ran
Jakarta
I happened to watch this out of curiosity. It's a remake and has a movie version already. A friend of mine told me that this is a drama that should've been a movie instead, so I watched the 'supposedly movie' drama. It got me hooked as soon as they started the episode with the trial. It seemed intense.
I like, no, I love school based drama generally. It has almost all the school dramas need such as bullying, studying, rumors, corruption, (subtle) romance, etc. But they pointed teenager's life as the main problem and they brought it nicely. It's when we're 'too young to do that but too old to be like that'. The writer didn't lack consistency at bringing the teens' point of view which is very good.
The overall plot is very predictable to me but it doesn't make it less interesting. The trial scenes are the most intense part. It showed the characters' true nature by showing emotions at times despite trying to be as professional as they could. But, I think it could've done better, maybe if it wasn't focused on who'll be the witness next or such.
My love for this drama emphasized through the end so I recommend to not drop it halfway. The relationship stories, I love them all. The highlight is really the Jihoon X every boys bromance (but Seoyeon-Joonyoung tho!!). Seoyeon's mom is the best mother character I've watched. The family problems and its reconciliation. The quote of the drama came out from my boy's mouth tho "It's not that he didn't want to live, he just didn't want to live that way". And I don't realize how important Jeongguk Watchman is until almost the end.
As the acting, I LOVE all the main characters and their acting. The actors portrayed the characters amazingly and there are some scenes that give me goosebumps because how well they done it (We should give standing applause to the character Han Jihoon) The supporting(s) such as Lee Joori did great too to the point I literally got really mad (she shoulda have her own psychological movie with her being the main character). Despite how good they are, some of the supporting roles' acting are off-putting but I forgive it since they just ruined the mood, not the story.
Overall it's 8.5, having fun in guessing what happened, but not really surprised when it all happened.
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I watched the first episode raw so I didn't understand a thing and i'm not satisfied. Later on, when the subs were out, there were actually many witty dialogues and scenes that i can't catch when I was watching it raw and it received my like immediately.
The story is definitely the title, Wise Prison Life. The prison life actually frustrated me and made me think that there were no good person here since it was prison. But the characters aren't clearly black and white. Also they won't give you a saint main character. We either hate or love the main character.
Through reply series, I got to know how good Shin Won Ho is and this one won't prove that statement wrong. He didn't give you the over-the-top character and it is proven by how he made an unskilled actor to act decently. If it's otherwise, I'd drop immediately.
Also the cinematography is one of the reason why I love cable series more than non-cable series. There are no cheap fillers and each scenes had their own charms.
The music, wow, i realized i haven't downloaded osts for a while and only liked one or two osts from recent dramas but this one, each osts are so good and enjoyable. My personal favorites are heize's and of course Seungyoon and Mino's (please listen, everyone!)
I would definitely rewatch this since all the scenes are so hilarious, even the sad one would make me cry if i rewatch it.
Overall it's 9 for me. I hope they have spin-off like reply series too
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