La faune d'Itaewon (2020)

What made Itaewon Class a well made drama? Well undoubtedly its representation of clichéd storyline enamored by moralistic blanket and the well written characters. Adapted from a renowned webtoon of the same name, the main attraction of the drama was the main lead character played by Park Seo Joon who was socially awkward but undyingly loved sticking with his values and principles taught by his father. He was the perfect epitome of an altruistic person who by their magnanimous attitude towards his/her surroundings are able to win uncountable hearts. They are considered the gem of a human who can go to any extent to save their loved ones.

The whole story started with one utmost tragic turning point of PSJ’s life which ultimately led him to the success he always desired. The main moral of the story depicted was that whatever it is if people are put forth foremost before anything then any venture will be successful. Greed, arrogance, self-absorption in the end engulfs into nothingness. PSJ’s character was an overall package of level headedness, gritty, charismatic and an undaunted true leader. A true leader tries to encourage and motivate people under him/her which this character exactly portrays. All the other characters both the antagonists and protagonists have their own story to share but the focus was mainly the lead male protagonist who after facing plethora of hurdles thrown at him by his enemies could get out of it scathed but much stronger than before. The more he faced the trials and tribulations of life the grittier he became in achieving his goal. The point is to portray that life for each and every living human soul would throw lemons but we have to know how to make lemonade out of it.

Moreover, this drama through another characteristic of the main lead’s character portrayed that not necessarily every single person has to gain higher education. Without gaining much education, having right attitude, morals, values and righteousness it is possible to reach any apex in life, of course with the help of some true companions. Sae Ro Yi (main character played by PSJ) had some wonderful people working for him who turned into his family members. His love interest is also one woman among them.

Next about the two female leads, the one PSJ chose is one of the best written female characters in the history of Korean dramas. Never have I seen a female character given so much empowerment, strong self-determination, confidence and free spirit like the character Jo Yi Seo. Without a single regret she always chose her destination exactly responding to her mind. It is interesting to watch how she accomplishes her goal as per her set target. She was shown as a bit eccentric unsocial person yet she was sacrificial for the one whom she truly loved with pure dedication. Her self interest never stumbled on her way since she made that one single person her final target.

Although the story is nothing new about the same old subjugation and corruption by the rich to the poor strata of the society but the interesting part of this drama which made it truly beautiful are the characters. More or less it can be referred as a character based drama. PSJ was the scene stealer in every single of his expressions and dialogue throwing. It is undoubtedly his best performance so far. Dedication is evident from his natural acting skill. Truly commendable job he has done. The rest of the ensemble cast did justice to their roles but PSJ overshadowed everyone.

This drama through the various characters had basically tried to teach and preach about maintaining humane quality no matter what and to remain honest irrespective of hardships of life. The moral and philosophical base of the story is quite strong.

Although it has gained humongous popularity so there’s no harm in watching it if you haven’t yet watched it.

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...

the production was good, I can't complain .
I also say that the performance was incredible, it would be a sin if I complained.

I love the actors, I loved the characters.

Of course, not everything is perfect, I can't lie, but what a drama that doesn't have a single flaw.

So in conclusion, I recommend...

I say it's worth watching, maybe it's bad for some, but for me it was good.

This is just my opinion, you better watch it and have your own opinion.

I don't know what to say, because I think everyone has their own opinion.

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One of the most overrated k-dramas of the past century

Itaewon class was quite the ride.. and I do not mean that in a good way. The start gives you high hopes, and the revenge motive is set up quite well, but somewhere along the way, it just loses its footing and does too much at once. Too many cooks were in the kitchen, and I'm sure they all walked away with third-degree burns.

The one redeeming quality of this show was Ahn Bo Hyun. I had never heard of him before watching this show, but his acting talent is just generational! Portraying a complex villain was so effortless for him, and it was one of the main points that kept me hooked. Park Seo Joon on the other hand was disappointing to say the least (he makes up for it in Fight for my Way, if anyone is looking for the one semi-decent drama he's in :P ).

Don't even get me started on the romance though, THE AGE GAP EXCUSE ME??? WHO EVEN CAME UP WIT H THIS, I HOPE THEY GOT FIRED. Apologies for the exclamations, I got a little too heated, but I think my point is clear. It was completely unnecessary and pandering to the rom-com-loving subset of the audience was clearly not the move. Not EVERY show needs romance.

Overall though, the cast was quite talented and the performances were fairly convincing. If you are the kind of person who enjoys the journey more than the final destination, then you'll still hate it as much as someone who only cares about where the characters end up :)).

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Life is marked by tribulations, but we must grow and mature.

This drama give me thrills. Its not your average drama and the characters are interesting. Look - there's people here who complain about the "wooden" characters and don't realise that the acting is a reflection of the writing. This is based of webtoon and Park Seo Joon stoicness IS a defining character trait that his character has to work around and he does try despite how uncomfortable and messy it was (as how growing up is in real life). People forget there was a a total of 10 years time skip and the character did not just did a 180 per se, I've gathered a character analysis of mine and other thoughts of their developement below. You need to think about it that way, they had to fit a webtoon into 16 episodes. And believe me, I know they could have gone to at least 30 episodes with the amount of character growth, but they did the best with what they have and made the series drama length. The writing, acting, story was good, and worth the watch.

Here both the main leads are opposite in personality yet bonded with one thing in common, and their choices in own journey is what brings them together. This is a drama about the underdog and the usual heroic traits that is emodied by Park Sae Ro Yi through his usual determination and stoicness and his unbending to his principles despite the tragedies he face. The main story is about how he will accomplish the hard task of beating down Jangga Co, headed by Chairman Jang. However he is not an infallible hero and soon, encountering many life lessons, from people in his past and present, the Dan Bam crew, Yi Seo, Soo Ah, the brothers, through pursuing his revenge, they come to understand what is most important in their life and how much you can change your life with just the choices you make.

No character here is perfect. And this is its main strengths. There are so many themes explored: what being true to yourself costs, is it worth doing it if it hurts others (no matter how you try not to get others involved), how parents shape their child, what life is all about, and what is important in the end. This drama allows you to experience many emotions and its this that make the crew stronger and wiser. Here, a hero becomes a real human, that needs to be grounded in life and be shrewder to actually accomplish his objectives. And to navigate all of the traps set by his enemies requires planning, strategy and patience. Our hero may have patience but the writers are honest in showing that he needs others to be his second set of eyes and to teach him his on what he is lacking, and the fact is, he can't do it alone. They need each other to be successful and only after that, is he able to defeat his enemies, and the for him, closure over his own tragedies in what he calls, "his endless nights".

The acting was good, casting was great, and writing, pacing, direction was well done and music represents their struggle well, I love V's theme.

Some of the weaknesses of this drama: The main evil person is SO evil, that his character never for once causes us to takes his words seriously even IF there an element of truth because we all think "oh, he is manipulating us again" The writers don't give him a real chance to show us his inner thoughts other that this character really is beyond salvation. We all dislike him because that make him easy to hate. Despite that he has a story of how he was poor and wanted to feed his family to make the business, we don't understand WHY he became such a ugly character. And then the show hints that aw, he started from the bottom like Sae Ro Yi, but doesn't go on to show anything else. So he serves as just a shadow of maliciousness waiting for SRY to meet him at the final boss battle. His premise leaves a lot of questions to be explored.

Also some of the themes did NOT have time to be expressed well. Like the transgender issue, racial issue, bullying issue. There was many themes just jampacked in a show of only 16 episodes which could have fit more. I understand maybe the main story wasn't enough to also fit in the new themes while avoiding filler episodes so there's that. It would have been better to leave it out then because stories like Tony and the grandma side story and also his time in prison and the gangster history was also left to dust. Similarily, the love story and IC's growth also had potential to do more instead of the 10 year time skip which is a lot, but still I felt they knew to prioritise those two stories the most and it showed. The 2 main stories they did choose to develop, developed well despite the rush and was a fresh take that Kdrama land needed.

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On Yiseo and Saeroyi relationship:

I like the dynamic between Sae Ro Yi and Yi Seo. They are similar in personalities, but one distinct difference is that he stands by his conviction even when he gets punished for it, while YiSeo reminds me of Ying Luo from Story of Yanxi Palace; cunning, intuitive, resourceful, intelligent but with a heart of gold.

Where SRY's philosophies and kindness puts him in a position where he ends up being the 'suffer in silence' type, YiSeo has no such qualms in striking back AND gets away with it, even if her audacity [or recklessness] gets her into trouble.

I like that she chose him; to support and protect him from that particular weakness [helplessness against injustice] that he has, how they balance each other's outlook in life literally like Yin and Yang; her rash, apathetic attitude with his wisdom, his destructive temper with her cool-headed shrewdness. The fact that this time it was a female lead that was the rock in the relationship, the one pursuing the guy and staying by his side.

I'm not really sure why people expect PSY to make a total 180. He has never been good at expressing his emotions and showing his affection towards others. We've seen how much he loves Yiseo by how much he shares with her, how honest he is with her. It may not be the most exciting way to show it but it's realistic to his character.

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The start was promising, but. Eh?

To be honest, I just wasted my time with this show.
Now I am bias because im a BIG freak for romance shows and this barely had any nor made sense.
People ship Soo-ah and Saeroyi, yet I don't. Soo-ah put herself before anybody else. She knew Saeroyi liked her yet never accepted his feelings and kept leading him on? I also thought her personality was a bit boring. Nothing special with her.
Now the main couple, Yi-seo and Saeroyi. Made no sense to me. Seemed force tbh. Since Episode 7 I was thinking, "Why does Yi-seo even love Saeroyi in the first place" as they barely spent any time together. Saeroyi was also in love with Soo-ah so theirs no moments with Yi-seo and Saeroyi. Also, Yi-seo's character is some what eh to me. She isn't my favorite but I didn't like her attuite when it came to some people.
The acting was average and good. Nothing mind-blowing. I do love Park Seo-Joon as that's the reason WHY I even considered watching this drama, but. Wasn't worth it.
Music isn't mind blowing either. It's average aswell, I only liked the outro music and sometimes the intro music. Also thing I love this drama for is whoever decided to cast the guy for Toni. First Kdrama I've seen with a person of color!
Unless you just need something to watch or you're into revenge dramas with slow romance then go for it. This show wasn't THAT bad but I defo am not going to rewatch this show unless I just need a blast from the past or what not.

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I am not a film critic but I am a picky viewer from Canada. After watching Crash Landing on Netflix , I needed to watch the next best thing and I heard about this show. The story of Itaewon class is unique which featured social issues in Korean setting.
ALL the casts were amazing in acting ! You can feel how they delivered their role in a true to life scene. Having a plot of revenge , courage , friendship, love is integrated in every scene. Park Seo-Joon as Saero-yi was able to reach his goal and ended up still the good loving son, friend and kept his true feelings for the woman he loved. I think it was love at first sight when he first laid eyes on Yi-seo who happened to contribute a lot in his quest for happiness.Hey, age does not matter ! Kwon Nora was a great support till the end . Like anybody else wished , she should have a part two story with the new chef who she finds amazing . Kim Da-mi role was strongly delivered with fierce and humor in the name of pure intention to help her great love Sae-ro-yi. And their love story totally worked for me. It is sweet and great relief that finally they will experience happiness together. The pup casts were great supporting role , each of them have their own story to tell. One thing that also caught my attention was the great acting villian roles of Jangga Group father and son. Ahn_Bu hyun delivered a superb role as a son who longed for his father love and trying desperately maybe the girl he really liked can still love him who was Kwon Nora. Great story! Music was really cool and cinematography was at par. For those who said the story was dragging, I don't think so. Here in Canada there is subtitle, so it's easy for me to read it in a good pace. Well done IC.

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What a breath of fresh air!

Likes: The character of Yiseo and Kim Da Mi playing her. Park Seo Joon's...well...everything. The Itaewon setting and vibe of the drama. The great emotional acting.

Dislikes: the 2nd half of the drama sort of lost it's way. the time lapse to the future where everything sort of wraps up neatly in 1 episode type of thing. The cliche sub stories to advocate diversity.

It's so rare to come across really cool female leads that are smart, mean, and likeable. I love the character of Yiseo for not pretending to be nice, for being smart, strong and confident, and being able to fight for herself. And I love the actress Kim Da Mi that plays her. I remember watching the Witch Part 1 and asking who is this kick ass actress that blows me away with her natural acting? And again she doesn't disappoint in this drama. She is definitely one to watch.

Park Seo Joon really blew me away with his intense emotional scenes in this drama. I've always thought of him as a great actor, but he really shined in this one. It's a memorable character with a memorable haircut. :-)

I loved that they set this in Itaewon as it's almost it's own character, but I thought that they were trying too hard to be diverse and hip. If you are going to try to open up minds, then you should flesh out the sub stories better instead of going down a cliched route. The first half of the drama was so good, but the second half I felt the story sort of lost it's way. Overall though, I did like it...just wish it could have been a little tighter.

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I was hooked from the start. Yes, the plot does involve the usual drama between a rich family vs handsome main lead. The main lead, Saeroyi, is admirable. His tenacity, stubbornness, and ability to continue to persevere through all the obstacles that have been thrown at him by Jangga's Chairman and his oldest son is what eventually will win your heart. Even at times from his only childhood friend and love interest, Soo-A. She was the only other person aside from his father he had on his side. But, the more you watch the more you find yourself joining Saeroyi's fighting spirit, fighting! In addition, to an entertaining plot I think the drama added something very valuable to kdramas, a diverse cast from various backgrounds. There were some underlying issues that surfaced with this drama that weren't necessarily part of the main plot but I'm sure resonated with many viewers. Part of these struggles were faced by two of the main cast members Hyun-yi who identifies as transgender and Tony, a darker skin Korean. Additionally, two of the team members including the main lead himself were ex convicts. Yi seo's battle with mental health concerns and counseling were also briefly touched upon. I would also like to add, though I do not agree with all of the actions taken by both female leads. I truly enjoyed seeing strong independent female roles instead of the norm of the pretty girl tearing up at every other scene.
Whilst the plot is centered and focused on revenge, you are able to feel for each character as they also battle their own personal problems and lean on each other. Even with some of the challenges in terms of the business/revenge plot being a little generic this is by far not your typical K-drama. If you are looking for something refreshing to watch, this is it.

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Inizio dicendo che ho finito questo drama di 16 episodi in soli due giorni, mi era impossibile abbandonarlo.
Tutti i personaggi vengono rappresentanti a tuttotondo con le loro mille sfumature: buone e brutte concentrandosi poi su temi attuali come il problema dei coreani di seconda generazione considerati alla stregua di meri stranieri oppure il tema dei transgender. Temi questi non facili ma trattati con grande sensibilità.
Come non citare poi l’OST ? Meraviglioso davvero e inserito ad hoc nelle varie scene. Era da tempo che non mi appassionavo così ad un drama...che dire? Stra consigliato non ve ne pentirete!!!

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