Turtle Stomper
Seattle (USA)
This review may contain spoilers
Don't watch this if you have trouble with complex plots
I've read a lot of negative reviews about this drama, which I think is completely absurd because this drama was masterfully done. The plot is intensely complex, however, so it's possible some people just aren't following the entire thing well enough to understand why certain plot choices are made. This seems to happen frequently with transferring webtoons to tv dramas. There's a LOT of content, and it can be difficult to give the drama the same impact as you can with the much more freeform webtoon medium.
I should preface this by saying (none of you many mega fans kill me please) I don't appreciate Lee Jong Suk as an actor very much. I don't think he has a lot of depth or variety and I haven't been a fan of many of his performances. W is an exception, however. He was really solid in W, thanks largely to the female lead who is very intelligent in her performances. The two leads have a good amount of chemistry in W, but the passion and drive comes largely from Han Hoy Joo's performance. She doesn't overact and she knows masterfully when and how to apply emotion and energy to a scene. The supporting cast also had some really solid character development and charismatic interactions.
W itself is one of those alternate dimension sort of shows, with a lot of dimension swapping going on at various points. The handling of interactions between the dimensions and their affects on each other was really well developed. It was interesting to watch the story develop and become more intense as you got closer and closer to the central piece linking both worlds. The romance plays really well into the overarching story without becoming too overbearing. The ending was well conceived and well delivered and fit the story perfectly without being too predictable or trite.
Overall this is a really really solid drama with a lot to offer. It's absolutely one of my favorite Kdramas...but then I tend to like dramas with complex storylines and intelligently interwoven themes.
Edit: some nice person caught me...I actually have literally no idea what a Webtoon even is and was 100% wrong that the script for this show comes from a webtoon. IVE BEEN OUTTED AS A POP-CULTURE NESCIENT.
I should preface this by saying (none of you many mega fans kill me please) I don't appreciate Lee Jong Suk as an actor very much. I don't think he has a lot of depth or variety and I haven't been a fan of many of his performances. W is an exception, however. He was really solid in W, thanks largely to the female lead who is very intelligent in her performances. The two leads have a good amount of chemistry in W, but the passion and drive comes largely from Han Hoy Joo's performance. She doesn't overact and she knows masterfully when and how to apply emotion and energy to a scene. The supporting cast also had some really solid character development and charismatic interactions.
W itself is one of those alternate dimension sort of shows, with a lot of dimension swapping going on at various points. The handling of interactions between the dimensions and their affects on each other was really well developed. It was interesting to watch the story develop and become more intense as you got closer and closer to the central piece linking both worlds. The romance plays really well into the overarching story without becoming too overbearing. The ending was well conceived and well delivered and fit the story perfectly without being too predictable or trite.
Overall this is a really really solid drama with a lot to offer. It's absolutely one of my favorite Kdramas...but then I tend to like dramas with complex storylines and intelligently interwoven themes.
Edit: some nice person caught me...I actually have literally no idea what a Webtoon even is and was 100% wrong that the script for this show comes from a webtoon. IVE BEEN OUTTED AS A POP-CULTURE NESCIENT.
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