L.U.C.A.: The Beginning (2021)

It took a wrong turn.

Initially I was so thrilled to watch this drama because it starts one of my favorite actor Kim Rae Won. The plot was promising not the usual drama it’s about science specifically cloning. It would have been better if the writer delve more on the evolution of the cloned human it’s emotion and relationship to other humans.
It took a wrong turn when everybody started dying and betraying one other.It came to an end with no clear resolution.It just proves that human are improper being that will do anything for greed, power and money.

However good the actors and the ost of the drama it would still fall short if the storyline is premature.

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Not Good Enough

Korean Drama "L.U.C.A.: The Beginning" had an explosive start, but halfway through changed route and became a completely different drama.

First of all, the main idea of the story is pretty interesting. The sci-fi element was also well managed and didn't lower the quality of the drama. The performances were pretty great as well, and, especially, the action scenes were top-notch.

However, the ending episodes were a completely different drama, with a rom-com family drama twist. That, along with the female lead being an annoying, selfish and arrogant character, along with the miscasting of the male lead, though the actor was excellent performance vice, were the factors that ruined the drama. At least the drama was short and didn't far stretched the story.

So, overall, five out of ten.

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A different kind of scifi mystery

Wow what an exciting drama. The storyline is beyond my imagination it gets better and better the more I watch. Everyone has there own opinion about this drama. I think the cast is doing a phenomenal job portraying there characters. The story started as a person is being chased with a baby and dropped it " saying your not a monster. The ML and FL are building up there chemistry, she always thinks negative of him even after he saves her life a few times. All he wants to know is who his is and get his memories back, I don't think he's dangerous. I feel he's scared and alone and everyone is trying to catch, fight or kill him and in order to protect himself or someone he likes he looses control and electrified everything around him. He didn't ask to be made this way and used as a lab baby and injected with all kinds of concocted animal dna. While keeping a low profile the FL is hit by car and he preform cpr/defibrillator as people are video taking and makes the news. I know the FL is looking for her parent's and needs his memories to return in order to give her some clues if there dead or alive. They only show a scene of her mom and her dad leaving with the ML and never returning. Her dad worked in the research lab and had most connections to the ML not sure
for a new life in exchange for the ML. He hands over the ML and is told once they confirm his blood the money will be transferred as they take blood and a skin biopsy the ML screams in agony and blows up van after that we don't see what happens. During a flash back of Kim cheol soo you see him chasing ha young ji the FL dad asking for the kid and all the lab data and that's it. So now we're at the point of the ML wanting to take control of his life and not involved anyone so goes to Human Tech to confront them and is captured and tortured by his father while they extract blood, tissue and use electricity to see how far he can go before dying then they use defibrillator to bring him back as his body can rejuvenate from injury. I guess he dad felt guilty and didn't kill him told him to live and find his answer. As he trys to break loose he's destroying everything in the lab, on the other FL is looking for him and a fight Break she finds appx6-8 babies and put them on elevator as she goes to help him, she hit in the head he saves her and the babies. Takes her to hosp. She has a fracture in head she is treated when he hears they accused her of 11 murders she takes her to jin soo home while they figure out next step and jin soo remind him of the county where they worked. She call her boss who track the number and goes after her, again there on the run to the country side.. they hide out for 3mo. happliy until she accused of murder again and she thinking to go back in a few days instead while upset they sleep together and she agree to stay a few more days which turns to a month or 2 and finds out she pregnant. Everything was going good they have a baby girl so far normal, but fake news that her parents found dead and caused by electricity so she calls her partner and the chief over hears snd send the bad guys and they kidnapped her/baby. Now the ML is mad and start trouble looking for them in the meanwhile she starts to believes the chief that ML killed her parents.
This is where she starts to becames dumb and chooses to believe the people who have manipulated the news over her husband. Now again she is kidnapped by the cult leader and dr.ryu joong kwon(his parents) who show her how he was made by an experiment and not human and that he killed her parents and she should stay there. He finally finds her after his best friend is killed by Lee son since ML killed yuna. Once at church she does not want to see him since she believes his parents he stills denies and explained that the cult manipulated the news. He try to keep her there since it was safe, but the bad people find them and have order to kill all but the baby and him. He helps her get out and she runs into her chief and still thinks he bad until he take a knife for her and he explained that ML didnt kill her parents and helps her get away. She meet old partners and ask him to watch baby so she can get the guy Ken who killed her parents. She beat him up and took him hostage and meets old partners to switch baby/killer when the cult charges and start killing everyone for the baby. The ML is trying to get there to save FL/baby and now were back to the beginnings of this drama. She takes a bullet for him and says take the baby away. TBC? Part2

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There was potential, but I was let down.

This drama had plenty of potential. The plot was very intriguing, and it was something that I personally haven't seen before, the concept was very innovative and thought-provoking, the music was a nice touch, but what really sunk it for me was the execution of the drama itself.

LUCA: The Beginning is precisely about scientists who are trying to create a new species that will overthrow the human race in many aspects, they combine the DNA of several animals that will strengthen normal humans and make them more resilient to various things. A cult-like group that claims itself as a 'Church' is followed by a woman who frames herself as the prophet for the second becoming- or as known as in this drama- The new Human Hybrid that would take over the human race. Zi-O, their first successful product of the experiment enters the scene and causes havoc amongst all.

The drama bases itself around Zi-O and his journey to find who he really is and how he turned out the way he did. Along this journey, he encounters a policewoman, Gu Reum, and learns that they share a past. I started this show with high hopes, it has a nice synopsis, an intriguing trailer and I thought it would end up high on my list, but I was, unfortunately, let down.

The drama is produced well and reasonably acted for the most part (there were some hiccups here and there), but the way they formatted the plot and characters bugged me and they were getting a big inconsistent towards the end. The FL kinda irked me in the end, I really couldn't get behind her attitude, especially (SPOILER WARNING) when she finally figured out Zi-O didn't kill her parents, yet she still left him in the dust. The ending of the show was more like a cliffhanger than a bittersweet, or happy ending, (SPOILER WARNING) Zi-O turning evil and making tons of children like him.

I also couldn't really comprehend that boss guy coming back to life almost every episode after being beaten to a pulp every time, it was annoying after a bit.

For me, if I weren't watching this as it aired, I would have struggled really hard getting through it. I didn't enjoy this drama as much as I anticipated I would. There were plenty of inconsistencies, plot incoherency, poor characterization, I just felt a bit iffy about the show altogether.

The Special Effects were decent, nothing too great to boast about but they were fine. The acting was okay-ish.

'LUCA: The Beginning' had a lot of potential, but it was just poorly executed.

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The sci-fi idea is great, but ...

The initial idea, L.U.C.A, is brilliant. I was intrigued by ML, which perfectly depicts the animal instincts instilled in it. The character is intriguing and I was interested in how it could actually exist in the human world and if it could exist at all? In the world we have now? If it had survived, would it have spawned a new species? I would give 10/10 for that, but:
FL is terrible. From the very first scene, she acts as if she was some kind of mutent herself (maybe she is, I haven't seen the ending). I understand childhood trauma can really turn a person into something strange, but at least she pretends to be a normal human being, a policewoman, and I can't like her in any way, even tolerate her.
What put me off was a crazy nun and a religious sect. Does it really have to be a sect in almost every drama I watch in recent times? It was interesting for the first three times, but it's the tenth time!
And really FL and ML must have a childhood bad destiny between them?
I really don't like this thread of the ex-soldier and the hand of one of them makes me sick. Besides, his whole character has such an influence on me.
The sci-fi thread is very interesting, but putting it in a standard k-drama with all standard schemes does not give me a sense of freshness or lack of creativity on the part of the creators.
I survived 6 episodes and I really don't want more.
I don't even remember the music, so it probably didn't bother me much.

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MY OPINION :)

At first I was very confused or better said a little bit overwhelmed in the first episode but this was nothing bad and was explained and built excitingly . I liked the storyline at the beginning but it went downhill from about the 8th episode on. Not only the story but also the characters made decisions that were questionable.
The action scenes were kinda weird Hahahah I don't know how to explain it but how they were filmed was very weird? However, they got better and better as the episode went on. I kind of liked the elevator scene but also kind of disliked it
CGI was pretty good but not MY favorite.
OST was also good, have mostly fit very well. Would I download it and listen to it every day? Rather not, but then it is only MY taste.
CAST was AMAZING! There were a lot of actors I personally liked and new actors I haven’t seen yet but actingwise it was pretty good.
The show is hard to watch on some scenes, because many animals, children and adults were injured, because everything is shown and it got really bad at one point when Zi-O was tested on.I got dizzy lol. But is it the cruelest thing you have ever seen? NO. It’s definitely bearable.
I didn’t like the ending ! SPOILER!

Not only does ZiO become evil but many other characters died which I wouldn't have thought Ha Neul Ae Gu Reum, Choi Yoo Na, Choi Jin Hwan, Kim Cheol Soo(but I liked the way he died lol^^) etc. I hope for a sequel because otherwise nothing would make sense. In my opinion it was anokgood drama it had potential unfortunately this was not exploited. Would I watch it again? No. Would I recommend it to others? Not really as there are better ones out there e. g. B Flower of Evil.
Thanks for reading sorry for the mistakes and write me and we can talk about more drama!
:)
PS: you can also follow me on insta: kdq_24

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Failed Ending

I came for Lee Dahee and you're darned right if you think I stayed for her.

This drama was wonky. The beginning and character development was really good, but I just feel like everything after episode 6 was rushed. The six episodes and Lee Dahee are the only things that earned 6.5/10 with my rating. If you haven't seen my episode 6 review, this is what it says: "Spoiler Alert!So of course there was sexual tension between the two main characters since the beginning but I did not expect them to go from semi-enemies to kissing, sleeping together, getting married and having a kid together in one frickin' episode. [...] There's also a lot of miscommunication between the leads this episode, which could lead to problems in the future." This needs a second season to wrap things up but I'm not sure I even want it cause that ending was just that bad. I feel like they could have just added four more episodes to keep it one season and finish the story, but then again there might have been airing time conflicts. Actually, I'm sure there will be a second season because the title of this drama is "the Beginning." It's really hard to have the story make sense when you have a character with unnatural powers, and I think that this drama is a perfect example of a fail in this genre.

As for the cast, they were good. I felt no unnatural acting except for the male lead, Kim Rae Won's, acting. I feel like he only looks good when he frowns or looks angry. As for his character, Z-O was incredibly reckless and clueless. After the baby came into the earth, I just feel like he no longer cared about GuReum except for the fact that she was his baby's mother. They had really good character development for GuReum, making the audience feel like she was a very smart and good detective. The miscommunication between every bleepin' character just makes my blood boil. Again, they also 'dumbified' every character.

Overall, I would NOT RECCOMEND. The only reason I watched this was because I was waiting for Penthouse 2 to air. This show was only semi-good when it was airing.

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There's Science Fiction and there's bad science

I didn't plan to watch this but couldn't resist the stellar cast. I'm especially fond of Kim Seong Oh, and he certainly delivered here. Overall, the acting was great, even Kim Rae Won, whom I haven't much liked since Gourmet.
The show started off strong, and I found myself very engaged. The science was asinine, but as my English teacher always said, fiction requires the willing suspension of disbelief. So, I suspended and went along for the ride.
It was a good ride until about halfway through, and it was downhill from there. With the rise of the cult sub-plot, The action got increasingly pointless, devolving into too many fights culminating with a blast of electricity from the electric eel man. (Like I said, bad science - even the creation of Spiderman made more sense.) The possibly very sweet love story between the princlpals also made little sense- one minute she's hating him for killing her parents, the next she's having his baby. There were places where the author was trying to write Frankenstein, but the whole cult bit ruined it all. The ending was not satisfying on any level. Where there could have been more development on the humanization of Zi O, it was just thrown away.
An Nae Sang was a marvelous mad scientist but his part petered out at the end - it seemed that the author got tired of writing for him and liked the cult leader better. By the 9th episode I was ready for it to end. Overall, it didn't live up to its promise.

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for me the drama ended in the 8th episode

The plot, and chemistry between the charcaters deteriorated from 8th episode, while the heartbreak was anticipated; the ending was just unecessary?
like you give a plot armour to an antagonist but not the FL?
I wanted to skim to so bad, given the foreshadowing from the 1st episode but I thought maybe, maybe we could get lucky and we'll get an ending like Vagabond.
At this point I was invested in the Captain and Yo Na's story too. But, the plot went down the drain, and not even the leads and amazing soundtrack could save it.
The plot deserved better and so did I.
I am getting unlucky with dramas this year.

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Mostly a hot experimental mess!

Likes
1. Interesting premise and first few episodes.
2. I liked badass Gureum at the start. But i didnt like her in the middle. It was really all her fault. She knew Zi0 was dangerous yet she was stupid enough to fall in love and more.
3. I was disappointed in Zi0. He was the male lead and yet it felt like he was the real villain after everything else that happened.
4. The conversations and debates about cloning, human vs monster, etc were interesting but were not executed well enough for viewers to feel inspired.
Actually have nothing else good to say or highlight. Haha. Felt like i have been watching this for far too long even though it was only for 12 episodes and i fast forwarded a lot of the scenes.

Dislikes
1. Not sure when the story started to get messy. I think ep 7-8. To some it maybe the best part of the story (and where it should have ended). To me it was the worst part of the story and shouldn't have happened.
2. Skip ep 9-10 or fast forward them (like i did). Everyone's actions and decisions stopped making sense. They just kept running after Zi0 and Gureum. And semi-good people kept dying, the bad ones kept surviving. It was exhausting.
3. From the very start i thought the best possible ending was to kill off Zi0 and put everything back in its place. But the ending actually made sense for a scifi drama. Scary if it happens in real life though.

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It was a strange drama but interesting at the same time

I really enjoy watching this, but after 9 ep I became stressed and nervous due to Gu Reum. This woman make me to ”kill her”
She trust Ji Oh and after 30 min. she run away from him and again, she trust him and run, and again throughout the episodes. It was annoying. The ending was... awful. Why she chose to blame him for a such thing when was obvious that he could destroy the world for his family. I don`t understand this woman at all... Why he decided to trust those people, whose goal was to make, again, experiment on him.
In other words, the story was spellbinding, the acting was impressing and the plan in which they played was brilliant.
this drama it would be a really successful if they worked a little more at the end and at the woman character

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Ok

Good story, but the end/the last two episodes shocked me in a very bad way. The acting, music, atmosphere has been very good. I have nothing to complain about.

But why did the ending have to be like this? Somehow it didn't fit. Ji Oh has changed so much, although he had a completely different view in several episodes, but suddenly he changes everything after a conversation? And what about his baby? No one saw that his baby was thrown from a high building, even though it was so obvious?

Gu Reum has been very annoying at the beginning, but after a few episodes I liked her. Now comes a BUT again. In the last episodes I couldn't stand her again. She believes everything she is told and then apologizes to Ji Oh as if nothing happened. He suffered all the time and what does she do? She doesn't trust him even though she has been able to spend so much time with him and see what he is like. But no, she immediately believes people she doesn't know. People who wanted to hunt Ji Oh down and kill her....

I give this drama a 7 because I thought the episodes up to 10 were pretty good.

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