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MJ Koontz
Back to being lost in America
This review may contain spoilers
The Story of a Nice guy betrayed by almost everyone he meets.
Feel-good, warm, easy watch, light-hearted on and on the adjectives are espoused in the comments section and while there is definitely levity to be found here, as well romance and friendly hugs, you need to be prepared for a lot of not so "light" fare in order to earn it.
Suicide (Its SK Drama how could there not be) is a running theme. Corporate corruption, of course we have to have some villains, and multiple evil CEOs (One of which beats their own son with a golf club, tells him to kill himself, and then has him thrown out on the curb, because he can't walk.) Characters are ruined to actual homelessness and imprisoned falsely for attempted murder. And for half the main running time the plot centers around a single grandmother whose grandson is in a coma as she runs her small Ox Tail Soup business being targeted by the main big bad corporation to try and drive her out of business.
So, this wasn't a relaxing watch by any means.
However, the Male Lead Kang Soo (Played boyishly and bright eyed by Go Kyung Pyo) is one of the most refreshing, kind, gentle, nice, warm, and caring characters I have had the fun to watch in a very long while. This isn't an anti-hero, or deeply flawed individual story. No, it is the story of a hero in the truest sense of the word. He is a young man with a horrific backstory who has persevered with deep moral convictions that he holds to steadfastly. When he even opens up the Strongest Deliveryman food service in the second half of the series, its motto is "Be Nice" and you know that he really means it.
Our Female lead Dan Ah (Chae Soo Bin) is a rough and tumble beautiful tomboy who has had her own share of troubles. Unlike our ML she goes in the opposite direction, vowing to look out only for herself, remain disconnected from all, and save up enough money to get out of the hell that is South Korea. Nice and warm are not part of her vocabulary, at least at the start.
In the beginning each our leads blossom relationships with other characters, bringing in our second ML (Kim Seon Ho in a role switch compared to his fame) Jin Gyu and second FL Ji Yoon (Go Won Hee playing as cute and naive as she can). Both of these leads come from deep pockets of money and are the polar opposites of Kang Soo and Dan Ah.
Kim Seon Ho's portrayal of a truly nasty individual with very low self worth and even lower moral scruples is as shockingly believable and well acted as any of his heart warming characters. If you came to watch this to get your KSH fix, maybe look elsewhere because he is a pretty nasty character that causes a lot of issues. My stomach knotted up watching him snake his way through the first half of the story. Of course, his character is very quickly launched on a path of redemption, but there will be plenty of bumps along this road.
The first 7 episodes are taunt with drama, betrayal, character development, and wrist wringing story-lines. But after episode 7, where the story decides to let characters off the hook (In what is a troubling Kdrama trend) and resolve crimes and plot points in a matter of minutes (Thumbs Down Boo) it begins to slow and switch gears. Through to episode 10, there is still gas in the tank and there are some punches yet thrown. But after episode 10 it just sort of meanders around for a bit as it develops romances, somewhat awkwardly, and sets everything in place for the ultimate ending conflicts and showdowns.
As everyone becomes more desperate towards the end, our evil corporation decides to play illegal and dirty to get what they want. While doing so, characters who you thought were steadfast friends and loyalists betray our ML and the company he has built, which was done to save them from the start. It is rough road that will ultimately prove effective at tearing down our nice guy.
You realize the point of the show is to prove being a good person will prevail even though the world views niceness as a weakness. This will warm your innards to no end and is a wonderful message to get across, but it comes with some caveats. You do honestly see the flaws in this idea as well. Many of the trials and tribulations could have been averted with a bit of resolve, while still not betraying the core values on display. One of the largest problems of the series is how it easily forgives those that transgress against our hero. Only he bares the brunt and weight of wrongs. Everyone else gets a pass. Near the end a great betrayal by a close friend (Which grows as the friend hires more drivers siphoning even more from our ML failing business) is instantly forgiven and forgotten the moment the friend shows back up. Not only is this unsatisfying to watch, it makes you wonder what was the point of the story line while also painting the ML as quite the doormat and push over.
In the end you will be both satisfied and disappointed. The series leaves us on a high note with a bright optimistic future likely for those involved. But it is strangely unsatisfying. You will not get closure to any of the side characters. The relationships built between some characters seems to have not endured, and well, for me, none of the romances ever seemed to truly take flight. They were enjoyable enough to watch, but nothing to write home about, which is ultimately how I felt about the whole series. Happy I watched it, was enjoyable enough as I went through it, but nothing is honestly that memorable. 7.0/B-/ 3 1/2-Stars.
Suicide (Its SK Drama how could there not be) is a running theme. Corporate corruption, of course we have to have some villains, and multiple evil CEOs (One of which beats their own son with a golf club, tells him to kill himself, and then has him thrown out on the curb, because he can't walk.) Characters are ruined to actual homelessness and imprisoned falsely for attempted murder. And for half the main running time the plot centers around a single grandmother whose grandson is in a coma as she runs her small Ox Tail Soup business being targeted by the main big bad corporation to try and drive her out of business.
So, this wasn't a relaxing watch by any means.
However, the Male Lead Kang Soo (Played boyishly and bright eyed by Go Kyung Pyo) is one of the most refreshing, kind, gentle, nice, warm, and caring characters I have had the fun to watch in a very long while. This isn't an anti-hero, or deeply flawed individual story. No, it is the story of a hero in the truest sense of the word. He is a young man with a horrific backstory who has persevered with deep moral convictions that he holds to steadfastly. When he even opens up the Strongest Deliveryman food service in the second half of the series, its motto is "Be Nice" and you know that he really means it.
Our Female lead Dan Ah (Chae Soo Bin) is a rough and tumble beautiful tomboy who has had her own share of troubles. Unlike our ML she goes in the opposite direction, vowing to look out only for herself, remain disconnected from all, and save up enough money to get out of the hell that is South Korea. Nice and warm are not part of her vocabulary, at least at the start.
In the beginning each our leads blossom relationships with other characters, bringing in our second ML (Kim Seon Ho in a role switch compared to his fame) Jin Gyu and second FL Ji Yoon (Go Won Hee playing as cute and naive as she can). Both of these leads come from deep pockets of money and are the polar opposites of Kang Soo and Dan Ah.
Kim Seon Ho's portrayal of a truly nasty individual with very low self worth and even lower moral scruples is as shockingly believable and well acted as any of his heart warming characters. If you came to watch this to get your KSH fix, maybe look elsewhere because he is a pretty nasty character that causes a lot of issues. My stomach knotted up watching him snake his way through the first half of the story. Of course, his character is very quickly launched on a path of redemption, but there will be plenty of bumps along this road.
The first 7 episodes are taunt with drama, betrayal, character development, and wrist wringing story-lines. But after episode 7, where the story decides to let characters off the hook (In what is a troubling Kdrama trend) and resolve crimes and plot points in a matter of minutes (Thumbs Down Boo) it begins to slow and switch gears. Through to episode 10, there is still gas in the tank and there are some punches yet thrown. But after episode 10 it just sort of meanders around for a bit as it develops romances, somewhat awkwardly, and sets everything in place for the ultimate ending conflicts and showdowns.
As everyone becomes more desperate towards the end, our evil corporation decides to play illegal and dirty to get what they want. While doing so, characters who you thought were steadfast friends and loyalists betray our ML and the company he has built, which was done to save them from the start. It is rough road that will ultimately prove effective at tearing down our nice guy.
You realize the point of the show is to prove being a good person will prevail even though the world views niceness as a weakness. This will warm your innards to no end and is a wonderful message to get across, but it comes with some caveats. You do honestly see the flaws in this idea as well. Many of the trials and tribulations could have been averted with a bit of resolve, while still not betraying the core values on display. One of the largest problems of the series is how it easily forgives those that transgress against our hero. Only he bares the brunt and weight of wrongs. Everyone else gets a pass. Near the end a great betrayal by a close friend (Which grows as the friend hires more drivers siphoning even more from our ML failing business) is instantly forgiven and forgotten the moment the friend shows back up. Not only is this unsatisfying to watch, it makes you wonder what was the point of the story line while also painting the ML as quite the doormat and push over.
In the end you will be both satisfied and disappointed. The series leaves us on a high note with a bright optimistic future likely for those involved. But it is strangely unsatisfying. You will not get closure to any of the side characters. The relationships built between some characters seems to have not endured, and well, for me, none of the romances ever seemed to truly take flight. They were enjoyable enough to watch, but nothing to write home about, which is ultimately how I felt about the whole series. Happy I watched it, was enjoyable enough as I went through it, but nothing is honestly that memorable. 7.0/B-/ 3 1/2-Stars.
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