dragynfaerie
USA
This review may contain spoilers
Before I say anything I want to officially state that I took off 1 point for the sappy, unnecessary, inexplicable, and downright boring last approximate 30 minutes of Black. It was like it was written by completely different writers, which, as we know, is not unheard of. But that's the end. Let's go to the beginning.
I waffled on whether or not to watch Black because I thought it would be a regurgitation of Goblin from the reaper's point of view. It is not. Black's a completely different story and for my money one that is told, presented, and written much better. Black is the story of Grim Reaper 444 nicknamed Black, as he attempts to circumnavigate humanity. While he tracks down an escaped reaper, he inadvertently becomes involved in a series of murders and cover-ups. Take out the supernatural aspect and it's a really good cop drama.
For the most part the writing was excellent. There's a quite a bit of dark humor and one liners. The story is layered and twisty. Just when you think you know it all and that you've gotten to the meat, there's another layer to peel back. Situations and scenes that seem to be inconsequential come back right when you've forgotten all about it. Black is pretty much finished mid-way episode 18. Have you ever watched a great drama that is finished may 15-20 minutes into the last episode and wonder why they just didn't extend the episode before? Black is one of those. They finish it with sappy melodrama that didn't exist in any of the previous episodes. I'm dying to ask a couple of "how did they expect/explain...," "why.....," but I have no way of wording them that wouldn't be spoilers.
The cast was great. Hands down a talented cast. It never felt like 1 member was being dragged along by his or her hair by better actors. I adore character actors and you'd be hard pressed to find one better than Kim Won Hae. Bless his scene stealin' heart. There's none better. There's not many female Korean actresses that I like. There's Kim Mi Kyung, Sun Ah, Park Shin Hye, and Go Ah Ra (perhaps a few more but I can't think if their names). Granted she's typecast as the strong feisty type, but it fits her and she damn good. She always manages to hold her own no matter who she is in a scene with. This was my first time seeing Song Seung Heon and he was good. He delivered the best one liners without cracking a smile. He did a wonderful job displaying Black's journey from emotionless to emotion. The rest of the cast gave solid performances. If I had any issue with the cast, it would be their ages. This is a problem I have far too often with Korean dramas. The apparent ages of the adult actors don't mesh with the story or the child characters. An example would be a spoiler. Seriously, this show is so layered almost everything is a spoiler.
The music..eh. I've never been big on the Korean penchant on basically selling a song in their dramas. Some producers/networks go overboard causing it to have the opposite effect on me. I begin to loathe the song instead of like it. Not so with Black. I didn't feel like I was being sledgehammered with 1 or 2 songs. I have no interest in listening to the OST. Honestly, my rewatch value is low because I almost never rewatch a drama. However, if I were to want to rewatch a drama, Black has a higher chance than most.
Overall I give Black an 8.5-9. I thoroughly enjoyed everything about it up until the later half of the final episode. Had the ending not been so sophomoric and poorly thought out, Black easily would have gotten a 9.5-10.
I waffled on whether or not to watch Black because I thought it would be a regurgitation of Goblin from the reaper's point of view. It is not. Black's a completely different story and for my money one that is told, presented, and written much better. Black is the story of Grim Reaper 444 nicknamed Black, as he attempts to circumnavigate humanity. While he tracks down an escaped reaper, he inadvertently becomes involved in a series of murders and cover-ups. Take out the supernatural aspect and it's a really good cop drama.
For the most part the writing was excellent. There's a quite a bit of dark humor and one liners. The story is layered and twisty. Just when you think you know it all and that you've gotten to the meat, there's another layer to peel back. Situations and scenes that seem to be inconsequential come back right when you've forgotten all about it. Black is pretty much finished mid-way episode 18. Have you ever watched a great drama that is finished may 15-20 minutes into the last episode and wonder why they just didn't extend the episode before? Black is one of those. They finish it with sappy melodrama that didn't exist in any of the previous episodes. I'm dying to ask a couple of "how did they expect/explain...," "why.....," but I have no way of wording them that wouldn't be spoilers.
The cast was great. Hands down a talented cast. It never felt like 1 member was being dragged along by his or her hair by better actors. I adore character actors and you'd be hard pressed to find one better than Kim Won Hae. Bless his scene stealin' heart. There's none better. There's not many female Korean actresses that I like. There's Kim Mi Kyung, Sun Ah, Park Shin Hye, and Go Ah Ra (perhaps a few more but I can't think if their names). Granted she's typecast as the strong feisty type, but it fits her and she damn good. She always manages to hold her own no matter who she is in a scene with. This was my first time seeing Song Seung Heon and he was good. He delivered the best one liners without cracking a smile. He did a wonderful job displaying Black's journey from emotionless to emotion. The rest of the cast gave solid performances. If I had any issue with the cast, it would be their ages. This is a problem I have far too often with Korean dramas. The apparent ages of the adult actors don't mesh with the story or the child characters. An example would be a spoiler. Seriously, this show is so layered almost everything is a spoiler.
The music..eh. I've never been big on the Korean penchant on basically selling a song in their dramas. Some producers/networks go overboard causing it to have the opposite effect on me. I begin to loathe the song instead of like it. Not so with Black. I didn't feel like I was being sledgehammered with 1 or 2 songs. I have no interest in listening to the OST. Honestly, my rewatch value is low because I almost never rewatch a drama. However, if I were to want to rewatch a drama, Black has a higher chance than most.
Overall I give Black an 8.5-9. I thoroughly enjoyed everything about it up until the later half of the final episode. Had the ending not been so sophomoric and poorly thought out, Black easily would have gotten a 9.5-10.
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