Did They Try Their Best?

It had a pretty normal start with introducing the story and the characters, nothing about it peaked my interest. The story itself was too safe, tame and outright boring, they didn't attempt any challenging situation even when they wanted to create conflict or tension. The comedy was a hit or miss, they didn't have a lot of material to work on in the first place. The main running joke was the unemployed main guy which got really stale overtime. The drama also lacked good dynamics between the cast, the small size of the active cast didn't help either. The side stories ended up being white noise. Too many of them had a good potential to craft something meaningful but the drama refused to take any of them seriously and gave each one a halfhearted resolution at the end. I can see problems and gaps from translating the manga into a live action format, something didn't click. I'm sure the manga fared better for such themes and stories.

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I Gave Up

It had a pretty normal start with introducing the story and the characters, nothing about it peaked my interest. The story itself was too safe and tame, they didn't attempt any challenging situation even in a comedic setting. The comedy was a hit or miss, some parties were genuinely unfunny and cringe while others like Pil Soo and his one-liners were keeping it alive with a decent dynamic and comedy. Speaking of cringe, there were a handful of kids and everything related to them was painfully cringe, even with their poorly attempted satire and parody. These parts were just too bad. It kept this momentum throughout its entire runtime.

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Inside Out

It started with a lousy introduction and a decent premise that was simple on paper and then began to jump between one plot after another until the end. There was a desperate need for a better coherent structure and pacing. The plot got overly convoluted for no practical reason. Up until the end, it kept introducing more and more new characters to widen the connection and keep the story running in circles. The characters were more or less fine but a lot of them came off in the form of a generic gangster in a Korean thriller. I appreciate not shoving romance between the leads, it would've been out of place for sure. I liked what they've done regarding the resolution of the bad guys, it had all the ingredients to end horribly but it didn't.

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Yonkers

Amidst all those full length dramas out there, this short series really stood out by packing a serious punch in just a handful of episodes. The concise storytelling allowed for a focused exploration of its central theme, providing a satisfying narrative arc without unnecessary filler. Both main leads were well characterized and provided a solid performance. However, the other characters weren't on the same level, you can notice the gap. The pacing was brisk yet effective, keeping the viewers engaged from without feeling rushed. I wish it had an extra episode to have a better introduction/first episode. The drama also had a decent cinematography and production value. One last thing, I didn't understand why they based the drama in the 2030s. It was such a big stretch, they went overboard with the sci-fi elements for something set in 2030s. There was no real reason to specify the date, so why not set it further into the future, like the 2060s?

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When the Weather Is Whine

I liked the stories involving the female lead, her mother and her aunt, they kept you anticipating for more. However, the other side plots were really not that interesting to follow and ended up being just a white noise. From reading the synopsis and watching its earlier parts, we got to know what the female was going through and why she moved away from the city. Clearly, she had issues she needed to work on, however, despite her issues with trusting people and being hurt by others, her romance went against her character. She had a very easy and quick romance with minimum communication for a drama that meant to be driven by dialogue. She started a relationship in a short period of time before scratching the surface of her issues. It would've been much better to replace the romance with the people of her town, it would have had created a much better environment to work on her issues. In fact, the resolution and progress on her issues ended up being half-hearted, not much was accomplished by the end. On another note, I didn't like that the characters past stories were based in high-school, there was a gap that couldn't be translated to their adulthood life. If they were to switch the past events and have it be based in university for example, I think that would create a better connection, relatability and meaning to their adulthood issues.

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I'm Already Tracer

It's not really 2 seasons, there was just 3 weeks broadcasting delay in the middle because of Olympics. Otherwise, it's a full 16 episodes drama. However, it would have been really nice if they kept it to 8 episodes because the smaller side cases were really boring despite their relation to the bigger one. Both main characters Dong Joo & Hye Young had a good characterization but the remainder of the cast couldn't carry their own weight and ended up being bland. Although the plot was centered around tracing money but more often than not it deviated away from the tax evasion plot trying to be a different type of show. While the ending may have been acceptable but it left much to be desired. A drama with an interesting concept but it couldn't pull through to the end.

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I'm Already Tracer

It's not really 2 seasons, there was just 3 weeks broadcasting delay in the middle because of Olympics. Otherwise, it's a full 16 episodes drama. However, it would have been really nice if they kept it to 8 episodes because the smaller side cases were really boring despite their relation to the bigger one. Both main characters Dong Joo & Hye Young had a good characterization but the remainder of the cast couldn't carry their own weight and ended up being bland. Although the plot was centered around tracing money but more often than not it deviated away from the tax evasion plot trying to be a different type of show. While the ending may have been acceptable but it left much to be desired. A drama with an interesting concept but it couldn't pull through to the end.

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Sexless Virgins

Even though there was a potential for diving deep into the complexities of modern relationships and societal pressures in Korea, the drama just ended up falling flat, tumbling into this muddy pit of aimless over-exaggerations and forced plot twists. This turned out to be as trashy as you can ever imagine. Every single character listed in the cast was despicable, no exceptions! This kind of set up would've only worked if the drama was a social commentary or satire but it wasn't and it did a very poor job in attempting to be a one. These character had little to no development by the end, they mostly remained the same since they were introduced. The trial over the kid's custody was one of the worst sights of judicial system to be ever portrayed in a drama. A complete joke through and through from both sides.

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Sexless Tea Party

You'd think there was room for this deep dive into human desires and the messiness of relationships, but the drama just stumbled into this predictable mess of melodrama and characters you could barely see through. The characters were supposedly torn apart by the whole moral dilemma of their sneaky affairs but they did the bare minimum in that regard. Even the romantic tension felt too forced, superficial and lacking. The drama would've benefited from focusing on the main infidelity only. In comparison, all the previous points also applies to the KR version except that they were less drastic and detached than this one.

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Witching!

This turned out to be a lot of fun. Don't be so hung up on the details and the ridiculousness, after all it's a mix of black comedy and satire, and it did a good job in that regard. It showed a lot of interesting ideas but one thing irked me was its lack of commitment to some themes, sometimes it kept it tame and didn't go all the way through. Although the trio had a great dynamic but Chae Hee Soo always ended up being the third wheel in the relationship and in the allocated screen time which is unfortunate because there was a lot of room to get her more involved. Right at the very beginning the drama tell us that one of them will die but it was a bit obvious who. That small section involving the departure and grief at the end was a bit too brief, I wish the drama gave it more focus because it fit the theme just right. One more thing, it was a bit long and some elements got stale.

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It's safe to assume it's the worst drama themed around Webtoon

The whole drama felt like a short web series that was pushed too hard and stretched too thin to be molded into a 16-long-episodes chunk. There was a big tremendous missed opportunity to genuinely create something unique and special about exploring the Webtoon industry with all its intricacies and nuances but what we got was a bloated melodramatic superficial cheap one-dimensional cookie-cutter cut of a mix of poorly structured sappy stories themed around Webtoons. I though we might get something similar to Shirobako but it wasn't remotely close. The drama was grasping at straws to keep itself rolling. A few cases made some good valid points but the majority were bad and embarrassing to include. The drama gave the impression that every Webtoon creator in the industry is a problematic individual that needs constant tinder love and care to function as a human. This drama might be themed around Webtoons but I wouldn't label it as a drama about Webtoons. One thing in particular that became more problematic and annoying as the drama went on was the female lead, her revolting attitude and extreme overreaction with every single breath made her unbearable to even hear her voice. There was an attempt to give her backstory but that was handled with 2 poor scenes. On the other hand, the other main character Goo Joon Young had one singular facial expression that is a wide static smile. Even as a character his role was negligible. One question remained to be answered, why did they end the drama was a love confession?! Huh?

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Thomas the Time Engine

First impressions are important and this one didn't have a good one. The drama really needed a better introduction for what they had, the first episode was just plain bad and it didn't serve its purpose. While I appreciate the shorter runtime of 12 episodes that OCN usually offers with their thrillers but even in this case some scenes and episodes were redundant. It didn't help its case repeating that one specific flashback of the night when male lead met Seo Kyung and lost his father about 20-30 times throughout the drama. The story had its usual plot holes just like most thriller/mystery of its kind but at least there wasn't anything outrageous. One more thing, it felt like it was the type of show that would benefit greatly from a custom made good OST.

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Not About Eve

It didn't take more than half an episode to set your expectations for what about to come. The set up was very poorly done, it was extremely detached from reality and the characters molded themselves around that for the remainder of the drama which became seriously problematic later on and an impossible hurdle to overcome. The characters kept displaying bizarre behaviors at every corner that it made it difficult to connect with the narrative. They should've embraced the cliches and amplified them instead of tiptoeing around them awkwardly. The characters couldn't hold a single decent and coherent conversation or a piece of dialogue, it's just bad writing and an insult to the viewers! Yun Hyong Chul character felt extremely robotic and lacked real emotions beyond setting sadly while drinking & smoking. The drama treated him like a clown anyway. The pacing was dreadful as well, these 20 episodes felt much longer than a regular 20 episodes drama. Chae Rim did a lot of melos in the 2000s but I think this drama turned out to be the worst one of them.

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The Scam Cafe

Right off the bat the technical problems were too glaring to ignore. The washed out black levels were a true eye sore that I had to make a custom color profile for it through the media player. A big portion of the drama was shot in direct bright sun light which amplified the problem even further. Enough technicality, the drama was supposed to offer a mix of romance, comedy and law, although hints of these genres do exist but the drama did an outstanding job in failing miserably with incorporating and mixing each one of them. They may throw some cheap lines within the legal field but that wasn't enough to qualify it to slap the law genre tag, let alone its name. I find it hard to believe that someone would find this funny. I think even our primitive ancestors would have a hard time with it. Finally, anything involving the romance as a concept was unquestionably broken. They couldn't even have a chemistry running despite being the first step for any kind of romance. Lee Seung Gi shouldn't have accepted this project. For dramas that waste 90% of its runtime on absolute nothingness, this drama would have a strong placement in my Top 10. With all that being said, unfortunately, this drama isn't the worst of its kind; I've seen worse.

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Greedy Youth

My first impression is that these 2 male leads weren't suitable to play this type of scenario in this "youthful" setting. It's hard to see them attempting romance even when they were in their 30s. Something doesn't click no matter what! Although the drama was long but it kept you entertained watching the car crash. The revenge was tame, it never went too far but that was the drama's intent to begin with. You can get the gist of that just from reading the synopsis. However, there were some cruel parts in the process which helped selling the injustice, better than a lot of modern ones who attempted similar approach. The dialogue was fairly good, usually we don't get extended dialogues that let the characters to actually talk even if it got a bit melo along the way. The opening theme was good but when I listened to the full version I wasn't a fan of the rest. The characters went through a reasonable development without neglecting the secondary ones which typically get neglected because of their wrong doings. It did such a good job showing the wrongful side being genuine in repenting. The drama wrapped things up better than I expected, it gave an actual proper conclusion to its leads. While the drama isn't perfect but it offered an appealing package.

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