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He’s really not a good actor and I didn’t realize he was so popular, but as someone who watched Nevertheless first, I just noticed the exact same acting in Navillera. He really could benefit from really learning to act because even if he was to get a better role, I think we can all visualize exactly how he would act it out. I’m not hard on him though simply because I’ve got a list in my head of other popular actors who are just terribly mediocre. If I were to name all the Korean actors who have skated by on mediocrity, that list would be long!

I’ve been saying this for years. A lot of drama watchers clearly don’t watch Korean movies. If they did, they would be blown away. Korean movies have ridiculously raunchy and prolonged sex scenes. This idea that Netflix is sexualizing Korean content is ridiculous.

See for me, it’s not the writing that was brilliant, it was how it was filmed. I think I mentioned this as a pro. This was beautifully filmed enough that it elevated really mediocre writing to me. It’s been a while since I’ve watched something that I even felt myself marveling over how the scenes were structured. I have absolutely no background in film or anything, but it felt like how the scenes were structured told the story far better than the actual writing.
For one, in a series like this, that I didn’t feel emotional nor was I shocked or horrified at the revelations which makes it lose its touch. I mean a psychological thriller that neither thrills nor horrifies is always going to be stale.

I feel like this is one drama, the more I marinate on it especially now that the hype isn’t there, the more I recall plot points that were just silly.

I don’t sit there categorizing every drama I’ve watched. I’m not going to spend three hours on MDL just to sort out what I’ve finished watching, dropped, etc. Ashes of Love has one of the most irritating female leads I’ve come across. I dropped it a long time ago and was surprised to see it so highly rated. If you can sit through the female lead shouting out the male leads name every three seconds, kudos to you but my gosh, was she an idiot. She also spends a good portion of the drama needing rescue. If you love that for a plot point, you will love this. Some of the plot points are also just straight out stupid. Not to mention that conflict here is all about a ridiculous love triangle. I really don’t know how anyone made it through this drama. Then again, I’ve read so many Chinese translated novels and watched a few. There really is better stuff out there.

I personally don’t think he’s morally corrupt in terms of the actual game. Squid game is a death game where everyone is a willing participant and there can only be one winner. That means, other than this one winner, everyone else dies. He’s also not a moral character to begin with so I definitely wouldn’t watch for his moral corruption. It’s the equivalent of musing about he moral corruption of soldiers who are on the front lines of a war.

To me there’s no such thing as moral decay when you’re playing Squid Game. Literally, everyone will die except one person. In fact, ensuring that you’re not the person who dies is the most logical and human thing. After all, everyone in the game is a willing participant. They had the choice to exit the game but chose to play. To quote “War does not determine who is right but only who is left.” With that said, considering Sangwoo is in debt because he swindled people out of their money, one really has to squint to find the morality in his character. He’s a criminal long before he plays the game.

I am confused about this sentiment because, isn’t squid Game a Netflix production? As in, they own the rights and are the ones who invested in it? Is another American company going to come along and pay Netflix the rights to remake? How else could the afford Lee Jung Jae, Lee Byung Hun and Gong Yoo all in one drama?

It’s not a popular novel but The Grandmaster Strategist would make an amazing period piece with fantastic scheming. Ze Tian Ji (Way of Choices) would also make a decent adaptation. Reverend Insanity would also be a good one just because the main character is a straight up villain. Really, he’s not even redeemable. He’s an unapologetic terrible person, but dramas tend to sugar coat things so it might actually work out better. They can soften him up a bit yet still make him ruthless. I’ve only read To be a Virtuous Wife but I don’t recall finishing it because it was still being updated.

It’s a show that appeals to universal sensibilites in a way that other Korean dramas do not. A lot of western shows aren’t really rooted in sugary romances so other dramas definitely don’t fare as well. If you notice the international shows on netflix that are popular like Lupin, Money Heist, Dark, etc, you can see the tilt towards action, thriller, crime, etc. Romance based shows tend to lean more towards dysfunctional relationships. I think Brigerton might be the only popular netflix show that actually leans towards romance.

To be fair, if you have netflix, they shove all their shows down your throat. I know no one is holding a gun to my head, but outside of dramas, I’ve tried some horrendous netflix shows for this reason. You log in, tap your profile (because of the other parasitic family members on my account), and immediately, there’s a gigantic banner of whatever netflix is pushing this week. You don’t know how you got there but you end up watching so many mediocre shows just because you need a dopamine hit. Then the algorithm works its magic and starts recommending stuff. So you end up watching everything from Tiger King to Squid Game to Narcos to the crappiest teenage shows.

Phew, let me start a whole write up on it. To be honest, I didn’t fault the show for its plot holes because that’s to be expected.

The biggest one was the main killer, managed to in one night, kill someone, bury them, get rid of that evidence, then also make their way to where Lee Dong Sik’s sister was hit, where he observed everything that took place, and then was able to haul the body back with him and bury that body into that wall unnoticed… Dude left no footprints, nothing! That whole thing just felt like a mediocre lead up to the real killer because all that was unnecessary. How that body decayed unnoticed is a thing of magic.

They arrest LDS all based on a guitar pick at the crime scene. They make so many arrests on circumstantial evidence as opposed to just taking people in for questioning. I was like is this a Korean law thing? I suspected not because everyone evidently gets their miranda rights read, so…

Not a plot hole but: HJW is a laugable detective. His character was the top prospect of a prestigious police academy who also previously worked at a pretty high profile department but holy obsession with LDS for no reason. No evidence, nothing. Then chirping around him asking him questions. “Who did you kill” “Why?” “Did you kill so and so.”

The crime scenes are littered with far too many people, how anyone manages to collect evidence is a mistery to me. The cops tamper with evidence and no one in this show ever asks for a lawyer? All the guilty parties in this show could have easily gotten away with it, just from the ridiculous tampering of evidence and constitutional violations. O.J got away with less.

Also, Bang Ju Seon is a victim that goes ignored. I admit, not even sure it’s a plot hole or something I completely missed, but she wasn’t a prostitute and honestly, why did she even die? Did I just miss this one? I honestly cannot even remember what reason she died. Same with Yae Ji’s mom. His MO is a bit unclear to me because of that. That along with essentially taking Yu Yeon’s body. He’s a methodical killer so that was just dumb.

I don’t get the bound hands and feet either.

Then there’s silly drama things I ignored like hearing characters whispering through walls, warrants seem to only be a requirement when the plot deems it convenient, HJW’s character can lip read conversations from a mile away, how no evidence is ever left from people’s shoes, clothes,etc. The evidence collection was tragic, but again drama things I ignored because every detective show of this nature does the same thing. I’d be praising them for having protective equipement but then police would pretty much dance around that crime scene.

I’ve seen people claim these things are not plot holes, but to me a plot hole is an illogical, inconsistent, or unlikely event that cheapens the plot.

This is why, even if a lot of people may have loved this drama and found it fun, it’s unlikely the revelations shocked you. Like I’d be surprised if anyone here gasped or was blown away when the killers were revealed. At least, for me, I was very lukewarm about it.

Honestly, I could go on and on about the second half especially with the events that occur with the chief of police and the villanous goon who’s name I can never remember, but he’s a slimey villain in every single thing he’s in.

I personally treated this drama as a mind game type of series.

I didn’t sing any praises but this was beautifully filmed, like whoever directed this really did a wonderful job. It’s to the point where it elevated a lot of even just basic moments.

I’ve personally never watched a show or read a novel that features serial killers that actually adheres to the law. Mind you, I’ve watched scandanavian, French, American, etc shows. They are all to some extent have the same format in that you can expect the same things, it’s really just a matter of execution. All of them have made me cringe in terms of the crime scenes, and in terms of how evidence is collected. One thing that especially always sticks out is just how many people there are in these crime scenes. Also, I am not a medical expert but some of the evidence in this show feels ficticious. That they could tell that two cars ran over the sister from her 20 year old bones, and even that she was hit upright feels to me like magic especially considering her body was moved. That the cops tampered with evidence would honestly be grounds for a mistrial.

I’m an INTJ, if we buy into the MBTI test. Yeo Jin Gu to me is actually a very emotional character. He makes incredibly rash decisions and is overly driven by emotion, without any evidence really. He also chirps around Shin Ha Kyun’s character for like nine episodes asking pointless questions. To the point, I was like, sir, you’re a detective, go and do some actual investigating.

To be fair, the drama really is not about “law” and if you get bogged down by that aspect, almost none of the investigating in this drama would fly in a court of law. There are so many consitutional violations, evidence tampering, jumping to conclusions, and circumstantial evidence that just flies for no reason. I don’t know much about Korean law but they hold witnesses for so long and no one ever asks for a lawyer? I mean, they read them their miranda rights…

Mei Chang Su though. I mean Nirvana in Fire was pretty up there…

That prize money was tax free? That’s the most unrealistic part. Let me tell you, you can play with criminals, loan sharks and all, but maybe it’s a Korean thing because in the US, you don’t play with the IRS (tax agency). In the famous words of Saul Goodman, “if they can get Capone, they can get you.”

On a serious note, show was a fun watch albeit a bootleg kaiji or bootleg Liar Game if you will. The games though are not based on smarts or stategy so I guess that’s where they evade the comparisons. I honestly wish his friend was the main lead because he’s a far more interesting character. I love Lee Jung Jae but his character was meh, I hope season 2, he just becomes more like his friend. End justifies the means type of person. I feel like they shouldn’t have tried to ground this show by including a cop. It would be nice if everyone else forgot the game but the winner. For one, including a cop adds a bit of a realistic element that just makes the show messy.

The problem here is budget. You almost never see any Korean sci-fi shows probably for this reason, though there are some movies like snow piercer. At some point, even I understood that a well selling romantic comedy with a pretty cliche plot is a low cost option that sells. There’s also the point that, most dramas are watched by women as compared to the U.S. I honestly bizarrely cannot think of a Korean sci-fi other than Snowpiercer which I recommend for being a fun watch.

This drama maybe messy, full of plot holes, and have pretty stale characters, but its biggest con is that it’s not very grounded. So for me, I watched this so apathetically. Even when the actors delivered in terms of the emotional scenes, my heart was a glacier. Could have cut onions watching this drama and I wouldn’t have cried. The excessive laughing, and tedious questions make the characters just feel like caricatures. What’s crazy is the main character has so much emotional baggage… If they’d executed the story well, we would have all been emotionally destoryed by the revelations. Also, Yeo Jin Gu and Shin Ha Kyun have no chemistry in terms of their characters. Like you’ll be getting none of the bromance feels you get from bromance.

Honestly, not sure how this kept people guessing when every “figure out the serial killer” show is like this. From the likes of True Detective to the numerous novels I’ve read, you just always know who the killer is because shows/novels are obsessed with certain serial killer tropes. The killer is always an eccentric person with a persecution complex that no one suspects yet gets entirely too much screen time. Then the second half of this was just endless plot holes.

Yeah, definitely stay away from most U.S shows for romance. Almost all romance shows are heavily sexualized and don’t really focus much on the build up. I actually recommend scandanavian shows especially for teen romances. I happen to not care for romance which is why most of the dramas I watch are period pieces. The problem is for me, is the U.S leans heavily sexual when it comes to romance that, while dramas lean too heavily on the opposite side so for me, so they both are pretty shallow. It would be nice if within this, there was a balance of more realistic romantic shows.