An ambitious large scale production. The story moves across 4 different locations and sums up to be quite a journey. It tells the real life story of drug lord Liu Zhuo Hua. The drama follows the real events, his life and personality fairly closely. (e.g., the real Zhuo Hua did have 3 wives).
The sheer amount of cast made me confused at times, especially as regards the villains. But this is something not to miss, as the artistic level is quite high. The story becomes more solid and exciting as it progresses. Overall the director had free hands in making this and many scenes are just irrationally and unexplicably good. Like the one in which Lin Qiang Feng free style raps with his musician female friend, or when the normally restrained drug police Li An and Lin Qiang Feng sit down together for a beer in their trip to Myanmar. I wish I had written down the lines, they were so good. And the heads of the drug police force decide on their their two teams' next moves and strategies whilst playing ping pong.
The acting is remarkably good. Duan Yi Hong portrays a very unusual hero as the senior police officer tracing Zhuo Hua for 5 years, many times almost catching him but not quite. Our hero is a very quirky character, who almost never seems to take anything seriously but laughs his a**s off when there is nothing to laugh about. And who likes to sing a lot. But deep down he's very shrewd and above all persistent.
Qin Hao does yet another fantastic role as Liu Shao Hua. Shao Hua turns out to be a chameleon who sheds his skin and becomes a new person blending in and upgrading himself and his operation in every new environment. When we are shown glimpses of Shao Hua as he was in the beginning of his journey in the first episodes, in the final episode, when his brother watches him in TV from jail, the difference is so big it made me dizzy.
For avoiding the confusions I had, it's best to first read about the real life story of the drug lord Liu Zhuo Hua. The essence of the drama is in highlighting the difficulty of fighting drug crimes. The manufacturing mostly takes place in the Golden Triangle, where lawlessness and local armed gangs rule and Chinese police do not have full jurisdiction to operate. The police teams in Narcotic Operation sacrifice quite a lot in going full in the chase of Liu Zhao Hua. The ending shows glimpses of what appears to be real life film shots of police doing drug raids.
Not bad and not very good either, 7/10. More mainstream and less original/creative than the crime dramas I watched simultaneously (Beneath the Undertow 9/10, Narcotic Operation 8/10.
Some people here keep saying the lead actress is overrated, and I'm beginning to get why. First off, I don’t…
the childishness and baby voice were wrong for this role as she was supposed to be a very serious adult woman. On the whole, I agree with you. The case with her father revealed her shortcomings rather mercilessly. The mannerisms didn't bother me in My Dearest Nemesis, because that was fluff and she's at her best in fluff.
I think the Hong Kong flashbacks were giving us false expectations, that this would focus on the romance between Lee Jong Suk and Mun Ka Young. But it turns out we have 5 main characters and that the main plot concerns how they perhaps make new choices in their lives as lawyers. And on law cases that are challenging to them and require them take moral stands, that are not "business-as-usual" cases.
In hindsight, the Hong Kong scenes were unnecessary. I'm perfectly okay with there being 5 main characters, all sympathetic. Ha Sang Gi became my favorite character.
As regards the eating scenes, I think they could have been longer and have more extended discussions and dialogues. Now they show us them giving just one sentence descriptions of their cases, mostly. When they could have had more sessions like the one in which Chang Won and Sang Gi opened up to each other about their situations.
I just can't get over Jeon Chul's death. This is the 3rd time in a row that Kim Sung Oh dies in a drama...First, Alice The Final Weapon, then Unlock My Boss and now this. Justice for Kim Sung Oh! Always such well built roles and cut in the middle of the flight.
Thank you Kwak Do Won for staying alive and not becoming another victim of South Korea's ruthless cancel culture. Wholeheartedly wish him all the best in the future.
This one's really good, in the best Light On tradition. Awesome acting from Chen Jian Bin and Cheng Tai Shen. Chen Jian Bin portrays the social anxiety so well (the headgear, lol. In Thirteen Years of Dust he was a very talkative outgoing character and had the baby thermos bottle as the props).
You Don’t Need to Be Perfect to Be LovedI started this drama with low expectations, thinking it would be a typical…
I agree with you.
I haven't really read many comments but here's my view: If there had been more screentime for ML's dysfunctional family, I'd probably not have watched this till the end. It's stressful to watch monstrous people like ML's mother who only wanted ML to be his dead brother. I think they made a right decision in keeping those scenes at the minimum. The flashbacks were enough to explain ML's troubled childhood.
ML grew to hate himself, accustomed to being just a shadow who as himself was nothing to his family. People who hate themselves do not trust others to love them. That's why he behaved in a self-destructive manner. But FL, seeing him as he really was, gave him a new viewpoint on his life as she went to find him in HK. ML realised that his need to prove himself stemmed from a deep self-loathing. The new viewpoint given by FL and her reassurance - letting him see himself through her eyes - set him free from his twisted way of thinking. These things do happen in real life. People without self-respect self-destruct.
This drama wasn't all fluff and oftentimes the dialogues were really good. Perhaps not as expected, not a typical romance but more valuable bc it wasn't.
I haven't really read many comments but here's my view: If there had been more screentime for ML's dysfunctional family, I'd probably not have watched this till the end. It's stressful to watch monstrous people like ML's mother who only wanted ML to be his dead brother. I think they made a right decision in keeping those scenes at the minimum. The flashbacks were enough to explain ML's troubled childhood.
ML grew to hate himself, accustomed to being just a shadow who as himself was nothing to his family. People who hate themselves do not trust others to love them. That's why he behaved in a self-destructive manner. But FL, seeing him as he really was, gave him a new viewpoint on his life as she went to find him in HK. ML realised that his need to prove himself stemmed from a deep self-loathing. The new viewpoint given by FL and her reassurance - letting him see himself through her eyes - set him free from his twisted way of thinking. These things do happen in real life. People without self-respect self-destruct.
This drama wasn't all fluff and oftentimes the dialogues were really good. Perhaps not as expected, not a typical romance but more valuable bc it wasn't.
Random fact, I have been following the discussion of this drama for some time but only after finishing it, I decided…
Some of my favorite moments were when the other families gathered around to help and mediate when there was violence or quarrels in one of the families.
Random comment: if you like slice of life and youth dramas (instead of pure romance): Northward, and Wind Direction both have even more screen time on the friendship between families. (And that's why I enjoyed them more than OG, although OG isn't bad either).
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The sheer amount of cast made me confused at times, especially as regards the villains. But this is something not to miss, as the artistic level is quite high. The story becomes more solid and exciting as it progresses. Overall the director had free hands in making this and many scenes are just irrationally and unexplicably good. Like the one in which Lin Qiang Feng free style raps with his musician female friend, or when the normally restrained drug police Li An and Lin Qiang Feng sit down together for a beer in their trip to Myanmar. I wish I had written down the lines, they were so good. And the heads of the drug police force decide on their their two teams' next moves and strategies whilst playing ping pong.
The acting is remarkably good. Duan Yi Hong portrays a very unusual hero as the senior police officer tracing Zhuo Hua for 5 years, many times almost catching him but not quite. Our hero is a very quirky character, who almost never seems to take anything seriously but laughs his a**s off when there is nothing to laugh about. And who likes to sing a lot. But deep down he's very shrewd and above all persistent.
Qin Hao does yet another fantastic role as Liu Shao Hua. Shao Hua turns out to be a chameleon who sheds his skin and becomes a new person blending in and upgrading himself and his operation in every new environment. When we are shown glimpses of Shao Hua as he was in the beginning of his journey in the first episodes, in the final episode, when his brother watches him in TV from jail, the difference is so big it made me dizzy.
For avoiding the confusions I had, it's best to first read about the real life story of the drug lord Liu Zhuo Hua. The essence of the drama is in highlighting the difficulty of fighting drug crimes. The manufacturing mostly takes place in the Golden Triangle, where lawlessness and local armed gangs rule and Chinese police do not have full jurisdiction to operate. The police teams in Narcotic Operation sacrifice quite a lot in going full in the chase of Liu Zhao Hua. The ending shows glimpses of what appears to be real life film shots of police doing drug raids.
In hindsight, the Hong Kong scenes were unnecessary. I'm perfectly okay with there being 5 main characters, all sympathetic. Ha Sang Gi became my favorite character.
As regards the eating scenes, I think they could have been longer and have more extended discussions and dialogues. Now they show us them giving just one sentence descriptions of their cases, mostly. When they could have had more sessions like the one in which Chang Won and Sang Gi opened up to each other about their situations.
I loved Lee Jong Suk's acting in this.
This seems a bit clumsy but I'm sticking around at least for now. Gong Seung Yeon is a very good actor (she's brilliant in Handsome Guys).
I haven't really read many comments but here's my view: If there had been more screentime for ML's dysfunctional family, I'd probably not have watched this till the end. It's stressful to watch monstrous people like ML's mother who only wanted ML to be his dead brother. I think they made a right decision in keeping those scenes at the minimum. The flashbacks were enough to explain ML's troubled childhood.
ML grew to hate himself, accustomed to being just a shadow who as himself was nothing to his family. People who hate themselves do not trust others to love them. That's why he behaved in a self-destructive manner. But FL, seeing him as he really was, gave him a new viewpoint on his life as she went to find him in HK. ML realised that his need to prove himself stemmed from a deep self-loathing. The new viewpoint given by FL and her reassurance - letting him see himself through her eyes - set him free from his twisted way of thinking. These things do happen in real life. People without self-respect self-destruct.
This drama wasn't all fluff and oftentimes the dialogues were really good. Perhaps not as expected, not a typical romance but more valuable bc it wasn't.
ML grew to hate himself, accustomed to being just a shadow who as himself was nothing to his family. People who hate themselves do not trust others to love them. That's why he behaved in a self-destructive manner. But FL, seeing him as he really was, gave him a new viewpoint on his life as she went to find him in HK. ML realised that his need to prove himself stemmed from a deep self-loathing. The new viewpoint given by FL and her reassurance - letting him see himself through her eyes - set him free from his twisted way of thinking. These things do happen in real life. People without self-respect self-destruct.
This drama wasn't all fluff and oftentimes the dialogues were really good. Perhaps not as expected, not a typical romance but more valuable bc it wasn't.