There is no first love and young romance, childhood friends, even no simple motive of revenge.
This is a political drama with strong characters who carry the entire show.
Motivations of people's acting, a desire of the power, dreams of perfect society and state are portrayed excellent.
The main question of this story is that: does the end justify the means? Is this a true what Machiavelli said that everyone is evil and you must do anything to gain a political power?
Surprisingly, although there are some corruption motives, this drama isn’t about corruption, but rather about what politics do and what it looks like.
Director’s job is splendid! The director (Kwak Jeong Hwan) is also an author of Miss Hammurabi, and if you like Miss Hammurabi, you will like Chief of staff too.
The acting is brilliant, because:
Kim Dong Jun acting is better and better.
Elliya Lee, after her odd and makjang appearance in The Last Empress, has a real character to play here and I like her.
Lee Jung Jae and Shin Min Ah (the leads) are amazing. They present serious relationship involved in job and moral dilemmas.
Kim Gab Soo (the true lead!) is AWESOME. Try this drama to watch his impressive performance! I hope he will receive an award.
We all know that dividing drama into two parts has no sense, but in this case it breaks in a perfect time.
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THE REAL THING , STRICTLY FOR ADULTS
Don't watch this if you're an idealist .You can't pretend to live in a La La Land forever .
This drama is an absolute depiction of how politics work .
It's cruel , sweet but most of all overwhelming to most extent .
We all start by thinking
' I will change the world '
How ?
' By my sense of justice and righteousness '
It all starts with such self belief and shit !
Everything comes at a cost .
And that includes power too .
This is the first season so it's a cliffhanger right now .
But always remember
' You don't cling to the wrong to climb up else you're bound to fall and there's no standing after that '
This is it . It's not a review but an explanation of what to expect in the drama .
It's not a plot to please you , but to depict how things work .
Enjoy !
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The cast led by Lee Jung Jae was impeccable. Shin Min Ah was so good and so far removed from her typical characters that I forgot it was her. If it weren't for her dimples, I would have thought she was someone else. They were good. Everyone was good, but Kim Gab Soo was brillant! He stole the show. He was mesmerizing in every scene. (FYI: Kim plays the President in Designated Survivor 60 Days. I watched them simultaneously and confused myself a few times. LOL)
The incidental music was great. Honestly, I don't remember any songs. I'm sure there was at least one slow song in it, but it was irrelevant.
I finished Chief of Staff 2 the other day and am ready to rewatch both back to back now. How's that for rewatch value?!
If you like political intrigue & murder, Chief of Staff is a great series. You really can't do much better.
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When you watch it, is like a big brain time, you won't get bored like watching a simple romance or something else.
The story is just great, completed with good acting and the music is pretty accurate.
The cast played thier role perfectly and the male and female lead dominated the scene even they were put in ridiculous situations.
Overall, I'll recomand it to everyone who like politics.
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How far will people go to get the way they want? This drama deals with backstabbing, corruption and everything bad you can think of in a world of politics.
The main characters are trying their best to help the people but to help the people they have to do stuff that is not always a good thing. Don't expect this drama to be a walk in the park or a drama you can watch to catch a break from real life. This is heavy but it has it satisfying moment.
The acting is really great. Lee Jung Jae as Jang Tae Jun is amazing. He's playing the good guy but still make you question if he goes to far and if he himself, is gonna go to the point of no return.
Shin Min Ah is playing a female lead that is strong and even during pressure and criticism fails to crumble, which I find very rare in Kdrama.
The other leads are also amazing and Kim Gab Soo is doing an amazing job as the villain.
The music is really good, lots of good songs and even some of the instrumental OST stands out.
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Excellent Political Drama
I was absolutely hooked on every episode. I wasn't sure about the casting before I watched it, but Shin Min Ah and Lee Jung Jae played their parts well. I will say that their "chemistry" was a bit off at times, though this may be because it was more of a comfortable relationship than cute or fiery.My only criticism was that the ending seemed more like the end of an episode than the end of a drama. It was very sudden with no follow up. But now that I've seen that there will be another season, it makes perfect sense.
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Cold-Blooded Political Drama
The premise of Chief of Staff is that pretty much everyone in politics is ruthlessly ambitious and willing to put aside any morals to achieve their goals. That's kind of all you need to know, lol. It's cynical but probably fairly realistic. At least all these politicians are super attractive!In general, the show is very well executed and well worth a watch. (Although if you're looking for something light and feel-good, I'd steer clear). The show's strongest assets are its characters; while there's a mid-sized ensemble cast, all the main players are complex and fully formed and their personalities are easily discernible within the first few episodes. Standouts include Lee Jung Jae as leading man (and Chief of Staff) Jang Tae-jun. His facial expressions alone are so telling; you can immediately feel his constant struggle between doing the right thing and advancing his political goals. He's one of the best anti-heroes I've seen in television. Another standout is Shin Min Ah as Kang Seon-yeong; she's a political badass who you'll constantly root for as she strives to be one of the few uncorrupted politicians. I love her and Tae-jun's chemistry; you can tell how much they care about each other even as their political careers keep jumping in the way. The show also does a good job establishing the tangled web of relationships; you can immediately tell who is loyal to whom, who has beef, etc. The acting and character building is excellent on its own.
Chief of Staff is super plot-heavy; the first few episodes are more slice-of-political-life as Tae-jun grittily handles crisis after crisis. Just when it's starting to get repetitive, the latter episodes start developing more of a seasonal arc which ends in a dramatic season finale. There's a lot going on and tons of side characters and political scheming, so it can be easy to lose track of some of the moving parts. Even so, you don't have to remember every detail to enjoy watching how the drama unfolds.
The soundtrack is fun, too; the dramatic underscoring matches the premise' tone and urgency. I'd recommend Chief of Staff if you're looking for something a little serious/dark with a standout cast of characters.
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Different, mostly in a great way.
Chief of Staff is definitely different, 'mostly' in a great way. It managed to pull of a serious story that illustrated many issues in the world we live in today, with a hint of realism that isn't apparent in other dramas of it's kind (politics genre etc.). I really liked the production, especially in filming and editing of this too, and while, story-wise, I felt like I desired something that wasn't there, I was still impressed from the end. The first couple of episodes are quite slow but eventually by the third/fourth episode you'll get into the story more. Acting was top-notch quality by nearly everyone, accompanied by a great OST.Re-watch value is normally low for me anyways, so don't read into that too much. If you are a fan of these kinds of dramas, I definitely recommend watching Chief of Staff. If you are new to this genre, of haven't watched a great deal, I would suggest something different for you as it may not be to your taste. All in all, a decent watch.
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This review may contain spoilers
House of Kards
I had this planned on my watchlist since the beginning of my journey into k-drama, mostly because of Shin Min-Ah (she's fabulous, beautiful and talented and I want to be just like her when I grow up…) but also because I really dig the political subgenre (my second most favorite after historical dramas, and immediately followed by sci-fi. Turns out romantic dramas are really my least favorite)My overall judgement is positive, but I really wouldn't recommend this to any k-drama neophyte. I found it difficult to watch because I was often bored. It took me almost 3 weeks to finish all the 20 episodes (1st and 2nd season) and I had to mix it with something else (Divorce Attorney Shin was the perfect buffer). Ultimately, I am glad to have persevered to the last episode because it was satisfying enough to deem the whole experience as positive.
Basically, the main theme hinges on an ethical conundrum of Machiavellian inspiration:
how evil can good guys go when fighting evil in order to still be considered good guys? Do you need to fight dirty to prevail in a corrupted and unfair fight?
The answer to this question is universally controversial and I liked the one in the drama well enough, however the execution was rather poor.
Writers (Lee Dae-il, who also adapted the original comic for Bring it on, Ghost!) could have delved deeper and dared more since they had a great cast that could definitely sustain a heavier load.
Politics is complex and if one decides to explore the shades of grey behind it, they cannot resolve the issue by reducing it to black and white.
During the watch I was reminded of two personal favorites in the genre, House of Cards and the West Wing. Yet the similarity goes only as far as the setting since Chief of Staff lacks the depth, the intricacy and the absolute commitment to the story, characters and political commentary that those two masterpieces have.
Here the story is oversimplified and, in my totally unessential opinion, that is in detriment to the overall vibe.
I like when writers trust their audience with the complexity of fiction that mimics the truth of life.
That is one reason why I really appreciated Stranger, for example.
I love Lee Jung-jae and I find his voice beautiful, still the first person narration sounded awkward to me most of the time.
I really liked when they talked about abortion though.
Also, I liked the glimpse of fanservice amidst the seriousness ( Do-Kyeong's great abs were good for the morale).
Therefore my score is earned in full by the actors' performance, the bits of political commentary and the happy ending.
FES(5/5) Shin Min-Ah in power suits is indeed powerful!
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It's pointless to watch it if you're dumb tho
I went to watch it as soon as this came out on Netflix (blame Shin Min-a for looking so fine in the trailer).At that time, I hate and don't understand a thing about politics. I was extremely dumb and it's really hard to keep up with this drama. At a point, I even had to take a rest by watching "Designated Survivor: 60 Days" where the politics is on the easy level.
After I finished that drama, I forced myself to continue this drama. Go watch it yourself but I learned a lot. Ever since then, I started to take interest in politics which was eventually manifested in my bachelor thesis.
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On the verge of meh-ness...
Although it's politically themed drama but it's a watered-down surface-level politics and the excessive overdramatization didn't fit its theme. Repeating the exact same dramatic flashbacks multiple times throughout both seasons further highlights my point. It ended up relying on these melo moments rather than having a better written political drama and a more engaging dialogues as you would expect from a good political drama to have. What also didn't fit its theme is the male lead constant overreacting and overacting for his role. The romance of the main leads and the pair up of the secondary leads were all out of place. On the other hand, the OST was nice, it reminded me of Comrades (2010). The drama is okay if it was your first political drama, can serve as an easy introduction to the genre.Was this review helpful to you?
Tense Political drama
Chief of Staff S1 (2019)Likes
1. I believe that Jang Tae Jun can fix whatever problem he faces. He's that good at his job. But it is also scary because he can do terrible things but still come out as justifiable and better than the others.
2. I also love Kang Seon Young, she is as sly as Tae Jun but is a lot cleaner in handling things. She also doesnt back away even when against the old bad guys in politics.
3. I actually love them as a couple, i'm impressed that despite being in opposite camps most of the time, they are able to fight back and protect each other. I just find it unbelievable that no one knew of their relationship for 5 years yet each one can dig the dirtiest secret from each other. Lol. They even live in together and no one realized they had the same address?
4. I also like the bad guys.. i think they casted almost all of the usual baddies in dramas. I laos liked the supporting swuad, from Hyewon, who is willing to help Taejun, Manseok as Seonyoung's trusted aide, to Dogyeong the naive intern.
5. I was shocked twice and both were tragic. End of ep 8 when Taejun's mentor killed himself. And last episode when another person died. Totally didnt expect these plot twists. It's like saying you really wont survive politics if you are too clean. You need to be as smart and manipulative as everyone to survive. Even if your intentions are good.
Dislikes
A little stressful watching because every episode was tense and full of backstabbing, blackmailing and too many dirty politics. Do they really want the world to change or are they all just selfish?
Rating: 8.5/10
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