A High Quality Mystery With A Unique Female Lead
My 4 categories are Acting/Cast, Writing, Direction/SFX/Music, Entertainment Value.
I typically don’t like detective dramas. They tend to be very cliché and/or formulaic. I decided to watch this one because I was reading comments about viewers liking the "crazy" female lead (it's rare to see those types of female leads) and I like Son Seok Gu (손석구) who plays the male lead.
Acting/Cast: I liked the leads a lot. The other police officers and characters were fine. I didn’t like the psychiatrists. I don’t like Park Kyu Young (박규영) as an actress. She always plays the same roles…emotionless, stoic. I don’t like any actor that only plays those types of roles. As for the other psychiatrist, I like the actor from other things I’ve seen him in, but this character’s delivery felt a little cheesy. 6.5/10
Writing: This is a well-written drama. I like the unconventional female lead. She’s very much intentionally a Sherlock type character. I don’t really like Sherlock too much, but I thought this association was endearing and cute (her outfits and behavior). The mystery plot is engaging, although, I loosely figured it out pretty early on. I was hoping I wasn’t right because it’s such a cliché… Fortunately, this predictability didn’t completely ruin the drama for me, and this is because the ending is impactful. I liked the enemies to partners aspect between the leads and the focus on their dynamic for most of the drama. However, the biggest issue I had with this drama is the change towards the end (episode 10). The focus is no longer on the dynamic between the two leads, but shifts to the serial killer. Now, the strong, well-established personality of the female lead is abandoned for 2 episodes or so. It also feels like the relationship building between the leads is a waste because they aren’t working together on anything. It’s actually dumb. They’re both figuring everything out at the same time, but through different means and not as partners. So why does it even matter that the male lead has to learn to trust her? Anyway, I read that people either hate or love the ending. For me, the ending saved this drama. It was actually kind of beautiful in a macabre way, which is what the writers were going for. They also set it up for a season 2, which could work because the relationship between the leads felt unfulfilled in the end. Just don’t do a repeat of Queen of Mystery 1 & 2 please. Queen of Mystery is a good detective drama, but the slow burn romance never comes to a conclusion. There’s no romance in Nine Puzzles (although I think there potentially could be), but I’m talking about the bond that the leads are developing. If they keep splitting up and doing investigations alone, then what good is this bond? 6.5/10
Direction/SFX/Music: This is a very high quality drama regarding the writing and the production value, such as the drama Death’s Game. I think that’s what ultimately made this drama work for me when I typically don’t like detective dramas. I felt like I was watching a Hollywood style movie (a good one, I mean...I know Hollywood is terrible these days). 8.5/10
Entertainment Value: I was really into this drama until episode 10; I had gotten through those episodes pretty quick. Then, I was turned off by the change in direction. However, the final episode was good and gave meaning to the drama as a whole. This also kept the predictability of the drama from alienating me, leaving me with positive feelings about the drama. 7/10
Overall, I gave this drama a 7/10. A score or 6 or higher is in my ‘would recommend’ zone. I don’t know if I would recommend this to someone who loves the detective genre because it is predictable. But, I’d recommend it if you want to watch a good story with interesting character writing and a high production value. This drama made me interested in criminal profiling. I actually bought an introductory college textbook on the subject.
I typically don’t like detective dramas. They tend to be very cliché and/or formulaic. I decided to watch this one because I was reading comments about viewers liking the "crazy" female lead (it's rare to see those types of female leads) and I like Son Seok Gu (손석구) who plays the male lead.
Acting/Cast: I liked the leads a lot. The other police officers and characters were fine. I didn’t like the psychiatrists. I don’t like Park Kyu Young (박규영) as an actress. She always plays the same roles…emotionless, stoic. I don’t like any actor that only plays those types of roles. As for the other psychiatrist, I like the actor from other things I’ve seen him in, but this character’s delivery felt a little cheesy. 6.5/10
Writing: This is a well-written drama. I like the unconventional female lead. She’s very much intentionally a Sherlock type character. I don’t really like Sherlock too much, but I thought this association was endearing and cute (her outfits and behavior). The mystery plot is engaging, although, I loosely figured it out pretty early on. I was hoping I wasn’t right because it’s such a cliché… Fortunately, this predictability didn’t completely ruin the drama for me, and this is because the ending is impactful. I liked the enemies to partners aspect between the leads and the focus on their dynamic for most of the drama. However, the biggest issue I had with this drama is the change towards the end (episode 10). The focus is no longer on the dynamic between the two leads, but shifts to the serial killer. Now, the strong, well-established personality of the female lead is abandoned for 2 episodes or so. It also feels like the relationship building between the leads is a waste because they aren’t working together on anything. It’s actually dumb. They’re both figuring everything out at the same time, but through different means and not as partners. So why does it even matter that the male lead has to learn to trust her? Anyway, I read that people either hate or love the ending. For me, the ending saved this drama. It was actually kind of beautiful in a macabre way, which is what the writers were going for. They also set it up for a season 2, which could work because the relationship between the leads felt unfulfilled in the end. Just don’t do a repeat of Queen of Mystery 1 & 2 please. Queen of Mystery is a good detective drama, but the slow burn romance never comes to a conclusion. There’s no romance in Nine Puzzles (although I think there potentially could be), but I’m talking about the bond that the leads are developing. If they keep splitting up and doing investigations alone, then what good is this bond? 6.5/10
Direction/SFX/Music: This is a very high quality drama regarding the writing and the production value, such as the drama Death’s Game. I think that’s what ultimately made this drama work for me when I typically don’t like detective dramas. I felt like I was watching a Hollywood style movie (a good one, I mean...I know Hollywood is terrible these days). 8.5/10
Entertainment Value: I was really into this drama until episode 10; I had gotten through those episodes pretty quick. Then, I was turned off by the change in direction. However, the final episode was good and gave meaning to the drama as a whole. This also kept the predictability of the drama from alienating me, leaving me with positive feelings about the drama. 7/10
Overall, I gave this drama a 7/10. A score or 6 or higher is in my ‘would recommend’ zone. I don’t know if I would recommend this to someone who loves the detective genre because it is predictable. But, I’d recommend it if you want to watch a good story with interesting character writing and a high production value. This drama made me interested in criminal profiling. I actually bought an introductory college textbook on the subject.
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