My first impressions were that the story was moving way too fast and I felt I was simply thrown into the situation at the moment without being given the context and past relationships.
Plus, there was a total overuse of dramatic music like soaring choruses.
As the show progressed, I appreciated the storytelling style of the writer, where we are thrown into the moment of the story, but we also get to understand the background and history between different characters through their eyes.
What I really liked about the story is how the characters shift and morph through the course of the show, in terms of their motivations and their allegiances. Sometimes I can feel that the writers are toying with our allegiances to the characters, but I was willingly ‘manipulated’ because it was enjoyable to see the characters choose how to play their chess pieces.
My favourite is probably the relationship between Kim Rae-won and Jo Jae Hyun’s characters. So complex, compelling and heartbreaking all at the same time. Great performance by both actors too.
Another thing that annoyed me about the show is the very unrealistic portrayal of the legal system and prosecutors. I am familiar with legal systems but not so much with the Korean legal system. Even then, I’m pretty sure this is pretty unrealistic. In any case, it’s a drama, not real life, so I’ll drop this point.
And my gripe about overuse of dramatic music remains. While there are definitely many twists and turns in the story within every episode, I became extremely desensitised to these twists and turns because every scene would use the same dramatic music.
Overall, an enjoyable thriller.
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