angst muncher
Watch the first half.
Main character has lost his memories and is being accused of crimes he didn't commit. Seen and done. But i gave it a chance(the cover convinced me).The first episode sets really high expectations. The violence is brutal and has a lot of gore. What kind of disturbing things were going on there? The MC looks wild and animalistic. What made him like this? I was so intrigued. The plots twists were amazing though, had me grabbing my head.
The action scenes are very satisfying to watch. MC's walk did snatch some attention, it was bulky and... Idk kinda weird. I don't think he needed that much muscle as he had to do a ton of running and chasing.
NKM's acting was good as ever, though i found the dialogue delivery a little stiff and weird. Only his dialogues are overly dramatic and very cringe. I've seen a lot of kdramas but these dialogues still stood out to me, i think there is some writing error.
I love the theme song, it stuck with me and evokes a lot of emotion. I don't remember if there were any other songs and i think that says enough about it.
The only major thing The Veil failed with was the plot. In the first half, there's a ton of suspense and very little truth is revealed. It is made out to be this huge disturbing truth that will rip everyone's throat when revealed. Something so unexpected that it's unimaginable. But the second half totally falls flat and ruins all of that because guess what the sick truth is: Corruption. National politics. Just that. The murder reveals were interesting though, but it was definitely not enough for what they set the viewers up to.
The plot is so overly complicated that we only know who the Actual villain in this series is in the last two episodes. Multiple people are made out to be villains, only to be revealed later that it's someone else. Again. So many names, so many tiny subplots. I've seen complicated, but this one was a hot, incomprehensible mess.
The characters act like they're hiding the recipe for cancer. Something like
"you have no idea what's waiting for you. "
"do not go further, you can't face the truth. "
"Ji Hyuk, I... " *gets shot and dies*
No one had the braincells to talk like a normal person. Throwing riddles left and right. No one would tell him ANYTHING. And tell me why everyone in that agency was lowkey working for sangmuhoe. Everyone is corrupt. And that's literally the whole truth.
And the climax? Long lost father returns as a deadly criminal amd his daughter tries to fix him with the power of love. plays his favourite song. Puts herself in danger to see if he will harm his daughter. And somehow, the most feared man's heart melts. B*TCH HE'S THE MOST NOTORIOUS CRIMINAL EVER, THIS AIN'T A MELODRAMA.
I enjoyed the first half a lot. The rest was disappointing af.
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Worth watching for the characters.
Listen up, jeong jian. (*opinions are bound to be biased and subjective.)A Shop for Killers is a character driven action thriller with a melodramatic tone. It is a non-linear narrative, focusing on a slow reveal of intentions, secrets and character. I find the premise very dark, where basically multiple groups of middle aged men, who are professional trained killers, are hunting down a seven/twenty one year old orphan girl to kill her.
I loved the part where the show heavily focuses on the characters and their backstories, immersing us in their experience, hardships and dilemmas. The pace slows down and it feels like a gloomy melodrama. I love how there are minimal cringy dialogues and scenes(except for a couple characters) and the lack of much dialogue in the flashbacks really leaves the viewers to put themselves in the characters shoes and guess what they're feeling, instead of endless monologues where the characters just put all their thoughts out and make cringe expressions. *cough* moving *cough* I LOVED the backstories of both jian and jinman and especially related to young and mute jian.
What do you do when there are trained killers after you, parked up in front of your glass wall, ready to shoot you in the head the moment you're in sight? You crawl past that wall and act surprised when they shoot you.
And what do you do if multiple drones surround your windows and shoot at you non-stop? You stand in the centre of the room, frowning and act surprised when your window is blown up.
And what the heck do you do when someone tells you that your friend who's right next to you killed your uncle and there's proof of it in the computer right next to you? You go to that computer, put your finger over the mouse and stop. Don't open that file. Instead, tell that person to leave and go help your friend up. And act surprised when that "friend" suddenly ties you up and tells you how they killed your uncle and are going to kill you next. For f*ckʼs sake, jeong jian!
I got attached to all characters except for jian. I was excited to see jian in the first couple episodes, where she's shown as this badass girl who knows how to defend herself. She even fights off some boys s*xually assaulting her friend alone. But when she has to actually defend herself, she's brainless and starts crying. It happens all the time. The "strong female lead" is Always a facade to attract viewers. With time you'll know that it is every other female lead, the one who makes the stupidest decisions, the FL that's been written, played and seen a hundred million times. Jian is no different, and finding this out was very disappointing. Poor writing.
Many plot holes and illogical things like jinman taking his shirt or whatever it was off to give it to minhye when right behind them are a bunch of clothes hanging. Jian & Co. doing stupid shit left and right, not to mention the ending where the main antagonist hasn't even been seen in a while, less alone defeated.
The antagonist is... very dark. He kind of creeps me out, which means the writing and acting was good. Something about a man who is a sadist, who likes inflicting pain on others and simply loves to kill is very disturbing to me. I hope there's a season 2.
i love the character of jinman. The only time i felt he acted out of character was when he just listened to a recording of jian and easily took his own life, which too turned out was a scheme of his. Jinman truly thinks before he moves and he moves fast. And i love him for that. All the other characters like minhye, pasin and honda were very beautifully written and acted. 10/10 for all these characters and their stories.
OST... was there any? I do remember hearing some drums so that was good.
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my uterus was coming out of my body while watching this
SO CRINGE, SO GOOD.[veeeeery slight spoilers?]
tldr: watch it if you want the feels, a selfless love, and can handle a super draggy plot. Not recommend if you're looking for a tightly woven plot, pacing and quality production.
this one got me, just got me. I'll talk about that in a bit. But first,
Trash editing. The zoom ins, round camera pans when the protagonists hug, were so cringe. The music wasn't memorable at all, except maybe at the comedy scenes. The outfits? Main dude wears the same damn, ugly white outfit most of the time. WHOSE IDEA WAS IT? ONE OUTFIT? FL's dresses had variation, but they had these silly designs, i just couldn't take them seriously. I now know that it's probably bc her mom is from the modern era, but they could strip off that excess stuff and she'd look so elegant and nice.
Plot: Was very loose, though fitting for a silly rom com(which just had to have a pointless death? Ugh). It dragged a lot and there were many plot holes. The wedding was 7 days later, but the 7 days were made into like 15, because??? 16 eps would've been perfect, fitting that slow burn in. The villains were the most useless villains ever.
Acting: the actors ate. I'm so serious, esp the support actors. They were all so natural, so expressive and entertaining. Especially shi zi xun as liu jun, his performance felt very sophisticated and crafted to me, i don't know why. Maybe because he doesn't have much of a "goofy" role. Wang lu qing as hongxiu was incredible. She is so, so cute and precious.
FL was good, her energy was high and i could see her putting her whole heart in the character. But, eh, her expressions could really use some work. Her facial expressions didn't have much variety, it was like she was just using her default, natural face. It didn't feel intentional, as if she practiced a lot but without looking into a mirror. She had the same expression most of the time and lacked variety, especially during the sad moments. Underwhelming. And her slight overacting during the comical moments felt repetitive, tiring and stood out among all other very natural actors.
ML was good too. I liked his masked side the most, as he had to express a lot of emotions just with his eyes. I found it so beautiful, every time he gave that eye smile. It might just be my preference but i didn't quite enjoy his performance as li xiong WHEN HE WAS WITH FL. When he was with her, he got all shy and trippy, i just didn't find the expressions crafted enough. I LOVED his firm, cool headed li xiong/kui mulang side.
Chemistry and characters: are you kidding me??!! The romance was taken from a textbook, legit stock formula. Start to finish, so predictable. All the romance scenes were so cliche and overused. But hell, it worked. It always works. My cheeks hurt from smiling. But it's probably because of his majesty alone, not really the "romantic" scenes. The main characters sit a bit too close to each other, then they lock eyes for a good 10 seconds and then look away awkwardly. "Oh, you have something on your lips! Let me wipe it for you," and then they lock eyes for another 10 seconds. Phew. But it just works. I had to look away and face-palm so much because of how awkward this all is to me.
FL got really annoying with time. I couldn't care less about her. The main element of this drama that made me feel incredible *things* was KM's love for QP. I haven't seen a king this kind, forgiving, selfless and sweet since tantai jin. It pulled at my heartstrings so much. Whenever he was masked, when he'd agree to anything and everything qi pa says(except about going back), when he'd take her on walks to beautiful places, when he'd call her out for dates, "what do you want to do to my child", give her anything she wanted, everything she never asked for (and didn't deserve atp), exempted her from all rules and traditions, protected her day and night, gave her that little wolfy necklace, told her how he was of wolf bloodline and only loved one woman in his life(oh my heart), and other countless things. When they'd go out on walks with his mask, and they're like "friends" except she's only using him for her needs and he unconditionally gives her everything with a smile. Insane. This one character of his just kept me wanting to see more and more.
This is getting too lengthy or I'd write more about the side couples. All so cute!! Especially liu jun x hongxiu.
LASTLY, the comedy was better than I ever expected. It was just on point.
Note: I KNOW she was kidnapped and she doesn’t owe him SHIT.
Aaand yeah, brainrot ends. I hated it and I loved it. The actors and character writing carried this show.
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