Park Min

Just like any other profession focused drama, they follow the notorious bait and switch tactic and this drama was no exception. We were introduced to an attorney with a tragic past and a strong motive, he worked on 2-3 cases for the first half of the drama before shifting the drama into a love chase, hypergamy, and hasty revenge. This shift wouldn't have been a problem if it hadn't been so atrocious. Somewhere around episode 9 everything took a change for the worse, including the male lead, who had been a walking disaster since the beginning. Structuring a romance around him was a big mistake; he was unbelievably creepy, intrusive, touchy, and pushy for someone who he met very briefly. His behavior came off as nothing but repulsive while going against the narrative. However, even that changed around the same shift, he began to take the moral high ground without going through any prior development. On another note on the inconsistencies, some earlier scenes had artsy edits which were interesting but none of the later episodes had something similar. It was just a one off thing to gain attraction, again, bait and switch. Overall, the drama had some intriguing elements earlier on but none of them lasted long enough.

I have a thing or two against impervious plot armors that goes to the extremes and this drama was structured around that. The way these characters shrugged off serious injuries and strong poisons without a hitch was just plain comical circus performance. It made the whole series lose its credibility and left this sour taste lingering in your mouth. The characters transformation and development marred the story with crazy inconsistencies and illogical character arcs for the sake of forced progression. Everything went downhill after episode 4, it relied on these outlandish situations that made it way too hard to remain invested. It strained our ability to suspend disbelief way too often to be forgiven. One of the action soundtracks was straight up just a Eurobeat soundtrack, really odd and unfitting choice. Kinda ruined some action scenes. On the bright side, we had Jang Hyuk and some nice action scenes.

Watching a drama with so much narration was kind of weird. It didn't help it case when the leads were whispering all the time with this monotone voice, almost like they were just reading lines off a script. Moreover, both of their performance was quite poor in general, I know they have the talent but not in this drama. The story itself felt like it was dragging its feet endlessly. The ending was a weak attempt at redemption. It rushed major sections with too many skips to rush progression and conclusion but ended up creating even more problems, leaving major gaps to what could have been a very simple wrap up. Releasing another version of Iljimae within 1 year turned out to be a poor decision when they have had learned nothing from the previous one.

Aside from the obvious writing problems, the story itself felt like it was dragging its feet endlessly. Everything became tiring and dull after episode 4. The male lead was on a life mission to become more and more pathetic with each passing episode. Romance? A pale imitation. There was no spark, no cosmic alignment of hearts, just a void where chemistry should have ignited. And then, to compound matters, they slapped in a love square (pentagon?) that was infested with poorly written love interests between any and every one of them. The ending was a weak attempt at redemption. It rushed to tie up loose ends but ended up creating even more problems, leaving major gaps to what could have been a very simple wrap up.

This set up was just terrible— unconvincing, cartoonish, and downright ridiculous. And don't even get me started on that plot armor, it's like they thought they could get away with it. That love triangle was a mess. The guy was just plain revolting, but the real issue was how the writer tried to force us to feel sorry for him. If you're gonna have a crappy love triangle, just stick with it! Another bad habit the drama had was how often they leaned into cheesy drama tricks, killing the narrative and any potential right off the bat. One more thing to mention, I don't know how it's possible but the leads had negative chemistry. Their younger selves had a slightly better screen presence anyway.

I downloaded it from AvistaZ, it's a private torrent tracker that usually have open signups every now and then. That's where I get most of what I watch. Join their Discord to get alerted for invites.

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I downloaded it from AvistaZ, it's a private torrent tracker that usually have open signups every now and then. That's where I get most of what I watch. Join their Discord to get alerted for invites.

The story kicked off with the female lead getting falsely accused of murder and the prince is connected to the incident. So how would they structure the drama around this narrative? They had the female lead spend most of the drama hanging around the prince waiting for something to pop up for the story to move again, which didn't happen until the last few episodes. Unbelievably long and draggy for little to no story or character development. Everything can be summed up with 6 episodes without compromising anything from the narrative. The romance and the secrets were too delayed to care about, instead of laying them out evenly. Which made romance redundant by the end. Aside from the initial few episodes, I don't see anything appealing in this drama.

The drama felt like it was held together with duct tape. Unbelievably long and draggy for little to no story. Everything can be summed up with 6 episodes without compromising anything from the narrative. The drama was infested with pointless repetition that didn't serve any purpose other than stretching it thin. The romance, the identity reveal, and the secret all were too delayed to care about, instead of laying them out evenly. By then, you would be bored out of your mind with no interest left in anything. On another note, the directors weren't paying attention to Yoo Ah In at all, half of his dialogue was muffled and barely picked up my the mics. This isn't not how to make a character speak quietly.

The earlier episodes of the first season were decent and promising but there was a clear and undeniable pattern slowly starting to emerge after a few episodes. The drama was heading in a downward spiral throughout its both seasons. There was no clear direction to its story, I wanted it to remain as a slice of life but even that was not attractive on its own. Each passing episode felt like a downgrade of the previous episode. By the end of 2nd season, my interest had plummeted and it lost any remaining appeal. The only plausible reason for this drama to get a season 3 is if the studio wanted to commit some kind of money laundering/tax fraud scheme. It's never a good sign to adapt something and have its serialization based on public perception. This will most likely result in incomplete stories and padded semi-soft endings unless its creators were to pull through and be the exception. In more than one way, the Anime sphere shifted mostly towards this scheme in the past 6-7 years and it turned into a survival of the fittest type of race. The Kdrama is slowly heading in the exact same direction.

The earlier episodes of the first season were decent and promising but there was a clear and undeniable pattern slowly starting to emerge after a few episodes. The drama was heading in a downward spiral throughout its both seasons. There was no clear direction to its story, I wanted it to remain as a slice of life but even that was not attractive on its own. Each passing episode felt like a downgrade of the previous episode. By the end of 2nd season, my interest had plummeted and it lost any remaining appeal. The only plausible reason for this drama to get a season 3 is if the studio wanted to commit some kind of money laundering/tax fraud scheme. It's never a good sign to adapt something and have its serialization based on public perception. This will most likely result in incomplete stories and padded semi-soft endings unless its creators were to pull through and be the exception. In more than one way, the Anime sphere shifted mostly towards this scheme in the past 6-7 years and it turned into a survival of the fittest type of race. The Kdrama is slowly heading in the exact same direction.

A girl pretending to be the Crown Princess's ghost, a spirited leading lady, and a minor hiccup in the grand scheme of historical tales—the ban on love. It sold itself as this wild, carefree series, promising easy laughs and a blissful escape. However, the writers tripped hard trying to weave in melodramatic and political plots because the original concept was unsustainable for more than a couple of episodes. They birthed these laughable plots and pitiful antagonists in the process. The female lead, originally devious and witty, took this nosedive into becoming this sad, serious persona spouting profound but empty and hypocritical lines. It was hard to believe or feel anything she said or did after this drastic change in character. Again, forcing a systematic change across the board after a couple of episodes. At the end of the day, this is just another poor cosplay show.

The drama had a good selection of cast with decent varied performances. Jang Hyuk working double and triple shifts here. It had some interesting characters, especially Gye Won which I feel we didn't get enough of him. While the story may have been fine for the first half but it took a worse direction in the second half, losing whatever interest and build up it had previously. The keyword here is "odd" regarding the state of the production. Odd and questionable choices of the soundtracks, some of which didn't fit. Odd and questionable shot compositions and editing. Some shots had slightly different lighting or color grading of the same scene. The drama is filled with very long takes/shots that were too annoying after the 3rd time, it came off as a poor attempt in trying to mimic film, most of them didn't hit right. The only highlights of this drama were the intriguing 1st half and the character Park Gye Won.

At first glance, the cast was stacked but that alone wasn't enough. The drama was obviously some kind of a parody on the genre but it didn't embrace its nature. It made me realize the complete lack of parodies in Kdrama in general which is really unfortunate. Hyper intense, extreme overreactions, deranged morals, illogical by design, fueled by insanity, and unhinged characters. However, for this formula to work, the drama needed one of two things, either add more self-awareness, commit to the theme and double down or create a structure amidst this entire madness. Both of which the drama didn't do. Which left us with a half-arsed attempt to what could have been a unique experience. It would have benefited greatly if it had been cut down to 12 episodes. Will remember it for the potentials it might have had.

The story suffered from erratic pacing, cramming too many plots that made it hard keep any interesting narrative. The characters were a simulated circus clown that kept making foolish moves intentionally at every turn. Might explains why it's 20 episodes. The childish love square was another contributor in that regard. Na In Woo's portrayal felt strained, his expressions, intonations, inflections, and emotions seemingly forced to fit the character mold. Comparing it to the original version, it seems there was a notable disparity. Checked a couple of scenes side by side, there's a clear difference in the delivery, as big as expressing an entirely different emotion of the exact same scene. I wonder what was the director even doing? The lack of chemistry with his colleagues was obvious too. He was called to fill in a role on a quick notice with so little to work with in the first place. All of that didn't compare to the abysmal last episode, and even worse, the detestable last scene.

They tried to sprinkle in some fake scripted bland romance in the beginning but they forgot to add the chemistry to the mix and develop it gradually, so it ended up being too delayed to care about. The same thing can be said about the mystery once it dwindled, like it lost its mojo in a heartbeat. The trend continued until the end without ever recovering. To put it simply, the story was dead on arrival from all angles and salvaging it was near impossible. As if that wasn't enough, we had to endure it for 18 episodes. Which leaves us with the saddest part, the cast, specifically the leads. What a fine collection of disappointing soulless performances. I guess FL was kinda passable to a certain degree but the other trio boys were a lost cause.

The drama had no right or reason to get the full 16-episode lengthy runtime. Zooming out to look at the drama as a whole, they turned a movie plot into a fully-fledged 18+ hours of redundant episodes. This was quite apparent, watching the writer struggling immensely at every turn. It's also why the writer incorporated cheap antics to get around the plot, the worst of which were the cowardly sneaked-in time-skips, a deplorable trope. Anyway, the writer must have been wearing his clown costume while scripting the last episode. This drama had no respect for the viewers or their time. We were promised an oasis but we were left stranded in the desert.

Initially, it stood out by highlighting a predominantly female perspective of resilient women thriving independently, offering a glimpse into a world of contentment among a backdrop of mostly antagonistic male characters. However, the typical romantic entanglement, took a central role in a heartbeat as it featured two inexplicably infatuated men competing for the affection of a seemingly unremarkable woman, creating an appalling surreal cycle of rejection and groveling. This toxic dynamic became overwhelming and off putting, tainting the entire drama. The drama stumbled when merging this with a weary political subplot that ended up being unnecessarily cluttered. On another note, the cross-dressing gimmick at the beginning was nothing but a waste of time and a blatant cash grab. At the very least, it should have served as an element to help the characters bond but it didn't. That only started to happen after the identity reveal, not before.