Itaewon Class (2020)

Promising Beginning but Don't Expect so High

IC got a promising start but went downhill later on. That's one of the flaws of most kdramas, they give you a very good start then mess it up in the later parts.

The things that I personally find that ruined the drama are these:

1. nonsense love triangle

2. Saeroyi achieving his goal through luck and connections

3. ridiculous characterization for Geun Soo (I feel bad for him, his initial character got so much potential but there's not quality development)

4. time skips

5. lack of chemistry between Saeroyi and Yiseo, I like them better as just business partners and friends

6. Soo Ah, Ho Jin, Hyun Yi and Toni's grandma are the key characters to actually destroy Jangga (especially Soo Ah), not Saeroyi

7. the nonsense kidnapping and fighting scene on the last two episodes

The things that I like:

1. strong and motivating beginning
2. versatility and inclusivity of issues
3. marketing strat (in the first half)
4. Dae Hee's kneeling
5. actor's acting
6. Saeroyi's consistency with his beliefs and attitude (except w/ the romance part)
7. APPEARANCE OF PARK BO GUM (LOL)

How I wish it happened this way:

1. Saeroyi learned business and marketing while reading books in the prison (I was expecting that at least he learned something after going out of the prison, it turned out that he just read Dae Hee's book. He just turned out to be a clueless businessman with a high dream but didn't even know the "basics" if not because of Yiseo).

2. Soo Ah being front to her feelings (I can't blame Saeroyi why he fell for Yiseo in the end, bcoz Soo Ah did nothing for Saeroyi).

3. No love triangle (or at least just subtle, but the drama gave emphasis to this).

4. Geun Soo's drive to be better so that Yiseo will see him, not an evil kid that he become like his dad (his character is so lame, I had so much hope for him at first bcoz he's different from his family, but he turned out to be one of them still).

5. Saeroyi destroyed Jangga bcoz of his beliefs that he learned from his father and from his life, his hard work, his knowledge, and most importantly, HIS COOKING SKILLS. He's given the potential to be a good cook and make signatured dishes. Unfortunately, it is Hyun Yi who made IC get its first investor.

6. Romance would work out better if they stick out with the initial expectations.
- Saeroyi being faithful to his promise to Soo Ah
- Soo Ah being transparent even a bit to her real feelings and helped Saeroyi behind still
- Geun Soo not being so blinded to his feelings toward Yiseo, and
- Yiseo respecting Saeroyi's space and appreciating Geun Soo

7. If not the number 6, at least they should have developed Saeroyi and Yiseo's relationship better. It felt forced and sudden. It didn't feel so natural for me.

I enjoyed a lot of Park Seo Jun's dramas, and Itaewon Class is pretty decent. But it's memorability and impact are not that much for me. I expected too much after enjoying watching Fight for My Way and Hwarang T^T

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I don't even know where to begin.....

How does one ruin a show that's starring Park Seo Joon, Kwon Nara, and Kim Da Mi? Well we have to give it to the writers of this show


Story

TRASH. Straight up fucking Trash. A story that looked beautifully written in the first 2-3 eps, and just went on a downhill spiral from there. The closest I can compare the quality of the story is to Bride of the Water god's: a fucking joke.


Acting

The show had good actors, even the supporting ones. I'll give them a pass: They all played their characters right, the story just brought them down. This is definitely Park Seo Joon's worst drama up to date


Music

The saving grace of the show (if there is anything left to save lmao). Good OSTs


Rewatch Value

No, I will not re-watch 16 hours of trash.


Overall

If you want a drama that's not sci-fi, but as unrealistic as a sci-fi is, then watch this shit show

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Worth your time, but not very memorable

This show will leave you with mixed feelings. It's both brilliant and disappointing, poignant and underwhelming. There are moments charged with emotional intensity sandwiched between scenes of unreal cheesiness. Sometimes the show trips up over its own habitual need to make the characters look cool. Other times, it sells a human story of how grief and vengeance can share an unhealthy relationship with each other.

I should start, perhaps, with the things that I enjoyed. The highlight was always going to be Park Seo Joon because how could it be anyone else? I watched him in Fight for My Way and he is even better here. His character is a sympathetic one, struggling to hold onto his principles because that is the only way he can honour his late father. Their relationship seemed interested but would have been better had it been fleshed out over an episode or two. Understandably, a lot needed to happen so this could not be done.

Kim Da-Mi as Jo Si-Yeo grew incredibly on me. Her character was the heart of the show in that as the story did, so did she as a person, learning to see the way as Park Saeroyi did. The show wrote her character - for the most part - really well and the scenes with her never disappointed.

I also appreciated how the show tackled tropes both in the social sense and how a kdrama show is meant to be. It delved into what it was to be transgender, as to whether ethnicity constituted nationality, rather too simply sometimes but quite well. The humanity of the protagonists shone through here. I also liked that the first love isn't the one he ends up with - although I'll get onto the problems of this later.

The music also complemented the show's tone quite well and bears similarities to Start-Up. But now, let's get onto the problems of which three existed:

1) the show moves too fast. A single episode can sometimes cover years. It leaves characters seeming static. Or sometimes a problem is encountered and then resolved too efficiently. Other things are not actually shown but swept alongside too quickly. How did they first fare as a new pub with customers was sped along. The business plan to go global wasn't shown but just told through an accelerated process. His time in prison. Throughout the show, there was this nagging sense of things rushing at a ludicrous pace while the characters themselves didn't change much.

The next problem is the love triangle. I liked Soo-ah's character at first. As an orphan, her need for survival as an independent woman was understandable. But we never saw her backstory so it was a case of telling rather than showing, which this show suffered from. The whole thing about her joining Jagga Co never added up to me and it culminated in her becoming increasingly hard to sympathise with. Had she joined to protect Park Saeroyi, it would have sufficed as an explanation, considering her own affection for both him and his father. But it was done by her need to survive. Which seemed strange because she could have done that anywhere else.

The show's rapid progress through time actually worked worse for her too. While others around her changed to some extent, she never did. She remained the quiet, silently suffering secretary of a boss she hated, a deeply immoral man who she wouldn't break away from. And so you come to realise that the love triangle wasn't really a triangle because there was no way she could have ever deserved Park Saeroyi. She never did anything for him, but instead for years waited, made him suffer, continued to wait, continued to serve a man who covered up the murder of someone who looked after her, and became increasingly difficult to sympathise with. Her conversation with Yi-Seo towards the end of the show highlighted this: whereas Yi-Seo was doing everything for Saeroyi, she did nothing. She might have been there with him from the beginning but she wasn't there for him. This was the underlying difference between both the women and why the love triangle, though done with nuance, became clear as to who would deserve him.

The final problem, which I'll keep brief is the conflict of the last couple of episodes. It was an unnecessary way to tie up everything because it didn't fit in with what the show had been doing. It was ridiculous and damaged my view of the show.

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I was so drawn by this show and just kept watching it. The first episode captured me into the story wanting to know what is going to happen. This story started from want revenge to ending up finding a found family at the end. I also loved that they add diversity to this show.

The OST was one of my favorites, maybe even one of my top 5. My favorite song is Sweet Night by V and Begining by Gaho.

Park Seo Joon is one of my favorite actors and I loved how he played Sae Ro Yi. Sae Ro Yi is one of my favorite character in the show he very true to himself which and his values. He has a positive effect on people around him and which shows that he will never be alone again.

The DamBag gang in general is one of my favorite friendship groups. I would do anything to be a part of this group. They have shown how loyal they are toward each other and basically created this family. I love the leadership that Sea Ro Yi has in this group, he showed what it means to be a leader and it left the group with positive impacts from him.

YI Seo was my girl !! I freaking love her! She is such a strong woman and didn't take crap from anyone.

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BEST KDRAMA EVER

I had no idea what to expect before coming into this kdrama, but I was blown away. By far the most entertaining show I have watched this year. I loved the revenge plot, romance subplot, tremendous acting, ost, etc. Surpassed all my expectations, such a different and refreshing show. Just amazing, deserves this high review from me. I especially liked the main two actors, Park Seo Joon and Kim Dami. Park seo joon is usually the rom com king, but I really liked his performance in Itaewon class, he had lots of emotion in his acting. Now Kim Dami was equally amazing. I had never heard of her before this show, but I am excited to watch her future works based on her performance in this work.

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The ratings were high and first few episodes were awesome. I had great expectations after i started but highly disappointed afterwards.

Story:
The story was very good during the first half which is where most of the positive points come from. The friendships, trust, protecting people, learning from each other, growth - things were perfect in the beginning. The characters, cast, momentum - everything was going great but it went completely downhill from there. The show had a lot of potential but lost its way in the middle. My favorite character used to be Geun Soo. His character had so much potential to grow and contribute. I didn't understand why writers forced him to turn bad. His character wasn't like that. He was originally sweet, caring, compassionate and forgiving. Unfortunately, in the middle, writers took the track in a totally different direction. I didn't like how Saroyi and Yeo So totally ignored his feelings when taking revenge or even in the end towards the finale. Yeo So became very annoying. I loved her character but there weren't real learnings for her. She did good things just for her boss and never was shown actually learning her lessons. Remained inconsiderate till the end especially to Geun Soo. Geun Soo deserved much more. Didn't like the 7 year and 4 year leaps too. The growth of the company was much easier than expected. Expected more challenges there. Ending was horrible. Saroyi and Yeun So had no chemistry. I would have preferred Saroyi with none of the woman. Janggak Co was number 1. Could the chef really beat them so easily in the competition! Many things like that put me off.

Acting/Cast:
Cast did a good job in terms of acting. Yeun So gave a powerful performance as well.

Music:
Music was good.

Rewatch value:
I don't think I would rewatch it because by the end of it, I got really frustrated and wanted it to just end. First few episodes are wonderful.

12 episodes should have been good enough.

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First part is good but is rushed the second part

We watched the series to prove that he does not need to kneel down to those disgusting people. If he would do that just for a girl he magically love why can't he do it for his father which means EVERYTHING TO HIM. For the story? Well that makes the story shit. The pub was supposed to be used to achieve his goals and in that goal he has Oh Soo Ah in it (did not happen because of sudden changed of heart which is kind of a bad decision because he loved and treated Yi Seo as a little sister), To Destroy the Jangga Co. (somehow managed to achieve by destroying its core but decided to buy it), To destroy and make Chairman Jang and His Son apologize. (Make an old sick man on a cancer kneel before him which makes the whole awaited moment became the most pitiful moment, which is hard to swallow even if you know what that old sick man did at the momment). We also watched and I certainly enjoyed how the pub goes bigger and bigger by a single step but suddenly the time skip, also turns out that they stopped clashing with the Jangga Co. which makes no sense at all. Starting something and suddenly stop for a break and let the little pub grow bigger without us interfering. THAT IS THE WHOLE STORY ABOUT being bullied by the powerful just because they hated your guts, but then after sometime well actually no let's let them do their thing even he put my beloved planned successor in bars and after being humiliated by being 2nd on a tv series that hurts our pride because we are and we SHOULD be always at the peak, let us not be bothered. I mean WTH its the perfect time to take your move because he actually did something for you to get on your nerves then decides to do nothing. Now there is Soo Ah where was the first love the one who waited 15 years, the who knows it all and been there all the time but don't have feelings but actually do for Sae Ro Yi enjoying their rivalry but did not like both of them to win (LOL) being in the enemies side while being a dog of the enemies boss but was actually a helping hand. She is one of the reason why Sae Ro Yi wants to destroy the Jangga Co. because of what they did to both of them which is forgotten by the time. Did not get chosen, but here is the thing she also waited for the 15 years did not dated anyone, and is safe to say did not have a single relationship, INSTANTLY falling to a chef from the palace (LOL).

The pub arc was good the only reason why I finished the last two episode because the building the pub from the very beginning while trusting your co workers to achieve things step by step was the best. I was thinking on how he can manage to defeat the No. 1 in the industry (which came out that its not a good way). First I was shocked that Seung Kwon beat the ass out of Sae Ro Yi when he is such a fighter (shows in the school days and should gain more punch when he's done all those job) but turns out to be an elite fighter him self that fills out the hole, and all the club moments were the best you can see them as a true co workers and it is God damn satisfying. Hyun Yi was the best! she resembles the looks of Jeongyeon of TWICE and acts boyish and I actually thought that she was a girl acting as a he but I AM DEFINITELY WRONG! I am a new fan of hers actually immediately search her to see if she is not a real thing but thankfully she a real SHE, going on her acting is so good and the being bad at first although cliché comes up good and the actually winning the contest is just satisfying. Toni is a needed additional he made the pub story more interesting the only thing is that his father was an idiot for not noticing they are RICH, or is just lying to Toni for no reason at all. Yi Seo on the building the pub is a good character which did care if her feelings is not returned and was clearly rejected the "it's not a business" thing but in the end swallowed and does not make sense at all, moving on she is really good at her role as a psychotic manager who will do anything to make the pub the No. 1 in the industry. Thought Geun Soo have invested in the "IC" and will use that as a card for later issue like how Sae Ro Yi did but turns out that was never an option and him being the instant villain is not that good choice because it was for naught. Geun Soo was suppose to be searching for someone to lean on and forgot all the things they've been through and the I belong to DanBam not in the Jangga Co. just for NOTHING. Soo Ah is also good at her role, being around at the pub while being boycotted is good (for me atleast) and actually being nosy on the pub makes the rivalry enjoyable.

Overall
It was a ok KDrama, if they just don't rushed it and expanded the grow the little pub little by little and get another season for better story it will be one of the best but the time skip really messed up.
Actors/Actresses is the best and did what they are supposed to do.
Music is great it can really hype the situation up.
But I don't really think I would rewatch it if not for the pub arc.
It was a roller coaster ride if it not ended like that would be much more fun.

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First of all, I really think that the most popular review of Itaewon Class on MDL, written by user manicmuse, sums up pretty much everything about the show rather perfectly. I have always been lazy to write a lot, especially when someone else has already said almost everything I wanted to say. With that in mind, I'll try to spare as little effort as possible on this.

I'll start with saying that I'm no Kdrama expert. If anything, I'm a total newbie. That is to say that, I've no means nor any intention to compare the show or the actors to anything else. Now coming to the point, I did think of Itaewon Class as rather interesting in the start. But it went on to become unstable from interesting and then nonsense from unstable. While the first 4 episodes of the show builds upon the premise to give you hope, the final 4 epsiodes just ruins pretty much all of your expectations. I know it's called drama for a reason, but you expect it to satisfy the least of your expectations. On the contrary Itaewon Class managed to do practically everything I dislike towards the end. I actually do think that it's quite incredible in itself, not gonna lie. A story that could've become a lot with better handling and a romance that doesn't make much sense is self explanatory for everything the show did.

All that said, I actually do expect most people to like this, as I know my tastes are quite weird in itself and that the very thing that drives me to dislike this is what people usually love to see. But if I meet someone with my tastes and have to recommend it based on a scale of 1-10, I'll give it a 0, not because the show is particularly bad, but because I don't want someone else to feel the disappointment I felt. Just know that it's not everyone's cup of tea and watch without any expectations in particular, and that'll help you either really like it or at the very least not be disappointed.

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Itaewon Class shows us how to LIVE truly LIVE! The characters were beautifully put together. I can barely find the words to describe how beautiful this drama really is...! THE OST, lays down the emotions of the scene and ugh makes the film so life changing. The story line!!! Love the twists and turns. The relationships between the characters were excellent. I put this drama as #1 of my favorite dramas ever! (And i have seen many, many good shows!) This tear-yanking show really shows the meaning of life. The most beautiful quotes... i just cant! Please DO watch this! I looked over it because it didnt seem my style but darn! I was wrong. New perspective on life coming out of watching every episode. LOVE LOVE LOVE! ♡

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I recommend this to all Kdrama fans if you are just planning to watch this. Please watch it right now the last episode will be airing tomorrow so You can now watched it with no delays I mean by waiting for the next episode to be released. IT IS A MUST WATCH DRAMA OF 2020. Park Seojoon portray the role very well even his hairatyle suits him though. Kim Dami which is Jo Yi Seo in the drama is really amazing a bad ass female lead but when she's inlove We can say she changed a lot. This drama shows injustice that might happening in the society nowadays. Respect for LGBTQ society which is really admire too. Respect (not racist) for those people like Toni in the Drama (a African man who lives in Korea). You can learn also in this drama that even if you are ex-convict expelled in school or had unlucky life it is not the end of the world so I AM TELLING YAH ALL TO WATCH THIS. A WORTH IT DRAMA

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This may be unpopular but I can already see from another review that I can't be the only one thinking it. I have watched every drama Park Seo Joon is in and each one was enjoyable/entertaining/well-acted with mostly likeable/tolerable characters. Movies he has done are also great, he's a good actor. Until Itaewon Class.

12 episodes in, the unlikeable characters have become increasingly irritating to watch, especially Yi Seo. Park Seo Joon is the only one holding this drama and even then his character this time is naive and so idealistic it's eye-roll worthy. I find myself rooting for evil Jangga boss and his sons instead, that's how irritating the protagonists are. Too bad, I really want to like this drama because anything with PSJ is usually good.

Not sure if I will even finish watching, at 12 episodes with just 4 more to go I'd probably power through just to conclude and be glad that it ends, unlike other dramas which has left me sad that it ends.

Sadly, this is nowhere near as enjoyable as Crash Landing on You.

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