6
On the verge of meh-ness...
Although it's politically themed drama but it's a watered-down surface-level politics and the excessive overdramatization didn't fit its theme. Repeating the exact same dramatic flashbacks multiple times throughout both seasons further highlights my point. It ended up relying on these melo moments rather than having a better written political drama and a more engaging dialogues as you would expect from a good political drama to have. What also didn't fit its theme is the male lead constant overreacting and overacting for his role. The romance of the main leads and the pair up of the secondary leads were all out of place. On the other hand, the OST was nice, it reminded me of Comrades (2010). The drama is okay if it was your first political drama, can serve as an easy introduction to the genre.Was this review helpful to you?
Weaker than expected
No matter how you look at it, the drama was a missed opportunity for something much better. It's a very dumbed-down secondhand tacky "be careful what you wish for" type of story. Little to no dynamic between the female lead and the witch until the last episode. The introduction of the female lead and her "wish" was definitely a weak start for the drama. Poorly written and executed love interest for the female lead, it wouldn't have been an issue if they didn't give her a trashy pair up but instead something that would serve the narrative and the resolution better. None of the clients were interesting and the outcome was always lacking the x-factor other than the obvious trade off of the deal. At least the drama looked nice and the cast was good enough.Was this review helpful to you?
It's 20 stories mashed into one...
The drama was a one big tournament of who had it the worst. Whose misery is worse than the next person? Who should be the saddest? Who is the least fortunate? It was a constant competition where everyone was competing for these misery points. This is the drama's biggest downfall, having a handful of "sad" stories competing against the main story of the trio. It misses up with the emotional direction the characters were meant to carry and shifts the focus outside the scoop of the drama. It was nothing but laughable and disingenuous when a certain character had to react to 2 sad events at once. The problem also extends to the casual relationships of everyone around them. There was simply just too much interference with the main story to make the drama work. Outside of the misery, there were a few romantic plot-lines that didn't have a place but was forced anyway. Mi Jo & Seon Woo had a full romance story along side all of the sadness going around. It wouldn't be much of a problem if it was good but their story and romance was tasteless, uncomfortable, tacky and most importantly, lacking the chemistry, easily the worst part of the drama. The drama was also leaning a bit too much onto throwing in a handful of plot conveniences when it really didn't need to. These instances could've been written naturally and it wouldn't stick out as much. The most obvious example was Seon Woo's introduction and his initial connection to other characters. The drama sure does look pretty and attractive but lacks a defining identity. The main trio were good while the rest of the support cast were okay.Was this review helpful to you?
Bad
It's nothing but a dreadful watch, following this piece of artificial soulless junk made me wonder why some cast members, who are well off, accept such projects. I feel like somewhere not too long ago writers stopped trying when it came to these high-society themed dramas. A squeaky clean wardrobe, a massive mansion and a handful of dirty secrets won't cut it anymore. The shallowness and the lack of substance made a killer combo for a mind numbing experience. The drama's message absolutely wasn't worth 20 episodes to tell its tale nor was it interesting or entertaining to follow. In fact, they did a goddamn poor job in that regard. I'm fairly certain if you were to pick up any random drama from Park Soo Ae or Kim Kang Woo catalog it would be a guaranteed better watch than whatever this was.Was this review helpful to you?
Could've been worse....
The first 15-20 minutes of the first episode were genuinely bad that it immediately eliminated any diluted expectations one might have had. Dodgy edits, poor direction with abysmal shot compositions, dead sound design, trash dialogue exchanges, and an inept delusional writer who thinks they can write more than two coherent sentences. When taking everything into consideration, no wonder this was broadcasted on MBN. I fault no one but the cast who, which holds a handful of recognizable faces, to partake in this insult of a drama.Was this review helpful to you?
Fell off
Good enough but misses the mark and fails to maintain its momentum with the 2nd half being a significant downgrade to what we were presented earlier. By then, it seems even the cast got smaller including the extras in the background. There weren't as many people in towns or the palace anymore. The ML's kid was barely seen too. Possible budget cuts? The lengthy 20 episodes didn't help its case either. Even if we were to tolerate the downgrade, it's impossible for this drama to leave us with a good impression when every single scene of the last episode was laughably and shamelessly bad. Having two writers might explain why the drama ended up like that.Was this review helpful to you?
lazy
Low effort makjang. A random makjang drama from early 2000s would make a better watch than whatever this was. One of the most crucial elements in makjang is creating tension and this one kept failing in that regard. The tiny teasers at the beginning and end of every episode were nothing but cheap tacky fillers.Was this review helpful to you?
Weak
I was losing my mind by the sheer amount of repeated flashbacks from their past. The exact same sequence of flashbacks was played more than any amount considered to be normal. The doubleganger didn't really have an active role in the drama, you see her once at the beginning and at the end. The chemistry between the leads was quite right. The introduction was interesting enough but once they switched the events to the family it fell apart. There were a handful of members in the family of which none of them were interesting or appealing, which is unfortunate because they occupy most of the runtime. All of them were a copy-paste of the exact bad-rich-scumbag character.Was this review helpful to you?
Wasted
It started off poor with a tacky set up failing to construct a half-assed mystery element, even a thriller one for what it matter. Which broke off the tension right from the beginning. The violent scenes weren't there to contribute to either themes but to be violent for the sake of it. The villains were utterly comical and straight up ruined the drama shamelessly! As if things weren't bad already, they went ahead and turned the whole thing into a cult chase. it's been proven time and time again that cult focused plots have a dangerously high failure rate, yet we've been flooded by these in the recent years. The handful of violent scenes weren't enough to save the drama. Despite all of that, they had the audacity to tease for possible future continuation! What a load of rubbish!Was this review helpful to you?
Could've been better....
It took forever before the story started progressing. It could've been easily condensed down to 7-8 episodes without sacrificing anything. The amount of plot convinces was unbelievable. A common example is whenever a piece of information is about to be revealed, it magically get sabotaged in the most blatant way there is. Throughout the entire drama it felt it was building towards something big but it never got there and the resolution of the culprits was underwhelming anyway. The drama in general was riddled with all kind of problems but the big cast was pulling it up so damn hard.Was this review helpful to you?
.
The drama was embarrassingly lackluster in all aspects. The writing was its biggest downfall, especially how the characters were written, nothing but a major disappointment from otherwise a capable cast. I wouldn't recommend unless you're a die hard fan of one of the cast members. Keep in mind that Gong Yoo isn't the main male lead here.Was this review helpful to you?
A blatantly weak life/family drama
This drama was a one big exhibition of petty fights with a lot of noise and little to no substance. These arguments and fights were the main driving element of the drama and it's important for it to be supported by a good dialogue. Unfortunately, nothing profound came out of any of them. Most of them were "fixed" by clearing misunderstandings from the past. It didn't feel it provided a real development and growth for these characters. Especially for repeated offenders. None of the characters/relationships were appealing. There was no place for romance but they insisted on shoving it in for the last 1/3 to pair everyone. They should've kept it about the family only. I didn't like how they ended most episodes with a scene that wasn't resumed until 15 minutes of the next episode.I was expecting a proper "life" drama grounded to reality but shoving too many tropes ruined it (miscarriage, misunderstandings, amnesia, birth secret, illness, cheating, friends to lovers, hidden past, ex-spouse comes back ..etc). This is a melodrama in disguise!! There was one particular really stupid misunderstanding that lasted over 30 years. The writers weren't even trying! However, the worst part of the drama has to be all the scenes of Eun Hee talking about her love life with Chan Hyuk, these were mind numbing. This drama doesn't have much to offer other than some pretty visuals.
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Not quite there...
I'm kinda disappointed, maybe I expected too much judging by who's behind it. It started off heading in one direction then ended up in a different direction. They took away the focus from the relationship/affair and brought the company issues in its place. The relationship already lacked depth and development but neglecting it in the later episodes harmed the drama even more. Speaking of which, I didn't like how they laid out the story with the any of the characters outside the 2 main ones. There was also no real tension or consequences to the affair. The husband failed to play any meaningful role in the story. The main leads brought a good performance but the same can't be said about the rest. Although, whenever there was a moment that required the leads to act "feeling guilty" it came across as artificial, they could have done better with these scenes. Which brings me to my last point that is the production, it was kinda a hit or miss, sometimes it was wonderful while other times was totally distasteful and experimental. Some transitions were off, as if some scenes were cut short and abruptly. At least the music bits were good. It's still a decent drama but not a one that I would recommend from this genre.Was this review helpful to you?
Underwhelming!
The revenge didn't quench my thirst. While the first episode brilliantly set up the story and introduced compelling characters, the subsequent episodes veered off course and fell short of expectations. The drama started to show its cracks as early as the first third. It was no longer as engaging as its start. It continued heading in a downward spiral shortly after midway point where it started to get stupid and pointless. Stupid isn't good. At that point, any interesting elements it had were gone and it deviated from its original promise. For a drama themed around adults relationships you would expect a better and more profound dialogue but, unfortunately, it always favored the more melodramatic and senseless route. Even then, it wasn't spicy enough to keep me stimulated. One more thing, the last episode was bad. I'm not sure why they had to slap the +18 rating on it when the explicit scenes were tame and scarce anyway. Kim Hee Ae is an underrated actress and I'm glad she's getting more recognition but I've see better from her than this one. Overall, it's an okay drama that ended up being disappointing.Was this review helpful to you?
Good
A fun little drama. Having an entire drama themed around postpartum is something we almost never see in drama. The postpartum club kept things alive while sticking to the theme, rather than spending postpartum at home. It also helps that it was only 8 episodes, otherwise, it would have gotten stale easily. The comedy was decent and kept it light. They actually used real babies which is a must for such a theme. Uhm Ji Won was a great casting choice as the lead mother. I wanted the main couple to have more attention since the drama did a good job starting with them. The other mothers' stories were fine but could've been better.Was this review helpful to you?
