This review may contain spoilers
A critique of social media with a cinderella spin on it with glitz and glamour
Following an highly popular influencer's path rising to complete stardom status is a good storyline. We get the cinderella type of feeling towards the main character who builds an career out of nothing but sheer willpower and struggles. Yet, when I think back on the story, it felt lacking in various aspects where it could have benefitted from fleshing out of the competetive hostile influencer-storyline.As we follow two different timelines (the past and the present, which can be distinguished by the changing format on the screen) each time that the present seems somewhat stagnant, they slam something highly dramatic to get the story moving forward. The writers truly went all in on the dramatics and I did enjoy that alot! In the 12 episodes released, we get an fast paced story with some truly drama-worthy plotpoints and interesting directions.
The most lacking part in all honesty is the romance. It feels like the writers and the director had the vision for a "chic" main couple with intense chemistry that would show the love between the main leads so much that there would be no need to flesh out their dialogue and scenes. Maybe the romance scenes got chopped in the editing process and therefore feels lacking? We get the gist that there is romance, but I never felt an genuine romance that would spark the drama needed for the big plotpoints that are presented towards the latter part of the show. Male lead is smitten with the female lead, but I felt like we missed seeing them on actual dates and enjoying each others company.
The ending was...special. It does feel like the drama tried to convey a message about social media presence and the negative impact hateful comments can have on individuals as well as society in general. I was fine with the ending UNTIL the very last minutes when we get an out of the blue cameo by actor Lee Junho. Is it forshadowing a possible second season? Is it just Netflix trying to put an easter egg surprise since his highly anticipated drama King the Land was gonna be released soon after this drama? WHY was that cameo necessary for the story?
This is a drama that I really recommend to watch if you're in the mood for something that looks really nice and centers around social media/fashion, an almost detective-style storyline that fastpacingly goes back and forth in time to reveal more details and context to what is going on. I binged this in 2 days when I just wanted to watch something without expectations, and overall had a good time!
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
When the act of conning takes time
I went into this drama with so much interest and LOVED the first 4 episodes.The episodes layed heavy on the crime-theme and had fun scenes using, among other things, breaking of the 4th wall to interact with the viewer which was nice and made for a clever way of explaining.
From there, we are introduced to the core group of people that revolve our main protagonists and the reality that they have all grown apart and struggled to get together as a working group again. This is where the plot starts to falter. Their overall struggles in a plot that starts unraveling more and more sinister crimes unfortunately makes the story drag. At one point midway, none of their plans have actually succeeded when doing it in the team. There is always something that goes wrong or derails them from their plans. While that is frustrating and feels like we are getting nowhere, it is really nice to see them try to improvise more and more each time. By the middle of the series, there is a huge lack of the comedy that was seen earlier. It is kinda hard to skip most of the middle, since there are alot of fragments and things that all connects by the end of the story.
Towards the ending we kinda got back the "old" format that we had grown fond of in the first episodes. This emphazises even more how far the storytelling/cinematography/script from the first episodes the drama went during the middle part that just did its own thing without any of the comedy.
Overall I did enjoy the drama alot!
Is is really heavy on the theme of crime and overall else, building friendships (there is practially no romance at all). The FL is a confident smart con-person and the ML is an compassionate lawyer, so if that partnership peaks your interest, give the drama a try!
We also got an AMAZING cameo by the talented Moon Ga Young that I enjoyed. The story tied up nicely towards the end with an happy ending :)
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
Action-packed movie that strongly relies on the mother-daughter relationship
Just like the synopsis reads, the movie basically only focuses on Boksoon, a top assasin, in her role as a mother.There is nothing wrong with that and it is a really good concept. The acting is superb from the star-studded cast and the action, stunts and visual effects are crazy good. But at the end of the movie, you're left with the feeling of having watched an unfinished movie. The story, whilst trying to juggle her workplace and her identity as a famous assasin, strays to far away from the core story of her being a mother.
When her relationship with her daughter becomes strained due to some events, there is a lack of the affection and honesty that is, in my opinion the key aspect of Boksoons life. Her struggling as an single mother. Her profession also puts a strain on her relationship with her daughter which is something that is emphasized alot in the movie.
Running parallel with the story of her daughter, we are thrown into a political, greed-driven plotline involving her workplace. This is the element that throws of the core storyline of the mother-daughter bond and forces us to try to understand the various characters operating in the assasins field. Finishing the movie, I had a hard time grasping what the backstory of some of the characters in the first place. I do think the movie lacks context in some key characters and relies instead solely on the action. It gives enough hints to kinda get by but i would have loved to have some more flesh to the bones on the questions of why some characters acted the way they did.
It is still an amazing action movie that is super cool if you are up to see jampacked bloody action scenes in between the communcation of the mother-daughter-duo!
Was this review helpful to you?
