Island (2022)

Bored me towards the end

This is one of those dramas that would seize your attention to watch primarily because of the well-known actors behind it and the title itself that somehow pinched your curiosity. Unfortunately, my high hopes of enjoying it shrank and found the story lacking an element that would elevate the mystery. I can imagine how the story would end which should not be the case, rather the effect of the occurrence of scenes should make the viewer stay until the revelation part yet this drama missed it.

On the other hand, this drama supremely can boast its creativity and artistic aspects when it comes to visuals. The special effects. the fighting scenes, the music scoring, and the vibe of the location in making it an eerie suburb were magnificently done. I so loved the scenes when Kim Nam Gil"s knife would go back into his hand at a snappy speed. I think that could be a mark that you would always remember about this drama.

Definitely, I am not watching the continuation of this in Season 2.

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Za Plot

Is it me or the first 2 episodes felt too rushed? Not enough development of the main 2 chars, mostly Van. However they could have made 8 episodes if they developed Van a little better. It feels like second lead, however this is his and Won Mi Ho's show.
I've spent the whole "season" on the edge of my sofa, bad things happened, priest is nice, better acting from CEW than previews works, he gives kpop aura rather than a holy aura. I expected a few scenes with women chasing him just having him show them his collar, but that was a missed opportunity.
Lee Da-Hee is awesome and pretty as usually, but if they wanted 4 or 5 seasons, 6 episodes were not enough. Her mission is explained, she does stuff, things are happening to her, however Won Mi-Ho could've use a better arch: from hauty heiress to the woman with the urge to save everyone. It lacks proper development.
Back to Van: they missed to show the longing, the guilt, his miserable life without his friends. And more action.

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Nel nome del Padre, del Figlio e dello Spirito Santo

Uma história interessante, um pouco parecida com alguns outros dramas, mas conseguiram mostrar de uma forma nova. A personagem feminina é maravilhosa, o meio demônio Van conseguiu me conquistar mesmo ele sendo daquele jeito, e o padre Johan que sem dúvidas ganhou meu coração. Cha Eun Woo me surpreendeu, mostrou que não tem apenas um rostinho bonito mas atua super bem. Esperando ansiosa para a parte 2.

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Finished watching both season 1 & 2...
The first 2 episodes were somewhat boring..
But became more interesting after every episodes...

Not even getting why they split the drama into 2 seasons????
They can just make it to a season with 12 episodes though...

Casting is very good
Especially priest johan..
Started to watch the drama because of eunwoo.. But wasn't expecting this much from him.. His acting is much moree improved... Or May be he actually needed this kind of character to play.. He just did a fab job... And his insane visual..
Nam-gil was also good.. Great acting as expected..
But the female lead seem little bit off..
She could be a little more expressive.. Didn't got that depth of the character she played.
Johan's scenes were mostly interesting but feel like there should be a little more scenes..

Overall quite interesting drama.. Good sound,visual effects..
Ending gives Possible chances of another season??

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woah

I mainly started watching because of Eunwoo but seriously wow !!!!

I got super attached to the cast andd their great acting (That was eunwoo’s best work so far, he really did improve greatly) and the story was really fun imo and super bingeable.


The show holds so many cliffhangers at the end of each episode, constantly making you wonder what’s gonna happen next and I think it was all really exciting. I jumped straight into season 2 after finishing it and binged it. I adored Van and now I’m searching after Kim Nam Gil because i’m seriously getting attached to him 😭😭

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Interesting story... but wished it's longer

Found out about this drama by chance and really liking what I'm watching. Plus there's Kim Namgil as one of the main leads so that's one plus point. Plot reminds me of many anime series that involved demon slaying with people creating half-demon warriors in order to gain advantage over the enemy.

Overall, the plot is interesting and the pacing is okay. While I could see some argue that the pacing was slow, I didn't really have any trouble with that. The pacing right now was fine to allow people to know the basic setting and establishing the characters. That said, I do wish that this first part was a bit longer. While the plot between Van and Miho was so far pretty solid, I feel like the writer kinda neglecting Johan's character a bit. As in, a lot of time he was shown to be doing something in the background and we didn't really know anything about it until the last two episodes. And it felt that the involvement of the Vatican (?) exorcists was like a side plot to the main story since Van was the one mostly dealing with the lust demon while Johan not really functioning much aside from trying to oust Van from his protector role. While I do appreciate the occassional flashback to explain the origin on how Van end up being a half-demon, I do wish that there was a scene in the present where they address the issue. Especially when Van didn't become a half-demon by choice. And I wish the writers actually spend more time to explain to us what exactly is the lust demons and what it has to do with the opening line in the first episode. So far it does look like the show was making a lot of reference to Jejudo's own mythology, it felt like a shame that we don't really quite get enough worldbuilding over it.

Anyway, I like the casting. While Eunwoo was pretty cute as an exorcist priest, my attention was mostly on Kim Namgil as the emo half-demon Van. Gotta say that Van was giving off a bit of Bidam vibe that it felt somewhat nostalgic. Lee Dahee is pretty okay as Won Miho/Wonjeong. Since her character was a reincarnated person who was supposed to be a key person for fixing the barrier to seal the lust demons from running free, it was pretty understandable to see her in panic and in confusion when she end up being targeted by all these monsters. Frankly she's doing well playing a character who was suddenly thrust into an unbelievable situation. And boy, she's really good at running on high heels a lot ❤

Since I'm used to watching tokusatsu shows, I'm fine with seeing all the CGI at work in the drama. And the monster makeup were quite decently made. I have to praise the action coordination as it really pumps you up when watching the fight sequence. I like the ost track as well esp the main theme with the haunting and sorrowful vibe.

I usually tend to get distracted while watching dramas when a show try to info dump too much on the first episodes or drag the plot on unnecessary things but I didn't get sidetracked on other things while watching this drama. So I gotta say that so far the writer was doing a good job on keeping my attention on the show. I'll be looking forward to see the part 2 once it release next month.

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It was a great drama despite what all the negative people think that didn’t even complete it!

All the people that are complaining about this drama are all the ones that didn’t finish it or skipped some of it.
Why even watch it if you’re not going to watch all of it. I initially watched this bc I love Eun-Woo and have followed him for many years in his journey. This is not typically the type of genre I like to watch but I wanted to give it a try. I’ve liked anything he has ever acted in. He gets many offers so I knew he must have thought it was good enough. I loved it. I wasn’t bored at all. Maybe you negative people didn’t really understand what was going on. Every little thing was explained throughout the last 6 episodes. Every character’s back story was explained so that we could understand everything going on. I don’t even understand how they allow people in here to even write reviews if you never complete something. I see it all the time. People just like to complain!!!
Before you complain about it watch each and every episode so you can maybe understand what is going on! ?
It was awesome! Kept me in the edge of my seat a lot and very nervous for a lot of it! It ended to where they could definitely have another one. But all you negative people who didn’t even watch it may take that away from all of us that actually enjoyed it. All of the characters were great and did an awesome job of portraying their characters!!!

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Si un K-drama me dice que va a hablar sobre mitos coreanos...me tiene atrapada desde el primer momento y encima este K-drama ha conseguido mucha fama en las redes sociales, por lo que no podía dejar para más tarde el verlo.
La historia la verdad es que me ha gustado mucho, principalmente porque hace una mezcla entre el presente y el pasado. Si le tengo que poner un pero sería que no termina de desarrollar bien la historia del por qué de la existencia de los demonios ni tampoco de la secta que aparece en la segunda parte, aunque creo que es para dejar una ventana abierta a una posible segunda temporada, la cual estaría deseando de ver.
Sin embargo, los personajes son de lo mejor que tiene el K-drama. Me suelen gustar los personajes que son volubles y polifacéticos, que no tienen una personalidad centrada en un carácter concreto sino que tienen un buen equilibrio entre responsabilidad, pasotismo y, principalmente, humor. Por esto, mi personaje favorito ha sido el sacerdote, el personaje de Cha Eun Woo. Este actor me gusta aunque no es de mis favoritos pero en Island, su actuación y su personaje me han parecido increíbles y lo único necesario para ponerle una alta puntuación a la serie y convertirse en una serie muy recomendable.
En relación con la trama, la verdad es que cuando una historia se desarrolla en la Isla de Jeju es otro punto a su favor y unido al tema fantasía/mitos han hecho que la historia sea fácil de seguir y muy entretenida. Pensé que al tener una trama en principio complicada y ser solo 12 capítulos iría un poco apresurada pero la verdad es que no, que tiene un buen ritmo y que te mantiene todo el capítulo en tensión sobre qué va a pasar y que al terminarlo necesites seguir con el otro inmediatamente.

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Island moves at a snail's pace

Island part 1 really takes its sweet time introducing the characters and setting up the world.
There's only 6 episodes and they drag on forever.
A fantasy drama about fighting demons should not be this boring but it is.

The only memorable character is Cha Eunwoo's Johan and he brings much-needed humour and fun to the drama.
And Eunwoo's styling in this drama is great. Best he's ever looked in all of his dramas. I especially love the earrings.
The side plot with his brother is the best part of the drama.

My full review: https://dramatoast.com/island-kdrama-review/

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8 for potential...dissapointed by production. 6.5-7 would be a real rating

Just finished it and will go see part 2.

I gave it an 8 for the potential, but a more accurate rating would be a 7/10. The plot has potential and I hope season 2 will do better than this but I have many doubts...

What makes is not so great in my opinion(every complain is about the production):
• short and rushed: they tried to squeeze as much as they could as far as feelings and plot setting goes and because of that they failed to do something awesome
- this covers that awkward feeling I got from the characters too since they couldn't be developed/presented properly and some of their interactions are also "awkward-cringey" not in a good way
- some "buffer scenes" that usually prepare the viewer to get into the right mood/feeling are missing so it feels like one of those episode short stories where they transition in the middle of it and it makes you lose focus about what is currently happening/lets you thinking about what happened in the last scene/waiting for something more even thought there may be nothing(long story short: bad transitions)
• bad scene cuts that simply feel like a slap in the middle of something that feels interesting(even in some fight scenes, but there it might be because of the cgi/budget/ not enough filmed scenes or well thought before shooting)
• half of the fight scenes are mediocre because they tried too much to emphasize the supernatural movements and are simply "meh" (illogical, felt awkward in some places, bad scene cut/transitions/positions after a "high speed action")
• plot holes: yeah, I know it's a drama and also fantasy, but there are scenes(too many considering how short it is) in which the action taken by a character makes you wanna scream "really?" (best example would be last episode when the priest turns away and prays....REALLY???? IN THAT SITUATION??? Which screenwriter and/or producer is this dumb to make that scene so cringe and illogical? There was no reason, no emotion, no logic, not anything that would make that action have a meaning. Please watch the scene before commenting about my comment about it.).
There are multiple scenes like this and it simply screams at how this whole project feels like a homework that was well thought
and planned, forgotten and made half an hour before the class starts.

I won't say any specific details because it would be a spoiler. I want this to be read by everyone and to know what they are getting from this kdrama and that is a failed potential top rated kdrama.

Acting - felt ok, but again, because of the rushed storytelling they didn't have a chance to trully shine
Soundtrack - decent, but nothing great. Would have loved an epic theme song to be done for this like moorim school had or ar least a better work done in some scene where a better soundtrack would've made them feel even better

It is decent overall, but mediocre and I'm sad because it had a great potential.

Worth watching if you wanna see something fast and without getting attached to the characters/story.

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Its not my kind of drama

Everyone got differents taste when it comes to dramas, and this one its not my type ig. I guess thats why i didnt understand the story and got lost as the drama was developing or maybe in the 2nd season they'll answer all the cuestions I got because what was that???? 6 episodes and they didn't clear nothing... i guess the story is going nowhere.

I think the cast was so good and they gave an excellent performance, especially Cha Eunwoo which acting has gotten so much better. Maybe one day I'll give a chance to the 2nd season but for now Im not in the mood of watching more dark dramas, or maybe this drama was excessively dark.

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