Itaewon Class (2020)

When I first heard about this upcoming drama I hesitant to watch because there was a lot of hype surrounding the cast, mainly the star Park Seo Joon. I've watched a lot of his work so I didn't understand what the fuss was about. The show had not even begun and I thought it's probably overrated.

And it turned out to be true.

I like to highlight all the good points of a drama first least I be accused of bias (which I am half the time) but it's really to acknowledge someone's hard work. A lot of times we dislike dramas and then fall into a rant and I myself am guilty of this on numerous occasions but someone gave their best effort and it might not reach everyone the way they expect but good on them for doing what others could not.

That said what drew me to the show initially was the fact that it was a webtoon turned drama. I'm a big fan of these as they offer more range of expressions for the characters. You get to see them as more. For this drama the acting was top notch, with a special shout out to Kim Da Mi, she gave a phenomenal performance. Park Seo Joon continues to showcase his range and talent.

Another blast is the diversity of the cast. I loved it.

The first 6 episodes were very attention grabbing and I thought maybe I was wrong, the was definitely living up to hype but then it fell into the standard kdrama mold. The storyline was not strong to begin with but if it was told well I wouldn't have minded. It started strong then dragged in the middle then had a sloppy happily ever after ending that made me regret starting the show in the first place.

Park Sae Ro Yi (love the name) character showed almost no growth. He was practically the same from the beginning of the story to the end. The show was a span of fifteen years and it was only after an accident he resolved his feelings about his father and his love interest in a dream. In a show about David fighting goliath, that is how he reached personal growth? Doesn't count in my book.

Next pet peeve was the so called romance. The show wasn't focused on it at all and it should have remained so. It would have been better off without it instead of trying to shove a bunch of intimate scenes in the last three episodes. By this point I didn't care about any of the coupledomes. I was heavily invested in Park Sae Ro Yi's revenge. I wanted him to get his revenge and witness the ensuing fall out but none of that happened.

My Opinion

Sometimes I think the art of storytelling is dying but I know it's just being pressured under the weight of ratings and popularity which is sad. A lot of the dramas today have strong starts or interesting premises but get derailed by trying to win people over and marketing. But i keep patient because every once in a while I strike gold. This wasn't it but it was ok.

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A “ Lesson” For Itaewon Class...

Most people will probably tell you that this show is the “ most original Korean drama, they’ve ever seen” or “ the best one ever”, however, there was something about this drama which took me awhile to work out where my problem lay from a critical manner. Of course, there’s no doubt that Itaewon Class has some selling points which were tackled for the appeal of the “ young generation” and “international” viewers. This is particularly seen through; casting choices ( note fairly newcomer actors Da- Mi and American Chris Lyon) , themes tackled( attitudes to racism, LGBT rights and of course released prisoners) , fairly unique plot premise and characters as well . So, where did a show with such brimming potential go wrong? Well, its biggest problem was for once not entirely upon the acting ( this is something which I must give the show some praise for , especially from Da-Mi ‘s emotionally vibrant role as her role character Yi Seo, against lead actor Park Seo Joon’s sometimes lacklustre moments) , but, upon the characters and plot itself. The show ( based upon the titular Korean webtoon) centres around Park Sae-royi ( Park Seo Joon) who during his teen years, was wrongfully imprisoned around the same time of his father’s accident, when he is angered by bully and legitimate heir to Jangga Group, Jang Geun-won ( Ahn Bo Hyun). After being released, Sae- royi claims revenge against Jaanga Group by establishing his own restaurant in Itaewon with the help of fellow misfits , intelligent and tech savvy Jo Yi- Seo as his manager ( Kim Da- Mi), Yi- Seo’s classmate and illegitimate son of the head of Jaanga , Jang Geun-soo ( Kim Dong hee), fellow inmate Choi Seung-kwon ( Ryu Kyung-soo) transgender woman and head cook Ma Hyeon-yi( Lee Joo - Young) and Guinean- Korean part-timer Kim To- Ni ( Chris Lyon). As a premise, the show has a unique flair to it, but, I think it’s quick to become apparent that a show which focused upon the characters as plot devices rather than human beings at times, certainly has lacking emphasis upon characterisation . This cliche grew apparent when the show trickled into the tropes of revenge dramas from illnesses, illegitimate heirs to the stereotypical cliche of love scenarios between the “ older” Male lead Park Sae- royi, the “ young prodigy ,and not so innocent” Yi- Seo , the “ tangled between love and duty” Oh Soo-ah ( Kwon Nara) and the “ puppy -dog outcast” Geun- Soo. Whilst there was nothing entirely wrong with having romance in a drama about misfits, Itaewon Class made the classic mistake of centralising too much focus upon the romance of these characters rather than as individuals with personalities, pasts and lives outside of their relationships . For me, this was particularly seen with Sae- royi. Considering the amount of psychological and emotional damage he’s been through as a character since episode one, you’d expect such a character to be a realistic, cautious and likeable Male lead who is able to relate to viewers through their own painful experiences. Instead, Sae-royi is a perfect example of a “ stock Male lead” who has little emotional outburst, awareness to feelings, manipulation or any moments of weakness which truly make us reflect as viewers upon his journey. Arguably , there’s his “ romance” with Yi- Seo to make him more ‘ human’ ; so lacklustre that it’s a question why it exists in the show at all . Sae-royi seems to constantly mislead this girl with “ obliviousness” only to suddenly be falling in love with her next moment, with little explanation or reasons behind his feelings. Whilst I find it hard to fault Da- Mi, Yi- Seo was a female lead who I absolutely loathed upon so many grounds. I can understand where drama viewers are coming from to an extent by the argument that Yi- Seo is a “ strong and independent female lead”. The show made that evident from nearly episode one when she is able to “make or break “ an establishment’s reputation through her social media account and hold herself in a fight against people using her wit as well. This is also what irked me about Yi- Seo as well. She was a strong character , but she had little emotional depth as an individual. Whilst she did have some scenes which exposed more “ vulnerable moments” , these scenes didn’t truly add up with her “ sassy” characteristics at times or were truly built to expose this side of Yi- Seo without seeming somewhat “ random” and poor writing . Note the scene with the confrontation with her mother early on in the show about chasing an ‘older man’ ( Sae- Royi) rather than following her mother’s hopes for her to become a successful and independent woman. Whilst to an extent the scene explains some of the psychological reasons behind Yi- Seo’s desire to fall in love in order to escape from the planned- out intentions of her mother, there was little emotional bonding or vulnerability both with Yi- Seo and the mother who raised her, or anything truly emotional to expose Yi- Seo as a human being in this scene . Whilst I guess there is the argument of Yi- Seo being a sociopath suggested by several fans by her ability to grow on emotional attachments through her manipulative intelligence, there are scenes later on ( such as Yi- Seo bursting into tears in front of Geun- Won) which question whether this is simply bad character writing , or simply a confusing interpretation for us as watchers . I don’t usually bring in comparisons to my reviews, but, looking at dramas with similar “ strong female leads “ like Jang Man- Wol ( IU) from Hotel Del Luna or Ko Moon Yeong ( Seo Ye- Ji) from Its Okay, Not To Be Okay , brings a stark contrast between “ strong” and “weak “story writing. Love or loathe both dramas, there is the undeniable strength within both shows of a female lead who has emotional emotional depth; exposing these characters not just as “ plot devices for romance”, but, human beings as well with feelings, scarred pasts and flaws as well . Overall Itaewon Class isn’t necessarily a terrible drama, but it the epitome of recent romantic “ fad” shows - mediocre storywriting, poorly-written characters and easily forgettable the minute the watcher starts a new drama. If you’re bored and looking for something to pass the time, I’m certainly not saying that you shouldn’t give it a go , however, this isn’t a drama to watch if your looking for something to genuinely commit time towards.

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D A E B A K !!! GIVE THIS DRAMA A SHOT! DON'T BELIEVE IN THE BAD REVIEWS!

Okay, before I get into a slightly detailed review about Itaewon Class let me tell you first that a lot of the reviews I've read so far were made by bogus watchers of KDRAMAS. They're either new to watching or have watched romantic comedy genres only so far. If you don't care about a rich story and you're only looking for a fluffy romantic and funny drama, then I guess this drama aint for you. But this drama goes beyond what you usually expect from a KOREAN drama and keeps you interested the whole journey while episodes keep on getting better building up.

Itaewon Class is amazing. I literally adjusted all the scores of my completed dramas in order to accommodate my rating for Itaewon Class. Among the six remaining dramas in the 9.5 list of my profile, is Mr. Sunshine and Live -- which I consider co-top 1's. I firmly put Itaewon Class as my 2nd best drama watched ever, and it's not because it was lacking in any way, but quite the opposite. It's just that the two dramas ahead of Itaewon Class made me cry more :)

This drama had everything, and I mean EVERYTHING. From a dark-skinned character, transgenders, corrupt officials, and more. This drama tackled racism and gender discrimination at some point which are issues in South Korea. All I can say is that this drama is out of the norm.

I loved every second of this drama; as each episode goes by it keeps getting better and better. The characters were complex and character development was on point. The antagonists were perfect; they were so perfect to the point where you can't even hate them at the end. The story was rich and balanced dealing with a bit of romance and comedy, but a lot of heart-warming, sad, and hype scenes. Above all else that was amazing in this drama, the ending was perfect. The writers did a good job portraying each individual's last moments in the drama bidding them to a good farewell, having no loose ends.

Overall, this drama is a must-watch, especially for cultured drama watchers. It's hard to put all my opinions in one review because everything started at least 8 weeks ago, and my review can never do this drama justice, but just give this drama a shot and I guarantee you, as long as you keep an open mind and stick through the end; you'll most definitely get attached.

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" Itaewon Class " had a strong start but it didn't keep up with the momentum.

The main problem with the drama was the pace. The skipping forward years in the future prevented the characters from having any character development and it just didn't help the romance at all. Especially the 14th episode was just bad, as it felt like they were trying to present the current situation of the characters in a fast and furious way, editing scene after scene and just blurting out that the main character now loves this girl, out of the blue, but that's that. No explanation was provided for their actions, no background and those four years in the future seemed like they four empty years (I mean even the flashbacks that the male lead was experiencing were from four years ago or of the same day, like nothing happened in those four years). Another factor that didn't really help with the love story was that the couple didn't have chemistry. They didn't have any solid heart-racing moment either. So, them getting together was just too random and forceful.

Finally, the characters remained the same as they were presented at the beginning of the drama. We knew the bad guys were bad and that didn't really change, although, the son did have some potential to demonstrate why he was the monster he turned out to be, a potential that was never really properly explored. The big boss and enemy of the male lead felt also more like a promise of a bad character after all. He sure was mean to the main character and seriously unlikable, but, in the end, his actions were left in the behind the scenes grey area. The main character, in addition, showed zero development. He even got a bit boring after a while and felt a bit too bland in others.

Now, for the good part of the drama. The beginning was just perfect. If you like melodrama, like I do, where the main character hits bottom and gets unfairly treated in order to stand up to his own two feet again and take matters into his own hands, then you are going to love the first half of the drama. The revenge plot was very satisfying as well, with a solid ending that was nicely presented. Though, it would have been nice if they showed how they actually managed to succeed, as the first part of the drama had focused on the struggles of them setting off. Another part of the drama that was pretty good was the characters. The members of the crew were unique and the drama didn't shy off from issues like racism and gender identity. So, it was refreshing to see those elements added in the plot. The female leads were delightful too. They were strong women, the one beautiful but a tragic character, and the other young, fearless, reckless and somehow, likable. Sure, she did some questionable things, but she was young and just too full of herself, so it was nice to see how the others helped her realize that her attitude wasn't always right and to grow up. I've also seen some other viewers not really liking her looks. Sure, she isn't the classic beauty, but, for her character, who was cool and interesting, I think she was just perfect. Finally, the OST was solid.

So, overall, six out of ten.

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I had really high expectations due to the hype and the cast. I actually quite liked the first two episodes and the romance between Sae Ro Yi and Soo-ah as students and also really liked the MC's father. The series had a really promising start and did live up to my expectations for a while.

Really like Kwon Na-ra (I find her super beautiful as opposed to the other girl) and I rooted for Soo-ah although her joining Jangga and helping the old man was a huge turn off and frustrating to watch even after her intentions were revealed (to betray them and help Ro Yi).

The other girl was refreshing at first. She had very serious flaws yet likable in her own ways such as being "badass", smart and capable. She soon turned into an obsessive girl who clinged to the MC too much. I liked the crew as well.

The acting, especially the villains' in the first half of the series (old man and f***boy son) really made me hate them and I was curious to see the old man's past and thoughts. The cast's acting was good all the way through but was eventually ruined by the forced romance and shitty overall plot. The life lessons the series tried to convey at first didn't really work out due to the messy plot and ruined characters. "Stay true to yourself", "live with your head high", "power", "logic and schemes vs people and feelings". All empty words in the end.

The series was bearable until maybe episode 10 and had somewhat of a plot going. With lots of typical "drama" and twists, cliches, etc.. However, the old man was not that great of a villain anymore and eventually got cancer (lolz?) The nice, innocent but spineless younger brother got negative "development" and lost himself. He became the same as the father he hated. Older son went to jail and got out...

By episode 14, after the 4 year time skip the Ro Yi suddenly falls in love with the manager girl and changed ( staying true to his way of living and not changing no matter what was his whole character and motive). Soo-ah, despite her flaws and stupidity, was still a better pick IMO as from the start they both liked each other and she was always there for him (even working for Jangga was to help him - stupid writing, i know). She was always the second lead female but was winning for 13-14 episodes until the other girl just won (horrible writing).

Crazy older brother got out of jail and kidnapped Yi-seo and the younger brother. At the end of episode 14 or 15 MC kneeled before the old man just to save his "romance" that came out of nowhere. His character was far gone. All that vengeance, hatred and negativity was useless and meaningless in the end as he kneeled before the character that ruined his life and caused him pain for 15 years, to save his new found "love".

I haven't seen the last episode yet, but I have no expectations left. All the characters are ruined, everything is shitty at this point and the forced couple will form in a cliche way somehow. In the end, among the many horrible things, the plot, the characters' backwards development and the disastrous romance stood out as the worst things about this drama.

UPDATE: finished the last episode and everything wrapped up the way I expected it to after seeing the first 15 eps.
Things settled down and it was a "happy" ending but the previous issues were obviously still there. Soo-ah and Geun-soo didn't get the development and closure they needed.

The scene with the old man at the end was not satisfying at all and just really sickening. The old man was a wicked devil, sure. However, the MC just pulled a "I'm a business man" move and acts tough and cool after the old guy kneels and cries. From the start, this series was always full of toxicity: violence, power abuse, early death of the father, etc...
However, there was no real positive message in the story in the end. They won the war and MC got his revenge and became rich, but that's all. It's just like nothing happened at all and all the drama was just there for the sake of it. A very, very shallow approach to appeal to the bitterness and hatred in audiences.

I usually don't write drama reviews but hopefully this will be helpful to some people. In the end, if you want a drama that makes you feel good watching, AVOID this so that you don't end up wasting a weekend and also feel miserable because of how unhealthy the story and the characters became. This is a very naively idealistic story that tried very hard to be inspiring but failed miserably.

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I got the impression that the love story thread was added as an after thought. To be convincing this love affair needed a lot more story time than what it got. The writers needed to show how these two became love birds right off the bat. Instead the male lead is like a stone wall, and she is for some reason desperately in love with him. They didn't give the viewer a reason to believe that these two would fall in love at the end.

It was entertaining enough for me to keep watching it - can thank the actors for that who were able to make this mediocre story into something reasonably entertaining.

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Overall, it's not bad. I'd say if you like the characters, then I don't see any reason not to like it, as it's basically all your normal k-drama fare stuff here. Reason I'm not a big fan is because I didn't like all the characters. I really could not stand Jo Yi-so from beginning to end. I couldn't find a single likable thing about her. Considering she is one of the two main leads, I just had a harder and harder time caring about this show as it moved forward. Honestly, my feelings toward her were borderline hate. I have nothing against the actress btw.
Park Sae Royi was fine, but it all honesty nothing special. He is your basic sturdy lead who is supposed to be the all around perfect person everyone else looks up to. Nothing to dislike about him, but at the same time not super interesting. I'm probably more negative toward him just simply due to him being paired up with Yi-so.
It's nice and all that the show tried to add some progressive elements with Toni and Hyun Yi, but I feel like they could have done more, especially with Toni. For once I would like to see a foreign looking character be born and raised Korean, to stick it in all the racist faces that will only accept them as being foreigners. But yet once again they fail to do that here by making Toni just another one of these characters who has never even lived in Korea until a year previously. Nor was he even a registered Korean, which only proved the annoying Yi-so's point that he wasn't Korean. I appreciate the try, but I hope the writer can push things a bit more progressive next time, and not just what felt to me as just surface level.
The one thing that kept me going through this show was the revenge plot. It was entertaining and I enjoyed Yoo Jae-Myung's dastardly villain. And for better or worse, I did really like Nara in this, even though the show had to go and do her wrong, but she is a secondary lead so what else is new.

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At first I was very curious about how Saeroyi would achieve his goal against Janga, but as the drama progressed there were absurd situations that you could predict how the revenge would end, but I didn’t think it would be so bad.

First Yiseo appears as the savior of Bandam and the only person "capable" of turning everything into success ,I don’t know how but she did.
On the other hand Sooah , who achieved what the main character longed for. Then where is the character of Park Saeroyi ??? He accomplished something on his own ? At times I was inspired by his way of thinking, but there were only empty words at the end. ?

Not to mention the romance that was sold us in the end, Itaewon Class deserves the award for the most forced, toxic and insipid couple that you could ever see in a drama. ??

Yiseo who was already hateful at first , gets worse with her one-sided love. Her obsession with Saeroyi was so irritating to see and the way she said things to others, I even thought she was more unpleasant than the "villain" XD No joke !??

The only thing I could recommend from the drama is its decent OST !
Sondia , once again I love so much you voice ♡

My rating : 5/10 ?

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A Mixed Bag with a Dose of Deus Ex Machina.

Before I started the show, I expected a fun lighthearted youth drama about a bunch of 20-something year olds finding success in a saturation of big coporate businesses. Boy, was I wrong because I got the opposite. If you're someone who enjoys full blown gushy romance, this show is not for you. It definitely gives off an anime-risque vibe on the first few watch with its vibrant setting & flashy array of costume/outfits with a rambuctious main theme song sung by the talented Gaho. The core essence of the show is the main character's journey towards his ambition of success & revenge against the largest food company in Itaewon, J Co run by Jang Dae Hee.

The story is presented to the viewers from Saeroy's perspective as a teen boy into his adulthood as a 29 yearold. Saeroy is a socially inept adult who comes off as revering, & upright but also awkward & aloof at times, but nonetheless a calm, collective person who doesnt let injustice fly by. As a teen, he is somewhat distant to social circles due to his nature but after unfortunate circumstances, grew up to be someone of compassion & friendly. Saeroy's finer quality is that he's very patient & understanding of others. He is a man who lives with a set of principles. But his greatest attributes is also his greatest flaw which hinders his development. He's stubborn as a mule.

Park Seo Joon does a great job playing the role of Saeroy. There's alot of nuances in his body language & facial expression that doesnt rely heavily on dialogue. I dont consider myself to be a fan but this drama actually made me like him.

Yiseo is the main counterpart to the drama's story to helps Saeroy on his path to success. She is introduced as genius teen turned 20 years old who has behavorial issues & depression. She's nonchallant towards people, crude, unmannered, impulsive & reckless with a disregard to rules. Because she grew up self-absorb, so she is also narrowminded. Her quality is being wellversed in todays tech/social media & her expertise in management/business although she reads a bit like a know it all- encyclopedia. Her partnership with Saeroy as a friend/business partner is one of the show's highlighted aspect. Because she's presented as a terrible person, her flaw is her change to be good heavily relies on her love for Saeroy, not neccessarily for herself.

Kim Dami is a star. Her performance on this show has been my favorite thing about the drama. She plays off Park Seo Joon really well. Theres alot of nuances. She's a great emotional actress who cries effortlessly well. She's given alot to do in terms of dialogues & physical performance and she hits every beat.

I appreciate the heavily flawed characters since majority of them are introduced to be purposely terrible, which is quite refreshing from the usual cast of goody two shoes. The villians are fine. After or so they become a bit cartoonish & downplayed along the way but good performance by Yoo Jae Myung & Ah Boh Hyun. Kwon Nara does a fine job with what she's given with to do as Soo Ah.

I wasn’t too keen about the way the show highlighted social issues, specifically regarding bullying, mental health, sexual harrassment, anti-lgtbq, & racism. It is great that the show decided to delve into these kinds of issues especially in retrospect to todays's out look on marginalized people, depression, problematic behavior. The problem is when social issues are presented to the viewers, it isnt quite explored in depth & is gloss over in a light manner. It has potential but the writing barely scratches the surface. There's definitely psychological aspects pertaining to certain characters but it's not addressed in depth. Everything seemed to resolved by mere call outs and hollow apologies.

Overall, the characterization left something to desire, somewhat 2-dimensional. There's potential to explore the complexities of the characters. Everyone's existence barely revolves outside of Danbam or Saeroy's character. The viewers dont get to see how characters lead their daily lives, where they live, how they eat, sleep, the usual domestic activities. The writing lacked character development. The sudden growth exist to serve as a plot point. Drastic character action/change without buildup. The story suffers from a dose of deus ex machina. Certain things happen too seamlessly. The struggles/obstacles don't hit hard enough & is resolved in a short mannered. A story like Itaewon Class & its cast of characters, the show needed to be atleast 20 episodes to give everything more depth or maybe it's just the flaw in the writing. Because of the show's short span of 16 episodes, its drawn out sometimes as heavy-handed exposition rather than gradual progression.

Dont expect romance. Kim Dami & Park Seo Joon does a very great job at portraying the heartfelt moments between the two. SRY & YS were obviously two depressed people. The fact that the show didnt delve more in depth into their psyche to make it more palpable through out from have made SRY & YS much more relatable than how they were presented. YS was intrusive half the time. Im not sure if the writer intended this to be read as romantic because it is not. The codepedency is jarring. I initially liked the idea of YS & SRY as a pair more than what the show presented them to be overall. Their platonic relationship rings much truer early on as friends/business partners although Yiseo exudes verbal harassment & uncceptable behavior in the workspace.

Visually, it is a good looking show. The cinematography is beautiful. The ost & music composition is great. The show does suffer from straight cuts, which is apparent in the later episodes towards the later run in the show. Ep 1-10 are the strongest in terms of direction/acting & in writing. Ep 11-12 are fine. Ep 13-16 during the timeskip arc has glaring issues from a technical standpoint, both in writing & direction. The early essence of the show is bare & the storytelling feels bogged down. It almost reads something out of a telenovela or a kdrama from early 2000's. It's all very anticlimatic & everything is tied into a nice little bow at the end. Certain events felt contrived.

The way the show-writer handled the overall story is a mixed bag. It does have its moments but potentially to have more finesse throughout. If you want a revenge story with more grit, you might look somehwere else. But all in all, its one of the more unique & entertaining dramas that I watched with its distinctive cast of characters.

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Here's the summary of why I hate this drama.

1. Let's remember that Saeroyi's mission was to destroy the Jangga company.
2. Let's remember that Saeroyi loves Soo Ah for more than 10 years. So does Soo Ah.
3. Let's remember that this drama is a good drama. It tells us about business and marketing strategy. At least at the early episodes.

At the last episodes:
1. Saeroyi is ACTUALLY failed to destroy Jangga. Soo Ah is the one who destroys the company.
2. Soo Ah had been struggling to find the way to destroy Jangga company stealthily. (this drama doesn't tell you what, how, when, where she did it = plot missing)
3. Soo Ah had been waiting for Saeroyi to destroy Jangga so that she would be able to resign from the company and live happily with Saeroyi after he succeeding his mission.
4. Instead, Saeroyi fell in love with Yi-Seo and dumped Soo Ah, who loves him for FCVKIN YEARS!!!
5. This drama turns out to be "the story of a boss, who dumped his beloved, just to fall in love with a manager"

Conclusion:
I hate Saeroyi so much. It breaks my heart when he dumped Soo Ah. He FAILED to destroy Jangga but he got the company after acquiring it. WHERE'S Soo Ah?
The romance stuff RUINS the plot. The drama went from business-themed drama to sick romance drama.
After all, the conflict resolver is Soo Ah. Saeroyi? He went to a date with Yi-Seo.

PS. Still, I give 5/10 star-rating: 5 for business and marketing stuff. I appreciate that.

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Promising start, Lame Story. Problematic OTP

Itaewon Class started on a promising note but degenerated into a lame story with problematic OTP. Initial episodes were good. I was solidly behind Sae Ro Yi’s quest for justice . The crew he assembled was interesting.

Early warning signals:
- I didn’t care for the OTPs. I was indifferent to Soo Ah after she joined forces with Janga. I liked
Yi Seo ‘s sharp acumen but felt let down when she started being clingy to Sae Ro Yi.

- the hero - Sae Ro Yi was becoming bland. With a singular expression and singular hairstyle. After his pain in the early episodes, now it seems nothing fazed him. I can’t relate to him.

Still I labored on. But at episodes 10-14, I can no longer ignore the obvious:

STORY IS LAME:
It resorted to improbable plot devices like a passable cook winning national champion, a fairy grandma storyline, a chaebol heir so stupid he boasted his own murder to a near stranger, and successive car hits.

But the biggest weakness of the writing is absence of believable transitions. There is a cartoonish stubbornness displayed by the characters - just like Sae Ro Yi’s unchanging hair - but then bang! - they make an abrupt switch. The audience isn’t brought along in the journey. Examples:

- The unquestioning loyalty of Sae Ro Yi (ML) to his original love was caricaturish . A normal person would at least be hurt when Soo Ah joined hands with his father’s killer. But no, he’s such a saint, he accepted readily as if his love was simply choosing a red lipstick. Ok no matter. After the time skip he continues to be unwavering .....then bang! abruptly realised he’s in love with another person all along. What nonsense.

- The younger brother renouncing his family connection. He didn’t seem conflicted at all. Then bang! - one day he crossed over to the dark side. Ok.

- A badass sociopath female who became super clingy. Which brings me to...

PROBLEMATIC OTP:
Yi Seo repeatedly saying “I love you” to Sae Ro Yi. SRY firmly declining and saying no, no, no. Then on ep 14 (with a few token flashback), makes an unconvincing about face. He’s in love with Yi Seo all along! (Umm, which part of no, no, no did we miss?) At best, this OTP is cringey. A bigger issue is the screenwriter applauding borderline harassment behaviour and finding it lovable.

The only progressive element is diversity inclusion.

With the help of FFWD button, I did finish it. I enjoyed Park Bo Gum’s cameo, otherwise ending is predictable. And as for the hero? Sae Ro Yi is now hooked up with the clingy female but continues to be as preachy as ever.

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Started off boring, was good in the middle and went off the rails towards the last 3-4 episodes.

This was promised as an upbeat, youth drama. Instead what I was served consisted of some bits of what was promised with a heck lot of makjang. I think this drama was poorly written and executed. This should have remained as a underdog to riches story instead of the unnecessary revenge, crime and what-not being included.

Kim Dami stole the show. But even an actress of her caliber felt like she was struggling towards the end because the direction in which the plot went made no sense. Park Seo Joon had an ugly hairstyle and was mediocre at best throughout the entire drama. Shame, because this drama could have been one of the best roles he would have had. Kwon Nara is okay for me - never does much, but I believe she did the best to her potential.

There were some cool offbeat things about the drama like the youth culture of Itaewon and a diverse cast with issues like LGBTQ+ and racism being addressed. Some characters were great, others were okay. I feel like my time was wasted while I was impatiently waiting for episodes to come out. I won't even categorize this drama as a one-time watch. My recommendation would be to either skip it altogether or do a lot of skip-watching to get through this.

Park Saeroyi reminds of old-time self-sacrificing characters in old Bollywood films. They only live by principles and only want to be the better person in every situation, no matter how unforgiving the other party may be. Romance felt forced and the friendship focus drifted off pretty badly. Not to mention the time jumps made it all the more uninteresting.

At least the drama had a decent soundtrack.

It wasn't worth my time if not for those few good Itaewon-centered episodes and beautiful city and Namsan Tower views in a lot of scenes. It made me miss Seoul a lot.

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