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A Capitalist Happiness
Having a plot around mothers competing on social media over whose life is the happiest is such a dystopian sad present we currently live in. The concept itself was limit testing my cringe-o-meter really hard but luckily the mystery plot took over after 2 episodes. This drama was very similar to Green Mothers' Club (2022), it started with a group of housewives/residents living in their fancy neighborhood until it turns into a mystery plot after a few episodes. The mystery itself here was limited, swinging between who's the killer and digging up the past, however, it wasn't enough to fill 16 episodes and was often stretching each event really thin. Most of the characters were trashy which made it hard to sympathize with when they were given a turn over and a resolution. For a plot around who done it mystery, usually we get a handful of suspects with good motives but in this drama most of the suspects had a weak motivation and their attempt to play innocent was rather unconvincing. One thing that bothered me was how the drama never addressed the big daughter properly after her initial introduction and purpose, which was kinda important for the narrative. In fact, most relationships between the characters were given a half-arsed follow up and resolution, leading to an unacceptable wrap up.Was this review helpful to you?
Money, innit?
The veteran actor, Lee Sun Kyun, delivered a powerful performance that anchored the show, as expected. It's really heartbreaking to lose such a big talent. Rest in piece. The drama didn't exactly break new ground with its plot or characters, but it managed to hold one's attention through its well paced narrative, occasional power shifts and a few unexpected twists thrown in. The cast does their thing, but some of the characters feel a bit like cardboard cutouts, lacking some life in them. While the drama dipped into melodrama sometimes but it struck a balance between suspense and storytelling. Overall, it's a pretty decent drama around corruption and power struggles.Was this review helpful to you?
Budget China Town
The drama had a rough start to assemble some attractive elements for the hook but everything boiled down to its nature being bilingual and bicultural. The story itself was bland through and through, and it kept playing it super extremely safe until the end. The cast was good enough given the material they had to work with. Its excessive length didn't help its case. Despite that, the romance was somewhat brief and unremarkable, the language barrier was clearly showing. The leads chemistry was quite questionable, it came off as forced more often than not, I've seen better efforts from Kim Jae Won. Han Chae Young went through a lot, her character got robbed off, playing a secondary lead didn't fit her well. All in all, the side plots were definitely the weakest link, none of them fit well, nor were they appealing and they contributed little to nothing.Was this review helpful to you?
Joseonless Behaviour
I don't how I feel about the on-screen text. There's distinct level of absurdity and abnormality that's easily recognizable from a certain Korean writer, that is Im Sung Han. From writing the characters, constructing the narrative and story boarding, all felt quite familiar to her other shows, Apgujeong Midnight Sun (2014) & Miss Mermaid (2002) in particular. However, this drama is unfortunately one of her unsuccessful ones. I didn't like the direction she took with the drama. The women from Joseon were an interjection into the Dan's family, they were more like a support characters observing the surrounding and getting accustomed to living. The entire story was stagnant for 15 episodes after their initial introduction and only the last episode brought some change but it was too late. The story went through the bare minimum of characters exploration and made the Joseon women existence more useless. If anything, it reminded me of the bizarre storylines transitions and conclusion of Miss Mermaid (2002), really close when drawing parallels. On a second thought, although I'm a fan of the writer but I don't quite agree with how she writes the last few episodes of her projects.Was this review helpful to you?
A Sketchy Tramway
They had a solid idea for a drama but they were totally clueless for how to fit it into a 16 episodes mold. The trolley dilemma was a poor idea to implement in the drama. They were afraid that the viewers may not notice so they went ahead to explain the trolley dilemma multiple times. The FL's kid was learning about it with visuals in school. Kinda insulting. Its finale execution of this analogy turned out to be disappointing and bland, especially after shoving it in our faces endlessly and having the drama named after it. Anyway, the drama was plagued by narrative and writing problems, especially with its horrible and dysfunctional characterization.Was this review helpful to you?
Definitely Loveless
The drama was a frustrating experience, primarily due to its main plotline which flopped majorly. They probably choose the worst route to execute its main story. Both leads and their love interests were a bad combination that spawned a dreadful dynamic for 65 episodes. Subsequently, the resolution after endless quarrels was equally dreadful and ended in a flat let down. On the other hand, the side plots and relationships were better in comparison but nothing stood out. Conflicts seemed forced and resolutions lacked any real emotional impact. The drama failed to offer any redeeming qualities that could compensate for its lackluster central storyline. It was unbelievably forceful and super giga cringe to have the FL attend her ex-husband wedding for the ending. Really tacky!Was this review helpful to you?
The Peasants of Cheongdamdong
The synopsis is wildly misleading, there was no global Korean high society scandal. Everything was confined to a small scale within the characters' lives only. The synopsis is trying hard to sell it as a grand story on a big scale. Anyway, the drama left me utterly disillusioned, as it offered nothing but the same tired and rancid formula without a single redeeming quality to make it stand out. From the poor setup to the uninspired characters, it quickly unraveled with repetitive plotlines, and convenient coincidences that were a big stretch even for a makjang, lacking any semblance of originality or creativity. While some dramas manage to take familiar tropes and breathe new life into them, this one offered nothing but a bland and forgettable viewing experience. The cast members were average, doing what they can to get the drama to the finish line.Was this review helpful to you?
Cornless Behavior
The main leads were quite good with their performance and dynamic, while the supporting cast were a mixed bag between bad and decent. It's a sitcom so the main selling point would be its comedy. It was interesting initially with a good pace but it didn't last for too long before things started to get repeated while some jokes remained in the bland and quirky territory. Aside from its comedy, there was a little bit of story going on which was brought into the front in its second half. With it, there was a shift into a regular drama tone, and personal relationships became the focus. Also, for some reason they found it necessary to pair multiple people together, they should've wrote more material within its initial theme instead.Was this review helpful to you?
Typical Homeschooled Behavior
I didn't expect much from the cast but I've seen a better performance from Yang Dong Geun and Park Min Young from around the same era. Especially Yang Dong Geun, his 2 previous projects prior to this drama "Dr. Gang (2006)" and "Ruler of Your Own World (2002)" brought a better performance from him. They both feel out of place here with a less than average performance and dynamic, let alone the questionable chemistry. I wouldn't label this drama as a romance since it's mostly a mix of drama, slice of life and pseudo-comedy, and the little bit of alleged romance was left to the end. Additionally, the story was barely serviceable with little to no room to move around. The case is even worse with the side characters and plots.Was this review helpful to you?
Not even Noah's ark can carry these sexless virgins
The general impression is justified, however, its perceived problem is far from being the only problem. The drama is a good case study to be examined for newcomers in the industry, especially screenwriters. These 14 episodes were absolutely marvelous in stacking up a web of irrecoverable problems. I'm not sure if it takes a talent to achieve that or the lack of it. I didn't major in theater, literature, or creative writing, but I can certainly conclude that Jang Ah Mi, the writer of this abomination, is an inept writer. She had no idea what she wanted to do or accomplish. She even had a reference from the source material to help. Writers like her make me reluctant to get into shows with a screenwriting debut credit.Was this review helpful to you?
Better Off To Die A Virgin
The drama took a promising premise of time travel advice and turned it into a bland rom-com experience. The "future self" advice failed to build a convincing and compelling case with proper nuances. There was a constant disconnect between both selves character's narrative and motivation, regardless of the nature of time travel mechanics. The humor surrounding the main cast interactions fell flat, especially when both love interests were equally uninspiring. The initial attempts at romantic chemistry were forced and awkward. For this story to work, they needed to remove any love triangle/square and solely focus on the main relationship to give some justification to the existence of "future self" and to build a stronger bond which would bring with it more emotions, higher stakes and a bigger climax. The twist in the last 2 episodes was a sad attempt trying to salvage what's left in the drama to bring some kind of climax for its finale. It's a drama that might leave you feeling like you settled for instant ramen when you were hoping for a gourmet Tsukemen. The sad thing, I wasted time, electricity, and heat encoding its BluRay discs just to see it end up this way.Was this review helpful to you?
Love by The Dozens
I thought the first 20 minutes of the drama were teasers but they were more like an irrelevant montage or a pseudo trailer. The opening scene gave a good sample of what to expect going forward. The entire drama was structured like an extremely cliche melodrama montage. The type of montage you see other dramas reference when showing a melodrama broadcasting on TV. That's why it's necessary to suspend your disbelief and abandon any sense of logic or common sense. hat's also why we got whatever ending that even was. It's one of the most extreme melo cliches that it can just be labeled as a parody. During its earlier episodes, the drama had too many of these loosey camera angles from the 2000s which were entertaining to watch combined with its ridiculous moments.Was this review helpful to you?
Half a D-Day
Doctors working during a disastrous scenario is an interesting take on the medical genre and it worked, at least for the 1st half. Resources were limited, the tension was intense and the stakes were high. It created a good mix for a thriller. However, things began to turn back into a regular medical drama in the 2nd half, it even brought with it the typical issues and conflicts with a hospital management. It slowly began to lose its attraction at that point. The brief romance was strange, it didn't work because it happened over a very short period of time. You may justify it as a little trauma bonding experience. The cast were mostly fine, however, the characters often went for over-dramatization over professionalism which took away from some of the serious moments. The drama could've worked better if it were a mini series of something like 8 episodes with good direction.Around the end, they brought a little girl to translate sign language of the ML's brother final moments before death. Nobody thought how that might be traumatizing for a child to watch a recording of someone drowning and dying in a distressful situation until he become a floating corpse deep underwater!! There were a lot of other examples were the characters went for over-dramatization over professionalism.
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A Good Start That Went Nowhere
The first case which kick-started everything was good with enough intrigue and stakes to make it worthwhile, however, the subsequent cases were unbelievably bland and generic in comparison. I'm not sure why they went for this route, they usually preserve the big case until the end but here they showed most what there's to it at the very beginning. There was a small follow up to it at the end but not much to consider. The cast members were fine but the drama didn't do a good job building the team dynamic and relationships which added another layer of disconnect with the stories and cases. There's no point in comparing the drama to the source material because it's a loose adaptation.Was this review helpful to you?
Pitiful Existence
It's an interesting take on the usual drama format, however, the mix between a documentary, drama and in-between narrations wasn't a successful formula. The narrations and brief interviews didn't add much value nor it enhanced the drama and its stories. There were a handful of stories running in parallel and most of them were weak and bland. Making them better intertwined could've solved some issues. Some stories can suddenly become overly political for a moment while grabbing the viewers heads and shouting direct preachy quotes and remarks, it was a weird injection amidst everything. They could've at least blend it better or have a better setup for it. The last few episodes are excluded since these mostly had a political tone and direction. Anyway, the show was just alright.Was this review helpful to you?
