Survival of the Least Homicidal
Short, easy to binge melodrama with good acting.It's not anything original, unique, or pithy. Just a story about a bunch of homicidal people, the most homicidal being the social climbers without any ethics.
The FL, in contrast to just about every other female character in this drama, is not homicidal, and whilst I'm a fan of not being homicidal, I am not a fan of the meek, diminutive, innocent, bland Korean woman K-drama stereotype, which is exactly what the FL is. You know the kind that is too "timid" to dare to have a personality? Yeah, that's exactly the type of character the FL is, and it makes me not care about her, even though I'm glad she isn't a maniac like the rest of the female characters.
There has to be a balance between maniacal and bland/demure somewhere for a FL, and most K-dramas don't hit the mark, unfortunately.
Anyway, I am one of the few K-drama watchers that really enjoys a good love triangle, if it is done well, and this was quite a nice one. Would have liked to see the FL have more feelings for the SML, just because it raises the emotional stakes of the drama, but as it is, not a bad dose of romance.
The ML and SMLs looked so similar, and the cinematography was so oddly dark, that I couldn't always tell them apart right away. Sometimes, there were artistic neon lights put on in a scene for no reason other than artistry. The colour grading was all super dramatic, which fits the drama. I loved that the characters were older than usual in a K-drama. It didn't make the characters any less attractive or interesting just because they weren't in their 20's. Was so happy to see that!
This drama was not memorable. I won't be going back and watching it again, and there was nothing new to it, but it was worth binging once, whilst doing something else. The FL was annoyingly bland, but the drama itself wasn't terrible. There were two female antagonists that were the best femme fatale characters I've seen in a K-drama! My hatred for their characters was acute throughout, well done to them! Also, I don't usually get to see middle-aged women with juicy roles like that, so I was happy to see that! That gorgeous actress with the cheekbones you could cut bread with, the one who ran the agency, she was awesome, and I'd love to see her as a FL someday, when FL are better written, and for actresses of all ages.
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This review may contain spoilers
A must watch! You will not be disappointed!
Omg!I thought that the male lead and the second male lead were the same person up until episode #2. LOLOverall, this is a fantastic, realistic K-drama showing how those who seek power, wealth, and fame will steal, kill, or destroy just to have more.
The pacing of this drama was a bit too fast. If it would have been 10 episodes instead of 8, then I would have given it a rating of 10. One thing that didn't make sense is after the second female lead got out of prison, the first male lead never reassigned this major contract to another attorney (episode 6). Also, how does the female lead character, love the male lead character already (referencing episode 8)? My only dislike is how frequently and nonchalant the word, "I want to kill you," are used in this drama. It's too much. They could have said destroy instead of kill.
A must watch! I binged watched this drama because of how captivating it was.
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Best revenge drama after the glory
This is the second best revenge drama I ever watched after glory. It’s so good I watched it in one day in one piece like it’s not boring at one second and it’s so worth to watch. I also love the cast and the ending is so good. I really don’t understand the people who rated this under 10 or 9 like it’s so good I can’t stop saying this because it’s true. I ignored this drama for so long time and regret it now so much and I really don’t understand myself why I never watched it. Now I have to find another drama meanwhile you hopefully watch this drama or just watched it.Was this review helpful to you?
ONE OF THE BEST KOREAN DRAMAS- masterpiece
I've been watching kdramas since 2012, I'm telling you this drama is in my top 5 dramas I've ever watched. The story, the music, the acting. Everything had me on the edge of my seat. I binge watched the whole show. I was always kept on my toes not knowing where this story was going. I got all my friends into this show. This show should be much more popular, people need to see this masterpiece of a show. Also the two male leads are so handsome especially the CEO. I wish to see more of him in the future.Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
It's one of the best series I've seen. At first it seemed boring and it took 3 episodes for the actual action to start, but it's a captivating series and I'm really glad that Seo was with Lee at the end. I did not expect such a change at the end. The plot twist was BIG. I would have liked it to have more episodes, but that's fine. I really want a second season. All the actors were handsome and very talented, only the cunning was in power throughout the film, something that made the film even more interesting. In the last episode, the scene with Yoo-hui and Hyung-joo like "let's get married" and he slapped her face was SO GOOD. I was really fooled in the beginning. However, I would have liked to have more scenes with them as a family, but we overlook it. Long story short, it's a series worth watching. Was this review helpful to you?
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This drama caught me completely off guard
The story went completely different from what I thought it would be about. I didn't expect to like this drama this much since I just started watching it because of the cast, without watching trailers or reviews. I guess this approach sometimes can be actually a good thing.The ending was a little rushed, and I expected a slightly different unfolding at the end, but for me, it was obvious who FL would end up with nearly from the start. I guess watching 250+ K-Dramas taught me to notice some important things that people around leads say and to realize what will have a big impact in the end.
If my overall rating does not look logical based on the specific ratings, some other things are very important to me, like cinematography, production, camera... and I also do not consider rewatching value as something that should be part of the overall rating.
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Great "real" story
This is my first review and sorry for shortness of it.First, thanks a lot Netflix and all drama members for great drama that helped me get through hard Covid-19 fighting. That tells a lot how captivating and intense story is through the end of it!
Second, I'm pretty sure that this can be easily real story, thanks to technology and services that internet can provide in this era of our lives.
I even advised my adult kids to watch it and learn from it. Choices of actors are great, too.
Without further words, I'm giving 9.5/10.
PS. I know that we become very spoilt by choices of great drama and movies these days, but be honest - they worked very hard to represent entertainment for us that we're getting for granted and please support them with kindness and generosity.
Thanks for reading my first review. 🫶🌟🎭
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A standard revenge-romance watch with some poor taste (CW: mention of rape)
Normally, I don't care about watching rich people deal with rich people problems, but there was just enough happening to pull me through all eight episodes. The strong acting provided support where the plot failed to provide substantial meat on bone. I think the writers had a good preliminary concept here but just failed to bring it to its full potential.However, what bugged me thoughout the entire show was the 'woman lies about being raped' trope. First, it falls into the sexist myth of 'if a woman claims rape, she is most likely lying'. Of course, this is not true. I don't know international stats, but in Australia, studies find, on average, only 5% of rape allegations are found to be false (and remember, most survivor/victims don't report and so aren't in the data). In other words, when someone says they've been raped, they're very very very likely to be telling the truth.
Second, the show refuses to grapple with the fact that someone can co-exist as a survivor/victim *and* as a bad human being. As far as characterisation goes, it meant the writers could draw an easy 'good/bad' line between the main characters. Thus, not only did the 'good' character not owe the 'bad' character any pity , but the 'good' character's own refusal to believe the rape claim goes unchallenged throughout all eight episodes.
Apart from that, I did enjoy this series as an easy watch. It was actually a lot of fun once I stopped taking it too seriously.
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Marriage is business? More like Marriage is Trauma O_o
So let me start by saying that this drama was CRAZYYY. I don't know about others but I will definitely stay traumatized by the word "marriage" for a while because of this drama. LoL.The story revolves around a woman who has lost everything precious in her life because of some other woman. Hence the revenge-driven story begins...
The story was good. The pacing was good. It was intense and engaging till the end. Almost all the characters were well written. Although I wasn't expecting to see subtle romance here, I'll admit I loved the chemistry between the main couple a lot!
However, I think this drama should've had at least 10 episodes to develop the romantic relationship between the leads and to give more details to some characters. Also, some things were unresolved here and there... One more thing that was a bit disappointing to me is that FL didn't have any major character development throughout the whole time. Since it's a revenge plot it was natural for me to expect some character development for her but unfortunately it was nowhere to be found.
As for acting, everyone nailed their roles except for Jung Mi Jin's mom. For someone with such an important character, her acting was flat. Her dialogue delivery was the worst. The kids in this drama acted much better than her. Kim Hee Sun, Lee Hyun Wook, Park Hoon, and Cha Ji Yeon did well in their roles. But...but... The real star of this drama was JUNG EUGENE!!! Her acting was spectacular. After loving her so much in W and Romance is a bonus book, I never imagined that someday I'll hate her so much in a drama. But that only proves how amazing her acting was!
As for music, there was only one ost. And it was too good. I rarely skipped the intro because of that ost. Once you finish this drama you'll definitely end up searching for it on YouTube.
Overall it was an 8 episode short makjang drama. If you are new to this genre (like me), I think you will enjoy watching it. But if you are a veteran to this genre you might find it mediocre.
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a so-so makjang
i finished this in 2 days, i think that was pretty quick, but not to say that i did not struggle. but, thankfully it was only 8 eps. at first i watched the series at 1.5x but then on ep 4, i decided to watch this story at 2x. the major problems with this series is that it is slow. despite having only 8 eps, i still think it's slow, esp the romance between the main couple only started (or they started to have more scenes together) in ep 4, when there are only 8 eps.the revenge plan/storyline ain't that interesting, also. at first, i was totally not threatened with the fl's plan, each time she stated her plan i was just "oh, ok?". and the main villain (eugene) might be the most watchable/interesting character bcos her plot and scheming seems better than other people. every character in this drama is driven by revenge (some are weaker), but everyone help each other bcos they only want revenge or money. so that's fun i guess, u can compare the intensity of their revenge. yeah...
the romance? hmmm idk. lacking i think. i watch this mainly for romance, but yeah, it wasn't that appealing (this applies to the main couple romance but also the side side fling).
well, since this is makjang, i won't really complain abt logic. i'm used to makjang not being really realistic/logical bcos yeah, makjang. but i don't hate it. this is one of the entertaining genre for me. so yeah, i welcome intense/hot/interesting makjang anytime. but this one is just so-so.
there are better makjang out there for sure, and i'm still looking for them too. as a netflix series, this is pretty skippable but if u want to watch for the cast (like me who watch it for lee hyun wook), it's pretty okay, i guess....
that's it!
ps: pls ignore my score abt the music. i don't really care abt the music. i just had to put a score.
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Good to watch when you have nothing else to binge.
There are definitely some downsides to the drama.the age and wardrobe of FL sometimes might interfere with your viewing experience (personal)
.no consequences for bad people not even the bare minimum
.the story and characters are predictable-ish even though there is a lot of potential
But yet I'm drawn to this drama its very grounded (personally didn't like penthouse because of its over the top drama...it felt like a parody almost ) and I really like the subtle romance...between ML and FL.
I guess this the type of drama where its better to go with zero expectations and just have a nice time watching rich pretty people take down each other
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