6
Decent enough...
The first half was more fun than the latter. Watching Mi Yeon trying to take revenge on Hyo Seop was the best part. In fact, they were the best couple in the series. On the other hand, almost all the other couples were weak and lacked chemistry, especially Sun Ha. Speaking of characters, I was expecting more from Yoo Ha against her in-laws, a bit disappointed.The drama itself is fine, it had its ups and downs, it can be a bit slow sometimes, it had some interesting events, and it had a handful of likeable cast members. It's a casual family drama with little melodrama, most of the conflict was with the in-laws which didn't last that long anyway.
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Uhh...
Oh god! It's an amnesia drama, the most intense kind too. It feels like the humans who worked on this dram come from an alternate reality or a parallel universe. This drama by far had the highest concentration of "buffoonery" in any makjang out there. Zero chill, ridiculous over the top and a "bruh moment" every other scene. All in all, not in a good way because this is the only thing the drama had going on for it, that is to throw as much makjang elements as fast as possible. The writer/director were speed running any% no-loot the human brain tolerance to "bullshit receptivity". Anyway, wouldn't recommend.Was this review helpful to you?
NAH.....
The drama must have a big identity crises since it couldn't decide between being a family drama or makjang, constantly switching even within the same episode. Right from the beginning, EPISODE 1, when one of the family members took picture of Ji Na's necklace and, for absolutely no logical reason, put it on the internet, I could already smell the fuming hot garbage the writers are about to create. Guess what? I was 100% correct. This drama tips heavily on the baboonish side of the makjang scale.Although Uhm Jung Hwa did a great job, but it's impossible for me to view her as an evil character. I didn't like how she suddenly became evil for no reason from episode 12. We were initially presented by a strong independent Yoo Ji Na (Uhm Jung Hwa) but 15-20 episodes later the writers made her turn to a bag of dirt and completely ruined any build up she had.
The drama had a strange pacing, it changes weirdly every handful of episodes with the biggest change came from switch between episodes 30 & 31 which created a big gap and disconnect in the story. Speaking of switching and change, I think the switch of the female lead ruined the drama.
Jang Hee Jin is absolutely a great actress but she just didn't fit well in this case. They even went on to replace/recreate all of the flashback scenes.
Another form of change/switching came with the love interest which shamelessly switched three times. It was straight up disgusting watching Hae Dang being with one man while sobbing/begging/crying/caring/dreaming/lusting/bitching/loving/chasing/pitying/thirsting/craving/running around for another man. Despicable and uncomfortable to watch! On the other spectrum, Jung Hae Jin was absolutely the only "good" part about this drama and nothing else.
After being the nastiest humans ever to walk the earth, suddenly everyone became angelic and have the highest morale of any other human for the ending. Great writing! It feels like their budget was small, it was mostly filmed indoor between 2-3 family houses with very limited number of outdoor scenes. I feel sorry for this cast to be involved in this atrocious project. The drama that followed it after finishing serializing "Man in the Kitchen (2017)" was much better than this. Can't recommend this, barely 3/10 for the cast's sake.
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To polish a turd
They tried to sprinkle in some fake scripted bland romance in the beginning but they forgot to add the chemistry to the mix and develop it gradually, so it ended up being too delayed to care about. The same thing can be said about the mystery once it dwindled, like it lost its mojo in a heartbeat. The trend continued until the end without ever recovering. To put it simply, the story was dead on arrival from all angles and salvaging it was near impossible. As if that wasn't enough, we had to endure it for 18 episodes. Which leaves us with the saddest part, the cast, specifically the leads. What a fine collection of disappointing soulless performances. I guess FL was kinda passable to a certain degree but the other trio boys were a lost cause.Was this review helpful to you?
Lazy writing
The insane amount of plot conveniences ruined the drama and killed even the slightest potential it might had which made the writing seems abysmal. Not only it was stupid with every step along the way but it also removed the tension with any serious scene. Moreover, we were over fed the same repeated information like babies. Even if we were to disregard all of that, the pacing was terrible with a big empty gap of nothingness in the middle parts. None of the side cast were interesting enough to make the middle parts worthwhile. Aside from the first episode, there wasn't much appeal left.Was this review helpful to you?
NO!
I usually like Sung Joon but this is by far his worst project to date. At this stage of his career he shouldn't accept such projects. There's almost no story, just a very long sequence of plane clips. Who ever edited this turned up the saturation to a disgusting level. No wonder this was delayed for years because it's a failed project, dead on arrival. Absolutely a waste for the cast time and talent.Was this review helpful to you?
A Mortal Family
The drama was a big hot mess I don't even know where to start. The synopsis turned out to be a bit misleading from what we were presented. The family wasn't really involved as the journey was mostly one-sided led by the father. Right from the beginning we were introduced to this broken-beyond-repair family but they don't "band together" as the synopsis suggests, they just tolerate each other in this sticky situation. There were a lot of points to pick up from the story but everything boiled down to having one of the sloppiest writing efforts, this might have worked for a mediocre action flick bloated with action scenes but not for 10 episodes drama. The drama had the chance to get on the right track by episode 4 but they doubled down, and then tripled down around episode 7 when they introduced the father. They also quadrupled down when they attempted to shove in a lot of backstory in the last 2 episodes to make the climax emotional. They slapped in the +18 rating just so that they can light up a cigarette in every single scene, in particular, Kang Joo Hyun was lighting up a cigarette in every scene she had. Their lack of creativity was apparent. The most frustrating thing about the entire drama was Dong Ha never letting off some steam. He never lost his nerves or screamed out loud through the entire thing despite his world collapsing from every angle, except that one time at his students which was totally irrelevant. The last episode was mostly a very fast wrap up with no room to talk or do anything, they were cleaning off the cast that they won't be including in the sequel. With all of that, Netflix had the audacity to tease for a continuation!Was this review helpful to you?
What were they even thinking!
Coming to this drama after finishing Im Kkeok Jung (1996) is such a disappointing shitty experience in comparison. This drama was fundamentally flawed in every imaginable aspect. The cast members are usually competent in other projects but the directors did such a poor sloppy job in handling the cast. The drama had 3 directors and still managed to fuck up! They must have been busy fighting each other over working on the drama.Was this review helpful to you?
Decent
It's good but not quite up there. It's a bit unbalanced, some episodes were good and memorable while other ones were lacking any appeal like the depressed customer on a rainy day episode. The episodes that focused on the staff were generally better. It could have been easily trimmed down a bit for a better experience. One more thing that held the drama back was it's lack of commitment. The stories/relationships/interactions of the staff were always kept to a surface level which some may see this as lacking substance. The cast was diverse and kept you interesting. Choi Daniel and Shim Eun Woo were clearly the ones that stood out the most. Going into this drama I was worried that this is just a long format of a short drama quality but it turned out to be fine.Was this review helpful to you?
Nah
Tacky introduction and weak first episode that doesn't encourage the viewer to continue. While the rest is just your typical washed up OCN thriller. Nothing attractive or interesting about it. They could've taken the story in an interesting direction but that would be too much to ask for. I appreciate OCN cutting down the runtime but even then, it's still unnecessarily long and filled with irrelevant nonsense. I'm afraid Jang Ki Yong played the same character too many times that he fell into the vicious cycle of typecasting.Was this review helpful to you?
Another lazy one...
This is not a good writing. Overdosing on misery will only backfire in this case. Subjecting a single character to all of the common tropes of sadness will lose the emotional impact and genuine human connection. This is also resulted in making the drama feels infinitely longer, you'll keep wishing they just die already. Yet, that wasn't the worst part about the drama. The entire murder/mystery/investigation element was effortlessly bad. At one point the entire nation was chasing them until they gave up, no one cared and no proper follow up. The drama could've been easily cut in half without affecting the narrative at all.Was this review helpful to you?
They weren't even trying at this point....
I legit deadass no cap on god fr fr went into a cardiac arrest from cringe and ended up in a vegetative state when the male lead pulled up the 128√e980 move. I dieded! They were so close to pull a 80085. Anyway, this was a wasted attempt on a decent concept. Not recommended!Was this review helpful to you?
Wasted potentials (as always?)
It's really disappointing to see a drama with a good and enjoyable start just to wither away later on, that includes everything even the cast. As if every single person that was involved in making the drama got tired of the project. Although the earlier parts were enjoyable but I was rolling my eyes every single time Je Yi & Soo Yeon show up on the screen and broke the momentum. They were both easily the worst part of the drama in general. As expected, by the time we got to see the real culprit, it turned out to be a caroonish joker knock off with zero effort put into writing him. To state the obvious, Namkoong was doing an unbelievable amount of heavy lifting to keep this drama afloat. The OST was decent at the right time, while other times it was just some background noise. It's still a decent watch and the slightly shorter runtime was helpful but temper your expectations a bit.Was this review helpful to you?
Better than season 1
Regarding season 1:I found it to be very flawed from all angles and it only served as a learning experience for those who carried on with the second season. Its portrayal of a cult lacked a compelling thematic foundation, opting instead to draw inspiration from cheap rip-off D-grade movies themed around cults. Where cults are extremely over-dramatized to the point of crossing the supernatural territory. The cult apparently possessed super powers of hypnosis with only a few words spoken, even towards people who weren't perceptible to religious and spiritual beliefs. Everything surrounded the cult came off as cartoonish even within the context of a 'drama'. The narrative itself struggled to carry its own weight, particularly as it primarily focused on the perspectives of the outsiders. It always felt as if it was building up towards something bigger but it never got there. For a 16-episodes run, it needed a proper world building and foundation for the cult. Establishing a distinct "character" for the cult would have provided a stronger identity. Back to the outsiders, having the drama led by teenage characters was another weak aspect of it. Bland and cardboard characters. The mystery element was a crucial part of the drama yet it was lacking and under-delivering. The first season would have fared better as a standalone one-off movie rather than a drama. It doesn't make any sense why the drama was rated this high, according to MDL standards, especially when season 2 effectively addressed most of the issues with the cult and delivered an overall better package!
Regarding Season 2:
It managed to deliver a much more compelling package than season 1. The most important part is that it handled the cult theme properly. The characters and the cast were a lot more appealing than season 1. Having a more adult leading characters rather than teenager was a plus. Uhm Tae Goo was a perfect casting choice for his character. The story had a better and more natural progression than season 1. However, it got sloppier the closer it got to the ending. Speaking of the ending, it was a bit underwhelming and not as grandiose as I hoped it would be. Second season should have been a stand alone drama unrelated to the first one, not even in the name. If you don't feel like watching two seasons then you can ignore the first one and just watch the second.
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Watchable but didn't quite deliver
Good choice for casting female leads but a very poor one for casting both male leads. Where did they get them? From the back alley? Weak screen presence and no chemistry with neither of their female counterparts. Unfortunately, the looks are deceiving and we didn't get what we initially thought. Just from watching the first 1/4 you may think this is about family relationships, sisters relationships and mother-daughter relationships but that was only a small part (20 eps in total?) before switching to an unnecessary work place competition and love triangle quarrels. Other dynamics were neglected too, like the other two sisters from the poor family with their old/new sister or like the troublemaker father with either of the daughters. The climax was weak, it gave all the attention and screen time to the love interest instead of the family as a whole which made Geum Ran's conclusion amongst the weakest because the drama ran out of time to even consider giving her a real wrap up other than a generic sudden change of character one. I liked the drama initially and its set up but it didn't quite deliver.Was this review helpful to you?
