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Not a typical teen drama
This is not actually a romcom, it's not very lighthearted or cute. Teen dramas tend to be dismissed easily as just that just bc of expectations. This is neither too dark or too light imo. The theme is rather universal, whether to stand up to fight injustice, or to go with the crowd which is always easier. Very few people can stand strongly behind what they see as right and ethical when the rest just have an easy time not caring. School bullying and burnout due to insane pressures and competition are also rather universal I guess, not only happening in SK. Also the rich/poor divide is strongly accentuated here. The romance thread is nicely executed. In good taste. This is far from a perfect k-drama but worth watching nevertheless.Was this review helpful to you?
You will not get this if you haven't watched Boys Over Flowers
I see so many reviews that assume that this is just the typical teen/school drama. It's not, it's a satire of teen dramas and more explicitly a satire of Boys Over Flowers. When I say satire it's for the lack of a better expression, should say "lovingly made satire" that respects yet is a hilarious tongue-in-cheek satire of BOF. Also, it's not being a cliched rom com, it's an homage to cliched rom coms. There are so many wickedly intelligent undercurrents that only a seasoned k-drama addict (this is the 114th k-drama for me) will get. So sorry, but if you really haven't watched BOF, you'll only get about 20 percent of the meaning. Where should I start? The violin, closing off the school rooftop, the mother paying off poor gf, I could go on and on. Yet I guess you can sill enjoy even if watched as a typical teen or school drama. Because Rowoon is just perfect in this role as the dreamy handsome prince, and the FL can rather effortlessly carry the whole thing since she's present about 90 percent of the time. She's just right and rarely overacts. The other characters have less work to do in terms of development, but the rude 2nd lead is written as pleasingly ambivalent, not knowing himself whether he is himself "in role" or outside of it. And as always, there's no limits to the philosophies and lessons you can make out of the plight of the characters having to be either monotonous robots saying pre-written lines, or struggling to become independent persons. One last thing: the set designer would have earned an Oscar for his/her work. There's so much to look at from the fairytale-like scenes to the FL's home and bedroom. This was really done with the highest level of ambition possible. Full applauds! The weak side of this drama is the same as in most k-dramas: there is not enough material for 16 episodes. It starts to get very repetitive around the 11th episode. It would be just great if the industry could agree on making 14 episodes the standard length. My last word: when you say "cliche" I say "classic ." Like in the Dramaworld series, it is clear here that showing cliches is out of love for them. Personally, I love my classics like a seasoned k-drama lover would.Was this review helpful to you?
Who is the Wolf King
Crime & action drama that is not boring for a minute. The police are hunting for the leads the Northwestern Wolves gang . WZQ's character is a cop who goes undercover to the gang to find the Wolf King and his mother who also was an undercover police and has gone missing.I liked the fact that the police were as smart and insightful as the gang members in the cat and mouse game. Especially the veteran police chief actually calling the shots was satisfactory to me. Oftentimes the police bosses in crime dramas are just bullies and obstacles.
But overall this drama is lacking in character depth. The first half is more interesting than the 2nd half. Lots of new antagonists appear out of nowhere as older ones are killed off at a steady pace. A high body count in this one.
WZQ acting range is great, and one the reasons why I chose this one. But lots of screentime with close up shots are dedicated to obnoxious villain Fei for reasons known only to the director. The character was not interesting at all and almost became the main character.
I wouldn't whoheartedly recommend this but if you're longing for action and adventure you definitely will be entertained.
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Revenge destroys those who engage in it
Excellent writing. A drama that tackles important problems and makes you think. Nearly perfect, imo. Gripping, intense and intelligent (expect those moments when Kim Nam Gil becomes an immortal superhero fighter but after Good Boy we don't care about that lol).Kim Nam Gil and Kim Yang Kwang are perfect in their roles. It's very difficult to make a villain role well without resorting to the usual twisted grinning psycho mannerisms, but Kim Yang Kwang supercedes all that. Remarkably. Kim Nam Gil is back with another emotional, controlled and fully immersed role after Through the Darkness (we will now forget that Fiery Priest 2 ever happened).
I give this drama a rare 9/10. Binged it in 2 days without needing any breaks, without skipping any parts. The reason why this is not a 10/10 is that the Gong and Go gangster crews had too much screen time. They were less interesting, and I think this drama would have stronger without them.
The writer deserves an award for the script. How tackle an eternal problem in a way that makes strong story and experience, is not an easy task. The director created many magic moments and the pacing was perfect.
Some of the most memorable moments and aesthetics: the moment when Kim and Gong lied dying on the floor facing each other. Kim Yang Kwang in all-white in the smokey haze, looking like a god almost, blood oozing from his chest.
The most memorable line: Revenge destroys those who engage in it.
After all the morally questionable revenge dramas this is something that can't be said often enough.
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Interesting premise ruined by sloppy writing
Frankly, I'm glad this is over and it definitely will not linger in my mind unlike more substantial dramas.The dual personality problem promised psychological depth which in the end didn't get explored deeply enough. I was expecting a lot of character growth to take place but it didn't happen.
I enjoyed the first episodes but somewhere around ep 6 the plot went haywire, sidetracked from the main characters and got rather nonsensical tbh. What I liked most is PJH's acting (of course). Also liked the very strong FL lead: more of this type pls! Hwang Hee's acting in the last ep showed an amazing range of emotions. Hopefully his next role is not a villain role. The queen character was unlikeable all the way. The more a drama has purely unlikeable characters the less I tend to enjoy it. It would have been more interesting if Yeon Wol's warrior protectors (Wind Knife) had had a bigger role in the drama. Almost nothing was portrayed about their aims. What was shown came too late, in the last episodes.
The court scheming and politicking was boring. In a purely fictional drama, why give it such a big role. All in all, the psychology of Sajo Hyun / Ak Hee got only a superficial treatment. The damn shaman was a main character when a small support role would have sufficed. No offense to the actress who did great like she always does. 7/10
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Breakfast at Tiffanys's inspired k-drama
Doona is a slice of life drama with a very carefully built slightly melancholic ambience. Fantastic acting from Suzy and Yang Se Jong. This reminded me of Age of Youth, which I like a lot. Especially the second couple. Maybe it was somewhat difficult to relax bc from the beginning it was kinda clear there would be no happy ending. But all the time I when I was watching I was getting Breakfast at Tiffanys vibes. There were definitely similarities, but that just made me appreciate this drama more. Especially Yang Se Jong's character was very similar to Breakfast at Tiffany's male lead, outsider-ish, ordinary and rooted. Suzy's character was unconventional and slighly unbalanced like Audrey Hepburn in BaT. Also, both were tied to a man from their pasts. I really enjoyed this a lot and I think the writer and director created a very good, unconventional k-drama. I'd give a Daesang for Suzy for her role. I know more trashy and popular dramas will get the awards make the headlines, but I guess that's okay, since this was just right for me.Was this review helpful to you?
Quiet and slow drama which is perfect for book lovers
This drama is really different. The main character is the small town, in a sense.There's a quietness and slowness and an overall ambience in this one, it's very controlled in an artistic sense. The drama uses a lot of season metaphors, and as a season it's definitely November with November feelings. Cinematography is beautiful. The drama is slow so I felt it was better to also watch slowly, some 15-20 mins a day. That way I could enjoy the townspeople interactions, and the range of characters. Lee Jae Wook's acting and character were particularly delighful.
What also was really likeable and fun, was the book club, with the old and young members mixing. And the bookshop as a setting, cosy and warm. In contrast FL's house and family were cold and icy.
The two main characters past and traumas were less interesting to me than the townspeople scenes. The drama wasn't really that romantic - I had expected more and the romance was kind of empty (purposefully and in line with the psychology and past of ML & FL characters but still something of a letdown). I didn't fully understand the main characters, especially the ML remained a mystery. This is because we get to learn about the main characters and the two families' past very slowly. The past comes to light mostly in the latter half.
So this takes a lot of patience and it's not for moments when we need entertainment or quick rewards. It's a perfect drama for book lovers and I definitely didn't waste my time putting an effort to watch such a different drama.
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