The Nice Guy

The Fate of a Gangster Who Wants to Repent

Surprisingly! The Korean drama "The Nice Guy" received such poor ratings? Episodes 1 and 2 only received a 7.1 rating from Mydramalist. Surprised, considering the cast includes beloved actresses and actors.

Lee Dong-Wook, the main lead, shot to fame after playing the Grim Reaper in the Korean drama "Goblin," while Lee Sung-Kyung, a popular actress after her role in the Korean drama "Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-Joo," won an Excellent Actress award.

Perhaps audience expectations were too high, leading to low ratings for "The Nice Guy." The drama does deliver a terrifying first episode, with the stabbing of Park Seok-Cheol (played by Lee Dong-Wook).

So it seems like the pace will be fast and filled with suspenseful scenes, like the Korean dramas "Bloodhounds," "Evilive," and "Bad and Crazy," starring Lee Dong-Wook.

It turns out not to be. The Korean drama "The Nice Guy" is indeed about a gangster family, but like other family stories, there are many sweet and adorable scenes, such as when ML's mother pinches the hand of her daughter who runs away from home.

There are also many other romantic scenes, between ML and FL (of course, right? 😀😀), scenes between a grandson and his grandmother, and between ML's younger sister and her lover.

Strangely enough, in the Korean drama "The Nice Guy," the annoying one isn't the antagonist (who is considered the second lead and regrets that FL didn't end up with him), but rather ML's older sister, a grown woman with a large body but a childish mind.

Fortunately, the ratings for the Korean drama "The Nice Guy" have risen, with mydramalist ratings rising from 7.1/10 to 7.3/10 in episodes 7-8. The great chemistry between Lee Dong-Wook and Lee Sung-Kyung is likely the reason.

Unfortunately, the IMDb rating has gone the other way, from a 9.2/10 in the first episode to a mere 7.1/10.

Will it plummet to a 6.0? It's unlikely, considering that viewers were told from the beginning that the male lead would be stabbed, leaving viewers wondering: Will the Korean drama "The Nice Guy" have a sad ending? Or the opposite?

Oh yes, there are sweet songs scattered throughout "The Nice Guy," as the female lead is a singer. Unfortunately, the female lead (Lee Sung-Kyung) isn't the one singing, as she's multitalented, adept at singing and playing music. Read the full review at
https://www.maria-g-soemitro.com/2025/08/the-nice-guy-nasib-gangster-bertobat.html

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Based on flawed script and dumb story, masterful acting, powerful commentary

Written after ep 14:
I watched to the end bc I was stuck indoors for a while and so I decided to do research, "how to kill a drama" and concluded that this drama is DULL and DEAD bc there is no communication, everyone is isolated doing their own thing, and there is no character growth. It is the same old same old stuff ... for 12 episodes. And as the commentator below so astutely noticed, NOBODY IS ACCOUNTABLE FOR THEIR ACTIONS. That is why there is no character growth and no movement forward and THE WHOLE DRAMA IS DULL AND BORING. All characters are losers. There is some streak of maturity in the Policeman friend, that's it, so he is generally fun to watch except when he is not, bc he too is rather dumb. .

The first and only spark of life is in ep 13... maybe some in ep 14.

The only truly alive scene in this entire drama was in ep 13 when Tae Hoon and Seok Cheol speak in the hospital, and TH genuinely gets interested to hear what is going on and tries to troubleshoot, and shows his caring side and also his ATTENTION and ALIVENESS.
He wasn't squinting with a poker face as usual. I am not sure if they changed the hair of that actor too, was his hair slightly shorter?
But in any case, the ATTENTION AND CARE he put in to COMMUNICATE with SK made him look very alive, a lot younger and very cute. ****That is basically the only instance of a real communication in this drama.***** Tae Hoon actor is suitable for a wide range of roles with a wide range of emotions and will do great in a family drama, rom com, thriller, in all kinds of good and bad roles, he can be a swooning charming good guy, a swindling sales person, etc.
We never got to see if he kept his promise to quit thug life. Perhaps he didnt bc we didnt see him in the epilogue.

The drama totally killed the Grim Reaper actor - he is such a great actor but they made him so subdued and dull and flat, slow motion guy...
SK is stupid, playing John Wayne macho man who leaves his true love to go bust some thungs ALL ALONE and get killed - and he almost did.. And we see him killing someone with a great gusto.... His thug life DID make him a monster. Keeping him in jail for 2.6 years was a great idea to help him detox.

They say no chemistry between FL and ML - of course not!!!! she is like a child and he is like her babysitter. There can be no romantic chemistry there. The female lead stayed a mentally off chronically anxious scared and cowardly stupid person. She goes in person to threaten the mafia boss that she will protect SK. She is a true dumb moron.

Written after ep 11 or so:
This drama is american style, we see stuck characters in toxic actions and relationships, and NO GROWTH. There is no plot, no story, just a bunch of images passing by in a video.... That is depressing and boring and that is why I and many other people do NOT watch american stuff anymore. It lacks meaning and content.

Kdramas are about CHARACTER GROWTH and this drama lacks any of that. Except the gambler finally coming home at ep 9!!!!! you had to wait NINE episodes to see that little bit!!!!

Also, this drama totally goes overboard with the kdrama trope of FL being a dumbo snowflake. THIS ENTIRE DRAMA IS BASED ON WEAKNESS, IMMATURITY AND STUPIDITY OF FL WHO DID NOT TELL ML, HER GANGSTER BOYFRIEND WHOM SHE LOVES!!!! THAT ANOTHER GANGSTER WAS COURTING HER AND BULLYING HER AND ADMITTED TO TRYING TO KILL HIM BC OF HER.

14 EPISODES MADE OUT OF THAT!!!!!

It is incredible incredible **** D U M B N E S S **** the classic kdrama plot created by dumbness of mentally unstable irrational incapable INSECURE SCARED RASH WEAK SELFISH SCARED IRRATONAL INCAPABLE ILLOGICAL IMPULSIVE UNSUCCESSFUL **** BROKEN **** looser FL
and ML tolerating and supporting her immaturity and weakness and having to bail her out and babysit her

Of course FL acting is always super boring bc she is always that weak scared character so female actors just need to act a pained / scared / worried / anxious face. THIS KILLS KDRAMAS.

MOST KDRAMAS ARE ABOUT DEPENDENT INCAPABLE WEAK WOMEN HAVING TO DEPEND ON SOME GUY TO TAKE CARE OF THEM

ALL WOMEN SHOULD MOVE TO S KOREA, THE LAND OF SUGAR DADDIES WHO BABYSIT AND TAKE CARE OF ANY STUPID WOMAN WHO CATCHES THEIR FANCY, WITHOUT ANY REGARD HOW BROKEN AND DEPENDENT SHE IS

BUT THIS DRAMA IS EVEN BEYOND THAT into some serious grave real mental illness realm where a grown up woman is keeping secrets that could KILL her lover - just because she is scared to talk about things and thinks that she can just gloss over stuff.
She is like that all the way to ep 10, when the gangster becomes serious and admits he did try to kill ML and will be killing him. THat stupid FL still does not say a word to ML.

FL is incredibly incredbly INSANE, literally INSANE. If she is sane then she is incredibly selfish.

Overall FL is incredibly immature dumb little girl in adult body.

FL IS MENTALLY OFF, PSYCHIATRIC CASE, A 3 YR OLD IN A BODY OF ADULT. This is often the premise of kdramas. I can count just a few kdramas that have a strong FL. The rest are all real losers.
But this kdrama goes even further into WOW WOW WOW INSANE FL.
To not tell him that another gangster is after her... ???? how dumb is that?
WHICH ADULT WOULD KEEP SILENT ABOUT SOMETHING LIKE THAT????
and then you make entire FOURTEEN (14) EPISODES OUT OF THAT

So that is why ppl dont feel connected with this drama. THERE IS NO COMMUNICATION AND NO CHARACTER GROWTH WHATSOEVER.

and yeah ML as a professional gangster for what - 30 years?? - lacks any skills for self care. He is so oblivious to dangers of his job.

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It started ok. I watched the first few episodes thinking, ok this sets the tone. However, nothing changed. the characters never ever communicated or changed.
This is what I wrote after first 2 episodes:

This kdrama is not about cool hot guys car chases and fights. THis is not "One Class hero" or something like that. This drama is not pretty faces beating each other and trashy plot. This kdrama is a LOT worse than those kiddo dramas.... bc ... in all those dramas the families are rotten and sacrifice their kids.... and in the case of this kdrama, we see WHAT HAPPENED AFTER HIGHSCHOOL, how the kid was basically sold into slavery and had to slave as a thug for like 30 years and cannot even retire from that life bc his own father and family keep messing him up. We get to see the practical effects of a disfunctional family.
So this kdrama is not for just fights scenes.
THis kdrama *has* a PLOT. It has a very complex STORYLINE with many different and very ***complex characters***, spanning all walks of life, and very serious psychological, economic, and socio-political issues.

This drama is some serious acting. So yeah it has to be slow enough to ACT those very complex interactions and events. The Grim Reaper actor is excellent.

This drama addresses some serious issues, including the tradition of addiction (gambling and drinking), the tradition of gangsterhood, money issues, riots, redevelopment, rulings by gangs, etc and also we have "proper ppl" on the other side, like doctors, etc.

This drama is a masterpiece. This kdrama is a severe and serious SOCIAL COMMENTARY of all kinds of issues that all of us have to worry about. The uniqueness of this kdrama is that is includes both good and bad guys.... we get to see BOTH sides... and their OVERLAP.

THIS IS SERIOUS STUFF. Like gangs of thugs redevelping a poor hood. GENTRIFICATION. this issue should be familiar to everyone. THis issue is something that everyone everywhere has to worry about - unless you are THE rich thugs...

If you dont make your own money and pay your own rent and even own your own house or business, this drama wont be interesting to kiddos.....
This is not a cartoon nor a toy drama to excite the kiddos who love to see ppl fighting.

It is not too slow. REAL LIFE IS NOT TOO FAST. If you want to watch a drama on steroids, it will be bad for yourbrain, it will contribute to brain damage due to high level of distraction.

Also, if you want to SEE SOME ACTING then it has to be slow enough so that you can see emotions and thinking of the characters. If you think that thinking boils down to "which side shall I hit next" then rethink that and think about what your neural patterns must be like if you really believe that is "cool". What really CAN go on in your head if you have those kinds of habits? The answer: nothing. You cannot think clearly. You have to SLOW DOWN to think clearly and to FEEL.

THIS DRAMA IS ABOUT LIFE AND LIFE IS RATHER SLOW, and THIS DRAMA IS ALSO FAST bc it covers tons of issues. In the 2 episodes, we know all the history, they met again, MS healed her singing issue, sister was found and rescued, and we have laid in front of us issues of ... money, jobs, addictions, single parenting, bullying, phobias, taking care of elderly parents, and changing one's life from thug to a normal person. And his family's bertrayal and his dad selling him into slavery for 30+ years and he cannot even quit

THIS IS A LOT and I just finished watching ep 2!!!!!!!

So this kdrama is something to be watched carefully, very carefully.

It is a psychological drama

I am not giving it 10 yet bc I am leery of Disney. Disney loves to make stories about people who we should not glorify, and then glofiry them. And never shows the solutions for ordinary people. And the ending is always hopeless, or somehow magical and impossible for anyone except that ONE person in millions. Disney is sneakily evil in its brainwashing.

So I will see if this will be such. brainwashing under pretense of entertainment, or of there will be substance to it.

Kdramas are always powerful socio economic politicial commentaries and that is their value, they show proper ways of doing thing and solving and getting ahead for ORDINARY PEOPLE

American stuff is always about thugs prostitutes etc someone "out of line" someone outside of the fringes of law, it is never about John Smith.

So I will see and watch.

Ah last but not least. The FL is th typical mentally disabled loser who cannot take care of herself in real life and requires a guy to keep rescuing her. That is such a trashy sexist plot that kdramas use, most are like this, and this makes plot that is BORING.

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Written after ep 3 or so:
The pace of this kdrama is still too slow and the characters are isolated and do not communicate. I hope they will soon. But the feeling is still of desperation more than living


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WRITTEN AFTER EPISODE 5:
Gees it is the same old kdrama sexist cliche - a mentally unstable damsel in distress FL who cannot even talk and a loser ML who has to keep saving her. UTTERLY BORING. The stupid woman creates the plot by failing to tell her gangster bfriend that another gangster is after her. IS HER IQ ZERO?

Also, how it is filmed - it goes for looooong scenes which are mostly meaningless. WE GET TO WATCH THEM LIVE THEIR LIFE, openng doors, and sitting in cars etc. UTTERLY BORING.

You have to pick a few moments that are meaningful, not just show them live their life moment to moment

THE MOST BORING THING - that makes it feel like an american movie - is that NOTHING HAPPENS INTERNALLY, NOBODY IS GROWING, THEY ARE ALL **** STUCK **** IN THE MUCK OF THEIR LIFE

WE DONT WAnT TO WATCH A BUNCH OF LOSERS BEING STUCK FOREVER.

WE WANT TO SEE INNER CHANGE AND CHARACTER GROWTH.

WE WANT TO SEE **** SO LUTIONS THAT WORK *****

WE DONT WANT TO SEE A BUNCH OF LOSERS STUCK IN THEIR WAY AND JUST KEEP GOING DOWNHILL

WE WANT TO SEE THEM TRYING TO CHANGE AND GET BETTER.

**** THAT **** IS THE ONLY INTERESTING THING AND THE ONLY THING WORTH SPENDING TIME TO WATCH.

ML is a great actor and 2ML is pretty good too. FL is like a scared bunny, she is clearly a psych ward patient, and so her acting is just one sided and BORING. *** FL IS A BORING CHARACTER THERE IS NOT MUCH TO HER AT ALL ****. The plot makes no sense, why he and she cannot communicate - to each other or to others. They are mental health cases.

The oldest sister, the gambler, is such a bloody narcissist - so immature - cant go home because it is more important that her father will beat her up then that her own kid needs his mother. WHAT A DUMB IDIOT. And the lack of communcation between family members is just ASTONISHING. If you are losing the house, dont you want to say something??? or just make people be startled when the collectors come in??? WHAT IDIOTS.

This whole kdrama is about 10000% **** l o s e r s **** and that is why it is so hard to connect to it - there is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING that we can learn from these people. Nothing to like, really. It is all suffering out of their own will and stupidity. SO WHY SHOULD BE BOTHER TO WATCH THAT??? this kind is plot is typical in american movies and thats why they are so trashy and I would never watch them. This kdrama is starting to make me think I am wasting my time. Unless these characters GROW majorly real fast, this kdrama is indeed a waste of time.

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I'm a little worried but I still want to watch

What was that intro scene?? is this another M.R Plankton? Because I don't think my heart can handle that again, so soon.

I started this blind just knew that I love the actors and that Lee Dongwook was going to be some sort of ganster witha good heart.

I really liked the fact that they know each other already and it's obvious that they still like each other very much, like the. way he was looking at her Wow, I'd die right there.

I love the relationship between the 3 siblings, the way I laughed at that gamblers scene!! excelente introduction of the characters all of them were very nicely introduced.

I am worried about where this is going with that opening scene, I'm curious of how we're going to get there and hopeful for what happens after.

Please Disney, not another disappointment.

I'm coming back for an update on this, with all the new series coming out these days I missed a week so coming back today having to catch up with 4 episodes instead of 2 felt like too much, I don't know why because I did enjoy episodes 1-4 but watching episode 5 I got bored I had lost track of what was happening and decided to put this on hold for now.

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Grim Reaper + Weightlifting Fairy = ❤️

So far i'm really enjoying spending time with seokcheol. i like miyoung and hope she and seokcheol can find happiness, or at least peace this time around.

i'm enjoying LDW in this immensely. this is the most realistic character he's played since suyeol in bad and crazy. you can feel how frustrated and miserable he is stuck doing something he hates.

the story flows well and feels organic. no offense to divorce insurance, but it's nice to see LDW in something like this. i look forward to finding out what happens. the initial scene(s) in the first ep show this might not have a happy ending, but i'm invested enough to stick around anyway.

seokcheol's relationship with his siblings (especially younger sister) and his friends feels very believable.

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DISCLAIMER: WATCH IT YOUR SELF AND DECIDE HOW YOU FEEL ABOUT IT!!!!

"I'm not one to write reviews after just two episodes, so consider this a disclaimer. Seeing the negativity in the comments, I have one piece of advice: if you're wondering whether to watch it because you're puzzled by the reviews, watch it yourself and decide. Each drama has its own target audience, and you might actually enjoy it, but be swayed by the comments. What can two episodes really say about a show?

Personally, I found the first two episodes okay. It reminds me of a KBS 2 weekend drama with its family dynamics and setup, like those old, soapy K-dramas. I can tell, and I'm hoping it has more to offer. I'll give a proper review after the first half or four episodes. That's all for now."

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Es buenísima, porque tiene solo 7.3 ????

Literal es muy buena, está muy buena, desde un principio la quise ver, los actores son de mis favoritos por eso me gustó aún más y no es aburrida, está muy buena, de acción, romance, comedia, drama, etc. Es buenísima 🫶🏻

Me encantó este proyecto que le dieron a Lee Sung Kyung y Lee Dong Wook, les queda genial el protagónico y se ven muy bien los 2 juntos.


ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ






ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

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Quando l'abbraccio manca, il finale di Nice Guy

Non mi è dispiaciuto come drama, ma non è stato quel wow che speravo.
La storia in sé è interessante e scoprire le vite di ogni singolo personaggio ha avuto il suo perché.

Tutto parte da due ragazzi che si sono amati sin dalla giovinezza: Park Sakcheol e Myeong. La vita però li divide: lui, segnato dal passato da gangster del padre, finisce sulla stessa strada; lei sogna la musica, ma deve occuparsi della madre malata. Anni dopo si ritrovano, entrambi in lotta per il proprio amore e la libertà.

La trama alterna alti e bassi, ma solo negli ultimi 3 episodi la tensione cresce davvero. Bello l’happy ending familiare: il padre di Sakcheol riesce finalmente a lasciarsi alle spalle i suoi errori, la sorella maggiore ritrova la strada giusta, la minore parte per l’America e la famiglia resta unita e solidissima.

Per i nostri protagonisti invece… la storia lascia un po’ l’amaro in bocca.
Myeong corona il suo sogno nella musica, mentre Sakcheol sceglie di pagare per i crimini del suo passato, sacrificando ancora una volta se stesso, ma la sua coscienza bramava la pace non c'era scelta diversa. Ho apprezzato molto la sua amicizia con Taheon, che resiste nonostante i contrasti e persino una donna contesa.

Il finale però mi ha lasciata delusa: lui ascolta la canzone di Myeong alla radio e capisce che lei lo ha sempre aspettato, una volta fuori dalla prigione se la ritrova davanti a sé, si scambiano un lungo sguardo pieno d’amore e comprensione..poi un'accenno di corsa verso di lei… e finisce lì! 😩 Nemmeno un abbraccio, niente.

In conclusione: carino, ma niente di più. Non penso lo riguarderei.

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