Now, onto the story. I must say this is easily one of the BEST dramas ever produced in South Korea because the story is as amazingly driven by the plot as it is by the characters. It's already given in the summary that the reason Cha Dal Geon is involved in the plane crash investigation was his sole purpose to avenge on his nephew's death. We were given enough backstory and emotional flashbacks about the close relationship between Cha Dal Geon and his nephew, as well as his headspace (or really, the lack thereof) which made him jumped right into chasing down the terrorists without any fear. In that sense, Cha Dal Geon is a very straightforward character whose actions not difficult to predict and has stayed in his elements in most parts of the drama, basically kicking ass, killing the bad guys, surviving terror attacks and more.
Ki Tae Woong on the other hand, is the complete opposite to Cha Dal Geon, being the smart and calculative NIS investigative team leader who lays out plans properly before jumping into them. Together with Go Hae Ri who I think was given the most interesting character development in the show, they make a really fantastic trio. Go Hae Ri started off in the show as the NIS agent who was transferred to Morocco for an undercover mission and was admittedly at times frustrating to watch for the ways she was easily overtaken by Cha Dal Geon. Nevertheless, as she became more entangled with the terror attacks, slowly she became more trustworthy in the eyes of her superior to carry out more difficult tasks, and has managed to rise above them with the help of Cha Dal Geon.
Suzy, Lee Seung Gi and Shin Sung Rok have utterly delivered both the strong and subtle nuances of their characters with incredible finesse, that in this drama you no longer see the actor but the characters that these people breathe themselves into. Contrary to some criticisms, not a single moment in the show where I've seen Suzy given us bad acting (even her crying scenes are wonderfully done), rather a perfect fit for how the characters should have been acted according to the story's writing at that time.
Aside from the fantastic trio, there are another five sub-plot devices driven by its supporting characters that make this drama complex and thrilling yet so incredibly written. First is the dynamics between the powerful people at the Blue House, second is the constant confrontation and power play by the NIS chiefs, third is the conflict between Jessica Lee and Edward Park representing their respective companies, fourth is the involvement of the other bereaved family members of the plane crash victims and fifth is the funny interaction/bickering between Lily and The Unkillable guy (hired assassins).
Overall, Vagabond is the perfect action drama given the romance sequence doesn't water down the main plot, and was only splashed in between the scenes. They are not overbearing and the romance build-up was rather slow and steady, therefore you cannot help but root for them. Love is given a very special context clue in here, in that even without having to confess your actual feelings, suppressing them in the hope of protecting your loved one is already a devoted act of sacred love by itself.
The soundtracks are outstanding too, and really added a fantastic touch to the action sequence and emotional scenes. My favourites are titled Breaking Dawn and Open Fire.
All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed this one mainly because the plots are engaging, action sequences fantastically choreographed and directed, and characters perfectly cast. I read Lee Seung Gi's interview for this role and the director imagined correctly that he is the perfect fit for the half-headed, reckless image of Cha Dal Geon, as well as Suzy who portrayed accurately the transition of a half-hearted NIS agent into a full-blown femme fatale. I also found my new girl crush in this, that is Park Ah In. My girl is unapologetically sassy and badass as the female assassin, it's so hard not to fall in love!
This is definitely one of the most intelligent screenwriting I've seen off late, and paired brilliantly by outstanding directing on the part of the director/action director. The hard work they put onto the show really shows and pays off brilliantly in this one, and you are definitely jumping in for a hella good ride.
Enjoy!
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This review may contain spoilers
Terrorist attack bring down plane so many innocent people killed. To get a trillion dollars military plane contract. None of them got their bodies back. The plane landed in the sea. So far his computer has been stolen with all the videoes his nephew took on the plane. One of the office staff killed. He was nearly killed twice and she Suzy/Go Hae Ri was nearly killed by an assassin. Her computer. And copy of the videos stolen. The NIS computer room in Korea has got a virus and only one copy of the videos is left but now has a virus. There is a mole in the NIS office I hope its not Shin Sung Rok/Ki Tae Woong. He looks so spunky as an agent better than he looked in “Perfume”. The moles code name is “Shadow”211 people died in the crash 108 Koreans. They lost the evidence. Hey! Moon Jung Hee/Jessica Lee [President of John & Mark Asia] has got a copy of the video. Her insurance is it. Lily the killer has arrived at her house. Fresh from killing someone in America. She put up her killing price because he is a good man. Take it or leave it she tell them. She want to do a tour of Korea. Where there are lots of tombs. The boss wants a clean kill no guns or poison. So she wants it to look like and accident. I’m Lily angel of death. Park Ah In/Lily [Professional Killer]
Kim Jung Hyun/Dang Ki-Se he was cruel, ruthless, intimidating and hateful but he was so memorable. I watched “Empress Ki” ages ago but when I see him in another drama or movie his character in this drama comes back to me. How he was the one who spotted her as a woman straight away. He knew all the nuances of a woman and the smell of a woman. He’s got a great part in this drama as minion of those at the top. Jessica is in jail now but his position is still secure.
They are doing bush surgery in the embassy with bare tools that they can find in their. The guys screaming and blood spurting every wear as they are hacking his leg open to find the vein. Then he faints while they carry on trying to save his life.
They are trying to leave Morocco. So its the slow boat to Korea.
I need to edit this because I've finished watching "Vagabond". Loved this drama and was waiting every week for each episode in New Zealand. Outstanding with megastar actors. Is vagabond really finished? No way! They must be one more episode surely it can't end like that. So frustrating. I was thinking to have another rant at the writers bad enough when Arthdal Chronicles ended on a cliffhanger. I tell you it better have a sequel I was so angry when the beginning first episode was actually the end. Oh its not good enough when they do this to us viewers. It is so rage inducing. I would never have watched it if I had known this.
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Intense, Confident Action but Overly Edgy
PROS+ Suspense & action to the MAX
+ Fast-paced with minimum downtime
+ Impressive action scenes and stunts
+ Emotion provoking conflict (you will be sucked in & want justice for our protagonist)
+ Flashbacks are used effectively
+ High budget cinematography & variety of locations
+ Great music/sound production
CONS
- Overly confident plot twists
- Outcomes of scenes may not always be logical
- Villains appears one-directional
- Some mysteries will be unexplained
- Low rewatch value - due to the show's reliance on the mystery
SUMMARY
This drama will hit you HARD on the suspense. Want an good action and mystery hitter? I recommend this one because it is packed with it. Part of the enjoyment comes from the quest of finding out the truth or who the real culprit is. As our protagonist, Cha Dal Geon uncover details of a horrific plane crash, fighting his way through mercenaries and lobbyists, numerous plot twists will arise. Unfortunately, the plot does get progressively messy as the story unfolds and you may start questioning its legitimacy. Outcomes of some scenes also feel very unbelievable and not every detail in the story is explained properly. Fortunately, the performance of the main cast is impressive; their characters are likeable, sensible and relatable to the situations they face. Combined with well-produced action sequences, it becomes easy for us viewers to turn a blind eye or two on some of the crazy showdown that just happened, as unrealistic as they are. Some people will find the plot made to be too edgy especially towards the last couple of episodes. Regardless of how important movie logic is to you, it is still a very compelling plot and definitely worth the hours to watch.
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Hai zoombies
Fasten ur seat belts r tie ur shoe lays.... Absolutely u were going to be in race while watching this drama...But please don't watch the drama with ur logical mind like machine gun is superior then normal gun...
Some plot r predictable , but it will also lead confusion... So go with flow without thinking...
Eventhough it's triller, action and crime i personally found this as fantasy and supernatural where our hero won't be killed by machine gun, bomb, car crash, shooting , fire .... Lol.......hahaha... (He won't die if lighting directly strike itself . )
But u can enjoy it ...... It holds many twist and turns..major drawback is ending . it was very worst cliffhanger of all... I really want enemies to be punished by our immortal hero... At ending i screamed loud "WTF...why did i invest my 16 hours to deserve this cliffhanger ending?????? Let's hope for season2 "........
I hope for next season... There should be... Chaebolllll....
U will enjoy while watching this action , crime triller combo with gud casting...
Bye zoombies
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THE ENDING!!! :((((((
I started and finished watching this drama only recently (2023) and I had been trying to stop myself from watching it since many people had told me about the ending, but I couldn’t resist it anymore. I know people who had watched it soon as it releases in 2019, and they are so heartbroken that even 3 1/2 yrs later there is still nothing and no season 2.The plot is a 10, the acting a 10, literally everything is a 10 but the ending. The director left us on such a cliffhanger and I will never recover.
However, if you feel like you are the type of person who doesn’t feel too sentimental about a drama you have just watched, then go ahead and watch it since it is genuinely a very good tv series with amazing episodes which will not let you get bored.. But, if you are someone like me who gets emotionally attached to the plot and characters, then don’t, at least not yet.
So, the only reason I gave this a 9.5 is because of the ending. If there is a season 2 in the future (which I most likely think there will be) then I will give it a 10.
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This review may contain spoilers
one of the best drama I've ever seen with the WORST ending!
At first, everything is perfect: action, suspense, romance, drama! the acting is absolutely amazing and the first episode is one of the best first episodes of all time!but from half to the end, it seems that the writers get lazy and the episodes are dragged on. the awful cherry on top was the ending.
not only it's an open ending (with no sequel) but it's also a TERRIBLE ENDING. really out of character put the two mains in that situation, it makes NO SENSE.
I struggled a bit to finish and was really disappointed with the end. But, because the first part was a masterpiece I can't bring myself to give a lower rating. also they have Bae Suzy so it's a plus lol
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Definitely worth it and yes, I'll recommend this drama for you to watch.
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Depends on what you are looking for
Before I started watching this drama, I expected it to one of the best, although it wasn't. The acting is very good and I love the main characters. The problem is with the story. I didn't understand anything as there were a lot of plot twists and characters involved. Memorizing the names was SOOOO HARD!!I didn't like the story that much. You know those series where there are not a lot of scenes were main characters are shown? That is this drama. I think in the one hour episodes, only 15 minutes were dedicated to the main characters. The rest were the older people talking to each other which I find boring.
Overall, I wanted this drama to end faster, so that I could start the next. But if you like political and action dramas, then this drama is for you!
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Short version: If you enjoy thriller/mysteries with suspence and action packed scenes with various plot twists that will keep you at the edge of your seat, this is highly recommended. A good watch.
Long Version: Well... not so much.....
So... what we have here? We have a super ambitious drama on our hands. If i had one word to describe vagabond that word would be ambitious.
I'll take the time to carefully present both positive and negative points of this drama, so we can decide on the final score together.
THE GOOD
First thing that comes to mind when i think of Vagabond is scheming and plot twists. The drama starts as a revenge story about an uncle who wants to avenge the death of his nephew. Been there done that. It evolves in SO much more than this, leaving, what this seems to be at the end, a very small detail to be a mere plot device to start the plot. The drama evolves rapidly, including the police force, the NIS, the korean government, several multinational companies and even terrorist organizations...
I was disgusted and yet amazed at the filthyness of the government and pretty much the system of every sector depicted here. I loved to hate these people, the thing that made this drama a hit for me and will be kept memorable for! I can see, however, how this might be too much for some people to swallow and stand by to watch.
More specifically, Including and exploiting a country's own government and police force and pretty much everything legal, showing their worst possible face was especially hard to sit by and watch, but i can easily say this was the drama's highlight. I can applaud the writer for actually going as far as incrimination and even -if i may say- humiliating government executives, striving to show how everything is and -mainly- everyone is rotten to the core. Manipulation of people all in the name of power. *applauds*
Moreover, the drama is packed with fight scenes, which were... well executed, i admit, but... we've definitely seen better.
Furthermore, it has 16 episodes and around 32 plot twists. If it gets one thing right it is that you are kept at the edge of your seat like ALL THE FREAKING time, which makes the drama very binge-worthy! The twists were well delivered, both time-wise and plot wise. Some of them were kind of expected, but all of them were welcome, even if they touched upon the "tiring" territory more or less.
*thinks hard*
Ah! Well written.... villains! This might be more of a personal preference but i figured the villains were greatly written and quite well sustained throughout the episodes. They kept their -pretty questionable- values till the end and it was very fulfilling to watch.
All in all, a thriller/mystery like Vagabonds in its very core seems to be suspenseful and intriguing. If the drama achieved something this is it. There wasn't a dull moment and that is very much appreciated!
THE BAD
First of all, the drama suffered, like pretty much every drama of this genre, of terribly convenient writing, inconsistencies, superhuman main characters, and a very very experimental/unfulfilling ending.
In more detail, starting from the first episode, i just couldnt ignore the ridiculous superhuman main male lead role. Excessively unnecessary to the point it actually ruined half of the fight scenes for me. There is no reason for the male lead to be superman, if i wanted to watch superman i'd go watch.... superman. Ridiculous and way too overdone.
Moreover, the number of good vs bad people. Bish... come on. I get the plot twists and i expect half of "the good" guys change territories halfway through the show, but it was again way too overdone here. This in combination with the fact that the good guys were extremely naive and gullible, while the bad guys were cunning and smart and.... dunno... normal people, made this a whole lot more unrealistic. I get the overdramatization but you can't present me such wholesome bad guys and such stupid heroes and expect me to root for the heroes just for trying to do the right thing. Nope, that ain't me.
I wasn't the biggest fun of the fight scenes camera work. Shaking the camera during the action because.... they believe i'd feel like being there? Meh, no i ain't 12. Sorry
Dramas like this are known for not having any romance involved. That is a good thing in my book. While Vagabond didn't -thank god- have any proper romance development, there were quite a few *moments* between the main characters. I have to admit they were cute and they kind of served a purpose, but other than the comic relief and the cuteness they didn't bring anything to the table other than that.
All in all, many were the times i rolled my eyes so hard my eyes were almost stucked at the back of my head because of the stupidity and the directional choices for the characters. I dare to say that the drama, by its end, has developed in so many levels that it can arguably be expanded in its own francise with multiple seasons/movies. All this raw potential never get explored but instead we get some half assed final episode that tries to do too much and while it does succeed to a certain degree, it pains me to say that i can personally write a 22 episode season based on this ending that we will never see.
In the very end, i think Vagabond's own ambition destroyed it, or -let's not be so harsh- kind of killed it from within.
ACTING
Unpopular opinion: All the sub characters were better than the 2 leads.
Suzy has come a long way, and was a pleasure to watch, but she has a long way to go still.
Lee Seung Gi.... was good... But that is pretty much it, which leaves a lot to be desired next to supporting characters like Moon Jeong Hee who was... to die for in her particular role.
Finishing the hat, let's keep this simple. You like suspenseful dramas, with numerous plot twists that will not leave you keep calm for a split second? You don't mind switching off your mind and overlooking exaggerated siliness? You enjoy bad guys doing their thing the worst way possible? Then this drama is for you. I can easily recommend it, but know what you are getting into. For everyone else, this would most probably be a no. I don't regret watching it, mainly because of the world building, but over than that, this was cheap and unfulfilling.
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https://charmi05.blogspot.com/?m=1
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Didn't meet my expectations
Before starting to watch it, I read some reviews on many sites including this one. And I thought "This drama has to be something". But after starting it I was disappointed. I'm not saying that this drama is bad or something. It's a pretty good action drama with some intense action scenes, some awesome plot twists. I liked all of it. But about the story I mean it was neither good or bad. It was okay I guess. The story being bad this drama didn't felt boring even for a moment which is a good thing. And after finishing one episode you will immediately want to watch the next. The main actors did a wonderful job. But I didn't like the acting of some supporting roles.Now about it's color grading. It was so bad. I mean usually we get colorful or standard color grading. But after seeing vagabond's color grading it feels like it was shoot in 2010. Also all the characters use mobile phones from 2010. So seeing it makes you feel odd. Then about the music it was pretty good with the action scenes but sometimes there was no background music. It was all silence. I hate this kinds of music composing.
So this drama is not an waste of time. It's definitely worth watching. But the story could have been better I think. But the action scenes makes you forget all of that and makes it enjoyable.
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This review may contain spoilers
Did I just watch a true-to-life movie series?
I. StoryOverall, the story was great. The number of twists and turn, unexpected revelations, the high level political game, and the multiple layers, made this series one of the best crime drama of this decade ('10s). However, it failed closing the story properly.
In the last episode (16th), it was obvious it was rushed. There was no direction. Everything the series built up from episodes 1 to 15 disappeared. It started awesome, then became great, good, and ended poorly.
It is common among creative writers to have an open-ended story but in this case the ending was not an open-ending, no, it was a cliffhanger intended to be a premise for a guaranteed Season 2. If the intention was to have an open-ending, it should have ended with them driving to the airport. Everything else after that scene killed what made it great.
I still give it 8 out of 10 stars for the story regardless of the disaster after the "driving to the airport scene". I also applaud the writers and director for not inserting romantic scenes just because their lead female is well-known for it.
II. Acting
Suzy did well in portraying an intelligence officer. This was a big change from her usual romantic roles and I wasn't expecting she can pull it off. Yet, in the first two episodes, she already shone in her role, that's a sure sign of a talented actress.
The acting of the other actors were superb. I usually see them in dramas about family and relationships, seeing them portray political and intelligence roles was refreshing and in they owned the characters they portrayed in series.
Together, the acting were too believable I kept thinking I was watching a fictionalised true story. The characters were too real, all thanks to their acting and synergy.
III. Production
Did I just watch a 16-episode (16-hour) movie? It was clear they spent money on Vagabond to get it all right. But in the last episode the explosions were very bad. This was the other reason why I said earlier that anything after the "driving to the airport" scene should not have been included.
IV. Overall score
All things considered. I give it a rating of 8 out of 10 stars. The superb acting and quality production were what pulled it up, and for avoiding creating romantic scenes just because they have a great romantic-genre actress as a female lead.
A series I'll watch again in the future but not the scenes I mentioned earlier.
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