RazielSK

Expected more...

I'll start from the beginning - the main reason why I started to watch this kdrama is because based on trailer, it was supposed to be mix of genres - school, detective, thriller, maybe GL. I know that GL series and movies in SK..well, very rare. And even if the series based on GL webtoon, then probably all GL stuff will be cut out from the series/movie. The only good, popular GL drama which I can remember is Handmaiden. I didn't expect from Friendly Rivalry something similar, but trailer looked promising. BTW, I'm not a big fan of LGBT series, but if they have a good story, I'll watch them...and probably because I'm a guy, I prefer GL movies and series. And as far as I know, GL in SK is much less popular than BL. So... I was hooked.

First 8-9 episodes were good. Not great, but good, interesting, with small detective parts, and mind games between Jey and Seulgi. You basically didn't know what to expect from Jey, what's on her mind, and this fact made the whole story even more interesting. So, the first half of the series, I would rate with 8. Pretty good story for its genre.

But after episode 9....I don't know how to describe it properly, maybe because of my bad english, but in simple words - story became overcomplicated, characters change their behavior almost every episode, transition between scenes became less fluent, more random. everything felt rushed, and the story's main theme changed completely. All gl stuff like in episode 4( I know it was a dream but still) and how ML look at each other in episode 8( don't tell that this how best friends look at each other, because it's not) was almost removed. Episodes 13-15..and especially 16 have too many strange, stupid, absolutely unrealistic scenes. I would rate the second half - 4 out of 10...but because ending wasn't as bad as I thought, I will rate the whole story with 5. It doesn't mean that I like the ending - it just not the worst, considering where story went. Below few thoughts about particular scenes, especially ending.

SPOILERS( BTW, I'm new here, so if anyone knows how to hide spoilers in review, please tell me)

I'm not a big fan of open endings, especially like in this series.
1). Box from Jey. Who brought the box??
2). Jey's dad. Basically, this man has nothing to lose now, and he's stalkering Seulgi like some maniac, waiting for her to reveal Jey's whereabouts. Even if Seulgi would like to go to Jey, if we consider that gift means "run away to me" how would she do that, if even her step-mom said that they can't move to another place, because Jey's dad is watching them?
3). What happened to Jey's sister after the events of the final episode? Everyone knows that she's alive now, but what's next? Where is she now?


Also, Ye Ri interactions with Byeong Jin. In first half there were plenty scenes, where she looked at him in a special way, but then they had only few interactions between each other. What was the point of those scenes in the first half?

It looks like as if in the middle of the series, screenwriters decided to change the script completely. And those changes weren't good.

I don't think that this series needs second season( even though there are a lot of events from the original webtoon which wasn't in series, but considering how the series script differs from the webtoon's story, and considering the ending...it's gonna be hard to make a proper story ), but maybe special episode or at least Q/A with the main cast about some scenes.

SPOILERS END

So, after all this why did I rated this series with 7? Because of acting and chemistry between cast. All four girls nailed their roles, especially Hyeri. I never watched anything with her, but I heard that here she played completely different character, not like her previous roles. And she nailed it. And her chemistry with Chung Su Bin is something not from this world) To be honest, I watched every new episode almost immediately after it aired, not because of the story, but because of their interactions. Also, Oh Woo Ri...amazing job. Interesting character, great acting, awesome chemistry with Kang Hye Won and Chung Su Bin.

I assume that, if there was another cast, and actresses wouldn't be as good as thoses four ( although Kang Hye Won was the weakest in terms of acting among them, in my opinion), this kdrama would receive much worse reviews and reception. But because of the acting. dedication of Hyeri and the whole cast, good cinematography, and considering that this series had very low budget, I can't rate it less then 7. Unfortunately, because of the second half of the series, even though there were great scenes, I can't rate it higher.

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Only for action fans

Great show if you're looking for pure action. It reminds John Wick, not only in style, but also in some story moments. But "Mercy for none" doesn't have any interesting characters, or plot twists. You've seen such stories many many times. It's a typical revenge story with silent, sad, overpowered main character. And also some gang wars in the background.

Acting here...is mediocre. It's not bad, but it's not mind blowing, you won't find here any complicated characters. Music is also..mediocre- not bad, but not great.

So, why 7? Because of action - it's beautiful, gory and stylish. Pacing in the first four episodes is great, but in later episodes it became slower. More story elements was added..and because it's not really interesting, later episodes were a bit boring. But nevertheless action scenes were still fun to watch.

To sum it up - if you're looking for something similar to John Wick, but korean - go watch it. It's short and fun to watch. But if you're looking for a serious crime drama - you won't find it here.

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Not entirely terrible...but still bad

So...I didn't have any high expectations for this series. It's just that I like Sasaki Nozomi , watched some movies with her( for example Ju-On Beginning of the end), and subscribed to her instagram. And there I saw reels with her new thriller, and based on those reels it seemed pretty interesting. Well..unfortunately it wasn't.

First problem - the story. The beginning was alright. In fact, I actually liked scenes with main heroine's past. But already in episode 2 strange, stupid moments started to appear, and with each episode story was becoming more and more stupid. Then, something strange happened - I actually liked episodes 9 and 10...but the final episode ruined everything. Character's actions were stupid, illogical and the ending itself... well, it's not terrible, even has possibility for season 2, but also it may be considered a bit open-ended and finished. But if we talk about story in general, then it's bad. Mostly because of the "plan", which main heroine had. Because in fact, her plan is garbage, it's terrible...and her actions in the final episode, with main villain...what the hell was that?

Second problem - acting. For the most part, it's bad. Like...really bad. I like Sasaki Nozomi, she's a beautiful woman, but her acting here was terrible. Shibuya Nagisa played the main villain, and her acting...for the most part was cringy and bad. But there were few good scenes with her, that's why I think that her acting is bad because of the screenplay, because there few scenes, where she was creepy..in a good way. Other actors were also not really good, Makoto was mediocre. The only person with good acting here is Yanagi Yurina. Her acting is not mind-blowing, but it's good, probably the best among other actors. Unfortunately her screen time is very small. Oh, and the actress who played main heroine in high school, also was pretty good. But that's it.

I'm giving this series a 5 score, because episodes were really short, around 17-20 minutes each. And it wasn't like a big waste of time for me. If the episodes were longer, like 45-60 minutes, then I would rate is with 4. There are some good moments in this series, but for the most part it's bad.

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Not as bad as everyone says

First of all - people need to understand what kind of story is the original webtoon. I found information about it - and it's some kind of anthology of short stories with one main theme - red lines above people's heads. No explanation how and why those lines appeared and why suddenly disappeared at the end of the webtoon. Just small personal stories of people whose life's become tragic and violent because of those lines. So, creators of this series tried to make one main storyline through the whole series and small personal stories of different people for each episode, except probably final.

And the first five episodes worked very well with this concept. Story is interesting, acting is good, although I don't understand why Lee Eun Saem considered as main cast, because 90% of her screen time is in the first two episodes. But nevertheless, for the first 5 episodes everything is fine( but you can see the main twist with one character very early).

But the final episode...I don't think it's bad, but it's completely different from the rest of the series. It's very psychedelic, and the mystic part of the series starts working on 200%. And the ending...too many questions left unanswered, and this some kind of open ending (without season 2) could've worked(barely), especially as prequel to original webtoon, but the final minute of the last episode makes it impossible.

And here's my point and why I rate this series with 7, despite strange ending - I really hope for season 2. You can't end series like this. Friendly Rivalry has open ending - it's bad, with many questions, but it works as series final. Ending of S-Line doesn't work. So I really hope for season 2 with some answers ( and preferrably good answers, because webtoon doesn't have them). But if this is really the end of the series, then the exact moment I'll hear the news about it, I'll return here and change the rating from 7 to 5.

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Expected more

I've heard many..many reviews and comments about this movie. About how good it is, and that it's like higher budget version of The Man of Nowhere( in terms of action, not story), but...in the end, I was kinda dissapointed.

Don't get me wrong - The Suspect is not a bad movie. In fact, it's pretty good. But not masterpiece, as many called it. First of all, this movie is pretty long. Almost 140 minutes for a mediocre story is too long. Again, story is not bad, it works, but is not very interesting and very predictable. And this scene with hanging...oh wow.

Action scenes. Oh, boy...The Suspect has tried to be similar to the Bourne trilogy or to Taken. But mostly to Bourne. You can see this by the way how chase scenes and hand-to-hand combat were filmed. Chase scenes are pretty good, but in my opinion are too long. But hand-to-hand combat... It's my personal opinion, but I'm not a fan of this fights with cuts every second. Yes, it makes fights more chaotic, and it was fun to watch... in 2004 or 2007. But in 2013 everyone were tired of them. Plus, we already had good action movies like Raid, or the Man from Nowhere. And compared to them, fights in The Suspect are complete mess. Again..not terrible, but watching those fights in 2025, especially after John Wick movies and many other new action films, is hard. Even Bourne movies or the first Taken are more watchable in terms of action.

It may seemed that I completely destroyed this movie with my critique, but that's not true. Acting was nothing special, but decent. story was ok, chase scenes were filmed great, and in the end I actually enjoyed this movie. But it's just a good movie, nothing more, and definitely not a 10/10 masterpiece.

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Could've been better...much better.

I really wanted to rate this series with 8 or 9. Because I've been waiting for it since the first trailer. It reminded me the movie Ride or Die( a bit similar story, but with not very good screenplay, bad characters(not acting) and rather explicit scenes). Then I find out, thay this series is based on japanese novel and there is also a j-drama, based on the original novel, as far as I heard without big changes in the story and this is important, you'll understand later why.

"As you stood by" took the original novel and created its own story, with powerful message, great acting and cinematography...and ruined storyline.

First 5 episodes were good. Not great, because of some stupid moments, but still good. But then... last three episodes changed the whole story. From thriller-drama about DV, murder and how main heroines tried to get away with this, and how they changed as characters, this k-drama turned into some random thriller about crazy maniacs, more killings, more blood, etc. WHY?? It wasn't needed! Original story didn't have any of this. And screenwriters created this mess by turning one character into bloody psycho, with maniac laughter. What the hell? What was that? It was illogical, stupid, unexplained( they tried to explain it but that explanation didn't really work with the first half of the series)

I also didn't really like the ending...because it felt like it was needed mostly to put important words in the heroine's mouths. And there were also some detailes about the ending, which remained unclear. But all of that is nothing compare to the nonsense I mentioned before. And I enjoyed...let's say the final point,destination where heroines are in the end, but I still think, that it's very naive.

It could've been great 5-6 episode's series. But instead we got not a bad series( pretty good in fact) with weak second half, which ruined otherwise great story. Not completely ruined, thanks to the overall high quality of the k-drama...but it could've been much better.

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