My brain is dead, but at least I had fun?
I get people loving it because it was entertaining, but damn this was extremely poorly written. Too many plot points were simply ridiculous and beyond unrealistic and too many things were just vaguely explained. Some scene progressions were questionable at best, distasteful at worst. One of the best examples - the way they switched from showing physical abuse to a silly rap battle made me so uncomfortable. Or when the witness starts with “she almost made me blind”, but they end the statement on “she asked me to buy her sanitary pads” as if that was the worst thing he had to deal with - is this a joke? Social satire? What is going on?I think the biggest flaw of the drama was Cha Woo In. She was stagnant throughout the whole show, and her character development happens before the story starts. She is presented as a basically flawless person - smart, strong, righteous, caring, determined. Anything she had to learn she already did, anything she had to improve she already did.
On the other hand, we’ve got some great development for the other characters, including many supporting ones. Stories that focused on admitting to your wrong doings, facing the consequences and learning from them. Lessons that show kindness can change a person, even if we think they can never improve. Surprisingly a lot of depth considering the over the top scenario.
The highlight of the drama? Everything Noh Tae Nam related. I would love to see a drama focused on him as the main character. This could be some great character study.
Production value was the standard high quality we get from tvN - nothing stood out either on the positive or negative side. The soundtrack was great, especially the opening song - Ha Hyun Woo has simply magical vocals.
Overall, it was fun, but painful for my brain.
Was this review helpful to you?
Crap Writing from Beginning to End - Save Yourself and Skip It
This was the worst show. I really tried to like it for the main actors but the writer was SO SHITTY. They kept building up these horrific scenarios and as a viewer you’d think the prosecutors will resolve them to provide some sort of justice. But no, each case was resolved in mediocrity bc the writer focused too much on the ML and FL’s revenge story which itself was resolved without much satisfaction. The writing was just all over the place like the writer was in school and watched a bunch of tv shows and took pieces of it and patched it together for this BS. It was so infuriating watching one case after another get handled like shit. The ML and the FL were the worst prosecutors I’ve ever seen in a show. They were so incompetent and emotional and just blind. How do you go into a case and get surprised because the defense objects to the authenticity of evidence? Like that’s trial 101, to authenticate your evidence. And it was supposed to be a shocking move by the defense??? Who wrote this? Definitely someone who read a Wikipedia summary of trial proceedings and not anyone who is actually a good writer.Also, the episode on military abuse and the mass shooting. They built up so much about how much abuse the poor soldier who went crazy from it and they didn’t even allege temporary insanity or self-defense. Sure they’re prosecutors and not defense but they just let it all go and the abusers got away with everything and even monetary compensation. Like, where is the satisfaction in that as a viewer? I feel so angry watching this bull shit writing. I swear I’m never going to watch another thing by this writer.
Oh yeah, and they cast Ahn Bo Hyun and Jo Bo Ah who have pretty great acting chops and they relegated them to some stupid cliche lines about revenge. Talk about wasted talent. I came here after watching My Name because I wanted a similar genre and man it wasn’t even close. I mean, I know they’re totally different stories but the writer shouldn’t be this mediocre. I mean. Who wrote this mess??
If you’re looking for a good story with riveting courtroom scenes and smart twist, this drama is NOT it. Skip it and save your time. I’m so annoyed I watched till the end.
Was this review helpful to you?
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
An Exciting Military Show that Accidentally Takes Itself Too Seriously...
**T/W: Brief mention of SA (once) in this review. Nothing graphic. Please be careful.Hi there, it's been a while since I've written a review so I'm excited to get into it again!This review (unlike my others) DOES contain spoilers because honestly I have a few complaints.
Story: 9/10
This story is honestly quite interesting, mixing together law, corruption, and a military setting. I'm not someone that usually watches military shows, not even the very famous DOTS despite the raving reviews just because it's not my thing. But I decided to give this show a try after seeing some edits on TikTok (lol) and it was surprisingly really good. The story follows Cha Woo-In and Doh Bae-Man, two prosecutors with their own twisted backstories and intents. There's lots of corruption woven into the story as well as double-crossing, betrayal, and plot twists that keep you on the edge of your seat. I really enjoyed this show but I found after the 9th episode roughly, it started to take itself too seriously and it led to an overall flimsy ending. Without boring you all, here's the main pros and cons of the story:
Pros:
- Exciting cases every episode that push the plot forward in a meaningful way.
- No filler scenes. If anything, whenever a more light-hearted scene comes on, it feels like a refreshing comedic break from the tenseness of the main plot (most of which we must thank Doh Bae Man's aunt).
- Side characters that change and evolve throughout the story (including having their own motives and interests instead of being glued in one spot as "so-and-so's friend" or "so-and-so's enemy").
- The things that happen throughout the show change the leads, causing them to behave and respond in new ways. It's written very fluidly that I caught myself in one episode actually thinking: "Wow, what a big change. How did we even get here so fast?" Definitely the hallmark of a good writer I'd say!
Cons:
- There was not very much outward romance in this show. Like, at all! But it honestly makes sense within the context of the story as well as certain military hierarchies in place. A lot of the "romance" in this show relied entirely on the microexpressions of characters, as we only really see the leads touch a handful of times and we never see fully see them out of uniform, talking normally, acting like a couple, etc. It was definitely frustrating to watch as I personally LOVE romance shows, and although I understand the plot reasons for why the writers didn't go that route, I think there were definitely some opportunities for sweeter moments that were missed.
- Stereotypically evil villains (meaning we're never really swayed in their direction, and everything they do feels like "yeah, that person would totally do that". However, they DO pull us back in with the extent to which those characters will go and do evil things. And that does add a certain shock factor as a stereotypically evil villain adds depth to their own shadow.)
- Not enough closure for some of the subplots and REDEMPTION of a villain who committed a particularly gruesome crime (SA). No matter what, I just could NOT find it in me to empathize with a monster like that, no matter what else happened to him.
- The show hints at a few points that one of the leads may be related to one of the villains, leading to the possibility that there is more than what meets the eye to that lead's backstory and possibly turn the tables on the entire story. But the writers do absolutely nothing with that, and the story ends exactly how we expect it to from the very beginning.
Acting/Cast: 9/10
I honestly enjoyed the acting of most of the characters in this show. I'd like to start by complimenting Ahn Bo Hyun's acting as Doh Bae-Man. I've seen him in Itaewon Class as a villain, and even though I watched that show many years ago when it aired, I still remember being really impressed by his acting. And once again, I was impressed by how he conveys Doh Bae-Man's feelings, intentions, and ideas. His micro-expressions are really good, conveying subtle emotions like his character's love/pride/worry for Cha Woo-In despite absolutely no outright romantic dialouge and only a few touches throughout the show. That ALONE is what sells the fact that their characters really are in love, even though neither of them act on it outright both due to needing revenge and to respect the hierarchy between them.
Also, I loved the acting of the villains in this show, especially Oh Yeon Soo, who plays Noh Hwa-Young. She is a really exceptional actress, and I also loved her microexpressions. Her character is definitely tough to work with, being a fierce and stern military woman as she is, but she manages to show the greed, the worry, and the cruelty of her character despite remaining cold and sophisticated 90% of the time. Definitely not an easy character to play! I also enjoyed the acting of Kim Woo Seok, who plays the character I personally DESPISED the most in this show, Noh Tae-Nam. Although I really strongly disagree with the ending they gave his character, I must admit he plays the character extremely well. He shows the arrogance and the traumas of his character well and how he slowly changes. Definitely really good work, even though I'm new to both actors!
The only real reason I have put a 9/10 instead of 10/10 for the acting is the FL Cha Woo-In played by Jo Bo Ah. I have watched the Tail of the Nine Tailed Fox which was my introduction to Jo Bo Ah's acting so honestly...I knew what I was getting myself into when I started this show. Her delivery of her lines is really good, but her expressions are incredibly flat. Her anger, her worry, her fear, they're all almost identical save for a small tilt of the head or so. For me, it wasn't a huge problem because I felt like the fast pace of the show and the chemistry between the leads made up for it. But if you've never watched a show with her in it, I definitely feel like it might annoy you. It's not a huge deal breaker for me though because I like Jo Bo Ah and her elegant vibe. Me personally, I will for sure watch more shows with her in it if they come across my FYP / are recommended to me by others. (And honestly, she might have other shows where her acting is much better, in which case I'd love to be wrong and tune in!)
Music: 8/10
I'm not a big OST person but I felt like the OST was nice enough.
Rewatch Value: 8/10
I'm honestly not someone that rewatches shows often, so it's always hard for me to rate this category. But I think it's a good show and I wouldn't mind re-watching it with fresh eyes in a couple years.
Overall: 8.5/10
Honestly, this was a pretty good show. My main gripes were with the silly misleading hint I mentioned above, the redemption of a certain villain, and the lack of overall romance. But that being said, no show is ever perfect and I think the writers and actors all did an amazing job. So 8.5!
Was this review helpful to you?
Honestly I was expecting a lot more than what was delivered.
Maybe I'm just tired of the same old same old revenge plot but this show really just wasn't fantastic. Predictable plot, flat (and annoying) characters, slow parts, the list goes on.I thought the acting for the most part was pretty good but there was just too much of the main characters. I kept feeling like there were these great side plots that I was looking forward to watching, but there was so little screen time for other characters that they were all drowned out. The two paralegals (?) or whoever worked in the office with them seemed like characters that had so much potential for side stories and development but the writing just fell flat. I was expecting a little bit of romance (or just something not totally related to the main characters) for one or both of them to happen and it just didn't.
The part that irked me the most about this story was the frankly bad writing that Noh Hwa Young experienced. She seemed too evil to be believable. Why do we hear like NOTHING about her backstory?? It felt like she was extremely one-dimensional for such a main character. I mean I was left with so many questions. (and not in the way that they intended). Why does she want to be high up in the military so badly?? what happened to her finger?? why is there literally zero mention of a father?? how tf did she even raise Noh Tae Nam??? I mean she was just so evil and I kept craving and wanting any sort of big overarching reason of why she is the way she is and it just never came. I was just bothered every time she apperaed on screen. The actress was good though, very evil feeling.
I expected more from Noh Tae Nam. He was truly my favorite character from the get-go. I felt like he wasn't getting enough screen time and his character development was predictable and just boring. It felt like a story that has been told about a million times before. Despite the poor writing, he still was my favorite character. Kim Woo Seok's acting was fantastic, especially the emotional ones.
now, the main characters.
Both annoying. why are they so dead-set on revenge?? what person is like this?? why dont they give up and live a little without being obsessed with their parents deaths? To be fair, they both had their moments where I felt like I really got the characters (when Do Bae Man realized he was a shitty prosecutor and when Cha Wu In beats the shit out of people) I did like the action scenes. I felt like honestly there was too much of them, there was almost no side plot which makes shows very very hard to watch. Also didn't love the romance thing they shoved in at the end. If they were gonna go romance, go all the way. It was predictable and disappointing. The acting was alright for the most part but I just wish their characters were better developed.
My final thoughts: I didn't hate this show, but I will never ever watch or think about it again. There are much better revenge plot stories if that's your thing, and there are much better military stories, if that's your thing. The writers were frankly dogshit and wrote bad characters. If you want to be disappointed (although entertained by the action scenes and every time we saw Noh Tae Nam), you should watch this show.
Was this review helpful to you?
Patriotism!
We've had plenty of prosecutor shows, but now it's set in a military setting—what a revolutionary twist! The drama was alright and had an interesting introduction, but the overarching story was delayed too often, and interest began to plummet. It would have fared better if the side cases weren't so bland and were better interconnected. Even though there were moments of tension and drama but there was something missing that prevented it from being impactful. The characters were a mixed bag, some of them were great while the rest were too annoying to tolerate. While the ending was fine but I wish there was more to it.Was this review helpful to you?
Too reliant on cheap tricks to really shine
If you want an easy laugh, an abundance of twists and don’t care too much about credibility or depth, this show may well suit you. But if you are looking for something more sophisticated, challenging and suspenseful it will disappoint.Okay let’s start with some of the good stuff before weighing in with the problems.
Such a cool sound track. I think this is my favourite soundtrack so far from all the dramas I’ve watched. The opening credits track really remind me of “The The”. The vocalist has a similar vocal style. Even the title font and colour felt like a graphic nod in that direction. Is this just me? Overall, the rest of the OST has got some great voices, with gritty undertones and pulsing instrumentals.
The military setting was a strong point, allowing for the investigation of a number of scenarios around the abuse of power and authority which offered a different slant from the more normal political or business environment. It examined some really good issues that had a lot of potential.
Do Bae Man was a quirky character well executed by Ahn Bo Hyun, although in the later stages I think he lacked subtlety. Jo Bo Ah as Cha Woo In also made a sound job of the action scenes. Oh Yeon Soo was less persuasive as their arch nemesis, Noh Hwa Young, for me she didn’t quite convince in the steely coldness that the role demanded. I thought that Kim Woo Seok gave the best performance as the damaged and unstable Noh Tae Nam and his screen time made for compulsive viewing.
This is a show of two halves. The first half is much lighter and quirkier than the second half. At first, there was a great mixture of the believable and the ridiculously unbelievable. I liked the way the writer managed to keep you clinging to the edge of credibility before tipping you over the edge. However, on a number of occasions, ridiculously unbelievable was not the writer’s intent and it really cast a shadow of stupidity and incompetence over the protagonists. That they would not properly protect vulnerable, mission-critical witnesses for instance. This is short-cut, sloppy plotting that requires manipulating the integrity of the characters. Of all writing faults, for me, this is the one that is absolutely unforgivable. Your characters are your connection to your audience, undermine them at your peril.
The one thing that this writer excels at is twists and there are some absolutely classic ones, along with a few oh-dear-whoops moments that completely cracked me up. The one at the end of Episode 7 was brilliant and showcased the vein of black humour running through this production.
However, a primary fault is its inability, particularly in the early stages to build sufficient tension. The blame can partially be laid at the door of cheap tricks to grab the attention, rather than systematically building suspense that carries the viewer with it. Particularly in the first half the writer allowed himself to get distracted by making a joke or trying to look cool, rather than making a point and again character integrity was compromised for the sake of a passing punchline.
Throughout there was all too frequent use of flash forwards and flash backs often at the start of an episode to try to peak interest. The fault might be laid at the writer’s door or maybe the director in the editing suite, but whoever did it the result is not persuasive. It’s a cheap way to get attention and smacks of covering up weak plot planning.
The mode of choice is to show the action and then tell the twist afterwards, as in a “gotcha”. This can be effective sometimes, but it is used too often here so that the viewer soon learns not to trust anything they are seeing. Instead of drawing the viewer in, it serves to alienate them, as though they are not part of the inner circle in the know. This technique is something to be used sparingly when it’s a huge twist that comes like a slap in the face. The cost for frequently using it is losing the building of suspense that the viewer does for themselves in anticipation of what might come.
Overall the plot lacked drive and coherence, jumping from scenario to scenario, with way too many plot threads. This meant that some of the serious issues aired in the second half of the drama were explored in less depth than they really deserved. Whereas more minor ones were left dangling for long periods only to be picked up again as a convenience. There was an awful lot to try and pack into the drama, a more in-depth exploration of either the corruption or the social issues would have made a full length drama and I felt that trying to do both meant that neither was fully done justice. The resulting shortage of time lead to a naive, fantasy land treatment of many of the complex issues, for instance, the development of a new weapon.
It’s a necessary skill for a writer to work out how to dump info without requiring the actors to do it for them in unrealistic and clumsy conversations. This is a skill not yet mastered by Yoon Hyun Ho and there are way too many pedestrian lines for the actors to say that slow the pace and muddy the credibility. Later on, there is a shortage of sophistication in the playing out of scenarios, including the legal ones, and the script is amateurish. That injuries on someone’s back from a beating could somehow be construed and accepted as self-harm is ludicrous.
The script was not helped by the lacklustre directing and the choices in the editing suite, which served only to disjoint further, rather than unify the disparate pieces of the plot.
The FL, Cha Woo In, says at the end of Episode 1 “A world where justice and truth have been reversed. Only from upside down can you see it properly.” Which has echoes of the twist in perspective of this writer’s previous offering, “Lawless Lawyer”. I like the sideways approach that he takes, he has good ideas and themes worthy to be explored, it’s just the execution of them that is sadly lacking.
What my rating means: 7+ A watchable drama, but nothing exceptional. Good enough to qualify for the race, but finished with the pack. The sort of thing that promises more than it delivers.
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
Entertaining story and Characters
The headline summed it up.The changeover of the ML who was initially concerned with himself, his ambition and the money he can get in the beginning is typical but the character is interesting in that he's physically talented, smart, discerning and perceptive. He could read the room and the people he interacted with and immediately get on with them.
The FL is as capable and on par with the ML so it's fun to watch them get together when they realised they have the same goals. Their journey has its ups and downs but they overcame to triumph so it's satisfying to see them seal their relationship at the end.
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
SO much fighting , cruelty, beatings & blood.
I was not expecting this drama to be as engaging & interesting as it was because it's very violent with alot of military & political drama. [not topics of interest to me]. Excessiv amount of fighting , cruelty, beatings & blood. ( Would have given a higher score if there was less of that). The leads do a great job & are very appealing. What they are up against is insurmountable so you have to suspend disbelief. Though there is no "romance" per say, the main characters have a definite connection & though there are no sparks or warm fuzzies, there is a happy ending for main couple with a satisfying kiss at the end [ for those of us who like tidy relationship conclusions]. I thought there were too many bad guys & that it seemed like it was - again-, the older generation who were the worst offenders (like it's always up to the younger generation to fix things !)Was this review helpful to you?
Bad acting + ordinary revenge plot= okay series somehow
The story isn't any special the same usual revenge story.The acting was really bad form almost all actors except Kim Woo Seok (Noh Tae Nam character).
The music wasn't great .
The fighting scene were acceptable can't complain about it.
But don't why or how i still enjoyed watching it somehow and finished it on a small period
Was this review helpful to you?
Oh. My. God.
This is incredible. One of the best series I have seen honestly, absolutely in love with every single moment of it, and I really recommend it.The story, the Plot twists, betrayal, trust, anger, sadness, joy. it is a brilliant, BRILLIANT series with everything you could hope for (INCLUDING hints of romance, and comedy, all fit suitably between the drama and darkness).
and the soundtrack, oh my GOSH, the soundtrack!!! I am absolutely OBSESSED with My zone by Saay, and the energetic instrumentals through our are so fun and lively.
And don't even get me started on the characters and how well the actors portray them. they felt so fleshed out, and the character growth on so many different levels was exhilarating.
it covers sensitive topics on all fronts, and especially the mental state of various characters and what they are managing with and how that affects them. mommy issues, abandonment issues, self worth issues, and especially the issue of greed for power, money, control.
I love this series so much, 10/10 will definitely watch it again. it is clear some people missed the entire point of this series, and it's message, but y'know what, most people have the braincells to be able to look into the bigger picture lol.
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
The writers fell asleep and made it my problem
This show was a difficult watch for many reason, including but not limited to the poor writing, cringy acting and uneccesarily evil 'big bad'.The Writing:
This had a lot of potential to be an excellent show, but the writers' lack of enthusiasm for the piece showed through—they truly seemed to have written for two different shows and forgotten what they were doing halfway through. The courtroom scenes are fully make believe which doesn't aid in your ability to suspend disbelief. Several sub plots are never actually fleshed out, whether in hope for a Season 2 or not, it left me as a viewer wanting. This is further emphasised by the poorly developed characters and dialogue.
Cringey Acting aka Jo Bo-Ah:
This character is the epitome of what not to write. A flawless, omniscient character that is never wrong and is never hurt. From the cringey wig to the bad fight scenes, this character was doomed. The writers try and explain away her inability to get hurt by a short scene showing her training with her dad as a teenager - because everyone knows 10 years of training means no one can every land a hit on you(and I mean ever). Ahn Bo-Hyun in comparison is shown as highly capable but still sustains injuries, as do the other characters. Woo-in goes through 0 development as a character and acts above the law at all times, while guilt tripping Bae-man for having done the same for monetary gain. Woo-in was a very hard character to watch but every action she took seemed purely for drama purposes and not furthering (the badly written) plot. She has all the answers for Bae-mans past but refuses to tell him, claiming he needs to discover it himself. This goes on for 2 episodes too long frankly, just tell the dude. In an effort to make an iconic female character, the writers removed anything to connect you to the character. She also blatantly discards Miltary protocol to show that she is 'different' from the others and a 'rebel'. She would have been written up day one and suspended for her failure to follow hierarchies alone. Bae-man is actually an interesting character who goes through levels of personal development and always seems to have a plan, whereas Woo-in has spent all this time planning and made a noticeable lack of progress.
The Big Bad:
Noh Tae-nam was an excellent villain - rich, spoiled, traumatised, just wants to chill with his dog and committed a normal level of horrendous crimes for a drama and continuously ran from responsibility. Noh Hwa-young however.... the writers really took every single characteristic of the worst person and put them together, and gave no reason or human quality. Noh Hwa-young commits these heinous acts for promotion again and again, but no indication of why she craves promotion is given. She is a caricature of a villain. She is also not a good bad guy? In that she continually leaves heaps of evidence and then sloppily covers up her crimes later, which anyone with access could put together. Noh Hwa-young is however very well played by Oh Yeon-soo, her hate always felt real and visceral. Also @writers, why was she always jogging? What purpose did that serve?
The side characters were funny and actually acted like people rather than the over written Noh Hwa-young and Cha Woo-In .
Overall it was watchable, but not very enjoyable. Bo-ah's acting was average at best and her character didn't help anything. The bad writing condemned what could have been enjoyable characters into a blight on the viewing experience, a character shouldn't make you groan in pain whenever they are on screen from cringe.
Was this review helpful to you?
