La casa de papel: Corea (2022)

Intriguing & Suspenseful

I have not watched the original, but I found this absolutely engaging from start to finish. I’m shocked at the excessively mixed reviews. I haven’t seen reviews this mixed about a show I liked since…ever.

I’ve seen rave reviews of shows I’m lukewarm about (10 when I think it’s a 5), and poor reviews of shows I’ve loved (5 when I think it’s at least 8-10). But never have I seen a show that I was this impressed with range between a 2 and 10. That’s an abnormal range for something of this quality.

I can only guess that perhaps some of the undeserved poorest ratings stem from this not being the original, instead of judging this series on its own considerable merits. Based on the quality of this remake, I’m even more inclined to watch the original La Casa del Papel.

All that said, I had to come lend support through review. This is a high quality, suspenseful, thought-provoking, social commentary series that will have you wondering who you’re supposed to be rooting for, because life is actually just not that black and white.

I really appreciated the aspect that this whole fictional scenario, set in 2025, is not out of the realm of possibility between North and South Korea when money is the object and point. It’s completely feasible that the longing for reunification by the people might make them overlook what could be ulterior motives at the root.

Fair warning: There are a couple of s*x scenes, but they’re not anything to be overly offended by in my opinion, and they don’t last too long. Of course there is a lot of fighting and shooting, but nothing gory or over the top.

I do recommend this drama. I would watch it again and will. And I commend the entire cast for their very apparent hard work.

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A battle of minds

this is a korean remake of the high rating Spanish series money heist, but the korean version put a big twist that will hock you up and you will never stop watching till the end (Well that happens to me hehe) anyways I really loved the korean version than the original one... they make the story more interesting with a battle of minds outplay vs outplayed it's like playing a chess game. the thing is it's hanging hahaha that really sucks! and we will wait for the next season a lot of question floating what will happen to them will they got out of the mint, what will happen to inspector and professor, about denver and miss yu and of course how will the professor avoid the eyes of that North korean captain who suspects him... that question will be answered in the next season... i really hope they won't mess up the ending if season 2 will be the last season...

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Messy writing, even messier storyline

Review for Money Heist Korea: JEA (Part-1; Ep.1 to Ep.6)
Right from the first episode, this show feels rushed. The whole scene of the team coming together for the first time is very abrupt. It would have been nice to get some of their backstories at the beginning, to understand how the Professor found them. Although the show tried to elaborate on their stories in the later episodes, they were nothing more than a few flashbacks, thereby hindering the characters from reaching their full potential. More elaboration would have allowed viewers to bond better with the characters had their arcs been developed intricately. The dialogues were also vaguely written at the beginning which made it confusing to keep up with the plot.

Coming to the plot, it is a little convenient for various reasons and some scenes seem stretched out and unnecessary, whereas some other scenes that required more focus, that could have included other characters' monologues (not just Tokyo's) were just never given to us. For example, a scene about Moscow's strategy behind digging the escape route and how he would have mapped it all would have been a good addition. Overall, they could have dedicated a few more episodes to smoothen such discrepancies out. Additionally, the lack of female characters was something they could have made up for in this remake. But you can already tell this was written and directed by men since many scenes are depicted through the male gaze.

This show can be enjoyable for those who haven't seen the OG La Casa de Papel. I would recommend checking this out first before you see the original Spanish show. For Money Heist Korea, we have six more episodes to go, which should give them another chance to redeem and improve the storyline in some way. Let's see how that goes!

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Disappointing remake

Having watched the original La Casa de Papel, the first episode of this remake already does not give the punch the original has.

1. La Casa de Papel was shot on a low budget. This feels even lower.

2. There's no build up of storyline. The producer probably knew viewers knows the end of the story, so things gets compressed A LOT. We don't get to see how the Professor hit up Lisbon. It JUST happened. Military scene happened way too fast.

3. No originality. Having a remake is not a sin. For a remake to be great there has to be a sort of different story that fits into the cast and producing crew. Venue could be changed to something of cultural impact, much like how La Casa de Papel is based on Spaniards' economy crutch and the anger of government printing money, in real life.
But what the Korean producing cast did was make up a fictional backdrop which folks can't relate to, and to forcefully put in a Mint just so they could copy it.

4. Acting. Berlin, Denver in La Casa de Papel is an outright psycho. Professor is an outright nerd who's like an excited kid. Tokyo makes the viewer mesmerise in her sexiness. Arturo gets people's hate from the very instant.
The acting in this remake made me feel everyone is a gentleman and fine ladies.

5. My Life Is Going On, so Bella Ciao my dear remake.

In short, the remake does not bring viewers into it. Just watch the first episode of La Casa de Papel, the difference is obvious.

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