6
Park Min
Lands Between
Nah
Tacky introduction and weak first episode that doesn't encourage the viewer to continue. While the rest is just your typical washed up OCN thriller. Nothing attractive or interesting about it. They could've taken the story in an interesting direction but that would be too much to ask for. I appreciate OCN cutting down the runtime but even then, it's still unnecessarily long and filled with irrelevant nonsense. I'm afraid Jang Ki Yong played the same character too many times that he fell into the vicious cycle of typecasting.Was this review helpful to you?
Big bait
This drama was a big bait. You may think this is about an uncle and his nephew, although that's partially true, but the biggest focus was on the mothers’ committee and everything surrounding it. The drama quickly turned into another boring high-class circle jerk lacking any creativity or nuances. The uncle nephew relationship was always a side story progressing in the background. The last 2 episodes were utterly useless, the drama ended by episode 14 and the remainder were all random made-up last-minute events. The writer blatantly gave up. The drama is still watchable just for the sake of a handful good scenes otherwise it's underwhelming for its genre.Was this review helpful to you?
Weak attempt for a sports-themed drama
It's an oversaturated manufactured cheap emotional bait that lacked the genuine human connection and necessary depth but rather opted out for easily digestible cliches. Most of the cast, especially the younger ones, were desperately overacting in an attempt to translate the youth energy to screen but it came off as fake most of the time. The actual sports scenes were average at best, it's themed around the sport but not the sport itself. Most scenes with a sweaty face, the sweat looked as fake as it can be. It's so damn laughable that some scenes the neck was sweaty but the face was perfectly dry! The cast didn't do a good job in showing the physical exhaustion of performing the sport whether it was while training or competing. Again, making the sports scenes even more fake. What's up with the drama trying so hard to pair every boy with a girl? Really unnecessary. This drama would have fared infinitely better as a standalone one-off movie. The drama really highlighted the "bad" in badminton. Going into this I had the slightest tiniest bits of hope to get something that can be remotely and ever so slightly similar to "Ping Pong the Animation" but I quickly realized within a few minutes it wouldn't be the case.Was this review helpful to you?
Weaker than expected
It's good enough but not that good! It's highly rated so it's only natural to get into it with high expectations, unfortunately, it became quickly evident what kind of show I'll be getting. As a life drama, it lacked the essence of genuine human connection and eventually dipped in mediocrity trying to achieve that artificially by adopting quick, dry and cutthroat life cliches lacking nuances, depth, relevant characterization and thematic attachment. Aside from the 2 main characters, none of the side cast was interesting the slightest and clearly had the absolute minimal amount of effort put into them which is why the drama may come off as boring sometimes. Speaking of effort, the soundtrack was abysmal if you are watching it from Netflix! They clearly didn't give any attention to it and slapped in some royalty free default tracks because it's easier for Netflix to distribute it world wide. The TV version had real music and songs which is really important for a drama of this theme. Stupid Netflix as always. One more thing, the drama has this habits of sprinkling in a handful of random mini stories for the side characters that doesn't get attention for more than 2 scenes or contribute to the overall narrative in a desperate attempt to buff up the drama. The only noteworthy thing about this drama is having an elderly cast getting the spotlight which we don't see often, otherwise, it's a bland collection of life drama cliches with the occasional nice moments.Was this review helpful to you?
Poor
This drama primarily focused on serialized cases involving child abuse, while gradually developing its overarching plot. However, it failed to delve into anything profound or captivating, lacking the ambition one would expect from the first drama with such a theme. Furthermore, I don't think they did a good job handling the subject anyway. Its characters are its biggest problem. Initially, most of them were given over representation but eventually they didn't contribute much to the story. The FL's daughter was barely seen or given any involvement in the plot, wasn't even seen in the last episode. You would think she would be because of the theme and what FL went through.The characters remained static, lacking meaningful dynamics or genuine human emotions, which is particularly disappointing given the drama's thematic focus. In addition to the shortcomings, the color grading employed throughout the drama was remarkably poor and even embarrassing. The constant shifts between overly saturated green tones, flat magenta hues, and subdued blue shades were highly distracting and detracted from the overall visual experience, if it had any to begin with.
Ultimately, this drama offered little beyond a series of sad child abuse stories. It failed to deliver a compelling narrative or explore its themes in a profound and meaningful manner.
On another note, Soo Yeong is somewhat a fierce cop/detective yet there was a brief scene in the last episode of her being physically abused, that was the most redundant and unnecessary scene in the drama. It served no purpose to the narrative and contributed nothing to the story. On another another note, it's a mockery seeing people defending Eun Ho, if an old ugly guy was to play his character then nobody would dare to say anything.
Was this review helpful to you?
Okay...
The usual makjang drama nothing new nothing special. You stick around to watch them go mental and laugh at the absurdity. However, this one got a really unlikable male lead. The guy feels so out of place and had zero chemistry with anyone around him even himself. On the other hand, Shin So Yool was the female lead, she always caught my attention playing support roles so it was nice seeing her as the lead. She did good. The drama lacked a consistent plot line, even the main one was scattered and mostly felt as if there were no persistent goal and antagonist. At the same time, too many side plots ended up being underdeveloped and neglected later on, like the delusional FL's father one.Was this review helpful to you?
Not recommended!
One of the poorest past-life/reincarnation written stories. I can't stress enough how sloppy and incoherent this was. The entire drama was solely driven by this triangle which is why most things were neglected. I was expecting a smart play between the characters and their reincarnation but what we got is a copy paste between past and present. At the same time, the memories from the past played a minimal role in the grand scheme of things. The characters from the past had the exact same traits as their present counterparts, which made things ever so slightly more dull. I don't know what the writer was aiming for because all I see is failure in all directions. I couldn't get over the fact that they treated the direct point-blank bullet to the head ordeal like a casual broken bone with minor scuffs!!!Was this review helpful to you?
.
Fun little drama but the concept became stale mid way through with some skits weren't as good as the earlier ones. It would make a great comedy movie with some refinements or at least cut it down to 6-8 episodes while removing the boring bits and this would be a solid package. The music bits were decent. On another note, whenever they use CGI it doesn't blind well especially the shot of the main building they keep using.Was this review helpful to you?
Passable...
Couldn't feel much chemistry between any of the trio. There was a lot of roaming around. I would prefer a little bit of more structure. The romance was its weakest part, forced and way too delayed. Maybe if they removed it and took it in a different direction would be better? It's still a passable watch.Was this review helpful to you?
Not so good first half, dogshit second half...
Awful writing. The writer had absolutely zero idea how to balance the bad guys and the good guys. There were barely any story other than the cheating, the rest were barely random snippets. Which resulted in an unreasonable drag, especially after the first half the drama was pretty much over but the writer went full random throwing anything at the viewers to get to the 128 mark. That illness at the end was pure rage bait for the viewers. You can feel the painful stretch. Each turning point took forever for this reason. Anyway, this is the writer's first project and it's not looking good at all.Was this review helpful to you?
Fine...
Extremely slow and full of endlessly recycled events, 64 episodes for two main stories that is Ji Young shenanigans and the search of that brain-dead father. At least it was heartwarming smooth sailing for the leads, not much conflict you only see them love each other for the 100th time. I didn't like how the drama made the female lead as if she came from an alien planet and just started to learn about the human race. On the other hand, the ending left many things unfinished despite this long run, the last episode was dedicated to a 4-years time skip and yet that didn't accomplish much. Why have it then? The drama is fine but it felt empty for a 64 episodes drama. P.S. the leads' kid doesn't resemble them at all!Was this review helpful to you?
Okay-ish
You may think it's a medical drama like any other medical one but it leans heavily on the business/political aspect while being in a hospital setting. So don't expect the typical medical formula of patients/cases every few episodes.There was a scene where every single doctor and personal in the hospital gathering to watch one operation, who's running the hospital then? The drama failed to keep hold of my attention since it didn't have any interesting elements other than the male lead being a semi bad guy. Some plot lines left unfinished or untouched like the infidelity one. The ending and the last two episodes felt forced to provoke some emotions and leave a stronger lasting impression by the viewers since all the prior episodes were lacking.
The drama had one of the weakest performances I've seen from Lee Sun Kyun. Keep in mind if you wanted to watch it that the remaster version, although it looks slightly better, it chops off scenes from every single episode.
Was this review helpful to you?
Too ambitious but...
Nothing new, the usual human lives vs profit in medical dramas. Actually, it was less medical and more like a business drama in a hospital setting. Something was strange about filmography. The color palette doesn't seem to be consistent sometimes. The soundtrack at times can be too loud and in your face.I wasn't interested in the brothers' storyline, it felt out of place compared to what's going on in the drama. His brother took everything from him, his past and future potential relationships, even his sanity. His existent in the story really bothered me. I wish the drama had stuck to the hospital stuff only. I get they were trying to give the ML as much character as possible but that could have been done through his actions rather than his background. The drama tries to diversify itself even more by including a few brief romances but they also felt misplaced. The ending was a small tiny win for the hospital but the cycle continues....
That's the thing, it's too ambitious and tries to do it all at once by expanding and stretching its corners but eventually it fails.
Was this review helpful to you?
Lots of talented familiar faces
If you are a first time watcher I suggest grabbing the Bluray version since it got few minutes extra content with every episode + small epilogue revealing a short emotional monologue or just a cute cut of a scene.I knew what I was getting myself into yet I can't help but feel it's overrated. It's good but not great.
The good: Lots of talented familiar faces, big diverse cast. Great acting. Enjoyable contrast between the leads. Female lead personality reminds me of Han Ye Seul role in Couple or Trouble.
The bad: Long, really long! It takes forever for something significant to happen. Given its length, too much screen time was given to the main leads that the rest feels like less than a support character. You have a big cast full of diverse characters and mini sub stories yet barely anything shown from that. That's something I find modern dramas does better.
Male lead powers are problematic element that only leads to a weaker writing with plot holes.
The ugly: The villain character is just not good. It's the weakest part of the drama. Feels like there is a big contrast between how his character was written and the rest of the script.
Was this review helpful to you?
Too young to care...
It was full of cheap "pseudo" mature themes to grab attention but underneath the surface it was an empty shell of nothingness. The entertainment value was low as well since the characters and their dynamics lacked the necessary appeal to begin with. So what left was the nostalgic late 80s vibes which was nice to see but not sufficient enough to compensate the plethora of shortcomings.Was this review helpful to you?
