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First of all, I did not expect this drama to turn out the way it did. I guess I expected more philosophical, light musings on human nature and less gore? But it still turned out pretty well. THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE:
I think what bothered me the most through every episode was this feeling that something was lacking. I can pinpoint it down to the cinematography and the camera angles at times, as well as this feeling that the producers didn't want us to take this drama too seriously.
For example, the scene where the camera revolves 360 degrees around Jong Woo and Mun Jo looked like bad CGI and just took out the enjoyment of it. This kind of revolving happened 2 or 3 times and was off putting. The scenes with the pervert confronting Jong Woo or vice versa were kinda disappointing after the first time.
The story itself felt outrageous at times, as if the writers had deliberately aimed at shattering any suspension of disbelief the viewers might entertain. I mean, the building owner Bok Soon has a history of odd deaths all around her and nobody found it suspicious except the lone local policewoman? A detective goes missing and nobody blinks an eye? People (like the reporter) get killed or kidnapped in broad daylight or in busy places and no witnesses? There are other buildings around Eden Studio, and no still no one sees anything? What about that church lady? What happened to her? What about that other lady who made predictions? Did she die? I was also surprised when Jong Woo didn't notice the other twin go missing (also dead). It really bothered me when no one asked after the other twin.
I wanted Mun Jo to have some real background, and the lone twin as well. All characters except Im Si Wan's felt one dimensional, perhaps because there's only ten episodes.
THINGS I LIKED:
The ACTING OH WOW! Im Si Wan has outdone himself, and Lee Dong Wook as well. I utterly fell in love with Im Si Wan's facial expressions and his inner struggle that one could see in his eyes. I loved the creepy smiles he threw in episodes and the times he would break down and look like a baby about to cry. I thoroughly enjoyed Lee Dong Wook's expressions, the curve of his lips, the death and mirth in his eyes. The creepy pervert guy and the sniggering twin were also portrayed extremely well.
The psychological and philosophical angle of the story was very good. The drama shows us various kinds of 'good' and 'bad' and how these often blend or tend to make little hierarchies in our minds. For example, the bullying that Jong Woo's girlfriend and Jong Woo himself faced at the office was done in these civilized, professional environments but caused a lot of emotional damage to the victims. How is it any better than physically hurting or killing people? Can emotional trauma be taken less seriously than physical trauma? Especially if the former leads to the latter? I liked how the drama showed that nobody took Jong Woo's distress seriously, and he never truly sought professional help for what went down in his army days. All the little things added up like dominos and led to the eventual end that the drama came to. I also liked the hints towards Kafka's Metamorphosis: a person dedicates his whole life working and working and working, and yet is treated like trash in the end. Jong Woo and his girlfriend are prime examples of modern Korean (in face the modern world's) condition. You work your way to death, and you remain poor, unhappy, unappreciated and unloved, yet you're supposed to smile and bow and say 'thank you'. Gregor Samsa laid down and died when nobody wanted him around, but Jong Woo retaliated and fought back. Is Jong Woo really the bad guy?
For me, these deeper messages of the drama trump the complaints I had with it, and so the 8.5 rating.
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Romance, Romance...Romance!
I loved this very much, I was expecting the romance to be so sweet and captivating, TBH it's the best kisses and intimacy I've ever seen in my Cdrama watching history, the leads had soo much chemistry, if you don't watch this for anything else, the romance alone will keep you, I was at episode 20, and had only two episode left before I realized it was almost done, It's the first I've ever wanted more in a short length series, but that isn't to say it wasn't satisfying, it was simply because I was so into it that I didn't realize I was almost done watching it.The story isn't great, but it was nice, I don't remember there being much or any filler. The acting was great for everyone including the villain, the villainess girl acting was great as well I really hated her character so she definitely did her job, the villain (ML brother) was an idiot, and overstayed his welcome. The CGI was also good, and the costumes were beautiful, especially the FL outfits, she looked great, TBH I even liked the villainess sleepwear when they were in the modern realm, it was super cute haha
The music was really nice for a short length series as well, will be adding the songs to my favorite drama ost list
The romance was the best part of the show, from beginning to the end we get amazing kisses, amazing chemistry, even the villains at one point had a crazy intimate scene haha, as well as our main couple, I usually don't say this, but I would love to watch the leads together again (while waiting or the last episode to be subbed, I watched a different show with the FL and another actor, and maybe because I watched this first and the chemistry was great, but I felt absolutely nothing for them, even though their kiss scenes were good).
of course there were things that I wish was different, the villains stayed way too long, though I know the many chances they go was because of ML useless father's love for his second son (ML brother), and the other thing I thought would have made this better was the fact that throughout the entire thing the FL had lost her powers, so the ML had to save her, but even without that the charm and attitude of the FL made her likeable still.
So again, if you're not looking for romance, those two things alone listed above, you may not like the show. But if you love romance, that alone in the show was worth the watch
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((I've always wanted to say that at least once)).
Story: Some of you may be wondering why I've given the story an 8 when I just stated that I love this show. That being said, just because I love a certain drama doesn't exactly mean I'm willing to overlook all of it's faults. The faults here were pretty obvious, but they didn't necessarily detract from the overall experience.
Originally, this drama was to be titled "Undercover" instead of the more poetic "Heartless City". At first, I assumed the previous title was referring to the main character, Soo Min. After you get about halfway through the drama, you begin to wonder WHO is the main undercover. Seriously. Everyone and their grandmother is undercover. It's like the guy pulling all these strings just decided to shove a whole bunch of undercover agents into the drug business and have them chase each other just to get a laugh out of it. The thing is, you'd expect that after the first few times the viewer would get so desensitized to the whole "undercover" thing that when the next character is revealed to be an undercover agent, the viewer wouldn't even bat an eye.
Ha. Nope. Each and every time you're just completely blown away.
"Heartless City" also did a really good job with the antagonist reveal. Just when you think that the "good" guys have defeated the "bad" guys, you realize that there's someone else behind them. I'm putting good and bad in quotations because there's not really an easy way to label all these characters. True, a few of them are easy to label, but everyone's relationships and alliances are constantly shifting here. Mortal enemies may wind up as allies and allies may wind up pointing a gun at you. This drama focuses heavily on those relationships between the people of the drug world and the law enforcement trying to capture them. You would think that relationships also translated to the main romance between Soo Min and Shi Hyun, but it's quite the opposite. Their relationship sort of took a back-burner to the rest of the plot. While that did make the story more believable, it also makes it difficult to put a label on what Soo Min and Shi Hyun felt for each other. I can't say it was love, or even like. Maybe lust or passion? Either way, both characters were very believable and well written. While Soo Min may be overly emotional and unprofessional, she was very realistic. She was an untrained girl looking to get revenge on her older sister, and it shows. Shi Hyun is more than just the cold leader of his drug ring, and little tiny bits of vulnerability show through.
Acting: Wow. Jung Kyung Ho has quickly become one of my favorite actors. His portrayal of "The Doctor's Son" was perfect and apparently garnered him a ton of critical praise. It's well-deserved, since he was just brilliant here. Kyung Ho pulled off the dangerous and vulnerable Jung Shi Hyun perfectly, and I just can't heap enough superlatives on to him to make you understand how much I loved him here. As far as his chemistry with co-star Nam Gyu Ri went, I think I finally have an actor OTP to rival my ChaeKi ship from "Nice Guy". Which sucks, since that means it'll take a while for me to watch their other stuff without hating the onscreen objects of their affections. Anyway, Nam Gyu Ri's character here is a bit... difficult to connect with. I feel like that's more attributed to Gyu Ri's acting than anything else, since it felt like she was emotionally walled off from me, but she was still pretty good in her role. Lee Jae Won and Kim Yoo Mi were really good here, and I especially loved Yoon Hyun Min's Soo here.
Music: God, that OST. It's been a long time since I was so obsessed with a song that I just had to put it on repeat for days on end, and I still don't regret all 300+ plays of Kim Yong Jin's "Hurt". That song was just so perfect for this drama. The instrumentals used to highlight HC's important scenes were perfect too. They felt a bit like something out of a Bond or superhero movie. Dark and broody- perfect for action scenes.
Rewatch Value: Once you've seen the whole thing once, I kind of doubt anything here will take you by surprise. That doesn't mean it won't be fun, though.
Overall: This drama left me emotionally drained and probably ruined me for other noir dramas to come. I wouldn't recommend this if you're looking for something like "City Hunter", since the two are worlds apart in tone despite their similarities plot-wise. "Heartless City" is a drama that's very unapologetic in whatever it does, and by the end of it you'll probably be sobbing, but I would still recommend watching this.
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First off, it's a low budget production but I never let the budget stop me watching any drama. I simply mentioned this to help people tempered expectation on what this drama is. Also, I'm not sure if it's a budget issue or writing issue but its budget production hinder the drama from being better than it is.
Story
Based on synopsis the story reminds me of Love in the Moonlight but nowhere as good. However it's very different if you look past the concept of a girl pretending to be an eunuch to enter the royal palace. So half of the story is about the romance between the ML and FL and the other half is about his political struggle to go from a puppet king to an actual king in control of his own destiny. What made me decided to keep on watching in the beginning is the ML protraying of a king. Early on, I think the very first episode, the FL disguised as a eunuch straight up told the ML that he looks a guy with power but is powerless to do anything...and that a stab in the ML's heart is exactly the situation he's in. The emotion that he display, the emptiness of his crown, the loneliness and hopelessness...I thought is done well.
He's a young king and the Empress ruled on his behalf as a regent the court is divided into Empress's side which wants to hold power and the loyalist side which want the king to rule on his own. He seems to useless puppet king but is actually really intelligent. So part of the early intrigue for this drama is his struggle to and when he slowly falls in love with the FL, the emotion that he display and hopelessly he has knowing the situation he's in and his inablity to protect people close to him.
Acting/Cast
Ash Zhu (ML - king) - Young king of Dong Cheng kingdom, Empress (not blood related) rule as a regent on his behalf. He has no actual power in the beginning and Empress side is doing everything to withhold power from him. Ran into FL in the beginning and befriended the FL because he found her interesting especially since she didn't realize he's the king. She was unruly but frank with her words, a level of honesty hard for him to see in the palace so he decided to keep her by his side and eventually found out "she" is in fact a women. Despite the fact he's being controlled by the Empress, he secretly building a plan to eventually rule on his own. He's very intelligent at times and very stupid at other times...especially when it's related to the FL. Yea...one of those character.
Ash Zhu not the best looking guy in cdramaland but I thought he did well in the drama. He displayed a wide range of emotion in the drama and his acting in very convincing for the role he's playing. I thought he did well.
Ma Meng Wei (FL who pretends to be a eunuch) - The daughter of a Shangshu (尚书). Her mother is comes from a lowly background so she wasn't raised as a noble lady. Instead she on the street smart side. Came disguised in eunuch to chase after a debt owed by one of the eunuch but instead ran into the king. Initially the she doesn't know he's the king. Despite the fact she's supposed to be street smart...she's the type of character that made a lot of mistakes that gets her into trouble. Now part of it is just the king withholding his plan to her. But other time it's totally her fault. For a person that snuck into the palace pretending to be a women, a crime punishable by death that could even affect her family. She sure act super reckless some of the time.
Now she fells in love with the king...sometimes she's seems very understanding of the situation. In other time, was so reckless she put herself in danger and ML.
She's ok I think. However, my view on her is tinted by the type of character she's playing. Needless to say, I'm not a fan of this type of character.
Lin Yan Qing (second male lead, fiancé of the FL) - He's in love with the female lead. He plays a very righteous character who came from noble family loyal to the crown. He's a noble fool...righteous to a fault. He's deeply in love with the FL but she never reciprocated her love. I know he's playing the tragic 2nd ML with the unrequited love. But I just never care to deeply about him. The tragic part about him is he has to struggle with his loyalty to the king despite the fact the king is essentially stealing his fiance. I thought the actor did well for what he's given. I'm just not too fond of his character.
Gong Zhi Yue (second female lead) - Childhood friend of the king and deeply in love with him. Unfortunately she's the daughter of the general, which is one of Empress's side. She is playing essential the same character as the 2nd ML. Like they're just mirrored image of each other. She's simply more tragic because she's literally in the middle of the power struggle. So she has to deal with her love and loyalty to the king vs her family. She did ok but at times she's just doesn't have a look of a daughter of a military family that's supposedly good at martial art and fought in war. She's more lady-like that the FL.
Empress - Token evil queen mother who desperately want to hold power from the king who's not her blood-related son. Nothing else to say. The problem I have with this character it's a shallow antagonist.
General - He's more interesting in the he's part of the Empress side but has his own agenda and ambition. Beyond that, he's also another shallow, token antagonist. In fact, he's friction and plan for his own ambition and what gave way for the king to take back his power.
Other characters - There are two guards (mainly comic relief) that know the FL and helps her when they found out she came to the royal palace. A 3rd FL (bratty princess of the king, in love with FL's fiance) and 3rd ML (king of nomadic enemy state, in love with the 2nd FL). FL's mother and father...also comic relief. FL's gangs of hoodlums...lol...but they're terribly underused and barely in the drama. An eunuch loyal to the Empress. All actor/actress are just...ok...The most compelling is probably the two guards...they played a pretty dynamic duo but strictly for comic relief
Music
Modern music in a historic drama...ugh. Nothing compelling. Weak overall. I hated the alt rock music that constantly played when the king did something "epic". You'll know what I'm talking about when you watch the drama. I thought some of the music that played in the romantic scenes are nice but it's nothing memorable. So music is lacking
Rewatch Value
Really no reason to rewatch.
Final Thought
Would I recommend it? It seems like I have a lot of negative and very few positive. One thing I like is that some of the voice is not dub. Like ML is original voice but FL is dubbed. Again despite it lousy writing and token character, it is decently enjoyable the first half. I thought second half as pretty lousy. There's a certain mystique to the character when you don't know what's going to happen to them. However, once it's fully reveal...you're like....hmmm that's it. Meh
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Warning: It's not for softhearted person.
If I have to explain how I felt after watching this drama then it would be 'It was an emotional roller coaster ride which was torturing plus great also...' I know it's weird that how can you enjoy and get hurt simultaneously but it's so true about this drama. I am hurt, devastate, heartbroken, crying my eyes out as I just finished watching it but I can't say I didn't like the drama.This is a tragedy between two star-crossed lovers, this is beautiful yet painful. We don't get all things as we want in life even we became the most powerful and successful people, we get what we deserve, if we choose the wrong path again and again to reach our goal then there is no turning back...this is what the story tells us.
I never hated any ML before.... but this time I couldn't stop myself, the hatred I felt towards ML was more than I ever felt for villains he was cruel, so cruel. So hats off to the actor for his amazing job. There were only two characters I adored in the whole drama were princess Xiao Feng and Ah Du. Despite hate towards ML I liked the chemistry between leads but the sad thing is they got so little screen time together, the cinematography was beautiful. It was a great drama... for the first time I was satisfied with this kinda ending.I cried, cried a lot but it was an amazing journey for me, at the end I was heartbroken but the ending was perfect even I felt bad but Li Chengyin never deserved her and happy ending
So it's definitely worth watching ... It was a memorable experience for me but I'm never gonna rewatch it and gonna hurt myself again, but if you like torture and heartbreaking things this is something you shouldn't miss..
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The most satisfying ending
The winner deserved it hands down.Ha seok jin, the problematic man, the awesome actor, the beautiful smart man inside-out. I went into this just for him and man, did he rose all up and above.
I saw him first in his drama, drinking solo and then followed all his dramas, very few variety appearances and of course problematic man. But here, he was the star. He understood the games, showed composure, had no nonsense friends and team, spoke out when it was needed and above all his comradery with see won, OMG!!! I was rooting for both them as I would for any K-drama leads. they were amazing and adorable.
Also hats off to Production team for planning it beautifully and not stretching it more than needed and also for slight twists and turns. everything was well executed.
Honorable mentions to Gulli, he was the brains, see won for her tenacity, dong jae for his approach and boo seungkwan because he is Seventeen and sweet.
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There were a lot of heart-fluttering moments between Song-Yi and both male leads in the first season, which is why I had such a hard time struggling to decide which ship I was rooting for. I felt like the amount of those moments in the second season was really lacking and instead, the story focused more on family struggles and other stuff. While that's fine, I still felt like the balance could've been better, because I still feel like the progression of some relationships was a little choppy and left me a little unsatisfied.
Ga-Rin and Choi-Hun still felt a little like comic relief to me throughout the season, but I will admit that they grew a lot more on me.
There's still some things that I feel like were left unaddressed, like how in high school Tae-O was eavesdropping on Song-Yi but ran away before he heard her say she almost had a crush on him, or how Se-Hyun was using other people to do her work, things like that.
Overall, though, I really appreciate how realistic the show is. The fact that it's more like a coming-of-age story instead of having one conniving antagonist is honestly extremely refreshing, but if I were to rewatch scenes in the future, I'd probably head to Season 1 first.
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Waste of the cast
When I first heard about the movie, I was pretty thrilled to see all of these actors in one place. Despite that, one of my favourite genres is horror. As a result, I was even more excited to watch it. However, I admit, my excitement was for nothing.I can't even explain how much potential this movie had/has. It has an excellent cast, an exciting story. Yet, the results were more than disappointing for me. Since the start of the movie, I had no idea what and why was happening. I had to go through some comments and reviews so I can understand what was happening. I feel like the writing was not it; They should've hired another writer.
Despite how boring the movie was, all of the actors did an excellent performance. I couldn't take my eyes off just because of them. I wish to see Kim Yoo Jung and Nam Da Reum working together again but in worth production.
Summary: I must say I do not recommend this movie. I believe that there are people who might like the movie. Nevertheless, this wasn't for me. According to me, this year's Netflix movies were kind of disappointing. I hope to see better productions by Netflix in the time!
Note: I am not trying to bash the hard work of the people who tried their best to make the movie. The review is based on my experience while watching the movie. Also, I apologize if any grammar mistakes appeared, English is not my first language :)
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The Good:
1. The main actors are tremendous! I started watching because I liked Wallace, but in the end I fell in love with Cecilia. They played the main characters perfectly portraying the chemistry and forbidden romantic tension between the emperor and the doctress. Although these actors were awesome, just like in any other drama some of the supporting cast got the side-eye.
2. In a long drama like this it is difficult to tell if days, months or years are passing, I liked that the drama gave hints to the timeline of how much time had passed so we wouldn’t be confused.
3. Overall, the story line was particularly thoughtfully written and didn’t stray too much from the main story of the happenings around the doctress. At every turn she was learning something new, meeting new people and being a total bad a@#.
4. I love a strong female lead character. This drama had one of the strongest female characters I have seen in a long time. Once she learned how to bat an eyelash and flirt a little she was unstoppable!
5. The character development was remarkable and well planned. I was so happy to see so many characters developing and having “life”
The Bad: Well… There isn’t much bad to the drama but in 50 episodes you find stuff wrong.
1. I HATED their lace front wigs, they didn’t match the hair colors for women and above all I saw clothes tags. smh. I couldn’t focus on what some of the characters were saying because of bad lace-mustaches… and don’t get me started on Essen’s drawn on eyebrows!! Hair and makeup should be ashamed, but the costumer was extraordinary.
2. Plot dragging- While the story line was good; there were some plot drags after ep 25 or so. The emperors temper tantrum would last way too long, or the empress’ despicable plotting would go on for way to long and I would be forced to jump ahead.
3. The evil stepmother. There were so many evil stepmother/evil women in this story I was sick of them. These women were overly evil, cunning and had poor excuses. I understand that this is historical based but the evil women in this were almost overwhelming.
Overall- this is worth the time! This has a unique somewhat happy ending but don't get your hopes high. If you like historical dramas with strong female characters, or if you just like strong female leads this one is for you!
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Yes this is a seriously dark movie, and at times it had me feeling nauseated and extremely infuriated. But was any of that towards the script, author or the industry? No, for once it was out of empathy. This was absolutely horrible, and that's what it was trying to deliver, the worst parts of society. It was extremely immersive and acting was just so convincing that at the end, I had almost forgotten this wasn't a work of fiction. The blood effects and other props were on point as well.
This movie absolutely killed me inside, to project yourself into the protagonist or just empathize with her was a purely painful experience -- but it felt so very real and that's what mattered. The rape scenes weren't excessive, and I liked that, in the sense that the development team wasn't trying to capitalize on cheap semi-nude shots like almost every movie similar to this -- which usually just feels like insult to injury.
I honestly cannot think of a better actress for the role, the subtle displays of dismay, suffering and unconditional love from her.
Cinematography was on point as well but at times it felt inconsistent, although the overall quality was still good. Fight scenes had room for improvement, and South Korea's attitude towards weapons had this movie switching between conventional and unconventional weaponry and fight scenes.
The music was absolutely perfect, resonated very well with the highs and lows of the movie and delivered heartbreaking moments very well.
You're not going to feel happy watching this and you're not supposed to. Don't blame the movie for how you feel, but blame yourself for not knowing what to expect.
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Good But Not Without Its Problems
I’ll be honest here. I definitely had mixed feelings before I started writing this review with what to put. I guess that I should probably start with my overall thoughts on the show.Personally I thought that ‘ My Liberation Notes’ was definitely well done from a screenwriting perspective . ( I mean what do you expect from the same writer of ‘ My Mister’?.) There was enough angst to pluck at your heartstrings but also a few opportunities here and there to explore lighthearted respite or focus on building up the characters as the plot went on.
HOWEVER, I have to say that while I honestly adore our main cast ( especially our main heroine played by Kim Ji Won) the show didn’t always possess a necessary spark for me in initial episodes. I’m not entirely what this was down to exactly. Maybe it was the acting slightly. That’s not to say that I thought the acting was bad at all. I was really impressed by the main cast as I said before and I can’t deny that Son Seok Koo really slammed the ball out of the ball pitch with his performance. ( Not a familiar face for me but I’m glad that ‘ My Liberation Notes’ has opened up my knowledge of some impressive actors)
Although while I do have a lot of things to praise by the acting here even I must admit early performances didn’t do a lot to really elevate these characters to life. To be fair I don’t think it was entirely the acting as pacing and writing maybe also played a key.
The first few episodes of the series were really bogged down on character introductions. I don’t think this is always a bad thing but rather than really giving us a lot of insight into the characters being built up, it felt a bit repetitive in this first part of the series before the action kicked off. Did I think this affected later episodes? Slightly. If I’m honest I thought that the second half definitely picked up and took note of these early mistakes but it didn’t always offer leeway to spicing things up. This isn’t to entirely be really negative though. I honestly did like how the plot panned out and the unexpected plot twists which played out here.
I’d say the filming was pretty good here. There were maybe a few moments here and there which felt as though they could’ve had a BIT more attention to detail but alongside the OST, I didn’t think this was entirely bad. Just a little incomplete in parts.
Overall thoughts; You can definitely tell this drama is cut from the same cloth as ‘ My Mister’ and considering it’s the same writer it is no surprise. I had my issues with writing and editing here and there but aside from my complaints, I thought that this was a surprisingly well balanced series with touching moments and intriguing characters. A strong 8.0/10.
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No place like home.
Based on an award winning novel, Northward is a heartwarming and realistic coming of age and cultural heritage story about a number of Jiangnan youths who grew up along the Grand Canal. The story opens with the lively and carefree young kids from Flower Street cavorting mischievously in the canal under the indulgent, watchful eyes of their community. One day, Granny Ma's exotic granddaughter Siyi, a solemn and lonely lost child, comes to live with her. The neighbourhood embraces her warmly and the kids rally around her protectively. The drama captures the communal spirit of the early 2000s, where the hard working families of Flower Street are by no means rich but by pooling their resources, they share each others burdens and navigate life's ups and downs together. All the child actors were superb and well cast. They made me invested in all of the characters from the get go; from the ringleader Wanghe, the steadfast Haikuo, the studious Chen Rui, the resentful Xingzhi and Huazi the tomboy with a heart of gold.Into their teen years, the realities of life and changing times intrude upon the idyllic times along the canal. The advent of superhighways and high speed trains make it more difficult for the citizens along the canal to make a living from the waterway. As their families struggle to make ends meet, the young friends vow to head north to Beijing for college with big, life changing dreams. Time moves too slowly for the young friends as they grapple with their parents’ financial and personal struggles—their strengths, weaknesses, and all-too-human imperfections. Life's challenges overwhelm the burgeoning attraction some of them start to feel for each other. In such a close-knit community, everyone is so closely tangled into everyone's lives that there are no real secrets between them. There is as much laughter as there are tears to go around as all too soon some of them discover that actions have consequences, some that are irreversible. This was by far the best arc as veteran actors including Hu Jun and Li Naiwen anchor immersive performances from the younger ensemble cast to authentically bring to life the joys, sufferings, regrets, and human failings of three generations of Flower Street.
The narrative loses its early charm in the later Beijing arcs. The business plots are realistically written and reflect the intense competition and challenges faced by the food delivery and courier services in China. In pursuit of their dreams, the young friends discover there is no place like home. The denizens of the big city are harsh, duplicitous and calculating. They discover triumphs are hard won after many sacrifices, setbacks and betrayals and they can only have each others backs. Conflicts arise as they search for their own bottom lines in the ruthless battle for business survival. What I didn't like is that they remained such a clique that none of them really let anyone else into their lives. Even Haikuo never really tried to include his girlfriend in their closed circle. I'd have liked to see Wanghe have a real love rival and Huazi not be so absolute and single minded in her feelings. I also wish Huazi had made her health choices for herself and not because of anyone else. But my biggest criticism of the character stories has to do with how Siyi simply ghosted everyone. That was profoundly selfish and cruel in a way that destroyed her character for me. I was also a bit disappointed that the unresolved issues between Siyi and Wanghe and to some extent even Chen Rui were just swept under the rug. The ending was a little bit too good to be true but I loved all the characters so much that its not a real gripe.
All of the young actors deliver heartfelt performances with Li Wanda and Zhai Zilu best capturing that sense of adolescent turmoil and displacement. Even though they were still credible, both Ou Hao and Bai Lu struggled more with the teen years. Past thirty, it is incredibly difficult for actors to recapture that angsty uncertainty and unconscious radiance of youth. While the Beijing storyline falters in narrative cohesion, both Ou Hao and Bai Lu grow into their roles well as struggling young entrepreneurs so well that I understand the casting decision. I enjoyed watching Bai Lu take on this kind of tomboy role even though the braces and short hair did not make her look any less gorgeous. By design, Siyi was the most intriguing character in the story so I was disappointed by how Li Wanda's character got sidelined. All things considered a very enjoyable and moving slice of life story that I rate 8/10. The first half was notably stronger, tracking closer to an 8.5.
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A decent drama
I have mixed feelings on this drama to be honest. While I enjoyed some aspects of the show, there was also a lot that I didn’t.I will start with what I enjoyed. I absolutely loved Mijoo and Kangho’s relationship, they were truly the best part of this show for me. I really liked the fact that they actually acted like a couple and did miscellaneous and mundane things that an established couple would do. As much as I love kdramas for the build up to relationships, they often lack any substance afterwards or throw about 15 problems the couple’s way to keep them apart. Which, after 12 episodes (at least), of waiting for a couple to be together can be quite tiresome. This made Kangho & Mijoo such a breath of fresh air, because even when they weren’t together, the longing they both had for each other and the life they could have was very apparent.
The acting in this show was also fantastic! Not that I expected any less from the three leads. I don’t think this show would’ve been as successful if the actors who portrayed the main characters were not who they were. Also shout out to little kids who played the twins! They were adorable and hilarious and I am impressed that they could act so well at such a young age.
I also thought the finale for this show wrapped everything up nicely which definitely does not always happen with kdramas. Now, there are still some things that I did not enjoy or felt frustrated by in this show that kept me from giving it a higher rating.
First, Youngsoon. While I appreciate a complex character and like the fact that she wasn’t one-dimensional, I am left wondering what the writer wanted to portray from her character. It took up until the final few episodes for Youngsoon to admit any wrongdoing that she did to Kangho and when she did admit to it, the drama made us feel like she was doing it only because she loved Kangho. While I believe that Youngsoon loved Kangho very much, that doesn’t excuse her actions and rectify anything she had already done. Youngsoon also never seemed to grow as an individual in the show. I mean she was still blaming Mijoo for things out of her control in episode 12! Any time she would show any progress in her behavior, she would go back to doing the same thing not even 30 minutes later! I just don’t know what the writer’s ultimate goal was with Youngsoon’s character. This is also no hate against Ra Miran, she did an excellent job with what she was given, it’s just the character she portrayed that I struggle with.
Also, the side characters. I really did not care about any of them for the majority of the show. None of them really stood out to me or had interesting depth to them whatsoever. They were kind of just…there, in my opinion. I did warm up to Sam-sik by the end of the show but I don’t know if that was due to me liking the character or liking the actor who plays him. Also, the two henchmen turned farmers were fun, but that was about it.
Overall, I did enjoy this show despite my grievances and looked forward to it every week. It’s not one of my favorites but I don’t think I wasted my time on it either. Mainly due to Kangho, Mijoo, and the twins lol.
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The comedic inserts and occasional fluffs between the main casts were extremely cathartic in contrast to the violent scenes necessary in this drama genre.
I, for one, am not really knee-deep into dramas with enough suspense that kept me in jitters until the release of the next episode. I actually prefer light-hearted dramas from japanese series or cringe-worthy dramas from korean series. BUT THIS DRAMA WAS ONE HECK OF A RIDE. And yes, in caps lock for emphasis. (Btw, I'm not shouting nor am I angry. I'm just pumped because I loved it!)
But, there were three things I did not like:
1. The computer graphics were not really well-done. I'm talking about some gun scenes, and some of it looked fake af. Maybe there were budget constraints?
2. There was a slump in the flow of the storyline. As a longtime viewer of dramas (almost 2 decades now), I definitely felt and saw it. There were fillers that were unnecessary, but they still fit in nicely. My advice for those into the drama but couldn't get past the first half: PLEASE do continue watching.
3. My goodness! William's hair and mustache! He's handsome and buff af, but his midpart brings me back to the hair of the 90s. Is that hairstyle coming back? I'm not 100% against it though.
Over-all, I liked almost everything from the main leads to the antagonist to the support cast. I also liked the music and dramas OST. I'll definitely rewatch this one soon.
P.S.1 All episodes are on Youtube now. Legally uploaded by Croton Megahit. English subtitles are also slowly added into the videos. Patience is key!
P.S.2. Please support Ma Sichun (Sandra Ma) and her future activities!
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could have been amazing...
Overall: I would have given it an 8 if they had ended this at ep 6, but I deducted a half point for ep 7. It could have been poignant with exploring more serious topics, but there were several missteps. Aired on Viki and GagaOOLala (depending on your country).Content Warnings: self harm, harassment/bullying, slaps, held against will, trauma/grief, vomiting, another major content warning that happens off screen in the past
What I Liked
- intro with the music and the animation/style of it
- archery integration and Da Yeol's plotline related to it was well done
- happy Tae Hyun told off his aunt but wanted to see more resolution
- Da Yeol's actions in episode 6/standing up for himself
- production value (but the too light make up and red eyeliner was not for me)
Room For Improvement
- struggled with their initial dynamic, it did get better though
- they tried to cover too much plot and as a result there was not enough resolution (aunt? dad? did Tae Hyun try to work on himself/go to therapy???)
- toilet humor and the comedy sound effects did not mesh well with the serious parts
- time jumps scream lazy writing to me, it should have been shorter and then not have episode 7 or saved that for a second season, speaking of....
- episode 7 was a huge letdown, these are 2 guys in their 20s, I think the production chickened out and catered to the minority of these idol actors' fans which was detrimental to the story/their characters, it felt so unrealistic that it took me out of the story
- the production also modified (unfortunately) that beginning scene in the nurses office from the source material (it was exactly what Da Yeol thought it was), it also made the "friend's" actions in the series kind of head scratching
- not clear how much time passed in the beginning episodes
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