Mita
Canada
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The acting of the villain is *Chef's Kiss*
Now that I have watched the show completely, I really think I should go back and thoroughly revise my review accordingly. This is probably going to be a very controversial one, so prepare yourselves to hate me all you want.First off, let's start with the good thing (yes as in singular word "thing"! the only good thing!) about the show. I think we can all agree that this show wins the prize of the BEST VILLAIN OF THE CENTURY! In fact, I believe if someone's going to watch this show they're gonna wanna watch it for the sake of the villain's splendid acting skills. The actor does an amazing job of displaying controlled and uncontrolled rage and you will believe him to be a true devil. So when watching his scenes, get ready to have your mind blown away! Pay attention to his mimic and expressions and how smoothly yet drastically they change and you'll know what I'm talking about. Among all the characters in the show, he is the truest to the character and the most believable one as well. Now that I lay the only positive point about the show out there, off to the review:
Story:
The most buggy storyline I could have ever imagined for a show with such a strong concept! I mean, there are exaggerations flying all around the ML. The show tries too hard to depict him as a capable invincible vicious man and pushes it way too far to the point that logic falls apart and at the end of the show, everything seems stupid and out of pure luck instead of due to ML's capabilities. I mean, the scene with the birds helping him out, even if taken from a comedic point of view, has too much of an impact on the outcome to be brushed off and is too absurd to be acceptable. Also, how come every single person who joins forces with ML suddenly becomes the most capable person you could find in the whole country, but anyone on the villain's side seems not to have any brains? Even the villain's lawyer fails to think straight and prepare for a fight, to the point that the villain goes into a warzone with only 4-5 bullets in a gun he just randomly had to grab from his brother's belongings. The funny part is, people are only capable and smart as long as they are still with the ML. As soon as they betray him, they make the most stupid decisions and fail with anything they are planning to do. And WHAT IS UP with the plaza residents ALL being such an out-of-the-ordinarily usefully skilled bunch of people? I mean, every single one of them? Really? Why? Plus, the characters are way too far far away from being consistent (except for the villain and his lawyer), especially the FL! She is very strictly against violence even when she's seeking revenge on his father's death and yet she falls in love and keeps helping this vicious brutal really violent man who is never satisfied with just killing, but prefers to torture people mentally and physically before he kills them off. The FL is a 30-something-year-old lawyer. You would suppose she has more grounded personality traits. But that is so not the case.
Acting:
Well, I already talked about the villain. As for the rest of the main cast, I'm not sure if the actress is to blame or the character description was way too off, but she has the most unreal character among the main cast. I did not enjoy it at all. The ML on the other hand did pretty well, as Song Joong-ki usually does. However, compared to the loud character of the villain, the calm and relaxed character of the ML does not make much of an impression, even if the ML does throw his stunts and overcomes one challenge after another. I've never found myself rooting for the villain in a drama and I personally believe it's important to keep the drama focused on a strongly displayed lead role. It takes so much for a show to make me ignore the lead role and yet, this drama somehow managed to do that.
Music:
I'm probably being harsh on this one since I have a very particular taste in music, but none of the OSTs stood out for me.
Rewatch Value:
Nope! Not a chance I would go through 20 episodes of stupidity again! I wouldn't even recommend watching the show for the first time unless you already know you are up for a huge waste of time with draggy slow motions and scenes of the ML staring at walls and drinking wine while listening to music and you are willing to do so only to witness outstanding acting from the villain. Honestly, this is the only reason I did not drop the show, and do not regret watching it.
Final thoughts:
*****SPOILERS ALERT*****
I can not get over Ok Taecyeon's splendid acting. He is legit crazy and a perfect devil. I honestly didn't know he existed before Vincenzo aired since I'm not really into KPop and somehow I have managed to tiptoe around all his dramas over the past 15 years of me sweeping KDramas. At the same time, I really loved Song Joong-ki ever since Nice Guy aired, and even more so when Descendants of the Sun was released. But MAN! For me, Taecyeon's acting makes Song Joong-ki's role disappear in the background. He really killed it here.
I have to admit now after watching his previous dramas (notice that I loved his acting so much that I looked up his previous projects and watched them, even the ones from 2011) that he has made great progress with his acting skills. I can't wait to see more of him.
*****SPOILERS ALERT*****
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The most realistic KDrama I have EVER watched...
I love the realistic approach this drama takes to relationships and people's thought processes. I truly appreciate the webtoon writer's efforts to depict the feelings that come into play for every decision a character makes, and so accurately and realistically at that. I'm sure it must have taken a lot of analysis and an extremely high EQ. I did not read the webtoon but I do know the full story. Since the show is so well-made and seems to stay true to the original story-line, I have decided not to read the webtoon, but I am currently enjoying another work from the same author and I see the same qualities in this other webtoon as well (read Daily JoJo, it's just as good as Yumi's cells).OK, now off with the review we go:
STORY:
The story is literally the best and most realistic one among all the KDramas I have ever watched. It makes you relate to and agree with the FL so deep. Honestly, I didn't want to watch the drama at first because of the cells (I was like: Animation?! Really?!). But man am I happy not to miss out on this amazing piece of work, ESPECIALLY the cells. They might be animated characters, but they are what makes the story so realistic. They let you decipher every feeling and thought the characters have, and they do it in an adorable way. I don't want the review to contain any spoilers so I can't give you examples, but if you have ever dated before, you will find yourself relating to the characters and enjoying the cell village the most.
ACTING/CAST:
Honestly, nothing was outstanding about the human characters' acting. The roles were not that challenging. However, I still loved Woong and Yumi's chemistry. They reminded me of my bitter-sweet memories of me and my ex. What I truly enjoyed was the voice actors' performance. It's really hard to hook me up to animation characters, but the voices were well-casted and well-performed, especially the emotional cell. All in all, I enjoyed the acting enough, and I'd gladly forgive any acting/casting shortcomings for the sake of the story.
MUSIC:
I always say in my reviews (not that I have written many of them) that I have a pretty particular taste in music and my opinion doesn't really count in that department. While none of the OSTs made me go back and listen to them, I did find them well-aligned with the mood.
REWATCH VALUE:
I can say with confidence that I will go back to this drama multiple times in the future, especially when the 2nd season (and hopefully the third) come out. It definitely is worth the time.
OVERALL:
I give this drama an overall score of 10 because the story matters to me way more than the acting and the music. I loved it and enjoyed it to my heart's content. Hope you all enjoy it as well...
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OMG the OSTs!
I am new to MDL and that's why I'm only writing this review in 2021. But I watched this drama when it was airing week by week. However! I will point out later on why this does not make my review any less valuable or with fresh memory.Hm, where to begin?
The story: I've never been fine with elements of fantasy and supernatural and very rarely enjoy such shows. However, this storyline is very appealing, extremely emotional, soft yet engaging, and quite relatable in terms of romance. I really enjoyed the turn of events. To me, every emotion was understandable, relatable, endearing, and with good reason. Remember that this show is not about solving mysteries, but it's all about feeling emotions! And I mean feeling them deep... Now, this next sentence will be a big spoiler so skip to the next paragraph if you prefer, but the FL and ML have their emotionally realistic ups and downs, they have their hearts broken, fall for each other, have their reasons to suppress their feelings, get mad for the mistakes that have been made, go through the pain of letting go while still wanting more, not withstanding the distance, and finally deciding to forgive themselves and the other.
The acting: I literally felt all the hurt and the joy and the bubbly feelings of Seo Hyun Jin's character all along. She is indeed an outstandingly capable actress. Her character was really hard to carve out and yet she made me believe that she was really the Oh Hae Yeong of the story and radiated all the emotions the audience was supposed to feel. I believe her acting did make the show a full 10/10 from maybe an 8/10. Eric moon was also pretty good at acting the grumpy, mean, yet soft and caring deep inside Park Do Kyun, which is actually his typical type of character in dramas (or at least the ones I have watched). Among the other actors, I only need to mention Kim Mi Kyung, the true, one and only, not-rich Asian mom in drama history. She throws sticks and stones at her daughter, but you can feel so much love and affection coming through her and it makes you feel warm and safe, just like how you would feel with your Asian mom.
The music: Honestly, this show was the point at which I started listening to Korean music. I'm not big on KPop and never really paid attention to the OSTs. But I still have the whole OST playlist of this show on my phone and listen to it on a regular basis, probably 2-3days a week. I loved every piece and after almost 5 years, am still enjoying them all. "If it's you" by Jung Seung Hwan is still my go-to song whenever I want to get goosebumps with emotions. (This singer is amazing. He also did great on Startup with "Day and Night" and I love it.)
The rewatch: Hmmm... About that... It's really hard for me to confess, but I have already watched this drama 5 TIMES FRONT TO BACK, NO SKIPPING! This is a big deal for me guys. I almost never watch a drama without skipping or fast-forwarding and yet, I have watched this 5 times scene by scene and loved it every time. In fact, I'm watching it a 6th time right now. Go figure how great this drama can be...
Overall, hands down the best drama I have ever watched from 2010 to 2021!
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