Itaewon Class (2020)

...

the production was good, I can't complain .
I also say that the performance was incredible, it would be a sin if I complained.

I love the actors, I loved the characters.

Of course, not everything is perfect, I can't lie, but what a drama that doesn't have a single flaw.

So in conclusion, I recommend...

I say it's worth watching, maybe it's bad for some, but for me it was good.

This is just my opinion, you better watch it and have your own opinion.

I don't know what to say, because I think everyone has their own opinion.

Leggi di Più

One of the most overrated k-dramas of the past century

Itaewon class was quite the ride.. and I do not mean that in a good way. The start gives you high hopes, and the revenge motive is set up quite well, but somewhere along the way, it just loses its footing and does too much at once. Too many cooks were in the kitchen, and I'm sure they all walked away with third-degree burns.

The one redeeming quality of this show was Ahn Bo Hyun. I had never heard of him before watching this show, but his acting talent is just generational! Portraying a complex villain was so effortless for him, and it was one of the main points that kept me hooked. Park Seo Joon on the other hand was disappointing to say the least (he makes up for it in Fight for my Way, if anyone is looking for the one semi-decent drama he's in :P ).

Don't even get me started on the romance though, THE AGE GAP EXCUSE ME??? WHO EVEN CAME UP WIT H THIS, I HOPE THEY GOT FIRED. Apologies for the exclamations, I got a little too heated, but I think my point is clear. It was completely unnecessary and pandering to the rom-com-loving subset of the audience was clearly not the move. Not EVERY show needs romance.

Overall though, the cast was quite talented and the performances were fairly convincing. If you are the kind of person who enjoys the journey more than the final destination, then you'll still hate it as much as someone who only cares about where the characters end up :)).

Leggi di Più

Life is marked by tribulations, but we must grow and mature.

This drama give me thrills. Its not your average drama and the characters are interesting. Look - there's people here who complain about the "wooden" characters and don't realise that the acting is a reflection of the writing. This is based of webtoon and Park Seo Joon stoicness IS a defining character trait that his character has to work around and he does try despite how uncomfortable and messy it was (as how growing up is in real life). People forget there was a a total of 10 years time skip and the character did not just did a 180 per se, I've gathered a character analysis of mine and other thoughts of their developement below. You need to think about it that way, they had to fit a webtoon into 16 episodes. And believe me, I know they could have gone to at least 30 episodes with the amount of character growth, but they did the best with what they have and made the series drama length. The writing, acting, story was good, and worth the watch.

Here both the main leads are opposite in personality yet bonded with one thing in common, and their choices in own journey is what brings them together. This is a drama about the underdog and the usual heroic traits that is emodied by Park Sae Ro Yi through his usual determination and stoicness and his unbending to his principles despite the tragedies he face. The main story is about how he will accomplish the hard task of beating down Jangga Co, headed by Chairman Jang. However he is not an infallible hero and soon, encountering many life lessons, from people in his past and present, the Dan Bam crew, Yi Seo, Soo Ah, the brothers, through pursuing his revenge, they come to understand what is most important in their life and how much you can change your life with just the choices you make.

No character here is perfect. And this is its main strengths. There are so many themes explored: what being true to yourself costs, is it worth doing it if it hurts others (no matter how you try not to get others involved), how parents shape their child, what life is all about, and what is important in the end. This drama allows you to experience many emotions and its this that make the crew stronger and wiser. Here, a hero becomes a real human, that needs to be grounded in life and be shrewder to actually accomplish his objectives. And to navigate all of the traps set by his enemies requires planning, strategy and patience. Our hero may have patience but the writers are honest in showing that he needs others to be his second set of eyes and to teach him his on what he is lacking, and the fact is, he can't do it alone. They need each other to be successful and only after that, is he able to defeat his enemies, and the for him, closure over his own tragedies in what he calls, "his endless nights".

The acting was good, casting was great, and writing, pacing, direction was well done and music represents their struggle well, I love V's theme.

Some of the weaknesses of this drama: The main evil person is SO evil, that his character never for once causes us to takes his words seriously even IF there an element of truth because we all think "oh, he is manipulating us again" The writers don't give him a real chance to show us his inner thoughts other that this character really is beyond salvation. We all dislike him because that make him easy to hate. Despite that he has a story of how he was poor and wanted to feed his family to make the business, we don't understand WHY he became such a ugly character. And then the show hints that aw, he started from the bottom like Sae Ro Yi, but doesn't go on to show anything else. So he serves as just a shadow of maliciousness waiting for SRY to meet him at the final boss battle. His premise leaves a lot of questions to be explored.

Also some of the themes did NOT have time to be expressed well. Like the transgender issue, racial issue, bullying issue. There was many themes just jampacked in a show of only 16 episodes which could have fit more. I understand maybe the main story wasn't enough to also fit in the new themes while avoiding filler episodes so there's that. It would have been better to leave it out then because stories like Tony and the grandma side story and also his time in prison and the gangster history was also left to dust. Similarily, the love story and IC's growth also had potential to do more instead of the 10 year time skip which is a lot, but still I felt they knew to prioritise those two stories the most and it showed. The 2 main stories they did choose to develop, developed well despite the rush and was a fresh take that Kdrama land needed.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On Yiseo and Saeroyi relationship:

I like the dynamic between Sae Ro Yi and Yi Seo. They are similar in personalities, but one distinct difference is that he stands by his conviction even when he gets punished for it, while YiSeo reminds me of Ying Luo from Story of Yanxi Palace; cunning, intuitive, resourceful, intelligent but with a heart of gold.

Where SRY's philosophies and kindness puts him in a position where he ends up being the 'suffer in silence' type, YiSeo has no such qualms in striking back AND gets away with it, even if her audacity [or recklessness] gets her into trouble.

I like that she chose him; to support and protect him from that particular weakness [helplessness against injustice] that he has, how they balance each other's outlook in life literally like Yin and Yang; her rash, apathetic attitude with his wisdom, his destructive temper with her cool-headed shrewdness. The fact that this time it was a female lead that was the rock in the relationship, the one pursuing the guy and staying by his side.

I'm not really sure why people expect PSY to make a total 180. He has never been good at expressing his emotions and showing his affection towards others. We've seen how much he loves Yiseo by how much he shares with her, how honest he is with her. It may not be the most exciting way to show it but it's realistic to his character.

Leggi di Più

The start was promising, but. Eh?

To be honest, I just wasted my time with this show.
Now I am bias because im a BIG freak for romance shows and this barely had any nor made sense.
People ship Soo-ah and Saeroyi, yet I don't. Soo-ah put herself before anybody else. She knew Saeroyi liked her yet never accepted his feelings and kept leading him on? I also thought her personality was a bit boring. Nothing special with her.
Now the main couple, Yi-seo and Saeroyi. Made no sense to me. Seemed force tbh. Since Episode 7 I was thinking, "Why does Yi-seo even love Saeroyi in the first place" as they barely spent any time together. Saeroyi was also in love with Soo-ah so theirs no moments with Yi-seo and Saeroyi. Also, Yi-seo's character is some what eh to me. She isn't my favorite but I didn't like her attuite when it came to some people.
The acting was average and good. Nothing mind-blowing. I do love Park Seo-Joon as that's the reason WHY I even considered watching this drama, but. Wasn't worth it.
Music isn't mind blowing either. It's average aswell, I only liked the outro music and sometimes the intro music. Also thing I love this drama for is whoever decided to cast the guy for Toni. First Kdrama I've seen with a person of color!
Unless you just need something to watch or you're into revenge dramas with slow romance then go for it. This show wasn't THAT bad but I defo am not going to rewatch this show unless I just need a blast from the past or what not.

Leggi di Più

I am not a film critic but I am a picky viewer from Canada. After watching Crash Landing on Netflix , I needed to watch the next best thing and I heard about this show. The story of Itaewon class is unique which featured social issues in Korean setting.
ALL the casts were amazing in acting ! You can feel how they delivered their role in a true to life scene. Having a plot of revenge , courage , friendship, love is integrated in every scene. Park Seo-Joon as Saero-yi was able to reach his goal and ended up still the good loving son, friend and kept his true feelings for the woman he loved. I think it was love at first sight when he first laid eyes on Yi-seo who happened to contribute a lot in his quest for happiness.Hey, age does not matter ! Kwon Nora was a great support till the end . Like anybody else wished , she should have a part two story with the new chef who she finds amazing . Kim Da-mi role was strongly delivered with fierce and humor in the name of pure intention to help her great love Sae-ro-yi. And their love story totally worked for me. It is sweet and great relief that finally they will experience happiness together. The pup casts were great supporting role , each of them have their own story to tell. One thing that also caught my attention was the great acting villian roles of Jangga Group father and son. Ahn_Bu hyun delivered a superb role as a son who longed for his father love and trying desperately maybe the girl he really liked can still love him who was Kwon Nora. Great story! Music was really cool and cinematography was at par. For those who said the story was dragging, I don't think so. Here in Canada there is subtitle, so it's easy for me to read it in a good pace. Well done IC.

Leggi di Più

What a breath of fresh air!

Likes: The character of Yiseo and Kim Da Mi playing her. Park Seo Joon's...well...everything. The Itaewon setting and vibe of the drama. The great emotional acting.

Dislikes: the 2nd half of the drama sort of lost it's way. the time lapse to the future where everything sort of wraps up neatly in 1 episode type of thing. The cliche sub stories to advocate diversity.

It's so rare to come across really cool female leads that are smart, mean, and likeable. I love the character of Yiseo for not pretending to be nice, for being smart, strong and confident, and being able to fight for herself. And I love the actress Kim Da Mi that plays her. I remember watching the Witch Part 1 and asking who is this kick ass actress that blows me away with her natural acting? And again she doesn't disappoint in this drama. She is definitely one to watch.

Park Seo Joon really blew me away with his intense emotional scenes in this drama. I've always thought of him as a great actor, but he really shined in this one. It's a memorable character with a memorable haircut. :-)

I loved that they set this in Itaewon as it's almost it's own character, but I thought that they were trying too hard to be diverse and hip. If you are going to try to open up minds, then you should flesh out the sub stories better instead of going down a cliched route. The first half of the drama was so good, but the second half I felt the story sort of lost it's way. Overall though, I did like it...just wish it could have been a little tighter.

Leggi di Più

I was hooked from the start. Yes, the plot does involve the usual drama between a rich family vs handsome main lead. The main lead, Saeroyi, is admirable. His tenacity, stubbornness, and ability to continue to persevere through all the obstacles that have been thrown at him by Jangga's Chairman and his oldest son is what eventually will win your heart. Even at times from his only childhood friend and love interest, Soo-A. She was the only other person aside from his father he had on his side. But, the more you watch the more you find yourself joining Saeroyi's fighting spirit, fighting! In addition, to an entertaining plot I think the drama added something very valuable to kdramas, a diverse cast from various backgrounds. There were some underlying issues that surfaced with this drama that weren't necessarily part of the main plot but I'm sure resonated with many viewers. Part of these struggles were faced by two of the main cast members Hyun-yi who identifies as transgender and Tony, a darker skin Korean. Additionally, two of the team members including the main lead himself were ex convicts. Yi seo's battle with mental health concerns and counseling were also briefly touched upon. I would also like to add, though I do not agree with all of the actions taken by both female leads. I truly enjoyed seeing strong independent female roles instead of the norm of the pretty girl tearing up at every other scene.
Whilst the plot is centered and focused on revenge, you are able to feel for each character as they also battle their own personal problems and lean on each other. Even with some of the challenges in terms of the business/revenge plot being a little generic this is by far not your typical K-drama. If you are looking for something refreshing to watch, this is it.

Leggi di Più

GIVE IT A SHOT!

To start off, this story is a complete cliche. Just a normal revenge plot with a complicated love triangle. But that's where the negative aspects of the show end. (even though many might consider it enough to drop the show, I suggest all give it a try)

I absolutely loved Itaewon Class as a whole. It had everything I was looking for in a Kdrama and more. First off, this drama isn't much on romance. Even though I mentioned earlier that it has a complicated love triangle, the romance aspect of this show is close to nil, which I really appreciate for some reason (considering the fact that I'm a huge romantic, it surprised me that I came to like it). The charm of this show lies in the bonds of friendship and trust the characters share among themselves. The loyalty, the hard work and the genuine nature of each character won me over and what topped it all off was the perseverance of the main lead. The female lead was so cocky and imperfect but so raw as a human being. No one is perfect with the way they think and the character of the female lead proved that right. I had mixed opinions on various characters throughout the course of the drama but in the end, I was able to make a firm decision on all of them.

The acting was definitely incredible. Especially the actors who played the antagonists were really good at what they did. The OST of this drama is worth going on everyone's playlist that every track suited the scenes they played it along with.

The plot could have been better but the number of laughs and smiles that came out of me and the anxiety the show gave me makes up for all the plot holes I came across.

Definitely worth a watch.

Leggi di Più

Mais... cette claque !

Je me suis longuement demandé si je devais faire une critique sur ce drama, car, vu sa note élevée et les commentaires que j'ai pu entendre dessus avant de l'avoir vu, je me disais que tout le monde allait forcément sauter dessus. Ensuite, je me suis dit que j'avais tout de même envie de partager mon ressenti et me faire plaisir à moi aussi pour, ne serais-ce que pendant le temps de cette écriture, replonger dans les souvenirs de cette série.

Je n'ai pas trouvé beaucoup de points négatifs, j'ai du même me creuser la tête car le drama est presque parfait d'après moi, je vais ici vous détailler mon impression sur les différents niveaux que j'observe dans un drama:

l'histoire :

Bon, je ne vais pas me lancer dans un résumé car vous pouvez lire la fiche du drama. Je vais plutôt vous parler de l'histoire au sens général. Iteawon Class nous emmène à travers un parcours initiatique, celui de notre héros Park Sae Roy. Il nous montre de quelle façon il change et grandit à travers ses rencontres, ses épreuves et ses combats. On est, dès le premier épisode, complètement immergé dans la vie de notre héros et on ressent les choses comme lui le fait. Le drama a cette force que jamais on ne sort de l'action et je dirai même qu'on ne sort pas indemne de ce visionnage.

Dans cette série, on ne souffle pas une minute, pas forcément à cause de l'action mais également à cause de la charge émotive contenue dans de nombreuses scènes.
Certains râlent disant que la romance n'a pas sa place dans ce drama et bien, je ne suis pas d'accord, Itaewon Class raconte la vie, non seulement du héros mais aussi de son groupe d'amis, et la vie est pleine de plein de choses et notamment d'amour.
D'autres voix, disaient que la fin était bien mais que « comme d'habitude » il fallait sacrifier à l'habituel happy end. À ceux-ci je répondrais que d'une, Ben oui on est dans un drama, faut s'y faire et on a assez de problèmes de nos vies pour se réconforter avec un « roudoudou », pour certains c'est manger un chocolat, pour d'autres c'est regarder un drama avec l'assurance d'avoir un fin qui finit bien (moi je combine les deux, d'où l'effet « roudoudou » comme je l'appelle) et de deux, j'emprunte les mots de notre cher écrivain Jack London : « Ce n'est pas la destination qui compte, c'est le voyage »

Enfin, ce drama est connu pour cela, il met en avant des sujets tabous en Corée (comme dans d'autres pays d'ailleurs) comme la représentation à l'écran de personnes métisses, de couleur ou faisant partie de la communauté LGBTQIA+. Ce qui est bien, d'après moi c'est qu'elles ne sont pas mis sur le devant de la scène comme le font nombre de productions (notamment en France) comme pour dire « Vous avez vu, on en a mis! On en a mis! Félicitez-nous! ». Non ici, elles sont simplement intégrées au groupe, on raconte leur histoire, on développe les personnages, on explique leurs difficultés mais comme pour tous les autres personnages.
Mais, ici réside aussi l'un des seuls points négatifs que je reprocherais à la série. C'est le fait de n'avoir pas pris d'acteur de couleur coréen ou un véritable acteur transgenre mais l'effort déployé n'en ai pas moins fort louable.
Ce qui m'amène à la catégorie suivante:

Les personnages :

Alors, je ne vais pas présenter Park Seo Jun (Park Sae Roy), c'est un fabuleux acteur et il sait tout aussi bien jouer dans Itaewon Class que dans What's wrong with secretary Kim ou She Was Pretty.

Je voulais plutôt parler des rôles de méchants, et ici, on en a deux beaux! Tout d'abord Yoo Jae Myung (Jang Dae Hee) qui possède un palmarès impressionnant et qui nous plante un méchant qu'on a tout de suite envie de détester mais aussi un méchant particulièrement intelligent et stratège, c'est pourquoi, je pense, il joue au jeu de Go dans le drama.
Ensuite le deuxième, et non le moindre, Ahn Bo Hyun (Jang Geun Won) qui sait se rendre tellement détestable que j'ai envie de rejouer la scène de l'œuvre HunterXHunter où je serais Gon et lui incarnerais Neferupitô (les fans comprendrons). De plus, il plante un personnage tellement écrasant de bêtise qu'il ne faut pas être un surdoué comme le personnage de Kim Da Mi (Jo Yi Seo) pour réussir a le tromper.
Ces deux là sont tellement exécrables qu'on ne peut pas éprouver ne serais-ce qu'une once de compassion pour eux et d'ailleurs, quand, à un moment, ils se font une accolade père-fils, j'ai eu autant d'émotion que quand je range deux cuillères dans le compartiment à couverts de ma cuisine.

Enfin, je dédie une mention spéciale au personnage incarné par Kim Dong Hee (Jang Geun Su), c'est le bon gars, le second lead mais je suis vraiment désolé.e pour lui.

ATTENTION SPOIL :
à la fin, il repart un peu une main devant, une main derrière. Il aura tout perdu pour finir, et je suis tout de même triste, j'aurai aimé une meilleure fin pour lui.
FIN DU SPOIL

La réalisation :

Le drama nous emmène dans des quartiers de Séoul souvent bien différents de ce qu'on voit habituellement et c'est dépaysant même si on reste dans la même ville. J'ai beaucoup aimé également la façon de filmer durant les chutes ou quand les personnages courent on est vraiment inclus dans l'action.
Ensuite, il faut parler des regards. Très souvent dans le drama tout se fait, se dit par les regards et pas besoin de décodeur ou d'explication les acteurs ont cette capacité à tout transmettre et c'est une des force de la série, pas besoin de paroles et ces échanges, même s'ils durent, ils ne coupent pas l'action ou le cours de l'histoire car la tension est plus que palpable.
Enfin, je ne sais pas si c'est volontaires, mais j'ai remarqué que très souvent la caméra se fixait sur les mains des personnages qui faisaient comme une transmission de leurs émotions, leur ressenti par ce biais.

L'OST :

Voilà pour la dernière rubrique, la musique, alors je ne suis pas ce qu'on peut appeler quelqu'un de mélomane, j'écoute de la musique (notamment quand j'écris, que je cuisine ou sous la douche) mais j'ai une mémoire de poisson rouge mort pour retrouver les titres, les noms des chanteurs ou même les paroles (vive Chazamme, je l'écris comme ça pour ne pas faire de pub). Mais je dois avouer que plusieurs musiques d'Itaewon Class m'ont donné envie de faire comme le héros, d'aller courir (j'ai une relation durable avec mon canapé pourtant!), m'ont donné la pêche! Donc mention spéciale pour Start Over de Gaho et surtout Diamond de Ha Hyun Woo

Voilà, cette critique arrive à son terme, j'espère ne pas vous avoir endormi sous mes écrits mais plutôt vous avoir donné envie de voir ce petit bijou comme il devrait y en avoir plus et ce dans tous les pays.

Maintenant à vous de vous faire votre avis.

Leggi di Più