Tae Ho
In the shining galaxy of A.N.JELL, Bangtan Sonyeondan & CNBLUE
This review may contain spoilers
Voice season 2 literally sealed my faith in writer-nim as one of my ultimate faves in kdramaland
goodness Lord. wow, that was such a great drama that completely blew me out of the water.
first off, i don't think this drama could have given what it has given if not for Lee Jin Wook. wow. his performance in this is so fckin brilliant and enigmatic. when he's on-screen, my eyes are completely focused on him. his screen presence is insane and the way he portrayed the character is absolutely immaculate. i could not imagine someone else playing that character!
Lee Ha Na playing Director Kang, i have no issues with her. even when i first watched her in High School King of Savvy with Seo In Guk, i thought she did very well within the circumference of her character though a lot of people bashed her acting there. i think she's very good at playing this role, and boy do i not love the little sparks between her and Team Leader Do.
third mention will have to go to Kwon Yool who played Bae Jong Soo. in almost the entire run of the drama, he plays it really calm and cold-hearted, but at the very last confrontation scene between him and Team Leader Do, the way he acted out the crazy psychopath scene was just absolutely brilliant! mad respect.
now, in terms of story, i must say this drama exceeded my expectation in terms of its delivery, though the story/complexity may be a bit lacking since they split the entire arc into two seasons. compared to season 1 of Voice, the episodic cases here are in a way simpler though i liked that the cases are very contemporary.
i must also add that i read comments saying that they liked season 1's villain more, not sure if it's because of Kim Jae Wook or what. but some said that it gets frustrating that the villain here is always one step ahead of the detectives, and it's not very realistic or likens itself to a major plot hole.
on the other hand, i did not think that. i was definitely a lot more invested in this villain more than in season 1. in season 1, the real villain was introduced very late after they have taken a detour by insinuating someone else. here, at about as soon as episode 4, they already revealed the face of the true culprit. in a way, that makes the villain here a lot more engaged into the story, and we get to be more invested in him.
i also personally think that the real villain here, Bae Jong Soo is one of the most complex and fascinating psychopathic villains i have come across in a k-drama. i don't think it's entirely unrealistic that he's always one step ahead of the police officers when we can assume that he's a master hacker. to top it all off, we also came to know that he's very deadly, being extremely skilled with knives and swords. on top of that, he's very manipulative and has successfully built a secret group of allies who are willing to die for his cause. his charisma and genius mind are actually insane!
therefore, as a matter-of-fact, i was surprised when watching this drama that people didn't rate it higher. i was very engaged in all the characters throughout the drama, and that bombastic cliffhanger at the end. damn. I CAN'T WAIT TO START SEASON 3!!!
of course this drama is not without problems. there are scattering marks of plot holes dispersed through the drama like the reckless handling of evidence and inconsistent use of Director Kang's super hearing ability to fit the plot (which i thought was worse in season 1). however, i am not usually extra sensitive about these things so i don't fret too much about them.
would like to wrap up that i think this drama proved that the screenwriter is officially one of my ultimate crime thriller writers in all of k-dramaland, alongside the writer for Black that i just completed recently. i consider them as master story-tellers who really know their craft. hats off!
first off, i don't think this drama could have given what it has given if not for Lee Jin Wook. wow. his performance in this is so fckin brilliant and enigmatic. when he's on-screen, my eyes are completely focused on him. his screen presence is insane and the way he portrayed the character is absolutely immaculate. i could not imagine someone else playing that character!
Lee Ha Na playing Director Kang, i have no issues with her. even when i first watched her in High School King of Savvy with Seo In Guk, i thought she did very well within the circumference of her character though a lot of people bashed her acting there. i think she's very good at playing this role, and boy do i not love the little sparks between her and Team Leader Do.
third mention will have to go to Kwon Yool who played Bae Jong Soo. in almost the entire run of the drama, he plays it really calm and cold-hearted, but at the very last confrontation scene between him and Team Leader Do, the way he acted out the crazy psychopath scene was just absolutely brilliant! mad respect.
now, in terms of story, i must say this drama exceeded my expectation in terms of its delivery, though the story/complexity may be a bit lacking since they split the entire arc into two seasons. compared to season 1 of Voice, the episodic cases here are in a way simpler though i liked that the cases are very contemporary.
i must also add that i read comments saying that they liked season 1's villain more, not sure if it's because of Kim Jae Wook or what. but some said that it gets frustrating that the villain here is always one step ahead of the detectives, and it's not very realistic or likens itself to a major plot hole.
on the other hand, i did not think that. i was definitely a lot more invested in this villain more than in season 1. in season 1, the real villain was introduced very late after they have taken a detour by insinuating someone else. here, at about as soon as episode 4, they already revealed the face of the true culprit. in a way, that makes the villain here a lot more engaged into the story, and we get to be more invested in him.
i also personally think that the real villain here, Bae Jong Soo is one of the most complex and fascinating psychopathic villains i have come across in a k-drama. i don't think it's entirely unrealistic that he's always one step ahead of the police officers when we can assume that he's a master hacker. to top it all off, we also came to know that he's very deadly, being extremely skilled with knives and swords. on top of that, he's very manipulative and has successfully built a secret group of allies who are willing to die for his cause. his charisma and genius mind are actually insane!
therefore, as a matter-of-fact, i was surprised when watching this drama that people didn't rate it higher. i was very engaged in all the characters throughout the drama, and that bombastic cliffhanger at the end. damn. I CAN'T WAIT TO START SEASON 3!!!
of course this drama is not without problems. there are scattering marks of plot holes dispersed through the drama like the reckless handling of evidence and inconsistent use of Director Kang's super hearing ability to fit the plot (which i thought was worse in season 1). however, i am not usually extra sensitive about these things so i don't fret too much about them.
would like to wrap up that i think this drama proved that the screenwriter is officially one of my ultimate crime thriller writers in all of k-dramaland, alongside the writer for Black that i just completed recently. i consider them as master story-tellers who really know their craft. hats off!
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