All Star Cast, Amazing Acting, Compelling story, some inconsistencies

8/10 is my rating. This is a 2021 South Korean Action and Crime drama with 20, approximately 80 minute episodes.

Park Joo-hyung (Song Joong-ki) grew up in Italy. At eight years old he was adopted and harbors resentment towards his Korean mother who he feels abandoned him. He later becomes part of the Italian mafia and is such an asset the head, Don Fabio, adopts him. As a member of the Cassano family Joo-hyung is renamed Vincenzo Cassano. He becomes a lawyer and utilizes his skill as he works as a representative for his adopted father in mafia dealings. When the father dies, the biological son attempt to kill Vincenzo and, after taking revenge, Vencenzo flees the country back to South Korea.

In Seoul, Vincenzo goes to the the Geumga Plaza which is a site where he helped a Chinese tycoon hide 1.5 tons of gold and install tenants to disguise the real intention of the building.
The Chinese tycooln is dead, and ownership of the gold now falls to the Cassano family, and Vincenzo plans to recover the gold for himself. Of course, the building has been taken over by a South Korean crime organization in the form of a pharmaceudical company, the Babel group. The Babel group has been strong arming the tenants so Vincenzo decides to team up with one of the tenants, a lawyer, to take down the Babel group. The lawyers daughter, Hong Cha-young (Jeno Yeo-been) was originally represting Babel but after her father is murdered by them, joins up with Vincenzo to exact revenge on the Babel Group. Sparks had originally flown between the two but as they unite toward a common purpose those strong feelings evolve to something more.

Overall, I liked this series a lot. All of the actors, and you had a pretty much all star cast with a few exceptions, did an amazing job acting out their characters. The storyline was exciting and the villians were incredibaly villanous. The whole "it takes a villian to catch a villian" axiom was true throughout the series. The chemistry between the two leads was not immediate, which made sense to me because they did not start out liking each other but developed a deep friendship through working to take down a common enemy.

*Spoilers The pros were the incredible acting, great locations and filming, and appropriate but not too invasive musical scores. Who doesn't love Song Joon-ki in action, he is incredibly handsome and charasmatic. The sense of community with the building tenants was both refreshing and engaging. I loved that Cha-young was a tough, no nonsense lawyer with a bit of a dark streak. It made her the perfect pairing for Vincenzo because she did not have an issue, if justice would not be served, with going outside of the law. I loved that there was gold hidden in the building and how disturbed Vincenzo would get whenever someone would pursue his gold. He reminded me, in those cases, of a Leprechaun guarding his gold. One of the most comedic scenes was when he had to pretend to be gay to lure in a bank that was willing to work with Babel. Whether you are gay trying to be heterosexual or heteresexual tying to be gay if you are engaging the sexuality that does not fit - it is cringy. I was laughing, so hard during that part. The funny thing, was he seemed to turn all the guys around him gay. The men seemed to love him as much as the women did. It was like everyone's dark fantasy, apprently, to be in the mob. So there were bromances galore.

The cons were the times that Vincenzo failed to stay true to character. What it seemed, was he was a South Korean child, adopted into the Italian culture but was old enough to remember the language and most of the culture of his original country. His anger at his mother for "abandoning" him, and the death of his foster parents through criminal activity, led him to embrace the dark side for revenge. I got that. Made sense. But, it showed, in so many ways that he was very humane and caring and had conscience and could love and all that - not even a sociopath because he wasn't simply "blending in" his feelings appeared genuine and he underwent an evolution through meeting and falling in love with Cha-young, being mentored and befriended by her father, and just forming so many friendships in South Korea. But then, his mother, who he was on the precipice of a true reunion with, is murdered and it is like it flipped a switch. He backtracked on all the progress he made and the brutal element fully came back in him. The fact that he had flashbacks and nightmares of past incidents clearly showed that he had remorse to that point. But then it was like he became a slightly different person after his mother's death. I thought the way he killed the Babel villians was just a bridge too far. I cannot reconcile burning someone to death with someone who is a good person. Although the chairman was evil and had done horrible things, drilling someone to death is just the next level of brutality. Becoming as evil as the evil you are punishing does not make you a good person. I was disappointed when he blew up Cha-young's father's killer. He broke his word in my opinion. hHe told him once he did this thing the debt was fulfilled and he could go free. It was dishonest and it seemed even Cha-young felt he had gone too far. But she never said that although her response to the news seemed as if it bothered her.
When he killed the female lawyer he broke his morale code which was no women and children. She even said you are going to do this to a woman and he said, basically, you are not a woman, you are a monster. Still, burning her alive was the next level up brutality. It took him from a batman like, superhero justice seeker, to just a murderer little better than the people he was "punishing". I also could not buy that the law enforcement friends in his circle were so okay with him brutally murdering those people. They helped him get away with it and even shook hands with and hugged him when he had the blood on him. It was a bit like "Dexter" in that dark anti hero type persona but I am just not a fan of that level of "eye for an eye" because his treatment of them was even more brutal than the way they treated their victims.

The ending also fell short for me. Perhaps they are setting it up for another season. I did not like the very "Pirates of the Caribbean" end where he can only come back when on a diplomatic mission (diplomatic immunity). It was over obvious in the postcards he sent that he wanted her to come find him - yet she didn't. To me it seemed as though her emotions toward him took a turn. I did not have the sense she would be willing to leave South Korea and go join him on an island off the coast of Malta. I had no care for his Italian family. We never got to know enough of that piece to care that he had reunited and was now ruling that family. And, we were reminded of his brutality when he mentioned the revenge he took on a rival family and that their remains were fertilizing his grapes. They confessed and kissed but then parted ways with a somewhat sad and whistful look in both of their eyes.

His behavior, as other reviewers have pointed out, was not even consistent with what is often the case in organized crime. I knew a situation like that once - one of my best friends in high school let's just say her father was a retired person in a very well known organized criminal entity. In those situations, usually the lawyer is very valuable and also high up in the crime organization. They do not have those folks act as "hit persons" they are too valuable to the organization. And they typically have done their dues and don't want to get their hands dirty that way. Not that they have suddenly grown a conscience, but they just don't do the dirty work anymore. So that did not make sense. He was a lawyer and the second in command - the family would typically not risk such an individual by involving them so intimately. Even if he, himself, wanted to be involved, unless there was a compelling reason he would usually be ordered by "the boss" not to.

That being said - I would still recommend it and might even rewatch it at some point. It is unique and so well acted that the flaws are not a complete deterrant. Others really liked it and did not consider these things flaws. Cha-young had just enough darkness in her to accept a lot of what he did. It was very "Game of Thrones" in the darker elements and how most of the characters were not completely good or completely evil but various mixes thereof. And how you were rooting for anti heroes. The "Queen of Dragons" in Game of Thrones reminded me of Vincenzo in the way their characters evolved and the sudden switch down a much darker path. But I wasn't a fan of how that ended either. I like redemption and character growth. This followed the opposite trajectory. If there were a second season I might watch it. I am extremely disappointed in the brutality of the murders so I can't think of a way back from that but would be interested to see where their relationship evolved.

Leia Mais

I liked the second one as well as the first

5/10 is my rating. This is a 2019 television comedic drama with 16, 60 minute, episodes.
?Lee Joon-ki (Lee Yi-kyung) CEO of the Waikiki Guesthouse. He takes but roles in series and movies in a quest to become a famous actor like his father.
?Cha Woo-sik (Kim Seol-ho) One of Joon-ki's high school friends and an investor the Waikiki Guesthouse. He plays gigs while trying to get a break in the music world.
?Gook Gi-bong (Shin Hyun-so) A “farm league” baseball player who aspires to the majors. Another Joon-ki‘s high school friends and fellow investor in the guest house.
?Han Soo-yeon (Moon Ga-young) Joon-ki, Woo-sik and Gi-bong's first love. She was the dream girl in high school and everyone‘s first love. In high school they all confessed to her only to be rejected, except for Woo-sik who had a mysterious encounter with Soo-yeon in the past. Woo-sik is playing a gig a her wedding when it gets called off. With nowhere else to go, she winds up at the guest house. Coming from a formerly wealthy family who went bankrupt she is now having to work to support herself and is learning about life without wealth.
?Kim Jeong-eun (Aha So-hee) Like Joon-ki she dreams of becoming an actress. She works multiple part time jobs to make ends meet. She knows Joon-ki from the university and it seems he has let her stay there as she fell on hard times.
?Cha Yoo-ri (Kim Ye-won) practically raised her younger brother, Woo-sik. She is not above using manipulation and blackmail to get what she wants. Because if this, the others are a little afraid of her. She often has her friend and brother’s interest at heart but her methods can be unwelcome and brutal.

Spoiler ? This is loosely a sequel to the first one. The only character in common with the first is Joon-ki who it seems bought out his former friend. There is not a lot of direct reference to the characters from the first although there is mention they were all successful in their various endeavors and thus left the guest house. There is very little explanation as to why Joon-ki broke up with Chewbacca and it makes his presence in this series a bit awkward. The new cast is entertaining with many of the same elements that made the first season so enjoyable.

Leia Mais

I have watched over 260 and only dropped a couple I dropped this

5/10 is my rating. This is 2023 Chinese Action Romance drama with slices of medical and fire emergency life. There are 40, approximately 45 minute episodes. Adapted from the web novel “Waiting For You in a City”

First I provide a unique synopsis then review.

Synopsis
Song Yan (Yang Yang) and Xu Quin (Wang Chu Ran) fell in love in high school but their social status was very different leading to Xu Quin’s mother driving them apart. After breaking off their relationship, Xu Quin leaves to study abroad.

It has been ten years since Song Yan has seen the girl who shattered his heart and he is not ready to start up where they left off when their paths cross again. He has excellled in his chosen field, firefighting, and while his goal is to become successful enough to stand before anyone it does not mean he plans to forgive and forget. Xu Quin is an emergency room doctor and finds her path crossing Song Yan’s frequently. Her desire is to win Song Yan back.

Can the two resolve the past and find a new path to love?

Review

I stopped watching after episode 9 as I found it too slow and boring. I do not know how two such exciting careers could be portrayed in such a hum drum manner but they were able to. If you like series that are heavy on the dramatic element you may be okay with It.

I do not quit watching many, I will usually muscle through if there is just one aspect I do not like. But there were so many things I did not like. i thought they seemed horrible for each other, he was whiny, she was clingy and selfish, and it was boring. I was not interested in watching another 31 episodes of a drama where I did not care if the couple got together nor to see more of their jobs.

Spoilers*

I found the male lead character whiny and abrasive. He took his moods out on everyone around him. It is not an admirable trait. His relationship with his best friend had a very gay vibe. Men do not tend to act jealous and cry over other men in a typical friendship. They were also very touchy feely to the point if they kissed I would not have been surprised. Some like boy love series and that is fine. It is not my preference so it felt misleading to have two supposedly heterosexual characters act very homosexual in their interactions with each other. I have seen the actor in other roles and he is very manly, handsome and charismatic but I was disappointed in this role.

The female lead character sees him after a decade and then rather than slowly trying to win him over she comes at him like a sledge hammer. She also did not seem to have overcome the issue with her mother making it likely she would break his heart again..

#YangYang
#WangChuRan
FireworksofmyHeart

Leia Mais

Has some laugh out loud funny moments, intrigue and romance

9/10 is my rating. This is a 2019 Josean era based historical romantic comedy with 32, 30 minute, episodes.

After assassins attempt to murder his family, Jeon Nok-du/Lady Kim Nok-soon/Yeon soo (Jang Dong-toon), sets out to find out who sent the assassins and why. He traces them back to a widows only village and disguises himself as widow Lady Kim, so he can remain undercover and investigate. He is provided a room to share with Dong Dong-joo/Yoo Eun-seo (Kim So-hyun) who is pretending to be in training as a courtesan but has her own mysterious reason to disguise herself in the widow town. Dong-joo’s goal is to secure a place in the palace were she will have access to the king. Nok-du’s investigation leads him to the palace as well. With a king, King Gwanghwamun (Jung Joon-ho) who is insane with the need to guard the throne at all costs, getting close to him is no small endeavor. Can the two succeed in their separate yet intertwined quests and manage their growing feelings for each other? Will what they each discover draw them closer or tear them apart?

spoiler alert**. The first part of this series had some laugh out loud moments where he is struggling with all the pitfalls of trying to be a woman. The mystery around both of their pasts is highly intriguing. I loved so many of the supporting characters. I really liked the character Nok-du and wanted to see good things happen for him. When he discovered the king was his father who attempted to kill him as an infant due to some prophesy, I hoped he would come around and be happy his son was alive and had grown to an exemplary person but he never did. Even after getting to know him as a close confident when he did not know he was his son, he wanted to kill him the moment he found out. There were moments when the king was almost a sympathetic character but then he would do something awful again. The ending was happy in terms of the romance but there were disappointing elements. Nok-du winds up back in exile and I would have liked to see him be Prince after all the struggle. He would have made a fine future king as he was kind, brave and loyal. Instead the evil cousin basically got his way and deposed the mad king. I wanted to see the king and perhaps the cousin come around. But both remained evil at their cores. The opening music did not fit with a historical drama and I would laugh at how silly it is. It was very good and extremely entertaining but those few elements kept it from being exceptional.

Leia Mais