Manda

I have seen Life on Mars - I've noticed how casually police brutality is treated in a lot of dramas, and Life on Mars was a standout one in some ways because even sweet Officer Yoon was mad that a cop who was abusing his power was being appropriately punished, as if such a thing should be accepted without a word.

Same for the female cop in Children of Nobody - she acted violently several times, but it was hardly brought up. She showed signs of some kind of mental issues but no one questioned her ability to be a stable, unbiased cop.

This is where Red Cry is flawed - what happened with Bit-Na, too, is awful. She not only didn't want harm to come to her mother, she had hope that there could be a reunion under better circumstances in the future. The last thing she ever wanted or needed was to see her mother's dead body. In this way, Red Cry was as guilty as the officials because while they were listening to what children said on the surface, they didn't really hear them. I think this is because of where Red Cry comes from - their own traumatic past, which is the entire foundation on which they're judging and dealing with others. It's literally like a cycle of abuse.

I'm so with you - I would not forgive the stepmother at all, and wouldn't want contact with her either. I feel like I should admire Woo-Kyung for forgiving her, but the way she watched her stepmother and the bio daughter at the end felt like she was on the outside looking in, so did she really forgive the stepmother either or is it all playacting to try and force some kind of normality?

It's a good way to look at it, although it still makes the ending a very bitter pill.

Accusing family would absolutely be difficult, though easier I think in cases where children are involved. I still wonder though, just how much did our leading lady really see her stepmother as her mother? There was a lot of darkness there, subconscious or not. The ending felt like Woo-Kyung looking in from the outside whilst her stepmother made new memories with her biological daughter. It felt less like a family situation and more like burying heads in the sand for the sake or your final point - trying to live a normal life.

Maybe it's cultural? Personally I wouldn't be able to live like that. I wouldn't be able to forget, especially not when that person had not been held responsible or punished in any way. So the ending was very hard for me to relate to.

I'm very similar - in fact, I often found myself struggling with some themes in this drama because it says that no human has the right to judge another (this was one of the biggest criticisms made against Red Cry). But then it lays all responsibility for judgement at the doorstep of law enforcement and the justice system, which has been created and upheld by humans lol. And I've seen enough fiction and also read enough real life news reports to know that the justice system is no perfect example of morality or reasonable judgement. It's not as if flocks of angels go through the police academy or become judges.

In this drama, we see the endless box-ticking and posturing of officials leading to children being returned to their abusers. We see the next generation being failed on an epic scale, and yet people in the system scratch their heads and wonder at the state of the world and how it came to be, like it's a shock. There are some people within that system who see it for the sick joke it all is, but what can they do when they stay firmly inside the boundaries set up around them?

And the drama ultimately ended with a 'thank god it's over' tone when in reality, we're left watching a woman who killed a child and hid its body never having to take true responsibility for her actions, never facing punishment. To me, she never showed a level of genuine regret or responsibility over what she did, and that's made thousands of times worse by how she disguised her act by using her own child like a cuckoo in the nest. Now she gets to live happily with that biological child, what a great payoff for a child killer.

I think a powerful part of this drama is forcing people to think about Red Cry's motivations. It's easy for me to see how a 'justice system' more concerned with appearances, laurels and greased palms can create something like Red Cry. If dramas and news reports are anything to go by, officials like Ji-Heon are rare treasures.

I really do love this drama, I just can't shake the bitter taste left behind by the ending.

I loved this drama a lot - the early descriptions released didn't give me much to go on, so I felt like I was going in mostly blind. But from the very first episode I was interested in more which is unusual, it usually takes me three to four episodes to get immersed.

This was my first experience with a drama where I actually got impatient for the next episodes. And that's even though I was quick to suspect the main antagonist(s) and felt sure who they were by the halfway point in the drama. Even though that should have been 'game over, nothing to see here' it really wasn't. It was so well-crafted that I wanted to keep watching for secrets, revelations and understanding.

There was some outstanding acting in this too. I don't see him mentioned too often, but the man playing the dog butcher character was incredible. He made me feel so revolted, hateful and nervous every time he was onscreen. And N broke my heart.

It's dark, for sure, but has some important and fantastic commentary that shouldn't be looked away from. My only disappointment was the ending, I felt that a certain character never got to understand the severity of their past actions and never truly felt regretful or received appropriate punishment in any form from anyone. I feel like they were never made to take responsibility, which impacted the way I received the drama's various messages.

In my opinion it's nowhere near as good as the original, even though it tried hard to keep close to the story. To make it complete as a single season (although it's left it open enough that there could be more) they rushed things and left out stuff that was pretty major in the original.

The actress was okay, but not as good at making distinguished identical characters as Tatiana Maslany. In the original, I knew when it was one clone pretending to be another. In this one, not so much, unless it was the Helena character doing it because her quirks were horribly over-acted.

I actually liked the Paul character, Makio, more than the original for some reason. Maybe because he was less shady and vague by the end, and had more sympathetic reasons for being in his current position. But otherwise the drama's not everything I hoped for.

And what was with that soundtrack? It's jarring when during a dramatic moment you get what sounds like hotel foyer music!

Yeah, for these reasons I don't like love triangles and it really hurts my opinion of a drama when one is forced in to the point of affecting the story and changing the characters for the worst (especially if the drama pretends that it's changing them for the better!).

I'm usually more of a fan of the second male lead, who is much more likely to be my kind of guy. But the love triangle sometimes changes him, too, where he becomes entitled and force-hugging and yep, as you said, gives the impression that he'll never love anyone else again.

I've seen so many dramas where the male leads have serious personality problems, too. Boys Over Flowers, for example. I love Min-Ho but I never would have been able to forget Jun-Pyo's earlier behaviour and would have had problems with how pushy he is. Stuff like that makes a second lead so much more attractive, and it makes it so much harder when the usual love triangle mechanics ruin everything.

I find myself unable to understand the female lead and put myself in her shoes, and begin to feel frustrated and resigned. I no longer care about the inevitable end to her story.

An exception might be While You Were Sleeping. I found that setup to be better than normal.

Although I would still find it a little stupid, it would make a tiny bit more sense if Woo-Kyung herself was the accidental killer. The dad would be more willing to cover it up for her sake, and it would be a great opportunity for the stepmother to bring her own daughter into the family. Not what I'd call a win win, but none of these people seem normal to me

I actually thought most of the soundtrack for Are You Human Too was great, it might be why the drama was extra endearing to me despite its flaws. A great soundtrack can change the entire drama or movie.

I agree that AYHT had controversies, and its ending was disappointing, but I enjoyed it and I think it's one of SKJ's better drama choices. The soundtrack was definitely part of the reason I liked it. I think the best songs, including your pick of "Love", are "For the First Time", "Tell Me" and "Who You Are".

Definitely male hands. I was obsessing over little things every time he was on screen - I even wondered if there was significance to him using a spanner on Ji-Heon in episode 22, and if Red Cry is really Eun-Ho. I'm even wondering if Red Cry is a group of people. One for expert coding for the chatroom, one for the leg work etc.

I'm also suspecting the child therapist, he gave off some really creepy vibes when CWK met with him. He'd have access to the kind of information needed to know where children will be, what their parents did etc. He might even have been confided to by Ha-Na.

I think this show is even pretty cool for non-gamers because the main leads both seem to not be involved gamers themselves. The minute the leads start spewing the jargon and getting involved in concepts viewers don't know and don't particularly care about is the minute that this show would lose a wider audience.

Thankfully I think it's pretty appealing. I'm a gamer but my non-gamer friends and family are loving this too, and don't need me to explain anything to them. In fact, it's giving me more to talk about with them and bridging gaps in interest.

Best Screenwriter (and for which show?)
Song Hye Jin [Hundred Million Stars From the Sky]

Best Director(and for which show?)
Choi Jeong Gyoo [Children of Nobody]

Best Korean Drama of 2018:
Hundred Million Stars From the Sky

Best Korean Movie of 2018:
Be With You

Best Mini Series/Web Drama:
Hymn of Death

Best Romance Drama:
Are You Human Too

Best Comedy Drama:

Best Romantic/Comedy Drama:
Terius Behind Me

Best Historical/Sageuk Drama:

Best Family Drama:

Best Action/Thriller/Suspense Drama:
Children of Nobody

Best Melodrama: Hundred Million Stars From the Sky

Best Actor:
Seo Kang Joon [Are You Human Too]
Seo In Guk [Hundred Million Stars From the Sky]
Lee Yi Kyung [Children of Nobody]

Best Actress:
Shin Hye Sun [Hymn of Death]
Jung So Min [Hundred Million Stars From the Sky]
Jung Eun Chae [The Guest]

Best Supporting Actor:
N [Children of Nobody]
Oh Dae Hwan [Room No 9]
Lee Joon Hyuk [Are You Human Too]

Best Supporting Actress:
Kim Jae Hwa [Room No 9]
Go Min Shi [Hundred Million Stars From the Sky]

Best Up and Coming Actor of 2018:

Best Up and Coming Actress of 2018:

Best Villain:
Human Nam Shin [Are You Human Too]

Best Idol Actor(or Actress):
Seo Kang Joon [Are You Human Too]
N [Children of Nobody]

Best Couple:
Seo Kang Joon and Gong Seung Yeon [Are You Human Too]
Seo In Guk and Jung So Min [Hundred Million Stars From the Sky]

Best Bromance:
Kim Dong Wook and Kim Jae Wook [The Guest]
So Ji Sub and Kang Ki Young [Terius Behind Me]

Best OST:
The Third Charm
Are You Human Too
Hymn of Death

As much as I love the characters in SHR, I think the show suffered from having too many of them and giving them all a fair chunk of focus. When you juggle so many characters, and involve their individual lives and plots, it really takes away from the main story's trajectory. I enjoyed the show but would find myself delaying watching new episodes because I had to build myself up to it, which is not a good sign.

Ahh, me too tbh. Which sucks because I'd love to see a good healthy romance, and yet I can't chew through all that fluff and sparkly crap that seems to come with most romance dramas.

Thank you for this article! I especially love the inclusion of Are You Human Too here. For all its faults and flaws, I feel like it was a show that delivered a story well and masterfully hinged a lot of it on the dynamics of Shin-III vs Shin (thank you so much, Seo Kang-Joon, for this performance).

I'm so nitpicky with dramas that lose momentum or have too much up-and-down with some real sleeper episodes in between. I hate it when precious screen time is wasted on fluff and filler. While I enjoyed Scarlet Heart Ryeo, it had too much padding and a lot of pacing problems, which really got in the way of my viewing journey and a higher rating. Dramas that are lean and hinge on great characterisation are winners for me.

Very true - I watched Nobunaga for him, but for the most part I haven't seen many recent jdramas and I'm very stuck back in the era of dramas like Hana Kimi, which was probably the last time I could have bought Shun or Toma as high schoolers

Thank you for this article - I'm hoping to use it as a springboard to look at a new generation of actors and their work, since I'm very much stuck back in the time when actors like Ogurin and Ikuta were filling those kinds of roles (and could still pass for high schoolers!). I'm totally out of touch.

Ito Kentaro looks a lot like Daito Shunsuke, or am I imagining it?

There was one episode set mostly in Portugal which was episode 11. Other episodes chopped around a lot and showed some of Portugal in short flashbacks, such as episodes 13 and 15. And if you're curious, the Koreandramaland.com website has found the Portuguese filming locations for the drama.

I agree, the first two episodes were great and had the most rewatch value. Maybe it's because of that awesome perm lol.

He seems like someone who wants to choose unique, memorable roles. I can see how the ones he goes for might look like a rough gem on paper, but the execution isn't always good :( it's rare that SKJ is the reason for that though, and he's actually getting a lot of praise for his work.

There was even a clip on Youtube that never made its way into the show, I think it's from the same setting as the poster. It's part of what makes me wonder if the ending was changed at the last moment.

Exactly. They're opting out of a difficult but solid writing decision and choosing a 'safe' ending where they're effectively telling people to fill in the gaps with their imaginations.

They copped out like that with characters too - they made the characters in a certain way, but then felt the need to heap tragedy on them to get sympathy, as if they didn't have confidence that the characterisation could stand on its own.

This ending has no message as a result of their choice. I wouldn't be surprised if all involved wanted to just move on as quickly as possible. Some of the comments on Naver were savage.

I totally agree. I liked that JR's cancer helped YJ to speak to JY and finally communicate, even though I think the cancer was unnecessary and I hated that YJ made her cancer all about her. I really do think that tragedies were being used too much to make YJ sympathetic.

I think the writers were lazy and using very cliche, typical tricks that did the story no favours. They realised too late that what they were making was not unique, enjoyable or profound. I'm confused by their decisions here, the whole team for this show dropped the ball. I have no idea what they were trying to portray any more. The ending we have has no hope for a bright future in it - no one learned anything, nothing was resolved.