Revenge of Others

Amazing!!

I absolutely loved this drama. ML and FL has amazing bonding by the time drama finishes. It's filled with mystery and thrill. There no overt romance as per say, but they are a couple it is showed in their emotional connect.
FL loses her brother. And it's her journey, finding who killed him. She also suspect the ML of it.
He also has his owm back story. And a troubled past. I loved his acting and character potrail. Oh, and he is good at fighting. The action scenes are good, but can be brutal for some to handle, so be warned.
Watch this. Really really. I came out having more than I expected 💞

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the ending was underwhelming

the ending was totally rushed, they wasted alot of time in nothing just them going round and round. The whole drama was an angst/ Teenage/ revenge Drama so the ending should have been on the same level, but I didn't feel it that much. As much as it was supposed to be totally unexpected and surprising but I didn't feel like that, it was all so rushed and packed in the last twenty minutes that's why it's impact wasn't that great.

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"Revenge of Others" – A Thrilling Mystery with Flawed Communication

I watched the drama in three days, and everything about it is purely positive.

The mystery is well maintained throughout the drama, making us doubt the culprit until the very end. I especially love when a group of friends comes together to make a plan, like in Pyramid Game, and this drama gave me those kinds of moments that I love. Plus, I’m glad that the writers didn’t focus too much on the chemistry between the two main leads. In my opinion, that would have lowered the overall quality of the drama.

As for the characters, I really appreciated that Ok Chan Mi’s shooting skill was actually utilized to its full potential rather than just being a random excuse for her to join the school. Seok Jae Beom’s double personality was well introduced, but I wish it had been developed even more. However, one BIG issue in this drama is the communication between the characters—it’s absolutely CATASTROPHIC!

Another frustrating point: the police is incredibly STUPID and SLOW-MINDED. In the end, they discovered NOTHING ALONE significant except for a few minor details.
Some inconsistencies also bothered me. For example, how is it possible that, in the end, Ok Chan Mi and Seok Jae Beom are literally FIGHTING IN BROAD DAYLIGHT, in front of EVERYONE, in a PUBLIC port, and NOBODY intervenes or calls the police???

Finally, a special mention to WooYeon—it’s great to see her pursuing a career in acting, and the various references to WooAh were fun to spot.

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Social issues tackled, but with plot full of flaws

At first glance, Revenge Of Others indeed has all the makings of a fantastic teen revenge-thriller. It’s stylish and has that early ’00s teen horror charm – set in a creepy, gothic school, with bullies that invoke unimaginable fear among their peers, however the script and the storyline at times are overwhelming.

Major bombshells are dropped and new characters and potential arcs are introduced so quickly it feels like one is barely even explored before there’s another. Moreover, some scenes were made hastily just to make a connection between the events. Despite the many letdowns in the plot (yes although it did tackle the problem of bullying), the actors’ performances are eye-catching. In particular, Shin Ye Eun’s solid acting is outstanding. I have seen a better and fast paced high school action thriller of 2022 (Weak Hero Class 1), which had a better output, whether be it in terms of social issues or storyline.

Despite it's heavy atmosphere and many flaws in plot, Revenge Of Others is a satisfactory watch, dealing with bullying, broken justice system and desperation of the teens to seek justice.

My Rating : 6.5/10

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Confusing???

Iniitally I found this drama intriguing only to be let down and scratching my head after the finale. After reading a mix of other reviews to try and gauge other’s reactions and levels of understanding after the last 2 episodes I realised it’s not just me. This show leaves so many questions unanswered + loose ends + illogical scenes.

-Portrayal of DID was confusing + incredibly inaccurate even for a TV show. It almost mixes it up with being possessed by a ghost with how Oh Chan-Mi just ‘banishes’ it at the end. That whole scene made no sense. Also did he actually have a twin who died of a heart attack or not? Was his DID due to some grief he never got over? Strange how clueless his parents were the whole time considering he’s the only grandson of a Chaebol. Also why is his mum putting so much trust in Gi Osung?
- Never explained how Seok Jaebum even comes into this whole friend group with Park Woneseok, Sejin and Gi Osung considering how he’s in the year above. Seems very unusual to interact with people in this way considering the Korean age hierarchy system. Also weird how not a single one of his friends from his actual senior year are ever mentioned.
- Gi Osung told Seok Jaebum that Park Wonseok pushed him for the first time when Oh Chan Mi is hiding in the theatre yet apparently he knew before as soon as he was released from the hospital and he sees Gi Osung for the first time??? We never get a scene of Gi Osung telling him it was Park Wonseok during his hospital stay… Also even if he did tell him in the hospital, Seok Jaebum already knows that Gi Osung is capable of manipulation and lying with how he manipulates Park Wonseok’s secret to force him into bullying. So why would he even believe him?
- Inconsistencies of the doctor’s prediction of the brain tumour since he initially tells Ji Soonheon 6 months or 1 year at best and that sometimes people live longer but then he later tells Oh Chanmi that he could stay in this state for a while with luck. Also strange how he only ever experiences headaches and no other symptoms other than that one bout of violence with Sa Jungyeong.
- Never find out what happens to Seok Jaebum after his arrest considering how rich his family are it would’ve been interesting to see how that plays out. Did he tell the police/his parents that Gi Osung pushed him + lied about Park Wonseok to justify murdering him to get a reduced sentence. Was there even enough evidence to convict him for the body shop murder? other than the fact that he can use his left hand? tbh without a confession from him there’s no evidence for the Park Wonseok murder either so even though he confessed in the end his rich family’s lawyers could claim DID or otherwise. Also would the DID reduce his sentence since he was supposedly not himself? How much can he really be blamed for all of this?
- Like others have said Gi Osung’s simple death is not cruel enough for how vindictive and manipulative he is compared to Seok Jaebum who will potentially suffer more with imprisonment even though he was manipulated the whole time and has a psychiatric condition.
- Seok Jaebum tells Gi Osung that when he saw him after being in the hospital he knew the whole time he’s the one who pushed him. Then why did he act friendly with him the whole time and only act hostile after his dream reveals it to him.
- In the flashback to Park Won Seok’s murder he is literally speaking to him whilst Park Won Seok is on the phone to Oh Chan Mi so would she not have recognised Seok Jaebum’s voice?
- Ok Chan Mi seemed intelligent at first but then as the investigation continues she seems to just blindly believe Gi Osung at points and makes so many mistakes. Like when she blindly believes the male police officer (who is incredibly manipulative and should’ve been fired btw) that her brother’s killer and the S Jungyeong hero is the same person. Why on earth would she believe that! Also how does she think randomly threatening people with a shooting pistol is a good way to enact revenge. She’d just land herself in jail. How is she just casually allowed proper pistols with bullets when pistols used for shooting competitions are surely different and are regulated with who owns them. If she’s from an orphanage how is she able to just casually gift her brother one???
- Kinda dumb how people (including Oh Chanmi) initially think Jo Sooheon was Park Wonseok’s murderer when he LITERALLY found his body and reported it to the police. Like idk surely the school’s stupid CCTV system that they have (we see it when Seok Jaebum accesses it to help Ok Chanmi) would’ve seen his only staying outside the building and not going up to the science lab ruling him out.
- Sejin ripping up Ok Chanmi’s uniform and getting pissed off at her for siding with Ji Sooheon was the dumbest shit ever.
- Betrayal of Seok Jaebum in not telling Ok Chanmi that Gi Osung hit her over the head with the brick. They never address this again even after Seok Jaebum starts ‘hating’ Gi Osung.
- Why didn’t Gi Osung try and get rid of Seok Jaebum considering how he knew that he murdered Park Wonseok. Park Wonseok thing was bad news for Gi Osung since he can’t manipulate anyone anymore. Whereas if he locked up Seok Jaebum then his secret of him loving his step sister would never get out. That whole plot reasoning never made sense…
- Who actually told everyone that Gi Osung and Kook Ji Hyun are step siblings considering how Gi Osung wouldn’t want that out after he hit Ok Chanmi over the head with break. We know he sent the nudes out but surely not the step sibling news? Especially not when he loves his stepsister. He definitely wouldn’t want people to know they’re siblings.
- Strange how Kook Jihyun never feels that uncomfortable or idk never brings up the kiss he forced onto her with anyone or their parents.
- Everyone lying at the end about Ji Sooheon is the dumbest most unrealistic shit ever. Probably cameras from other buildings that could be used to view the rooftop if not cameras on the rooftop or overlooking the stairs to it. Also it was self defense either way so why lie? He didn’t push Gi Osung the dude literally just kinda fell/tripped tbh.
- Hong Ajung and the whole fake girlfriend would’ve made more sense if she knew about Park Won Seok being gay but it seems as though she didn’t and the whole reasoning for it was ridiculous. Also she treats her teenage pregnancy as a bit of a joke and not as a serious matter which is unrealistic for Korean society to be that accepting
- How is it Sa Yeon can just casually drop out of school without her parents knowing, work at a convenience store and then come back and graduate. Also what’s with the constant wig supply???
- Ok Chanmi how is she getting all this money??? She never gets a job and she says she’s applying for some and Ji Sooheon asks about it but they never discuss it again. I get she’s got a scholarship for the high school but where’s all the money coming for to afford the college dorm, snacks, constant train tickets back to Busan, scooter etc. Also why did she sell the scooter cause initially I thought she sold it to help out Ji Sooheon with his mom’s medical bills but no mention of this money again.
- Police are insanely incompetent but I guess that was the point. Also they follow these kids around to the point of harassment.
- Why did Seok Jaebum only present his symptoms of DID after Gi Osung pushed him and he woke up from his coma considering it seems to be more of a grief stemmed disease from losing his twin. Strange how he never had any other incidences of violent outbursts in the past.
- I was confused the whole time on when Seok Jaebum actually got out of his coma and left the hospital since initially I ruled him out as being Park Wonseok’s murderer since he was still in the hospital and only came back to school after Ok Chanmi started school in Seoul which was months after Park Wonseok’s murder…

Overall so many confusing plot points that never really make sense but the premise was good.

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hooking thriller that had me pulling all nighters DEFINITELY RECOMMEND

This show was incredibly good at making me unable to stop watching; leaving me with excitement and questions at the end of every episode.

STORY
the plot was very full of so many surprises and events. some may think there were some useless ingredients like i've heard about his brain tumour and wonseok's fake gf but I enjoyed it nonetheless. This is such a captivating show and i had much fun watching it. However, parts of the plot lacked some logical explanation. I also wish the ending was more resolved as we dont see what happened to gi osung or really jaebum because the question is does jaebum really deserve to be punished for it when he has a mental disorder AND he was manipulated by gi osung (who is assumingly dead because, again, we dont know exactly what happened but he is probably dead as he isnt shown in the end) so should he really take the blame? i wish that was resolved as well as ji sooheon's brain tumour because while it is an open ending, i think if you are going to bring in something huge like a dangerous brain tumour and make us worry, you might as well at least indicate how it ends for him. because that whole thing is arguably not contributing to much of the plot anyway so why make us worry and the other characters worry too. we also didnt go into depth on how this brain tumour can really affect real life people as representation

CHARACTERS AND ACTING
I think jaebum's actor did very well at portraying his character's split personality disorder and each 'person' inside him. The rest of the cast did well too, though i dont think this script and writing unleashed any of their full potentials. The characters were all interesting and none annoyed me that werent supposed to. Ok chanmi and ji sooheon's chemistry was so perfect and i loved all their scenes together. despite not being a romance drama (and i am very mad we didnt even get a kiss) they're relationship made me giddier than many romance dramas i have watched and the main characters were mostly likeable. However, ok chanmi's character lacked logic at times, believing things way to quickly then acting on those thoughts such as when she heard gi osung telling jaebum that it was park wonseok who pushed him off the building and chanmi immediately believed it, sent out apology/goodbye videos and left even though gi osung was a very obviously untrustworthy character which annoyed me.

In conclusion, I would definitely recommend this show because I personally love it and it was so incredibly gripping with a loveable main cast.

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I'm not sure how I feel about this drama... Well, I know now.

AFTER WATCHING 6 EPISODES

After watching the latest episodes, as soon as they they were released, I gave this drama some thoughts. I had to decide if I wanted to continue watching it.

This drama is ridiculously packed with secrets. As if the creators were trying hard to catch the viewer's attention by forcing unexpected situations.

The idea of revenge of others was a good one, but why are almost all possible teenage problems stuffed into this drama? It might not be so bad if it was executed differently, but here are so many subplots that everything gets mixed up and makes no sense.

I had really high expectations for this drama but I am disappointed.

I am dropping it. There's a slight chance I'll come back to it someday, but right now I'd rather spend my time watching something else.

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AFTER WATCHING 3 EPISODES

I'm not sure how I feel about this drama. The idea for the story seems to be really good and full of potential but something is off. However, I don't know exactly what yet. Maybe it's the main female character. She should feel some emotion about her twin's death, but it seems very flat and forced. Maybe it's not that, I'm still trying to find an answer.

The first two episodes and half of the third bored me most of the time. I keep watching because the plot and mysteries are interesting enough for me, but the acting could be more real. At the moment, the acting is a bit flat most of the time. Because of this, I don't feel any attachment to the character. I hope my feelings about it will change soon. Also, I really hope the execution improves in the next episodes because it will be a real shame and disappointment if it doesn't.

So I keep my fingers crossed for better next episodes and acting that will bring me closer to the characters. I'm giving it a 7/10 at the moment because there's still room for improvement.

(I know that the shooting of the drama has already ended, but perhaps the creators themselves noticed things that could be done better and improved them during the recording.)

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Must Watch ❤️

Its an incredible drama and i think everyone should watch this.... There are alot many good things about it...
First off,this is only a 12 episode drama and this thing they have started, i mean making non romance dramas with the overflowing chemistry of main leads... i don't know what its called but i just love this genre...
Secondly, the story is too good... its a suspense/mystery drama and not a minute goes without suspense in this drama. i mean, what else do you need for a good mystery drama???? its just perfect..
Also, the 3 main characters, ok chammi, seok jae bom and ji seo won. i loved their teamwork i just loved...
and not to forget about the plot twist.... i was blown away by the plot twist....
Btw, unpopular opinion, i loved seok jae bom. He has a class.
I am trying really hard not to give any spoilers so the people who watch it, can enjoy it to the fullest.....

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Was so excited but what a waste of time

The pacing was horrible, the characters struggles were unbelievable and for me too much as a whole and it was revealed in such a short time. I mean it like we discovered something deep and than suddenly something even worse and that kept happening, so after the fifth time it didnt even feel meaningful. Also why did everyone die falling off somewhere high ??? The ending was weird and the build up at the end was kind of felt irrelevant. Overall i wanted to drop this many times but continued cuz i rarely drop shows. It had such potential but damn was it disappointing :c

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flawed yet utterly enjoyable, uses narrative manipulation, explores the dichotomy of revenge/justice

i watched Revenge of Others weekly and one thing that cannot be denied about it is that it was incredibly enjoyable. the fast-paced episodes, the interesting characters, and the complex layers of mystery kept me waiting for the next episode. this show, in its essence, is an interesting exploration of the bullying culture that exists in South Korea that also tackled the themes of violence, justice, retribution, and revenge.

i will address 5 main points:

1) COMPLEXITY -- this show was a mystery/thriller so it is expected that there will be a lot of misdirecting and new pieces of information being revealed with each episode to build up the suspense. however, i think the show was too complex for its own good. everything seemed to be connected and it seemed like they willfully kept things complex and unresolved to keep the viewers guessing but even when we were at the halfway mark, nothing was revealed yet. by that i mean, there was no subplot resolution until the very end. on top of nothing being resolved, they kept introducing new plotlines and new characters to increase the complexity of the overall plot and add to the mystery. i was afraid they would leave the resolution of everything to the very end and of course, that was the case.

overall, the way they introduced information was (intentionally) disconnected, especially the flashbacks. the timeline of the flashbacks was very confusing. i knew they would end up leaving the resolution of everything to the very end but it’s still annoying how they have over-complicated things throughout the whole show just to add to the mystery. all the little clues that were given to the viewers to keep us guessing and all the theories didn’t matter in the end. i generally liked how they have misdirected the viewers at least a couple of times regarding who the murderer might be but there were just way too many variables and characters and storylines going on for there to be any actual thrill in trying to guess things about the plot. because it didn't matter and the clues that were given were only there to confuse us further and none of them actually led to anywhere. you just had to watch it and accept what the show gives you.

2) LOGICAL FALLACIES -- despite the overcomplexity i talked about above, i actually liked how detailed the main story of this show was. however, the main story and the characters' actions were full of logical fallacies that you would not even realize are there if you didn't actually question their actions. i went into detail about a lot of these in the reaction thread i did for this show on Twitter, but one of the main logical fallacies was how Chanmi was incredibly gullible at times while being smart and reserved at other times. Sejin's whole story where he painted Sooheon as the culprit was full of holes yet Chanmi attempted to shoot Sooheon based solely on his witness account and some circumstantial evidence despite being emotionally involved with him. then only a few episodes later, the same thing happens again. Osung, who they know to be a cunning liar and manipulator, said Wonseok was the one who pushed Jaebum and Chanmi didn't even question it when her not questioning witness accounts almost led her to kill someone innocent who she cares about. her carelessness and naivete were inconsistent. she was distrusting at times yet she also believed things very easily at other times. this just seemed to be a thing where whenever it was convenient for the plot for her to believe what she heard, she did. overall, i think the logical fallacies were caused by the overcomplexity of the plot. if you're giving the story THAT many details, you're going to have some plot holes.

3) BULLYING CULTURE -- clearly, the deeply complex culture of bullying was one of the main themes of this show. they showed the extent of the bullying that exists in schools, its intensity, and how far the students actually observed the silent "rules" that came with this interwoven culture. one thing i found interesting was how the show portrayed the "bystanders." when Junggyeong, the rapist, was at school bullying the victim or any other student, he was never confronted by anyone or more specifically, he wasn't confronted all the time. yet, when he had to leave the school, all the students were cheering out the windows, acknowledging his bad actions and expressing their thoughts on how he deserved what happened to him. i thought that was interesting because bullies almost always require bystanders who do nothing seeing as they will bully people in public to showcase their power. if enough students were to stand up when they saw Junggyeong bully others, he or the other bullies wouldn’t be so confident in their assumed power the next time. another parallel to this scene was when Osung was live streaming a fight between two students and the whole school joined the live and watched two people very violently fight each other. this scene provided us with another look into the workings of the bullying culture that the kids at this school were clearly so accustomed to. they saw violence taking place yet all they did was watch and react as if it was not actually happening in real life and people were not actually getting hurt.

i think what happened in the finale shows that the two instances of irony regarding the bystander students were very much intentionally included the way they were in the show. in the end, just when we thought everything was over, Osung dies while Sooheon tries to defend himself from him and we see that none of the students tell on him to the police because they all thought Osung deserved to die. so, suddenly, they didn't look at the case as a murder, even though an 18-year-old kid died in front of their eyes. they looked at it as retribution/justice/revenge. this way, we see that the students, the bystanders, yield the power to change the course of police investigations. i can’t help but think that this is another reference to the bullying culture at school and it is once again showing that the bystanders have all the power.

4) APPROACH TO VIOLENCE -- i thought this show had an interesting approach to school violence. one that i personally would not expect to see. this show explored the dichotomy of justice/revenge, and other themes of intent, responsibility, and retribution. what was interesting is they explored these topics through the perspective of the bullies, as well as the victims. for instance, you had Chanmi who did not want to rely on the cops to bring justice to her brother (they were useless anyways). she wanted to straight up kill the person who murdered Wonseok. then, you had the trio of Soyeon, Ojung, and Sooheon who were taking matters into their own hands and creating their own justice by punishing the bullies, or more like the criminals, who had severely hurt people in irrevocable ways. this means they believed in violent retribution. they believed in speaking the bullies' language. they believed in dominating them through their own weapons of violence. just like Chanmi. but of course, the incompetency of the police and the politicized and unjust nature of "justice" in South Korea (they even criticized certain policies re: the punishment of minors, etc.) played into their approach to things.

but we also saw a different side of things with Jaebum at the end. a gray area. he had been violent and done things he can never take back while he was taken over by his other personality. he had suffered memory loss and didn't even remember doing these things. now, would it have been "just" if Chanmi shot him to avenge her brother? would it still count as retribution if he cannot even take responsibility for the things he doesn't remember doing?

the show posed a lot of important questions regarding violence: is it okay to use violence with violent people? are some crimes worse than others? is it okay to hurt people if they hurt others unintentionally? what role does intent actually play in how we respond to violence? can you still be held responsible for the things you did when you didn't intend to do them? is it okay to enact violence in the name of revenge? who gets to decide what others deserve? to what level? with these questions posed and these themes explored, the show portrayed high schoolers using violence because the justice system or the law enforcement didn't protect them from violence. in the end, we also saw the students continuing to get justice their own way and enact revenge the way they want as they chose to protect Sooheon and not report anything about what happened.

5) INCORPORATION OF ROMANCE -- from the start, we all knew that the genre of this show wasn't romance so there likely wasn't gonna be any romance in it. however, there was "romance" throughout and i actually loved how they incorporated it into the genre. in kdramas, there seems to be a thing where they try to not mix romance as a genre into non-romance shows. romance is a part of life and it happens naturally. it is okay to include romance in non-romance shows because it doesn't have to be the focus of the show. romance plotlines in non-romance dramas are often badly written & poorly integrated but in Revenge of Others, the romance came naturally and it was built slowly on top of feelings of worry. so much so that, when Chanmi and Sooheon finally held hands at the end and confirmed their feelings for each other, they didn't even have to say "the words." they just knew and it was that. Park Solomon and Shin Yeeun had great chemistry and i thought they complemented each other quite well since Yeeun has a colder vibe while Lomon brings in the warmth.

OVERALL -- i really enjoyed watching this show over the weeks. i thought the finale was okay even though it was not completely satisfactory for me. i thought it was an interesting twist that Jaebum was the murderer and he was actually responsible for all the bad “acts” (e.g., the murders) yet Osung was still the actual villain. nevertheless, although an interesting twist, i don’t think Jaebum’s personality disorder was a very well-constructed storyline and that is why the finale was a bit underwhelming. the thing is, they wanted to keep Jaebum on the sidelines throughout the show so the viewers didn’t immediately doubt him but his storyline requires much deeper exploration. dissociative personality disorder (DID) is often caused by trauma. how did he develop it? when exactly? of course, the clues as to him having two personalities were given often, but it wasn't very well-explored in its entirety. in the end, it just seemed like they didn't want a basic murderer reveal. they wanted it to be unique, like, yeah, it was Jaebum but actually.. it was his other personality.

now, it is important to remember that this show relied heavily on narrative manipulation to keep the mystery theme going. a lot of the plotlines actually seemed to only make sense based on whether it was convenient for the plot or not. nevertheless, this was undoubtedly one of the best shows of the year with a great look and directing, incredible performances, and interesting themes.

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One of the best show in 2022

I started to lose some interest in Korean shows since last year. I found it hard to continue and finish the episodes. However, Revenge of others brought me back into this world of Korean dramas. As we all know, Koreans are quite good at making thrillers and mystery styles with suspense and enigma, and that's totally what we could notice with this show.

The friendship between the characters was perfect, the scripts was fantastic, the actors were wonderful and the soundtrack... genius!

Of course some parts seemed to be missing a bit. For example, I thought the ending was pretty quick. I would have liked to known what happened with Jaebum. Is he in jail? If so, for how long? Is he seeing a psychologist? Do his friends still visit him? Also, what about Ji Soo Heon's cancer?

Still, even though the ending was rather quick and undeveloped, I wouldn't take away any points from this show. This drama gave me back the passion I lost towards Korean shows. I was taken back to 2015 when the shows made me dream and got me excited.

In short, I recommend everyone to watch this drama. One of the best I've seen in a long time...

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