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I tend to shy away from Chinese and Japanese dramas because the actors are so dead! They play these roles as if their lives have been drained and they're using every last effort to make it work.I wasn't going to watch this drama but another user on here recommended it so I felt obliged to watch it.
It's only 8 episodes so thankfully the plot wasn't drawn out. Something Korea should take note in sometimes.
The characters were great. Didn't feel any chemistry from anybody. I'm so use to that and when I don't get it it makes me change my whole outcome on characterizations and character choices . Two female characters kept squealing over how good the food was in almost every episode. I hate high pitch squealing female voices!!
From the plot you have this mother who envies rich women's lives and will do whatever it takes to live like them. She may have to trample on a family to get there but it will get done.
That attitude was kept until the last two episodes though. With any Asian drama I have now become use to the plot swaying in a different direction which this one did. It sort of leads to a let down for me which lowers my expectations and ratings.
I did not like the father at all! This man had no spine! In my opinion he was the worse character choice for this drama.
I knew there was going to be romance in this! I just knew it but the way it was done wasn't over the top or the cliche romances that I have come to despise in any kind of drama.
The very last episode was kind of a let down for me. I wouldn't call this a revenge or thriller because of that. I wasn't prepared to feel sorry for the wrong doers one bit but in the end I felt a little tinge of sympathy which I didn't want to feel. I wanted that 'Taxi Driver' revenge but alas...I didn't get it.
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Welcome to Chicago P.D., Chicago Med, and Chicago Fire crossover all in one!!If you ever watched any of these shows then you'll get a gist of how First Responders work except that everything that happens in these dramas are combined into one show.
Each episode have it's own unique plot which isn't over the top. They each have a beginning, middle, and end which I loved but as the episodes got closer to the end some scenarios lasted about two episodes.
Whoever put this cast together is a genius! This cast melded so well that I fell in love with every last character-both good and bad. The connection worked for me. I know I love strong bromance dramas, this one wasn't strong but it was there.
Now the bad part...I can't stress enough how much I despise dramas that involves romance! In this case there's two guys vying for one female and I seriously hate that. I also got a feeling that the main female lead is going become that lovesick puppy I despise as well. This is why I'm giving it a 9. It would've given it a 10 if it weren't for the cheesy cliche romance.
Another thing I hate is that it ends in a cliff hanger. I hate cliff hangers because it either takes too long to show the reveal or it gets left in the air.
It's been a minute since I came across a Korean drama that had me eagerly reaching for the 'next episode' button. Now that I watched this whole drama, I feel like I've lost a life long friend...Till First Responders season 2 comes along, I'll be looking like a lost puppy trying to find a drama that can pretty much match this one.
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What a Ride
I had no idea the ML was the actor from Carter. That movie was disappointing to say the least. I wasn't familiar with him then and after seeing this I wouldn't mind watching anything he's in-if it involves fighting. I can't stress how much I love action police dramas and Korean actors who know how to fight!!I'm going to talk about the cinematography first. I watched this drama on two different links and thought one would be better than the other. They weren't. A lot of the scenes that happened in this drama were so dark!! I don't mean in a sadistic way I mean in the lighting way. I don't understand what the editors were thinking when this was on the editing floor! It takes a lot of time to get the cameras and lighting set up and I think maybe it was too time consuming to do that. It looks like they filmed the majority of this drama in the winter so it must've been dark all of the time and they had no choice but to film scenes in the dark and tried to use as much lighting as they could. The problem with that was that some of the key elements were lost. If you can't see what's going on you won't know what's going on. You'll be left in the dark...literally!
I just couldn't believe they let all of those dark scenes stay.
Now for the chemistry...I wouldn't say it wasn't there, it was just...I don't know how to put it. I don't want to say it seemed disconnected because it wasn't. It just wasn't as strong as I would've liked it to be. That's just MY opinion.
I liked the fact that this drama kept it's consistency. They even threw in a 'Escape The Room' kind of spiel which reminded me of that show 'Busted'. But this one was better.
I liked the whole cast. There were no sappiness. No dripping oozing romance. Dramas work without the unnecessary fluff.
When they say 'the pen is mightier than the sword' in this drama they weren't kidding. Just like 'Weak Hero Class' I will never look at a pen the same.
Now as usual I always comment about the last episode. I don't know if I liked how it went. Especially in the beginning. I thought some grand heist was going to happen but it didn't. They built it up like it was going to be a 'gotcha' moment only to have it go in another direction. It also irritates me when they need to complete something they do a news segment to wrap everything up. Sometimes it's for the best but sometimes it just make it seem as if the director and writer had no where else to go. It's like that 'deux ex machina' kind of thing.
You also get to learn about Korean artifacts if it was real. I never cared for materialistic things even if it held some kind of history to it. After all they're just objects with a story behind it and nothing else.
I truly liked this drama. Somewhere down the line I will watch this again. I just have to tweak the contrast on the computer to get some of those dark scenes brighter.
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It's based purely on cinematography. The colors and locations are beautiful.
They give a synopsis of what the movie will be about but it doesn't seem like they stick to the plot. Mainly because of all the long pauses, ambient sounds and little to no dialogue. At some points I thought the movie froze because of the long pauses.
I'm not sure why they even called this movie The Assassin because there's hardly no fighting scenes! I mean a woman assassin and this is all we get??
Alas I digress. I couldn't take this movie anymore.
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First off, I love action movies, dramas...anything that has fighting in it I'm there. So when I came across this I knew I was going to watch it. I've become addicted to Korean action dramas and have watched other Korean genre dramas.
I have tried to expand my addiction to Japanese and Chinese dramas but no offense, they don't hold up the same.
Watching this drama had me cringing and eye rolling throughout every episode.
The mom in the beginning loses her husband and two kids. Luckily one survives but this led the mom to go a bit crazy. She's bada** to the core with her martial art skills but throughout the series her missing children slowly show up and the reunion was so dead!
Speaking of dead, their funerals aren't as emotional as the Korean drama funerals. Loved ones died and they were like 'we'll miss you...who's up for lunch.
Now the fighting scenes. More eye rolls though this.
I like a build up that leads to fighting but it seemed like the writers didn't know how to build up the fighting scenes so they just let them say a few words then 'FIGHT'. I was thinking half the time why are they fighting?
The constant palms to the chest, back, and head, and spurting out fake blood in EVERY SINGLE fight got old pretty quick. I'm not medical expert but....if you're spitting out blood....that means you have internal injuries right? Nope! These people were able to get back up and fight some more. They finally got the color of the blood right in the 29th episode though.
Throughout this whole series there was only one plot...Every bad guy wanted to take over Tong Street. What was so special about this street? They never stated why it was so special.
Whenever one bad guy gets defeated and another comes along and puts fear in people a speech has to be made about how the nice people of Tong Street will prevail. This speech is given throughout the series. After the 4th 'we can do it speech' it gets old quick.
The portrayal of American soldiers back in the 30's made America look horrible. It may be dead on but I'm not familiar with the Thailand/Chinese culture of the 1930's.
Another take away was that all of the bad guys died quickly with a lot of episodes left. Then close to the end more side characters started dying quicker than quick sand so the cast became smaller and smaller. I mean who else could be left to die? Both the bad guys and good guys died pretty early.
If this didn't have any fighting in it I would've passed. The romance part killed the majority of it for me. This is one drama that I will not watch again.
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I just finished watching this drama and liked it. It had some moments where it had me grinning from ear to ear. This is because of the bromance that involved the three main male characters. I don't know what it is about bromances but it seems to make the drama a whole lot better. I also smiled at the fact that a young adult and older adult can get along as equals without looking at the age difference.There's a lot of comedy which helps move this series along.
It's a slow paced drama so there's no need to rush and watch this all at once.
The plot was a little weak. Illegal gambling...Yeah, there's no suspense, thriller, or espionage to this. I guess illegal gambling is really really huge in Korea. I just didn't understand how this scenario made it to 16 episodes! I have to give mad props to the writer for being able to stretch that out.
The take away that I had with this drama was the teenage sappy romance between the second main ML and FL. It didn't feel real. The reason why I can't stand romance dramas is because there's no where to go. You get a lovey dovey couple who do stupid things for love, end up getting angry, and there's that perverbial breakup scenario. Romance doesn't go anywhere but down.
Plus there were several second lead love scenarios that I hated. I hate seeing two people going after one person and that one person strings the two lovers along. Ugh...I seriously try to avoid dramas like this but I don't want to miss out if it's a good drama.
I didn't think I would like the last episode even though it dragged a bit but it gave everybody closure. Main issues were solved and not forgotten like a lot of other dramas I've seen.
I gave this a low score for a rewatch value but if someone wants to just surpass the time this series will help.
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I'm going to talk about why I gave this drama a 10. It's shocking because I barely give dramas a 10 even if I love it.It's because of the cast. Oh man, I fell so in love with all of the cast members minus one person: Byun Woo Sung who played the older brother. This guy is a total prick to me. The few dramas that I've seen him in he's been a prick. I wonder if that's how he really is because he look it. He must enjoy roles where he gets to belittle people and it's a huge turn off for me.
I absolutely loved Baek Jun. I usually have a beef with Korean female actresses because of how they're portrayed but she wasn't portrayed like that. She was a powerful female who didn't back down to the bullies in this drama and I loved every bit of it.
Byeon Hyeok. He grew on my within the first episode and his character blossomed throughout the whole drama. He was so adorable! His naivtey just so darned cute.
Kwon Je Hoon. I felt so bad for him having to clean up Hyeok's screw ups. I hated the fact that he got talked down to and was beat for other people's mistakes. That kind of treatment always makes my blood boil.
He just got mistreated by the powerups so bad that he didn't even smile until the very last few episodes. When he did it made my heart melt.
The chemistry the main three characters had along with their counterparts. I fell in love with all of them, mainly Ms. An. I loved how she was the voice of reason and how she kept everybody together. I also loved how each of these people stayed by Hyeok's side no matter what he did.
I loved the guy who played as the cop and Baek Jun's girlfriend. They all had me wishing I was apart of this drama.
I'm angry because some scenarios was left in the air like Mr. Min not getting what he deserved. He always plays a prick in every drama I've seen him in as well.
This wasn't a romantic sappy cliche drama that a lot of people were wishing for. I'm glad I read the reviews and learned it wasn't really a romance drama. I would've avoided it at all cost if it was. But on the other hand if I avoided watching this I would've truly missed out on how good this drama was.
I laughed, got angry, and nearly bawled in some areas throughout this drama. When a drama like that can get all these emotions out of me like that then it does deserve 10 stars.
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Fight scenes...check!Car chase scenes....check!
Gun battle....check!
Espionage left and right...check!
No mushy romance....double check!!!
Boy this had EVERYTHING that I love in watching a drama. In all the Korean dramas I've watched I never seen any of these that had all of the categories listed above.
Coming off a Korean drama slump I went into this blind not knowing what I was going to get myself into. I wasn't sure if I recognized the main male lead but when I did I knew this was going to be an excellent watch. After seeing him in Good Manager where he played his role like Jim Carey in Pet Detective 1 & 2 I wondered how he would play this role and it was strictly serious throughout the whole drama. He can play a bad guy, funny guy, and serious guy to a 'T'.
What's a Korean drama without political propaganda? I know people get turned off by political dramas but I did not. I was highly curious as to the main mystery behind the main character's motives. The reason is because this reminded me of the very first Mission Impossible movie where everybody was shady and you didn't know who to trust. That's how this drama is. I haven't watched the last episode yet but I now have a gist of who's who.
The fact that every character in this drama was so shady that by I got to the 8th episode I forgot who was the main culprit. I had to remind myself of how the first episode started to get me back on track. Plus by me truly sucking at names I had to keep going back to the cast list to see who was who...I can't believe I truly suck at names! Don't even get me started on these character's real names...oy!!
All in all this held me at the edge of my seat through the first 11 episodes. I don't know if I will recap my review once I'm done with the last episode because the very last episodes of the Korean dramas are usually more misses than hits. I'm truly hoping for the latter than the former.
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I for one, love the Bourne saga because of how much action was in each and every film. Those are my type of action movies!!I've seen a total of maybe seven Korean movies in my whole entire lifetime and this was one of those. I usually don't watch Korean movies because they lack.....I can't think of the proper word for what I'm trying to say but I'll say depth.
I'm not familiar with the main male character and did a little research on him. I had no idea how infamous he was. That led me to watching Goblin but I ended up dropping that series because of the cliche romance involved. I no longer watch Korean dramas that have romance as the basis of their shows but I did enjoy the bloopers from that series.
Now back to this movie. The main thing that I liked in this movie were the car chase scenes. I was rooting like a kid on those. The fighting scenes were on point for me as well.
Now I will say some things that happened in this movie like the main lead getting dropped through a floor by a rope around his neck and was able to free himself was a little bit far fetched but what length are you willing to go when you need to get to that person who was behind killing your family?
The end had me upset because I wanted to see more revenge being done to the wrongdoers but the movie was already over 2 hours.
This was also a movie that I watched twice and I've never watched a Korean movie twice.
If you like the Bourne saga or the Mission Impossible saga this is highly suggested. For those who gave this a low score obviously don't like action packed movies.
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As always I try to find dramas with action and suspense with no romance and this one didn't disappoint. I love the fight scenes Korean dramas have but is amazed at how the character who is fighting can get clocked in the head, or stabbed in the gut and still be able to thrive. Plus they blur out a knife but a gun is in focus....that's beginning to really irritate me for some odd reason.This drama....it was a good watch but in my opinion it went off the rails throughout each episode. I should've seen it coming but I gave it the benefit of the doubt.
We all know this drama is about police corruption but.....how do I put it....it just didn't delve into the corruption. It showed two shady police officers in the beginning but after that we get nothing but stories of how the corruption unfolded and in my opinion the corruption was barely there. There was just too much of a story about corruption and not enough visuals to keep the plot strong and steady.
The drama shifted to the three main character's life stories about how each one suffered a tragedy and the series just focused on that but threw in a little bit of this and a little bit of that. By episode 10 I had no idea where the story was going. A new villain emerges that made no sense but I still watched.
As I mentioned earlier the type of Korean dramas I like to watch, I also watch for the chemistry. I don't want to say it wasn't there, it just wasn't as strong as I would've liked. I did like all of the character choices though.
As usual the last episodes of Korean dramas are usually disappointing. This one held true to the game. I didn't get the closure I thought was going to happen. Sometimes I wonder if skipping the very last episode in a Korean drama is worth it.
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I'm not big on sci-fi dramas but was highly impressed with Uncanny Counter. That series was truly excellent. So when I saw this on my Netflix I ignored it for a few days but decided to watch after binging on Hello Monster.I recognized the main character from Stranger 1 & 2 and was impressed with that series so I gave it a try. The first 10 episodes had me rushing to click 'next episode' but the last six left me seething in some way.
I'm almost coming up on my 1 year anniversary of watching Kdramas and I have come to dislike the romance dramas because of how sappy and cliche they are. The last few episodes ended that way. It's always about a girl!!
I'm not too fond of Korean actresses and I have said this in just about all of my comments but there are a few that stand out for me.
I did like the main FL and I think that was because she was able to do protect a 'guy', ha! She wasn't whiney like most Korean female actresses and her combat skills was good.
The main ML was great. He couldn't fight but he did have some serious MacGyver moments in several episodes. Who knew you could take out armed military men with coke bottles with some type of special liquid that will turn into a torpedo when you spill the liquid?
My favorite character was the father. I don't do names so for those who've seen this series you know what I'm talking about.
Another aspect that had me seething was the fact that how the downloader and uploader came into existence was left dangling in the air. We know the main character made the machine but how? That subject was left dangling along with some other scenarios.
I will say that since watching Kdramas for over a year I have to now get use to the very last episode being a huge let down. Only a few dramas that I've watched ended good and this one didn't. I don't know if it was because something was too short and they needed to extend the time and just threw something in there or they didn't know how to end it or they were just too tired and just ended it way they did. Either way the last episode had no closure for me.
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A Must Watch
I just finished watching this series and I have to say for some odd reason I'm ready to rewatch this again and I usually don't rewatch Korean dramas I've seen.The main character who I'm not familiar with was truly bad a* throughout the whole series. The whole cast had this special chemistry that made me want to watch all of this in one setting.
The fighting scenes were so top notch that I went into kid mode and kept rewinding and squealing...Sad I know but if anyone has watched this there's one particular scene where fighting occurs that threw me for a loop. That person became my favorite.
I'm not really big into female Korean actresses but the female cop was awesome. Except for the 'hip hop' scenes. Yeah, I cringed and was glad she didn't 'rap' too often.
The comedy in this had me rewinding and watching over and over. I never knew so many tears could come out of my eyes in every episode.
Since I'm not good with names, especially foreign names I'm just going to say the guy with the bob was my favorite. Poor guy got kicked and bounced up so fast only to fall the way he stood had me in tears!
Even the bumbling cop who surprised me throughout the series.
My least favorite of course were the bad guys but I also wasn't too fond of the prosecutor. Her constant 'Phoenix Sun' got on my nerves. Maybe it was the way her voice sounded. I hate female voices that are high and squeaky...ugh!
I definitely loved the fact that this was just comedy, mystery, and action. No sappy romances anywhere! These are my new descriptions for anything Korean right now.
Now that this one is done....going to find another to watch. Hope it's like this one.
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I remember a few months back when I was trying to find a Kdrama that had action in it without the romance something like Killers Shopping-something came up. I watched the first episode of what I thought left me uninspired so I never went back to finish. A few days ago I find myself doing the same thing: trying to find a Kdrama that had action in it without the romance and sure enough something like Killers Shopping-something came up again. So I clicked on 'A Shop For Killers' thinking that that was the drama I was trying to watch and dropped but realized it wasn't that. I think that's what I was trying to watch in the first place but clicked on the wrong drama. So now that I finally get the right drama right I started watching it. I mainly watched because I liked the male lead from Bad & Crazy. In all of my reviews I tend to cling to Korean actors who have some serious fighting skills so that's why I decided to watch this. I'm going to solely focus on the last episode because to me, that's the nail in the coffin. The final tie up to everything that happened in the previous episodes. I'm always reviewing the last episode because I like closure. Unfortunately the last episode was the only episode that left me underwhelmed.
****************THIS IS WHERE THE SPOILER COMES IN**************************************
The focus of the entire series is wrapped around the uncle and a rogue military man. Throughout the drama we get to understand what the feud is all about. Understandably so we know why the feud is the way it is which is a relief to me. But here's where I get angry...NOTHING happens to the rogue military man and the bad guy who kept the rogue military in play. What was the point??? The episode is a hour long and what do we get? A LOT of useless dialogue. There's a lot of gun fights and fighting but without that this last episode would've failed its mission terribly. I don't think there will be a season two even though the antagonist isn't dead. It wouldn't make sense because all of the henchmen are dead. I also wasn't shocked about the last few seconds of the episode. It confirmed what I already knew.
Korean dramas always have a tendency to go south at some point. To make a drama more enjoyable I wish they would stop doing that.
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This review is going to contain heavy spoilers so if you haven't watched this drama yet and is planning on watching then don't read this review.I came across this drama in my Netflix recommendations. I like the main ML because he can fight and the first Korean action drama that I watched was Rugal. I love that cast and wish all of them would do another action drama together.
Anyway, this drama is about a female who keeps taking civil service exams and keeps failing and it finally gets to her emotionally. Then a cat emerges and that's when everything starts.
In the beginning this drama hit home to me. It shows what one goes through when trying to do something they love but can't. One would want to quit because of that. Not getting too personal but I can relate to some of the scenarios in this drama and how some character felt.
Heck, there were a few scenes in this drama that nearly had me in tears. The two FL capitalized on their emotions very well! I liked the two main ML's as well.
What I didn't like-which I never like-is the romance factor. I knew it was going to turn into some type of sappy romance story and was going to heavily focus on that and derive from the main plot-which it did. The other thing I truly despise in a Korean romance drama is the fact that they make the female turn into a whiny spoiled two year old idiot! Just when I started to like the first FL's character she starts talking like a two year old who throws a temper tantrum because they can't get what they want and she does this in just about every episode!
The second thing that I don't like is the over the top unnecessary comedy. I actually love the second MML but hated that they made him the silly side kick. I liked when he was serious and gritted my teeth when he became the comedic idiot when the time didn't call for a comedic idiot.
I liked the best friend. I wish I could be besties with her, lol!
Now here's where I'm going to talk about the 'why Ms. Night and Day happened....That's it right there! Why did the MFL change into a older woman by day and go back to herself by night? What was the purpose of that cat? Throughout the beginning they were looking for the cat but then it was forgotten. Why?? What was the purpose?? Then by the 15th episode, if what happened to her was a curse the explanation just dissipated...like the reason never existed.
The second love syndrome needs to stop as well. I hate when two people vie for one person and that person always chooses the opposite.
I loved the parents but their reaction to their daughter changing was small. 16 episodes that was over and hour and they only had a five second reaction to their daughter's appearance??
Last but not least, it also irritates me when the bad person has been dealt with but then there's one last episode to watch. Honestly everything could've ended with episode 15 with the ML going back to Seoul and the MFL finally gets a actual job but they had to do the cliche thing where both just so happens to end up in the same place and continue that sappy romance that was suppose to be left behind.
It would've been a very excellent drama had the writers not have to throw romance in everything. Dramas can survive without the childish sappy romance you know!
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Having never watched any anime or manga-don't even know what manga is-I guess I asked for it.After reading several reviews it seems like I'm the only one who's never heard of Yu Yu Hakusho. I didn't even know this was based off of a 66 episode anime either which is why this didn't grab me.
So this series to me just started from the middle and ended in the end. The characters were announced but with weak background stories. I'm guessing to those who already were familiar with the characters, those who knew needed no introductions.
The special effects were amazing. The fighting scenes as well. But I have issues with Japanese and Chinese fighting. It's like they have no reason for a fight, they just walk up to each other and claim to be better than the other then a fight ensues. That's most likely how some of these fight scenes went down. The male ego strikes again!
I also don't understand how the guy in the blue was human but was able to get powers close to the end of the series. I'm guessing there's a back story to that but with 66 episodes crammed into 5 episodes we gotta take what we can get.
The series was fine but it turned into that damsel in distress...If I had a $1 for the amount of times I said I hate when dramas make it all about a girl, I would be a trajillionaire. Is this the only way a movie or drama can go? Can they not always make it about a friggin' girl?? It was fine with the guy trying to combine two worlds. It could've been left at that!
For those who isn't familiar with this anime turned into a live action series, you may be disappointed. It may not grab you. I tried to enjoy this but seeing how I felt left in the dark, I'm just going to have to leave the anime turned into live action dramas alone.
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