This review may contain spoilers
A complete mess
I rarely dislike a drama, but Dear X somehow managed to push every wrong button from beginning to end. I hated it with everything I have.
I see people calling the criticism of Ah-Jin “misogyny” because male characters in other dramas often get away with worse.
Honestly? I have no problem with a psychopath protagonist. If a character is written as evil, chaotic, and destructive, and the show clearly knows they are “bad people,” I can watch that. I can even enjoy that.
But that is not how Baek Ah-Jin is presented. She is framed as this empowered, victim turned queen going after what she wants, when in reality she is just causing destruction because she refuses to break out of her self-pity. My issue isn’t her gender, it’s the way the show wanted me to root for her despite that.
I felt bad for her for maybe two episodes. But the moment she made her boss take the fall for her dad’s murder, I was done. She hurts people who genuinely cared for her. She wants the world to suffer simply because her parents were awful. Escaping the victim mentality could have saved her life, but she chose to drag everyone down with her.
Baek Ah-Jin left a trail of victims wherever she went, but for me, Jae-Oh was the most tragic casualty. She manipulated him relentlessly, emotionally chaining him, molding him into whatever she needed, and keeping him under her control for years. In the end, he even died for her. Jae-Oh was completely shackled, and considering how difficult his life already was, her influence only dragged him further into misery.
Kim Yoo-jung is stunning and undeniably charismatic. She has that celebrity aura, and honestly this might be her best performance to date. She shines in her evil scenes but falls flat in almost everything else.
Kim Young-dae might have finally found his genre. He is too pretty to be that expressionless, but here the blankness works perfectly for his character. I think he gets too much criticism for his acting because he was paired with experienced actors like Shin Min-ah and Lee Sang-yi too early in his career. No Gain No Love was simply a mismatch. But here, surrounded by actors closer in age and experience, he manages to hold his own.
The show constantly suffers from a lack of logic. Every single character behaves exactly the way Ah-Jin predicts, as if they are puppets dancing on strings only she can pull.
The writing is another rollercoaster. Where is the consistency? Where is the character development or growth? Why does it feel like not a single writer is doing what they are supposed to do?
The saddest part is that the first two episodes were so damn interesting. Then everything went downhill so fast I got whiplash.
And don’t even get me started on the ending. Every genuinely good character met a tragic fate; even Jun-Seo, who sacrificed everything, died. Meanwhile, Ah-Jin’s character walked away without facing any real consequences for her actions, which made the ending feel narratively hollow.
Honestly, the most fitting conclusion would have been Jun-Seo and Jae-Oh choosing each other and leaving Ah-Jin behind, but of course the show denied us even that.
But I’ve got to give credit where it’s due. The penultimate episode was incredibly satisfying. Ah-Jin finally had to endure the same pain she spent the whole show inflicting on others. Watching everything she built crumble, and seeing her struggle now that she’s the one on the receiving end? She absolutely hates it, and I loved every second.
Dear X had potential, good-looking actors, and a promising setup. After episode 2, the show became a chaotic, illogical disaster held together only by an even more disastrous character. I regret watching this stupid show, but at least it gave me something to rant about.
I see people calling the criticism of Ah-Jin “misogyny” because male characters in other dramas often get away with worse.
Honestly? I have no problem with a psychopath protagonist. If a character is written as evil, chaotic, and destructive, and the show clearly knows they are “bad people,” I can watch that. I can even enjoy that.
But that is not how Baek Ah-Jin is presented. She is framed as this empowered, victim turned queen going after what she wants, when in reality she is just causing destruction because she refuses to break out of her self-pity. My issue isn’t her gender, it’s the way the show wanted me to root for her despite that.
I felt bad for her for maybe two episodes. But the moment she made her boss take the fall for her dad’s murder, I was done. She hurts people who genuinely cared for her. She wants the world to suffer simply because her parents were awful. Escaping the victim mentality could have saved her life, but she chose to drag everyone down with her.
Baek Ah-Jin left a trail of victims wherever she went, but for me, Jae-Oh was the most tragic casualty. She manipulated him relentlessly, emotionally chaining him, molding him into whatever she needed, and keeping him under her control for years. In the end, he even died for her. Jae-Oh was completely shackled, and considering how difficult his life already was, her influence only dragged him further into misery.
Kim Yoo-jung is stunning and undeniably charismatic. She has that celebrity aura, and honestly this might be her best performance to date. She shines in her evil scenes but falls flat in almost everything else.
Kim Young-dae might have finally found his genre. He is too pretty to be that expressionless, but here the blankness works perfectly for his character. I think he gets too much criticism for his acting because he was paired with experienced actors like Shin Min-ah and Lee Sang-yi too early in his career. No Gain No Love was simply a mismatch. But here, surrounded by actors closer in age and experience, he manages to hold his own.
The show constantly suffers from a lack of logic. Every single character behaves exactly the way Ah-Jin predicts, as if they are puppets dancing on strings only she can pull.
The writing is another rollercoaster. Where is the consistency? Where is the character development or growth? Why does it feel like not a single writer is doing what they are supposed to do?
The saddest part is that the first two episodes were so damn interesting. Then everything went downhill so fast I got whiplash.
And don’t even get me started on the ending. Every genuinely good character met a tragic fate; even Jun-Seo, who sacrificed everything, died. Meanwhile, Ah-Jin’s character walked away without facing any real consequences for her actions, which made the ending feel narratively hollow.
Honestly, the most fitting conclusion would have been Jun-Seo and Jae-Oh choosing each other and leaving Ah-Jin behind, but of course the show denied us even that.
But I’ve got to give credit where it’s due. The penultimate episode was incredibly satisfying. Ah-Jin finally had to endure the same pain she spent the whole show inflicting on others. Watching everything she built crumble, and seeing her struggle now that she’s the one on the receiving end? She absolutely hates it, and I loved every second.
Dear X had potential, good-looking actors, and a promising setup. After episode 2, the show became a chaotic, illogical disaster held together only by an even more disastrous character. I regret watching this stupid show, but at least it gave me something to rant about.
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