SunOh
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This review may contain spoilers
Underdog story as an old-fashioned melodrama in the cutthroat world of fashion.
Review without major spoilers:
1. Fashion King is definitely in my top for romances & melodramas. It is dark, cunning, bold, toxic and complicated. I was so invested, still am, and will continue to be. I feel like I won't be able to move on for at least a week, as I keep thinking about it and listening to the OST, still fully in the mood of the drama. The beginning is straightforward and sets the tone perfectly. The story drags on, but you'll understand why if you like it or if you're ready to fully grasp the poignant message of this drama. The ending was not only gorgeous in terms of cinematography (which is also well thought-out overall) but it was in fact the apotheosis of character development. It was one of the most artistic endings I have ever seen, and it got everyone talking about it nonetheless (despite the controversy). The ending is well explained on the drama, and every time I looked back, I thought the drama was impressive. This is an unconventional story on humanity, and ultimately society. They didn't care whether anybody would love it or not, yet it managed to be popular in SK while it was airing. If you don't mind 1. a makjang-like drama with pathetic main characters, 2. unclear feelings and intentions (in this regard, the characters are rather realistic), 3. things being left off by the writers for you to decide how you feel about it, you might love the drama and the characters. You will find yourself rooting for everyone and no one. You guessed it, the characters are not written in a simple way. Also, even if the drama depicted a cruel, ugly reality, we all know that the real world can be stranger and more wicked, which again highlights how good the ending is. On top of that, I'll give Fashion King the award of the most imaginative, disturbing and ambiguous ending. It is neither completely happy or sad, but scenaristically open (= not in a marketing way like nowadays Netflix/Disney+ dramas). It gives me very mixed emotions, but I am satisfied with it because it is brilliant.
2. If the main characters themselves don't know about some stuff, why shall we? Such mystery is also part of the tragedy. Some will say that I'm not objective because plot holes/loose ends are necessarily flaws, but everything here was intended. Not to mention that loose ends are important for the viewer to feel the story and its characters live on even after they've finished watching. Not everyone gets it, but we need dramas like this, and it's not about them being loved or not. Keep complaining about the characters being unsympathetic, everything being badly written and whatever else you want, there will always be a few who get it and love it. Fashion King stayed bitterly unfair and cruel up to the very end. I truly loved the strong vibe this drama had, it remained firm and snob. To add further informations, the meaning behind the title is surprisingly quite big and there are some genius references, hints at the ending all throughout, which makes up for a rewatch.
3. You might think that I'm exaggerating, but you'll have to reach the last few episodes to realize the tragedy of this story (also explaining why it is "dark"). Like a crescendo, the conflict developed further and further until it reached a boiling point. That's where the angst really got to me and started making me feel anxious. Then it all depends on you whether you are willing to accept it or not.
Reminder: you can't be too naive watching this and some maturity is needed.
4. Because I have a conscience, I cannot recommend this drama easily nor talk about it publicly (well, I kind of do here, but you know what I mean). If you're of the faint of hearts, I beg you to not watch this. Yes, I'm sensitive and empathic but not in the way that I can't watch "difficult" stuff. I'll admit that I expected worse overall, even in terms of lack of communication etc and I thought it would be more of a frustrating watch. Indeed, I didn't really struggle watching this, instead I had a lot of fun. But that's personal. I also like crying a lot with dramas but I barely cried here, it's not really what the drama aims for. I've seen people saying they cried for days because of the ending, but from my point of view it cannot make me cry (though I can't say it didn't give me a sad, lingering feeling). I hope this review will be enough of a warning for you. Even outside the spoiler part, I have to prepare people as much as I can.
5. As far as I know, a lot of people have jumped on the hate bandwagon seeing it as a complete disaster. When the audience hates something this much, the majority won't try to perceive it as a good work and try to understand it. Especially since the rating is so low, it's easy to hate and be convinced about it. But I can't blame them because otherwise I too (for once), would have done the same. If it wasn't for the ending, it would be around 6.7 if not higher. But then, it wouldn't be what it is anymore. People obviously called it pointless, stupid and everything they wanted to after the ending but they are far from the truth.
6. I didn't watch it for being the lowest rated K-Drama on MDL, I just loved the cast, the poster and the premise. I also listened to one of the OST and had this gut feeling that it could only be really good. I kinda always end up defending underrated dramas without forcing myself to. By the way of course there are low rated dramas that I agree on being nothing close to masterpieces whatsoever and it's not just me trying to convince myself that every low rated drama is good. I would never take so much time for a review nor having enough substance (especially in the spoilers part, and even then I had to hold back on details because it was far too long) to make it this long if it was bad and I didn't sincerely love it.
7. I can only respect the trauma that a lot of people had to put up with. While this was a source of entertainment on my side, this was a source of suffering for others. Luckily enough for them, there won't be anything like this again. I don't think you can compare Fashion King with any drama, except maybe What Happened in Bali by the same writers and chief producer. What's for sure is that they are both unique and memorable. Moreover, this is my opinion and you don't have to agree. I can't deny how I feel and what I think, just like you can't either and have every right to be harsh, give it the lowest rating and express your opinion. I find the rating on MDL to be fair, because it serves as a warning (not only that, the drama also warns you from the very beginning in a subtle manner). Anyone who's not too naive knows very well that ratings here are not representative in terms of quality. High rated dramas can be objectively not as good as some low rated dramas and vice versa. Ratings are mostly representative of how mainstream a drama is. I admit 5.8 is extremely low on MDL but I guess that's because a lot of the viewers felt the need to express their anger by rating it as low as possible. I'll add that even within the haters of the drama, I've seen so many different opinions/interpretations and a lot of people who actually understood the message of the drama without necessarily realizing it. It also seems that some people watched it to join the hate train but couldn't assume that they enjoyed it. Another fun fact to note is that there are people who liked the ending and not the rest. In addition, if it managed to make people 1. angry 2. cry for days 3. theorizing and discussing no matter how much they hated it, that says a lot too. It's unlikely to leave you indifferent unless you want to forget about it as soon as you finished because you actually didn't care. What else could the staff ask for? They knew it was going to get a lot of backlash, and I'm sure the audience response was exactly what they expected. Funnily enough, people still watched it to the end. I understand why most would regret watching and call it a waste of time, but I couldn't be more grateful personally.
Say what you like, but to me this is a proof of the greatness of this story. I expected worse actually, because I found many positive and more or less mixed comments here and on other sites when I thought everyone would be hiding. It surprised me, especially as I sometimes see more hatred towards dramas rated around 6.9. I suppose that it's because the drama is old and not popular worldwide, barely anyone knows about it. The rating clearly plays a role as well so again I can only be thankful that it's rated this low. What's more, I found out that the korean audience liked it! The evaluation was actually pretty good overall, despite the controversial ending which led to more mixed reactions.
The rest + the review with major spoilers in the comments section (in progress, I will update as soon as I can) :
1. Fashion King is definitely in my top for romances & melodramas. It is dark, cunning, bold, toxic and complicated. I was so invested, still am, and will continue to be. I feel like I won't be able to move on for at least a week, as I keep thinking about it and listening to the OST, still fully in the mood of the drama. The beginning is straightforward and sets the tone perfectly. The story drags on, but you'll understand why if you like it or if you're ready to fully grasp the poignant message of this drama. The ending was not only gorgeous in terms of cinematography (which is also well thought-out overall) but it was in fact the apotheosis of character development. It was one of the most artistic endings I have ever seen, and it got everyone talking about it nonetheless (despite the controversy). The ending is well explained on the drama, and every time I looked back, I thought the drama was impressive. This is an unconventional story on humanity, and ultimately society. They didn't care whether anybody would love it or not, yet it managed to be popular in SK while it was airing. If you don't mind 1. a makjang-like drama with pathetic main characters, 2. unclear feelings and intentions (in this regard, the characters are rather realistic), 3. things being left off by the writers for you to decide how you feel about it, you might love the drama and the characters. You will find yourself rooting for everyone and no one. You guessed it, the characters are not written in a simple way. Also, even if the drama depicted a cruel, ugly reality, we all know that the real world can be stranger and more wicked, which again highlights how good the ending is. On top of that, I'll give Fashion King the award of the most imaginative, disturbing and ambiguous ending. It is neither completely happy or sad, but scenaristically open (= not in a marketing way like nowadays Netflix/Disney+ dramas). It gives me very mixed emotions, but I am satisfied with it because it is brilliant.
2. If the main characters themselves don't know about some stuff, why shall we? Such mystery is also part of the tragedy. Some will say that I'm not objective because plot holes/loose ends are necessarily flaws, but everything here was intended. Not to mention that loose ends are important for the viewer to feel the story and its characters live on even after they've finished watching. Not everyone gets it, but we need dramas like this, and it's not about them being loved or not. Keep complaining about the characters being unsympathetic, everything being badly written and whatever else you want, there will always be a few who get it and love it. Fashion King stayed bitterly unfair and cruel up to the very end. I truly loved the strong vibe this drama had, it remained firm and snob. To add further informations, the meaning behind the title is surprisingly quite big and there are some genius references, hints at the ending all throughout, which makes up for a rewatch.
3. You might think that I'm exaggerating, but you'll have to reach the last few episodes to realize the tragedy of this story (also explaining why it is "dark"). Like a crescendo, the conflict developed further and further until it reached a boiling point. That's where the angst really got to me and started making me feel anxious. Then it all depends on you whether you are willing to accept it or not.
Reminder: you can't be too naive watching this and some maturity is needed.
4. Because I have a conscience, I cannot recommend this drama easily nor talk about it publicly (well, I kind of do here, but you know what I mean). If you're of the faint of hearts, I beg you to not watch this. Yes, I'm sensitive and empathic but not in the way that I can't watch "difficult" stuff. I'll admit that I expected worse overall, even in terms of lack of communication etc and I thought it would be more of a frustrating watch. Indeed, I didn't really struggle watching this, instead I had a lot of fun. But that's personal. I also like crying a lot with dramas but I barely cried here, it's not really what the drama aims for. I've seen people saying they cried for days because of the ending, but from my point of view it cannot make me cry (though I can't say it didn't give me a sad, lingering feeling). I hope this review will be enough of a warning for you. Even outside the spoiler part, I have to prepare people as much as I can.
5. As far as I know, a lot of people have jumped on the hate bandwagon seeing it as a complete disaster. When the audience hates something this much, the majority won't try to perceive it as a good work and try to understand it. Especially since the rating is so low, it's easy to hate and be convinced about it. But I can't blame them because otherwise I too (for once), would have done the same. If it wasn't for the ending, it would be around 6.7 if not higher. But then, it wouldn't be what it is anymore. People obviously called it pointless, stupid and everything they wanted to after the ending but they are far from the truth.
6. I didn't watch it for being the lowest rated K-Drama on MDL, I just loved the cast, the poster and the premise. I also listened to one of the OST and had this gut feeling that it could only be really good. I kinda always end up defending underrated dramas without forcing myself to. By the way of course there are low rated dramas that I agree on being nothing close to masterpieces whatsoever and it's not just me trying to convince myself that every low rated drama is good. I would never take so much time for a review nor having enough substance (especially in the spoilers part, and even then I had to hold back on details because it was far too long) to make it this long if it was bad and I didn't sincerely love it.
7. I can only respect the trauma that a lot of people had to put up with. While this was a source of entertainment on my side, this was a source of suffering for others. Luckily enough for them, there won't be anything like this again. I don't think you can compare Fashion King with any drama, except maybe What Happened in Bali by the same writers and chief producer. What's for sure is that they are both unique and memorable. Moreover, this is my opinion and you don't have to agree. I can't deny how I feel and what I think, just like you can't either and have every right to be harsh, give it the lowest rating and express your opinion. I find the rating on MDL to be fair, because it serves as a warning (not only that, the drama also warns you from the very beginning in a subtle manner). Anyone who's not too naive knows very well that ratings here are not representative in terms of quality. High rated dramas can be objectively not as good as some low rated dramas and vice versa. Ratings are mostly representative of how mainstream a drama is. I admit 5.8 is extremely low on MDL but I guess that's because a lot of the viewers felt the need to express their anger by rating it as low as possible. I'll add that even within the haters of the drama, I've seen so many different opinions/interpretations and a lot of people who actually understood the message of the drama without necessarily realizing it. It also seems that some people watched it to join the hate train but couldn't assume that they enjoyed it. Another fun fact to note is that there are people who liked the ending and not the rest. In addition, if it managed to make people 1. angry 2. cry for days 3. theorizing and discussing no matter how much they hated it, that says a lot too. It's unlikely to leave you indifferent unless you want to forget about it as soon as you finished because you actually didn't care. What else could the staff ask for? They knew it was going to get a lot of backlash, and I'm sure the audience response was exactly what they expected. Funnily enough, people still watched it to the end. I understand why most would regret watching and call it a waste of time, but I couldn't be more grateful personally.
Say what you like, but to me this is a proof of the greatness of this story. I expected worse actually, because I found many positive and more or less mixed comments here and on other sites when I thought everyone would be hiding. It surprised me, especially as I sometimes see more hatred towards dramas rated around 6.9. I suppose that it's because the drama is old and not popular worldwide, barely anyone knows about it. The rating clearly plays a role as well so again I can only be thankful that it's rated this low. What's more, I found out that the korean audience liked it! The evaluation was actually pretty good overall, despite the controversial ending which led to more mixed reactions.
The rest + the review with major spoilers in the comments section (in progress, I will update as soon as I can) :
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