Bob

I'm just writing this for me...to say what I want to say, so take it however you want. I'm a fan of the "Light On" series and have watched a LOT of them. I like Crime Drama's and in the past 5 years I've watched over 400 Korean, Japanese, Chinese, and Taiwanese Dramas. But I no longer will watch any shows where kids are bullied. I gave up on this show in the first 20 minutes because I am assuming that's an aspect that will definitely be on display. I've seen all the "outstanding " Bullying drama's like Weak Class Hero 1, 2 - fantastic - but I'm forever done with all the violence and relentless humiliations depicted. I can't take it anymore. Nor will I watch any shows where a child is shown in danger! , I have come to question the sanity of the creators of shows that will use a child in a tragic, despairing, heartbreaking, situation in order to make their show "edgy" or to elicit a manipulative emotion from the audience. So damn many shows consistently depict children in horrific situations, disgusting situations and I always say: "Why? Why show this? Who the F$%K thinks this is good for the mental health of a child actor first and why do they think an audience wants to see this?'"
That's it. It's my rant against the people out there regurgitating Bullying and Child Endangerment story lines in Drama's. Showing episode after episode of the most vulnerable people in our society being beaten or taken advantage of is just...crap. I've seen enough to last a lifetime.

I came for a Police Drama, got a Marriage-in-trouble Drama instead. Zzzzzz. I turned it off in the 5th episode at the exact moment our Police Woman Lead chooses to go inside the old Husbands hotel room. WTF? Just dumb. A shark jumping moment for her character and the series. (Look up the phrase "Jumping the Shark" if you're unfamiliar.) No idea what happened, if anything, but I didn't care. The show had begun to change it's focus towards she and her husband's troubles and I was already bored by its frequency and repetition, so I opted out. Glad I did. From reading everyone else's comments I was right. Too bad. A lot of effort and money goes into producing something like this, but they should have known better not to have changed it all up. in my humble opinion.

A very good series. Very good. Unfortunately the terrible title is probably what' kept it from being more well known and respected. And yes it is definitely 2-3 episodes too long, but there's so much good in it that it's still worth checking out. It's well-acted and everything that happens the way it happens is believable, which can't be said for a lot of dramas. The twists and unraveling of events is accomplished very well. I'd give it an 8-8.5 and not a 9+ because I think the director and editor were too in love with their creation and didn't want to trim all they filmed. In the later part of the series there were a lot of superfluous scenes. Nice to watch, well acted, but they didn't move the story along so they should have been cut. At last that's my 2 cents.
But it's a drama that should definitely be seen.

Don't bother. Not worth watching when there's actual coherent detective/crime mysteries out there to get into. Congratulations to anyone who stayed with this series though - you're better than me - but after a ridiculous amount of timelines thrown at us every 5 minutes, and spanning over 30 years just in the first 2 episodes...and...and with characters usually hooded and impossible to distinguish,introduced for all of a micro-second, I gave up. I'm not an idiot, my "jam" is watching all Asian crime drama's, but I honestly had no idea who was who, who did what to whom when and why, and what anyone's realtionship was to anyone else. So for me it was an easy pass.

Even if I hadn't seen every episode of the original Michiko Daimon Doctox X series and films, I'd still know this is very poor Hospital series. Here's the MAIN thing...in Doctor X the time spent on all the surgeries was a lot, and they showed a lot of coverage of the insides of patients where you know, they were actually cutting and removing and stitiching etc. in BLack Forceps the surgeries are like a joke. Massively difficuly "rescue operations" by the doctors is given 15 seconds of doing this and that and then it's all about the FAST STITCHING UP. OH MY GOD, IT'S LAUGHABLE. It's like the filmmakers think doing fast stitching is what makes a genius doctor. It's seriously stupid.
Doctor X was a masterpiece of hospital surgery compared to this P.O.S. Series.

I can only hope in the 2nd season there'll be some improvement in this regard.

Just gave up half-way through the 8th episode. The young cop was just too bad an actor. He wasn't right for the part at all, AT ALL, and he played every scene pissed off and angry. He's a non-charismatic and charmless actor. The female leade was bland. The cowardly cop Leng only gets my support because he acted like a real person and 'cause he looks like a young Wagner Moura. I've seen far too many GREAT crime drama's to continue watching a not very complex, poorly acted and edited, slow and repetitous non-mystery. Sorry but this one's not worth your 9 or 10 hours of time. Well, at least not mine.

The fatal flaw in this film is that there wasn't enough quality time given to the King's embrace of his new life in the village and especially his connection with the warden. In order for me to have felt the emotions the director and screenwriter want me to feel, I needed more than just a montage of the King having a meal with a handful of villagers and a few solo moments with his warden. If we had been given more than just a passing of "oh hey, he's getting along smiling with the villagers" then I'd have been rightly moved by the film. But I feel like the Director missed the meat of the story by not digging deeper in this regard. I kept saying to myself "Wait. What'd I miss? Why are the King and the warden suddenly like the greatest of friends? When did this occur? Offscreen it seems"
It contained a lot of good stuff, but the main relationship was executed very surfacey, not with any real depth and that's a shame.

I've seen every episode and the 2 special movies of the original Doctor X: Michiko Daimon, so I was excited for this K-drama version. . I'm not dumb enough to cast a full opinion after only one episode but I will say this: The editing, the timing bothered me. It threw everything off. They allowed for way too many pauses during important scenes and as a result, it diluted the impact of those scenes rather than highlighting them. Just get to it, already. Case in point...the dialogue when she was on the stage should have been quicker, more back and forth, instead it played out boring and awkward. And her entrance into the operating room to rescue the patient was far too delayed - we all knew she was on her way, we're not stupid - and when she actually entered, it was more about the frigging intern falling down and be agog at her, when it should have been shot differently so she gets a HERO moment. (And what was that scene in the billard hall when suddenly the injured dude and his friend are nowhere to be seen while she points the cue at the intern. Was that supposed to be dream-like or just really bad shooting? We should have seen the 2 dudes since they were next to the intern, but we didn't. WTF?)
Perhaps the way KJW is playing Doctor X will grow on me, but I've never thought her a good actress anyways. She's one -note. Bland. Not expressive. Catatonic. It's one thing to stare at people and give them the "riot act", but the way she does it is devoid of life, of emotions, of acting like a real person. She's just a blank slate saying words in her always emotionless way...and people on MDL think she's a genius. (Sigh) I'm hoping down the line we'll discover there's a reason behind her "on- the-spectrum" like performance and that it's not just because she's playing this role the way she plays every other role...boring and false.
At least I'm glad so far this series has gotten rid of some of the inane comedy from the original. But as someone here said already - more or less - if KJW's performance doesn't become as charismatic as the orignal Michiko Daimon actress' performance, then the show will fail. Here's hoping KJW surprises me

Hilarious! One can only laugh at the stupidity. Beginning of episode 9...by now it's clear to the COPS and the Main PROSECUTOR the killer is He Ping, the weasly looking 2nd string reporter/anchor at TBN, who is also the boss of the extremely kind and caring reporter Yan Zhen. Who over the course of the series has helped the main prosecutor a Shit Ton, like without her help the dude and police would be nowhere. So when she comes to police and the Main Prosecutor to ask if He Ping is involved, like is he the killer!!!, they say nothing to her. No comment. Like nice one you assholes. They don't say anything like "Listen, stay away from that guy! He's your boss, but DO NOT go anywhere with him no matter what. We think he might be the killer - please keep it to yourself - but we care about you so we want you to know that never ever go anywhere alone with him. Stay away!" That's what they should do for this friend reporter, but they don't. Sooooooo, if she gets kidnapped and killed byt the killer...this show can eat it. I abhor stupidity in the writing of series. It's so obvious in real fkng life the Cops and Prosecutor would tell her exactly what I said. But dumb TV series don't do this. I mean the shows only a 6.5 anyways, so why am I upset right? Ha ha. Morons who mistake good production values for quality are many. Just cause this show looks good and is "professional" doesn't make it any good. And oh yeah, gratuitious dead body shots all over the place. Ooohhhh, meaningful. Hardly, cheap theatrics. F this show after all. I give it a 5

Wait, what??? End of episode 6 dude is near death, locked inside a refrigeration truck amongst pig carcasses. Beginning of Ep. 7...well there he is just hanging out near bars spying on someone. WTF??
How did he get out? Are they NOT going to show us that? My gosh...I can only take so much. Why would they not show us how he escaped from the truck????? Even if it's the 2 women opening the doors finally and he runs out scaring the hell out of them...we need to see this.
Otherwise it's just bad storytelling!

It's good, but ya know...it's one of those dumb shows where the screenwriter never has the suspects explain to the cops exactly what happened and who they think framed them. It's obvious and they could let it all out, but they don't. So one suspect dies and the other escapes, all because the screenwriter wants to write a 13 episode "mystery". But it's a joke. The best mysteries and police dramas don't have characters acting stupidly just to further the length of the series.
I'm on episode 6, 7 more, and I'd be gobsmacked if the killer is different than who I KNOW it to be this early.
Anyways...

Middle of episode 7 and I love this series. Everyone is nailing their roles and the script is awesome. But I stopped for the moment because I can't believe they chose to have the female villain bribe the audio/visual guy at the wedding with what looks like about 100 yuan, so she can get on the mic and ruin Amei's wedding. Seriously. THIS happened. Employee of the month there buddy! Way to allow some rando strange-ass female to just come into your booth, and let her disrupt the wedding. WTF? This choice on the show's part is just awful. I mean if she threw the dude stacks of 10,000 yuan that she got from Amei in a previous episode, I maybe...maybe could understand it. But it's clear she shows him a few bills only and next thing you know, she's spouting her crap. "Here you go, strange lady. Just flick this switch and you're good to go! Thanks for money, now I can buy a six pack of beer." I pray there's a scene where this employee gets fired and roughed up a little bit. Only misstep so far for the series.

Hated the smug, self-righteous prosecutor. Whole series was a slog and not nearly as "important and meaningful" as the writer and director thought it was...but had that douche been sent to prison like he sent Li Mi Feng 14 years earlier I would at least been satisfied. 15 eps was 3 too many.

Oh...my...gosh. Never have I seen an actor so far out of their depth than Sandrine Pinna pretending to be the Deputy Chief in this second season. She is absolutely terrible. An amateur actor. She is so undeserving of being given this role, this starring role. There is nothing remotely interesting in anything that she does or says. She has zero charisma. It is beyond comprehension that she would be cast in this second season. What a disaster. Who are the geniuses behind this decision? Who are the geniuses who thought putting her in the show was a good idea? Blows my mind. It's rare to find a TV series where an actor is so so horrible, especially when millions are being spent, but if you want to see it, then tune in and revel at the high-school quality acting from SANDRINE PINNA.

I feel sorry for people in this comments section who criticize the performance of the lead villain, the female Boss of Bablyon....saying she's bad or cartoony. They're showing they have no intelligence whatsoever when it comes to understanding acting; Understanding what's a great performance and what's not. I expect they're the kind of people who think being a villain means being a man, being cool, being strong, silent, menacing, and blah blah blah...all the usual boring performances given by actors cast as Villains.
They're tiny little minds might one day realize how feral and REAL, how human with all her pettiness and being quick to temper...how true a villain this actress really was, but I doubt it.
I really hate comment sections because who are we to judge?? Any stupid doofus can say "That actress sucks, she's terrible, ruined the show for me..." yadda yadda yadda, and get away with it.
You should have a degree in acting if you're going to criticize someone's performance. Otherwise shut up.
If you want my final opinion on her performance...it was the best one in the entire season 2. And without a doubt, she gave one of the best Villain performances in the last 10 years of dramas.
So there. If idiots can say she sucks, then this idiot begs to differ.

Very impressive Drama. I want to thank all involved for making it. But I just spent 45 minutes reading all the past comments posted here, even from 6 years ago, and I can't believe how ignorant so many viewers were to use the term Stockholm Syndrome in relation to the FL and the villain. Are you kidding me? If you don't know what that term means, don't pretend you're smarter than you are and use it. Because it's offensive. There was a whole damn rabbit hole of back and forth between viewers and when I wasn't laughing at the ignorance, I was pissed off.
I guess we can't all be geniuses...but really, explain to me how anyone can watch 16 episodes of this show and their takeaway is that the FL had SS with the villain?

I gave up after 30 minutes. I don't want to watch a young mute girl for 7 and then 8 episodes probably be put in danger. And I lready I feel sad for her everytime I see her sad little face.. Why watch a show that'll only make me nervous for what may happen to a vulnerable child? I also can't stand the "Straw Dogs", "Wicker Man" mentality on display by the Goto Family. I've watched a lot of violent drama's and movies in my life but after 40 some years, I'm not down with unpleasantness any more. I no cruelty and shock, so I won't subject myself to 15 hours of what I know will be brutal, ugly, and ultimately a waste of my time. Perhaps this is a show for those 30 and under who haven't yet see all the thousands of media I've seen. So this old duffer sees no point in watching something like this...professional as it may be. Give me a great crime thriller where children aren't the focus and I'm down with that. Anyways...I just wanted to give my reason for not watching a show a lot of "youngsters" seem to think is the bees knees. As if.

The scene where IU gets eggs thrown at her by 3 teenage girls was the tipping point for me. Her first reaction upon getting hit was honest and the girls were letting her have it with their words. But then in a decision of complete lunacy by the writer, director, everyone...they cut to little IU standing over the kneeling 3 teenagers who appear cowed by the tough as nails, shouting IU, channeling her character from Hotel Del Luna. IU's acting was so phoney and the scene was so cringe and corny that I said "That's it for me. If the show doesn't have enough sense to NOT portray this scene as stupid as they do, then I can't trust them".

Because MDL seems to be made up of immature reviewers who aren't smart enough to understand going into a show like Gold Land, that it's mature and dark and serious, and when their favorite actress isn't repeating her past cutesy roles and instead trying to stretch herself as an actress, then they say "eeewww, this stinks, I'm mad, this is terrible, waaaa waaaaa, mommy Park Bo Young is sad and dirty, I don't want this, waaaa"

The guy at the end? I'll tell you what it means.

It doesn't mean a second season. It means they're both going to die. Woogi didn't betray her. The guy followed him to find Heeju. Woogi was also the one sending the "wine" box filled with us dollars and Jinman's ashes. Now that the Cambodian guy knows where she lives, in a zillion dollar french mansion, he'll torture them both, kill them, and take what's left of their money and gold.
It's not a set-up for a 2nd season...the guy represents their death. Ain't no happy ending. Which makes the series even better.
Sorry to burst some bubbles.