El Lado Oscuro de Gangnam (2024)

The Immortal Pimp

The drama should’ve been titled “The Immortal Pimp” 😌👌 because that’s the most accurate summary of the entire series.

Now, let me start by saying I love Ji Chang Wook—he’s one of my favorite Korean actors. But even his charm couldn’t save this mess of a show. This drama is painfully average at best, and honestly, calling it average feels like I’m being generous. Where do I even begin?

First, the characters. Or should I say, cardboard cutouts masquerading as people. There’s absolutely zero character depth, and development? Forget about it. The leads are so one-dimensional it’s almost impressive. They seem to have two modes: evil or dumb—there’s no in-between. It’s like the writers got bored halfway through and decided, "Let’s make everyone insufferable." The only person I remotely cared about was the prosecutor. The rest? I wouldn’t have blinked if they all fell off a cliff.

Then there’s the storytelling. What storytelling, you ask? Exactly. The plot is an incoherent, jumbled mess. It’s like someone threw a bunch of clichés, random violence, and melodrama into a blender and hit "puree." Speaking of violence, it’s completely senseless and over the top. Instead of adding tension, it just feels like a cheap gimmick to shock the audience.

Oh, and let’s talk about those "fights," because apparently, this drama secretly moonlights as a fantasy. Our male leads here are basically superhuman. Fighting dozens of thugs at once, etting stabbed multiple times in the stomach, slashed in the arm, hit with metal pipes? Child’s play. At one point, I half-expected him to regenerate Wolverine-style or start glowing like Iron Man. I mean, seriously, is this supposed to be gritty crime drama or Super Pimp vs. the World? The sheer absurdity of these scenes makes you wonder if someone in the writer’s room mistakenly thought they were working on a Marvel script.

The one redeeming factor should’ve been the cast, right? I mean, the lineup is stacked. But nope, not even they could salvage this train wreck. It’s like watching a group of world-class chefs trying to make a gourmet meal with expired instant noodles.

Re-watch value? Zero. Not even a second glance. For anyone curious about this show, let me save you some time: skip it. Do yourself a favor and watch The Worst of Evil instead if you didn't yet.

Honestly, the only thing this drama succeeded in was making me reconsider my life choices for sticking with it until the end.

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a big bloody hopeless mess

Gangnam B Side promised an engaging dive into the deep dark underbelly of Seoul’s Gangnam district, but unfortunately, it falls flat due to its poor writing and disjointed storyline. The series struggles to find its focus, hopping between the three main characters and plotlines without ever truly developing any of them. Instead of creating a cohesive narrative, it spends too much time shifting between viewpoints, which distracts from the overall story. Even after finishing the show, I found myself just as confused as when I had started. I was looking forward to this series, since a large part of the cast was recast from one of my favorite dramas, The Worst of Evil but unfortunately Gangnam B Side did not hold up. The acting from Ji Chang Wook and Bibi shines as the only real bright spot in this series. Ji Chang Wook’s performance brings a complex emotional depth to his character, while Bibi's undeniable screen presence dominates every scene she's in. I am looking forward to see Bibi continue to grow her career in acting and hope to see her headline more dramas in the near future. Unfortunately, their strong performance is the only redeeming quality that keeps this drama from being a complete loss. Sadly Gangnam B Side ultimately falls short of its potential, weighed down by an incoherent plot and an overwhelming number of underdeveloped and one-dimensional characters.

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