This review may contain spoilers
Painted in Clichés: The Art of A Promising Start that Drops in Quality
A good summary of my experience watching KDramas. A promising start to a show that gradually drops in quality and deteriorates into a convoluted and contrived plot.
Although the show has a very good cast, it is a fairly clichéd programme that offers nothing fresh and instead uses the usual - often annoying - tropes: An innocent and morally upright main character who is desperate but gets drawn into the world of crime, a dark and mysterious second main character with a dual identity and a background that shows her inherent good side, a cop/lawyer who doesn't do his job well, and the main culprit behind the plot who is part of the institution that serves the law. Then of course there's all the prison shenanigans with bullies and all the other usual aspects.
Even though I can suspend my beliefs for a fictional show, at some point there were too many circumstantial encounters and incidents to move the plot forward. Not a compelling writing for a thriller in my opinion.
The music is decent and fits the overall atmosphere of the series; the cinematography is good, especially in the dark and gritty first episodes; the characters are well portrayed by the actors, except for the melodramatic and sometimes over-the-top performance of Mo Eun.
While the beginning of the series provides enjoyable viewing, it fails to maintain this level until the end.
Although the show has a very good cast, it is a fairly clichéd programme that offers nothing fresh and instead uses the usual - often annoying - tropes: An innocent and morally upright main character who is desperate but gets drawn into the world of crime, a dark and mysterious second main character with a dual identity and a background that shows her inherent good side, a cop/lawyer who doesn't do his job well, and the main culprit behind the plot who is part of the institution that serves the law. Then of course there's all the prison shenanigans with bullies and all the other usual aspects.
Even though I can suspend my beliefs for a fictional show, at some point there were too many circumstantial encounters and incidents to move the plot forward. Not a compelling writing for a thriller in my opinion.
The music is decent and fits the overall atmosphere of the series; the cinematography is good, especially in the dark and gritty first episodes; the characters are well portrayed by the actors, except for the melodramatic and sometimes over-the-top performance of Mo Eun.
While the beginning of the series provides enjoyable viewing, it fails to maintain this level until the end.
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