Strong Girl Namsoon (2023)

Watch at your own risk

Okay first of all, im a really big fan of SWDBS. I love the min min couple, i mean PBY did an excellent job as a cast along with PHS but for this drama, i have to say otherwise. I’m watching for them as a cameo and BWS. The reason why i gave the acting a high rating is because of BWS. I really didn’t expect this show to be THE WORST DRAMA. I mean by worst is compared to SWDBS, this is just the worst. It is as bad as it can get. Please, read the warnings and watch it at your own risk.

Some things just doesn’t make any sense and everything is just cringey even the ML and FL.

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Strong beginning, abysmal plot until the end. Or: A whole lot of " WHAT!?"...

Wow, I really liked the premise with three women having super powers and all. But around episode 2 or 3 it all just went down the drain. Nam-Soon is behaving and looking like a child - and without any kind of expertise becoming a cop. WHAT!? The sub-plot with the two homeless people was just for nothing at all, and except for Nam-Soons father all the male family members are whiny, pathetic and straight out anoying every time they're on-screen.

The main plot is as flat as a piece of paper. The super power are almost never used and I basically nothing substantial happens. And the ending made me REALLY salty because the final two episodes are a big fat "giving the finger" right into the audiences faces, saying it doesn't value the audiences time. No cool end boss fight, no climax, no nothing. Not even a cool quotable line...

[SPOILER]
Nam-Soon is confronting the villain, he tells her, her mongolian mother is having a bomb with her. But Nam-Soon can rescue her by taking the drug and not drinking any water within one hour. AND SHE TAKES THE DRUG! WHAT!? Why didn't she just knock out the villain (darn, she has super powers!) and then calls her mom and the police to deal with the bomb situation?

But, well, she is lying there, deeply in pain, gasping for air. And her korean mother and her grand mother are also suffering with her. WHAT!? Why do all of these three women are having super powers to beginn with? I do get that they're somehow connected to each other (and I like that idea!), and one could argue that it makes the ending more intense and that those women do have a weakness bla bla bla... But their powers are never utilised, except for pretty minor things. So why do they have those powers and why is it necessary to take those powers away from them?

And then there is this one moment, where Nam-Soon is out of her being in pain misery, getting up, noticing a door with a bomb on it. She grabs that door and throws it into the outer space (or reeeeeeally faaaaar away, at least) - so she is really strong. A moment later the villain comes, beats her up like it's nothing and explains to her she lost her super powers because of the drug. WHAT!?
[/SPOILER]

OK, I admit, there are a few nice moments during the whole show here and there. But all in all: Most of the characters are flat-out anoying or impossible to be taken seriously and many scenes are just fillers. Many of said scenes do not hold up to their premise of generating action, suspense or even interest! There's dealing with love-affairs, eating too much food and wanting to lose weight, whining about mommy and daddy are getting a divorce. But it all leads to nothing and is dealt with on a superficial level! The plot is full of gigantic (plot) holes and all over the place!

Even the acting is so-so. Some actors are really good, most are okayish to bad. The korean mom is all about looking cool and hot, the grandmother is a mixture of tough-as-nails and wholesome, and the female lead, Nam-Soom, is a mid-twenty something child in every way possible: smiling, talking, behaving, the whole package! Even her way of using her James Bond watch to film the villains office (while the villain is with her!) is screaming "Hey you, you don't mind me filming all of this, don't you!?". But of course the villain doesn't mind, because he doesn't notice it in the first place!

What a waste of time. Bad! Really bad! Really, really bad!

Well, at least the music is okay, and the policeman is actually quite believable.

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Read the comment discussion a must - SUPER HORRIBLE writing and NO CHEMISTRY

1.0 is already generous for this Drama and I always question why a member of mydrammalist would give such low rating to
Other dramas. And still finished it..
Now I know.. its like getting into bad relationship..
And you got trapped in the middle, you wanted to go back but then there's this thing call HOPE and you just kept on moving..
So you've been TRICKED, LURED and USED..

The worst written female lead..
Wait, she's not even felt like the lead, her fam members are..

This drama totally shook my belief for kdrama to the core..
Its like eating Raw avocado... do you know how does it taste?
Bitter than medicine..

Read the comments from the drama page, its all there before you invest 16 hours more or less of your time, your thought, your time..

You will be betrayed! Watch something else!

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Totally incoherent “morality tale”

I’m writing this review partly to try to make sense of what I’ve just watched. I have NEVER seen a kdrama fumble it like this series did, to the extent that I genuinely wonder whether there was outside-the-story/corporate control influencing the story.

We all know the premise of (most) kdramas. There is the female lead, the male lead, second male lead, and often there is also a villain. The female lead and male lead are the OTP who are usually going to end up together, and their relationship gets the most focus. Second male lead doesn’t really stand a chance but he will get some other kind of happy ending. Villain is evil so they will be punished. You’re following me so far, right?

Now, for some reason, the writer of Strong Girl Nam Soon decided to spice up this formula, which is not a problem in itself — the problem is that the resulting story is totally incoherent. It is an insane choice to push your first male lead off to the sidelines and instead place the whole story/conflict/narrative drive between your female lead and “second male lead” who, in this drama, is actually the romantic villain. Meanwhile, the actual supposed main couple have barely any screen time together for the majority of the show (this is NOT an exaggeration), let alone any relationship conflict which is bizarre considering kdramas LOVE romantic melodrama. As you can see from most of the reviews here, this leads to the audience not being invested in the main couple and instead being more interested in the female lead/villain enemies-to-lovers storyline — only then to be disappointed by the show reverting to the status quo of hero+heroine 4ever.

There was literally no reason for the drama to do any of this, mind you. There was no *need* per se for the heroine versus villain storyline to become romantic — it could have just been about Namsoon trying to infiltrate the corporation and find out Ryu Sio’s secrets, while he becomes obsessed with her super-strength etc. without necessarily any romantic overtones. And yet, the show actually goes out of its way to put UST into this dynamic in the writing/acting AND direction, not to mention dedicates a really substantial amount of screen-time to female lead basically dating the villain (again, NOT an exaggeration).

Meanwhile, the ostensible male lead has no character arc, no internal conflict, and no actual flaws to overcome. The only significant things we know about him are 1) he’s a cop, 2) he had a brother who was shot, motivating him to become a cop, 3) he gets upset when his boss dies from the drug because it reminds him of his brother dying. This is all groundwork for character development that never actually emerges. He also likes and is overprotective towards Namsoon, but feels emasculated by her carrying him (booooooo get over it, you will never be Minhyuk).

The writing for the female lead is also disappointing. After reuniting with her birth family, Namsoon’s character development basically stops and there is no clear character arc where she has to question her beliefs/overcome her flaws. Some have commented here that they were disappointed Namsoon doesn’t try to help/sympathise with Ryu Sio. Firstly to be clear, Namsoon isn’t obliged to help someone who is actively trying to kill her family. That being said, I think the disappointment from viewers comes from the writer fundamentally misunderstanding the hero/villain archetypal relationship. The villain exists to challenge the hero, drawing attention to their similarities as well as differences; they are two sides of the same coin. In SGNS, Namsoon challenges Sio in that she taps into his heart which was long unused. However, for Namsoon, there is no point in the story where she questions herself/her own life/her beliefs due to her relationship with Sio. The only time that she acknowledges their similarities (i.e. being “adopted” one way or another) is after his death; imagine how much more compelling this would have been if she actually struggled with this internally while actively manipulating him. However, the writer isn’t interested in giving Namsoon any real struggles or flaws to overcome. She is meant to be a Strong Female Character (TM) and ultimately the embodiment of the show’s anti-drug/copaganda message.

As many here have noted already, Ryu Sio is the only one of the main characters who is well-executed — and this is because he is the only character with clear goals, clear flaws, a clear back-story motivating his present actions, clear vulnerabilities, AND a fully realised character arc (albeit a tragic one). It is therefore absolutely no surprise that his character is the most popular/beloved. I have a theory that Ryu Sio was the writer’s favourite too, as they actually put effort into his character while neglecting virtually everything else about the show. And it has to be said that Byeon Woo-seok kills it. He is both chilling and devastating and has The Range. Probably the best scene that demonstrate this is when he shoves a golf club down some guy’s throat then in the next breath calls up Namsoon with a completely different demeanour to ask how she’s doing and say he misses her. Now THAT’S a character.

IN CONCLUSION, this drama is a wildly uneven mess that seems mainly to exist as a ham-fisted PSA about drugs, which backfires as the drug lord is the most beloved character among viewers.

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How could they mess this up so badly?

==Breakdown==
Background plot - 50%
Romance - 30%
Misc comedy - 20%

Background plot - terrible
Romantic chemistry - terrible
Misc comedy - terrible
Production value - Good

Note, the 6.0 for the cast include the guy who played Ryu Shi Oh (which is a 10+). Everyone else plus Ryu Shi Oh averages out to equal a 6.

I've never watched a show or read a book where I was actively rooting for the villain to succeed as much as I was rooting for Ryu Shi Oh. The only other example I can think of is 'Black Panther' and even then, I liked the hero a lot and felt conflicted. Not so with this show.

Ryu Shi Oh was the only good thing (other than the cameo from the original show). And it's not like he was just okay. He was AMAZING. What the actor did with this character was nothing short of miraculous. Thus, when you compare all the other characters and their nonsensical journeys and lack of chemistry to Ryu Shi Oh, it made this show so difficult (and frustrating) to watch.

How did the creators not understand what was happening while they were making it? It seems so obvious. If you have a villain that is 100% more interesting and compelling than the hero, you re-write the script and you reshoot scenes. You make the hero the second lead and you redeem the villain. Come on, people. But, no. We (and Ryu Shi Oh) were robbed. We were so, so, so robbed.

The other storylines were over-the-top and incredibly boring, to be honest. I tried watching them but ended up fast forwarding any scene that didn't include Ryu Shi Oh.

In summary, I can't recommend watching this show, not even for Ryu Shi Oh. Instead, save yourself the frustration and just watch edits of Ryu Shi Oh. You'll get the picture and save yourself the brain-numbing exposure to the rest of this tepid drama.

What a colossal waste of time.

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My completely honest review about strong girl namsoon

**DISCLAIMER** this is only my opinion, you don't have to agree !!
**TRIGGER WARNING** (body shaming, dr*gs, su*cide)

Watched it since it came out, was really excited at first, really liked the first episodes, however, it went downhill from there, it got very messy, and they has many things/issues going on at the same time, and everything was packed.

The ml & fl were very decent and lacked character, the whole character of the female lead is her being cute and innocent, and the fact that she always is in some kind of situation and she can’t do anything on her own without anyone’s help, she doesn't use her power that much, a lot of things about her did not make any sense, i'm not gonna talk about her being raised in Mongolia cause what was that?, many things about that don't make any sense.

The male lead is not appealing enough, i like the actor but they could’ve worked more on the haircut, and his overall personality, if not getting a whole new other actor, his acting was better than his other kdramas but he still lacks a lot in my opinion, some things were too easy and unrealistic, like the fact that she found her family immediately, and the fact that the male lead simply allowed her to join him on a police dr*g mission, that does not make sense at all, they literally just met, the love story lacks a lot, they didn’t confess, they don’t hangout together unless it’s work, overall maybe the worst two characters in the kdrama.

The mom, she’s so hot, her character is hot, she’s rich AND does good in the community, she’s a good person but not to evil people, i likes how she was helping a lot, without her they would've not caught the culprit, she wasn’t nice to her son but she kinda made up for it at the end.

The dad, he’s the nicest, i wish he had more screen time especially with his daughter, the fact that he raised her up but she’s always with her mom is sad.

The brother, it was so sad seeing everyone body shaming him, yes they stopped doing that at the end but at what cost, it’s the sad reality for fat people unfortunately, i liked him, he’s very sweet, and funny.

The uncle, he’s hilarious always made me laugh whenever he was on screen, would've been more fun if he actually got into a relationship with the secretary, i would’ve loved if he was on screen more often.

The grandma, I love her so much, she made me laugh a lot, with her boyfriend, and I guess she was almost the one who used her power the most , but every time she uses it, it’s funny as hell, and the fact that she sacrificed herself for her daughter and grand daughter, that scene was touching.

The dr*gs, they were always inconsistent with the information, and as a viewer there was too much information about it most of it was useless, it was confusing sometimes, and I wished they were actual scenes of the culprits getting punished, or the dr*g addicts and a bit of their stories, they needed more details on that rather than the other information about the investors.

Bread song, his character was funny, but I wish they didn’t drag his whole thing till the end, they could’ve mad his identity and plot deeper.

And finally, the best for the last, the villain Ryu shi oh, the hottest character of all the others, he had a backstory, a deep character, he was honest, he trusted namsoon, he liked her, he tried getting rid of the mafia life, yes he sold dr*gs, he used dr*gs to get stronger, he still didn’t hurt namsoon until he found out she betrayed him, he loved her, treated her nicely, smiled at her and her only, took her everywhere with him, didn’t suspect any of her weird and suspicious behavior, he took her to her house everyday and didn’t leave till she was out of his sight, he told her his secrets, told her his childhood story, he is THE STANDARD.
Only thing he wanted was freedom, I don’t care if people say it’s pretty privilege or whatsoever, he CARRIED, he was the only character that actually had story, he made me sympathize with his character. The fact that he k*lled himself is so sad, he deserved better honestly, maybe another chance, but him k*lling himself was so unfair.
And the fact that in the whole drama him and namsoon didn’t fight…. It ruined the whole thing, it would’ve been so good if they had an actual fight and we could see who’s stronger. I still have a lot to say but I think this is enough lol.

Overall 4/10.
Ryu shi oh gets a 20/10

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Garbage Sequel - BWS & Min/Bong Cameo are the only Redeeming Factor (Hence 1 Point Each for Them)

No one can deny the popularity of Strong Woman Do Bong Soon. It might have its flaws, but is one of the most popular K-dramas that can be termed as a Classic of 2015-2020 times. The Bong-Bong & Min-Min couple is legendary both on-screen and off-screen, so this is definitely a series that you can recommend to others and rewatch.

Hence, when this spin-off/sequel was announced with such a strong cast, expectations were sky-high. For me, I was both excited and nervous, cause it is not easy to live up to Prequels, especially when they are such a hit. Still keeping the hope alive, courtesy the strong cast that the drama had got - I expected great things to happen! Alas, it did not and here is my breakdown of what went wrong and why only Byeok Woo Seok's portrayal of the charming antagonist Ryu Shi-Oh is the only redeeming point in this drama!

----------------------------------------------------------| SHORT REVIEW |----------------------------------------------------------

♥ Best Things About this Drama ♥

1. Ryu Shi-Oh: one of the best portrayal of antagonists in a long time. He will charm your pants off & definitely deserved more than what he got in screen-time. He is the reason, I could watch the drama every weekend and not drop it!
2. The cameo of our beloved Bong-Min Couple from prequel: Warning: This is just 5-10 minutes in early episode. But even in that short time, they did more than what transpires in the rest of the drama by the main protagonists.

✘What Went Terribly Wrong for this Drama ✘

1. Biased portrayal of women power: as a woman, I personally felt the 3 women were over the top and borderline abused their powers. The heroics were illogical and meh.
2. Unnecessary side characters: the poor couple, fake Namsoon and lover Barista - complete waste of talent, time! Randomly introduced, not fleshed out and then dropped without much notice.
3. Zero Chemistry of Main Leads: Zilch, Nada, Nothing you feel when you see them onscreen. The butterflies are zombies in the stomach after seeing them, especially when you compare to the toe-curling adorable couple Bong-Min in S1.

✧❅✦ SUMMARY ✦❅✧
• Overall hugely disappointing. I think those like me who watched it while it aired did it only cause of the villain.
• Anyone thinking of watching it now - you have been warned. Maybe you can watch the whole show in 2x to get the gist of it and slow down for parts/characters that you like.
• I know there is a Season 3 in the works - but if it is anything like this show, I am skipping it. The only factor we liked in this series is gone, so not worth it. Unless they take note and make it more like Season 1.
• My rankings for acting is 9/10 only for Ryu Shi-Oh, rest of the actors are great as individuals but they had very unlikable traits as characters. The rewatch score too is only cause I would like to watch the villain charm us again, and again.
• Just cause of Byeok Woo Seok and the Cameo of Park Bo Young and Park Hyung Sik - I am rating this series a 6. They individually were a 10/10 of course. But take them out and this series would be a 0-2 rating or entirely Skipped.


----------------------| DETAILED REVIEW - Expanding more on Best & Worst Parts of this Show |------------------------

✧❅✦ BEST PART OF THIS DRAMA ✦❅✧

❤️ Ryu Shi-Oh:
While we always want the heroes to win, good to triumph over evil, there is always some antagonists that are hearts bleed out for. You know that had they been in a better environment, had there been a helping/loving hand extended to them - they would shine bright, perhaps brighter than the main leads. You would not justify their evil doings, no, but then you would think that had you been there - you would have tried to understand them, maybe see things from their perspective and bought them to light. They are antagonists you would root for - as their characters are so well written and so well portrayed, that you can't help but be enamored and be a fan. Some names that come to my mind - Thanos, Joker, Pain, Itachi, Light Yagami, Yoo Ji-tae
as Woo-jin Lee, Darth Vader and so on. They have a fanbase and following of their own, and it is quite justified cause they are such impactful characters.

May be it is not the same level, but Ryu Shi-Oh would definitely be on this list for me. I had seen the actor in a charming puppy kind of ML role in 20th Century Girl, and I was smitten. But when he arrived in this drama, the aura/charms and overall screen presence were nothing short of earth-shattering. While from the start you know he would be doomed, but still you wanted to root for him - and that little moments were he left behind his dark persona and was just another boy trying hard to be loved and make his place in this world. Yes, his means were not right and we wish he had been dealt better cards in life, but he so far was the only reason - I looked forward to watching this drama every weekend, and the rating I give for acting and rewatch is solely cause of him.

I cannot wait for Byeok Woo Seok's other projects - cause going by the popularity of his video edits on SNS, he is the only good thing from this drama and I can only hope and pray that he gets opportunities that make him grow upwards and onwards - and for us viewers it will be a delight as always to see such a handsome man with such talent!

❤️ The cameo of Do Bong Soon and Ahn Min Hyuk:
Yes, you are reading this right! Even that less than 5-10 minute cameo was highlight of this show, which came early on and gave us hope. Unfortunately the light goes out with them, cause the rest of the show is just a chaotic mess, wasting talent.

✧❅✦ THINGS THAT JUST DID NOT WORK ✦❅✧

✘ Biased portrayal of women power/attempt at feminism:
As a woman, I was quite delighted at the whole notion of these series, where women run the show. In the prequel, maybe Do-Bong Soon's mother abused her power but that was one perspective, the others were doing it right. But here the women are powerful and they show-off, to the point that they debase their partner/children and common people around them. This did not sit well with me. Feminism or Women Empowerment means having an equal seat at the table, not overpowering someone just cause you are strong. This is just my opinion but this did not make me appreciate the dynamics the 3 women had, and most of the times it seemed so over-the-top. I know many would say had it been a man or story from male perspective, we would be okay with it. I feel that was the past, if we are having stories showing Strong Women, I think we can take a better approach and change perspective. What is the difference between the past portrayal and now, if we use the same formula?

✘ Unnecessary Characters and storyline:
The poor couple, the barista lover and the fake Namsoon - if you really think about it, had they been omitted the story would have remained same. Like they introduced these characters, but never expanded on their storylines and then dumped them like trash/incomplete stories in the end. Waste of talent, screentime and viewer time!

✘ Lackluster Main Lead and Love Story:
I can write pages after pages for the prequel Bong-Bong and Min-Min couple, they were the right mix for a K-drama couple. I think we all know how good they were on-screen that we still hope they come together off-screen (Too bad I feel this is another Leonardo/Kate Winslet story). But the main leads here were too sugar sweet to be liked. I mean they had their cute moments, but it was too over-the-top again and the chemistry was so off the charts. Like negatives for me.

The antagonist and FL gave better love/cute/adorable moments than they did. In fact, if you are active on social media, there is a huge amount of edit on this and you can see why!

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l'ho vista sperando un finale migliore per Ryu Si Oh

sinceramente pensavo di droppare la serie all'episodio 4, l'ho continuata solo per Ryu Si Oh, che nel bene o nel male ha portato avanti da solo la serie, farlo uscire di scena così è stata una stronzata, con il modo giusto avrebbe avuto un glow up migliore..
Nam Soon di un imbarazzo totale.. non la commento nemmeno per quanto mi abbia totalmente delusa il suo personaggio, io capisco l'infanzia lontano dalla società, vissuta in campagna con quattro persone in croce, ma non credo che il popolo mongolo sia così stupido come in qualche modo lo rappresenta lei..
la madre? che dire.. pessima.. non solo si sente superiore al resto delle persone perché ha forza e ricchezza.. (no il fatto che si "sdebiti" con chiunque tratti bene la figlia non la giustifica).
uno dei temi trattati, come il delicatissimo tema sull'obesità, fatto passare per una storiella tappa buco..
la storia d'amore della nonna mi sarebbe piaciuta un po di più se il vero villani fosse stato il fidanzato della nonna..
il poliziotto, per quanto carino possa essere l'attore, lho trovato a tratti inutile..
questa serie è un vero FLOP

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I was so excided to watch this and so disappointed by the end of it.

With Strong Woman Do Bong Soon (Swdbs) being one of my favorite dramas and this one being a sequel written by the same person I thought this would be a great show but I couldn't be more wrong. WTF was this show?
P.S. For those of you who are going to tell me to look at it as a different show and not compare it to Swdbs, No, just no it's a sequel taking place in the same world, and Bong Soon literally has a cameo. So I'm going to compare.

This drama is supposed to be an action rom-com but there are no enjoyable action scenes and it doesn't help that there is basically never any suspense as the "heroes" in the story at all times have the upper hand. There is never a moment where it feels like Shi Oh is going to succeed in his plan. Then for the fighting scenes, I guess they are somewhat okay however this story is supposed to take place not long after Swdbs yet so much of this part of the family's strength is different and what's with their ability to know when the others are in trouble when that's not something that existed in Swdbs. As for the romance part of things literally, none of the characters who are supposedly in love with each other have any chemistry. As for the comedy, nothing was funny, there wasn't a single humorous moment.

On top of that, about half of this show feels like filler scenes. What even is the importance of any of the scenes with that homeless couple past the first few episodes? Anyway, this is overall a very disappointing show and while I would like to watch a better sequel, I think it's best if we stop here. This drama just shows why it's better to only have 1 season shows.

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Writing 101: How to make a happy ending a bad ending

If a happy ending and a cameo from the original IP (Strong Woman Do Bongsoon) couldn't even save a show then it means it's very bad storytelling.

You've got as FL a reckless girl with superhuman power. Overload it with an overacting, self righteous with a savior complex FL's mother. Sprinkle in the ditzy FL's grandmother with a cringe love story. Then add in a kind of wimpy, goofy cop with gold digging parents as ML. Garnish it with a sexy villain with a tragic back story. That is the recipe for making you root for the villain and his redemption instead of the good guys. The story should have been about Namsoon but Geum Ja kept being pushed to the forefront. It would have been fine if Geum Ja was a good mother and on the surface she is but she truly isn't. Her fat phobic comments to her son, her derision for her husband, her self righteousness just because she is strong turned me off. The comedy were cringe and weren't funny, not at all. The only people that I really liked were Namsoon's adoptive parents, the villain Ryu Shio, Shio's childhood friend and Namsoon's father.

The way they ended Ryu Shio's arc was so tragic that even though the story supposedly have a 'happy' ending, it made me unsatisfied and wished that I have never watched this drama. Will I rewatch? Will I recommend it to others? Definitely no, unless it is to give an example of very bad and lousy writing with lousy and overacting actors.

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Low stakes and oversaturation of characters

Before going into this, it was already pretty clear that Strong Woman DBS, which had one of the most iconic kdrama couples ever, was a difficult act to follow. I'm going to try and get all the comparisons out of the way first. While I wasn't a HUGE fan of the humor in SWDBS, it knew well enough to take serious moments seriously, and everything else was strong enough to make up for it; I loved the leads and the murder plot was thrilling and high-stakes. This drama has the same issue with its humor, but its other aspects are either weak or worse.

The humor just isn't my style at all. There's a lot of physical humor and over-acting; it might be fine if it was only used in select moments, but I felt like it permeated every second of drama, even big fight scenes and what should've been tense moments with antagonists. Overall it made the entire tone of the drama seem kind of off — as if nothing actually mattered because it was all for laughs.

The drug plot felt low-stakes not just because of the tone, but also just because of the way it was written. I don't think anyone going into this drama should expect any profound commentary on drugs or class issues in South Korea. The drama seems to try every once in a while with an offhanded comment, but it really doesn't go much deeper and it's even self-contradictory sometimes. There's parts where they touch upon it, but they also make its lead a "good billionaire" because she's kind with her money and because she pulled herself up by her bootstraps. It felt contradictory to any commentary, just so viewers could get some #girlboss moments.

In terms of characters — I'm not a fan of ensembles to begin with and this drama is a good example of why. It felt like there were so many characters and so many subplots that none of them got enough screentime to be complete, and less important subplots took over more engaging ones. The drama spent SO MUCH screentime on the grandmother's romance, which felt slapstick and unserious, while Namsoon and Heeshik's screentime began to dwindle. And as the drama went on it felt like more and more antagonists were getting introduced as random side characters, and because they served no purpose other than to trigger plot points and had no backstory or personality, they began to blur into each other.

The only antagonist that really had a good story was the villain Ryu Shi-O, but my bigger issue with him plays into my low-stakes criticism. He was just...a bad villain. He has physical abilities, sure, but his plans, goals, and motivations weren't that clear, and most of all I just can't believe that he couldn't piece together anything our protagonists were planning when they were being so obvious about it. I mean...Namsoon's acting...

With so many things going on, romantic lines didn't have enough screentime for good development. I'd already mentioned not caring about the grandmother's romance, and while Namsoon/Heeshik were the best in the show, it felt like they didn't really go deeper than both of them being cute.

Honestly, I think there's an audience for this somewhere out there — maybe someone who likes quirkiness and shenanigans — but it's not me. I'm giving this a 2 (and not a 1) just because it didn't utterly infuriate me as much as me just not really caring.

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