The Chaser (2012)

i just made a very quick review just to give the chaser some advertisement
because its so unpopular..or lets say one of the mdl underrated of 2012. (seen only by 40 mdl users)

Expect not to see any eye candy on here and it was evident on the poster.
I think somebody who come across w/ this drama with an impression like this..

"ooh The chaser? hmm ahjussis?"
*reads synopsis
*looks on the cast
"oops theres no hottie nevermind lol"

Oh well..anyway

for anyone who likes another revenge drama should give this a chance.
It was very relatable with emphasis on importance of living w/ family.
If i would think of a drama that shares some similarity...hmm
Think of city hunter w/o a superhero thing and the rom com stuff and add
the movie "the Crucible" not exactly but just to show some idea.

i will give you some hints on how entertaining this is
- after the 1st episode there is no break on tension or a big pause on plot,
it keeps moving in a above average pace on first 60% of the drama,
- it was so complex and every character interwind in the plot/ very well deveveloped and no weak performance.
- the politics scheme is easy to follow as it really happening on real event.

The Story: It was compelling and there is so many situations/happening in an episode w/ no dull momnets but its up to you.
Since its only 16 episodes...its not so dragging if you spot one.

The Cast/Acting: lets us not so bias if there no fave actor in it but what important is the character developement
and the performance they made. The Main villain has to be one of the great one you will see in a dramaland that isnt annoying.
The Main lead is very relatable and his character will make you symphatize w/ him greatly.

Music: entertaining as what you could expect in a tense drama

Replay: there is a part of me that even i watched this again...it isnt as entertaing as before since i got everything
from my first viewing, anyway it was a satisfying drama....w/ a fulfiliing conclusion as a whole but again its up to you =)

note: I heard this got Daesang award yay!

my other recommendation:

The Devil
Resurrection
Equator MAn
City Hunter
Giant*

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If you’re in the mood for an intense thriller then you’re in the right place.

It’s a shame that this drama didn’t get the right international attention despite the fact that this is one of the best produced K-dramas back in 2012.

This is a journey in the harsh world of political schemes and the higher ups power struggle where the jungle law is effective: “the strong consumes the weak”. However, a man defies that law and starts his own journey of justice to defend his beliefs accompanied by fellows and confronted by whoever who gets hold of power. The Chaser’s screenwriting is almost flawless if we exclude some events, nothing less from a genius writer named Park Kyeong Soo who never fails in delivering delicious witty dialogues full of wisdom quotes. The thrilling events will keep you at the edge of your seat; just get ready to throw yourself into a ride of consuming twists and endless turns because that’s the core of this drama: Extremely Intense screenwriting.

If I have to talk about acting, I would say it’s high-class and very penetrating especially the main leads’. With veteran charismatic actors like Kim Sang Joong and Son Hyun Joo, you’re bound to expect perfect roles’ portrayal and astonishing acting skills. Other actors were also fitting and quite enjoyable to watch.

As for the characters, you will find yourself compassionate towards the protagonist and not hating the evil figure mainly because he succeeds at making you understand his motives. The rest of characters were appreciated especially their development but if I have to mention the most absorbing character in this drama, I would say Chairman Seo Dong Hwan. He had such a complex character that can be described as a man of wisdom, who represented power but those qualities can also be interpreted as filthy power and misleading wisdom.

It's a given that intense dramas with several twists would lose its factor of surprise once it's rewatched that's why its value is low.

To summarize, you should watch this if you’re looking for a good thriller, unique plot, cliché-free storyline, top-notch acting, powerful screenwriting and deep characters. However, if you’re searching for a romantic plot, cheesy events, light drama or idol actors then you shouldn’t be reading this in the first place.

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The Chaser is easily one of the most underrated dramas of 2012 (at least internationally) and you should definitely give this a try.

The plot of the drama starts out pretty simple: A girl gets killed in an accident and her father Baek Hong Seok promises to find her murderer. But as he finds out more details and has to face all the powerful people behind the scenes a complex story unfolds. The writers of the drama really did an awesome job, the drama is full of suspense as you follow Baek's journey. There are a lot of twists, turns and hidden cards that always change who's in the better situation and who has more power. At the same time the events happening never seem too unrealistic or forced and the decisions the characters make are very relatable.

While the plot is really good the actors are definitely what makes this drama shine. Everyone plays out their character really well, you don't even notice that they are acting. The standout performance for me was Kim Sang Joon who plays Baek's enemy. Even though he's the antagonist it's hard to dislike him. He's ruthless and does whatever it takes to reach his goal but somehow he still seemed human while doing so (like pretty much every other bad guy in this show).

The only criticism I have is that during the latter episodes I got really impatient to find out how everything will be resolved. There's a lot happening in each episodes and the pace of the drama is really fast so it's not like I got bored but at some point I just finally wanted the conflict to end. But the ending of the drama was very well done. The writers took enough time to wrap everything up and even though I still have some questions I'm really satisfied with the ending.

I recommed to give this drama a chance even if the plot doesn't sound that interesting to you, it's definitely worth watching! Though you might want to keep some tissues close for the first episodes^^

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Story: About a man who's family has been torn out from under him and his quest to set the record straight - people ask him why he doesn't give up and his answer is "because I am soojung's father." - that quote always touched me and made me cry. I cried so much in the earlier episodes, then it got to the point of action where I was cheering him on & cursing the bad guys. and by the end I was crying again but this time it was mixed tears of sadness, happiness and the fact that the law made things ridiculous - my favorite thing by the end though was the quote the daughter said to her father <3 it made me cry with a smile - just like the dad did ;') The only problem I really had with this drama was the background stories of Kang Dong Yoon & his father in law - when I person is as evil as they are I really could care less about where they came from (I'd roll my eyes whenever they would talk about this stuff).
Cast: Baek Hong Seok (Son Hyun Joo) - he was perfect in the role of Soojung's dad - he really drew the emotions out of me, I cried with him, cheered him on, and hurt with him. Choi Jung-woo (Ryu Seung Soo) my favorite prosecutor/lawyer ever ;) Detective Cho *jo* (Park Hyo Joo) she is great as a female detective all grimy like and tough but tender and her loyalty to Hong-seok was the best ;) Park Yongsik (Jo Jae Yun) always made me laugh - I found him quite adorable several times with what he would say, how he would say things and his facial expressions = priceless ;) I hated to the core of my being Kang Dong Yoon (Kim Sang Joon) he was so evil, I found myself cursing him more than once. basically I didn't like anyone in that household except the Reporter daughter Seo Ji Won (Go Joon Hee) she was sweet and placed justice over family. Her older brother was "ok" he wasn't the best person but he wasn't as evil as everyone else in that household (+ I do like the actor that played him). Shin Hyera (Jang Shin Young) I hated her just as much as I hated Kang Dong Yoon - they were so evil and always claimed to want to make justice for all - liars to their core.
Music: Beautiful - I loved the ost - it wasn't necessarily memorable but it was perfect for this drama.
Re-watch Value: 7.0 I will probably end up re-watching this drama at some point when I have time.

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Definitely A Sleeper Hit

This drama was a complete sleeper hit. Honestly, I didn’t even hear about this drama at all. One day I happen to stumble upon it somewhere and thought I’d give it a try. I ended up binge watching the entire series. The male lead did such a good job, I can see why he won the 49th Baeksang award. I thought the story was really moving and the pacing was good.I’m a little sad that this drama is so underrated. Hopefully, in the future more people will be able to see this gem of a drama. I thought it was a pretty decent thriller with A+ acting. Had me at the edge of my seat throughout the entire drama.

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You know how when you read a book and the plot is so intense that it's hard not to skip to the end to see how it turned out? Well, that's how this series was.

The worse part about skipping to the end is that you can miss everything in between.

Seeing that I didn't want that I went on ahead and watched the whole series.

This was all about people doing the wrong thing and not owning up to it. Or even apologizing for it.

You can feel the emotion derived from every character in this series. My favorite wasn't the male lead even though I will watch anything he's in. I love excellent Korean actors so please don't get it twisted. My favorite was the good prosecutor. Usually when I see legal dramas prosecutors are weak but this guy didn't cower for anybody.
At one point towards the end of the drama I found myself cheering so bad that I forgot this was just a series and I'm not Korean.

What I didn't like about this series was the constant back and forth. The series could've ended on a better note if the constant back and forths weren't included. By now the very last episode should end with closures but like I said there wasn't enough justice that should've been due. I really wish that was the case because this series would've ended a lot better than it did.

Also the subtitles in some of these episodes were either off, behind, or too far ahead. So if one watches in English be in for a bit of a disappointment when you watch some of these episodes.

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The Chaser (2012) – I just watched this drama by 2016 and I think it’s good. Not totally impressing at first but all the actors in the drama did great. This drama seems unrealistic to a person like me (who is not a lawyer and neither a politician). This drama portrayed a different angle of the society for me, and I find it scary. I liked it that I watch this by 2016 so the drama is already completed, I watched it for 2-3 days and didn’t watch any other dramas in between which I usually do with other dramas, I watched it continuously because I am afraid that I will forget the names of the people in the drama. This drama, I cried alongside Baek Hongseok but I also cried with Kang Dongyoon. One thing I learned from this drama is that greed is scary and gets you lonely.

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