Muneeza22
Pakistan
This review may contain spoilers
I suppose I may be the only one on this planet who didn't enjoy this drama. I confess that after the first two episodes I watched the rest of it on 2x speed, I felt that detached.
None of the characters were worth my sympathy, despite the writers giving them supposedly moving backstories. The main lead Jeong Hwan is revealed to have a deadly brain tumor in the start of the drama. I knew next to nothing about the character and thus felt no sympathy for him. Similarly Lee Tae Joon tells us what a destitute life he grew up in, his father's alcoholism and his drive to rise on top, however his actions and his villainy made it very difficult for me to feel anything for him. His brother's death and the scenes leading up to it were painted as very angsty emotional scenes, however I knew that Lee Tae Seop was a murderer, and that both brothers had committed crimes to make money. Furthermore I hardly think one episode is enough for the audience to feel sympathy for the brothers. Jeong Hwan's sister was a very useless doctor. She kept hiding things from other family members which showed her lack of feelings for them, and despite being a doctor was of no help to her brother at all. She was unable to judge that Jeong Hwan was hiding his illness from everyone, she was of no comfort to her mother and simply served as a newsbearer to Ha Gyoung or Jeong Hwan. I didn't understand why her character existed at all. Ye Rin too was simply there to make the audience's lip tremble every time she cried. Most of the time the child was absent from the scene and her parents would be running around being prosecutors or criminals. Every character in the legal scene except Ha Gyoung was corrupt and that made very hard for me to attach myself to any single character. The worst of all was Minister Yoon Ji Sook whose drive and motivation was completely lacking. Why did she pit herself against Lee Tae Joon? What was her personal grudge with him that she wanted to tear him down no matter what? Again, I felt nothing but frustration every time her character came on screen. Jeong Hwan's mother was an unlikeable character as well. She seemed to harbor hate against Ye Rin, would never comfort the child when she would be sad, and against Ye Rin's mother as well. Speaking of Ye Rin, you're telling me that her dad who didn't bat an eye when he found out that his daughter nearly died in a bus accident, who picked his boss over his wife and his child, suddenly has feelings for his child and wife when he finds out he's dying of a brain tumor? I didn't think that Jeong Hwan's fierce loyalty towards Tae Joon and his subsequent actions where very justified. Again, I wasn't convinced of his flimsy motivations.
The other characters kept switching sides between Tae Joon and the Minister, often making calls to each other in the blink of an eye, threatening each other, demeaning and mocking each other and in the very next moment grovelling in front of each other for help.
This brings me to the plot, which frankly was a bit of a mess. The characters switched sides and snitched on each other multiple times in a single episode that it at first baffled, then bored me. It was a pattern repeated like crazy, and it made me stop caring or being surprised. Ho Sung's betrayal was just beyond my understanding. Fine, you're telling me that everyone holding any sort of position/office is corrupt and greedy like hell, but then you present me with a very idealistic fairytale ending in which the evil is banished and the good reigns supreme. Really? The ending was unbelievable. Both Jeong Hwan and Ha Gyoung are on the operating table, one losing the brain and the other losing the heart. The doctors quickly do a heart transplant and behold! Ha Gyoung is back! -rolls eyes- It was such an Indian soap move that I had to shake my head in disappointment. None of the characters really changed for the better, leading me to think they were all very two dimensional and static. Jeong Hwan's desire for vengeance against Tae Joon wouldn't have come if he hadn't been dying, Ha Gyoung remains the same throughout, the Minister was nasty from the start and posed to be righteous till the end, Lee Tae Joon too remained villainous through it all.
The things I did like: (1) the acting was superb, especially Lee Tae Joon's and Jeong Hwan's facial expressions and dialogue delivery were on the spot, (2) I did like the love-hate relationship of Lee Tae Joon and Jeong Hwan.
I think that the big mistake was that there was so little information about the characters' pasts that it made their motivations flimsy and their actions a little hollow. For example, did Jeong Hwan break down and have depression after his divorce with Ha Gyoung? Did he really love her to pieces? I don't know. But he surely became angered when Ha Gyoung was falsely convicted of murder. Things don't add up.
If you want to watch the drama, go ahead. I hope you enjoy it better than I did.
None of the characters were worth my sympathy, despite the writers giving them supposedly moving backstories. The main lead Jeong Hwan is revealed to have a deadly brain tumor in the start of the drama. I knew next to nothing about the character and thus felt no sympathy for him. Similarly Lee Tae Joon tells us what a destitute life he grew up in, his father's alcoholism and his drive to rise on top, however his actions and his villainy made it very difficult for me to feel anything for him. His brother's death and the scenes leading up to it were painted as very angsty emotional scenes, however I knew that Lee Tae Seop was a murderer, and that both brothers had committed crimes to make money. Furthermore I hardly think one episode is enough for the audience to feel sympathy for the brothers. Jeong Hwan's sister was a very useless doctor. She kept hiding things from other family members which showed her lack of feelings for them, and despite being a doctor was of no help to her brother at all. She was unable to judge that Jeong Hwan was hiding his illness from everyone, she was of no comfort to her mother and simply served as a newsbearer to Ha Gyoung or Jeong Hwan. I didn't understand why her character existed at all. Ye Rin too was simply there to make the audience's lip tremble every time she cried. Most of the time the child was absent from the scene and her parents would be running around being prosecutors or criminals. Every character in the legal scene except Ha Gyoung was corrupt and that made very hard for me to attach myself to any single character. The worst of all was Minister Yoon Ji Sook whose drive and motivation was completely lacking. Why did she pit herself against Lee Tae Joon? What was her personal grudge with him that she wanted to tear him down no matter what? Again, I felt nothing but frustration every time her character came on screen. Jeong Hwan's mother was an unlikeable character as well. She seemed to harbor hate against Ye Rin, would never comfort the child when she would be sad, and against Ye Rin's mother as well. Speaking of Ye Rin, you're telling me that her dad who didn't bat an eye when he found out that his daughter nearly died in a bus accident, who picked his boss over his wife and his child, suddenly has feelings for his child and wife when he finds out he's dying of a brain tumor? I didn't think that Jeong Hwan's fierce loyalty towards Tae Joon and his subsequent actions where very justified. Again, I wasn't convinced of his flimsy motivations.
The other characters kept switching sides between Tae Joon and the Minister, often making calls to each other in the blink of an eye, threatening each other, demeaning and mocking each other and in the very next moment grovelling in front of each other for help.
This brings me to the plot, which frankly was a bit of a mess. The characters switched sides and snitched on each other multiple times in a single episode that it at first baffled, then bored me. It was a pattern repeated like crazy, and it made me stop caring or being surprised. Ho Sung's betrayal was just beyond my understanding. Fine, you're telling me that everyone holding any sort of position/office is corrupt and greedy like hell, but then you present me with a very idealistic fairytale ending in which the evil is banished and the good reigns supreme. Really? The ending was unbelievable. Both Jeong Hwan and Ha Gyoung are on the operating table, one losing the brain and the other losing the heart. The doctors quickly do a heart transplant and behold! Ha Gyoung is back! -rolls eyes- It was such an Indian soap move that I had to shake my head in disappointment. None of the characters really changed for the better, leading me to think they were all very two dimensional and static. Jeong Hwan's desire for vengeance against Tae Joon wouldn't have come if he hadn't been dying, Ha Gyoung remains the same throughout, the Minister was nasty from the start and posed to be righteous till the end, Lee Tae Joon too remained villainous through it all.
The things I did like: (1) the acting was superb, especially Lee Tae Joon's and Jeong Hwan's facial expressions and dialogue delivery were on the spot, (2) I did like the love-hate relationship of Lee Tae Joon and Jeong Hwan.
I think that the big mistake was that there was so little information about the characters' pasts that it made their motivations flimsy and their actions a little hollow. For example, did Jeong Hwan break down and have depression after his divorce with Ha Gyoung? Did he really love her to pieces? I don't know. But he surely became angered when Ha Gyoung was falsely convicted of murder. Things don't add up.
If you want to watch the drama, go ahead. I hope you enjoy it better than I did.
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