Tia

A Graceful Liar - Lies, Greed, Ambition, and Revenge Within a Family Dynasty

So overall, I didn't hate this drama. It could've been MUCH better, but I didn't hate it. The plot was pretty interesting, and I liked the unconventional FL we had. I didn't hate the ending either, because not every drama needs a happy ending, and this is one of them. It was bittersweet, just like I predicted.

That being said, I am LIVID that YC got a happy ending! WHY? WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT??? AND JW ENDING UP ALONE?! I feel like she got punished far more than YC did- just for stealing her identity and being ambitious & greedy for a little while? I mean, I don't mind that HN and JW didn't end up together- it's what I wanted- but writing it like that just makes me feel so bad for him! 😭 NS's ending felt so lazy to me. Also, there were so many questions unanswered? So those politician guys were introduced for nothing? The model ex & his fate? JW's ex? The drone video of YC killing the model ex? SH's bio dad? HELLO?!

However, the strongest parts of the drama were some of the character arcs and the acting. Everyone did a great job, and even Lee Shi-Ah's acting stabilized later on (it wasn't too great at first.) The best character development has to go to Nan-Suk, who turned around towards the end. Then Ha-Neul, who finally stepped up in the second half of the drama and became the MVP, and then Hye-Ra. While her character arc & storyline was confusing sometimes, her redemption (and Lee Il-Hwa's portrayal) saved it. Jung-Won fell somewhere in the middle, I honestly would've rather seen her become a villain than stay as an anti-heroine or become semi-good. The writers put her character through too much for her to not go completely dark. But I liked that she was introduced as someone who wasn't a good person and didn't take any BS. That aspect of her character was consistent, I loved it.

Worst characters/character arcs go to Se-Hun and Young-Chae. Young-Chae ESPECIALLY. She was a flat, BORING ass character from beginning to end. There was NOTHING likable about her. I hope the few YC fans are happy here, because she got pretty much everything she wanted. 🙄 When you have me liking the final boss more than YOU, that says A LOT! Se-Hun was slightly better, if pathetic at times. But he was a sympathetic guy from the beginning, deceived by everyone. I actually wanted him and JW to work out. I hated how he went dark and it just... went nowhere? Nothing to say about Tae-Seok, I hated him, his actor did amazing, and I'm glad his character is dead. Thank goodness! YIPPEE!

The cinematography was amazing though. This felt less like a daily drama and more like a weekend drama. Things were more intricate and real, there were outside/real location shots and the drama was aesthetically pleasing to watch. KBS2 daily drama budgets have clearly gone up! I love that! The music was also incredible! Especially the BGM, I hope it's released someday. The plot... okay, so the first half was amazing. The second half, not so much. Some parts dragged on. Didn't really mind the birth secrets, but the one with JW genuinely shocked me. It was a very good, well-executed twist. As for the themes, well, I think... they were examined well? Greed gets you nowhere, family can be chosen, and sometimes revenge can hurt you (the avenger) more than the person you want revenge on. Also, lies can destroy a family, your relationships, and people who love each other. Sometimes it's not worth to get power. Basically none of the characters are running Gun-Hyang Group anymore. There was no point in fighting over the company, all they did was destroy themselves in the process.

Would I rewatch this? Not really. Maybe some parts, but not everything. If the ending was a bit better, if some questions were answered, and if some character arcs were changed, then it could've gotten above an 8 rating from me. Nonetheless, a decent drama.

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A (Semi) Deep Dive Into the Tale of Dear X

I rarely write reviews on here... but I will do for this drama because how much I genuinely enjoyed & liked it. Now that I've finished and mostly processed the finale/show, allow me to yap...

So, I pretty much loved this show. It was very dark, I'll say that right now. Darker than most dramas I've watched, and I watched all 3 seasons of Penthouse lol. The atmosphere was perfect. BUT! The cinematography, OST, and the acting? Amazing! That BGM kicked ass too! Also, Kim Yoo-Jung is now one of my favorite actresses... this is my first time seeing her as an adult. She made a seriously great impression on me. It's almost like she became Ah-Jin, and it was chilling to see. Kim Young-Dae surprised me as the brooding(?), but flawed and unlikable Jun-Seo... I was never a fan of his before, but his performance was great here. Kim Do-Hoon, who played the loyal but tragic Jae-Oh (RIP to him, he was a real ride-to-die...) I'm checking out more of his dramas. I already plan to watch Moving, because he blew me away here. Lee Yeol-Eum as Im (or is it Kim?) Lena... nothing much to say. She did a fine job. The supporting actors were all great too (it was nice to see Bae Soo-Bin again!)

The story and characters... I will admit, yes, I rooted for Ah-Jin because I love a villain origin story! Did she do terrible things? Absolutely. But I partially rooted for her out of spite, because some of the things people were saying here were wild. I love villain protagonists (YEAH, SHE'S A VILLAIN PROTAGONIST. SHE'S *EVIL!* SUCK IT UP!!!) in general. BUT she was my girl, her backstory with her parents (SCREW the dad) was so sad! It's toxic, it's complicated. Moving onto... Jun-Seo. This is a weird one, because I didn't like him, I found him to be hypocritical and selfish... but that reveal at the end... I didn't expect it. 👀 I'm still confused, though. was he the real villain of the story all along, or was it Ah-Jin? Really makes you think. Onto Jae-Oh... again, very tragic. I didn't like him at first, but when I actually got to know him, I felt so sorry for him! 😭 He didn't deserve any of what he went through, and his relationship with Ah-Jin was so fucked up. Wow, my heart is still broken for him. Lena, I don't have much of anything to say about her, I didn't care about her nor did I like her. I was relieved when she left. Bye, bitch! Love how complex the main/central characters were.

BEFORE I CONTINUE! Let me say right away, I didn't give a single DAMN ABOUT THE ROMANCE IN THIS SHOW. I did not ship Ah-Jin with Jun-Seo or Jae-Oh at all, not even when they were in high school. Jun-Seo had a massive savior complex and Jae-Oh was essentially in a symbiotic toxic friendship with her. I didn't even care about Lena's little crush on Jun-Seo, and even the relationship with In-Kang (that poor man...) and Ah-Jin felt somewhat out of place. (Yes, I know it was a part of Ah-Jin's plan, but still.)

Do-Hyuk... okay, while I think he was a great villain and I loved his slow introduction... he felt... kinda random? I was cool with him getting away with the awful stuff he did since it reflects real life (all too well), but... I think the issue is that he felt underdeveloped. Yes, and ended up being underwhelming. He drove his wife crazy, tormented Ah-Jin, and seems to be this total control freak, but... why? A backstory would've sufficed, a flashback, anything! Ah... the supporting characters. Sung-Hee? Got what she deserved, and I feel like there was no point to her character. And she reminded me too much of Ha Eun-Byul from Penthouse. Probably why I despised her lol, but In-Kang... another unfortunate casualty of Ah-Jin's ambition. Also didn't care for him. CEO Seo was fine. Ji-Sun- I HATE YOU BITCH! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU AND I HOPE YOU DIED IN THE FINALE FOR REAL! GO TO HELL!!!!! (Yes, the actress did an amazing job.) The grandmother is the only one I had some sympathy for, along with the baseball player (Mr. Choi.) I like that Mr. Choi ended up being one of the few decent people in the end.

Critiques? Some scenes honestly felt too drawn out to the point where it was awkward. Lots of staring, lots of silence, interesting shots. It was likely a stylistic choice, but it kinda hurt the pacing of the drama for me. This is common in k-dramas, though, so whatever. Second, Ah-Jin being tormented by Do-Hyuk went... nowhere? It was beyond stressful to watch, yeah. I feel like she should've realized he was "toying with her", then faked being crazy and killed him "accidentally". Now that would've been WILD! Third, the final episode... I'm still confused. Was Ah-Jin really a sociopath or not? Was it all through Jun-Seo's perspective? What was the point of the documentary? Why did Jun-Seo pick up Ah-Jin when she went into the street? And why did Jun-Seo turn on her like that when he was enabling her all along? I loved the final scenes, though. I hope there's a season 2 that explains everything, or bonus/special episodes... something. (I also wish it wasn't a miniseries, but I can't complain.) I guess the ending being open-ended was fine, it's unconventional which is what I liked about it. Sometimes the best ending is a pyrrhic victory- getting what you want, but at the ultimate cost.

My rating... tricky. This is one of the best k-dramas I've watched in recent years. Of course, it's not perfect. But it was intense, I got hooked onto it, and I loved Ah-Jin and her ruthless climb to the top. Nailed it as a psychological thriller. So I'm giving this a 9/10. Would I rewatch this? Uh... probably not. Some parts were definitely heavy for me, I had to either skip it or look away lmao, but this was a great drama. And impressive for my first webtoon-turned-k-drama (which I've never been into/liked, personally.)

Thank you to SunOh and a few commenters on here for recommending it to me and pushing me to start it- glad I fell for the hype!

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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.

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Secrets & Lies: A Modern-Day Sageuk (basically)

Overall, I enjoyed this drama, despite me disliking or being annoyed by some parts of it. Shin Hwa-Kyung was a fascinating villain protagonist to follow, Yoon Jae-Bin's descent into villainy was lowkey a guilty pleasure to watch, the plot twists were good, and it maintained that melodramatic tone throughout. I could've done with less scenes of Yoon Do-Bin & Jae-Bin's parents (and Han Woo-Chul, honestly. He was a sweetheart but I HATE how autistic characters are written in daily dramas. The only decent portrayal I've seen was in White Lies- in 2008), and there was way too much filler. The constant kidnappings of Han Ju-Won in the late half got annoying.

The veterans/older actors did INCREDIBLE in their roles, Oh Seung-Ah did great as the villain FL here (she won an award for a good reason), Bu-Bae was solid, Lee Jung-Moon was good (but a little OTT sometimes), and Seo Hae-Won... not good at all. The weakest actor in the main cast to me, honestly. She had no chemistry with the other actors and Woo-Jung was not interesting to watch. Hwa-Kyung felt (and WAS) far more compelling, complex, and hell, even better to watch. I'd say the characters I disliked the most were Oh Yeon-Hee (she was written so badly to me, or maybe I just failed to understand her motivations. She was all over the place and came off as incredibly annoying to me), Oh Sang-Pil (an amazing villain, I just hate how selfish he was), and Yong-Shim (Yoon brothers' mom. Greedy, vain, bitch. I couldn't stand her!) I was mostly neutral on Shin Myung-Jun- he did both women (YH & JW) dirty and was an asshole for most of the drama, but his near-death experience literally turned his life around. He underwent a great redemption arc to me.

Generally, I think this drama was about identity, family, and I'd say finding your place in the world. Who you are and what you do creates your version/view of the world. We mainly followed Hwa-Kyung, a woman who just wanted a real family and a stable, "perfect" life. The architect of her spiral into greed and the root of all evil was her tyrannical grandfather, Oh Sang-Pil. Was Hwa-Kyung ambitious too? Yes. Was she justified in her actions? Debatable. Was there a reasoning behind them linked to her difficult childhood? Absolutely. And we can't ignore this detail. She was also rivals with her (adoptive) dad, Myung-Jun. Her "fake" family was toxic, and the only decent people she had in her life were Yeon-Hee, Ju-Won, and Woo-Jung. One of the other reasons why I dislike Woo-Jung is because she weaponized Hwa-Kyung's past against her- like, OF COURSE she'd end up betraying you and screwing you over later! 😭 Hwa-Kyung didn't need to reconnect with her biological father (who ABANDONED HER) if she didn't want, nor was she entitled to!

Now, contrast Hwa-Kyung's life with Woo-Jung's. Woo-Jung, the daughter of a successful news anchor... and she's a child out of wedlock. Myung-Jun's her dad who abandoned her before she was even born. Despite having no (current) father figure, she grew up happy, comfortable, and mostly stable. By default, she assumed that Hwa-Kyung's life was easy because she was rich and the granddaughter of a conglomerate chairman. Although it wasn't, and Hwa-Kyung presented things as such because of the immense pressure she was facing at home. There's some envy at play here, right? 🤔 I also feel like part of the reason why she pushed for Hwa-Kyung to reunite & make peace with her dying bio dad was to fill a void or attempt to make up for her (WJ's) own absent dad in *her* life. But I might be reading into this too much lol

Onto the brothers! Yoon Do-Bin and Jae-Bin! Do-Bin is the righteous, stubborn, and protective older brother. Jae-Bin, however, is the carefree, lovable, and easygoing younger brother. Do-Bin is a producer at MSTV, Jae-Bin is Ju-Won's manager. The Yoon brothers perfectly summarize the themes of identity and family. Do-Bin is secretly the grandson of Chairman Oh (though he remains unaware for a WHILE), while Jae-Bin is not. When Hwa-Kyung finds this out, what does she do? She switches their fates, and basically raises all hell on the Oh family after they try to kick her to the curb. Here, we see Jae-Bin's descent into villainy as Hwa-Kyung masterfully manipulates him for her own means, and he becomes a victim of her greed & lies. But he loves her. He truly, purely, does. And that's the tragic part. Do-Bin, on the other hand, embarks on a one-man mission to expose and take down Sang-Pil... even AFTER finding out that he's his grandson. The guy is incredibly brave for sure. What's amazing, is that even after getting betrayed and screwed over by everyone in his life, he never goes dark. He practices restraint and still chooses to accept, understand, and reach out to Jae-Bin- even when he's at his absolute worst. That's brotherly love... and it's beautiful to me. One of the best parts in the series to me. 🥹

I could go on, but I think I've illustrated my points very well. The music (especially the BGM) was really good, the directing was great (seriously, MBC daily dramas might have some of the best filming I've seen in daily dramas overall, along with tvN!), and the acting was good. If you like villain protagonists, enjoy questioning yourself sometimes, are really into business/thriller-based dramas, love schemes, set-ups, and cliffhangers that make you wanna rip out your own hair, and like morally grey characters, then this is for you. I personally recommend it and this is a daily drama I'd watch again, but only the best parts. Cut out all the filler, and it's WAY more engaging to watch. Onto another drama!

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Karma, Sins, and Lies - It'll All Return

Over the past month I was swept into the twisted, gritty, dark world of the crime, legal & noir thriller, Return. This was a drama I'd been planning to watch for a while. It was similar to Penthouse, my favorite k-drama (at least, one of them), I love a good murder mystery, and I'd never really watched a legal thriller k-drama before. But I didn't get around to watching it till last month. By the time I pressed play on episode 1, I was intrigued by the characters, the plot, and the setting. Then I was on episode 2. Before I knew it, I was a quarter-way through the entire show! The structure made it fairly easy to watch, too- 30ish minutes per episode. I watch daily dramas, so I'm used to it.

Now, onto the drama itself. This is an unfortunately realistic reflection and perspective on the legal system in South Korea. It is unknown if the events that occured in the drama are based on real life, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was. Generally it's close to reality. Chaebols (and politicians), hell, anyone rich anywhere gets away with some of the most horrific crimes and are never brought to justice. Simply because of who they are, their social status, who their parents are, what they do, and how much money they have in their bank account. And more often than not, the poor are screwed over by these types of rich people. There are Kang In-Hos in real life, narcissists who can never truly take responsibility for their own actions. There are unhinged psychopaths who use the law to cover up their crimes with blood money, like Oh Tae-Seok. There are disgusting, immature scumbags like Kim Hak-Bum in real life. And there are enablers, but damaged individuals like Seo Jun-Hee in real life, too. Not a single person in this drama was truly a good person- not even the impulsive, short-tempered, but justice-seeking detective Dok Go-Young. This is the most fascinating part of the drama to me, everything that happened was a cycle. It captured the very title, "Return". What one does to others shall be done to them. It is not vengeance, nor justice, but karma that punishes or rewards the people and their fate.

First off, I have to applaud all of the actors in this drama, who did an amazing job portraying their characters (even with the off-screen drama.) Shout out to BOTH actresses who played Choi Ja-Hye. Contrary to some of the rude things said on here & other sites about Park Jin-Hee in Return (who did this while PREGNANT... insane), I think both women pulled off her character extremely well. In fact, I'll go as far as to say that the second half was even BETTER than the first half, and I heavily preferred Park Jin-Hee's portrayal- and it made me a fan of Park Jin-Hee, too! So I'm definitely checking out more of her dramas in the future. Go Hyun-Jung did great with her performance, too. No need to put 2 amazing women against each other. Lee Jin-Wook... it took me a while to realize that he was the guy from Squid Game season 3 lol he looked totally different! His portrayal of Detective Dok actually grew on me after some time. He was still frustrating, but somewhat rootable. A great foil to Ja-Hye. Jung Eun-Chae... okay, so I didn't care much for Geum Na-Ra in general, but she definitely had that good underdog arc. I guess I just didn't understand it till I got to the last episodes. She wasn't a bad actress, fairly alright.

Then, we have the 4 evil princes. Or 4 bastards/assholes, as I love to call them. We gotta start with Oh Tae-Seok, the entitled, psychotic, and twisted CEO. This man drove me insane, I loved how ruthless, selfish, and evil he was, but I also hated it too. Shin Sung-Rok did TOO GOOD of a job portraying him, it's almost like he enjoyed it! His performance was chilling! (I am aware he's not like this in real life lol, I'm just passionate about him now.) Definitely checking out more of his dramas too. Tae-Seok got the ending that he deserved. Now, Kim Hak-Bum! The biggest scumbag of them all! He's done downright abhorrent things, especially to women. Bong Tae-Kyu really impressed me here, I didn't think he'd be able to pull off playing a nasty sociopath like Hak-Bum, since he usually does comedic roles, but... he did. He was probably the second-best actor in the cast. Kudos to him. Next up is Seo Jun-Hee... and again, has Yoon Jong-Hun ever, and I mean, EVER been truly happy in his dramas? This is the THIRD TIME I've seen this man portray someone do something horrible and then get put through the absolute WRINGER for the rest of the show! GODDAMN! *PLEASE* LET THIS MAN BE HAPPY IN A K-DRAMA FOR ONCE! 😭😭 I love him so much! Jun-Hee was one of the most tragic characters in the entire drama, and at least he had a conscience! I'm starting to feel bad for the actor himself! Finally, Kang In-Ho, our... flawed anti-hero? I guess? Perhaps he's a villain of circumstance. But he becomes the main suspect in Yum Mi-Jung's murder, which complicates his life. Park Ki-Woong played him flawlessly- a cowardly narcissist who hides behind his money and his family's name. He was very, very complex.

As for the root of all evil, Yum Mi-Jung, I hated her. I was actually relieved when she died. And even happier to find out who actually did it! She did a great job in pissing me off. I liked the side characters too, especially Kim Dong-Bae, his blind mother, Ja-Hye's paralegal, Kang Young-Eun (I think), and Kim Jung-Su. I think I've already covered the themes. But I will say this: this drama is what happens when the legal system fails due to the power and influence of wealth. It breaks people, causes injustice, and radicalizes them. Just like what happened to Ja-Hye, who ended up being an extremely tragic figure. I didn't mind having no romance in this drama (I personally am looking for MORE k-dramas without romance or ones that don't really focus on it.) I'd definitely recommend this one.

The BGM/music was probably the best part of this drama lol, specifically the BGM. I loved the main theme too! And the directing was incredible. There were some minor pacing issues and a bit of filler that was annoying (mainly the comic relief/weird commentary with the officers & detectives at Go-Young's police station), but I didn't mind it too much. My verdict? A 10/10 drama for me right now. Yes, even though the ending broke my heart. It was still a great watch. The rating might change, overall I loved watching this drama. I 100% recommend it to anyone looking to get into crime dramas! Don't let the recast scare you away! They're nothing new in TV shows lol

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