What the hell happened in the last quarter?
From the start I loved this goofy little buddy cop procedural extravaganza. Fun main team chemistry, great lead with a story that is easy to get invested into despite him being a chaebol, many creative cases with tons of natural comedy that doesn't rely on crass gags and simply comes from characters playing off each other (for the most part).The aesthetic, the soundtrack, the directing, the acting, all of it brims with so much love and life, very unique and charming. Reminded me a bit of the anime "Baccano".
And then the last 4 episodes sweep all of that under the rug for bargain bin dime a dozen predictable story beats and overcomplicated makjang soapy nonsense with a chaebol flair. I was so dissapointed but I do look forward to season 2, and hope that it will have 12 strong episodes at the very least like season 1.
I do love the core team and wan to see them tackle cases.
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Meandering, wasted potential
This is a classic case of a drama starting of strong yet meandering in its later half trying to both resolve everything (and failing) but also just dragging shit on forever and ever past the point of any investment. I found it hard to get attached to any characters. I liked Park Changsons gimmick earlier on that he was a fake-it-till-you-make-it expert and seeing that throughout all of the show would have been fun. A sort of sly fox type of character that is all talk but somehow everyone buys the bluff.In the 1st half, there were shades of that, but somewhere near the 2nd half he just becomes this cool boss charismatic aura farming pretty boy who can do no wrong and has a plan for everything which is like...boring as hell. I never felt much tension because the show just plays around with comitting to violence but pulling back whenever it gets meaningful that it just didn't set up any stakes at all in my eyes, and when it does actually pull the trigger it feels kinda flat to me cause I don't really care about any of the characters.
There are 2 shows to check out to get the 2 aspects of it that I did enjoy:
- Evilive for the meek lawyer turn corrupt and going way in over his head
- Defendant for the falsely accused prosecutor intensely fighting for justice against a supervillain
Both of those outdo Big Mouse imo.
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Fun, emotional, unique dark comedy
This was such a joy to watch! It was a kdrama that at times has a bit of a British dark comedy shade, but while retaining the emotional core and character depth we love to see from Kdramas.Yuna and Yoo Kye Soung have AMAZING chemistry as a comedy duo, and they drive everything else. Park Sun Jae is always nice to see. Props to really everyone in the cast.
This is a drama that knows the balance between funny, dark and emotional fairly well and never has tonal whiplash. The pacing was never too slow, and the urge to see both of the leads bond and see them succeed in their respective goals (the MLs daughter surviving and FL breaking away from abuse) kept me going. They are so easy to root for. A complete must watch and a standout in the K-Thriller space.
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Confusing, shallow, and difficult to take seriously
This drama started off nicely, I like a protagonist in a HS bullying show that is rational, cold, and calculating. I liked the intensity and how graphic some of the bullying got. With the whole game premise, I was looking forward to seeing the tactics and mind games employed by her to get ahead, I was excited for the intense character drama, but little by little the stakes in this show felt really off and confusing. Most of the class were just regular HS girls and only a few were truly bad, and the truly bad ones just didn't really feel all that threatening to me.It didn't feel like an intense back and forth of mind games, power plays and plans made for the others plans. In the end I didn't hate it, but I found it hard to be invested in any other character than Cha Woo Ri the hikkikomori. And the show felt like it had a bit of an identity crisis here, does it want to be a wholesome highschool girls slice of life or an intense mindgame character drama driven game show?
The cast members mostly did a fine job, but I didn't like Baek Ha Rin, she did not feel as intimidating as she was meant to come off.
The theme discussions and presentation all feel fairly immature and black and white. Maybe I missed something, I will rewatch it one day and see how I feel then.
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Thrilling procedural with a ton of heart
It has genuinely been such a long time since a Korean detective thriller style show has hit this home with me. It's a true procedural, going from case to case, using everyones unique abilities and perspectives to come up with clever solutions to find and catch the bad guys.Unlike a lot of K-thrillers, each of the cases are not predictable, they are full of genuine twists and turns that keep you hooked wanting to know what is gonna happen next. It genuinely defied my expectation at every turn, just as I thought it would relapse into something more generic, it strikes the odds and goes the distance.
Not only that, but it actually takes time to characterize everyone in its sizeable cast and make them feel human. All of the performances are fantastic but I was genuinely incredibly impressed by Kim Rae Won. I have never seen him before, but in this show? He absolutely KILLS it! He toes the line between this crazy reckless workaholic detective, but portrays him as the traumatized and flawed human that he is. He gives endless complexity to the character and makes him relatable and grounded.
This sells itself as a no-holds barred action packed thrill ride and contains many of those aspects. Explosions, chases, fights, set-pieces, bombastic music, it's all here. And yet, when First Responder slows down and decompresses, it has so much heart and soul within its writing. Each of the cases really tugged at my heart strings and don't focus on hyper psychopath serial killers, but mostly on actual real people whom commit crime for various reasons.
It also does its best to tie each of the crimes into the leads and their backstories and personalities, whether directly or indirectly, allowing them to be fleshed out.
It's a complete banger of a show.
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Is this meant to be satirical? It is hilarious!
K thrillers. You either love em or hate em. There is usually a blanket list of plot points that a lot of them are seemingly legally mandated to follow. Corrupt police chiefs, predictable as heck plot, melodrama, "everything is secretly connected", betrayals, if you've seen one, especially older ones, chances are you've seen all of them.The few variables there are, cast, presentation, characters, are usually what make or break them. And this one leans on the broken side . But...honestly? I had a blast. This was genuinely hilarious. It really feels like a parody at times, and because it is trying to take itself so seriously I know that it is not intended to be one, but it just comes across as such to me. It's so over the top, bombastic, frantic and while it does slow down in certain instances, it tries so hard to be SOOOPER SRSSSSS!!! That It is just campy and fun.
The cast absolutely kills it tho, they do their best with the material and there are things to like in a genuine way (and not in a this is so absurd and stupid it's fun way). It follows the K-thriller blueprint to a T. If you're a fan of such shows, and yearn for more, this one will hopefully be as fun for you as it was for me.
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Over indulgent writing ruins an otherwise good story
God this is frustrating. From the start of this story I was so invested, it seemed like it was mature, grounded, ballsy and intense. There were so many emotions going through, the tragedy, the drama, and it kept going that way for a while making me think that it was going to be a heavy exploration of its themes, something unique.Nope! Just throw in a really evil corrupt politician who was actually behind everything and he absolves everyone of their crimes and just allow characters whom were on a collision course to shake hands and just resolve all issues to go for the bad guy!
What a load of absolute rubbish, you can have a happy ending but this is so un-earned it's unbelievable.
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Steers from the tone and atmosphere of season 1
Scope expansion in sequels is a common thing, but at times can be really harmful. Bigger does not always equal better, and Weak Hero Class 1's smaller scope and more personal story of friendship, bullying and betrayal was one that hit a lot harder and had me far more invested.Weak Hero Class 2 is a fun short little action show with some heartfelt scenes but at the same time it is one that just becomes comically absurd that it enters into borderline fantasy story. Whole highschool mafia and childhood connection bull, the one note characters with 1 or 2 personality traits that are barely explored due to the time constraints, the show is trying to do everything all at once and didn't succeed in excelling in anything.
What were very fun and brutal action scenes in the first season that featured brutal hits that held weight and dealt damage, Season 2 opts to make every character take superhero levels of damage. The coreography is fun but the hits hold no weight, no meaning, what's 1 shot to the knee versus like 50?
It's a betrayal to the core of the first season, but as its own fun short highschool bromance romp it has its charm.
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What a mess
Getting ambitious with your project can be a good or a bad thing. Season 1 of PFJ was mostly an episodic tale, focusing on case by case criminals, with hints of an underlying plot and developing relationship between Baek and Eun Sol.Season 2 tries to be everything and fails at damn near everything in my eyes. Eun Sol is sidelined to all hell, every case is reliant on Baek Beom to explain everything to the audience after he takes the entire or 2 entire episodes for an autopsy, every character relationship is butchered and some characters introduced that are just cringeworthy (Doctor K is too goofy even for this show).
And everything is about corruption, conspiracy, higher ups colluding with cheabols to get away with crime, it is so painfully trying to be some big production instead of the low stakes crime show it was in season 1
And the story is also unfinished. So all my time wasted for something that won't get a resolution ever, cause let's face it, Season 3 is not happening.
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Please help me I am an emotional wreck
You always hear about those dramas that people say made them cry every episode and, unless you've experienced such a drama, you'd think they're exaggerating. Well, no exaggeration, this drama, this frickin' masterpiece made me sob like a newborn babe every single episode.The gorgeous cinematography, the mixing of childlike, whimsical and yet very grounded and mature writing. The ability to discuss all manner of topics surrounding parenthood, present even evil people with a level of depth that is often unprecedented. It is a journey, an experience, of a woman trying to rescue a child from being abused, and in so becoming a mother, confronting truths regarding her own family and past.
It is hard to find something to hate about this show, it starts strong, stays strong, and ends even stronger, which is such a rarity for kdramas.
That said, due to the highly emotional and traumatic nature, I think it would be difficult for me to rewatch this, hell, it is not an easy watch the first time around, and I mean that in the most positive way possible.
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A massive breath of fresh air
I am very glad I discovered lost in this period in my life, because there has, and probl'y never will be, a single kdrama that resonates more with me. From the plight of the leads, living life as if you're not living at all, to the moody atmosphere not completely devoid of life and love, yet struggling to maintain the facade of it all, just like the characters do.It's a drama very difficult to describe in any other words than "I get it". Because that is just how I feel. I get it. Completely. All of it.
The characters are all given so much depth and are written wonderfully. Everyone has their own insecurities, past mistakes, problems, no one is a perfect person.
I didn't quite catch on to everything the show has to offer, so I see myself rewatching this show as I age, and gleaming new perspectives from it.
That said, unless you simply resonate with this drama, I can see people finding it boring and monotonous, it's not a feel good get you down to lift you up healing drama. While the ending I would say is hopeful, it's bittersweet because it simply has to be. This drama marks the beginning of a healing journey, not its conclusion.
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Disgusting, gross and problematic
Heya guys, want to get a girlfriend?Easy! Go to your nearest highschool and emotionally manipulate a confused and outcast teenager until she eventually falls in love with you even tho she doesn't know what she is doing! But it's ok, you were patient, you waited until she was a legal adult who was confused and didn't know what she was doing!
Don't worry everyone will be fine with it!
Or you can just obsessively learn everything about your target crush, to the point that you are mentally dependent on her existence and you treat her like she's your posession, but that is so cute and romantic!!!
This show is gross, grosser than gross. So gross that I could vomit.
For 8 episodes it's a really cute, wholesome show about a young girl pursuing her dream. After that, it devolves into highschool melodrama tropes, complete nonsense, and then pretends to be emotional and heavy in the final episodes, whilist also encouraging some toxic ideas that are incredibly problematic.
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