Black (2017)

Entertaining Mystery with Humor

This drama had been hanging in my Netflix queue for a while, so I finally got around to watching it. Even though it's 18 episodes, I finished it in two days over the weekend, which is pretty good for me. Most dramas start to lose my attention by the eighth episode, but I was engaged in this enough to want to finish. The synopsis for Black doesn't do justice to the amount of twists and turns in this drama. There is a lot going on...sometimes a little too much, and it's clear from the outset the creators have a lot to say. The show deals with some sensitive subject matters like rape, prostitution, domestic abuse, and a host of corruption which amounts to a lot people doing bad things for money and power; but, if you like a decent mystery then this will be right up your alley. As a bonus there is a lot of humor and some great characters, including a rapping grim reaper and a detective named 'Crazy Dog'! The ML is the star of the show. You can't help but watch him when he's on screen. He's cool, funny, sarcastic, and easy on the eyes. He absolutely makes the show! My only real complaints about Black stem from the FL. She is poorly written and poorly dressed. She starts off as a noise machine who spends most of her time crying, whining, and screaming. She does all this while running around like a chicken with her head cut off in the dazzling assemble of a trench coat, long sleeve shirt, full length dress, AND a pair of blue jeans!!! Her wardrobe was seriously distracting and I kept wondering if the actress was pregnant during filming because I couldn't understand why they would dress her that way. Thankfully, she gets sidelined quite a bit, and it's clear at the end the writers realized they needed to do a hard reset for her character, which essentially is how Black ends. I hate endings like that, but thankfully there was enough good before to make it all worthwhile.

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I just finished watching this drama and I am left somehow disappointed. Despite my disappointment I did rate some high scores because the music was good and the acting was not bad. I didn't score the story line to high because this is what brings the disappointment for me. The idea for the drama its not bad unfortunately for me the story was a bit boring at times and I found myself speeding through conversations. Like a lot of the conversations between the police officers when talking about the cases I personally found it a bit too long so I had to skip through. Then it was the way of solving the crimes. It felt like they were starting different investigations that had nothing to do with each other and all of a sudden they start connecting them all in one investigations. And one that comes to mind right now is when Oh Man Soo in the detective's Han basement started investigating some files from his insurance company that had nothing to do with the police investigation so far, and then leaves the door open and detective Na Gwang Gyun comes and sees the files and some papers and he start intertwining that with his investigation. How do you connect the two where up to that point had no connection? At times it felt like the investigation was not clearing anything, actually it was getting deeper and more complicated and more twisted which will not be bad if the viewer will not get the feeling that its just a hot mess that will never get anywhere and even they don't know anymore. The confusion doesn't stop here. I also had an issues with how the ML role was written at times. They portrait him to be this bad ass, cold, emotionless, super human, super powers entity but then he gets bit up some times like he was nothing and I'm talking in particular about scared face which was an old man but he was able to bit all this much younger and stronger guys like even Ha Ram's father. For me personally he got on with his bad deeds for too long. And once you make me see this supranatural entity with all this power and than you show me he got bit up by an old man it doesn't do it. As some people might say he was becoming more human and that is why he was not always succeeding in his fights, I will say that becoming more human was ok to stop him from teleporting and to start making him have feelings but should have not interfere with his strength. I did like the part where he start having feelings. I enjoyed that very much. I did enjoy the comedic parts through the series and I did enjoy Black's two side kicks. I loved them. But one of the biggest disappointment comes towards the end. The series leaves the viewers with more questions than answers. Black says he will stay to leave as a human next to Ha Ram but then everything he does and every action he takes is to prepare for not coming back. Well one thing I hate in life are liars and he was just that by doing that. Don't say you gonna stay by a person but then you end up leaving. That is BS. Than he asked for the highest level of punishment which meant he was going to be erased from everybody's memories which meant there was never a Kim Joon nor anything ever associated with him. You have then Ha Ram go on with her life. Also there is a mention about a husband who nobody knows and there is no mention of who that was, not even a picture shown somewhere around the house, and you have somebody telling the grim riper story which will be fine as a folkloric story but unfortunately it gets even more confusing. So when the red bracelet appeared at the end how was that possible since he was not supposed to exist, which meant she did not make the bracelet for him because Kim Joon did not existed, so there was supposed to be no bracelet. Then she gets the bracelet and gets her memories back. What memories of something or somebody that didn't exist? And if it did exist was there a previous life, a parallel life or what life because the one she was living and got old in it he didn't exist? Then again I am at it, if he never existed, why did you had him come to take her soul? I don't get it? There are still so many questions? They should have just let him be by her side as a human period. Any way the story was good, music was very good and the end very disappointing.

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Confusing but impressive and more twists then the twist

This drama is a bit confusing, when I finally thought I might start understanding something a new twist came along and threw me off completely. I happen to be a big fan of twist and turns so it was defenetly my type of drama but I understand if is not everybodys cup of tea.

The male lead did an amazing jobb portraying several characters. Hot and cold, sweet and mean... in a very handsome package.

Go Aras character was interesting and she did do a great jobb portraying a very special personality.

The second male lead was very sweet, and so were the rest of the cast. I wasn't annoyed att anyone, maybe could do without some of the children crying but I never really felt the urge to fast forward. The pace was ok but I'll admit this drama could probably have been shorter if they prioritized but att the same time looking back all had their role in this very complex multilevel drama.

The ending was defenetly one of the more intersesting ways to wrap it upp and was very unpredictable witch I see as a big plus.

So all in all if you like complicated dramas, like Go Ara and a handsome lead this is definitely one for you. Oh and you should not care to much about the details making sence.

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A very different story with a strong cast and a good script .

A beautifully complicated story that is amazing for the first15 ep then the ending goes downhill.

***SPOILER AHEAD***
Alternate ending: black not killing the last guy, instead, handing him to law with proof ( he is given a good punishment and his life is ruined ) then, black going with the death squad and being a reaper for the rest. when all this was happening haram found about everything, she blamed herself for killing everyone and committed suicide by jumping from the cliff and became a second class reaper cz she took her own life met black, reunited, got to know about everything ie her father and black himself, accepted it and became partners did their job well and after a while went to paradise

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A lot of twists and turns but it is worth it

I started watching the series a month ago, I watched the first 10 episodes in one go. I kinda loved the spice of it being a little different and not the same old stuff you would watch every other day. I kinda for some reason stopped watching the drama for a few days since I fad a feeling of what the ending would be. After a few days of waiting I started re-watching it twice untill I continued watching it from where I had stayed. After watching up to episode 15 I stopped again for some reason. Again I thought I would have to wait a few days to continue I just decided to watch it till the end this time.

After watching the full series I would say, I enjoyed it because it was different from other dramas even tho it had a lot of twists and turns. The actors and the acting was great as well as the plot was good even tho the plot in the last two episodes got kinda boring and depressing. The OST wasn't memorable but it was okay.

All in all, I'd say if you want a murder mystery with a little romance and twists and turns. This drama might be something for you. I would even rate it with a pretty high re-watch value.

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Recomendo

Não podia deixar de falar de uma drama tão viciante e bom como esse. A historia te prende já nos primeiros capítulos e vai ficando cada vez mais interessante conforme passa incrível como você fica preso nas historias e torce junto com os personagens para que todo mal seja encontrado e que a justiça seja feita. Parabéns para os roteiristas achei tudo muito coerente tudo fluiu muito bem nos mistérios dentro da trama.
E muito bom ver de vez em quando dramas assim adultos que sai da caixa , que não fica dentro daqueles eternos clichês que vemos muito.
Atores maravilhosos , como eu gostava de assistir eles em cena, quase todos foram perfeitos no que estavam fazendo.
A protagonista feminina que foi uma decepção, ela serviu mais como elenco de apoio do que realmente um personagem importante ou significativo dentro da história. Ela se encaixava naquele cliche , da mocinha bonita, frágil, desamparada, com um passado triste, gentil e burra isso mesmo burra não achava a coragem dela sensata, pra mim era pura burrice, ela não pensava antes de sair fazendo merda, colocando mais pessoas em risco do que salvando em si. Isso é uma pena em um drama aonde todos desempenham papeis tão importantes com personagens inteligentes pois a historia demandava de personagens assim; me jogam uma protagonista tão insignificante ,o bom que ela é bastante ignorável, praticamente fingi que ela não existia principalmente perto do fim que ela não agregava mais nada pra história.
O protagonista masculino foi perfeito em sem papel interpretou os dois personagens com maestria, as pastes cômicas colocadas sempre na hora certa eram hilárias , ele com a equipe da policia era muito bom e divertido de se ver, a evolução da amizades deles foi muito legal de se ver.
O amor dele e da protagonista achei forçado não precisava de interesse romântico entres os dois não foi construído o suficiente para eles enfiarem um romance ali, um amor fraternal tudo bem mais romance não cabia ali.
Musica não me marcou em nenhum momento porem nem senti falta . Achei os episódios longos demais algumas vezes mais ainda sim não atrapalhou muito.
Em fim recomendo um ótimo drama policial com uma historia bem interessante.

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Definitely a fun watch, not a must watch

So many twists and engaging story throughout all 18 episodes. I would have rated it high (8 or 9) if there weren't so many, and I really mean so many plot armour scenes, plot inconsistencies, probably the worst action choreography, one dimension-ally written FL & so many more similar frustratingly irritating reasons.

The ending is acceptable, since I have already seen Mouse by the same screenwriter, and was expecting an impractical but self-sacrificing & morally superior ending.

By far, my fav grim reaper related kdrama.

7/10.

PS. Some of the brilliant trolling comedy in episodes 2 & 3.

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The last drama that moved me so much was bridal mask. This drama started out slow but goddamn after 4eps it was like a rollercoaster ride. It was the most thrilling drama ever for me. As it was a thriller and suspense drama so logically rewatch value is low but it can be rewatched. Sadly i'm not a fan of rewatching thrillers.I think this drama should be way up on the list at least in top 10. It had dark comedy, crime, light politics,suspence. Romance was not that much but deep enough. It is a must-watch drama and high recommended to any dramalover. The main male lead was badass.Overall this drama is a masterpiece.

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Struggled to finish it

There is beauty in simplicity and I think this writer should learn it.
The drama was really interesting at first and I was immediately hooked up, however I have more complaints than praises for this drama.

First of all, the writer did not follow the rules they set up for this fantasy world in the beginning of the series, a lot of the times it was just bad writing (forgetting what was already established in-universe or not explaining soemthing) but quite a few times it was done on purpose to bring some shock value and unnecessary plot-twists.

Secondly, it seemed that somewhere along the way the writer forgot who was the most important one and whose story they were telling. It is hard to explain this without giving any spoilers but to say it simply, while the premise is that 444 comes to Earth to catch the run away partner, we don't get to hear anything about it until at the very end the writer and ML remember it and show had that storyline ended.

The last criticism I have for this drama is to do with everything I said above. The writer wanted to make such a complex and gripping story that they made it unnecessarily confusing and overly complex for no good reason than to deliver a plot-twist after a plot-twist and to keep the viewer guessing. By the end of the show, when they revealed the "main" villain I already forgot who he was and how he was related to the story. The million sub-plots and side characters made it even more difficult to follow the story. To say something positive, the writer did wrap it up to an extent in the finale but at that time I was already too tired of never ending puzzles and seeing the same event repeated endlessly just from a different pov each time adding one small detail, which at first was interesting and then got really tiresome. Oh and the finale and solution to the heroes problems was the worst I have seen in a while. Seriously, I made myself to watch the last two episodes and regret that decision even know. It was not simply dissatisfying but made me regret even watching the drama in the first place.

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