Flawed with some good points

I watched this drama as the concept (woman gets plastic surgery, it doesn't make life easy) is strong. But I don't think the show lives up to that.

The first thing I'll get out of the way is that I hated the first two episodes. The series does not start strong in my opinion, rapey characters are not something kdramas need. It does improve from episode 3 or so and that kept me watching.

First I'll talk about some of the strong points. Park Joo Mi as CEO Na is fantastic. The story line with her children is one of the high points of the series and is very well done. The fact that she was also wronged but is still to blame for not being involved is handled well as it feels like her children hate her but eventually can forgive her. Mi Rae's relationship with her parents is also good and her dad's anger, stalking, and reconciliation are all good. Jo Woo Ri as Soo Ah is also good though more on her later. I also quite liked the OST.

Now the issues... First up I'll say the leads are not awful, but they are not a strength. Both are pretty passive characters and while I do think some chemistry develops as the show goes on it's never very strong. The core romance of the show is also pretty weak with the only real obstacle being Mi Rae's self esteem. They are cut once they get together but that isn't much of the show's run time.

Next up I feel like the size of the cast hurt the show a little. It does a good job of making the college feel alive, you've got a bunch of classmates and seniors and various people. But it also means there are a lot of throw away story lines that generally can all be boiled down to "men being mean to women" and I don't that's a bad message or doesn't make sense, it just feels like the show repeats it too often in these brief side stories. Min Do Hee's character also suffers from this, it feels like she should be an important supporting character but as she's not part of the same department she only feels like she makes brief appearances once or twice an episode and her plot lines (such as they are) are never really given the time they need.

Now to go back to Soo Ah, I think the character is good and having the natural beauty who constantly lies and manipulates people is a great contrast to Mi Rae's honest personality and artificial beauty. But I feel like the writers didn't really now how to handle the character. Her backstory is confusing with her grandmother being mentioned or seen two or three times, her mom coming up once, and no mention of other family. The show also goes on far too long before trying to build sympathy for her. She is a sympathetic character but the show doesn't really make that clear until episode 15 or so. Her bulimia is presented in a strange light with it being a secret/lie being the bad thing, not the fact that she has a real and serious eating disorder. She's a much more interesting character than Mi Rae but by having her be a fairly one dimensional antagonist for the first 12 or so episodes this is squandered.

At the end of the day I think this drama had a fine cast and a good concept, but directionless writing lets it down.

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Good show with some issues

The reviews on here for Itaewon class are very interesting with a lot of very high or very low scores. At the end of the day I think it's somewhere in the middle.

I think Itaewon's biggest failing is the story, it's a revenge story but not a particularly good one. The ML is wronged and he spends the show attempting to get revenge, but it's not very interesting. It's a weird mix of "the best revenge is living well" and also attempting to take down his enemies. This really ends up being framing for a charming restaurant slice of life and romance with a great cast.

Kim Da Mi and Park Seo Joon play off each other very well with Kim's outgoing and forceful character picking up the slack for Park's more limited dialog. Watching them run a restaurant is great and the three employees at DanBam are good and fit in well. I want to give the show extra credit for having a transgender character and handling her well.

While I don't think the revenge plot is great Yoo Jae Myung does play a great villain. His actions are sometimes uncaring, sometimes cruel, but always feel like they're coming from the place of a real fleshed out character with his own motivations.

My largest issues with the show come near the end. The pacing starts to suffer and the writing starts to feel the need to inject extra tension and drama into the last few episodes rather than letting the story come to a more natural conclusion.

But at the end of the day I really like the show, it was my first kdrama and while it isn't my favorite it's certainly above average and the cast and setting are great.

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Different and good, but not great

The Producers is a strange show. I have to imagine the production was influenced by The Office. Characters speak directly to the camera, they lie to the camera to make punchlines, and in general it has an unusual vibe for a kdrama. This lessens as time goes on but is very pronounced in the first two episodes.

There are a few aspects of the show that I think are quite strong. First off the setting works well, having the show be about TV production is a good change of pace and it's legitimately interesting to see this fictional version of KBS. The episodes that involve filming a variety show are also good showing the amount of work that goes into putting together an episode of a travel show.

The cast is also great with the four leads all doing a good job and Kim Jong Kook stealing a bunch of scenes he is in. It's also loaded with cameos which doesn't add a ton to the finished product but is fun to see.

The show is also quite funny. The soccer game at sports day and a drunken walk home both stand out in my mind as two great funny bits.

However in the end I don't think the show quite comes together, and I have a hard time explaining why. I like the characters, and the core plot is solid, but it feels like there isn't a ton there. It needed more depth, I don't think the run time was too short, I just think more needed to be done with it.

So if you're looking for a kinda strange drama, give this a short. If you're looking for a lighter drama with plenty of funny moments, give this a shot. If you really like some of the cast, give this a shot. But on the whole it's enjoyable but not memorable.

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