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This review may contain spoilers
Good idea - bad realisation
The good:
-I liked the initial idea of this drama - as I think it was all meant like a metaphor for the current state of affairs - in South Korea, but not only, pretty much everywhere around the globe. So with loads of methaphors this drama tries to show in actionpacked pictures and storyline that simply EVERYthing is always about money. And that it seems you only have two choices: either trying to hold up in the rat race and become an ever more selfish, unscrupulous and at times even cruel ahoe to keep up the impossible pace, or cling on to being good and altruistic, but coming with it is a constant lack of money.
I liked this metaphor as it simply describes the dilemma of our current ever more fast-paced times. The whole sci-fi- story here is just wrapped around this message and the ambivalent thought coming with it. That's current affairs and it's a fresh idea.
-acting was partly good (Lee Jun-ho, Lee Chae-min (I didn't like his performance in 'Bon Appetit...', I did like his acting here though), Kim Hye-joon (didn't know her before, liked her acting here), and also bad (Kang Han-na - nope, I know her from other roles where I thought she was rather good, but not this time, everything was over the top and flat for her 'evil' character here, including her bad makeup, hairdo and outfits she couldn't even walk in properly most of the time)
The bad:
- the pacing of the storyline and storytelling was all over the place after episode 2. It was just way too much action, explosions, shootings and no coherrent story to really follow. Also the characters suffered from this, as most of them remained pale and flat, while some had good potential from the first two episodes intro.
-I didn't like the end of this. So at least for me. following the above mentioned metaphor idea, and given that Kang Sang-ung's character even tells the villain, money isn't everything, being special isn't that great, being average (and happy) is - he and his girlfriend simply do get the impossible, unreachable very huge luxurious apartement in the end and give off the message that is so toxic in South Korea and especially Seoul these days - you are only a success and you can only be happy (and only then think about having kids) if you own (as in being able to actually buy) a house or apartment. That's directly contradictory to what he tells the villain before. As the whole show is fantastic anyways I would have prefered an ending with a message matching his own message from before - these two understanding that they have to get out of this crazy hamster wheel and do something completely different - I don't know, move to the countryside and open a bakery? But this way it just feeds the toxic current real narrative - you are nothing without your own house, you are everything with it - and there is nothing in between.
Result:
-watchable once, nice initial idea, but the writers and director didn't follow through with it and lost pace, focus and message
-I liked the initial idea of this drama - as I think it was all meant like a metaphor for the current state of affairs - in South Korea, but not only, pretty much everywhere around the globe. So with loads of methaphors this drama tries to show in actionpacked pictures and storyline that simply EVERYthing is always about money. And that it seems you only have two choices: either trying to hold up in the rat race and become an ever more selfish, unscrupulous and at times even cruel ahoe to keep up the impossible pace, or cling on to being good and altruistic, but coming with it is a constant lack of money.
I liked this metaphor as it simply describes the dilemma of our current ever more fast-paced times. The whole sci-fi- story here is just wrapped around this message and the ambivalent thought coming with it. That's current affairs and it's a fresh idea.
-acting was partly good (Lee Jun-ho, Lee Chae-min (I didn't like his performance in 'Bon Appetit...', I did like his acting here though), Kim Hye-joon (didn't know her before, liked her acting here), and also bad (Kang Han-na - nope, I know her from other roles where I thought she was rather good, but not this time, everything was over the top and flat for her 'evil' character here, including her bad makeup, hairdo and outfits she couldn't even walk in properly most of the time)
The bad:
- the pacing of the storyline and storytelling was all over the place after episode 2. It was just way too much action, explosions, shootings and no coherrent story to really follow. Also the characters suffered from this, as most of them remained pale and flat, while some had good potential from the first two episodes intro.
-I didn't like the end of this. So at least for me. following the above mentioned metaphor idea, and given that Kang Sang-ung's character even tells the villain, money isn't everything, being special isn't that great, being average (and happy) is - he and his girlfriend simply do get the impossible, unreachable very huge luxurious apartement in the end and give off the message that is so toxic in South Korea and especially Seoul these days - you are only a success and you can only be happy (and only then think about having kids) if you own (as in being able to actually buy) a house or apartment. That's directly contradictory to what he tells the villain before. As the whole show is fantastic anyways I would have prefered an ending with a message matching his own message from before - these two understanding that they have to get out of this crazy hamster wheel and do something completely different - I don't know, move to the countryside and open a bakery? But this way it just feeds the toxic current real narrative - you are nothing without your own house, you are everything with it - and there is nothing in between.
Result:
-watchable once, nice initial idea, but the writers and director didn't follow through with it and lost pace, focus and message
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