The most heartwarming kidnapping story one can encounter.
I cried, I laughed, I almost smashed my laptop - it was all worth it. The connection between Ro Hee and Myungjoon is not something I will be able to easily forget.Not the brightest, but a strong man and a genius child - this setup for the main characters sounds like the beginning of an over the top, unrealistic and not easily relatable story. To make it good, the writing of the characters needs nuance, and that’s what The Kidnapping Day presents.
Myung Joon is not this dumb guy who gets manipulated by everyone while being completely unaware of what’s truly going on around him. He is not just a passive tool for others to use, and his loyalty and compassion are the exact reasons he was one of the most dynamic and driven characters.
Ro Hee is not this emotionless adult-like genius. Yes, intelligence was a big part of her, but the detailed writing did not ignore one of the most important aspects of who she truly was - a child. Many stories focus so much on characters’ cognitive abilities, they completely forget to showcase their emotional development - this way we get these robot-like smart kids who just act like adults. Not here. That innocent and child-like nature made the story far more impactful. It also made it possible to present a variety of the types of interactions she had - some treated her like a child, some treated her as a genius, some treated her just as just… I guess that’s something you will find out if you watch the drama ;)
It’s a story about making choices and facing the consequences. How some wrongdoings cannot be wiped clean, no matter how much we try. How trauma can hunt you for a lifetime. How greed can push you to do despicable actions. How everyone's idea of happiness is different. It’s a story about fear, desperation, obsession, but also compassion, family and support. It’s a whole package.
The Kidnapping Day for sure leans more into character (and relationships) driven drama, but I would never say it neglects the plot aspect of it. It was just slightly less masterfully crafted. Some aspects were not quite detailed, but all was enough to tell a cohesive and engaging story. We hit some dead ends and a few bits had not quite satisfying conclusions, but since I never viewed them as the focus of the drama, it did not bother me that much.
The acting… I have no words. Big props to Yuna who had the hardest and most demanding role to carry. I truly fell in love with Ro Hee and cared for this child with all my heart. Yoon Gye Sang presented so much warmth in his performance, I wished to have someone with a similar presence to Myung Joon in my life. I’m also impressed with Kim Shin Rok as Seo Hye Eun. I kept going back and forth with hating her and feeling sympathy - presenting the complexity of her story and the duality of it was not an easy task, but Shin Rok handled the role amazingly.
The production, directing, editing - all perfect. I even loved the small details like the chapter titles at the beginning of each episode with well selected shots as background and these tiny doodles as symbolic representation. Even the soundtrack was amazing. Especially the instrumental score.
Was the drama perfect? No. I still believe that the second episode was a poorly constructed introduction to the investigation and Sang Yoon. Some characters got me confused about their presentation - from feeling not that threatening, to then abruptly switching to the biggest threat. As I previously mentioned, there were some plotlines that could have been explored more and had better closure.
But even taking all that into consideration, this drama was truly a magnificent experience that kept me tense, happy, sad, angry, hopeful, scared each Wednesday and Thursday from September 13th till October 25th - and I will probably come back to it from time to time.
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Why must you watch?
The series is short with mind blowing story, cast and acting. The series can make you binge watch itself. It's worth your time.The set is shown of 1990's revolving an undercover narcotic trade for which narcotic department takes upon a massive risky investigation which involves couples protecting each other throughout it. The whole story gives us a intriguing plot and captivating acting.What sets this drama apart is how it brilliantly showcases the interconnectedness of its characters, all engaged in their mind games and strategies. The acting of every cast member is truly outstanding, and they're all nailing their respective roles.I hope you add it to your watching list.
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He is completely different than most.
It is Thai, where the Thai branch of Buddhism predominates.
It is necessary to look at him from this point of view and not to evaluate only through the eyes of a Central European viewer. Why is the scene like that, why are the actors playing it like that, why is the film pensive, poignant almost from the beginning.
The content of the film is very well described on ČSFD, be sure to read it before watching the film.
When the viewer is able to put all this together, he cannot make a bad assessment. It is a film about images, about feelings, about LIFE. It is a film whose message will remain forever in my soul...
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This review may contain spoilers
Bats and zombies in a ghost town
This drama was already promising at 24 episodes, but it should have been 16 episodes. Repetitive flashbacks were extraneous. I don't think we needed to be reminded of these scenes, The ghost town where it was staged was either a deserted war-torn or flooded town, or some ugly CGI. The bats vanished fast in the early episodes, and the zombies must have gone to sleep. I am surprised that the stranded travelers did not explore the town for supplies or better accommodations. They just stayed in the hotel, run down in some places. The store where Er found the sneakers had clothing hanging in the shop, although they should have rot in twenty years. Was the train track sealed off on both ends, or where they just lazy, to try to escape from the bats and zombies who took a snoozefest? The blue ocean, which I am sure was CGI, was the prettiest view. The production quality was bad in many episodes. Extreme closeups with a bland expression do not constitute acting skills.After bingewatching the first 16 episodes in the last three days (in October 2023), I skipped to the final episode. The timid teacher was the the mastermind. LOL I don't think I missed anything important. This was my Halloween entertainment.
Final rating: 55
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This drama tells the story of a drug dealer
All about this drama is crazy. The story and their actions is so attractive. Because of the time was when 1995 the music and cinematography so life. I don't ever think this drama is out of the box and so many complicated about the relationship. But all of the production is better then i expect. This drama is one of the most amazing drama in this year. But maybe the age rate is 18+ because of the blood, harassment, and many smoking scene that make this drama so adults. Maybe i want to rewatch again this drama when i have a good time to rewatch it.Was this review helpful to you?
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Brutal, merciless milieu of gangs & drug cartels. Stirring, gloomy but with soulful strings, too
What a positive surprise. For all those who are not afraid of the brutal, merciless milieu of gang wars and drug cartels: "Worst of Evil" offers intense characters with dynamic profiles, especially of the two protagonists - the rural police officer who joins a new Gangnam gang as an undercover agent, to help uncover the organized drug trade between China, South Korea and Japan, as well as the boss of that Gangnam gang.In particular, Ji Chang-wook as Park Jun-mo alias Kwon Seung-ho puts his heart and soul as well as quite some muscles and fighting into it. Whatsoever, he is impressive. But so are the others. It´s well cast and Disney+ apparently didn't skimp on anything...
For me personally, gang stories like this one aren't really my first choice. Too much crude violence, too much highly concentrated testosterone... "Worst of Evil" is no exception. Sharp blades and baseball bats are in high demand, especially in the first half. Nicotine seemingly acts as nutrition and even the fanciest suits can't hide the fact that a lot of blood is being shed unscrupulously...
Nonetheless.
“Worst of Evil” features complex characters and highly explosive relationship dynamics that is touching, gripping and, more importantly, provides emotional substance, too.
Eventually, undercover operations are psychologically demanding. The boundaries between true and false identity are blurring. A solid compass for right and wrong can easily be lost. The reality of living the undercover life creates new truths in which even the 'false' identity becomes a ´true´ part of one's own life. Coming to terms with this obviously is not easy. The return to the old life as it was before, even less so. In the case of "Worst of Evil", these internal and external conflicts of our undercover investigator become even more difficult by the fact that his wife has a history with the gang boss that he knew nothing about. She, his wife, herself a police officer and officially not ´his´ wife in terms of the new undercover identity, is now drawn into current affairs in a way that the small special investigation team could not have foreseen.
Not to mention the fact that the drug cartels involves powerful partners, not only in South Korea, but also in China and Japan. At last, the homicide police also get involved in dealing with everyday gang activities and murder cases in Gangnam. None of those involved is squeamish whatsoever. So danger lingers everywhere. Not only fists and fights, but also intelligent, diplomatic solutions are required. High-end improvisation is on the agenda for our hero.
"Worst of Evil" is thrilling, stirring, gloomy and – despite all the blood that boils over and over again (and all the copious amounts that are spilled) – it has its soulful strings, too. It's about trust, loyalty, bromance, the relativity of 'right' and 'wrong', and ultimately the ethical question of which end justifies which means...
Is the story predictable? Well, I can't fully deny that. But in "Worst of Evil" the journey is clearly the destination - what the undercover special operation DOES with this once "mother-in-law's favorite" and how he comes to terms with it. In addition, his counterpart, the self-proclaimed, brash, brilliant gang leader, is also quite interesting. With his vita, his goals and desires, he doesn't really fit into the usual cliché and thus brings additional dynamism. In addition, several other characters in the cartel (and police) environment impress with strong profiles, too.
As I said, I was pleasantly surprised. "Worst of Evil" had me. It's pretty well made all around and has actually more to offer than just ruthless gangs and action. (Nevertheless, be prepared, it still is about the milieu of ruthless gangs...)
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A completely unique subject, script, dramaturgy and what can be seen and felt most about this film is that it is significantly different from the cinematography of the yellow race and turns towards the perception of the viewer of the white race (style, plot, processing) and I cannot even evaluate more critically what remained Asian, Korean in the film, on the contrary, I honor it with all respect and humility.
A brilliant idea and perfectly executed by all means of film, the fact that the viewer actually feels a little bit during the process, what is reality and what is just a "role". And even though the film has a high rating on IMDb and ČSFD, I take it as the overall "artistic impression" comprehensively and exceptionally, and I don't look at the individual evaluation criteria.
I recommend it to all sensitive souls...
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Let yourself be surprised how it all turns out, but don't expect any romance. On the contrary. Violence, blood (the father of the last victim, a schoolgirl, enters the game), conflicts, destruction, depression, humiliation.
I was a bit more bothered by the stilted and affected theater acting this time, which is why a point down in the acting section. The processing was less believable, because where the situation absolutely required it, after "pulling down his pants" a miniature cricket appeared in a thicket of hair, while in two seconds he was already "loading" a drunk woman somewhere in the canal ...
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The most evil perfection
How should I describe this drama......a damn rollercoaster ride!!12 episodes and it was enough to drive me crazy. The story revolves around a cop who goes undercover to uncover an international drug ring and things get complicated when his wife inadvertently gets sucked into the investigation. The story was perfectly written and I love how Park Joon Mo aka the undercover cop slowly gets the utmost trust within the gang and slowly rises up to become the key figure in the international drug deal. And at the same time slowly removed the key figures around the ring leader and substituted himself as the most trusted subordinate and friend of the ring leader Jung Ki Chul. What was more thrilling is, how he managed to corner all of them into a dead end and finally take them all out in one fell swoop.
Ji Chang Wook managed to pull out the psychological struggle of his characters in utter perfection and I could not be more proud of him.
Worst of Evil, was made the most perfect evil by the cast and directing with a solid storyline.
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Comédia romântica de qualidade!
Me diverti e me diverti sem culpa. Alguma diversão é direito de todo cidadão e de toda cidadã. O roteiro é muito bom, as sacadas e as referências culturais engrandece o enredo. As atuações maravilhosas, o casal é encantador e não houve a necessidade de forçar nada, tudo pareceu muito natural. O final foi um aspecto doce que conseguiu conectar todos os pontos que visivelmente tinham ficado solto no decorrer da série porém foi se amarrando nos últimos episódios. Mesmo incitando a violência, ela é tratada de forma inteligente e com entretenimento.Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
Typically I don't like watching high school cdramas, because censorship makes it near impossible to portray a reasonable romantic story in them and also they often have content involving parents & teachers that I abhor. This drama is a standout in in this genre in the sense, that they've shown innocent but very sweet high school dating. At times I was wondering how this passed censorship. Then later on ML's momster came and forced a 1 year separation, so everyone could focus on their studies & then I thought "okay, so that's how". There were also various moments in the drama, when the leads were vehemently denying their romantic involvement with each other, but it was never in doubt. It was very strongly implied that they knew each other's feelings and they did everything dating teens would do, other than skinship that is.
(This is the second crama I've seen that is like this, the other one was 'Meeting You')
Basically the show can be split into three parts.
1) The kids getting to know each other. (first 5-9 ep)
2) The friend group of 5 enjoying their best life. (this is very close to 10/10 amazing)
3) College, young adult life (last 6-7 ep)
I would say 1) is not great, initially I found the show to be the most typical Chinese high school drama I have ever seen. I was fully prepared to drop it, but I did not really have anything else better lined up & I needed something to watch during my late night workout sessions.. Upon reaching 2) I was very surprised, suddenly everything started working for me and it felt like I'm watching a different show, where EVERYTHING is better, including the acting, the editing and even the background music inserts. In fact episode 10 is one of the best cdrama episodes I have ever seen, it was absolutely magical.
After the forced separation we quickly transitioned to college life & adult dating. While I tend to enjoy a simple, fluffy and complication-free happy ending, I felt 3) to be lackluster in many ways. I really liked the second couple & they barely had scenes there. Much of the non romantic plot earlier was involving ML's brother & momster. FL did not meet ML's mom during the adult part of the show, at least other than us seeing the mom sitting there at their wedding there has not been anything else. The brother also only had like one line during the wedding, would have been nice to see what happened to the genius. Also there were at least two occasions when I felt the writer set up some big cathartic faceslap moments and the then things just fizzled out, not cool! Give me my loud slap! To sum it up, in 3) we just went through the motions without enough emotional impact. (well there was a little of that in the finale, maybe)
Anyway despite the negative points this one is absolutely worth watching, perhaps even just for the bromances, but to me 'A Love So Beautiful' -despite that annoying Wu Busong and the breakup- is a much better cdrama that is largely similar to this one, but feels far better overall. It's better acted, has several really epic moments, the final episodes are very satisfying and it's amazing from episode 1 onward etc etc.
Of course if I started to compare it to the best university/young adult cdramas then it would just fall short.
TLDR: It's the second best high school cdrama I've seen, but usually high school cdramas suck, so 8/10.
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I don't know how to feel about it..
I just don't know how to feel about this series. I may need some time to process what truly happened and what each of the characters really went through but for now I get this weird feeling of unfulfillement (if this word even exists).I get that both of the main leads struggle with their own demons and they're not ready for love. I really get that and I think it's somehow real in terms of I can actually see this happening in real life. This story has no sugar coating and that's what I appreciate.
However - I personally don't like Kiyoi and the toxicity his character is filled with.
It's like "oh he's being mean to you because he likes you and just doesn't know how to say it" was a person but make it 100x worse.
Do some people really find being kicked, pushed around and sworn at attractive? A genuine question because even though I get where the toxicity's coming from.. I still somehow can't find watching it enjoyable. Rather than being happy for them to finally get together I'm worried if they'll fix each other or go down together.. It's hard to describe it.
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will leave you questioning who really is the worst of the evil
THIS IS NOT A STORY ABOUT BROTHERHOOD, not friendship , it is about betrayal, about how far your desperate situations can lead you to . Perfect acting,perfect plot , perfect ending even though it broke my heart but alas atleast queen haeryon (BIBI) is living her best life(hopefully). This really showed that evil is not in the lines of black and white, you'll question every moment who is worse . For me , in the end it really did get clear who is worst of the evil. The end scene with the cigarette , the ring and the cross . ah. I'm just sad byeWas this review helpful to you?
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Amazing..but where's the romance?
Love, love, love the drama. This is one is going on my list of top dramas that I have watched thus far and there is a lot that I have watched and love.I am satisfied with how the game ended. Those who deserve to be happy, ended up with happiness and those who deserved to be punished, got their punishments. However, I am not happy with how the drama ended.
Let's start with the storyline - it's your typical storyline. The toxicity of the family, the corrupt offiicials, the romance. All of that is what makes a great story and this one delievered. The family dynamic really sonates with me as a modern girl because we see this all the time in real life. It's nothing to new to a lot of families. The thing that really pisses me off is how much they disregard because the oldest son is supposed to bring honor to them, but yet, he had failed them over and over and over again. He cheated and sold his family for pennies (not really, but you know what I mean) and yet, the family still believes him over and over again. Yes, he did receive karma, but even then, his wife and Hua'er still acted like they did nothing wrong and is mad at the family for not helping them when he went crazy. I mean, can they really blame the family for it? Where's the accountability? Why is it that the family have to always clean up their messes? The only person that I feel sorry for is Song Hai Long. The only did that he did wrong was marry Hua'er. I don't think he desrves to be living in poverty with Hua'er and her parents. I wish Shen Nuo would help him obtain a position in the court.
Characters -
I know that many people hated Man'er but I don't understand the hate. She's not greedy and she's not selfish. Yes, she's trying to make a living but can we really blame her? She's playing a character in a game who has a mission that she needs to do. She can't be giving all of her money to her family. I mean, how can you excuse the grandma and aunt for stealing her hard earned money and then call her a selfish pig? Like come on. She's not selfish either. Her wanting to split from the family because she only wants what is best for her little family. The way they treated her family warrants her need to split from them. Like, are those who calling her selfish condoning the things that her family has done? I can't even consider her selfish at all. First of, she helped Hua'er despite the fact that they knowingly and willingly sold her off to a dead guy as part of a widow burning. YET, she risked her reputation to help Hua'er escape her fate. Then she saved Ye'er from the toxic family. Not only that, she had helped the family over and over again. Even at the end, they still forgave them and gave them a place to stay. Time and time again, she had helped her family despite the fact that they treated her like she nothing.
Romance -
Where the hell is the romance?! There was some romance, but there was barely any too. Out of 26 episodes, there's probably like what 2 episodes where we see the romance. That's all I have to say about the romance part.
Overall -
I gave this a 9 rating overall because of the fact that there is barely any romance. The title is "Romance on the Farm," there's a farm, but very little romance. Another reason why I gave it a 9 because I was not happy with the ending. Sorry, but not sorry. I thought that it would at least end like Romance of Tiger and Rose, but it did not. I was not satsified. We didn't get to see Shen Nuo in real life. The "special ep" was nothing special. It only explained what we have already guessed. Shen Nuo is the creator of the game. But we didn't get to see his face. What kind of ending was that?!
I would def watch this again at a later date. Recommend if you can get past the toxicity of the drama.
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Pain of human nature, whether it's a cop or a gangster
The birth of a monster inside a person who was once considered moral and pure along with the very human and raw sides of somebody we were expected to solely think of as a villain is what I witnessed watching The Worst of Evil.Beyond the obvious observations --the phenomenal acting, storyline and even unexpected twists-- what I would like to point out is the sad, regretful feeling I was left with when I finished watching the last episode. Junmo's spiral was to be expected from the moment he took on the case, but it was still heartbreaking to watch his life being destroyed.
He ended up becoming a murderer, something he tried in many ways to avoid but was inevitable when hesitating was no longer an option, as Euijung became involved. Steadily he started losing himself, no longer telling right from wrong clearly and easily. Losing his loved ones, the immediate aftermath of it all. His captain, his wife and his unexpected partner, Jung Gichul, he lost them along with a vital part of his humanity.
There was no happy ending to await from this drama, but the end still left me wincing even as I write this.
A few notable mentions: first of all, just as I expected, druglord Jung Gichul tugged on my heartstrings and I never had him as a villain in my head as I watched the show. He was mostly pitiful and if Junmo felt guilty for betraying him in the end, when that was his job all along, it goes without saying that I too wished a better ending for him. Secondly, miss Lee Haeryun falling in love and paying such a high price for that made me feel for her. At least she knows her Kwon Seungho tipped her off to spare her from getting caught, hope that serves as some sort of consolation. Lastly, the music was so good in this show. I basically wrote this review to mention just that. I just finished watching it so I'll be off to search everything about the soundtrack.
Highly recommended drama. Ji Changwook killed it.
(Bibi killed it too)
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