Tia

So pretty much like the second half of Death Note (the anime) 😭 I call "countering a scheme with another scheme". That was aggravating. But the whole trump card and counter-plot thing is (from my experience) common in political thrillers? Especially when both leads are smart, but it definitely got stretched into the extreme. ESPECIALLY in the finale with the sudden wave of blackmail. Made In Korea did a better job with the cat-and-mouse mind games.

Okay, honestly- I don't remember everything that happened in Artificial City. What I do remember that everything felt very, veryyy slow. The ending was also unsatisfying (Climax's ending is at least realistic.) Penthouse's ending is... controversial. Personally I liked (some) aspects of it, but by that point I was ready for it to be over lol I agree that Mine wasn't paced this way, yeah. The lengths of these dramas definitely play a role. But yeah, Climax wasn't perfect, I still say that the plot execution could've been better. Good themes though.

I started both WOTM and Sponsor, I think Sponsor is much more like Climax in concept/vibes. Sponsor is also known for being notoriously bad. I have not gotten that far yet, though 😂

Yes... 😔

After SO long, I've finally finished this drama. That ending was... a lot. I loved and hated it. My favorite character was Chae Young-Rang (the FL, obviously.) Her fate was particularly tragic. I loved Gye-Hwa's character development and some of the twists were really good. But for the most part, it was boring and the pacing felt very slow. Things dragged a lot only for this drama to have a mediocre final third (with some high points in between.) Five Fingers was a melodrama at its finest. The BGM was incredible.

My overall rating is a 8/10. Probably won't rewatch it.

You're welcome! It's fairly accurate and definitely does justice to the story. A very fair review. The connections between the different "spheres" (entertainment, politics, business) and characters make sense to me.

That being said, I'm glad you liked Climax too. It's definitely not a simple story, in terms of structure and comprehension. Genre-wise too, I guess it can't be strictly defined? 🤔 Do you think the title made sense in terms of the drama's themes?

I have my moments where I'm nasty, but I think I'm nice! 😁

Some people are miserable. It can't be helped... best thing to do is block and move on. 💯

Interesting, I feel like it was more "show, don't tell", and so much so to the point where there were micro-interactions that were supposed to hint at something... but led to nowhere. Disappointing. The mystery was wrapped up easily, thriller vibes were there (character & environment-wise), and the politics played a core role (I thought we'd see Tae-Seop become president, but after THAT scandal... 😬)

There's definitely better political thrillers out there.

Annoying is a better word, and according to her I'm a "mean girl"... so, I'm not sure. But I have her blocked for my sanity. Ironic that she's hating on female characters with Park Shin-Hye in her profile pic. Interesting. Very, very interesting. 🤔

Awww, episode 29 tugged at my heartstrings! Na Gye-Hwa has had the best character development so far. Super heartbreaking so far... very melodramatic indeed, lol

I love seeing my people in k-dramas!!! I gotta watch Itaewon Class one of these days.

This is a very well-written and analytical review. Excellent points on the power shift & balance in the drama as well.

And thank you for the award!!!

Don't forget the boring, 1-dimensional or Mary Sue FLs lol

Thank you Joyce! I really think an extra 2 episodes (+ it being on streaming platforms) would've benefitted this drama. For more explanation and character exploration (and the sequel-bait would still be fine with me. Mostly.)

Well thank you! 🥰 It was totally worth it to see Ha Ji-Won kiss a woman (and Nana, at that.) Both very beautiful! 😍

For some reason I don't remember her in The Glory. (I should finish it, lol) But I know that she was good in The Queen Who Crowns as Queen Won-Kyung.

Congratulations to her!!!

Yeah, but Ju Ji-Hoon and Ha Ji-Won did wonderful. Nana was good, Oh Jung-Se... well, he didn't have much of ANYTHING to do script-wise. Cha Ju-Young was just *WAY* over the top. Like, daily drama-level acting, and not the good kind 😬

You could request to add one, but you need to include verifiable sources (like the official website, streaming sites, Wikipedia, etc.)

I've posted my review... there's certainly a lot of thoughts that I've... thought? I guess. 😂

https://mydramalist.com/profile/lullabyliyah/review/558260

I liked Cinderella Game far more than this, at least it had a balance of good/grey and evil characters. I think this would've worked well as a KBS2 daily drama too. But if they wanted to focus more on the romance than the revenge, maybe a 50-episode weekend family drama would've worked too?

Please, please, PLEASE don't remind me of Woman In A Veil- that's probably my LEAST favorite k-drama of all time! Lesson 101 in how NOT to write a daily drama! There was so much going on backstage and on screen that I'd rather *not* relive it. Very happy I dropped it when I did. 😂

The writer has been extremely tame with this one, I agree. No revenge at all... (and personally I'm not all "Radio Ga Ga" with the romance either, despite Jang-Mi and Baek-Ho's good chemistry.) Again, I feel like Hwa-Young is the true protagonist of this whole drama... they tricked us all. At least we weren't lied to in Secrets and Lies, where we KNEW the FL was the villain from the jump. Lol