6
A cheap flick
Went from promising to disappointing real quick. Cults and hypnosis/mind-control is the worst combination to make a mystery/thriller/horror drama. It gives the writer an unlimited pass for a lazy writing and this is what we got here. The cast was alright tho.Was this review helpful to you?
Lazy
Soulless and dry. Not a good office romance. All men were creepy and cringe while women were selfish and entitled. Not to mention the dead chemistry with all of the three couples. The story was practically dead on arrival. Painful progression and dreadful execution.Was this review helpful to you?
YIKES!
It's exactly as bad as the synopsis made it sound and its execution was 10 folds worse. I feel sorry for older cast such as Ahn Nae Sang and Kim Hee Jung to have this drama in their resume. The entire drama was disastrous enough but the leading cast was the worst part of it. The actors/actresses themselves and their respective characters were failing and stumbling every step of the way with no chance of recovery.Was this review helpful to you?
Good
Great casting choices, all of them were a good fit for their character. Doo Na is such a natural she always stand out. Glad to see Cha Tae Hyun in more main roles. It's hard to find a mature drama that isn't overly melodramatic or infested with tropes. It started off as a slice of life to get us accustomed with the characters, their backstory and their current status. It took until the last third before the characters began to spill out their guts and get serious. Aside from the supporting cast, all of the four leads were elegantly written, well developed and interesting on their own. It's a solid drama and I thoroughly enjoyed the journey, however, there were a few things that held it from reaching higher. I wish the cinematography would have been better with tighter compositions and theme. I also wish there was more investment in creating a suitable soundtrack. Upping the production value in these two areas would have helped the drama in creating a memorable atmosphere and nudge it to be one of the best of its genre. One last thing, I wonder what Hwi Ru whispered to Seok Moo in the final scene?Was this review helpful to you?
Shit
Sometimes there are few selected dramas that shouldn't even be submitted to the network for approval and this is definitely one of them. My soul has been drained out from this abomination and I don't feel like writing too much. It's impressive how one writer can fuck up this hard. It takes a talent! This drama is classified under "rage bait kink" and "fucky wucky ending" labels, it's manufactured that way. This drama is a waste of carbon emissions. If I'm not clear enough, you're very much highly recommended and advised to absolutely turn around far away from this cancerous tumor.Was this review helpful to you?
Who in their right mind made this awful soundtrack at the ending of each episode? Who thought making a mix of violin and dubstep would be a good idea? Have mercy on my ears!! My biggest problem with this drama is the pacing. It took about 20 episodes for the story to be fully set up but it turned to an awkward slice of life fighting inside the kitchen with minimum development related to the culprit identity until the last chunk of episodes it picked itself up again. The cast was fine but both female leads were lacking in many areas. Both in regard of their performance and character writing. Anyway, not a fan of the ending either.
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Definitely overrated.
Misty - mist - fog - tunnel, they were trying to be artistic and poetic for the ending but it didn't land at all, comically over dramatic hideous ending. Excruciatingly slow, not only the pace but also as if it was shot in slow motion 0.8x speed. Style over substance with this joke of a script. I wish they kept it pure murder mystery rather than adding a political angle to it. Speaking of mystery, there is hardly any, quite predictable and linear.The actress Jin Ki Joo doesn't fit her character, she doesn't look like an anchorwoman unlike the female lead who had a perfect portrayal of an anchorwoman. The detective always looked exhausted and about to fall asleep. Give the man an energy drink or something! I swear Lee Kyung Young plays the exact same character and have the same energy in every drama he ever been in.
With all that being said, it's mediocre at best.
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Nakayama Miho
Update: I watched and wrote my comment a few days before the news broke out. I'm in utter disbelief upon hearing the news of Nakayama Miho passing away at the young age of 54. During the past couple of weeks I went into a binge-watch of all her projects from the 80s and 90s, she was a truly striking, talented and fun actress that gave a unique signature to all the projects she's been in. It's unfortunate what has happened and she will be missed dearly. Rest in peace, mama idol!The drama mirrored the reality of its time with idols culture, ironically, nothing changed since the 80s. Given the setup, the formula was pretty clear with how things were going to be laid out. Each episode gave a focus to one of the characters while cycling through some jokes. Most of these episodes were alright in general but some of the running jokes lasted a bit too long. Take for example the constant interruption of the married leads' 'first night alone' which lasted for several episodes. In fact, they never showed that the leads were actually just sleeping together even after marriage, aside from being together in a bedroom. The female lead's age probably had something to do with that. Instead of wasting time on that and other similar things, they could've gave a reasonable showcase to how they met, fell in love and decided to marry. Anyway, the drama had good dynamics between the characters, nostalgia inducing OST and 80s vibes so it was decent enough.
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Another Bait & Switch
Well, this was a bit refreshing, initially. The drama had a good run throughout its first half with a solid setup around the character Young Shim and her drawn character Youngsim. It allowed for quite a few of funny scenarios and bits. Song Ha Yoon did a great job in bringing the erratic nature of both Young Shim and Youngsim to life. However, the drama dipped hard in the realm of mediocrity around episode 6, turning the drama into the most bland and generic displays of soulless cliché romcoms. Forget everything the drama built up earlier on. The female lead life story was built on her father's character Youngsim and her erratic personality but that was abandoned. It's really unfortunate for the wasted potentials it initially had.Was this review helpful to you?
Fanfic Junk!
Oh dear! How could a full production team, crew and cast members be this damn oblivious to what they're making! The drama was the apotheosis of human failure, an insidious plague upon the landscape of television, a wretched abomination birthed from the depths of creative bankruptcy and soulless commercialism, a festering wound that infects the very essence of storytelling with its repulsive presence. Its premise was a nauseating blend of techno-narcissism and romantic idiocy, an affront to the intelligence of any sentient being unfortunate enough to bear witness to its abomination, a grotesque mutation of what once passed for entertainment. Characters were grotesque caricatures of humanity, mere vessels for the perpetuation of vapid romantic fantasies and insipid melodrama and their interactions were a cacophony of soulless platitudes and contrived emotional manipulation, each scene got progressively worse than the last. The writing was an insult to the very concept of coherent narrative structure, a labyrinth of a garbled mess and mind numbingly banal dialogue that defies comprehension. In fact, this drama wasn't just bad television, it was an abomination of the highest order, a blight upon the collective consciousness of humanity and the very fabric of reality itself that must be expunged from existence with extreme prejudice. Anyone who dares to defend this abhorrent monstrosity deserves nothing less than eternal damnation, condemned to spend eternity in the deepest, darkest depths of cinematic purgatory, tormented by the ceaseless repetition of its insipid drivel until the end of time itself. Anyway, it could've been worse, I guess.Was this review helpful to you?
Cityless Behaviour
Initially, the drama was captivating with its picturesque setting, charming characters, vibrant village life, and delightful slice-of-life moments. The dynamic between the village people created a lively and heartwarming atmosphere. Each character brought something unique to the table with lots potentials and the slow burn romance between the leads was a highlight, initially. However, as the focus shifted to the romance between the leads around episode 11, the vibrancy of the village dynamics began to fade and the the drama lost some of its spark. At that point, the drama turned into a very long compilation of cheesy uneventful dates sequences while neglecting the small-town dynamics and community interactions that initially drew me in. Their interactions became more unbearable as the drama went on and the male leads supposed problems were an additional let down. Anyway, it wasn't perfect to begin with, Yeong Guk & Hwa Jeong triangle and story was the weakest link in the village and borderline ruined many scenes. The drama could've definitely used more people in the village and more stories, even if it were to add more sidekicks. Moreover, many of the stories from the village started and ended within a few scenes/episodes. I really wanted to see more investment in the Pub owner rather than Yeong Guk triangle. Eventually, the resolution turned out to be just acceptable. While the drama remained enjoyable overall, the overall decline in quality after the leads got together was a really big disappointment.Was this review helpful to you?
Courtless Behaviour
At a first glance, the drama got a commendable cast bringing adequate performance to their character. The initial events and the 4 first episodes were eye catching, interesting and kept you looking forward to see where the story is going. However, the story just didn't quite measure up. It's like they've got all the right ingredients, but the recipe just doesn't come together. They very rarely went to court after that, it turned into mystery/investigation. They were also building a mystery around the male lead trying to insinuate something else about his character but that got boring really fast for how obvious and lazy their attempts were. Finally, the last 2 episodes and the climax were weak in general for a finale, nothing interesting or appealing came out of them. Don't expect much beyond the initial few episodes and the decent cast.Was this review helpful to you?
Doomed By Design
I've never seen a drama that purposely go out of its way to avoid doing anything interesting with its scenario this hard. It took three full episodes just to do a basic introduction as stated in the synopsis, only then, the story somewhat started. Earlier in the second half, the drama reached a point where things were about to get interesting but it suddenly hard pressed the reset button on everything. The writer was genuinely not even trying, she worked on The Beauty Inside (2018) previously which was decent but what is she even doing here?Subsequently, themes of death, mortality, grief and fate were poorly injected and remained half-baked. The unusual romance was justified by using a blend of these themes but it didn't make sense or click. Even then, it created a big disconnect when it reached its highest moments. However, it wasn't as bad as the secondary couple romance, which gave us a despicable characterization of the characters Joo Ik, Hyun Gyu and Ji Na. Their relationship didn't fit the story, narrative and themes. It had no thoughts put into it and adding it was a mere useless filler. Even as a standalone independent relationship outside the context of this drama, it failed for a multitude of reasons. At least the character Ji Na served as the FL's friend.
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Pathetic Love
Given that it's a drama from 2002, you may expect it to be extra dramatic with loads of self-sabotaging moments and forgiven unhinged behavior. The entire story was driven by a combination of last minute calls, missed opportunities and unreceived information which is expected from such a drama but sometimes it just gets a bit too frustrating, and the last episode amplified that even further. The first incident described in the synopsis was plain stupid and a general poor setup of characterizing the main characters. Compared to other melodrama from late 90s to early 00s this would rank at the very bottom. The last episode was objectively bad and was designed this way to rile up the audience and stir a conversation. It's an attempt to go for the "there is no such thing as bad publicity". Anyway, the drama was a flop.Not a single character mentioned that Tak Suk was shot with a gun by Dong Hwa, not even Ji Yoon. Tak Suk and Ji Yoon couldn't be together out of guilt but choosing to marry and have a kid with the other guy is just retarded, yet she still doesn't know that Dong Hwa shot Tak Suk. They should've cut the drama 6 minutes early before the 3-years time skip where she choose neither of them, that's the only reasonable move.
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A Case Study of A Writer's Mental Decline
The drama was really something different even when compared to others of its time, well, it was so initially, I'll get into details later. The cast selection were mostly good except for Choi Jae Ho and Han Hye Sook which were an unsuccessful choice. Han Hye Sook, despite playing a critical role in the story, she always felt out of place and out of character. Ironically, she played as a famous skillful actress. Choi Jae Ho, had a small side role as the director but later on, the drama turned him into something much more and gave him a lot of attention which was an awful unsuccessful transition and a complete unplanned mismatch. At first, I found Ma Rin & Ma Joon interactions to be unbearably annoying but it ended up being quite fun. Props to Lee Jae Eun, she really got into the role of Ma Rin. On the other hand, her character became horrendous once the director got involved with her. The writer put a lot of character in these characters which allowed for a lot of possible interactions. The drama had tons of small irrelevant scenes between these characters. At first I though it was a detrimental trait that will plague its length but the drama quickly managed to turn that into its own identity.The entire revenge plotline ended within the first 100 episodes which led to the beginning of the drama's major problems. The first 120 episodes or so were great, carefully calculated, intriguing, progressed smoothly and developed naturally. However, the subsequent episodes between 130-215 things changed drastically. The drama became strange and static, the 2 leads characters became completely irrelevant and the story shifted towards Ma Joon & Ye Young. Even then, Ma Joon & Ye Young didn't get the same treatment of intrigue and natural development. Around episodes between 215 to 235 the drama was trying to build a new plotline for the long term despite its strange new direction but everything came down crashing with the last 13 episodes. It felt like they had a lot more plans but had to end the drama within a few episodes. I had to double check around the last 13 episodes to see if they changed the writer because the shift was too drastic. The writer became extremely childish and tacky with writing conflicts and tension for these few last episodes. Now, arriving to the last episode, things gotten a lot worse. Compared to its earlier pace and taking into consideration its huge length, everything was moving at a crazy rapid pace for the last episode with lots of cuts, skips and gaps. I refuse to believe there wasn't a major problem happening behind the scenes. All of that led to the most questionable choice of immature silly ending that was just trying to pull the viewers' leg and yanking any sense of satisfaction. It didn't match the overall tone of the drama. I really enjoyed everything about its earlier episodes. The drama had the perfect sweet spot around episodes 130-140 to wrap things up and end it reasonably.
Regarding the ending: According to a statement from the production team, the ending suggests a reunion as it shows Ah Ri Young, who has recovered from the shock and skipped over two years after the traffic accident, enjoying a happy moment with Joo Wang, their daughter, and the son born between them.
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