An entertaining, fast paced story with our korean Doctor House

The story revolves around Baek Gang Hyeok, our "Mr-Can-Do-It-All". He is "THE"surgeon with a history of serving in war torn areas, who can fight, shoot, is dedicated to his patients, successfully completes difficult surgeries in the shortest possible time, looks good doing it but most importantly, keeps praising himself in every epsiode. A narcisstic character for sure, but he truly does deliver so you can't hate on him either. Ju Ji Hoon in suits is a definite plus, not to mention the on-point way he executes his lines. The confident, sometimes calm, sometimes firm and other times angry, speech reminded me of Namkoong Min. His air of arrogance and the general treatment of subordinates did ruffle my feathers, but at the end of the day, it was balanced- he was a teacher through and through and looked out for his people as well.
The remaining cast was excellent as well. The cute Yang Jae Won definitely won my heart, especially with his hilarious "I am screwed", bewildered expressions that were also relatable. Our Nurse Jang Mi was a true lady boss- took no shit, calmed everyone in urgent situations and is the pillar of the entire center, earning her Gangster nickname.
Other than the main villain (if i amy say so) who got what was coming, I want to give a special hateful shoutout to that one buzz-cut Anesthesiologist resident who was an asshole throughout and desperately wanted to see punched at least once.

The story flowed well, some situations were obviously unrealistic and will make you go wtf, but you should watch with the expectation that this isn't some realistic medical drama. It is what it is but the transparent storytelling of how hospitals are profit oriented and buget cuts in important life-saving sections were highlights. Hope this gets a season 2, and we get the band back together.

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A missed opportunity

Going to start by saying, this was my most anticipated drama, and having read the novel, I was 100% invested in how it would come to life. Fantasy lore as genre has always interested me and knowing this would be a high budget drama got me excited since the grandeur, action and effects would be top notch. But, after watching, I am left with nothing but disappointment. While the show had it's highlight moments which gave me hope that it was finally getting back on track, but it veered off almost immediately making this journey a "damn it, what it could have been", rather frustrating, hence the long review.

Positive- I loved Wang Hedi as Xu Qi An. I know there were conversations around accent, but since I am not a chinese speaker, i only focused on the expressions & emotions and he definitely delivered on those. He was funny when he needed to be and serious when the story demanded it and I loved that for him. His emotional breakdown in the Chuzhou case was very well done. Loved the way he executed his one slash skill, I had hoped to see more intense action, considering all his BTS practice, but alas, that's a plot issue (and I am ranting about it below). His character and how he stands for his ideals and defends people was an instant winner.
Defintely loved the family dynamics, our little glutton Lingyin was such a cutie. The Pingyan and LinAn friendship was heartwarming to see, that entire sub plot though different from the novel was a good emotional journey albeit long. The whole Guardians cast was the absolute best as well. Ep 38-39 were definite highlights, made me cry and remember why i wanted to watch this show in the first place. Great CGI, makes it even worse they didn't use all this great CGI in creating more thrilling action scenes.

Negative- SCRIPT/DIRECTING- 99% of my problems with the show are concentrated here. Just sticking to the original material in terms of the big sub plots could have made this a 100/10. But there was no effort to introduce the Dafeng universe, the various sects and ranks among them which would have greatly benefitted viewers. The scriptwriter seemed determined to ruin the show, and the director adding fuel on fire, by introducing chracters at random focusing on making it "funny", not bothering with their stories & ruining the depth of them. The show should have focused on the action, the lore, but all the crew could think of is cringeworthy comedy. I was bored for so much of it. The original book is peppered with naturally funny moments, there was no need for this forced humour. It was infuriating to watch them completely ruin the character of Xu Xin Nian, who was SUPPOSED TO BE A SMART, LEARNED SCHOLAR specialising in strategy by making him a complete parody. They made him such a loser, all his little points of wisdom, especially the scene where he comes to scolds the king for hours which was so well written in the book, had no impact whatsoever.
I understand the need to focus on the romance angle, but come on. The unnecessary Lin An moments, did nothing for the story, made her more dislikeable as it wasted precious runtime that could have been used for plot continuity and most importantly, took away from developing Huaquing as the smart, accomplished female character that she could have been. They had time to show Lin An's stupidity at the Bureau and no time to show Heng Yuan teach Xu Qi An the Lion's roar that was a perfect compliment to his primary skill and a major part of him defeating Tianyu later. And this tradeoff is still not the worst thing. Post Episode 15, when the progress begun, I hoped the best is yet to come. But no. Major plots where the action and emotion were all just skipped over, or showed in a minute or in some cases narrated. Xu Qi An is a martial artist, the whole story revolves around his journey of developing and ultimately becoming a martial god, but all of it was deemed unimportant. I could cry at how they skipped over his heroic & emotional death in Yunzhou case which cemented his reputation in the world & showed it in one scene as just him retriving silver. His strength i.e., investigating, deleted. And was further apalled at how they cut short the Xu Qi An and Duke's battle, one slash and that was it. They completely undermined a 3rd rank warrior's strength to the viewers and ruined a highlight intense action moment? Did the budget dry up, it was literally my most anticipated scene of the show. Could have taken out that 15 mins from the unnecessary Xu Xin Nian and Li Miaozhen moment or the uncle trying to break into & getting caught by the Guardians or that seriously unfunny and long Lin An poetry plotline or the Xu Xin Nian & Wang Simu's unnecessary running meetups. And that ending summary of Wei Yuan's battle, I was going to pull my hair out. Xu Qi An and Wei Yuan's remarkable relationship, his reactions and action to defeat the Witcher Sect and avenge Wei Yuan, the grand bow he made at the end in the book all just skipped over? I would rather they have completely saved it for next season instead of doing it this way.

My hope for the next season, if there is one- Add the stupid when you have developed the plot. Don't add fillers at the expense of killing major, game changing moments.

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Your generic cliched watch, dragged in the middle.

I am a sucker for police dramas and wanted to see Johnny Huang which is why I picked this up. However, the plot didn't plot, the romance was lukewarm, the continued angst got annoying and finally, the FL's acting was the final nail in the coffin. A big struggle to complete it.

The Police Work-
ML started off good at his job, I liked he was mostly rational and not just throwing hands like the typical macho police characters. But more rationality over emotions, mr detective, please! The process of unravelling the web was well done, and I was glad the other supporting police cast had their moments and were actually intelligent and contributed actively other than just sucking up to the main character. The lady professor was an interesting addition, she was smart, had good insights but little sort-of-romance tangent was completely unnecessary and just bogged her character down.

The Evil-
The final villain was predicatable, so the big reveal lost its steam. I was just about to appreciate his way of doing things as a master manipulator and his meticulous planning, but somehow he had a complete meltdown and towards the end, became stupid af. I get good > evil, but honestly if he had really tried, he may not have been caught at all. The scars of childhood abuse can manifest in horrific ways, and this was a good example of that. Though there's no excuse for the crimes, it added some depth. No sympathies for the mother either, you "searched" and "texted" after running away and laughing away with your new family was immensely selfish.

The Romance-
The little flashbacks were cute, but overall both looked awkaward with each other. Both the ML's and FL's line delivery fell flat at crucial moments. And in additional, the FL's one dimensional expressions did nothing for her character. They probably wanted to depict a growth arc with her overcoming her trauma, but it was abandoned midway and when picked up later, felt half assed.
All the damsel in distress situations at every turn got annoying quick, and the little I pine for you looks were blah.

P.S.- As far as supporting characters go, the BFF couple were the best, as both friends and a couple. Definitely added a little light to the story.

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Korean version of The Punisher

Park Shin Hye steals the show as Kang Bitna, a judge who gets possessed by the demon judge Justicia after her death. She is a fashion star, crazy, violent and arrogant. But all of this is put together into a likeable character package, who makes you root for her brand of justice. The story revolves around her journey from being the devil who only cares about going back to hell to developing human emotions and understanding different perspectives. Bitna's lopsided smirk and crazy eyes when staring at those scummy criminals makes for the biggest highlight of the show.

Kim Jae-young as Han Daon had the perfect puppy-dog eyes that brought out the human in the demon. His heartbreaking origin story aside, but loosing another family member, the kind, tough as nails boss lady, was a bit too much. He perfectly emoted his struggle of wanting to be a good police officer but also setting aside everything and getting his revenge. I found the chemistry between the main leads to be a bit lacking, though the good looks on both sides made up for it.

I absolutely loved the ensemble cast. Every single one had stories to tell, however small, and brought depth to the overall plot. I was expecting to be moved by the stories of those left behind (was a big sucker for Taxi Driver for a similar reason), but seeing the cheery, church going landlady break down really got to me. I adored the old grandmother, i am just going to stop here, but her and Bitna's back and forth was such a treat to watch, provided a little light in between the pain.
The only major issue i had was the plot towards the end. I think it would have been better to have 2 more episodes, but make the ending, less rushed and more rational. Satan just being defeated like it's no big deal sort of undermined the story they set up, and the usually smart & meticulous J having a complete breakdown once confronted with a single problem felt a bit off. The guy just straigh up confessed in court, and even if arrogant and hateful, it felt forced just to give the families closure and justify Bitna's ultimate beatdown. I understand they wanted to focus on justice within the boundaries of law and human evil but still, I hoped there was a bit more to it.

Overall, definitely worth a watch. To more dramas where evil is punished, so people can live vicariously through them.

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Never Go Full Retard!

As someone who binge watched the first season in a day and half, this season was an absolute struggle to complete. Not my style!

The Good- I love this ensemble cast. Even the new ones who joined this season, were all in sync with the older characters (special shoutout to my girl, Bibi!). Everyone had their highlight moments and the matching vibes was fun to see (some of the time). The villains were well fleshed out characters, at least in the first half. There was mostly a good plot development in the show, the whole figuring things out and surprise reveals added that teensy "now we are talking" element to the show.
The action was well done, all the fights were choreographed and executed flawlessly which coupled with my unchanging love for Kim Nam-gil & new found appreciation for Sung Joon aka Hong Sik was how I got through this mess of a series.

Now for the rest.
I was cringing during 80% of this series. The series was expected to follow in the first one's footsteps and have it's classic comic relief moments, but this definitely wasn't it. Most of the humour felt forced, the exaggerated expressions & over-acting bogged the characters down and random "funny moments" inserts just took away from the the plot. Even during important moments that could make/break the story, there was no stopping the scriptwriter & director combo and the actors from behaving like they are high on crack which absolutely ruined the impact. There was no room to connect with any character or feel angry/bad/sad or any other emotion during the show because of the overt amount of fun. Especially the musical in between, god that was long and horrible. It could have been so much more.

I wanted to see drama & justice and all i got were stupid theatrics from the travelling theatre troup, as Nam Du Heon rightly said.

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