So i sat down on my toilet seat and started analyzing this show.
When the show ended, i felt good, but there were lingering feelings of wanting more in the background but i didn't pay much attention to it. I finally did a thorough self reflection and found why that was.

THIS SHOW IS NOT 9.0+ MATERIAL
There are so many points in this show that make you think " why?! " but then you forget about it because the story moves on.
The show is great, do not misunderstand the review.
This show belongs in the 8.5-8.9 category at best.

The expectations generated by its 9.1 rating cause all its small inconsistencies to pop out more.

I am bad with Korean names, so i'll refer to characters are what i see them as.


The Pros.

The Comedy is good. At no point did it feel lame, everyone's character perfectly generates the comic relief you'd expect from them.
The acting was great. especially the main inmates. They portrayed emotions and reactions mostly as you'd expect someone in their situation would do.
The pacing of the overall timeline felt planned and well thought out.
Even if at times it felt like they were dragging the story with fillers, the events are connected well enough with the main story to make the 90 minute long episodes go by without being boring.
The flashbacks are something i really liked. especially Mister gangster's, when the whole screen goes into 4:3 mode lol
but there are issues here.
SECOND LEAD SYNDROME STRIKES AGAIN.



THE FRANKENSTEIN.

First and foremost the Main leads Romance.

WHY??? How did they screw up so bad i have no idea. At first it felt cute. Then the whole part started to feel like a chore to watch.
ML and FL meet, at the start they make it seem like they like each other.
Then they meet later, and ML starts to reject her, with the cliche "ᵢ dₒₙ'ₜ waₙₜ yₒᵤ ₜₒ ₛᵤffₑᵣ" mentality. He is a simple stupid character so i guess that's a bit excusable.
Then the FL starts rejecting him. The flashbacks keep showing how everything was good between them, other than him ghosting everyone when he loses, but here we are, she is just not giving a frick.
Then suddenly by the end, they miraculously get together. Without obvious events to trigger it.
There are events that happen that could have been triggers, but they happen way before in their arc. but by the end out of nowhere, they are back together.
i think the writers knew how weak their arc was so we barely see them together in the last few episodes.

Now the fellow inmates.............................

Jailbird was the exposition boy. Didn't see much more character out of him. ML saves him mom at the start, so he is a loyal fanboy now. We are led to believe he is good, but the he comes back to jail again. True to his name i guess. We get a glimpse of the HARD TO SWALLOW PILL when loony gives everyone in the audience the middle finger that some people don't change and jailbird is obviously one of those characters. In the end he is ML's Agent by the looks of it.
This char was the least impactful among all other inmates. But he ends up getting the one of the best outcomes.

Captain Demon baby. His arc felt well done, i would have loved a look at him after he was released, i have no idea why they couldn't do that.

Dr Petitioner. We go deep into his char, his backstory, his actions, and we hoped that we'll get a nice wrap up to his ark. NOPE. gets transferred out of the blue. Poor guy is never heard from again. We never know if he survives the other jail, gets out, emigrates to some other nation with his wife. He helped ML so much and that was a big slap to my face.

Mr Lispy Engineer. We don't go deep into his character till its time for the writers to yeet him from the show. However refreshing it was to see professor conman draining Lisp's wife, we never get a follow up. This part is not a big deal but knowing so little about his backstory or life, that was the only part we knew and cared about. Then they decided to take him out so a son pops up with a problem there goes one more inmate. Poor guy is never heard from again. Did he end up on good terms with his ex-wife atleast who knows. its not like the writers care.

The "Son" of Mr gangster. he was annoying, whenever he called himself the son, it was cringy and the betrayal was out of the blue. That would have been understandable if he stuck with the betrayal, but then he comes back for a cameo and we are supposed to like him again. He is mentioned when Gangster is being released and that's it.

HERE comes the biggest RED PILL of the show. Loony. They definitely did not plan his end properly. He was showing genuine signs of recovery. He was almost force fed drugs but he RESISTED. But when he gets out he gives in? His ending was felt rushed too. For most of the other inmates we see a send-off. Looney was close to plenty of people and a send-off should have happened but it just cuts to the restaurant and him being released. I don't know if the writers trolling and geniuses with his arc. One hand it feels wrong, on the other it shows a realistic depiction of addicts. But he was very capable of resisting and that was for sure. Did he sabotage his life out of anger for his mom? nothing is made clear and he is gone without mention forever. I expected to see reactions of the cursing lieutenant or the inmates but nope. GONE.

Then my favorite inmate, the reformed gangster. He sits in the background of the show much like the engineer, but at the end his story is picked up nicely. It was nice what happened with his daughter and all, but that's where it ends. where is his ending? the mother clearly likes him, she is single, he got out, but we never see any of it happening. WHY? Just why?!

So much more could have been done with this show. 16 90 minute episodes are effectively 24 1 hour episodes. That's a LOT. The camerawork is very slow at times , they could have cut some useless parts and gave meaningful endings, sad or happy to more inmates. but nope. Its all open to our imagination. There could have been short scenes with ML and what happens after a few months, maybe he tells everyone in an interview how his cellmate friends are doing. it was entirely possible but NOPE.

And what's up with those footsteps at the end of each episode? i thought they'd pay that off in the last episode showing someone walking after everything ends but naaaaa.

And did i talk about the setting of the whole show? Is this "Baseball star Fan club" or set in a prison? We get a glimpse of the real deal when cursing guard and non stop talking guard leave for a scene and this stern guard shows up. That goes NOWHERE. why was that scene in the show? to show us how ridiculous the setting is in the show? Who knows?

i can go on and on about small small issues, but ill stop now. this is what happens when expectations are HIGH. this show came out 2 years ago, has a 9.1 rating. Higher than Goblin, which i thought was the best K show of this decade. i haven't even seen it yet but now it makes me wonder if goblin's 9.0 was over-hyped as well or not.
there are plenty of shows with more problems than listed here but people do not complain as much, they are rated low and people have conservative expectations. but this show felt so convoluted.




I rate this show 8.5 because it is a good show. i didn't feel the boredom that made me quit halfway like a lot of shows give me, even if it was so long. The characters are well written even if their endings are not. The comedy is the best part of the show. I am not happy with this show more for its bad endings rather than the character decisions.

I really like the sister of ML and daughter of gangster characters, They breathed some life into this show.

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