6
Park Min
Lands Between
Truth vs Secret
The casting choice for the sisters couldn't be any more perfect than this. I've always thought Ha Ji Won and Kim Ha Neul looked strikingly similar, you can even add Nam Sang Mi to the mix. The drama itself was a mixed bag. They did a poor job in establishing the sisters' relationship and even a worse job in shaping Ji Eun and her motives to play the antagonist. The problem further continued with the character Jun Ho and his initial relationship with the sisters. There were clearly glaring issues with writing the characters in this drama. The story was revolving around the secret but when it came time to address the secret it was a bit too late to do anything substantial with it.Was this review helpful to you?
The Usual
I still haven't found a real answer to why most daily dramas convert their setting into a cyclical run inside a corporation despite their initial premise. Possible theory, it's easier to write while rehashing from its predecessors and to re-use the same materials and assets while building a set. Out of all the possible ridiculous tropes to ensue insanity, the psychiatric hospital trope is the only one I will never tolerate. It's the cheapest and lowliest insult to the medium and to any viewer. Therefore, this drama gets the stamp of shame for incorporating that once and attempting to do it another time later. The final resolution for these characters ended up being disappointing, they forced it to remain relatively soft and tame. Which took away from all of the angst and revenge. Park Ha Na picked up this project after her previous one Apgujeong Midnight Sun (2014) which was pretty good even for her first main role, in comparison, this drama was a significant downgrade.Was this review helpful to you?
The Real Sassy Girl
The silliness and the chaotic descension of old rom-coms remains unmatched. The improbable setup of their story was stretched too thin but it worked with their abrasive behavior. I found the highschool arc to be tolerable despite having the infamous "theater" episode trope just like most school themed media. The leads were a bit old to be passed as highschoolers but at least they switched the setting shortly after. The main conflict lasted for too long and the drama tried to take more serious tone during it which wasn't fitting for the story or the characters. This also forced the ending to be really short and quick. The main soundtrack with vocals was quite good. On the other hand, there's a certain type of soundtrack that always accompany Uhm Tae Woong across different dramas and I can't figure out how or why?Was this review helpful to you?
Big Sadge
Cancer sucks. Kim Ji Soo did great. All episodes that focused on the main character were great but the other episodes that shifted the focus to other characters took away from the main character instead of building these memory blocks around him. It was a short 9 episodes, the last 1 didn't count, there was no room to explore around. It felt they wanted to build a much bigger story but there was no time, again, should've kept the focus on the main character and maybe give him more screen time. The addition of the store clerk not only was cringe but also redundant and could've been better spent somewhere else. Although the animated parts of each episode were alright but the voice over quality was less than subpar, sometime it came off as if the speakers were reading from a script. The last episode for some reason was just a collection of these animated parts stitched together.Was this review helpful to you?
Saint Chapo
The plot unfolded with a good mix of suspense and intrigue, throwing in enough attractive elements to grip you in, however, it's not exactly breaking new ground thematically, it did a decent job for laying down a serviceable short story despite its rough start. I appreciate having the entire plot based outside of Korea, it was nice breaking out of some tired cliches in the Korean drug world. Although the drama didn't mess up the ending but they went for the generic and safe route. The drama had a decent selection of cast but Hwang Jung Min stole the spotlight as usual. Always makes me wish to see him taking more drama roles.Was this review helpful to you?
Love of Eve
The drama was visually appealing with sleek fashion yet shallow, drawing viewers in with its polished aesthetics and grand production, but failing to deliver on beyond its initial entertaining value. Speaking of production, whoever handled the post production processing and edit did a poor job with Seo Yea Ji scenes. They over softened her skin too much to an artificial level of smoothness. Despite knowing what's coming, the plot was initially as enjoyable as having a fast food meal after a late night. The entire plot was structured around heavily dramatized drawn out scenarios. This is the type of plot that other shows usually make a parody of it when mocking makjangs. The constant bombardment of flashy visuals and exaggerated emotions overshadowed everything. I admit I enjoyed that aspect of it but only for the first 5-6 episodes before it lost its appeal. Waiting for the revenge to finalize is what kept me going, however, I can't say I'm satisfied with the resolution of the revenge. I was hoping for something different and maybe a bit harsher. Moreover, If I'm not mistaken, we didn't know what happened to any of the children at the end. On another note, the drama came out around the same time as Seo Yea Ji was going through a controversy. I'm not well versed on the subject, but I couldn't help myself to draw some parallels with her character in the drama.Was this review helpful to you?
Green Mothers
At first sight, you might think this drama was about the mothers and children in this community, but the mystery tag was there for a reason. This drama was kind of a mess; it tried to pack in a lot of themes and tropes you often find in female centered plots but failed to do any of them right and brushed off each one shortly after. The plot was equally disorganized and messy; it started with the ghosts from the past, the community of mothers and the tension with Jin Ha, then shifted to the female lead's prodigy kid, then turned into a murder mystery "whodunit," then moved on to some side stories, and then returned to the murder mystery with crimes and drugs. What even was that? I'm not sure what is the correlation between female centered plots and displaying all men in a negative light; this drama was no exception. If their intent was to give a highlight with social commentary, then it's obviously not a good way to do it.Was this review helpful to you?
Delusional Love
An interesting mixed bag of ideas with varying degrees of execution. Although the first story #23 was the worst one out of the four stories, the first episode in itself was a really bad introduction for the expected quality of this show. I don't fully agree with the resolution of each story. Although each story presented a plausible real situation, but the drama went for the easy way out and ended each one safely. There was one thing the drama kinda brushed off, the mysterious woman across the fours stories. It seems her purpose was to give the leads a little nudge, but beyond that, we don't know much.Was this review helpful to you?
Wannabe Delinquents
It started strong with a gripping premise but kind of lost its footing pretty quickly. I was expecting it to go deeper with its theme, given the +18 rating, but it remained super surface-level throughout, and the rating seemed to be there just because the plot included cannabis. It feels like a big wasted plot to something that could've been actually good. There were all these random side stories thrown in that were just bland and irrelevant. The attempts at emotional depth felt forced and artificial, as if the writer was more concerned with eliciting sympathy than giving a better portrayal of its theme. In the end, the drama will likely end up being a forgettable one.Was this review helpful to you?
Wannabe Delinquents!
It started strong with a gripping premise but kind of lost its footing pretty quickly. I was expecting it to go deeper with its theme, given the +18 rating, but it remained super surface-level throughout, and the rating seemed to be there just because the plot included cannabis. It feels like a big wasted plot to something that could've been actually good. There were all these random side stories thrown in that were just bland and irrelevant. The attempts at emotional depth felt forced and artificial, as if the writer was more concerned with eliciting sympathy than giving a better portrayal of its theme. In the end, the drama will likely end up being a forgettable one.Was this review helpful to you?
A Palate Cleanser
The drama had such a good concept to kickstart a great journey, which was also accompanied by an equally suitable cast to take on the mission. However, some problems came to light along the way. The drama was divided into 4 main sections: the beginning, the first operation, the second operation and the wrap up. For every section, except the wrap up, the drama took too long to progress and kept running in circles. The second operation part was its longest and least enjoyable one. The drama would have benefited greatly if this had been cut down to 10 episodes. The wrap up had its own problem, specifically episode 15. That's when the drama gave the characters their wake up call; however, it was done in the expected generic and cheesy way. On the other hand, the main cast were spot on with their roles and brought the characters to life. The cowardice of Ahn In Kyung is truly something to admire. I can't forget that one scene with her arms on the hips and offering her organs to be sold! Anyway, the drama was decent despite its issues.Was this review helpful to you?
Heels!
It's not a good sign when a drama start off on the wrong foot. In this case, we had a poor opening and an equally poor introduction to the story and the characters. Which is unfortunate because earlier parts made it seem worse than it actually is. However, later parts had their own set of problems that were too glaring to ignore. Pacing problems were noticeable after 5-6 episodes. It would have been much smoother watching experience to have the three female leads stories to fully run in parallel. The lack of sensible direction made the drama jarring. At one point, the FL's family was prominent in her life and then they were completely shelved off. Most of the side stories were poorly managed, they started out of nowhere, ended up nowhere and their inclusion did little to nothing. The rivalry within the company and the work environment, which occupied most of its runtime, were all uninteresting in the slightest. With all that being said, after long mundane fights between the three leads, some comebacks were enjoyable but that's where the enjoyable part ended.Was this review helpful to you?
I Gave Up
It had a pretty normal start with introducing the story and the characters, nothing about it peaked my interest. The story itself was too safe and tame, they didn't attempt any challenging situation even in a comedic setting. The comedy was a hit or miss, some parties were genuinely unfunny and cringe while others like Pil Soo and his one-liners were keeping it alive with a decent dynamic and comedy. Speaking of cringe, there were a handful of kids and everything related to them was painfully cringe, even with their poorly attempted satire and parody. These parts were just too bad. It kept this momentum throughout its entire runtime.Was this review helpful to you?
Succulent Meals
Touching exploration of loss, love, and the amazing healing power of food where cooking serves as the thread that binds the characters' stories together, creating this rich journey that really resonates. The plot unfolds with this perfect blend of heartwarming moments and raw vulnerability, letting the characters navigate through their grief while finding comfort and connection. I found it cruel and beautiful whenever they were celebrating a happy moment while the over narration was delivering a heartbreaking news at the same time. Devastating! While most of the drama was great but every now and then there was an awkward piece of dialogue or an awkward shot that was just out of place.Was this review helpful to you?
STONKS!
This drama was a lot of fun. Right off the bat it had a gripping satirical portrayal of the cutthroat world of finance and investment. Despite some initial skepticism, the drama turned out to be a breath of fresh air compared to the usual supposed "comedy" dramas. Full of lively characters with unique characterization. This set of characters was a prime example to how a great dynamic should be. They bounced off each other seamlessly. The comedic scenarios were great and blended nicely with the overall finance theme. However, the romance side plot began to take over the drama in the later parts and it was a bit out of place. I wish they kept it to minimum so that we have more comedic scenarios.Was this review helpful to you?
