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Cruel City korean drama review
Completed
Cruel City
5 people found this review helpful
by Sirenas
Sep 27, 2020
20 of 20 episodes seen
Completed
Overall 7.5
Story 7.5
Acting/Cast 7.5
Music 7.0
Rewatch Value 6.5
This review may contain spoilers
Oh how I so wanted to give you a higher score because of so many things you did right.

This is one of my favorite types of crime dramas where it dives deeper into the belly of the underworld politics. Not portrayed as just a world of rotten villains, but realistically as those who have a different way of life, either by choice or just by rotten fate. And whether you're wearing a uniform or managing politics of the illegal, the concept of human bonds, greed, and selfishness are the same.

Let's start with the positives:

Clapping my hands to the many awesome characters and actors who've played their roles. Particularly our main lead, Jung Kyung Ho. Who knew I would develop yet another in-the-moment crush on you since I saw Prison Playbook?

You know the plot works when you find yourself falling in line with the lead's shoes, watching as he painfully peels away at layers and layers of betrayal, never knowing can be trusted and who can't.

Now the negatives:

I wish they had written out Yoon Soo Min completely. Her character was implanted into the plot poorly from the beginning all the way to the end. She was a bratty, confused, mental case who thought the world revolved around her and was seriously undeserving of the feelings she received. She wouldn't have been so detrimental to the series if she hadn't dragged down many of the strong players around her. I was slowly losing approval of my favorite characters because of how they were "impacted" by her. Ending up skipping the majority of her screen time unless it actually added to the story.

While the overall plot was well-done as mentioned above, it does start to get a bit messy towards the last few episodes and the ending was a bit of a disappointment. It was as if they lost their energy due to the earlier intensity and wrapped it up quickly so they can take a nap. Also, why do so many series make it so obvious that someone is about to die with misplaced build-ups of dramatics?

I would still recommend giving this a watch because the positives it does have, is done better than many. And if you aren't as bothered by Yoon Soo Min as I was, you'll enjoy it that much more.
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