Encapsulates all the lovable aspects of Korean dramas
Into the Ring is built on the solid foundation of its excellent writing, and it endears itself to the viewer with each and every episode. Although it is missing the typical ingredients for commercial success (e.g. top-tier actors, veteran staff), Into the Ring continuously challenges us for our attention and respect, much like the Female Lead. There is just enough romance, comedy, and drama for a well-balanced drama viewing experience just shy of perfection.Story:
The award winning merit of the newcomer Moon Hyun Kyung’s screenplay is undeniable. The diverse characters and dynamic relationships are a highlight. Consider these two side characters - a manchild who earns his elected position with his daddy’s money and a working mother who refuses to “sacrifice” either her personal or professional life. The relationship between them and the main leads is hilarious (like when the FL turns the manchild into a whimpering puppy with her assertiveness).
Even the political setting delivers laughs as we witness the ridiculousness of each politician’s pettiness. ITR transitions from this comedy to heartwarming romance to drama seamlessly. Scenes are often layered with all three, which keeps the pace refreshing and the story engaging. The drama’s journey is consistently pleasant from beginning to end, and the careful and deliberate screenwriting is what makes it all possible.
Acting:
My mixed feelings about the main cast changed quickly with Into the Ring. For instance, I know Nana for her kpop career with After School rather than her filmography, and the general attitude towards idol-turned-actor is lukewarm. However, Nana exceeds expectations not just with her comedic timing and romantic chemistry but with her nuanced portrayal of empathy towards others. Park Sung Hoon actually appears with Nana in Justice, which I did not watch. I did watch Psychopath Diary where I found his acting uncannily funny. To see PSH in a completely different character is eye-opening and impressive.
Yoo Da In’s character is surprisingly nuanced for what some may consider a “side” character, but YDI’s acting ability is clearly at the level of “main role” actors. I remember Han Joon Woo from his great but small role in Be Melodramatic. Unfortunately, it is a similar case in ITR where he plays an interesting character which does not receive much screen time for a “main role”. Veteran actor Ahn Nae Sang adds another quality appearance to his long filmography.
Music:
Compared to the strengths of the story and cast, the music is not as critically noteworthy for Into the Ring. The subdued backing tracks are a safe choice, a mix of kpop and ballads. The music is actually a good parallel to the overall drama, which is excellent in its strengths but not quite a masterpiece in its entirety. (One last comment - I am a sucker for OSTs sung by main leads though)
Rewatch Value:
As I happily followed along with the weekly episodes of Into the Ring, I did not envision such a high overall rating because of a lack of some jaw dropping scene or enthralling plot line. Instead, ITR makes its appeal piece by piece, and its beauty is fully appreciated when considering the entirety of the drama. After 32 episodes, I can confidently recommend Into the Ring as a solid romcom in a relatively dry 2020.
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A great start but fell flatter than flat...
Penthouse was really worth watching during its early seasons. Sadly, by the third season, everything just got boring.Frankly, you lose sight of what the story was all about. Never ending people rising from the dead, twins, actors playing dual roles..... it was like milking something just because it became popular. I felt that the writer got too tired and ran out of ideas.
This is a classic example of knowing when to stop. Just because it got high reviews when it started doesn't automatically mean it will run true till the end.
I just watched this season to get closure. Sadly, I used to really wait for the next episodes to come out. But for Season 3, I could go for days without watching it.
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Never thought about falling deeply in love with you? plus complicated revenge story?
To be honest wasnt quite sure what to expect of the drama before watching it. I saw some reviews that said it was bad, but after I have watched it, overall was good but towards the end I would skip. I almost contemplating dropping it towards 36 ep because it started not to make sense... but the overall drama is acceptable. Although this drama has some traces of revenge , it wasnt the main factor/drive behind the story, a good chunk was about their job and being a financial headhunter, that make the story more breathable, but towards the end they kinda stretched the story a little too much.Male lead is Gao Shan. He is in the financial business. He has a complicated past. His father committed suicide from having not enough money to pay the people in his warehouse( i think he also went bankrupt) Gao Shan saw his father's suicide and his mother became mentally unstable. He completes to find a job in the financial industry, more over he wants to investigate what actually happened to his father. He meets the female lead Lin Wo, she is a financial headhunter. Their jobs are to find the perfect candidate to fit the financial job opening offered by the company. Lin Wo is smart, confident. Initally Gao Shan doesnt know that Lin Wo was the suspected person that was responsible for his father's suicide. Of course Lin Wo and Gao Shan fall in love. After he finds out about her identity, he attempts to break up with her.
He eventually gives up his revenge for her which I find sweet. I mean love can overcome hatred!!!But then the story gets weird and introduces to a character named Bei xiao rong. He was someone that Lin Wo took care of when he was younger. He use to have autism when he was younger... This character is introduced at a bad time and the introduction of his just makes the rest of the drama unbearable... He also complicates things and does things to ruin the relationship between the leads.... just because he likes her...
As for the romance between the lead, I felt they had a decent chemistry/passion. Although I wasnt the biggest fan of all their " punch kisses" ( lol term I made up) All their kisses were so forceful, like they plant the kiss in their face with force like punching someone lol. Can't they just be gentle?
Can we talk about the choice of clothing for the female lead? some formal outfits were so opened and low cut? ( something we dont really seem much in Chinese dramas)
Im so glad it wasnt just revenge driven or else it would be a very negative drama....It honestly did better than I expected.
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Romance in the middle of good vs. bad
This is a good drama to watch when you want to binge-watch something. I don't suggest watching this and coming back to it a few weeks later because to me, if most of the episodes were not available when I binge-watched this, my curiosity for what would happen next and wanting to watch more would have dropped and I might have just stopped watching. The reason is that the story gets somewhat draggy and boring in the middle making me skip some scenes. But besides that problem I had which was not that big of a deal, I loved the drama. This story focuses on Xie Xiao Nie also known as Ni Chang. She suffered from a rival family's plot. She gets back on her feet after completing school in Yun School taught by a pretty famous teacher. She moves back to her hometown and starts a clothing business. All while this happens, the idea of revenge for her family is still in the back of her head. On her journey to get justice for her family, she falls in love with Luo Prince who she once met, but he doesn't remember. This is a super sweet drama entangled with emotional and serious scenes.Story-This is a 7 because I loved the beginning and the end but the middle was a bit draggy and there were some uninteresting scenes that I skipped being the bad characters' dialogues. The story is pretty interesting and unique to me. The story starts as a survival story and Ni Chang trying to get justice for her family members' murders but turns into a romantic one soon. The drama makes Ni Chang seem fragile and kinda dumb on the outside, but she is very talented at her craft and extremely smart and brave. I liked her being super talented but rarely bragging about her craft. She also always found unique ways to one-up her opponents. Zi Yu (Luo Prince) seemed like a very righteous chill dude. He seemed not too nice but not too mean either until he meets Ni Chang. Zi Yu is almost always there to help Ni Chang with her troubles. Their love story off slow and the type I don't care about your feelings, but as they interact more, they fall into love. I feel that Zi Yu knew he liked Ni Chang before Ni Chang realized she liked him. After they realize they like each other, their love story, only talking about a love story is just super sweet. They are just so sweet together and there are plenty of kiss scenes. Of course in every drama, you must have love rivals. Su Wen Yu liked Ni Chang since he met her and he is a super complicated character. He likes Ni Chang but gets rejected every time. In more than half the story, it seems like Wen Yu is trying to win over Ni Chang. He finally stops after getting himself back together. Princes Lan Zhou has liked Zi Yu also since she first met him. She appears later in the episodes and tries to chase Zi Yu but after he says he already likes someone, she stops. I like her character better since she is not as delusional as Wen Yu. There are several couples in the story, which I think are expected especially after you have watched half the show. The evil characters made me hate them so much. Yuan Dao Cheng, I hated him throughout the entire show from start to finish and I just him to lose his power and suffer the consequences of his evil-doings. Another evil character, Yan Wen Xiu, again a complex character like Su Wen Yu. She seemed just one of those normal bullies or something, but no she takes being bad, disgusting, evil to another level. She does atrocious things out in the daylight and it could almost compare to the evil things Yuan Dao Cheng does secretly. I somewhat disliked Wen Xiu from the first time I saw her appear but my hatred for her grew more as she did more bad things. The story overall is somewhat basic with the evil people, good people, heroines, etc. There were not that many shockers or plot twists.
Acting/Cast-Let me just say, the leads and most of the characters' actors and actresses fit into the roles very well. But some of the supporting roles, fit well but not as well as I wanted. Nevertheless, all the actors and actresses did a great job with their characters. If they were a bad character, they made me hate them. If they were a good character, I liked them. If they were a complex character, then I got mixed feelings. For the specific actors:
Bi Wen Jun (Ou Yang Zi Yu)-I watched a couple episodes of In My Class which he starred in and he didn't really catch my attention but he did in this drama. He was sooo good acting like a 5-year old. He made it seem like he was a 5-year-old in an adult's body. It was also super cute. He also did great when was like a normal adult. He seemed very natural with Li Jia Qi (Ni Chang) and their sweet scenes were so cute! He had great chemistry with Jia Qi. Jia Qi also did spectacular. She was great when she was super warm and nice and she acted great when she was serious.
Sun Jia Lu (Yan Wen Xiu)- She fit this character near perfectly. One look and you knew her character was going to be involved in some problems for Ni Chang. Since Yan Wen Xiu was a complex character, one where you feel bad for, but deep down still somewhat pity, I think Jia Lu did a great job. She made me hate her character so much.
Will Song (Su Wen Yu)-He also fits this character greatly. He looks very pitiful and always having some sort of pain or problem he needs to solve. The actor character made me so annoyed with Wen Yu and mad at him yet again somewhat pity for him at the same time. Also, based on Su Wen Yu's character, I think he might have had some mental problems since he was so delusional when chasing Ni Chang.
Music- It was ok and fit the drama well.
Overall-Decent drama to pass the time or when you are just chilling
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This show started off really strong. The comedy was gold because I was laughing my butt off for over half the show. And then somewhere around the 3/4 mark the spy part of the story went a bit off the rails (convenient plot devices and inconsistencies in writing and editing), the budding romance stalled, the undercover agents started doing dumb things that would totally have gotten them caught, and the PPL was extremely HEAVY handed. I was totally taken out of the story by all of these things.
So Ji Sub was freaking adorable in this - every scene he was in with the child actors made me a puddle of "awwwww!!!"
And Jung In Sung as Ae Rin also did a good job - this was my first time watching her and I liked her. I loved ALL the characters and the actors were great. I have nothing but compliments for the acting. But the romance between the leads was only alluded to at best. So the ending was not as satisfying as I had hoped for because of that.
At most, I might rewatch some of the cute SJS/kid scenes.
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What a journey, a long but good one i so enjoyed it. i actually had this on my list quite a while but i had to be mentally prepared before challenging all 81 episodes lol..... no skipping also (I HATE SKIPPING).
Jumong has managed to put all in one package: History, action, romance & drama it was all rounded for me. As for the Story it was every informative, i learnt tonnes of history from this show and helped me to connect the dots of the various tribes, states & kingdom along Korea`s time period. Oh Watch Kingdom of winds its a very good addition to Jumong and explains further about Goguryeo or Koguryo.
the last few episodes were very sad for me, it hurt to see some of my main charactors go( wont call any names) but i know nothing last forever. It pained me to see the Queen leave but i know it had to go that way for thats how Baekje came about, but i wonder how Silla fitted in all of this. i soon find out.
GOOD SHOW
?? ?
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this drama can easily be described in just a few words.. nice, warm, cozy, romantic, light hearted, cheerful.
note my words "easily be described in a few words" this implies there's not much you can expect.. there are hurdles but are easily overcome..love triangles but easily broken..this is what you say an easy light hearted romance..
the gaming part didn't interest me at all...i found it a bit boring and just skipped through them..
the male lead is fantastic.. his acting is good.. and not to mention his looks.. he is someone you would just spend the whole episode looking at..
the female lead didn't impress me much..she is really pretty and her character was cheerful..and these may be the only things to her credit..i felt that her acting was not up to the mark, sometimes i just found her expressions over expressing or sometimes may be expressing nothing at all...oh,.! i just forgot to mention the PARK SHIN HYE syndrome that she has to her credit...it was really annoying..
the music was not bad...i don't remember them well so they are not remarkably good...
i don't rewatch dramas.. so i won't recomend it..
if you are looking for something light hearted, romantic and nice , just go for it...
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Such a Thrilling Mystery Drama
From start to finish it story was brilliant. It's a well planed and very very eye catching drama. The visuals? Absolutely eye-catching. The colors, the vibes—it was all crazy. iQiyi really outdid themselves, crafting a show that’s gonna be remembered forever. The story hit that sweet spot with just the right mix of thrill and romance.Now, let’s talk about Angelababy. She really outdid herself with this one. Sure, she was “sleeping” for most of it, but when she was on screen? She delivered. Honestly, I prefer her acting here over her 2025 drama EL.
And the pacing? Wild. A new story almost every two episodes? That’s next-level. CiCi Wang—I gotta say, she turned me into a fan real quick with her role as a supporting character. She owned it. WAY, he was serving the entire time. His face card? Never declines. This drama? Unforgettable.
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Just my thoughts after I finished watching...
AFTER I FINISHED WATCHING THE DRAMAI really enjoyed the romance between the adult main characters. They had great chemistry.
The drama also touched on several topics related to the problems of Korean society, such as the pressure parents put on their children to study. And that leads to the question of what eventually happened to Sua? It seemed that in the earlier episodes she had quite a lot of screen time, but eventually she was forgotten and the creators focused on explaining the mysterious plot, the solution of which was obvious anyway.
Also what about Hui Jae and his mother? They went on a trip and suddenly everything was fine? I feel it's not enough to close their story.
I really enjoyed this drama until it turned out that the stories of several characters were not properly closed. Also, the dark plot took up a bit too much screen time, because only one person could really be the culprit - especially considering that the creators wanted to direct suspicion to Hui Jae in the first place.
But most of the time I had fun watching this drama. So my rating hasn't dropped much.
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AFTER I WATCHED 9 EPISODES
Rating 10/10
We knew from the beginning that there is some mystery in this drama. So we know that finally the dark subplot will be resolved. However, at the moment, most of the scenes are lighter and mostly do not refer to the dark part of the drama. This is quite a typical treatment in Korean productions, and I like it.
In the drama, we also have mothers obsessed with their children's education. Including one really annoying mother-daughter duo.
So far, I really like everything about this drama and I'm looking forward to the next episodes.
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AFTER I WATCHED 1 EPISODE
Rating: 8/10
I like that it looks like we've already gotten some introduction to all or most of the threads that will be covered in the drama. The first episode gave me the feeling that it will be a bit of a cute, sometimes dark story with humour typical of Korean productions. I really like actress Roh Yoon Seo and at the moment I watched all the things she starred in. I have high hopes for her character.
I've seen comments about FL looking old. Well, the actress is almost 50 years old and is 10 years older than the actor playing the role of ML. Of course, it can be seen sometimes. But it's not so noticeable that some people make such a big deal of it. They both look great and fit their roles.
I think I'll like this drama, but we'll see. So far it looks really good.
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Although the story of the movie is exciting and a good watch, it's nothing new. I've seen movies previously with similar story lines, and have all been a good watch. However, what made The Con Artists so good was that it didn't have a single boring moment. Every scene had a reason behind it, and if any of it was cut out, some parts of the story would have been left unexplained. If you need a good action movie to watch, this movie is just perfect for you!
When it comes to actors, you have absolutely nothing to worry about. Kim Woo Bin isn't just popular for his good looks and stunning personality, he is, of course, a brilliant actor as well. His perception of Ji Hyuk was awesome, and his scenes in particular were my favourite. As for every other actor (Go Chang Seok, Lee Hyun Woo, Jo Yoon Hee, etc), their scenes were greatly acted out and I couldn't find a single flaw.
As I am writing this review, it's only been about an hour since I watched the movie. I know that in the movie, the soundtrack was superb, however, I don't really remember any of the tracks. The music is great, but none of the tracks are particularly memorable.
There is no way I would pass up a chance to watch this again. It's been a great film to watch, and I would so gladly go watch it again right now.
Overall, besides the soundtrack not being all that memorable and the story line not being very original, it's a splendid movie to watch, and I can guarantee that any fangirls who love heartthrob actors will enjoy this very much as Kim Woo Bin takes your heart away in a mere few seconds.
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I doubt I'll rewatch this. For one thing, it's a bit long, aided by those long silences I talked about before. There were long bits of the movie where it felt like nothing was happening. The movie is old so the fashion is also a bit distracting. The main lead always has his pants belted practically at his throat, for instance.
When rating music, my first thought was "Was there any music in this?" So that's why it's such a low score.
Overall, I think people who are more into movies with an independent feel than I am will enjoy it more.
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Good Watch!
It's perfect chill drama, I mean light, sweet, without so much dragging it's good watch. There's huge age gap between main lead but I like their screen chemistry, I also liked the part that their misunderstandings resolved in less time comparing to other dramas, if you want a light rom com without so many twist or headache it's good for you.I loved food haha.. it was one of the things I liked in the drama to see main leads cooking she was definitely immersed in the character so I was enjoying to see her cook.
Overall it was good drama!
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this drama is pretty mediocre.
The concept was really cool and the trailer was awesome but the actual drama was confusing and half baked. It seemed as if the plot started at episode 6 because if how slow it was and the series is only 8 episodes long. The story honestly left me with so many questions and the acting was not the best. It was so uncomfortable seeing them kiss because there was no chemistry and the actors looked so stiff. I would've liked to see more of the side couple and a longer show. The soundtrack was very good and the little montages were amazing, especially the scenes when he sees color and his eyes change.Was this review helpful to you?
