198
440
14
1
4
9
14
1
22
1
13
6
1
6
38
1
15
3
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10
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8
23
10
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30
The mighty rise, the ruthless middle and the underwhelming fall !
This is one of those dramas that walks into your life, kicks the door open with an insane amount of flair and then tests every bit of patience you have in you. Once in a while, in drama land, we meet characters like Ah Jin, the femme fatale. What frustrated me here was that her deranged, iconic journey was thrilling to watch, yet the downfall she faced barely scratched the surface of what she deserved.
Let's start with Ah Jin. She has razor-sharp intelligence, survival instincts honed by manipulation and borderline cruelty and a personality carved out of neglect and trashy parenting. The drama tells us from the start that she doesn't have or feel emotions from the very first scene when little Ah Jin climbs that staircase in that rain soaked scene. Every episode peeled a layer of her and every layer was worse and shocking than the last.
I made my peace that she isn't your typical damsel in distress FL but she is the reason everyone else is distressed and I am weirdly okay with that. I have issues with how the writing went in the second half. They wanted her to be everything. From a tragic figure to a ruthless mastermind and also a victim but a perpetrator too.
I agree that all the adults in her life failed her by a big margin, and her dad had it coming, and she was able to get my narrative sympathy because of that, until there weren't outsiders involved who had nothing to do with her trauma. Acknowledging her backstory doesn't make her actions neutral. Her actions were just a trauma response or self-defence. She manipulates, calculates and then strikes. Indifference to one's emotions doesn't make anyone morally superior to malice. They both are equally dangerous.
The real flaw wasn’t that she lacked guilt or remorse because we are shown she is foreign to those emotions but the fact that even story never created an atmosphere where accountability truly existed was a bummer. No one I repeat no one...not the adults or not the system or not even the narrative tone, stepped up to challenge her choices. That missing pressure made the entire world around her feel oddly weightless and very convenient. It took the edge off for me.
Coming to the second half, where I was waiting for her downfall, damn it was disappointing. When it was her turn to reap what she sowed, I felt the universe was biased because the writing acted like society was the one being unreasonable. Initially, the flag of methodical psychotic chaos waved right over her head, and suddenly everyone bends itself into pretzels to validate her perspective?
I can go on and on about her writing 100 when she got 10, excluding her father, but moving on...
Ah Jin's biggest victims were Jae Oh and Jun Seo, the Mercury and Venus orbiting her blazing sun. A perfect example of how different kinds of brokennes attract the same sun.
Jun Seo was someone who mistakenly misunderstood devotion as the purpose of his life and destruction as destiny. We get to see his moments of conflict, where we know who Ah Jin is and what she is capable of but chooses to be blind when it comes to her. I am not surprised by his character arc in the latter half as I predicted it.
Out of all her pieces, Jae Oh's dedication was the only one whose kindness feels unmanufactured. He had a soft side to him and I feel he was one of the two who brought Ah Jin's soft side out even though it was for a second or maybe I over-analysed the scene.
Ah Jin's greatest strength is how well she knows people around her and her weakness is that she doesn't value them a bit. I do feel a little sad for the boys but it wasn't something that was unexpected. They knew it! We knew it!
Also, this was Ah Jin's world and somehow everyone just accommodated according to her wishes and plans. Sometimes by how she hatches a plan and manipulated them and sometimes because it had to that way because writing.
That said, the performance by everyone was outstanding. Especially Kim Yoo Jung. That dead-eyed stare with that smile is iconic! The shift between vulnerability and menace was done so consistently well. The child actor who played Ah-Jin was another gem. Kim Young Dae as Jun Seo was another hit. His cold demeanour and that nonchalance did the work here. Kim Do Hoon as Jae Oh was a fitting find too. We had some star-studded guest performances too.
The cinematography and production just elevated the drama. The shots were intentional and very poetically presented. Though the editing in the later half seemed a bit choppy but it is very ignorable. Money was spent on sets and costumes and it showed.
Overall, while the first half charmed me left and right, the second half was underwhelming or maybe I had a different kind of expectations. The ending didn't sit right with me plus the lack of narrative justice disappointed me.
Still, it was one of a kind ride. Messy, chaotic and addictive to an extent.
Will I recommend it? Depends on if you enjoy characters like Ah Jin and don't mind heavy dramas.
Everything said, I have to acknowledge that every character here, especially Ah Jin is open to multiple interpretations and maybe all of them are neither black nor white. I can see why someone would rate this drama high but also low ratings are as justified as the high ones.
Let's start with Ah Jin. She has razor-sharp intelligence, survival instincts honed by manipulation and borderline cruelty and a personality carved out of neglect and trashy parenting. The drama tells us from the start that she doesn't have or feel emotions from the very first scene when little Ah Jin climbs that staircase in that rain soaked scene. Every episode peeled a layer of her and every layer was worse and shocking than the last.
I made my peace that she isn't your typical damsel in distress FL but she is the reason everyone else is distressed and I am weirdly okay with that. I have issues with how the writing went in the second half. They wanted her to be everything. From a tragic figure to a ruthless mastermind and also a victim but a perpetrator too.
I agree that all the adults in her life failed her by a big margin, and her dad had it coming, and she was able to get my narrative sympathy because of that, until there weren't outsiders involved who had nothing to do with her trauma. Acknowledging her backstory doesn't make her actions neutral. Her actions were just a trauma response or self-defence. She manipulates, calculates and then strikes. Indifference to one's emotions doesn't make anyone morally superior to malice. They both are equally dangerous.
The real flaw wasn’t that she lacked guilt or remorse because we are shown she is foreign to those emotions but the fact that even story never created an atmosphere where accountability truly existed was a bummer. No one I repeat no one...not the adults or not the system or not even the narrative tone, stepped up to challenge her choices. That missing pressure made the entire world around her feel oddly weightless and very convenient. It took the edge off for me.
Coming to the second half, where I was waiting for her downfall, damn it was disappointing. When it was her turn to reap what she sowed, I felt the universe was biased because the writing acted like society was the one being unreasonable. Initially, the flag of methodical psychotic chaos waved right over her head, and suddenly everyone bends itself into pretzels to validate her perspective?
I can go on and on about her writing 100 when she got 10, excluding her father, but moving on...
Ah Jin's biggest victims were Jae Oh and Jun Seo, the Mercury and Venus orbiting her blazing sun. A perfect example of how different kinds of brokennes attract the same sun.
Jun Seo was someone who mistakenly misunderstood devotion as the purpose of his life and destruction as destiny. We get to see his moments of conflict, where we know who Ah Jin is and what she is capable of but chooses to be blind when it comes to her. I am not surprised by his character arc in the latter half as I predicted it.
Out of all her pieces, Jae Oh's dedication was the only one whose kindness feels unmanufactured. He had a soft side to him and I feel he was one of the two who brought Ah Jin's soft side out even though it was for a second or maybe I over-analysed the scene.
Ah Jin's greatest strength is how well she knows people around her and her weakness is that she doesn't value them a bit. I do feel a little sad for the boys but it wasn't something that was unexpected. They knew it! We knew it!
Also, this was Ah Jin's world and somehow everyone just accommodated according to her wishes and plans. Sometimes by how she hatches a plan and manipulated them and sometimes because it had to that way because writing.
That said, the performance by everyone was outstanding. Especially Kim Yoo Jung. That dead-eyed stare with that smile is iconic! The shift between vulnerability and menace was done so consistently well. The child actor who played Ah-Jin was another gem. Kim Young Dae as Jun Seo was another hit. His cold demeanour and that nonchalance did the work here. Kim Do Hoon as Jae Oh was a fitting find too. We had some star-studded guest performances too.
The cinematography and production just elevated the drama. The shots were intentional and very poetically presented. Though the editing in the later half seemed a bit choppy but it is very ignorable. Money was spent on sets and costumes and it showed.
Overall, while the first half charmed me left and right, the second half was underwhelming or maybe I had a different kind of expectations. The ending didn't sit right with me plus the lack of narrative justice disappointed me.
Still, it was one of a kind ride. Messy, chaotic and addictive to an extent.
Will I recommend it? Depends on if you enjoy characters like Ah Jin and don't mind heavy dramas.
Everything said, I have to acknowledge that every character here, especially Ah Jin is open to multiple interpretations and maybe all of them are neither black nor white. I can see why someone would rate this drama high but also low ratings are as justified as the high ones.
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