Love Affair Agent 47

Most of the episodes kinda played out in the same way. They got a client, they ran through typical scenarios avoiding getting caught, then end the episode with a close call just to succeed in the last second. However, they did try something different for episode 6 which was much needed to shake things up. While the concept of the drama is provoking but they generally kept it safe without too much risk, it would've been better if they were more daring. All in all, the drama oozes mid 2000s scuffed vibes. I was expecting Ma Dong Seok to be more of a stand out character but I guess this wasn't the case earlier in his career.

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Love Marathon

The anthology brought something special to the table, for the most part. Each episode offered a unique take on romance with a decent story. These weren't just focusing on the thrill of falling in love but also having a rhyme and reason behind them. Cinematography was decent and the low angled framing shots from the 90s are always appreciated. The cast was absolutely stacked, it was only possible because this project came early in their career. I don't see this happening again even with new emerging talents but only time will tell. The pacing was decent for 2 episodes per story, each had the space to unfold and progress reasonably. Nonetheless, not everything was sunshine and rainbows, some stories were a total flop in all aspects from romance to writing, acting, characters and vibes. Case in point, story number 4 "Open Ended" was the worst one and a poor addition to the anthology. On the flip side, the stories "Sunflower, Rose, Miss Hip-hop and Mr. Rock" were amongst the better ones.

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Too single to rent...

Any aspect involving the older cast was much better than every aspect that involved the younger cast, from story to characters, cast, writing, acting, dynamics and overall existence. It needed to have better pacing, things were moving too fast for the last episode. Either extend it a bit or pace it properly, although the latter is preferable since it had loads of slow parts in the middle. The drama had an interesting introduction but I wish we had a proper follow up to the owner's story. It would've also benefited from having a more diverse types of characters with better complementary qualities.

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Scandalous-less Scandal

No matter how I look at it, it was disappointing for the wasted potential it had. Thanks to its higher content rating, the drama had less than PG themes and more provocative ones, such as, as stated in the synopsis, teen pregnancy, as well as prostitution and sex. However, it handled each very loosely and didn't stick to any of them for more than a couple of episodes, especially the main selling point, the 'mom scandal,' but all of that didn't measure up to how outrageous and maniacal the ending of part 1 was. My theory is, they had issues in the production and had to split it into 2 parts, as well as giving an exit to Jung Hee Jung from the cast for one reason or another. They gave her character a very extreme resolution. Not only that, but the other characters had little to no reaction despite being friends and roommates for the whole series. She didn't even get a single mention in part 2.

Moving on to part 2, things got worse and made me question, was part 2 even planned in the first place? I think the screenwriter must've been changed as well. They pretty much changed the content rating to 15, as close as possible, while neglecting the previous themes. There was no longer a consistent story but rather whatever events each episode would have, mostly a slice of life and a hint of storylines to follow loosely. They had the opportunity to craft something properly like the daddy issues, teen mom, and sex worker finding love, but, obviously, the drama did the bare minimum throughout the entire thing. I still can't believe they let Ha Na exist maniacally without doing anything with her after what she had done. The ending wasn't as bad as part 1 but it's still a bad ending for part 2 as well.

Looking into the whole series, it was somewhat serviceable with a decent cast but with glaring wasted potential. It's unfortunate because we rarely get such shows nowadays. Even shows like LTNS (2024) are weak with their delivery and themes. I guess such ones are reserved for the movie space to avoid the higher-ups parental control, not drama shows where they have to kneel down to broadcast and streaming bigwigs.

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Scandalous-less Scandal

No matter how I look at it, it was disappointing for the wasted potential it had. Thanks to its higher content rating, the drama had less than PG themes and more provocative ones, such as, as stated in the synopsis, teen pregnancy, as well as prostitution and sex. However, it handled each very loosely and didn't stick to any of them for more than a couple of episodes, especially the main selling point, the 'mom scandal,' but all of that didn't measure up to how outrageous and maniacal the ending of part 1 was. My theory is, they had issues in the production and had to split it into 2 parts, as well as giving an exit to Jung Hee Jung from the cast for one reason or another. They gave her character a very extreme resolution. Not only that, but the other characters had little to no reaction despite being friends and roommates for the whole series. She didn't even get a single mention in part 2.

Moving on to part 2, things got worse and made me question, was part 2 even planned in the first place? I think the screenwriter must've been changed as well. They pretty much changed the content rating to 15, as close as possible, while neglecting the previous themes. There was no longer a consistent story but rather whatever events each episode would have, mostly a slice of life and a hint of storylines to follow loosely. They had the opportunity to craft something properly like the daddy issues, teen mom, and sex worker finding love, but, obviously, the drama did the bare minimum throughout the entire thing. I still can't believe they let Ha Na exist maniacally without doing anything with her after what she had done. The ending wasn't as bad as part 1 but it's still a bad ending for part 2 as well.

Looking into the whole series, it was somewhat serviceable with a decent cast but with glaring wasted potential. It's unfortunate because we rarely get such shows nowadays. Even shows like LTNS (2024) are weak with their delivery and themes. I guess such ones are reserved for the movie space to avoid the higher-ups parental control, not drama shows where they have to kneel down to broadcast and streaming bigwigs.

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Too single to die...

The main theme was bloated super messy entanglements. These relationships were poorly and unjustifiably tangled for the sake of it. The girls were constantly switching love interests between the same 2-3 guys with no repercussions affecting the story, dynamics and friendships. The synopsis was mostly misleading, whatever is mentioned about friendship was nothing but a small trivial thing that was barely worked on during its runtime, mostly during the last episode. They were all up into each others love interests but none of the girls had direct interactions and/or confrontations in that regard because it would bring sour feelings that would be impossible to clean up by the end. Sloppy chaotic mess can have some entertainment value in melodrama/makjang world watching chaos ensues but this drama couldn't even provide that. The final resolution was weird, forced and just generally bad.

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Too rich to die...

The controversy regarding the middle east content was only contained during the first 10 minutes to serve as an introduction while the remainder of the drama was solely in South Korea. Regardless of these 10 minutes intro, the drama had plenty of problems splattered everywhere. I've seen a much better performance from Shin Sung Rok in his prior projects to this one as well as from future ones, his performance here was just weaker than usual. The drama attempted to blend slapstick humor with more serious, emotional beats, creating a rocky viewing experience. The exaggerated extravagant persona of the father got kinda old and tiring halfway through and a change with the dynamics was needed. Which is also why everything felt so contrived and limited for a 12 episodes drama from the cast size to characters, pace, storylines and writing in general. Don't get me started about the writing, it was doing the bare minimum while relying on the high melodramatic and emotional moments to mask it as a big functional piece. Overall, the first half was decent enough but it didn't go anywhere after that.

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"Family"

It might seems like a promising sitcom at first glance but, in reality, there were just too many problems with it. Its runtime seems short at 8 episodes as if they had to cut it short for one reason or another. The cast were great with plenty of different personalities to spin all kinds of scenarios, as well as the setting and the premise, however, it failed in creating enjoyable dynamics for a decent worthwhile sitcom. The storylines were bad and the jokes/bits they tried to spin out of these storylines didn't land well 9 out of 10 times. Kim Seul Gi was a decent choice to play that character.

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Autopsy, innit?

The cases were initially interesting but as the drama progressed the interest dwindled and the later cases were generally weaker. Which contributed to giving the feel that it was longer that it is. The attempts at humor often felt forced, and the serious moments from the main cast were undermined by the lack of emotional buildup, the guests of each case were kinda okay in that regard. The awkward pacing and stilted dialogue didn’t allow the story to breathe either. I found the duo female dynamic to be problematic and sloppy. They just didn't click well on screen and were generally unlikable. The other two 2-hours TV-specials were more or less the same but were an unnecessary lazy addition that didn't fix anything nor show anything worthwhile.

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Too nice to love...

Unapologetically cliche. At least that how it was for the most part before going through the cycle of despair. The interest dwindled in the last few episode as it was stuck on repeat between getting the couple together and breaking them up without adding much in between. The downtime period in between was very awkward, for both the characters' interactions and the story. It could've really benefited from having the characters to actually talk effectively instead. It would also be nice to get a proper epilogue for a better send off. One last thing, they tried to give hints of a plot for the side characters but none of which amounted to anything at the end. Overall, it was alright.

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Cuckoo!

It's just insane that they ended it abruptly like that. There was basically no ending after following them on this island for 40 episodes. The whole 40 episodes run was just too long for what they had to show in a sitcom. There were loads of empty episodes and bits that got nowhere. They had a unique setting that was excellent for a sitcom but they only took advantage of that for the first 1/5 of its run before losing track. They realized that which is why they tried to push for relationships and whatnot for the last 10 episodes but these were all bad with no decent bits to support it comedically. Overall, it was a very weak sitcom that wasted the setting's and the cast's potential.

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Bait and The City

The formula was as you would expect from this kind of poster and synopsis. To occupy the runtime, all of the leads were cycling through different relationships every 1-2 episodes. While that's not really a problem but I wish they took the opportunity to use these passing relationships to better anchor the characters. That can also play a role in improving the group dynamic because as it stands now, their dynamic was pretty bare-bone and bland. Speaking of which, the four leads were really lacking in differentiating characterization, it was like they all played the same character to some extent. The different scenarios of first encounters, relationships and breakups were all things we've seen many countless times in the past, it didn't really show any new or creative ideas/scenarios. If you were to have the sexiness as a measurement, then the drama was on a steady decline from its initial episodes. It's a bit unfortunate because we don't get these kind of shows nowadays.

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Too late to heal...

The drama had some potential in more than one way but it ended up missing the obvious. Beside Yong Pal (2015), this was another failed title in giving us a rouge plot for an underground doctor where you might want to treat a patient in the sewer or while skydiving. The story was a bit messy and scattered maybe having 5 directors on a small project had a role in that. It was said that each one directed 2 episodes which was somewhat noticeable with a weird shift. The drama had a problematic mix of everything from medical to thriller, mystery, and romance, where it awkwardly sat somewhere in the middle. All in all, the weakest link had to be Yoon Sang Ho, the character was just problematic in all kinds of ways. By the time the credits rolled, it left with nothing to really think about.

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Too late to cook...

On average, about 2/3 of all the guests and their stories were pretty solid, but the remainder were a total snoozefest. I was also hoping for a more personal story from the master chef to give more impact to his craft. Even more, the regulars definitely needed more work put into their existence rather than being a vapid filler, especially that woman who couldn't stop yapping about nothing. The food preparation and shots were decent but not much focus put on them beside serving as transition shots. There was a small missed opportunity to tie the food with the guest's stories. Only that vampire one had some hints of doing so.

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2 Bold 4 U

For some reason, this sitcom had a ridiculous amount of fart jokes and other bad smell related jokes. It's the standard formula for a sitcom with decent bits, memorable bits, weird bits, unfunny bits, and overdone bits. You get a mixed bag while always wish it could've done some aspects better. In this case, a few things could definitely be better here, for example the dynamic of the family. The other sister had some focus earlier on but she was completely neglected later on. Also, giving the wife a higher rank than her husband was an interesting idea but it was heavily under-utilized. There was a lot of room to have a better play with either dynamics. Anyway, the sitcom was decent enough for what it had to offer.

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