Jirisan

Our time is way to valuable to waste it on such kind of dramas.

This drama is all about everything ending up offering absolutely nothing.

My review doesn't contain any particular spoilers just warnings in order to protect the public from wasting its time to watch this drama.

This drama is the ultimate mashup of different genres' elements randomly dropped in the same plot. A little bit of everything in order to attract the attention of the viewers.

A little bit of action adventure, with a little bit of supernatural, and history, and comedy, and melodrama and ghosts, and folklore -you name it - all mixed and mashed up without any particular reason or purpose. It is a bunch of surreal events that happen randomly here and there without having/ making any sense or adding something to the plot or character development.
The characters are weak and uninteresting and up to the 4th episode that I've managed to watch, don't seem to know what they are doing and where they are going.
I have to admit that it is the first time in my life that I've seen a psychic ranger whose spirit ends up being his comatose body's ghost! ( if you didn't understand what this is it's ok... I didn't either!)

The first two episodes look - as another member said rightly on the comments- like they have been shot with an shaky ipnone, making the viewing of these episodes a challenging and rather nauseating task.

The filming location - Jirisan Mountain National Park in S. Korea- looks like one of the most beautiful places to visit but this drama is so badly executed that not even the beautiful scenery was able to persuade me to keep on watching this drama.

I wouldn't recommend this to anyone, Or it would be more accurate to say that I would recommend this to my enemies!

Do watch it if you hate yourself!! lol

1 out of 10 from me.

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Confusing watching

Many other reviewers have written fantastic in-depth reviews so I'll keep this short. I wish this show would make up their mind. It comprises action, mystery, supernatural, and crime. What exactly does it want to be? There is so much flitting back and forth between two timelines that it's confusing.

This could have been a great action show that highlights and gives insight into the important work of mountain rangers - episodes around finding missing people, stopping mountain-related crime (eg trespassing, illegal logging, etc), and saving people in danger. That is, make the series semi-educational in the vein of what Forecasting Love & Weather did for the Korean Meteological Administration or what Where Stars Land did for airport operations. (I do have a beef with Where Stars Land and the ridiculous turn it took but that's another story). But it had to attempt to be different. There is no need to because the subject matter itself, Jirisan and its dedicated rangers, is already unique and different to so many other dramas, so focusing on that is enough.

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Familiar faces ,engrossing story unexpected villains, out of body experience

I'm not a fan of the format of this drama as it jumps around from the present to the past & back again throughout the whole drama. (2018,2019,2020). It made the flow of the story a choppy ride, [even if it cleverly keeps you from solving the mystery prematurely], still, it was disorienting . There were too many familiar faces that just didn't mesh well with the genre. [Jo Han Chul, Kim Young Ok, Um Hyo Sup, Sung Dong Il]
However , Oh Jung Se's acting swung from being basically wallpaper to full on oscar nomination. Emotions run really high in most episodes, with rangers in emergency mode launching themselves onto the mountain in thier obsession to save people. The Town at the base of the mountain is full of rebellious, secretive people with a disdain for rules. It was hard to care about them as they blatantly thought they are a law unto themselves & even in tragedy rail loudly against the rangers while refusing to take responsibility for thier own actions.
Female lead is prickly & lacks charm. Male lead has a special relationship with the mountain. They both have emotional scars. They form a bond, but keep your expectations in check because though there is a slight romance in this drama, it's not with the leads [& it's heart rending.]
I was both relieved & annoyed at the ending. I felt it was contrived & forced. But really, since the drama puts the viewer through so much action, suspense & alot of death- I'd say they did right to pander to our need for a happy conclusion so we could end with a sigh of relief [& a spectacular view].

The cinematography was stunning, the scenery captivating ,the weather whimsical & often deadly.

I had this drama in DVD form sitting on my shelf for 2 years as I was pretty sure it was going to be too dark, too depressing & too unsatisfying . I'm glad I finally gave it a try as it exceeded my expectations & was good entertainment.
Final note: I rarely mention the music, unless it's noteworthy & it is worth giving credit here as the OST had a good variety & Kim Seok Jin's song "Yours" was well placed, giving it a charm it doesn't have without a context.
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I deducted points for:
1)Actors who are over used-& didn't feel right for the drama. gave wrong vibes
2)Towns people were loudly annoying & dimwitted deviants
3)Time waffling-the back & forth made it hard to track the story properly
4) Unpleasant female lead
5) Mountain is a deathtrap !

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Jirisan was superb!

*Storyline*
Jirisan is interesting, filled with mystery, drama and a little bit of romance. It revolved around the lives of people coming to Mount Jirisan and those who worked as rangers in the national park of Jirisan.
It is well written and fast paced. All the characters were important and had their own stories. Many of them were touching. I especially love the story of Seo Yi Gang (portrayed by Jun Ji Hyun) with her parents and of course, with her grandmother. Another of my favorites is the love story between the two rangers Jung Goo Young (portrayed by Oh Jung Se) and Yang Sun (portrayed by Joo Min Kyung). They were lovely together and shared many cute moments together but had a tragic ending.
I also was surprised by the real story behind all those murders. Initially, those people who were killed on the Mount Jirisan looked like innocent people. However, as the mystery unfolded, it turned out that many villagers related to the Black Bridge Valley weren’t that innocent. Many did despicable things selfishly.

*Acting*
Jun Ji Hyun did give a wonderful performance as Seo Yi Gang. She is a great actress, and I could feel her remorse when she realized that her parents had always loved her and then, her sadness when she lost her grandmother. I was delighted to see her after so many years. I last saw her in “My Sassy Girl” and I still find her very pretty!
Ju Ji Hoon as Kang Hyun Jo was quite good. I find his character very likeable and at the end, I was relieved that he didn’t die. He was convincing as the devoted, selfless ranger.
Also, a special mention to actors Oh Jung Se as Jung Goo Young, and Sung Dong Il as Jo Dae Jin. The actor Jo Dae Jin portrayed well the Commander. He was credible as the rangers’ leader. He portrayed this character so well that I wondered, who could portray the commander other than him?
Last, but not least, I love the performance of Oh Jung Se as Jung Go Young. In the beginning, he always joked around. However, the actor did demonstrate the other layers of this character. The scene that he found out Yang Sun is dead was very dramatic. He cried so hard, and his emotions were well expressed. Then, when he showed his sadness through his eyes, without saying a word was excellent! Then, at the end, we never see him laugh again, never. His last scene in the series when he reminisced his happy moments with Yang Sun reminded us once again how excellent he was.

**Bonus point: the outdoor scenes*
The storyline and the acting made this series excellent, but the outdoor scenes made this series exceptional to me. The scenery in “Jirisan” was breathtaking! It was impressive how the cast and crew worked hard to film all those scenes on the top of the mountain, the snow, etc. Everything was beautiful!

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Good, but that ending..

I wanted to completely love this, but it just didn't quite make it there for me. I did really enjoy the rangers and learning about their job and the mountain, and the natural disasters were all very exciting to watch. It's the supernatural part that just didn't hit me the right way.
I couldn't really get attached to Hyun Jo after they threw him into a coma at the end of episode 1. The flashbacks to his time as a ranger were all interesting to watch but knowing that he was currently stuck in a coma as some kind of forest spirit made me unable to care about his character development like I would have if it hadn't all been a flashback.
The killer using yogurt was strange to me when he could've performed all his murders using his knowledge of the mountain without leaving the yogurt bottle evidence. The forest spirit stuff itself just seemed unnecessary, especially because Hyun Jo had no real connection to the mountain aside from having been there for the time of the first murder. I feel it would've made more sense if it had been Yi Gang, who actually lived on the mountain all her life... Or even if their backstories had been reversed. (Cause nobody was going to carry HJ up the mountain if he'd been the one in the wheelchair)
The relationship between the rangers, especially the couple, was great and continued well between the flashback and present, and the acting was of course superb. Oh Jung Se was, of course, excellent. The soundtrack kinda dragged for some music-video-style bouts where it would just be mountain scenes and music for 3+ minutes straight.
My biggest problem was with the ending though. It was definitely put in just to make the viewers happy, but it was just so illogical that the two mains would make such an amazingly fast recovery in a matter of months! I could have even accepted it if it was a time skip to many years in the future, but no.

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Mountain is just a mountain

I watched half of the drama when it came out but I got spoiled and I never finished it, until today.

Things I liked:
- Relationship between rangers, I needed to see more of that.
- Hyun Jo and Yi Kang being cuties together (I know there's no romance but their partnership was cute).
- Story about things on the mountain, anything to do with the mountain. Separate cases where they saved people. Flood, fire, rain and how they got through it together.
- Lottery ticket girl.
- Mystery and cinematography, it's a big vibe.
- The complicated and yet not so complicated backstory for all the murders. It just makes sense and it's nicely connected to the mountain.
- Mountain is just mountain. It's your delusional head telling you nonsense. You're just crazy! - She said what all of us were thinking.
- Scene where Yi Kang goes to confront the murderer, I though what's stopping him from killing her but there was something and it was perfectly used.
- Scene where all of the rangers are singing and having fun. I needed more of that. More of them.

Things I didn't like:
- Rushed ending.
- First few episodes were so strong, the story, the characters but then it started to go downhill.
- Why were they on a snowy mountain that day? That question was asked so many times and I thought the answer would be something shocking, poetic but it was kinda basic and they didn't even find out who was the murderer.
- They also showed the same scene in a few separate episodes and after the third time, I was over the question. They were on the mountain because they are stupid and unprepared.
- Yi Kang knew murderer used the stick in snow on a victim and she fell into the trap, literally.
- Hyun Jo turned into a detective, only to be deceived and smacked in the head.
- The whole supernatural element is fine but there's so many other interesting things that it was unnecessary.
- One year skip where Hyun Jo is fine and Yi Kang walks??? I needed them to talk and not stare at each other. TALK PEOPLE!!! PLEASE!
- They all forgot about the policeman.
- I feel like the murderer didn't get what he deserved. I need the murderer to go to prison at least once in a drama.

Overall, good drama but it becomes makjang halfway through.

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Most disappointing drama of 2021

On paper, the premise sounds interesting: murder mystery set on the scenic Mount Jiri. Alas! This devolved into some sort supernatural sci-fi about ghosts wandering the mountain. CGI and camera work were extremely bad in the first episode; so much so that I wanted to drop it right there and then. Camera work does NOT do the scenery of Mount Jiri justice. I was honestly appalled by how bad it was; considering that this show had such a large budget. I've read that CGI and directing seem to improve in the later episodes but I did not stick around to find out. If the story had been good I would have stuck around, but sadly no. Plot is haphazard and there are many time skips (pet peeve of mine). Supernatural angle felt so unnecessary as well.

Acting wise it was average. The leads are big name actors but I was not wowed by their performance. Guy spends most of the time in a coma. Supporting characters have too many filler comedic scenes that don't seem to jive with the tone that the drama is going for.

OST was forgettable but I recall I did not like it.

TLDR: Jirisan travel vlogs on youtube are more entertaining than this mess.

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cast are amazing

OMG (*^▽^*)
*Oh Jung Se [#Jung Goo Young]_____________*Joo Ji Hoon [#Kang Hyun Jo] ________*Jun Ji Hyun[#Seo Yi Kang]

THESE CASTS ARE AMAZING

after watching ''Kingdom: Ashin of the North '' I'm waiting [ Jun Ji Hyun , Joo Ji Hoon] to see them together in drama and they look together so adorable yes its adorable because our FL is strong while ML is cute and Scaredy-cat

and yes who gona forget Oh Jung Se if any one who saw'' It's Okay to Not Be Okay''
there is no doubt about acting of actors

KEY POINTS
*first few eps you have to be patience
* there is a past and present story time

This drama is centered around a mystery surrounding the mountain's many visitors; those who come to kill, and those who come to end their lives. but for saving them and mountains there is a rangers who worked for them Seo Yi Kang is one of the ranger who is top ranger and she have known many areas of mountain so its make her to save many person who lost in mountain though mountain itself lots of mystery [people come with lots of their story and ;left in mountain ]

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Give it a try.

A good drama to watch.There are some supernatural elements in the drama like visions and ghosts.
What you can expect is for first dozen or more episodes, new case (of rescue/search/other elements) almost every episode kinda like procedural drama but it is about Park Rangers and their teams. There is also the element of Investigation of murders and it is one of the main background storyline. The chemistry between the Main lead is fire even though there is no romance , but they care for each other deeply and are great partners having each others back.
To get to know the drama and all its elements watch first 3 episodes and then decide to drop or to continue watching.
All the actors are great as they should be can't expect anything less from such a spectacular Cast.
Music was great too.

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Pathetic. The show is underwhelming.

1.) It's named after the Mountain Jirisan, so the expectation is, that the mountain plays a major role in the story. But far away: It's just the place where everything is happening. It could've been named Seoraksan or Wolchulsan and the story could've been exactly the same. No one would notice. That's potential, given away for free.
2.) The story telling is done by jumping between timelines on a regularly basis. (minimum 2 jumps per episode) This is weak, because a stringent plotline can't be built up. The show presents snippets of story parts, glued together. Many times, there is no connection between two adjacent snippets and the viewer always has to guess, if the information gained in the last snippet is relevant for the next couple of minutes or not.
Also, the timeline jumping is most often done by displaying the year the next snippet takes place in. But be aware: Not always! So it's confusing to watch.
3.) The characters do nothing. They are just there and aren't proactive. They wait for the story to unfold. And the viewer waits with them. That's boring! Where is the arc of suspense and the connection between the viewer and the characters!? It's not possible to connect with them on a personal basis. Only (!) in ep 11 the main characters show some degree of emotion.
4.) How many people died in this show? I didn't count, but on average, it feels like it's more than 1 per episode. Why? That's lazy script writing and easy gained airtime, since you can repeat the recovering scene of the dead person multiple times.
If I were the writer and I wanted to let so many people die in my story, I would present the audience a hint on the murderer per death, so they can puzzle around and guess who is the murderer.

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jujur aja, drama jirisan ini jadi salah satu drama 2021 yang paling gue tunggu-tunggu penayanngannya. waktu pengumuman line-up main lead muncul, gue sebegitu super excitednya. bayangin aja dua veteran bersatu dalam sebuah judul drama yang engga biasa. ditambah lagi jejak rekam sutradara dan penulisnya bagus-bagus dan gue suka banget. gue yakin banyak orang juga yang engga sabar pengen nonton jirisan.

sebagai tim anti baca sinopsis dan nonton trailer, dengan hanya mengandalkan nama sutradara, penulis, dan pemeran utama, jujur aja gue cukup menaruh ekspektasi tinggi di drama ini.

di episode pertama, drama ini ngasih unjuk bagaimana riweuhnya jadi tim penjaga gunung, dan menurut gue itu menarik banget. makanya gue kira drama ini tuh genrenya slice of life kaya misaeng. tapi kemudian, entah di episode berapa gue agak lupa tepatnya, tiba-tiba muncul unsur misteri-fantasi dengan munculnya kemampuan ‘melihat’ hyunjo. setelah gue cek ulang mengenai deskripsi umum dramanya, ternyata emang bener genre jirisan adalah thriller-misteri-fantasi.

karena sudah menetapkan ekspektasi cukup tinggi sebelumnya, tbh gue jadi agak kecewa dengan hasilnya. padahal, premis awal yang pingin diangkat udah sangat menarik dengan mengangkat profesi yang tidak akrab dengan kebanyakan orang, jadi ini mejadi suatu terobosan baru. namun sayang sekali pengeksekusiannya--bisa gue bilang--berantakan.

pemakaian alur maju-mundurnya kacau, ga jelas, ga beraturan. gue tau maksudnya pasti pingin bikin penonton penasaran, tapi sayang banget, menurut gue jirisan gagal total. selain itu, banyak juga hal-hal yang engga masuk akal di sini. kayak durasi naik-turun gunung juga lokasi ‘tepat’ setiap tempat yang disebut dalam drama (misalnya pos-pos jaga dan lokasi batu apalah itu namanya, dia ada di atas atau di bawah gunung atau di puncak kan gatau, ga jelas). dan menurut gue, ke-enggak-jelasan itu memberi kesan bahwa drama jirisan ini terlalu mengawang-ngawang.

kegagalan makin terlihat jelas ketika drama sudah mencapai episode 14 (yang mana berarti hanya tersisa 2 episode lagi) tapi masih belum ada titik terang dari pokok permasalahan utama, yakni si pelaku utama pembunuhan dan masa kritisnya hyunjo. konklusi yang baru dikebut di dua episode terakhir membuat jirisan menjadi anti klimaks. intinya sih, benang merah jirisan terlalu pabaliut alias kusut.

untuk CGI yang sempet dikomentari warga, menurut gue kasarnya cuma di episode pertama-pertama aja, ke sananya mah udah mulai oke lagi. untuk ost engga ada yang spesial.

secara keseluruhan, gue cukup menyayangkan ‘kekurang-sempurnaan’ drama ini, padahal karya-karya milik sutradara dan penulisnya jempolan banget huhuhu. rate dari gue sih 6.5/10.

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