WATCHER (2019)

This is not my kind of drama. It reminded me documentary style filming. Not making anything look beautiful, just leave it the way it is. I guess that also can be considered as a charm but it was not so for me.
This show is grey! At the start too, but at the end you realize that none of the characters is good and none of the villains is evil. Everything and everyone is just in between. OCN has some good thriller mysteries. I think this one too will have it's own audience and maybe not the mainstream one.

What I liked about this drama:

-Han Seok Gyu! Well when i heard it's a drama with him i thought i need to watch it, because I loved his acting both in Tree with Deep Roots and in Romantic Doctor. He can seem the same and at the same time so different. I like the way he talks, no wonder many try to mimic his way of talking. He played amazingly well here, and till the end I wasn't sure if he was good or bad.
-Seo Kang Joon! Well I heard about him playing in this drama first and it was a must watch for me as I love him! He played so well everywhere he was in. And being partnered up with Han Seok Kyu, well I thought this is going to be awesome. lol
-The mystery around the case at the start
-OST!! Music!! it was great really! There wasnt much of BGM during the show so it reminded me of Japanese dramas. But when there was music it was amazing! really OST of this drama is great!

What I didn't like:

-It was super slow. There are slow dramas that I like. For example My mister or On the way to the airport. But this is a thriller, I don't think this slowness suits a thriller. Maybe it's just me. At the start it was kinda confusing with two plots, one to know who is the killer and one to find a ledger and catch corrupt people. Later they merge into one. Well it indeed was predictable that they will merge into one but overall this story was complicated and simple at the same time.
-The conclusions of all the cases. Well after all the mystery around there everything turned out not so thrilling and not so full of justice or terrifying. Maybe my expectations were just too big. All the conclusions were meaningless for me.
-The greyness. I like dramas where there is no exact distinction between black and white. There are some good ones. For example the villain in Pied Piper. But here, in my opinion, they didn't pull out that greyness well. Yes, all characters were neither good or evil. they could go anyway. Each one of them could one day become the same villain. But overall I think this all could have been made in a better way and it wasn't. Everything seemed just miserable, leaving a grey taste after the drama.

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Must see

This show was a real gem for my us. It's one of those show that you savor and try to put off each episode because you don't want it to end.

There was so much to savor about this show, from the stellar acting to the cinematography and the writing, it's truly a work of art that should be watched at least once. Although I'm already a SKJ fan, the acting from everyone, from the leads to the supporting cast, was all mind blowingly natural and impressive. As in, this show holds some of the best performances I've ever seen in a kdrama to date. You will not be disappointed. SKJ was electric in every scene to the point you literally couldn't look away. Just his expressions alone kept you hooked. The cinematography was crisp, stunning and at times creative. The direction too was close to perfect with excellent timing, attention to detail in every single scene, and unique execution popping up here and there to keep you interested. The writing is complex but incredibly smart, and occasionally touches on current political/police issues without taking an offensive side. I would put this quality of intelligent writing up there with Itaewon Class and When The Weather is Fine (although it's not poetic like WTWIF.)

I will admit there were a few flaws, such as a plot so intricate that it did get a little convoluted and hard to follow, especially if you're not keeping track of many different side characters' names. While there was one good song throughout the series, the rest of the OST left me seriously wanting more. I didn't feel the kinda-bizarre techno style of music did anything for the rest of the genius that is this show and unfortunately, actually cheapened the experience just a little. Don't let any of this put you off from watching this masterpiece, though. Especially if you're a fan of any of the leads, it's a must see.

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Who watches the watchers?

Seo Kang-joon and Kim Hyun-joo back together (they were boyh in 'What Happens to my Family'), with Han Seok-kyu, making a really good team fighting corruption within the police and prosecution service.
It's not a light watch, so concentration is needed to follow a story that twists and turns. Never have so many characters looked guilty!
Well written and acted with a decent soundtrack too.
There were several occasions though, when I felt that, given the circumstances, characters blindly entered into dangerous situations far too naively.
I wonder if we'll get a season 2? I shall definitely watch if we do.

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They say a story is only as good as its villain.

For me, this is usually the case.

And the way to make a villain GREAT is by making them scary, because if a villain is not convincing the hero's conflict has the risk of becoming bland.

The reason we love a villain like Voice season 1, or Remember, is because we see with our own how RUTHLESS he is.

The second reason these villain's work so well is because they're not just side characters but an integral part of the story. They're given convincing back stories. They are not one dimensional.

That's how you raise the stakes.

As opposed to this kind of story telling Watcher takes the less interesting route. The perceived  danger their villain possesses just doesn't seem devastating enough so it becomes a mediocre story. And anyone could be the villain so the villain is very much one dimensional and their so called origin stories seem petty and ridiculous. 

In fact, pretty much everyone in this drama does things, that are morally WRONG, from planting evidence, to choosing a loved one to be tortured, to using a young boy's traumatic event to distort the facts but why they did it, their justification is just as petty and as ridiculous as the bad guys.

So why did I still like it?

Because of that one scene where Han Suk Kyu stands in front of the mirror and starts fixing his hair.

That. Was. Brilliant.

There were many such allusions to the Nietzsche style nihilism and I feel like that's what they should have done more of instead of falling into the trap of becoming a rather typical storyline.

And also I'm not sure if anyone noticed that Watchers is also the word for nephilim, the fallen, and they were also 'Giants' a word frequently alluded to in the script. And that's why the main characters were all 'fallen from grace' type characters.

I don't know if this last episode was second season fodder but I guess I'll try it for sure but I'm not exactly waiting for it tbh it just wasn't that good but it is entertaining.

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WATCH it!

This show brings together three incredible actors who keep you on tender hooks with their personal stories and their joint mission that when it ends you desperately wish there was another season.

If you thought Seo KangJoon was a flower boy only capable of stereotypical roles, watch this. He’s something else here. Yeong goon is tough as nails and gets beaten up, while doing some crazy beating of his own in his role as a police officer. He holds his own against veteran actors like Han Seok Kyu and Kim Hyun Joo and all three of them together make this edge of seat psychological crime thriller one of the BEST I have watched to date.

I just have to give a shoutout to the music score. It’s perfect for this show and enhances the nervous excitement one feels while watching tense moments on the show.

Season 2, JEBAL!

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People can not be divided as the good and the bad, because they are both.

If you want simple crime show with typical good police officer catching bad guy this isn't for you. But if you want a slow-paced crime show with complex morally ambiguous characters then you are in for a good ride. Pls do not pay too much attention on the score i gave bcs i don't think rating can measure how good a story is.

In term of the crime-solving, the execution of it in Watcher isn't perfect. As much as I loved the show, I can't turn a blind eye on the unnecessarily complicated plot that sometimes makes you don't even know what's going on despite it being a slow-paced show. The writer throw too much misdirection to stray the audience from guessing the actual culprit, when it's so obvious who the main culprit is. And because of that when the very much obvious actual culprit is revealed, the revelation felt flat and the misdirection become a waste.

Then what makes Watcher worth a try?? The complex characters, psychological aspect, and the portrayal of police corruption.
I think Watcher is more of a character driven story rather than case driven. They focused on how a single murder case can affect the mental health and morality of the people involved. And thus in this story the main leads who are affected by the tragedy turned into complex broken characters that you can not judge simply as 'good' or 'bad'. Kim Young Goon, Do Chi Gwang, and Han Tae Joo are all have questionable bad sides, but at the same time they also can be considered good people, that's what's make the characters felt very real and human. And the concept of morally gray characters also applicable to the police.

In many crime drama police always portrayed as good side where everyone fighting the injustice, but that isn't the case on Watcher. In this story Police are organizations that doesn't free from corruption, they are as badly as the criminal they catch. It's a realistic portrayal of how police actually are in real world (at least in my country they are like this).

TLDR: Watcher is a good watch for people who enjoy crime drama with character driven story with psychological aspect.

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As always I try to find dramas with action and suspense with no romance and this one didn't disappoint. I love the fight scenes Korean dramas have but is amazed at how the character who is fighting can get clocked in the head, or stabbed in the gut and still be able to thrive. Plus they blur out a knife but a gun is in focus....that's beginning to really irritate me for some odd reason.

This drama....it was a good watch but in my opinion it went off the rails throughout each episode. I should've seen it coming but I gave it the benefit of the doubt.

We all know this drama is about police corruption but.....how do I put it....it just didn't delve into the corruption. It showed two shady police officers in the beginning but after that we get nothing but stories of how the corruption unfolded and in my opinion the corruption was barely there. There was just too much of a story about corruption and not enough visuals to keep the plot strong and steady.

The drama shifted to the three main character's life stories about how each one suffered a tragedy and the series just focused on that but threw in a little bit of this and a little bit of that. By episode 10 I had no idea where the story was going. A new villain emerges that made no sense but I still watched.

As I mentioned earlier the type of Korean dramas I like to watch, I also watch for the chemistry. I don't want to say it wasn't there, it just wasn't as strong as I would've liked. I did like all of the character choices though.

As usual the last episodes of Korean dramas are usually disappointing. This one held true to the game. I didn't get the closure I thought was going to happen. Sometimes I wonder if skipping the very last episode in a Korean drama is worth it.

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A PURE HIDDEN THRILLER JEWEL

A MUST WATCH FOR ANY SEO KANG JUN'S FAN AND/OR THRILLER's FANS !

The acting, the rewatch value, the OST were the strongest points.

The OST were pure gem, they fits all perfectly the different sides of this mystery thriller sad dramaatic epic action drama. If you want a preview of this drama then you can simply listen to the OST and you will get a glimpse of what the drama is about perfectly well.

The ACTING is fantastic ! One of the best acting I have ever seen. Seo Kang Jun delivered on this one like there is no better drama out here at this level of acting, from my poinf of view or if there is please tell me. I am curious.

The rewatch value is HIGH HIGH and only HIGH I have watched this drama at least three times.

The story is great, though in the middle was a little bit annoying but it was made on purpose for the overall story, at the end you understand why you went through annoying parts of the story!

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The writers did not know what they wanted to do with the story.

This pretty much sums up Watcher, contrary to most thrillers, Watcher actually starts off on the wrong foot and gets somewhat better towards the ending. The story is not as gripping if you were to judge it from the first episode, however, as the story continues, you'll find more reasons to stay and wait for the story to unravel.

The characters are not the best written. It was evident that the writers wanted to make appealing, smart, and sophisticated characters. However, as each episode passes, I felt like I was watching a new character; their personalities were inconsistent and they were too unreachable to be realistic and believable. They were too good to be true. In addition to this, there would be no semblance of community, or affection between this group of people. They were simply individuals who worked together, it was only up until the end that I felt like they were actually a team.

Plot-wise. I really loved the story's general gist, how this fiasco could be true, as there was a nice foundation laid out for the antagonist organization. It was coherent and believable, and the timelines made sense. It was far better as compared to other corruption dramas. Which is why I was so disappointed with how they made use of it.

Watcher is also awfully "slow-feeling". This is something that I noticed with the drama, it uses so many cuts of the main characters randomly walking, flipping through pages, and staring at whatever was on the horizon, I felt like they wasted too much time using these cuts. The music didn't help, it was way too stimulating, to the point that I could hear the leather seats as they conversed with one another. I think these are aspects that could have been prevented and could be changed to make something that was less documentative feeling.

Lastly, Seo Kang Joon and Kim Hyun Joo played their roles wonderfully. As for Han Seok Kyu, I really don't know how to feel about the casting decision made with him, and the decisions that they made for the character he portrayed. Do Chi Kwang was someone who was extremely dull, and overall unenthralling. He wasn't a character that was clouded in a mystery that you'd be gripped with his persona, no, in fact, he just appeared awfully shady throughout the series. The very few moments where he actually had a personality were so scattered and delivered far less impact than what I was hoping for. I don't know where the issues lie, would it be the actor or the way he was written?

As for my verdict, I would say give it a shot. On the other hand, I wouldn't say you'd be missing out if you skipped past this drama.

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