9 Desaparecidos (2017)

This drama is an interesting examination into the question: "What if a drama was created purely for the purpose of trolling its audience?" Let me just say, regardless of my general distaste for it (more on that later), I'm actually grateful it exists and was attempted. Do I think it was a successful attempt? ....Uhhh no. But there's enough brilliance in here that I think if someone was to know what they were getting into and had ZERO expectations (also if they were a forgiving drama-watcher), they *might* like the journey.

It starts off with EXTREMELY stereotypical characters that have no real depth to them, plus there's so many people in the cast that at times its a bit discombobulating. But probably its greatest strength is evolving these stereotypical characters into really well-rounded and likable characters--especially the leads. Their group connection as the drama progressed really rang true. The female lead is such a strong character throughout and it was brought to life brilliantly by Baek Jin Hee, her dynamic with Jung Kyung Ho's character felt EARNED and was a wonderful portrayal of pure friendship. Jung Kyung Ho in particular really impressed me; his insistence on seeing the best in people, his dedication to the group, and just how he executed this character was great. He also had some really great moments with Oh Jung Se's character. I loved how their connection/friendship manifested in some extremely funny and laugh out loud moments throughout the drama's entire run.

I actually REALLY loved the comedy and parody on drama cliches that were sprinkled in throughout this drama (aka the slight trolling). I honestly wish it focused MORE on that because that's when this drama went to really interesting, human, and heart-felt moments oddly enough. When it wasn't taking itself so seriously, those were the moments where I sat up and thought, "Huh, that was actually quite clever." Unfortunately, most of the time it focused on REALLY serious and scary stuff with the approach of absolutely NO logic whatsoever--it's biggest (and fatal) flaw.

It felt like you were CONSTANTLY waiting for the shoe to drop on these characters with really predictable outcomes. I would have been fine with no logic if it was interesting and also unpredictable throughout, but it wasn't. You could easily tell when something was going to go the survivors way and when it wasn't--I also saw all the twists that happened about a mile away. It was never surprising, but ALWAYS frustrating. Frustrating in that they kept siding with and forcing these characters to be around a character that was an absolutely TERRIBLE and UNFORGIVABLE human being. I give MAJOR props to Choi Tae Joon; he really shined as the villain in this drama in a role I'm never-ever going to forget. But it's MADDENING how his character was handled and I completely understand the people that down-rated this to a 1 or 2 for simply that reason. I understand that the drama was trying to play off the bond between Tae Ho and Joon Oh's characters, but it crossed too many lines to be believable. Delving into details would go into spoiler territory, but I'll just say that the ending is a pure WTF moment. I legitimately thought for about 15 seconds that the characters were all in a psych ward and that the entire drama that came before it was just their made-up 'story.' O_O ....THAT would have been brilliant and understandable. ....Unfortunately, that's not how it ended.

This is truly and honestly the weirdest kdrama I've ever watched. I ended up rating it higher than I thought I would (I gave it a 5.5 rating), but unfortunately its uniqueness and great leads couldn't save the script from the individual(s) responsible for......this. o_O

Leia Mais

Even though people either enjoyed or hated this series, I thought it was a decent series. Missing Nine wasn't the best nor the worst to watch and just to watch in your spare time to spend some time.

The story was a bit blunt. I especially liked the first part in which most of the footage took place on that deserted island, however back in mainland Korea, they stretched it too much in my opinion to finish that total of 16 episodes. However the acting of the actors was quite good to outstanding with some nice OST attached to it.

And what happened to Park Chan Yul as Lee Yul? It felt like he was completely forgotten until that last reference in episode 16, which was a bit disappointing to me.

Leia Mais

Ugh, missing nine! This was a really good drama, until the ending ruined it. That and some other little parts. The story is pretty good, as it wasn't the typical romantic comedy. It was rather thrilling to watch how the story developed till the final episode. However, in the end, many things were left unanswered. Like, the romance never got to be "finalized" and left you thinking if they were actually attracted to each other or not. Or the murderer case, as everyone seemed fine with it. I mean, they were kind of all calm about the whole situation even from the island, where none panicked over the fact that a serial killer was among them. And there is the whole Yeol case. I'm not a fan of the idol, but I did wait to see if they found him or not. At least, it would have been nice if there was some closure to that one. But those were the actual negatives of this drama. On the other hand, it was very intense watching it. The performances were great and you could sympathise with the victims or feel rage with the villains. So, solemnly because the ending left many questions unanswered, I'm rating this drama 7 out of 10.

Leia Mais

"Missing 9" was a very random drama and had his dark, dramatic sides and comic ones. I think the comic one should have been erased, ok, without them the drama would have been too dramatic, but people are in the middle of a serious situation... how can they joke around? For me, in episode 9/10 the drama turned bad and here's why:
The drama has two "stories":
Story 1: The one from the present, about Bong Hee recover her memories and finding new survives.
Story 2: The one from the past, when they are lost in the island and try to survive.
Without the story 1 the drama could have been better, like, just a survival drama. Things in the beginning were awesome, and I was hoping that the drama was going to be one of my favourites, but no, in episode 9/10 things got bad. The writer was putting unnecessary things into the story...and making the viewers frustrated. I think 16 episodes is too much, they could have done a good and short drama instead.
I really liked the characters and the acting, I watched Choi Tae Joon in "Suspicious Partner" and then seeing him in a role like this...wow...daebak...I liked the lead girl too (Baek Jin Hee) she was strong, smart and determined. About the lead guy (Jung Kyung Ho), he had some powerful acting, he was the “comic" character and also the "leader". Like I said, the “comic” part could have been erased. Choi Tae Joon played the villain, my favourite character, he was so human. He represented the human being realistically: he was saving himself and doing what he could. This is a real villain!
The end: I like it, and I dislike it, it was too "kind", I can't say too much.
I will rewatch this for sure, but just until episode 8, because the start of the drama is awesome.

Leia Mais

I gotta admit, it had a pretty great start. Like it was so amazing, intriguing and addictive the first few episodes. But then what happened?! I'm not saying it went like downhill or something. It just somehow fell flat ever since a certain thing has been revealed. There was kind of no point from then on. I gotta be honest though that I appreciated the sense of humor, the somehow love story was cute and the cast and I don't regret watching it one bit, I'm just saying it it had room for improvement and so much potential that I don't know where it went. I would recommend it though but only to someone I know would enjoy this kind of drama.

Leia Mais

I found Missing 9 to be just the drama I was looking for after having watched quite a few super happy and deeply romance based dramas. It kept me engaged and wanting more the whole time. It had many twists and turn that are completely unexpected. The story was pretty good and was upheld itself well. I liked that they didn't just shove all the information about every character at you at once, they slowly added upon it each episode with flash backs.
NOT A SPOILER!
The only part I was disappointed about was the ending. I was the most random thing ever. It just didn't fit well with the rest at all and then the main love interest I found my self shipping never really happened. What?!! It was just so weird, but the rest was great and the ending is the only part that really takes away critical points for me from my rating. I watched this drama in a little over two days. The storyline just hooked me in and there was no escape. Anyway, many parts left me in shock and I can see myself re-watching this with a friend who hasn't seen it before just to see their reaction to plot twists that left me shocked.

Thanks for reading my review if you have gotten this far. :)

Leia Mais

Missing 9 or probably one of the most promising dramas of 2017 starring a star from EXO, talented actors and giving you hope that you'll love the thrill after reading the plot description. People were majorly disappointed and felt that they've wasted their time. However, I'm here to defend the drama by saying that it was really entertaining and left me on the edge of my seat all the time!

Rule no.1 for me in the Korean drama world is to never take anything seriously. Plot - superb, even though with many plot holes, but still excellent. Many people compare it to Lost, I see so many similarities, but these are two completely different dramas. The way Missing 9 was so unpredictable and unique was also because of the ever-changing genres: suspense, adventure, mystery, romance and especially comedy in random scenes. Feed me anything romcom and survival on the island and I'm good to go. Personally, my favorite thing about this drama were the two timelines and how each episode would skip back and fourth to complete the puzzle. In addition, I've read so many conspiracies related to this drama so that made it so such more amusing to watch. That beige clothing sepia conspiracy - blew my mind away! Speaking of clothing, I really loved the fashion in this drama. Bong Hee's overalls - a fashion statement! Not only was her fashion top notch, I really adored the strong and cute lead female character. Other character wise, all of them had their charms. I still stick to the main couple, I loved their chemistry and bonding on screen. Also, I would've loved for the director-nims to give Chaneyeol more screen time, c'mon! The OST was not that strong so it didn't leave a strong impression. And now time to discuss the ending (without any spoilers, of course), which terrified all of the viewers and made them curse at the drama. In my opinion, it was unexpected, unique and shouldn't be taken seriously. You can interpret the ending however you'd like. I just thought it was a great way to end it on a light note.

So please, don't drop the drama if you see negative reviews or certain plot holes start to come up in the episodes. Rather, focus on the characters, how their psychology is shaken after a huge accident and how they deal with their problems while trying to stay humane and reasonable.

Leia Mais

Missing 9 won't be for everybody. It was for me and then it wasn't anymore.

I guess I still like it a lot because I appreciate that the drama kept my interest the whole time. I wasn't bored, and I didn't skip. Since suspenseful dramas stress me out quite a lot, the frequent comedy here kind of put my heart to rest, mostly when needed. In my opinion, though, this is also it's weakness. The comedy was out of place most of the time and when you just thought something really big happened, they just took it away with silly music.

Story:
The story overall was good. It wasn't the best in my opinion and pretty predictable in an unpredictable way (when you know what I mean) but at the same time fascinating. At some point, I just thought that the writers tried too hard to lay every possible difficulty in their way, and it got a bit annoying. Also, if you are looking for romance, there isn't really any. I mean it does seem like it, the whole time, but the romance plot is more like an anti-climax.

Acting/Cast:
The acting was great. Everybody fitted very well into their roles. There were some roles, I found a bit annoying and at some point I wasn't sure if it was the actor's acting or the actual character that made me cringe. Overall, I don't have anything I didn't like about the cast.

Music:
I don't even remember the music tbh, I know, that it was used to lighten up scenes a lot, and it was used for comic relief.

Overall:
Missing 9 is a good drama. I don't know if I would recommend it, though. It's something you have to stumble on by yourself. Personally, I also think that since I watched it weekly, it kept interesting for me. Probably not the best drama to binge-watch.

Leia Mais

Inconsistent but really fun

I avoided this drama for the longest time because of poor reviews. I honestly was a bit shallow wanting to watch it because I thought the guy was cute, but everyone was so against it I kept putting it to the very back of any consideration. I later heard that it got stupid/ridiculous toward the end. Then when I was busy and wanted something light and stupid, it happened to be available on Tubi and things just came together.

Within one episode me and my boyfriend were surprised at how much we liked it. It was stupid and ridiculous but I also adored the actors (most of them), the cinematography was great, and I really was invested in the plot. Yes, it's not a gritty, realistic take on Hallyu stars getting marooned. It started ridiculous, got a bit serious, got ridiculous again, then got serious and, ended ridiculous. So I can see why some people didn't like it. But for me, the changing tone wasn't too much of a problem. It kind of irked occasionally, but generally, I was fine with it, and the characters were so lovable that I didn't really care. I really, really shipped the romance, so I can also see the disappointment with that. But with how she looked at him, I'll just imagine what happens after.

This is not the drama to watch for something dark and realistic. This is some out-there, silly, crazy, violent, and just generally fun drama. If you don't want a completely soul-crushing drama, or something absolutely cutesy, I think I'd recommend it. It delivered for me and my notoriously hard to please bf, so I think that maybe it's worth a shot.

Leia Mais

Messing 9

I'm not sure how the drama intented to advertise itself when it was airing, but if it was aiming as the survival kind, it may have mislead a lot of people. And indeed, this is the kind of drama where your expectations are not going to be met.
It's not even trying, in fact, and it's not exactly a bad thing : it's an author privilege to get his story take the path he dreamed of (assuming he's not under any useless external pressure). Considering this, only viewers that do not expect anything specifically will get a bit lucky watching this drama, and will be rewarded with something close to a light novel, a comedy/crime story of sort.
To me, this is where the drama falls a bit short : it was not crude enough, not serious enough, and way too focused to please a larger audience (which, as it regularly happens, could be more the production fault than the authors, obviously). While it made the drama easy to watch and understand, it can also create plot holes, unrealistic scenes, inappropriate filming and overall a whole lot of others mistakes. It's not that bad, actually, but again this is where expectations are going to be crushed for the sole benefice of a wider viewers reach.
And this drama had good and strong points too. But a bit strangely, there were not exactly pushed further and stronger.
Romance, while sweet and surprising, never exactly reaches a peak.
Suspense gets cut short, revealing way too many clues.
Dialogs were snappy, until dragged down with some mediocre punchlines...
So, basically, Missing 9 is a kind of a little mess. But it's also a kind of an enjoyable little mess. This drama is not going to be hard on you, but don't expect it to be exactly unforgettable either. To me, that's the major weakness of this drama : while there were some real efforts, for which I'm grateful, in making this drama, I feel like it didn't hit us hard enough. Thus, a 7.5 rating here in this review, with some encouragments to actually watch the show.
But come on, all drama creators ! You can do better. Fight for your stories, don't underestimate us. Hit us with all your might. We can withstand anything.

Leia Mais

this started really really really good!! at first I love it so muchhh, I really love disaster survival kind of genre and this one, plane crash and deserted island is so unique to me (as there is no other drama with the same setup). And since there is 2 timeline, I even find the present timeline annoying cause I only want to watch them surviving. Ugh I love itt!! oh and btw I thought it will be some serious heavy dark drama but it's not. It has lots of funny parts in it especially the two main characters, seo joon oh and bong hee. but sadly it last up till the 11th or 12th episodes :( after that it went downhill. there is switch of genre, which i don't mind honestly. but the could have done better really. and the most disappointing one is the ending. like after all those hardships they end it just like that? especially for choi tae ho. ughh this drama really had its potential but since I love more than half of the drama, i give it a not too low rating.

Leia Mais