Interesting start.....Boring end
The cover of this drama really caught my eye. I have dropped this drama twice before at episode 1. After years I came back.....I'm glad I gave it a third chance. The first episodes were very good, especially the story and the action of ML character. That's also what keeps me from watching all to the end. The second couple also had a good love story, but it's sad that the love story ended so fast for them. How much I wish that there was a separated drama for their love story.Acting: I started this drama because of Joo Won. I really liked his acting in Good Doctor, so I had high expectation. He did a great job here too. I like when he acts a 'special/mystery' person, his character Yong Pal. He acted cool and makes me want more of his action drama's or as an action doctor.
Kim Tae Hee' s acting felt disappointing for me. I mean she can act, but I guess this character didn't suit her and I didn't see a lot of expression from her as someone that wants to make her enemies payback for there crimes. I have seen her acting in many dramas before. She is very good at princess type of characters or sweet romance characters. Here I find her acting too bland as the FL character. Everytime I watch her part, I can think of a lot of beautiful South Korean actress play this character more suitable than her.
The supporting casts did a good job. I really like Chae Jung An and Jo Hyun Jae as an Onscreen Couple and their love story in this drama. More than the lead couple.
Music was good especially the song A Nightmare by Yong Joon Hyung and Heo Ga Yoon.
Rewatch: I really like the beginning of the story and the story of the second couple in this drama. So I will rewatch selectively.
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While the story was good, it didn't have enough time to develop. I felt like everything was rushed and that they didn't wrap it up very well. The biggest problem was that the female lead had major character issues and she wasn't ready to be in any romance until she solved them. Her relationship with the lead mainly consisted of her using him and then throwing him out when he became useless. I understand that that was how she was raised and that in a way she was just doing what was natural to her, but in the end, the issuse were never solved and I felt like their relationship was very shallow. It made me sad that they ended it like that because with a little more time in the drama it could have improved drastically. In short, I feel like the romance aspect was a total disaster.
While I didn't like some of the characters, I was very impressed with the acting and it was amazing to watch these talented actors bring the story to life. I have seen some other dramas with Joo Won but I was suprised at how well I liked him for this role.
Even though I feel like this wasn't a great drama, it never got boring or slowed down and I kind of liked that. It was really exciting to watch and it was entertaining so if you are looking for something interesting and fast paced to fill your time then I would say, "Go for it!" but if you are looking for a really well done drama with an amazing romance, then this may not be for you... I really enjoyed watching this drama but I will not be watching it again.
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A very unique storyline that failed in convincing me of the romance. The revenge aspects were certainly persuasive and I appreciated that the writer tried to keep some consistent themes throughout the drama i.e., revenge is a cycle, circumstances are what drives a person's actions, etc.
Yong Pal was a character that could do no wrong. He was so perfect that it was hard to endear myself to him. Similarly, all the other characters were so unlikable that I didn't really like any of them either (other than some fantastically written supporting characters) and therefore was not invested in the ending. At the end I really didn't care whether or not there was a happy ending.
Same writer as The K2 and if you've watched The K2 you'll see very similar vibes especially in the beginning of the drama. This makes me think the writer is very good at laying out unique storylines and a fast moving plot but cannot write in any romantic development. Cute romantic moments between the leads were hard to watch because it was so unconvincing to me.
I still gave the story a somewhat high rating because of its uniqueness. Kim Tae Hee's character is interesting as a female chaebol and I only wish to see more of that in today's dramas.
Overall, don't watch this for the medical stuff or romance but watch it for an engaging plot where a perfect man rescues a perfect (on paper anyway: looks beauty brains) woman and have a fairytale perfect romance. No fights between this couple! Their challenges lay in ideological differences and external circumstances. Not realistic but that's what we watch kdramas for!
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This review may contain spoilers
a surprisingly good time
I think the current overall rating on MDL of 7.8 really isn't fair, but to each their own I suppose. In my opinion this drama was a good time and honestly surprised me by how much fun I was having with it.I thought the pacing was well done and it kept up the momentum throughout almost the whole drama. I do think the first half was more exciting and fun, but I did enjoy the second half too.
I liked the role reversal of Taehyun being the sort of helpless one and being the one insisting on forgiveness while Yeojin was the one who wanted revenge. I also liked that all of Taehyun's acts of kindness came back to save them in the end.
I think that while this drama was really fun and enjoyable, there's also a drama that is ACTUALLY about a gang doctor in here. I think that would've been an excellent drama, and it's too bad that we didn't and won't be getting something like that.
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Rushed ending
Short: Really nice pace, really good characters, has some clear evolutions in the story making it feel like it's moving at a decent pace throughout... and then just stops. Totally feels to me like this 18 episode story was meant to be 20 and they cut it, so while it has an ending, it just isn't satisfying at all.Detail:
I was hooked on this one throughout, Kim Tae Hee and Joo Won are both excellent and they are surrounded by a great cast as well. The story has an interesting premise and moves along at a nice pace throughout so it was always interesting but i'm left at the end of it just feeling like the story ran off a cliff and suddenly stopped as soon as they could possibly do it - it's like the final seconds close out the loop, the [final thing] happens and boom - credits.
I always prefer a nice run-out to my stories, let's see them live their best lives now that they've worked hard to get there.
I don't really have anything else to be sore about on this drama, if it had a decently closed off ending this would have been at least a 9 if not a 10 for me but I hated that rushed ending.
To be clear, it DOES have an ending, it DOES have closure, it's just supremely rushed which undid the great work and pacing prior.
So i'm conflicted about recommending it as a watch - on the one hand, it's great fun and I really enjoyed watching all the characters, but on the other - if you're like me and you like the long run-out endings be prepared to be checking your netflix player to double check you didn't just run out of internet or something :)
I did note with some amusement that near the start, she transfers 2 million USD to him that needs a password to release that he'll get once he gets her out of the hospital... and at no point at all during this did she ever actually do that - it's like that whole thing was just forgotten about because it was inconvenient, instead he ended up relying on another source to help his sister (because that was more story-angst-ridden :) ).
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The love story was really not very convincing, but OK, I rolled with it anyway.
The ending felt like the writers had run out of ideas and just decided to write a WTF-worthy ending for us.
On the technical and behind-the-scenes aspects of the show, the first episode featured a few really bad editing screw-ups, including terrible, terrible CGI. Joo Won also looked extremely exhausted by the end of the drama. Very obvious that the live-shoot system caught up with the show by the end of it.
A plus point is that this show features strong female characters, who aren't simply helpless damsels-in-distress crying out for the male characters to rescue them.
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If this drama was stupid from the begining I would've gone with this mindset , but it started well , a doc who saves gang members for money at night and when the day stars anew he is a very good surgeon that makes other people go rainbow colors with envy , throw there some romance and intrigue and there you have it , a really nice easy going show , but no , they had to make into a stupid revenge story that really doesn't show us anything new , people die , people get hurt and that ' people die when they are killed ' ( Emiya Shiro , Fate Stay Night , great guy , but not one with words ) or as in this ' masterpiece ' they really like to kill themselves , like that stupid ass of a brother of hers .
With this things said , we are not done with the bad parts yet , the negative side of the characters , the bad guys were such a mess , no character , no deph , no nothing , absolute zero , honestly speaking after watching Remember , War of the Son , Nam Gyu Man ( evil dude ) was the best at his role , but he was not the only one , all of them were good , it made you think that this is what they do everyday and they were getting paid for it to appear in the show , if you compare them to this side , well really , there isn't that much to compare .
Ok , the last bad part , the rushed ending , if it couldn't get any worse than this , well it did in the end . The last two eps were catastrophically bad , all of a sudden Yeo Jin trusts everyone , including doctors , her damn snake of a secretary even her sister in law , that if you read up until now , she , Yeo Jin , killed her husband AKA ' big bro ' , really ?? From the queen of aligators ( self proclaimed ) to that embarrassing state of hers .
As an optional , that guy from the states , american version of Yong Pal , what the heck did he do ? Nothing , he ordered for some scissors and that was all , a great doc indeed , and all the drama for what ? They done the operation rather easy , pff ...
The only good part of this drama was the begining and the main lead , he kept it from going really under , even so he was a shadow of what I saw in Good Doctor .
PS : Why did I compare this to Remember ? Because it had some similar plot ideas and that it was the last one I watched .
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This review may contain spoilers
I was hooked with the show. Heavy on revenge and deception theme, drama on every turn. And that's the only reason why it ain't on my fav list, it's just too heavy.I love how it started on what I thought a conglomerate drama / familial drama turned to crime while watching a romance bloom out of it all. Can't help but fall in love with the ML and wish for a Yong Pal for ourselves.
For me it's a good watch, not much for rewatching though..
Good story..
Good actors..
What's not to like?
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I got into Yong Pal because years ago a friend told me it was good [if I'm into medical drama]. I didn't have time then, but after seeing Joo Won's performance in Good Doctor I decided to give it a try.
The base story of how Yong Pal is Yong Pal is really good. I really loved the action until the part about the Miss Young Ae rescue and it's just until there. I think the addition of the love story was too much for me to handle, a bit cringey. I just hope it just remained a medical series all throughout with the bits of power struggle. I think Joo Won carried so much in the drama for me to actually stay with it until the end; I kind of felt really bad with the ending when I finished it, like "Okay...?"
The acting of the cast was mostly handled by Joo Won. Augh. Poor dude. It's like Kim Tae Hee's face was trying so hard most of the time, but she still can't manage to convince me.
The music was really good. It's keeps your heart racing, especially with the action parts.
Lastly, there were too many filler flashbacks. I remember spending time skipping a lot of parts while watching because I know the parts already.
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the main lead man really dropped the show!
at start i really did like it though the action scene is not so good. but the story at starting episodes are great. i got excited on the part where she will get revenge on her brother. BUT KIM TAE HYEONG RUIN IT. he always oppose with yeo jin that made it looked like yeo jin is a bad personbut she's not. she just a victim of her brother and she wants to revenge. yong pal should the one who understands her in the first place but instead he betrayed her. and now, he's the first one who broke up with the girl despite of good things he recieved from yeo jin. this mere doctor is always late and punched! he dropped the story.
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