Probably one of the best K-Dramas I will ever see.

My Letterboxd review:

"i will love this forever for introducing me to beloved gong yoo

as many problems as one could find with this series, my god do i love it so much. <3"

I want to add on by saying this: this drama is incredible at evoking emotion and it does so in a way that feels wholly natural and fulfilling. It's genuinely beautiful. One moment I'd be in stitches laughing, and the next I'd be tearing up and crying as I felt for one of the characters. It's really amazing and I feel that this characteristic of the show is what really made it for me.

As a side note: yes, the whole thing with Eun-tak being in high school is weird and I agree. But aside from that, I feel the show handles its subject matter with finesse and I don't think there was any harm intended in that choice.

In any case...

The cast is amazing, obviously. They have such great chemistry together regardless of the relationship between the characters. Of course, Yoo Gong and Go-Eun Kim were my favorite - not only are they both excellent performers, but they worked so well together! - but I also deeply appreciated the rest of the cast. All of them gave their performances their all, and because of that, they enhanced the story deeply and significantly contributed to bringing it to life.

Naturally, I adored the characters as well.

The story as a whole is really beautiful and led me to do a lot of thinking outside of the time I spent watching the show. I can safely credit this drama with solidifying my current perception of the afterlife (reincarnation is what I believe it could be) and honestly I thought that the way it discussed life and death was delicate and profound. I keep wanting to say the word "beautiful" as I describe this, but that's because it's true - all of it was beautiful to me. One of my favorite parts was how Dong-wook Lee's role as the Grim Reaper was explained and visualized. Simply marvelous.

The music gets an easy and solid 10. I still listen to it every now and then and find it as timeless as it ever was.

As a whole this drama is fantastic. It's definitely a bit of a time commitment but I found it to be VERY worth it. Do give it a chance because it certainly deserves it.

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This is a legitimately tragic film.

I don't think I've ever seen the dangers of the red light district and sex work portrayed in such a vivid way before. In this film, the depressing events that unfold are portrayed bluntly and directly not to justify them, but to draw attention to the fact that for the people in situations like Young-eun's, the suffering becomes regular. Everyday. Mundane, even, so much so that you have no choice but to get used to it. Because you will never be able to escape it, anyway.

I see some people say that the pacing feels stilted but honestly I enjoyed it. I didn't have to try to get absorbed in the film (I just wish I'd found a version with better subtitles), and I actually think that the jumps in time help underscore the eventually mundane nature of Young-eun's difficult life.

The acting is solid and the soundtrack, though not necessarily "memorable," is actually very good. Cinematography is normal but it does some interesting things at certain points; as a whole though I wouldn't say I was super concerned about it. I prefer to think of this film in a "bigger picture" sort of way.

I was stunned when I first saw how the red light district was portrayed. I somehow never imagined that a red light district could look like it did in the film: lines and lines of brothels all crowded together with women spilling out from doorways, trying desperately to entice men inside. So many women, and all painted and dolled up and scared. So many that cars can barely pass through. It hurt to watch.

Some other tragic elements of the film: Young-eun's song. Eun-yeong's friend and the reality of HIV and AIDS. Women being blamed for penniless customers. The fact that so many workers become accustomed to the harassment. Gil-young and Young-eun missing each other by a hair every time. Young-eun, a ghost of the present moment and her obfuscated past. The woman desperate for work and tearing at her clothes in the streets. Eun-yeong becoming like the people who were the bane of her existence, only to be torn down again. The fact that there seems to be no love for a sex worker.

Eun-yeong's unnie.

The film approaches its message from various angles throughout. Dark humor, direct and melancholic emotional appeal, uncomfortably long sex scenes, and more shocking moments all serve to emphasize the bleakness of the existence Young-eun has been condemned to until her death. At first she is desirable; then, with age, she loses her appeal in the eyes of her potential customers and has to come to terms with the fact that even here, when she is at her lowest, she has an expiration date.

I don't know if I'm doing it well but I really want to emphasize how truly bleak and tragic this film is. It breaks my heart and I expect I will be thinking about it for a long time to come.

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Interesting at the beginning, but only okay by the end.

I'm gonna try to keep this as short as possible. "W" has a really strong, interesting premise, but I feel it begins tripping itself up between a third and half of the way through and basically collapses once it passes the finish line. I did find many of its ideas thought-provoking, but I feel "W" tried to do too much and too little at the same time, and thus self-sabotaged itself in a truly unfortunate manner.

The acting was alright. Most of the cast was fine (as a side note, seeing Park Won Sang so happy in his photo in the cast list was a huge jumpscare), while the triad of actors I internally dubbed "the Golden Trio" were absolutely excellent and tugged at my heartstrings every time: Lee Jong Suk (Kang Cheol), Kim Eui Sung (Oh Sung Moo), and Lee Si Eon (Park Soo Bong), with Heo Jung Do (Park Min Soo, aka Yeon Joo's boss) remaining only an honorable mention because he never made me cry (though he sure was funny!). I feel that the four actors I just mentioned gave their absolute all to their performances and it showed, worked well, and significantly improved the drama. In fact, I felt an immense amount of respect for Eui Sung Kim by the end, as just watching his face change from scene to scene was enough to make me cry. In his case, I could fully believe he was who he was portraying, and that's without even considering that he played two roles at once... What an incredible actor.

Han Hyo Joo (Oh Yeon Joo), however... I read that she has gotten awards and recognition before, and I have not watched her other work, but man... I don't know whether it was her, the script, the directing, or all three, but in many of the scenes she was in, she was about as animated as a mannequin. (I swear, the red flags started popping up when I watched the opening titled sequence for the first time with a blank expression even as Jong Suk Lee smiled at her.) She did show some more intense emotion at some points, but I really wanted to see her get immersed in the story and yet, somehow, I didn't. It is partially because of her that I think "W" did not leave a strong impression on me.

For this reason, I almost feel "W" should have been not about Yeon Joo and Cheol, but rather about Sung Moo, Soo Bong, and Cheol. They worked great together as a team, and when the action was focused on them, the story flowed much better because they actually moved with it instead of standing stiffly and waiting to be acted upon. For someone who was supposedly a protagonist, Yeon Joo sure didn't act like one.

And so I feel "W" tried to be too many things. It should have stuck to the more serious, intense tone all the way through. I actually really like romance and am not even remotely opposed to it - in fact, I LIKE when it is included - but here I feel that the over-intense focus on it complicated the story far too much. If it was more of a side thing, perhaps it would have worked better.

The music was okay but forgettable, and having to listen to the same sad song about love in every episode actually got rather annoying. Some editing/filming mistakes were left in the final product but that's more of a minor thing. The thing they did with Eui Sung Kim's face was definitely creepy. The characters themselves were mostly interesting (with those like Yeon Joo being the exception), and I feel that Kang Cheol was the strongest of them all. I'm not one to allow myself to obsess over actors, but with how Jong Suk Lee played the role... I mean, I think I really (respectfully) see why "W" may have been the best webtoon in Korea during its runtime. I just wish they'd given him more of a purpose in the latter half of the series because on his own he WAS a good character.

As a side note, the "W" webtoon art was both beautiful and somewhat inconsistent. I wish they'd structured some of the manhwa sections better because sometimes the chapters looked more like spliced-together highlight reels than actual story episodes. Also, I somehow found myself doubting that "W" could've been the top webtoon when much of its runtime seemed to be focused only on Kang Cheol searching for - and repeatedly failing to find - the real culprit.

The series also left some things unexplained, and seemed to bend its own rules at points where it found itself in a tight spot. I had to turn off my brain after about a third to half of the way through because I didn't want to care too much about a series I wasn't 100% locked in to anyway.

In the end? I guess "W" was okay. I probably won't be rewatching this (sorry, Kang Cheol!), but I'm glad I gave it another chance, at least.

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OLD REVIEW: Had to put this on hold.

I will be revisiting this show, but I honestly found it unbearable on the first watch. The female lead was strange and the story was kind of confused and directionless. I thought the initial idea was good but then everything kept getting more jumbled and unintelligible. It's been a few years since I've watched this but that's just what I remember feeling.

Like I said, I will revisit this but for now this is a no from me.

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Best watched mindlessly, with the analytical aspect of your mind shut off.

I believe that entertainment is best appreciated when it's kept varied - when there's a balance struck between engaging with genuinely artfully crafted media and media that exists mostly for the fun of it. I'm not saying that this show is trash; rather, my perception of it is that it's at its most enjoyable when it is being watched without reading too deeply into things and looking for profound meaning.

Smile was done kind of dirty at the beginning. I understand that she's supposed to be innocent and a little childish, but... this is a plot revolving around college-age adults. The pigtails, huge glasses (although cute), and ESPECIALLY the squealing at the beginning of the series at every possibly wrong moment are all, combined, quite overkill. These traits also make Smile appear unsettlingly young considering the topic of the show and I really feel they could have been changed. Thankfully, this is only really a problem for the first handful of episodes and Smile grew on me a lot afterwards. Also, her outfits... I need them.

Liz is an interesting character, I guess, but hard to get behind because she's not really given a proper redemption arc or anything considering the mess she causes. Kyro is kind of in the same boat with her on that note (and who tf kisses someone and gets their hopes up only to then say "yeah I'm not really feeling it"? I know that's his character, but... dude). And I actually really enjoyed Badz from the beginning. He's pretty charming in a natural way and genuinely has good chemistry with Smile (Kyro's and Liz's was alright by comparison, nothing special really), so his relationship progression with her seemed natural. I also have to say that I liked that they made him act a bit awkward and dorky around Smile. Sure, he may be considered handsome, but I do feel like that added touch of clumsiness made him more endearing and realistic as a character.

I find it interesting that when it came to Badz and Smile's relationship, while the focus stayed with them in the present moment - what present circumstances are bringing them together, basically - the focus of Kyro and Liz's relationship seemed to be centered more around past (often rather sad) life events that naturally brought the pair closer together. Neither is necessarily better than the other, I just found this difference in approaches interesting.

The acting was fine, but I feel that Badz's actor - Tanutchai Wijitvongtong - shone best in his role. It's almost like he was being himself even while playing his character and it worked great. Kyro's actor, as well as the actresses cast as Smile and Liz, weren't bad, but I simply felt that Tanutchai's performance was strongest. Supporting actors also did a decent job (though I do wonder if Onnie's actress wasn't given enough proper direction), but some minor characters is where the acting got a little weird (I'm looking at you, guy who stole Liz's purse).

Will also note that the opening theme of the show legitimately sounds great and I actually would never skip it. I also appreciate that they also got people who could actually sing to fill the parts that needed singing.

Some notes on the less good stuff: I feel that the directing was a bit off for some of the actors in certain moments. They all seem to do a good job, but I suppose they were pushed for more excessive expressions of their characters' personalities (like Smile at the beginning of the show or Onnie throughout most of it).

The show also has like 6 different background music soundtracks that they reuse and while it's kind of funny, I can see that it could get very easily more annoying as one progresses through the show and has to hear the same score over and over. I also wish that they'd turned the volume down a bit on those tracks.

On numerous occasions, the show suffered from audio issues. I saw two or three scenes in which a character's mouth would move but I'd hear no dialogue. Additionally, I'm assuming they were on a tight budget or something and couldn't get boom mics or whatever because whenever characters would hug, the dialogue would get really muffled - probably because all the sound was being recorded by small mics on the actors' bodies. I'd also sometimes hear wind hitting the mics, and during that one scene towards the end where Liz cried as she performed, the dubbed-over track they used - though it sounded nice - did not reflect that she was actively sobbing as she sang. A bit goofy but still noteworthy.

And I'm still surprised they let Liz's actress just... dye her hair like that mid-shoot. Seeing her hair change from brown to black during basically every scene nearly gave me a seizure. It's crazy that they didn't even try to hide it.

Also, I'm not sure what the situation is like in Thailand when it comes to topics of sexual harassment/assault, but the writers would put moments that depicted such events in like... every episode. It was odd and they didn't handle the topic well, either. I get the feeling this was just more mediocre script-writing rearing its mediocre-looking head rather than a cultural difference, though, because even Badz did some iffy stuff like once or twice during the drama's runtime - and he's supposed to be the "good guy" lol. Just wanted to point this out.

As a final note: if any girls out there are reading this, if you have a friend like Onnie, maybe mull things over a bit. Because anyone who tries to control who you love and who makes you sign an agreement where only you get repercussions if you break it is unlikely to be a very good friend to you. There's nothing wrong with having friends who are there only for when you want to have fun with them, but I'd be wary of letting them too close into your life. They're not necessarily bad people, but the last thing you want is to have other people using your vulnerabilities against you for their own benefit.

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This drama functions as a very thought-provoking critique of the Korean school system!

It's been a good few years since I saw this, but the instant I saw the title one of the first things that came to mind was how much I loved the characters. I adore Eunho Ra; she's adorable, vivacious, and fun. I also thought her dynamic with Taewoon Hyun was interesting and refreshing. Additionally, I thought that their chemistry was good and realistic. Taewoon himself was a great character and I remember thinking positively of him.

Because it's been a while since I've seen this show, I can't quite remember the specifics of my thoughts, but I do remember being impressed by its commitment to its core focus: showing the Korean school system for what it may often be. It actually comes across as rather shocking and scathing at certain points, which I feel made the drama both more informative and more intriguing.

As a whole, I recall enjoying this very much. I hope I can revisit it sometime soon.

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Absolutely not.

My Letterboxd review with some minor tweaks (short because this show killed my will to live):

the webtoon did not deserve to be brutalized like this.

seol isn't unpopular in the webtoon lol idk what they're talking about here. and as much as i love seol's actress, this role wasn't right for her. baek inho (actor and character) served though honestly.

I would also like to add on (post-reviewing on Letterboxd) that the acting, as a whole, was good. People put work into this drama and I can tell and appreciate that. It's just that this show completely disregards the feeling and direction of the source material. If I wasn't such a big fan of the Webtoon, I doubt I would have finished this at all.

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