This review may contain spoilers
Death Note - But Make It A Gripping, Suspenseful Political Crime Thriller
This is by far one of the best recent k-dramas I've watched. in fact, I'd go as far as to say that it's one of the best k-dramas I've watched, PERIOD! 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! 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 poppy OST, instrumentals do just fine. And I like the opening theme/sequence too.
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.
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 poppy OST, instrumentals do just fine. And I like the opening theme/sequence too.
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.
Was this review helpful to you?
