Autopsy, innit?

The cases were initially interesting but as the drama progressed the interest dwindled and the later cases were generally weaker. Which contributed to giving the feel that it was longer that it is. The attempts at humor often felt forced, and the serious moments from the main cast were undermined by the lack of emotional buildup, the guests of each case were kinda okay in that regard. The awkward pacing and stilted dialogue didn’t allow the story to breathe either. I found the duo female dynamic to be problematic and sloppy. They just didn't click well on screen and were generally unlikable. The other two 2-hours TV-specials were more or less the same but were an unnecessary lazy addition that didn't fix anything nor show anything worthwhile.

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Too nice to love...

Unapologetically cliche. At least that how it was for the most part before going through the cycle of despair. The interest dwindled in the last few episode as it was stuck on repeat between getting the couple together and breaking them up without adding much in between. The downtime period in between was very awkward, for both the characters' interactions and the story. It could've really benefited from having the characters to actually talk effectively instead. It would also be nice to get a proper epilogue for a better send off. One last thing, they tried to give hints of a plot for the side characters but none of which amounted to anything at the end. Overall, it was alright.

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Cuckoo!

It's just insane that they ended it abruptly like that. There was basically no ending after following them on this island for 40 episodes. The whole 40 episodes run was just too long for what they had to show in a sitcom. There were loads of empty episodes and bits that got nowhere. They had a unique setting that was excellent for a sitcom but they only took advantage of that for the first 1/5 of its run before losing track. They realized that which is why they tried to push for relationships and whatnot for the last 10 episodes but these were all bad with no decent bits to support it comedically. Overall, it was a very weak sitcom that wasted the setting's and the cast's potential.

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Bait and The City

The formula was as you would expect from this kind of poster and synopsis. To occupy the runtime, all of the leads were cycling through different relationships every 1-2 episodes. While that's not really a problem but I wish they took the opportunity to use these passing relationships to better anchor the characters. That can also play a role in improving the group dynamic because as it stands now, their dynamic was pretty bare-bone and bland. Speaking of which, the four leads were really lacking in differentiating characterization, it was like they all played the same character to some extent. The different scenarios of first encounters, relationships and breakups were all things we've seen many countless times in the past, it didn't really show any new or creative ideas/scenarios. If you were to have the sexiness as a measurement, then the drama was on a steady decline from its initial episodes. It's a bit unfortunate because we don't get these kind of shows nowadays.

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Too late to heal...

The drama had some potential in more than one way but it ended up missing the obvious. Beside Yong Pal (2015), this was another failed title in giving us a rouge plot for an underground doctor where you might want to treat a patient in the sewer or while skydiving. The story was a bit messy and scattered maybe having 5 directors on a small project had a role in that. It was said that each one directed 2 episodes which was somewhat noticeable with a weird shift. The drama had a problematic mix of everything from medical to thriller, mystery, and romance, where it awkwardly sat somewhere in the middle. All in all, the weakest link had to be Yoon Sang Ho, the character was just problematic in all kinds of ways. By the time the credits rolled, it left with nothing to really think about.

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Too late to cook...

On average, about 2/3 of all the guests and their stories were pretty solid, but the remainder were a total snoozefest. I was also hoping for a more personal story from the master chef to give more impact to his craft. Even more, the regulars definitely needed more work put into their existence rather than being a vapid filler, especially that woman who couldn't stop yapping about nothing. The food preparation and shots were decent but not much focus put on them beside serving as transition shots. There was a small missed opportunity to tie the food with the guest's stories. Only that vampire one had some hints of doing so.

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2 Bold 4 U

For some reason, this sitcom had a ridiculous amount of fart jokes and other bad smell related jokes. It's the standard formula for a sitcom with decent bits, memorable bits, weird bits, unfunny bits, and overdone bits. You get a mixed bag while always wish it could've done some aspects better. In this case, a few things could definitely be better here, for example the dynamic of the family. The other sister had some focus earlier on but she was completely neglected later on. Also, giving the wife a higher rank than her husband was an interesting idea but it was heavily under-utilized. There was a lot of room to have a better play with either dynamics. Anyway, the sitcom was decent enough for what it had to offer.

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Lil' Heat!

From the surface, the drama had a decent concept with a functional setup that paved the way for what's to come. However, it lacked the emotional spark needed to fully engage the audience. While the plot for stardom was reasonable, the characters and their relationships didn't click, leaving the overall experience somewhat flat. This was even more true for how they decided to write the climax. They went for old melo tropes for its climax in hope to move the viewers because otherwise they would've had little to nothing for its climax. Big Heat was nothing but a medium heat gradually fading and cooling as it burned through its gas.

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Mamma Mia!

It had all the ingredients to put together a serviceable story but the finished product was rather disappointing. The biggest issue was its terrible pacing. Most of the runtime, the first 10 episodes, were agonizingly slow. Everything about these 10 episodes could've been summarized in 3 episodes with zero compromises. Then, they introduced the main conflict with episode 11 just to solve it nonchalantly within a singular episode. While there were a few love lines but the drama didn't do anything with these at all until the very last episode. Even then, it was rushed, half-arsed and distasteful.

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Fake reality...

Interesting concept but more often than not it didn't blend well together. It felt mostly like a slightly edited behind the scenes fillers than a reality tv implementation. Their "virtual" and "reality" just didn't intertwined as I hoped. Each couple went out on dates irl, but all of these dates were utterly dull and out of touch accompanied by the most boring spectacles. They don't even talk or do anything interesting, they just stand there reacting to the surroundings. You also need to be used to do the editing style of Korean/Japanese TV programs otherwise it will get overwhelming. It's also a bit of extra mental work to keep a mental note of both the cast names and their respective characters names. Honestly, the drama they were filming "iron lady" seems better as a standalone. While I appreciate attempting a different concept for a drama but this execution didn't work. On an unrelated note, about 90% of the runtime consisted of Yura laughing hysterically between every other sentence for some reason.

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2 seasons 2 late...

Finally! It took them 2 seasons to realize there were other gender issues than sexual harassment. Although this season explored other gender issues but it was a bit disorganized. Anyway, it ended when it actually began to get good around episode 7. Despite its very short run but it a good job with the dynamics and characterization nuances. The drama actually provided a complete ending through the characterization of these four leads, it may seems incomplete or rushed on the surface because it didn't lay it out blatantly. On the other hand, they should've doubled the runtime and gave a deeper look into Yoon Ah Young and Young Min, since Do Eun and Hae Joon got the bigger chunk of focus.

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Run, detective! Run!

The drama shouldn't have been split up into 2 seasons since it was a one big continuous story. This split created a few more problems along the way. Some of the baddies cast members had a clearer split between both seasons, focusing on a few of them each season despite having one grand story. This created some coherency problems and made it feel disjointed. Personal stories, relationships and side characters had an unequal amount of focus between both seasons. A case in point, the ML's daughter/family had only some focus in season 1 while being completely absent from season 2 (aside from 1 flashback) which took away from the ML's character and drive. Especially when his entire character was built on the ghosts haunting him from his past. The focus shift was exactly the opposite with Lee Sung Ah between both seasons. Anyway, enough about jumping between seasons. The cast members brought a good performance especially our leading shadow detective. I really appreciate the production not turning on the beauty mode on for Sung Ah & Joo Hyeon. You can see the pressure and exhaustion their carrier put on them over the years. The cinematography was good for the most parts, especially with scenes involving the detective alone, but there were some dodgy shots here and there. The story was well written with a decent pace to match the suspense. The thriller and intrigue were blended nicely with some nice action scenes. However, the last stretch of the story got a bit weak and disorganized after building up the story for a grand finale. Also, some overdramatized deliveries ended up backfiring, making important scenes less impactful. The introduction of the last episode was good, as well as that dream sequence. His speech about him wanting to stop running while reciting his past was the most memorable moment in the drama. If that wasn't enough, the very last scene was the cherry on top to tie it all up.

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Fly Away!

Not good. Sky high was aptly named to the number of love interests roaming around. Trashy love through and through, every man was chasing the same woman and every woman was chasing the same man. Love triangle/square/pentagon/hexagon and other polygons, it was just plain stupid. The story in general was bad, you can tell just from how they made the setup. This also led for it to have a terrible pacing, the plot involving the leads didn't start to move forward until the last 5 episodes, way too much slacking around for absolutely nothing. Even then, their lack of chemistry didn't allow for anything noteworthy to happen. At the very least, they should've gave it a simple reasonable send off instead whatever they did.

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Call an ambulance, but not for me

An extremely underwhelming and disappointing medical drama. Every singular frame of this 20 episodes drama screams mediocrity to the nth degree. The medical scenarios were passable but they were stretching it really thin by involving eastern medical practices to perform an emergency procedure to save someone's life! The drama aspect of this drama severely undercut the overall experience. The personal and romantic storylines were its weakest point. The pairings for the romantic relationships, in particular, were straight up bad, out of place and forced, every single one of them. I can't stress enough how bad these romantic relationships and pairings were. The dialogue was generally weak, it often came across as wooden or overly sentimental. The drama struggled to balance its dual focus, with the medical cases usually feeling like an afterthought to the tepid drama. The problems continued with the performances from the cast members, while the main cast were fine, but some side ones like Im Hyung Joon had godawful deliveries for his scenes, he's usually a better actor in other projects. Anyway, there are countless better medical dramas than this one.

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Droughty!

Solid idea and setting with an interesting start but it was missing something to bring it to life. The plot just didn't click, the villains were as generic as they could come and the main uninspired conflict reeked of boredom. Dialogue that aimed for wit and intensity often missed the mark, coming off as either overly dramatic or just plain dull. Honestly, the only thing that was keeping it watchable was the handful of recognizable names from the cast members, at least the characters were well-portrayed by a competent cast. On the bright side, it was just six episodes, so it didn't overstay its welcome.

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