Tia

Her ex-girlfriend?

If I recall correctly, Han Ji-Soo was Sang-Ah's ex. Ji-Soo was a mostly unknown actress who was forced to star in 19+/R-rated movies, while also being pimped out to powerful men by Oh Kwang-Jae. I'm not sure if everyone involved got punished, but OKJ and Park Jae-Sang are dead, Yang-Mi's in prison, and Chairman Kwon was in a coma for about 2 years. Sang-Ah was determined to take down that trafficking ring/web of power & money enabling it. She was arguably successful, since she took down Yang-Mi.

She did not, thankfully! (I would've been so mad if she did!)

It's a daily drama, budgets tend to be lower. Plots tend to be more simple too.

This is a female version of Five Fingers now... 😂 from the business plot, that one actor, the birth secrets, AND the melodrama! I blame the FL's (Na-Young) sister!

On episode 34 now, so now Na-Young and In-Ki/Su-Bin know that they're mother & daughter. Cue more misunderstandings and histrionics... decent drama so far, but DAMN, does it drag on! It's mostly boring.

This is true, (most of) the characters didn't start out as villainous. (Except for Yang-Mi, apparently. 🙄)

So pretty much like the second half of Death Note (the anime) 😭 I call "countering a scheme with another scheme". That was aggravating. But the whole trump card and counter-plot thing is (from my experience) common in political thrillers? Especially when both leads are smart, but it definitely got stretched into the extreme. ESPECIALLY in the finale with the sudden wave of blackmail. Made In Korea did a better job with the cat-and-mouse mind games.

Okay, honestly- I don't remember everything that happened in Artificial City. What I do remember that everything felt very, veryyy slow. The ending was also unsatisfying (Climax's ending is at least realistic.) Penthouse's ending is... controversial. Personally I liked (some) aspects of it, but by that point I was ready for it to be over lol I agree that Mine wasn't paced this way, yeah. The lengths of these dramas definitely play a role. But yeah, Climax wasn't perfect, I still say that the plot execution could've been better. Good themes though.

I started both WOTM and Sponsor, I think Sponsor is much more like Climax in concept/vibes. Sponsor is also known for being notoriously bad. I have not gotten that far yet, though 😂

Yes... 😔

After SO long, I've finally finished this drama. That ending was... a lot. I loved and hated it. My favorite character was Chae Young-Rang (the FL, obviously.) Her fate was particularly tragic. I loved Gye-Hwa's character development and some of the twists were really good. But for the most part, it was boring and the pacing felt very slow. Things dragged a lot only for this drama to have a mediocre final third (with some high points in between.) Five Fingers was a melodrama at its finest. The BGM was incredible.

My overall rating is a 8/10. Probably won't rewatch it.

You're welcome! It's fairly accurate and definitely does justice to the story. A very fair review. The connections between the different "spheres" (entertainment, politics, business) and characters make sense to me.

That being said, I'm glad you liked Climax too. It's definitely not a simple story, in terms of structure and comprehension. Genre-wise too, I guess it can't be strictly defined? 🤔 Do you think the title made sense in terms of the drama's themes?

I have my moments where I'm nasty, but I think I'm nice! 😁

Some people are miserable. It can't be helped... best thing to do is block and move on. 💯

Interesting, I feel like it was more "show, don't tell", and so much so to the point where there were micro-interactions that were supposed to hint at something... but led to nowhere. Disappointing. The mystery was wrapped up easily, thriller vibes were there (character & environment-wise), and the politics played a core role (I thought we'd see Tae-Seop become president, but after THAT scandal... 😬)

There's definitely better political thrillers out there.

Annoying is a better word, and according to her I'm a "mean girl"... so, I'm not sure. But I have her blocked for my sanity. Ironic that she's hating on female characters with Park Shin-Hye in her profile pic. Interesting. Very, very interesting. 🤔

Awww, episode 29 tugged at my heartstrings! Na Gye-Hwa has had the best character development so far. Super heartbreaking so far... very melodramatic indeed, lol

I love seeing my people in k-dramas!!! I gotta watch Itaewon Class one of these days.

This is a very well-written and analytical review. Excellent points on the power shift & balance in the drama as well.

And thank you for the award!!!

Don't forget the boring, 1-dimensional or Mary Sue FLs lol

Thank you Joyce! I really think an extra 2 episodes (+ it being on streaming platforms) would've benefitted this drama. For more explanation and character exploration (and the sequel-bait would still be fine with me. Mostly.)

Well thank you! 🥰 It was totally worth it to see Ha Ji-Won kiss a woman (and Nana, at that.) Both very beautiful! 😍