Island (2022)

Bored me towards the end

This is one of those dramas that would seize your attention to watch primarily because of the well-known actors behind it and the title itself that somehow pinched your curiosity. Unfortunately, my high hopes of enjoying it shrank and found the story lacking an element that would elevate the mystery. I can imagine how the story would end which should not be the case, rather the effect of the occurrence of scenes should make the viewer stay until the revelation part yet this drama missed it.

On the other hand, this drama supremely can boast its creativity and artistic aspects when it comes to visuals. The special effects. the fighting scenes, the music scoring, and the vibe of the location in making it an eerie suburb were magnificently done. I so loved the scenes when Kim Nam Gil"s knife would go back into his hand at a snappy speed. I think that could be a mark that you would always remember about this drama.

Definitely, I am not watching the continuation of this in Season 2.

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Za Plot

Is it me or the first 2 episodes felt too rushed? Not enough development of the main 2 chars, mostly Van. However they could have made 8 episodes if they developed Van a little better. It feels like second lead, however this is his and Won Mi Ho's show.
I've spent the whole "season" on the edge of my sofa, bad things happened, priest is nice, better acting from CEW than previews works, he gives kpop aura rather than a holy aura. I expected a few scenes with women chasing him just having him show them his collar, but that was a missed opportunity.
Lee Da-Hee is awesome and pretty as usually, but if they wanted 4 or 5 seasons, 6 episodes were not enough. Her mission is explained, she does stuff, things are happening to her, however Won Mi-Ho could've use a better arch: from hauty heiress to the woman with the urge to save everyone. It lacks proper development.
Back to Van: they missed to show the longing, the guilt, his miserable life without his friends. And more action.

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Scattered ashes, dust and broken glass made pretty...

This is the drama that is there to teach viewers not to touch unknown statues and stay out of the forest...

This drama is all about the aesthetics and less about the plot, ,gore and elements of surprise one may expect in a Action, Thriller, Horror, Fantasy. As the creators of this drama must have started off brainstorming pretty locations and things that could look cool + added cast known for being nice on the eye and then tried to sow it together as well as they could.

The first two episodes or so Won Mi Ho (Lee Da Hee) has more scream time than Father Johan (Cha Eun Woo, the main attraction of this show) has screen time. Three is less dialog than screaming too... So you may just want to turn off the sound to watch it.

The scenery and cinematography is just so pretty... The forest, the sea, the streams... drone taken pictures from above every few minutes... Water, fog, ashes, more ashes and what is supposed to be horror type demons that again look like ashes... Father Johan asserting his exorcism over a bed... Can be triggering for some and pleasurable for others... I will admit I had to sort my own thoughts here the whole in gods name type of deal was probably the scariest part of the show.

There is a plot here, it is neither new or very interesting if I am to be perfectly honest, but there are som nice little gems here and there with good lines and issues brought to lite that are not fully explored but I appreciate them being mentioned. Such as consent, power relations (I love my power relations), men who hate woman, domestic abuse, and human trafficking disguised as adoption.

I wish they would stop doing: Splitting dramas in 2, just stop it, even Prime Video gets that there is no point of splitting it and has it as one.


All in all an ok watch that gats extra points for being so pretty!

Also do not expect much logic or to be kept on your toes... or to get captivated by this, its pros are the aesthetics and CEWs charm...

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Nel nome del Padre, del Figlio e dello Spirito Santo

Uma história interessante, um pouco parecida com alguns outros dramas, mas conseguiram mostrar de uma forma nova. A personagem feminina é maravilhosa, o meio demônio Van conseguiu me conquistar mesmo ele sendo daquele jeito, e o padre Johan que sem dúvidas ganhou meu coração. Cha Eun Woo me surpreendeu, mostrou que não tem apenas um rostinho bonito mas atua super bem. Esperando ansiosa para a parte 2.

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Finished watching both season 1 & 2...
The first 2 episodes were somewhat boring..
But became more interesting after every episodes...

Not even getting why they split the drama into 2 seasons????
They can just make it to a season with 12 episodes though...

Casting is very good
Especially priest johan..
Started to watch the drama because of eunwoo.. But wasn't expecting this much from him.. His acting is much moree improved... Or May be he actually needed this kind of character to play.. He just did a fab job... And his insane visual..
Nam-gil was also good.. Great acting as expected..
But the female lead seem little bit off..
She could be a little more expressive.. Didn't got that depth of the character she played.
Johan's scenes were mostly interesting but feel like there should be a little more scenes..

Overall quite interesting drama.. Good sound,visual effects..
Ending gives Possible chances of another season??

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woah

I mainly started watching because of Eunwoo but seriously wow !!!!

I got super attached to the cast andd their great acting (That was eunwoo’s best work so far, he really did improve greatly) and the story was really fun imo and super bingeable.


The show holds so many cliffhangers at the end of each episode, constantly making you wonder what’s gonna happen next and I think it was all really exciting. I jumped straight into season 2 after finishing it and binged it. I adored Van and now I’m searching after Kim Nam Gil because i’m seriously getting attached to him ??

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Interesting story... but wished it's longer

Found out about this drama by chance and really liking what I'm watching. Plus there's Kim Namgil as one of the main leads so that's one plus point. Plot reminds me of many anime series that involved demon slaying with people creating half-demon warriors in order to gain advantage over the enemy.

Overall, the plot is interesting and the pacing is okay. While I could see some argue that the pacing was slow, I didn't really have any trouble with that. The pacing right now was fine to allow people to know the basic setting and establishing the characters. That said, I do wish that this first part was a bit longer. While the plot between Van and Miho was so far pretty solid, I feel like the writer kinda neglecting Johan's character a bit. As in, a lot of time he was shown to be doing something in the background and we didn't really know anything about it until the last two episodes. And it felt that the involvement of the Vatican (?) exorcists was like a side plot to the main story since Van was the one mostly dealing with the lust demon while Johan not really functioning much aside from trying to oust Van from his protector role. While I do appreciate the occassional flashback to explain the origin on how Van end up being a half-demon, I do wish that there was a scene in the present where they address the issue. Especially when Van didn't become a half-demon by choice. And I wish the writers actually spend more time to explain to us what exactly is the lust demons and what it has to do with the opening line in the first episode. So far it does look like the show was making a lot of reference to Jejudo's own mythology, it felt like a shame that we don't really quite get enough worldbuilding over it.

Anyway, I like the casting. While Eunwoo was pretty cute as an exorcist priest, my attention was mostly on Kim Namgil as the emo half-demon Van. Gotta say that Van was giving off a bit of Bidam vibe that it felt somewhat nostalgic. Lee Dahee is pretty okay as Won Miho/Wonjeong. Since her character was a reincarnated person who was supposed to be a key person for fixing the barrier to seal the lust demons from running free, it was pretty understandable to see her in panic and in confusion when she end up being targeted by all these monsters. Frankly she's doing well playing a character who was suddenly thrust into an unbelievable situation. And boy, she's really good at running on high heels a lot ❤

Since I'm used to watching tokusatsu shows, I'm fine with seeing all the CGI at work in the drama. And the monster makeup were quite decently made. I have to praise the action coordination as it really pumps you up when watching the fight sequence. I like the ost track as well esp the main theme with the haunting and sorrowful vibe.

I usually tend to get distracted while watching dramas when a show try to info dump too much on the first episodes or drag the plot on unnecessary things but I didn't get sidetracked on other things while watching this drama. So I gotta say that so far the writer was doing a good job on keeping my attention on the show. I'll be looking forward to see the part 2 once it release next month.

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...
«Island» est un drama mélangeant action, fantastique, surnaturel, mystère et drame. Avec des personnages très intéressants, drôles et attachants, des acteurs talentueux et une histoire prenante, rien ne manque à ce drama, si ce n’est plus d’épisodes ! Le trio principal a été un plaisir à voir, les liens qui s’établissent entre chacun d’eux, chacune de leurs histoires qui sont explorées légèrement, et bien sûr, la romance légère qui est également présente entre deux d’entre eux. Ce n’est pas parfait, l’histoire aurait largement mérité plus d’épisodes, vu tout le contenu à explorer, et celui qui aurait pu l’être, mais j’ai vraiment adoré !

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Mon Avis Complet sur "Island" :
https://lamagiedeshistoires.wordpress.com/2024/05/02/island-avis/

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It was a great drama despite what all the negative people think that didn’t even complete it!

All the people that are complaining about this drama are all the ones that didn’t finish it or skipped some of it.
Why even watch it if you’re not going to watch all of it. I initially watched this bc I love Eun-Woo and have followed him for many years in his journey. This is not typically the type of genre I like to watch but I wanted to give it a try. I’ve liked anything he has ever acted in. He gets many offers so I knew he must have thought it was good enough. I loved it. I wasn’t bored at all. Maybe you negative people didn’t really understand what was going on. Every little thing was explained throughout the last 6 episodes. Every character’s back story was explained so that we could understand everything going on. I don’t even understand how they allow people in here to even write reviews if you never complete something. I see it all the time. People just like to complain!!!
Before you complain about it watch each and every episode so you can maybe understand what is going on! ?
It was awesome! Kept me in the edge of my seat a lot and very nervous for a lot of it! It ended to where they could definitely have another one. But all you negative people who didn’t even watch it may take that away from all of us that actually enjoyed it. All of the characters were great and did an awesome job of portraying their characters!!!

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Si un K-drama me dice que va a hablar sobre mitos coreanos...me tiene atrapada desde el primer momento y encima este K-drama ha conseguido mucha fama en las redes sociales, por lo que no podía dejar para más tarde el verlo.
La historia la verdad es que me ha gustado mucho, principalmente porque hace una mezcla entre el presente y el pasado. Si le tengo que poner un pero sería que no termina de desarrollar bien la historia del por qué de la existencia de los demonios ni tampoco de la secta que aparece en la segunda parte, aunque creo que es para dejar una ventana abierta a una posible segunda temporada, la cual estaría deseando de ver.
Sin embargo, los personajes son de lo mejor que tiene el K-drama. Me suelen gustar los personajes que son volubles y polifacéticos, que no tienen una personalidad centrada en un carácter concreto sino que tienen un buen equilibrio entre responsabilidad, pasotismo y, principalmente, humor. Por esto, mi personaje favorito ha sido el sacerdote, el personaje de Cha Eun Woo. Este actor me gusta aunque no es de mis favoritos pero en Island, su actuación y su personaje me han parecido increíbles y lo único necesario para ponerle una alta puntuación a la serie y convertirse en una serie muy recomendable.
En relación con la trama, la verdad es que cuando una historia se desarrolla en la Isla de Jeju es otro punto a su favor y unido al tema fantasía/mitos han hecho que la historia sea fácil de seguir y muy entretenida. Pensé que al tener una trama en principio complicada y ser solo 12 capítulos iría un poco apresurada pero la verdad es que no, que tiene un buen ritmo y que te mantiene todo el capítulo en tensión sobre qué va a pasar y que al terminarlo necesites seguir con el otro inmediatamente.

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Island moves at a snail's pace

Island part 1 really takes its sweet time introducing the characters and setting up the world.
There's only 6 episodes and they drag on forever.
A fantasy drama about fighting demons should not be this boring but it is.

The only memorable character is Cha Eunwoo's Johan and he brings much-needed humour and fun to the drama.
And Eunwoo's styling in this drama is great. Best he's ever looked in all of his dramas. I especially love the earrings.
The side plot with his brother is the best part of the drama.

My full review: https://dramatoast.com/island-kdrama-review/

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