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This review may contain spoilers
Incredibly Sloppy Work in One of the Worst Action Series!
I’ve read a number of reviews that compare this series to “24,” which is an insult to anyone who has ever watched the show. “24” never had so many blatant plot holes, poor characterizations, and lapses in basic writing skills. I know the series was made in 2009, but this series plays like a bad episode of the A-Team. People who can’t hold weapons properly or even fire them with any kind of skill. I lost count of how many supposed “professional soldiers” are holding and firing their guns sideways! I guess the budget didn’t allow for a technical advisor, nor did they have the brains to have a medical examiner and pathology lab at NSS Headquarters. By the way, “24” had all of these things because they did their best to make sure everything was as accurate and functional as possible.
The sad part is that the premise for the story is actually a really good one. A secret organization called “Iris” is manipulating and controlling events in both North Korea and South Korea to prevent the reunification of the peninsula. Iris reminds me a lot of SPECTRE from the old James Bond films.
The story begins with Kim Hyun Jun and his best friend Jin Sa Woo who have entered the special forces. Life is good, and they are actually enjoying their time together until they are recruited into the secret intelligence agency, NSS, which runs under the NIS. It’s headed by Director San Baek. Their “team leader” is Choi Seung Hee, whom Hyun Jun falls in love with. Little does he realize that Sa Woo has also fallen in love with her. Unaware that he’s been manipulated by San Baek since the death of his parents when he was a small child, Hyun Jun is sent off the assassinate a high-ranking North Korean in Hungary. Of course, San Baek has no intention of allowing Hyun Jun to live, and so they try to—and believe—that they’ve killed him. He’s shocked to find that Sa Woo shoots him down when he tries to escape in a plane.
Hellbent on revenge Hyun Jun spends years trying to recover from his injuries, escape other attempts on his life, and get back to South Korea to get revenge on all those responsible. He teams up with Kim Sun Hwa, a former member of the North Korean Supreme Guard, who is initially dispatched to kill him. It becomes quickly apparent, after he helps her, that she’s fallen in love with him. Yeah, that’s a big theme of the series: everyone falling in love with everyone else. I heard the same two love songs play so often that I thought I’d have to visit the dentist.
Hyun Jun finally returns to South Korea with Kim Sun Hwa as they attempt to uncover—what initially seems to be a North Korean plot to set off a nuclear bomb in Seoul, only to later find that it’s Iris that has been pulling the strings. Finally, you have North Korean and South Korean agents teaming up to try and prevent these catastrophes.
While the premise is good, the execution is downright laughably bad. Aside from the aforementioned glaring issues, there were so many more! So much so that I had an entire page of notes just on these problems. I won’t mention them all here, but the biggest ones. Forget that the layout of the NSS is terrible. Those working computers (only two) work side-by-side and across from each other. I laughed each time Sa Woo or someone else tried to hide what they were doing. I also seriously doubt that any intelligence agency would allow their agents to have personal photos on their computers! The fact that they have only one member of the forensic science team, who has a table in his office for autopsies. Not even an autopsy table, but a regular table covered with a sheet in his tiny office.
The last episode was an absolute travesty. Supposedly, terrorists switched places with some of the hostages, and yet at no time do the “hostages” attempt to let Sa Woo or Hyun Jun know what has happened. It was bad enough watching two “special forces” guys have no clue how to hold or use a gun! Also, the final role of Choi Seung Hee has so many inconsistencies and plot issues that it was laughable
The most glaring character issue was easily Choi Seung Hee. She’s not even believable as an agent. She acts more like a lovesick high school girl. When the terrorists infiltrate the NSS, she’s sneaking around—in heels! She’s also prone to going off on her own with backup or even a sense of how to clear a room or an area. She also can’t hold a gun properly. I laughed when she shoots Hyun Jun during the infiltration, and he shoots a man about to shoot her. At no time, even after she realizes who it was, is she worried that she might have actually killed him?! That made zero sense! It also made zero sense, that even after learning about San Baek and his connections, she’s suddenly worried about telling Hyun Jun that he’d attempted to recruit her. Had this happened BEFORE San Baek’s connections had come out, that would have made sense. Instead, it was poorly placed within the story, and again, made absolutely no sense at all. It was bad enough that she was suddenly reluctant to tell Hyun Jun why she had disappeared.
A big difference between Jack Bauer of “24” and Hyun Jun was that Jack never allowed his personal feelings to get in the way of a mission. I’m talking about a mission, not the last season after his girlfriend is killed and he goes rogue. Hyun Jun is careless, and too often, he allows his emotions to get the best of him, which, unfortunately, leads him to make very poor and amateur decisions. Turning his back on assassin Vick was a big one. No, he’s not methodical or believable as a good agent, certainly not being in the same realm as a Jason Bourne, Jack Bauer, or even Vincenzo, and that is what is desperately missing from this character and why he’s just not believable as an agent.
The character who stood out best for me was Kim Sun Hwa, and frankly, I liked her a heck of a lot more than the wishy-washy Choi Seung Hee. The actress, Kim So Yeon was far more believable as an agent than the flimsy Kim Tae Hee, who wears her emotions on her sleeve. Choi Seung Hee has no poker face at all. None. I was actually hoping—even though I knew it wouldn’t happen—that Hyun Jun would have made the wiser choice with Kim Sun Hwa. She’s a stronger woman and just as loving and passionate. I loved how she always had Hyun Jun’s back. Frankly, she went underappreciated.
First rule of writing is to write what you know. These writers had no clue, and frankly, shouldn’t be allowed to work in this industry again. Second rule is to never make the characters do something they wouldn’t do for the sake of moving the plot. These two problems plague the entire series, which tells me that the writers were completely clueless.
This will go down as one of the worst action series I’ve seen in a very long time, and shouldn’t even be uttered in the same breath as “24” because it’s not even a close comparison.
The sad part is that the premise for the story is actually a really good one. A secret organization called “Iris” is manipulating and controlling events in both North Korea and South Korea to prevent the reunification of the peninsula. Iris reminds me a lot of SPECTRE from the old James Bond films.
The story begins with Kim Hyun Jun and his best friend Jin Sa Woo who have entered the special forces. Life is good, and they are actually enjoying their time together until they are recruited into the secret intelligence agency, NSS, which runs under the NIS. It’s headed by Director San Baek. Their “team leader” is Choi Seung Hee, whom Hyun Jun falls in love with. Little does he realize that Sa Woo has also fallen in love with her. Unaware that he’s been manipulated by San Baek since the death of his parents when he was a small child, Hyun Jun is sent off the assassinate a high-ranking North Korean in Hungary. Of course, San Baek has no intention of allowing Hyun Jun to live, and so they try to—and believe—that they’ve killed him. He’s shocked to find that Sa Woo shoots him down when he tries to escape in a plane.
Hellbent on revenge Hyun Jun spends years trying to recover from his injuries, escape other attempts on his life, and get back to South Korea to get revenge on all those responsible. He teams up with Kim Sun Hwa, a former member of the North Korean Supreme Guard, who is initially dispatched to kill him. It becomes quickly apparent, after he helps her, that she’s fallen in love with him. Yeah, that’s a big theme of the series: everyone falling in love with everyone else. I heard the same two love songs play so often that I thought I’d have to visit the dentist.
Hyun Jun finally returns to South Korea with Kim Sun Hwa as they attempt to uncover—what initially seems to be a North Korean plot to set off a nuclear bomb in Seoul, only to later find that it’s Iris that has been pulling the strings. Finally, you have North Korean and South Korean agents teaming up to try and prevent these catastrophes.
While the premise is good, the execution is downright laughably bad. Aside from the aforementioned glaring issues, there were so many more! So much so that I had an entire page of notes just on these problems. I won’t mention them all here, but the biggest ones. Forget that the layout of the NSS is terrible. Those working computers (only two) work side-by-side and across from each other. I laughed each time Sa Woo or someone else tried to hide what they were doing. I also seriously doubt that any intelligence agency would allow their agents to have personal photos on their computers! The fact that they have only one member of the forensic science team, who has a table in his office for autopsies. Not even an autopsy table, but a regular table covered with a sheet in his tiny office.
The last episode was an absolute travesty. Supposedly, terrorists switched places with some of the hostages, and yet at no time do the “hostages” attempt to let Sa Woo or Hyun Jun know what has happened. It was bad enough watching two “special forces” guys have no clue how to hold or use a gun! Also, the final role of Choi Seung Hee has so many inconsistencies and plot issues that it was laughable
The most glaring character issue was easily Choi Seung Hee. She’s not even believable as an agent. She acts more like a lovesick high school girl. When the terrorists infiltrate the NSS, she’s sneaking around—in heels! She’s also prone to going off on her own with backup or even a sense of how to clear a room or an area. She also can’t hold a gun properly. I laughed when she shoots Hyun Jun during the infiltration, and he shoots a man about to shoot her. At no time, even after she realizes who it was, is she worried that she might have actually killed him?! That made zero sense! It also made zero sense, that even after learning about San Baek and his connections, she’s suddenly worried about telling Hyun Jun that he’d attempted to recruit her. Had this happened BEFORE San Baek’s connections had come out, that would have made sense. Instead, it was poorly placed within the story, and again, made absolutely no sense at all. It was bad enough that she was suddenly reluctant to tell Hyun Jun why she had disappeared.
A big difference between Jack Bauer of “24” and Hyun Jun was that Jack never allowed his personal feelings to get in the way of a mission. I’m talking about a mission, not the last season after his girlfriend is killed and he goes rogue. Hyun Jun is careless, and too often, he allows his emotions to get the best of him, which, unfortunately, leads him to make very poor and amateur decisions. Turning his back on assassin Vick was a big one. No, he’s not methodical or believable as a good agent, certainly not being in the same realm as a Jason Bourne, Jack Bauer, or even Vincenzo, and that is what is desperately missing from this character and why he’s just not believable as an agent.
The character who stood out best for me was Kim Sun Hwa, and frankly, I liked her a heck of a lot more than the wishy-washy Choi Seung Hee. The actress, Kim So Yeon was far more believable as an agent than the flimsy Kim Tae Hee, who wears her emotions on her sleeve. Choi Seung Hee has no poker face at all. None. I was actually hoping—even though I knew it wouldn’t happen—that Hyun Jun would have made the wiser choice with Kim Sun Hwa. She’s a stronger woman and just as loving and passionate. I loved how she always had Hyun Jun’s back. Frankly, she went underappreciated.
First rule of writing is to write what you know. These writers had no clue, and frankly, shouldn’t be allowed to work in this industry again. Second rule is to never make the characters do something they wouldn’t do for the sake of moving the plot. These two problems plague the entire series, which tells me that the writers were completely clueless.
This will go down as one of the worst action series I’ve seen in a very long time, and shouldn’t even be uttered in the same breath as “24” because it’s not even a close comparison.
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