6
The songs are amazing, everything else isn't...
Although it was expected to have loud flashy action but it was overdone on the expense of middling dialogue and pace. Episodes 11 to 16 were a big filler where nothing interesting happen, it only picked itself up from episode 17. The finale fight/battle in the last episode was the weakest in the drama, it felt quick, light and forced tragedy unlike the previous battles which had a much better build up and impact. The excessive number of casualties is another area the drama overdone, most of the familiar faces were left until the last episode to be given a "whatever" death to make the climax artificially big, I would much prefer if they were to die one by one throughout the drama to be given a more meaningful death.I never liked romance in war, not a fan of watching two lovers in war playing on different sides. These stories always lack depth and eventually boil down to "what's going to win love or duty?". If we were to completely ignore the romance then the drama is good despite having major shortcomings. On the other hand, the songs in the soundtrack were bangers.
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Barely passable...
Keep in mind this is pure makjang, it was purposely made to trigger the viewers especially with Do Hyun (Soo In's husband) pathetic plot line which I see a lot of people complaining about it trying to defend Do Hyun, unrightfully though. Just like any other makjang the story kicks off with the classic move of incompetent authorities/justice system. Unfortunately, it doesn't get any better after that, it's infested with stupid characters and weak dialogue. Han Ji Hye didn't seem to be a good fit to play Soo In character by being too tame and soft spoken, she often shines more in other roles where she's vibrant, outspoken and bold. Soo In as a character lacked proper characterization and depth in the first place, she was written as a generic "very nice" girl, replacing her with any other actress wouldn't have had made a difference.Was this review helpful to you?
No.
Disappointing ending/resolutions. None of the other couples deserve to be happy, especially Mi Joo. I don't even want to continue writing this comment for how pissed it left me. It's not like the drama was fine either, to summarize it, it's infested with multitude of problems following every "what not to do" in a family drama.Jae Min's father and Mi Joo's mother shouldn't be allowed to be together for the exact same reason why Jae Min and Ha Kyeong weren't allowed to be together. The circumstances are identical!
Avoid this drama, there are countless better family drama out there.
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It's watchable...
The name of the game is to make everyone related to one another. Lost children, swapped children, hidden identity and birth secrets, everyone gotta be an extension of the big family tree somehow. The characters' tree is absolutely massive and confusing, it took me a hot minute to mentally arrange everyone's connection to one another within the family. There are 4-5 generations all moved in together from the great great parents to the kids' kids even their relatives and in-laws.Park Eun Bin might be the shortest adult character in the drama even the grandma is taller than her,
meanwhile Lee Tae Hwan is the tallest character in the drama. Their massive height difference made them cute together, she can't even reach his nipple lol. On the other hand, it's quite ironic how cheesy their love story is while both of them are working on producing a cheesy romance drama.
The drama's biggest downfall is the vengeful male lead David Lee. One of the worst poorly executed revenge stories in a "family" drama ever. It simply doesn't fit the narrative or the atmosphere. Even more it ruins any graceful progression and resolution the story would have had. This is also why David Lee and Jung Eun story sucked royally. With how this ordeal took place it was impossible to give them a decent ending. Overall, the drama is watchable 4.5/10 .
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issa okay-ish
Weirdly enough, most of the main leads story don't feel more than side stories. The main focus/conflict is Kevin Miller and people connected to him. Go Jung Do is there for first 20-ish episodes then he turned to a guest character with the purpose of giving reactions. His story was cut short, he disappeared in the last 10 episode then got a quick update at the end but we didn't know how he made up with his wife. Why make him and his wife main characters in the first place if you gonna neglect them. Speaking of neglect, I wish the divorce plot was given more attention, it would create a better dynamic. The synopsis/plot and the drama started with them but they weren't given more than 5 episodes about their divorce issue. Also, Jung Do's mother who created a massive mess and was considered the main villain suddenly disappears around episode 30. Finally, the female lead doesn't feel like one, barely given any attention to her character writing and most of the other characters stand out more than her.The drama had a big issue with pacing, plot layout and incoherent writing for the reasons I listed above. One thing really bugged me is how every single secret was blown out of proportions like it was a world ending event. The drama itself is fine, casual family drama with some melo, I was just expecting more of it.
Most of Seo Hyo Rim roles are the usual evil female antagonist but in this drama she's the exact opposite and it's great. Hopefully we can see more of that in future drama.
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Not good!
It's just another generic crime/thriller drama full of comical plot holes. No wonder Go Hyun Jung dropped out from the drama. Her character was poorly written and barely given meaningful screen-time or attention. At least she dropped mid way because as we were approaching the ending her character was made like a clown. With the change of actress the story got bad instantly and they revealed the entire mystery of the story in episode 16-17, there was nothing left you might as well end it there.The selection of cast members was doomed to fail anyway. Choi Ja Hye playing dump didn't fit the narrative most of the time. The last 10 episodes had utterly boring stretch of nothingness. I disliked the change of actress, the change of story direction that came with it and the lame-ass ending.
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Average at best.
I didn't watch the American version so I don't have a point of comparison and will treat it as stand alone drama. I didn't like the direction it took and their choice for the final antagonist. I didn't like the inclusion of romance in this one, it felt flat and unnecessary. They tried to add background story to every character but most of them didn't work well. Yun Woo's old friends and grandma, Na Joo Hee and Ji Na's mother, none of them had a meaningful impact. The number of cases were too few for 16 episodes, I was expecting more lawyers shenanigans and less melo fluff. The climax and its ending didn't feel that satisfying. Overall, it's average at best.Was this review helpful to you?
Decent
It was alright although it dragged, they should have filled the middle parts with random interesting cases rather than solely focusing on the main antagonist or expand more on the main story with more events other than his mistress and her kid. It followed the approach of "the only thing stopping the bad guy is the drama writer reaching the last episode". I liked the leads initial interactions but later it became a background noise, would have been nice if they were given a better development/story. On an unrelated note, Jung Soo Young showed unexpected sexy side.It was mentioned that Kim Min Jung was meant to be the female lead but was replaced due to an injury, although I really like her as an actress but I don't think she would have been a good fit to play Joo Jae In character or to be a matching item with the male lead. Yoon So Yi did a good job as is for this role.
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Absolutely great start, okay ending and below average middle parts.
Absolutely great start, okay ending and kinda below average middle parts. Once the fantasy elements/devil was revealed to the characters one by one (eps13), the drama got goofy, comical, cheap and turned generic. The ending was okay but underwhelming. The light saber fight was bad, like seriously bad! I wonder if the screenwriters were changed after the initial episodes. The drama is still watchable but a huge potential was wasted. Feeling 5.5/10 at best!Let's talk about hairstyles. Why most of the characters got a similar long-ish hair style? It didn't hit with me seeing Jung Kyung Ho with a long hair, I'm too used to his usual short hair. On the other hand, Lee El with the short blond hair was an absolute stellar!
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Will leave you with more to be desired.
Strong start that's guaranteed to keep you hooked but it doesn't remain consistent. Episodes 11 to 16 were too flawed, full of plot holes, illogical sequence of events, change of mood and pace. The quality as well took a dip compared to how polished it was in the earlier parts, it became too tame and lost the energy. Some plot lines/characters/situations were cartoonish and didn't fit the serious theme of the drama. I wish they showed more of his family and their dynamics, given their bizarre sudden situation. There were only given a couple of scenes at the beginning and another at the end.The LGBTQ plot line felt off and out of place, it didn't even go anywhere. Some of the obstacles/challenges weren't interesting to follow, tackling real serious issues would have been better. The "villains" and their motives were a bit underwhelming, we were led for something greater with the build up we had. The antagonists might be its weakest point.
Anyway, great acting by the president, it's still a solid watch but will leaves you with more to be desired. 7.5/10
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Solid
I'm not a fan of the writing style that pushes the viewers too hard to interpret and speculate. You're expected to accept whatever is present to you. If writers were to do so, they need a better structure and understanding of world building. Take for example the British series Utopia, it does it brilliantly.The director must really love the Dolly zoom, although it looked good but I wish there was more visual variations even at the cost of it being experimental. You are already pushing your skill ceiling in all departments so why not shoot for the moon?
Anyway, it's a solid watch and will probably appeal to everyone.
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Bad!
Oh god where do I begin!!!The production is embarrassing with no consistent picture quality. Bad sound design with muffled dialogue sometimes, peaking audio to an irritating level and bad music/OST insertion.
Wish the problems stayed with the production quality only but things get a lot worse!!
The premise is misleading, big time! The few first episodes (and MDL synopsis) give you the impression that it is about a mother diagnosed with Alzheimer and want to teach her spoiled kids life lessons before the inevitable but what we got none of that. It's mostly about an old conflict, a missing child and some business related things (none of which about loan sharks).
If you are expecting to see siblings relationships with each other or with their mother or spoiled kids growing up, you get none of that. The kids adapt to their new life within 3 episodes without much struggle or whatsoever. Some characters disappear without any notice like the mother's secretary which we had seen a lot of him earlier.
Park Bo Gum shouldn't be part of the main cast, we only get 1 short scene of him every 3 episodes or so.
Alzheimer is a very very convenient plot device for a lazy writing here, 15 episodes can pass without any mention of it. Might as well just remove it.
The drama is full of extreme cliches and illogical moments that can only be seen in jaded makjangs, so be prepared. When they pulled up the DNA bullshit that was the purest form of manufactured shit I've ever seen!! Some genuinely frustrating moments that has no right to be here. In short, this is amongst the worst makjangs out there.
Acting was fine.
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Beyond lazy!
Well, let me tell you, that this drama was a life-changing experience because after enduring its mind-numbingly brilliant writing that clearly must have been penned by a troupe of hyper-intelligent amoebas, I now have an entirely new appreciation for the fine art of cringing. It's not every day you witness such a harmonious symphony of terrible acting, contrived plot devices, and dialogue that would make a robot's attempts at humor seem positively Shakespearean, all neatly packaged in a show that proudly screams a truly modern marvel of disappointment.Was this review helpful to you?
Barely Danceable
The drama was much better than what its synopsis, title, poster or cast selection might entail, the same can be said about some of the initial scenes. The drama itself turned out to be decent despite taking sometime to kickoff, it took over 3 episodes. However, it was a bit dry sometimes and was missing the necessary link to tie everything together. The romance was an awful addition to the mix, really wasn't needed. On the bright side, it was only half the length of a typical 16 episodes drama. Yet, the drama could've worked better in a 120-150 mins movie format with better production. Speaking of which, the production value was really rocky and barely serviceable.Was this review helpful to you?
