Lamest revenge in the history of makjang revenge plans

Expectation: Makjang drama about rich people and their arranged marriage woes
Reality: A scorned woman's half baked attempt at revenge set in the backdrop of a dating agency for rich people

Honestly, I would barely even consider the FL's revenge as revenge, because it just involved a. telling anyone who would listen how much of a bitch Yoo Hui is. b. Trying to stop Yoo Hui from getting a man. Both of which would have failed SPECTACULARLY if not for the 2 rich MLs. Revenge was never her goal in the first place; running into Yoo Hui at the dating agency somehow reminded her that she ought to embark on the most ambitious plan of ruining someone's life with virtually no plan in place at all! Compared to the other makjang revenge drama next door (Eve), the "revenge plans" in this drama were like child's play. Thankfully, this drama is only 8 eps long so FL's idiocy and helplessness wasn't dragged on. HOWEVER, this show tried to be overly ambitious by throwing in a multitude of kdrama tropes that were sufficient to last several dramas: 1. Illegitimate child trope, 2. white truck of doom, 3.childhood sweethearts trope, 4.corrupt politicians, 5.chaebols, 6.disapproving parents 7.Getting backstabbed by your BFF and more. In particular, the politician trope was so unnecessarily convoluted and illogical and the show could have done without it. The antagonist (Yoo Hui) was portrayed fairly realistically and wasn't omnipotent like in other makjangs but her motivations were so poorly explained it was like the writers forgot halfway why they made her bad in the first place. The only bright spot in the plot was the CEO of the dating agency (Choi Yoo Sun) who was extremely charismatic and manipulative. Her backstory was never fully fleshed out but it still intrigued me more than whatever the hell Hye Sung wanted to do to get "revenge". As a whole, the whole "dating agency for rich people" premise had a lot of potential and for it to just devolve into a cliched kdrama revenge story is just sad.

Acting wise, I had higher expectations from Kim Hee Sun considering how experienced she is. She looked like she was phoning it in the whole time and her "romance" with the 2 ML could barely be considered as romance, just like her half-baked revenge plans. No intimacy AT ALL (not that you need intimacy to show romantic feelings... but still?) and barely any chemistry. Her scenes with the 2 ML just looked like she was hanging out with friends and when she got married to one of them it was like oh? okay then. She had a perpetual damsel in distress look which isn't a good thing in a revenge kdrama at all. Yoo Hui (Jung Eugene) was great and I actually found her despicable. The 2 ML's acted well, bonus points for their good looks lol.

Cinematography and music were good, and I find that in this regard Netflix always maintains a high standard. Still, the rewatch value is 0 due to the lame ass revenge plot and the low entertainment value.

Conclusion: watch only if you are a die hard fan of one of the actors. Else, don't waste your time. For a makjang that is more over the top and entertaining, watch Eve or Penthouse instead.

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Gripping but with an unnecessarily convoluted plot

I have always been interested in dramas with cult and serial killer elements so I was immediately drawn to this title. The first few episodes did not disappoint but in the middle and towards the end, the show seemed to get too ahead of itself with the constant flashbacks/time skips and constant complications. I was concerned when only 2 episodes were left but closure was nowhere to be seen. The writer/director seemed to realise this as well and certain plot developments were hastily explained/not explained at all. Unfortunately the ending fell short of what I had hoped for and I still have many unanswered questions. Uhm Tae Goo's character had many long, circular monologues which I felt were unnecessary and did not do much to advance the plot other than to continuously highlight the fact that he was a total nutcase. The ending fell short of all the various events that they were trying to set it up for at the start. I wished they had decreased the number of monologues and provided some answers instead but this is just my preference for more "closed" endings. Also, there are a few "jumpscares" so take note if you have a weak heart. Other than that, the cinematography, acting and production value are excellent.

The reason why I rated it so low in rewatch value is because this is a show that mainly hinges on the suspense and finding the reasons/motives behind the various happenings. In my opinion, these questions were not sufficiently answered hence I would not rewatch it (despite the high production value).

Conclusion: watch this show if you like cults, strange murders and The Ring.

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A show where judges masquerade as police officers

I am not exactly sure what genre this drama is supposed to be. Legal? Police procedural? Thriller? And in all honesty, I don't think the showrunners know either. This drama tries to be all of the above yet succeeds at none. The "police procedural" parts of the show are horribly unrealistic and do nothing but to detract from the main theme of the drama. "Judges are not supposed to get involved in prosecution or investigation!!!!" are words that have been yelled by 2 senior presiding judges yet main character (Sim Eun Seok) still throws caution to the wind and go on with her own investigations. Despite this, the evidence she obtained through her illicit investigations are still admissible in court! Like what??? I'm not a lawyer, but I sure as hell don't think JUDGES would get their hands dirty or even have the TIME to conduct investigations themselves. And I mean if the judges are gonna do the investigations, why do we even need the damn police? This is too ridiculous. But wait, the icing on the cake is in the last episode. In the last episode, she waltzes right into a baddie's hideout which for some reason, isn't locked and doesn't even have a DOOR to prevent entry. Surprisingly (or not) she gets ambushed and only escapes by the skin of her teeth. Injured and seriously bleeding, she gets into a taxi and makes her way speedily to guess where? HER FKIN OFFICE. I literally laughed out loud. Like ok, the show has consistently portrayed her as an obsessive workaholic (more on her character later) but this is just too far beyond the realm of realism. Not to mention all the evidence in the baddie's hideout was also nicely displayed for the authorities to collect. Just absurd. Parts of the dialogue also sounded like they were right out of a PSA on the social system of Korea, with characters literally rambling on the differences between a social care home and a facility. I get that viewers need some context on Korea's social welfare system but what?! NOBODY speaks like that in real life, unless they are narrating for a documentary. "Show, not tell" is a really apt saying that this show should have heeded.

Unrealistic parts aside, I also felt that this show had a lot of unrealized potential. There was commentary on social issues like income inequality, nepotism, lack of funding/resources for social welfare programmes etc but they were all skin deep and didn't do much to explore the issues further. For example, many cases centered on kids from disadvantaged backgrounds committing crimes. Judge Sim comes into court, makes a few holier than thou comments like how circumstances push the kids to commit crimes but at the end of the day, the kids make the decision to commit crimes themselves. The end. Next case. They could have done more with the material by portraying kids from bad backgrounds committing crimes VS kids from good backgrounds committing crimes (nature vs nurture) OR even gone deeper into Judge Cha's story of being a reformed teenaged delinquent but oh well.

This brings me to the next point of the characters. Judge Sim is extremely unlikeable to begin with, and even when her tragic backstory is revealed (they always have tragic backstories don't they?) she is still unsympathetic. She is extremely self-righteous, curt, cold and seemingly devoid of empathy whatsoever except towards the victims. Her stunning lack of empathy was on full display when she confronted her boss about his alleged corruption in the freaking HOSPITAL where his son was warded after an attempted suicide. Yes, as judges, one has to be upright and honest but dude?? Time and place man. Her self-righteousness also spills over to how she treats the defendants and even her colleague Judge Cha who is forced to capitulate to her every demand. Judge Cha is the typical "nice guy" who believes in treating kids with respect and believing in them, but Judge Sim constantly steamrolls his every opinion. In their conversations, Judge Sim goes on long tirades about how she detests juvenile delinquents and do not believe they would be rehabilitated, that they need to feel the full force of the law... leaving poor Judge Cha quaking and unable to resist as she is his senior. The show validates this strangely, going out of their way to portray the juvenile delinquents as unrepentant, lying scums of the earth who should be locked up for good since they'll just end up as adult criminals anyway. Makes me wonder if the writer had a grudge against juvenile delinquents or something.

Overall, this show is fairly entertaining but don't go in expecting to be educated on Korea's juvenile court system. The acting is decent, with the teenaged actors stealing the spotlight. Kim Hye Soo was decent as Judge Sim, though she wasn't able to show off her range as her character was mostly cold and reserved. Watch only if you can ignore the unrealistic parts and if you do not mind a show with an unlikeable main character.

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Was the scriptwriter on drugs?

the good(??): Crazy ass plot where all semblance of logic has flown out the window. I really marvel at the scriptwriter's ability to cook up all these plots. Time travelling, mother in law/daughter in law love plot, past lives ... the list goes on. In particular, the mother in law/daughter in law love plot is so mind-blowingly outlandish that it became the sole reason why I even bothered to continue watching this drama. The scriptwriter has written other similarly crazy stories but this really takes the cake. I'm even more surprised that the actors were able to pull this off with a straight face.

The bad: The ending was a shitstorm that made no sense at all and was horribly rushed. Pacing in the earlier few episodes were so dragged out and slow. In particular I noticed that there were many long drawn out conversations among the characters that did not seem to serve any purpose. The time-travelling was also badly explained and till now I still don't quite get it (prob because I skipped around quite a bit) The actress playing Du RI An had only 1 facial expression and 0 charisma and I'm not sure how she even managed to land the lead role.

Conclusion: Watch only if you like to see a hot mess and are ready to turn off your brain for 16 eps.

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Watch a documentary instead

I've tried my hardest to complete this show... but damn. I really couldn't. The trailer and synopsis hooked me in and I went in knowing it was based on a non-fiction book but what I really did not expect was how slow it was. It was advertised as a thriller but its most definitely not. Instead, it's an extremely slow burn with no end in sight.

The story is told in almost like a documentary-like fashion. The main character (Kim Nam Gil) is portrayed as eccentric, aloof yet empathetic and "special" in a way only main characters are. This "special" quality is what landed him the newly created role of a profiler. Predictably, no one appreciates the profilers from the start and look down on them, scorn them, and they are allocated the worst office in the building. Of course, the profilers are full of tenacity and overcome these various challenges to finally attain the recognition they deserve. It's a tale as old as time, and anyone can see through the plot of this show right from the first episode. Nothing groundbreaking at all, and nothing to keep viewers watching through the end. In addition, the culprit for each case is revealed right off the bat so there is even less payoff to watch and try to figure out who the murderer is. What we do get are long drawn out interview sessions with serial killers showing off how crazy they are. After a while it just got ... boring. I'm not sure why either. I've watched the Criminal series on Netflix where it's set 100% in the interrogation room yet it was a million times more exciting that this show. Which is disappointing. The characters also don't experience any growth at all; the profilers still treat each other like strangers despite working together for YEARS. Main character retains his "specialness" all the way and his only fault is being too empathetic. Meh. Oh, and there was also this strange subplot about this reporter girl which added 0 things to the plot and only served to show how "special" and "empathetic" that reporter girl is. I thought the show wanted to force a romance between her and the main character but seeing as how nothing happened even at the 11th episode, I guess not.

The acting is fairly good, if you don't mind watching people behave like they're in a constant state of depression (which I guess is true considering the heavy stuff they deal with constantly). The show is the epitome of the saying "all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" because literally all characters are raging workaholics who do not seem to have hobbies outside of work. Which makes it hard to see the range these actors can show.

Conclusion: watch only if you can stomach extremely slow paced dramas with no payoff at all. This is not a thriller - though there are some "thrilling" fight scenes. If you prefer more traditional police procedural shows, this is not the one for you. I honestly feel that juvenile justice, a show supposed to be about judges, has more thrilling police investigation scenes than this show LOL, so make of this what you will.

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Overhyped and underwhelming

Dating/romance reality shows are a dime in a dozen yet for some reason this was crazy hyped on social media. Other shows like Love Island, The bachelor and even Big Brother are infinitely more entertaining than whatever this is supposed to be. For a reality show it is EXTREMELY boring, mostly because nothing happens. It is extremely conservative so no sex, no kissing, heck there's barely any touching until the last few episodes. Hell, there's no drama either. Koreans or should I say Asians in general are rather conflict-adverse so don't expect any big showdowns like you see in Kdramas where people fight over lovers. The closest thing to "drama" would be So-yeon and Se-Hun's "argument" over her supposed "confession" which honestly barely counts as an argument since they were both extremely polite throughout. Instead, there's a lot of awkward talk about feelings and ideal types that left me feeling a lot of second-hand awkwardness/cringe...which I don't think is what you should be feeling while watching a reality show.

Participant-wise, they are extremely bland with cookie cutter personalities/looks. The girls are all conventionally attractive, rail thin and pale as ghosts with their jobs all being model/influencer/Youtuber. The guys all have 6 pack abs, enjoy exercising (except for one dude who liked cooking) and are Youtubers/influencers/business owners as well. When everyone is literally the same, it's hard to root for any one particular person/couple. Doesn't help that almost all the guys are fixated on Ji-Ah, and watching all the guys pine for her gets old fast. Also, some of the guys give off MAJOR creepy vibes (Se-Hun, Si-Hun and Hyun joong) which makes for awkward viewing because of how obsessed they were with some of the girls. The hosts were also SO BAD and added 0 entertainment value to the show. Like seriously, what was their purpose? To rehash a scene that happened literally seconds before??? God, they were so annoying and I skipped all of their scenes.

The only entertaining thing were the games, which were quite funny and innovative. Too bad they were too short and most of the time was spent allowing participants to have their awkward chats. The whole island felt so underutilized as well, they could have asked the participants to do more outdoor type activities but for some reason didn't.

TLDR: give this show a miss unless you don't mind basking in feelings of second-hand awkwardness and cringe.

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How much is a life worth?

How much is a life worth? Not much, I'm afraid. This film is about a streetwise, headstrong high schooler who gets her passions and aspirations beaten out of her by the cruel machinations of this capitalist society. Everyone in this film is graded by how much they are "worth" - from the call centre staff being measured by their commissions/sales amounts, to the schools being graded on how many students have successfully found employment. There is no leeway for error; falling down the ranks means being fired or having a school shut down. Every worker - be it an intern, police officer or teacher is essentially reduced to a number on an excel sheet, dispensable and replaceable. "If you can't take it, just quit! No one is forcing you to stay" is a phrase thrown flippantly around by the management of the company that had the greatest hand in causing So Hee's demise. If only life were that simple, to be able to escape this rat race at any point you desire. Does anybody actually desire to be a cog in a machine, slaving away for profits that you would never even receive? Alas, when quitting means disappointing a "respected" teacher, being threatened with expulsion and worsening an already bad family financial situation, it seems that death is the only answer.

Personal opinions of our current society aside, this film has done a great job in highlighting the injustices of a capitalistic society that reduces the worth of a human being down to a single number. The acting is amazing, though the cinematography is straight to the point, in an almost documentary like style which is quite befitting to the theme of this film. It is a bleak slow burn with no resolution, and Bae Donna's character's mission to find the truth is akin to the fight between David and Goliath. But in the end, that's what life is right? When the rich get richer and the poor continue to suffer and have their voices silenced, injustices are covered up and victims have nowhere to go. Since this film is based on a real life incident, I can only hope the "real" So Hee has found peace at last.

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Most Frustrating kdrama that I have ever watched - a story of how NOT to get revenge

I will first start off with a warning that this drama is EXTREMELY slow-paced and repetitive , especially in the first 10 episodes. There are points where the story is seriously dragged out and with the same things happening over and over again. This drama was advertised as being based on a book, but I did some googling and discovered that it was based on a short story and not an entire book (the short story collection is also called reflection of you) which honestly explains why the story is so dragged out - there simply isn't enough content to last 16 episodes!

Aside from the plodding pace, almost all characters in the drama are portrayed as unlikeable, unsympathetic, with virtually ZERO redeeming qualities. Even the kids. Everyone is so bad that I felt myself rooting for the affair couple in the show... which is making me reflecting on my own morals right now lol. This drama has a very typical makjang plot centered around the theme of extramarital affairs, betrayal, love... you get the idea. Nothing groundbreaking. Except the woman who got cheated on (Gu Hae Won) is the most unlikeable person EVER. Even worse than the "third party" Jeong Hui Ju. Why? Because our introduction to Hae Won is where we see her while working as an art teacher, slap the shit out of Hui Ju's daughters Lisa who happens to be a student in Hae Won's class. It is later revealed that Hae Won being an art teacher at Lisa's school isn't a coincidence at all, and her main reason for slapping Lisa was to kickstart her revenge plans and punish Hui Ju for having an "affair" with her husband. It's hard to retain any ounce of sympathy for a woman who decides to viciously assault one of her students just because of a past transgression by said student's mother, and when viewers did not even know about the supposed "affair" at the point of the assault. Haewon also does other scummy stuff like manipulate one of her student's deadbeat dad into kidnapping Hui Ju's other kid, resulting in prison time for deadbeat dad. She also manipulates said student into taking secret videos of Hui Ju's husband and Lisa. Compared to this, Hui Ju is a saint, whose only crime (not counting her actions in the last ep) was just being an unfaithful spouse and a terrible friend who just wanted to have a live in boytoy while enjoying the perks of being a chaebol wife in peace (LMAO)

The reason why "third party" and "affair" are in quotation marks is simply because the show doesn't adequately explain Hae won's relationship and her husband (Seo Woo Jae). They were described as getting married for the sake of obtaining a visa. Hae Won addresses him as "sunbae" throughout the show and there were no scenes of where he treated her as anything more than a friend. She on the other hand, is obsessed with him, if anything, it was an unrequited love relationship on her part. So how does one feel sympathy for a woman who is supposedly being "cheated" on when she isn't technically in a relationship in the first place? Though to be fair, Hae Won did mention rather obliquely about possibly having a miscarriage after Woo Jae went to live in Ireland with Hui Ju, which brings me to my next point of critique: WHY DO ALL THE CHARACTERS NEED TO SPEAK IN SUCH A CRYPTIC WAY?????

When Hae Won first starts harassing Hui Ju, she goes on and on about Hui Ju needing to apologize yada yada without actually saying WHAT exactly she wants an apology for. Of course, at the start the show needs to build suspense and wouldn't reveal all the events that happened but COME ON. This dragged on till literally episode 10 at least. She/Hui Ju refuses to speak about the affair when it's plain as day she is referring to it. They dance around the topic, talking in circles about forgiveness, being wrong...waxing poetic about pain and suffering like they were philosophizing about the root of mankind's suffering when the crux of the issue is just one woman stealing the other woman's husband. This really boggles my mind. If Hui Ju was actually sorry she would have apologized YEARS ago, not now. And if she was actually a decent person she wouldn't have had an affair right? So what's the point of all these apologizing bullshit? Seriously. And Hae Won had evidence of their infidelity too. She could have gone public and ruined Hui Ju's reputation and career as a high profile artist but no...her solution is to stalk Hui Ju CONSTANTLY, make cryptic comments, ingratiate herself with Hui Ju's friends/family for some reason and lastly...reintroduce an amnesiac Woo Jae to Hui Ju JUST SO HE CAN CHEAT ON HER WITH HUI JU AGAIN.

To add to the frustration, all these long winded conversations occur when the characters (Haewon, Hui ju, Hui ju's husband, woo jae) "unexpectedly" run into each other. The frequency of these run-ins make it seem like they are living in a small town with a population of 500 people instead of metropolitan Seoul. Because what in the world???? Yes it's a show but it doesn't mean all logic flies out of the window. The frequency of these run ins drop off after episode 11 but no, the frustration does not end. Because Hae Won still miraculously retains the ability to be in HJ's proximity at any critical juncture, especially in the last episode. With superpowers like that, who needs revenge plans? She should have just straight up teleported to Hui Ju and just murdered her.

Plot critiques aside, the only bright spots in this drama are the acting, cinematography and OST. Shin Hyun Bin is excellent as a self-righteous mentally deranged/traumatized woman and Go Hyung Jung is excellent at portraying a repressed chaebol wife who shows no remorse for her infidelity. The OST is sublime and while I won't rewatch this show, I will definitely be replaying the OSTs.

TLDR: woman gets cheated on and decides to get revenge in the most ridiculous way possible. watch world of the married for more satisfying revenge plots instead.

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Kinda weird and bad

I hate to say it, but this show isn't great. I know I shouldn't be expecting much for a production that is relatively low budget but the GL tv series scene is seriously lacking and I hate that viewers have to get used to sub-par GL dramas. Anyway, rant aside, if you're not into GL, there isn't any point in watching this.

First of all, the plot is so strange like what even. Right off the bat in the first episode Itsuki gets SLAPPED in public and alcohol poured on her head by Fuyu and yet she doesn't react at all. The other characters and extras gawk at them but no one does anything. This incident isn't even addressed after that WTF? It's a fictional show I get it, but this reaction (or lack thereof) is so far beyond reality I was literally laughing at the ludicrousness at it all. Some of the lines said by the characters were also so out of left field and bizarre it made me think I was watching a black comedy. Not to mention the random and vaguely stereotypical comments about China that were peppered in the show ... ummmm ....

Acting was kinda bad, but I feel it's more of a Japanese drama thing than an issue just limited to this show. I'm not a fan of the over the top acting and expressions in Japanese live action dramas so I honestly could not stand how some of the characters acted (especially Chief Ro, horny illustrator guy and to a lesser extent the 2 main characters).

Music was so bad and cringey. BGMs veer suddenly from one song to another. Non-existent cinematography, unless you count the violent shaking of the camera in some scenes (wtf? why!). The only redeeming quality is that it doesn't take itself seriously and has some entertainment value from the cringey lines and plot points. Oh, and it's 23 mins per ep so it's not a total drag.

Conclusion - watch only if you are fan of GL. There is really a lack of decent quality GL shows compared to BL which is sad. I've never watched a Japanese GL before so had high hopes for it but yikessss I think I'll stick to Taiwan and Korean dramas for now.

Edit: I have since finished the whole series and WOW, it actually ended way worse than I expected. I was trying to look past Fuyu's blatant cheating as it seemed that she was forced to marry her husband due to family pressure and cultural reasons BUT NO. In the last episode, it was revealed that she married her husband out of love! what even. Isn't this supposed to be made by a company that specifically makes lgbt shows??? WHY ON EARTH would they want to force some sort of hetero-normative relationship right at the end???? and portraying both Fuyu and Itsuki as cheaters/affair partners isn't the way to go for GL dramas... like gay people are perfectly able to have relationships that don't involve cheating y'know?! I'm not even sure what is on with this show.

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Without a doubt the best thriller of 2023

Absolutely blown away by the quality of this drama. Top notch acting, plot, set design and cinematography. Never a dull moment in this drama. I really like how they managed to turn the run of the mill undercover cop story into such a captivating drama.

The "villians" Jung Gicheul and co were portrayed realistically and did not act like the typical gangsters. Rounds of background checks right till the end just to prove Junmo/Seungho's identity. The police too were not infallible; their mistakes and lack of communication within departments caused Junmo's identity to be exposed. This is a scenario that happens too often in the real world and while watching made me feel irrationally angry, it really sets this show apart from the usual shows that portray the police undercovers as perfect. The ending too was a cherry on the top. Many kdramas fall prey to a rushed cliched ending and this doesn't. Characters stay true to their motivations right till the end and there isn't a shoehorned happily ever after ending. I always felt that Junmo and Euijeong's relationship was doomed from the start, even before the whole undercover mission started and I liked that the show deliberately kept it ambiguous as to what would happen to them. At the same time there was just enough details in the last scene for the audience to come to their own conclusions.

The only gripe I have would be the all too coincidental meetup of Euijeong and Gicheul, but I guess Seoul/Gangnam isn't THAT big of a place so run-ins would have bound to happen. Though of course, they never ran into each other before the undercover mission started lol. I would have also appreciated if the 2 female characters (Euijeong and Haeryun) were given more screentime. Euijeong basically exists to show Gicheul her sad puppy dog eyes while Haeryun just strutted around in her best tough girl impression. I get that the main characters are Junmo and Gicheul but it wouldn't have hurt to show more of the female characters. I mean Euijeong is supposedly an accomplished police officer in her own right but she barely did any investigative work in this mission! But of course these are just minor complaints.

TLDR: just watch this, you won't regret. It is THE best kdrama thriller that came out this year and will probably be the best overall kdrama in 2023 (to me at least). Oh, and the 2 leads are straight up the most good looking korean actors right now. If this doesn't convince you I don't know what will.

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B- movie quality, monstrously bad

First of all, how did this drama get selected to show at Cannes? Because this is most definitely NOT it. After watching the King of Pigs, I'm sorely disappointed by the quality of this drama. It has the most predictable of horror movie beginnings and brings nothing groundbreaking/innovative plotwise.
1. Digging up ancient things you are not supposed to 🗸
2. Set in a rural small town 🗸
3. Protagonists with sad backstories 🗸
4. Love conquers all ending 🗸
5. Horrendous CGI 🗸

If this were a movie, it would be those direct to TV ones, and honestly it should be. Don't understand the point of breaking it up into 6 30 min episodes. The short length did not deter the writers from introducing a litany of characters who barely get any development and exist only to beat the shit out of each other. Calling this a horror movie would be a lie, because there are way more action fighting sequences than horror scares. "Possessed" people behave exactly like zombies too, 0 originality in this entire show.

Acting was ok, actors did alright considering what they were given. Music was good at trying to set up an eerie vibe. Cinematography was meh, and CGI was so hilariously bad. Rewatch value is non existent because there simply isn't any point in rewatching this. The "digging up ancient things you are not supposed to" trope has been done to death. Only saving grace was the fight scenes that were well executed and the only reason I gave it 6 stars.

Conclusion, don't waste your time on this. Cheap Train to Busan knockoff. Way better horror kdramas out there.

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Cliched budget John Wick remake

This movie is essentially a Korean John wick Remake replaced with a female protagonist. Many salient plot points were literally copy and pasted from John Wick: assassins having their own secret gatherings with their own rules, assassins' meeting place is similar to the continental hotel in John Wick, other assassins' turning on Bok Soon/John Wick due to a bounty on their head etc. Makes you wonder if they were trying to time it together with John Wick 4's release date. Aside from the similarities with the John Wick series, the rest of the film's plot was just the same old washed up cliches. Assassin/contract killer suddenly having a guilty conscience for some reason throwing everything in jeopardy blah blah blah. I literally rolled my eyes at that point. Bok Soon has been in this trade for at least 2 decades and yet she gets a crisis of faith trying to kill some politician's son? Why? Oh, it's because she is a MOTHER! But wait a minute, she has been a mother for 15 years and NEVER felt this way until now? This makes no sense AT ALL. You want me to believe that out of all the people she has killed in her career she has never killed someone as "innocent" as this random politician's son? Did she not consider that the other people she has killed before were also someone's child/parent as well?

Other fun tropes in this film also include pairing up the experienced veteran (Bok Soon) with the scrappy intern, Bok Soon's mentor/boss letting her kill him and all the single mother with rebellious teenage children scenarios that you can think of. Speaking of this whole "single mother who is also an assassin" plot point, I really want to say that Bok Soon's daughter is the most poorly written character in the whole show. She is a typical teenage girl going through puberty and coming to grips about being a lesbian but some of her actions are so illogical it just made me annoyed. She oscillated so often between being cold and aloof towards her mother to conveniently blowing up her mother's phone during her "shows" it made me think she was bipolar instead. Also, the whole coming out scene was so strangely written I'm not sure if the LGBT representation should even be appreciated by the community. At least the saving grace was that the acting was decent... though the cinematography and editing were soo choppy it was obvious stunt doubles were used. Oh, and the ending was extremely abrupt and pointless. There was a random mid credit scene about Bok Soon's daughter "confronting" her ex girlfriend and threatening to kill her, to which the ex simply smiled creepily in response while teeny bopper music played in the back. Then the film cut to the rest of the credits. WTF was that about??

With all my various complaints out of the way, I'd say that this is still a fairly entertaining film that you should watch if you're a fan of the thriller/assassin genre. The acting is decent as well, so if you're willing to look past the weak ass storyline, it should still make for an enjoyable watch. I would however, strongly recommend the John Wick series if you have not watched that before instead.

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wasted potential; crashed and burned with the same old lame tropes and plot holes

Let me preface this by saying that I'm not usually one to watch romcoms, but the premise drew me in. The first few eps were hilarious too so I decided to give it a shot. Alas! it was downhill from there. Like many other reviews here mentioned, the premise is interesting and refreshing. A genderbent version of the typical "cold rich CEO" and "long suffering wife" trope seemed intriguing to me, and it was until the villains were revealed.

The villains' (Moh Seul Hee, Eun Sung, Grace (??) and Da Hye) plans and machinations were portrayed so confusingly and nonsensically I had to turn my brain off in order to understand how they were intending to takeover the company. After the villains were revealed, the IQ levels of the Hong family immediately dropped several notches and they were bested. Does this even make logical sense?? This is a 3rd generation chaebol family and yet they were behaving like idiots. This does not fit the supposed backstory of Chairman Hong who supposedly went from shining shoes to building this empire. Would an astute businessman fall prey to such schemes so easily? I would think not. Of course, thankfully we have Baek Hyun Woo who still retains his superior intellect and rescues his ex(??) in laws almost singlehandedly.

I felt sympathetic to Baek Hyun Woo at the start. He was portrayed as a long-suffering son in law who in constantly undermined at home and work by Hae In and her family. I felt for him really; he is supposed to be the male version of the typical korean daughters in law being mistreated by their in-laws and ignored by their husbands. Unlike most viewers, I found the writing and portrayal of his character genuine and hilarious when realizing that he would soon be released from his predicament by Hae In's timely (or not?) death. To me, those were the most hilarious parts of the drama. Part of it is due to how hard it is to like Hae In as a person. She is portrayed as a cold and stoic CEO who almost constantly masks her emotions. She seemingly cares for Hyun Woo but rarely expresses it. She is blunt and puts him down at work publicly. It honestly is a miracle their marriage lasted 3 years. I was curious to see what made him fall in love with her in the beginning but we never really get that. We never really get any scenes on how they mended their marriage either; sure her cancer diagnosis was the catalyst but it felt like the foundation they were trying to rebuild their relationship on was never shown. Instead we get makjang tropes of multiple car crashes, MULTIPLE childhood connection tropes and ridiculous random car chase scenes.

This next paragraph will be dedicated to all the plot holes that I seriously couldn't stand. First of all, Hae In's illness is just so...fake. She has a couple of symptoms that only flare up at the most convenient times and looks in the pink of health despite being literally at death's door. Like seriously, whenever she is at the hospital for checks or whatever, she is always sashaying around like she's walking down a runway. I get that its a drama and that it would be impossible to really look THAT sick, but its hard to feel sympathy for someone supposedly going to die when they are still strutting around in the pink of health! Her brain surgery thing was the most fake thing too. Going in with full face of makeup and HAIR and somehow "losing" her memory but still retaining the ability to walk/talk/eat and returning to work after 1 month... I know I'm nitpicking when this isn't a medical drama but this is a major plot point which the show hinges heavily on so some realism would be good here. I'm not even going to talk about the car accident tropes because yeesh. Lastly, those darn childhood connection tropes, which I honestly HATE the most because it adds NOTHING to the plot. In fact, I feel it demeans the love between the characters. I want the characters to be in a relationship because they CHOSE each other and would go through heaven and hell to make that choice, not because fate ordained them to and the choice is already made for them. That is such a cop out. So if they are fated to be together forever why even bother with anything? Why bother with treatment? Why bother with saving the marriage? if it's meant to be it's meant to be you know what I mean? Since they are fated to be lovers they wouldn't need to save their marriage because they would be together till the end anyway. Lame.

The story is honestly the weakest point of the show. Acting, music, cinematography are all top notch and I'm not going into it because all the other reviews are already singing their praises. The last thing I need to get off my chest is the ending. If I were the scripwriter, I would write that Hae In dies in the end. I seriously cannot believe that she lives. And I always think back to this quote from a western medical drama: dying changes everything, almost dying changes nothing. After the surgery, Hae In loses her memory but somehow reverts back to her old personality (partly due to Eun Sung?). Almost dying wouldn't change anything about the relationship; Hae In is an ambitious person and would probably get over the health scare and return to chasing her trillion dollar club goal, leaving Hyun Woo by the wayside again. The fundamental issues that broke their marriage down were never addressed (miscarriage, communication issues etc) and Hae In can't remember it anyway. The whole treatment thing felt like just pure fanservice to appease the fans and to keep viewership numbers up. If Hae In dies, it would be more impactful in the grand scheme of reflecting on her relationship with Hyun Woo and also her family. I feel like it could have tied in with the scene at her grandfather's funeral quite nicely. And of course realistically, with a 3 month death sentence no treatment would usually be available. But that's just me lol, I just wanted to get this off my chest because this premise had a lot of wasted potential.

In summary, watch for the acting. The plot just goes downhill after ep 6? If you like makjang you would like this. Hand to heart, i was entertained by this but I was hate-watching the last few eps.

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A Hidden Gem

I came in with no expectations, fully expecting the usual run of the mill political dramas with their usual tropes. Instead, what greeted me was a high quality, entertaining and meaningful drama about the silent heroes behind a political campaign. I literally have nothing but praise for this show; from the writing, the acting and even the production - everything was well executed. Delicate topics like workplace sexual harassment, grooming and homophobia were handled well, too well in fact that it was (sadly) unbelievable as it would probably not go over that smoothly in reality.

I also appreciated that the show raised some interesting philosophical questions - does the end justifies the means? Can change only be enacted if one has (political) power? Presidential candidate Lin Yue Chen has strong views against the death penalty, but fears voicing it out publicly will cost her the election, and will in turn prevent her from enacting the requisite change. Similarly, Wen Fang has her doubts about helping Ya Ching over fears it may ruin the election results but soon realizes that even without power, change is possible too - and the election is not everything.

In summary, I highly highly highly recommend this show - and this is coming from someone who doesn't watch political dramas because they're usually too boring LOL. The pacing is juuussst right and while there are some slow moments, there isn't a "dull" moment where nothing happens. There are also strong feminist/female empowerment themes which is a breath of fresh air in asian dramas. Sooooo if you're looking for a political drama, give this a shot!

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Confusing backstory for international audiences

I'll start with the positives first. Acting was phenomenal, and so was the directing and cinematography. Loved the music too. Story also made sense and characters didn't make dumbass mistakes usually seen in horror movies. It was fairly entertaining and kept me at the edge of my seat as well. I'm not a fan of jump scares and I'm glad there weren't any.

Not so good: If you're not Korean, you'll probably have a hard time understanding the context. The whole metal stake thing was confusing to me and I had to google it separately to understand what the heck was going on. The Japanese demon(?) thing was poorly explained as well - like what was it, why was he cursed by the monk and buried with that Korean dude who supposedly was loyal to the Japanese colonial administration etc. Kim Go Eun's character was also badly fleshed out as well. her backstory was close to non-existent and we know almost nothing about her other than 1. she's a shaman, 2. she speaks Japanese, 3. she has 2 sisters. Like why does she speak Japanese? Did something happen in Japan with some Japan ghost? Why did she become a shaman? She's advertised as the lead so I'm not sure why we know so little about her. Setting up for a sequel maybe? Who knows. As a result, it was pretty hard to relate to the characters since we barely know anything about them. I was watching solely based on the plot and wanting to know why and what was happening, which honestly left me with more questions than answers. The demon CGI wasn't great and broke the immersion too. I much preferred the first half when it was about the grandfather's angry spirit.

Overall, this is a fairly entertaining movie that I do not regret watching. However if you're not Korean it might be difficult to appreciate the nuances in the plot.

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