The drama is decent, although not my favorite Jung Kyung Ho drama. I think that he did a great acting job as usual, along with the always terrific Park Sung Woong and Lee El. I think that Lee Seol suffered by comparison, particularly her one-note portrayal of Girl Gone Bad. But it was the script and story arc that I had the most problems with. The drama took on the topics of free will and divine guidance and made kind of a mess, which isn’t that surprising considering that theologists and philosophers have wrestled with those topics for centuries. I appreciate the fact that this drama made the attempt. I’ve noticed a lot of recent dramas dealing with the subject of free will and a character’s struggle to act independently of an omnipotent being, whether it’s a god or gods, manga writer, or game creator. It’s an interesting subject and deserves a better drama.

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This is a sweet and heartwarming story about young love. Watching the drama does require a large amount of suspension of belief because none of the characters look like athletes, particularly the so-called weightlifters. The swimmers also don't have the proper physique or form. (Why couldn't they have used a body double for the swimming scenes?) But the friends to lovers story is charming and well done, not least because Nam Joohyuk's acting is natural, relaxed, and believable. I could have done without the birth mother story line but luckily it didn't take up too much time.

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This is my second watch and I was much more disturbed by the violence and grisly deaths than I was my first time around. It was fun the first time rooting for the underdogs in a satisfying revenge fantasy. I know he was supposed to be a monster but Vincenzo looked suave and cool as he matter-of-factly disposed of thugs left and right. Unfortunately, the rest of the building gang were over the top, bordering on slapstick. I loved the Hong Cha Young character.

But this time I also noticed all of the bodyguards--evidently the world’s most incompetent--that Vincenzo maimed or killed. (Plus that one character whose innocent wife and young daughter Vincenzo met.) The writer attempted to justify the tortures and deaths of certain villains (1) because of the murders they committed or had arranged and (2) because they were psychopaths and so, the drama seems to say, should be treated as less than human. Making us cheer for their torture and murder makes monsters of us, too. I assume that that was what the drama was trying to say.

And don’t hate me but I kept thinking that Jung Kyung Ho would have played a more nuanced and dangerous Vincenzo with lots more sexy smolder.

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A fun watch. The female lead could be frustrating at times (I agreed with everything her romantic rival said on the dorm rooftop) and some of the plotlines seemed implausible (e.g., the cause of the leads’ estrangement) but the strength of the female characters’ friendships and the way the drama depicted their maturation make up for that. I have to say, however, that the male characters suffered by comparison, often coming off as rigid, weak, or clueless. I think that Duncan Lai did a very good job -- you could see a real difference between his idealistic college student versus his rather cold 10-years-older businessman. I like the ending, which (slight spoiler) did not end with all of the women married off, even though the drama showed the women running all over the place in wedding dresses in the opening and closing credits for every episode!

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Yang Mi is always great but Xu Kai seemed to be sleepwalking through the drama. They had little charisma together. Or, rather, Yang Mi was giving everything she could but Xu Kai looked like he'd rather be playing video games. Relationships with big age gaps seem to work best when the younger partner is mature beyond his or her age, rather than when the older partner is immature for his or her age. I don't think Xu Kai quite pulled off the mature beyond his age role. And since this was all about the relationship, the drama fizzled. The remaining characters were not very likable either.

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Two things kept me watching this: (1) the fun tennis scenes, which make me want to grab a racquet and run out and practice and (2) Leo Wu’s (Wu Lei’s?) acting, which is completely different from his role in Love Like the Galaxy, but just as compelling. I’m impressed by how an actor who played Mr. Killing Machine Ling Bu Yi could be just as convincing in the role of goofy, immature Song Sang Chuan.

There were a couple of irritating characters, such as the sister. The romance between the main leads was okay but my favorite scenes were the ones between Song Sang Chuan and his stepfather.

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The lead couple has sizzling hot chemistry. You might enjoy this, especially if you like the combination of smirky teasing hero (there are times when I sympathize fully with the villain’s desire to throttle the hero) and fierce and fearless heroine. There are enough political machinations, elaborate fight scenes (oddly bloodless for the nameless hordes, only the main characters seem to bleed), and lavish spectacle to keep things interesting. I especially appreciate the touches of humor, which keep the story from bogging down under its own weight and seriousness. Both lead actors, Yang Mi and Ethan Juan, are killing it.

Sure, there are logical lapses and “wait, what?” moments. There are some fantasy elements that might remind you of Harry Potter. But I don’t recall any shirtless scenes in Harry Potter, particularly anything approaching the Ethan Juan shirtless scenes….

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Liked: The scenes of Shanghai; the music; the acting by Victoria Song, Wang Yaoqing, and Yang Zhiying; the characters Ye Luming and Wu Yei Min; the friendships between He Fanxing and her buddies and between He Fanxing and Ye Luming; and the way the drama handled the issues with the father. Bonus point: Lots of cute dogs.

Did not like: Any of the romances. The age gap in the two primary romances was exacerbated by the immaturity of the younger half of each couple. Relationships between teacher and student always make me uncomfortable but the one here was made worse by how naive and childlike the student was contrasted against a teacher who was depicted as something of a rake. As for the main couple, I found Yuan Song irritating and selfish. It bothered me, for example, when he pursued He Fanxing then “teased” her about sexual harrassment (that's not funny and is pretty passive aggressive); tried to out her without consulting her first (I’d be ticked off if someone had done that to me, too); and most of all, the way he made her grovel at the end. All of the other relationships (including the parents’) were also problematic in one way or another.

I look forward to the inevitable sequel: Find Yourselves Divorce Lawyers.

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Not bad. Heartless City is pretty violent but there is also some unintentional hilarity. I always wonder, for example, why much of the fighting in these crime dramas is done with sticks and knives. I would have thought that a crime organization capable of running a major drug ring and co-opting any number of people in the police and prosecutor’s office could manage to acquire a few guns. Instead, their shiny batons and Brooks Brothers suits made the “thugs” look like, well, like conductors in search of an orchestra. That, plus their tendency to wait their turn politely before attacking one by one make them insufficiently terrifying. It’s no wonder that they seldom managed to assassinate the person that the drug kingpin of the moment had selected, despite the fact that the intended victim would be wandering all over town. That aside, Heartless City is a fun stylish noir guilty pleasure.

Although Lee Jae Yoon probably is the designated hunk in this drama (but Dude, seriously, you should go up a size in T-Shirts, at least around the office!), I declare Jung Kyung Ho the winner of the Hottest Guy contest here.

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Look, I understand that K dramas manipulate viewers’ emotions and I’m fine with that. The dramas usually try to make you root for the desirable but flawed hero and the plucky heroine. I can also accept time travel, body switching, and girls passing themselves off as poorly-disguised boys. I can even enjoy dramas with lawyers doing things that would get most lawyers disbarred; medical dramas with doctors who should lose their medical licenses; teachers who would normally be fired, if not criminally charged for abuse; and police dramas with police officers who need good psychiatrists. Although there are moments in every drama where logic takes a leap, I can get past most of them.

Doctor Stranger, however, violated the most important canon of Korean drama law: Thou shalt not brazenly insult the intelligence of your viewers. The drama starts out okay, if a little over the top, what with evil plots and Magic Hands Doctor but it quickly devolves into a mess whose primary purpose seemed to be to jerk the viewer around. One big problem was the romance that drove the story. The actress who plays the grand romantic interest is more wooden than my dining room table and the male lead regresses into a pathetic puppy whenever he's around her (for little reason, since the actors seem to have little chemistry together). I began to hope that the female lead would be shot and really die. On the ground, instead of falling into the water, which, in this drama, seems to have life-regenerating powers. I don’t even know where to begin on the farcical who-is-the-better-doctor-competition. It is better to draw a sheet over it and send it to a well-deserved end. Plus the malpractice/revenge subplot is just … my god … no.

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