1
Yikes
In the first episode of “Police University”, much of the screentime is shared by Choi Woo Sung and Oh Man Seok who are essentially the de facto family of the main character Kang Sun Ho played by Jung Jin Young. Choi Woo Sung’s part generates a few chuckles and Oh Man Seok gives the episode a certain amount of gravity as he guides Sun Ho through a difficult ordeal and towards the titular school. Compared to the average drama, they’re not particularly noteworthy parts or characters but specific to the qualities of this production, they serve as the apex of entertainment value.The remaining characters, storylines and acting performances have painfully few bright spots. Krystal is an accomplished actor but the character of Oh Kang Hee has not much to do except to serve as the love interest of Sun Ho. Seo Ye Hwa is one of the finest character actors in the industry and puts a noble effort in playing an administrator of the school but there’s just so little to work with.
As for the rest, it’s generally difficult to identify whether the flaws are because of the actor portraying the character, the dullness of the storyline, the ineptitude of the direction and editing or the banality of the dialogue. Most scenes are a train derailment of repetitive dialogue, exaggerated facial expressions and oddly timed cuts between shots. The most obvious examples are Lee Dal and Yoo Young Jae who play Sun Ho’s pals Beom Tae and Joon Wook. They are written as comic sidekicks, but the attempts at comedy are juvenile and painfully unfunny. While Lee Dal and Yoo Young Jae might garner laughs with better material is doubtful, there is at least faint hope that they have some modicum of talent that could be revealed in future works.
Despite the towering whirlwind of blame to be shared throughout the cast and crew, one particular individual stands out as so blatantly incompetent that even with better talent alongside him and behind the camera, he would have still have no chance at performing at a professional level. In episodes 2-3, the only possible compelling drama was the boot camp ordeal lifted straight out of “An Officer and a Gentleman” - Instructor bent on drumming out a cadet is met with the youngster’s desperate perseverance to stay. It’s a duel of wills between two men passionately bent on proving the other wrong. It’s hamstrung by the nonstop recital of cop cliche’ dialogue from Cha Tae Hyun’s Dong Man who wants Sun Ho to out of the university. But the dialogue is a mere distraction to the flat delivery, clownish expression and awkward movement from Jung Jin Young.
Instead of admiration for indomitable spirit, we are left with a string of painful cringes and a desperate hope that it will be over soon. There are other actors that are equally unskilled tasked with lead roles, but there are some small redeeming qualities that those individuals usually have:
Pretty
Pretty and tall
Pretty tall?
Jung Jin Young has none of these traits. If there is any moment where Jung Jin Young appears to have some idea of what he should be doing it is when he is running. However, it seems to be effective only when he is running away from the camera and we are fading to the next scene break.
Some of the OST is not terrible, but that is scant solace.
Not recommended. Not even a little.
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Jinxed. At First. And Second. And after that too. And it just goes on and on.
Wow.Outside of an outright parody where acting performances are MEANT to be terrible ON PURPOSE in order to lampoon the source material, "Jinxed at First" is very likely the worst collective acting performance a commercial production has ever wrought.
The plot is silly, but no more so than plenty of other fantasy concepts.
The production quality is nothing special, but it's not awful either.
None of that matters. Na In Woo or Seohyun create characters to a certain degree. And it's possible that the production wanted them to act in the manner that they do here. So perhaps not all blame should fall on these two leads. But they're the faces on screen so deserve at least some. Both overplay their parts so grotesquely and clownishly that the moments when neither are on screen are a mercy to the audience. But the mercies are fleeting as most of the supporting cast and characters fit in to two personality categories - 1. fossilized driftwood. 2. hyperactive, emotionally unbalanced toddler.
Kim Dong Young has some nice moments as a loan shark with a softer side. Lee Ho Jung is solid as the arranged fiancee of one of the aforementioned pieces of driftwood. Both are significantly far down the list of supporting characters and get scant screen time, but there's some moments there. That's the extent of the positives.
Conclusion: Pass. Hard pass.
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The multiverse concept has gotten out of hand
The story starts as a slapstick comedy then turns in to a dating show soap opera and then a slice-of-life melodrama before a spin through a family healing journey and wraps up as everyone gets a happy ending fairy tale.It would have worked better, more coherently, if it actually was a multiverse vehicle and every time it switched to a new parallel dimension, there were some Star Wars lightspeed cgi effects and some electronic beeps and bloops and throw in an alien or a dinosaur and switch up the background from Korea to a space station or a ancient wizard fortress so it's transparent that the show has switched modes.
Seriously.
Go Kyung Po and Kang Han Na can be effortlessly funny and thrive on energy and chaos. Just see Go Kyung Po's guest spot in episode 1 of "D.P." and Kang Han Na's tour de force in "My Roommate is a Gumiho". But they spend eighty percent of this misguided mess being angtsy and mopey. It's inexplicably bad design by the writer. And unforgivably poor execution by the director.
There's a long list of talented supporting cast members too and, given moments, they bring a bit of a pulse to the action, but it's all recycled, aimless storylines.
[beep beep boop whoosh] Punch it, Chewie. Maybe there's better dramas on the other side of this jump through hyperspace...
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Change is bad. And not changing is also bad.
Soundtrack #1 was a delightful, short, sweet drama. And while churning out another drama just like it would have been a bad idea and recreating something entirely new wholly unlike Soundtrack #1 wouldn't have made any sense, the creators of Soundtrack #2 kept the core elements the same - a production focused almost entirely on the romance between the leads and a backdrop occupied by the music industry. A few other elements seem familiar too. There's a facade of a love triangle, but it's clear from the moment that it appears that the late appearing third corner is a distant third wheel.There's not a terribly prodigious amount of material to review. The episodes are short. There are only six of them. The supporting cast is capable but they are more props than characters - existing to prod a bit of dialogue out of a lead during the moments when the other lead isn't present. The music is a bit livelier than the usual drama ballad and it's pleasant, but it's not the stuff that is going to light up the charts and fill an arena. It's more suited to busking in a park.
Is the plot credible? There's no ghosts or time travel or generation-repeating curse so points there. A music prodigy ends up washing out and teaching music after school to kids? Easy sell. Probably happens all the time. Is a guy who churns out YouTube material and winds up crazy wealthy and driving every luxury car brand on the planet believable? Well, it doesn't violate the laws of physics as we know them so it's possible. Is it possible that THIS GUY did that? Less likely.
And that's where #2 lives up to it's own moniker as not number one. THIS GUY is not Park Hyung Sik. And while Steve Noh, even to a viewer who has no physical attraction to the male gender, objectively by scientific means of measurement is very, very physically attractive. But he is not anywhere near the talent as an actor that Park Hyung Sik is. And casting Steve Noh as the successor to Park Hyung Sik's lead role does not work. Not even a little. Part of it is that the character is so insecure. But the frenetic, try-so-hard-all-the-time, suffocate-everything-he-touches approach overwhelms all the other aspects that were meant to humanize the character. In short, where the previous lead was always cool and natural all the time, this lead tries too hard to be cool all the time. It's change and it's a bad change.
Meanwhile, Geum Sae Rok's Hyun Seo is too much like Han So Hee's predecessor. Musical talent? Check. Struggling in her career? Check. Has a musical white knight come along that recognizes her talent? Check. Unsure of her own feelings for the male lead? Check. In short, it's not change and while it's not as bad as what did change, it's still bad.
Points for being short and well-shot and having lots of pretty stuff to look at. But with so much riding on how good the leads are, these lead characters and the actors playing them just don't measure up.
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This review may contain spoilers
If a drama was a sampler platter of the genre
Think of the things that most frequently appear in a Korean drama...-romance between leads
-secondary romance
-a supernatural element
-backstories told through flashbacks
-tent bars
-stalkers
-neighborhood police station
-parent/child issues
-sassy grandmother
-painfully long periods of flirting before the leads confess and begin a relationship
-ridiculously short period after the relationship starts that a breakup occurs
-an eventual and painfully obvious reconciliation
Really, other than period costumes and the inclusion of an ultrawealthy character, "Link: Eat, Love, Kill" covers all the usual bases. And it represents the genre relatively well. The leads do a relatively nice job with their performances. The story is a nice mix with a somewhat novel supernatural element, a decent crime thriller element, plenty of family relationship subplots and a somewhat generic romance. The direction is adequate. There's some solid acting from the very young cast members. The OST is not exceptional, but it's fine. It could have been edited down to about twelve episodes without detracting much, but it never completely bogs down.
This all seems to point towards this production being a very nice and likable way to pass time that doesn't leave a lasting impression. And that's an accurate summation.
The supporting cast is not an all-star group but there's some strong work by Kim Ji Young, Lee Suk Hyeong, Shin Jae Hwi and the very young Ahn Se Bin. There's a guest spot from Kim Won Hae which is always, always a treat. And there's isn't a single glaring bad performance despite the long roster of cast members.
Yeo Jin Goo isn't asked to play a particularly dynamic character and it works. Asking him to being an extrovert and do big things as an actor? That's not a great idea. Asking him to be mildly depressed? Super.
Moon Ga Young does what she does well. She's young and bubbly and bright and a little awkward. There's perhaps a little more of a grownup character for her here, but it's an incremental change.
The romance between the two is on par with the rest of the show - it's fine. It has some nice moments and some weaker spots. It's follows the usual course of K drama romance.
And since this review seems to have run its course (if there's anything else that hasn't been covered, just assume it was nice and fine like the rest of it), let's end this with a "sure, it's a pretty good show" conclusion.
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A promising concept undone by poor performances and some discomforting elements
An earnest small underdog businessman taking on the world with the help of his family should be an easy sell. Throw in a young, strong female lead and it's hard to imagine how it goes wrong. But "Backstreet Rookie" finds a way. It's not that it's not a mostly enjoyable watch, but there's vast wasted potential here that with a better cast and steadier direction could have been realized.As for the strong points, Kim Yoo Jung effortlessly switches gear from bubbly youngster to driven achiever to smitten woman. She has the charm and talent and all the other attributes to take on more challenging roles. Kim Sun Young always delivers and her quieter moments with Kim Yoo Jung's Saet Byul are gems. The scene stealer is Seo Ye Hwa who has a marvelously vibrant character and crushes it.
The rest of the cast ranges from uninspired to grating. Kim Min Kyu might not be award-winning leading man material but he's better than he shows here. The overwhelming issue with "Backstreet Rookie", however, is Ji Chang Wook who is legitimate leading man material but airballs this performance. In more subdued moments, he exhibits the charisma and intensity that makes him an A Lister. But through most of "Backstreet Rookie", he's indulging in overplaying the character and the result is more clownish than comic.
Not that better acting would have solved the loose ends that crop up throughout the story. Dae Hyun's sister and husband appear early and seem to have some importance. But they rarely appear. Do Sang Woo is the villain but he is neither rehabilitated nor punished. He simply vanishes. Saet Byul's younger sister has a promising arc but it needed more depth.
As for the uncomfortable elements, it's certainly not a novel concept to have a much younger love interest for the main male character. But this relationship seems to be approaching serious red flag territory especially with a flashback to Saet Byul's youth days. The Dal Shik character by Eum Moon Sook though is really raising red flags. It's not blackface but there's, at minimum, a nod in that direction. With the growing international appeal of Korean culture, this is a bad look.
Overall, not a show that earns any sort of recommendation but should put Kim Yoo Jung on the shortest of lists for leads in better vehicles.
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A masterful pairing of writing and directing
Layers."Drive My Car" is a long movie. A really long movie and there's some sections where it seems like there's not a lot going on. But Ryusuke Hamaguchi is very deliberately and delicately creating one subtle layer of meaning and complexity and understanding and connection on top of another.
Yusuke and Oto are married and happily so. Or so it seems. And then Oto is gone. Yusuke, an actor with a peculiar method and a specialty in Chekhov's "Uncle Vanya" presses on with his professional life as if all is well. On the surface, so it seems.
And then, Hamaguchi pulls back a bit of the veneer and reveals a bit more. Very slowly, Yusuke and Misaki, his assigned driver, in their own stilted ways, reveal who they really are to each other. Their past relationships align as opposites, one mostly light but with a darkness hidden away, the other abusive but with moments of compassion.
And as Yusuke and Misaki become something other than driver and passenger, Yusuke's work assembling the production of "Uncle Vanya" at a festival in Hiroshima is assembled, slowly, piece-by-piece. There's a marvelous interplay between the play production as it slowly goes from audition to table reading to rehearsal to live performance and the primary movie narrative. And the final scene of the play with Park Yoo Rim brings the two stories together and it is incredibly powerful.
If there's a weakness, it's a sudden transformation of a supporting character from a shallow and impulsive charmer to an introspective and insightful thinker. The scene is necessary for the narrative, but it's jarring.
Long movie but absolutely worth it. Highly recommend.
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Lesser than the sum of its parts
This may not be al all-star team, but "Monthly Magazine Home" has a high caliber of talent at the top of the credits. Kim Ji Suk may not have a history as a lead but he's been a standout as a supporting cast member. Kim Won Hae has an incredible resume'. Jung So Min is unquestionably a quality lead actor. Chae Jung An has stolen more than her share of scenes in previous work. And for a good chunk of of this series, they play a terrific melody together. But it doesn't last and, while it remains an entertaining show, "Monthly Magazine Home" falls short of making the memorable performance that this cast is capable of making.Kim Ji Suk's Yoo Ja Sung is the character with the most significant growth, but while the character matures and grows, his charm vanishes. Ahn Chang Hwan has a series of episodes where he is scintillating but his tendency to overdo comedic scenes is unfortunate. Kim Won Hae, similarly, bright moments mixed with less than his finest work. Jung So Min is terrific where her character has material for her to use. But Na Young Won just winds up being rather bland.
There's plenty of criticism for the storyline in later episodes and there's merit to it, but things started to go awry much sooner. It really begins with some clunky direction at the halfway mark. Kim Ji Suk, in particular, has some extremely awkward blocking in what should be touching moments with Jung So Min. All the supporting characters are asked to recycle the same lines for rapidly declining comedic returns. And there's quite a bit of extraneous cast that are present for a large amount of the show but are given almost nothing to do. What's more disappointing is that there are multiple devices that work well for much of the series that completely vanish shortly after the halfway mark.
Credit to the wardrobe people for an incredible collection of sweaters. The Jo Yuri track "Story of Us" is terrific and one of the best soundtrack entries of 2021. The houses featured are absolutely stunning.
Overall, "Monthly Magazine Home" is a nice show. It has flaws and some are noticeable. It also has a nice collection of positives and quality moments. It's not strongly recommended, but recommended nevertheless.
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A tasty snack of a show
It's unfair to judge this show against most of the other K-dramas. They're not from the same species despite speaking the same language and being set in the same locale. And objectively, there is not a long list of positive attributes that "So Not Worth It" has and many things that deserve criticism. It definitely struggles early to find its form. But it does find it and it's got enough warmth and character and laughs to make it worth the small investment to watch.Park Se Wan and Carson Allen acquit themselves nicely when given the opportunity to step to the front of the ensemble. None of the rest are given much chance to show much except for Shin Hyun Seung and he fails to deliver. The production does lean far too heavily on a laugh track. The show does deliver some genuinely worthy comedic moments but it's overshadowed by the hamfisted production.
It could have been better. It could have had more clever writing. It could have better production value. It could have better acting performances. It could have a brisker beginning. It made itself a big target that is easy to criticize and it deserves a modest amount of credit for doing so. But it still entertains and ultimately that is what matters. Enough to make it a recommendation with the qualifier that it's more like an easy bowl of microwave popcorn than a 7 course gourmet feast. In the right context, it works well enough.
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Stellar acting performances and focused storytelling
Quite simply, Tang Jun Sang is an amazingly versatile and talented young star and Lee Je Hoon puts down the best performance of 2021 so far. This show has quite a few qualities, but these two actors are what lifts this production to one of the most noteworthy.It helps that it seems that it was set from the beginning to be multiple seasons so that not all the storylines had to be backfilled and fully wrapped by the end of the tenth episode. The overall arc of our main duo's story could be pushed forward with an adeptly placed flashback for Gu Ru's parents to keep the story flowing evenly throughout.
The subplots of each episode were, for the most part, woven in to the main story seamlessly and, although it was a show with fewer secondary characters, the casting did not miss. High marks for the production quality too.
I eagerly await season two.
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It's ok if you're ok with a show that's ok
I think this show deserves a lot of credit for telling a story that is miles away from the typical cliche' drama. It also deserves credit for establishing some highly unlikable bad guys and making no attempt to humanize them (which I like). This is entertainment. I like it when I don't have to feel conflicted about my distaste for the antagonist. The cast is deep. Lee Jung Eun is always terrific. Lee Soo Kyung sticks to the type of character where she excels but credit for being excellent at that style of character. I was not familiar with Jo Jae Ryong or Ryu Hye Young before, but they acquitted themselves admirably (especially RHY's Kang Dam). Lee David and Kil Hae Yeon were also wonderful.But the cast is huge and weaving all of them in makes for an unwieldy narrative and it doesn't help that we lurch from this suspect to that suspect and back and forth between trials (both real and mock). It badly needed to crop 3-4 characters (like Woo Hyun's pointless copy room attendant and a couple of the school's administrators). More importantly, other than Kang Sol A, there was a rotating group of main characters at any one time but none of them had been developed sufficiently for me to care about any of them (including Han Joon Hwi who would have been a more realistic character if he'd slapped a big "S" on his chest and paraded around in tights and a cape).
The show somewhat redeems itself near the end with some clever twists, but it's not enough to really paper over some glaring flaws.
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Take notes
Got sucked in through the first two episodes although now I feel more like I was a sucker. First, some positives...Go Kyung Po is terrific as a lead. Kim Hyo Jin is tremendous as a secondary character and deserved to have better writing to support her performance. Tae Won Seok is asked to do little especially as the series progresses but is fantastic every time he has an opportunity. Same with Song Sun Mi.
The set up over the first few episodes is wonderful. The dynamics between the lead family and the chemistry between those actors is great.
There's some very slick scenes, camera work and editing. In moments, usually early on, it's a captivating package.
But things just go south. Kim Young Min is miscast although at times it's hard to judge him severely because the production veers back & forth with what direction the character should go. Supporting characters appear and seem to be important and then vanish for long stretches to inexplicably reappear and then exit just when their storyline seemed to be taking shape.
Hopefully whoever was running wardrobe on this show sobered up afterward and deeply regretted some of their choices. It is a wonder that Seo Hyun didn't simply walk off set with some of the clownish getups she had to endure.
By leaps and bounds, however, the culprit in this show is the plot which quickly squanders a promising opening act. This character is good. No, now they're bad. Maybe? Good again, but only for a moment. Eh, nope, definitely sympathetic. Here's a random betrayal from a secondary character that makes no sense. Coherence? Comprehensible? Character development? Strike one, strike two and strike three looking.
This show desperately needed someone to stop the writers and directors after the first act, tell them "this is your story, forget about the rest" and resume work only after things made any sense at all.
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The most interesting thing here is that the word "Midnight" is in the title
Exciting things tend to happen at midnight, right? Full moons come out. Showdowns happen. Interesting creatures of the night emerge to do nefarious things. Partygoers let their better judgments lapse. Sex, drugs & rock & roll![insert air escaping from balloon sound effect] That is most certainly not this show, however.
It is easy to identify the work of director Ahn Pan Seok. He casts a lot of the same actors. He inserts a long musical montage in every episode and uses the same song through an entire drama (not a choice that seems wise, but that's his style). The stories do not shy away from realistic adult relationships and very grounded portrayals of middle to upper middle class characters living middle to upper middle class lives. He really likes outdoor scenes that are barely lit. And his antagonists tend to be very one note, very limited characters.
With his previous two outings, "One Spring Night" and "Something in the Rain", he had relatively compelling main characters and charismatic lead actors. Particularly with "Something in the Rain", the presence of Son Ye Jin as the lead elevated the entire enterprise.
"The Midnight Romance in Hagwon" doesn't merely fail to reach the bar set by these prior productions where they excelled, it fails to register in virtually every element.
Main characters? Wi Ha Joon squeezes every possible atom out of the character of Lee Jun Ho, but it's a wafer thin character. He's a nice guy that's smart and clever and easygoing and things seem to work out for him except his friends who like him want to hang out with him when Jun Ho would rather have private time with his girlfriend. That's pretty much that extent of his woes. Jung Ryeo Won's Hye Jin encounters a bit more troubles but is enough of a Mary Sue that they're merely temporary annoyances rather than measurable tension. The two together are fine. Probably the highlight of the entire show is the romantic inexperience and awkwardness the two share.
Antagonist? Looks like the real life version of Vector from "Despicable Me" but without the brightly colored sweatsuit or the zany threats or the odd weapons or the pet shark or anything of interest really. He is, almost literally, a human stick in the mud.
Support characters? So Ju Yeon's Cheong Mi is legitimately a bright spot to the extent that she is permitted to be a presence. And Seo Jung Yeon's just obliterates anyone else on screen as the hagwon ice queen who perhaps eventually ends up being a more colorful antagonist but through eight episodes is more of a mere morally ambiguous plot fulcrum. The rest are so uninvolved that they fail to make any impression of any sort which is a tragic waste of some fabulous talents like Kim Jung Young and Kil Hae Yeon (who had been sensational as the horrifying, deranged mother of Son Ye Jin's lead in "Something in the Rain").
And it's not like if the material had somehow been amended this ship could have been righted. Sure, if some more time had been spent with the students, maybe there's a beat or two of a pulse in a subplot there. But there's nothing particularly engrossing about the day-to-day inner workings of a hagwon or the competition between two of them. So with very little as far as compelling inhabitants of them, there's just nothing but mild mannered, ordinary people with a not that out of the ordinary romance and...
Uh, and...
[cue the crickets sound effects]
Yeah, there's nothing else.
Not recommended.
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Awful mess
I like many of the actors on this show, but it is unwatchable. Of all those actors who I enjoyed in other productions, this is the worst work each and every one of them have been a part of. I have watched all the episodes of some truly lacking shows, but not this. I even took a long break hoping that coming back to it fresh would give it a boost. Sadly no. I couldn't even make it through an entire episode.I'm not sure what else to say other than the writing is among the worst I have seen of any drama. The overall plot, the dialogue, the ridiculous action pieces... Ugh. And nothing can save this. Even Song Joong-Ki could not make his character more than momentarily interesting.
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This review may contain spoilers
Faceplant
This should have been a better show. "Her Private Life" is a couple of better casting decisions and half a worthy script away from being a really lovely romantic comedy.Park Min Young is an unquestionable talent with a particular panache for comedy and the show is marvelous so long as it centers around her Curator Sung Duk Mi. It helps that she's regularly accompanied by the sublime Park Jin Joo and a solid though underutilized Ahn Bo Hyun. The only moments where Park Min Young is outshone is by Kim Sun Young. She is spectacular here.
And the first half of "Her Private Life" is welcomingly center around Duk Mi, her fandom for One's Cha Shi Ahn (who presumably is a better singer than actor), her rivalry with Kim Bo Ra's fangirl Cindy and the fake then real romance with new director Ryan Gold as portrayed by Kim Jae Wook. But as with most dramas, the production can only keep the two leads apart for so long and once the inevitable comes to pass, the project's flaws overwhelm the positives.
Plenty of criticism should be directed at the meandering, nonsensical storyline. It's deserved. There's opportunities to allow the outstanding supporting cast to share some spotlight, but it's completely ignored except as momentary throw-ins in the final episode. Particularly frustrating is that a relationship between Kim Bo Ra and Ahn Bo Hyun was happening but it was literally given less than a minute of airtime. It's a massive gaffe to not give these two a sizable amount of attention.
But it's a casting blunder more than anything that torpedoes "Her Private Life". Kim Jae Wook fits the tall and pretty profile, but he is totally lost trying to portray anything beyond mild annoyance or complete boredom. For around nine episodes, that's the extent of the demands - looked annoyed, looked bored and be photographed with Park Min Young. This much works. But when Kim Jae Wook's Ryan Gold has to step forward in act two and the character is navigating childhood traumas, the show sinks, quickly and irreversibly.
Add (G)I-DLE's "Help Me" to every playlist possible. It's one of the catchiest pop songs on any soundtrack anywhere. But don't put "Her Private Life" on a watchlist.
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