This drama was such a mess. While the first half was still somewhat enjoyable and interesting, the rest of it went downhill nonstop. Compared to this I enjoyed “Man to Man” way more, and that one was already a nutcase.
So, where to start…
If you look at the basic story alone, it’s actually a quite interesting case. I was really curious about all the new revelations and how things were connected. But the writers messed up the whole concept of “keeping suspense”. There was none. And if this wasn’t enough already, it felt like they were going backwards with the thrill and make it even more boring.
First of all, there was the constant power struggle between the bad side characters. It was chaotic and obscure to a point where it reached the level of a sleeping pill. It made you unable to get interested in all the schemes they were weaving whenever it was needed. And what made it even more tiring was the acting in those cases. It had such a monotone tune without even one attempt to accelerate the intensity or change certain expressions in the characters to make them more dimensional. I would have been happy about some independent single cases to loosen that grey, depressing atmosphere of the drama and get the drama back to life.
Secondly, the main characters. Even though I liked that bit romance they had added to the story, I was not satisfied with the rest of their behavior. Choi Jin Hyuk did a good job with his acting, but I was not always fond of his character. I liked him during his private time when he was not working at some case. Those times he was enjoyable to watch. But whenever he was doing some prosecutor stuff, he got on my nerves because he was always picking a fight with his supervisor, was disobedient and got in trouble all the time.
Baek Jin Hee… I liked her so much in Missing 9, but here she’s rather a disappointment. Her acting was boring and could have been way more expressive. She looked like a wet puppy most times. At the same time her eyes seemed uninterested in the surroundings and the dialogues and it felt like there was a child doing some grown-up stuff (nooo, not what you guys think). Her character seemed out of place. She was timid and without any confidence. There was always someone who cut her short and she obediently let it happen. At times she was like a child and very stubborn when it came to her own case. Her approach to solve that one was in no way clever and the most ridiculous thing was that she and her team displayed the whole progress on a board in their office room for everyone to see.
Choi Min Soo… He was great. I liked his acting a lot and his character was seriously interesting. He made mistakes in the past and tried to hide them, it was never sure on what side he was on, but deep down you knew that he had some good will roots. Sometimes though, he was a bit exaggerating and acting too extreme. He was on the verge of the abusing his power towards his subordinates (most of all whenever he was angry with the female lead he invaded her personal space to a point where it should be called “harassing”). That was the only thing I hated about him.
I also like the veteran supporting actors, i.e. Kim Na Woon who played the mother of the female lead. Or Son Chang Min who was equally entertaining as Choi Min Soo. Also, Choi Woo Shik was a funny character as well. He was not without flaws and it was fun to see him trying to escape the “going up against my superiors”-road every time.
Also, the father of the female lead. I didn’t like the actor in “King of Baking”, but here he was very impressive, even though his screen-time was very short.
On the other hand I was not happy with the clothing of the females in this. Call me prude, but it was totally inappropriate for them to wear extremely short skirts and do the “I’m too sexy for this job”-dance.
Overall a drama with a good start and an interesting idea. But failed pacing without suspense, bad placed revealing of secrets and a consistently grayish atmosphere made the drama a tiring journey.
But most of all: Why the hell are people allowed to prosecute cases they are involved in themselves?! And then the ending… What was that?
So, where to start…
If you look at the basic story alone, it’s actually a quite interesting case. I was really curious about all the new revelations and how things were connected. But the writers messed up the whole concept of “keeping suspense”. There was none. And if this wasn’t enough already, it felt like they were going backwards with the thrill and make it even more boring.
First of all, there was the constant power struggle between the bad side characters. It was chaotic and obscure to a point where it reached the level of a sleeping pill. It made you unable to get interested in all the schemes they were weaving whenever it was needed. And what made it even more tiring was the acting in those cases. It had such a monotone tune without even one attempt to accelerate the intensity or change certain expressions in the characters to make them more dimensional. I would have been happy about some independent single cases to loosen that grey, depressing atmosphere of the drama and get the drama back to life.
Secondly, the main characters. Even though I liked that bit romance they had added to the story, I was not satisfied with the rest of their behavior. Choi Jin Hyuk did a good job with his acting, but I was not always fond of his character. I liked him during his private time when he was not working at some case. Those times he was enjoyable to watch. But whenever he was doing some prosecutor stuff, he got on my nerves because he was always picking a fight with his supervisor, was disobedient and got in trouble all the time.
Baek Jin Hee… I liked her so much in Missing 9, but here she’s rather a disappointment. Her acting was boring and could have been way more expressive. She looked like a wet puppy most times. At the same time her eyes seemed uninterested in the surroundings and the dialogues and it felt like there was a child doing some grown-up stuff (nooo, not what you guys think). Her character seemed out of place. She was timid and without any confidence. There was always someone who cut her short and she obediently let it happen. At times she was like a child and very stubborn when it came to her own case. Her approach to solve that one was in no way clever and the most ridiculous thing was that she and her team displayed the whole progress on a board in their office room for everyone to see.
Choi Min Soo… He was great. I liked his acting a lot and his character was seriously interesting. He made mistakes in the past and tried to hide them, it was never sure on what side he was on, but deep down you knew that he had some good will roots. Sometimes though, he was a bit exaggerating and acting too extreme. He was on the verge of the abusing his power towards his subordinates (most of all whenever he was angry with the female lead he invaded her personal space to a point where it should be called “harassing”). That was the only thing I hated about him.
I also like the veteran supporting actors, i.e. Kim Na Woon who played the mother of the female lead. Or Son Chang Min who was equally entertaining as Choi Min Soo. Also, Choi Woo Shik was a funny character as well. He was not without flaws and it was fun to see him trying to escape the “going up against my superiors”-road every time.
Also, the father of the female lead. I didn’t like the actor in “King of Baking”, but here he was very impressive, even though his screen-time was very short.
On the other hand I was not happy with the clothing of the females in this. Call me prude, but it was totally inappropriate for them to wear extremely short skirts and do the “I’m too sexy for this job”-dance.
Overall a drama with a good start and an interesting idea. But failed pacing without suspense, bad placed revealing of secrets and a consistently grayish atmosphere made the drama a tiring journey.
But most of all: Why the hell are people allowed to prosecute cases they are involved in themselves?! And then the ending… What was that?
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