When you play the squid game, you win or you die, there's no middle ground
Easily one of the best dramas, if not the best, of the year, so far. This drama just has the perfect mix of drama, suspense, mistery and action while still delivering social criticism regarding specially human nature and how crushing the capitalistic system is for the ones at the bottom.The pacing of the drama is pretty good, it'll keep you at the edge of your seat and the chiffhangers will just make it almost impossible to stop watching. The reduced amount of episodes also help make the drama binge-worthy, while sparing it the same fate of many dramas that feel bloated because of many useless filler plots and characters. I think Squid Game just has the right amount of run time.
Besides that, the acting is really great. The cast is very convincing and I enjoyed a lot that the writers still managed to delve into the characters backstories and conflicts, otherwise this could've been a huge failure, cause you wouldn't care about any of the characters if they were so shallow. The only portrayals and parts of the script that felt weak were the ones related to the non-asian, english speaking characters, but I've yet to see an english dialog in a korean drama that isn't cringy, so I wasn't really surprised or disappointed.
Another strong suit of this show is the soundtrack. It's simply phenomenal, alternating between complementing the mood perfectly and contrasting with what's being shown to the point of being jarring, which was obviously the intention. In the end, I think the songs fit the scenes perfectly and truelly help you immerse into the story. And I have to say, Squid Game is very good at pulling at your heartstrings, it was the first time where I was at the verge of tears watching a drama.
Now I see that a lot of people seem to have a problem with the ending, and while I can understand it to some extent, I can't agree with it at all. I don't think this show has a good or a bad ending, but rather a very fitting one. It was more of a reflective ending and I think it was a fair conclusion to the events that ocurred.
Overall, Squid Game is an amazing experience to go through. It's a drama that's not afraid of doing what it has to do to tell you a story. I won't comment much more on it, because I honestly think it's best to go into it without knowing much, and spoilers could really ruin your experience, so I'll just recommend this drama to everybody (except maybe for people who can't handle graphic violence or gore) because I really think it's something you have to see for yourself.
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Pretty simple and good drama if you're in the right mood for it
What's Wrong With Secretary Kim? is a drama that I quite liked when I first watched it, but it didn't really age well for me. I tried re-watching it completely twice, but I can never finish it.Now, this show is pretty enjoyable if you're looking for a rom-com that you can simply shut you brain off and relax. The lead couple have a nice chemistry and there's some quite funny scenes. Although the male lead mainly consists of your stereotypical chaebol, I think Park Seo Joon's protrayal paints the character in a much more entertaining light and makes the narcissism of his character instead of annoying and petty, very funny and charming. Park Min Young does a good enough job, nothing outstanding, though. But for me the best characters was still, by far, Yoo Sik. He was a nice comedic relief, even though he was facing constant trouble and personal life issues, while still giving pretty good advice. Also the whole dynamic between the vice-president team was interesting to see.
The story is nothing impressive. Quite cliché and to be honest I felt like they stretched some subplots more than they should, which made the narrative feel draggy in many moments. The whole dispute between the brothers was extremely annoying and boring. Both of them acted petty and honestly I feel like they tried to frame Sung Yeon as the "bad guy" in this situation in order for us to root for Young Joon and realise Sung Yeon is ot the gentleman we thought, but that was not the way I took it because it felt way too forced. This plot just felt pointless and made me annoyed at both male leads while I wished they'd just make amends with one another, specially cause whole ordeal in their childhood that started it all was their parents fault.
Talking about that childhood plotline, another boring thing. I just don't think it was properly approached in this drama. It was there so we would be convinced that the main couple were destined to stay together but for me it was pretty lame. Also not sure about this, but the way they portrayed their PTSD felt very superficial as well.
Something that really bothered me was the ending. I thought it was quite nice that Mi So wanted to quit her job in order to find herself and take care of her personal life, but in the end she just gave up on her self-discovery journey cause she was dating the vice-president and that secretary job was suddenly ok with her. It makes it seem the only reason she wanted to quit in the first place was because she was horny or something, and since she got herself a boyfriend all of her problems were solved and her independency just didn't matter at all, I guess. Not to mention that the vice-president acted like a bossy tyrant to Mi So for 9 years and only started treating her properly when she was about to leave him and she was somehow ok with this entire situation.
So, all things considered, a nice fluffy drama that most rom-com fans will enjoy, but don't expect anything wonderful as it's a bit generic and tiring at some points, but fun nonetheless.
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A lackluster drama
Well, this drama was a bit underwhelming, albeit still entertaining. The plot had so much potential, but it's not very well developed and ends up being just average. I wish they had shown more about the realm of the gods and how their society worked, but unfortuntely that remained unexplored, maybe even due to a limited budget, I don't know. The ending is also very predictable and the conflict was resolved in such a simple way I wonder if So Ah really needed to have used her wish for that. Also, the title of the show is barely justified by the story.I mainly decided to watch this because of Nam Joo Hyuk, but his performance here is not as astounding as in other works I've seen him in, but it's not just his fault as Ha Baek wasn't that deep or compelling. Same for So Ah, not terrible, but not a remarkable character either. I felt they lacked a bit of chemistry, although they do share some nice kiss scenes.
The CGI was terrible and cringe-worthy, which makes me question why they did some swimming scenes with CGI instead of just putting the actors to actually swim.
A pretty forgettable show, I would recommend this only in case you have nothing else to see.
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A pretty solid drama
The drama sets the premise of exploring how an AI can show much more humanity than actual humans, and although it does it well, I feel like it wasted the opportunity to go much deeper with the theme and explore topics of how humanity would react to the incorporation of androids in our socitey and such, but I guess the writers didn't want to make the plot too deep or complicated, which is ok. I have to say there were sertain moments that didn't make sense. The way the robot's mom dies is so stupid, she could've just pushed Nam Shin out of the way and then avoided the barrels. To be honest she didn't even need to save him, he's a robot, I'm pretty sure a bunch of barrels wouldn't have killed him, it's clearly something the writers did just to stirr more drama in the show. Also, the way they portray science in this show is pretty idiotic, almost akin to magic that instantly just solves all of their problems. I must say specially the ending felt like a bit of a let down with a Deus Ex Machina type of solution.But I think that the actual focus of the drama is actually the character's relationships. The lead couple has a nice chemistry and it's pretty endearing to watch their relationship develop, but I gotta say, if you're going into this for the romance you might end up disappointed. Although cute, the protagonists relationship is more platonic than anything else. The fl is sure of her romantic feelings for the android, but the show makes pretty clear Nam Shin cannot feel actual emotions so although he shows he cares for her, he doesn't really love her, so towards the end their relationship feels a bit stagnant. Still, I think their interactions make the show worth it, along with the android's lovely personality.
As for the other characters, there's not much to say. I was sad they reduced the mom to an egoistic, crazy mother. She was supposed to be a robotics genius but was never portrayed that way. Human Nam Shin was disgusting to watch and I wouldn't mind if he'd died, but kudos to the actor who played well the two polar opposite characters in a very distinct manner. YoungHoon was the only other likable character to me.
Overall, pretty good and entertaining drama, I just wish there had been more romance.
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This movie will make you feel all sorts of way, specially considering the huge tone shift halfway through it and an ending that will most likely throw you off and leave you wondering what the hell just happened, but I believe that was intentional and something that sets this movie apart, making you tense, although super engaged in what's going on, with this looming feeling that anything can happen. I honestly praise Joonho for his courage of making such bold decisions for this story.
All the characters are layered and feel human. They are flawed and even do some questionable stuff, but that doesn't stop us from rooting for them, specially the poor family, since the acting and the script allow us to understand their motivations and struggles. The plot revolves around a quite old, but still relevant topic: class conflict, which is aproached in a very nuanced manner. The story is full of symbolisms and does a wonderful job of juxtaposing two opposite points of view, making you question who's the real parasite.
I admit that you might be confused after watching Parasite, but I firmly believe this is one of its charms: it leaves wondering and sticks to you for a very long time. I strongly recommend you watch this film and then try watching videos dissecting it and also interviews with Bong Joonho about it, then you can reflect about its message and form your own conclusions, since I think there are many elements in this movie that are opened to interpretation. If you're not a person that likes a dense, complicated plot that will require you use your brain to decipher it, though, this is definitely not for you.
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Can we just move past this?
It's been a while since I watched such a boring starter episode in a drama. Most of waht is shown in the flashbak is just a big waste of time and it takes the majority of the episode. I don't care about any of the charcaters and the pacing is bad.Nevertheless, the score I'm giving here it's mainly for the tropes in this drama. Idon't mind cliché in romance, but there are certain things that need to be approached in a new and more refreshing way in need to work, while others should just be left behind. I like Junho as an actor, but his character is so bland. Of course, it's just the first episode, but in one hour there was nothing appealing in the way the character was written or acted. There's no depth besides brooding CEO.
The female lead is ok, but not good enough to make me want to stay, Look, another woman who is poor but is fighting for her dream and in the end gets the job she is definitely not qualified for! Her friendship with the other girls is cute, but that's about it.
What pissed me off the most was the depiction of the male lead's sister. I felt the drama was trying to set her up as villain, although I don't understand why exactly? I guess South Korea just loves to put down strong, independent womem. This woman has been running the family business successfully for years, but sure, let's put the man who has no experience in this type of business whatsoever and got fired as an intern on his first day to compete against her and probably take over the company for reasons. And we are supposed to root for him because he is a man! And he is hot! Please, just spare me. I'm sure the drama is going to try to justify making the sister a villain in order for us to root for the male lead, but I just don't care. Like please, let's just stop demonizing women in positions of power.
I just think we have evolved as a society enough in order to leave these certain tropes in the past. King the Land simply doesn't bring anything interesting to the table in order for these clichés to feel fun, it's just boring and the bare minimum.
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