1
1
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.
====
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.
========================
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
======
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.
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.
====
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.
========================
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
======
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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