Search: WWW (2019)

Should've listened to Soompi...

*outline*
Honestly the episodes were a little too long for my liking. This is probably one of the reasons why I didn't prioritize this drama despite the fact my friends and news sources were continuously encouraging me to do so. However, I just don't roll (?) too well with dramas that have long episodes because they end up becoming...- no, feeling a little too meaningless to me?


*analysis*
STORY : Right from the very beginning, there was a good pace to the drama and the build-up of emotions were very interesting to watch. In conclusion, from the get-go it was a really nice watch. I could see myself watching it with my mom, actually. You can watch this with anyone - friend, family, or even a partner. One thing I have really got to mention, though, is the fact that there weren't any corny scenes like you'd find in other kdramas; I actually found this quite shocking because... c'mon. Every kdrama is corny, and more so: every kdrama made from years 2016-2019 were super corny. It was a real cheesy era. Directors focused more on making love look the most ideal, instead of approaching emotions and feelings in a realistic way. The firsts the main couple (and the side couple(s)) experienced were very beautiful. I felt warm inside and this feeling carried out to the very end. I just wish the drama wasn't so lengthy, however now that I finished it it feels like I just watched a really good movie (that I won't be able to get over). The ending felt a little saddening to me because it felt incomplete, until I replayed everything that happened during the last episode - this changed my mind, and satisfied me in the end. Throughout the drama, I even imagined it becoming a webtoon - but, a shorter one; definitely. Or even a book.

ACTING/CAST : One of the best things about this drama was the acting, hands down. If anyone else had played any of the roles, it wouldn't have shaped up the drama so well. This I can say with no doubts or regrets. I especially like how Lee Jae Wook played a really nice character instead of his usual antagonist roles. The character suited him quite well. There was no character I didn't like, mainly because I didn't find any (or much) toxicity within anyone. Unlike what I usually see. Except for like... 2 characters, but they're irrelevant and they're meant to be the antagonists anyways. Every actor had a role to play, which they did very well. Usually I get tired of the female lead (in almost every drama this has happened) very easily. The reason for this is because they lack character development and they're too consistent. However, I actually found good reason for why Bae Ta Mi's character was the way she was.

MUSIC : This was definitely the best part of the drama. From the very beginning of the drama (yes, episode 1) I'd already begun searching up OSTs for Search: WWW. The music was really calming, not the usual unnecessarily upbeat, pop-py music you'd hear in other kdramas. No offense but they make me feel like I'm watching something childish more than anything. Like Peppa Pig. On the other hand, the music which showed up in this drama sounded nice to the ears throughout (no matter which track I heard next, it also suited the scenes). There was actually one instrumental that I really liked, but it was hard looking for it because I couldn't find it anywhere but I plan to continue my search for some time. (If I find it, I'll definitely drop it in the comments.)

REWATCH VALUE : It's probably very high for others, but that's not the case for me. I don't know if I'd ever come back to this drama because I felt complete when the drama ended, I didn't see any reason for me to revisit it. Sure, it was a beautiful drama but the end actually felt like 'the end' to me. So I doubt I'd miss the characters too, but we shall see in the future. Though, on an ending note I do have to say the title is beautiful. It was clearly well thought-out. You don't see the reason for the drama title until the very ending, and I literally screamed "roll end credits" when I watched the particular scene that must've inspired the name of this drama (or vice-versa).




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well-written women-centric K-drama and unique main plot!

I loved it but I also think it's not for everyone. If you're looking for fluffy romcom, this probably isn't it because you'll end up getting impatient over the lack of romcom scenes since it focused more on the life and work of Bae Ta Mi as a career woman in the industry—which I did end up falling in love with.

I think the overall plot is amazing and I ended up loving it more than I expected. There's just so much to commend about this, specifically in the story writing.

I initially wanted to watch this for the romcom of it (Jang Ki-yong ftw) but I stayed for the story established from the very beginning (the Netflix preview had me hooked and I just had to watch it). Amazing story writing. The characters were realistic and the story went full-circle for everyone. I didn't feel like they established something early on only to forget it halfway. Everything was closed, thankfully.

I love that everyone had a distinct character, personality, and individual screen time that made you appreciate them and actually see them as beings and not as mere side characters. Though others were probably just plot devices to push the story forward, I like that they still had depth and their own stories. All the mini arcs of the characters in the TF team made me tear up and I was so happy for everyone.

Bae Ta Mi and Scarlett's friendship is one people should aspire to have at work—someone who'd constantly support you and back you when they know it's necessary, but also challenge your decisions to your face, not shying away from confrontation and correction.

Song Ga Gyeong was also a character you can't exactly hate from the very beginning. Her backstory was established early on which made her choices make sense. She definitely had the most character development out of the three female leads.

I also want to note Na In Gyeong who switched sides in the end which helped Song Ga Gyeong win the case and so cause the downfall of KU Group. It was satisfying and fulfilling, and I love that they redeemed her character even though it wasn't really necessary.

Episode 13 was the climax and I'm glad the ending was extremely satisfying. The plot was so perfect from start to finish that I almost ended up dreading the romance subplot because I was more invested in the lives of the three women than in Bae Ta Mi's relationship with Park Morgan. ?

This was obviously a women empowerment show but I also like that the antagonist(s) was(/were) female as well. I also love how it was done in such a way that the characters were still imperfect, making them human and not mere Mary Sues, and the other character filling their lack.

A few personal preferences regarding how the individual character arcs ended:
- I hope Bae Ta Mi would've come to want to get married in the end or at least implied that she's ready to open up her heart/mind for it. I just think it would've completed her "full circle". But I also understand and like that it ended that she was still against it because it adds to the human aspect of the character that there are some beliefs that are just hard to let go.
- I hope Song Ga Gyeong would've ended up with her ex-husband, that after the divorce was official, they'd end up dating and starting over; but why they didn't also made sense and it brought a bittersweet feeling that hurt but still felt good.

My only real negative comment about this is probably, as someone with background knowledge in film, many shots were unpleasant to *my* eyes. Aesthetically, they were wonderful to look at; but technically speaking, some shots were just wrongfully directed in the sense that I hope they would've been more consistent in which side and direction characters were in each scene. One scene that comes to mind is their first meeting in the arcade wherein I had a hard time figuring out whose hands and face they were showing on the screen because the sides and direction were inconsistent with Bae Ta Mi initially being on the right but shots of Park Morgan cut into the shots also being on the right side, so the inconsistency gave me a minor *metaphorical* headache. But I still stayed.

Overlooking the technicality aspect of it, it was interestingly written and I like how it didn't give too much too early and slowly unpacked each necessary detail right at the perfect moment. It was perfectly paced and exciting. Wonderful. Satisfying.

+ I was surprised to see Lee Jae-wook become a consistent side character! I thought he was just a guest. I was so happy ?

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I really recommend this drama to those who love seeing strong women. I think this drama was driven by characters themselves and not the story. Quite woman-centric, portraying 3 different women, totally different and strong, each in her own way. This drama also has quite enough romance for all female leads.

What I liked:
- women (strong, cool, not losing to men)
-characters (complex and diverse)
-acting (was top notch)
-Scarlet (Cha Hyun) - her character was really like a girl crush for me. But i think that each can find their own crashes because the characters were so diverse.
-men - super charming
-Barro (company) and Brian (SEO) - well I totally liked the way Barro was made and the whole company. Brian was a great leader i loved him!
- nice "quotes". e.g. "What can you do, the world is like that. But also as an adult who had played a part to make this world like this, I apologize to you". by quotes i mean that some of the lines of the characters had an impact on me and i liked them a lot. I liked how they all talked and what they all were saying.
-the job they had. It was quite refreshing to see a drama about a job that you don't usually see in dramas. Working for a search portal. therefore the drama had a lot of stuff dealing with search keywords and it was quite interesting.

What i didn't like:
-for me the romance of the main couple was a bit too much. I started skipping their since. Maybe this is only me I am not saying their romance was bad. It started off great! But in the middle and at the end it started to be a little bit boring for me, when the romances of others started to be super interesting.
so -0,5 points is because of this haha.

P.S. I don't usually rewatch dramas so I just put there whatever.

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Girl Power

If you are looking for drama that highlights woment empowerment, this for me tops the list. Women leading top web portal company, rising above politics, standing up for gender equality and contending discrimination is worth cheering for! The sense of fashion, fancy cars, and lifestyles just adds up to the image portrayed by the characters in the drama.

Apart from the abovementioned topics, this drama also tackles the decisions and choices women make to attain and maintain that position. Sometimes, in reality building 'intimate relationship' becomes secondary or close to non-existent. But the resilient character of Jang Ki-yong and the passionate interest of Lee Da He gave the story a different flavor, on how they fought for their 'love'.

It is interesting how three women in the same industry in the pinnacle of their status can be motivated differently and how friendship survived them in their professional struggles.

There's a good balance of romance and drama.

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When Reality Hits You In The Face

This drama is a breath of fresh air after watching one rom-com after another. Believe it or not, I have no regrets watching all of them so far. I have enjoyed them to the fullest. But Search WWW is a whole new level of fresh!

Search WWW's world is kind of the world I live in right now. I worked for a digital company for eight years. I love that this drama speaks my language. I can completely follow without a hitch. What I have enjoyed most of all is the dialogue between our ML, Park Morgan(Jang Ki Yong), and FL, Tammy(Im Soo Jung). I am not familiar with their previous works since it was my first drama that stars both actors. I must say, Im Soo Jung did Bae Ta Mi’s character justice. Without having to try harder at all, I cannot help but swoon to Park Morgan's character and wit. Now that’s what I am talking about! He is not a smooth talker but I wish guys speak to me that way. It is just a whole new level of seductive and flirtatious. You might find me weird but when a guy talks like him, it's super hot and sexy to me. Whew! It’s getting hot in here!

It's so cute when Park Morgan gets riled up simply because he can’t reach Bae Ta Mi over the phone or won't respond to his text messages. I like his visuals when he gets all huffed out like this. Swoon!
But one thing strikes me the most, and I must say I could have watched this series some other time but talk about excellent timing. With the vibe, emotions, and whirlwind of feelings, I feel right now, the writer is so on point about making choices in life, blame, and taking responsibility altogether.

The metaphor about the whole fish tank situation is damn hilarious to me. Hey, let me know if others feel the same way and understand the humor in this. I am curious.

I can’t help but laugh with how this drama creates metaphors out of the following: designer bags, amusement parks, and fish tank.

People insist on buying designer bags. Why? Because when you have a lot, you tend to hide it. And when you have little, flaunt it. The world is what it is because of the contributors which were “us”. There are norms in society that may not be ideal but the world is as it is now. If you can’t fight it, then compromise...hard truth.

But hey, I didn’t read any spoilers or even look at the entire cast so I was surprised when on Episode 7, an unexpected actor cameoed! And no other than Lee Dong Wook! But spoiler alert, what came into my mind was “Girl, what were you thinking? Not saying yes to this hottie?” hahaha haha apologies to our ML lead but LDW came first. Sorry :)

It’s as if the writer read my thoughts. Like Park Morgan, great happiness always seems to get punished and the thought that someone or something could just take it away from you any time scares me.

A little part of me doesn’t believe that people can’t change, because they can. People adapt to a lot of situations to survive. But it isn’t the case for our main characters in this show. It hurts for Park Morgan to realize that she will never change and what hurts the most is she speaks the truth. It's a situation that even love isn’t enough for the relationship to survive. Although people nowadays perceive marriage as merely a piece of paper and for security and protection. What is ironic is the very basis of marriage is what the LGBTQ community is fighting so hard for. In certain situations, in case of emergencies for example, who has the right to make the critical decision is the legitimate guardian — wife or husband. In its absence, it would be the decision of your immediate family.

I have to admire Bae Ta Mi standing by her beliefs and principles. She knows what she wants in life and she knows who she is. Even love couldn’t make her waiver and give in to marriage. That is rare these days. She is pretty much grounded.

“I don’t have time for this right now. But you make me want to make time for you.” Talk about punch lines and I tell you it wasn’t said by a man but by a woman who knows what she wants, afraid to want it but never afraid to admit it.

This drama is a must-watch!

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???

Lord, thank you for letting me know this drama. Just turned to be one of the best dramas that I've seeing.

Has everything that we want in a drama.
Empowering woman, really "good" kisses, really strong personality woman, really amazing cast, incredible OST, and about the story? I need to say more?

For me, it's the first drama that I watched with a stronger female lead, that I didn't turn to be annoyed by. All the three actress made perfectly the characters.

I was not expecting "so much" because of some reviews, but watching make me feel so good and excited about a new ep.

Of course, this drama have things that I don't like. The main relationship. Loved the characters but in some time it turned to be "boring", just breaking up and being miserable.

But, in a everything was perfect. Cinematography was one of the best's from a kdrama. The way the director's did the cuts, how they put everything on the exactly way make me feel comfortable wacthing the drama.

I'm wondering if we going to see a another drama with empowered woman like this one again?

I really hope so.

I fell in love with all the cast, so I will just watch everything they do lol

Truly recommend this to anyone who wants to be "happy", to laugh, to cry, to reflect about some things.

Finished in 25/01/2021
Hugs!

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Amazing and Painful at the same time

this show is amazing..
the storyline is good.. the multiple threads throughout the show is woven skillfully and never boring
the pace of this is great.. in my opinion.. you never get too high or too low. but damn the low parts.. are painful as heck..

the cast and the leads are amazing the interaction between the three main women characters.. how they are tied how they care and hate and love each other.. just amazing

the romance is both sweet and painful.. and so painful it is.. u may just end up screaming at the characters for their choices but its all within their characters... still painful as heck

the music is amazing.. it just works..

on top of that with that many couples and that many leads they have just enough depth for each minor character to get a little story/development of their own.. and its just an epic showing of how great the writing is for this show..

overall its a great story.. good vs evil.. lots of grey.. but still they dont shade it too much.. the romance is cute for all three.. though its painful as heck for all three.. and there no real resolution.. per se but.. its a "happy" ending for its part

watch it.. its worth it..

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Creative storyline.. the concept of web portal in a kdrama is very new to me which I find interesting.. If you are in a corporate world.. you can relate so much in this series as they reenact situations happening in real corporate world.. The visual fx are so refreshing to the eye.. I love how strong the chemistry of Park Morgan and Bae Ta-Mi despite of 10year age gap that I couldn't get over it to the point that I rewatch their sweet scenes over and over.. Also Seol Ji Won and Cha Hyeon.. they look so cute together.. It also very empowering to women especially to those who are still unmarried in their late 30s because the 3 main female characters (Bae Ta Mi, Cha Hyeon, Song Ga-gyeong) here portrays strong, independent and modern women who can rule the corporate world. Overall, good series! I finished it within 3 days ?

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Mostly business

This drama was well done, but just wasn’t for me. The focus of WWW is on business and strong women with just a bit of romance. I know business is in the genre list, but I wasn’t aware it would be so involved and boring.

Romance is at the top of my list in drama watching . However, the romance here was very slow moving and the choices of the FL Tammi regarding it became annoying. I also quickly grew a strong dislike of the Song Ga Kyung character.

Lots of drawn out moments throughout that tempted me to hit > , but the cast, music and main story line was good.

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Its biggest downfall is the mix of genres

Seriously, what was the point of the romance x work drama? Pick a side or stick to giving both equal attention.
Bae Ta Mi and Park Morgan had excellent chemistry for like the first half of the series, but by the end it fizzled out and was overshadowed by all of the work drama. It's almost as if they spent more time being sad and away from each other or fighting, than together or working through their difficulties as a couple. I wish they could've had some sort of talk other than the get together.

Song Ga Kyung and Oh Jin Woo were there too. I guess? Their intimate moments sort of melted together for me, as interesting and nuanced as they were, since as usual, they went nowhere by the end. Literally. I have no idea if the two would try out dating or not, even knowing how devoted to helping out Oh Jin Woo was. They didn't even talk really, after Song Ga Kyung held the big announcement.

Scarlett was such a fun and fascinating character, truly the highlight of the entire show, and her romance was super cute, I can only wish for her and Seol Ji Hwan to have had even a fraction of Tammy and Morgan's screen time. At least the two had some sort of arc to speak of, earning us not only a nice fan x star couple, but a cute last minute surprise meet up.

If I'm being brutally honest, the way all three romances flopped makes my head hurt. Even the ex boyfriend character got his happy get back together with the vlogger girl and had more of a completion than any of the main characters. This in a way, I feel, cheapens both sides of the series and there is no real commitment to either side.

Should you bother with WWW? In the end, yes. I have to praise the side characters immensely; from both sides. Jang Hee Eun was an incredibly compelling villain that loomed over everyone. Brian was the level head everyone could use in their lives. Nevertheless, expecting the fun romance girlboss mix to hold up its quality, up to the final ep at least, would be a mistake.

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If you are looking for a good romance, I found this one lacking

The business aspect of the show - 9. The romance - 7. This show was a testament to girl power! Strong women, that go for what they want. I loved the acting by all the actors, but some of the characters I liked more than others - Cha Hyun was beautiful and she didn't put up with any junk! When Bae Ta Mi asked for help and she showed up with baseball bats, priceless! I loved the romance storyline for Cha Hyun as well. The music was good, as was the cinematography, but I really had a problem with Bae Ta Mi's character. She kept insisting she never wanted to get married. They used the camera angle a lot of her and Park Morgan being far apart from one another, and he was ALWAYS the one that came to her, even after the big breakup. And they'd barely been together for two minutes and she started in on the fact that they were going to continue to fight over the marriage vs. non-marriage. The ending could have been so much better romance-wise. The business aspect was tied up nicely, loved the ladies riding into the sunset in their Maserati, but I would have liked for Bae Ta Mi to have some kind of epiphany in realizing that she was going to be miserable without Park Morgan. The gentleman playing Park Morgan was excellent, very understated but displaying a wide array of emotions.

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