6
Fake Messiness
The drama started with enough intrigue to keep me curious for where it was heading. However, it quickly became apparent what type of drama this was going to be. Things were messy and over bloated with way too many plotlines that were forcefully connected to the mother's pregnancy to give the illusion of a grand story. Most of these plotlines didn't get the treatment they deserve and were brushed off hastily, take for example the younger daughter at school. On the other hand, the older brother story with the gang business and whatnot was just seriously stupid writing that didn't mix well with the overall story at all. The drama was also painfully filled with extreme cliches at every turn, scene and dialogue, which the Japanese consider mandatory for every 'family' drama. If we were to focus on the mother (and maybe eldest daughter?) then the drama is decent enough.Was this review helpful to you?
Delusional Love
Surprisingly atrocious! To start, reading the synopsis would give you all the spoilers you need as it will play out exactly as suggested. Given the supposed 'moral' dilemma, the drama resulted to shifting genres at around episode 9 to diverge the attention from the characters' relationships when it reached a pivotal moment, which is why we ended up with a corporate corruption plot. This was the main reason why the plot crumbled under its own weight, because the writers couldn't follow through with what they created. Well, it was problematic from the beginning, there was simply little to no room to navigate such a set up for a story where the FL fell in love with her brother-in-law immediately after her sister's death. The plot wasn't particularly unique but other ones at least had a reasonable justification by utilizing a time-skip or concealed identity. All of that doesn't come close to the tone deaf ending where the entire cast were casually hanging out at the bar as the credit rolled.Was this review helpful to you?
Delinquents, Rise Up!
A ridiculous amount of face slaps with every other scene regardless of age and gender which was very fitting for the 80s vibes. It's a surprisingly good well-written drama, well, for the most part. The drama had a solid run checking all the boxes for its first half, but, for some reason, they couldn't keep the same momentum for its 2nd half. There was a significant drop in quality and the story took weird turns especially with that creepy classmate. Maybe its length was problematic for the writer and he couldn't plan for 18 episodes properly. Even the ending was kind of whatever, not much thought was put into it. I will probably only remember it for its first half. In comparison, the remake was the definition of pure manufactured waste. Utterly shameful to have a remake as that one. Just stick to the original one even with the 2nd half being a bit of a let down.Was this review helpful to you?
Kidz Bop Makjang
This was an attempt to make a melodrama from the kids' perspective and there's a very good reason why there's not many like it. Mainly, because it's utterly absurd to showcase this, especially for events related to the kids between themselves. It's less of a problem when it's between the kids and the adults. When looking at the whole picture with the adults, it's a pretty standard watered down melodrama because of the given theme. It wants to be targeted at kids/teens but it doesn't do a good job in that regard so it end up being stuck in this weird middle ground. Earlier on, the drama had plenty of animation but they stopped doing these because they realized how atrocious and unnecessary these were. The story, cast and performance were all pretty average and lazy.Was this review helpful to you?
Too young to care...
It was full of cheap "pseudo" mature themes to grab attention but underneath the surface it was an empty shell of nothingness. The entertainment value was low as well since the characters and their dynamics lacked the necessary appeal to begin with. So what left was the nostalgic late 80s vibes which was nice to see but not sufficient enough to compensate the plethora of shortcomings.Was this review helpful to you?
Mad World
Captivating storytelling and multifaceted characters, making it a standout in the world of Japanese dramas. The drama had a good mystery plot but there were a few things that held it back. The pacing was alright but the lack of a sensible urgency messed up the flow a bit. The drama overdone it with the amount of repetition sprinkled throughout beyond what could been considered functional for a mystery piece, it didn't contribute to the story/characters/themes/atmosphere, just plain repetition, relaying the same information countless times. The cinematography and music further enriched the experience, capturing the drama's haunting and enigmatic mood, however, it could've benefited more from a more unified color palette with its own signature. While it was a great mystery drama but I wish the characters had a better dynamic between them and maybe some deeper involvement of other characters.Was this review helpful to you?
Fly Away!
Not good. Sky high was aptly named to the number of love interests roaming around. Trashy love through and through, every man was chasing the same woman and every woman was chasing the same man. Love triangle/square/pentagon/hexagon and other polygons, it was just plain stupid. The story in general was bad, you can tell just from how they made the setup. This also led for it to have a terrible pacing, the plot involving the leads didn't start to move forward until the last 5 episodes, way too much slacking around for absolutely nothing. Even then, their lack of chemistry didn't allow for anything noteworthy to happen. At the very least, they should've gave it a simple reasonable send off instead whatever they did.Was this review helpful to you?
The last remnants of the school genre
This drama doesn't compare, but it carries some faint hints from Blue Spring (2001). There's a desperate need for more raw and scuffed school themed dramas rather than the over-saturated soft boys trying to act tough kind of ones, even the highest rated school themed ones fall under the latter. The school genre in Korean drama is practically dead and had been so for the longest time, with the excessive use of bullying, hierarchy play, school pressure and fluffy kids' romance. Extracurricular (2020) is probably the only exception from the recent 10 years, along with this drama. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem they're planning a sequel for this one after a decade already passed.Was this review helpful to you?
Goong C-
It was a really hard sell when a core part of the plot was the male lead treating the female lead like a piece of shit, combined with the "oh no he doesn't know how to express his feelings", these tropes are better left in fanfiction. The case was even worse due to the absolute lack of any chemistry between any of the four leads, this was the definition of negative rizz. It got even worse, all of the three leading cast Ju Ji Hoon & Song Ji Hyo & Kim Jeong Hoon brought an utterly abysmal joke of a performance, admittedly, this was their first main role and was totally incomparable with their current performance, all of them went to do much better and bigger things, it's better to forget they worked on this drama. On the other hand, Yoon Eun Hye was pulling the entire thing together, solo carrying whatever left to be salvaged. Her dynamic with her friends and family was quite good, but not with any of the leads. The puppets at the end of each episode were a nice touch, it would have been nicer if they incorporated that in the drama itself. The earlier parts of the drama were generally better, the events in the palace were a bit boring. To build up for the climax, the last 4 episodes created the last point of tension however it was seriously atrocious writing, one of the worst conflicts I've seen a writer come up with. It was just pure bad writing from that point until the last frame of the drama. If they slapped in some random terminal illness nuances it would've been a better serviceable finale. If anything, I'm only remembering this drama for its awful last few episodes. At least it was much better than Boys Over Flowers (2009).Was this review helpful to you?
Goong F
How could they ever think this remake was a good idea? It didn't take more than half an episode to know everything you need going forward. Setting the expectations really low from the beginning. They immediately jumped into the premise with little to no build up. Yer a prince, Harry! Deal with it. The setup was bad, the writing was shameful and the characters were garbage. The main cast members were barely functional and their chemistry was a constant struggle that never washed away. The original Goong had a plethora of problems but, in contrast, this remake made me appreciate season 1 for whatever it had .Was this review helpful to you?
The Answer is Money
The drama epitomized frustration with its portrayal of a braindead female lead whose actions and decisions often questioned the existence of a cerebrum in that skull. The leads consistently made choices that were not only repetitive but also pathetic. Almost every character was repeating the same mistakes and facing the same consequences. A group of monkeys would perform and produce a better result under a shock therapy. The side plots were generally bad, maybe only the ML's brother one was acceptable but the rest were kinda cringe. The drama advertised itself around the bigger sister and her younger siblings (as title suggests too) but the siblings played such a small side role in the story while the love triangle was the main focus. The drama practically ended 6-7 episodes early and the remainder was pure fluff of nothingness. It didn't help its case when the resolution was lame anyway.Was this review helpful to you?
Flamin Hot Cheetos
Being a drama that came out around the late 90s I can see how it might be drawing flak for its take on relationships and societal norms. Deep down, it was all about love, loss, and redemption, painting a vivid picture of intertwined lives against a turbulent backdrop, however, it failed to create a healthy structure to contain the story. The most important first step was to create a convincing scenario and story to sell their flaming torturous love, but what we got was only brief montages during the first episode. Every time they met they were filled the screen with displays of passion but there was no bases for it to carry a good impact, let alone, a lasting one. A core part of the story was the dynamic between the four leads, however, the second couple became much less relevant in the second half which made the new trajectory boring. Initially, the drama was heading somewhere while making a statement with how it dealt with gender roles and societal expectations but suddenly it gave up completely on the idea and resulted to the same old same old, reinforcing stereotypes from the 90s instead of shaking them up. I wonder if the broadcast received criticism from the public? On an unrelated note, most female leads from the 90s speak excessively timid and subdued most of the time for some reason, even when their colleagues of female supporting cast are speaking normally. Anyway, the drama was somewhat alright for its time.Was this review helpful to you?
Brainless Behaviour
This drama was a constant coin toss for me, swinging between great and bad throughout, this included the story, characters, jokes, and, in particular, cases. Every case related to one or multiple subjects around neuroscience for the doctor to talk about, however, some subjects were poorly executed and questionable. These ones were totally forced and stretched thin just for the sake of including them. Other cases were actually interesting. The humor as well was a big hit or miss, especially with the male leads. The drama placed too much focus on the male leads while neglecting the remainder of the cast dynamic. On the other hand, the detective wife didn't fit quite well and it took until the last few episodes for her character to finally blend. The drama had its good moments with its witty humor but it lacked in many areas to be a solid drama.Was this review helpful to you?
Bloodless Behaviour
It's a decent short drama but far from perfect and too many problems held it back. Although it was meant to be on a lighter tone and considering its short format, the drama was passing through a lot of social and workplace problems too quickly despite the drama establishing depth to some of the characters. It created some disconnect and cohesion problems along the way. A possible easy fix to the problem is having it turned into a full 12-16 episodes regular drama. The characters and their archetypes were well established and fit well in their respective roles. There was a lot of potentials to be had in the first place. Another victim to its shorter runtime was the last stretch of the story, in particular the last 2 episodes. It presented the final points of tension and jumped to the resolution very quickly and abruptly. Although it's a decent watch but at the end it was a wasted potentials.Was this review helpful to you?
Weatherless Behaviour
Just at a first glance, the synopsis isn't encouraging to launch the first episode. The only thing left is to check out what were they gonna do with the forecasting setup. They failed to establish why their job is very super important early on and waited a while to do so, nullifying the little bit of early tension it could have had for a good hook. As expected, forecasting turned into a small side plot. They barely done anything with it after a few episodes. The story was straight up not good. Whatever plotlines the drama had, it didn't put enough effort to bring them to the finish line, everything just magically worked out. The writer had no clue how to write and establish human and love relationships. What made matter worse was the non-existent chemistry between the leads. Even further much worse, the atrocious dynamic between the four leads, what even was that?!Was this review helpful to you?
