Reviews

Highly entertaining revenge-plot short show

I really liked this short show. The storyline revolves around a revenge plot based on two happenings. These happenings lead FL to go full-blown revenge-bitch, LOL. The storyline doesn’t take itself too seriously so I had a great time watching the many schemes FL and others in the household come up with. It’s fast paced without any fillers which I personally love about these short shows.
I know many viewers compare this show to “Maid’s Revenge” but they really shouldn’t since this is an entirely different kind of story. I admit that the revenge theme is similar but the things that happen and the backstory is not.
Character wise we have this strong FL who is clever and cunning. The ML is rather weak but changes drastically due to the thing that happens to him. 2ML is a cunning and shrewd man with violent tendencies. Nothing gets to stand in his way and nothing is worth more to him than his ambition. Of course there isn’t much character depth because of the short format, but the characters are whole and not just one-dimensional.
Acting wise this is great. All the main actors do a great job with the little time they have.
So, if you love a strong revenge plot show without fillers, this is definitely well worth watching.

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An awesome female lead followed around by a love sic puppy and a whole lot of meeh

I would like to thank the double speed option for without it I would not have gotten though to the end... In this story where pretty cool female lead divorces en idiot only to attract a bunch of more or less obsessed boys/men instead of just being left alone with her passion.

The men in this drama are mostly awful some have their good shots and great loos but their characters make no sense what so ever and there is not a single man in this that I was not highly annoyed by and did not want to throw something at at least once in this drama. Yes that includes the male lead, who is of course gorgeous, sweet and has a lot going for him... he just needs a huge lesson in priorities and respecting peoples boundaries.. His dad has some issues but is probably the least infuriating character in the whole drama. The male leads best friend is the one male that actually experiances character growth and goes from making me want to punch some sense in to him to thinking, heeey that guy ain´t that bad.

Oh and do not get me started on the teens who are about to graduate from university put are portrayed like really immature 4th grades just with a motorcycle, not to mention the mother ho was also portrayed like an imature kid.

That said the 2nd female lead rocked, and the female lead was really cool 905 of the time, I loved her characters personality, the acting was good and her lines where mostly awesome.


The cinematography is good and there is one good line in this about not needing to compare ones weaknesses to another persons strengths.

The pacing is awful and something tells me they had to cut a bunch of scenes here and there without thinking about how it affects the story as a whole. The predictability in the drama is so high i found myself thinking oh here we go again... and oh come on not that annoying twist...

The only thing that kept me going to the end was Xiao Zhans smile the second couple and the female leads wittiness.... Without them I would have given this an even lower score.

Also I am not really sure this qualifies as a romance.... it is more of a love sick puppy holds on to girl and just wont let go....

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Story:
Wow. This is one of those dramas that brings you in, because of the interesting story, great chemistry between the characters and storyline that is different to most other Korean dramas. I was really captivated by this storyline... being unable to wait each week for new episodes. The story has not a dull moment, since there are new stories every few episodes and new court cases that need to be won every few episodes. Fortunately, the ending of the drama left no loose strings... it didn't leave me wondering anything, because everything was explained well in the end.

Acting/Cast:
I loved the cast and acting of this drama! Park Soo Ha (Jong Suk) was amazing in this drama. I was so glad he was finally able to come out as a male lead in a romantic drama (although School 2013 was also great!). The female lead, Lawyer Jjang, was sooooo funnnny! She was so confident in herself, in a funny way. Lawyer Cha was also a good character, however I never really felt he was in a competition for the female lead... which could be a good thing, I guess?

Music:
I really liked the soundtrack of this drama, it was so niceeee. Especially the opening song (Every Single Day - Echo), everytime it came on, I would sing along. The music in this drama definitely added to the emotion and feelings of the drama.

Rewatch?
I would definitely rewatch this drama, and I already have. It has cute romance with great chemistry, great acting and an interesting storyline!

Overall:
I definitely recommend this drama to anyone who is interested in cute innocent romance, law-y stuff and interesting storylines that involve revenge. I am surprised that so little people have actually watched this drama, it is really popular. Most people who have watched it, really like it. So go and give it a go!

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Interesting but filled with flaws

Fish upon the sky - somehow a comedy with romantic twist.
"Comedy" - depends on your personal taste;
"Romantic twist" - the plot is something we've seen before, but it was done with engineers, nothing special and kind of predictable, but still interesting to watch.
Honestly I wanted more from the story, there was potential, but it ended up in the same canal with the other series from before( love triangle, coming out, walking in circles)
The production was alright, the music not so much.
The actors did their job nicely, being their first time.

Not a bad series but depends on your personal taste. I think you are going to like it, if you are looking for a easy to follow story, good looking actors and somewhat alright plot.

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we were robbed.

we were robbed. absolutely fucking robbed. ep 2-15 were absolutely golden, and then ep 16 goes and ruins it. everything was so tight-knit and flowed well, and then not only does the screenwriter go and rush ep 16, but she completely changes the originally ending, which would have been more satisfying and publicly loved. the screenwriter gave us a twist for the sake of having a different ending, not because it made sense. OBVIOUSLY, THE REASON WHY THE OG ENDING WORKS IS WHY THE WEB NOVEL IS POPULAR. if you go and change that, THERE'S NO POINT.

the actors were absolutely amazing throughout, but oh my gods. lee sung min and song joong ki. the absolute and undeniable best parts of this show.

song joong-ki, how are you the man that you are. i literally can't imagine anyone else doing this type of role; he absolutely kills it. it's always with the slight smirk, after giving the soonyang family a blank stare/death glare/all-knowing look, and then he absolutely demolishes them with a paper to buy their company. he absolutely kills it and i need more of this. song joong ki, please step on me. ily. please.

unpopular opinion: SHB and SJK's chemistry wasn't horrible as everyone says it was. here me out:
1. yes, it was severely underdeveloped, because they hardly had any scenes together, which made them getting together unbelieveable.
2. yes, SHB's role in the entire show was to purely serve JDJ's needs and story development, making her very flat, and to some (not me) annoying.
3. and yes, in comparison to the thriller and succession war and other elements going on, the romance was hardly on anyone's radar, and just took attention away from the main plot.

but was the chemistry bad? no. it was as good as it could have been with all the other shit going on, especially when it's not a romance drama, it's a thriller. there's no need to hate on SHB when those two did the best they could and worked with what they had. if anything, it's the screenwriter's fault for not developing it properly.

lee sung-min was a fricking maniac; no wonder he's a veteran in the kdrama industry. that man can ACT. his scenes with sjk were so charged with chemistry i was on the edge of my seat the entire time. and song joong ki. oh my darling, lovely, beloved song joong ki. the microexpressions he has when he acts; the various combinations of smirks and stares he has, being able to scare you one second and charm you the next; the way he can act old-young (and JDJ) and truly young (his old life) within scenes: absolutely fucking insane. that man is fucking acting machine. there's no going around it. THREE TIMES this year i've been demolished by his acting. DOTS was sweet, caramel oozing from his eyes. Vincenzo was absolutely terrifying mafia boss. this was a mixture of the two, and then some more: childish innocence + betrayal + determination. no matter who he has opposite him, he manages to drag chemistry out from them (him and JYB tho >>>).

(spoilers)the web novel ends with seo min young and jin do joon being married and JDJ grieves his past self dying off the cliff, all the while succeeding at being chairman of SY. i'm going to gaslight myself and try to remember that as the ending, instead of the shit-show we got in ep 16. i mean, we don't even see YHW try to get into a relationship with SMY again, when he obviously could, and he could obviously tell her of him being JDJ and have it make sense. and don't even get me started on the amount of plot holes that arose in the last episode, all because the screenwriter messed with what was a tight-knit story. first, we see in ep 1 that he has no recollection of JDJ at all, as does anyone else; so did he just HAPPEN to forget that he killed him? the OG author created a tight-knit well-developed story, and the screenwriter adapted that scene by scene, without a single change, up till ep 15, and that's where she went wrong—if she had just stuck to the source material, we wouldn't be in this situation right now, left completely unsatisfied and angry. if we accept ep 16, that means ep 2-15 meant nothing. he did all that work as JDJ only to die and then become chairman without getting any shares? without any of the work that JDJ put in? not only would JDJ feel wronged, but us, as viewers, feel wronged. we spent so much time with JDJ that we want him to succeed, not YHW. it makes no sense, first, and second, i feel cheated. as much as i loved ep 2-15 and i loved watching the actors, i can never rewatch this, now that i now that they mean nothing to the ending. the actors demolished the show and i have no comments against them, but the screenwriter needs to find a new job. don't just add in a twist ending just for the sake of "changing things up". obviously the source material is popular for a reason, and the author for it made it so that everything ends up perfectly. the worst part is: the screenwriter made so many changes to the ending, but not a single (coherent) comment from a character about how JDJ and a YHW lookalike. not a single one. what kind of "happy ending" is that? to go on living after everyone you love thinks you're dead. the only, and i repeat, ONLY reason this is a 9.0/10 is because ep 2-14 were absolutely perfect, and the actors deserve a perfect score. the screenwriter is the reason why i had to rate it lower.

overall: a fine, fine drama to end 2022, but left with good memories and a bitter taste in my mouth.

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From what one of my BFF's tells me, this show is an absolute staple in South Korean drama, and I would have to agree. However, I'm not really one to cheer on Han Gyul (the male lead) as he comes to grips with his attraction to who he thinks is a boy, but is actually Eun-Chan, an unfeminine girl. His angst over his attraction to a "boy" drove me nuts as did her LYING, but, still, the show is adorable. It really is. Although Han-Gyul is an idiot. How could he NOT tell that she was a girl? She's not THAT flat up top! As the actors go, Gong Yoo is absolutely gorgeous and fun as Choi Han-Gyul and Eun Hye Yoon is cute as Eun-Chan, but it was Jae Wook Kim as the Japanese-speaking waffle-maker that stole my heart. Maybe it was hearing Japanese in a Korean drama that did it or the fact that he has all the delectable qualities of Japanese men while still somehow being Korean. I don't know, but Sun Ki is my man! Great show, a little unbearably annoying at points, but still lots of fun.

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First of all, i'm very biased. i love Lee Min Ho (so cool he is).

I loved the drama. It doesn't fit the best drama standard but its enjoyable all the same. the actors were great (the villains were of a most devious, powerful and poisonous vein- simply awesome i tell you).
i will not lie to you, it does drag a little bit in the middle but the last episode has you on your toes so i would say its worth it. the story is nothing new, its derivative and cliched but it unfolds well. the characters change, grow and love in a beautiful way. Both the leads are amazing, one astoundingly heroic, cool and strong; the other quirky, funny, and charming. the actions scenes are good and the romance is cute and touching (although i was disappointed with the lack of adequately thrilling kiss scenes).

the music was a let-down. i'm not saying it was bad, but I think it was n't well-suited. it could've been better.

all in all, it's been emotional. i hope you guys like this one too. :)

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Just save yourself and don't watch this.

oh gosh, where to start.

Like the majority i was also really looking forward to this drama and boyyy was i disappointing. i was in no way comparing this to the prequel, it was just objectively a really bad drama.

- In my opinion the whole premise had great potential- who doesn’t like strong female leads! But even from the first episode i was side-eyeing the entire time, nothing made sense. For e.g. Namsoon initially getting lost in Mongolia was stupid anyway- but her rich family’s inability to find her was even more ridiculous. Having all that money and resources to be able to find someone anywhere, and they decide to hold a strength competition¿? within KOREA when your child went missing in MONGOLIA. how would a literal CHILD make her own way back to korea??

- though the first few episodes were silly it was still enjoyable, but as it went on it was just ridiculous and the humour seemed very exaggerated to a point it got me skipping most scenes.

- the plot in itself felt like there was too much going on. The writer could've done something profound and hard hitting with the drug storyline but it just turned out to be lacklustre and lame. There so many subplots that it actually took away from the interesting ones. and then more characters were added without any backstory or any real purpose other than highlighting certain plot points.

- Namsoon lacked the charm the writers intended for her to have, there was no use for her to be ‘childish’ considering she still had a good upbringing and had been around civilisation. Her initial lack of formalities was confusing considering she did spend her childhood in korea.

- unnecessary side characters i.e the homeless couple. What did they even bring to the story. I even thought the dad and brother were useless- i wish they gave the brother some sort of strength and substance. ANY sort of use tbh.

- min min couple were the saving point lol

- Even though i saw the charm of Ryu Sio, and i admit i had high hopes for him, but even his character was poorly written. Lets be honest, he was a sh*t villain, seriously how can you be so dumb to let his girl anywhere near you and your secrets? however he was just the best of the bunch, the only character that had some depth and a background story which made viewers like the guy, knowing damn well that he’s a murderous pyschopath. And even after his death they still added some MORE backstory. What do we now do with this info??

- gave all that character development to Ryu Sio to then have him kill himself in the first 20 mins of the episode and then have the other characters continue on with their day like nothing had happened. There was no real closure for his character.

- Heesik was just…THERE. lol ok he’s a cop and he's inherently good, he had a brother that died. WHAT ELSE?? PLEASE TELL ME MORE. He’s one of the main characters but there was nothing interesting about him. just bland.

- no chemistry between the leads in my opinion, It was cute that they liked each other from the get go, but as the show went they had less scenes together to a point that their ‘love’ seemed random and unnatural at the end.

- why did the grandma and her lover need all that screen time. Unnecessary and unwanted.

- how did Namsoon’s mongolian mum pass airport security with a BOMB? is the security in korea that bad?

- The mothers acting was just too over the top. Billionaire and secret vigilante, who gets their hair and makeup done before any heroism can take place.

- the women in show apparently had some connection when great strength is taking place but couldn’t use that connection to find their lost daughter.

- how did Namsoon become a police office when she evidently lacks any knowledge of the law or any form of training for that matter.

there’s so many things that i found ridiculous whilst watching this that i can continue the list but let me finish here. It was implied that there might be sequel… PLEASE NO. just stop right here lol

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This show was anticlimactic for me. And it was surprising and disappointing because I had a vague idea of how passionate people were about it.

To start things off, while there is a resemblance to City Hunter in the beginning the two shows are not similar. Healer is not a revenge drama. I don't consider it thriller and I struggle to call it action for reasons I will get into later. If I have to choose a genre other than drama, it felt like a Mystery-Comedy-Romance-Drama.

I found the story and plot to be pretty strong. There were no glaring plot holes that I remember and situations were handled realistically (I'm not including the tech and action scenes in this). Unfortunately, that realism might have been one of the issue. Every plot point closed without a huge climax. I want to my heart rate to speed up. I want to feel real anxiety for these characters. I want a sense of catharsis when situations are cleared up. But I never got that. Healer only managed to wring emotion from me twice and both were in the form of tears. The action scenes suffered from a similar problem. They were too sanitized. Too clean. Again, even if I know things will likely be all right for our hero, I want to worry. A show that can't do that doesn't work for me. The last big issue was the lack of comeuppance for some characters. For me, this also fit into the shows realism, but it really sucked to watch as a viewer. It all sort just ended. That's it. Move along.

As for what I did like, the characters were well written and well acted. There was never angst for the sake of angst, something I especially appreciated when it came to the romance. I thought the flashbacks fit nicely. And I enjoyed the general tone. It was funny too. Though often in a quiet way.

I want to give a special shout out to Ji Chang Wook as 'Healer'/Bong Soo/Jung Hoo who was my favorite part of the show. He did a great job switching between characters and I'll be looking out for him while hoping he works on his dramatic scenes. Park Min Young as Yoeng Shin never bothered me, but she's obviously improved a lot since City Hunter and Sungkyunkwan Scandal and it's nice to see. Kim Mi Kyung as Min Ja/Ajumma was also a pleasure to watch and my second favorite. The casting for present and past Yeong Jae and Moon Shik were also great.

I think the overarching themes in this drama are shown in these two lines:

But those people are like zombies. So we have to fight. If we just stay put, we might get bitten and turned into zombies too. - Yoeng Shin to Moon Shik

Media exist to diagnose the pain of this society and cure it. - Moon Shik reading the concept or mission behind Healer magazine

The power of the media and living life honestly and to the fullest. For everything Healer was and wasn't, it did consistently stay true to these messages. And while it didn't completely work for me, it clearly did for others. It's your choice.

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Disappointing

Really disappointed. I don't really see this as a step forward for girl power of any sort, more a collection of dramatic romance-related shower thoughts. None of the women "grew" or became independent. After Dai Xixi's breakup, she continued to be attached and even obsessed with marriage. Wen Ruxue's attitude towards relationships continued to be ambiguous and scandal-inducing. Ding Huiqiao continued to profess the exclusivity of caring about work or relationships. But I suppose that is to be expected of a drama which lists romance as a major genre. My investment fell out at around the half-way point, only persisting for my favorite actors Song Yi and Wei Daxun. Not to mention, the ending was extremely hurried.

Music was immemorable. Would not watch again unless extremely bored and would probably be skipping around a lot.

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