Lazy

Soulless and dry. Not a good office romance. All men were creepy and cringe while women were selfish and entitled. Not to mention the dead chemistry with all of the three couples. The story was practically dead on arrival. Painful progression and dreadful execution.

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Better than season 1

Regarding season 1:
I found it to be very flawed from all angles and it only served as a learning experience for those who carried on with the second season. Its portrayal of a cult lacked a compelling thematic foundation, opting instead to draw inspiration from cheap rip-off D-grade movies themed around cults. Where cults are extremely over-dramatized to the point of crossing the supernatural territory. The cult apparently possessed super powers of hypnosis with only a few words spoken, even towards people who weren't perceptible to religious and spiritual beliefs. Everything surrounded the cult came off as cartoonish even within the context of a 'drama'. The narrative itself struggled to carry its own weight, particularly as it primarily focused on the perspectives of the outsiders. It always felt as if it was building up towards something bigger but it never got there. For a 16-episodes run, it needed a proper world building and foundation for the cult. Establishing a distinct "character" for the cult would have provided a stronger identity. Back to the outsiders, having the drama led by teenage characters was another weak aspect of it. Bland and cardboard characters. The mystery element was a crucial part of the drama yet it was lacking and under-delivering. The first season would have fared better as a standalone one-off movie rather than a drama. It doesn't make any sense why the drama was rated this high, according to MDL standards, especially when season 2 effectively addressed most of the issues with the cult and delivered an overall better package!

Regarding Season 2:
It managed to deliver a much more compelling package than season 1. The most important part is that it handled the cult theme properly. The characters and the cast were a lot more appealing than season 1. Having a more adult leading characters rather than teenager was a plus. Uhm Tae Goo was a perfect casting choice for his character. The story had a better and more natural progression than season 1. However, it got sloppier the closer it got to the ending. Speaking of the ending, it was a bit underwhelming and not as grandiose as I hoped it would be. Second season should have been a stand alone drama unrelated to the first one, not even in the name. If you don't feel like watching two seasons then you can ignore the first one and just watch the second.

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Driest music-themed drama ever...

Do I Like Brahms? No. While the scarce music bits sprinkled throughout the drama were great, yet, this is one of the worst music themed drama. The relationships, despite being the main focus here, proved to be detrimental, leading to a catastrophic downfall of the entire drama. The amount of brain worms these characters were ingesting was unprecedented. This is a 16 episodes drama that was purely driven by the characters self-sabotaging themselves constantly in the most pitiful and mind-boggling manner imaginable. Even trashy soap operas can be more fun. Going back to the music, I couldn't feel the cast's passion while performing, under-delivering on the music part again. You better off close your eyes and imagine. Even then, I believe there was a total of 5 very short performances for a drama themed around music!! Honestly, you're better off to go watch some classical music on YouTube. This is the writer's first full feature drama and I'm not looking forward to see more of her works at all.

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Shit

Sometimes there are few selected dramas that shouldn't even be submitted to the network for approval and this is definitely one of them. My soul has been drained out from this abomination and I don't feel like writing too much. It's impressive how one writer can fuck up this hard. It takes a talent! This drama is classified under "rage bait kink" and "fucky wucky ending" labels, it's manufactured that way. This drama is a waste of carbon emissions. If I'm not clear enough, you're very much highly recommended and advised to absolutely turn around far away from this cancerous tumor.

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Who in their right mind made this awful soundtrack at the ending of each episode? Who thought making a mix of violin and dubstep would be a good idea? Have mercy on my ears!! My biggest problem with this drama is the pacing. It took about 20 episodes for the story to be fully set up but it turned to an awkward slice of life fighting inside the kitchen with minimum development related to the culprit identity until the last chunk of episodes it picked itself up again. The cast was fine but both female leads were lacking in many areas. Both in regard of their performance and character writing. Anyway, not a fan of the ending either.

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Okay....

Keep in mind this is a sitcom not a drama, well, kinda. Just like any other sitcom, the comedy is what makes it or breaks and it's the main focus or so I thought. The first half was a proper sitcom with lots of jokes but the 2nd half kinda turned into a regular family drama focusing on the characters and keeping the jokes to absolute minimum. A handful of episodes would pass without a single joke, I completely forgot it was a sitcom in the 2nd half. Also, the 2nd half shifted the focus to the younger couples mainly, you barely got to see any of the elders. I'm not sure why they took it that direction, the writer was probably changed if I had to take a guess.

I enjoyed the first half for what it had to offer but the second half failed to hold my interest. The characters and their stories weren't mature enough to compensate the change of genre and direction. Whenever they had some bloopers at the end of an episode it was always funnier than the episode. FYI, the drama had no canned laughter.

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What a joke...

This drama is without any doubt the worst 'TV Novel' drama from KBS ever. Awful from start to end.

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Let's state the obvious, the drama got a fantastic cast all of them bounce off each other smoothly. There was a great chemistry flouting around and everything fitted nicely. However, the story/writing was problematic and I almost feel I can't complain about how it was because that's what was popular back then. Even though I liked the setting and the premise. There was a lot more to be done with it instead of just roaming around. The saddest thing about the drama is how lonely and estranged Moo Hyuk always remained despite having people around him. Anyway, it's worth watching for the cast and vibes alone.

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To polish a turd

They tried to sprinkle in some fake scripted bland romance in the beginning but they forgot to add the chemistry to the mix and develop it gradually, so it ended up being too delayed to care about. The same thing can be said about the mystery once it dwindled, like it lost its mojo in a heartbeat. The trend continued until the end without ever recovering. To put it simply, the story was dead on arrival from all angles and salvaging it was near impossible. As if that wasn't enough, we had to endure it for 18 episodes. Which leaves us with the saddest part, the cast, specifically the leads. What a fine collection of disappointing soulless performances. I guess FL was kinda passable to a certain degree but the other trio boys were a lost cause.

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Lost in Translation

Unfortunately, the drama wasn't as it appears on the surface. Presumably, it was set in China with most of the cast being Chinese, meanwhile the Korean main lead was more of a sidekick and a clown in the story. Although there was a little bit of change but the writer didn't put in the effort to work on his character. Aside from the initial premise of the plot, up to being scammed, the drama got stale and they began to introduce love interests at every down time. That was why they forced the Korean ML to get a love interest so he doesn't fall behind, even then, it fell short and uneventful. I would much prefer if they worked on his character contrary to how he was presented earlier in the story. The story progressed and ended in a very old fashioned Chinese way in delivering lessons and such. On another note, I liked some of the unexpected scuffness like the boom mic peeking on top of the frame.

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Ride or Die!

Another agonizing project reminding me how much I miss Choi Jin Shil. May she rest in peace. This drama was a real wild ride for all kinds of reasons. Right from the beginning you will notice the gigantic production value, one of the main reasons was their official sponsor Hyundai who funded it for more than 1.6 billion won (3.5 billion won today) in production costs, not to mention the provided cars, factories and locations in the US. It didn't come as a surprise since this was during the economical boom in the 90s, they were swimming in gold. They were even throwing some shade at Honda for sending industrial spies. In reality, they wanted to beef with another company but they didn't want to generate bigger controversy. I don't remember any other drama doing such a move! More on the production, copyright laws didn't matter back then so it was no surprise they had tracks by Michael Jackson for example. Speaking of which, the soundtrack was so damn good especially with the jazz pieces, it's also the same composer who worked on Sandglass (1995). The scenes that were attached to these jazz pieces were interesting, dramatic and theatrical.

The drama stood out as a compelling piece that combined powerful storytelling with deeply resonant themes, making it a memorable experience. It traced their journey with authenticity that felt raw while exploring the conflict of ambition, resilience, and the human spirit. There were a handful of diverse characters each one brought something unique to the table, their intertwined relationships were equally interesting as well. Visually, the drama captured the essence of the mid-90s, with its gritty urban settings and evocative cinematography enhancing the storytelling. It also had some wild scenes on some views and depictions, including violence and two sided racism in the US, extreme misogyny and other socio-political spectacles. It would've been absolutely wild to see this coming out today.

Nonetheless, not everything was sunshine and rainbows, the drama had a few hiccups that held it back from achieving true cinematic greatness. The drama had a cruel side to it with how it killed some of the characters, merciless and unexpected. The narrative had an interesting blend of drama and introspection, highlighting the challenges faced by those striving to achieve their dreams against all odds. However, there were major gaps in the narrative with some of the characters and events. Some decisions and directions in the story didn't fit the overall view of the drama. Additionally, although there were a handful of repeated flashbacks but these weren't too offensive due to the accompanied soundtrack and the general 90s vibes. One last thing, I really wish the drama had more dialogue in the last episode with a better wrap up to other key characters (especially and specifically Choi Jin Shil character), it deserved a better refined and fine-tuned send off. Despite its imperfections, the drama was a great watching experience.

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Another Bait & Switch

Well, this was a bit refreshing, initially. The drama had a good run throughout its first half with a solid setup around the character Young Shim and her drawn character Youngsim. It allowed for quite a few of funny scenarios and bits. Song Ha Yoon did a great job in bringing the erratic nature of both Young Shim and Youngsim to life. However, the drama dipped hard in the realm of mediocrity around episode 6, turning the drama into the most bland and generic displays of soulless cliché romcoms. Forget everything the drama built up earlier on. The female lead life story was built on her father's character Youngsim and her erratic personality but that was abandoned. It's really unfortunate for the wasted potentials it initially had.

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Run, detective! Run!

The drama shouldn't have been split up into 2 seasons since it was a one big continuous story. This split created a few more problems along the way. Some of the baddies cast members had a clearer split between both seasons, focusing on a few of them each season despite having one grand story. This created some coherency problems and made it feel disjointed. Personal stories, relationships and side characters had an unequal amount of focus between both seasons. A case in point, the ML's daughter/family had only some focus in season 1 while being completely absent from season 2 (aside from 1 flashback) which took away from the ML's character and drive. Especially when his entire character was built on the ghosts haunting him from his past. The focus shift was exactly the opposite with Lee Sung Ah between both seasons. Anyway, enough about jumping between seasons. The cast members brought a good performance especially our leading shadow detective. I really appreciate the production not turning on the beauty mode on for Sung Ah & Joo Hyeon. You can see the pressure and exhaustion their carrier put on them over the years. The cinematography was good for the most parts, especially with scenes involving the detective alone, but there were some dodgy shots here and there. The story was well written with a decent pace to match the suspense. The thriller and intrigue were blended nicely with some nice action scenes. However, the last stretch of the story got a bit weak and disorganized after building up the story for a grand finale. Also, some overdramatized deliveries ended up backfiring, making important scenes less impactful. The introduction of the last episode was good, as well as that dream sequence. His speech about him wanting to stop running while reciting his past was the most memorable moment in the drama. If that wasn't enough, the very last scene was the cherry on top to tie it all up.

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Theft At Dawn

While I appreciate its shorter runtime of 10 episodes but I wish it was even shorter for a tighter package. Some side plots didn't fit the narrative and were a mere distraction, such as the female lead's friends personal affairs, not even a good filler. The middle parts were filled with padded sequences. It took a long time before actually getting into what the synopsis describes. From this kind of plot around embezzlement, I would expect somewhat a smarter play and a deeper plot but the drama kept things mostly at a surface-level and borderline making stupid mistakes intentionally to create some tension and invoke a reaction from the viewers. I really like what Kim Seo Hyung has been doing in the past few years, leading projects of characters that fit her are infinitely better than older supporting roles. Anyway, the drama may not rank high but still offers a decent viewing experience for those willing to explore something different.

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Real Estate Scam

As per design, this is the usual love square quarrels from the 2000s, following the blueprint precisely but with one major unforgivable flaw. It's expected from this formula to have a loose story not adhering to reality, common sense or logic, in one way or another it blends and enhances its entertaining value to push forward the narrative and dynamics. However, this drama went beyond what the viewers may deem passable in that regard with how they snowballed the setup involving the FL's friends, and her friends existence in general, pure atrocity. I refuse to believe that the writer spent more than 1-2 minutes thinking about the initial setup. Admittedly, the cast is what kept it alive and watchable, from the main leads to the elder cast, absolutely excluding the duo friends. The resolution and the romance in general felt quite distant from the characters, probably because they held it off for too long before establishing a clear communication between the leads which only happened in the last episode. Overall, the drama was just alright.

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