6
Park Min
Lands Between
Dear Slim,
Right off the bat, the drama did a poor job establishing the mysterious M and its mystery. The story was so soulless and shallow it made the 12 episodes runtime so damn dreadful. The whole trio couples were lackluster from all angles, both the actors and their characters. Dialogue was riddled with platitudes and awkward exchanges, making each interaction painful. Even the central mystery, which could have been the saving grace, was handled so clumsily that it failed to generate any suspense or intrigue. The mysterious M could've been an alien for all I care. The ML's sister was the only real sensible semi-functional piece of story in the entire thing. One more thing: from a production standpoint, it adopted the deplorable style of cutting everything short and prematurely; nothing plays in full.Was this review helpful to you?
Pick a Season
The only valid play here is the nostalgic journey of the female lead and her middling experience of loss. The drama was overloaded with too many trite moments and rundown turns, using molds from far too many clones of its genre. What initially seemed to be promising characters quickly turned into one-dimensional archetypes with limited emotional attachment that gradually weathered away as it got deeper. The dialogues were mostly stiff accompanied by an obnoxious OST. The students from the present were straight up insufferable. Its cinematography was decent, yet it didn't substitute for the hollowness in the text. The cast presented a mixed bag of performances with the teen cast members being mostly awkward and stiff. Although it was short, the drama had some potential if it were to take the more serious route to better fit its themes rather than being excessively bubbly and sentimental.Was this review helpful to you?
The last remnants of the school genre
This drama doesn't compare, but it carries some faint hints from Blue Spring (2001). There's a desperate need for more raw and scuffed school themed dramas rather than the over-saturated soft boys trying to act tough kind of ones, even the highest rated school themed ones fall under the latter. The school genre in Korean drama is practically dead and had been so for the longest time, with the excessive use of bullying, hierarchy play, school pressure and fluffy kids' romance. Extracurricular (2020) is probably the only exception from the recent 10 years, along with this drama. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem they're planning a sequel for this one after a decade already passed.Was this review helpful to you?
Disappointing!
About a few episodes in, there was a clear pattern that seemed it was going to adopt and it did. The drama had the bad habit of always escaping from conflicts, keep dancing around them until enough time had passed and the viewers won't notice. It didn't dare to go for direct confrontations and real dialogues. Take for example the main conflict in the drama between the male lead and the female lead, it kept getting delayed and pushed around until enough time passed and everything suddenly worked out. No real conversations/confrontations/stakes/tension/emotions. This also resulted in reaching the finale early. The drama practically ended with episode 37, not even before finishing the episode. The remainder of the episodes were a disastrous nightmare to sit through. It kept cycling through empty dialogues between the supporting cast with the highest degrees of mawkish sentimentality and cringe. I had to double and triple check, something must've gone seriously wrong with the production for the drama to turn this way. This kind of practice is what keep veteran actors and actresses from picking up daily drama projects. I could feel the pain some of the cast members had to go through enduring this drama reluctantly. Just look at how modern daily dramas projects has become.Was this review helpful to you?
KDramas Second Best Attempt At Comedy
Season 1The drama did a great job in blending humor and heart, creating an enjoyable mix with a lively dynamic, for the most part. The comedy was sharp and varied, ranging from slapstick to witty banter, however, this didn't apply for every segment and joke. Some of these went on for too long or weren't interesting in the slightest, these were also more present in the 2nd half than the first one. Nonetheless, not only the drama had great humor but also had a progressing story that fit right in. The dynamic chemistry among the cast enhanced the comedic timing, while the well-paced storyline balanced these moments with memorable scenes. Speaking of dynamics, Doo Shik remained a sidekick and a third wheel in every situation and scene, he was never a lead and always the weakest link, even the actor himself. The drama should've wrote him better to fit the dynamic rather than having a wasted slot. Anyway, it's an enjoyable fun watch for what it had to offer. However, I highly advise against watching season 2.
Season 2
In comparison, season 2 was a complete utter failure in all regards, however, as a stand alone drama, it was a passable cheap inoffensive forgettable watch, for the most part. It failed miserably to capture the same magic that made the first season so endearing. The second season felt like a pale imitation, struggling to find its footing. One major issue was the lack of continuity in the cast, with many beloved characters and dynamics from the first season absent with no worthy replacements. This shift disrupted the chemistry and dynamic that were crucial to the show's initial charm. The new characters, while sometimes amusing, didn't bring the same level of depth, humor and relatability, resulting in a series of forced and often flat comedic moments. Speaking of comedy, the writing in season 2 leaned heavily on repetitive gags and clichéd scenarios, lacking the creativity and originality that kept the first season fresh and engaging. Not to mention its poor job in recycling some of the gags and scenarios, as well as most of the romances and its archetypes from season 1. Seriously shameful! The brief storylines were disjointed, and the emotional moments that once balanced the humor now came across as contrived and artificial. The romantic relationships, while they never were the main focus, were really stupid and tasteless. The pacing also suffered, with episodes dragging without the slightest engaging interplay of humor and character moments that previously defined the show. Second season tried to replicate the success of its predecessor but fell quite short, the charm, wit, and warmth that made the first season a hit were noticeably missing. I highly advise watching S1 and ignoring S2.
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Wasted!!
Season 1The drama did a great job in blending humor and heart, creating an enjoyable mix with a lively dynamic, for the most part. The comedy was sharp and varied, ranging from slapstick to witty banter, however, this didn't apply for every segment and joke. Some of these went on for too long or weren't interesting in the slightest, these were also more present in the 2nd half than the first one. Nonetheless, not only the drama had great humor but also had a progressing story that fit right in. The dynamic chemistry among the cast enhanced the comedic timing, while the well-paced storyline balanced these moments with memorable scenes. Speaking of dynamics, Doo Shik remained a sidekick and a third wheel in every situation and scene, he was never a lead and always the weakest link, even the actor himself. The drama should've wrote him better to fit the dynamic rather than having a wasted slot. Anyway, it's an enjoyable fun watch for what it had to offer. However, I highly advise against watching season 2.
Season 2
In comparison, season 2 was a complete utter failure in all regards, however, as a stand alone drama, it was a passable cheap inoffensive forgettable watch, for the most part. It failed miserably to capture the same magic that made the first season so endearing. The second season felt like a pale imitation, struggling to find its footing. One major issue was the lack of continuity in the cast, with many beloved characters and dynamics from the first season absent with no worthy replacements. This shift disrupted the chemistry and dynamic that were crucial to the show's initial charm. The new characters, while sometimes amusing, didn't bring the same level of depth, humor and relatability, resulting in a series of forced and often flat comedic moments. Speaking of comedy, the writing in season 2 leaned heavily on repetitive gags and clichéd scenarios, lacking the creativity and originality that kept the first season fresh and engaging. Not to mention its poor job in recycling some of the gags and scenarios, as well as most of the romances and its archetypes from season 1. Seriously shameful! The brief storylines were disjointed, and the emotional moments that once balanced the humor now came across as contrived and artificial. The romantic relationships, while they never were the main focus, were really stupid and tasteless. The pacing also suffered, with episodes dragging without the slightest engaging interplay of humor and character moments that previously defined the show. Second season tried to replicate the success of its predecessor but fell quite short, the charm, wit, and warmth that made the first season a hit were noticeably missing. I highly advise watching S1 and ignoring S2.
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Stealer: He Steals Stuff
The drama should've been called Karma or Skunk, more appropriate than whatever this mouthful title is. Anyway, the drama was quite average, delivering a forgettable experience that was hard to get excited about. Despite the intriguing concept of treasure hunting, it quickly devolved into a series of predictable and uninspired scenes. The characters and their backstories were bland, making it difficult to care about what happens to them and round them. The dialogue was often stale and lacked the sharpness or humor that could have added some much needed zest. Speaking of humor, while the drama was structured as an action comedy but the latter often fell short on delivering good material, with barely a couple of memorable comedic moments at the end. On the other hand, the action was a constant juggling act between enjoyable performances and half-arsed imitations. The police force in this drama was as incompetent as every other drama involving police work, as expected. They went out of their way to shamefully show how bad the police force was and subsequently made Skunk step down to an equal level just to make the dynamic between the two work, forcefully. The drama had an idea to work with but it barely done anything worthy with it.Was this review helpful to you?
Insurance Fraud
It's the type of drama with episodic cases where these cases occupied the majority of its run, however, half of the cases were bland and generic, these were only tolerable because of how the characters were handling them. While the cast size may have been small but they were active enough to keep things moving. Each character had a brief personal story that was brought up at some point along with the cases, just like the cases, these were also a mixed bag where some of them didn't fit or translate well. The drama was casual and light; hence, the comedy, which was alright but the fart jokes weren't funny, as always. Finally, they really wanted to add a bit of romance between the three leads to have something for the cast to banter around, but that was an unsuccessful maneuver.Was this review helpful to you?
Out of Tune
It's probably one of the worst non-makjang daily family drama out there. Which is really tough to get this low for a family drama but somehow they did it. You may divide the drama into 3 sections 50 episodes each, the first 50 episodes was a regular family drama with somewhat smooth progression, the second 50 episodes the drama created an impossible predicament, the last 50 episodes everything got out of control in the worst possible way. Not much more to say about the first 1/3, however, the problem it created in the second 1/3 was a big stretch when it comes to creating tension and conflict, it spent the next 100 episodes, including the ending of the drama, without overcoming what it created, what kind of writing is this? The last 1/3, every relationship became extremely complicated and unreasonable. At that point, it was impossible to salvage the drama. Even the female lead became totally irrelevant in the last 1/3. It was blatantly obvious what was happening with the writer, she was extremely disorganized and incoherent after the initial batch of episodes.Was this review helpful to you?
Money
The formula of daily makjang is well known and typical but this one follows after the cheap and factory produced ones. You can tell by just looking who are the cast members. No disrespect to the cast but this is what you might call a leftover cast. At the very least, they could've brought a male lead that's a little bit more flattering and more lead-fitting-persona. Being a lengthy 150 episodes, it wasn't surprising to stretch everything as thin as humanly possible. While it is also expected to have a negative IQ writing but it's really painful when clear real-world laws are blatantly twisted just to push whatever narrative they want. Anyway, there is a lot to be said but everything can be boiled down to this drama being shamefully bad because that's what Ajummas like to watch.Was this review helpful to you?
Fanfic Junk!
Oh dear! How could a full production team, crew and cast members be this damn oblivious to what they're making! The drama was the apotheosis of human failure, an insidious plague upon the landscape of television, a wretched abomination birthed from the depths of creative bankruptcy and soulless commercialism, a festering wound that infects the very essence of storytelling with its repulsive presence. Its premise was a nauseating blend of techno-narcissism and romantic idiocy, an affront to the intelligence of any sentient being unfortunate enough to bear witness to its abomination, a grotesque mutation of what once passed for entertainment. Characters were grotesque caricatures of humanity, mere vessels for the perpetuation of vapid romantic fantasies and insipid melodrama and their interactions were a cacophony of soulless platitudes and contrived emotional manipulation, each scene got progressively worse than the last. The writing was an insult to the very concept of coherent narrative structure, a labyrinth of a garbled mess and mind numbingly banal dialogue that defies comprehension. In fact, this drama wasn't just bad television, it was an abomination of the highest order, a blight upon the collective consciousness of humanity and the very fabric of reality itself that must be expunged from existence with extreme prejudice. Anyone who dares to defend this abhorrent monstrosity deserves nothing less than eternal damnation, condemned to spend eternity in the deepest, darkest depths of cinematic purgatory, tormented by the ceaseless repetition of its insipid drivel until the end of time itself. Anyway, it could've been worse, I guess.Was this review helpful to you?
Undisclosed Terms
The drama descended into the depths of revulsion with its gratuitous and sensationalistic approach to storytelling, leaving us appalled by its lack of subtlety and tact. Its heavy reliance on cheap tactics and low blows served only to alienate and inflame. The writing veered into the abyss of absurdity, sacrificing logical leniency and impartiality for the sake of eliciting visceral reactions. Broken balance system by design to further push this same narrative. A case in point, Eun Pa and Yun Tek as well as their individual paths. There was a big opportunity for the drama to do some real character reflection but it decided to ignore it, it only did it very briefly with Eun Pa in the first 1/3 of the drama. The drama had the audacity to deliver a message at the end of the drama from the cast members on what the "terms of endearment" means while miserably failing to portray what they preached in the message itself, pathetic and shameful. There were two main stories running in parallel, one for each of the sisters, however, they didn't interconnect well. The older sister had her world falling part, yet she was always emotionally discharged and normal when helping her younger sister, detracting from the seriousness and tension of her own story. On the other hand, the third sister was utterly useless in the entire dynamic, she should have played the linking bridge between everyone. In general most of the stories remained underdeveloped, cut short or had no direction, even the side ones, despite having a very generous long runtime. In its quest for conspicuous sensationalism, the drama lost sight of any memorable qualities, leaving us disheartened by its blatant disregard for a reasonable delivery to what it preached.Was this review helpful to you?
Pathetic Themes of Love
The drama started on an objectively stupid and trashy conflict that couldn't have been written by a real human being in 1998. It loosely maximized all imaginary tropes of sadness, depression and angst regardless of how well they can connect them, that's why they slapped a terminal illness in the mix because why not at this point. The drama lacked the slightest minuscule resemblance of any balance. What's even the point? It failed to establish a good argument why the viewers should care, especially for how awful the setup was with both guys. The atrocious attempt to shove in the love triangle and romance of the leads was unbearable and killed any redeeming qualities all at once. This was one of the worst trio leads combination I've seen, surface-level and brain-dead trio entanglement. Forced rape, pregnancy, marriage and domestic abuse by their friend, all treated as something casual and turned a blind eye because exploring any of them, especially rape, would require more nuanced writing. After all of these long-winded commotions the drama shifted its focus to something different within a couple of scenes as if nothing happened. Garbage writing! The female lead was as dry and boring as they could come, easily the worst character in the drama. Even the guests had a better impression. The drama had big cuts and gaps which led to abysmal pacing and disjointed narrative. I had to double check if the drama was actually cut but both TV and DVD releases were the same. At the end of the day, there was a lot to dislike about the drama and little to no likeable elements.Was this review helpful to you?
Morning-After Pill
Something about action dramas from around early 2010s make them unique for better or worse. The drama started off with a big bang, literally, while shoving in the maximum possible amount of flashy elements. If you watch the very first scene it should give you a good idea. However, just like other ones from around the same time, it gradually began to wither away after 5-6 episodes until it reached a bland conclusion. The male lead doubling his role as a comedic relief was mostly fine, but him flailing his tongue like a dog was a bit too cringe to tolerate. The drama really wanted to include romance because it was the trend back then, that's why we had multiple pairings, most of them were unnecessary or weak. The main antagonist was your generic baddie, the drama didn't even show him a lot until the last few episodes because they didn't want to bother with more writing. The vibes were very similar to 'A Man Called God (2010)' which came out in the same year, except this one was a bit better.Was this review helpful to you?
Full House: Resurrections
Core part of the plot was the male lead pretending to be gay as described in the synopsis, however, I'm not sure if this was intentional or not but naming the female lead 'Gae In' was seriously tripping as it was pronounced very similarly to how the characters saying the word gay. Anyway, the drama followed the typical romcom formula of the early 2010s while having a play around the cohabitation of opposite sex and pretending to be gay. This setup spawned all kinds of predictable shenanigans yet they were somewhat entertaining, solely thanks to the leads. While sometimes irritating but they had a good dynamic going on between them. The character Jin Ho was written as a reserved guy who doesn't open up or show his feelings but Lee Min Ho in this drama was way too subdued and static beyond what the characterization mandates for his character, combined with sometimes questionable production, it had created some awkward scenes and deliveries. The drama featured a love square to anchor the drama but this love square was plain stupid. It served its purpose to kick start the story but any involvement after that was a poor decision. I found the ending to be a little bit weak and boring, they played it safe and predictable. Both parents of the leads were brushed off quickly to wrap it up despite being a reasonable point of tension prior to that. Overall, it's a decent watch with nice moments here and there but lacked a lot to be recommendable or rewatchable.Was this review helpful to you?
