First Man (2025)

This Drama Had So Much Potential

I will say I enjoyed this drama until I reached episode 88-90 where the female lead, Oh Jang Mi breaks up with the male lead, Baek Ho. Her move totally destroyed Baek Ho. Her betrayal, made infinitely worse by announcing her marriage to his brother, Oh Jung Ho. She makes this drastic move to protect Baek Ho but does she really believe Chae Wha, her future mother in law, will honor her promise to not kill her family or Baek Ho ? Chae Wha has no honor can never be trusted . So why marry Oh Jin Ho? Also how can Oh Jun Ho marry Oh JangMi when he knows his brother loves her more than life itself. Oh Jang Mi should have found a better way to seek her revenge and get justice but instead chose a way to totally destroy the love of her life, Baek Ho.
So if you step back and look where we are in this drama, there is so much sadness that personally, I really can’t watch. Does anyone besides me see any redeeming value in the FLs behavior because I just don’t see any happy moments….. just incredible sadness. I need a reason to keep watching this drama and right now I have none .

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What Would You Do for Love?

Twins, love, revenge, what else could you want from a Korean makjang? While this does have all of the above with an extra twenty episodes than most shows, it unfortunately falls short on several important key points for it to be a memorable Korean soap opera.

LIKES
+ FL and ML romance.
+ FL and ML characters. FL villain. Supporting cast.
+ Heists and set pieces.

DISLIKES
- Lots of overhearing plans.
- Some underwhelming twists.
- Not enough makjang / tantrums / confrontations.
- Greed is bad... okay?

Many revenge makjangs don't have room for romance or love because it complicates the revenge. If the ML doesn't want FL to get hurt, he will get in the way of the plan and it will not be fun to watch. However, The First Man is slightly different because it actually uses the relationship between FL and ML really well.

In fact, they almost can't do very much on their own and need the help of one another, which is the core element of any love story in high production Korean dramas. Props to the writer for making it work, because it's always badass to see ML charge in to fight and save FL, or the FL to make a heartbreaking decision because she loves him. This theme repeats itself throughout the show, as you see the FL matriarch villain, the ML rival, and the FL matriarch villain assistant all show what they would do for love.

The other highlight of the show are the heists. Not exactly like robbing a casino, but there are some elaborate plans the FL carries out and she needs the help of her brother, ML, or the housekeeper. When these plans go down, they're fun and exciting to watch.

Totaling 140 episodes, a lot of plot does happen in this show. However... it also didn't make me feel anything. (I only got invested in the show around episode 30). It might have to do with the fact that nearly all of the plot twists and planning is overheard outside of bedrooms and offices. Almost none of them are discovered by evidence, speculation, or characters predicting their next chess moves. There are also a lot of fake-outs in the early parts of the show, where you think the twin is going to meet the other twin or a family member, but it doesn't happen.

The main focus of the story is actually on the FL matriarch villain. She gets a lot of screentime compared to the other characters. While some of her story moments are interesting to follow, it's clear she is very delulu, which makes her a not so complicated villain to think about it. Usually, when the villain is sad and grieves, it should feel tragic because they ironically caused their own demise. But in this show, I felt conflicted whether or not I should feel bad for her.

Also, in the early parts of the show, the matriarch villain was trying to do evil stuff to FL family, but they took it as a sign of her being a generous sponsor and benefactor. It's pretty funny and reminded me of a villain who unintentionally became helpful. This changes by 1/3 of the show, of course.

The death scenes and the family revelations are gut wrenching and done very well, particularly the two mothers of the FL and ML. The other performances are not as intense, however, because there are barely any heroic confrontations and villain taunting in the show. And so, compared to other revenge makjangs, there is way less hair pulling and slaps. It never really reaches the same level of intensity.

FL and her twin are very smart characters. It's a breath of fresh air to see them actually capable when they are cornered and desperate. Basically, when coincidences start getting too strange, they start to suspect and gather more evidence. There's even 10 episodes or so dedicated to FL twin suspecting her mother, where we think FL twin is a silly spoiled brat, but is quite capable and cunning when she puts her mind to it. However, this does fall off in the last quarter of the show, where many vital pieces of evidence are not anticipated by the characters ahead of time. Instead, they are found by "oh hey, I found a secret CCTV that no one planted or talked about earlier in the show." There is not much foreshadow to these events and little payoff for them.

Finally, according to FL, the theme of the show is... greed is bad? I think the real theme of the show has to do with love, since we see several different characters do extreme things for love. Love is neither good or bad, but it can make people do the craziest things "because" of it.

No shade against the actors and actresses. They are all amazing. However, I personally don't recommend this show, but if you like romance and love in your revenge makjangs, this might be more than enough. However, as I said before, it takes a LONG time before things get interesting, so you'll have to commit if you want the good stuff.

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