I tried so hard to like it...
I tried, I swear I tried so hard to like King the Land but with each episode that passed and I thought "oh, now I'm going to start liking this" and suddenly I was dragged down againThis was simply one of the worst scripts I've ever seen in my life... it has no story, no emotion, no substance, it's empty, superficial
The main couple is very cute and very mature, and maybe if the plot had stayed ONLY with the two of them the story would have been more enjoyable
The whole story of the hotel is just laughable and I can't believe an adult wrote this. When I was 10 years old, I would have written something more in-depth about work environment and equality.
The secondary characters didn't win me over too.
To be honest, nothing beat me and I could even give this Drama a worse rating .
But to be fair, I just watched Twenty Five Twenty One and it was a Drama that touched my soul so deeply, it was so well produced, so well set, with cinematography and scripts so richly made that I may be weighing my criticism of King the Land because I am completely biased by 2521.
But now I watch this and it's so poorly developed that the disappointment hits harder I feel.
I didn't expect too much about this drama but somehow it turned out worse than expected.
so I give it a 5, but I could easily give it a 3-4
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A frustrating disappointment
Itaewon Class was one of those dramas I really wanted to love. The premise had everything: revenge, resilience, social justice, and a diverse cast. But as the episodes went on, I found myself more frustrated than invested.The characters felt flat and one-dimensional. The protagonist was emotionally stiff, and the romance? Completely forced. I couldn’t connect with the leads at all, they lacked chemistry, and the love triangle just made things worse. Instead of rooting for anyone, I was mostly annoyed.
The villain was another letdown. He was cartoonishly evil and somehow got way too much screen time. Meanwhile, the side characters (who actually had interesting stories) were pushed aside or barely developed. It felt like such a waste.
What disappointed me most was how the show handled serious social issues. Racism, transphobia, inequality... all briefly mentioned, but never truly explored. It came off as performative, like the writers were checking boxes rather than telling meaningful stories.
Itaewon Class had potential, and that’s exactly why it frustrated me so much. It could’ve been powerful, emotional, and thought-provoking. Instead, it felt shallow and overhyped. I know a lot of people loved it, but for me, it just didn’t deliver.
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I can't put into words how magnificent is this
Its my first review ever cuz I feel betraying this masterpiece if I don't talk about itI can't put into words the amount of joy, love, sadness, happiness and despair I felt watching it
The production is perfect, photography, OST, script, acting... agh, everything is so well done that teleports you to another space-time
it's surely one of the best productions I ever watched and days after finishing it I can't spend more than 1 hour without letting my mind fly to Beak Yi-jin and Na Hee Do and their story
Their love, their pain, the reality that knocks on your door, the end of things that should be eternal, the glory of the youth and the painful choices of life
It was worth every second I spent watching
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All pain, no purpose
Don't get me wrong, I love stories that hurt. The kind of pain that moves you, that pulls something raw and human from inside your chest. The kind that lingers because it means something. But My Dearest isn’t that kind of suffering. It doesn’t ache, it exhausts. It mistakes constant heartbreak for depth, and pain for meaning. The result is not catharsis, but fatigue.My Dearest presents itself as an epic love story, but fails to deliver even the foundation of genuine emotion. The romance, supposedly the heart of the series, is built not on fate or impossibility, but on endless misunderstandings and self-inflicted wounds. There is nothing truly keeping these characters apart except pride, miscommunication, and poor writing. The series confuses chaos with complexity, turning what should have been a grand passion into a frustrating cycle of stubbornness.
The main couple’s relationship lacks depth because the show never explores what they actually mean to each other. His love for her seems obsessive but hollow; her rejection of him feels more like ego than conviction. After so many cycles of rejection and emotional distance, even their final moments of surrender lose credibility. I expected to feel intensity, but by that point, there’s only exhaustion. There is no forbidden love here, only two people trapped in an emotional loop created by their own choices and by the script’s inability to move forward.
Beyond the romance, My Dearest collapses under the weight of its own ambition. It floods every episode with wars, separations, political conflicts, deaths, and even two cases of amnesia, but rarely develops any of them with coherence or consequence. It mistakes the quantity of events for narrative depth. The double amnesia arcs are the perfect example: two identical shortcuts that erase everything the characters supposedly learned, just to start over again. Instead of evolution, we get erasure. Instead of consequence, we get convenient reset buttons.
The story is full of unresolved arcs and gaps. Subplots begin with intensity only to vanish without explanation: the father’s violence, the trauma of captivity, the political backdrop that starts strong and then dissolves into nothing. Time passes inconsistently; years of war look like days. Characters don’t age, emotions appear and disappear without trace, and the editing makes it feel like scenes are stitched together without the connective tissue that gives them meaning. Everything happens, but nothing truly matters.
Visually, My Dearest is magnificent. Every frame looks like a painting, every performance is delivered with sincerity. But that beauty only makes its flaws harder to ignore. It’s the illusion of grandeur, a work that believes pain equals depth, that noise equals feeling. Beneath all that splendor lies a hollow core, a drama that keeps reaching for greatness but never finds its soul.
In the end, My Dearest is not the story of a love destroyed by fate, but of a script destroyed by its own excess. It’s not emotionally tragic, it’s narratively tragic. A series that had everything it needed to be art, but chose spectacle over substance.
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is it an original plot? No did it manage to make me entirely entrained and hyped over it? hell yeah
It's difficult to start this review without being 100% biased by Nam Joo-Hyuk, I'm completely obsessed with the way he acts with his eyes, you can see the madness and sadness in every look.Well, talking about technical criteria and not just fangirling over him, this Dorama was very good in general. The plot wasn't that original, the characters weren't that well developed, I felt a lack of dimensionality and depth in the personal motivations of each of the characters.
But can I be honest? I fucking love this.
When I evaluate something, I don't just take into account the production itself, but also the entertainment capacity, If it managed to entertain me and leave me excited with each episode, I will overlook all the script and production flaws.
And if we are talking about entertainment, this show it's a fucking great one.
If you are looking for something extraordinary and original, this may be a slight disappointment.
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Weightlifting fairy Kim Bok-joo swag
With a full heart and uncontrollable giggles, I felt like I was 15 again, watching those classic romantic comedies from the 2000s. This drama had a magical power to transport me away from reality.All the credit goes to Nam Joo-hyuk (Jung Joon-hyung), who absolutely shone in his role. He played one of the cutest and most lovable male characters ever. His temperament, personality, kindness, humor, and sensitivity were spot on. Without him, this drama wouldn't have been the same.
And Kim Bok-joo? She was simply adorable. Her cuteness, authenticity, and silly moments left me completely charmed. Sure, sometimes her immaturity and insecurity, along with some selfish and inconsequential actions, could be a bit frustrating. But most of the time, I was just mesmerized by her.
The secondary characters were just as amazing. The coaches, in particular, won me over with their warmth and guidance.
While the overall story was interesting, the script sometimes struggled to keep me fully engaged. Some of the smaller plotlines didn't quite capture my interest, and the main storyline of the weightlifter felt a bit underdeveloped. It could have been done differently to make a bigger impact.
But honestly, the charisma of the characters made up for any flaws. This drama wasn't about overcoming and growing in sport; it was about a girl's insecurities and her journey to self-discovery, and I'm totally okay with that.
Criticism aside, thinking with my heart, this drama was a delightful experience that will stay with me for a long, long time. It doesn't need to be perfect to be unforgettable.
Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-joo is unforgettable and...
Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-joo ✨ swag✨
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