Reviews

The concept was great and the characters were great, so what wasn't great?

- Jung So Min. I'm not familiar with her previous works but I did not enjoy her at all in "Because This Is My First Life". I probably wouldn't have minded as much had she been a side character, but when the main character has a dead/expressionless face half of the time (at best!) then yes, I have a problem.

- The romance.  Watching Ji Ho develop romantic feelings for Se Hee was a pretty solid journey but when on earth did Se Hee fall in love with Ji Ho? The episodes went by, one by one, and all of a sudden Se Hee confesses WHAT made him fall in love with Ji Ho. I get the reason WHY but I don't see WHEN it happened. I don't think the romance from See Hee's point of view was conveyed properly at all.

- When the side characters got a more intresting story than the main characters. I have yet to put my finger on what makes me feel like this (and I'll update my review as soon as I figure it out) but I felt myself more invested in Soo Ji/Sang Goo & Ho Rang/Won Seok. Their story and relationship development is what kept me going through this drama.

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Being a Park Seo joon fan, I thought I simply HAD to watch this. And I am glad I did!

This is a lovely rom-com, with a particularly charming and sweet male lead: not only Park Seo Joon has the power to make you swoon with his smile and good looks, his character was super adorable. As the typical "male lead jerk" annoys me deeply, this was extremely satisfying to watch and I couldn't get enough of his cuteness! ( I can't get over it now that I finished watching)

I wasn't convinced by Uhm Jung Hwa's character at the beginning, but she grew on me and I really enjoyed the way she portrayed that woman falling in love with a much younger man. It felt very natural and her struggles gave the drama a depth that I wasn't expecting to find. In today's world, it's easy to get caught on the crazy "career train" and forget to live life and actually enjoy it. Maybe it's because I'm in my late 20s, but the main message of the drama really made its way into my heart and moved me.

Main leads had great chemistry (despite their actual age gap) and so did the other actors all together. This made the comedy work really well: I hadn't laughed this much with a drama in a long time!

The story is a bit slow in the middle, but it actually pushed me to binge the whole thing (rather than skipping scenes), because I couldn't wait to see the characters happy (they're just... SO CUTE). It's a sweet noona romance, both touching and fun. Easy to watch. Will watch again and recommend!

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I prefer korean drama, but after watching Empress Ki  (51 episodes, storical), I needed something sweet and easy..
I loved this dorama, it he cheered me up.. now talking about each characters:

? Misaki, I just loved her..!!
? Chiaki, he is the perfect guy..maybe too much for me.. anyway he was  cute
? Kanata, well I wanted to beat him all the time, how could he behave that unpleasant  way.. anyway I just fell in love with him .. eheh..
?Touma, the best of this story, I just loved his funny way of being.

I found some points useless, for example, the villain I found It out of Place and boring.
The landscapes were stunning, I love Japan  more and more  ...!!
I love the main song, really catchy ..

I give this dorama 10 points because  it made my heart flutter......

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A- THE SCREENWRITER!
The screenwriter is very talented and should be recognized more. My favorite drama, reply 1988 was written also by the same screenwriter. Every time this person works on a drama, not only he creates characters that you would enjoy watching during the drama, but also characters that feels like family members to you. Literally i felt like saying my goodbyes to important people in my life when this drama ended, and when reply 1988 ended as well.
I might sound stupid for people who didn't feel the same watching this drama or reply 1988, or for those who haven't watched any. but honestly that's how i feel finishing those two dramas.

B. ACTING!
*Choi moo sung, this man is seriously one of a kind. just give him whatever character, and he would 100% master it. and this was also the case in prison playbook.
*This was actually the first drama i watched for the main lead, Park Hae Soo, but will not be the last, he seriously played his role perfectly!
*I don't really have something to say about jung kyung ho. Although he is one of my favorite korean actors and one of the reasons why i started watching prison playbook, but his role here was not as massive as i thought it would be. OF COURSE his acting is great as always!. but just for those who are considering this drama for the sole purpose of kyung ho being in it, DO WATCH because definitely you're going to be hooked and ignore the fact that you're watching just for kyung ho.

C. OST!
PERFECT

D. OVERALL
 Black comedy is not an easy genre. It is one of the best, and hardest to achieve. and doing this kind of dramas without pulling audiences into a big black hole of tragedy is the hardest. You will never feel tired or would want to take a break from watching this drama, because every episode is filled with the right amount of comedy and the right amount of drama. I'm very satisfied! cannot say anymore but IT DESERVES THE HIGH RATINGS, I CAN GUARANTEE THAT.

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It's only 5 episodes long at about 15 minutes a piece, so there's obviously not enough time to really flesh out the story, and it's not really meant to be a full drama experience anyway, but there are some themes in this mini-drama that I would really love to see expounded upon in a longer format.

We got a small glimpse into Ruby's youth and the bullying she received, which I think was my favorite moment from the entire story, as it really gave you a sense of why she is the way she is. The song choice was also particularly affecting in that moment.

I quite enjoyed the idea of her being a jewelry designer and watching her come up with designs then executing them herself, and honestly, I could have watched tons more of it. The writers turned jewelry making into a deeply emotional experience.

I quite like how they engineered things in the final episode so that Ruby was forced to go out into the world and be herself. The writers understood that it was important for her to do it herself, as Ruby, not as Ruby with a magic ring. It would have been even better though to see her slowly trying, in between uses of the ring, to muster up the courage to go outside and face the world on her own two feet. That would have really added to the emotional impact of her being forced out into the open once and for all.

And I don't usually respond to the music in drama's, but this one had a particularly good soundtrack that hit a lot of important emotional beats.

Basically what I'm saying is, this would make a great full-length drama. There's so much to mine from this story. But at the end of the day, even though there's only so much that can be done in 15 minutes per episode, I think they did a good job of presenting the story and making it engaging and sweet. It was a nice little experience.

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I have a mixed feeling with this drama. Even though the female lead can be stupid sometimes, even despicable and totally obsess with her works, I like the male lead and all the side characters. Each case brings me a beautiful story and meaningful growth for each character. However, one of the flaws of the drama is that you are being made to wonder with will they or won't they get together. Both male lead and female lead are ex's in the past but you can still find that they still have some feelings left and their attraction shown in an indirect way.  The ending is justifiable and realistic with an open interpretation.

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I just finished watching this show, two days in a row, not because I needed to see what was happening, just because I had free time... so, we could say it’s OK to watch it if you have time, if you like dramas as “My love from the stars” (and you don’t expect to see anything so good so far...).
+/- the story
+ The fact that the settings of the first two chapters are in Spain, my country, that some of the scenes are in La Coruña, a place really near to my family hometown and a city that I know by heart since I was a kid... and that a Korean drama choose this place to do the drama... it’s really got me! So only with that, I was more than interested in watching the show.
+ the cinematography and photography of the show is amazing. 
+ it’s funny. There are several parts of the show, as when the three con artist friends are doing their jobs, or when Tan Oh is doing photographs of the mermaid all the time, that I simply loved.

The casting:
+
Not being a big fan of Lee Min Ho after “Boys over flowers” and “The Heirs” I can say that I liked him here. He improved his acting.
-
I didn’t like Shin Seung rol as a stupid/Innocent mermaid. I get that she gets out of the sea and she doesn’t know how the world works... but sometimes it was too much. The script showed that she was really smart and she could learn really easy but it didn’t show nothing new about her competence as a learner... so for this reason it seemed that every other lead would think as she was stupid all the time...
On the other hand I couldn’t really see the romance between the two main leads at least until the last episode. I like their acting but separately. I would prefer the scenes where they were not together. In fact I think their love story was the thing I was interested the less. I don’t know if it was that they lacked chemistry or what, but I always had the feeling that they were missing something.
+ or - the music: The music is ok, even when I think most of the songs, are too cheesy, but I liked very much “Lean on you”.
Rewatch value: probably I won’t see this show anymore, but perhaps I would watch the two hour special recap.

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This drama is the perfect cure if ur craving Park Hae Jin after cheese in the trap. Rather than going nuts trying to stalk him on SNS to look at that cold hearted beauty, watch this drama... if by the 10th epi ur not cured then ur not a real CITT addict!

This drama was meant to be a comedy spy drama...with ott goofy aspects...

It is enjoyable and very global commercial kinda story, so not ur typical K drama setting. No wonder netflix has this!

Watch like u would watch any american show...the only K thing is the comedy and the bromance...:)

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First of all, don't get me wrong. I do like Lee Jong Suk and Han Hyo Jo. They are one of my favorite talents. But this drama has too many loopholes in the story. I cannot find myself to like both of the main lead and neither I can find their chemistry at all. I find the romance is being too forced and does not make any sense at all. For example like the true main heroine of the manhwa So Hee, how can she get pushed away by a mysterious girl that just show up? The writer is very sloppy in creating the plots with a lot of unexplained things like why the female lead was summoned in the beginning and then the no face killer. And how come the no face killer has awareness? I thought the story focuses on Kang Chul? I also find the story is also being dragged too long with so many weird romance filler. I mean the manhwa is a mystery genre, but then turn to be a really weak mystery genre. I don't feel any suspense at all. I find the idea is nothing new and not all that groundbreaking (maybe in k drama this is the first time about cross world manhwa theme but the plot with the no face killer thing, I find the plot is easy to recognize). I find myself being really impatient and skip so many scenes.  -______-" I know this drama is a hit but at the end, I just can't find myself liking it.

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Oooooh Strong Woman Do Bong Soon. The promise you held, the promise you made, the promise you did not keep.

This drama is crazy popular, and I admit it. I understand why. It's filled with fun and interesting characters, an infinitely fascinating premise, superb acting, and some Very attractive male leads. I fully accept that I am in the minority with my opinion, and that's ok. I'm glad everyone else was able to enjoy this drama. But as interesting and fun and superbly acted as it is...

A terrible script it was. Great acting and interesting characters and story premises often lift many a terrible script, and I unashamedly admit to loving stories that are terrible simply because everything else was so well done. I think that has a lot to do with why so many people love this drama so much.

But those things just didn't do enough to compensate for this dramas writing for me.

First things first:

The rules of her superpowers were never clear. The first episode portrays her mother losing her powers because she was abusing them to make money off of people. I expected that to serve as a clear indicator of what was acceptable and what was not. That was apparently not so. I spent the rest of the drama (as far as I watched) trying to figure out just what the rules were. What exactly counted as using her abilities for ill and using them for good? Surely beating up bad guys and defending the weak would be considered using your powers for good, right? Wrong. Or maybe not wrong? Bong Soon frequently held herself back in situations where she Clearly would have been in the right to act and intervene, but then at other times, she just let herself go, wailed on bad guys left and right...and still didn't end up losing her powers. So what was the barometer? Helping this defenseless person is ok but helping that defenseless person is not?

As for the romance, Park Hyung Shik is endlessly charming and witty and charismatic and has looks that go on for daaaaaays. He's almost immediately smitten with Park Bo Young's character, and you're always gonna get a happy viewer out of me when a male lead falls first. But damn it if he wasn't super manipulative and uncomfortably controlling! It didn't help that Bong Soon gave him into his demands Far more often than I liked. I wasn't against her having maybe a more mild, and maybe even shy, personality in comparison to her abilities, but she gave in in situations where there was no reasonable justification for her doing so, and it INFURIATED MEEEEEEE. She didn't have to fight back with her powers. I was fully on board with that being considered using them for ill. But she sure as heck could have used her words sometimes and said NO.

I dropped this before the last two eps, so I cannot comment on them, but I heard a few things went a little off the rails at that point, and I'm glad I bowed out when I did. This drama did not follow through on the things it promised me in the beginning, and I just want my trust back.

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Ugly and sad story

First I must say, i never ever saw a Korean drama this long.

I really enjoyed every single episode, it was really watchable. Im Ju hwan is really a reliable actor he copes pretty well with long lines and all the emotions of his role. As for Kang So ra, is the first time I saw her acting, so I'm not sure if I can decide if she is a good actress since her role is very cheerful. I disliked the bromance between the brothers, it was cute but awkward. The second lead couple had had way too many senseless conversation. It is a good choice for a first time watching a 100+ episode tv show.

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Started this drama with so much hope and excitement and ended with no desire to finish it.

This was my first Siwon drama, and I was as hype as a person can be without spontaneously combusting. (The man is gorgeous.) I did not realize going in, however, that his style of acting is so....hammy.... I'm not typically a fan of hammy acting, even when it's intentional. As such, I didn't really enjoy his character as much as I had hoped I would. (Not that Siwon wasn't absolutely adorable at multiple points throughout the story. Siwon can't help but be too cute for his own good.)

Truthfully, almost all of the actors can, and have, done better things. They certainly put in the effort, but the characters were just so poorly written that it made no difference. (Although I must admit that Gong Myung's performance impressed me, even if his character frequently infuriated me.)

Unfortunately, the story was pretty lackluster as well and did nothing to counteract Siwon's corny acting style or the poorly written characters that surrounded him. The story set up some really interesting premises initially. Chaebol turned clumsy part-timer, Candy who Likes part-time work and has no interest in a 'real job,' Chaebol potentially renouncing his life of riches, and Candy guiding him along the way. (That's really it in terms of premises that were interesting.) These were characters I liked and wanted to know more about. But the drama never went anywhere with these ideas and just turned into a generic, bland amalgamation of nothingness instead.

I usually feel incredibly guilty about dropping dramas, even when they're terrible.

I dropped this 2 episodes from the end and never felt like going back. (And I didn't drop it sooner because I was on the Dramaclub at Dramafever for it and was only able to drop it when I did because things got kind of hectic in my life at that moment and provided me an out.)

When I drop a drama and feel no guilt...that is one heck of a bad drama.

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I'll try to keep it short, since there is not that much to mention anyway. But I still want to explain why this drama failed to impress me, even though Jo Jung Suk was the leading man.

I love Jo Jung Suk's acting ever since King2Hearts. There's no denying that he can pull off a far fetching diversity of characters and he will always be one big reason for me to pick a drama. That's why I watched Two Cops, although opinions were definitely not in favor. But as you can see with my rating, the drama still managed to disappoint me big time.

 First though, let me tell you what I liked about it (since the list won't be long):

The bromance between Soo Chang (KSH) and Dong Tak (JJS) was blooming slowly, but once they accepted each other, they had some really nice moments together. Chemistry was there and at some point I was even sad that they didn't have more scenes together. There was still a lot of possibilities that could have been used to deepen their bond more.

The criminal sidekicks who were supporting our leads. I loved their scenes and their antics, because it was funny but not exaggerating. Especially the thug leader (Lee Shi Eon) grew on me, as well as the female pickpocket. I enjoyed her story (including her love line) and her attitude towards certain police officers.

One of the bigger villains (played by Lee Jae Won) had an equally interesting part in the drama. His character and the actor's performance made me care for his story, what was all I needed. The main villains were not outstanding, they remained somewhat stereotype-y, but they were still good and their evilness was convincing.

But what I didn't like:

First of all the romance. Seriously, they could have done without it. Zero chemistry between the leads, instead their scenes took away important time that could have been used on the case. Furthermore Hyeri. I haven't seen much with her yet, but this drama definitely didn't make me want to watch something else with her either. Not only was her character annoying, but also the acting didn't reach me even once. Her kisses with the main lead were actually good, but since I didn't care for the romance at all, their "passion" was a waste of time altogether. And another point that made me wince even more was that JJS's character felt all grown up while the female lead acted like a nosy, clueless brat.

Then there was this confusing point about the Korean law here. Most of the crime dramas I watched until now, were always telling me that relatives are not allowed to investigate or prosecute family members. This drama kind of threw that rule over? It's not the only drama with that kind of law display but it made me wonder again...

I was not able to build a bond with the good guys aka the police squad the lead was part of. The characters were average at best. Nobody stood out, it was your usual bunch of lousy officers, one of them rather a model than a law enforcer who did his bit to make the team look like a joke even more. Especially regarding the main case. This one could have been solved so much faster but since the drama wanted to extent the hunt and because their way of investigation had a lot of nonsensical turns, it took them quite a while to assemble the puzzle. And only at the very end they seemed to have gotten some intelligence input, so they were able to create a plan to catch the bad buys. (I do admit that I was a bit surprised about the actual truth that was revealed at the far end)

One of the major flaws in my eyes was how they used their possibilities regarding the core point of the drama. Soo Chang was a ghost and not bound to anything. He was free to go anywhere without being held back by some kind of ghost rule. Therefore he could have listened in to so many suspicious people. He was rather clueless in the beginning (he annoyed the hell out of me) and he was more interested in chasing his useless love interest instead of finding a way to go back to his normal self. Only later on when he got closer to Dong Tak and after he had fixated his mind on catching the culprits, he became a little smarter and grew on me.

The overall construction of story telling was very slow and draggy. Even the finale didn't speed up but was acted out rather calmly. It's such a shame for the drama, it could have been so much better. Miscast, a script with lacking suspense, superficial characters and wasted opportunities put this drama in the lower ranks of crime shows.

Recommending? Well, rather not. Only if you're a hardcore Jo Jung Suk and bromance fan.

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