This review may contain spoilers
This movie is really peculiar.The focus is not the romance, not both ML, but just purely on the FL, imo. When you watch this, focus on her, don't mind the MLs.
This is a story about intense love turned into obsession. About love that can turn a happy and normal person into an empty shell, devoid of emotion. This is about how a person become emotionally aware and awoke, a journey of realization. This is about loss of trust between lovers, and the budding of healthy, strong relationship and romance between 2 people. This is about the importance of 2 healthy individual in a relationship, emotionally, mentally, and physically.
The acting is superb. Both FL and ML did a great job, but you should really understand the phase and emotion of the character to know whether they are portraying the character or just do a poor job at doing their work.
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This review may contain spoilers
Some dramas are disliked due to its silliness. Some are disliked because it stroke a wrong but true cord in our heart. That is how I feel when watching this drama, the later one.Watching Hae Won felt like watching myself being made into a show. Her coldness, her silliness, her stubborness, her love toward Eun Seob and her family, and her pride hit a little close to home. That's the reason why I don't really like her and criticize her misdeeds so much. I can see myself doing the same thing. Well, except that love scene, that is too irresponsible for me. Everyone here felt like a dream, except her. They don't show any flaw, at all, even the mother and the aunt. She is the most human out of everyone, because everyone else behave so reasonable and according to moral values so much.
But actually, that is just my rant because her character became a really selfish person in the last 4 episodes. When everything is revealed and we can see how she reacted. So, watch at your own risk.
There are plot holes of course. Ones that I think are major plot holes, but alrighty then, Writer-nim. It can be assumed what actually happened in those gap of knowledge, although it doesn't feel satisfying.
The pacing was just per-fect. Some may say it was awfully slow, but that's its charm. Enjoy this with a cup of hot tea or any beverages that you like. Better in a snowy or rainy night. And sleep when you feel content and enough. Then, repeat on the next day!
The cinematography and music is straight above the standard. They made me fall in love the first time. It felt like, you know, watching those ASMR daily life or cooking channel on youtube that has calm music and beautiful pictures. Also, I've said this but, you can really study using this drama as a white noise. Well, just skip the chaotic parts, which were so few. And what can we really say about the acting, except that it is perfect. Everyone played their role remarkably well.
I would say, people should rewatch this for its moral value, for its beautiful scenes and sounds, for its happiness and calmness that people would feel, and for its quotes and beautiful sayings.
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This review may contain spoilers
First thing first, that 9.1 is over-rated. These are some things that really stands out for me.The story starts off really beautiful and reasonable. The FL and ML meet, start depending on each other and falling in love. The relationship between all the characters are established very early too. It was nice, good, yes reasonable. Then I don't know where it starts, the story is going sideways. They start playing the 'fate card' on the romance. Over-played it I should say. At the end of the show, I started to think 'well, maybe my Mr. Right is the guy that I passed somewhere. Or is it the guy that helped me years ago?'. I believe in fate, but this left a bitter taste because someone could become delusional into thinking that every person that they met may actually be their fated one, this is especially dangerous for younger audience.
Other than that, the story was good enough. It shows that people are just, people. Wherever they are and their nationality. Bad system and bad individuals are the things that may stain something good and pure into bad. I was really invested in the second couple and the politics. Greed was the sole motivation of all the villain.
The landscape is beautiful, but nothing too catchy. The cinematography too doesn't really stand out for me. But it was beautiful nevertheless. I don't know whether the scene just don't make the cut or it is not written at all, but there are things that should be addressed but doesn't get shown. Such as CCG motivation, how YSR and her mother made up, and The Story of the Handsome One in the NK gang. This left such an unsatisfying feeling. This is a potential to expand the story more and this may add the lacking depth of these things.
The acting is WONDERFUL. I wasn't a fan of Son Ye Jin and Hyun Bin, well, am still not. But their chemistry and performance deserves an award. There are some quietness i would say (?) between the actors that I sensed in between scenes. The second couple story and personality is more interesting than the main couple, and both actors are splendid! Also, the supporting characters and acting are just amazing! All the mothers here are so badass and perfectly acted!
The music was beautiful.
Personally, I wouldn't rewatch this because the second half is just bad. My type of drama is realistic, melo, slow burn things like Hot Stove League, Joy of Life, Mr. Sunshine, and It's Okay That's Love. But those who like this type of 'makjang' drama, that doesn't really mind the fate tropes, I think this will be a really worthwhile drama to rewatch.
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This review may contain spoilers
A quick summary:In my opinion, this 16 hours drama explores about relationships.
This drama shows us what a beautiful relationship looks like, and the feelings of kindness and trust. How caring for each other and kindness is always the right choice. How selflessness wins big time. This drama is a really beautiful take on the impact of trauma to a person, especially if the trauma itself involves the one closest to that person. This drama is looking at how extremism, without heart, is the thing that ruin everything.
-the next part is more of my take on the drama than a review-
A really beautiful wrap up of such suspenseful drama. I am going to miss Cha Young Jin, Eun Ho, Sun Woo, the students, and the whole police squad. I’m going to miss everyone except the villains to be honest. Well, I’d miss the Baek Sang Ho’s squad too, at least they were likable when they didn’t plan to kill anyone. The dynamic and chemistry of the characters and the whole casts are quite unique. The homicide team sometimes felt like they feel awkward with each other. Sometimes, I sense possible romantic relationships between them too, even the most impossible one (CYJ and The Young Male Police). The camaraderie wasn’t really solid or maybe it was just not really explored.
Talking about ships and love interest, I big time really want CYJ and LSW to get married ASAP. LSW seemed to be interested in her. Sometimes, I cannot help but blush and squeal like a teenage girl when they are interacting. I know, I know, this probably is just my delusional mind. But boy, if it happens that would be GREAT.
The villains here are so cruel, immoral, but lonely at the same time. Their inner turmoil could be felt, and their twistedness was so apparent. They are the definition of ‘people of the same kind flocks together.’ *I don’t know the exact saying, sorry*.
And what really hurt was when BSH said that basically the one that claimed to save him, whipped him up with a smile on his face, while the one that abandoned him, did so with tears on her face. That is like the summary of his life, isn’t it? But still, in my opinion, one choose what one want to be.
Eun Ho is such a weird, but good kid. And I like him! He and LSW sometimes felt like the same person, goodness. Our 3 kind main characters are so beautiful in their mannerism. And a lot of the relationships in this drama felt so wholesome and kind that I really want to have one.
The writing is really neat. Even though I don’t appreciate when they showed off that ‘religion’ so much, the other aspects of the story is great. But I have to say, what really shined here is the relationship.
The acting is amazing here. Every main character, the good one and the villainous one was portrayed amazingly well. I decided to watch this because of CYJ, but most of the casts have successfully made me look forward to their next project, especially the young actors! BSH is really amazing actor too.
SBS! Since not too long ago, I’ve noticed that SBS’ choice of music and production value is really good. I mean like, really good. I watched ‘Hot Stove League’, and similar with this one, every little sound is so beautiful and befitting. I must exclude that choir parts though, it is only befitting. Also, I’ve gotten fond of SBS’ 3 part act in a drama. If you noticed this, SBS’ drama has 2 to 3 acts in an episode, like an opera. So it was really nice to get a break when the scene becomes really intense and I am on the edge of my seat. I love that part.
I would rewatch this for the good relationships between each characters, and maybe skip the killing and curch part haha! Rewatching drama is not really my thing anyway. I don’t think there is any puzzle left about the main case, but I think rewatching the whole think would be really nice to grasp the whole idea of this complicated thing.
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This review may contain spoilers
Am I the only one on the verge of crying when Oji accept Gyuri's help? It is like he gave in to something bad. And well, the whole situation became bad.Honestly, this drama is really exciting and fun. It kept me on the edge of my seat and I marathoned this in 2 days. Lots of fun. But, around 75% of the time I felt annoyed.
Here, Netflix present a 10 hours long of violence, sex trafficking, and stress. Moral of the story is kids are kids, however clever they are. And adults, even though they tried the hardest, may not able to protect a child, at all. Also, always look at owns fault before blaming others.
First, all of the cast acted amazingly. Superb! As expected of Kim Dong Hee, I've been looking forward to his acting since Sky Castle and A-Teen. And the Female Lead who played Bae Gyuri is such an amazing actress. A new favorite.
The cinematography is good. There are some scenes that reminds me of a particular Japanese style technique, you'll know when you see it, the dream scenes. Some scenes reminded me of video game / vlog style. And some scenes really scream old-french-chill vibes. Overall, it was a delight watching this.
The music is okay. Befitting.
Story wise, the concept is fresh in drama format, but more common in K-movies as they tend to be darker. Also, beware of open ending. I personally like open ending better than bad unrealistic ending, the viewers are allowed to insert their own version of the ending.
Why did I feel annoyed most of the time? It is because most of the characters here didn't see what role they had in causing the bad circumstances. They were just blaming others and thus, don't feel any remorse of what they did. Also, so many characters here just think of nothing and made such a bad decision. AND, they didn't know when to stop and say enough. I know it is silly to complain about this, if they did those they wouldn't be a criminal.
Also, the kids will be kids. Jisoo is NO GENIUS, mind you. He just have a crooked mind and he is just a kid who makes so much bad decision with no good adult who he can consult and who can support him. He became the ace of the school because he studied hard and got tutoring. Rather, Gyuri is the smarter, albeit more heartless.
Everyone here is at fault, tbh. Well, except the bystander which are the police and the teacher. Everyone here have responsibilities to take.
I wouldn't really rewatch this because I generally don't rewatch things unless the story resonates with me or there is something so special about it. So, you can ignore my rewatch ratings.
ALSO just a note for some character.
Gyuri was a really annoying character from the start. But read this a comment from @Barbara: "Everyone is constantly blaming her, including Ji Soo. Blaming/Demanding and so on.
Watch again and see how she hurts her skin near nails each time someone's blaming her and not seeing her effort...
Her mOtHeR talked about her suicide attempt as a youth rebellion!!!
Both of her parents see in her only an INVESTMENT for the future, which has to be flawless.
No one hears her silent scream like no one sees and cares about Ji Soo's situation.
Gyu Ri's help for Ji Soo was rejected multiple times because she has a perfect home, has two shitty parents, and is rich. Yeah, Ji Soo was blind too, in the beginning, but he's smarter than some of the viewers and saw that's she is hurting and she sees no reasons to live for. She treats it all like a game, yes. It's a mechanism to deal with emotions that are eating her from the inside and survive to the time when she can leave that hell home. That's probably why she needed that money for.
In my opinion, in the ending, she didn't leave Ji Soo. She has nowhere else to go. If you watch carefully you will notice how much she wanted to run away with him to Australia when she asked him... If Ji Soo didn't survive this, she could even kill herself."
Kwak Gi Tae was a jerk from start to finish. There was a point where GiTae's character became concerned with MinHee. Here's a comment that may explain his behavior from @Halsyeon: "he’s a bit possessive so if we look at it like Minhee was his thing (which he certainly used her) then I can see him acting like he did."
P.S. Sorry for grammatical errors.
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This drama is not the best at its game. But it is still enjoyable.It is gruesome, one of the most gruesome K Drama I've ever watched, and I've watched many, imo. Besides that, the writer tried to infuse life lessons all over it. I think, it focused too much on independent, pretty unrelevant cases. But those cases are still fun to watch. You can expect layers of villains. Plots. Some characters were well written, some are forgotten. Even though they were pretty pivotal. And the fight between police officers were annoying. At the end of the drama, they even abandon their morality lol just to cover things up.
The acting is awesome, even though sometimes CSY and HHY seemed a little bit off, but they are still amazing. Jang hyuk is good, as always. The villains is amazing.
The dark vibes were consolidated with the music. It was befitting and nice.
Conclusion: if you're only watching crime drama, definitely watch this. If you want to watch this drama without knowing the usual crime kdrama, consider watching this, but this is not the best.
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A Crime Drama with Interesting Cases
There are certain aspects of the drama that I want to rate outside the MDL format.Story/Writing: 8.5/10
Somehow, whilst watching this, I had to remind myself that this is a crime comedy drama and not a pure crime drama.
I have to say the writing was okay-ish. We've got a not-so-honest but righteous male lead (Jin Kang Ho) and a brave female lead that butted head on who will be the first to catch the culprit and deliver the news to the public. The female lead is written as a really brave, reckless, "crazy" woman. The recklessness was almost to the point of stupid, I almost hate her LOL. I mean, woman can be brave AND smart, you know. Fortunately, we've got our Red Zone Gang to save our main leads. They are funny and gold. I like them. Then we've got our mortitian and profiler who are very smart but otherwise useless in the field. They are citizens and men are allowed to not able to fight.
So these people got together to solve cases. Mind you, the cases were AWESOME. They are so unique, and I think all of them are originalé by the writer him/herself. I haven't countered any of them in any kdrama before and I consider myself as an avid crime kdrama watcher (?) LOL, I am sorry. I am sorry, if the writer actually took inspiration from cases outside korea. They sounded new to me. Hence the 8.5.
Some of the dialogues were just comedic relief. Some of the 'plots and characters' are completely irrelevant, annoying, and doesn't add any substance to the story. So I found myself hitting the '+10' button a lot. With the amount of the story, I think parts of the story should be explored more and parts of the story should just be erased.
Sometimes, I don't get the logic behind the actions of our Main Leads (pkease anybody, tell me, a gangster deserves to go to the hoespital and carried by an ambulance right) they are still a person.)
Also, I was kinda sad I didn't get to hear our FL's signature sound at the end of the drama. They kinda forgot about it LOL. You'll know about it. AND don't analyze the comedy, and how the characters can get from point A to C so quickly, don't use your brain so much.
Production: 7/10
The director and production team didn't really focus on the detail of the crime and the technical side of investigation. So there might be inconsistencies on how they handle the case.
Acting: 9.5/10
They have an amazing chemistry. And the killers are gruesome.
Music: 8/10
The music are very fun, it enhances the comedic feeling and it sets the tone appropriately.
Rewatch Value: 5/10
Overall, this is a really good drama if you're a fan of korean comedy AND crime drama. If you like serious crime drama, I am afraid you won't enjoy this as much. I rated the rewatch value as 5 because honestly I was a whole lot annoyed by the recklessness of our female lead. They dumb her down. Thus, they dumb the viewer down. But still, I might rewatch this for the cases.
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The ending, I should say is a really beautiful and realistic one. It never promises a happy go lucky ending since the beginning. It stays true and honest. A fantasy with a realistic take, how amazing and rare.
All of the casts’ are amazing and they have such an amazing chemistry!
What makes me rate this 1point short of the full star, is that we have different values on the concept of death. So at some moments, it felt overly romanticized.
Beautiful OST! The back sound was not really exceptional aside the OST, but it was befitting. Also, some scenes was so beautiful.
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This review may contain spoilers
A solid time travel drama! Watch it for the story, the suspense, and the plot! Those were amazing enough!This is a fast paced drama that sets around serial killing, time travel, schemes, friendship, and psychological issues.
A really solid writing and world building. Even if there are plot holes, but it was not big ones. What I love about the plot is, we've got some hints, accurate hints. That around ep 16, we can guess who is the real villain that causes all these massacre and who seems fishy. But it was still really enjoyable watching it unfolds.
The characters are written well but not really deep. Well, afterall this is a 12 hours drama that tackles some big story tropes. Some may say that the killer doesn't have motivation but he does have it.
In the first few episodes, the pace was messy. It was kinda obvious they tried to shorten many scenes and only show the important part. And it was kinda off-putting. But as the story progresses, the pace got better and start to become really thrilling.
The music was okay, I guess. It served its purpose of carrying the atmosphere. But, there is nothing really memorable of it. Some scenes and corpses are horrifying, I simultaneously said 'that is straight out of horror movies'. But it was enjoyable.
There is kinda a hinting that the 2 main leads may have some romance down the road. They have amazing chemistry as friends. But until the last episode, I can't really feel the spark between them lol. It felt like brother-sister relationship rather than romance. Or maybe, my romance radar is blunted HAHA.
*spoilers ahead*
But on a second thought, for me, this is more of a parallel universe than a time travel drama. Because we can see in some scenes, the characters have some recollection/deep down feelings they may have known other person. E.g. when maru goes to HJ directly on their first encounter. I don't know whether this is an error of some sort of the production or whether it is just the dog, but it really disturbs the whole setting and atmosphere. For a time travel and pure reset, they shouldn't have any knowledge about the other person, at all. But for parallel time universe, it may happen, imo.
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