IA-000

6.25/10
The drama was good, and it started with 4 excellent episodes. I really appreciated the pervasive gray areas in almost all the characters. It was very interesting to watch.
The directing was good, though I would have preferred something more "noir" and more artistic.

The acting surprised me a lot (in a good way) :
- Kim Yoo Jung's performance was definitely good ! She never overacted, and never underperformed. I really liked her acting perf here, even though I don't usually like her acting.
However, there were still flaws in her perf, and one of them was major.
She didn't manage to incorporate that kinda "mystical" elements into her portrayal of her character. There's a lack of inner depth, and quite honestly, I think it's because the actress herself doesn't seem to be someone with a "mystical" sensibility, imo she probably lacks dark complexity.

- Kim Young Dae has finally grasped the meaning of acting after a string of mediocre perfs in the past. Here, he's good, not yet THAT good, but the progress is evident. He's also managed to imbue his character with something lowkey poetic (a blend of melancholy and strangeness).

- Bae Soo Bin once again demonstrated what an excellent actor he has always been; it was a pleasure to see him on screen again. I think it's been over five years since I last saw him.

- Hong Jong Hyun also surprised me too, I found his presence quite captivating in the drama. He certainly made an impression with the aura he displayed while playing his character.
His acting wasn't outstanding at all, but imo he added value to the drama.

- I must add that I think the overall casting was very well chosen. Everyone had chemistry and delivered good performances.


As I write earlier, the drama is definitely good, especially in the beginning, however, it gradually lost some of its luster for several reasons:

- The quality of the writing wasn't always consistent. Several scenes lacked detail, context, and depth, which was disappointing because it could have made the drama quite exceptional.

- The pacing was uneven, with a lot of scenes being uninteresting and occasionally too long (especially during the part of the drama that described her rise to celibrity).

- The 2nd ml's attachment to the fl, I felt, lacked realism. Him sacrificing his life for her, was too extreme ...

- The directing was good, but I felt it lacked shots with more symbolism and artistic merit. It's a shame because the story itself was enough material to do that.

- The story should have been told much more explicitly. Strangely, I found the drama too prudish. Kdramas these days are often explicit without any valid reason, but here, I think it would have been necessary because psychology is the major element of this drama. The characters' sexuality was barely addressed, and I found that unrealistic.
The writing isn't bold enough or to be more precise, honest enough. It doesn't sufficiently explore the complexity of the characters, refusing to delve into their true inner intimacy. It fails to truly disorient and unsettle the audience as it should have, given the complexity of the events and characters portrayed.

To conclude this review, I want to write about my opinion about the awful writing of the ending of the drama.

The whole episode was a mess, hectic and rushed.
In that episode, Junseo (the ml) was a pathetic looser for what he did to Ajin.
She is a deeply dysfonctional and complex character. She ended sacrificing the life of a innocent man (her very own friend Jae O) for the sake of her own ambition. I won't give her excuse, of course.
BUT, Junseo had no right to do what he did. Not only he tried to k'll her with himself, but before that he publicly destroyed her.
Was it necessary? I don't think so.

He only did it for himself, simply because she was the woman he loved. And therefore he couldn't forgive her incapacity to change for the sake of his love for her.
Something Ahjin also felt for him too, she hated the fact that he couldn't change for her knowing he was in love for her, she hated his unability to become a monster for her, to become a monster to save her. His love for her wasn't without limit, he couldn't destroy his own conscience for the sake of his love.
But it also was the reason she was deeply attached to him... She accepted the fact that he could never do what she needed him to do for her to succeed.
Why didn't he display that savior energy to bring down her psycho husband or his very own psycho mother, or anyone else who tried to destroy the woman he loves tho??? WELL .. I think it's because he never dreamed of forcing on them a pseudo redemption arc ... but he forced it on Ahjin, simply, because she is the woman he loves. There is something narcissic in his way of forcing Ahjin to change.
She had to become better, he never accepted her unability to change for him ...

Strangely, I've always seen Ahjin and Junseo as almost mystical twins. One being a part of the other, yet both driven by an absolute will to achieve something. Ahjin wanted to build a life that would prove to God that, despite the torment He inflicted upon her, she had managed to climb the social ladder and attain absolute power through sheer force of will, perseverance, and determination. It was her way of defying God.
Junseo, on the other hand, sought to change Ahjin, to prove that the power of his love could change someone he loved. Because his existence and his love hadn't managed to change his mother. Junseo sought to prove that his existence had a truer and deeper meaning than simply being born to become his parents' wallet... to be merely a means for the other to get what they wanted.

The thing I hated the most is indeed that public humiliation ...
He k'lled her twice, first by destroying the reputation she worked to build, a reputation that was actually a way too be loved by others, and then by letting that car crash ...
But he forgot something important, she already died a long time ago, when her own mother died in front of her own eyes, when she made the decision to let her die, a decision for herself to survive from the hell both her parent have put her through. She died when she had to kill to survive. She died when she had to become a monster to survive.

Ahjin did not escape death. Her soul has always been elsewhere, lost in the abyss of suffering that longs only to end. She is merely a body that moves with the strong will to give meaning to her suffering, the need to restore the dignity that life has stolen from her.

If she can't be loved and protected for who she is. Then, she thought she would be loved and protected for what she pretend to be and the power she worked to obtain.

Ahjin is a shadow, who lost her ability to live a long time ago.