MaSuNaRa

good concept lousy and rushed execution

As a premise, this drama was very promising , but alas the execution was lousy, the story began to go all over the place, weird pacing, rushed conclusions to some story arcs, and even inconsistencies with some of the flashback events.

The drama opens to an intriguing mystery with a touch of fantasy and horror elements. The story then offers the familiar yet promising aspect of second guessing and doubting whether our main lead is an imposter who is deceiving everyone, or is he/ might be genuine. Was he a tormented soul that is good at heart, or is he simply a conniving evil person. If executed well such a tool be highly advantageous to building a mystery thriller, where a degree of doubting the true intentions or nature of a character gives extra depth to the story, keeping us watching doubting each and every word or action they take, always in anticipation of the moment the truth comes out. This drama even added an extra layer to that mystery; our main male lead might be truly the person he believes he is conning people into thinking that he is. That premise was good on paper, but unfortunately I have to say I felt the execution was somewhat sloppy and riddled with question marks, and the reveal was eventually rather anticlimactic.

The romance was poorly done. The Enemies-to-lovers card was just so rushed we were not shown enough to be bought on their love story, a couple of swoon-worthy moments or a couple of heroic actions can not make the viewer believe how she could shift one moment from despising and doubting him to all of a sudden falling madly in love with him. And I want to stress, that the issue with the romance was not owing to lack of acting skills or chemistry between the actors, rather it was just an issue with writing and script itself, it felt like the writer just decided at one point maybe due to time constraints with the air time and the progress of the story to just advance the romance to the next level.

Now, addressing the elephant in the room, which was the faux-incest aspect of the romance plot. I'll put it this way, showing us signs of attraction between the main leads at a point when we were still highly doubtful whether or not he was her brother was one thing, but when there is outright flirtatious skin-ship AFTER he supposedly convinced her he was her long lost brother that is a totally different thing. Let's just say that was a bit too much for me.

As for the pacing of the story, the drama wasted a large chunk of its short airing time on the "guild" power struggles or whatever that was, which to put it bluntly was boring and never managed to interest me as a viewer. I never really managed to wrap my head around what the whole guild and stake thing to begin with. and I felt like even the writers were being indecisive as to how much they wanted to build this story, they were always hinting at things like the gift of deed or whatever but never properly explaining anything. And even after we were introduced to the backstory of our lead and his motivations to approaching the guild master, the writers managed time and time again to lose the viewers attention toward the main mystery that our main lead was risking his life to uncover (i.e. the painter and his snow man), and left us trying our best to follow the inner machinations of the power struggle between the husband and wife fighting over control of their precious guild, and we were only ever introduced to their background story too little too late. It is hard to be interested in a plot that involves characters that we were not properly introduced to, with just one quick rushed scene to give you the gist of their background story. That may cut it if it was just a side character with a side plot that didn't consume most of the drama, but here at least one third of the story was about the god da*n thing! They managed to lose my interest completely to the point that whenever there was a part where different factions sent their henchmen to hunt down our leads which tended to happen a lot, I couldn't care less to recognize who was on which faction's side and who was fighting who, I was like whatever just get it over with. I found myself a couple of times literally checking how many episodes were left, and wondering when will the story address the mystery of the painter already, or just focus on our main lead's story.

The ending was super rushed, and I do not think that the shorter format was purely to blame, the story with its different plots could have progressed with a different pace and more balanced way so as to give more time for the main plot to progress without feeling it was just haphazardly executed like that.

Like many people mentioned on here, the OST was nice and memorable, the main song gave Indian vibes with dark and ritualistic sounding vocals I felt matched the story.

If you're a huge fan of the actors, it would not hurt to check it out, other than that I would not recommend this drama.

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A story that had a smart concept but dumb execution.

As you can see from my rating this review will not be of the popular opinion.

First I would like to state that I had started defendant when utnhad just finished airing, but then I put it on hold since then, only to decide to rewatch it 3 years later simply because I had all the episodes downloaded so I thought it would be a waste not to. I do not regret having watched it, maybe because it helped me rethink the concept of rewatching or watching an older drama however popular it may have been , especially after watching many dramas of the same genre that have come out since.
I was hating a lot of things with this drama's story but deep inside I knew it was mostly because my standards as a viewer had become high thanks to many other solid dramas of the same genres, whether it be law, crime, prison, or revenge. I have watched shows that share similar genres like stranger (forest of secrets), signal, prison's playbook, and I hear your voice, dramas that are by no means masterpieces but which enjoyed strongly woven stories that above all showed respect to the viewers' intelligence and boasted solid and believable character development for both protagonists and antagonists.

First let me discuss where this drama scored points...the acting. Ji sung and full stop! Solid performances by all, especially uhm kijoon, but ji sung's alone would have been more than an enough to still make me give acting such a high score. He was able to capture the raw emotions and pain of our hero, you felt for him from start to finish. As for our antagonist, while uhm kijoon performance was to point from start to finish I had my reserves as to the relatability of his character as a villain, which was due to the writing and by no means due to a problem on his part.

Now to where this drama did poorly; the story.

This is in a nutshell a story that had a smart concept but dumb execution.
Let me put it this way, If a drama forces its viewers to have to exercise a fair amount of suspension of disbelief in order to watch, guessing and questioning plot holes and filling in missing gaps every now and then, then the story writing is simply failing right there. End of story.

First off, this story relied on too many conveniencies to work, ranging from the trivial to the huge. To give just a few examples, the brother in law who works as a correctional officer, the mother of the villain who has dementia so can't cause too much trouble recognizing the identity swap, the wife of the good twin who was previously dating the evil twin and also has a son from (ie can be blackmailed into silence.), The DA in charge being a friend of the suspect who happened to visit his house minutes before the murder (in turn becoming an accomplice in the cover up).

The story also stretched the chaebol power card too far (which was in itself one of the biggest conveniencies of all). They show us the cheabol who not only has connections in multiple sovereign bodies such as the police, the DA and the prison, but almost has total control over some corrupt high ups, with such corruption reaching extreme heights at some points (forging fake lab results, stealing confidential case files from the NFS and killing off suspects in prosecution custody etc). The writer must know that the more his villain has to use his connections to cover up his tracks, the more he is creating loose ends and leaving behind even more evidence. Which is exactly what happened in the final epidode where everything unraveled....so miraculously if I may say (to be discussed later).

Another thing that bothered me with the story was that a big portion of the drama felt like a cat and mouse scenario, where the good side takes a step forward, the bad side takes couple of steps back. This while in no means an uncommon tool in this genre, here was done in a very obvious (like minho declaring at one point that it was a race to find the daughter), repitive and following an almost never changing pattern. it became kind of frustrating to be watching the good side plotting a way out and only awaiting the bad side to squash their attempts with a simple wave of the hand (through a call to the high ups or another hit job or both). And for God's sake how easy is it to run a car over with the same huge orange dump truck and get away with it each and every time!!!!!

Worst thing of all was the finale.
In terms of making fun of the viewers' intelligence, those last two episodes were by far the worst. It felt like the writer thought to himself "well they stuck this far, didn't they" and decided to go crazy with the story.
Not only does multiple sides who had sided with the villain for so long decide all of a sudden to come clean (from secretary to wife to corrupt DA friend), but also the smart and conniving villain does a bunch of unbelievably dumb stuff such as meeting with his minion, who is being charged with murder, inside the DA office after interrogation and straight out telling him where he hid a murder weapon!! I was screaming to the screen "haven't you ever heard of voice recorders?!" Worse, the supposedly smart manipulative villain who in an attempt to keep an accomplice under control had been blackmailing him with a recording, turns out that recording included his voice admitting to murder all along!!!! If you have to resort to sudden and inexplicable change of character whether it be intelligence-wise or conscience-wise then you are doing something wrong, Mrs writer.

To sum it up..this drama had a good premise and marvelous cast, but the execution of the story and the details felt sometimes sloppy, sometimes rushed, and other times downright dumb. The pace also felt awkward rushing through the important parts especially at the begining and towards the end, but going super slow and thorough at other parts to the point it felt draggy.
__________________________
The above is my review of the drama and below are some of the points that bothered me the most while watching this drama.
only read if you have watched this drama recently or have an excellent memory of the plot :D
Any discussions regarding regarding these points will be greatly appreciated ;)

1) First and most importantly why did minho choose such a complicated method that involves framing jung woo of murdering his family instead of just killing him. If he had killed him on the same night he would no prevented him from holding the press conference where he had planned to reveal minho's true identity. And please do not try to convince me that he was working by the concept of an eye for an eye, and that he wanted him to feel the loss of a family member just like he did when he was forced to kill his brother!! Not buying it because most surely minho must have suspected jung woo to be receiving help from his colleagues who most surely will continue digging into the case even after jungwoo was incarcerated.

2) so min ho was surprised to learn that the bag that was supposed to be carrying hayeon's body was found empty, and we see a flashback where they explain that sungyu's job was to put hayeon's body inside the bag (or did I get this part wrong?). my question is how did that happen, if minho's plan was to kill hayeon and dispose of her body how come jung woo ended up with an empty bag? Or was minho angry not at the bag being empty but that it was found in the first place?! I didn't quite understand that.

3) how did jung woo know at the crime scene that minho's blood was on the knife he used to stab ji soo?!!! We know he is a DA and all but sure he has no forensic lab at his house. And also how cine minho didn't notice he had a cut through hus gloves, That was too much of a stretch by the script writer imo. Also for crying out loud, what kind of shi**y CSI job did they do that they can't even make a proper comparison between the weapon found at the crime scene and the wounds inflicted on the victim.

4) during the prosecutors investigation it was mentioned that the CCTV footage didn't show anyone other than the apartments' tenants going in and out of the building. we know that the prosecutor friend jung hyuk covered up the fact that he visited the apartment on the day of the murder by deleting the cctv footage. But later on he mentions to minho that the cctv showed him exiting the building after the murder. Minho surely had the dep. Head at the DA's office ready to alter any evidence that connects him to the crime scene, so how come the DA in charge was able to access the footage in the first place.

5) concerning the sequence of events at the night of the murder, if jung woo took the empty bag in his car and buried it, How did he return to the house and get arrested there when we know he left the car with the knife hidden inside at a parking lot near where he burried the bag. Did he take a ride home?! And if he had done just that, what kind of a sloppy investigation was it that they never bothered searching for the missing vehicle.

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Life on mars is a drama that I watched in no time, what you may call binge watching, and that proves how much I enjoyed it.
It was certainly a fun watch, not just for the think-instigating interesting premise, the lively and endearing characters, the perfectly balanced thriller and humor, but above all for the story of how one man learned the meaning of trust and what it means to be a part of a team, not just work colleagues but essentially comrades of a common goal and purpose in life. What it means to embrace oneself, one’s past, one’s shortcomings and weakness, essentially one’s need to lean and depend on others.
Knowing this drama was based upon a popular English series that I have never watched before, I obviously decided not to read anything about the original and to simply venture on this one with a fresh perspective. So my review will not be discussing how this came short or excelled its original, rather I will be discussing what I liked and did not like about it as a separate drama.

Story (8.5/10)
The story of a police officer who wakes up after an accident to find himself mysteriously 30 years in the past also as a police officer. The premise wholly depends on the constant questioning, of whether the lead is in a coma and what he’s experiencing is a kind of a dream/hallucination, or if he’s actually time-travelled to the past….or something else more ominous.
There is a main recurring case that offsets the story, we are introduced to it in 2018 and continues into the past, but the main drama follows a one-case-an-episode format for the most part. I have noticed some people did not appreciate that and would rather have had the main case in more focus rather than just popping up every now and then, but I personally found most of the cases rather interesting and were in my point of view a necessity as a catalyst for the main characters’ relationship development, without which the drama would have lost most of its meaning.
Another point I noticed people bothered with, was the suddenness of the time travel in the first episode. I agree to just a certain extent. I found The drastic and sudden swap, where the character just awakes in a moment to find himself transported to the past, was totally understandable, because it served in making the viewer as surprised and bewildered as much as the character itself. However I do believe that the first episode was somewhat lacking in paving the base of the story and more importantly introducing the main lead’s character. We are shown who he is as a police officer, but not as a human-being. When we get to explore his character further during the past arc, we are never quite sure if the traits he display (being mostly timid and depressed for example) are out of amazement and frustration at his current situation or just who he is. I would have appreciated if we could have had a more intensive glimpse of him and his life prior to the time-travel, not just the fragments that show that when it comes to his work he only believes in himself and the evidence and nothing else.
Of course, one cannot discuss this drama’s story without mentioning the ending! I would rather not discuss that in details out of fear of any spoilers, but I will just say that the ending here was an open one, and by open I don’t mean just pointing to a sequel (it most certainly keeps that option available) but rather than that the questions we are constantly having all through the drama along with the main lead are not clearly answered. The final two episodes helped in showing the viewer all the possible options to the answer and providing hints to support each, in other words, we are dealt several cards to pick the one out that suits our own interpretation.
As much as that type of endings seems cool and unique, I have to admit I never found them as my cup of tea. I would swallow a certain degree of ambiguity as to what happens next (a la Signal), but open as in “now you will never know for certain what that drama was all about” kind of way, felt a bit a pinch too much for my taste. The ending is one of the main reasons I score the story 8.5 and not higher, as I have said I am reviewing this drama separately from its original that I know had the same ending. (if you have watched and felt like you wanted a closure like I did, you can check the original series’ sequel “Ashes to Ashes”’s ending for a theory).

The Acting: (9.5/10)
Very strong performances from all the cast with no exceptions. In particular and as usual, another stellar performance by Jung Kyung Ho <3

Music (9/10)

Rewatch Value (9/10)
It was definitely a smartly written and exquisitely shot drama, interesting in terms of story and characters. I might give it a go again in the future.

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I would like to start by saying that I definitely enjoyed watching this drama, especially because I am kind of a medical drama fan, but also because it had a bunch of interesting characters, strong acting performances, intriguing plot-lines, great on-screen chemistry, and a witty dialogue.

The story had it's strong and original points, and it also had its normal and not-so original parts.
But all in all, as a medical drama script, this one balanced all the aspects nicely, in a way that saved it from going through the muddy waters that is hospital business wars and all that unrelated areas that many good medical K-Dramas delve too deep into, and end up boring us most of the time (I am looking at you Good Doctor)

As I mentioned the general feel of the dialogue was witty and sharp, a bit quick during the medical scenes, but just within the norm. But the best part was the bickering and fight scenes between the main characters.

The medical part was certainly above average, and although it mainly concerned one branch of medicine ie. surgery, it still showed a wide array of cases and although I am no medical student and my knowledge in the field is null, I could sense that the depiction of the medical proceedings were mostly accurate and delivered in a very professional manner.

The only grope I had with the story, was how the main female lead's PTSD was depicted. At the beginning they sure played it in a way that made it seem quite serious, but then it just kind of magically gets cured with no much as a mention or a proper closure. You are left to satisfy yourself with the explanation that her love overcame her trauma, I guess?

The main OTP as I mentioned had great chemistry and the romance was very well done, it was not the main story line but that's exactly how I prefer it.

As for the characters, I won't be discussing all in detail, I will rather focus on the character that was the first to give me a WOW factor.
One of the first thoughts I had watching the first episode, was "WOW! I love this guy's boldness!!". I won't be going into details lest I reveal any spoilers (it is the first episode but still) but watching the main male lead interact with the female lead right from the beginning, was quite unique and bold, to me it felt like a fresh breeze among all the common self-denials and bashfulness in accepting and acting upon one's emotions that plagues most of K-Drama leads. You don't just give credit to the guy's guts, but you just fall in love with him right then.

The characters other than the main trio (Teacher Kim and the OTP) sometimes felt 2 dimensional, but I couldn't say that that was necessarily a bad thing, because some other dramas try to create separate plot-lines for the side characters, but end up either slowing up the overall pace of the drama, or boring the viewers out with mediocre characters/stories.....or come to think of it in some rare cases, a side-character's plot-line end up being more interesting than the main OTP's and you are secretly kind of watching just to see how it will work ouy, which let's be honest is not a good sign at all! (I am looking at you One more happy ending)

My least favorite character and the thing that felt like one of the weakest points of this drama, was the villain.
At first, when you learn the background story of his animosity with teacher Kim and how their rivalry started, you are convinced of where he's coming from and that there is a long history of clashing between them. But then the more the story develops and the more the villain sharpens his claws and acts out all his villain-y antiques, you start to question the whole character and its motives. Like is it a conflict of interests, is it sheer hatred, is it jealousy, is it pure evil?? You just don't know and kind of don't care any longer.

Another frustration I had with this drama (the direction in particular) was that at many times the details of a certain medical case at hand could be very interesting, and I could be at the edge of my seat waiting to see how the emergency will work out, but then what hinders the whole thing from feeling believable and genuine, is none other than the human/doctors interactions during the procedure, which was at many times packed with overly dramatic acting.
to elaborate more, there is a part where the doctors are arranging for a major operation, and they are struggling to reduce the time required for the said operation as much as possible, like trading even minutes in order to shorten the time the patient is put under anesthesia. But during the actual OP, they find time to waste on looong expressions ranging from staring, glaring, smiling ,clapping and many others.
When you're a viewer of a drama, and you're like distracted from enjoying the thrill in a scene by the characters' facial expressions, then I think it is a sign that the DP/actor should have kept it a notch down.

To sum up, this drama like any other drama is far from flawless but was still a very fun and interesting watch, that I would totally recommend especially to medical drama fans like myself.

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This drama is definitely an ALL-10-er!!! It's nearly perfect in every aspect....Story, script, Acting, Characters, reality, Music ....everything.
The story at first seems (through reading the synopsis) as a simple story, which you'd think might be rather dull or not original enough, but then you watch and you're swept off your feet.
I am just genuinely so thankful for the boom the drama had in Korea and among the Korean drama fans on the internet, because otherwise I would have lost the marvelous chance of enjoying and falling in love to pieces with this one of a time drama.

This drama might seem heavy to some people at one look, and I can imagine people who would read people's reviews on how they felt they could relate to Jang Gu Rae and feel like they all experienced his efforts and hard-times, they'd think &amp;quot;we are not old enough/ we have not been employed yet/ I am housewife&amp;quot; and etc...just not expecting to feel any relation to the drama or its characters, but oh are they soooo wrong. I am positive any viewer whichever age they might be whichever their background or education and employment status might be, will see themselves beautifully reflected in many of the characters of the drama and not just the protagonist Jang Gu Rae.

I can never explain how I was so glad I gave this drama a chance, and I can never tell you how you will be attached to each and every character in this well-written drama even the nasty characters which are supposed to portray a negative aspect, because you will still relate to their imperfections and their errors, and you will at one time be cheering against them and the next moment cheering for them.

This drama portrays company life in Korea, and many parts and developments in the story rely on certain cultural aspects in Korea, the former and/or the latter might differ slightly ~ greatly from other countries' but I believe the main message the drama aspires to convey, and the biggest picture it is trying to draw through its story and characters, is a universal one that is similar everywhere.

One of the best Korean dramas I have watched and will mostly ever watch (I have to be honest I can never be sure about the last part because the Korean drama industry keeps surprising us with well-worthy dramas like this one). I believe anyone who for any reason didn't/decided not to watch or has been putting off this drama for later, is definitely missing on a great and exceptional experience...you're thinking I'm exaggerating? with that thought give it a try and judge for yourself.

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I started rewatching this drama with my sis and am afraid that I felt an urge to edit my review of it ;-(

The story:

I loved the Story to a certain extent, loved how it discussed a type of social disturbances that's rarely featured in KDramas and also in a light and uncomplicated manner. I loved the fun and comical parts, felt moved by emotional parts so much that proves the story & the script were successful in a sense, BUT (here it comes) though the show has some highly interesting characters with unique backgrounds I still found some characters a bit under developed (like kkegeum's first love and do hwi) and hard to relate to, and unfortunately there were certain parts in the story that felt a bit draggy and unfocused with a bit of unnecessary sidelines that felt distracting.
To stretch a popular drama to fill 20 episodes when it should nicely fit in only 16 episodes is a mistake that a lot of KDrama producers fall into, all in the search for more viewers, it can easily ruin a very well written script. In the case we have here though, the story might have turned a bit boring near the end but I find the script and the directing paid out for some of that, so it didn't feel boring to the extent where you would consider dropping the show.

I enjoyed the direction a lot, loved the flashbacks and how you slowly discover the truth about different mysterious sides each character had.

I enjoyed above all the script, so many emotionally moving lines, so many sensationally touching lines that make you want to memorize them or note them down in your favorite quotes list.
And also this drama has by far the most heart-wringing love confessions you can ever hear!!

The cast:


I gave the cast a 9 which is fairly high by my standards cause I felt they did a great job (well most of them)

The OST was nice, repetitive as usual but nice.

Rewatch value! Hmm considering the fact that I changed my review to a lower rating proves that I should have just rewatched the cute and funny scenes instead of watching the whole thing.
This is not a bad drama, it has an interesting story and a talented cast with lovable side characters, but it should have been made shorter, to avoid becoming a bit boring near the end like it did.

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Vincenzo might not be the first noire drama out there, but it sure went full throttle with the genre, what with Mafia, deep state corruption, torture, revenge, murder and everything in between. But other than the usual noire that mixes in a pinch of drama, and a dash of romance, it mixed quite a large dollop of comedy. Whether the recipe works or not, depends on each viewer, so while some might have found the dose of comedy a tad too much, others found it was just the right amount and loved the drama all the more for it. I for one, could have appreciated a more balanced recipe, but I still enjoyed it all in all.

From the drama's kickoff, you become attracted to the original premise, the fast paced plot and the sleek execution. An Italian mafia family's consigliere of Korean origin heads back to Korea to retrieve a vault full of gold.
The first few episodes while a little slow paced served well to introduce the characters and pave the ground for the story, and during that phase the comedy was just to the right level and served its purpose, to show the sudden shift in the hero's life and the jarring difference between his background in Italy and what he finds himself thrown into in Korea. I was laughing with tears at vincenzo's demise upon arriving at Korea, and enjoyed the comedic relief in the simple interactions with the side characters and even simple moments like our mighty hero begging a pigeon to shut up so that he can go to sleep, only to have the pigeon raid his bedroom.
The start of the drama was craftly done to show the gap between our hero's true identity and past, and how his move to a different environment surrounded with simple common people affected his demeanour, state of mind and even somehow his priorities. The more he dived deeper into the lives and struggles of the simple plaza tenants, the more he drifted a little further from his dark mafia background, though eventually he relied on his mafia expertise but this time for nobler causes.

As I said, earlier on in the show the comedy served a purpose and was to a degree well-balanced, giving the right amount at the right time. For example, I was LOLing at the scenes where the undercover NIS agent with a Mafia-mania spying on Vincenzo always seemed to see things from an angle that made him mistake vicenzo for an angel in disguise, a mafia with a huge soul and a good conscience.
But the more the drama progressed, the more I guess the writers wanted to stay true to their forte or something, and slapstick comedy started to hit in huge doses. I have no problem with mixing comedy with other genres however serious and heavy they might be, but the right formula depends on the type, amount and timing of the said comedy. In Vincenzo's case, the comedy scenes were sometimes so sudden and ridiculous they kind of felt like a hit in the face especially if they came right after a tragic and intense scene, it left me sometimes with an urge to rub my eyes in disbelief. Comedic relief is one thing, but it should never be so sudden and so slapstick that it totally takes you out of the mood of the drama and pulls you away from the story. (Side mention, the excessive PPL as usual was extra distractive. ugh!!!!)

Putting the comedy aside, like any thriller the main plot relies on a series of confrontations, of attacks and counterattacks. The antagonists plot a scheme, and the protagonist hits back. This format is expected, but unfortunately in vincenzo's case it eventually caused a certain sense of repititiveness. The more the plot progressed, and the more complicated and elaborate the attacks became, the more it relied on unexpected twists and fake cliffhangers, where it essentially became a loope of "the bad guys plot against vincenzo > a cliffhanger shows vincenzo in a pinch > flashbacks in the first few minutes of the following episode show that vincenzo was informed or expected the bad guy's plot and was well prepared and that the whole thing was a ruse and he comes out without bearing even one scratch". While the first few times it felt cool and smart, the more such gotcha moments increased the more it started to feel annoying, repetitive and strangely and ironically predictive. Having our all-mighty anti-hero always conquering and ending up having the upper hand does feel good, but having it happen in that manner most of the time could end up dampening the suspence and killing the thrill, as if the writers start a huge fire only to dump water on it after mere seconds before it even reached a point of being thrilling. You're left watching not worried whether or not he will come out fine, but rather wondering what he has up his sleeves this time.

The acting overall takes a 7, a special shoutout goes to Taecyon for his marvelous performance, hands down the strongest out of all the cast. SJK as usual gave a very solid performance, though at times a little monotone, which I think was mostly due to the writing than anything. The FL's performance was my least favourite among the the main cast (more on that later), first drama for her and I am no fan.

In terms of characters;
First, Vincenzo was a very well written anti-hero and SJK was perfect in the role. He was charismatic, cunning, smart, mysterious and strong-willed, The perfect villain to fight off villains, though to be honest I would have preferred it if the writers had toned down his invincibility level a bit, he doesn't have to lose the fight, but at least show him with a more serious injury than a little scratch every once and a while you know. the background story of his birth and upbringing while very brief, still helped flesh out his character and give it more depth. In terms of character development, under layers and layers of endless charisma and coollness, SJK was able to portray the slighest hints of change of heart nothing major to call development though, and eventually the drama stuck to the point and chose no major redemption, which personally I found more convincing and believable.

The FL on the other hand I had mixed emotions concerning her. I started off hating her and not because of how intially she was ambivalent to justice and rude to her father, but simply because her whole personna felt obnoxious and her nonchalant attitude was sometimes over the top and annoying. The actress' comedy portrayal felt somewhat theatrical and ridiculous, she was supposed to be a smart, strong and competent lawyer, but she sometimes came out as naïve, noisy and spoilt brat. There were moments early in the drama where I genuinely doubted if the actress was doing an impersonation of Jun Ji Hyun in Legend of the Blue Sea, that'show much comical her acting was, she felt like a mermaid out of sea 😅. I did eventually manage to come around and accept her only to start questioning her principles in aiding vincenzo's agenda wholeheartedly the way she did, no matter how brutal and lawless it became.
But unfortunately one impression that never changed when it came to the main leads.... was the lack of chemistry between them. I never truely felt a spark between the two of them, but it might just be me, cause he acted so cool and composed all the time, and she was so over the top with her reactions and expressions, that I felt he surely must be annoyed by her as much as I am (LOL), also I never bought the fact he developed romantic feelings for her, it felt kind of forced. And although It is always a downer not to feel enough chemistry to be rooting for an OTP, but thank God this is not a rom-com and romance was never the center plot here. The first kiss scene was pretty good though I gotta admit :)

The side characters (Geumga Plaza tenants) were mostly endearing and I was especially grateful that the writer chose not to delve too much deep and give each of them an episode with a detailed story like other dramas choose to do. Above all they served as a catalyst to Vincenzo's purpose in staying in Korea, helped give him a certain sense of beloging and taught him the meaning of trust, and later became sorta his secret sidekicks, which might have been fun at first but later I found was a bit of a stretch and overdone on the writers side, like others pointed out here in the reviews, having all these people with hidden fighting abilities somehow gathered under one roof by chance was too farfetched!!

Last but not least, the villains (since the show had its fair share of those, 80% of the characters were evil for God's sake) some of them were portrayed too evil and too much lacking a conscience to a degree that was hard to swallow, but they still somehow came out believable, and thankfully they never felt as incompetent like in other shows, which was a great feat considering vincenzo was literraly undefeated all the time lol.
Though personally I would have preferred a bit of an origin story for lawyer Choi, other than being a weird ajumma who dances zumba in public, since imo she was the most worthy adversary to vincenzo. And considering the fact that the drama already had its share of bornt-psychopath main villain, not being provided with any background knowledge of what turned lawyer choi to the path of evil (to a murderous degree at that) made it feel like we had two murderous psychopaths that just happened to cross paths and join hands.

The OST (mostly instrumental) had a bunch of cool tracks, and some were very well utilized to enhance the comedy scenes.

Vincenzo was a drama loaded with originality in terms of premise, interesting characters, and an overall thrilling vibe. although it suffered from minor issues with the plot, the pace and the balance of the comedy, I still have to admit I appreciated its originality and high end production, and overall enjoyed watching it, flaws and all.
I apologise for the lengthy review.

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A sleek chic thriller with a deep message but hasty writing and rushed finale

pros: solid acting, great cinematography,strong social commentary message at heart, thriller that leaves questioning who is who right till the end.
cons: chatacters with no depth, story full of plot holes.

the story while it was sharp and intriguing at first pulling the viewer in with not just a whodunit mystery, but the identity of the victim was also left a mystery most of the series. the high paced thriller was so engaging it was easy to look past the glaring convenient coincidences that were utilized to help push the plot faster (for example: fellow detective who happens to recall years-old closed case's suspect's name, a Polaroid picture hanging on the walls of a Cafe near a reservoir where said suspect supposedly committed suicide, the detective who poses as a line sitter to approach the ex-employee who happens to be best buddies with someone who knew FL prior to taking on the Sarah kim persona... and many more)

the more the story progressed and we neared the finale where all loose ends should have been tied, the more we encountered more loose ends. the mystery was built in a way that kept the viewer guessing and imagining different possible scenarios which was a good thing from a writing stand point, but unfortunately the wrapup of all these different possibilities hwas unsatisfactory and rushed.

the intriguing mystery was heightened the moment the fact that someone had been impersonating Sarah kim in public was introduced. And I bet most of the viewers must have then had the same idea as me; "what if the Sarah kim we are looking at was fake"; just a poor girl who stole the name and identity of a real rich cheabol to build up this whole "luxury" brand name from thin air. nay, there is another more intriguing possibility, that the whole con job was a Matroska doll, and that she was faking the identity of the "real" Sarah Kim made possible by the fact that the "real" had been a manufactured luxurious fake right from the get-go, in other terms the con woman was impersonating another con woman.

Though the interrogation parts were enjoyable and felt like a battle of wits, especially when she was faced with the possibilty that her creation and life's work BouDoir was at risk, and she came up with the only solution which was to abandon her persona as CEO of Boudoir. though on paper that seemed smart the intricate details the writers used to work this plotpoint were anything but smart.

I mean, the question of her true identity to merely hinge on a mere vile of tissue sample just didn't make sense imo! she had been acting the part of Sarah Kim for years at that point, during which multiple business heads must have dealt with her, and she surely interacted with dozens of people on a personal level, it couldn't have just been the nox ceo or the department store ceo or her male-host spy who all had reasons to lie to cover for their own mistakes or crimes, there must have been many others among which is her fake marriage partner for God's sake, that could have testified to whether she was Sarah kim or some other nobody who was impersonating her.

details about her past as Mok Ga Hui was left a mystery and I believe that that was a choice by the writers, they chose to leave us scraching our heads about who she really was, who was Mok Ga Hui truely as a person, was she simply an ex-department store employee who landed the job by faking credentials on her resume with ambitions to make it big and becoming rich? or was there some prior mysterious background story behind that person. The possibility wasn't nill that she had a similar background to her future impersonator (Kim mijeong the counterfeit bag artisan), and that she maybe could have used counterfeit ID cards to land the job and she never had proper social identification number.
But considering the fact that she was investigated for fraud selling the brand items she baught via the employee sale with her colleaugues' stolen cards, to ask us to believe that during the investigation back then and even now the police could not manage to find enough background data about her that could help now prove whether she was the real con-artist Sarah Kim who murdered the impersonator, or if she was the fake impersonator Kim Mijeong who murdered the real Sarah Kim to steal her identity, I guess it is either police incompetence or just lazy writing.

wrapping up all loose ends during the finale was too rushed, and the fact that most of the crime solving depended not on solid evidences but majorly on mere speculations from the detective just didn't feel right. and even if we are made to believe that he ultimately chose not to pursue the matter and let her get her way, the whole matter left a bad taste in the mouth, especially considering the fact a life was taken and the only punishment she got was a measly 10 years sentence, and her fake business was left untouched and prosperous felt like a cheat.

on another side note, there were also parts that were brushed too quickly and left me wondering why they were never properly addressed with a reavealing flashback like other plots. like for example, their first encounter on the stairs to the police station when he offered her his tie to wipe her tears and she was wearing a cast on her leg, I was able to deduce that that probably was after she had been abducted by her business partner nox ceo's henchmen to pay back what she owed, and she had went to the police to press charges using her past employee's ID? was she pretending to have a broken leg to get better compensation? is the "one week" she was muttering to herself about was the time left until the Boudoir opening party? did she leave that tie behind after cleaning up the old store on purpose? that felt too oddly convenient. Another instance, was when her lawn Shark/ ex-husband sees her running away from the murder scene with bloody hands, did that actually happen or was it speculation? if so then that must have been prior to his testimony to the police, which would then mean that he was positive at that point that she was not the true murder victim but most probably rather the culprit? these small parts bothered me, much more than the John doe corpse at the reservoir which seemed to bother other viewers here on MDL, I was able to brush by this part but the other ones I wish were properly addressed and covered at least with a small flashback or monologue or anything,.

all In all it was a good fast paced thriller murder mystery, and yes imo there were flaws with the story and writing, and the main leads' character could have been given more background to give them depth, but still it was a fun and thrilling watch.

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too comical to be taken seriously, simply put lacks in all genres

I'll try to keep it short, this is one of those dramas that you forget once you finish watching.

comedy-wise even when's its fun it's cringe
romance-wise even when it's sometimes cute it still lacks and feels forced.
detective story-wise it's farcical, comical and unrealistic.

the story lacks the least sense of realism, it's just too unrealistic you have to turn your suspension of disbelief gauge to the max all through the watch, nothing made sense when it came to the "undercover mission", one moment they're using high-end gadgets to break through locks, scramble cctv cameras and one moment they have to resort to dancing on the street to gather signatures to gain access to a room with a measly pin code lock they could have easily broken through!

the villain was simply put cartoonish-ly evil, I mean she's shown to be someone who doesn't flinch ordering her henchman to kill anyone who stands in her way, and is unfazed shooting a shotgun towards a bound reporter to intimidate him just simply cause he refused to do her bidding, or beats up a congressman for talking back, but the next moment she has to resort to spreading rumors about our main couple being in a teacher-student romance! we're like pick a lane lady, either be the evil criminal mastermind or be a comic book villain who lacks imagination.

the whole premise about solving clues relating to ghost stories in order to uncover the hidden gold seemed fun at the start but soon it just fizzed and died out, and when they suddenly remembered it the last couple of episodes it was too frustrating to watch how everyone's IQ fell sub zero unable to guess the simplest of riddles. honestly speaking as a viewer I never really cared about the main mission of finding the gold bars, it was simply put ridiculous not to mention unfounded by any evidence to begin with. Midway through the drama I found myself feeling thankful for the missing father plot which was more of a convincing catalyst to keep pushing on with this stupid mission of finding the gold bars.

As for the romance plot, I don't know what made me not sold for their romance, maybe their interactions were more fun when she thought he was a student, but after she found out his true identity and their childhood connection, don't blame the viewer who expected some sort of progress and was disappointed they were acting more like two detective partners, I don't believe it was a problem at the actors' part, but more of a writing issue.

considering the fact I watched the last 3 episodes on 1.5X speed and even skipping many scenes, I just reached a point I didn't mind any stupid or unbelievable things that was taking place on screen; like how untouchable and all powerful they had to make our silly caricature of a villain, she controls politicians, police, prosecutor and everyone else in the country for some unknown reason, that was simply absurd. Also we get a fugitive on the run who suffered a major car accident miraculously healing with a good night's sleep and some damp towels! And then conveniently having a bunch of mattresses laid out under his hotel room so that he can escape the police pursuit!!! WHAT?! I reached a point I was certain the writer's didn't give a sh** about the viewer's intelligence anymore.
overall, this is a drama I chose to watch till the end cause I had downloaded it otherwise I most probably would have dropped it. do not recommend.

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Just finished watching Jealousy incarnate for the sevond time, and Man how I enjoyed it!
This is a drama that could have easily gotten a 10 from me.

Story
The story is one of the strongest aspects of this drama simply because it had a lot of unique ideas and original approaches to them, and second because the mixture of such different concepts was done perfectly and with a nice balance.
First, the main lead suffers from a disease highly uncommon for men to retract (breast cancer), and the drama focuses on his struggle to receive treatment under great pressure. That concept was by far the most original, full of surprises whether comical or dramatic.
The story also focuses in 2/3 of it on a love triangle, a concept constantly used by many romance Kdramas, but here they tried to spice it up by making the two males involved best friends, while the female had gotten over her crush on one and dating the other.
It is also part workplace drama, where all the main characters are working or somehow related to a broadcasting station (reporters, announcers, news casters, directors and sponsors). It gave a nice glimpse on the world of news creation, it was very entertaining and edifying.
But for me, what made the drama shine the most was the romance. It made my heart skip, made me swoon, made me shed tears, and made smile and laugh big time, it was simply PERFECT! Also other than the great chemistry between the OTP, the whole concept of switching places in one-sided crushes, whether through gestures done in secret or words expressed openly, gave a very fresh vibe to the love equation. In the past it was she who was head over heals for him, now it's the other way around.
 
The drama also featured a side story that involves a relatively large number of side characters. This particular sode plot had its cons and pros, among the pros was the fact that it featured a very fun combination, like two ex-s of the same man who recently passed away, rivals in life and work, both having the wish to bond with their (step)daughter, and even fighting for the same guy now. Where else can you find such a crazy couple! Also, how their characters and relationship evolves was certainly fun to watch, they may have started off as 2 annoying and noisy ajummas, but later they start to grow on you. As for the  cons, the whole plot-line kind of developed totally separately from the main plot-line, so the more the main plot-line developed and gained steam, the more you get the urge to fast-forward their scenes. Not saying it was a necessarily boring plot, but while they brought a comedic and near the end a bit dramatic air to the drama, they sometimes kind of felt like a distraction. let me just say that most probably re-watching this drama will involve a lot of fast-forwarding, or at least that's how it was in my case.

Acting
Perfect!!!
Gong Hyo Jin-nim goes without saying shines here as usual. she was funny, lovable, cute, crazy, and sometimes frustrating. I could feel the wish to hug her, pat her on the shoulders, send he a "fighting" yell, and sometimes even slap her on the face, just like how she made her male partners feel at certain moments.
Jo Jung Suk won me over in this drama completely. He delivered a multi-layered character, with many sides to him, perfectly and with great ease. He was believable in every word, movement and action he took (maybe it helped that the writing for his character was one of the best in the drama)
Go Kyung Pyo, did a pretty well job here as well, but I have to be honest, his was not the toughest of characters to play. But he still made me feel for him, and sometimes respect him great time as a character.

Characterization
As I mentioned earlier I found the main lead Hwa Shin (JJS's character) by far the best.
He had his flawed traits of course, but they were all very relatable, and though his character showed seemingly contradicting moments, that in its own sense was the most believable part, he simply felt human, maybe the most in this drama, he felt like he was not just a character on paper but he could actually exist somewhere.
As for our other male lead and third angle of the triangle Go Jeong Wo, he was the perfect rich gentleman, that could have as well easily ended up as the common everyday KDrama chaebol (The guy born with a silver spoon, tsun-dere and hiding a lonely side to him + maybe family issues), but thanks to his friendship with Hwa Shin, this character was given much more deepness. He was a very understanding, kind and open-minded guy who cherishes his best friend above all, and despite the big gap in economic background between them, still makes him feel at home even after meeting in a long time. He simply made me wish I was his pal, for goodness sake.
Pyo Na Ri! Here is a character that most of the time I simply adored and cheered on, and some other times I nearly hated.
She's a strong, independent and hardworking Noona who takes care of her little-bro, and chases after her dreams with all she's got. She's a realistic person, who doesn't live in fantasies, and has a strong sense of her capabilities and aims, bold and always not afraid of expressing herself, whether through words or actions, while at the same time maintaining a strong sense of self-awareness of who she is and where she falls in her workplace. She's a lovable and relatable character through and through, and that's maybe why I couldn't bring myself to hate even when during a certain part of the drama (around episodes 14~20 to be more precise), her character kind of warped and the Pyo Na Ri who always knew how she felt, and never lost sight of what she wanted, her strong will and common sense, just flew out the window, and was replaced by an indecisive and selfish bi**h all of sudden, she was irritating at times, and other times downright  obnoxious . It might have been a calculated move by the writer, but sometimes I just felt like screaming at her "Come on already Nari! that's just not so like you".

Writing
Very good script, and highly entertaining story, not to forget a beautiful ending. The pace here was mostly excellent during most of the drama but, I felt like the love traingle tug of war may have lasted a bit too long, it felt kind of draggy and was a source of frustration (thanks to Pyo Na Ri's sudden loss of self-awareness). This particular chunk of the story,  I suppose served in giving more sense to the drama's title (other than the incarnate/Hwa Shin pun); because the two main male leads turned into two lumps of Jealousy childishly fighting over a woman, and the full grown-up woman acting dumb like a teenager experiencing her first romance! And though I admit this part had a ton of fun and even hilarious scenes, I nearly hated my favorite female lead! Don't get me wrong but I personally believe that this drama could have nicely fit in a 20 episode format.

Direction
Excellent  camerawork and amazing props, but above all what left the most impression on me was something else.
A scene succeeds to be funny or sad thanks to a witty or heartfelt conversation, plus of course the right portrayal and acting from the actors involved, but here this director adds the +alpha factor. combining the right BGM or sound effects, and sometimes making use of signs on screen to express certain notions or feelings of the  characters on screen, it was always fun to watch and gave a fresh vibe to the drama.

Music
Another OST full of favorite tracks, especially vocals. Fitting lyrics and scores, as usual (One of the things I really appreciate about KDramas)
 
So, final say.
Jealousy incarnate is an excellent Rom-Com, unique story and interesting characters with a witty script and full of memorable scenes. Not to forget perfect acting, and a very nice chemistry between the leads. It was by far one of the funniest Rom-Com dramas that I have watched, and would totally recommend. It will make you LOL, cringe, cover face in embarrassment, and make your heart melt and flutter constantly.

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Nice Concept, flimsy writing, mediocre acting and a missed opportunity

The core concept on paper is good and matches with the current times; A VR device / service that offers AI-generated dating experiences and includes hundreds of themes. Things I liked about this concept, is that a few years ago it could have easily been regarded as pure nonsensical fantasy, but considering the current times and AI advances, it is not so unbelievable any more. The company behind the service putting rules to ensure profitability such as users during trial period having a limited amount of hours per theme, or that paying customers get extra perks and privileges also from a business standpoint felt believable. The ways with which the service tried to lure their dormant users to log back in, and to dissuade them from unsubscribing as well as most importantly the issue with addict-ability of such a service all felt well portrayed.

While at first I enjoyed the VR parts, especially when it seemed to suggest that the theme was inspired by a famous webtoon character in other terms the premise was allowed to be cheesy corny and cliched. Then we suddenly switched to another theme before we could even process the whole thing and what effect if any it had on our FL, then we were thrown into one new theme after another, so at this point as a viewer I started to feel that the virtual dating parts were no longer a plot device used to advance the story or provide a sort of character development, but rather it had turned into a filler material to provide eye candy points via cameos (I would be thinking to myself WTH am I supposed to be watching right now?), other than seeing how the FL was becoming addicted to the service and losing sleep and almost her grasp on reality, I can not say I noticed any major character or plot development thanks to it .

The story at this point could be said was somewhat going all places with no specific aim, and the development in real life was almost non-existent (other than some very minor things with the webtoon production job), then all of a sudden the ML confesses his feelings to FL out of the blue both for her and the viewer as well! And while we do later get a small glimpse with flashbacks showing the moment he started to become attracted to her, but to be honest especially considering how we were only shown almost only moments were the FL was being cold, ambivalent, or even sometimes acting with animosity towards ML, the whole love confession felt off at least imo. But that still does not compare to the moment the 901st theme's boyfriend was introduced. At that point I was thinking to myself (was there something I missed?!) Because even if she subconsciously gave his physical description while answering the survey it still felt rather forced.

The progress of their relationship into romance was not well done, the switch from rivals at work, to colleagues to crushes to lovers felt off. Not a problem of chemistry between the leads per se (honestly the FL's acting might have played some role in that but more on that later), it felt more like the writers within the airtime constraints balanced between focusing on the real life arc and giving us more virtual dating sequencing and they did the mistake of choosing the latter. If the real life characters and their relationship was given more air time and enough material to develop their romance and given us more swoon worthy moments than can leave an impression.

As I mentioned above I did not appreciate the FL's acting , I am not interested much into K-Pop so I admit I did not know who she was and was fortunate to have never watched her as an actress before, but I personally thought her acting was subpar. She could deliver the funny parts where she is frustrated embarrassed etc, but when it came to acting the emotional parts her performance was amateurish. Like some other idols-turned-actresses I could feel how she cared to look pretty on screen above anything else). It certainly didn't help that I did not personally like her pushy character (we are shown she was openly flirting with her class mate right in front of his GF)
The ML on the other hand, his performance was not bad though I have seen him do better jobs before, but the character here was 2 dimensional to begin with and the material he had to work with was lacking. Most of his scenes is either he being professional or stoic, when we later caught glimpses of him acting natural. cute or emotional it still didn't provide much depth to the character.

One final thought that I would like to add, is that as I mentioned above the concept of the virtual dating service was both fun and interesting , but I would have really appreciated if the writers had taken the opportunity to provide a deep social commentary concerning AI-Human relationships. Considering the real life cases where such warped human attachment to AI had left mental scars and even resulted in loss of life, it wouldn't have hurt if the writers could have tried to send a message of warning about the toxic effect of such technical advancements on mental health and human relationships. I realize perfectly well this is a fluffy romcom and I am not suggesting they turn the whole thing into a dark melodramatic take on AI, but just suggesting at the end that the addicted users like her BFF later came to realize the downside of it all and warned against it, rather we are shown a person who regretted having used the VR theme story in her own works tried to sell the device and stop using it but at the end still kept it and ended up sinking more and more in the delusion of virtual dating.

Would I watch again, no. Would I recommend, no (unless you are particularly a fan of the main leads). would I forget all about this drama in no time, absolutely.

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A Cliché bonanza, tropes-infested drama that needs not just suspension but shutdown of disbelief

This is a rather long review, parts of which I wrote midway through the watch (specifically after ep 12) and parts (between *) I wrote after finishing the drama.

The beginning although feeling a bit rushed especially in igniting a flame between the main leads, and despite being greeted head-on with a bunch of well-worn tropes such as the chaebol-orchestrated poor girl makeover and the pretend relationship, it still was somewhat fun to watch and roll my eyes at the predictable cliched sequences.

This should have been a sign of what was to come, but positive-thinking me only thought it was just like many a K-drama as of late that choose to rush the story in the first couple of episodes to reach the somewhat climatic part or turning point from where the story progresses in order to suck the viewer in and keep them engaged. But unfortunately, it wasn’t just the first episodes, and when it comes to rushed and sudden emotional progress it didn’t just involve the main couple, but also the supporting characters’ romance felt sudden and lacked believability IMO. An art gallery director from a wealthy family falls head over heels at first sight with a divorced photographer with a kid, as a combination not rare, but it needs buildup to be endearing, but when they turn from attracted to madly in love in the flick of the finger it just feels contrived.

As for the main issue with which most viewers found trouble with; the FL’s choice to fake being married to land a job despite her poor qualifications. In order to sell us on this choice and convince the viewer that what she was committing was not downright fraud, they chose to orchestrate this sudden financial ruin of her family, leaving them in deep debt with foreclosure on their house looming, and her mom having to undergo heart surgery and long-term hospitalization. Even if I can somehow convince myself that she was cornered with not many other choices and needed to quickly find a full-time job to support her mom, the more she became involved with her colleagues and her boss/ML, it became annoying and infuriating to endure her lies and deception. And I know the technique of creating this lingering big misunderstanding or hidden secret is common in K-dramas, it aims at making the viewer watch with breaths held for the moment it gets revealed or resolved, but the wait here was filled with infuriation rather than anticipation.

On the other hand, one of the few plots that I liked was the concept of the ML’s tormenting guilt at being attracted to a married woman having been traumatized by his father’s affair and the psychological damage it caused his mother, and that might have been one of the rare moments were the drama presented something in a somewhat serious tone, even though the viewer knew his guilt was unfounded.

But more than anything, what dampened the watching experience for me was the sheer amount of k-romcom tropes that this drama was plagued with. I don’t mind me a little bit of cliched story plot or sequence of events here and there, but this one was just a string of clichés one after the other! It was like the writers opened the catalogue of K-Romcom drama tropes, and didn’t just pick a couple, the picked almost all the well-worn inside-the-box K-drama tropes fit for a fluffy romcom save just a few like cohabitation, amnesia, noble idiocy and last-minute separation, and the main leads having a hidden childhood connection. (At this point I would not be fazed if any of them are used)
* I started writing this review to vent my frustration with 2 episodes left, and I mentioned that save just a few cliches, this drama almost utilized all the k-romcom cliches in the book. The most astonishing part is that most of the tropes I mentioned eventually showed up and drove me to scream at my screen literally!! *

It almost felt as if the writers realized that they might be taking it too far so they just thought they might as well throw in more cliches just for fun, turning the whole thing into a Shojo manga.

I am not expecting major believability from a romcom trust me, but we are told to believe that after they were separated after their initial fleeting romance and despite the story taking place in this age and time, the two of them never exchanged contact. Let’s assume it happens, still it was even harder to swallow the ML’s idiotic attempts to find the FL purely depending on this one ambiguous landmark she mentioned was in her neighborhood, is that really the best that a head of a successful M&A firm can come up with? Has he never heard of the concept of PIs, I mean he knows her name, can guess her age, maybe go from there!

The more the story progressed the more it became harder to pretend to take anything seriously, like what took the cake for me in terms of lack of believability were scenes like the FL venturing into a raging fire, rescuing and carrying the macho ML all on her own, with both coming out without a single scratch or even some soot on their clothes! For crying out loud! You could still write a good turning point or moment of realization that pushes the leads closer or make them more forthcoming with their emotions, without having to resort to such over-the-top events. And don’t get me started about the amnesia!! They always get hit by a car, fall bleeding to the ground, wake up with no side effects except only losing the right chunk of memory that erases the romantic relationship with the FL.

* As I mentioned above that I started this review at the 12th episode, and I was ready to give the drama a maximum rating of 5, but after watching the last two episodes, I realized I would be generous if I gave it even a 3. The last 2 episodes were the result of a writer who had decided to break a world record with the amount of clichés he can manage to fit into one drama. Not to mention that everything became super easy to predict (examples: they advice her to keep recording her ideas > her phone will record something that helps bring down the villains, he’s crossing the road after crushing his envious enemy (who doesn’t mind starting an arson during an event packed with people just out of spite) and leaving him humiliated > the crazy dude will try to run him over).
I almost gave it a less score just cause of the ending sequence with all characters dancing which was stomach-turning level of tasteless. *

This drama had a mix of genres; romance, comedy, office, business & a dash of angst, but despite each having its funny moments, the drama as a whole was sub-par all thanks to the world-record-level cliché-ness the story suffered from. I would not recommend.

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nice fun to watch rom-com

a k-drama that listed all the major K-dramas tropes and tried to apply them all to a T, contract marriage;check, birth secrets;check, chaebol and commoner love; check, fake relationship and cohabitation shenanigans;check, OTP with constantly crossing paths;check, last minute needless separation; check. It practically covered all the main romcom and angst cards out there but it still somehow managed to do it in a very refreshing and fun and endearing way. maybe because this show boasts some of the most easy to cheer on strong gutsy characters, and maybe cause most characters were honest to each other and honest toward themselves when it came to how they felt. we don't get much frustration of an OTP both in denial or oblivious of their feelings, no much useless bickering and missed signals, instead we have a couple of adults that are mature and to the point when they express themselves. another thing I appreciate about Kdramas, is that they somehow sell you chemistry even in the most unexpected of couples, the main leads have quite an age gap, and initially I was worried that they didn't both exude much chemistry and that the romance might be forced, but thank God later the story progresses and the interactions, dialogues and romantic moments were so good they definitely pulled the trick. this drama could've gotten a better rating especially the story, but alas the finale pulled a card that I totally hate "noble idiocy seperation". last episode separations and reunifications are sometimes done well where the story calls for it, it happens because there was a necessity, but other times it is done in such a forced and out of the blue and it just doesn't serve any purpose other than creating a grand reunion scene etc, and it only dampens the story imo especially when in order to pull it off the writers have to abandon the character arc. in this drama the same thing happened but thank God it was kept brief so no much harm was done thank God.

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Best Bromance trio in Kdrama land!!!

To sum this drama up, this is a quick enjoyable watch that will leave you moved and with a big smile on your face most of the time.
With a solid story, strong cast, witty dialog, and awesome characters, what's not to enjoy.
The winning recipe is by far the bromance between the three male leads, it surpasses any I have seen in Kdramas (better than My Mister), it will leave you feeling moved, happy, warm, and strangely jealous at the same time. Who would say no to such a strong long lasting bond between three single middle aged men, friendship that is shown to have endured many lige events, up and downs, with each of them going through their highs and lows, and their two buddies always there to share the laughter and the tears giving the best support and shoulder to each other.
There were many silly and funny things that they pulled on each other (like crashing on their friend's first camping date) but many more moments that showed how they truly cared and genuinely worried about each other, like how whenever they felt even the slightest possibility that one of them was feeling under the weather they would fly to be by his side. It was heartwarming and moving beyond expressions. For me above anything else that part of the story made this drama all the more worth the watch.

I know I might be hated for this, but I lately realized that I am a sucker for dramas with a 12 episode format.
I honestly don't know if in this drama's case it had been by choice or if it was a result of some mid-production decision, and I don't care to know in all honesty, cause what I care about is that I much prefer it over the usual 16~24 episode format, and I am positive that it was the perfect format for this specific drama. Someone might clap back saying "if you realy enjoyed a drama, you would not say that, no, you would be appreciating every second of it and wishing for more", and I would reply to that with "what is your proof to that?! What proves that a favorite drama of mine would have been any less favorable if it had been shorter, also haven't you ever heard of sequels that destroy a series? Too much of a good thing is not always the right way to go about it".
Haven't you ever loved a drama to pieces, while still wishing a certain character or story arch had been cut even a little bit? I have.
There are drama who have a simple main premise, but choose to plant many side characters each with an intricate web of side plots, and while it sometimes turns out with a positive outcome with viewers sometimes even rooting for and more invested in one of the side plots, I find that in most cases the opposite happens with too much filler stories, where in the best case scenario if it doesn't completely put one off or ruin the whole experience, you're still left fast forwarding a lot of scenes on a second watch or even sometimes first watch.

In the case of Divorce Attorney Shin, everything was to the just the right amount, each character was carved in a way that made them interesting, and you sometimes find yourself intrigued by their background story, but you're just shown the perfect amount of back-story enough to flesh out the character and make it relatable without going into too much details that could jeopardize the flow of the main storh. Even for a plot that heavily relies on past events that took place before the story picks up, We don't get too much flashbacks played over character brooding into the distance or getting drunk in the current time. There are details and events that although highly relevant to the plot are only ever hinted upon which is kind of refreshing and something that I appreciate in the directing of a drama or the writing of works of fiction, where the writer leaves a space for the viewer/reader to imagine and build their own version of events based on their own personal interpretatio.
I also really liked how this drama didn't follow in the tracks of other rom-com dramas nowadays, where it almost feels like the writers had a prior wish to become matchmakers or something, with the drama ending with not even one single character not in a romantic relationship with another character, however much it may feel very forced.

For fans of romance dramas, this drama might sound lacking in this sense, but trust me, such slice of life type of dramas that depict everyday characters going about their everyday lives (check my other favorite kdramas like Misaeng or My Mister) can be in some cases even better that the usual romantic and melodramatic stories in making the viewer think and appreciate what it means to be blessed to be surrounded with people who care about you. This drama left me wishing I had such a strong and powerful bonds with my friends, that's how great the main trio's friendship was.


All in all, I highly recommend to all, especially to fellow fans of Cho Seung Woo he was very charismatic and endearing in this one.

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A fun enjoyable ride with a bunch of unique characters

I am always intrigued and delighted to watch media that represents minorities especially mentally or intelectually challenged individuals. It goes without saying that their representation has been for long on the rare side, and sometimes their depiction felt inaccurate (with excpetions of course), but lately the world and societal norms have shifted in a way that is opening more doors, breaking down more walls and becoming more and more accepting and open-minded to discussing such topics on a deeper level, addressing not only what it means to have mental or intellectual disabilities, but also showing how society can sometimes be ill-equipped to deal with such indiviuals in a way that ensures they are not left out or marginalized, but alas on the contrary in many cases breed inequality against them.

Autism Spectrum in particular is one mental disorder that should definitely be receiving more coverage, and I find that sometimes lighter content media could be the key to spreading a quick and helpful awareness and understanding among the public, because not everyone is ready to read a book or watch a scientific documentary, but who doesn't like to learn about different people in a light and enjoyable story settin, whether it be fictional or inspired by true events.

Saying that Extraordinary Attorney Woo was a fun ride would be an understatement, I nearly binge watched the whole series in under 2 days which might have been a normal achievement for me a couple of years ago, but now as a mother of two it has become quite the impossible feat. The drama uses a one-case-per-episode format, and I loved how there was a wide and varying range of cases, each showing different characters, and at the same time discussing a different topic that concerns the Korean society in an interesting and thought-enducing way. I also appreciated how they accurately depicted what it means to be a lawyer, especially one who works under a big law firm, the agony of being torn between the interests of your client and your conscience, and also sometimes how one can sometimes win and other times lose, but also how sometimes you can win on paper but feel like you lost and vice versa.

As for the characters, the main female lead was simply put the cake, the icing and the cherry. The actress' performance was superb. I might have had some minor grievances with the writing of the character, in that she would at times be extra social awkward, unable to read between the lines, or interpret people's expressions or metaphors, but other instances she would be very normally intuitive and able to infer people's feelings just like a non-autistic person. I know that there is a wide range of autistim (a point that is thankfully discussed in the drama) and that people can grow and mature overtime and experience, but it felt here like she rhe degree of awkwardness was shiting up and down according to the needs of the situation.

The main male lead, I honestly find difficutly referring to him as that. Although he is a main character and the romantic interest of the FL, and I liked the actor a lot and found his performance was great, I thought that the writing was greatly unfair to him. Among all the other members of the Hanbada team that we became acquainted to, he was the one that really needed the most fleshing out, but despite that he somehow felt like a side character that just appeared every now and then to provide a romantic plot line, his character felt too much two-diemntional for a ML, in that we never know anything about HIM, im essence who he is, for me at least there were a lot of questions filling my head concerning him varying from the deep to the simple ( like how he came to share an appartment with att. Knon for instance), and I kept holding out for an episode that would venture into his character background story deeper, but it never came, and these feelings that I couldn't seem to shake off that his depiction was shallow, only made me question what made him develop romantic feelings towards our FL in the first place. I am not saying that there was no chemistry, on the contrary I find both actors delivered a performance that left butterflies in ones stomach, a smile or a tear sometimes, and I totally cared for them and cheered them on, but that was all thanks to the actors and the dialog, but the writing on the other hand focused more on the law aspect of the story with the romance plot sometimes falling to the curbside. Don't get me wrong, I loved the romance here, but I could have been more moved and it could have left a deeper impression on me if there had been more light shed on the male lead, and the couple's journey given more screen time overall.

I've discussed too much in the character and writing aspect, but I will just say that I really loved all the members of the Hanbada team, but above all I especially LOVED attorney Jung, whose presence in any scene simply lighted up my screen. He was the perfect mentor to our rookies, he was competent, honest, tolerant, kind, humble, but above all humanely flawed in such a way he was one of the most believable and endearing characters in the whole series.

The direction was overall great, with nice camera work, but I sometimes hated the transition between the scenes, especially shifting from a personal situation to a courtroom setting, sometimes it just felt too sudden and sharp to the point I was surprised and distracted. I am not here referring to the instances where attorney Woo's autistic tendencies drove her to take a sudden and extreme shift in her thoughts which happened constantly, that was believable and necessary for an accurate depiction of an autistic person, I am rather talking about scene editing, or maybe it is a problem with the screenplay i honestly dunno because I don't have enough knowledge about these things, but it just felt like I was reading a comic book with a character mid-sentence, only to turn the page and find the next frame showing a whole different situation.

The music, nothing major stuck to my head but overall it suited the feel of the story and the atmosphere of the drama.

Rewatch value, this one's high, maybe not immediately but I think that later on, there a lot of scenes and interactions that could be enjoyable to experience once more, and maybe rewatching such a drama might help one ponder and reflect more about certain topics.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this drama. It is hard to be confident about how accurate the depiction of a person with disability was achieved, especially when it comes to autism which is a whole wide spectrum, but I can say that I personally felt it was believable and overall accurate.

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