First Lady (2023)

Steve Jobs on Crack

Where would you even begin with this crazy hot mess? The first 3-4 episodes were acceptable despite moving too fast and creating many gaps. However, as the drama unfolded, it became clear that it was biting off more than it could chew. Right off from episode 5, the drama became an irrecoverable mess. The pacing was erratic, jumping between weak fabricated plot twists, jarring narrative and bloated segments with no sense of cohesion. The drama was throwing everything at the viewers to see what sticks. Action, thriller, fantasy, sci-fi, mystery, melodrama, the drama couldn't decide what it wanted to be nor it managed to mix any of them well. The characters felt like caricatures rather than fully developed individuals, and their motivations often seemed arbitrary, inconsistent and generally weak. If the drama wanted to go for stupid ridiculousness then why not raise the stakes to match? Not even the ending could measure up to its intent despite its "supposed" twist.

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Not Good Enough

Korean Drama '' Pandora : Beneath the Paradise '' is a sci fi melodrama.

The drama is messy, using too many genres, but failing to deliver in any of the fronts it opens. From a boring melodrama, to an eye-rolling spy thriller, the drama didn't handle its twists well, and so the story ended up being hard to keep up and hard to believe, even for a makjang. It seemed like the drama wanted to explain things that got out of hand by using unbelievable technological achievements without explaining anything further. Also, there were a lot of plotlines that were left half baked or unfinished.

Finally, the performances were good enough, even though the script didn't aid them.

So, overall, three out of ten.

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