Tharr

Don't bother. Horrible pacing and script.

Other people made this up to be some kind of a rare gem. Its not. I'll go even further and say its not even mid-tier. This k-drama is for the simple people who can be entertained with cheap tricks.
Here it goes. The script. The idea for the story might be interesting, but thats all there is to it. We got something full of plotholes and plot devices. Especially in the later half. It is almost too cringe to watch, every stuff happening: because "fate". I'm not joking. Red string and all that bulls**t. And apparently that thing can mind-control people. Again, I'm not joking. Inner monologue: "I must be strong, I can't do that, I don't wanna do that". Glowing string, chimes stock sound-effect. "Why is my heart fluttering?" ..... Yeah, that bad. Filler episodes with stuff happening only because that string, because misunderstandings, because fked up "friends" and family keep interfering and the FL can't set it up straight. Yes, that bad. The dialogue is not completely broken but also not that good either. The directing is meh, nothing really bad, nothing really great. I guess here comes the first positive, the cinematography. That person did a great job. Moving on, the chemistry is not there. I mean they might make it work, but if you don't know what this story is all about and you'd watch 5 minutes of it, you'd think there's only a normal scene with 2 people in a room. And that is because of the casting. FL is supposed to be a firecracker and they got someone who could do that. She did all the heavy-lifting. Every scene with her was in fact ok, pretty decent acting, might even go and say "good". As long as you don't have a sad scene where you need her to cry. Cause she can't do it. And there are a couple of those scenes..... Next, ML. Well, I'll just say that we already got a great fox-like character in some other k-drama and this is not it. The actor is not great, the script is not helping him, the directing is lacking... And I'll stop here. The supporting cast did what they could, but again, failed script. They are more for the comical relief, or more like cringe moments, but whatever. The pacing is horrible. I'm not even go about the character arc. The soundtrack is headache-inducing. Its supposed to be quirky, I know, but when coupled with the horrible scenes unfolding on screen, it becomes too much. Because the main selling point of this drama is based on how the FL reacts to stuff happening around her. And it must be full of "funny" stuff + sound effects + quirky music + her facial expressions etc. At least for the first episodes, when they needed to make people keep coming back watching it. Sure, it has its nice moments, but too few. And then, halfway, the quality dropped heavily. For the last 2 episodes I was more than ready for all of this to end. Really, really bad drama. I guessed some of the endings, pure by luck, aka guessing. "Let me guess, this will go like this, those two will become a couple, and those, and those, and that will go like this etc".
Now, to sum it up: a not so great drama, with meh moments, but mostly filler episodes, cringe stuff and horrible pacing. Do you have a favorite actor? Watch some of their other works, this one is a fail.
Have a nice evening.

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Nope

I've almost forgot to review it. Here it is: this drama is sht. I'll try to keep it short.
The actors have charisma and some of them did good acting. The cinematography was good, with some really excellent shots. And.. thats all there is to say about the "good" stuff.
Everything else about this drama is sht. The story is supposed to be about some cops that won medals at the Olympic Games. Thats supposed to mean they are kinda good at something. And yet, they suck. They are useless just until the script needs them to win. Oh, about the fight choreography. Our heroes must be some kind of superhumans. Getting hit with a baseball bat or a metal pipe? Thats oki, they still up. And I'm talking about 20-40 hits. But some other scene? Same bat or pipe brings them down in one hit. No consistency. I wont even bother about punching people with bike helmet on and they fall...... Same for the shooting (wide missing when people are somewhat close, but near missing, as in 5 cm) if they are behind a wall or something), fencing (isn't he supposed to have quick reflexes, more so because he also has taekwondo training?). The other 2 I wont even mention because they were useless until the last episode. Anyway, back to the script. Because it needed to have 16 episodes, the script is full of plot holes, plot contrivances and plot devices. Everything is set to happen in a certain way because the writer needs it to, logic be damned. It gets worse as episodes go by. Oh right, episode 15 is pure garbage. And because of this messed up story, the pacing is also weird. It feels like stuff is always happening.
Moving on. The visuals are ok. Sometimes weird vfx (especially regarding blood splatter), but it gets the job done. I assume the budget for that wasn't a priority anyway. And like I said, the cinematography was good (almost always).
Audio. The opening sequence has a good piece. Also a couple of nice songs throughout the season (I don't remember them now, but I know I wasn't bothered). Also a decent level mixing.
What else? High production value. Cmon, what else. I've got focused on the script and forgot everything else... Oh, the comedy is meh, the usual stuff. The romance is also meh unfortunately. The actors have chemistry and the little bits that they gave us were decent, but it is clear that the main focus was on the "story", the romance was always supposed to be just a thing in the background. Oh yes, about character development. Yeah, right..... :))))
So, stuff happens. You can enjoy the ride by looking at the shiny, nice, cute things on the screen but don't try to follow the story. Everything happens because the writer made it so, if people would've made smart/logic decisions the drama would've been over in 4 episodes. I'm giving it a rating of 4 based mostly on the good cinematography, the casting and the general acting. No return value, obviously...
Have a nice evening.

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It started ok, but...

So. The idea might be interesting, yes, but the execution...... Well, a lot of plot contrivances going on. I really "love" it when people can't speak a full sentence without interruptions or getting cold feet. And then they don't wanna listen to each other, don't wanna talk it out. This cringy, forced drama is always "the best". And yes, I'm talking about that lousy episode 8 (also leaking into episode 9, obviously). The last episode was dumb with the "plot twist", and the so-called endings to different stories. I was going "c'mon, just end already" since mid episode. Not that the other episodes are so much better. And the logic.... Geez, the logic... Its like the screenwriter forgot what he wrote earlier. Aka, plot hole.
Yes, there are some good things around, like the chemistry between actors, the acting (beside some meh moments, like her trying to be sad/crying, it was pretty good for all of them), some of the (silly) funny parts (like in ep 10: "if you don't mind me asking, which high school did you go to?"), but thats it. Ok, maybe some of the soundtrack too. But the directing is bleh, the cinematography is ok only if the scene really needs it to be. The pacing is a little weird, sometimes going full power for no real reason. But the worst parts are all about the script. Plot holes, plot contrivances, some subplots that make you think there are more things going on but actually they are a dead-end. And so on, and so on, and so on.
So. It started kinda ok, but it turned more meh along the way. I'm rating it a 4 just for the acting, some landscape shots and some food stuff (I was hoping for more details about recipes, but... oh well...). Return value? I don't think so.
Have a lovely evening.

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Finally, a drama thats more than decent.

I'll keep it very short, there's no reason to give it a full review.
I'll skip the technical aspects, those are all from "decent" to "good". Yes, even the fight choreography (aspect that usually sucks in kdramas). The main issue, as usual, is with the screenwriter. Decent premise (some sort of "Taken"-like), but the execution is meh at times. Some of the dialogue is good. Almost all of the character work is good (apart from some "pfff" moments, when drama was needed and the cast suddenly becomes dumb and stops acting in-character). A couple of plot devices and plot contrivances. Again, because drama was needed, or to push the plot. Good casting, good acting. And here I feel the need to praise the acting of the younger cast. Most of the k-dramas nowadays have "meh" acting, so it was a welcome surprise to see some "good" again.
And now, the less than meh. Almost everything of it its in the second half of the last episode. And, as I mentioned, some stupid decisions in the episodes before it, just to make sure that the series it won't just end after episode 7 (I don't know the exact episode, I've put a random number, just to make a point, but you'll know what I'm talking about when you'll come across that scene).
Overall, it gets a rating of........ 7? No, lets go with 7,5. Very enjoyable. More than decent technical aspects, characters, premise. Re-watch value? Dunno, I don't think so. I'm not THAT impressed by it.

Now, a better discussion would be: how many of the people giving it a 10, also gave a 10 to some sh***y series (the usual "omg, so beautiful people, thas a 10" approach)? Imagine saying that the effort put in creating this tv show is the same as the one for some other (inferior) ones. Now, thats a worthy discussion :))

Have a lovely evening.

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It ended, finally

It's not updated yet but I'll assume this drama is completed and just post the review.
For those who don't wanna read it all: this drama is sht. Plot contrivances and plot holes one after another, to keep the story going, when in fact a lot of stuff would've been resolved faster. More so because the characters are students that do exactly that: resolve problems using logic...
I'll keep it simple, because I don't wanna waste even more time on it. Also, I'll say this here, because I must say it again and again. I'll talk about the drama's quality, not the enjoyment factor. Those are NOT the same. You can enjoy bad media, and thats ok (aka "my guilty pleasure"). Just make sure you know it is bad. Yes, you can find it funny (dunno why), to each its own, but do know it is bad and it should be rated as such. And why this drama? Wouldn't it be better to watch a different one, or re-watch something that you already know it is good? Just sayin'...

Before starting the real review, I wanna address an "interesting" fact. I was talking to someone and that person kept bringing politics into the talk about this drama's quality. "No, no. I like it 'cause its different." "Yes, but the script is bad." "Yes, but the lgbt (yes, only those 4 letters were used, so I'll do the same) community..." "Wait, what? I'm talking about this drama and its writing..." "Yes, I understand, but here in the States, lgbt..." And thats when it hit me. Most people that regarded this drama as amazing were praising the fact that it uses a different formula and/or they praised the comedy (neither true, btw). And the funny thing about that? This drama goes meta: in its universe, the FL takes a job as a rom-com screenwriter consultant, for a script regarding a rom-com in a science campus backdrop, (just like this drama), and the writers wanting to use the usual tropes (like this drama), and the FL basically drops the job because she realises the show is gonna be sht (just like this drama). So: WE got a drama that is different (supposedly), that in fact it is full of the usual tropes, that it looks bland, with its setting in a bland location. Our FL dropped the job because she realised the story had no future. And yet, WE, the viewers are supposed to like this drama that uses the same formula.... The irony is strong with this one. And no, using meta commentary doesn't make it better if the flaws remain unresolved. Btw that meta thing keeps going and going and going.... If the ending is real-life inspired it would make sense why I hated that character (maybe self-inserted).

And now, back to our main program. Visuals. Drab. Everything looks bad. The location, the colour palette, the cinematography. Oh, the costumes (because I also talked about that with said person). Everything looks cheap.
Audio. Kinda decent, I guess. Nothing special, but the tracks used are on par with the scenes, and the mixing was done at appropriate levels. The less than meh part was the over-usage of the "disk scratch" sound effect, but I guess thats because it was coerced by the script, always going for the "cue music, aaaand now sudden stop 'cause the scene abruptly changed, and now pls laugh" trope. Also here, I could add that the OST used were usually ok. I don't remember any of the songs, but maybe thats because I don't listen to that genre. Dunno.
World-building. Meh. Supposedly its about young people and their struggle, with half-talking english,... all the "cool, modern" stuff. You get a very very basic setting and thats it. Ofc, you don't need more, because nothing is really happening, but oh well. The pacing was meh. This drama is more a slice-of-life kind of thing. Every episode feels like an every day stuff. And no, its not really and "every day" because time passes and the characters tell us that its a different week/month, to help us. Lucky us... Character development. Don't make me laugh.... The is an attempt for some (one) of the supporting cast, barely the beginning, but you can't truly call it a character development.
And all the drama is basically a big manipulative editing trope. Every aspect, every bit of drama, of stakes, are in fact events edited and lated re-edited to show you a "different side". Basically they lie to you and then they go " no no, its ok, see? Actually it all happened this way". So, your investment is null. And next time you won't even bother to care, because they'll change the scene and show you a different result anyway. Yes, great drama... You'll definitely enjoy it....
So, what we have here is a low production value ...thing. It looks cheap, it feels cheap. Heck, it is cheap.

And now the "good" parts. Lets start with a mid one. The comedy. The so-called comedy is in fact a series of cringe scenes and/or dialogues. You know those jokes that made you laugh very loudly even when you never really got then, when you were 13yo? Thats what we have here. Or some extremely cringe moments that are played for laughs. For full minutes. Ghostbusters 2016 levels of cringe.
The romance. Its not really a romance. It is supposed to, yes, but the execution... Oof. You know how the "normal" trope is to have the characters meet, hate each other, warm a little, fall in love hard and use the second half of the season to show just useless fluff, apart from the last two episodes when some fake drama occurs, but they get over it and then live happily ever after? Well, thanks to this new, innovative formula, nothing happens for 2/3 of the season, then we have fake drama, for us, the viewers, because in-universe there was never one but the ambiguous, manipulative editing made it look like something was going on. Oh, the last episodes were truly horrible (especially the last one, especially the ending... pfff). I had to pause after 5 minutes, to get over the cringe scenes. And 5 minutes later, I've paused again. And again, 10 minutes later. Yes, I checked my watch every time. The fking skit kept going and going and going. *sigh* It was a looooong watch...... I started finding increasingly new reasons to pause the video.
After all this the warm-up I think we're ready for the main stuff. The writing is horrendous. What people praise is in fact all sht. The story, the comedy, the characters, everything. Full of tropes but done in all the wrong ways. From that discussion I've mentioned, "I like that we have a reverse trope, how we have a smart FL and a dumb ML". Yes, this is the first usage of such trope. Thank God we got this drama to represent! We have the dumb friend, "with heart" (I hated her so much!), that smiles and doesn't "read the room", always in the couple's way. And ten seconds later that fact becomes a source of comedy, ofc. Sure, the couple itself is always in its own way, but lets move on. People talking half-sentences out-loud, and continuing in inner monologues, so that misunderstandings occur. Also, talking out-loud "by yourself" trope. Also, 5 minutes of "bad-luck" scenes, one after another so that the plot can illogically be pushed forward. And so on, and so on, and so on.
I guess this a good point to talk about that specific stuff. The script is full of plot devices, plot contrivances and plot holes. Some examples. An important one, where the FL is hooked by an umbrella of a guy walking by, so that she is dragged a couple of meters, so that she interacts with our ML. You're supposed to forget that logic and physics exist, in a science-based drama. You know, gravity, the force needed to drag a person, the force to keep the umbrella from bending or not ripping the backpack it was strapped to, the fact that the guy keeps walking and drags her, that he never falls down because of the change in momentum. OK. Another physics-related one, where a heavy flying (thrown) object reacts as a paper plane, flying in a slow-mo that even Snyder would be envious of, and people having time to react to said object by dodging/deviating its trajectory and such. For the laughs, ofc. Again, its an important scene because it influences the FL's future. Or a "normal" one where our main group tries going somewhere but all kinds of obstacles keep getting in the way, or people physically stopping her to talk. Like I said, all the sh***y tropes that make this drama "innovative and new".
The characters. Or more exactly the inconsistency of it. From the annoying FL, to the kind-hearted dumb friend. Sorry, aloof friend. The air-headed ML that suddenly becomes very insightful in the last 3-4 episodes... Yeah, no. You won't care about anyone. Or shouldn't.
The acting. Well, the dialogue is sht, so that didn't help, but the acting also wasn't great. The casting used B-list (maybe) actors. Or at least it felt like it. There was no "natural" chemistry. Most "acting" was bland or it even felt fake. Yes, we get a couple of nice scenes, but just a couple?? Also a fun fact (for me anyway) that made me chuckle: the actress in the wheelchair, moving her hips and legs. Yeah, she's cute and her general acting wasn't bad, but also showing that she didn't care THAT much about immersion :))))))) Oh, another "funny" thing for me. In the episode 14 (question mark? I might've been the end of the 13th one, dunno, don't care enough to check) a new character gets together with the group. I was thinking that you might swap the males around and it would feel the same drama. Again, amazing casting :)))
To sum all this up: sht script, with sht dialogue, story full of plot holes and contrivances one after another, after another, after another, after another, so that the story happens in the only way the author intends it to. And I'm not exaggerating or something, having "bad luck" 6 times in a row? Wtf?? Can't you write a better scene?

Ok, the drama also has some nice things. Like.. uh... sometimes is trying setting up some stuff that pays-off in a decent matter. Example: the ML makes a joke about a name and why it would be funny, and that exact situation does indeed happens. yes, there are a couple (maybe even a lot) of stuff like that, so tis not bad from start to finish. Another thing: the FL acts decent enough at times. Another one, Some of the supporting cast were more than good actors/actresses, also with a sliver of shadows of a character development. There. Some positive things. Who are we kidding? Dropping a pinch of salt in a bowl of sht and calling it decent? :)))

FFS! I failed at keeping it simple... You must understand, its a drama with episodes of 30ish minutes. Even watching at 2x speed, it still wouldn't end fast enough. It gets a rating of 3. The high note is for the audio and those aforementioned decent supporting cast. Low production drama about stuff, trying to be something else and failing at everything. Entertainment value? Maybe, if you like that kind of comedy, I don't judge... Re-watching value? Not really, not even by the ones that praise it. After the hype will be gone, they'll forget all about it, until they see the title by mistake and go "Oh, yeah, I've watched that, I liked it. I hope it gets a new season". And forgetting about it, again.
Anyway, thats all I've got for today. Have a lovely evening.

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Kinda mid, but good acting

I'll keep it simple. It is a very mid/plain k-drama. Not really a procedural TV series (in a hospital), not a rom-com (in a hospital), not a sad teary-eyes drama (in a hospital), just a kinda all-around one. A slice of life if you will. And there's nothing wrong with that. When it is good, ofc. Same every-day drama formula: some background where the stuff happens, you put the characters in different situations, make them choose one or the other to set them on a character arc, and thats all there is to it. Some series do it better, some don't....
So lets begin. The script is... complicated. It is nicely put together, mostly, but it feels like 2 writers went on it. You have the general, anything daily, aspect and you have the "here we must crank up the drama" cuts. And thats the low point of this TV series. Every time they need something particular to happen, it becomes cringy. Very cringy. Besides the cringy aspect, they also kinda ruin the character's development. Because if that person knows that doing x stuff is bad but still does it, well.... Even if 10 minutes later will say "i'm sorry", the "damage" is done. Thats not how you do character development. Or you do so with kids, not future medics...... Anyway, next. Beside writing and directing, everything else is kinda good. The acting (full with microexpressions) is very good, but thats because of the cast. The pacing is decent, the production value is ok, the cinematography is mid (with some nice moments reserved for the "special" moments), the soundtrack is ok, I guess. But all the good/nice aspects are destroyed by all those extra cringy moments, so....
I think one of the selling points for this drama were the cameos, 'cause its full of them. I won't spoil it. But, like I said, its a mid-tier k-drama so it has nothing special to keep you hooked. It is a perfect drama to watch when chillin', or doing something around the house, you don't need to pay particular attention to it. Because if you do, all those cringy moments will start to pile up and add to the discomfort. Will I watch a 2nd season? If I don't have anything else on my list, sure. Would I re-watch this one? I don't think so. Even if there's nothing (nothing at allllll) on the list, I'd rather re-watch a "good" one, or check a new series from a different country. Yeah, thats the answer: no re-watching value. Its ok watching it once, but it would feel like wasting time by watching it again, you know? Well, its up to you. Have a nice day.
PS: expect a lot of yawning. On screen, yes, but that will make you yawn also :)))

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B-list acting and story cringe-fest. But apparently it "hits new high". What a joke :))))

I don't remember the exact numbers but you can find the article on MDL. "New highs"= 6%. Comparatively, "Perfect Crown" had 11% or something like that. But hey, the clickbait works. And most viewers think "highest means good, right?" anyway :))
So, this is going to be a very short review. Finally.
Visuals. Everything's on low settings. Colour palette, cinematography, vfx. Everything. And no, the "hand-drawn cute vfx" while ED, it doesn't count. It literally takes you (at most) 2 minutes to select the necessary brush, to draw, to mask, to apply the custom effect, to hit save, per image.
** Honorable mention. The character takes a bath, wants to send a message by smartphone. Usually we get different methods like compositing, overlayer etc of messages or phone display over the original image. You know, half screen is the phone, half the character typing. Or bubbles with text. Stuff like that. Well, this drama did something fking brilliant, just for that one scene. Because of the hot water and the steamy room, they could make the message appear looking like an invisible finger draws the letters on a fogged window. The fact that the message was very short also helped. But the idea was awesome. The second nice thing visually, the music box looked amazing.**
Audio. Poor sound design. From OP to the normal tracks. Sometimes it worked, but most of the scenes were lousy, so... Also, this sound design is used mostly like a way of manipulating the audience as to what the scene is about. Bad comedy? Just add some quirky track and make it seem like something high-quality funny is actually on. Heavy track = tension. And so on and so forth. It doesn't matter if the things on screen will make you feel/think certain way, the tracks will give you a queue as to how you MUST feel. Another mention: the ED theme was decent. Or not bad.

Sht writing. Sht directing. Nothing makes sense, everything is a plot device and plot contrivance. "It just so happened that....". Thats all there is to it. Especially when its about the "bad guy". Its like any bad guy was like a child compared to him. The amount of domino pieces falling as intended is staggering. Oh, should I also mention her "6th sense" schtick that they make a big deal about (with lots of examples) and thats used as a plot device in the first few episodes but then completely discarded later? More so when a couple of "something big" happen in the later episodes, and those things should've activated her "sense" at full power. But then the script would've been screwed and we can't have that. Amazing writing quality, isn't it? *sigh*
About the script, every dialogue is an out loud monologue, sometimes even an expository one. Sometimes it doesn't even make sense as "words on paper". It just wants to sound... , I don't know, grand, or smart, or something. To give it gravitas? But only sometimes, because most of the times is just sht writing.
The so-called acting is reduced to "act like a Jack Sparrow. No, more leaning. More. Thats it. Now you surely seem a noblewoman". Yes, again, there are a few good scenes of good acting from some very few actors, but thats because of the actors itself, not the director or the script. Tiny mannerisms and such. It gets a little bit better towards the end, but just a tiny bit, so it doesn't really matter. And also it raises other questions. Like, Was the bad acting intentional because of the directing, or what? How? Anyway.
Plus, lots and lots of plots and subplots that go nowhere. And we still have no idea what all that was about until the end. Oh, I'll put it here, because it doesn't matter: it got worse as time went by, sure, with the last 4 being horrible,and the last 2 in special were horrendous. Besides the fact that I knew it was the last week of torture, it felt boring and horrendous because magic bullsht was the writer's answer to everything. I'm not joking. Magic/spiritism/whatever you wanna call it. Suddenly it can grant wishes to end a shtshow (I wish). *sigh*
** Some examples. "The Writer: how can we create nonsensical drama? Oh, I know, lets make her "get lost" on a well lit road. Hmm, yes, lets make her go off-road for no fkin logical reason". Thats the kind of writing we have here. The writer's only solution is to make the character ret***ed every time there's need for drama. That same scene has even more idiotic stuff happening. Lost, but she is saved and leaves by herself in a random direction (I've checked, its not the one he came from). So, lost but not really. All that drama was for nothing.... Or a scene happens. We get "his" and our pov, later we get "hers". But they actually were two very different filming. It is supposed to be some sort of manipulative editing, but its on the level of Glass Onion. As in, it never happened, we can clearly see what happens the first time, later, all that sht that supposedly its what really happened is invented. And then, one minute later, he has a flashback, remembering what? The first version, the one that we saw the first time.... This level of idiocy is mind-boggling. Like I said: sht writing, directing, acting.**

Most of its comedy is cringe. That low iq comedy you find in this kind of drama. Yeah, there were also a few, very few, good jokes there too. But mostly, the usual slop of low comedy. "See? Because different time, she doesn't know the modern things and the way she acts. See? Its funny. Pls laugh".
Same for romance. No chemistry, no matter who we're talking about. Poor script (again). The main's pair is reduced to: "We can't, who do you think you are? Ok, fine, I'll accept and go with the flow. We can't. Ok, fine, I'll accept it. We can't. Ok, fine...." *sigh* Basically, you start the episode with "don't wanna see you", then it gets to "why weren't you here, near me?", the second half is "I must leave anyway", then it ends with "I thought I could but I can't...". Do you understand? All in just one episode... Unfortunately, the whole season does not contain just one episode... *double sigh* To be fair, the whole episode might've covered one week or one month, we don't know....
No character development, no world building. Sht pacing. As in stuff just happens, for the sake of happening. At one point, apparently two weeks passed and I had no idea. Luckily the ML told us. So, something might happen, no one talks or does anything about it for any time they want, everyone else also forget about that fact, "suddenly" it is 2 weeks later, and "suddenly" everyone remembers and starts reacting.... Now imagine the rest of the show, when we're NOT told abut time lapses, but it does happen. And so on and so forth. Yes, later we find that 3 months has passed, but my previous point still stands.

You get the gist. So, a rating of 3. Not recommended, no rewatch value. No nothing. If someone said or gave it a rating higher than 6 (this was never mid-quality, but lets pretend), they are trolling you. Or they have mental issues. If you like someone from the cast, just watch/rewatch some of their other works.
Btw, I'm talking about quality, not enjoyment. All reviews should be about quality, and yes, you can even like bad media, there's nothing wrong with that (aka "my guilty pleasure").
Don't just "Omg, I loved the actors. I loved every second of this kdrama". Maybe you enjoy this media, but you also enjoy hitting puppies. We don't know what kind of person you are. So a review should be about its quality, not just your opinions...

Have a lovely evening.

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No, ty.

This wont be a full review, there's no need for that. And with that, I'll start the first point by saying the synopsis is a bit wrong. She's not a social butterfly (unless the definition changed), they are not building solid friendships (they already are good friends).
Next. This is not about law, or even romance. Its more like a slice-of-life thing. Lots of eating, some legal jargon, some fake drama and problems, and thats it.
Ok, now to point a fake-decent thing. The moral problems. Some good questions there. It feels like that was the main point of this show, raising awareness (as if no one knew about that) and some story-like around. Empty episodes, full of fluff (thats what I call the stuff thats there only to help an episode reach the target time length), flashbacks (even from 5 minutes earlier?, wtf) and such. Every episode (or two) have a problem to talk about so a lawyer happens to get cases that focus only on those aspects. Or different problems resulting from not talking (otherwise the episode would end too quickly, I know).
But what I meant by fake-decent is the fact that what started as an interesting thing, quickly changed to "even though you have more experience and raised some good points in the first episodes, let me teach you stuff about the law and ethics and morality". Coincidentally, that was also when I started wishing for this series to end already. Especially the last 2 episodes were a drag. Most of the endings were easy to guess and I kept checking the time, nothing on the screen made me care anymore. In fact, I even started being critical over every spoken word. "blah blah blah, because someone listened to her". "wait, what? Wasn't she the one who said she doesn't wanna talk? That she's guilty and wants to get punished? Since when people never wanted to listen to what she had to say?? WTF?!" Or "Hello, its been a while." "Oh, hey. Omg. And congratulations!" "Wait, what?? You're her coleague but you never visited?? WTF?!" Yeah, I hit some lows, I'm ashamed... OK, not really.
Anyway, thats all there is to it. Eating, fake drama, eating, moral things, eating. I wont bother with the plot, script, character development, soundtrack and such... It gets a rating of 4, for the (sometimes) decent acting, some decent cinematography, and sometimes decent dialogue.
Have a lovely evening.

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Boring, cringy, edgy

I'll try to keep it short, mostly because I don't wanna give it too much of my time.

Visuals. Somewhat ok. A few meh shots, but mostly everything in regards to visuals is ok. Apart from the fight choreography. You can see that they tried, the actors do put a lot of effort in those scenes, but the logic of the moves is meh at best. (Apart from ep 6, that one was good. For the most part. Because he should've done something else, something very specific. Anyway.) And thats a problem because the show involves proffessional killers. Btw, it has one of the worst snipers I've ever seen (mental discipline, target, technique).
** Funny thing: at some point in the first episode, the first scenes (I don't remember exactly when and I won't even check), our main protagonists watch a movie. She makes fun of it, a solo guy taking out all the other guys. He tells her no no, pay attention, he's using the blind spots. I started laughing, because of the irony. Apart from a few and very specific titles, the korean movies don't have good fight choreography. Its like they don't use trainers when filming. And the irony was that a line was used in this drama, as if its something korean movies do every time. And hen, the fact that they had none for this drama... Oh, they tried, sure. Like I said, lots and lots of moving parts and high tempo sht going on screen, it looks cool, but the logic behind the moves is sht. Also, only very few moments of "blind spots" used. **
Audio. This drama is supposed to have mystery/suspense/thriller so the sound design is done in a way thats catering to it. Lots and lots of dissonant strings, silence moments to draw you in, and such. You can say it is ok, it works well with the visuals unfolding on screen.
The editing is kinda meh. Too much "dead time". I mean, it has 8 episodes, stuff barely happens, ofc the editor tried to use every second available... Minimal world-building, but its not really needed anyway. Looks like mid production value, but dunno what for.

Now the good parts. The story is meh, at best. While the premise might seem interesting, this k-drama was boring as hell. At first I thought it was about setting the mood. Then the opening was replayed in the 3rd episode. They tried to make a couple of "Uh-oh, tense moments incoming. Will they live?" moments work, but because the drama started at a certain point in the story and then it went using flashbacks, you know how it will all end up. And, like I kept saying, the scenes were boring and very long, for no reason. I mean the reason was to have enough runtime, thats not what I was talking about. OK, it gets a little better for episodes 5-7 (I think?), but overall its a drag.
Anyway, the writing is bad. Only a few good stuff in there, the rest will make you sigh and roll your eyes. Add to that some edgy and cringe dialogue, acting and/or "bad guy speech" trope all around, and you get the picture.
A lot of plot devices and plot contrivances. Oh, and lots of red herring. Yet some of the stuff is still predictable. And yes, I'm ok with the over-the-top action scenes and situation, even with some of the sht physics involved, but not the "it just so happened that..." way of pushing the story forward. Thats just lazy writing. Oh, and the last 10 minutes or so were sht.
Now lets talk about character development. OK, I was being cheeky. I won't bother :)))

It gets a rating of 4. Apart from some very few extremely good acting, some very few character stuff and the ok-ish technical aspects, the story, writing and dialogue are sht and/or boring. No rewatch value, obviously. This could've been a 3-hour movie (maybe in 2 parts) if someone erased all the "dead beats". I mean the story would still need some small changes too, but you could have a good product. Ok, decent, lets not go crazy here. The premise is nothing new, it was just modified a bit. But, as it stands for now, nope. And yes, I'm aware a new season is on the way... Maybe it will get better.
Have a lovely day.

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If nothing else, its enjoyable

Here I go again: being enjoyable is not the same as being good. "I had fun watching this drama. And I love the actors. Beautiful people. Its a ten!" means nothing. Did you liked it? Maybe you also like hitting puppies, I don't know, so I rather hear about script, directing, visuals, acting, vfx, pacing etc etc. Here, I'll go first.

Visuals. Lots of decent shots, so good cinematography. I could even say that there were a couple of extremely nice shots. The "fireworks" (dunno the proper name but we see them in kdramas a lot) over the water? Or from the Royal Grand Ball (? sorry, forgot how it was called). Yeah, really fantastic shots. And a few couple more. The colour palette was a little drab dare I say, seeing as this has "royalty" subject... You can't go for "natural, modern" vibe when you're introducing a fictional monarchy... So, they should've made it stand out. The class, the wealth, whatever. We do have some, sure. But cmon. I mean, more wouldn't have hurt. Good vfx.
Sound design. Good. I should start with the OP. Very good, very catchy. Both visually and audio. It does its job, getting you pumped-up and ready. So, good job. The rest is ok I guess. Definitely not bad. A special note here, fantastic work for episode 11. This episode is special from multiple standpoints, I'll keep mention it. So, really good work now. From volume levels (some scenes demand to keep it very quiet, and they did it), to different variations of one theme. What I'm trying to say, it is good.
The usual editing. Nothing fancy. Sometimes it feels like it drags, but thats mostly because of the script.
You could say it has a high production value.

And now the good stuff. The script is meh, at best. The concept was weird from the start but you could make it work somehow. Just look at Hallmark and their number of "royal" stories :)) What we got instead, old court drama trying to apply "behind the scenes" battles in modern times. Political games, done poorly. Done poorly as a politician in-universe (lousy politician, if you will), but ALSO as an element in a kdrama (lousy writer). And so, we've got this story full of plot devices and plot contrivances. SO "lucky" that the characters do or say the exact things that will progress the story, otherwise it would've ended too early.
Characters. Well, some decent ones. And the acting was good enough to make them stand out. Actually I am a little bummed regarding some of them. For example, Queen Mama. You wouldn't know it from here, but the actress is good. And here she was made to be just some hysterical, always screaming, crazy mom(?) or something. I really don't know how to describe her. Fortunately, in episode 11 she is let to act at her full potential. That really made me happy. Unfortunately, her acting at full power in scenes with the ML, oof. Its like watching Anthony Hopkings and, dunno, Zendaya. Or maybe Gal Gadot, I should keep the "hot" factor. Even FL starts acting a whole lot better. Obviously, it all drop a bit in the next episode, but still, it was good. Oh, I should also mention here, I'm praising the acting and the sound design, the cinematography etc. The script/plot is sht. Maybe not as broken as before but still bad.
Oh, the pacing. I don't remember if I talked about it. No idea. You get a scene with "we need time" and 10 minutes later (I'm joking, I haven't checked), we are shown that the "later" is here. one week? One month? Who knows.... Same for the world building. We know its about Monarchy and thats it. Its just... there. Thats all. No visits from foreign officials, presidents or royals. Something.... *sigh*

Anyway, lets sum it up. Episode 11 = good. The rest is meh. Good sound design. Good cinematography. Oh, good chemistry between multiple characters. Oh, some decent comedy. I just remembered and I really need to mention it: sht Secret Service/Royal Guards. They are just glorified umbrella holders. And this is not me trying to be funny. Thats all they did properly. No body protection, no security protection in general, not with the car thing, not even not stopping reporters from entering a door. And before someone says something stupid like "well, reporters, you can't be violent against them". Well, at the moment its just a guy with a camera, you don't know if he's in disguise or not... And then 10 more a passing by... Omg, I've forgotten all about this aspect. Oh, and good ending scene. I was hoping for something like that.
It gets a rating of (barely) 6. No rewatch value. Just one good episode doesn't warrant any. You could still watch and enjoy it, obviously. I'm not saying that the kdrama being bad means you should stay clear... just know that some stuff won't make sense, thats all. It looks and sound fine, I guess. So if you like superficial things, it works just fine.

Have a lovely evening.

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Oh, boy.... Higher budget (maybe), yet it became even worse

Thanks to the high ratings, this new season got some extra cash I guess. A lot of things are of a higher quality, not always, but they do exist. Unfortunately, the sht is still there...

Visuals. It started with some good cinematography. A couple of different colour palettes, to give us different aspects of storytelling. Even the fight choreography got an upgrade. But then, it went back to meh. Weird camera spinning. Some of the VFX are terrible, mostly when its about scaling them correctly. You get a shot of the MC, some drones behind him, drones that look like (and later we do find out/see it) they have the length of a human torso, then the angle changes and they have a different size. Stuff like that. And no, its not nitpicking, it means the extra budget wasn't well-spent.
Audio. The sound design might be considered good. It has a few terrible choices, such as the track with the annoying beat that also plays at a higher volume so you must keep your fingers on it and keep adjusting it. But overall, good sound design, especially for the tense scenes. It really helps in getting you hooked.
The editing is kinda meh, all over the place. Sometimes good, sometimes it ends the scene too fast... The pacing is also meh. It started ok, but then.. Well, you know... Life happens or something. The world building is minimal but you don't really need it anyway. High production value. And it shows? Well, yes, sometimes it does.

Now the "good" stuff. For the most part, the cast was good. Even some nice chemistry. And the JP team was phenomenal in terms of acting. They really felt like professionals and that they were a team for the last maybe 10 years. I even loved their personalities. Oh, even the old JP gang that appears for just 2 min, in ep 5 I think, yep, even those felt like real people. And the charisma between them ofc. Back to the rest of them. Meh. A mix of meh and very good acting. Also, just a personal thing, but I hated the new young boy. The acting, his role, everything.
Moving on. Some decent character development, but also character assassination. Well played! While the first season had a silly story, at least there was some character work going for it. But now, it all went down the drain. The writer thought he was being cheeky, he tried some "omg" moments, but in fact, it was just sht writing, petty tricks meant to get a reaction from the viewer.
Nice segue, if I say so myself. The writing is horrible. Full of plot holes, plot contrivances, exposition dialogue, villain monologue, plot devices meant solely for artificial pay-offs, red herring, and so on and so on. Everything is meant to push the plot forward in the direction that the writer wills it, no matter if it makes sense or not, if a character would do such a thing or not. And after figuring out its "play", it was easy to guess how the events will unfold. Not everything, obviously. But when something weird was happening on screen, I could guess the general idea as to why, what it was intended to happen next.
A personal opinion: when the new season started, I kinda liked what was happening, I genuinely thought it got better. Then crazy and dumb sht happens and I realised that it wont. Then, the JP enter the stage and again I liked what I saw and I hoped for some things to happen, I started to write a scenario with them in mind. A good one I mean. But with each passing minute, when the stuff happening got dumb and dumber, and sh***ier, I knew then and there that it will be bad. But I had no idea HOW bad.

So, when the new season started, I had some ideas for the story, how it should go. Now that she knew, obviously, you need a time skip and training montage. Teaching her basic and superficial stuff while she has no idea? OK, then now she must learn everything she can, asap. Right? Well, I wont spoil it for you, you have to suff-- ahem, you'll have to watch and figure it out yourself, too. So, I hit play and hoped for the best. It started OK, or at least it was enjoyable. After the initial 20-30 min or so, it became the usual slop. The episode 2 happens, more nonsense. Then the 3rd one, even more nonsense. No, not even the JP team (that I loved) couldn't help me in enjoying it more. Yes the episode starts ok, but the ending is horrible. Many times have I yelled "shut the fk up, you dumb b**ch", no matter who it was that was talking. Because, surprise, the dialogue is sht. And the quality will never get better.
Then ep 4 happens. Cheap melodrama. When it happened, I knew what the next thing will be, Why it was there like that. Is it sad (maybe "sad" is too much)? Sure. And it took me by surprise. Because I thought they'd use it better, not just going for the cheap tricks. My bad, dunno why I was having such high opinions about them. But before that, the next scenes were decent, apart from fight choreography and decisions. Those were NOT moves of super mega, high efficient, OP soldiers, with their background. And THEN it gets to the dumb "plot-twist" that I knew it was coming. Ep 5 has sht and dumb dialogue, again. But it also had that 1-minute scene, with the old JP "grandpa" that had higher gravitas than all the supporting cast before. And he only has like 2-3 lines... Episode 6 was full of dumb-fk actions. All the characters became re****ed because the script needed them to be, so that the plot could happen. Starting with episode 7, I was just waiting for it to end. No matter what happened on screen, I couldn't care less. The drama: "Sad things happening... sad music... see? Its sad. Be sad". Me: "Fk off. Where's that damn playback speed settings?" So, yeah. The rest went by faster (because of me, not because the pacing got better). I already knew what the general plot lines will be, how the writer will make usage of them, so the last hour went by smoothly. Nothing special, everything sht.

And now you know. This story exists only because "it just so happened that...*insert random motive*", times 4. Coincidences do exist, do happen. But forcing 4-5 of them at the same time? Thats just lazy (or sht) writing. For example, lets say you work in a high-lvl bio research facility. And, while in a biosafety/hazmat suit, you open you visor to eat a chocolate candy bar and you drop the wrapper on the floor. That wrapper gets sucked into the door's intern mechanisms, that creates a short-circuit and a fire, that creates an error into a computer that, for some abstract (and dumb) reason was programmed to open all the doors. Into a building full with species, predatory species btw, that you experiment on. And just for the fun of it and to make it even more "whoa", lets make those animals something really really mean. Oh, and big. Yeah, lets make them.. dinosaurs! Ofc, such a movie doesn't exist. Just imagine doing a movie with such a sh***y idea, the reason for all of it to happen being a series of random coincidences. Yep, that will never happen ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

So, the technical aspects did got some upgrade, but overall, it got worse. While the first season had sht dialogue and the logic behind the action was lacking, you could put it all on her, saying she's a noob, only a few pro helpers etc. But now? You have a whole fking cast of mega op soldiers. On both sides, mind you. Every action, every thought should be full with high efficiency in mind. But nope. And the dialogue is soooooooo re***ded that will make you blink and look again. "I was living a normal life" (when in fact she did everything possible to not interact with anyone, do not create any relations. Only in the last 3 weeks she did something more). Or "He took the first step and shut down the website. He really wants a truce with us.... I do only whats best for the company. He did that of his own accord. He should hunt him down". So, he wants a ceasefire, so he took something to force you into it, he has the upper hand (the info) in the negotiations and he chose to make something self-damaging as a show of good faith. You do everything for the sake of the company, so your first thought is to hunt him down, when he could go public at any moment? What??? How the fk is that a logical thing? And why is no one asking her how is that making any sense in what she just said? And thats just about the logic behind their words/actions. There's also "evilman dialogue", while laughing. I'm not being cheeky. That person is telling outloud all the evil plans that happened or that will happen, while laughing maniacally. And not just once. I know its hard to believe, to imagine it... But it really is in this drama. And those are just some tiny examples of sht dialogue. It goes on and on and on and on.... Also, they have drones and robots that can withstand a blast, and super mega shields... Omg, I forgot about those shields... Those are the same as the suits in John Wick Universe, a bad plot device that will destroy any story-telling. If you have access to those, just send 1000 of them. Done. The whole drama will end in 5 minutes. *sigh* How could I forget about those? *double-sigh*

The absolute only good thing in this season was the JP team. And more specifically, the actress named Q in the drama (dunno her name), was phenomenal. Fantastic work. Its been a moment since I last saw such an amazing performance. When she's happy, funny, cheeky, sad, everything. Even her fight choreography was enjoyable even good. Now, if the story would've been better, I would've rewatched it just to see her acting again.
Anyway. It gets a rating of 3. Mostly in regards of the JP cast, and some visuals. And maybe 2-3 character development. The story, the plot, the dialogue, everything in regards to that was sht. Not recommended, no rewatching value. I don't know if it will get a new season, but it might. The ending for the last one made sense to have a new one, but for this, who knows. I'm sure it will be praised a lot, because people still think that "enjoyment" = "good media".... So, yeey us.... *sigh*

Have a lovely evening.

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Its a trap!

Well, well. For those who don't wanna read it all: it starts strong, then it gets bad and then it becomes sht, and then it gets even worse... And no, media making you cry doesn't mean it is "good" by default. Also, "enjoying" isn't the same as "good". I'm just putting these out there. No reason.
So. I started watching it based on the poster. I gave it a go and after the first 10 minutes I thought "Oh, God. Its gonna be one of those dumb things, full of tropes and plot contrivances, isn't it?". But actually, the actions are logical, no matter how silly it seems. In other words, in this fictional world, the events taking place have the minimum requirements to feel "real". So, I continued watching and after a few more episodes I said "ok, it works". Silly me...

The story is interesting, maybe the romantic angle is a bit boring. It might felt like that because of FL's acting. She needs to be sad and crying a lot, but she can't act it, it felt fake. Back to the topic, Interesting story, decent enough execution.
Actually, no. I'm gonna review this drama in a different way. I usually go: visuals, audio, char development, world building etc but I think I have a better idea for this case. So. For the whole drama, the audio is by far excellent. The mixing of tracks is well done, the songs used for the whole OST are amazing, they even used different versions of the same track based on the scene. Its not my genre, I'll never listen to those songs again, but it was amazing.

And now the juicy parts. This drama can get split into seasons. The first "10" episodes (might be 9, I won't check, I don't care that much) are the best part of it. How the characters meet, how they interact etc. Good stuff. You'll enjoy it. Even some good character development that I wasn't expecting (and dreading that it might go to something shtty). Then the "2nd season", aka the next "10" episodes, it is mostly about character development, more intense accent on the drama etc. For the most part, decent enough. Not really enjoying it, but the execution was ok. Except, while approaching the end of this "season" it gets bad. Characters start acting in a weird way, aka the story needs to go in a specific way and so the characters start taking dumb decisions. I was about to let it go but the writer tried to explain it that it might be because of pills etc. Silly and weak, but ok, I'll allow it.
And then, the last part is sht. No sense in trying to be polite. It felt rushed and it had all kinds of setups that I didn't like, because it was clear that the writer wanted to make the people "feel" and not paying attention to the logic behind the story. And the "funny" part? The last.... 4-5 episodes are even worse. Pure sht. Oh, man. Full of plot devices and plot holes, bad acting, cheap payoffs etc. Like I said earlier, the audio remained excellent. But other than that..... oof. With the cherry on top being the last 5(?) minutes.

Funny story. After the first "10" episodes, when I noticed some interesting character development, I wanted to skip until the last 2 episodes, just to make sure the ending will be ok. Yes, I was ok with spoilers, because that thing mattered more. But I stayed strong. And it was a good thing because the end would've left me baffled as to "how" and "why". I would've gone "wtf happened??" every 5 minutes :)))
Yes, this drama is based on a book. I don't know the sauce, I don't care about the sauce. Probably it has the same ending. I don't know how (why) it got and adaptation... Anyway.

Long story short, it gets a rating of 6. No matter how good the starting was, failing to deliver means you shouldn't start to begin with. The high rating is mostly for the excellent audio, mostly good acting (excellent by some supporting cast), and a couple of good character development.
Having said that, no rewatch value. Why the fk would anyone wanna watch just the first"10" episodes and leave after? You can't even watch 10 episodes, skip all, watch the last episode. Heck, you can't even watch the last 10 minutes.... *sigh*
Have a lovely evening.

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it had potential, but...

Well, the story had potential. If you disregard the utter sht of the 2nd "half", and if you get rid of all that useless stuff (thats almost half of it :) ) from the rest.... maybe. So basically good idea, poor execution. The first couple of episodes really looked like something ok, but then : plot devices, plot contrivances, plot holes. Yeah, yeah, its a drama, I shouldn't expect much. I didn't and it still disappointed. Even the fact that the character has inner monologues got replaced with the annoying trope of talking outloud for themselves. Actually there are lots of tropes (even the one where the dying characters get a 1min "last breath" so that they hate time to say something "meaningful". *sigh*
Moving on, the acting is meh. Yeah, sure, there's chemistry between some of the characters and thats making it feel more "real", but most of the times is just meh. Also, the continuously expo-dump didn't help in making them more "natural".
Long story short: its a meh drama. You might enjoy it for a bit, but it is overly long when it didn't needed to be. And it feels even longer because of the non-sense fluff inserted. And then it gets boring.
It gets a rating of 4 for the tiny pieces of good story, some good acting, some decent cinematography.
Have a nice evening.

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Luckily, only 30min/episode

I've watched a couple a k-dramas over the last weeks and apparently I've forgot to say something about them.
So, about this one. I've watched this drama 2 days ago. Thank (insert deity here) you get 30 min per episode. It went by in no time.
I'll start by saying it's something like a reality show, so that sucks. Even if the acting and the chemistry and the jokes were mostly fine, or even good, by making the actors look into the camera and say things, you get a low level drama.
Yes, the acting was good. The Main Lead Actor is very skillful, his range is quite good. I've seen him before (as did most of you, I'm sure) and he delivers, as usual. Maybe even more. The other actors were also good.
The cinematography and mixing are good to excellent. They did a good job. The director had some interesting ideas. Good ones. The soundtrack had a couple on decent, catchy songs. Most of them you'll enjoy.
The only downside of this drama is the story. The writer did a meh job. You need a whole season to get to some conclusion, because the Main Female Lead is made dumb just to get the story going. But as there are only 30min/episode, you get to the end in about 9 hours or so.
And that's it. You can watch it for the visuals and some nice acting. Have a lovely evening.

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