6
Park Min
Lands Between
Incomplete by design!
As per usual, such dramas start with abroad locations and a big budget just to serve us with whatever later on. While the drama had action later on but it wasn't on the same level of its earlier episodes. The plot itself couldn't compensate for that. There was a certain level of carelessness and ridiculousness in a non-comical setting from the director that's impossible to explain other than being intentional to maintain the dumb action vibes like a B grade action flick. It got progressively challenging to tolerate regardless of its "supposed" entertainment value. After what they had done in this 16-episodes runtime, they had the audacity to keep all threads as open as possible for a direct sequel, which will never happen! Was it some kind of a practical joke? Other than some of the action scenes and a handful of selected moments, I can't see much value in this drama.Vond je deze recentie nuttig?
Now, I'm Breaking Up With This Drama!
There was something to be said along the lines of "it's about the journey not the destination" but there was no journey or destination to speak of here. At first, it seemed to be a worse version of Encounter (2018) but it turned out to be much worse than that with a stinky trashy tag engraved to its title. Usually Song Hye Kyo doesn't step this low but this proved to be otherwise, it was undeniably her worst project ever. The genius writer shamelessly adapted the deplorable trope of constant interruptions with any hints of a real conversation or dialogue at sight. I have no respect for creators who pull such moves. The drama was filled with the type of dialogue and cheesy one-liners that you would read in a fanfic, it was even filmed from the point of view of a one. Anyway, the drama was an unwatchable junk from a modern lens.Vond je deze recentie nuttig?
The Lame Queen Seondeok
It would have been such a good show if they packaged it into 30 episodes. They had two subplots about Hwarang side quests that were a total waste of time, they paused the main story for them. While they might have served a small tiny purpose but the drama could've accomplished that without these easily. I read somewhere that the drama was extended from 50 to 62 episodes and I can't help but wonder if there was a direct correlation between extending the drama and introducing the character Kim Chun Chu at episode 36. Because both decisions were worse than one another. What made me more suspicious that this was the case was because it felt like someone has pushed the soft reset button on the story as a whole around episode 36 and everything took a big step backward. At this exact point I was about to mentally check out. Prior to episode 36, they had this Hwarang competition which was already the weakest checkpoint at this point so what came after only made things worse. Fast forward to the last chunk of episodes, all events post Lady Mi Shil involvement were clearly an unplanned afterthought which led to an underwhelming final climax. The is exactly at the extension gap between 50-62. Away from the poor pacing, the characters showed promise until they stopped. Guess what? It happened also after episode 36, the female lead who used to be a character full of characterization became a soulless blank of wood, boring, bland and dumb. There were many other examples of characters who went through the same downgraded transformation around the cursed episode 36.The story had one major point of disconnect that the writer blatantly swept under the rug, it single-handedly broke the story apart. The female lead came from a hermit living in the woods into her position of power immediately without any regard to any other factors concerning anything. The only justification we were given is that she read books while growing up and was raised in the streets. Her parents had no role in the process despite being the king and queen, not even for emotional support. All I see is just poor storytelling. The background music mixing was trash. Every scene started with low-ish background music, got progressively louder and became unbearably loud and intense until the scene is cut. Repeat this 20 times every episode and endure the nausea. Around midway through I was thinking this is a good 7/10 drama despite the Hwarang nonsense but it turns out that this drama was the perfect example of a drama having a good 1st half and fumbling the 2nd half so hard. I wouldn't give it more than a pitiful 5.5/10.
Vond je deze recentie nuttig?
The Return of The illegitimate Thief
Watching a drama with so much narration was kind of weird. It didn't help it case when the leads were whispering all the time with this monotone voice, almost like they were just reading lines off a script. Moreover, both of their performance was quite poor in general, I know they have the talent but not in this drama. The story itself felt like it was dragging its feet endlessly. The ending was a weak attempt at redemption. It rushed major sections with too many skips to rush progression and conclusion but ended up creating even more problems, leaving major gaps to what could have been a very simple wrap up. Releasing another version of Iljimae within 1 year turned out to be a poor decision when they have had learned nothing from the previous one.Vond je deze recentie nuttig?
Bloated Heart
The drama had a good selection of cast with decent varied performances. Jang Hyuk working double and triple shifts here. It had some interesting characters, especially Gye Won which I feel we didn't get enough of him. While the story may have been fine for the first half but it took a worse direction in the second half, losing whatever interest and build up it had previously. The keyword here is "odd" regarding the state of the production. Odd and questionable choices of the soundtracks, some of which didn't fit. Odd and questionable shot compositions and editing. Some shots had slightly different lighting or color grading of the same scene. The drama is filled with very long takes/shots that were too annoying after the 3rd time, it came off as a poor attempt in trying to mimic film, most of them didn't hit right. The only highlights of this drama were the intriguing 1st half and the character Park Gye Won.Vond je deze recentie nuttig?
Secret Dealer
This drama was like a rollercoaster ride without the thrills or the rails. That first episode was unbelievably bad and a huge turn off to kick start the drama but I kept going regardless. The whole mystical shaman vibe in a historical setting turned out to be quite an unsuccessful combo in this case, it felt like they slapped on those elements without any real thought. The entire story felt so limited and restricted, even the cast, when taking into consideration its length. All of that was accompanied by poor pacing, you can imagine how they were trying to push it to reach the 20 episodes mark.Vond je deze recentie nuttig?
The Merchant: Gaekju 2015
1 mensen vonden deze beoordeling nuttig
An embarrasing piece
It started off on a decent note but hit a major roadblock somewhere shortly after, a big nosedive out of nowhere! Disrespectful atrocious writing, to say the least. You may witness one of the worst written plot devices and tension management here. I was willing to give it a chance in the beginning despite the setback, but my interest plummeted faster than a rock when the male lead got entangled with that deplorable love interest plot. In fact, this applied to all of the four female leads. The momentum sputtered and stalled like a car running on fumes and the leads were stuck in first gear the whole time. The potential for a captivating narrative was there, hanging in the air, but the execution was practically non-existent. I'm fairly certain this is the worst drama Jang Hyuk picked up in his career, hopefully the last.Vond je deze recentie nuttig?
Sun embracing the moon
What even was that?! I would have rather gotten lost in a liminal space than watching this. The entire portion of the plot involving the kids was absurd and uncomfortable. They had no idea how to structure the narrative with the kids which led to a handful of subsequent problems that couldn't be fixed. About 80% of the drama was wasted on a single weak point of tension. The longer runtime made the tension even weaker. The following events didn't matter for how little investment the viewers have had in the first place. While the cast was mostly okay, Han Ga In didn't feel right in this drama.Vond je deze recentie nuttig?
Arang and the Magistrate
1 mensen vonden deze beoordeling nuttig
Arararang
Well, this was a painful watch to get through. The comedy was genuinely bad and the jokes were godawful. What made it even much worse was the terrible background music of these "comedic" scenes. It killed me slowly bit by bit with every attempted joke. The long runtime drove me insane. Just like any other drama with a similar formula, the story doesn't move until the last few episodes. The story itself was weak and padding it with comedic relief characters and side stories wasn't feasible to begin with. The cast performance was fine but they didn't have much to work with in the first place.Vond je deze recentie nuttig?
Jang Hee Bin - The cursed
Any intimate scenes were hilarious to watch from any point of view, even from 1995. As if watching 2 animatronics getting physically close to each other. The first half of the drama was okay but the second one was a mess, it was all over the place. Once other sides started to intervene and the scope went beyond Jang Hee Bin, the drama became a generic palace power struggle royalty bullshit. The king portrayal probably the worst performance out of all the characters. The actor 'Im Ho' looks like a cartoon character when he gets angry. Amateur actors will bring more to the table than him. No wonder why he barely gets low tier main roles and the rest is between support and guest roles. I wonder why this drama managed to get 3 remakes. It would be interesting to see the 2002 version since the cast looks more appealing. The Jang Ok Jung (2013) remake was equally as problematic as this one. Maybe Jang Hee Bin as a historical character is cursed to be portrayed in any media.Vond je deze recentie nuttig?
Not good
This is when the genre lost its direction and was going through a transitional period trying to figure out how to be modern. This drama went through a similar downhill pace as Gye Baek (2011) which both were airing at the same time in July 2011. They also both shared similar problems except this one was edger, cringer and worse.Vond je deze recentie nuttig?
If only they cared....
An okay first half followed by a significantly worse second half but that wasn't enough as it fumbled the landing even harder. The drama massively under-delivered on the ending and everything it was building up for 24 episodes. The most laughable aspect of the ending was the antagonist, he was shown as a powerful big threat just to be dealt with in the most comical way possible at the end. The fantasy elements were passable with nothing outrageous other than the messy introduction. I certainly don't miss Bae Yong Joon, kinda under-delivering on his role as the main protagonist. Meanwhile, Lee Ji Ah earlier carrier was much more interesting and enjoyable than her latest roles.Vond je deze recentie nuttig?
BAD
Where to even begin with this mockery. It's as appalling as it sounds. The journey of a dickless simp following a clown king who can't control his dick. They could have explored the world of eunuchs in many different and interesting ways but they choose to go through the absolute worst possible route and interpretation of eunuchs. I wonder which is easier, finishing this drama or castration? Writing, story, direction, cast performance, sound design, cinematography, production, and characters were all abysmal by any measure. If you were to look through the last few episodes you'll realize even the writer was fed up with the drama and turned it into a hate writing. Even if you were a big fan of one of the cast members, I don't see this being worth it.Vond je deze recentie nuttig?
Poor
Soulless and dry!! It got significantly worse when the drama forgot its main objective and focused on the parents opposing the ML's love interest. Too much unwarranted stupidity. The cast performance was serviceable at best. For a 16 episodes drama it didn't deliver anything substantial. Even if we were to condense down everything into a single movie, it still wouldn't be worth it.Vond je deze recentie nuttig?
Try again!
Practically, this drama is just a shirtless men expedition. It featured one of the most deplorable writing efforts and attempts to be edgy and hip with the times (2010). The drama had absolutely nothing to offer other than Jang Hyuk presence. They made Jang Hyuk as an edgy cringey whiny kid full of stupid one-liners and little to no real characterization put into him. This is a prime example for how to NOT write a broken and traumatized character. The drama had no real fights, just a handful of flashy dances in slow-mo with little to no weight to their strikes coupled with unfitting soundtrack for the fight or the moment. To reach the 24 episodes mark they had to stretch it thin, literally, with a lot of repeated scenes, extremely elongated stares and gazes, irrelevant dialogue and random slow-mo shots which all resulted in a poor utilization of the cinematography.Vond je deze recentie nuttig?
