This review may contain spoilers
Slow but Unique
This drama has a very different feel than any other I've seen. The closest thing it reminded me of are the Reply series, except with much less goofy humor, less romance, and less wholesomeness. But it was a similarly slow-paced slice-of-life about a close group of neighbors, each of whom have their own story lines. But the characters in Yoo Na were way more flawed. Most of them were either criminals or former criminals. And even though this drama was more gritty and realistic than most, I found most of the criminals to be just as unrealistic as the chaebol heirs and boys/girls disguised as the opposite sex of the typical melodramas. In my experience, most pickpockets don't have hearts of gold like the ones in this drama.
And that leads to the biggest flaw in the show, which is Yoo Na, the second most important character in the story. The show treats her like some strong, admirable, and proud person, but I thought she was a really annoying and stubborn hypocrite. Her actions made no sense. And Ok Bin's acting was really bland and failed to bring the character to life. Chang Man, the main protagonist of this show, was really foolish to pursue her. Actually, that very brief period when he had given up on her after he foiled her idiotic plan with Tae Shik, I was really glad that he had finally come to his senses. He should have stayed mad at her and dumped her for Da Young or Yoo Na's sister.
In contrast to Ok Bin's weak performance, the Colatec boss's acting was really great, even though the character was also really annoying. But he was totally believable as a former gangster, with his impulsiveness, bad temper, coarseness, and pathetic sentimentality. Other actors were very good too.
So despite its flaws, the show was engaging and stood out because it was so different from most shows. It's a nice change of pace and I would recommend it. However, you have to have some tolerance for lots of padding. There are so many scenes of karaoke singing and dancing, but thankfully I was able to increase the playback speed like 4x during those parts. And I have to admit, I also increased the speed during a lot of the scenes focusing on grandpa axe, the dog-loving loser brother-in-law, and the adulterous painter. I would have cut those storylines down to the bone and reduced the number of episodes by half.
And that leads to the biggest flaw in the show, which is Yoo Na, the second most important character in the story. The show treats her like some strong, admirable, and proud person, but I thought she was a really annoying and stubborn hypocrite. Her actions made no sense. And Ok Bin's acting was really bland and failed to bring the character to life. Chang Man, the main protagonist of this show, was really foolish to pursue her. Actually, that very brief period when he had given up on her after he foiled her idiotic plan with Tae Shik, I was really glad that he had finally come to his senses. He should have stayed mad at her and dumped her for Da Young or Yoo Na's sister.
In contrast to Ok Bin's weak performance, the Colatec boss's acting was really great, even though the character was also really annoying. But he was totally believable as a former gangster, with his impulsiveness, bad temper, coarseness, and pathetic sentimentality. Other actors were very good too.
So despite its flaws, the show was engaging and stood out because it was so different from most shows. It's a nice change of pace and I would recommend it. However, you have to have some tolerance for lots of padding. There are so many scenes of karaoke singing and dancing, but thankfully I was able to increase the playback speed like 4x during those parts. And I have to admit, I also increased the speed during a lot of the scenes focusing on grandpa axe, the dog-loving loser brother-in-law, and the adulterous painter. I would have cut those storylines down to the bone and reduced the number of episodes by half.
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