This is my 1st review on mydramalist. Punch surpassed all my expectations so I felt compelled to write a review. This is, hands down, the best kdrama I have ever seen. The shining star was the writing/plot - it was so amazingly tight, crisp and detailed and not a wasted moment or glance, that I have to say the writer is a complete genius. His characters were complex and multidimensional, and even though many of them were morally bankrupt, each one had a well fleshed out backstory to how they became the corrupt individuals who would stoop to almost anything to achieve their ends. The relentless back-and-forth between the characters and plot twists had me almost gasping for breath after each episode. By the end of the series, I fully understood why it was called Punch -- it really was like a very long, exhausting but exhilarating boxing match. (And I'm no boxing fan by any means lol). I loved the use of poetic metaphors that the villain character delivers. You can tell the actor really relished his lines by the way he rolls them off his tongue with a deliciously evil glint in his eyes. All the actors were superb – not a weak link in sight. They did full justice to the wonderful writing by just allowing the words to speak for themselves, and not overacting or over dramatizing. Given the nature of the story this could have been very tempting for some lesser actors. All credit goes to the director as well for keeping this as tight and minimalistic as possible. I loved the hero (or should I say antihero) – such a brilliant mind who could come up with the most twisted trick and pull it off against all odds. At first I kept thinking that there would be some magical cure for him -- this is a kdrama, after all, right? And then, when this looked more and more unlikely as episodes proceeded, I felt I would not be able to bear an unhappy ending -- not after all the struggles and heartache and redemption he goes through. (I rarely connect so deeply with a drama character ...I was really wishing for a miracle). His relationship with his ex-wife was so quiet, tinged with the slight sadness of "what might have been" but their truly unbreakable bond was their child and that finally ends up defining everything in his life. How beautiful and how realistic! When the show finally did reach its inevitable conclusion, to my surprise, all the pieces actually just fit together naturally and made perfect sense. The writer brilliantly chose to deemphasize the tragedy and instead focused on all the other events that were rushing headlong in parallel. After all, life .... just goes on, doesn't it? The final thing (and maybe this is the most important one) that I absolutely adored was the portrayal of truly strong women in this drama. There was not one nitwit in sight, no dolled up 30 yr old acting like a particularly dumb 13-year-old, no girl getting dragged around by her wrist like a rag doll in teetering high heels and loving it, and, actually hardly any romance to be found. The women here were REAL women -- strong professional characters, with their own mind, own ideas (gasp!), and ability to think independently and fast in high stress situations without needing to sink into a man's shoulder every 2nd breath. Other kdramas must learn from this one on how to portray strong women while keeping them sexy and attractive (after all this is showbiz). I am now checking out all the other dramas from this writer because, did I mention, he is a genius! :-). (Note : I gave a low rewatch value, because I think that once you know what's coming next, it may not be that interesting, and I don't rewatch much anyway.)