I have always been a fan of these "monster" theme stories which kdrama industry keeps inventing, be it Hello Monster, He is psychometric, Flower of Evil. Sometimes it is a behavioral flaw and sometimes it is a certain power. This time the concept was something so novel. Genetic Engineering. Genome editing. Human Experimentation. Religious Cult. Mad Scientist. Invincible Military man who keeps coming back from death. You name it, LUCA has them all.

There's the Beast, Z-0 who is constantly on run to survive from people he can't remember. And there's the beauty, (cough cough, with her messy hairdo) who is investigating about her missing parents. Initially, the beauty seems very strong, she can kick some ass, and in turn, gets kicked too because of over confidence. She turns out to be only dialogues and lacking in action. Like one of those moments of getting kicked in ass, she ends up meeting a truck of doom. Comes the beast, saves her, and she later tries to save him. Overestimates herself, only to be saved by him again. And this happens again and again. Meanwhile, falling in love with beast, well it felt like one rainy night mistake. When reality kicks in, she tries to kick some ass, overestimates herself, only to be saved by him again. And this happens again and again. Until, she finally saves the him. Frustrating, ain't it!?

Stories like "beauty and beast" revolve around the idea of highlighting the need of kindness in theory. But Luca turns out to be what would happen in reality. Conflict of interests turning the beast into ruthless monster. For a second, I got reminded of X-men Origins: Wolverine and that wailing. I didn't wail for bodies he piled up. His transformation and the ending is what I loved so much about the show.

But my love couldn't overlook the mess. What went wrong was the repetitive screenplay. And the FL's brain. (was it because of getting constantly hit in the head?) And the inconsistency with its characters. For instance, when Z-0 makes some plans to escape his enemies only to get outwitted but when he is with Ha Neul Ae Gu Reum he somehow succeeds.

Oh the action, I really loved the action scenes. Especially the elevator fight scene, lot better than the one in "K2". But then it too become so repetitive and mundane that I didn't miss anything by skipping them. The music, especially the end track was really good. I wasn't impressed with Kim Rae Won in Doctors but the way he portrayed Z-0 showing emotions of being on edge of constant fear, made me give a ten for acting.

LUCA: The Beginning, great in concept but mediocre in execution.