O Assassino e o Brinquedo (2024)

Good but nothing new

Overall it's a good drama, the acting and the cinematography are pretty good and I did enjoyed watching it. Also the length of the whole series and episodes is really pleasant. However, it's nothing really new, it's a pretty basic story: One impulsive kill - keeps killing - some cop playing a bigger role.
I wouldn't say it's a 'must watch' but if you like thriller and all you really should give it a chance!
I also really liked the ending, it was neither expected nor unexpected, neither good nor bad. I'm wondering if there's more to come or if this is really the ending!

Leia Mais

Shadows of Morality

A Killer Paradox unfolds as a captivating narrative where the shadows of morality play a pivotal role in shaping the destiny of its characters.

Lee Tang, an unsuspecting college student turned supernatural avenger, thrusts us into a world where the lines between right and wrong blur. As he discovers his ability to identify 'bad seeds,' the storyline delves into the intricate dance between justice and morality. The cold-blooded detective, a relentless pursuer, adds layers to the unseen war that unfolds within the narrative.

The acting is top-notch, delivering both comedy and gore in a way that hits the sweet spot.
The storyline? It's like a dark, twisted fairy tale that you never saw coming.

A must watch really like its a cinematic masterpiece, minus the clichés, with every episode leaving you hungry for more of this dark and intriguing tale.

Leia Mais

A bit disappointing

I was so excited for this kdrama starring Choi Woosik and Sukku, and it started off good, especially that intense episode 3 ( about the girl who was raped and killed herself , and her father). But as it went on, it felt more like a comic book than a regular show, maybe cause they stuck too close to the webtoon. It kinda dragged, and those 8 episodes felt so long.

The cinematography was cool, some shots were amazing, but overall, it was just okay for me. Didn't quite live up to my expectations. The whole superpower thing didn't vibe with me either. I knew about it from the synopsis, but when I saw it in action, it kept reminding me of the anime "death note" which is a lifetime work of art that has somehow the same idea as "a killer paradox", I guess that's why I was hoping for something much more deep and compelling but it turned out to be just a light appetizer after a heavy meal.

Leia Mais

Skip the first 2 episodes out of 8 for a good time?

Another netflix drama that topped the charts with an incredibly boring first few episodes.

what makes this even worse is that this only has 8 episodes.

How do you actually review a drama that bores you to death the first 2 episodes and only gets good after a third of a show?

Always remember with netflix shows that netflix and chill is a very real thing, as people get so bored with the show they're watching that they do something else while the show is running. Netflix collects this data and thinks that people are watching the show when clearly, they're already busy making the next generation of humans or have left to do something else.

It's disappointing that korean dramas, especially those that are adapted from the best korean webcomics are portrayed with so many pacing issues, when in actual fact, the manhwa hits hard with every chapter or else they'd fall off the list.

Even more disappointing, is that this show is marked as a comedy, when the comedy is the misunderstandings that aren't really funny.

If you're looking to a show that's actually much better but very similar, perhaps A Psychopath's Diary is a much better watch ( https://mydramalist.com/37255-psychopath-diary )

Leia Mais

SHOI WOO SHIK

Even though he was a victim of school bullying, his life after military service was nothing much, living alone pitifully and has nothing to do just reaching for money, But with 2 murder he was terrified therefore he wasn't a suspect and no evidence this will awake the psychopath in him.
THAT'S FREAKING CREATIVE AS THE START OF HIS JOURNEY BEGAN.
as for the acting both woo shik and the officer have done a great jobs hhh
sara7a rah fchkl kifach bdat l journey diyalo ga3 had zhar li makhalahch itchad flwl rah nadi hhhhh
LET'S WATCH IT TOGETHER
STILL WATCHING IT BUT IT'S REALLY A GOOD ONE TO WATCH

Leia Mais

very disappointing

i had huge hopes for this drama. in the middle the plot got really messy and i was bored to death. the last 2 episodes were pretty good but the ending was… not it. looks like it will get another season and i just wonder how bad it will be.
the music and production were amazing - there were many moments where i was really scared, uneasy and could feel the genre.
the actors DID NOT disappoint! amazing cast that executed their roles amazingly. to be honest it was the only reason i pushed through it…
overall - horribly made plot and script but perfect cast. i just hope they got paid well for this hot mess!

Leia Mais

I have mixed feeling about this drama

I had higher expectations considering the cast and plot in general. But it turned out to be a bit disappointing. At first, series seemed to go slow and to be honest I did not mind that at all. But suddenly in the middle of the episodes, it rushed so bad I could barely keep up with.
Woo Shik did an amazing job playing Lee Tang. He portrayed the character so well. Emotions and actions were on spot. But I don't think that character was written that well. He killed people by accident, he was feeling guilty and mortified. But then we discover that he actually has some kind of power!? We never got hints about that in the beginning as it all seemed accidents. I'm still confused about that; was it actually because of the power or was Lee Tang just lucky that happen to have a gut feeling?

Roh Bin's character did not make much sense neither. How did he find Lee Tang, why was he so ambitious and confident and why he never got caught especially when Nam Gam and the police kind of knew about his past with Song Chon. He mentioned having 2 other partners, one Song Chon but we know nothing about second person. His explanation why he had bad blood with Song Chon did not add up. Roh Bin having everything planned was unexpected and that was the only moment I was surprised. I do understand him taking all the blame tho.

Second part seemed a whole different drama and it focused more on Song Chan. I couldn't understand his character. He came back to check whether Lee Tang was just like him or not. And why was there even possibility of these murders having something in common? It was a gut feeling for everyone including Roh Bin, Song Chan and Nam Gam. There was no evidence nor any other connection. Song Chan's past made me feel empathy towards him but I'm not sure that was necessary.

Nam Gam was pretty messed up. He wanted to catch a culprit, then decided to avenge his dad who turned out to be a bad person. I understand why he stayed silent about Lee Tang tho. He did not mind about legal consequences because he knew his dad had sinned and from his point of view, everyone deserved a chance including himself, Lee Tang and a dog.

I think, it will have a second season as there are so many unanswered questions. And the ending was open. I finished the drama because of the actors and cinematography, otherwise I would have dropped it.

Leia Mais

"Yielding conquers, resisting strengthens desire"

This is what happens in this "A killer paradox". It starts of well from episode 1 but when the 1st is going to end you will see some unnecessary transitions something weird one too(actually it is not necessary but i think it was hero hallucinations are shown) how does he feel after murdering someone and how he got superpowers when he sees someone(means serial killers like series called "He is psychometric" ) the feel will come for us then he got to know that he killed a man who used to be serial killer so now he joins hands with the specs guy and they accomplish the justice for victims . I love the concept of it, it was from webtoon so, i did not study it but i feel like it is too slow pace which will make either sleep or you will feel like fast forwarding the scenes itself. There is no AAH moment in this series, so don't except much from this! Again one more serial killer unlike hero will be introduced, and he also started searching hero and finish him off. After few episodes you will be wondering what is happening in this series? And i love every actors performance even the police guy with beard did his job well but he was fore shaded by the plot. At the end of the day, our hero saw 'how to get away with murder" and committed his crimes without evidence, he is the most luckiest serial killer in the whole world.

Leia Mais

Satisfied on a rewatch

To preface this, I knew going into this my expectations would be way too high. I'm a big fan of Choi Wooshik and have been waiting for this show to come out for like two years. I also spent coins to read the webtoon in its entirety when it was finally released in English.

I'll start off with I did enjoy this. And I enjoyed reading the webcomic too.

Edit: im currently rewatching this with someone who didnt read the webcomic and having a pretty good time. I think i judged this harsher than it needed to be. I guess im a hater? Its a pretty fun drama. I liked it the first time I watched it and im liking it even more the second time ^_^

WEBTOON AND ADAPTATION
The part about the story that is both interesting and frustrating is the way it tells itself. Our protagonist isn't really our protagonist. We don't know much about him (who he is as a person, yes we know he's a student and aimless but...) and we don't have a lot of opportunities to connect to him. It's more like the circumstances around him are what make him the protagonist. Instead, our cop ends up being the real protagonist, having a story arch that follows his relationship with his father. Yet... in some ways he feels like he falls short of that role as well. Writing characters in this way is unique and that in itself is interesting.

The show was an overall pretty faithful adaptation of the webcomic. There were some small details that felt important to me that weren't included. For example, I remember that when Lee Tang first encounters Song Chon, eventually Lee Tang tells Ro Bin that he had some sort of instinct that he had to stay away from Song Chon, like he was being hunted. I understand that was told visually in the adaptation, but I was waiting for that line so I was a bit disappointed. Also, the scene where the girl is being felt up in the train, Lee Tang, if I remember correctly, gets mad at the guy. What I though was interesting about how the scene was originally written had more to do with what it revealed about society and how it treated injustice. It was a small detail, but the way they framed the scene changed its impact on the narrative.

[update they rereleased the episodes of the webtoon and my question was answered so i deleted this section of the review]

Something I was hoping would be changed in the adaptation was the portrayal of Ro Bin and Lee Tang. In the webtoon, I remember wishing they were more dynamic characters. Like, if they could have had some more likeable traits to them, or could have been written in a way that made the ending more impactful feeling around these two characters. Ro Bin didn't really change much, but I did end up feeling satisfied. Lee Tang I kinda wanted to see more sides to him though. He's a character that anyone could have played, being super stoic and flat, which ended up feeling kind of disappointing. But he was like that in the webtoon and I can't blame the scriptwriter for preferring to be faithful than risking anything else.

THE ADAPTATION ALONE
I felt like peoples reactions to being murdered were handled in a weird way? I'm not sure if that was a casting problem or a director problem. This probably stands out most in the death of Nan Gam's father. The script literally describes the ways his fathers face changes, but we don't see that reflected on screen. I'm not sure why this was a consistent problem. I felt the reactions were lacking for him, Gyeong-a (Lee Tang's coworker, I might be misremembering her name), and also in the "murderous expression" from Song Chon when he first kills Nan Gam's father.

One thing that stood out to me though was the amount of respect that was visible on screen and in the script. The writing did its best to respect the original story. And the cinematography, parts of the soundtrack, and especially one fight scene stood out as respecting forefathers in the action genre. In particular, Old Boy stood out to me. Song Chon's scene fighting the gangsters, I think you would have to be blind to miss that longshot fight scene. The use of the oboe in the soundtrack... reminds me of something but I can't put my finger on it. An ode to something, but idk what. Someone help me out, what is this reminding me of?

But the soundtrack was somewhat hit or miss for me. I was surprised by that. Sometimes it felt really good (especially in the first half of the series) and then other times I was like, "Ah this sounds like a pretty typical soundtrack piece," which was weird to pair with a story like this... again its a very atypically written story so I expected the soundtrack to feel a little off-kilter overall. Not overly done obviously, as the writing is more like an unnerving pull away from the mainstream instead of something that's off-the-walls-crazy, but still... just something that feels "uncomfortably different from what you're used to" should have been the overall feeling of the soundtrack imho.

Whoever was the editor was having a lot of fun! I loved the way they played with sound, how the soundtrack would suddenly cut-off, how the introduction scene of Nan Gam made his chewing gum sound uncomfortably loud for the first few chews... yeah if anything their sound design and the way soundtracks were edited to build and break tension in a scene was good. Good job editor! Also loved the way they visually transitioned between shots. First episode is a great example of this.

I liked the fun zoom ins, I think it added some character to the camera. The character of the camera could have benefited from being visually messier throughtout the series. It does have its shaky camera, and at least one extreme close up but I wanted more. Thats probably more of a personal preference though. [Edited out some comments after a rewatch]

I LOVED however, the way they played with darkness and shadow. Sometimes it felt like it wasn't in good taste, especially when the cinematography was over-saturated as if in post-production they might have realized they made a mistake. (Watching on a different screen has different results for this though) HOWEVER... omg when Lee Tang is just outside the car, lurking in the shadows... in the warehouse when the lights go on and off... the sudden flash of the taser in the car... a few of those scenes really stood out as good use of lighting.

I thought the leads of the show did a pretty good job in acting. They were both bad at fake yawning haha, but the elements of their acting that were important to their characters were well done. I did feel a bit disappointed in Lee Tang as a character, because he is pretty flat. As I said before, he feels like someone anyone could play because he's so stoic like most Kdrama leads played by idol actors. Choi Wooshik is most interesting in characters that have a wider range of emotions because I find him expressive and charismatic. Still, I do think he played Lee Tang well. He did a good job of portraying the subtle changes in Lee Tang and immersing us in the crumbling life of this character. I was kind of hoping that when Nan Gang finally saw Lee Tang in the warehouse, that for a split second they would show Lee Tang in that convenience store uniform because it is SUCH a striking change in character. The way he has changed his aesthetic into that greasy hair, the weight in his expression, how he carries himself, that split-second emphasis through Nan Gang's perspective would have been interesting. It also allows us to feel a connection between the two characters who know each other. I could go on but this is already too long haha. Nan Gang's actor was also pretty good and I came to respect him for this role.

Beware: harsher than necessary point ahead: I may be wrong but it felt like there was a lot of trust in the team. Like maybe things weren't tested or things weren't critiqued that could have been. I respect a team that trusts itself, but I respect more a team that builds that trust through communicating. I first felt like the show lacked communication when I saw the poster. It felt like someone had to pull together shots into something instead of being able to get the team to work together to make a solid poster. There's a few minor details in the acting, that felt like the crew wasn't communicating when a scene was lacking in some way. Like there was a trust in the overall ability of the show and not enough interest in the details that made the show. This is more of a judgement on my end and obviously I wasn't on set so don't take this part of my critique to heart if you disagree.

FINAL THOUGHTS
So yeah I had a good time watching this. I think I'd like to rewatch this in a few years when I've forgotten some details of the show and webtoon.

I couldn't help but criticize the show just because I'd been waiting for it for so long, but I did enjoy it haha. I think I was afraid of it being terrible so I looked for all its faults. Now that ive done that its easier to actually enjoy it in my rewatch. Again, I like it the first time I watched it and Im liking it even more the second time. It really is creatively made and you can see all the hard work that went into it.

Leia Mais

Not predictable but not exceptional - trigger warnings discussed

I enjoyed the series considering a lot of people didn't. Most didn't seem to like the directing style which didn't bother me. The show wasn't boring at any point but the focus of the show seemed to shift drastically towards the middle with the male lead being sidelined. The other characters are also interesting but it felt odd by the end. The story direction took away the impact of their lead.

The other thing that bothered me is there is a blaring female full frontal nude scene disguised as a sex scene. Meanwhile the male is cleverly hidden and wearing full clothes. It felt like a cheap attempt at gaining viewership. Such a Netflix thing. There aren't any strong female characters in the series unfortunately or at least not for very long. Mostly the women are side characters. The show does deal with sexual assault but despite being a show surrounding justice, the audience isn't given much time to empathize with the victims. They are almost secondary to the plot. The story just skips over quickly to the next case. It feels like the production didn't care too much about those victims. The focus was mainly on the men and their way of handling situation.

Another trigger warning for those sensitive to such topics - suicide and attempted suicide has been depicted. Sadly I can't really applaud them for the way it has been presented as it doesn't really deep dive into the emotions of the characters. Everything is shown in bites and then the story moves on.

The gore is just bearable, I'd say. They somewhat toned down the brutality of the murders by slowing scenes down or cutting to a different moment in time, imposing other shots in between to take you away from the moment of horror. The story also showed less and less on how murders impacted the male lead and his psyche. There was a drastic shift from his world view to story of the other characters.

I binged the series in about a day. It's got a decent pace for the most part. But if you enjoy thrillers or plots revolving around killers, vigilantes, and justice, etc, then this show is one of the weakest since it leaves you longing for something more. Nothing exceptional has been presented here. However, if you do watch, you certainly won't be bored.

Nothing really stood out from the OST for me.

Leia Mais