mopalia
Dreadful after the first few episodes
This, like a number of other K-dramas, starts with the protagonists as children, and then they make the leap to young adults in one episode. The children are great and it's a really promising start. I got totally sucked into it. Sadly, it's a long slide down from there. The characters develop illogically, with strong children becoming dishonest and whiny adults. The female lead is unbelievably boring and flat, with no personality at all. the male she was paired with as a child becomes a whiner. The plot becomes garbled and simply stupid. I"m at ep. 118 and I can't wait for the male lead to die, already. He's a terrible actor. The one bright star in this mess is Han Jung-Ho, who plays a disabled adult. It's the first portrayal of someone with a disability - probably intended as cerebral palsy - is never cringe-worthy and consistent throughout. He deserves a reward. The writer and the rest of the cast isn't worth mention. Why did I watch so much of this? I normally watch a daily dram to go to sleep to - and this wasn't even good enough for that. Now I just want it to end. Yuk.Was this review helpful to you?
Underrated, a good piece of romantic fluff.
True disclosure: I adore Lee Min Ki and would happily watch him butter toast for 16 episodes. I just wish he got better dramas these days.The plot here is totally idiotic. I was taught that to enjoy fiction you needed a "willing suspension of disbelief." Well, suspend everything, because the story line is lame lame lame. If you can expect nothing from the story line, you might enjoy this. The acting is very good. The drama is full of interesting characters and side romances that are well acted and rather engaging. Somewhere in the middle, I started to realize that the writing of the main plot was really too stupid for words, but Lee Min Ki and the other very good performances kept me watching.
It's hard to review a drama in which everything EXCEPT the main plot is very good. But that's this drama. If you are looking for an undemanding bit of romantic fluff, you might enjoy it. In addition to the Eye Candy of Lee Min Ki, there's Kang Min-Hyuk who just seems to get cuter and cuter, and, for me - a die-hard classic Korean Rock fan, there was Kim Chang-Wan. What's not to love? Well, other than the pointless plot.
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Made with a deft hand on all levels
There are so many things that can go wrong in a drama with a heart-tugging story, especially when it brings in an overworked trope to add to the pathos. But the writing never got sappy. Nothing was played for cheap thrills. The acting was spot-on, never descending into over-played or over-done pathos. In all the many ways this could have failed, it never did.Park In-hwan is a master actor and always worth watching. His face is amazingly expressive and he provided a memorable character that you would love to meet. This was an Oscar-worthy performance.
Song Kang was gorgeous to watch in motion. It's hard to believe that he hadn't studied ballet all his life, but I suspect some of the magic in all the dance sequences is owed to brilliant editing. He played a wide range of emotions - exactly what you would expect from a young man grappling with family tragedy and finding his feet in the world. (No, I wasn't being cute with "feet"!)
The entire cast was first rate, and you will love all of them.
If you have a dream, go out now and start to realize it. You may need to look for a parallel track, like the eldest son, or figure out what really matters, like the youngest son. I was over 50 when I took my first calculus class. You can do whatever you want to! Start now!
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Classic Rom-com style
This was a nice, old-fashioned Korean rom-com – no vengeance, no torture, no zombies, just two people trying to live their best lives and almost accidentally falling in love. Of course, you have to have either the evil mother, mother-in-law, or evil stepsister, and we had an supremely evil sister. There were two side romances, one featuring an rotten boss who needs a come-uppance, and the other a lazy husband who needs a reality check. Ahn Se Na lent comic relief very nicely.And because this is a classic style, it all ends very satisfactorily, and it’s just feeling good at the end. Absolutely don’t turn off the last episode too soon – you don’t want to miss the Epilogue, which is a delightful gender reversal of one of the most tired rom-com tropes. Probably lovely to binge watch on a rainy day, or when it’s just too hot to do anything else.
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Pretentious and tedious
I usually dislike shows that rely on dark "mood" lighting and Time shifts. This is no exception. The material was depressing, and if I want to be depressed, I can just watch the news. The acting was ok, but overall this was not my cup of tea. I was relieved when it was over and grateful that it didn't run to more episodes. If you are a huge fan of any of the actors, it might hold your interest, but I always find Lee Min Ho a bit of a cold fish. I couldn't find any spark between him and his leading lady. So if you watched this and loved it, I'm glad for you, but if you found it pretentious and tedious, you are not alone.Was this review helpful to you?
The big draw for me was the character development. I loved the various personalities, all believable and acted excellently. There were no chaebols, no one screamingly evil (well, the mother was a real loser), just the kind of people you might have as neighbors. There are really no surprises, plot-wise, but in a season of really unengaging dramas, I appreciated this understated set of performances by a great cast. If you get involved with the people who inhabit dramas, you might enjoy this. I did.
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Starts mediocre, downhill from there
After 106 episodes. I've given up hope of any improvement. There are no longer any plot threads, just gimmicks to stretch it out longer. I started it because I enjoyed Shim Yi Yeong in Want a Taste, which, as daily dramas go, wasn't awful - interesting characters and decent writing. But I found that this was going to be a re-run of her character in that one, the beleaguered, unappreciated goody goody who takes care of everyone. I should have quit at that point.The characters in this drama had potential but were stagnant throughout. No one learned from their mistakes, no one improved. Do I think that will happen with 12 episodes to go? No, but if it does it will be totally unconvincing and rushed. The acting, especially of Jin Ye Sol, was positively dreadful. She seems to have two expressions, neither pleasant, and I was tired of her scowl a long time ago. She's written as the most two-dimensional, stupid villain ever. And as near as I can tell, there was no real development in the male lead. He and Shim Yi Yeong did not seem to have any believable chemistry at all. He didn't come across a a competent corporate type and seemed under developed throughout - not sure whether bad writing or mediocre acting was the reason, maybe both.
Poor writing paired with mediocre to bad acting earns this a spot on your "Don't bother" list.
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This review may contain spoilers
Disappointing
When it became obvious near the end, that this was just turning into a set-up for a sequel, I lost al patience with it. It is not nearly as charming as the first one was. This included a lot more violence - yes, the cells got violent and it didn't add much to the story. BaBi struck me as a nice guy but boring - he's a company man with not much personality of his own. I loved Woong's quirkiness, his ambition, his creativity. Babi was smooth and dull. And at the end, neither won Yumi, whom I decided was as boring as BaBi. I don't get why these guys are falling for here, there doesn't seem to be much to her other than - well, the cells. Another series that should have quit while it was ahead.Was this review helpful to you?
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Not worth the bother
Weak plot, sloppy writing, shallow acting. You can find it all here. The plot bounced around as if it couldn't figure out where the suspense was. The scene in the candy store was sloppy - bad direction and/or writing, but it lingered over too much wailing and crying while no one did anything useful. It was loose and sloppy, not tight and crisp - how many times can you knock a guy out and still fail to tir him or subdue him so that he comes back again and again? Good grief. And I found Yeo Jin Goo's acting to be shallow and one-note - same for the female lead. I did enjoy the older women wandering around with their "weapons" but that got lost after a few episodes. The only real standout performance wasShin Jae Hwi, the stalker, who did a lovely job with evil. I'd like to see him in more things, there may be a good actor in there. Overall, give this a miss unless you are besotted with Yeo Jon Goo.
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Nothing special
This was a nice enough drama. If you need to spend 16 hours with no intellectual challenge, no original story lines, no violence or horror, and a fairly bland cast of characters. this will suit you just fine. This sounds like harsh condemnation, but it isn't - sometimes an innocuous rom-com is just what you need to spend some time with. But don't have great expectations of this. At the end I didn't love any of the characters and was happy to let them pass out of my life with no regret. There are better things to watch, but not much as bland.Was this review helpful to you?
The story in interesting, although marred by Korean insensitivity to LGBQT issues, but at least they try to include this verboten subject. The subtitles are reasonably offensive but understandable. The acting is excellent and the writing is well paced, But IU am exhausted by the music and if I finish it at all it will be in small doses. Sad to see a decent drama ruined by what should have enhanced it.
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A show with little direction
It never seemed to know where it was going. Not really a comedy. Not really serious. The lead female was annoying by the end, I was tired of her whiny approach to everything. A doctor from America showed up, handsome and brilliant, but there was never any clear reason why he fell for her. The end was predictable. Not the worst drama ever made, but not worth the time it took to watch it. Starts strong, peters out. A waste of Kim Byung Chul, one of my favorite actors. Go watch Pegasus Market instead, it's a riot!Was this review helpful to you?
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Great cast, thin material
I was looking forward to this because of Ok Taec Yeon, who always delights.He created a slightly silly character here that was fun to watch. There were several standouts in the cast - Min Jin Woong is great fun to watch, Jung Bo-Suk was wonderfully evil as the father of two swapped sons, and Choi Tae-Hwan was excellently, although tiresomely, demented. I did not care for Kim Hye-Yoon; her voice is grating and the character never felt like there was any depth to her. As a result, the romance fell a bit flat and unconvincing.The plot (you can read it in great length elsewhere) felt like it had been cobbled together from a selection of other saeguks. I even recognized a set or two. So overall, it wasn't exciting. It's pleasant enough, but if you want something you can get deeply wrapped up in, this is a bit shallow. Watch it or miss it, it won't make much difference.
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Violent, excellent, not for the faint of heart
I kept thinking, at the end, that the school district was going to have a really big expense line in facilities after this. Fortunately South Korea has a lot of unused schools where people have moved away from smaller towns, so I imagine some can be re-purposed.Seriously, I am really sorry this is as good as it is. I hate the recent increase in violence in K-dramas, and this was violent in the extreme. But the story is great, the acting is awesome, and the characters are extremely well developed. I ended up watching some sections with one hand on the 10-seconds-forward button, because really, you can watch people being pummeled only so long.
And oddly, the ending did not disappoint, although I could have done without the coda after the credits at the end. All in all, a surprisingly excellent drama if you have the stomach for violence, so be warned. Once you start, you'll find it hard to turn off.
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Not bad, great acting
I don't see any point in writing a long review: dragynfaerie said pretty much what I thought. The cast was outstanding. I think Ra Mi Ran is one of the best actors currently active - you could search out everything she has been in and not go wrong. Her comic turns in Please Come Back, Mister, made the show. She was heartbreaking in The Good Bad Mother, and Avengers Social Club is one I've re-watched a few times. So this show is good, but the ending is a bit meh. It deserved a few more episodes to wrap up everything neatly. Obviously I'm just writing this to rave about Ra Mi Ran.Was this review helpful to you?
