The premise had so much potential but the story did not deliver enough

MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD.

Sub par at best. And I say this with a heavy heart because the premise was so intriguing, female-centered plot with strong successful female leads is exactly what I signed up for, but they managed to waste their potential. I feel like the writers did not have enough material to create a full 16-episode story in the first place. Making a drama about the business behind the two biggest search engines in Korea is a door for endless possibilities. They could’ve done so much but they ended up reducing it to cliché events that everybody has seen already. It became boring in the middle so I fast forwarded many of the business talks, it didn’t really matter much anyway.

Tami and Morgan’s romance bored me to death. I ended up watching their scenes on either 1.25x faster or fast forwarding it. Tami did so much push and pull, it’s agitating. She always find reasons to push him away but he keeps crawling back to her like a lost puppy. If we’re being realistic, nobody with a brain is gonna be patient and pursue you while you repeatedly push them out like Tami did. Now that I think about it, Morgan deserves better than that. The age gap play a huge issue and their relationship is never gonna work out. It makes more sense for them to break up but they made them come back together just for the sake of a “happy ending”. They could’ve given Tami a permanent love interest who shares the same belief as her because, news flash, you can be in a healthy loving relationship with somebody and never have to get married, you just both have to be up for it. But I guess they would run out of story to tell. Tami’s progressiveness was just wasted away by giving her a love interest who does not share her views. And Morgan deserved somebody who can give him more than Tami can.

Song Ga Gyeong is okay. I like her character arc. She’s a morally grey character that is executed to still be likable and I ended up actually rooting for her and her ex-husband. It’s fascinating to see how their relationship started to develop much better when they were in the brink of divorce.

I found Scarlet to be the most redeeming factor of this drama. Without her, I would’ve dropped this and never pick it back up. She’s the most likable character among all. She’s impatient and aggressive, she does have anger management issues and violent tendencies but she also has a strong sense of justice and cares very deeply. She’s not afraid to speak her mind and stand up for what she thinks is right. She’s competent and flawed and I so dearly love how complex yet so simple she is. Cha Hyeon and Seol Ji Hwan’s relationship was adorable. It did drag a bit, because again, I feel like they don’t have enough story planned to tell so they need to drag it out instead of just letting them know how they feel about each other in the first place. But the development is still rewarding nonetheless.

All in all, I feel very hot and cold about this drama. It had a lot of potential and I just wish they brought out more.

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A film that will forever have an effect on me

I didn't really pay much attention to the plot summary which is a blessing in disguise because I think it increased the quality of my watch, hence why I won't reveal any spoiler in this review. My advice is, if the trailer captured your interest, then it is most probably worth the try.

I think it would be useful for some if I state some trigger warnings if you're planning to watch this movie. It has bullying, violence, and blood. This film is very emotionally charging so I hope you are prepared for that.

Bullying is a theme that is nothing new when it comes to all sorts of media, but I think what makes this shine above the others is the writing, the cinematography, and specially the acting.

First of all, I'm not really a film person, it is rare for me to be really affected on a movie I watched, because I feel like I need more time to care about the characters enough that I feel involved and engaged to whatever is happening in the story... but I must say, that this is one of the rare ones. It's been 9 months since I watched this movie and I still cannot get over how incredible it is. I admit, I initially wanted to watch this because I have a knack for emotionally damaged/troubled people leaning on each other for support and this one satisfed that, though the hint of romance made me want for more.

Here we have two leads who are both strong in their own ways. I appreciate the way the writing did not shy away to depict the harsh reality of Chen Nian (FL) and Bei Shan (ML). It is amazing truly, how the actors, Zhou Dongyu and Jackson Yi portrayed their characters so well that I feel tremendous hurt as I watch them go through those tough things, and my heart weeps in joy when they get their rare moment of peace, comfort, and happiness. I really thought I was prepared for the heaviness but halfway through the film of me sobbing, I realized just how emotionally charging this is.
I personally don't like rewatching stuff but I would really love to watch this again, sometime, when I have seem to forgot how moved I was when I first watched this. So I could see the little things I didn't notice before, and still appreciate what makes this movie great.

I want to end this review with a quote written by the female lead, Chen Nian in the movie, because I think it is a good presentation of the premise and the message resembles that of what I think the movie is trying to convey:
"We are in the gutter
but some of us are looking at the sears."

(If you want to see more of what I have to say about this film, most of which includes spoilers, here is a thread I made on twitter: https://twitter.com/aeipathyforher/status/1357701103903592451?t=Q8obK7rddaA5hfUzTfoDgg&s=19)

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