♟️ Tails, we win ♨️ Now Pay the Tab °8.7° °Outstanding°
I'm a rock. Go ahead and sear me. I won't budge an inch because I'm a rock. Go ahead and beat me up. I'm solid rock. Go ahead and leave me in darkness. I'm a rock that shines all alone. I don't break, ash, nor decay as I go against nature's way. I survive. I'm... I'm the diamond.
IC is the story of a man on a mission. Park “Sae” Ro Yi has been cruelly abused and tossed in the trash bin. He makes it his goal to beat his enemies at their own game ~ He's the /tenacious/ type. He has a 15 year plan. Ain't nothing gonna turn his head to the right or the left. He will not bow to anyone - his knees don't work that way… Until she changes everything.
Smack dab in the middle of Seoul, Itaewon is one of the wealthiest streets in one of its wealthiest sections. IC, which takes place there, is a 2020 release that is rated 85 on AWiki. It is 1 season consisting of 16 70-minute episodes. There's 3 whole episodes of set up, & in ep4 things start to roll. And it's magnificent. It's rough: Business is a snake pit. It's a satisfying watch, and in the latter episodes, when so many features resort to padding, bad writing, and a general overall dip in quality, IC sprouts wings (and claws) as it becomes stronger and more forceful, with newfound depths. It opens to a counselling session.
Park Seo Joon (Gyeongseong Creature, Kill Me, Heal Me, Midnight Runners) is our ML, Park “Sae” Ro Yi. He looks completely different with that hair~squared. In What's Wrong with Secretary Kim-6.8, he's quite beautiful (WWWSk has an excellent cast, excellent interaction and many wonderful moments, but suffers from the occasional directing and writing miss). In IC, he's more rugged. He's manly. He's controlled on the surface & seething underneath, while exuding pain from every pore of his body. He's a star for a reason. In IC he gets to show his gravitas. He has scores to settle with Chm Jang & his son Geun Won. He decides to start a pub across the street from theirs and beat them at their own game. The Chm will not allow him to survive.
Kim Da Mi (Our Beloved Summer, The Witch: Part 1 The Subversion-7.6) is one of the best characters anywhere, ever, Jo Yi Seo. She's got a dangerously high IQ and a dangerous amount of snark. She's been described as a psychopath. She's the type of girl to decide her future with the flip of a coin. “If it's heads, I'll live the life my mom wants. If it's tails, my mom will cry…” She decides to work instead of going to school: She's matriculated in the Itaewon Class. As the show goes on, her part gets better and better and better and better. She's Omazing. Sae has never once disappointed her. She's decided she really likes him. “I'll kill everyone who's been bothering him.” She declares for team Sae. He should be very frightened, but he just doesn't know it yet.
Kwon Na Ra (Suspicious Partner, My Mister-9.5) portrays Oh Soo Ah. I've only noticed her in Bulgasal: Immortal Souls-6.1, which should have been better, but its problems didn't emanate from her. Yoo Jae Myung (Stranger, Prison Playbook, Portrait of a Family) plays chairman Jang Dae Hee. He's horrid, but his backstory is heartbreaking. He was the oldest of 4 and lost all his siblings to the food shortage and poverty. That's a dark part of Korea's history that is mentioned in features every now and then. (Uncle Samsik-8.4 uses it as a more central theme. The very name Samsik means to eat 3 meals a day and he got his power by first feeding the hungry people). His part seems like he's just a typical 2D psychopathic CEO and derelict father, but his character takes on extra dimensions in the double digit episodes. It's quite moving. He does a press conference in ep10 and his performance Is stunning.
Ahn Bo Hyun is the chairman's spoiled son, Jang Geun Won. He's so good at playing a jerk that you wouldn't know how adorable he can be if you haven't seen some of his other stuff. In Flex X Cop-8.5, he's cheerful and irrepressible. In Her Private Life-8, he's earnest and determined. In My Only Love Song-8.7, a comedy I adore and have watched a couple times, he plays the big silent type. I've also seen him in Descendants of the Sun-8.3, My Runway-7.5, and the subpar My Name-5.7. He's completely different in everything, so he's as versatile as he is good looking - and he /is/ a specimen. This is the first time I've seen him play a loathsome bully, and he is thoroughly loathsome. He only ends up serving as a great motivator.
Kim Dong Hee (A-Teen, Extracurricular) is Jang Geun Soo, a part-timer who has a relationship with the Chairman. He makes a very disappointing decision. As the show went on his acting skills failed to impress, but it could be the role he had to play. Lee Joo Young (Something in the Rain-8.6, Times) plays Ma Hyun, the DanBam Chef who is dealing with major changes. Her character is a lovely human being. Hey, not everyone is going to agree on everything all the time. I mean, 4% of people don't like ice cream. We do, however, have a moral obligation to treat every human being with kindness, dignity, respect, and care.
IC gets the award: It's the first Kdrama I've seen to feature an actor with skin browner than a paper bag. Chris Lyon, who is of obvious African ancestry, plays Kim Toni, a DanBam part-timer. He also sings and plays guitar. He's an American born actor who made friends with some Korean exchange students, visited Korea, and that led to some acting and music gigs. He hasn't gotten alot of work yet. He should. He's wonderful and projects a sense of genuine warmth and care. The comely Park Bo Gum (Record of Youth-5.8, Reply 1988-8.6) makes a guest appearance. Cho Kwang Jin (Cabriolet, Roppongi Class) is the screenwriter, and the directors are Kang Min Gu (May It Please the Court) & Kim Seong Yoon Young (Actors' Retreat). Good team.
IC is great drama, really good romance, and an overall philosophical treatise on pride, revenge, success, and what is really worth living for. The theme is: Happiness. “Beliefs. Ambition. They're words used by those who have nothing but their ego. If you gain nothing, that's just being stubborn and foolish,” says the most morally degenerate character of the show. But, wait a minute, let's define GAIN first, before we sign on to any philosophy. Is successful revenge GAIN? Sae thinks so for most of the show. Living a life based on hatred is really difficult, we learn. Sae tries to live a life motivated by hate and revenge, all while maintaining his moral principles. He keeps it up for a long time but finally must let it go. He finds he's lost nothing.
Leadership style is a theme. One Chairman asks an employee why s/he continued to devotedly work for a hated boss? “It's servility,” the Chairman explains to the blank stare facing him. “You've been tamed to my taste. I pressure everyone around me with the power to tame them like that. It's easy to control them, and I despise them.” The Chairman is held up in direct contrast to Sae, who elevates everyone around him except for the slobs he's trying to bring down. Sae picks up nobodies and takes them to the top WITH him.
Pride is a theme in most Kdramas. ‘It's about The Company.’ ‘The COMPANY provides for my family.’ ‘Ultimately it's about my FAMILY,’ we hear. No.it.isn't. It's about pride. These are the utterances of a person who is probably genuinely self deceived. Speaking of pride, that's what's up between Sae and the Chairman. “Will life be better if I get on my knees?” Sae is fed up. “Why is everybody obsessed with putting me on my knees?” Pride: It always lies. It's what makes us lie to ourselves. ‘Bow to me,’ Sae hears every few episodes. (What does that even do other than provide a temporary illicit thrill?) In the end, Sae understands what's really important. Then, nothing else matters. It's important to maintain dignity, but pride never does anyone any good; it's only a roadblock to living free.
“I'm nothing as bad as /that/ person... There are people going through /worse/… I should be grateful… Do you know what sympathy is? It is this wasteful emotion where you look down on someone and get comfort from it.” There's a gem from Yi Seo, who can be hard and cold. She's analytical, not touchy-feely. Sae is a caring mush and rigidly principled, which is contrasted with Yi Seo, a pragmatic utilitarian. Life is about balancing both sides: Both feelings and logic must be present, and balanced, or we fall into error. Her interactions with Seo transform Yi Seo because she is not only smart, she is wise. She quickly understands what true fulfillment is.
Yi Seo and the Chairman are contrasted. If she hadn't ended up falling for Sae she would have been /worse/ than the Chairman, who had the blessing of Sae's dad but learned nothing, and just took advantage. Wise Yi Seo chose a better life over mere financial gain. She ended up with all of it, but she chose the right path first; the rest followed.
“You can't gain anything with your conscience,” says Chairdad. Bad dad = bad son. A man with all the wrong values ended up raising a destructive monster. No surprise. “Everyone is just born evil. You know the evil nature principle. The theory that human nature is fundamentally evil. But if people stick to their instincts, society will collapse. That's why people repress themselves with manners, consideration, morals, and the law. Repression? It's stress.” Now that's a tantalizing quote. Hmmmm. Theologians would point out, about now, that we are born in the image of God, but we are fallen. Therefore, we know what is right in our hearts, but we are, tragically, unable to do it on a consistent basis. It's a subject worth giving thought to. Doing the right thing is never the easy thing, but it shouldn't cause undo stress. I would avoid anyone who claims it does. Speaking of evil, sometimes it's a matter of opportunity. Rich people do heinous things because they /can/.
IC isn't perfect, but it isn't far from it. One character pulls an Anakin Skywalker and goes too evil too easily. Yes, it's sad, but it's also cack-handed. They should have built up to it better. There's no dead zones or padding. I don't have many criticisms.
There's oodles of tasty treats, though. They serve chicken, and they can play chicken. Watch and see. Two women are vying for a man. One really loves the guy while the other seems to love the attention and sense of importance and control she feels from his devotion. The first girl puts everything into her love, while the 2nd woman never put an iota of effort in. Only one of them is worthy of his love. Sae happens, unexpectedly, to be out together with these 2 women, though he's unaware of anything when it comes to love and sex. When he leaves the table they have a riveting discussion. It's unforgettable. There's laughs and good cheer. Sae is actually pretty funny, he's such a rigid dunderhead in some ways. “What don't you like about me?” Geun Won thinks he can win over Yi Seo. Her answer: “Let me see… Your face, the way you talk, your voice, your pupils, teeth, eyelashes, pupils… Did I say that already? I don't like anything about you…” She is totally self-actualized, until Sae… “What's going on? Are you sure you're okay?” 🤣 Yi Seo doesn't have the answer for once. The soundtrack is GRADE A. Soft guitar and vocals augment the scenes with an almost indie vibe.
They give us a satisfying wrap up, something missing from too many Kdramas, though recently, that bad trend is dying out. At the end of all the years and all the junk, we learn: He who bows last bows most. So don't start the bowing game and make enemies in the first place! Live in peace, because “Living is a difficult thing to do”.
QUOTE📢
You have no right to determine my value… I'll do anything I need to… My life has just begun
Everyone makes mistakes. But not everybody takes responsibility, only the brave can do that.
Life is repetitive, you know… And it's predictable.
I'm doing it now… I'm not going with you… I have a date.
〰🖍 IMHO
📣8.6 📝8.8 🎭9 💓8 🦋5 🎨7.5 🎵/🔊8.5 🔚9 🤗8 ▪ 🌞7 ⚡5 😅3 😭5.5 😱3 😯4.5 🤢4 🤔7 💤0
Shazams: Still Fighting It by Lee Chan Sol & Kang Kyoung Yoon, & Say by YOON MIRAE
Age 14+ violence
Language: There are scattered occurrences of @$$h0le, SOB, F💣s -
The benefits far surpass the liabilities
Rated TV-15
Re-📺? Must
In order of ~lite&trite~ to ~heavy&serious~ you may also like:
The one you love is right in front of you:
Crazy Love-7.8,
Romance is a bonus book-7.9,
Oh My Ghost 10,
Hospital Playlist 9,
Familiar Wife-8.5,
I'll See You When the Weather is Fine 9,
Something in the Rain-8.6.
Modern Day -
A Witch's Love 7.8,
Love to Hate You 8.9,
Her Private Life 8,
Touch your heart 8.2,
Crash Landing On You 9.1,
It's Okay Not To Be Okay 9,
Love Struck in the City 7.3,
Be Melodramatic-8.7,
Call It Love-8.4,
My Liberation Diary-8.9,
Cheese in the Trap-7.7,
Mine-8,
My Mister 9.5,
🎎 -
My Only Love Song 8.7 ~ excellent comedy,
Mr. Queen 8.5,
My Sassy Girl 8.5,
Saimdang 8.5,
The King's Affection 8.3,
Mr. Sunshine 9
⚡️/🛸 -
K2 8,
Private Lives 8.1,
Descendants Of The Sun-8.3,
When the Camellia Blooms-8,
Why Her?-8,
Sisyphus 8,
Tunnel 8.5,
Signal 8.6,
Blood Free-8.5,
D.P.-8.4,
The Cursed 8.3,
Flower of Evil 8.9,
The Man from Nowhere 8.9,
Black 9,
Squid Game 8.4,
Kingdom 8.3,
Sweet Home 8.4
IC is the story of a man on a mission. Park “Sae” Ro Yi has been cruelly abused and tossed in the trash bin. He makes it his goal to beat his enemies at their own game ~ He's the /tenacious/ type. He has a 15 year plan. Ain't nothing gonna turn his head to the right or the left. He will not bow to anyone - his knees don't work that way… Until she changes everything.
Smack dab in the middle of Seoul, Itaewon is one of the wealthiest streets in one of its wealthiest sections. IC, which takes place there, is a 2020 release that is rated 85 on AWiki. It is 1 season consisting of 16 70-minute episodes. There's 3 whole episodes of set up, & in ep4 things start to roll. And it's magnificent. It's rough: Business is a snake pit. It's a satisfying watch, and in the latter episodes, when so many features resort to padding, bad writing, and a general overall dip in quality, IC sprouts wings (and claws) as it becomes stronger and more forceful, with newfound depths. It opens to a counselling session.
Park Seo Joon (Gyeongseong Creature, Kill Me, Heal Me, Midnight Runners) is our ML, Park “Sae” Ro Yi. He looks completely different with that hair~squared. In What's Wrong with Secretary Kim-6.8, he's quite beautiful (WWWSk has an excellent cast, excellent interaction and many wonderful moments, but suffers from the occasional directing and writing miss). In IC, he's more rugged. He's manly. He's controlled on the surface & seething underneath, while exuding pain from every pore of his body. He's a star for a reason. In IC he gets to show his gravitas. He has scores to settle with Chm Jang & his son Geun Won. He decides to start a pub across the street from theirs and beat them at their own game. The Chm will not allow him to survive.
Kim Da Mi (Our Beloved Summer, The Witch: Part 1 The Subversion-7.6) is one of the best characters anywhere, ever, Jo Yi Seo. She's got a dangerously high IQ and a dangerous amount of snark. She's been described as a psychopath. She's the type of girl to decide her future with the flip of a coin. “If it's heads, I'll live the life my mom wants. If it's tails, my mom will cry…” She decides to work instead of going to school: She's matriculated in the Itaewon Class. As the show goes on, her part gets better and better and better and better. She's Omazing. Sae has never once disappointed her. She's decided she really likes him. “I'll kill everyone who's been bothering him.” She declares for team Sae. He should be very frightened, but he just doesn't know it yet.
Kwon Na Ra (Suspicious Partner, My Mister-9.5) portrays Oh Soo Ah. I've only noticed her in Bulgasal: Immortal Souls-6.1, which should have been better, but its problems didn't emanate from her. Yoo Jae Myung (Stranger, Prison Playbook, Portrait of a Family) plays chairman Jang Dae Hee. He's horrid, but his backstory is heartbreaking. He was the oldest of 4 and lost all his siblings to the food shortage and poverty. That's a dark part of Korea's history that is mentioned in features every now and then. (Uncle Samsik-8.4 uses it as a more central theme. The very name Samsik means to eat 3 meals a day and he got his power by first feeding the hungry people). His part seems like he's just a typical 2D psychopathic CEO and derelict father, but his character takes on extra dimensions in the double digit episodes. It's quite moving. He does a press conference in ep10 and his performance Is stunning.
Ahn Bo Hyun is the chairman's spoiled son, Jang Geun Won. He's so good at playing a jerk that you wouldn't know how adorable he can be if you haven't seen some of his other stuff. In Flex X Cop-8.5, he's cheerful and irrepressible. In Her Private Life-8, he's earnest and determined. In My Only Love Song-8.7, a comedy I adore and have watched a couple times, he plays the big silent type. I've also seen him in Descendants of the Sun-8.3, My Runway-7.5, and the subpar My Name-5.7. He's completely different in everything, so he's as versatile as he is good looking - and he /is/ a specimen. This is the first time I've seen him play a loathsome bully, and he is thoroughly loathsome. He only ends up serving as a great motivator.
Kim Dong Hee (A-Teen, Extracurricular) is Jang Geun Soo, a part-timer who has a relationship with the Chairman. He makes a very disappointing decision. As the show went on his acting skills failed to impress, but it could be the role he had to play. Lee Joo Young (Something in the Rain-8.6, Times) plays Ma Hyun, the DanBam Chef who is dealing with major changes. Her character is a lovely human being. Hey, not everyone is going to agree on everything all the time. I mean, 4% of people don't like ice cream. We do, however, have a moral obligation to treat every human being with kindness, dignity, respect, and care.
IC gets the award: It's the first Kdrama I've seen to feature an actor with skin browner than a paper bag. Chris Lyon, who is of obvious African ancestry, plays Kim Toni, a DanBam part-timer. He also sings and plays guitar. He's an American born actor who made friends with some Korean exchange students, visited Korea, and that led to some acting and music gigs. He hasn't gotten alot of work yet. He should. He's wonderful and projects a sense of genuine warmth and care. The comely Park Bo Gum (Record of Youth-5.8, Reply 1988-8.6) makes a guest appearance. Cho Kwang Jin (Cabriolet, Roppongi Class) is the screenwriter, and the directors are Kang Min Gu (May It Please the Court) & Kim Seong Yoon Young (Actors' Retreat). Good team.
IC is great drama, really good romance, and an overall philosophical treatise on pride, revenge, success, and what is really worth living for. The theme is: Happiness. “Beliefs. Ambition. They're words used by those who have nothing but their ego. If you gain nothing, that's just being stubborn and foolish,” says the most morally degenerate character of the show. But, wait a minute, let's define GAIN first, before we sign on to any philosophy. Is successful revenge GAIN? Sae thinks so for most of the show. Living a life based on hatred is really difficult, we learn. Sae tries to live a life motivated by hate and revenge, all while maintaining his moral principles. He keeps it up for a long time but finally must let it go. He finds he's lost nothing.
Leadership style is a theme. One Chairman asks an employee why s/he continued to devotedly work for a hated boss? “It's servility,” the Chairman explains to the blank stare facing him. “You've been tamed to my taste. I pressure everyone around me with the power to tame them like that. It's easy to control them, and I despise them.” The Chairman is held up in direct contrast to Sae, who elevates everyone around him except for the slobs he's trying to bring down. Sae picks up nobodies and takes them to the top WITH him.
Pride is a theme in most Kdramas. ‘It's about The Company.’ ‘The COMPANY provides for my family.’ ‘Ultimately it's about my FAMILY,’ we hear. No.it.isn't. It's about pride. These are the utterances of a person who is probably genuinely self deceived. Speaking of pride, that's what's up between Sae and the Chairman. “Will life be better if I get on my knees?” Sae is fed up. “Why is everybody obsessed with putting me on my knees?” Pride: It always lies. It's what makes us lie to ourselves. ‘Bow to me,’ Sae hears every few episodes. (What does that even do other than provide a temporary illicit thrill?) In the end, Sae understands what's really important. Then, nothing else matters. It's important to maintain dignity, but pride never does anyone any good; it's only a roadblock to living free.
“I'm nothing as bad as /that/ person... There are people going through /worse/… I should be grateful… Do you know what sympathy is? It is this wasteful emotion where you look down on someone and get comfort from it.” There's a gem from Yi Seo, who can be hard and cold. She's analytical, not touchy-feely. Sae is a caring mush and rigidly principled, which is contrasted with Yi Seo, a pragmatic utilitarian. Life is about balancing both sides: Both feelings and logic must be present, and balanced, or we fall into error. Her interactions with Seo transform Yi Seo because she is not only smart, she is wise. She quickly understands what true fulfillment is.
Yi Seo and the Chairman are contrasted. If she hadn't ended up falling for Sae she would have been /worse/ than the Chairman, who had the blessing of Sae's dad but learned nothing, and just took advantage. Wise Yi Seo chose a better life over mere financial gain. She ended up with all of it, but she chose the right path first; the rest followed.
“You can't gain anything with your conscience,” says Chairdad. Bad dad = bad son. A man with all the wrong values ended up raising a destructive monster. No surprise. “Everyone is just born evil. You know the evil nature principle. The theory that human nature is fundamentally evil. But if people stick to their instincts, society will collapse. That's why people repress themselves with manners, consideration, morals, and the law. Repression? It's stress.” Now that's a tantalizing quote. Hmmmm. Theologians would point out, about now, that we are born in the image of God, but we are fallen. Therefore, we know what is right in our hearts, but we are, tragically, unable to do it on a consistent basis. It's a subject worth giving thought to. Doing the right thing is never the easy thing, but it shouldn't cause undo stress. I would avoid anyone who claims it does. Speaking of evil, sometimes it's a matter of opportunity. Rich people do heinous things because they /can/.
IC isn't perfect, but it isn't far from it. One character pulls an Anakin Skywalker and goes too evil too easily. Yes, it's sad, but it's also cack-handed. They should have built up to it better. There's no dead zones or padding. I don't have many criticisms.
There's oodles of tasty treats, though. They serve chicken, and they can play chicken. Watch and see. Two women are vying for a man. One really loves the guy while the other seems to love the attention and sense of importance and control she feels from his devotion. The first girl puts everything into her love, while the 2nd woman never put an iota of effort in. Only one of them is worthy of his love. Sae happens, unexpectedly, to be out together with these 2 women, though he's unaware of anything when it comes to love and sex. When he leaves the table they have a riveting discussion. It's unforgettable. There's laughs and good cheer. Sae is actually pretty funny, he's such a rigid dunderhead in some ways. “What don't you like about me?” Geun Won thinks he can win over Yi Seo. Her answer: “Let me see… Your face, the way you talk, your voice, your pupils, teeth, eyelashes, pupils… Did I say that already? I don't like anything about you…” She is totally self-actualized, until Sae… “What's going on? Are you sure you're okay?” 🤣 Yi Seo doesn't have the answer for once. The soundtrack is GRADE A. Soft guitar and vocals augment the scenes with an almost indie vibe.
They give us a satisfying wrap up, something missing from too many Kdramas, though recently, that bad trend is dying out. At the end of all the years and all the junk, we learn: He who bows last bows most. So don't start the bowing game and make enemies in the first place! Live in peace, because “Living is a difficult thing to do”.
QUOTE📢
You have no right to determine my value… I'll do anything I need to… My life has just begun
Everyone makes mistakes. But not everybody takes responsibility, only the brave can do that.
Life is repetitive, you know… And it's predictable.
I'm doing it now… I'm not going with you… I have a date.
〰🖍 IMHO
📣8.6 📝8.8 🎭9 💓8 🦋5 🎨7.5 🎵/🔊8.5 🔚9 🤗8 ▪ 🌞7 ⚡5 😅3 😭5.5 😱3 😯4.5 🤢4 🤔7 💤0
Shazams: Still Fighting It by Lee Chan Sol & Kang Kyoung Yoon, & Say by YOON MIRAE
Age 14+ violence
Language: There are scattered occurrences of @$$h0le, SOB, F💣s -
The benefits far surpass the liabilities
Rated TV-15
Re-📺? Must
In order of ~lite&trite~ to ~heavy&serious~ you may also like:
The one you love is right in front of you:
Crazy Love-7.8,
Romance is a bonus book-7.9,
Oh My Ghost 10,
Hospital Playlist 9,
Familiar Wife-8.5,
I'll See You When the Weather is Fine 9,
Something in the Rain-8.6.
Modern Day -
A Witch's Love 7.8,
Love to Hate You 8.9,
Her Private Life 8,
Touch your heart 8.2,
Crash Landing On You 9.1,
It's Okay Not To Be Okay 9,
Love Struck in the City 7.3,
Be Melodramatic-8.7,
Call It Love-8.4,
My Liberation Diary-8.9,
Cheese in the Trap-7.7,
Mine-8,
My Mister 9.5,
🎎 -
My Only Love Song 8.7 ~ excellent comedy,
Mr. Queen 8.5,
My Sassy Girl 8.5,
Saimdang 8.5,
The King's Affection 8.3,
Mr. Sunshine 9
⚡️/🛸 -
K2 8,
Private Lives 8.1,
Descendants Of The Sun-8.3,
When the Camellia Blooms-8,
Why Her?-8,
Sisyphus 8,
Tunnel 8.5,
Signal 8.6,
Blood Free-8.5,
D.P.-8.4,
The Cursed 8.3,
Flower of Evil 8.9,
The Man from Nowhere 8.9,
Black 9,
Squid Game 8.4,
Kingdom 8.3,
Sweet Home 8.4
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