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House of Lies korean drama review
Completed
House of Lies
1 people found this review helpful
by Anais
Aug 10, 2022
12 of 12 episodes seen
Completed 2
Overall 7.0
Story 7.5
Acting/Cast 7.5
Music 6.5
Rewatch Value 7.0
This review may contain spoilers

Average but to see.

This is the story of Ji Na, a hotel employee who is tracking down her older sister’s disappearance and returns home where she finds herself surrounded by suspicious neighbors. Detective Min Soo will be the only one to believe in Ji Na's words and help her.

Well I have to say, I expected more. To start with the story, although we end up with similarities as in "Strangers from Hell", it was better handled. Already, we keep the mystery about the neighbors and their exact role in the disappearance of the sister, we know somehow that they are related and especially that they are weirdos, but the mystery remains total. On the other hand, what disappointed me was that the show didn't explore more about that, I mean, they kept the mystery but didn't really try to make us believe that one of them was actually responsible. Early on, we can see that some characters are just stupid and weird, and often problematic, but not the author of the disappearance, and that's a shame.

The thing is that I watched this series because I was promised a huge plot twist, despite the fact that I quickly understood who was behind the kidnapping, I continued to watch because precisely I was expecting a plot twist at the last minute and some elements didn't add knowing the responsable.
Now, we also have in the background, very briefly, the fact that there is a major reconstruction project, but as it is approached so few times, we even forget why it is there, and they mention it more at the end of the series to link new revelations to this.

Overall, the promised twist plot wasn't as sensational as they say, the story is overall quite slow despite some action scenes, like, we know they're investigating but we feel like we're stalling during the season whole. The characters did show good acting, even the side characters (not something amazing but good enough). And for the two main characters, we see that there is still a lot to explore, especially their bond, and honestly I think that's what keeps the series flowing, because without their interactions, the series would have been so boring.
The production of the series did keep the impression of watching a thriller, the tones are dark and sometimes even tragic, so for that they succeeded.

So I would say that this series is not extraordinary, their plot is predictable even if the series managed to end on a cliffhanger which makes us want at least to know the sequel (if there is one), the two characters where the highlight.

A lot of questions are left unanswered in this season and mysteries remain to be unraveled, and I'd probably watch season 2 just to find out where this all takes us, but overall, yeah, not ground-breaking whether it's in the story or the acting. I couldn't even tell if the show is character-driven or story-driven, both are just average.

So, I recommend, but prepare yourself for a rather slow pace and average story. I do hope the story step up next season.
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