I think having this dramatic AF show revolve around a murder mystery worked well, and the pacing of finding out what happened that night was really well done. The various reveals are all interesting and nothing feels like it completely came out of nowhere. The writers definitely set out with a clear picture in mind with who did what that night and weren’t just making it up as they went along. There are a lot of plot twists and even as they’re often absurd it works within the context of the show. They also have good plots aside from the murder mystery, especially the revenge plot. Tbh most of the characters are absolutely the worst, but that’s kind of the point. This is a show about terrible people doing terrible things. You’ve got about 3-4 “good” characters you’re rooting for, and there is payoff where they win little victories. But it’s a constant battle. These characters are filthy rich and they’re terrible, and all the crazy stuff that happens fits in that framework. There is so much happening all the time, that even recapping an episode would take considerable time. I do think the show is written really well! All of it does get a bit crazy and you do have to suspend your disbelief, but you basically have to do that to watch this show in the first place. It’s a good show if you like drama, revenge/underdog stories, and really pretty sets and costumes. The 21 episodes flew by, and I’m looking forward to even more emotional anguish in season 2!
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The premise and revenge plot are really solid. I found it really well-paced with great twists and turns. I like that the revenge plot is being driven by two characters who have very different perspectives on what revenge should look like. The conflict between Lee Min Ho's character and "daddy drug-lord" (my friends' name for him) is one of the most interesting aspects of the show. Daddy drug-lord is a great antagonist; the other antagonists, the people who they're getting revenge on, are corrupt politicians and don't get me wrong, they're good too, but daddy drug-lord is definitely more interesting. The show does a good job of working our way through the list of bad guys such that they are successively worse people--the first one is bad, the next one is terrible, the next is horrendous, and so on. But all throughout daddy drug-lord remains a constant threat, and you're really uncertain of what he might do next. I like that (generally speaking) most of the main characters are fairly intelligent and don't make a ton of dumb decisions. Otherwise the plot would certainly feel contrived.
That being said, some things do feel contrived, and that's a bit where Park Min Young's character comes in. I do like her, I really do, but she is very hit-or-miss at her job and it feels like it depends on what needs to be happening in the plot. She's also not the brightest, and how she figures out the identity of City Hunter is pretty funny (as in, the actual moment where she figures it out is pretty hilarious). I actually liked the romance quite a bit in this show. I'm not going to claim that the two have amazing chemistry (it's okay) but the premise for their romance is really unique and good. This isn't the Lois Lane and Superman situation like Healer kinda is, it's more of a Romeo and Juliet type situation where the two of them are on opposite sides of a conflict. I loved how conflicted Lee Min Ho's character was about her; at first, he was scared of hurting her, and then it shifts to also being afraid of her hurting him. So yeah, I enjoyed the romance aspect of the show, though I will admit it's the most 2011-feeling part of the show with some of the rom-com hijinks that go down.
The action scenes are pretty great in this show. I still remember vividly to this day the action scene in episode 18 or so where City Hunter hides from and fights a bad guy in a locker room. It's a single shot for like a minute and a half, where the camera moves along with City Hunter as he hides behind the mirrors, so you can always see both him and the bad guy, even though the bad guy cannot see him. It's masterful and well-coordinated and is incredibly tense and exciting. Definitely a lot of care went into the action scenes, so kudos for that.
This was the first kdrama to teach me that characters can and will die. I legit did not expect characters to die and stay dead (I know expectations are different these days thanks to Game of Thrones) and it genuinely shocked and upset me when a certain character died and it wasn't even the last episode! So that's probably another reason why I have a nostalgic appreciation for this show because it was the first show to subvert my expectations with character deaths.
The ending of this show is perfect. You cannot talk me down from this position. This show does not lose steam and keeps some amazing twists for the end of the show. It's so darn good. It still wowed me even the second time I watched it. It also wraps up the themes of the show really well.
Side note: thank goodness this show exists because I was not a fan of Lee Min Ho after watching Boys Over Flowers and Heirs and I'm now officially a part of the "Lee Min Ho is fine" club.
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Okay, it’s really good, but…
Wow. Um. So this show is really good. The central relationship and acting are just SO good that you can just gloss over everything else. But I feel like I want to highlight both the good and not-so-good.Good:
-Fresh take on the typical thriller/serial killer plot. Firstly, rather than the typical antagonistic clash between the pair of detectives due to personality differences, one of them literally thinks the other is the murderer. And the other thinks he’s an idiot. It’s great! Secondly, the main serial killer plot wraps up a little over halfway, but the show keeps going. I was impressed by how the show still had unanswered questions and so even once the central mystery was solved there was still more to uncover. It was really engaging (mostly). Third, this show focuses a lot on this small town and all the close relationships, and you get the sense that these people would cover up for each other if they did something wrong, so that lends weight to your suspicions towards them.
-Characters. Many of them are very well fleshed out, primarily the main two but also quite a bit of the rest of the cast. Especially the main group in Munju. It feels like an ensemble piece, at least during the first half.
-Relationships. The main two’s relationship is of course the highlight, and they have so much chemistry it’s ridiculous. Whenever the two of them are onscreen it is *chef’s kiss*. But all the other friendships and relationships get their screen time and I love the group of police buddies. I love it when they all meet up at the butcher shop.
-Acting. I have to point out Shin Ha Kyun in particular, he was really amazing. He’s such an interesting character, and I don’t how to describe what “good acting” is but if you asked me I’d just show a scene from this show and say “Him.” Everyone else is great too.
The not-so-good stuff:
No sections here, because it’s just one thing: the plot. Oof. Okay, the first half or so of this show is well written. The plot twists are good as you learn more information about the series of events. You suspect almost everyone at some point, and then it still turns out to be someone else. It’s a good mystery and thriller. As mentioned above, once the serial killer gets caught, there are still things to unravel. Initially, something happens so you can’t uncover any more information from a certain character. Then they pull the same sh*t again with another character. Not that this wasn’t meaningful or impactful, but at that point it started to feel more like it was done to extend the plot. Then a certain plot twist happens and you’re like “oh wow!” Then another frickin plot twist happens and you’re like “… oh wow.” Basically I feel like we could have skipped maybe one or two plot twists. They felt more like “ahahaha plot twist 😈” rather than “plot twist 😱.” The ultimate “whodunnit” felt a little meh to me because who gives a crap about that person? So the last ~5 episodes are weaker than the ones preceding them. They start to focus on characters you don’t care about and the Munju crew get relegated to the background. It focuses less on the small town and the characters and more on, uh, “police corruption” I guess. Don’t get me wrong, it was still mostly good (though the few episodes where they pull those plot twists were kind of eye roll inducing). The plot twists also happen during flashbacks for some reason rather then when our characters actually discover the facts, which I feel like is a weird writing decision. They still did a good job on focusing on the main two characters, and the ultimate whodunnit is probably written that way to help focus on the main relationship, but it still felt oddly forced. The last few episodes also have some, uh, plot holes in them (I guess we didn’t need to gather evidence after all, cause we gotta wrap this plot up! Oh shoot, that character got in trouble, jk we need them for the plot so they’re free now), but the final scenes with our main two are so excellent it really left me with a very good impression of the show, despite being very tempted to give this a lower rating.
I definitely do recommend this show. Would I rewatch it? Maybe the first half-ish and the last episode. It’s an excellent show, truly, but I just think the plot has some major weak spots.
P.S. Park Jung Je :”(
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Okay, now that I’ve released a bit of my frustration with this show, I can talk about it a bit more rationally.
This show has a maaaaaaajor tone problem that becomes more and more apparent as the show progresses. The first half of the show is pretty good kdrama fun times, plenty of laughs to be had. The main trio are great at comedy. The love triangle is actually pretty good, as I think it’s a bit different from usual. Min Hyuk knows who Bong Soon “truly” is, and admires her for her strength, while Gook Du perceives her as weak and wants to protect her. They aren’t just two people vying for her love; they are two people who have very different perspectives on who she is, that makes the love triangle more interesting than usual.
And then the show progressively derails as the episodes progress. The serial killer plot ramps up and is so extreme and scary, and there’s some serious whiplash going back and forth between cute scenes of our couple and scenes of this terrifying guy. Oh, and the goshdarn gangster scenes. Does that stuff even count as a subplot? It serves as “funny” filler, but I find pretty much none of it funny and it borders on gross for me. Those were the scenes I hated the most. The only way to watch the second half of the show is to skip through all the crap to get to the cute scenes with our couple, and at that point you might as well just watch the clips on YouTube.
I actually would give this show a 7, but it has such a high rating here and I feel the need to turn the dial down a bit so people understand that there’s some serious problems with this show. The cast is good, the humor is pretty good in the first half of the show, and the OST is fitting. However, many of the characters are superfluous and are meant to be humorous but are so over the top that it is too much to handle. The serial killer plot is so extreme that it throws the show off kilter, and it truly feels like it belongs in a different show like Voice. The saving grace of this show is the couple, which is one of the darn cutest couples I’ve seen in kdramaland. The main trio are great (though Ji Soo’s talents are somewhat wasted here). I wish that the latter half of the show wasn’t a hot mess, because otherwise this show would be really great.
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Definitely in the running for cutest OTP of 2020
This show was such a nice surprise. I didn’t expect much from a fantasy/historical(ish) rom-com, but this was (1) laugh-out-loud hilarious, (2) really well-made and edited, (3) had a story that didn’t completely go off the rails, and (4) had characters that were memorable and lovable.The premise is silly and most of the show is. But it never takes itself too seriously or tries to explain too much. It’s really funny and cool how meta the show is, with the screenwriter (aka the female lead) commenting on the holes in her script or how she regrets how certain characters are written. I also like that rather than a fish out of water scenario, the main female lead knows the world she’s in perfectly and thus is actually more knowledgeable than a lot of the characters. Thus the jokes are less centered around “look at this modern woman try to figure out ancient times” instead it’s “look at this screenwriter try to desperately save the plot and confusing the hell out of everyone.” Rather than being just a silly person to begin with, she’s actually a pretty rational person who has been placed in an absurd situation.
So yeah, I really love the female lead, she’s probably my fave, but a close second is the male lead. He's also hilarious in his own way, going from being a seemingly ruthless, ambitious man to almost instantly smitten with the female lead (though she’s just being nice to him to try to prevent him from killing her lollll). It’s cool how a lot of the characters develop in different trajectories from how both you, the audience, and the screenwriter expect. In general it is fun how the show takes tropes and makes fun of them and/or they play out in different ways.
It’s pretty remarkable that in a show that isn’t necessarily plot-driven the plot was actually good! I find with shows like this they tend to lose steam towards the end. The romance and comedy are the best part of the show but the plot was well placed and I was really invested in how it was going to end. This show was also surprisingly progressive with its perspective on male/female equality but it did have a few moments where I wasn’t okay with what the characters did (male characters forcing themselves on female characters is never my fave).
Tl;dr this show is 100% watching for the characters, the couple, and the plot. It’s a really fun ride and I enjoyed it immensely.
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yeah. Worth the hype.
I wasn't wowed by the first episode of this drama, nor entirely enchanted by the second. But by the end of the second episode I thought... dang, okay, fine, I guess I want to keep watching. And I'm glad I did.The most thrilling and emotional parts of this show took place within the game itself. The games are simple children's games, but are games that don't necessarily require skill. Most of the time, it's luck; which number you drew, which shape you got, that sort of thing. The game purports to be 'fair', but it's only fair in the way that real life is fair. You're stuck with the cards you've been given. The poor characters take part in the game because the real world is so terrible for them that the game is the best alternative they've got. Sadly, some even think they can win, despite (as we've discussed) the games being largely luck-based.
The characters are mostly pretty decent in this. The main character, Gi Hoon, is initially kind of a piece of trash, but you realize that he's a gambling addict, and this leads to him hurting the people he loves. He's not an inherently bad person who wants to hurt others, and you see that come out in the game, where he's one of the kinder people there. The rest of the cast are also great, not a weak performance in sight. I'd say the cop's plotline and character are mildly confusing and vague and you're just not that emotionally invested in it compared to everyone else. The show continues to get better and better as the games keep going and people die.
People die in very emotionally impacting ways, and I think they did all the character deaths very well. They often feel different too; whether it's because it was accidental, somebody cheated so they lost, or just bad luck. And the deaths can weirdly almost feel like a part of their character arcs. I don't know how the writers pulled it off but they did it well.
tl;dr it's really worth watching because it's not just trashy fun, it has so much to say about the unfairness of the systems in this world that keep poor people down. I'm not sure I'd rewatch it because it's so emotionally overwhelming at times but it is super good.
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