This review may contain spoilers
First off, if I hear a Vienna Boys Choir song I will go mental. By golly they played the same song over and over in EVERY LAST EPISODE!!! I know in the story it held sentimental value but boy did they play it too much. I could only imagine how many times they played that song during the many takes they did.Now the story. I can't describe the plot because I couldn;t tell if it was strong or weak. I did get a sense of how the main character-Yoon Kye Sang was in the 15th episode. It was loosely portrayed in the beginning but throughout the series it just focused on him being homeless and befriending other homeless people and battling goons who abused their power to the weaker homeless people. I was upset because there was a part in the series where Kye Sang claimed he was going to take care of the worst top level goons and then that scenario faded as quickly as it came so I wonder what was the point of putting that in the series.
There were a few characters that I couldn't stand: Park Ye Jin. Her face was so botoxed that she couldn't even cry right. She looked pasty and too thin. Her annoying one expression through the whole series was nerve wrecking. I also couldn't stand Gu Jae Yi character. She was heartless to the end!
My favorite was Park Won Sang. I remembered him from several dramas and I loved him in every last one of those.
As I mentioned earlier about the plot, sometimes the main character's actions was wishy washy. I don't know if the writers wanted him to play a good guy or a bad guy so they just went for both and at one point I was glad he-well, I can't give away too much of the spoilers.
I liked the chemistry the cast had. It wasn't strong but it was good.
I don't know how I feel about the last episode. At one point they should've ended it but they extended it. I don't know if they needed to fill in some time so they just added another segment or they just wanted to add more to the end just because. Then there's that 'we've done all we could do so let's just end it here' kind of thing and it was over.
I would've dropped this but I dropped two other dramas and I needed something to fill my void until the regular NFL season starts. When it does, I will be putting my Korean dramas on the back burner until the NFL season ends. Maybe by then my drought will be over and I will be able to find better dramas to watch.
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This review may contain spoilers
I just finished watching this and really enjoyed it.Let me talk about my hangups first. The fact that the main character ABSOLUTELY DID NOT pass for a 19 year old was the most irritating thing to watch. Plus everybody trying to make her seem as if she was a teenager was disappointing. Yeah, she was short but did the make up artist not know how to make her look younger? She looked the same in both flashbacks and present day!
The bad guy Kim Tae Hoon who played as a teacher...I saw him in Hidden Identity and thought he was a waste in that drama and it seems like it was the same in this one. Maybe it's because he already have that shady McSheister look that I didn't like He is one of the few Korean actors I don't like and would avoid any drama if they're in any.
The dimwitted home room teacher. By golly when they made it seem like he got fired from 7 teaching jobs I believed it. But as the episodes progressed, he became a loveable dimwitted teacher.
Now this series focused on bullying and how difficult it is to do something about it. What wouldn't a mother do to protect her child? They portrayed the scenarios really well. But they had to throw in some political corruption to make the whole 16 episodes work.
I watched this because of a video of bad a** female leads who could fight and Kim Hee Sun was one of the females on the list and after seeing a preview of her fighting a bully I had to watch. I was a little disappointed because she came out blazing in the first few episodes but fizzed in the end. I don't know why she was portrayed as a gangster. That scenario died real quick.
I liked the two subordinates. They were hilarious. There were characters in here that you hated and then there were characters in this that you hate to love.
As always I like to comment on the last episodes of all the Korean dramas I watch. The last episode was doing fine in the justice department but it became long winded close to the end. Korean justice must've taken notes from the US justice system. People who do horrible things rarely get punished the right way. Plus there were several things that were left unfinished. I should be use to that by now but it always irritate me when this happens. I have a OCD issue when it comes to subjects not being finished.
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This review may contain spoilers
Remember I said my review contains spoilers. Read at your own risk if you haven't seen this.I came to watch this because of the positive reviews and I honestly have to say this one wasn't all that great.
When I came into watching these kdramas I became hooked because of how good they were. A lot of the dramas I watched had me heavily binging.
This one did not.
Every episode dragged a bit for me. I was even dismayed that the villain was announced in the 10th episode. I seriously did an eye roll. There was no shock factor in the reveal.
The plots were lackluster and the villain behind the whole ordeal didn't even solve the problem. The punishments for the evil doers failed miserably.
I'm the type of person who wants justice in these dramas but a lot of the ones I've seen have completely missed the mark.
I didn't care for most of the time that whiny MFL. I couldn't understand why the villain cared so much about her. It was like having a crush on a wet paper bag. Plus they tried to make the MML and the MFL have a spark but that quickly flamed out-which I was glad about because I don't care for the rom-coms.
As always the last episode did no justice. It just wasn't there. The ending just plain sucked for me.
I could've given this a lower score but I'm being nice. I just tried to watch this just to get it over with. I've dropped a few dramas and should've dropped this one.
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OK, I'm just going to say I really did enjoy this series. The two female cops were awesome, the cast was awesome and the fighting scenes were awesome. I however, seriously HATED the last episode!!! I stopped watching the last 40 minutes or so because of how it was done. STOP READING AFTER THIS IF YOU REALLY DON'T WANT TO KNOW HOW THE ENDING WAS
The villain throughout really got on my nerves. I know it's not real but I wanted him and his sidekick to really get punished but it didn't happen at all. It was like the writer didn't know what to do with the last episode. They gave a LOT of back stories for the characters. Even threw in some sappy romance at the last minute as well. That soured my mood more than justice not being served so I stopped watching it. If I had known the ending was going to end the way it did I would've just skipped the last two episodes.
There is a second sequel but I don't know if I will watch that.
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This review may contain spoilers
So I've now watched four dramas which all had similar features but out of all four-The Tunnel, Signal, Life On Mars, and this one, The Tunnel and this one is my favorite.We all know what the story is about so I won't get into that. I will just say I liked the whole cast except the female who played the wife. Her face annoyed the heck out of me. I remember seeing her on Cruel City and had the same response. There was one scene in particular where she cried and it looked like she had so much work done on her face that she looked like one of those vintage porcelain dolls. She couldn't even cry right because of how stiff her face looked. Plus her eyes were so big that she looked cross eyed at times.
This series was met with a lot of emotions for me. It really hit home about losing fathers. I, myself, lost my father unexpectedly and the way they portrayed the fathers in this and their close relationships with their children had me fighting back some strong tears.
This series also gets into the dark side of shady construction jobs. I liked the way the whole series was evenly paced out. There wasn't one episode that didn't disappoint. To me this series wasn't all over the place. The plot was always consistent.
I also liked the characters sans the wife. I couldn't stand her. There are people like this in real life which really have me seething. It was hard not to like everybody else though.
The cinematography at times was a bit shaky, but I guess trying to portray realism shots was necessary. I don't know why I never care for the music. There were times when I was surprised to hear jazz and American music in the background like the remake of Roberta Flack's Street Life.
As always I always don't expect much from the very last episode in Korean dramas because they miss the mark a lot! This one got it right for me. Justice was served the right way but in my opinion the last 30 minutes was just too long. It got to the point where it should've ended when justice was served but I guess we got a glimpse of what everyone's life was like after making it through extreme life altering situations.
Last but not least, the very last minute of this series led me to believe that there may be a second season.
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Get ready because I'm going to spoil the mess out of my review because so many things happened in this series that left me with a lot of questions.I finished watching this and by golly I gotta say I don't think I've ever seen a drama that had so much treachery in it! It seemed like everybody was crooked....even the President!!
There was also a lot of dying! I was thinking with so many people dying I don't think there won't be anybody left by the time the last episode happen!
The person who played the main bad guy really irked me. I seen him in Hello Monster and he played the same character-a narcissistic mad man. I only seen two dramas with him and it makes me wonder if he's been type cast.
I liked both the female cop and the female special agent. They weren't portrayed as the delicate girly girl type which gives me a sigh of relief because a lot of Korean females are portrayed this way.
I liked the main male lead mostly because he had some excellent fighting skills which brings me to the cinematography. A lot of the action sequences were really fast and shaky. There were times when I had to close my eyes because the shots were too fast and shaky.
There were some scenes where it had me question what was going on in the directors head. One example is trying to hide the good guy but announcing where the good guy was over the radio when they knew there were crooked people listening.
Another was the fact that bombs could be detonated by a cell phone but nobody could figure that out and stop the bad guy.
These two were the main things that had me yelling at the screen.
I did enjoy this. A lot of the episodes were a bit slow but it kept me interested. Truly sorry for telling what happened but I don't know how to convey my feelings without telling what happened because there was a lot that was going with this series and it didn't disappoint.
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This series gave me glimpse of what goes on in a construction world. I never realized how tough the competition in building buildings was.
By this being a 60 episode series, the first half dragged a bit and then all of a sudden the children became adults. The second half dragged a bit too. I guess with 60 episode about an hour each, they had to make it stretch.
I strongly despised Joo Sang Wook's character. I seriously did. He didn't get the punishments he deserved throughout the whole series that made my blood boil! He have an arrogance about him that was displayed with his character choices. I have avoided watching anything else he's been in.
The way I felt about this character not facing justice the right way was also felt with several other characters that was in this. I kept feeling bad for the main male lead. He was just too doggone nice!!!
This was a good series to watch to surpass the time. I most certainly won't re-watch this series again though.
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I'm being generous with my scores because this drama was all over the place. The fight scenes were awesome but the plot as I mentioned was truly all over the place.
The ML couldn't figure out if he was for or against the main FL which had me scratching my head a few times.
The second FL-Anna-was annoying as f****!!! Oh...my...friggin'....gosh she cried too doggone much for me. OMG!!! I don't know how she had the stamina to shed that many tears in every episode!!! This was one of the Korean dramas that started turning me off as far as cliche romances are concerned. Ugh...it became lovey dovey real quick and I'm no longer a hopeless romantic teenage girl!!!
There was one scene in particular that had me rewinding over and over and I'm pretty sure people who seen this drama know what I'm talking about. It was the epitome of the whole series but again, it shifted to 'is he for' or 'is he against'.
In the end it led me to wanting to watch other action Kdramas sans the romance.
Since the male lead will no longer be fighting in anything else he'll be playing in I had to move on to other awesome fighting Korean actors.
I would rewatch this but all that crying left me seething.
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The main two male leads were fine but nothing to write home about. The last episode I thought was going to bring some closure but it didn't. I couldn't tell you how this ended but I will say it left me scratching my head.
I didn't know this was based off of a movie. I guess I would have to watch the movie which came out three years before this series in order to better understand what the series was truly about if it derives from that but I think I'm done with this drama. The fight scenes was subpar. I could've given this a lower score seeing that I've only seen 3 Japanese action dramas and enjoyed the first two. Right now I'm just being nice.
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The first episode threw me off because I didn't know the main actor was playing dual roles. I guess I should've read the synopsis first. I'm not familiar with the ML but I thoroughly enjoyed the chemistry he had with his cast mates. As a matter of fact I loved all of the cast mates. Including the ones that got on my nerves.
I know I'm odd but when I saw Jo Hee Bong in this I had to watch. Even though he plays in a lot of cop dramas, the characters he portray never disappoint. After seeing The Tunnel and the way that cast got along I try to find dramas with those actors in it.
The one thing that had me sighing was the back and forth 'gotcha' moments. It was portrayed really well but I wanted some of the scenarios to either speed up or move along.
I also loved the ending. I wish it was played out a bit more but then a lot of last episode Korean dramas don't know how to end so I had to take what I can get.
The best part about this whole series was that there was NO ROMANCE anywhere in this! I'm trying to stick to dramas that don't have this. I even liked the end with the bloopers. I wasn't expecting that.
Sometime in the near future if I get a chance I will watch this series again.
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If your ears are sensitive beware of the music!
I just finished watching this and I will say this is why I like Korean crime dramas as well as the action dramas. I'm not big on the romance aspect so when I saw that there was some romance in this I was hoping that it wasn't the cliche romances that Korean dramas have. It was but it wasn't overly done-thank goodness!To me some episodes were slow so at times I took a break from watching but sometime after the sixth episode I found myself binging.
I'm American who sucks at names and the characters names in this series had me so confused because there were too many Lees in this. Even the main character played Lee somebody. So whenever they said something about a Lee I had to try to remember who they were talking about.
I will try not to give away what the series was about but my favorite character was Min Sung Wook who played Son Myung Woo. I don't know how this series would've made it if it wasn't for him. My second was Choi Deok Moon who played the friend. Yes, people I'm copying and pasting these names as we speak. The team leader-Lee Chun Hee seemed like he shouldn't have played that character. I thought team leaders had strong leadership skills but his skills seemed so lack luster that I wondered why they made him a team leader.
The first bad guy-Do Kyung Soo-played his role exceptionally well. I was shocked they didn't keep him as the main bad guy. The second guy who played as the first bad guy had me at a meh.
The little kid who played young Min was just too adorable for words!
I loved the brotherly banter as well.
Throughout the series I figured out some scenarios before it was revealed which I felt the writer didn't do well in trying to keep the mystery going. Also there were some things that were left unfinished. I hate that!
The chemistry between the whole specials team unit was what made me binge. I love crime dramas like this because everybody is treated as equals.
I'm never a fan of female Korean actresses because of how they're portrayed but I liked the female officer.
The music-oy....I had to mute the volume on a few occasion because some of the songs came in at times that made the scenes seem cheesy at best. Plus there were times when the tones became severely high pitched. My ears have become sensitive to loud noises and this one almost did me in.
Once again Korea struggled with the last episode. It left me speaking like when a Korean actor gets confused in a scene. It was all over the place. Sometimes they just need to end the series at 15 episodes because the last episode is always a downer.
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A lot of the first original cast was in this minus the captain which made me glad about because I did enjoy the cast.
Every plot in this series was different from the first season which I was glad about.
The episodes were fast paced. There was never a slow episode. I think I was able to finish all of these in one day. It wasn't too much and it wasn't too little. It was just right for me. The only thing I'm disappointed in is that there may not be a 3rd installment of this.
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When watching these Korean dramas if they grab me from the get go I will binge watch. This one almost lost me on a few occasions.
When I saw who the female lead was I had to watch. Why? Because I thought she would be doing some top notch fighting like she did in Good Casting but I was highly dismayed that she absolutely did not fight. She was portrayed as a housewife who couldn't defend herself...ugh!!
I don't know why but I feel compelled to say this: Korean women dress very very TACKY! I found most of the women's wardrobe horrible.-sandals with socks??? Skirts that looked thrown together....I won't even talk about the shoes... Their wardrobe was highly distracting to say the least.
The way I am is when I see anyone who have bad fighting skills I'm immediately drawn to that person. I will try to find any and everything they're in just to see their fighting skills.
I stuck this one out because it had a very minimal Sherlock 'Holm-girl' to it. I don't know why the police force was there. They made it like they were incapable of solving anything which annoyed the heck out of me.
I also stuck it out because I loved the detectives Ahn Kil Kang, Kwon Sang Woo, and Lee Won Keun interaction with each other. They felt like actual brothers to me.
I also like the fact that they had different scenarios throughout the series. It wasn't a long drawn out plot.
I was a little dismayed at the ending. It's like they don't know how to end stuff like this! All the Korean dramas I've seen had just about all horrible endings. I don't know what I was expecting but I wish it was better than how they ended it.
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So this came out in 2015 and I didn't start watching Korean action dramas until 2020. I keep hitting slumps when it comes to a action drama with no romance in it.When I saw that the ratings was only 7.7 I decided to watch to see if the ratings should stick. It shouldn't. It should receive a higher rating.
I mainly watched this because of Park Sung Woong and Lee Won Jong. These two have done dramas together and they meld really well. It's just something about these two that makes the dramas click. I like Woong's demeanor. Ever since Rugal I will try to find anything he's in.
I didn't too much care for Kim Bum. His facial expressions was the way he acted-disinterested. I know his character was suppose to be going through some pain but by golly, smile once in a while!!
Kim Tae Hoon's character was weak. I don't even know why he was in it. He got captured and beaten so much....his end scene wasn't necessary either. I felt relief when he was no longer in the picture. He was like a unnecessary filler.
It's so funny I could name all the other actors I've seen in several action dramas that played in this. Why do Lee Kyung Young play a bad guy in every drama he's in??
I loved this. It had the right amount of mystery, drama, and action scenes although I can't understand what those Korean men be on that allows them to get cracked on the body numerous times with a pipe or a 2x4 that allows them to be able to pop back up and fight some more. That always baffled me in these action dramas.
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I, like some people watched The Tunnel first and loved that one. When I saw that Signal had almost the same premise as The Tunnel I decided to watch.For some odd reason I only made it to the first episode. The female lead messed it up for me. Her demeanor, and facial expressions made this less enjoyable to watch.
Someone stated that I should definitely watch so I followed their suggestion. To my dismay I really didn't like this too much. The male character who was in the past played his parts to where I clouded up a bit in some scenes.
To me the two male cops connected even though they never meet. Other cast members seemed to be disconnected from each other.
The cases that they dealt with was interesting but in my opinion it lacked intensity and depth. Especially the last episode. It caused me to be so disappointed with the days I spent watching this. Some of the dramas that I've seen know how to wrap it up in the last episode and a lot of dramas that I've seen don't know how to wrap it up and this was one of them.
The pace in every episode was extremely slow too.
I wanted to like this but unfortunately I'm one of the few who didn't care for this too much.
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