Good Casting (2020)

character driven story

this drama was made for me❤ when I 1st started watching kdramas I kept searching for 1 theme and it's "female spy", and if having that with 2020 quality was not good enough they added "female centered plot" as the cherry on top~

good casting is a "comedy" spy genre so the show never took itself seriously and honestly that made it even better, I love spy stuff but I hate the crime involved so even here I couldn't 100% focus on their big mission, but I loved everything else involved and I LOVED the characters the most.

Baek Chan Mi was strong, smart and she seemed cold and a "lone wolf" but she really cared for her team and she blamed herself for the incident that killed one of her members.

Hwang Mi Soon was my favorite, she looks like the weak link, she was a normal boring ahjumma/mom but the fact that she was a secret spy made her the most "ironic" spy xD they also mixed her normal life issues well.

Im Ye Eun was the inexperienced "unfortunate" smart maknae that just kept messing her cover. plus her little love line with Gang Woo Won added a little romance that lightened up the mood. though tbh I didn't "like" him, but I could tolerate his picky loud personality because this was a romance (and I kinda wanted to punch him a few times xD)

Yoon Suk Ho is the nicest sweetest male lead, no one else deserves to be called a nice ml. and I really liked his dynamic with Baek Chan Mi. whenever he was trying to pull a "Gang Woo Won/bossy jerk" she was able to stand her ground and he'd let it go, though I wished he found out earlier I was really happy by the smooth discovery, and I really need a 2nd season just to get more of their sweet "normal" romance uwu

Dong Gwan Soo was the boss they could ever have. even as a guy he never doubted or hated working with a team full of women and he never degraded them, on the contrary he hyped them up so much. also I really loved that he was Baek Chan Mi ex boyfriend, it really added depth to both as people.
from one side their past relationship made them better friends and better colleagues and though they had a rocky breakup they both really appreciated their time together and they never held a grudge, so it's nice to see a normal breakup in dramaworld.

Byun Woo Suk was my favorite, he was an unexpected treat. he was funny and silly and a really good friend to both Yoon Suk Ho and Baek Chan Mi❤


so basically this was a character driven story and again I'd love to see a 2nd season (with the same cast, directors and writers!). they made me laugh, cry and it really saved me from boredom in a time when I didn't have any ongoing drama beside it~

the songs were really nice too and they set the mood really well, also I liked the lighting and the aesthetics~
I never rewatch stuff but I want a 2nd season!

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PLOT: Old-school and well-presented, but ultimately unengaging
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Let me start by saying that I struggled to watch this drama as it aired, though I paced myself as best I could. This drama was weird to experience for me. Although I finished it the day the last episode came out, I did so without any joy (much to my disappointment).

On paper, the show should've been right up my alley. You get three strong female leads, supported by male leads who never steal their limelight, up against a threatening enemy who really hurt two of our protagonists... Yet, the story fell flat for me. I found myself easily distracted. As a result, one-hour episodes took me almost three hours to finish.

Technically speaking, the main plot was well structured even if predictable and most questions were properly answered. Of course, there were also some subplots introduced at odd places and dealt with a bit offhandedly (like the bullying, for example) which we can mark as flaws.

However, it was evident from the start, that this show required effort and patience for me to sit through. I found the humor a bit too silly and the plot a bit too boring. I thought I'd get into it as the story progressed, but I was wrong. I felt the show couldn't commit to a tone and therefore I didn't find my footing as an audience.

Perhaps I watched this show when I was simply not in the mood for this type of drama? Or maybe this type of drama is simply not for me? At any rate, one thing is for sure, if you aren't enjoying this show by episode 3 or 4, chances are that --like me-- you won't enjoy the rest.

MAIN CHARACTERS: Not very deep
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Although I appreciated this show focused on three female leads, they were still not fleshed-out enough for me to perceive them as more than a caricature. Don't get me wrong, there were moments where I thought I'd empathized with them (and I should've!) but there was a disconnect for me between what I was being shown and the acting. That meant that when characters cried, I wasn't moved.

Baek Chan Mi: She's a badass lady who is obsessed with her job and, within that, revenge. While I appreciated all the badass fighting scenes she starred in, I often found myself distracted by her acting. Partly because my brain kept telling me there was something strange with her face (surgery, I supposed) but mostly because I simply couldn't connect with her in any scene.

Im Ye Eun: She's the team's rookie, a single mom without a family who struggles to step up to the plate and help out her teammates. I liked her character but felt she lacked dimension. She was nice and smart, but she wasn't memorable. I expected her to grow even more confident, but I don't think she did at all.

Hwang Mi Soon: she's the oldest of the team, the breadwinner of her family who has to pretend she has a regular job. Although she was often used as comic relief, her acting stood out to me. I found myself feeling a bit bad during her moments of vulnerability. Unfortunately, her issues were a very small part of the plot.

SUPPORT CHARACTERS: forgettable
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The support characters were forgettable, really. The only one I found charming was Byun Woo Suk, the ML's secretary. He got a bit of development towards the end of the show and those flashbacks made me wished we'd gotten more scenes between him and Yoon Suk Ho (the ML).

PORTRAYAL OF ROMANCE: childish, but a bit toxic
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There are three romantic relationships depicted in the drama, each pertaining to one of our leading ladies.

Baek Chan Mi X Yoon Suk Ho: their relationship relied on their childhood connection. Chan Mi used to be Suk Ho's tutor and childhood friend. This relationship has the most screentime and development, mostly through flashbacks provided through the epilogues. Although the romance is mostly sweet, I found it a bit boring. Towards the end, however, there are some questionable scenes where Suk Ho takes control of the relationship which didn't settle all that well with me. Let's just say possessiveness shouldn't be confused with confidence, less so with love.

Im Ye Eun x Gang Woo Won: take the following with a grain of salt, as this relationship was popular based on the comment section of the show at the time this aired. That said, I didn't like it. Woo Won can be described as a man child, one who often gaslighted and manipulated Ye Eun to get her to do his bidding. I'm not a fan of characters who are incapable of accepting their emotions (emotionally incompetent, if you will), and even less of those who push their emotions on someone else. Though I'd hope Woo Won would grow as a character, the truth is... he didn't. But then again, none of the characters really grew, so no surprise there.

Hwang Mi Soon x Nam Bong Man (I had to look up his name, and I'm assuming I'm right and this guy was Mi Soon's husband. Please correct me if I'm wrong). Anyhow, this relationship was depicted as realistic but... problematic. Mi Soon never seemed happy to be with her husband and when he started to suspect she may be having an affair, the entire thing was treated as a joke. So, naturally, I disliked that the issue was never really brought up or talked about.

OVERALL: On the fence...
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This is the first time that I struggle with putting my thoughts on paper. I opted to write a review rather than leave a comment so I could try, as much as I could, to give a snapshot of how I feel about this show.

Though I didn't like it, I can't easily encourage you to skip it. Based on the comment section, I may be in the minority (and trapped in the twilight zone) when it comes to this drama. I can safely say I didn't hate it... but I also didn't enjoy watching it (from the first episode to the last, my indifference remained).

Why did I continue to watch, you may ask? Because I WANTED to like it, given so few dramas have more than one female character in their roasters, let alone acting as their leads! I gave this show a chance and I don't regret it, though a month from now, I'll probably not even remember this story, the characters or the acting.

So my best and only advice would be to watch the first 3-4 episodes and see if you liked them. If you're engaged by then, you'll probably enjoy the rest of the show. If, however, you found them boring or found the humor lacking, then you may be better off skipping this one.

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