binge watched the whole drama in 3 days. With a unique and fast paced plot, it felt like riding a roller coaster. The whole cast did a marvelous job, especially SJK as the grandson and the magnificent LSM as the grandfather. That duo was everything for me, how their relationship progressed from suspicion, to enemosity, to camaraderie, to trust was a work of art.

Now I wish to discuss the main issue at hand, which is the plot itself.
While the fast paced first episode pulled me in, the fantasy element in ep2 initially put me off (my mistake for not checking out the original work's synopsis first and not taking the title literally), but eventually we come to accept the fact that our hero HW had died and was reborn (for some reason midway) as DJ; the grandson of the soonyang family, the owners of the corporation he had previously worked at as HW. We also soon learn that the person he was reborn as, the youngest grandson DJ, had been dead and long forgotten by the time we saw HW working at Soonyang in 2022.
Although at a loss as to why and how he was reborn as DJ (just as much as we are), he accepts the truth (too swiftly tbh) and soon finds a purpose in this newfound life he was bestowed; he decides to take revenge on the Soonyang family that were behind his murder as HW, while also trying to salvage his poor family and save his mother from her untimely death.
First, He has to fight his way towards success and power in order to establish a place for himself in the family that he was initially not considered a part of (his father is an illegitimate son of the founder, who married an actress against his father's wishes and got disowned). He uses his knowledge of future events and the mental capabilities and expertise he acquired in his previous life, to one-by-one beat down all the evil and corrupt members of the Soonyang family, in order to reach his ultimate goal of becoming the chairman of the company, a promise disguised as a warning that he had made early on to his grandfather and the founder of soonyang.

So, in essence the story at first seems to depict an elaborate, smart and meticulously plotted revenge. He chooses to squash the business of the evil and corrupt members of his family, whom he knows one of which had orchestrated (in the future to come) his murder as HW and most probably had been behind DJ's death.
We are also shown clearly, that despite DJ's ability to utilize his knowledge of the future to change certain outcomes in the present, it is clearly established that when it comes to matters of life and death, there is nothing he can do, and no matter how he manages to change details in people's lives, ones who were destined to perish will ultimately perish (like HW's mother). So by this point, any rational viewer would realize that DJ as well is bound to meet his demise sooner or later. And despite an initial failed attempt at his life, I for one knew I would be disappointed if the drama ended with him alive.
So for that reason, I was not shocked or angry like others seem to have been when the writers opted to show him getting killed. On the contrary, that was one thing that made sense to me (much more than the mechanics behind his reincarnation into DJ or his shifting back to HW did). In all honesty, somewhere in my brain that was already exercising a major amount of suspension of logic, I somehow had the feeling that the drama will choose to use the card of "HW hadn't died", and I foresaw the possibilites that he might as well die as DJ as destined to happen, and return to his previous/future self as HW.
And that was exactly how it unfolded, but with a major plot twist. A twist that helped answer a question that must have been on everyone's minds since ep 1; namely the unrevealed background story of how a impoverished high school graduate managed to climb his way up to become a team manager and the trusted right hand man of the chairman of a large corporation, it managed to provide a convincing albeit sad, dark and unexpected answer. That exact same twist, served also as a kind of hint as to the important question that we as viewers had chosen to push to the back of our minds all through the drama; none other than why he was reborn as DJ in the first place. The "how" is impossible and futile to try to wrap your head around at that point, but "why" he, HW was reliving his life as DJ, was a question that certainly needed answering.
In that sense, the twist that was revealed at the end of ep 15 although shocking and somewhat disappointing made absolute sense, and neatly tied all the loose ends. HW was partly responsible for DJ's demise. We had also been shown at that point brief flashbacks of HW's miserable life at the time, paving the way to our understanding of how he was pushed into silence and obedience, and why he chose to do that against his conscience in order to secure himself a stable income that would help pull him and his family out of misery and poverty, living for 20 years serving his masters, the same people that he always had known were capable of the most heinous of deeds, without questioning their orders or judging it. One can say that he kind of brainwashed himself into becoming their ever-so loyal servant and slave.
Having a rego at life as DJ, he thought, his purpose lied in taking revenge. But he ultimately found out that it was all for repentance. He needed to right the wrongs that were done to him, both as HW and DJ, and hold accountable the people responsible. He was reborn as DJ to gain insight into the person he had witnessed getting killed with his own eyes and chose instead to erase all memory of his existence and untimely death. He was reborn as DJ, to learn about the machinations of the chaebol family he once served, to achieve the things he had long craved for; a higher education and a stable family life. But although he was focused and determined to prove himself and make the most out of the miracle that is him being reborn as a chaebol family's youngest grandson, he must have known that no matter how much he tried, he could never alter his destiny.
Logistically and logically speaking, him switching back to HW at first felt ridiculous. How come a week-long coma could enable someone to experience 17 years worth of life? But, seeing the events that unfolded, how HW chose to give justice to DJ's wrongful murder, while also ridding his grandfather's legacy, that is soonyang, of the corrupt and evil family that almost but all destroyed it. But, how the writers chose to achieve that feat was somewhat laughable imo (check the finale's recorded phone call, a conspirator for murder who forgets to end a call, and address his criminal mastermind boss who comically names himself for the audience LOL), and although that kind of dampened my enthusiasm in the plot that up to that point was neatly and tightly woven for the most part, setting my frustration aside and focusing on the outcome, that is HW took revenge for himself both as HW and DJ and that although DJ was tragically killed by his kin, his death wasn't totally in vain, soonyang was rid of the poisonous venom that was choking it.

On a side note:
I learned after watching the final episode, that the original web novel has a totally different ending, what could be considered a conventional happy ending. Some people might be enraged as to why the writer of the drama chose to change the ending in such a drastic way instead of simply adapting the same ending. I can not speak with certainty since I haven't read the original, but as a rule, I am of the firm belief that if a story that has a fantasy or sci-fi element chooses to establish certain terms and codes, it MUST stick to it. And since Reborn Rich had chosen to (rightly) establish that altering people's death is out of the question, it only makes sense that they stick to their rule, however much it might upset the fans.
Watching the final couple of episodes, I had a suggestion to how differently the story could have been written. they could have instead chosen to adopt a parallel universe scenario (one which was almost alluded to near the end with a side to side shot of HW and DJ) ie, that two peoples' souls swapped into each other in two different universes. My suggestion although a bit confusing would have been then that they make another actor play the role of HW after our lead was reborn as DJ, and when he returned as HW they show DJ as the same actor in flashbacks. I know Some might laugh at this, but look me in the eye and tell me you were not bothered by the fact that no one recognized HW's face as that of DJ. *side eye*

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A fun enjoyable ride with a bunch of unique characters

I am always intrigued and delighted to watch media that represents minorities especially mentally or intelectually challenged individuals. It goes without saying that their representation has been for long on the rare side, and sometimes their depiction felt inaccurate (with excpetions of course), but lately the world and societal norms have shifted in a way that is opening more doors, breaking down more walls and becoming more and more accepting and open-minded to discussing such topics on a deeper level, addressing not only what it means to have mental or intellectual disabilities, but also showing how society can sometimes be ill-equipped to deal with such indiviuals in a way that ensures they are not left out or marginalized, but alas on the contrary in many cases breed inequality against them.

Autism Spectrum in particular is one mental disorder that should definitely be receiving more coverage, and I find that sometimes lighter content media could be the key to spreading a quick and helpful awareness and understanding among the public, because not everyone is ready to read a book or watch a scientific documentary, but who doesn't like to learn about different people in a light and enjoyable story settin, whether it be fictional or inspired by true events.

Saying that Extraordinary Attorney Woo was a fun ride would be an understatement, I nearly binge watched the whole series in under 2 days which might have been a normal achievement for me a couple of years ago, but now as a mother of two it has become quite the impossible feat. The drama uses a one-case-per-episode format, and I loved how there was a wide and varying range of cases, each showing different characters, and at the same time discussing a different topic that concerns the Korean society in an interesting and thought-enducing way. I also appreciated how they accurately depicted what it means to be a lawyer, especially one who works under a big law firm, the agony of being torn between the interests of your client and your conscience, and also sometimes how one can sometimes win and other times lose, but also how sometimes you can win on paper but feel like you lost and vice versa.

As for the characters, the main female lead was simply put the cake, the icing and the cherry. The actress' performance was superb. I might have had some minor grievances with the writing of the character, in that she would at times be extra social awkward, unable to read between the lines, or interpret people's expressions or metaphors, but other instances she would be very normally intuitive and able to infer people's feelings just like a non-autistic person. I know that there is a wide range of autistim (a point that is thankfully discussed in the drama) and that people can grow and mature overtime and experience, but it felt here like she rhe degree of awkwardness was shiting up and down according to the needs of the situation.

The main male lead, I honestly find difficutly referring to him as that. Although he is a main character and the romantic interest of the FL, and I liked the actor a lot and found his performance was great, I thought that the writing was greatly unfair to him. Among all the other members of the Hanbada team that we became acquainted to, he was the one that really needed the most fleshing out, but despite that he somehow felt like a side character that just appeared every now and then to provide a romantic plot line, his character felt too much two-diemntional for a ML, in that we never know anything about HIM, im essence who he is, for me at least there were a lot of questions filling my head concerning him varying from the deep to the simple ( like how he came to share an appartment with att. Knon for instance), and I kept holding out for an episode that would venture into his character background story deeper, but it never came, and these feelings that I couldn't seem to shake off that his depiction was shallow, only made me question what made him develop romantic feelings towards our FL in the first place. I am not saying that there was no chemistry, on the contrary I find both actors delivered a performance that left butterflies in ones stomach, a smile or a tear sometimes, and I totally cared for them and cheered them on, but that was all thanks to the actors and the dialog, but the writing on the other hand focused more on the law aspect of the story with the romance plot sometimes falling to the curbside. Don't get me wrong, I loved the romance here, but I could have been more moved and it could have left a deeper impression on me if there had been more light shed on the male lead, and the couple's journey given more screen time overall.

I've discussed too much in the character and writing aspect, but I will just say that I really loved all the members of the Hanbada team, but above all I especially LOVED attorney Jung, whose presence in any scene simply lighted up my screen. He was the perfect mentor to our rookies, he was competent, honest, tolerant, kind, humble, but above all humanely flawed in such a way he was one of the most believable and endearing characters in the whole series.

The direction was overall great, with nice camera work, but I sometimes hated the transition between the scenes, especially shifting from a personal situation to a courtroom setting, sometimes it just felt too sudden and sharp to the point I was surprised and distracted. I am not here referring to the instances where attorney Woo's autistic tendencies drove her to take a sudden and extreme shift in her thoughts which happened constantly, that was believable and necessary for an accurate depiction of an autistic person, I am rather talking about scene editing, or maybe it is a problem with the screenplay i honestly dunno because I don't have enough knowledge about these things, but it just felt like I was reading a comic book with a character mid-sentence, only to turn the page and find the next frame showing a whole different situation.

The music, nothing major stuck to my head but overall it suited the feel of the story and the atmosphere of the drama.

Rewatch value, this one's high, maybe not immediately but I think that later on, there a lot of scenes and interactions that could be enjoyable to experience once more, and maybe rewatching such a drama might help one ponder and reflect more about certain topics.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this drama. It is hard to be confident about how accurate the depiction of a person with disability was achieved, especially when it comes to autism which is a whole wide spectrum, but I can say that I personally felt it was believable and overall accurate.

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A perfect Romantic coming of age story

Let me just start by saying that what pushed me to write a review is the fact that I found a couple of reviews here who stated some very strange and unbelievable nonsense regarding the concept behind the story here as being a mystery of who will become the father!!!!! What?! I will not say haven't you been paying attention through out the show for hints or whatever, rather Haven't you watched the first episode for heaven's sake? Very early on the viewer is outright shown that the outcome of the romance that is about to unfold is unfortunately doomed, that the grown up FL's daughter's father is someone else other than the ML.
The fact that some people failed to grasp that, most propably I would guess out of sheer unwillingness to accept the fact that a KDrama can willingly choose to do that, and they kept watching with the hope that a twist will come along that will explain how the ML for some freak reason changed his name and had plastic surgery making him unrecognizable both in physical appearnce and identity to his own 14 year old daughter. Come on guys!!! If the girl was mearly reading written diaries written in codes, I would understand the mix up, but she was shown albums of old pictures by her grand-ma and she was inquiring who was the ML in the pics?! Her mom was mentioning her dad as being very much alive and working overseas! HELLO!!!!

now that I have vented out my anger at those delusional viewers who unfortunately end up giving lower ratings to the show because of their unfounded disappointment at the ending, let me very briefly state my humble review of this show.
I need not say just how much I enjoyed it, since my above rates just show, but let me state that I totally LOVED the idea of a show about falling in love AND breaking up, and not in the common fashion of heartbreak and angst, but rather the characters and their lives progressing in a way that shows them maturing by the passing of time and accumulation of experiences, and how their budding romance was a very important part of this process, how they both paved their own paths to a successful future with support from the other, and how those paths started to deviate from the other naturally. Because honestly, to me this rings more truth more than all the happily-ever-afters that we constantly get shown on TV and in movies.
Also,, let me put it out there, I would understand if people are disappointed with La la land for example, but this one is just totally different in that we knew the fact beforehand....way before the actual ending, actually I was thinking to myself while watching how I appreciated how the writers didn't play the boring game of "who's the father" that the reply series is famous for. As a viewer I find this to not be my cup of tea.

The only things I would have preferred had been done different in this show regarding writing, is how starting a certain point in the drama the ML's intial drive force to work hard ie his family got entirely pushed out of the picture, to the point than when they suddenly reappeared in the final episode, I was like yeah right....his family I totally forgot about. I would have appreciated if they were depicted just a wee little bit more in between especially when he was making life changing choices in his profession.
As for changes to the production, what was the need for a different actress to portray Na Hee Do as a grown up. Kim Tae Ri could have totally pulled of a 40-something mom thank you very much. I have nothing against the actress that played her (though tbh I was always annoyed by her voice) but what was the need to use a different actress for this character and this character only (other than the ML's younger brother which would totally wouldn't have worked with the same actor and appeared for a couple of seconds as a grown up). If Kim Tae Ri had played the older version as well, we viewers would certainly have felt more connection to the character, and the final scenes would have felt more seamless. Also, i honestly think that if KTR played both young and older versions, people would not have had such empty hopes that the ML was the father whol will show up eventually played by a different actor or something. Just guessing, cause I honestly can'twrap my head around viewers who were watching with hope of happily ever after. But still all those minor grievances did not really alter my opinion of the show as a whole.

If by some miracle, someone who hasn't yet watched the show and is checking out reviews to decide, is still reading this let me put it this way .....The story here is no mind boggling mystery with a title that is the only hint given (duh)...it just isn't! Rather, what this show is, is a coming of age story with a truely beatiful cute romance that will constantly make you swoon and blush and wish to fall in love the way they did, there is no love at first sight, no stupid initial denials, no love triangles, no needless push and pull, no acts of noble idiocy, none of these so well trodden tropes here, rather what you get are a bunch of strong and motivated characters with unique backgrounds and different upbringing settings, that bond during a critical part of their lives, whose existence in each others' lives was a driving force to push forward, grow up, persevere, excel, and become successful each in his own path. Their emotional connections transcends time and distance and even with no direct communications.
The pacing was great never felt any lags or rushed parts, and although the more we drew nearer to the final episode I was worried the last couple of episodes would not be able to wrap everything up and satisfy us as to what lead up to the current day time, I genuinely enjoyed the last episodes more than anything and thought they were the perfect closure to a perfect relationship, down to the last scene after the finale's credits. I just love how such simple scenes can speak loads and loads about people, their history. Just perfect writing period.

The acting was beyond amazing. I am growing more and more a fan of Nam Joo Hyuk, his acting here was simply put just perfect. Kim Tae Ri is also such a great actress and although I intially worried she would not be believable as a high school student younger than the ML, she proved me wrong. They were both able to portray great emotional chemistry. All the side characters were given enough balance of story development and screen time in a way that gave each of them a space to shine. The directing was wonderful, my only gripe would be how I sometimes felt the camera made people look like they had bloodshot eyes and extra red palms LOL

All in all, this was a great show, great writing with a good story pacing, awesome characters and magnificent performance, good direction and cinematography. Do not pay attention to the odd reviews here who say they were disappointed by the ending, it's a great show and with a fitting believable heartfelt ending. You will certainly enjoy each momente of this ride.

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A feel good sweet coming of age romcom

Thirty but seventeen has the perfect recipe, it balances family / slice of life / romcom and even melo very well. It has its fair share of feel good moments, strong uplifting messages, emotional plots, hilarious interactions, not to forget ""CUTENESS ALERT.""..almost all the characters are an extra extra dose of cute.

The plot features a beautifuly balanced recipe of romance, comedy and melo all set to a background of a coming of age story, whether it be our heroine's belated awkward coming of age, our hero's emotional and psychological coming of age, or our sweet nephew-nim's literal coming of age.
The drama will bring you to tears constantly, both from crying and laughing.
I loved the relationship between the main characters and felt the way it developed and each respective character grew up in front of our eyes was very realistic and hearfelt.
I always appreciate a drama that makes me fall in love with its characters and wish they truely existed so I could make their acquaintance, and Thirty but Seventeen not only made me fall for its leads but nearly all the side characters. That was thanks to the fun and witty interactions, the heartfelt and sweet script, the strong on-screen chemistry, aided by a strong and believable performance from all, not just our main trio, but also their "kaseifu no mita"-esque housemaid Jennifer.
I appreciated that the romance here did not suffer from the common tropes of Kdramas, like love triangles (we only have hints nothing major with lingering repercussions like other dramas), or noble idiocy (there were certainly moments it nearly felt like we were heading that dark road only to be delighted by a sweet turn of events or a moment of truth). Above all, I loved how every one spoke their minds and didn't act like total idiots when it came to their feelings, even if that meant replying to "why do you look at me like that?" With "I don't know, me either". We watched our main leads achieve psychological growth and flourish emotionally through their relationships with each other and their "family". Any slight sense of slowness in the romance plot in the first half felt accounted for and explained, because we've come to understand the characters, and their mutual feelings of respect and consideration.
The acting was great by all the cast, it was my first drama for the male lead, and I hope it won't be my last. I totally loved him in this character.
The music was sweet, and the classical tracks were as expected played well and fitted the mood. I also liked the sound effects (like an air horn, a cicada etc), which were perfectly utilized to maximize the effect of certain moments especially comedic ones.
Rewatch value is high, I feel like I might be coming back for a dose of cuteness sometime in the future.

This was a fun and enjoyable ride which I couldn't pause once I started. I definitely recommend to all regardless of your favorite genre, because I for one have been watching too many dramas of dark-ish and heavy plots which are mostly my favorite genres, and was craving a feel good and fun watch, and this drama was certainly the perfect choice.

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A psychological crime thriller of many layers

Beyond Evil definitely deserves recognition as one of the best dramas depicting psychological crime detective thriller.

With a dark gripping and highly thrilling plot to keep you at the edge of your seat.
the story first starts as a whodunit mystery of a 20 year old case that haunts our protagonist and essentially destroyed his family and life. and the story is written in a way that makes you doubt each character, if not for being the criminal, but for harboring evil and hiding a dark side in one way or the other. The first couple of episodes were a bit slow paced but serve a very important role in setting the stage, introducing the characters and the background story. The pace then steams up into a rollercoaster, you will be amazed at how each episode brings a new bomb of a revelation that leaves you shocked and intrigued. Starting halfway through the drama, I found myself constantly wondering "If all of this is revealed now so early on, how will the writer fill the rest of the drama?!", and each episode just proved me wrong. I will not say that the plot never loses steam, but let's just say that this drama left me feeling like peeling an onion. You think you've uncovered the truth, only to discover that you've only just hit the surface and a lot more is yet to unravel.

The story itself had many aspects which were all well balanced and perfectly written, it portrayed deep sorrow and hope, psychological pain and strength of character, vengeance and trust, frienship and enemosity. And the smart script, marvelous cinematography and direction helped bring out such a story in a gripping and truthful way (the story takes place in an undeveloped rural area, and I appreciated how the lighting especially in dark scenes was kept to a minimun to convey both the natural and mental feeling of darkness)

Above all the acting was one of the strongest points to the drama, thanks to solid performances by the two male leads, and their friends from the police force. In particular Shin Ha Kyun delievered a stellar almost-flawless performance, his acting was perfect shifting seamlessly from sad to mysterious to crazy to scary to evil to cute. He at times showed how broken and unstable he was, other times he was strong with a unwaveringsebse of justice, he was vengeful and other times forgiving. He had the best smile to send shivers down someone's spine. His acting alone could have carried the whole drama, but our second lead Yeo Jin Goo also delivered a very strong and believable performance that helped the viewer care for the two male leads' dinamic and how their relationship will evolve.

The music was very good with a lot of great tracks both instrumental and vocal that all fitted the atmosphere of the plot.

This is a strong recommendation to all crime/detective drama fans out there. Do not be fooled or put off by the slow paced plot the first couple if episodes, for you will be soon thrown down a dark pit of mystery and evil.

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Vincenzo might not be the first noire drama out there, but it sure went full throttle with the genre, what with Mafia, deep state corruption, torture, revenge, murder and everything in between. But other than the usual noire that mixes in a pinch of drama, and a dash of romance, it mixed quite a large dollop of comedy. Whether the recipe works or not, depends on each viewer, so while some might have found the dose of comedy a tad too much, others found it was just the right amount and loved the drama all the more for it. I for one, could have appreciated a more balanced recipe, but I still enjoyed it all in all.

From the drama's kickoff, you become attracted to the original premise, the fast paced plot and the sleek execution. An Italian mafia family's consigliere of Korean origin heads back to Korea to retrieve a vault full of gold.
The first few episodes while a little slow paced served well to introduce the characters and pave the ground for the story, and during that phase the comedy was just to the right level and served its purpose, to show the sudden shift in the hero's life and the jarring difference between his background in Italy and what he finds himself thrown into in Korea. I was laughing with tears at vincenzo's demise upon arriving at Korea, and enjoyed the comedic relief in the simple interactions with the side characters and even simple moments like our mighty hero begging a pigeon to shut up so that he can go to sleep, only to have the pigeon raid his bedroom.
The start of the drama was craftly done to show the gap between our hero's true identity and past, and how his move to a different environment surrounded with simple common people affected his demeanour, state of mind and even somehow his priorities. The more he dived deeper into the lives and struggles of the simple plaza tenants, the more he drifted a little further from his dark mafia background, though eventually he relied on his mafia expertise but this time for nobler causes.

As I said, earlier on in the show the comedy served a purpose and was to a degree well-balanced, giving the right amount at the right time. For example, I was LOLing at the scenes where the undercover NIS agent with a Mafia-mania spying on Vincenzo always seemed to see things from an angle that made him mistake vicenzo for an angel in disguise, a mafia with a huge soul and a good conscience.
But the more the drama progressed, the more I guess the writers wanted to stay true to their forte or something, and slapstick comedy started to hit in huge doses. I have no problem with mixing comedy with other genres however serious and heavy they might be, but the right formula depends on the type, amount and timing of the said comedy. In Vincenzo's case, the comedy scenes were sometimes so sudden and ridiculous they kind of felt like a hit in the face especially if they came right after a tragic and intense scene, it left me sometimes with an urge to rub my eyes in disbelief. Comedic relief is one thing, but it should never be so sudden and so slapstick that it totally takes you out of the mood of the drama and pulls you away from the story. (Side mention, the excessive PPL as usual was extra distractive. ugh!!!!)

Putting the comedy aside, like any thriller the main plot relies on a series of confrontations, of attacks and counterattacks. The antagonists plot a scheme, and the protagonist hits back. This format is expected, but unfortunately in vincenzo's case it eventually caused a certain sense of repititiveness. The more the plot progressed, and the more complicated and elaborate the attacks became, the more it relied on unexpected twists and fake cliffhangers, where it essentially became a loope of "the bad guys plot against vincenzo > a cliffhanger shows vincenzo in a pinch > flashbacks in the first few minutes of the following episode show that vincenzo was informed or expected the bad guy's plot and was well prepared and that the whole thing was a ruse and he comes out without bearing even one scratch". While the first few times it felt cool and smart, the more such gotcha moments increased the more it started to feel annoying, repetitive and strangely and ironically predictive. Having our all-mighty anti-hero always conquering and ending up having the upper hand does feel good, but having it happen in that manner most of the time could end up dampening the suspence and killing the thrill, as if the writers start a huge fire only to dump water on it after mere seconds before it even reached a point of being thrilling. You're left watching not worried whether or not he will come out fine, but rather wondering what he has up his sleeves this time.

The acting overall takes a 7, a special shoutout goes to Taecyon for his marvelous performance, hands down the strongest out of all the cast. SJK as usual gave a very solid performance, though at times a little monotone, which I think was mostly due to the writing than anything. The FL's performance was my least favourite among the the main cast (more on that later), first drama for her and I am no fan.

In terms of characters;
First, Vincenzo was a very well written anti-hero and SJK was perfect in the role. He was charismatic, cunning, smart, mysterious and strong-willed, The perfect villain to fight off villains, though to be honest I would have preferred it if the writers had toned down his invincibility level a bit, he doesn't have to lose the fight, but at least show him with a more serious injury than a little scratch every once and a while you know. the background story of his birth and upbringing while very brief, still helped flesh out his character and give it more depth. In terms of character development, under layers and layers of endless charisma and coollness, SJK was able to portray the slighest hints of change of heart nothing major to call development though, and eventually the drama stuck to the point and chose no major redemption, which personally I found more convincing and believable.

The FL on the other hand I had mixed emotions concerning her. I started off hating her and not because of how intially she was ambivalent to justice and rude to her father, but simply because her whole personna felt obnoxious and her nonchalant attitude was sometimes over the top and annoying. The actress' comedy portrayal felt somewhat theatrical and ridiculous, she was supposed to be a smart, strong and competent lawyer, but she sometimes came out as naïve, noisy and spoilt brat. There were moments early in the drama where I genuinely doubted if the actress was doing an impersonation of Jun Ji Hyun in Legend of the Blue Sea, that'show much comical her acting was, she felt like a mermaid out of sea ?. I did eventually manage to come around and accept her only to start questioning her principles in aiding vincenzo's agenda wholeheartedly the way she did, no matter how brutal and lawless it became.
But unfortunately one impression that never changed when it came to the main leads.... was the lack of chemistry between them. I never truely felt a spark between the two of them, but it might just be me, cause he acted so cool and composed all the time, and she was so over the top with her reactions and expressions, that I felt he surely must be annoyed by her as much as I am (LOL), also I never bought the fact he developed romantic feelings for her, it felt kind of forced. And although It is always a downer not to feel enough chemistry to be rooting for an OTP, but thank God this is not a rom-com and romance was never the center plot here. The first kiss scene was pretty good though I gotta admit :)

The side characters (Geumga Plaza tenants) were mostly endearing and I was especially grateful that the writer chose not to delve too much deep and give each of them an episode with a detailed story like other dramas choose to do. Above all they served as a catalyst to Vincenzo's purpose in staying in Korea, helped give him a certain sense of beloging and taught him the meaning of trust, and later became sorta his secret sidekicks, which might have been fun at first but later I found was a bit of a stretch and overdone on the writers side, like others pointed out here in the reviews, having all these people with hidden fighting abilities somehow gathered under one roof by chance was too farfetched!!

Last but not least, the villains (since the show had its fair share of those, 80% of the characters were evil for God's sake) some of them were portrayed too evil and too much lacking a conscience to a degree that was hard to swallow, but they still somehow came out believable, and thankfully they never felt as incompetent like in other shows, which was a great feat considering vincenzo was literraly undefeated all the time lol.
Though personally I would have preferred a bit of an origin story for lawyer Choi, other than being a weird ajumma who dances zumba in public, since imo she was the most worthy adversary to vincenzo. And considering the fact that the drama already had its share of bornt-psychopath main villain, not being provided with any background knowledge of what turned lawyer choi to the path of evil (to a murderous degree at that) made it feel like we had two murderous psychopaths that just happened to cross paths and join hands.

The OST (mostly instrumental) had a bunch of cool tracks, and some were very well utilized to enhance the comedy scenes.

Vincenzo was a drama loaded with originality in terms of premise, interesting characters, and an overall thrilling vibe. although it suffered from minor issues with the plot, the pace and the balance of the comedy, I still have to admit I appreciated its originality and high end production, and overall enjoyed watching it, flaws and all.
I apologise for the lengthy review.

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This drama is unfortunately one of the biggest disappointments I have had in a Korean drama in years, including the ones I chose to drop midway.
I have to admit I decided to watch it ever since news came out of the casting, because as a fan of both seasons of Stranger, I have come to admire Cho Seung-Woo greatly, and was excited for his next project, and for this reason solely, I didn't hesitate to watch, and for the same reason I kept pushing through no matter how frustrated I became with the drama.

Sisyphus is a scifi futuristic drama years in the making, boasts a high production cost, and casts a great ensemble, so what went wrong you ask?

while the production budget aided in creating hollywood-worthy looking scenery thanks to great CGI, and insuring rich cinematography, making the drama come out sleak and eyecatching, but alas the core element of any drama was deeply flawed; the story.

It was a drama whose creators may have well utilized a big production budget, but ended up focusing more on the visuals, and losing focus on what matters the most which is the story, and the cohesiveness of the science fiction plot.

While I admit the premise of the drama is original and cool (time travelling back in time to prevent a war and save the country), the story at its core turned to be a mess and plagued with plot holes, incohesive sequences, unexplained rules, and above all the science behind time travelling if any provided was illogical to say the least.

It goes without saying that any scifi media that discusses time travelling or time bending elements in many cases can prove to be a bit complicated and even sometimes dizzying to watch. But a neatly weaved plot and well written script that establishes a set of cohesive rules to the science behind it, are the key to help the viewer follow along. But in Sisyphus' case, especially during the second half of the drama when the plot finally started shifting from all the meaningless cat-and-mouse-like action phase and started to focus more on the time travelling aspect and the mission to change the past, the scenario in many times ended up creating more questions than it did provide answers, and even when it did provide answers they came too late, were sometimes unconvincing and other times downright illogical.

First, let's discuss the directing and general pace of the drama.
As I mentioned earlier the first half heavily leaned towards elaborate action, featuring a lot of car chases, gun fights etc. Although most of those (especially the post-apocalyptic future scenes) were craftly made and it showed the huge budget and amount of dedication put into creating them, I found myself feeling detached and not interested most of the time. The cinematography was top notch with many of the action sequences relying on sophisticated camera angles (using drones etc) fast moving shots, and wirework, but unfortunately like many other things did in this drama prove, too much of a good thing is not always to the better.

Proof to that, is how the writers time and again chose to assign precious airtime to slow-building action sequences in the future arc, that do little to the story's development other than maybe shedding a bit of light on how the Female Lead survived the harsh distopian post-war Seoul and came to learn to fend for herself, which many times unfortunately felt dragging and a distraction from the present day arc, and created problems in the pacing of the drama.
Or how, for the sake of creating catchy frames and thrilling action scenes, they chose to make everyone fire live ammunition at each other, even though the plot stresses on the fact that one side needs the other alive at all costs....and don't forget to mention that during such shootouts the leads rarely ever get hit, and if they do it is just a graze or a small cut to the arm, but the enemy always falls dead!

Second issue that made the show difficult to enjoy was the characterization, especially that of the antagonists, which was to put it mildly a total train wreck.
First off, the arch nemesis; Sigma, who was supposed to be the ultimate evil criminal mastermind who causes the demise of a whole nation, but who in reality ended up feeling like a silly cutout villain straight out of a comic book. No matter how I found him silly and laughable I always wished the writers had in store a strong background story to explain his grand agenda, but alas it was all just a childish and immature loser's grudge, soooo frustrating.
Also the Control bureau were just so incompetent and dumb watching them was a cringe-inducing ordeal that eventually required major adjustments to my villain-worthy standards.

Now to the main issue at hand; the story.
To end up watching a Scifi drama with half your brain occupied trying to wrap your head around what the hell anyone; both protagonists and antagonists alike; is trying to achieve (with all the gun fights and assassinations you no longer understand if they wanted him dead or alive?), or how a villain's warnings from a physical point of view make no sense whatsoever (kill me and my minions no longer look after your brother who is in limbo thanks to me existing?!!!!) , then It is not an issue of a sophisticated or smart plot, it is simply an issue of an ill-written plot.

There was a constant sense of incompleteness about everything regarding the plot, starting from the simplest and most basic of points (what was Quantam & Time intially selling that made it such a high stock company with a CEO fearured on the cover of Forbes?) to more pressing questions (what circumstances turned Sigma & the control bureau into allies and why?) To most fundamental matters on which the ending depended (If the uploader is never created shouldn't all time travellers from the future vanish simultaneously and not in such a convenient delayed fashion? Also wouldn't travelling back in time a couple of mere minutes ago to save oneself create an unescapable time loop?) And on and on...

The more you watch, the more you find yourself rolling your eyes at the caricaturish villains, and the more interactions you see between the leads and the villain, the more you scratch your head in wonder is it meet or the writers who do not fully comprehend the concept of time travel and the consequences of changing the past on the future?

All in all, Sisyphus may have been a fun to watch in terms of visuals and production, but the more you dive deeper the more you will get disappointed. I started to seriously wonder why such stars chose to take on such a project, and if they had received the full script before shooting started?
This is a drama that gives proof to the old adage, Not all that glitters is Gold.

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A story that had a smart concept but dumb execution.

As you can see from my rating this review will not be of the popular opinion.

First I would like to state that I had started defendant when utnhad just finished airing, but then I put it on hold since then, only to decide to rewatch it 3 years later simply because I had all the episodes downloaded so I thought it would be a waste not to. I do not regret having watched it, maybe because it helped me rethink the concept of rewatching or watching an older drama however popular it may have been , especially after watching many dramas of the same genre that have come out since.
I was hating a lot of things with this drama's story but deep inside I knew it was mostly because my standards as a viewer had become high thanks to many other solid dramas of the same genres, whether it be law, crime, prison, or revenge. I have watched shows that share similar genres like stranger (forest of secrets), signal, prison's playbook, and I hear your voice, dramas that are by no means masterpieces but which enjoyed strongly woven stories that above all showed respect to the viewers' intelligence and boasted solid and believable character development for both protagonists and antagonists.

First let me discuss where this drama scored points...the acting. Ji sung and full stop! Solid performances by all, especially uhm kijoon, but ji sung's alone would have been more than an enough to still make me give acting such a high score. He was able to capture the raw emotions and pain of our hero, you felt for him from start to finish. As for our antagonist, while uhm kijoon performance was to point from start to finish I had my reserves as to the relatability of his character as a villain, which was due to the writing and by no means due to a problem on his part.

Now to where this drama did poorly; the story.

This is in a nutshell a story that had a smart concept but dumb execution.
Let me put it this way, If a drama forces its viewers to have to exercise a fair amount of suspension of disbelief in order to watch, guessing and questioning plot holes and filling in missing gaps every now and then, then the story writing is simply failing right there. End of story.

First off, this story relied on too many conveniencies to work, ranging from the trivial to the huge. To give just a few examples, the brother in law who works as a correctional officer, the mother of the villain who has dementia so can't cause too much trouble recognizing the identity swap, the wife of the good twin who was previously dating the evil twin and also has a son from (ie can be blackmailed into silence.), The DA in charge being a friend of the suspect who happened to visit his house minutes before the murder (in turn becoming an accomplice in the cover up).

The story also stretched the chaebol power card too far (which was in itself one of the biggest conveniencies of all). They show us the cheabol who not only has connections in multiple sovereign bodies such as the police, the DA and the prison, but almost has total control over some corrupt high ups, with such corruption reaching extreme heights at some points (forging fake lab results, stealing confidential case files from the NFS and killing off suspects in prosecution custody etc). The writer must know that the more his villain has to use his connections to cover up his tracks, the more he is creating loose ends and leaving behind even more evidence. Which is exactly what happened in the final epidode where everything unraveled....so miraculously if I may say (to be discussed later).

Another thing that bothered me with the story was that a big portion of the drama felt like a cat and mouse scenario, where the good side takes a step forward, the bad side takes couple of steps back. This while in no means an uncommon tool in this genre, here was done in a very obvious (like minho declaring at one point that it was a race to find the daughter), repitive and following an almost never changing pattern. it became kind of frustrating to be watching the good side plotting a way out and only awaiting the bad side to squash their attempts with a simple wave of the hand (through a call to the high ups or another hit job or both). And for God's sake how easy is it to run a car over with the same huge orange dump truck and get away with it each and every time!!!!!

Worst thing of all was the finale.
In terms of making fun of the viewers' intelligence, those last two episodes were by far the worst. It felt like the writer thought to himself "well they stuck this far, didn't they" and decided to go crazy with the story.
Not only does multiple sides who had sided with the villain for so long decide all of a sudden to come clean (from secretary to wife to corrupt DA friend), but also the smart and conniving villain does a bunch of unbelievably dumb stuff such as meeting with his minion, who is being charged with murder, inside the DA office after interrogation and straight out telling him where he hid a murder weapon!! I was screaming to the screen "haven't you ever heard of voice recorders?!" Worse, the supposedly smart manipulative villain who in an attempt to keep an accomplice under control had been blackmailing him with a recording, turns out that recording included his voice admitting to murder all along!!!! If you have to resort to sudden and inexplicable change of character whether it be intelligence-wise or conscience-wise then you are doing something wrong, Mrs writer.

To sum it up..this drama had a good premise and marvelous cast, but the execution of the story and the details felt sometimes sloppy, sometimes rushed, and other times downright dumb. The pace also felt awkward rushing through the important parts especially at the begining and towards the end, but going super slow and thorough at other parts to the point it felt draggy.
__________________________
The above is my review of the drama and below are some of the points that bothered me the most while watching this drama.
only read if you have watched this drama recently or have an excellent memory of the plot :D
Any discussions regarding regarding these points will be greatly appreciated ;)

1) First and most importantly why did minho choose such a complicated method that involves framing jung woo of murdering his family instead of just killing him. If he had killed him on the same night he would no prevented him from holding the press conference where he had planned to reveal minho's true identity. And please do not try to convince me that he was working by the concept of an eye for an eye, and that he wanted him to feel the loss of a family member just like he did when he was forced to kill his brother!! Not buying it because most surely minho must have suspected jung woo to be receiving help from his colleagues who most surely will continue digging into the case even after jungwoo was incarcerated.

2) so min ho was surprised to learn that the bag that was supposed to be carrying hayeon's body was found empty, and we see a flashback where they explain that sungyu's job was to put hayeon's body inside the bag (or did I get this part wrong?). my question is how did that happen, if minho's plan was to kill hayeon and dispose of her body how come jung woo ended up with an empty bag? Or was minho angry not at the bag being empty but that it was found in the first place?! I didn't quite understand that.

3) how did jung woo know at the crime scene that minho's blood was on the knife he used to stab ji soo?!!! We know he is a DA and all but sure he has no forensic lab at his house. And also how cine minho didn't notice he had a cut through hus gloves, That was too much of a stretch by the script writer imo. Also for crying out loud, what kind of shi**y CSI job did they do that they can't even make a proper comparison between the weapon found at the crime scene and the wounds inflicted on the victim.

4) during the prosecutors investigation it was mentioned that the CCTV footage didn't show anyone other than the apartments' tenants going in and out of the building. we know that the prosecutor friend jung hyuk covered up the fact that he visited the apartment on the day of the murder by deleting the cctv footage. But later on he mentions to minho that the cctv showed him exiting the building after the murder. Minho surely had the dep. Head at the DA's office ready to alter any evidence that connects him to the crime scene, so how come the DA in charge was able to access the footage in the first place.

5) concerning the sequence of events at the night of the murder, if jung woo took the empty bag in his car and buried it, How did he return to the house and get arrested there when we know he left the car with the knife hidden inside at a parking lot near where he burried the bag. Did he take a ride home?! And if he had done just that, what kind of a sloppy investigation was it that they never bothered searching for the missing vehicle.

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Life on mars is a drama that I watched in no time, what you may call binge watching, and that proves how much I enjoyed it.
It was certainly a fun watch, not just for the think-instigating interesting premise, the lively and endearing characters, the perfectly balanced thriller and humor, but above all for the story of how one man learned the meaning of trust and what it means to be a part of a team, not just work colleagues but essentially comrades of a common goal and purpose in life. What it means to embrace oneself, one’s past, one’s shortcomings and weakness, essentially one’s need to lean and depend on others.
Knowing this drama was based upon a popular English series that I have never watched before, I obviously decided not to read anything about the original and to simply venture on this one with a fresh perspective. So my review will not be discussing how this came short or excelled its original, rather I will be discussing what I liked and did not like about it as a separate drama.

Story (8.5/10)
The story of a police officer who wakes up after an accident to find himself mysteriously 30 years in the past also as a police officer. The premise wholly depends on the constant questioning, of whether the lead is in a coma and what he’s experiencing is a kind of a dream/hallucination, or if he’s actually time-travelled to the past….or something else more ominous.
There is a main recurring case that offsets the story, we are introduced to it in 2018 and continues into the past, but the main drama follows a one-case-an-episode format for the most part. I have noticed some people did not appreciate that and would rather have had the main case in more focus rather than just popping up every now and then, but I personally found most of the cases rather interesting and were in my point of view a necessity as a catalyst for the main characters’ relationship development, without which the drama would have lost most of its meaning.
Another point I noticed people bothered with, was the suddenness of the time travel in the first episode. I agree to just a certain extent. I found The drastic and sudden swap, where the character just awakes in a moment to find himself transported to the past, was totally understandable, because it served in making the viewer as surprised and bewildered as much as the character itself. However I do believe that the first episode was somewhat lacking in paving the base of the story and more importantly introducing the main lead’s character. We are shown who he is as a police officer, but not as a human-being. When we get to explore his character further during the past arc, we are never quite sure if the traits he display (being mostly timid and depressed for example) are out of amazement and frustration at his current situation or just who he is. I would have appreciated if we could have had a more intensive glimpse of him and his life prior to the time-travel, not just the fragments that show that when it comes to his work he only believes in himself and the evidence and nothing else.
Of course, one cannot discuss this drama’s story without mentioning the ending! I would rather not discuss that in details out of fear of any spoilers, but I will just say that the ending here was an open one, and by open I don’t mean just pointing to a sequel (it most certainly keeps that option available) but rather than that the questions we are constantly having all through the drama along with the main lead are not clearly answered. The final two episodes helped in showing the viewer all the possible options to the answer and providing hints to support each, in other words, we are dealt several cards to pick the one out that suits our own interpretation.
As much as that type of endings seems cool and unique, I have to admit I never found them as my cup of tea. I would swallow a certain degree of ambiguity as to what happens next (a la Signal), but open as in “now you will never know for certain what that drama was all about” kind of way, felt a bit a pinch too much for my taste. The ending is one of the main reasons I score the story 8.5 and not higher, as I have said I am reviewing this drama separately from its original that I know had the same ending. (if you have watched and felt like you wanted a closure like I did, you can check the original series’ sequel “Ashes to Ashes”’s ending for a theory).

The Acting: (9.5/10)
Very strong performances from all the cast with no exceptions. In particular and as usual, another stellar performance by Jung Kyung Ho <3

Music (9/10)

Rewatch Value (9/10)
It was definitely a smartly written and exquisitely shot drama, interesting in terms of story and characters. I might give it a go again in the future.

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This show had so much potential to be a one of a kind show, and could have easily been one of my favorite shows, but unfortunately it failed to.
First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest respect to the writer behind this show Song Jae Jung, the same mind behind creating other very famous and iconic fantasy/sci-fi genre dramas including Queen In-Hyun’s Man, Nine: Nine times time travel, and W Two worlds. And while these shows might not have necessarily been perfectly written from start to finish, but we have to admit that their plots were highly original and innovative, proving above anything the rich imagination skills of the mind behind creating them. So kudos to her, for surprising her viewers every time.

So focusing on Memories of Alhambra, what I liked and what I did not so much.

First the story:
As I mentioned earlier, the story in this one is one of great originality and creativity, an smartly written plot packed with fantasy, thriller, mystery, action and drama. It is a story that constantly keeps its viewer at the edge of their seats (where it particularly excelled), and resembles the writer’s previous fantasy works in that it compels the viewer to keep questioning and guessing and re-guessing the rules of the world created inside of it (where it might not have necessarily been up to par).
The plot revolves around an AR (Augmented Reality) Game, and the chaos and struggles that arise when the barrier between the game and reality start to crumble, and how the real lives of the players become detrimentally affected by the game, causing major casualties along the way.
First if you are to venture into this drama, you have to abandon your scientific reasoning, and do not expect realism. If you manage to go past the “HOW”s and such, you will find yourself in front of an entertaining ride, featuring beautiful cinematography, and high-end CGI.
Being a fantasy drama though unexpectedly requires stating rules. You might be creating an imaginary world that defies real world and common sense, but you still have to a certain extent assign rules guiding this imaginary realm, to explain why and how things happen the way they do.
At first, both the viewer and the main characters are struggling to grasp such rules, later on we start to guess and put theories, with the writing providing hints. The problem though is that this drama eventually did not manage to create a neat and consistent reasoning all the way through, instead the viewer will find himself at a certain point compelled to abandon his struggles to understand why things happen and more importantly why they only happen at certain instances but other times fail to, and instead settle on just enjoying the exquisite scenery, high-end CGI and kick-ass action.
The only part of the story that I found lacking even more than such plot-holes or inconsistencies, was unfortunately none other than the romance. I am a fan of romantic genre, and easily swoon, get butterflies and find chemistry between many an OTP, so when I watch a drama and find myself near the end wondering why these two fell in love in the first place, that’s when I know that the romance somehow lost me. That was the case here, not on both sides of the equation though, because while the pace of development of HIS feelings towards her were very believable and natural of a man of his past and position, HER feelings always felt kind of rushed and too sudden. I do not mind love at first sight scenarios, or being attracted visually to someone, but that somehow did not feel like it was the case here either.
All in all, the romance for me felt a bit lacking on a relatability-wise, but I noticed that other people enjoyed it just fine. So it might be tastes and nothing more.


Acting:
Solid performances from everyone, especially Hyun Bin, who you can say was the sole star of this show. It is after all, his story proved by his narration.
As for Park Shin Hye, .I am not a fan of her to be honest, so at the beginning not enjoying her character I thought was because of that. But the more the story progressed and the more her character’s involvement in the story increased (though never amounting to much significance) the more I realized, that it was not the actress’ problem, but rather the writing of the character itself. She is supposed to be a very hand-working, independent and multi-talented lady, and I appreciated how they shed light on her upbringing and past via a neat flashback sequence, but somehow she never felt truly human, but rather a shallow human being with no life of her own. The show certainly succeeded in showing how she was devoting herself wholeheartedly to the well-being of her family, sometimes sacrificing her own ambitions and dreams in return, but somehow it still failed to nail to draw out who she is as a person. Maybe also my feelings towards the romance in this drama in general might have helped to make me feel more detached from the female lead, maybe just that I didn’t fancy Park Shin Hye’s mouth-slightly-opened emotional portrayal, dunno. (I apologize to any PSH fans out there :D)

All in all, this was definitely an enjoyable drama, with a smart and original plot, great cinematography, solid performance, and nicely paced. And like all this writer’s other dramas, while having its issues, it is by all means a drama worth watching, pondering, and enjoying. I would particularly recommend it to fantasy genre fans, game fans and of course Hyun Bin fans because he definitely excelled here.

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I would like to start by saying that I definitely enjoyed watching this drama, especially because I am kind of a medical drama fan, but also because it had a bunch of interesting characters, strong acting performances, intriguing plot-lines, great on-screen chemistry, and a witty dialogue.

The story had it's strong and original points, and it also had its normal and not-so original parts.
But all in all, as a medical drama script, this one balanced all the aspects nicely, in a way that saved it from going through the muddy waters that is hospital business wars and all that unrelated areas that many good medical K-Dramas delve too deep into, and end up boring us most of the time (I am looking at you Good Doctor)

As I mentioned the general feel of the dialogue was witty and sharp, a bit quick during the medical scenes, but just within the norm. But the best part was the bickering and fight scenes between the main characters.

The medical part was certainly above average, and although it mainly concerned one branch of medicine ie. surgery, it still showed a wide array of cases and although I am no medical student and my knowledge in the field is null, I could sense that the depiction of the medical proceedings were mostly accurate and delivered in a very professional manner.

The only grope I had with the story, was how the main female lead's PTSD was depicted. At the beginning they sure played it in a way that made it seem quite serious, but then it just kind of magically gets cured with no much as a mention or a proper closure. You are left to satisfy yourself with the explanation that her love overcame her trauma, I guess?

The main OTP as I mentioned had great chemistry and the romance was very well done, it was not the main story line but that's exactly how I prefer it.

As for the characters, I won't be discussing all in detail, I will rather focus on the character that was the first to give me a WOW factor.
One of the first thoughts I had watching the first episode, was "WOW! I love this guy's boldness!!". I won't be going into details lest I reveal any spoilers (it is the first episode but still) but watching the main male lead interact with the female lead right from the beginning, was quite unique and bold, to me it felt like a fresh breeze among all the common self-denials and bashfulness in accepting and acting upon one's emotions that plagues most of K-Drama leads. You don't just give credit to the guy's guts, but you just fall in love with him right then.

The characters other than the main trio (Teacher Kim and the OTP) sometimes felt 2 dimensional, but I couldn't say that that was necessarily a bad thing, because some other dramas try to create separate plot-lines for the side characters, but end up either slowing up the overall pace of the drama, or boring the viewers out with mediocre characters/stories.....or come to think of it in some rare cases, a side-character's plot-line end up being more interesting than the main OTP's and you are secretly kind of watching just to see how it will work ouy, which let's be honest is not a good sign at all! (I am looking at you One more happy ending)

My least favorite character and the thing that felt like one of the weakest points of this drama, was the villain.
At first, when you learn the background story of his animosity with teacher Kim and how their rivalry started, you are convinced of where he's coming from and that there is a long history of clashing between them. But then the more the story develops and the more the villain sharpens his claws and acts out all his villain-y antiques, you start to question the whole character and its motives. Like is it a conflict of interests, is it sheer hatred, is it jealousy, is it pure evil?? You just don't know and kind of don't care any longer.

Another frustration I had with this drama (the direction in particular) was that at many times the details of a certain medical case at hand could be very interesting, and I could be at the edge of my seat waiting to see how the emergency will work out, but then what hinders the whole thing from feeling believable and genuine, is none other than the human/doctors interactions during the procedure, which was at many times packed with overly dramatic acting.
to elaborate more, there is a part where the doctors are arranging for a major operation, and they are struggling to reduce the time required for the said operation as much as possible, like trading even minutes in order to shorten the time the patient is put under anesthesia. But during the actual OP, they find time to waste on looong expressions ranging from staring, glaring, smiling ,clapping and many others.
When you're a viewer of a drama, and you're like distracted from enjoying the thrill in a scene by the characters' facial expressions, then I think it is a sign that the DP/actor should have kept it a notch down.

To sum up, this drama like any other drama is far from flawless but was still a very fun and interesting watch, that I would totally recommend especially to medical drama fans like myself.

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Forest of Secrets (aka Stranger) to me was no less than a turning point in my journey of K-Drama watching, maybe even Asian dramas in general.
It is simply a drama which has compelled me to reevaluate my standards, to reconsider a lot of the 9 and 10 ratings that I have been so easily giving to other dramas.
Some may consider my review a bit exaggerated or over-the-top, but to me this sensational drama, was a huge surprise on many levels. It’s a drama that has sucked me in and left a very deep impression on me just after watching the first episode, I was determined to watch the whole thing and confident I would love every second of it. And so it was.

On paper this drama may seem like it does not differ from many other detective and law dramas, but with a mystery woven with utmost precision, a thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat, and a highly engaging battle for justice, all aided by a perfect cast and direction, this drama was anything but usual.


The drama's title was perfectly fitting to its premise, it delivers an intricate web of mystery and doubts, that just as advertised, anyone can be guilty. Watching this drama, you will constantly find yourself doubting a certain character, then trusting it, only to later harbor even stronger doubts toward him/her. The story was so smartly written, that it can so easily trick the smartest of viewers, sending fake signals; seemingly flags pointing to a certain character, only to later turn out to be a complete red-herring.


But one of the main strong points of this drama was, the perfectly executed characterization aided by the cast’s very strong and solid performance. Most of the characters, particularly the main ones, were multi-layered, with complicated backgrounds, some even deeply messed up. You could hardly label anyone “Protagonist” or “antagonist”, you find yourself liking and at the same time harboring doubts towards the same character. The characters are so believable and realistic, that however much their actions may seem unethical or outrageous, you still mysteriously relate to them, feel for them, and even sometimes love them.

But what really made such beautifully written story, script and characterization shine was the acting. There was not a single easy character to portray here, all thanks to the concept of the detective mystery; where you never know who’s not to trust and who’s to trust. The story also relied on a highly sophisticated script, which made use of a lot of blank sequences of silence with minimum or no monologues, but which still served to convey a ton of information and emotions.
All such aspects, required high acting techniques, where even the slightest look, change of expression or even lack of one, can make all the difference.
This is a drama that have time and again surprised me. Not because of all the obvious strong points that I mentioned above, but because it redefined even the small things, like what defines two characters’ chemistry, or what counts as a strong cliffhanger. Does chemistry have to be of a romantic type, involving gestures, confessions and skin-ship? Or is there another type of chemistry; a mental and emotional one, where two minds and souls so mysteriously and effortlessly relate, and share feelings of deep trust and respect. Such are the chemistries that do not require a major progress on a romantic level to attract and excite a viewer, but where a small gesture of courtesy, or an expression of high-regard, can leave you more satisfied than any other stomach butterflies.
With a very unique story, and an even more unique set of characters and events, this drama to me felt like I was rediscovering just how much perfect K-Dramas can be. Watching it, I felt so impressed, I sometimes thought how blessed I am to have been a K-Drama fan. I kept saying to myself, Hollywood should really learn one thing or two from Korean thrillers and detective dramas, feelings which made me all the more delighted to hear that it was actually airing on Netflix! It also posed as a reassurance, that this drama is receiving the attention and recognition it is worthy of.
I normally do not ship for sequels however much I love a drama (like Signal or Misaeng), but I found myself strongly wishing they’d consider producing a sequel for Stranger, preferably with the same cast. Keeping my fingers crossed that news circulating of an intention for a sequel is not a hoax.
Normally, I’d give different recommendations to different genre fans, like for instance if a certain drama lacks romance or comedy aspects, I’d advice a Rom-Com fan to approach with caution. But in this drama’s case, I send my strongest recommendations to every one! Including newcomers to K-Drama land. By all means, give the first episode I try and you won’t regret what happens afterwards.

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Just finished watching Jealousy incarnate for the sevond time, and Man how I enjoyed it!
This is a drama that could have easily gotten a 10 from me.

Story
The story is one of the strongest aspects of this drama simply because it had a lot of unique ideas and original approaches to them, and second because the mixture of such different concepts was done perfectly and with a nice balance.
First, the main lead suffers from a disease highly uncommon for men to retract (breast cancer), and the drama focuses on his struggle to receive treatment under great pressure. That concept was by far the most original, full of surprises whether comical or dramatic.
The story also focuses in 2/3 of it on a love triangle, a concept constantly used by many romance Kdramas, but here they tried to spice it up by making the two males involved best friends, while the female had gotten over her crush on one and dating the other.
It is also part workplace drama, where all the main characters are working or somehow related to a broadcasting station (reporters, announcers, news casters, directors and sponsors). It gave a nice glimpse on the world of news creation, it was very entertaining and edifying.
But for me, what made the drama shine the most was the romance. It made my heart skip, made me swoon, made me shed tears, and made smile and laugh big time, it was simply PERFECT! Also other than the great chemistry between the OTP, the whole concept of switching places in one-sided crushes, whether through gestures done in secret or words expressed openly, gave a very fresh vibe to the love equation. In the past it was she who was head over heals for him, now it's the other way around.
 
The drama also featured a side story that involves a relatively large number of side characters. This particular sode plot had its cons and pros, among the pros was the fact that it featured a very fun combination, like two ex-s of the same man who recently passed away, rivals in life and work, both having the wish to bond with their (step)daughter, and even fighting for the same guy now. Where else can you find such a crazy couple! Also, how their characters and relationship evolves was certainly fun to watch, they may have started off as 2 annoying and noisy ajummas, but later they start to grow on you. As for the  cons, the whole plot-line kind of developed totally separately from the main plot-line, so the more the main plot-line developed and gained steam, the more you get the urge to fast-forward their scenes. Not saying it was a necessarily boring plot, but while they brought a comedic and near the end a bit dramatic air to the drama, they sometimes kind of felt like a distraction. let me just say that most probably re-watching this drama will involve a lot of fast-forwarding, or at least that's how it was in my case.

Acting
Perfect!!!
Gong Hyo Jin-nim goes without saying shines here as usual. she was funny, lovable, cute, crazy, and sometimes frustrating. I could feel the wish to hug her, pat her on the shoulders, send he a "fighting" yell, and sometimes even slap her on the face, just like how she made her male partners feel at certain moments.
Jo Jung Suk won me over in this drama completely. He delivered a multi-layered character, with many sides to him, perfectly and with great ease. He was believable in every word, movement and action he took (maybe it helped that the writing for his character was one of the best in the drama)
Go Kyung Pyo, did a pretty well job here as well, but I have to be honest, his was not the toughest of characters to play. But he still made me feel for him, and sometimes respect him great time as a character.

Characterization
As I mentioned earlier I found the main lead Hwa Shin (JJS's character) by far the best.
He had his flawed traits of course, but they were all very relatable, and though his character showed seemingly contradicting moments, that in its own sense was the most believable part, he simply felt human, maybe the most in this drama, he felt like he was not just a character on paper but he could actually exist somewhere.
As for our other male lead and third angle of the triangle Go Jeong Wo, he was the perfect rich gentleman, that could have as well easily ended up as the common everyday KDrama chaebol (The guy born with a silver spoon, tsun-dere and hiding a lonely side to him + maybe family issues), but thanks to his friendship with Hwa Shin, this character was given much more deepness. He was a very understanding, kind and open-minded guy who cherishes his best friend above all, and despite the big gap in economic background between them, still makes him feel at home even after meeting in a long time. He simply made me wish I was his pal, for goodness sake.
Pyo Na Ri! Here is a character that most of the time I simply adored and cheered on, and some other times I nearly hated.
She's a strong, independent and hardworking Noona who takes care of her little-bro, and chases after her dreams with all she's got. She's a realistic person, who doesn't live in fantasies, and has a strong sense of her capabilities and aims, bold and always not afraid of expressing herself, whether through words or actions, while at the same time maintaining a strong sense of self-awareness of who she is and where she falls in her workplace. She's a lovable and relatable character through and through, and that's maybe why I couldn't bring myself to hate even when during a certain part of the drama (around episodes 14~20 to be more precise), her character kind of warped and the Pyo Na Ri who always knew how she felt, and never lost sight of what she wanted, her strong will and common sense, just flew out the window, and was replaced by an indecisive and selfish bi**h all of sudden, she was irritating at times, and other times downright  obnoxious . It might have been a calculated move by the writer, but sometimes I just felt like screaming at her "Come on already Nari! that's just not so like you".

Writing
Very good script, and highly entertaining story, not to forget a beautiful ending. The pace here was mostly excellent during most of the drama but, I felt like the love traingle tug of war may have lasted a bit too long, it felt kind of draggy and was a source of frustration (thanks to Pyo Na Ri's sudden loss of self-awareness). This particular chunk of the story,  I suppose served in giving more sense to the drama's title (other than the incarnate/Hwa Shin pun); because the two main male leads turned into two lumps of Jealousy childishly fighting over a woman, and the full grown-up woman acting dumb like a teenager experiencing her first romance! And though I admit this part had a ton of fun and even hilarious scenes, I nearly hated my favorite female lead! Don't get me wrong but I personally believe that this drama could have nicely fit in a 20 episode format.

Direction
Excellent  camerawork and amazing props, but above all what left the most impression on me was something else.
A scene succeeds to be funny or sad thanks to a witty or heartfelt conversation, plus of course the right portrayal and acting from the actors involved, but here this director adds the +alpha factor. combining the right BGM or sound effects, and sometimes making use of signs on screen to express certain notions or feelings of the  characters on screen, it was always fun to watch and gave a fresh vibe to the drama.

Music
Another OST full of favorite tracks, especially vocals. Fitting lyrics and scores, as usual (One of the things I really appreciate about KDramas)
 
So, final say.
Jealousy incarnate is an excellent Rom-Com, unique story and interesting characters with a witty script and full of memorable scenes. Not to forget perfect acting, and a very nice chemistry between the leads. It was by far one of the funniest Rom-Com dramas that I have watched, and would totally recommend. It will make you LOL, cringe, cover face in embarrassment, and make your heart melt and flutter constantly.

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