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hong kong express but the plot missed the train
i started hong kong express mainly because of the setting. crime, money, gambling, class difference and especially the fact that they actually shot in hong kong sounded exactly like my thing. so naturally i expected the production to do something with it.so where did the budget go?
this genuinely looks closer to 1995 than 2005. korean television was already visually behind hong kong and japan in a lot of ways during that period, sure, but by 2005 kdramas had improved A LOT. meanwhile this drama gets to shoot in hong kong and somehow gives me almost none of the atmosphere i expected. barely any interesting lighting, shadows, nightlife, grime, neon, density. hong kong is right there and the cinematography still looks painfully dated.
the first four episodes were also a complete test of patience. i almost never give a drama this long when i’m bored, but the premise was too good to drop. min-soo goes to prison for kang-hyuk, comes back still stuck underneath him, and from there you get class resentment, ambition, revenge and this increasingly messy love square between min-soo, jung-yeon, kang-hyuk and ma-ri. on paper this is literally made for me. somehow it still takes FOREVER to actually become interesting.
cho jae-hyun basically made this drama watchable for me.
he is fucking incredible as min-soo. sometimes it genuinely feels like there is no camera in the room and i’m not watching somebody act. his eyes, his facial expressions, the strange way he laughs, the tiny reactions while other people are talking, none of it feels performed. he just exists as min-soo.
min-soo himself also belongs to this extremely niche early-2000s male lead archetype that basically disappeared afterwards. socially unpolished, impulsive, weirdly childish, almost low-iq at times without actually being stupid, and barely aware of how bizarre or embarrassing he looks to other people. he reminded me so much of go bok-su from ruler of your own world. there is this raw, socially unfinished quality to both of them that i almost never see in kdrama male leads anymore.
his relationship with kang-hyuk is probably the most fascinating part of the drama. kang-hyuk basically tells min-soo that he sees his friends as dogs and that if min-soo wants to stay beside him, he has to become his dog, and min-soo actually accepts it. he sacrifices five years of his life for kang-hyuk and still gets treated like property afterwards. watching that humiliation slowly turn into resentment, ambition and min-soo becoming increasingly unhinged was easily one of the best parts of the drama.
the cast is honestly ridiculous and probably the biggest reason i ended up rating this as high as i did. cho jae-hyun is obviously the standout for me, but cha in-pyo is SO good as kang-hyuk too. kang-hyuk is genuinely insane, possessive, entitled and such a disgusting human being, and cha in-pyo completely sells it. there were moments where i wasn’t thinking “wow, he’s playing an asshole really well,” i just genuinely hated this man. kim hyo-jin is also great as ma-ri and song yoon-ah does everything she can with a character i personally found painfully passive.
jung-yeon unfortunately did almost nothing for me, which hurts because i love song yoon-ah. she is just far too passive for a drama where everyone around her is losing their minds. kang-hyuk lies to her, betrays her, treats people horribly and she spends so much time sitting there looking like a confused owl while two men are apparently destroying their lives over her. i kept waiting for her to actually become an active part of her own story.
ma-ri, meanwhile, immediately made the drama more entertaining.
ma-ri/min-soo were easily my favorite relationship and i genuinely wish they had been endgame. she is spoiled, impulsive, unstable and a little insane, and somehow looks at min-soo at his absolute lowest and decides that is the man she wants. their scenes actually have energy. she gets angry when he humiliates himself, pushes herself into his life and actually brings something out of him.
i desperately wanted min-soo to let go of the sacred tragic-first-love thing with jung-yeon and genuinely fall for his crazy woman instead.
the ending eventually goes full early-2000s melo-makjang, because obviously it does. i can’t even be mad at that part. this is the era. somebody has to lose their mind, somebody has to suffer and somebody’s life has to be ruined dramatically.
my actual problem is that hong kong express has a MUCH better drama hiding inside it. the premise is excellent. min-soo’s humiliation and growing ambition, kang-hyuk’s class superiority and possessiveness, ma-ri being completely unhinged, jung-yeon connecting the two men, money, revenge, resentment. all the ingredients are there.
it just never becomes as vicious or exciting as it promises.
honestly, the acting and this cast carried what could very easily have been a 3/10 drama to a 6.5/10 for me. cho jae-hyun made it watchable, cha in-pyo made kang-hyuk genuinely unbearable in the best way, and kim hyo-jin finally gave the relationship side of the drama some life. the writing never fully delivered on the insane amount of potential it had, but the actors absolutely did.
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Don’t Waste Your Time
A 46-year-old married man meets a 23-year-old woman, feels young again and decides it must be true love. Of course.Sung-jae spends most of the drama acting like he is the tragic victim of his own affair, while his wife and daughter deal with the actual consequences. Shin-woo sees the father she lost in him, he sees his lost youth in her, and somehow the drama expects this to feel romantic.
I usually enjoy age gaps, affairs and morally questionable characters, but this relationship was simply dull. There was no chemistry strong enough to justify all the suffering, and Sung-jae came across as a selfish man turning his midlife crisis into everyone else’s problem.
The production was also quite poor, which made an already unconvincing relationship even harder to watch.
Just terrible.
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Director Was NOT Serious…
I really wanted to like this drama because the premise sounds perfect on paper: betrayal, a secret child, a rich mistress and a woman entering her ex-lover’s new family for revenge. Unfortunately, the execution is painfully lifeless.The drama takes an absurdly long time to reach the story it is actually supposed to be telling. Dong-woo and Young-joo barely share enough meaningful scenes to establish a believable attraction, yet their relationship is suddenly presented as an irresistible forbidden affair. Their kissing scene was especially awkward. Instead of passion or tension, it looked like two actors falling on top of each other while the camera desperately tried to hide the fact that they were not really kissing.
Yun-hee is equally frustrating. She is supposed to become the emotional centre of a revenge melodrama, but for far too long she does little beyond suffering silently, staring sadly and accepting Dong-woo’s increasingly obvious lies. A slow burn should gradually build tension, motivation and emotional attachment. This drama mostly repeats the same conversations until somebody becomes teary-eyed and the episode ends.
The production is also shockingly poor, even by late-1990s television standards. I love old movies and the hazy atmosphere of early Korean dramas, so age is not the issue. The problem is the complete lack of visual storytelling. The camera angles are flat, the blocking is awkward, the editing has no rhythm and the music rarely adds anything to the scenes. The cast is clearly talented, especially Shim Eun-ha, but the direction somehow makes accomplished actors look stiff and amateurish.
I understand why the premise and dialogue may have felt provocative when it originally aired, but popularity does not automatically make something well made. Korean dramas improved enormously in directing, pacing, music and emotional storytelling during the early 2000s, and Trap of Youth makes that difference painfully obvious. A potentially addictive revenge story is buried underneath lifeless direction, weak romantic development and endless staring.
Not a slow burn. Just a drama that takes forever to begin.
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Queer Representation Done Right
Nam Yoon Su’s acting was absolutely jaw-dropping; he portrayed Go Young’s character perfectly. The drama was extremely realistic from beginning to end. It shows how a group of queer youth in their early twenties live their lives. Moreover, Mi Ae and Go Young’s bittersweet friendship, which is at times funny and at times touching, made the drama even more enjoyable to watch. I literally cried for their friendship.I would like to add that if you’re starting this expecting a typical BL series, I would advise against it. Most BL dramas focus on the love between two men, but this drama is more about how real queer people live their lives, and if you’re not queer yourself, it might be hard for you to fully understand or relate to it.
Each episode carries its own emotions and lessons, offering something for everyone to connect with. It’s a perfect queer drama that shows love isn’t always rosy like in the movies.
Overall 10/10
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Wild Ride for a GMMTV Drama
Holy shit! I don't usually write reviews, but this show has got to be the messiest show I've ever seen. The more vou watch, the more vou understand the title of it.Firstly, this is not for people looking for a typical 'romance' kind of drama. If you want your mouth wide open in every episode, crave intrigue, enjoy polyamorous relationships, and are into the shameless scenes this show is going to be top-tier for you. It offers adult content, opposites attract scenarios, and a complex narrative that keeps you on the edge of your seat.
One downside is watching Sand suffer for a dickhead junkie Ray for a long time, take care of him, always be there for him but still ended up getting played 💀💀💀. It's frustrating, but it adds to the emotional depth of the story.
The acting was phenomenal, especially for a Thai BL drama. Not a single actor was lacking in their performance. First and Khaotung, in particular, absolutely nailed their roles. Their portrayals were convincing and engaging that they elevated the entire show.
If you're up for a wild, intense ride that breaks away from conventional romance tropes, this drama is a must-watch.
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