Itaewon Class (2020)

I loved itaewon class for the revenge, romance, healing and the ost.

It was really satisfying revenge, like marry my husband. I have seen a lot of hate in the main couple and the SML. Many wanted Saeroyi to end up with Soo Ah. My thoughts:

1. Soo Ah, Yi Seo, Saeroyi

Soo Ah never deserved Saeroyi. It's admirable she was an independent person and made a life for herself. It was not easy to change her way like how she did in the end. She is the most miserable character in the drama. But what she did to Seroyi was a massive. A massively worse version of using the other person like how Yi Seo did to Guen Won and Saeroyi to Yi Seon. But what made it worse was that she is not an immature kid and knew all along the extend of what she was doing, all on the excuse that Saeroyi will not be hut no matter what she did.

When Soo Ah used Saeroyi to justify her life, Yi Seo honestly wanted royi to be happy. In a way yi Seo and royi bet their lives in each other. They might have trouble being in a relationship, but for me they are perfect for each other.

What she did at the end was too little too late.

2) Geun Won

Usually I hate the SML and the love triangle in most series. But I did not hate Geun Won as a SML, but only as a misguided and irritating antagonist in the later episodes.

3) The ending

It is understandable that some did not like how the tone of the show changed from beginning to end. But it felt really natural to me. Especially the goosebumps raising 2 kneeling scenes. The last episode was absolutely perfect. Also the scene when the chairman was eating the tofu stew in the pub.

All in all, it was an inspiring, heartwarming and satisfying drama for me!

Leggi di Più

Emotional Damage

Overview: "Itaewon Class" follows Park Sae-ro-yi's quest for revenge against a powerful conglomerate, intertwining themes of justice, friendship, and resilience.

Characterization: The characters are multifaceted and relatable, though some may lack depth compared to others.

Aesthetic Elements: The soundtrack and cinematography contribute to the series' emotional impact, although they may not stand out significantly.

Plot and Pacing: While the plot is engaging overall, pacing issues and predictable plot twists may hinder the viewing experience for some.

Critical Analysis: Critiques may focus on reliance on tropes, uneven character development, and pacing concerns.

Conclusion: "Itaewon Class" offers a compelling narrative with memorable characters and thought-provoking themes, despite its flaws.

Rating: 7.5/10

Leggi di Più

Sometimes Great, Sometimes Insufferable

So when I first signed up for this site about a month ago, I sat down and did reviews for all the dramas I could remember watching. Tonight something relating to Itaewon Class came up (a show I watched only a few months back) and I couldn't remember talking about my biggest issue with the show. Turns out I accidentally forgot to do a review for this one, so let's get into it.

Occasionally someone's character in a drama is so nasty, awful, cruel, idiotic, annoying, narcissistic, etc., that I will struggle to want to watch anything with that person again. Usually that's a nod to how great of an actor they are, but this is definitely not one of those cases, as everything I've seen written about the FL's character Oh Soo Ah (Kwon Nara) in this drama has been weirdly positive. Despite that, I thought she was vile. Them writing that she wasn't actually the one who turned him into police for the underage selling as if we're all supposed to go, "Omg... I was sooo wrong about her!" after EVERYTHING else she did from the time he met her until the end of the drama... give me a break.

After all Park Sae-Ro-Yi (Park Seo-Joon) did for her, after all Sae-Ro-Yi's father did for her, she behaved that way? Not just once either. It was one selfish, narcissistic, cold-blooded decision after another. All I kept thinking throughout this whole movie was that he was 100% correct about her from the first time they met, and the time as kids after that was fake af. She had always been fake, and he was always unable to see it.

You can say what you want about Jo Yi-Seo (Kim Da Mi), and sure there were times where she was definitely wayyyy out of line, but at least she was real. Brutally honest and real. And of course, that brings us to another example of Soo Ah's fakery; the introduction of a beautiful, strong, and determined female who knew she wanted Seo-Ro-Yi from the beginning. After years of treating him either like sh*t, like she was too good for him, or like he didn't exist at all, suddenly she's interested in him when she learns this girl is? Bffr

The rest of the cast was decent. I loved the transformation of Choi Seung-Gwon (Ryu Kyung-Soo) over time and I also really loved his relationship with Sae-Ro-Yi. I definitely feel like they shafted Kim To-Ni (Chris Lyon) at the end a bit. They definitely should've all been more involved and more together.

Also, the romance thing went on for too long because every time he didn't return feelings, I didn't really care except for the fact that he'd then go and do some stupid sh*t for Soo Ah. I also hated the trans thing. It added nothing to the story and was totally irrelevant. The actress, Lee Joo-Young looked the same in Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-Joo so it feels like they were just like, "You have a boyish haircut, what if we make you a dude trying to be a woman for funsies!?" Like, instead of writing her as an interesting person, they just did this.

I was worried I'd feel the same about Chris Lyon being in it because Netflix tends to throw random diversity characters into shows so they give the appearance of virtue, when in reality there's just no good reason, and they can't be bothered to create one. I didn't dislike his placement at all though. They storyline with his dad and grandma and them hiring him to speak English because they assumed he could speak it... that all makes sense.

Anyways, I don't think I'd rewatch because it was too infuriating.

Leggi di Più

Overall- would recommend to everyone

I watched this drama because i had previously seen dramas with Park Seo Joon and i was interested in watching this one. I think the story was interesting to follow through most of the series. I liked how there was a continuation of a sentimental moment Saeroyi had with his father before his father passed away early on in the series, the way the wine tasted. I think it was clever how the mention of weather the alcohol was sweet or bitter also reflected how things were going in each characters life. i think there was the perfect amount of suspense in this story and there was always something going on. I actually ended up really liking the character of Jang Geun Won despite the fact that he was meant to be unlikable through the series because of his actions i pitied the character because i think it was because of family pressures and not nececerally spite.

Leggi di Più

Refreshing for me!

This drama really felt so fresh to me. I appreciated that for the most part things stayed relatively low stakes and focused on character relationships. There was some less believable aspects of the story and the character interactions, but for the most part it stayed grounded and realistic. This feels rare for a lot of dramas sometimes!

Those last few episodes after the final time jump though..... Woof. they really leaned so hard into the drama tropes! So much hospitalization, kidnappings, a coma, they did it all. It was like they strayed from the traditional drama writing for too long and they couldn't resist at the end.

Overall I thought the actors did well, I loved the music, and the story kept me interested.

Leggi di Più

A vida é doce

Se a vida continuar amarga, continue até ela voltar a ser doce. É isso.
Eu acredito no momento certo (talvez tal qual a Yi seo) e mesmo sendo dorameira tem três anos e amigas minhas dizendo que eu tinha que ver, esse era o momento certo. Nada como ele pra dar gás aos meus sonhos e acreditar, continuar.
No geral, eu gostei muito do drama, diferente de outros com tema de vingança achei ele um pouco mais lento no seu desenrolar mas não afetou a história, ela tem seu próprio desenvolvimento e eu gostei muito assim. Pra mim foi o melhor papel do Seo Joon, sem dúvida alguma. Não consigo expressar a força dele nesse papel, no personagem do Saeroyi, é realmente tudo isso que falam por aí e muito mais. A história dele com todos os personagens ao redor foi muito boa, gostei de cada ênfase, o círculo dele era a fortaleza que o fazia continuar, sem isso acho que não teriam ido tanto pra frente. Sobre o romance pra mim a soo ah eta uma personagem muito irrelevante, o saeroyi lutou por todo mundo mas não tinha ninguém pra lutar por ele e a Yi seo fez isso, ela fez muita coisa do jeito errado mas ela aprendeu e ela nunca exitou em dizer que gostava dela, pra mim a soo ah so queria que o saeroyi ficasse dizendo que gostava dela mas nunca dizia o mesmo ou lutou por ele sabe? Gostei do meu casal e dos casais secundários, como a hyunyi e o seung Kwon (pra mim são casal sim) e a Sra Kang e o Sr oh, lindos demais!
A OST desse drama? Eu amava escutar a do gaho desde antes mas agora tem todo um significado diferente. A vida vale a pena ser vivida e se não vale ainda procure motivos para que valha.

Leggi di Più

Good show with some issues

The reviews on here for Itaewon class are very interesting with a lot of very high or very low scores. At the end of the day I think it's somewhere in the middle.

I think Itaewon's biggest failing is the story, it's a revenge story but not a particularly good one. The ML is wronged and he spends the show attempting to get revenge, but it's not very interesting. It's a weird mix of "the best revenge is living well" and also attempting to take down his enemies. This really ends up being framing for a charming restaurant slice of life and romance with a great cast.

Kim Da Mi and Park Seo Joon play off each other very well with Kim's outgoing and forceful character picking up the slack for Park's more limited dialog. Watching them run a restaurant is great and the three employees at DanBam are good and fit in well. I want to give the show extra credit for having a transgender character and handling her well.

While I don't think the revenge plot is great Yoo Jae Myung does play a great villain. His actions are sometimes uncaring, sometimes cruel, but always feel like they're coming from the place of a real fleshed out character with his own motivations.

My largest issues with the show come near the end. The pacing starts to suffer and the writing starts to feel the need to inject extra tension and drama into the last few episodes rather than letting the story come to a more natural conclusion.

But at the end of the day I really like the show, it was my first kdrama and while it isn't my favorite it's certainly above average and the cast and setting are great.

Leggi di Più

The message is the most significant

The message of this drama will always be, in my opinion, that our happiness and value are in the people around us. The money and things we have don't have any value and we will not be happy if we don't have people we love around us. I will always think that the enemy situation that drove the story was a little overwhelming since the beggining, it made me especially rethink about the fact that people with money really rule the world as they want without punishment and it is something that really should stop.
Geun Soo, Hyun Hi e Soo Ah were my favourites characters, Geun Soo and Soo Ah had theirs ups and downs, hurt people in the process but they are characters who really had a big evolution overall. Hyun Hi was definitely the character that stole my heart, the history, the way she is portrayed and how strong she is are an inspiration.

Leggi di Più

Great Representation - Mediocre Story (and some annoying characters)

WOOO REPRESENTATION! Not just a black character but a trans woman!?! And their stories/characters are done pretty well and respectfully? I'm impressed.

Apart from that, the acting and production were solid though the story left room for improvement. The strongest aspect of this show was how each side characters differences lead to different challenges to overcome. Toni experiencing racism and struggling to deal with his citizenship, Hyun-yi's journey as a trans woman (including overcoming being outed without her consent), Seung-Kwon overcoming his past as an ex-con and even Geun-Soo and his relationship with his family as the child of a mistress. All these are pretty unique perspectives, especially from a k-drama, and allowed for unique stories and relationships to develop between characters. It's a shame we didn't get more of that as we saw these characters less and less as the series went on.

The main characters felt lacking and stale in comparison. Despite the story taking place over the span of 15 years Sae-Ro-Yi never changes and his beliefs are never really challenged. His relationship with Yi-Seo feels forced along with a lot of the typical k-drama clichés in the latter half (the kidnapping really came out of nowhere lol). Yi-Seo's character is grating - despite harassing Sae-Ro-Yi (even when he says he isn't interested and is uncomfortable from her advances), taking advantage of Geun-Soo's feelings (and leaving him for dead as she runs away from the kidnappers), and her consistent disrespect and bigotry towards other characters - she never really changes or faces any consequences.

There was a lot of potential with this show and it's a shame that it fell into mediocre writing reliant on tropes and forced romance.

Overall an enjoyable drama for the first like 1/2, falls into some of the typical k-drama pitfalls, and I'll admit I began to lose interest towards the end, especially as I got frustrated between Yi-seo and Saeroyi's relationship. Despite this, it has some of the best representation I've seen in k-drama to date. I love Toni and Hyun-yi so much. We're they perfect? No. Ideally Hyun-yi could have been played by an actual trans woman but I know that may be difficult in SK and a cis female actress is a lot better than a male actor in drag. Other series could learn a lot from these characters.

A solid 6.5/10

Leggi di Più

Itaewon class reseña

A pesar de no tener el 10 en puntuación para mi, es de mis dramas favoritos de Park Seo Joon. Me gusto la historia en términos generales, es cierto que lo que me hizo quitarle varios puntos fue la parte de la historia entre los protagonistas. No veía gran química entre ellos y realmente no llegué a conectar con esa parte. A pesar de ello me gustó mucho aunque lo dicho anteriormente hay ciertas partes que si hubieran sido diferentes pero bueno. Aún así en un drama que recomiendo y que hay que ver si o si. Este es uno de esos dramas en los que hay disparidad de opiniones, por lo que yo recomiendo que se vea para hacerse una idea porque lo que no les gustó a otros o lo que si gusto puede que no sea lo mismo que te pase a ti.

Leggi di Più

Me salió en recomendaciones de Netflix. Vi el tráiler y me gustó, así que decidí verla. Al comentar en un grupo de discord que iba a comenzarla, me dijeron que ellas se la habían dejado porque no les había enganchado (cuestión de gustos), pero que si a mi me gustaba se lo dijera, para darle una oportunidad.
Desde el minuto uno, tanto la trama como los personajes te atrapan. La interpretación por parte de todo el reparto, es maravillosa.
El único punto negativo que le sacó es que puede llegar a hacer algo repetitiva, porque sientes que no avanza en su objetivo, aunque realmente sí, pero se plantea de tal forma, que a mi me hace sentir que lo que ha pasado ya lo he visto antes.
Lo que más me sorprendió, fueron los últimos capítulos porque no me esperaba que pasase algo así.

Como conclusión: Sí, la recomendaría ver.

Leggi di Più