Flower of Evil (2020)

Simply Good

This is a good show. I am at a stage where I never have high expectations from k-dramas and that serves! And I certainly don't trust these high ass ratings in mdl. I never watched Lee Joon Gi act, and tbh this was me trying him out. I recently watched something easy and felt ready to dive into something so famous and judge it for myself and for once, I'm not disappointed. It was a really easy and addictive binge. Both the leads are very convincing in their roles and Lee Joon Gi was simply phenomenal as Do Hyun Su (I don't dig the loud sobs but still...). The story was okay, I think it had more impact emotionally than as a logical mind-blowing thriller. I loved that the 14 years of marriage between the leads held a proportional significance in the plot, that Ji Won trusted Hyun Su and actually did some police work to build that trust. The serial killing aspect had its allotted amount of horror and I have to say Kim Ji Hoon was positively brilliant in acting uncanny. Mostly the story is pretty plot hole free imo, but leave it to me to point out a few oddities.
1. The big ass coincidence of the actual identity of the accomplice. I usually hate these out of the blue completely random coincidences (bcz these are signs of weak screenplays) though in this one I did not mind bcz they carried the rest with precision.
2. The last part where they have Hyun Su and the accomplice cornered, for some reason they were more scared of Hyun Su. It was weird af. At least Ji Won should've ran towards him, imo.
3. The memory loss, it offered some nice insight into Hyun Su but it still felt so unnecessary at times. For someone who lost an entire life, Hyun Su seemed oddly pretty chill to me.
4. They could've dialed down the sobbing, not a fan of loud outbursts and it just kept happening. You want to give something impact, you reduce the frequency of it.
Despite these, I loved the show, remedy those points and it would've been perfect by all measures but does perfection really exist? This drama is meticulous and none of what happens are quote unquote unrealistic in a logical sense. I cared about the detective unit, the cases that built Cha Ji Won as a character, Hyun Su's sister but though he brought some comedic relief I'm not sure about how good Kim Moo Jin was. Hyun Su was really abused and suffered way too much and I feel like only Ji Won and his sister conveys enough sympathy.
The romance was intense and on spot. I would've loved a little more attention on Hyun Su as an individual rather than being defined by his love for Ji Won. I think a tragedy would've fit this story, those kind of 'missing the happy ending by a singular moment'...'an end to a lifetime of suffering lost bcz of just one stray bullet'...but I guess I'm a masochist.
In any case, I liked this series and enjoyed the complimentary music (especially the classical tunes), the superb acting and the gripping tension which persisted for a considerable amount of time. This is truly something to recommend.

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Even in places where evil seeds have been planted, flower can bloom ?

For me this drama is a masterpiece! You start on a roller coaster of emotions distrusting each one of the characters without knowing what to expect, and you end this drama with a story of healing, trust, family bound and unconditional love. Great script, all the characters are well delineated, the story is perfect as a puzzle that you join each of the pieces and in the end you get a perfect image that matches each of the pieces that you placed. The performances are wonderful, they are above any drama, it is as if each character has a life of its own. Wonderful direction, despite being a melodrama, the other genres fit perfectly with the story thanks to the use of elements of suspense such as the differents ways of handling the camera and the use of the instrumental OST. Everything is perfect, everything is well thought, each scene provides relevant information or emotions, each scene has messages to find, it is perfect to watch it over and over again, it is wonderful, do not miss it!

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Trust him or not?

I must confess that I droop this series after 3rd episode but trusting in the high rating I decided to continue watching it.
The plot is aberrant and shocking but also sad and emotional, especially last 2 episodes.
This guy who is the son of a serial killer and married to a police detective, was wanted and followed as a murderer.
She discovers clues about her husband. Who is actually the father of her daughter? She has tough time and must choose a side between law and family.
So many surprises.
The OST was good with also orchestral piece.
I don't think I'll ever see it twice.

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Not exactly what you might think

So, I have many mixed feelings about this one and I'm not really sure I can put all of them into words but let's try.

When I heard about this drama I thought it could finally be the amazing thriller/murder mystery I've been waiting for. Now was it all that I was hoping for? No. Was it still good? Yes. When I first started Flower of Evil I didn't expect it to be so... romantic? I guess it's kinda my fault for not having properly looked into the genres of this show, but I don't like to know much about the dramas that I start and well, this one definitely surprised me, not in the way I was expecting though.

I only realised how vanilla this drama was halfway through it, but by then I was too invested to stop watching it. I think the writers did this on purpose, marketing it as a thriller but building a love story to try and please every audience and it kinda worked (?).

Honestly the thriller/mystery aspect of this drama is a bit weak. A lot of the plot points and twists are predictable and the story is full of conveniences, like how the sun hides behind the clouds right when it was about to reveal the presence of someone in the scene to the police, or how one of the investigators get a call right when they were about to discover something important but decide to stop everything to answer the phone. Also, some of the explanations they gave were a lot of a stretch and so forced to the point I simply couldn't believe them. I'm not gonna go too deep into this to avoid spoilers, but damn these things kept breaking my immersion and infuriating me at the same time.

In the end, though, this drama still got me interested enough to finish it and actually enjoy it. I'd say a lot of it is due to some pretty good characters, and by that I mean mainly Hyun Soo. Honestly this drama surprised me, cause I didn't expect to love Hyun Soo so much, but when I realised I was already too attached to him. I think this is also due to Lee Joon Gi's acting. The man really killed it. The actress who played his wife did an amazing job, too, they shared quite some emotional and impactful scenes. Everyone was pretty good, actually, except for some extras. The romance was also really well built. I think it was a pretty refreshing approach, seeing a romance from the perspective of a couple who's already married and kinda have to re-evaluate their feelings for each other and also how this tied to Hyun Soo's growth as a character.

I also really like the way this drama portrays how having a psychopath as father afects both of his children, and how they characterize people with antisocial disorders under different lights. The soundtrack in general is pretty good in setting the atmosphere as well.

The main villain, though, was a pain-in-the-ass. He had one of the most punchable faces I've ever seen, wow. Because of him and cause the drama really gets unnecessary mellodramatic sometimes towards the end, I felt extremely frustrated watching the last few episodes, but at the same time I kept getting invested and couldn't simply turn away from it. I guess I could say Flower Of Evil was a bit of a sweet torture to me.

In the end, I believe this drama can still please a lot of people, specially because it's more vanilla and friendly than what you expect in the beginning, so in case you're wondering if you should start this drama, I'd tell to go for it and make your own conclusions about it.

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If you didn't watch yet, Just go do it right now ! It deserves

This drama is amazing, every episode feels like a movie, the quality is great, the staff and actors did a great job, the story is very catchy and interesting, the progression is good, I didn't get bored of it any point or episode (which is great for a 16-episode drama), For me, ambiguity and acting were among the reasons for the success of this drama!! I watched the drama at the time it was shown, I can't describe how excited I was every week waiting for the next episodes (which is very rare for me, usually when the drama reaches episode 9 I lose focus and want to watch)
I ask everyone to go and watch it!! you will not regret
As for the music ost , their choices were good, so far I still keep some songs from the drama in my favorite songs list, and every time i listen to it i enter to the mood of the drama and my heart stat to beat fast like i was watching it .
for the cast , there are a lot of actors that i've seen them for the first time , but everyone done a great job and chemestry between the main actors was beautiful. So good choose for the cast .
as i said before , the production and the story are in the same level with the cast and ost , everything was perfect for me !

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Thrilling and suspenseful the entire way through

9/10 is my rating. This is a 2020 South Korean television drama with 16, 60 minute episodes.

Cha Ji-won (Moon Chae-won) is an insightful detective who often sees aspects of cases even her sunbaes miss. She seems to have the perfect life, a handsome and attentive husband, a job she excels at, and a lively young daughter. Her husband, Hee-sung (Lee Joon-gi) is very secretive about his past, he is a metal craftsman so can keep hours as he chooses. He also has a sound proof shop perfect for hiding the loud sounds of metal working and other sounds if needed. Cha Ji-won and her team begin to investigate a string of murders that look suspiciously like copy cat murders from crimes that happened 18 years previously. The more she observes the behavior of the psychotic and sociopathic behaviors of the criminals she arrests the more curious she becomes about some of the behaviors she notices of her own husband. He also has been around victims and suspects they are investigating. It has piqued her detective senses and she is not sure what to believe. Does she believe in the kind and loving husband and father or dig deeper into the past he is so secretive about to determine if he is actually a sociopath skilled at hiding a duality containing a much darker side.

Spoiler alert ** I really don't know how to describe this beyond just masterful. One of the most suspenseful and interesting serial crime dramas I have ever seen. The romance is amazing as well. In the early part of the drama you are led to believe that the ML may be evil. His father was a serial killer and they are playing up the nature aspect of serial killer - get you thinking maybe he is just like his father. As the show progresses we get to see more of how he really is and, if you know anything about sociopaths and/or psychopaths he shows emotion that would not be possible if he were what he thinks he is. It reminded me, in that sense, of Psychopath Diaries, how a label can become an expectation. He lives a lot of his life under that stigma and expectation of himself. The FL is a very intelligent detective and has a lot of integrity as a police officer. I get how you might have some doubts as you saw stuff that seemed to point at one person, but it was disappointing how easily she believed badly of the ML. Then she comes around, or so it seems, until just a short while later when another thing happens and she, once again, believes the worst of him. His sister, who knew him about as long as his wife, steadfastly did not believe him capable of anything psychotic. It also did not make sense, to me, that she would trust her sister-in-law, who she knew had murdered, with her child yet so quickly jump to distrust with her husband. The reporter, it was nearly unforgivable the way he treated the ML back in the village. He did redeem himself in all the help he gave the ML later though and, given the ML basically kidnapped and tortured him they were pretty much even. I wish the "mother" had grown to love her adopted son and protected him more. It seemed cold the way they treated him after the real son woke up. I know that there can be a stigma with children of criminals, particularly killers as society has not drawn a conclusion on whether, or not, mental disorder, such as that are inherited. The little girl was so adorable I wanted to see, when he approached her after losing his memory, that his love for her was strong enough to give him full recollection. So it was overall a really great story and kept me engaged the whole way through with just some, relatively minor, inconsistent plot points, and storylines that did not completely wrap up. For instance, what happened with the guy that went crazy because he couldn't find his wife. Now that his wife was discovered alive did they talk? Just a few unresolved aspects. I highly recommend for anyone that loves crime dramas, serial killers or just complex love stories.

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Good Crime Drama

This was overall a really good series with a great and enjoyable cast however the last episode was nonsensical, stupid and unnecessary. Not sure what the hell the writers were thinking but whatever. I would still recommend watching at least once for the brilliant acting performance of Lee Joon Gi and Kim Ji Hoon. Moon Chae Won was good to and she has really great chemistry with Lee Joon Gi. There were some really great comic relief scenes with Seo Hyun Woo as Moo Jin including a scene where he is broadcasting live via a Facebook live type app. The young actress Jung Seo Yeon was really good as the daughter of the main leads.

The only other really negative mark on the show is that they should have given us more back story on Do Min Seok the father of ML character. We were given some nuggets but never enough. Plus, in an episode we learn that ML couldn't remember anything before turning 10 years old WHY?? Why bring this up if we were never going to know the answer?

This is the 2nd drama in a row that I have watched where the literal last episode is nonsense. That sucks for me but again overall a good series.

This has nothing to do with the review, but Kim Ji Hoon is hot AF and when that guy would put his hair in a ponytail/manbun I could not think straight!!

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Totally Worth the Watch!!!

Honestly, this was such a great watch, the show was so good. It was one of few shows that hooked me in within the first episode. Usually dramas can take a minute to really hook you in, but after you watch episode 1, you are ready to continue and see what is going on next.

When rating this show, I was having a hard time between either a 9 or a 9.5 out of 10 and here is why. This show was very much unpredictable, with how the characters were depicted as well as their actions. There were only a few times where I felt I knew what was going to happen next, this happened in the beginning of the show when you are first introduced to the ML's sister, but other than that the show was very much different.

The main reason this show was not a 10/10 for me, was because I wish there was more at the end. Within the last two episodes of the show, we are thrown a huge plot twist, when we jump through time and the ML looses his memory. The jumping through time, the only reason this really bothered me was because I wanted to know how they close up the case, we finally find out who did it, but then nothing. We jump 4 months into the future and I can't remember anything. Does the ML know what happened to his father? Does the survivor meet her family? Does the case close up smoothly? I personally felt it was unnecessary and did not add to the show itself. The memory loss concept, I see how it could add some spice, but within this show, I just felt that it was not handled well. At the end we do live happily ever after, but not as happily as I would have hoped. This show pulled me through so much and had me crying on end and we can't even live our best happily ever after.

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Not perfect but good overall

The 16 episode format can be a blessing or a curse. I feel like when there's too much time, they tend to be repetitive or add information that doesn't need to be added. In one episode the couple had just made a big breakthrough. They were pulled over on the side of the road, crying, and they look like they've overcome the struggles and now she believes he's not a killer. Then the next episode she becomes suspicious again of him and the previous episode went to waste. She becomes suspicious to the point that it becomes annoying. Little things like that mess up the series and just takes away from the awesome moments that happened before.

I really like this show. It's funny and emotional at times. I think there's moments that feel like cliches or bad writing, but that can be overlooked. Overall, they did a good job of doing this story and getting the cast to work well together.

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Amazing dynamics between 2 main leads elevated this crime/mystery & romance drama

Great execution of crime/mystery drama with romance. The dynamics between Lee Joon Gi and Moon Chae Won's partnership elevated this drama.

What I like:
1) Romance - Palpable chemistry between Lee Joon Gi and Moon Chae Won (a true partnership). Intimate scenes were hot. That first scene surprised me and I didn't expect a sexy but conflicted scene.
2) Acting - wow great acting by overall cast but Lee Joon Gi and Moon Chae Won's acting impressed me a lot. The scene when he confided in his wife broke me down in tears,
3) Male lead characterisation characterisation - wow just wow I dislike him in first episode as I thought he was stiff but my views changed when he protected his wife and confided in his wife.
4) The ending - the separation and doubts saddened me.
5) Plot - Gosh, unpredictable from episode 1. I also like how the current police cases were written most of the time.
6) Kim Ji Hoon - not much screentime but memorable.

What I dslike:
1) Baek parents were something else,
2) I think at one point I was lost in the plot because of too many red herrings in the current cases.

Favourite scene
When he confided in his wife in episode 10 & 11. I cried so much!

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