👎🏻😜👎🏻😂With your "taste" in kdramas.. ha-ha am NOT surprised!🙄😂😜
Ahhh, but everyone has their own tastes, my friend! 😂 Side note, I have been enjoying this drama a bit more now, my faves are Seo-Rin, Hwa-Young, and I'd say Jun-Ho, but I'm more neutral on him.
Personally I don't like watching 100ep dramas, the only ones I gave a chance were a graceful liar ( acting was…
I've seen much worse daily dramas than this. Also I feel like it has MUCH better directing than most daily dramas- since they tend to be low budget, anyway. They're soap operas. Additionally, I find that veteran/older actors are usually (and typically are) the best/better actors in these daily dramas compared to younger ones. There's a lot of rookies in this cast, right now the drama is setting up the backstory. And Dan-Hee is the main protagonist (along with Jin-Ju, but Dan-Hee's the first/mostly central one.) Daily dramas also tend to use clichés & tropes, archetypes, all that stuff. Most makjangs do, after all.
After THAT ENDING, I need to wait for Season 2?! DAMN IT!!!!
Alright, so... this is by far one of the best recent k-dramas I've watched. It's definitely going into my favorite k-dramas list. I don't even usually watch dramas like this, but I wanted to step out my comfort zone, and BOY am I happy that I did! As you know, I love good villain protagonists, and Baek Ki-Tae was a VERY compelling one. I couldn't help but root for him, especially with the backstory he had. And he was sympathetic to some extent. Not to mention Hyun-Bin did an incredible job playing Ki-Tae- I'm officially a fan of his now if I wasn't before! Jang Gun-Young was a great foil/antagonist to him, too. I like how he was still flawed, but very determined. Jung Woo-Sung did a wonderful job with his portrayal of Gun-Young as an anti-hero, but I feel like he overacted a little bit at times. BUT this was clearly a directing choice: the fiery, reckless (and sometimes maniacal) prosecutor compared to the suave, calculating, and ruthless drug smuggler & KCIA director. It definitely made sense to me.
Onto the female characters, and this is one of the very, very, VERY few problems I have with this drama, it's male-centered as hell. But I know that this was intentional, since Korea was and is still very patriarchal, especially in the 1970s under President Park Chung-Hee. Most of the female characters were either plot devices or dead weight, I'd say the only exception was probably Ikeda/Choi Yu-Ji, who matched Ki-Tae's cold nature. But she had her own reasons for being so stoic- proving herself to her (adopted) father, Chairman Ikeda Osamu. Also understandable. You don't often see cold-hearted female protagonists in k-dramas, so this was a welcome change. As for Oh Ye-Jin, I liked her being so feisty. I did not, though, like her being comic relief. I feel like it definitely threw off the tone of the show. Not completely, but it was jarring and felt unnecessary. But she's still a good character, although she feels more like a side character rather than a main one. Regarding the other female characters, I'm interested in seeing how Baek So-Young's story unfolds in Season 2 especially with her being the new drug facility manager considering what happened to Kang Dae-Il (another guy I actually ended up feeling a little bad for, somehow?) I also LOVED Bae Geum-Ji, but the writer did her so dirty!
Side characters! Again, I felt bad for Dae-Il. I can't remember all of them right now, but the one I liked the most was definitely the President's Chief of Staff, Cheon Seok-Jung. He's very interesting, and I wanna see what his relationship with Ki-Tae is gonna look like in Season 2! He's so unpredictable! As for Baek Ki-Hyun, I think he's the only traditional hero in this drama. So he seems like he'll play a more antagonistic role in Season 2, especially since he's the more righteous/"good" sibling. Then again, no one in this drama is a good person! You can't trust anyone! 😭 Everyone's flawed, a criminal, greedy, ambitious, and/or selfish somehow. I LOVE IT! Give me more!
Writing-wise, okay, I'm gonna be honest, some scenes felt like they dragged on A LOT. It was endless talking and sometimes I'd definitely skip ahead or lose focus. BUT this was a minor issue, I think I'm used to it now with k-dramas that have hour-long episodes. Again, I don't typically watch dramas within this genre, but... at some point, by the end, EVERYTHING managed to connect pretty much perfectly. When I reached the last few scenes of the season finale, I was like, "What? Oh... oh. OHHHH!!!! OH SHIT! WHOA!" Excellent. Just excellent. Honestly, each episode could've been its own movie, because I feel there was just... not enough exploration. Depth? It felt too short! In the words of Michael Irvin from that one commercial, "We want MORE! WE NEED MORE!" This show definitely suited its genre though. A political crime thriller mixed with action, mystery, law, political intrigue, suspense, and just the right amount of drama. No romance necessary. It's basically a Korean Death Note with politics, drugs, and morally grey characters everywhere. And the MUSIC was great, too! Very subtle BGM, but it suited the setting and fit the mood incredibly well. A drama like this doesn't need some OST, instrumentals do just fine. And I like the opening theme/sequence too.
Would I rewatch this? Yes. I believe that this is one of those dramas you HAVE to rewatch in order to fully understand everything. When I say everything is connected, I mean EVERYTHING (mostly) is connected somehow, in some way, shape, or form. I highly recommend this k-drama, it is SO underrated. Definitely a diamond in the rough. The acting is amazing, the music is awesome, the directing is pretty perfect, the characters are flawed and the writing & pacing have minor issues, but they can mostly be overlooked, and the story itself is very interesting. My score? 10/10.
So I said I was gonna watch just 1 episode... but after seeing all that, I'm getting a little too invested now 😭 all the actors are doing great, everything's so intense yet absolutely insane at the same time! The only character I'd say I don't care about is the short-tempered detective. I like (or hate) everyone else. I feel like the wife (the one being cheated on) is the worst actor here right now. Idk, she seems so mid compared to everyone else, not bad, just decent. I already like Ja-Hye so far, she's cool!
Eh. I personally grew up watching soap operas as a kid, plus my first k-drama was a daily drama (Unknown Woman)…
Classic combo! Also, about Penthouse, I get it 😂 the craziness might be too over-the-top, but it wasn't as bad as Love ft. Marriage and Divorce. That was a WILD one- now, Temptation of Wife is insane, but it's the blueprint for modern makjangs, so I recommend it to get an understanding of how they work (in a daily drama format.)
I think you'd like Mine, The World of the Married, The Promise, Angel's Temptation, Vengeance of the Bride, A Place In The Sun, Angel's Revenge, Miss Monte-Cristo, Queen of Ambition (it had twins, though), and Glass Mask! But you're welcome, I hope you find a makjang that you truly enjoy! 😁
Eh. I personally grew up watching soap operas as a kid, plus my first k-drama was a daily drama (Unknown Woman)…
I think My Father Is Strange would count more as a comedy/sitcom than an actual makjang. But in regards to makjangs, are you looking for something dark? Dramatic? A melodrama? A villain protagonist? Morally grey cast? Something thriller/mystery-based? Political? Business-centered? Here are some makjangs I generally recommend:
The Penthouse - my favorite k-drama, though season 3 was NOT necessary Mine - very intriguing, and unique in the fact that the FL... was a lesbian. Yup. We love GL rep here!!! Temptation of Wife/Cruel Temptation - EXTREMELY famous SBS daily drama, there's been so many adaptations and remakes of it Angel's Temptation - the male version of Cruel Temptation. Simply divine Queen of Ambition - more political-based/melodramatic with a villain protagonist. Highly recommend it though The Promise/Heaven's Promise - another famous daily drama (KBS2) with female identical twins, Lee Yuri stars in this one Secrets and Lies - EXACTLY as the title says. This 2018-2019 MBC daily drama is the Korean version of Rubí, idk if you watch telenovelas, but Shin Hwa-Kyung (the villain FL) is so greedy, unrepetant, selfish, yet confident, charismatic, and beautiful... you just can't help but root for her! Queen's House - another KBS2 daily drama, it finished last year, Ham Eun-Jung (who's in First Man) stars in it Band of Sisters - if you liked My Father Is Strange, I think you'd love this one, it balances romance, revenge, comedy, drama, corporate wars, and tragedy PERFECTLY (in my opinion) Mysterious Personal Shopper - probably the only "psychological thriller/noir" type daily drama I've watched. The SFL here is a victim who gets corrupted over time, which is unique Yellow Boots - 2012 tvN daily drama, another Lee Yuri banger! Vengeance of the Bride - Park Hana is in this one, I enjoyed it a lot! Plus the chemistry between the FL & ML? I don't care for romance in revenge dailies but this one was to DIE FOR! Wife Returns - female identical twins & revenge! But here, the rich & smart twin avenges the poor twin, who disappears mysteriously after a fight with her first love's new wife... Miss Monte-Cristo - I personally liked this drama, especially since the betrayed FL goes to *great* lengths to get the revenge she wants. Including murder! Eve - solid revenge makjang drama, the ending is open-ended, but I enjoyed it! We had a complex FL here
Hope you find something you might like! My lists on my profile might also help you find the perfect(?) makjang!
are even 100 eps drama even worth looking at? Makjang drama almost always bad right? but i did watch some that…
Eh. I personally grew up watching soap operas as a kid, plus my first k-drama was a daily drama (Unknown Woman) so I'm used to watching them. Also, not all daily dramas are necessarily makjangs, and not all makjangs are daily dramas. Some of the most popular k-dramas ever have been makjang dramas. But makjangs are my thing (most of them, anyway lol)
As unrealistic as they are, they DO reflect reality to an extent. Chaebol families are INSANE! And so are some Korean rich folks. 😂
WTF! Is this a copycat of “The First Man” (MBC, 2025)? Except here, the main characters are of the older generation.…
Twin swaps & revenge have been in a thing in makjang dramas for a long time... the oldest example I know is Resurrection (2005), which is a famous one with male identical twins. Wife Returns (2009) is the oldest daily I can think that did it with female identical twins, and the rich twin (she was CRAZYYYY) got revenge for the poor twin. Just another trope borrowed from the makjang playbook! 😂
That was a great first episode! I'm very curious to see how everything unfolds... but first:
This daily is INCREDIBLY cinematic. It doesn't even look like a daily drama, the quality is PEAK! As for Jung-Ran, I was hoping that she was more... menacing and scheming? But she just seems like a trashy idiot. I love Kim Hee-Jung but her overacting in these kinds of roles gets irritating QUICK. 💀 As for Jung-Ran's driver, I've hated every role that man has played in a daily drama, but let's see how it goes here...
Myung-Hee being a sugar baby to pay for Dan-Hee's cancer treatments (it was NOT heart disease) is a very interesting angle. 👀 Jung-Ran will definitely come after Myung-Hee, I wonder how she dies? Lots of questions. I wonder how Jin-Ju/Chloe plays a role in all of this. 🤔
Choi Jae-Sung is an INCREDIBLE actor, he made me hate Park Tae-Ho so quickly!
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Alright, so... this is by far one of the best recent k-dramas I've watched. It's definitely going into my favorite k-dramas list. I don't even usually watch dramas like this, but I wanted to step out my comfort zone, and BOY am I happy that I did! As you know, I love good villain protagonists, and Baek Ki-Tae was a VERY compelling one. I couldn't help but root for him, especially with the backstory he had. And he was sympathetic to some extent. Not to mention Hyun-Bin did an incredible job playing Ki-Tae- I'm officially a fan of his now if I wasn't before! Jang Gun-Young was a great foil/antagonist to him, too. I like how he was still flawed, but very determined. Jung Woo-Sung did a wonderful job with his portrayal of Gun-Young as an anti-hero, but I feel like he overacted a little bit at times. BUT this was clearly a directing choice: the fiery, reckless (and sometimes maniacal) prosecutor compared to the suave, calculating, and ruthless drug smuggler & KCIA director. It definitely made sense to me.
Onto the female characters, and this is one of the very, very, VERY few problems I have with this drama, it's male-centered as hell. But I know that this was intentional, since Korea was and is still very patriarchal, especially in the 1970s under President Park Chung-Hee. Most of the female characters were either plot devices or dead weight, I'd say the only exception was probably Ikeda/Choi Yu-Ji, who matched Ki-Tae's cold nature. But she had her own reasons for being so stoic- proving herself to her (adopted) father, Chairman Ikeda Osamu. Also understandable. You don't often see cold-hearted female protagonists in k-dramas, so this was a welcome change. As for Oh Ye-Jin, I liked her being so feisty. I did not, though, like her being comic relief. I feel like it definitely threw off the tone of the show. Not completely, but it was jarring and felt unnecessary. But she's still a good character, although she feels more like a side character rather than a main one. Regarding the other female characters, I'm interested in seeing how Baek So-Young's story unfolds in Season 2 especially with her being the new drug facility manager considering what happened to Kang Dae-Il (another guy I actually ended up feeling a little bad for, somehow?) I also LOVED Bae Geum-Ji, but the writer did her so dirty!
Side characters! Again, I felt bad for Dae-Il. I can't remember all of them right now, but the one I liked the most was definitely the President's Chief of Staff, Cheon Seok-Jung. He's very interesting, and I wanna see what his relationship with Ki-Tae is gonna look like in Season 2! He's so unpredictable! As for Baek Ki-Hyun, I think he's the only traditional hero in this drama. So he seems like he'll play a more antagonistic role in Season 2, especially since he's the more righteous/"good" sibling. Then again, no one in this drama is a good person! You can't trust anyone! 😭 Everyone's flawed, a criminal, greedy, ambitious, and/or selfish somehow. I LOVE IT! Give me more!
Writing-wise, okay, I'm gonna be honest, some scenes felt like they dragged on A LOT. It was endless talking and sometimes I'd definitely skip ahead or lose focus. BUT this was a minor issue, I think I'm used to it now with k-dramas that have hour-long episodes. Again, I don't typically watch dramas within this genre, but... at some point, by the end, EVERYTHING managed to connect pretty much perfectly. When I reached the last few scenes of the season finale, I was like, "What? Oh... oh. OHHHH!!!! OH SHIT! WHOA!" Excellent. Just excellent. Honestly, each episode could've been its own movie, because I feel there was just... not enough exploration. Depth? It felt too short! In the words of Michael Irvin from that one commercial, "We want MORE! WE NEED MORE!" This show definitely suited its genre though. A political crime thriller mixed with action, mystery, law, political intrigue, suspense, and just the right amount of drama. No romance necessary. It's basically a Korean Death Note with politics, drugs, and morally grey characters everywhere. And the MUSIC was great, too! Very subtle BGM, but it suited the setting and fit the mood incredibly well. A drama like this doesn't need some OST, instrumentals do just fine. And I like the opening theme/sequence too.
Would I rewatch this? Yes. I believe that this is one of those dramas you HAVE to rewatch in order to fully understand everything. When I say everything is connected, I mean EVERYTHING (mostly) is connected somehow, in some way, shape, or form. I highly recommend this k-drama, it is SO underrated. Definitely a diamond in the rough. The acting is amazing, the music is awesome, the directing is pretty perfect, the characters are flawed and the writing & pacing have minor issues, but they can mostly be overlooked, and the story itself is very interesting. My score? 10/10.
I think you'd like Mine, The World of the Married, The Promise, Angel's Temptation, Vengeance of the Bride, A Place In The Sun, Angel's Revenge, Miss Monte-Cristo, Queen of Ambition (it had twins, though), and Glass Mask! But you're welcome, I hope you find a makjang that you truly enjoy! 😁
Here are some makjangs I generally recommend:
The Penthouse - my favorite k-drama, though season 3 was NOT necessary
Mine - very intriguing, and unique in the fact that the FL... was a lesbian. Yup. We love GL rep here!!!
Temptation of Wife/Cruel Temptation - EXTREMELY famous SBS daily drama, there's been so many adaptations and remakes of it
Angel's Temptation - the male version of Cruel Temptation. Simply divine
Queen of Ambition - more political-based/melodramatic with a villain protagonist. Highly recommend it though
The Promise/Heaven's Promise - another famous daily drama (KBS2) with female identical twins, Lee Yuri stars in this one
Secrets and Lies - EXACTLY as the title says. This 2018-2019 MBC daily drama is the Korean version of Rubí, idk if you watch telenovelas, but Shin Hwa-Kyung (the villain FL) is so greedy, unrepetant, selfish, yet confident, charismatic, and beautiful... you just can't help but root for her!
Queen's House - another KBS2 daily drama, it finished last year, Ham Eun-Jung (who's in First Man) stars in it
Band of Sisters - if you liked My Father Is Strange, I think you'd love this one, it balances romance, revenge, comedy, drama, corporate wars, and tragedy PERFECTLY (in my opinion)
Mysterious Personal Shopper - probably the only "psychological thriller/noir" type daily drama I've watched. The SFL here is a victim who gets corrupted over time, which is unique
Yellow Boots - 2012 tvN daily drama, another Lee Yuri banger!
Vengeance of the Bride - Park Hana is in this one, I enjoyed it a lot! Plus the chemistry between the FL & ML? I don't care for romance in revenge dailies but this one was to DIE FOR!
Wife Returns - female identical twins & revenge! But here, the rich & smart twin avenges the poor twin, who disappears mysteriously after a fight with her first love's new wife...
Miss Monte-Cristo - I personally liked this drama, especially since the betrayed FL goes to *great* lengths to get the revenge she wants. Including murder!
Eve - solid revenge makjang drama, the ending is open-ended, but I enjoyed it! We had a complex FL here
Hope you find something you might like! My lists on my profile might also help you find the perfect(?) makjang!
As unrealistic as they are, they DO reflect reality to an extent. Chaebol families are INSANE! And so are some Korean rich folks. 😂
This daily is INCREDIBLY cinematic. It doesn't even look like a daily drama, the quality is PEAK! As for Jung-Ran, I was hoping that she was more... menacing and scheming? But she just seems like a trashy idiot. I love Kim Hee-Jung but her overacting in these kinds of roles gets irritating QUICK. 💀 As for Jung-Ran's driver, I've hated every role that man has played in a daily drama, but let's see how it goes here...
Myung-Hee being a sugar baby to pay for Dan-Hee's cancer treatments (it was NOT heart disease) is a very interesting angle. 👀 Jung-Ran will definitely come after Myung-Hee, I wonder how she dies? Lots of questions. I wonder how Jin-Ju/Chloe plays a role in all of this. 🤔
Choi Jae-Sung is an INCREDIBLE actor, he made me hate Park Tae-Ho so quickly!