Couldn't agree more with you on Yan Jing Chen thing. They set him up from the beginning as this loving common sense guy and then for the purpose of the plot on a whim turn him into a fucking retard. He was the only one I had hope for. Great actor as well. They had a really nice chemistry with Fu Yao. But nooo. This show is an absolute garbage.
The main guy is annoying as shit as well. I got so annoyed with their first interaction at the Forbidden mountain. Absolutely hated him. No chemistry between them as well. He's just so full of himself. I don't understand how people can like this kind of forced set-up. Do they get off on this toxic victim mentality?
Thank god I caught on early, listened to my gut feeling and dropped it.
Your review saved me about 50 hours of my time, so thank you!
I totally agree with the bullying aspect. Especially as they start the 'main couple' off with that. I got so annoyed with their first interaction at the Forbidden mountain. He's annoying as shit. Absolutely hated him. No chemistry between them as well.
Another thing, they set up Yan Jing Chen from the beginning as this loving common sense guy and then for the purpose of the plot on a whim turn him into a fucking retard. He was the only one I had hope for. But nooo. This show is an absolute garbage.
As soon as I get that feeling in my stomach I know something is not right. And I'm usually right. Dropped, next!
We have come to a point when 4, 5,6 %, even 3,4% ratings is considered very good! But Reborn Rich has 19.44%,…
Obviously biased. The lengths of mental gymnastics these fanboys and girls go to to justify this toilet of AOS is just mind-blowing. Thought MDL was a lot more common sense than some of its "western counterparts" but in some ways it's even worse.
Omg your review is soooo on point. I'm glad I'm not alone in this. By ep08 I became soooooo annoyed with this show and I started skipping the whole chunks of it. Haven't finished it and I don't even know if I will.
And yeeees the romance between K2 and that excuse of a woman is one of the TOP3 forced romances in all of K-Dramas. It was downright repulsive. Especially because the chemistry between K2 and Choi Yoo Jin was mesmerizing from the start.
And yeeees Choi Yoo Jin OMG. She is definitely a show stealer.
And then we get K2 first seeing Anna on the cameras and I honestly felt so uncomfortable. It was downright creepy.
I wasn't that bothered by the whole superman aspect of the show. I actually quite enjoy the godlike men characters if they have the emotional depth to support it. Which is the case with K2.
The only thing I don't agree with is Anna. She was downright annoying as a charter and a lot of that in my opinion comes from the actress.
But I'm a bit disappointed with your rating. Like how can you give it an 8 if you borderline hate it? Don't take this personally but exactly this 'pitty' rating and hate watching is what gives these shows and the creators an excuse to keep making this garbage. Because, oh hey we got so and so viewership on Nielsen rating, and the score is this much. Doesn't matter that general sentiment is disappointment. We can justify it with the numbers.
My thoughts exactly. AND he shots the skilled hitman twice!! without getting shot, after saying he barley shoots guns. The ending is the most ridiculous dogpoop even by Hollywood standards.
All fairly great points especially about the female characters and save for VFX which without context was okay-ish at best (especially smoke simulations were quite iffy) but since this was pretty big undertaking for Korean show and comparing it to Hong's previous fantasy endeavor Korean Odessy - this admittedly was miles better.
They only thing I'm a bit surprised by is your statement about Lee Jae Wook performance , which I thought was absolutely horrendous. What did you find so great about it?
"I mean that dude would be destroying entire planets or something in next season."
Made me laugh out so hard lol
"There is just no limit to what he can do in amount of time no one has ever done before. He is the chosen one. Blah blah blah. Great character u got for being the chosen one."
100%.
"Like too docile for what they promised. "
Really good point you made there. I've decided to still give it a shot past ep9 even if just skipping forward. And came to realize exactly this.
For me Naksu was the highlight of this show. Awesomeness personified. It's why I started to watch it in the first place. But by ep 15 they turn her into this docile little puppy that wags its tail and runs whenever master calls. Like I get she doesn't have her powers but no way she would turn into this subservient slave.
And I really hate to admit but by this point I even resented the FL. Especially when the emotional manipulations started. For a while it was fun. But then became really cringe because it was the only thing she was doing. And especially because she was doing because of like you said, big shit Jang Uk lol
I totally get the backstory I really do. Makes for more tension and conflict. But first inconsistency is him acting entitled. Ok fair enough it kinda makes sense if you MOSTLY lean into the fact that he's from one of the 4 top families. Rich spoiled kid and whatnot.
I mean entitlement is not really a characteristic you would want to build your ML around. I don't personally find it virtuous and believe majority of cultures around the world don't either but whatever.
But if you lean more into the parental neglect etc, I don't think the main characteristic would be entitlement. How can you be entitled if you've been hammered most of your life? Maybe entitled to expect more bad things to happen :) I believe it would be more in the line of bitterness towards the world maybe self loathing etc. right?
So then you kinda ask yourself. Well they set backstory and everything up so nicely and don't really lean into it. Then the only reason it's there is to act like a token to force us (and other characters) to feel sorry for him - exactly what u said. On screen you see him act like a jerk with not subtext, but hey remember his past, he's a victim, you gotta feel sorry for him. To me that feels cheap.
And I also get that he's supposed to be special with King's star energy but again everything coming easy to an entitled person with, here's the important part: NO REDEMPTION on his part - what's there to rejoice?
Ok the writing is not that great but it's on the actor to fill in the missing gaps. Like for example: when she points out this fact that he's extremely lucky. Great opportunity for redemption. He could acknowledge it, yeah she's right I gotta work harder to earn my keep - internal monologue so we see the wheels turning in his eyes, a slight nod. But all we get is the same entitled 'cool' empty stare. Just do anything for christ's sake. Idk maybe it's just me me lol
Same goes for their relationship. The master-pupil relationship should be submissive or I should rather say respectful to begin with. But again he's super entitled with her from in the beginning and it takes ages before the dynamic actually changes. And when it does the damage has been done. Because even in the beginning the entitlement doesn't make sense. Like he searched her out in the first place because she's awesome (and he knows that), nothing in his past can make him think that he's any good (he doesn't know about his extreme powers). And when she starts training him she totally embarrasses him. But he still keeps going with the same attitude/delivery.
I know sometimes it's really hard to separate the actor from the character but I can in good faith say that he didn't do his best in making the character multifaceted let alone likable. Instead Uk is the god of this universe everything he touches and does turns to gold and should thus be be praised and the people shall bow before him. God forbid you say anything against him. I'm all for godlike ML. Yes please make my mouth water but it's like somebody took a spoiled rude billionaire's son who can buy everything with his dad's money (King's star) is not even drop dead good-looking and told you to adore him and hail him as a your perfect man. Typical style over substance.
I only saw Ahn Hyo Seop in business proposal and he was pretty good. I mean tbh that role wasn't a hugely demanding to being with. But for what is worth he did bring some nuances to that performance.
I'm watching Replay 1988 next so will tell you how I feel about Park Bo Gum :)
Girl, you put Kim Myung Soo/L in your list of Best Actors (sorry not to take you seriously on this one..let's…
I admit I haven't seen him in anything else except for this but here he's pretty bad. Dunno maybe it was just this character that didn't suit him, maybe in the other ones he's great. Altho I have my doubts.
As for Kim Myung Soo goes based on what I've seen from him (even only taking Angel's Last Mission and Emperor Owner of the Mask) is making rounds around Lee Jae Wook when it comes to range and specific character choices. At least he made some. Lee Jae Wook in this is one is just delivering lines and gazing in the distance when he has dialog heavy scenes. But maybe you can explain to me why was he was so amazing for you in this? The rest I can't say because I haven't watched it.
I appreciate you might like him (visually?) and my personal bias aside I can also see how he could be popular (tall, good looking?) with so many people. But when it comes to his acting chops sorry he's not (based on this).
Also are those the same media outlets that are praising Su-Ji as actress of the generation? Because there's quite a big difference between popularity and actual brass tacks.
TBH the romance for me is the weakest in this drama...I think individually and as a group they are doing a great…
Agree 100%. Didn't buy Uk and MuDeok at all. As a matter of fact I find ML super annoying when he's with anyone except for Crown Prince. Those are the only scenes that have some credibility 🤣 Yul is absolutely a sweetheart! He should be the ML - GODDAMN SECOND LEAD SYNDROME! But the relationship between MuDeok and Yul is just awfully written. She's giving him a cold shoulder every-single time despite him being super nice AND him being the only persons she had a thing for ever since she was a little girl. Even when the obstacle (her thinking that his family killed her father) is gone instead of her going wow I messed up the only genuine relationship I ever had in my life she falls for Uk the next minute? How does that make sense? At the very least she should be torn between the two. Not literately turn into an emotional manipulator or run like a dog whenever her young master needs something and throw away Yul like a wet rag after it's been used.
The writing of the ML character was quite awful if you take it at a face value. He was an entitled whiny man-child who got everything through sheer dumb luck and was still super arrogant with no emotional growth. And everyone loved him despite all that (just because he was ML).
I can appreciate that the writers were trying to achieve a nuanced character and I blame the actor because his delivery was so bland that it makes a wooden plank look like a human being . He delivered everything with absolutely no subtext. So all the 'bad attitude' was just plain rude and arrogant. I think that the writers didn't intend that because I watched a few of their other shows and other MLs didn't have the same problem. Fore example 이승기 in Korean Odyssey was written as quite of a jerk as well but he put in so much subtext that all his delivery had so much meaning attached to it and was super nuanced. And even withing the show itself, Jin and Housemaid Kim were constantly rude to each-other and bickering but there was so much subtext and meaning behind it because the actors were really good.
And it makes sense, ML here is an model turned actor who just got his feet wet and it shows. Plus I find his looks a bit annoying. But that's just my personal bias.
To be fair the rest of the show was pretty good tho but how can you enjoy it when 80% of it is ML.
Yes but the approach is that of the males' point of view. That powerful women are heartless bitches and that this…
First of all no one is questioning the skills and intelligence here. FL lead had all of that. She was the most skilled and intelligent of all the people (male of female) in there. Is she wasn't no amount of what you call 'bitching' would help her to succeed. Skills and intelligence are prerequisite in the real life de facto.
Second of all success is relative. In the context of our conversation when I was talking about 'success' I was referring to C-suite level of success in a big law firm with predominately male leadership (what we see in the show). Is that the case with your female friends? I'm pretty sure there are all female small law firms out there that are successful in their own right but that's totally besides the reason why we started this conversation in the first place. Because then we're comparing apples to oranges.
And there's a big difference between trying to intentionally (that means that you know you're in the wrong) redeem or just provide the context. Again if you watched beyond first two episodes you wold see that it's the latter. That it was done for a dramatic purpose. But if you perceive this execution as intentional to serve some sort of agenda then that kinda proves my point about your bias. And don't get me wrong there's nothing wrong with that. We all have our own biases about something. But trying to bend the truth to fit it is a bit ridiculous.
I'm not trying to convince you to watch the show. Just telling you that your reasoning behind why you don't like the show or should I say the way you're sharing your opinion under false premise is a bit funny. There are plenty of shows that perfectly embody the message you hate so much (which again it's the same for me) but this is not one of them. Think of a boy (or a girl) who cried wolf.
Yes but the approach is that of the males' point of view. That powerful women are heartless bitches and that this…
Judging from your reply, I'd say you missed the point of that I was trying to make. Let me put it in simple terms: There is no other way for a woman to be successful in a cutthroat male environment other to become what you call a 'bitch' - I explained in my previous post why that is. And you can protest all you want and say it's distorted, sexist, from a males' perspective and what not but that's just a way it is. It's unfortunately the reality. If you are not a person in power and if you don't believe me go out in the world and see for yourself. Or ask someone who's been there. Especially law, oil, banking/stocks (I know I lived it firsthand ).
And quite honestly if it offends its female viewers then those viewers are not living in the real world. Yeah it would be great if the world was all peaches and cream but it's not. And to blame being offended based on some unrealistic expectation you have from the world is just the biggest form of entitlement.
And yes I've read some of your replies and yes that's exactly why I said you have some sort of a personal bias. Because you're judging based on 2 episodes - you've made up your mind based on partial information and incorrect assumption (that this depiction of successful woman is distorted) only because it confirms some belief you have. Btw I don't know where and why the feminist came in?
And as so many have suggested to you that you should watch at least few more episodes to get the context why she's acting the way she is and it's actually really not what it seems. But you don't wanna hear it.
All I'm saying is that this notion of successful woman is not distorted and or sexist. Neither is from males perspective. It's just depiction of reality and it's actually the best part of the show. They do go overboard with some things but that's a different conversation.
Yes but the approach is that of the males' point of view. That powerful women are heartless bitches and that this…
There's a personality trait known as agreeableness. And we associate it with mostly feminine energy - it's because it's a typical female trait. That is, women are far are more agreeable than men. And in male dominated professions, especially a cutthroat one (ie LAW), in order for a woman to succeed she has to adopt to the environment which means that she has to get rid of that trait and take on all the other male personality traits, at least on the outside.
If you've ever been in that kind of environment you would know that this depiction is pretty accurate. To what extend it's debatable. But I think the basic premise here is pretty spot on here. If you are triggered by the general notion of it that's a whole different topic.
Btw I agree with most of your review (as well as the general notion of the typical female bad bitch) and I'm not a particularity fond of this show, but I think it's unfair to take away from it where the credit is due. Basically the only good thing about this show.
As for her needing a man ... well if you've been in this kind of environment for too long you forget to be yourself. And you "need" something or someone to remind you of your "true" self. Whether that is a man or just a female friend. Yeah could be both. But psychologically if you are constantly surrounded by same asshole guys and then a nice guy comes along, of-course you're gonna notice him. The needing part here is I think a bit of your personal bias projection especially if you've only watched 2 episodes. I agree that in certain other shows this might be the case. But definitely not here. If anything it's the exact opposite as the show goes on. Half the time she's on a power trip (even when she's in the wrong) and the guy is basically running around like a pathetic looser.
Don't know how this can be written from a "males' point of view"?
The main guy is annoying as shit as well. I got so annoyed with their first interaction at the Forbidden mountain. Absolutely hated him. No chemistry between them as well. He's just so full of himself. I don't understand how people can like this kind of forced set-up. Do they get off on this toxic victim mentality?
Thank god I caught on early, listened to my gut feeling and dropped it.
I totally agree with the bullying aspect. Especially as they start the 'main couple' off with that. I got so annoyed with their first interaction at the Forbidden mountain. He's annoying as shit. Absolutely hated him. No chemistry between them as well.
Another thing, they set up Yan Jing Chen from the beginning as this loving common sense guy and then for the purpose of the plot on a whim turn him into a fucking retard. He was the only one I had hope for. But nooo. This show is an absolute garbage.
As soon as I get that feeling in my stomach I know something is not right. And I'm usually right. Dropped, next!
And yeeees the romance between K2 and that excuse of a woman is one of the TOP3 forced romances in all of K-Dramas. It was downright repulsive. Especially because the chemistry between K2 and Choi Yoo Jin was mesmerizing from the start.
And yeeees Choi Yoo Jin OMG. She is definitely a show stealer.
And then we get K2 first seeing Anna on the cameras and I honestly felt so uncomfortable. It was downright creepy.
I wasn't that bothered by the whole superman aspect of the show. I actually quite enjoy the godlike men characters if they have the emotional depth to support it. Which is the case with K2.
The only thing I don't agree with is Anna. She was downright annoying as a charter and a lot of that in my opinion comes from the actress.
But I'm a bit disappointed with your rating. Like how can you give it an 8 if you borderline hate it? Don't take this personally but exactly this 'pitty' rating and hate watching is what gives these shows and the creators an excuse to keep making this garbage. Because, oh hey we got so and so viewership on Nielsen rating, and the score is this much. Doesn't matter that general sentiment is disappointment. We can justify it with the numbers.
I was totally rooting for the Hitman guy.
They only thing I'm a bit surprised by is your statement about Lee Jae Wook performance , which I thought was absolutely horrendous. What did you find so great about it?
Made me laugh out so hard lol
"There is just no limit to what he can do in amount of time no one has ever done before. He is the chosen one. Blah blah blah. Great character u got for being the chosen one."
100%.
"Like too docile for what they promised. "
Really good point you made there. I've decided to still give it a shot past ep9 even if just skipping forward. And came to realize exactly this.
For me Naksu was the highlight of this show. Awesomeness personified. It's why I started to watch it in the first place. But by ep 15 they turn her into this docile little puppy that wags its tail and runs whenever master calls. Like I get she doesn't have her powers but no way she would turn into this subservient slave.
And I really hate to admit but by this point I even resented the FL. Especially when the emotional manipulations started. For a while it was fun. But then became really cringe because it was the only thing she was doing. And especially because she was doing because of like you said, big shit Jang Uk lol
I totally get the backstory I really do. Makes for more tension and conflict. But first inconsistency is him acting entitled. Ok fair enough it kinda makes sense if you MOSTLY lean into the fact that he's from one of the 4 top families. Rich spoiled kid and whatnot.
I mean entitlement is not really a characteristic you would want to build your ML around. I don't personally find it virtuous and believe majority of cultures around the world don't either but whatever.
But if you lean more into the parental neglect etc, I don't think the main characteristic would be entitlement. How can you be entitled if you've been hammered most of your life? Maybe entitled to expect more bad things to happen :) I believe it would be more in the line of bitterness towards the world maybe self loathing etc. right?
So then you kinda ask yourself. Well they set backstory and everything up so nicely and don't really lean into it. Then the only reason it's there is to act like a token to force us (and other characters) to feel sorry for him - exactly what u said. On screen you see him act like a jerk with not subtext, but hey remember his past, he's a victim, you gotta feel sorry for him. To me that feels cheap.
And I also get that he's supposed to be special with King's star energy but again everything coming easy to an entitled person with, here's the important part: NO REDEMPTION on his part - what's there to rejoice?
Ok the writing is not that great but it's on the actor to fill in the missing gaps. Like for example: when she points out this fact that he's extremely lucky. Great opportunity for redemption. He could acknowledge it, yeah she's right I gotta work harder to earn my keep - internal monologue so we see the wheels turning in his eyes, a slight nod. But all we get is the same entitled 'cool' empty stare. Just do anything for christ's sake. Idk maybe it's just me me lol
Same goes for their relationship. The master-pupil relationship should be submissive or I should rather say respectful to begin with. But again he's super entitled with her from in the beginning and it takes ages before the dynamic actually changes. And when it does the damage has been done. Because even in the beginning the entitlement doesn't make sense. Like he searched her out in the first place because she's awesome (and he knows that), nothing in his past can make him think that he's any good (he doesn't know about his extreme powers). And when she starts training him she totally embarrasses him. But he still keeps going with the same attitude/delivery.
I know sometimes it's really hard to separate the actor from the character but I can in good faith say that he didn't do his best in making the character multifaceted let alone likable. Instead Uk is the god of this universe everything he touches and does turns to gold and should thus be be praised and the people shall bow before him. God forbid you say anything against him. I'm all for godlike ML. Yes please make my mouth water but it's like somebody took a spoiled rude billionaire's son who can buy everything with his dad's money (King's star) is not even drop dead good-looking and told you to adore him and hail him as a your perfect man. Typical style over substance.
I only saw Ahn Hyo Seop in business proposal and he was pretty good. I mean tbh that role wasn't a hugely demanding to being with. But for what is worth he did bring some nuances to that performance.
I'm watching Replay 1988 next so will tell you how I feel about Park Bo Gum :)
As for Kim Myung Soo goes based on what I've seen from him (even only taking Angel's Last Mission and Emperor Owner of the Mask) is making rounds around Lee Jae Wook when it comes to range and specific character choices. At least he made some. Lee Jae Wook in this is one is just delivering lines and gazing in the distance when he has dialog heavy scenes. But maybe you can explain to me why was he was so amazing for you in this? The rest I can't say because I haven't watched it.
I appreciate you might like him (visually?) and my personal bias aside I can also see how he could be popular (tall, good looking?) with so many people. But when it comes to his acting chops sorry he's not (based on this).
Also are those the same media outlets that are praising Su-Ji as actress of the generation? Because there's quite a big difference between popularity and actual brass tacks.
I can appreciate that the writers were trying to achieve a nuanced character and I blame the actor because his delivery was so bland that it makes a wooden plank look like a human being . He delivered everything with absolutely no subtext. So all the 'bad attitude' was just plain rude and arrogant. I think that the writers didn't intend that because I watched a few of their other shows and other MLs didn't have the same problem. Fore example 이승기 in Korean Odyssey was written as quite of a jerk as well but he put in so much subtext that all his delivery had so much meaning attached to it and was super nuanced. And even withing the show itself, Jin and Housemaid Kim were constantly rude to each-other and bickering but there was so much subtext and meaning behind it because the actors were really good.
And it makes sense, ML here is an model turned actor who just got his feet wet and it shows. Plus I find his looks a bit annoying. But that's just my personal bias.
To be fair the rest of the show was pretty good tho but how can you enjoy it when 80% of it is ML.
Second of all success is relative. In the context of our conversation when I was talking about 'success' I was referring to C-suite level of success in a big law firm with predominately male leadership (what we see in the show). Is that the case with your female friends? I'm pretty sure there are all female small law firms out there that are successful in their own right but that's totally besides the reason why we started this conversation in the first place. Because then we're comparing apples to oranges.
And there's a big difference between trying to intentionally (that means that you know you're in the wrong) redeem or just provide the context. Again if you watched beyond first two episodes you wold see that it's the latter. That it was done for a dramatic purpose. But if you perceive this execution as intentional to serve some sort of agenda then that kinda proves my point about your bias. And don't get me wrong there's nothing wrong with that. We all have our own biases about something. But trying to bend the truth to fit it is a bit ridiculous.
I'm not trying to convince you to watch the show. Just telling you that your reasoning behind why you don't like the show or should I say the way you're sharing your opinion under false premise is a bit funny. There are plenty of shows that perfectly embody the message you hate so much (which again it's the same for me) but this is not one of them. Think of a boy (or a girl) who cried wolf.
And quite honestly if it offends its female viewers then those viewers are not living in the real world. Yeah it would be great if the world was all peaches and cream but it's not. And to blame being offended based on some unrealistic expectation you have from the world is just the biggest form of entitlement.
And yes I've read some of your replies and yes that's exactly why I said you have some sort of a personal bias. Because you're judging based on 2 episodes - you've made up your mind based on partial information and incorrect assumption (that this depiction of successful woman is distorted) only because it confirms some belief you have. Btw I don't know where and why the feminist came in?
And as so many have suggested to you that you should watch at least few more episodes to get the context why she's acting the way she is and it's actually really not what it seems. But you don't wanna hear it.
All I'm saying is that this notion of successful woman is not distorted and or sexist. Neither is from males perspective. It's just depiction of reality and it's actually the best part of the show. They do go overboard with some things but that's a different conversation.
If you've ever been in that kind of environment you would know that this depiction is pretty accurate. To what extend it's debatable. But I think the basic premise here is pretty spot on here. If you are triggered by the general notion of it that's a whole different topic.
Btw I agree with most of your review (as well as the general notion of the typical female bad bitch) and I'm not a particularity fond of this show, but I think it's unfair to take away from it where the credit is due. Basically the only good thing about this show.
As for her needing a man ... well if you've been in this kind of environment for too long you forget to be yourself. And you "need" something or someone to remind you of your "true" self. Whether that is a man or just a female friend. Yeah could be both. But psychologically if you are constantly surrounded by same asshole guys and then a nice guy comes along, of-course you're gonna notice him. The needing part here is I think a bit of your personal bias projection especially if you've only watched 2 episodes. I agree that in certain other shows this might be the case. But definitely not here. If anything it's the exact opposite as the show goes on. Half the time she's on a power trip (even when she's in the wrong) and the guy is basically running around like a pathetic looser.
Don't know how this can be written from a "males' point of view"?