Low IQ mystery thriller drama about how useless the Korean NIS is
For those who don't wanna read it all and just wanna know: don't bother with this drama. Unless you were dropped on your head as a kid. Then, you might enjoy it. How much? It depends on how many times you were dropped.
It has a feel of a nowadays tv show. They are assuming people are watching it on a 2nd monitor, or playing on their phone so the characters must tell you what happens and why. You will get flashbacks over flashbacks, meant as "remember this scene? See? Its about that thing. See, it all makes sense". Basically, they also assume you were dropped on your head...
Everything is full of plot devices. I'm not trying to make it bigger than it is. Every fking action is: people staring at each other instead of moving, ducking, doing something, anything; low IQ special agents; plot devices, it just so happens that people do this or that, it just so happens that events take place just at the right moment, it just so happens that a new piece of the puzzle drops from the sky; and so on and so on. Basically, you must ask yourself "what it'd be the worst possible action to take?" and thats exactly what it is going to happen. Why? because any other way would mean the drama would've ended. And we can't have that now, right?
The acting is sht. Or more exactly, there is no acting going on. People yelling, people dropping exposition dialogue, people trying to look smart, people trying to look evil? Sure. Acting? No. Ok, there are a couple (maybe 5, mostly involving the kid or about him) of scenes when acting does take place, but that a drop of water into the sea, so its easier to say there isn't.
Next. The cinematography is meh. Apart from a couple of super good shots, everything else is meh. The fight-choreography is bad. In a drama where ML knows taekwondo.... He mostly spins and he pushes his opponents. Oh, opponents with guns that miss him btw... Any "action" scene is filmed as "shaky cam" scene. Also, a lot of deceiving film editing, trying to make you believe one thing, only to reveal the "truth" in a flashback. So, visually nothing is good.
Audio. Decent enough. The mixing and selection of tracks is made accordingly to the scene occurring. The OST is ok, might even say thats on theme with this drama.
And now the "good" parts. Everything is sht. As mentioned earlier, plot devices everywhere. You need something to happen so that the next scene can occur? Don't worry, it will, no matter how dumb or unbelievable it should be. The ML will deduce things he's not supposed to, based on one general thing, "I've saved your like then". How? Why? Which time? *insert flashback of a specific scene, the character had no idea of, because he wasn't there yet, but the viewers know it* Now, the ML also knows. How? Don't know, don't care. Then red herring all around. Characters talking by themselves, aloud, so other people can hear their "thoughts". Then, "every" piece of dialogue is mostly a expo dump for the viewers. "So we can't do X cause Y will happens? Ah, I see." Even though all the people involved in said discussion already know (or should know) all of that. Also, the "evil guy speech"... Geez...
What else? Character development. Yeah, right... World-building, pff. Oh, the pacing. Right, right, the pacing. Well, the pacing is... Just is. I mean the drama is supposed to be a non-stop action thing, so it is supposed to have a high pacing. But nothing important happens, also its empty calories, so basically it just makes you dizzy.
Yeah, I should stop here. I can't say more without spoilers and I don't wanna. Maybe someone really really wants to see it. Why? Don't know. I wanted to binge it and quickly be done with it, but I started a game of taking a shot for every right guessing of "the bad person escapes now, this person is evil, he'll foil their plans, this is a red herring, she'll turn around, they'll talk nonsense for 3 minutes, its a trap" etc. Needless to say, I got hammered pretty quickly. Also, the next day I had to rewatch it..... *Sigh*
Its a weak drama, with low IQ events. From the synopsis we learn that an accident happens, blah blah. Well, I was bored when watching said accident. And after, too. I know it was supposed to be sad, but after all that bad acting and dialogue I was just bored and waiting for it to end already. A feeling that was applied to every following episode.
So, it gets a rating of 3. Mostly for the audio and some tiny bits and pieces of other good/meh stuff. No rewatch value, obviously. If you're here for the actors, watch some of their other work. Luckily I've watched this drama later than when it aired, so I can say it never got a second season. Btw the 1st season ends in whats supposed to be a cliffhanger. They hoped this sht would get a new season :)))))
Have a lovely evening.
It has a feel of a nowadays tv show. They are assuming people are watching it on a 2nd monitor, or playing on their phone so the characters must tell you what happens and why. You will get flashbacks over flashbacks, meant as "remember this scene? See? Its about that thing. See, it all makes sense". Basically, they also assume you were dropped on your head...
Everything is full of plot devices. I'm not trying to make it bigger than it is. Every fking action is: people staring at each other instead of moving, ducking, doing something, anything; low IQ special agents; plot devices, it just so happens that people do this or that, it just so happens that events take place just at the right moment, it just so happens that a new piece of the puzzle drops from the sky; and so on and so on. Basically, you must ask yourself "what it'd be the worst possible action to take?" and thats exactly what it is going to happen. Why? because any other way would mean the drama would've ended. And we can't have that now, right?
The acting is sht. Or more exactly, there is no acting going on. People yelling, people dropping exposition dialogue, people trying to look smart, people trying to look evil? Sure. Acting? No. Ok, there are a couple (maybe 5, mostly involving the kid or about him) of scenes when acting does take place, but that a drop of water into the sea, so its easier to say there isn't.
Next. The cinematography is meh. Apart from a couple of super good shots, everything else is meh. The fight-choreography is bad. In a drama where ML knows taekwondo.... He mostly spins and he pushes his opponents. Oh, opponents with guns that miss him btw... Any "action" scene is filmed as "shaky cam" scene. Also, a lot of deceiving film editing, trying to make you believe one thing, only to reveal the "truth" in a flashback. So, visually nothing is good.
Audio. Decent enough. The mixing and selection of tracks is made accordingly to the scene occurring. The OST is ok, might even say thats on theme with this drama.
And now the "good" parts. Everything is sht. As mentioned earlier, plot devices everywhere. You need something to happen so that the next scene can occur? Don't worry, it will, no matter how dumb or unbelievable it should be. The ML will deduce things he's not supposed to, based on one general thing, "I've saved your like then". How? Why? Which time? *insert flashback of a specific scene, the character had no idea of, because he wasn't there yet, but the viewers know it* Now, the ML also knows. How? Don't know, don't care. Then red herring all around. Characters talking by themselves, aloud, so other people can hear their "thoughts". Then, "every" piece of dialogue is mostly a expo dump for the viewers. "So we can't do X cause Y will happens? Ah, I see." Even though all the people involved in said discussion already know (or should know) all of that. Also, the "evil guy speech"... Geez...
What else? Character development. Yeah, right... World-building, pff. Oh, the pacing. Right, right, the pacing. Well, the pacing is... Just is. I mean the drama is supposed to be a non-stop action thing, so it is supposed to have a high pacing. But nothing important happens, also its empty calories, so basically it just makes you dizzy.
Yeah, I should stop here. I can't say more without spoilers and I don't wanna. Maybe someone really really wants to see it. Why? Don't know. I wanted to binge it and quickly be done with it, but I started a game of taking a shot for every right guessing of "the bad person escapes now, this person is evil, he'll foil their plans, this is a red herring, she'll turn around, they'll talk nonsense for 3 minutes, its a trap" etc. Needless to say, I got hammered pretty quickly. Also, the next day I had to rewatch it..... *Sigh*
Its a weak drama, with low IQ events. From the synopsis we learn that an accident happens, blah blah. Well, I was bored when watching said accident. And after, too. I know it was supposed to be sad, but after all that bad acting and dialogue I was just bored and waiting for it to end already. A feeling that was applied to every following episode.
So, it gets a rating of 3. Mostly for the audio and some tiny bits and pieces of other good/meh stuff. No rewatch value, obviously. If you're here for the actors, watch some of their other work. Luckily I've watched this drama later than when it aired, so I can say it never got a second season. Btw the 1st season ends in whats supposed to be a cliffhanger. They hoped this sht would get a new season :)))))
Have a lovely evening.
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