michelleoc

Like action? This one is for you!

I liked this one just a touch more than season 1.

Liked:
1) More humor.
2) The team relationship.
3) The music was perfect.
4) The cases and watching how they solved them.
5) Taking us back to a time period before some of the cases to see exactly how they planned to execute their jobs.
6) The acting of the main cast was excellent, with the addition of Shin Jae Ha as On Ha Joon - he was adorable, and sneaky, and creepy.

Difficulties for me:
1) It was so easy for the bad guy to figure out what the Taxi Driver and his team were doing.
2) SO many bad guys. The last scene in the prison, every person there was a bad guy!?!?!
3) To much violence for my liking. I would have preferred that they focused more on the cases and less on the violence.
4) They are easing dangerously close to a romance between the ML and FL. Romance has no place here.

So, if you are an action fan, give this show a try. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

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Should you watch it? Yes, especially if you are into action/crime/violence

This rating is specifically based on my enjoyment of the show. Let me explain...

What I loved:
-Lee Je Hoon was excellent. The scene where he was with the reporters and confronted the killer. Oh my gosh, his anguish. Watch his neck during those scenes, it was heartbreaking. He's got the "cold/cool" guy down to an art form, but you could feel how he cared for his team and the victims they worked for.
-Esom as the prosecutor. I know a lot of people were saying that she was irritating, but that was the way she was supposed to be. I thought her arc from sticking strictly to the letter of the law to moving into a gray area was very interesting. I was looking forward to her joining the team and was disappointed to find that she isn't in season 2.
-The team. Funny, quirky, excellent at their jobs, I loved the found family feel of them. I liked how the writers showed that they were smarter than the criminals. Thank you for not making a romance between ML and hacker!
-The cases. I liked seeing them don different characters to take down the bad guys. I would have preferred if they stuck with a client per episode instead of the last part of the drama focusing on one big bad situation.
-I didn't have any difficulty with the ML always winning every fight. It made me root for him even more.

The reason for my lower rating:
-This isn't my typical genre and I thought it was excessively violent, often at the expense of the story. I was bothered by the language as well.
-Product placement was pretty obvious.
-The one glaring thing for me was, considering how they've been doing business all this time, flying under the radar, the prosecutor didn't have any trouble figuring it out and finding their lair.

I will watch Season 2, but I'm hoping for more cases and less violence.

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A twisty-turny drama about corruption and those that pretend not to be corrupt

Wow, just when you think you know what's going on, they throw in another curve ball. This, for me, required a lot of attention, because there were a LOT of moving parts, and the "good guy/bad guy" dynamic changed quite often. I thought the script was excellent, the actors were great, and I'm SO glad I watched it. Below are random musings...

1) Woo Do Hwan as Kim Min Joon. There are moments you think you might want to hate him and his selfishness, but you just can't. I think Do Hwan is the centerpiece of any show that he is in. There is something so charismatic about him that just commands your attention. His vulnerability, his bravado, his humor, his looks. This man is the whole package. You might forget to breathe when you see him smile, but when he cries, you would like to hold him.
2) Yoo Ji Tae as Kang Woo. He was great in this as the leader of the Mad Dog team, how he wanted to be a lone wolf, but the others wanted to help him and keep him safe.
3) Jo Jae Yoo as Soon Jung - I just have to say I loved seeing him as a good guy. I'm used to him as the baddie.
4) Ryu Hwa Young as Ha Ri - I really like this actress. She reminds me of Park Shin Hye, but personally I think Hwa Young is a better actress and actually has facial expressions.
5) Park In Hwan as the professor. I love this gentleman, he's just so sweet looking. If you haven't seen Navillera, watch it. He was amazing!
6) Jung Hyuk Jin as Moo Shin - he was amusing, and I'm glad he was on the side of good throughout.
7) Choi Won Young as Hyun Gi. He played a good bad guy, script wise, but I kept wishing they hadn't made him so obviously bad. Between his unfortunate haircut and his bad styling, from the moment I saw him I knew he'd be the big bad. Those stupid shirts with half of the tie going up through the collar, I kept thinking he needed to fix his collar! Not a good look. I would have much preferred that they had written him as someone that it was a surprise to find out he was bad.
8) BTS on Min Joon's ear buds when he was jogging. BTS is always a good thing!
9) The "romance" between Moon Jin and Ha Ri - I thought this was really well-written. Very understated, flying under the romance radar. The team knew that they liked each other, but the two of them had no clue. And when he sat across from her at the table and said, "I just want to sit here for a minute and look at you" - be still my heart! And she was looking everywhere but at him.
10) Soon Jung's crush/relationship with the nurse. I loved watching that relationship develop, and I loved that she was part of the team at the end.
11) The developing relationship between the members of Mad Dog and Min Joon. Here was an already tight team that suddenly had to deal with Min Joon's questionable motives. I loved the trust and caring between the team members and enjoyed watching them slowly drawing Min Joon into their circle. And when Min Joon finally called Kang Woo Hyung, all was right with the world.
12) This drama had a good mix of tension and humor.
13) My only complaint was the overabundance of corruption. A couple of people, maybe, but the corruption was rampant in this one.

I can highly recommend this one.

I normally don't care for second seasons of shows, but I'd love to see more of the Mad Dog team.

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Surprisingly fun!

I read a review by someone else and decided to give this show a try. THEN I realized that Choi Jin Hyuk was in it, and I wondered if I'd been living under a rock!

Choi Jin Hyuk could read a cereal box and I'd be all in. He was terrific in this role. His deep, wonderful voice is a given. What I didn't realize was that he can be really funny. He is really good at micro-expressions, especially in the first part of the show. When he was trying to become more human, I just cracked up! A zombie on a treadmill will never not be funny.

I thought this show was extremely funny, until it wasn't. Midway through, the tone turned pretty dark, which I could have done without, but after all, it is a show about a zombie.

The supporting characters were just that - a bunch of characters! The rival detectives were a hoot, and the FL was sometimes irritating, but I appreciated her more once they became partners. And the FL's family? Too funny.

So, if you want a show that you can watch and turn off your brain for a bit, you might like this one. I know I did.

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Weak story but strong heart

Let's get the negative out of the way first -
1) Weak writing and too many episodes. The first episodes were strong, then a big gap in the middle, then the last couple of issues tied everything up.
2) Often felt like a pout-fest. Between Park Shin Hye and Lee Sung Kyung, someone was always pouting.
3) Absolutely didn't buy Uhm Hyo Sub and Jeon Gook Hwan as father and son, there's only a 14-year difference between them.
4) The friend with the restaurant and the guy that quits and hangs out at her house. They could have both been eliminated with no loss of anything important.
5) The ridiculous breakup of the main couple. First, she tells him to change and then she pouts through the next episode. Just seemed like filler to me.
6) They always seemed to be having coffee or drinks throughout the day. I was wondering when they actually worked.

What I liked:
1) The main couple were so freaking cute together! I'm not normally a fan of student-teacher things, but that didn't bother me here. Once the years have passed and the first thing he does are asking if she's married or has a boyfriend, loved it!
2) I LOVED the story line of Yoon Do. Yoon Kyun Sang did a great job. He was true to his feelings throughout the entire drama, but wasn't obnoxious or trying to break up the main couple all the time.
3) I HATED Seo Woo! But that's a sign of good acting. Lee Sung Kyung made this a character you love to hate.
4) I was surprised to see Namkoong Min in episodes 13-15. That was a treat, he's always excellent.
5) Uhm Hyo Sub was also excellent as Seo Woo's father. I hated that character and felt that he got off too easy.
6) A couple of episodes were very touching.
7) Park Shin Hye downplayed the loud out of control crying.
8) Since this is an older drama, it was fun seeing so many actors that I've enjoyed in other projects.

So, it's not rocket science, but there were a lot of times that just made me smile.

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Watch it for Zhao Lu Si

This show suffered from being too long and shifting gears midway through the episodes. I'll address each separately.

The first part of the show was so funny! Zhao Lu Si has absolutely the best comedic timing and a smile that would light up a town. I liked the character of the FL. She wasn't portrayed as stupid or clumsy or stalkerish (except when she was trying to win a bet). She didn't put up with stuff from anyone, including the multiple annoying females. Really, was every female in love with ML? I was thinking that this would be a different type of historical drama. I don't care for palace intrigues so much.

ML and FL were absolutely precious together. One of the obvious plusses of this show was the healthy relationship between the ML and FL. They were evenly matched. She didn't shy away from physical affection. That said, the kisses were pretty bad, and I didn't actually feel the chemistry between them, though they were fun to watch.

The second couple was cute to watch, though initially I found him very irritating.

HOWEVER, the second half of the drama became a palace intrigue-fest, with a would-be suitor that wouldn't take no for an answer "I'll save your father if you marry me", multiple bad guys, framing people for crimes, killing off people, dungeons, etc.

I would say, watch it for Zhao Lu Si. She never disappoints. The women's clothes and intricate hairstyles were nice too. Personally, I don't find the men with the long hair and weird sideburns attractive, but that's just me.

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I enjoyed it just as much as season 1, for different reasons

I have to say, I think I liked the stories in season 1, there seemed to be more variety. In season 2, the whole time was spent looking for the evil "man behind the curtain". I found it somewhat unbelievable that the main bad guy could have absolute control over everything, including all surveillance, CCTV, etc. And then at the end, he just gave away that he was the killer.

My favorite character was still Myung Pil. I loved his relationship with Ho Gae. This was even more spotlighting Ho Gae being the smartest person in the room, which is a little tiresome.

I still can't believe that they killed off Do Jin. I was hoping we would see more bonding between him and Ho Gae.

This would have been much better without the romance. It felt rushed, forced, and I didn't feel any chemistry between them. Seol actually seemed to have more conversations with Se Jin than she did with Ho Gae! I think the drama would have been at least as good without the romance.

Jeon Sung Woo as Han Se Jin was excellent...enough said.

I also loved Oh Eui Shik as Do Ha. With his behaviors and mannerisms, I was never quite sure if he was one of the bad guys or not. I really enjoyed the collaborations he had with Ho Gae.

I know that a lot of people complained about Baek Eun Hye as Sam Soon, the scientific investigator, but I really enjoyed her. She had a different sort of energy than the rest of the cast, and that added a beat of comedy that allowed you to take a breath from all the action.

I think the highest praise I can give this drama is that I didn't need to fast forward through anything. There was a ton going on and it was practically nonstop.

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Not much need to fast forward!!!

The acting is all very good, but I am loving Kang Gi Doong as Myung Pil. He usually plays a nerd/geek/loser type person and he's great in this. He's got good comedic timing and I love his relationship with Jin Hoe Gae. I was especially enjoying it up through about episode 7 when the big bad guy was the focus. That was the only place I felt the need to fast forward.

I do have to say I'm tired of corrupt parents. What is the deal with Jin Hoe Gae's dad?!?!

I am also not feeling the potential romance between Jin Hoe Gae and the FL. He's cold, and definitely a lone wolf. If she's willing to accept the scraps that he's willing to offer, that's just sad.

I wish we got to see more of the fire and paramedics. Through most of the drama, it was the Jin Hoe Gae show. He worked alone or with Pil, and it seems like he's the only one able to solve the crimes. I wish it was a little more balanced.

I hate cliffhangers, but at least I waited until season 2 came out before I started watching this.

If you like police/fire procedural dramas, you will enjoy this.

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A little too odd for me

Personally, I couldn't bond with this movie. She seemed too silly, messy, and immature. He seemed a little too "Oily" - I kept thinking that he'd be a good bad guy, with the glasses and that moustache.

There was too much silliness for me to be able to buy them as a couple. And because of her immaturity, the age difference felt too great.

As a diehard Dating in the Kitchen fan, I'm glad I took the time to watch this. It cemented my thoughts on the series. While there were things that dragged or didn't make sense, the series gave more opportunity for character development. Plus, you can never go wrong with Zhao Lu Si.

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Unpopular opinion here

I realize that I am in the minority here, but this is just my personal opinion, so please don't be ugly. I'll admit that the female voices in this drama bothered me a lot. High and childlike, it might have been better at a slower speed, but since there wasn't much going on in this show, watching it at a slower speed would have made it MORE painful to watch. The only reason I was actually able to finish this was by practically fast forwarding through the entire thing. 24 episodes, and virtually nothing happens between the main couple until episode 17. I hated both of the side couples and there was an inordinate amount of time spent on them, so that the main couple didn't have a lot of time together, comparatively.

I didn't care for the FL character at all in the first couple of episodes. Many things stated that she was naive, innocent or gullible, but to me she seemed stupid and irresponsible. How many times can a person get taken advantage of before learning her lesson? The actress was okay, and she was certainly beautiful.

For the ML, I thought there was too much time spent using too many big words to show how smart he supposedly was. I didn't find his acting believable, and I think this was the first time in a drama for me that I was hyper focused on the ML's complexion. The makeup department did a poor job on him. He had a lot of extreme closeups, and his face was very bumpy.

The chemistry was lacking between the main couple. She tried to make expressions that showed that she liked him, but she just looked silly. He was pretty wooden and unexpressive. The first few kisses were terrible. They got somewhat better later on, but by this time I really didn't care about or believe in their relationship.

Why must they always bring in the random "other woman" that shows up late in the series (I guess that's better than having to suffer through it for the entire thing), that thinks that just because she liked him years ago, he should like her now? And she just kept on and on - woman, learn to take "no" for an answer!

So, for me, this felt like a waste of my time.

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Warning: have tissues handy!

This was a fabulous movie! It made me angry (the injustice of it all...would the result have been the same if the little girl wasn't the daughter of a powerful man?), it was hard to watch at times (when he first went to prison and he kept getting beat up), it made me laugh (all of the inmates! Each had charms of their own), it warmed my heart (the relationship between Yong Gu and his daughter, as well as their relationship with everyone in the prison, including the guards!), then it broke my heart and dehydrated me (the last 20 minutes).

The acting was stellar, especially Ryu Seung Ryong as Yong Gu and Gal So Won as Ye Seung. Yong Gu was such a special character - with his disability, you felt for him when he was trying to come up with words and didn't understand things, but his innocence was what made me love him, as well as his strong, strong love for his daughter. The actor embodied the character completely. The character of Ye Seung was precious. She was innocence personified and everyone that came into contact with her came to love her. She loved her dad completely and embraced the new father figures of the other prisoners and the warden. All of the interactions were so sweet. The awards that both actors received were well-deserved.

The only weak link, for me, was Park Shin Hye. I think an actor less well-known would have been better in this role. Plus, PSH always feels like she's acting to me. I don't feel that she embodies her roles. And when she's yelling and crying, I just feel like she is overacting. She wasn't terrible, but she's just not a favorite of mine. She is beautiful, and the scenes of her outside in the snow were gorgeous.

I held off watching this for so long. If you are on the fence, please watch it. You won't be sorry you did. But don't forget my warning about tissues!

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FUN!

I'll begin by saying that I rented this on YouTube. It's no longer playing on any of the sites mentioned.

I loved the balance between comedy and thrills. That's the way life is sometimes. Basically, a terrorist attack grips the city, and this is the story of people trying to survive. Action, action, action. I think there are fingernail marks in my couch from holding onto it so tightly. I will admit to being a big ole scaredy cat, so others might not have the same response.

Jo Jung Suk - I love him. He is such a versatile actor. Here he played the unlucky, loser ML and you couldn't help but like him. Yoona - I don't love her as an actress, but she did an okay job here, mostly because she was running a lot. Her crying scenes - just no.
Since this is an older movie, I loved seeing so many familiar faces from other dramas I've seen.

If you've got a couple of hours and you want something fun and fast-paced, give this a try.

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It couldn't decide what it wanted to be

My typical disclaimer: This is totally my opinion, so please don't come at me with hate.
I will admit to being a romance junkie. I love sweetness, cuteness, and happiness. I was so looking forward to the pairing of Song Kang and Kim You Jung. But, to me, this one seemed like it was all over the place, trying to find a place to land.

Story: Not original by any stretch of the imagination. I kept thinking that I'd seen certain things in other dramas and the one that stuck out the most was him burning up, a la Goblin. So, he became a demon because he killed himself? If the crazy family member that died in jail became a demon as well, that would have been interesting. So, we've got the past lives that we've seen so many times. I do have to say that the past lives parts were beautifully filmed. Slow motion of her dancing with the swords, her hanbok billowing out, that was lovely. Evil family - check. Red herrings - check. 2ML Lee Sang Yi as Seok Hoon has the look of a villain and they took advantage of that. That character had no purpose other than to show that someone else is pining over the FL. The title of the drama could have been better titled "You think you're a demon? Wait until you meet my family!" Yikes, so much evil. Irritating 2FL that will do pretty much anything to get the ML - check (I am SO tired of this!) Quest for power - check. Everyone in the family has their own wants, they all hate each other and will do anything to gain power. Female hobo that is God - the thing that stuck out most to me was in some scenes they forgot to use makeup to make her teeth look rotten. Then we had the obligatory "things that make you go hmmm" scenes. The police couldn't arrest the bad guy because they didn't have enough evidence? They had him dead to rights, yet they arrested her with no evidence, mainly because she didn't do it! When Koo Won went away toward the end of the drama, where did he go? He went away, but not, he'd come to her at night. And can I just say this woman must be a REALLY deep sleeper if she never knows that he's rubbing her hair, her face, and getting in the bed with her.

Acting: Good, except for the sister of the head guy in the family. She was seriously overacting.

I normally put what I liked at the top, but in this case, I had to rate lower because of all of the above.

CHEMISTRY: Oh, so, good. Both romantically and comedically. They were just such a darling couple together. The wardrobe department dressed them in complimentary outfits, so the attention was on them and their actions. And it doesn't need to be said, but I'll say it, both Song Kang and Kim You Jung are SERIOUSLY beautiful. If I could have seen more of them and less of everything else, my rating would have been much higher.

Kim Hae Sook at Chun Sook. I LOVE her in everything, and when she got killed off early on, I was mad! But here, I was glad of all the scenes where she showed up to comfort Do Hee. The Christmas scene with her, and her family, at gift to Do Hee from Koo Won, was especially beautiful.

I wouldn't tell anyone to run away from the drama if they asked, but I can't really recommend it either. I was so disappointed. I kept holding off on watching it because I thought it was going to be my new favorite. Alas, it was not to be.

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