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What makes a good killer?
A Shop for Killers is a very unique take on the contract killer plotline. It was a show that I was very excited to start, especially as a fan of Lee Dongwook, and it was very entertaining all the way through. However, I felt like there were a few parts of the show that felt off. The first bit will be free of spoilers, so I'll mark where they start.The opening scene of the show has Jeong Jian, our protagonist, getting shot at in her home. A very striking opening scene that had me excited to see both what happens next and how we got there. However, it's the latter that I have to complain about. This show jumps back and forth a LOT between the present and the past. Jian has an uncle, Jeong Jinman, who seems to be up to some shady business. These jumps to the past allow us to understand what exactly that shady business is, and how it concerns her. However, it is very non-linear in its storytelling. I think the one thing that bothered me the most about this wasn't the fact that we kept jumping between times, but the fact that they replayed scenes we had seen before so many times to orient the viewer in the timeline, but it was just excessive and unnecessary most of the time. The replayed scenes were so much longer than they needed to be, especially because this is an 8 episode series. If you've forgotten THAT much of the show when it's so short, it's probably because you weren't paying attention.
Another fault brought about by this non-linear storytelling was the fact that the viewer didn't get to learn the truth alongside Jian, but rather knew before her. You learn very early on about Jinman's career as a contract killer, but you have to watch a confused and scared Jian learn this WAY later than you do, at which point it doesn't pack the same punch. I will say though, watching Jian go through so many emotions in the span of just a few days is an incredible watch, and the actress did a great job portraying her.
**Spoilers start here**
My last and biggest issue with this show was the ending. What a copout! You get to watch Jian go through all this internal turmoil of should I kill or should I not, how could I ever run this business, etc. just for all that to go out the window because Jinman is ALIVE?? The entire story could have been avoided. You could argue that that's what makes Jian such a tragic character, but I thought that leaving the storyline right before they introduced Jinman at the end would have been a perfectly fine ending - a young girl, left to figure out the world with no one on her side. Could Jian become a killer like Jinman? Does she have what it takes, or is she only fueled by the rage that her parents' and uncle's death caused? I guess these questions don't really matter, because she doesn't need to be on her own anymore!
Overall, it was a good show and an engaging watch. Besides some issue with the storytelling and the ending, it was very interesting to watch the plot unfold both in the past and present. Frankly, I think this could have have spanned two seasons, with one season being all about Jinman and one about Jian, but the back and forth didn't get too messy. Worth checking out if you like short and dark thrillers.
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It's a type of drama EVERYONE can watch !!
I have watched many dramas out of all them very few dramas keeps you hooked till the end. It literally kept me on my seat for whole day without fast forwarding a single second. Everyone has done there part so well that it needs an applause. The main female lead performed every aspect of her role well and kept the show interesting. I had a hunch that it will leave us at a cliffhanger for second season but it ended in completing the arc of the story. The second season or the main arc of the story will be worth watching as the first season satisfied me all the way through. If you love a suspenseful and action drama with a bit of comedy and strong male lead you will love this drama I assure you.Vond je deze recentie nuttig?
TERRIFIC ACTION! EXCELLENT PLOT! FAST PACED BUT ENTERTAINING THRILLER
Hands down one of the best shows of 2024, A Shop For Killers is a roller coaster ride. There is not a single point of boredom and the show doesn't doesn't let you get distracted. What I absolutely loved is that every character did justice to the show and there was no wasted moments. The action sequences are so well executed that I rewatched each episode after the first watch. Loved how they logically placed everything so that you don't have to waste your time thinking 'how could this happen in normal world'. I loved Kim Hye Jin's eccentricity from Inspector Koo but she is the action queen with this drama. Jeong Jin Man would be my samchon of the dreams. Loved it!!N.B. If you are not comfortable with extreme violence, this show is not for you.
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Another great Disney+ action thriller!
I hadn't heard of this drama before but stumpled upon it while watching "Moving" on Disney+. Very glad I decided to watch, it was just what I needed right now.What I liked:
-Action is really really REALLY good in this drama. Knife fights, gunfights, drones, machine guns, explosions, murder robots; A shop for killers has it all and the action is mostly very well made and thrilling.
- Pacing is very tight and I wasn't bored at any point when watching the drama. A shop for killers has a quite interesting structure; the main plot in the present day takes place only in one location. However, there's multiplr long flashback sequences used to reveal the characters' backstories. The flashbacks weren't boring or annoying, quite the opposite, they were really interesting.
What I didn't like:
- Writing was quite messy at some points and some of the characters could have been written a lot better. I'm maybe just stupid but there were multiple situations where I had no idea why characters did what they did, the motivations were extremely confusing. The main villain Bale is also just a very onedimensional psychopath killer, and nothing else besides that. Other characters however were memorable and likable. ML and FL were both great and well acted. I really enjoyed Pasin and Minhye too (did she really die :| )
-There were many unanswered questions that definitely need to be addressed in a second season, otherwise this is quite disappointing. The entire Bale vs Jinman storyline wasn't resolved AT ALL. How did Jinman fake his death and why wasn't Bale involved in the present day plot in any way? This definitely needs a second season but I really doubt we are getting one, unfortunately.
- This is a common issue with pretty much all action K-dramas, but almost everything in this drama is extremely unrealistic. Even though the action was mostly great, I just had to laugh at how silly and unrealistic some of the scenes were. The storyline itself is definitely not down-to-earth or realistic either; it's VERY over-the-top almost throughout the drama. Didn't quite get into Vagabond- territory where protagonist survives a 1vs50 gunfight, but this drama was close to that at some point. Overall, these things didn't really annoy me in this drama, but I just wanted to mention them.
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A shop for killers is an excellent addition to Disney+ action K-drama catalogue, alongside "The worst of evil" and "Moving". The drama suffered from weak and messy writing at some points and I wasn't entirely satisfied with the open-ish ending either. However, the memorable characters and thrilling action sequences make this a must watch drama if you enjoy action!
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Alur cerita yang bagus
Alur cerita nya bagus banget.Banyak yang ga ketebak di dalam drama ini.
Aktingnya ok banget.
Sampai episode 6 masih banyak pertanyaan yang belum bisa dijawab dalam drama ini.
Setiap peran mempunyai karakter yang sangat kuat.
Semua pemain sangat bagus dalam menjalankan perannnya.
Teknik kamera yang digunakan juga oke banget.
Sampai episode 6 ini kita masih dibuat penasaran atas banyak pertanyaan yang belum terjawab ;
1. Kenapa bale bisa hidup, padahal dia terkena luka yang sangat parah ketika berhadaman dengan jeong jiman? Siapa yang menyelamatkan Bale dari ledakan di Laos?
2. Kenapa jeong jiman bunuh diri? Atau apakah jeong jiman benar-benar telah mati?
3. Apa alasana babylon mengejar jeong jian?
4. Apakah warna kode yang dipakai oleh minhye, pasin, dan brother?
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tyipical k drama,, always make drana in every situation
please be more creative. If you want to write the action genre, please don't add drama elements to it. From the start it was clear who to believe.Vond je deze recentie nuttig?
UGH! Can we stop now?!
I'm so sick and tired of these ridiculous action shows. Enough already! I'm so sick of this and I hated watching this and I would've already stopped if Lee Dong Wook wasn't in this but goddammit he's so sexy! UGH! I genuinely just watched this awful show because he's hot. I don't even have an excuse. That was it. I barely took in the plot, mainly because it was jumbled and not very good to begin with so it was very difficult to feign investment in what was happening but also because the main point of this show is to drool over one (1) sexy man and then just...feel dreadful worry for the good guys as these tank-like VILLAINS just piss you off for FOUR HUNDRED AND EIGHT freaking minutes!!!!UGHHHHHHHHHHHSummary: Hot uncle dies. Niece comes home and then for some reason that gets explained WAY too late into the show, a bunch of psycho murderers start attacking the house, trying to kill her. UGH! WHY?!
Plot: This plot was just mediocre. Was it horrible? No. But it's just not worth all the fuss.
Acting: Actors were very good. Lee Dong Wook is hot... I don't know, that's like 80% of what I registered. Sorry, a bit one-track-minded over here.
Music and production: Again, good production is worth horse dung when the plot is boring.
Rewatch: No...but I'll probably watch season 2! (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
Overall: This was an action show. I don't like this type of show. I just accidentally got attached to the characters and had to finish this.
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An action drama released without a proper story.
The drama is just a bunch of action that makes no progress. From the beginning and as per the details of the drama, it was about a 21 year old FL who is somehow targeted by killers possessing high tech ammunition like machine guns, sniper, drone killing machines, gas grenades, etc. FL is apparently targeted because of her relationship with uncle ML. Her uncle trains her to survive but let me tell you his training isn't really gruesome survival training, it is at most a self defense class that may work on a burglar or a car jack situation, but not on killers who been doing killing as profession with high artillery at their aid. Also during all this training he never tells FL why he is making her do this and what his actual job is. He disguises himself as normal business person while makes FL train for her own protection. And all that time not once FL asks her uncle aka ML what is all this or even get curious about him. Half the brain cells lost there itselfThe whole four episodes is all about FL being attacked with no clear explanations other than she is ML's niece and if they kill her they will get money. It also shows ML is rich and very powerful enough but at the same time it doesn't make any sense he leaves her niece all alone on pretext she is code green and a code green will be protected by the ML organization he created but only one woman shows up to protect FL. And this woman only comes to protect FL after hearing killers gun shot instead of being with FL from the beginning when she had chance and also explain why this is happening to her and what is all the killing situation is about.
Nobody till 4th episode (the drama is only 8ep) don't explain to FL why everyone is trying to get her killed. They managed to drag this story till 4th episode. His uncle owns a secret artillery shop, FL should be killed to get money. But why, why must she be killed, why the ML is not around to protect her. Till 4th episode no clarity. Ok maybe I thought they are trying to build suspense, but till 4th episode showing no progress in any other ways is not called suspense. It is more like there isn't much story.
The drama is too slow for an 8 episodes. Only three things happened, ML goes off radar, killers try to kill FL, FL still trying to survive. There is no actual progressive conversation that makes you understand the whole point of this drama and every character action. Even the action scenes are not really well choreographed and planned.
It's almost like writers are thinking if we show an action drama with bunch of big guns, drones and killing machines and have a story that tries makes sense but at same time no actual strong storyline people would just watch because full on guns kind of action dramas are rare. And also ML is a class A actor, so people would definitely watch for him.
As of now when it comes to big action dramas, moving did the best when it comes to making sense of story. I don't understand why people are saying this is good as moving when it is not even close. Moving is very realistic written for a super hero action world and writer clearly shows audience what is going with story, why everything is happening to them. But this doesn't.
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M.A.S.T.E.R.P.I.E.C.E
this drama is a masterpiece, wau lee dong wok is such a talented actor, this role suits him perfectly, I love every single part of his niece, she is also amazing, this drama definitely deserves 10/10, I hope there will be a second season, I watched all of Lee Dong Wok's and I liked them all, he never disappoints with his drama, as a gangster in this drama he showed incredible talent, this is the best thriller, action for me, this year, wow, I'm glad that I watched this drama after a long hesitation, it's the first time I see ye lee dong wok there is none romance, I usually don't watch such dramas without romance, but this one is the best for me, I wish for this kind of seasonVond je deze recentie nuttig?
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THIS WAS JUST AMAZING
I usually am bad at writing reviews but damn i loved every bit of it. BUT THE ENDING MADE ME WANT MORE!!!!!The story telling kept you wanting to watch and not drift off. i have been lately getting bored of dramas. but this made me want to watch more and more. do we have to say anything about our MAIN LEAD? he is the reason i watched but the whole story made me stay. loved it want more of it.
I seriously can't write reviews, but my did this want me to write and write and yet i cant find the words for it.
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Best Action!
Honestly, the best action I have seen in a while. There are a total of eight episodes packed with stories and action. Not a single moment is wasted on chitter-chatter, the story unfolds and explains the questions that may come up as the stories are introduced.The characters are well-developed and actors played a role in making their characters more lively.
This drama is a binge-worthy drama!
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UNIQUE UNIQUE UNIQUE
this drama was a puzzle but the thing is you didnt know what pieces were missing until they told you about it themselves like i knew what was going on but i had no idea about anything at the same time and this is what made this drama so unique.im sure there are many dramas that show many flashback scenes during each episode but i dont think i was ever impressed this much by the way they tell you the story.
this drama is about both "what has happened" and "what is going to happen" and everyone knew the answers of both questions except us and the female lead and we were on the same side trying to figure out.
the cast did their job portraying their own characters so well and its kinda funny but this was my first ever drama of lee dong wook even though i have watched +200 kdrama so far but this was the first time i watched him on my screen and ngl he is so good at his job and the female lead !!! she nailed her character and sth that attracted my attention was how both actors they chose for the fl for her childhood era and her adulthood era looked so similar to eo i could easily believe they are the same person.
i cant put it into like one word and say this drama is about this and this is it because many things were going on at the same time but generally speaking you deal with killers ( both legally and illegally ) , a shop for these killers , dark web and family..
the last word seems a bit off topic but i never knew how much i needed to see a relationship between an uncle and his niece like it was obvious he was not her father but he couldnt help it he was still caring about her and this was the sweetest thing i could ever witness..
everything ive said so far were all compliments but about why im not giving this a 10 even though i loved it this much is that i was actually bored sometimes while watching and this is sth so important to me that how much a drama can keep me seated but this kinda failed to keep me seated for a long time many times but at the same time im glad this was a short 8 ep drama so i could ignore this flaw comparing to many others things about this drama because although i was bored i couldnt pause and still wanted to know what is going to happen next and this is sth good i guess
this was probably my longest review till now ( well i dont write reviews alot to start with ) but i guess its obvious how much i loved this drama and its got a new topic you might not just choose a random drama and face with it maybe its not the first tho it might just me who is not aware but whatever if you read till here i hope you give this drama a try and i hope it doesnt let you down just like it didnt me <3
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