Reviews

A Historical Marvel Fueled by Explosive Chemistry

Knight Flower isn't just a drama; it's a mesmerizing journey that has left an indelible mark on my heart. Each character, no matter how fleeting their appearance, was a revelation, adding layers of depth and nuance to an already rich tapestry.

From the passing poor citizen who graced the screen for mere moments to the seemingly insignificant characters who proved to be pivotal to the plot, every individual was a masterstroke of storytelling. The gray characters, neither wholly good nor evil, added a complexity that kept me enthralled, while the villain's cunning schemes held me in awe of their sheer malevolence.

What truly astounds me is the unexpected success Knight Flower has achieved. Surpassing even the most esteemed dramas of its time slot, this drama has defied expectations and set a new standard for excellence. Its rise to the top is a testament to its quality and the fervor of its audience. The scriptwriting was a stroke of genius, seamlessly weaving together intricate plotlines and witty dialogue that kept me on the edge of my seat. And the direction and choice of OSTs added an extra layer of depth and emotion that elevated the drama to new heights.

And then there are the performances. The lead actor, in his first major role as the sole male lead, delivered a tour de force performance that was both powerful and nuanced. His magnetic presence kept me glued to the screen, hanging on his every word and gesture. And the leading lady, a modern-day incarnation of the multitalented Honey Lee, brought a strength and charisma to her role that was truly awe-inspiring. With every scene, she commanded the screen, effortlessly capturing the essence of her character and leaving me breathless in her wake. What truly set Knight Flower ablaze was the explosive chemistry between the leads. The screen practically crackled with electricity every time they shared a scene, leaving me breathless with anticipation for their next encounter. And how tender and understanding they were towards each other... And it wasn't just the main couple; even the side couples were a perfect match, their relationships unexpected yet utterly captivating.

Knight Flower has cemented its place as a true masterpiece of a genre that can't be just put into a box for being either a historical, political, romance, or comedy per se but a bit of it all and the best of it all. It's a testament to the talent and dedication of everyone involved and a shining example of what can be achieved when passion and creativity collide.

I don't think I can ever be satisfied with finishing this review because I don't know if words can encapsulate how good this drama has been from the first minute to the last. And also how hilarious the drama is! it's the kind of show that brightens your day or week, leaving you unable to wipe the smile off your face due to the sheer cuteness and perfection of the deliveries.

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Conflicts Aren’t Great but Enjoyed Light, Positive Vibes

My 4 categories are Acting/Cast, Writing, Direction/SFX/Music, Entertainment Value.

I picked this drama up because I like the lead actors. Actually, I don’t like Ji Chang Wook (지창욱) in any roles other than action, but I decided to give it another shot. This seemed like it could be a cute romance, but in order for it to work, the chemistry needs to be on point.

Acting/Cast: I was pleasantly surprised by the cast. There were some actors that I was very happy to see again and some actors I’ve seen for the first time. I think everyone did great acting-wise (except for the female lead’s dad). However, like I mentioned before, the chemistry is the most important aspect here. All of the friend groups had good chemistry as well as the side romances, but I’m not sure the two leads quite got there -- at least not as more than friends. Maybe it’s because they were so overly cutesy with each other or maybe it’s because there weren’t any - even remotely - steamy scenes between them. I just wasn’t completely sold on them. Especially, after that ending with the choice that the male lead made. Careers were obviously way more important to everyone over love, which is strange for a “romance”. 7.5/10

Writing: I like the plot and the side stories. I like the characters. However, there’s some details that bothered me. The useless love triangle is one of those things. Literally, it was only there to motivate the male lead to make a move. They really built up this second male lead like he was going to be a huge threat, but no, just another poor victim of second male lead abuse. I think he was an interesting and unique character, too, so it’s such a shame. Another issue I had with this drama is the forced conflicts (apart from the love triangle). The initial conflict that sets the plot in motion is fine, but later on, things happen that make it feel unrealistic. There’s also another conflict between the male lead’s father and the female lead that just feels annoying and childish. I wanted to just skip over all of that nonsense. Then, the “plot twist” at the end with the foreigner seemed so pointless… I was like ‘Why??’ Blink and you’ll miss it. Fortunately, this drama has good side stories and likeable characters all around. 4/10

Direction/SFX/Music: The ending was so cliché that it didn’t feel consistent with the male lead’s personality. The pacing was decent despite using so-so conflicts to push the story along. The OST isn’t really my cup of tea, but I did add two of the songs to my playlist. Beautiful Day by Gemini (제미나이, 아름다운 날) is really pretty and of course the drama’s theme song: DK (도겸) (Seventeen) - Short Hair (단발머리). 6/10

Entertainment Value: It was an easy, light watch. Nothing very exciting to make me want to binge watch this drama, but also nothing so irritating that it would make me want to drop it. The second half is when I started feeling a bit of a drag (episode 9) and episode 10 or 11 is when more conflicts are forced in which began to annoy me. The ending was cliché, too. Although one of the side love stories was solidified, which was a pleasant surprise. 4/10

Overall, I gave this drama a 5.5/10. It makes me wish I had a rabid posse of male friends. It almost made me want to start taking photos...I hate taking photos.

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Never a dull moment in this drama! I have never been a fan of historical dramas but after watching this drama, I am beginning to like them. The story line is amazing! With betrayal, love, friends, death. The story just flowed I was never bored at all! As for the cast and acting, I was shocked, I was amazed at how well the children actors acted it was realistic. The adult actors were good as well, they were able to convey their emotions well. I'm not going to lie but there were times that I actually cried,which does not happen a lot. I guess it might be due to the story line, the actors and of course the MUSIC! Every drama I watch the two things that ALWAYS catch my attention is the actors (how well they can act and how they look :P ) and music (If the music isn't good then I won't watch it). I would totally re-watch this drama again and again. I am amazed at how this drama stole my heart, when I watched the first episode I was sort of iffy but, as the story progressed I go into and before I knew it I was cheering alongside the main actors. Overall, this drama is rated 10!

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The Hana Yori Dango adaptation you shouldn't miss

It all started 21 years ago when I first watched and fell in love with Taiwan's Meteor Garden. Since then, I have watched every version made before and anticipated if Thailand will ever release their version. When this show was first announced, I was thrilled. I even pictured the perfect Thai Tsukasa and he was Bright. I recommended him in every Thai discussion forum and polls I came across, I just knew he had the looks, height and screen presence. Boy was I right and so thankful he was chosen for this role. He was too good, close to perfect as Tsukasa. Once they cast Bright, Dew, Win, and Nani, I was looking forward to the cast that would become one of the best F4 assembled, second only to Taiwan's F4.

This version just had so much heart. Although shorter then most versions, this show was able to achieve what many of the past versions couldn't, giving each character depth. Some might not agree but I loved the writing in this show and its writing was able to tell each character's story to its full potential without dragging the story.

Highly recommended. Period. 5/5 Stars. Period.

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Crashed into my watchlist that's for sure

This was a surprisingly fun addition to my forever long currently watching list and I hope it stays that way.

The pilot episode begins with a bang, with a side of female badass. From the very first scene, things are fast-moving and explosive and as expected cool car scenes (thanks to the director). there is barely any lingering which works best given the series length. The team here comprises of four people. 1) So-hee (FL) who is a passionate and talented crime investigator cop and stops at nothing to see cases through (even if it means bending the rules or sacrificing herself), 2) Chae-man; the chief and creator of TCI who is similar to So-hee but softer in that regard, 3) Dong-gi; an automobile specialist and can analyze what kind of car it is and where it was tuned just by looking at the silhouette of the car and listening to the sound of the engine and Hyeon-gyeong the youngest member of TCI, who has a tremendous amount of internal martial arts skills. Yeon-ho (ML), eventually works more closely with the TCI, is smart, awkward and introverted but with a strong moral backbone. He is most notably a KAIST graduate and has many investigation certifications.

Since each case lasts about 1-2 episodes each, the hand offs are solid with the next case interwoven into the current one and aren't just sprung on us at the beginning of each episode. There's also call backs to earlier cases which helps maintain the link throughout the series. The cases also give us more insight to our team and their dynamic as well as an opportunity for them to get the recognition and respect they deserve. There's also some comedy sprinkled in here and there which eases the tension especially in some of the serious scenes (Gu Gyeong Mo-the national police chief- is my fighter 😅😅). Plus, the action sequence especially with the cars is giving when it has to do its part!!

Going into this series I was mostly expecting FL's life story to be the thing that serves as a connector for all the episodes since that is typically the case. However, I was glad that this time ML's past serves as what is keeping the link between episodes. It's a slow confusing start but when it finally rains, it pours. Also, it's been fun to see how our TCI team has embraced ML into their unit despite his quirky nature. I look forward to continuing this fun watch and hope the momentum continues on until the end (update: it did). The villains in this drama are villaining and I sincerely hope out TCI team comes out on top in the finale somehow, or at least they set up and confirm season 2!!! (Update: the ending was open ended and leave room for season 2). Ngl, that Tae Joo plot is/was/will still be actively pissing me off!! Writer-nim I hope you are seeing this and it is resolved! I am not the biggest ending of the last episode but oh well...

P.S. Lee Min Ki suits this type of character best. His deadpan humor and aloof vibes are good.

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The cast are excellent, but the writer's need to reconsider their life choices.

Neo is excellent in this. To be fair the entire cast is actually excellent. It's a pity the story doesn't do them any justice.
This is meant to be a upbeat coming of age story following a group of late teens into their early 20's in a factory town in Fucheng China.
Initially I loved the costume, music, cinematography, acting and everything. It's a blatant hommage to those 80's American coming of age stories, from everything like Pretty in Pink, Fast Time at Ridgemont High and Ferris Buellers Day Off, to Stand By Me and The Outsiders.
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BUT, and it's a big BUT...... it fails to really grapple with many of the questions it raises, and all the various issues are really just there to have something for our little gang of indomitably upbeat heroes(TM) to overcome.
There are some truly viscous, selfish and horrible human beings they cross and have to deal with, which is pretty realistic. Failing to be able to over come those arseholes and learning to cope with that failure, as well as all the inherent flaws in the system that lets said arseholes rise to the top, is a perfectly normal part of growing up...but this drama doesn't really know how to deal with the issues it raises in any satisfying manner.
The story just shrugs it's shoulders, says lesson learnt and then drags you onto the next arc. Bad guys are deal with in the most perfunctory manner, and even good guys get stitched up for the most half arsed reasons... and the story just expects you to accept this and move on without actually questioning whether or not it's really right or just even. It's just life and don't look too hard at this system lets keep moving, listen to the fluffy upbeat music again and away we go to the next arc....
This starts a bad cycle of shit happens, our little gang struggle to overcome it, but before anything gets really dealt with, in comes the upbeat music and bright sunshiney camera work and every things OK and ALL RIGHT again!...and in comes the next arc to repeat the cycle...
In fact it got so overwhelmingly jarring, that as much as I initially loved the music, it's just got TOO MUCH by the end.
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There are some definite character choices there that the writer made. Mostly I noticed it's the women who once again suffer for the sake of giving something for the men to angst over. The trope Women in Refridgerators exists for a reason...There is a minor character death at the end, but they can't count since no other characters in the drama apparently even notice or acknowledges this event. Which is a seriously dirty resolution for this particular character.

My recommendation is to watch only if you really like the actors. They do phenominally well with this. And it certainly gives them some meaty scenes to work with. However the plots starts sagging in the early teens and it only gets worse.

The music is a delight, the camera work is a delight, and the director definitely knows how to make Hou Ming Hao look incredibly good. In fact I'd almost go as far as to say the director has a crush on HMH given how inordinately handsome he always makes HMH look in every scene, even in comparison to Yang Cai Yu, let alone the rest of the cast.


It's just ...the ending would possibly not have felt so wrong, if I wasn't so annoyed about that death. The last 4 eps just jarred badly and the very end just ended up being insult to injury. They could have pulled it all off, but that would have required a reasonably competent writer.
The last 4 eps alone dropped this from a possible 8.5 to my current 6.5 I would have gone lower if I was judging on the writing alone.

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I really wanted to love it as much as Stranger 1.

Lee Soo Yeon does not disappoint and delivered yet another masterpiece of a crime/political drama. Despite my header, I still really enjoyed the show, with it's actions, twists and drama. However, in my opinion, every aspect is definitely lacking when compared with season 1.

Plot wise, the overall story was definitely less tight-knit. Story telling wasn't great (it wasn't obvious to follow and link together all the different cases). There were lesser shock reveals, twists were somewhat expected and most of all, the protagonist was (imo) too weak. It was obvious from the get go that WTH was no LCJ. He lacked the charisma, the brains and the personality to fill in those big shoes. I felt like too much time was used building up the base premise of the Prosecution-Police Rights discussion (which could be an important topic in Korea) and on SDJ digging into police power abuse cases (to get into the team). In fact, by the end of it, no real resolution was reached (except that both sides do not deserve to have exclusive rights). Pace in the first half was slow but it quickly picked up in the 2nd half with SDJ's disappearance, which I would rather the drama had started with. The ending felt rushed and I would have preferred the last few episodes to have spread out more. Many arcs were not closed out well such as, with Hanjo Group, LYJ's secretary's being suspicious, potential Kim Sa Hyun involvement, Oh Ju Seon, Segok Police Case etc. Overall, I felt the writer was trying to do too much in too short of a time. Maybe season 3??

Cast wise, I thought everyone played their part well but again, WTH's character was (imo) too underwhelming when faced with LCJ. LYJ as well did not compare up to her father. In fact, no mention was made about the status of her father by the end of the show, which I thought was pretty suspicious considering he could be used as one of the masterminds of these plots.

Overall, still a very enjoyable drama. Perhaps a slight tweak by the writer, aiming for a more philosophical style with more dialogue. Would have preferred more action/strategy like in season 1, which is what I fell in love with Stranger for.

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HEARTLESS, SOULLESS ADAPTATION!!

They should have made their own movie instead of making a loosely inspired adaptation of a popular novel that many people loved. This movie is the greatest insult for both the readers who loved the novel and the original writers who put so much effort and love into creating it. They changed the core aspects of every important characters, including the main character, and even did unimaginable gymnastics to alter the very foundations of the plot. It's such a catastrophic, abysmal disservice to the source material, and I pray to every god in this existence to strike this movie into its unrecoverable downfall.

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CONSENT?!?!?!? where..?

Whilst writing this its been about a month since I actually watched the show so bare with me if some timings are wrong but you should over all get the gist anyway. I use a lot of swearing for this so buckle up and triggers for SA and r*pe

Okay so this show is such a shambles honestly, like if you minus the consent issues and its weird obsession with sexual assault then this shows premise could have been at least a little promising. Like the whole illegal racing, like racer x innocent civilian or whatever is a great trope and I've read many fanfictions that have depicted this trope really nicely but this show... its like they use this trope only occasionally and its mainly forgotten after the first episode. The only time its brought back really is either; the FLASHBACK to that first episode or its for that one racing episode later on.

Phayu x Rain
Okay so I would say this relationship was probably a little more sane than the other relationship (Prapai x Sky, which I'll mention later) but these two still have major issues. Starting off, when they first meet in the rain and all that I was really excited to see where this show would go as that whole scene was so cute and so promising. BUT OH BOY DOES IT GO DOWNHILL REAL FAST. To be honest that restaurant scene or whatever it was felt like a fever dream so I don't remember it that well but I definitely remember the next bit, when Phayu allows Rain to stay the night. First off, Phayu trying to kiss and do weird shit with Rain was a big nono and the fact the Rain LITERALLY SAID NO and Phayu continued made me real uncomfy. Like you've invited this man to your house and you are now sexually assaulting him. Peak romance huh. Like first of all you can DEFINITELY tell Rain is very uncomfortable and even tries to leave, secondly YOU HAVE JUST MET THIS MAN. Like doing that stuff in an already established relationship is most of the time bad anyway (unless you've asked consent from your partner) but then doing it to a literal stranger is a CRIMEEEEEEEE. If I was Rain I would have 100% called the police and put this man on a list. Later on, throughout the show they obviously get along blah blah blah romance shit but then Rain gets kidnapped and Phayu is about the risk his life for a man HE JUST MET!!! like not just just met, like the just met I referenced earlier, but being real you guys have been in a relationship for about one or two months and Phayu really gonna risk his life and status just like that. Also him getting kidnapped was low-key funny cause it was so out of nowhere. This couple overall had a lot of potential and if you were to look over the SA then it was alright at best. I like that Phayu helps with homework and whatever and blah blah blah there dynamic was kinda boring though. The only redeeming factor was the portrayal of intimacy, specifically the first instance. I thought that first moment felt quite special and it wasn't really cringe or made me turn away. Overall, this was definitely the better couple of the two.

Prapai x Sky
HERE WE FUCKING GO. I hate these two so much, first off PRAPAI IS HIGHKEY A STALKER FOR THE FIRST HALF OF THEIR RELATIONSHIP. THIS MAN WILL GO TO CRAZY FUCKING LENGTHS TO MESSAGE, INTERACT WITH SKY, TO LIKE A DISGUSTING POINT. Multiple times Sky blocks Prapai's number to stop him from constantly spam calling and messaging him but this man is bloody persistent, because every time he's block he whips out a new sim card and continues to HARASS poor old sky. Like Sky is a student he can't be dealing with this stalker behaviour. IF I WAS SKY I WOULD HAVE CALLED THE POLICE FOR A POTENTIAL STALKER!!!!!! AS WELL LATER ON HE SAID HE JUST WANTED TO GET WITH HIM INITIALLY JUST BECAUSE 'the sex was good' LIKE!?!>?!?!
Eventually Sky lets the stalker in (BAD MOVE BRO) and they romance for a little bit. Then PARTY SCENE!!!!!!!!!!!! god rubbish puke gross ugh. Unsurprisingly, Prapai has to cheat on Sky real quick cause he's a plAyeR. This random hookup you had before is 'hugging' you and you let him like how can he later on just tell Sky that was a hug and then Sky believing him. LIKE HE WAS FULL ON FEELING UP HIS titty ON THE SOFA AND YOU LET HIM DO THAT YOU DISGUSTING MAN. Then Sky crying in the car was heartbreaking, him getting them traumatic flashbacks was real sad. I hate how Sky rightfully so hated him and then after a couple words of 'oh i didnt cheat' and 'it was just a hug' magically you forgive him. YOU SAW THE TITTY TOUCH MAN!! (they weren't direct quotes btw). god I hate Prapai.
Last episode of the show was 100% the worst. This is the episode where SKY LITERALLY GETS R*PPED?!?!?!? like why is that a plot line?!??! I was full on expecting him to ALMOST get to that point but then the gang saves the day beats up Gun and it would all be over, see how I said expected? BECAUSE THIS SHOW LITERALLY SHOWS HIM ACTUALLY GETTING R*PPED?!? Thank god it was penetrative but still Gun has, at this point, tied Sky up and done some horrible shit. I still can't believe this show just fully showed that, so uncomfortable and DISGUSTING!!! As well WHERE ARE THE POLICE?!?!?!? you have this offenders name, surely you can get him locked up no? You have multiple witnesses!!!
Anyway later Prapai tries to comfort him and when he does Sky seems to be magically cured from years of trauma after one single conversation with a man you've known for about two to three months. God. Overall there is no redeeming qualities of these two being real like even there intimacy was rushed and boring.

Throughout the entirety of the second half (Prapai x Sky half), its like Phayu and Sky were completely forgotten and vanished as they only really show up together once or twice. The second half of this drama feels like a completely separate drama on its own. The end was also anti-climatic, as I was at least expecting some sort of double date or some feature of Phayu and Rain to show closure to their relationship, but NOOO it was some boring office scene. I know there is a movie sequel to this but I hated this drama so much I just know it would be excruciating to watch the movie.

I feel as though many people rate this show highly only due to the fact that; the actors are attractive and that there is heavy sexual intimacy and kinky shit. Like the plot of this show is so boring because of how fast they get all lovey-dovey and the fact they missed out on a really good plot line (illegal racing) to be fully incorporated. Like I mentioned earlier, I've read fanfiction that have pulled this off really well and honestly all of them were written better than this trainwreck.

Sorry for that rant there but I just hate this show so much! Near the end there I'm not sure if much of that made sense LMAO. I might of gotten some areas a bit muddled through that, as I mentioned I did watch this about a month ago but I hope this was still readable. but yeah enjoy this fun little word vomit anyway lol

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A review A opinion whats the difference anyway LOL

Well anyway heres what I like about this film.


first the love story

I expect this to be a dark movie and yes its dark but I was surprised it has one of the best love stories I watched and its more tragic than titanic. Just imagine this..two people wanted to be loved met in a dating site but the timing was wrong cause the guy just killed a girl before their meeting and I said this is more tragic than titanic cause in titanic jack died but he still remain in rose heart...in akunin yes the guy still remain in the girls heart but she now thinks that hes a murderer..akunin.


Second is the grayish akunin character

While watching the movie you will ask yourself is this guy good or bad, earlier part of the film portrays him to be a somewhat misunderstood kid but later part portrays him to be a bad person..the part where the mother tells that he took money from her and his grandmother blaming herself tells this and why he suddenly wanted to kill his lover near the end WTF.

Third is the acting

The father portrayed by akira emoto and the grandmother portrayed by kirin kiki are the ones that made me cry. these two characters has to be the most authentic holy motha faka piece of acting that I watched. Father searching for justice and the grandma blaming for herself. the lead are both fantastic in fact this masterpiece film made me think that satoshi tsubamuki is the best japanese young actor living today...his way of portraying a gray character needs praise, he didnt overdo the BAD side of the character to make the character clear gray...that for me is fuck*n hard and eri fukatsu tho not that great in some dramas I watched with her..but here I dont know what happen but she really shines here every emotion shown by her character goes deep to your heart facial express everything perfect. And their chemistry is one of the best seriously.


fourth is the music

the music composed by joe hisashi gives a very dark ambiance to the movie but his song gives life to a one of the best love stories ever told. I kept saying that credits ost is not just a piece of shit music at the end but it has to summarize what you just watched (the concept of the movie) and this song was the epitome of that....A dark love.

Check my Blog for other reviews & other JDramas stuffs. (｡◕‿‿◕｡)
https://thatjapanesedramaguy.blogspot.com/

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Tazza is not going to be everyone's cup of tea. That's probably why not a lot of people have seen it. However, I'm glad I watched it cause I was able to learn quite a lot...

The story idea didn't interest me in the beginning but as it started getting into the gambling aspect it became very interesting to watch. And then the plot just started to move quickly with twists coming out at every corner. The romance portion is very very light so if your more interested in that then this wont be the drama for you. Revenge is the theme.

The ensemble cast was awesome! Jang Hyuk is love of course but the supporting cast was really really good and stood out. Each minor character plays a large role in Go Ni's master plan. They were quite memorable.

Rewatch- I'd rewatch this in a few years cause i really did love all the characters.

Overall this drama is different but exciting enough. More people should give it a chance.

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One Tough Cookie Brought Up By a Mysterious Uncle: Thrilling With Suspension of Disbelief

My final review of what I believe is the first season of this thriller drama (although no announcement of a sequel at the time I was writing this review). This plot is about the survival of the Female Lead Jeong Ji An, being targeted by professional killers, taking shelter in her uncle's house. How and why it happens is slowly unraveled through past events. Warning: this is not a comedy like the parent story.

STORY:

First of all, I didn't watch the parent story The Killer's Shopping List, nor read the novel under the same title "The Killer's Shopping List" (살인자의 쇼핑목록) by Kang Ji Young (강지영). Some comments said that there is no connection between this drama and the so-called parent story, only written by the same author. This is a survival story of our heroine, Jeong Ji An (Kim Hye Joon), because of what happened to her supposedly dead uncle Jeong Jin Man (Lee Dong Wook). Since little, after the deaths of her grandmother and her parents, Jeong Jin Man has been her sole guardian. He brought her up with a survivalist mind and tough love. During her grandmother's funeral, he made her watch a gruesome TV scene of a lion killed by a group of hyenas: "Only the weak bark, the strong don't. You must become strong to make your opponent bark. Don't be scared. Whatever makes you scared keep your eyes open and face it." When Jin Man took Ji An in after her parents's death and she fell on the ground, he didn't pick her up but said "Listen up, Jian. I'm not your parent and I can never be. Which means I can't do the things your parents did for you."

The fact that Jeong Jin Man prepares his niece in such a way as to be strong, independent, and capable of guarding herself makes sense later as the drama title is explained. Jeong Jin Man established an underground online business as the title says, a shop for killers. He not only sold guns but other weapons and chemicals as well. Jin Man was very secretive about himself and his customers so he gave them codes and even put himself and his niece in a special code: Code Green (I will describe the codes in the end under the spoiler).

I'm usually a generous rater, and am easily pleased, as long as a drama wowed me from the beginning till the end, I will rate it 10 (you can find out the dramas I rated 10 in my custom list). The reason I only gave this drama a 9.5 is because of the questionable details I saw along the way. If this is a fantasy genre I will ignore it, but the fact it builds upon modern survival and mercenary plots, it's dubious. I won't spoil them to you for this final review, you just watch the drama to find out. Basically, if you want to enjoy this story, you have to suspend your disbelief.

I will put the spoilers at the bottom of my review (you need to scroll down if you want to know, otherwise stop after the Visual)

CHARACTER AND ACTING:

Lee Dong Wook played the mysterious Uncle Jeong Jin Man with his usual traits: cold, aloof, but charming. We see more of Jin Man's actions in past flashbacks.

Kim Hye Joon played the survivalist niece Jeong Ji An. I stated above how her uncle brought her up, so we see the same cold and aloof trait in his niece. Some comments on the drama page stated that Ji An is too stupid when reacting to the attacks, but I have to defend her since she is not professionally trained and practically implemented for all that happened. Even all she did for survival is just based on her instinct to stay alive while remembering what her uncle and her master taught.

I won't spoil you with information on the supporting characters. The drama is too short to show much more about them. We learned about their background and how they came to know Jin Man, but the info about them is not enough to show that they are three-dimensional characters. I would love to see more (perhaps in the second season) about how Jin Man brought up Brother, Pasin's life (how a Thai man came and worked in South Korea), Min Hye's life after she was saved (her interactions with Jin Man, Honda, Brother, and Pasin) and how she got to know the villains, etc.

VISUAL (CINEMATOGRAPHY, COSTUME, MAKEUP, SET)

As usual, the Kdrama visuals for this dark thriller are amazing: the daring escapes, the gunfire and bomb explosions, the bullet movements, etc. Even the hyena CGI is acceptable. I kinda questioned Jin Man's home which seems so normal and humble but its walls, windows, and furniture are strong enough able to hold the gunfires and bombs to a certain degree. I assume Jin Man fortified his home strong enough for survival, perhaps having an underground bunker, too.

I will put spoilers down below about the Codes and the ending.

SPOILERS (Scroll down below)


















CODES:
- Code Red: for killers (assassins) - they can only buy guns, weapons, bombs, and poisons.
- Code Purple: for spies (buy and sell info) - they can only buy listening devices and cameras. Also, simple weapons to be used to kill themselves when their cover is blown.
- Code Yellow: for clean-up crew - they can only buy drugs, detergents, and cleaning tools needed for body disposal and clean-up, and administrative service to evade the law.
- Code Green: for Jin Man and Ji An (though she didn't know before) - the other codes could never attack them. If they did, other Code holders have to risk their lives to protect Code Green.

ENDING:
- Ji Ahn and her uncle are alive. As I suspected, Jin Man faked his death (though are not shown what he did to 'kill' himself and why he did it if not just leave his niece to have her own show). He shows up in the end riding a taxi. He's all wound up, probably he had a duel with the top killer.
- A bunch of killers are dead. The top killer Bale and the Babylon company head are (probably) still alive if they want to make Season 2.
- Pasin and Brother are alive. Min Hye is probably alive, only shown her gun came off her hand but doesn't mean she's dead. I believe if watchers found her too attractive and charismatic to be dead, the screenwriter will revive her for Season 2.

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I started this drama without expecting much, of course at first the female lead actively chasing after the male lead was really embarrassing to watch up till the point that I understood that it was from deep admiration of his commitment and dedication to his job to saving lives as a doctor. The male lead being very cold at first was disheartening to watch until he gradually began to melt and like his unrelenting nurse Female lead who proved that she only had eyes for him and no other man whether he was good or bad until he felt unworthy of her love and devotion .
I liked that at the end he was also concerned about her career growth and development above his feelings, this made me really like his character plus he was hella building that chemistry with his girl once he fell for her.
There wasn’t any crazy love triangle or family intrusion in this drama . Just simple and straightforward 10 episodes of them growing to fall deeper in love .
As basic as the story line was, I would watch it again and again because it brings such good feelings.

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Since the description of this dorama can be a bit misleading, I thought I better write a review about it. Because this was not what I expected at all.

Although time traveling is not an original subject, the plot was far more interesting than I thought it would be. This is much more than the story of a man trying to correct his past mistakes. Also the flow was amazing, I was not bored for one second. The storyline has its flaws but if you are not that nitpicky, I'm sure you'll enjoy it as I did.

The main actors Domoto Tsuyoshi and Endo Kumiko were simply beautiful. I could watch them forever. Especially Endo Kumiko, I fell in love with her voice. And Domoto Tsuyoshi has not disappointed me once. They deserve a definite 10, but a couple of the supporting actors weren't as much amazing, therefore I gave an overall 9 points for acting.

Overall, I gave this a 10 because of the original and flowy plot and also because of the acting by Domoto and Endo. It had just the right amount of romance and the right amount of suspense.

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