1
SKITC
Probably within reach of a coffee
This review may contain spoilers
Good job checking as many of the wrong boxes as possible
"Good Job" is less of an earnest attempt to create a traditional drama and more of a tutorial on how to pack an industry's worth of cliche's in to a single production.
Rich boy/poor girl plot? Check.
Wrist grabs? Check.
Preparing a meal for romantic interest? Check.
Rooftop apartment? Check.
Orphanage? Check.
Suicide attempt? Check.
Blind date scene? Check.
Turning the back on the bad guy to have the following exhcange "Are you ok?" "I'm ok" "Are you sure you're ok" "I'm ok" while the bad guy escapes? Check.
Police officers that never seem to have any backup? Check.
Young, rich, spoiled bully that hangs out at the club? Check.
There's a storyline although it's stretched thinner than the top of a snare drum. Impossibly young conglomerate CEO Eun Sun Woo plays hooky from his day job to secretly investigate his mother's death twenty years prior to present day action. He is joined by former orphan with supervision Don Se Ra. Together, they dress up in disguises and screw up and bail themselves out of more catch-the-villain schemes than anyone not accompanied by a talking Great Dane and operating out of the Mystery Machine. Oh and, of course, they're super attracted to each other but pretend not to be for what feels like half the duration of the Cretaceous Era.
But at least there's some nice diversions that pop up on a regular basis. Lee Joon Hyuk gets some nice comic moments as the ignored assistant to Eun Sun Woo. Eum Moon Suk and Song Sang Eun are given free reign to go as ridiculous as possible as the best friends to the leads and secondary couple. Award winning stuff? No but worth a few chuckles in a show mostly bereft of positive moments.
Neither Jung Il Woo nor Kwon Yu Ri fare as well as Eun Sun Woo and Don Se Ra respectively. In both cases, it's partially that neither have more than two or three expressions (1. bemused & feigning surprise 2. mildly annoyed and 3. overwrought concern for Jung Il Woo with 1. nervous half smile and 2. no expression for Kwon Yu Ri). Jung Il Woo at least has the athletic requisites for the fighting set pieces and Kwon Yu Ri absolutely is putting as much energy in to playing Se Ra as possible. And probably neither of these two are legit lead material. But the "probably" is an important qualifier because neither character gives these actors much to bring to life. What would make Sun Woo more interesting is if he was able to engage in his schtick of operating in disguise undercover. But after about three episodes, this habit only makes rare appearances. And the interesting trait for Se Ra is her supervision, but once Sun Woo finds out it drains her of her energy, she is forbidden to use it. Awesome idea to create these special skills for the two lead characters and then have them NOT USE THEM for vast stretches of the show.
Although the two lead characters are barely more than one dimensional cardboard cutouts, they're inifinitely more exotic and interesting than the villain of "Good Job". Not only does the writing team of Kim Jung Ae and Kwon Hee Kyung hit every element of Villain Writing Malpractice, they manage to discover entirely novel forms of malfeasance. The bad guy is revealed too late. Before he is revealed, his nefarious deeds are so far in the background that they barely register. After he is revealed, attempts to make him seem either crazy or evil are ineffectual. Neither his motive nor his goals make any sense. He has a nickname but it's so ridiculous that the production avoids any mention of it until near the climactic showdown where the thing that gives rise to the nickname does absolutely nothing. Upon being finally revealed, of course, he makes an attempt to bring down Sun Woo. This sequence of dreck features a blindfolded damsel in distress (shocking, right?), a monologue (no one on this team has seen "The Incredibles" apparently) and the villain inexplicably squandering the advantage he went cross country to create so that he can engage in a altogether ordinary fistfight with Sun Woo.
Good job? More like "Needs to Try a Lot Harder Next Time Job". Not recommended.
Rich boy/poor girl plot? Check.
Wrist grabs? Check.
Preparing a meal for romantic interest? Check.
Rooftop apartment? Check.
Orphanage? Check.
Suicide attempt? Check.
Blind date scene? Check.
Turning the back on the bad guy to have the following exhcange "Are you ok?" "I'm ok" "Are you sure you're ok" "I'm ok" while the bad guy escapes? Check.
Police officers that never seem to have any backup? Check.
Young, rich, spoiled bully that hangs out at the club? Check.
There's a storyline although it's stretched thinner than the top of a snare drum. Impossibly young conglomerate CEO Eun Sun Woo plays hooky from his day job to secretly investigate his mother's death twenty years prior to present day action. He is joined by former orphan with supervision Don Se Ra. Together, they dress up in disguises and screw up and bail themselves out of more catch-the-villain schemes than anyone not accompanied by a talking Great Dane and operating out of the Mystery Machine. Oh and, of course, they're super attracted to each other but pretend not to be for what feels like half the duration of the Cretaceous Era.
But at least there's some nice diversions that pop up on a regular basis. Lee Joon Hyuk gets some nice comic moments as the ignored assistant to Eun Sun Woo. Eum Moon Suk and Song Sang Eun are given free reign to go as ridiculous as possible as the best friends to the leads and secondary couple. Award winning stuff? No but worth a few chuckles in a show mostly bereft of positive moments.
Neither Jung Il Woo nor Kwon Yu Ri fare as well as Eun Sun Woo and Don Se Ra respectively. In both cases, it's partially that neither have more than two or three expressions (1. bemused & feigning surprise 2. mildly annoyed and 3. overwrought concern for Jung Il Woo with 1. nervous half smile and 2. no expression for Kwon Yu Ri). Jung Il Woo at least has the athletic requisites for the fighting set pieces and Kwon Yu Ri absolutely is putting as much energy in to playing Se Ra as possible. And probably neither of these two are legit lead material. But the "probably" is an important qualifier because neither character gives these actors much to bring to life. What would make Sun Woo more interesting is if he was able to engage in his schtick of operating in disguise undercover. But after about three episodes, this habit only makes rare appearances. And the interesting trait for Se Ra is her supervision, but once Sun Woo finds out it drains her of her energy, she is forbidden to use it. Awesome idea to create these special skills for the two lead characters and then have them NOT USE THEM for vast stretches of the show.
Although the two lead characters are barely more than one dimensional cardboard cutouts, they're inifinitely more exotic and interesting than the villain of "Good Job". Not only does the writing team of Kim Jung Ae and Kwon Hee Kyung hit every element of Villain Writing Malpractice, they manage to discover entirely novel forms of malfeasance. The bad guy is revealed too late. Before he is revealed, his nefarious deeds are so far in the background that they barely register. After he is revealed, attempts to make him seem either crazy or evil are ineffectual. Neither his motive nor his goals make any sense. He has a nickname but it's so ridiculous that the production avoids any mention of it until near the climactic showdown where the thing that gives rise to the nickname does absolutely nothing. Upon being finally revealed, of course, he makes an attempt to bring down Sun Woo. This sequence of dreck features a blindfolded damsel in distress (shocking, right?), a monologue (no one on this team has seen "The Incredibles" apparently) and the villain inexplicably squandering the advantage he went cross country to create so that he can engage in a altogether ordinary fistfight with Sun Woo.
Good job? More like "Needs to Try a Lot Harder Next Time Job". Not recommended.
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