Not good!

It's just another generic crime/thriller drama full of comical plot holes. No wonder Go Hyun Jung dropped out from the drama. Her character was poorly written and barely given meaningful screen-time or attention. At least she dropped mid way because as we were approaching the ending her character was made like a clown. With the change of actress the story got bad instantly and they revealed the entire mystery of the story in episode 16-17, there was nothing left you might as well end it there.

The selection of cast members was doomed to fail anyway. Choi Ja Hye playing dump didn't fit the narrative most of the time. The last 10 episodes had utterly boring stretch of nothingness. I disliked the change of actress, the change of story direction that came with it and the lame-ass ending.

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Average at best.

I didn't watch the American version so I don't have a point of comparison and will treat it as stand alone drama. I didn't like the direction it took and their choice for the final antagonist. I didn't like the inclusion of romance in this one, it felt flat and unnecessary. They tried to add background story to every character but most of them didn't work well. Yun Woo's old friends and grandma, Na Joo Hee and Ji Na's mother, none of them had a meaningful impact. The number of cases were too few for 16 episodes, I was expecting more lawyers shenanigans and less melo fluff. The climax and its ending didn't feel that satisfying. Overall, it's average at best.

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Decent

It was alright although it dragged, they should have filled the middle parts with random interesting cases rather than solely focusing on the main antagonist or expand more on the main story with more events other than his mistress and her kid. It followed the approach of "the only thing stopping the bad guy is the drama writer reaching the last episode". I liked the leads initial interactions but later it became a background noise, would have been nice if they were given a better development/story. On an unrelated note, Jung Soo Young showed unexpected sexy side.

It was mentioned that Kim Min Jung was meant to be the female lead but was replaced due to an injury, although I really like her as an actress but I don't think she would have been a good fit to play Joo Jae In character or to be a matching item with the male lead. Yoon So Yi did a good job as is for this role.

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Absolutely great start, okay ending and below average middle parts.

Absolutely great start, okay ending and kinda below average middle parts. Once the fantasy elements/devil was revealed to the characters one by one (eps13), the drama got goofy, comical, cheap and turned generic. The ending was okay but underwhelming. The light saber fight was bad, like seriously bad! I wonder if the screenwriters were changed after the initial episodes. The drama is still watchable but a huge potential was wasted. Feeling 5.5/10 at best!

Let's talk about hairstyles. Why most of the characters got a similar long-ish hair style? It didn't hit with me seeing Jung Kyung Ho with a long hair, I'm too used to his usual short hair. On the other hand, Lee El with the short blond hair was an absolute stellar!

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Will leave you with more to be desired.

Strong start that's guaranteed to keep you hooked but it doesn't remain consistent. Episodes 11 to 16 were too flawed, full of plot holes, illogical sequence of events, change of mood and pace. The quality as well took a dip compared to how polished it was in the earlier parts, it became too tame and lost the energy. Some plot lines/characters/situations were cartoonish and didn't fit the serious theme of the drama. I wish they showed more of his family and their dynamics, given their bizarre sudden situation. There were only given a couple of scenes at the beginning and another at the end.

The LGBTQ plot line felt off and out of place, it didn't even go anywhere. Some of the obstacles/challenges weren't interesting to follow, tackling real serious issues would have been better. The "villains" and their motives were a bit underwhelming, we were led for something greater with the build up we had. The antagonists might be its weakest point.

Anyway, great acting by the president, it's still a solid watch but will leaves you with more to be desired. 7.5/10

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Another YUCKY brain dead love triangle!

Comically over dramatic and another YUCKY brain dead love triangle :/

The first 5 episodes were the worst, how did they manage to hook the viewers! No wonder they were teasing short snippets from events that will happen in episode 18. It's bullshit how many traits/habits/quirks they gave Soo Yeon for the ML to identify her, we get it she's the girl.

Hyung Joon presence was exhausting, an obsessed mentally ill rich dude who always plays the victim and seeks pity from everyone in every possible situation. Even the character's actor wasn't that good. Meanwhile, Jung Woo is arguably the worst cop/detective you'll ever see in a drama. The dude got beaten up and lost to every thug he went against. How did this weak-ass-bitch graduated?

One more thing, cringe ending :/

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It's a passable family drama

Obviously, Hye Won and Jae Ha were the highlights but I wanted to see more of them in the second half. Their story was almost finished mid way through, why not create more arcs for them? At least they were cute af at the end. I said it before and I'mma say it again, Lee Yoon Ji is one of the most underrated actresses.

It's a passable family drama but lacks some focus on a bigger scoop. Every chunk of episodes focus on a different character/story. They missed the opportunity to make the three sisters' dynamic as the main focus, it was, but for a short period and brushed off fairly quickly. Regarding conflicts and escalations, the writer seems to know one and only one way to achieve that, this is done by isolating the victim and shift all the blame to them by everyone including their family. This was done repeatedly to most of the characters/stories, it makes it hard to watch when it's this detached from common sense. They went overboard by showing that they live in an extremely sexist society, this is not 1920 anymore, again this also comes down to how the writer choose to create conflicts. The overcooked "happy moments" for the last episode felt off and just had too much artificial flavor. Especially with this wacky 10-years promise for Ji Won, just be normal.

My god! What's wrong with Min Myeong Suk, he's abusive, toxic, manipulative, mastermind in gaslighting and borderline misogynistic. Really got on my nerves! I just wanted a better resolution for Ji Won at the end.

Anyway, it's watchable. I'm just too harsh with my ratings.

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Solid

I'm not a fan of the writing style that pushes the viewers too hard to interpret and speculate. You're expected to accept whatever is present to you. If writers were to do so, they need a better structure and understanding of world building. Take for example the British series Utopia, it does it brilliantly.

The director must really love the Dolly zoom, although it looked good but I wish there was more visual variations even at the cost of it being experimental. You are already pushing your skill ceiling in all departments so why not shoot for the moon?

Anyway, it's a solid watch and will probably appeal to everyone.

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Bad!

Oh god where do I begin!!!
The production is embarrassing with no consistent picture quality. Bad sound design with muffled dialogue sometimes, peaking audio to an irritating level and bad music/OST insertion.

Wish the problems stayed with the production quality only but things get a lot worse!!
The premise is misleading, big time! The few first episodes (and MDL synopsis) give you the impression that it is about a mother diagnosed with Alzheimer and want to teach her spoiled kids life lessons before the inevitable but what we got none of that. It's mostly about an old conflict, a missing child and some business related things (none of which about loan sharks).

If you are expecting to see siblings relationships with each other or with their mother or spoiled kids growing up, you get none of that. The kids adapt to their new life within 3 episodes without much struggle or whatsoever. Some characters disappear without any notice like the mother's secretary which we had seen a lot of him earlier.

Park Bo Gum shouldn't be part of the main cast, we only get 1 short scene of him every 3 episodes or so.

Alzheimer is a very very convenient plot device for a lazy writing here, 15 episodes can pass without any mention of it. Might as well just remove it.

The drama is full of extreme cliches and illogical moments that can only be seen in jaded makjangs, so be prepared. When they pulled up the DNA bullshit that was the purest form of manufactured shit I've ever seen!! Some genuinely frustrating moments that has no right to be here. In short, this is amongst the worst makjangs out there.

Acting was fine.

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Barely Danceable

The drama was much better than what its synopsis, title, poster or cast selection might entail, the same can be said about some of the initial scenes. The drama itself turned out to be decent despite taking sometime to kickoff, it took over 3 episodes. However, it was a bit dry sometimes and was missing the necessary link to tie everything together. The romance was an awful addition to the mix, really wasn't needed. On the bright side, it was only half the length of a typical 16 episodes drama. Yet, the drama could've worked better in a 120-150 mins movie format with better production. Speaking of which, the production value was really rocky and barely serviceable.

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Wannabe Delinquents

On one hand, it tackled some important complexities surrounding youth crime and the justice system. But on the other hand, it felt like it was hitting the viewers over the head with its message a bit too hard. They always found a way to end up being overly preachy. I guess that's part of the overdramatization? The drama had a handful of cases but these were presented in descending order, with each one being less appealing than its predecessor. I feel conflicted about some of the cast choices, but if we were to ignore that and only focus on the characters, the situation didn't look so bright either. By episode 6, they started to inject personal stories and affairs, but it was a bit too late to have proper development when the drama was just 10 episodes. In the end, it was a watchable law drama with some notable ideas but remained average until the end.

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Iljimae: The illegitimate Thief

Aside from the obvious writing problems, the story itself felt like it was dragging its feet endlessly. Everything became tiring and dull after episode 4. The male lead was on a life mission to become more and more pathetic with each passing episode. Romance? A pale imitation. There was no spark, no cosmic alignment of hearts, just a void where chemistry should have ignited. And then, to compound matters, they slapped in a love square (pentagon?) that was infested with poorly written love interests between any and every one of them. The ending was a weak attempt at redemption. It rushed to tie up loose ends but ended up creating even more problems, leaving major gaps to what could have been a very simple wrap up.

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A queen

The narration and its subsequent transitions were overdone and jarring. Regardless of the historical accuracy, everything was portrayed and delivered as poorly as possible to maximize the trashiness and spitefulness, guaranteeing to make you hate the palace power-struggle themed dramas just a little bit more. This was a very painful and redundant 60 episodes. There was a big massive disconnect of the characters' writing after the timeskip. The awful OST the drama didn't help enduring its journey. With the ridiculous overdramatization of the last 5-6 episodes, the drama reached its ultimate clown status. I pity those who had to endure this drama serializing weekly.

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Okay

It's a watered down tale with low tension and disappointing baddies which all made the insane runtime just a tad bit more unbearable. The entire story is confined to in-palace drama where the king likes a commoner while another woman grows to be super duper extra jealous. You may imagine how the story will pan out for 60 episodes. Its length turned out to be its biggest weakness, this is further emphasized with its first and last 5 episodes of which they were dull and redundant. It would've been significantly better with a short runtime since the main leads were likable. Speaking of which, the main leads scenes were generally enjoyable, they had a good chemistry but only when it's NOT romantic. Their romance sucked! Making the king physically a weakling was a nice touch. Although the drama is named after the historical character and we were shown and told about her having ambitious ideologies but we rarely got to see that side of her character in the drama, just a few scenes in the middle and around the end. Instead, we got a typical melodrama in a historical setting while borrowing small bits and pieces from the real historical character for world building. The main leads were doing a lot of heavy lifting to keep the drama afloat. The drama is okay but it doesn't have much to offer and the long runtime is really hard to justify.

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