I really like this kind of stories: about revenge, betrayals, and such. So I was really surprised to find myself disappointed along the way. The revenge didn’t feel much like revenge at all until the last few episodes. The romance was cute during the first time leap. But during the second one, it felt like everything would have worked out just fine even without the presence of Ji Won. Her character became useless. I cursed Soo Mi to death, but I’ll have to admit that her character has way more substance than Jiwon’s. But the character who really helped me endure all of this was none other than Jang Il. Yup, it’s Jang Il and not Sun Woo. Whereas I’ve always anticipated watching the bad guys go down, I really felt sympathy towards Jang Il. This character left me this feeling which is kind of difficult to explain. Perhaps you’ll know this feeling once you finish watching this drama.
The acting was great. It was nice to see different sides of the characters. The bad ones were able to send tears to my eyes, and the good ones were able to make me curse at them. I never thought Uhm Tae Woong was this good. I’ve seen him in the past, and I think I might have underestimated him then. But the actor I’d like to praise more is Lee Joon Hyuk. I’m really impressed at how he was able to flawlessly portray such complicated character. I’d love to see more of his projects when he comes back from the army. Maybe another prosecutor role, no? But he does look good as a prosecutor. Overall, the casting was okay aside from the fact that I was bothered by the age difference between Joon Hyuk and Tae Woong. They were supposed to look like same-aged, but the age difference really showed in the drama. Oh and the kids were amazing too! I’m really looking forward to Lee Hyun Woo’s projects. At his age, I’m really fascinated at how good an actor he is.
Music. Okay I had a lot of issues with this one. I didn’t like the music. It was so plain and so boring. Also, the music kind of magically fades away during the key points in the drama. I don’t know about others, but I really want hearing thrilling music during climactic points in the drama so I was really disappointed.
There’ll be only two reasons why I would decide to rewatch this. Lee Hyun Woo and Lee Joon Hyuk. Their acting was superb (and they’re the good-looking ones, in my opinion).
The story was good, but I didn’t like how they executed some parts of the story which ended up being dragging. Nevertheless, this drama is worth the watch if you can endure watching some boring parts in exchange of witnessing a beautiful once-in-a-lifetime friendship cruelly tested by painful circumstances.
Was this review helpful to you?
There are some transition problems between the teenagers into adults…it makes the time spacing a little confusing. The story isn’t one I have seen before. It has some of the fundamentals as other Korean dramas, but they are used in a different way.
Im Woong Jae and Lee Hyun Woo do an excellent job of playing the teen male leads. Their parts are crucial to the drama. If they had not portrayed the feelings of the characters in such a way that draws a person into events, then this drama would not be as good as it is.
Uhm Tae Woong plays the adult Kim Sun Woo while Lee Joon Hyuk plays the adult Jang Il . Tae Woong portrayal of a blind man is a little off, but I still think he did well in depicting a man that has had a tuff life and has been hurt many times and turns to revenge as a method to sooth his madness.
Joon Hyuk plays a man that has done something unthinkable and has slowly gone crazy because of it. On the outside he looks perfect. He struggles to keep that image and to even try to believe it himself, because inside he knows the truth. Although some people may disagree with me, I believe his character has gone through as much pain as Sun Woo. He just handles it differently.
Lee Bo Young plays Ji-Won, who is the love interest of both male leads. She is also Sun Woo’s voice of reason. She does a lovely job of playing a character that is essentially good, but understanding of Sun Woo’s need for revenge.
Im Jung Eun plays Soo Mi. This character is horrible. I think she is even worse than Jang Il . She may not have committed a crime, but her actions are of a person without a conscience. She is certifiably crazy.
The actors that play the supporting characters do a good job too.
The music goes really well with this drama.
I probably won't watch it again, but I enjoyed it the first time.
Was this review helpful to you?
Story- the first 4 episodes is the teen part of the plot and just watching these got me hooked. Shortly after when they switched to the adult actors they kind of lost me. The reason being they had UTW playing a college student aged character for a couple episodes. The time jump was also confusing. It really made that part of the story less credible. When another time jump happens after that (not sure how many yrs passed either) the older adult story of revenge is suppose to start. The rest of the episodes dedicated to that really didn't capture me because they waited to long before things got exciting. I kept watching because I wanted to see how it would all end. Speaking of the ending, I really liked the last 2 episodes. They were really well written and I was satisfied with the outcomes. I liked the way the romance was written being subtle but still prominent as well.
Acting/Cast- While the acting by all the main players good and bad were phenomenal I have to give it up to the actors that played the villains. First, LJH who played Jang Il really was brilliant because he had the hard tasks of playing the most complex character. He played borderline psychotic pretty convincingly at the same time you felt sorry for his character. The rest while cast of the villains portrayed their characters so scarily good. As for UTW, I have mixed feelings about his casting because he is suppose to be the same age as LJH's character and he definitely looks older than him. The writers needed to change the age ranges to make his character more believable. I also wanted to mention that Lee Bo Young had no chemistry with UTW so their romance turned out not to be a big draw. Her character also didn’t really serve that much a purpose in my opinion.
Music- it starts off without out of place music but by the middle half you can tell they started to fix it.
Rewatch- I’m not interested in watching this again because I didn’t enjoy watching it the first time.
Overall Equator Man is a must watch only if you like any of the actors involved. It’s not something that will be memorable down the line.
Was this review helpful to you?
I love Lee Hyun Woo and I wish he could have been SunWoo the entire drama. That's the only thing I don't like about it.
So the only reason I didn't give the plot a 10/10 is because I was confused. I was confused how long time had passed and stuff. They kept saying different times so it confused me. But other than that, this drama is like the best ever.
Also, just a side comment. There was a certain scene in here where UTW did something that was sad/hilarious. I was crying really hard, but I was laughing at the same time. I felt bad for laughing but how could you not? My friends laughed too from the way it sounded.
Was this review helpful to you?
Was this review helpful to you?
For me the highlight of the show was probably neither the revenge nor the romance but rather to parallels and storylines that crossed and tangled between the two generations. How Seon U became so much like his father, Jangil like his, and Sumi like hers was what really kept be going in this story. There were so many layers involved in all of their relationships.
Acting/Casting - I loved the whole cast. I felt they played out their characters quite nicely (especially LJH, he did an outstanding job) and for once I was quite amazed at how the older versions actually really resembled the younger versions (something that bothers me in so many other dramas when I can't connect the two ages because they look so different). My only complaint might have been that UTW did look way older than LJH which threw me off a bit at times when I had to remind myself that they are supposed to be the same age.
Music - Ha. Well. Music. Right. It was okay I guess. The first episode was nothing more than a disaster but as the show progressed it did get better and better. Still by the end, I wasn't yet convinced I was digging the music and the music queues.
Rewatch Value - Honestly, I don't think I'll ever have the desire to rewatch this from start to finish. It was interesting one time around because of the twists but honestly now that I know everything it just won't be that appealing again. I'll probably find the pace way too slow. I might go back and rewatch certain scenes that I liked (which will probably be in the first three episodes because they those episodes were honestly among my favorite...) but I'll probably never rewatch from start to finish.
Overall - 7/10. It had it's flaws, quite a few of them, but the plot and cast saved this drama from becoming unbearable. Although it felt slow at times, it was a compelling story but not one I would watch again.
Was this review helpful to you?
This drama had me on the edge of my seat the entire time. I binge watched this show so quickly it was like I watched an entire episode in 20-or-so hours.
I barely know where to being. I fell in love with UTW. Ive seen him in other dramas (The Devil) and he has never been so sexy and so passionate than in Equator Man. I thought at first the portrayal of him being blind with his eyes rolling around was TOO makjang (and I rarely put those two words in a row) but after a while I figured it all out.
The imagery was out of this world, the love story to me was just impeccable. I rarely see two characters in a drama that honestly push me to romantic motion but -- this one did it for me. To see when the main character gets his revenge feels like you are actually there.
This is an amazing drama and I suggest everyone to watch it. It needs mature viewers as there really is no comedy, nothing cutesy. Its gritty, its sad, its moving. One of my favorite dramas of all time.
PS, the OST has no words but is honestly the best one i've heard in a very long time.
Was this review helpful to you?
the story seem to be simple but it develops through out the episodes
The actors did very well carrying the emotional scenes to the viewers
The main theme in the story revolve about betrayal , friendship , and
revenge. If you are looking to a such a great drama then , don't
hesitate watch The Equator Man .
It is worth to watch over and over again
Was this review helpful to you?
Was this review helpful to you?
The Equity Man
It amplifies the sarcastic mid-2000s melo cliches to the max, something about is just endearing to watch despite its comical nature, that's why it worked back then. But this drama kept it going for too long and it started to get annoying. Some scenes were too obvious they were added to pad its length, I would say these were the worst part about the drama. These useless scene were more important than the story according to the director and writer since the story was filled with incomprehensible skips and gaps in every other episodes that each left its own problems. I'm not asking a melodrama cliche to be logical and sensible because they'll never be by definition, but at least don't go too far like that insane 13 years time skip! On another note, Han Ji Won was pretty useless despite being the FL, little to zero contribution before or after the blindness episodes. One last thing, I wasn't a fan with anything they did for the last episode. The drama gets an extra point for the skewed morals.Was this review helpful to you?
