This is K-drama at its best, pure quality. In love with the noiresque atmosphere - the latter half of ep 3 especially left me in awe.
One thing I appreciate about the writing here is its ruthless & uncompromising style. It dares to delve off into the darkest sides of humanity, and because of it we are rewarded with organic characters that we can relate too, no matter how minor the role. This coupled with an intricate plot (Which misty so far has shown to have) is essential — I can't tell you how many times I've liked a drama's story — yet been totally disengaged, because almost none of the characters feel real. The writers get lazy and paint characters with black or white strokes. Misty is all about the gray - and this invites quality.
I'm also ultra impressed by the atmospheric & noiresque direction. The last Korean drama I remember, that executed Noir this well must've been way back in 2013 with 'Cruel City' ('Stranger' comes close but while heavy on the silent ambience it was more noir-light).
Lastly, the acting.. Kim Nam Joo — Daesang 2018, anyone? Lol
Hoping this excellent writer gives us a medical/political saeguk reminiscent of the classic which was White Tower (2007). Stranger was quite the masterpiece so I have high expectations. Jo Seung Woo is a master at the craft, and I've always liked Lee Dong Wook despite not caring for Goblin a single bit. He was great in La Dolce Vita, which remains my favorite drama to this day, & despite Hotel King's many flaws - LDW excelled in his a role as a stoic character seeking revenge.
With a good enough director (Maybe stranger team can reunite?) and a strong acting cast (hopefully with zero no-skilled idols/models who just turned actors), I think we could be looking at one of the best dramas this year.
Alternatively you can watch the Jp(Shiroi Kyoto) or TW(The Hospital) versions
Hey, I've actually watched the JP version, which was good stuff. A year later now but MBC has actually decided to release a remastered version of this drama! With better sound, quality & of course subs!!
Very happy to see this classic be remastered and shown to audiences again after 10 years! One of the best shows to date, and the opportunity to finally see this show in HD with quality subs is awesome. Good move by MBC, albeit not surprising given recent events, and a need to improve their image with Korean audiences.
Episode 20 was stellar. Finally Jang Hyuk is free to take off his mask and express some of the chaos that lurks under his stoic exterior. Only a 2 second scene but it was a pleasure to see him laugh as he revealed his intentions of dealing with the chairman to aide Yang.
I think it would've fit his character well to reveal such uncontrollable sides of him more often throughout the show — even if infrequent. It provides great contrast. We all know that Pil Joo is a wolf in sheep clothing, but it is nice as a watcher, to be reminded that he is indeed a wolf.
Same here after Stranger this my favorite K drama so far in this yr. Hoping for Signal S2 in 2019 :):). And Prison…
Hey there. Yeah I should give Prison Playbook a try, I've heard great things about it and enjoyed much of the director's previous works. Also I can't believe I still haven't given Signal a go ~ so many things to watch haha.
Definitely a quality show — the direction is stellar and all actors are doing an excellent job. I'm happy to see Jang Hyuk play a role that requires a great stoic exterior — needed to cover for the character's even greater inner turmoil, as he walks the path of revenge. He nails it! I do have some qualms over the writing, and the plot could potentially take a turn for the worse in the next few eps - but here's hoping that it won't. ~~
P. S - After Stranger/Forest of Secrets this is probably my favorite show of the year (although My Golden Life is ranked higher in the intangibles for me).
I think episode 12 brought out the essence of what this show was all about—family, love, hopes and dreams—all depicted in a realistic and genuine way. I feel like later episodes almost neglected to communicate those core experiences and instead overindulged in Dong Man's & Ae Ra's relationship to an extent where it felt forced. Like I get it, they had some funny and memeworthy scenes in the beginning, which did well virally—but try to replicate that in all their scenes—and you begin to undermine the core narrative, and suddenly their scenes feel unnatural, and the show uneven, with tonal shifts and all.
I like this show and I hope ep 13 continues where 12 left off and explores what the show had going on for itself, and what really made it special.
So after eps 11-12 I have decided to drop this too. Despite some obvious flaws - I actually liked Man to Man early on. And I think much of the criticism on MDL was wrongfully directed towards the main actress - she's charming here and her acting spot on, despite some of the crazy things her character did in the beginning.
But my problem with the show lies in its poor execution of the plot, which is more prevalent in later episodes. I mean Man to Man was already light on realism, but when Cha Do Ha & Yeo Woon Gwang become "spy partners" in Seol Woo's missions.. It's hard to take the show seriously anymore.. This is lazy writing and it reduces any remote interest one could've had for any of the characters or plot-twists. When a show is built upon perfunctory foundations this will spread to all areas of its execution, and I think this show is a great example of that.
This is beautiful. I initially avoided this show because I assumed it'd be your average k-drama rom-com fare — but I couldn't have been more wrong. This is quality.
The entire cast is personable and relatable, all so familiar and human. The narrative is engaging and dears to communicate genuine human experiences with sincerity, rather than abuse and overuse standard tropes that so many other shows with similar themes do nowadays.
Yes there's romance, and yes there's comedy imbued — but unlike other shows that choose to stay within the artificial frames of this genre; Fight For My Way dares to explore other areas core to us as humans as well; our hopes, our dreams, our failures and flaws (for me this even breathes more life into the romantic/comedic moments because the characters now feel more authentic). More than anything this is a coming of age drama, a human drama.
I admire Man to Man's laid back execution. It doesn't take itself too seriously, nor does it try to be overly funny — it sort of just flows, and is engaging and enjoyable all-throughout. The narrative is lighter then I'd like, but I'm really enjoying the character development, and the overall atmosphere.
Whisper's second half is a letdown. Drop in quality, drop in excitement. What should be thrilling, now feels…
@VishalIngle Good insight. I think you're spot on about the characterization being all over the place in the beginning (especially for LDJ). However, Whisper's first half still resonated with me tonally — which is why I favour it over the second one.
Lee Sang Yoon's transition - to a caring and an affectionate character (towards SYJ) - indeed makes his role less believable. And for me this unevenness permeates even in his darker role that now feels less genuine in some aspects. But rather than his acting, this is more of a fault in the execution of the narrative — the progression in LDJ's & SYJ's relationship isn't exactly handled well..
Whisper's second half is a letdown. Drop in quality, drop in excitement. What should be thrilling, now feels commonplace. Much is due to the acting; the second leads by far outperform their main counterparts—which makes the show's execution unbalanced.
Park Se Young is solid and believable in her role all-throughout. And while I adored Lee Bo Young in 'I Hear Your Voice' & 'My Daughter Seo Young' — here, she's underwhelming. The emoting is flat and anticlimactic, and the repetitive huffing and puffing she does whenever a bad situation arises - is tiresome to watch.
Also, Kwon Yool is simply riveting.. Every expression is genuine, and he's effortlessly able to express his dark and complex character. As for Lee Sang Yoon.. He's not bad. Rather solid actually.. But he's not able to fully sell the portrayal of an amoral and multifaceted character, that the role requires of him.
Also at gripes with the directing.. There were a lot of plot conveniences early on, but this didn't detract from the show at large - since there was still an overall narrative being communicated. But the experience when watching the later episodes, is that the direction feels microscopic, bland, a lack of creative effort..
This drama is different and genuine and I liked that. Writing slightly tenuous towards the end but that doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things. In Chief Kim all characters have oddities and spontaneous and weird habits and you just don't see that in other dramas. While this was refreshing, I felt that towards the end of the show, these oddities were used merely for comedic effect and not because it was functional. Like the directors felt they could play it safe instead of trying new things like they previously had. What was once natural, became forced. Brought the rating down a bit for me, but a great show nonetheless!
One thing I appreciate about the writing here is its ruthless & uncompromising style. It dares to delve off into the darkest sides of humanity, and because of it we are rewarded with organic characters that we can relate too, no matter how minor the role. This coupled with an intricate plot (Which misty so far has shown to have) is essential — I can't tell you how many times I've liked a drama's story — yet been totally disengaged, because almost none of the characters feel real. The writers get lazy and paint characters with black or white strokes. Misty is all about the gray - and this invites quality.
I'm also ultra impressed by the atmospheric & noiresque direction. The last Korean drama I remember, that executed Noir this well must've been way back in 2013 with 'Cruel City' ('Stranger' comes close but while heavy on the silent ambience it was more noir-light).
Lastly, the acting.. Kim Nam Joo — Daesang 2018, anyone? Lol
With a good enough director (Maybe stranger team can reunite?) and a strong acting cast (hopefully with zero no-skilled idols/models who just turned actors), I think we could be looking at one of the best dramas this year.
I think it would've fit his character well to reveal such uncontrollable sides of him more often throughout the show — even if infrequent. It provides great contrast. We all know that Pil Joo is a wolf in sheep clothing, but it is nice as a watcher, to be reminded that he is indeed a wolf.
P. S - After Stranger/Forest of Secrets this is probably my favorite show of the year (although My Golden Life is ranked higher in the intangibles for me).
I like this show and I hope ep 13 continues where 12 left off and explores what the show had going on for itself, and what really made it special.
But my problem with the show lies in its poor execution of the plot, which is more prevalent in later episodes. I mean Man to Man was already light on realism, but when Cha Do Ha & Yeo Woon Gwang become "spy partners" in Seol Woo's missions.. It's hard to take the show seriously anymore.. This is lazy writing and it reduces any remote interest one could've had for any of the characters or plot-twists. When a show is built upon perfunctory foundations this will spread to all areas of its execution, and I think this show is a great example of that.
The entire cast is personable and relatable, all so familiar and human. The narrative is engaging and dears to communicate genuine human experiences with sincerity, rather than abuse and overuse standard tropes that so many other shows with similar themes do nowadays.
Yes there's romance, and yes there's comedy imbued — but unlike other shows that choose to stay within the artificial frames of this genre; Fight For My Way dares to explore other areas core to us as humans as well; our hopes, our dreams, our failures and flaws (for me this even breathes more life into the romantic/comedic moments because the characters now feel more authentic). More than anything this is a coming of age drama, a human drama.
Lee Sang Yoon's transition - to a caring and an affectionate character (towards SYJ) - indeed makes his role less believable. And for me this unevenness permeates even in his darker role that now feels less genuine in some aspects. But rather than his acting, this is more of a fault in the execution of the narrative — the progression in LDJ's & SYJ's relationship isn't exactly handled well..
Park Se Young is solid and believable in her role all-throughout. And while I adored Lee Bo Young in 'I Hear Your Voice' & 'My Daughter Seo Young' — here, she's underwhelming. The emoting is flat and anticlimactic, and the repetitive huffing and puffing she does whenever a bad situation arises - is tiresome to watch.
Also, Kwon Yool is simply riveting.. Every expression is genuine, and he's effortlessly able to express his dark and complex character. As for Lee Sang Yoon.. He's not bad. Rather solid actually.. But he's not able to fully sell the portrayal of an amoral and multifaceted character, that the role requires of him.
Also at gripes with the directing.. There were a lot of plot conveniences early on, but this didn't detract from the show at large - since there was still an overall narrative being communicated. But the experience when watching the later episodes, is that the direction feels microscopic, bland, a lack of creative effort..