Useless Lies (2023)

Forgettable Drama

This drama unfortunately falls into the category of those easily forgotten. It's not a production to showcase Kim So Hyun's talents, not a drama to watch for fantasy genre, not a drama to watch for Hwang Min Hyun, maybe a drama to watch for the secondary character.

Great premise as usual but bad execution. It's the kind of drama that serves better as background noise. The mystery lacks depth and the chemistry between the characters never truly transcends the realm of friendship. The supporting cast tends to be more of a hindrance , being annoying and never changes, often repeating the same actions to the point of irritation.

The only nice people are the main lead and some people in the neighborhood. Unfortunately, the male lead's character comes across as bland, which may be attributed to subpar acting in this instance aka the male lead can't act in this drama.

In sum, this drama is easily forgettable and falls short of expectations. It's a disappointment that is likely to fade from the audience's memory within just a few months.

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it started great but

on the first 8 eps, i was in love with the storyline and the main couple, but when they got together it became soooo boring

they lost all the chemistry they had and the development of the murder was poorly written. 12 eps would be enough to develop well the story and the couple, but it wasn’t, it was more 8 eps with pure boredom 😭😭

seriously, i watched the last 2 eps in 2X speed and finished the draw because of syaon and chi hoon

i am rlly mad because i love hwang minhyun’s acting and got sooo happy that he was finally a male lead, but he choose the wrong project tbh😭

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Too many episodes, too little story

Meh.

I liked the premise with the FL being pretty much a human lie detector and the light exploration of how the world isn't black and white, as she first believed, but full of nuance and how, sometimes, the lies we tell ourselves and others aren't always for bad reasons.

The ML was a little too beige for my liking, and the spark between the main couple was missing imo. They were comfortable together, but gave off the vibe of long-time friends, rather than romantic partners. I couldn't help but feel sort of uncomfortable whenever they kissed, because their lack of chemistry made me painfully aware that they were two actors doing a job, and not two fictional people in love, if that makes sense. Like they were following the script, but not actually feeling it.

Lastly, as evidenced by the last two episodes just being a fluff-fest of a mamut epilogue—to give even the most secondary of characters their happy ending—I don't think this drama needed to be 16 episodes, or had enough going on for that to be the case. Frankly, I got bored towards the end and think this would have worked better in a 12-episodes setting.

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It looks pretty, has solid fluffy romance and goes awry towards the latter part

First of all, the drama has a great budget and has spent alot of time making sure that the scenes look nice. There isn't alot that you can point out to be "ugly" in the drama (except for the whole aspect of murder) on the visual part. I was kinda excited to watch this since it was a LONG time since I had seen Kim So Hyun in a drama. Both Kim So Hyun and Hwang Min Hyun as the leads look (on paper) as a great pair and I had big expectations since the romance surrounded heavy topics of murder and lies.

The biggest thing that failed the drama was unfortunately the writers.
Both main leads lack to have great chemistry because the characters themselves are SO BLAND. You could argue that the ML is the greenest flag in the whole drama, but it just felt like he wasn't a real person and lacked any personality. Nothing he every did was wrong, but during all the accusations and threats thrown his way, he let people treat him like a villain and as the murderer even if he never was to fault. Hwang Min Hyun played the "perfect guy" and it felt like it was more about how handsome the character is rather than his personality or talent.

I stopped watching the drama when I got around the halfway mark since I was SO frustrated with the way the murder mystery-plot was being handled. It was messy and ridiculous. When I finally got through to finish the drama, with everybody got their happy ending and with the true murderer behind bars, I felt mostly annoyed by the choices that the writers took with the story. Alot of the characters just felt annoying throughout the drama.

DO watch this drama if you are looking for something that deals with a murder mystery in a mostly unserious comedic (in a k-drama comedy) kinda way with romance and if you like the actors.

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Better than I thought

Initially I didn't expect to like this series at all. Especially because of the title and poster... it seemed a bit cheesy tbh. But I began to like it after ep 3/4. Kudos to the writing of a non-toxic and cute relationship for that. It's a nice watch. I gave it a 6/10 which is a good rating. I think a 5.5 or 5 rating could be appropiate as well. But since I had a surpisingly good time with it for many episodes, my rating is a bit higher than that. It's a sweet romance you can use as an in-between series or just as a feel-good drama. I guess it has the potential to get quite boring if you binge watch it.

PRO:
- Writing of the characters and romance: the romance was healthy and cute, I really liked the episodes where they were slowly building up the relationship between the leads
- Acting of the SML and FL, give Seo Ji Hoon another main role in a proper drama please...

CONTRA
-Murder mystery plot-line: just a matter of taste, I personally dislike murder mysteries in the romance genre most of the time, I thought it was boring and the plot-twist did not catch me becaue I didn't care, I started to skip these parts
-ML's acting: I do think Hwang Min Hyun's acting has improved, but it still felt odd and empty at times

RATING: Good 6/10

An okayish/good drama if you want something lighthearted. Just don't expect anything too complex. I had a good time with it and that's it.

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Strong premise that got lost along the way

I started watching this drama not actually knowing what the story was about, and it almost immediately piqued my interest as the premise of the FL being able to detect lies seemed interesting and unique. I really enjoyed the first few episodes, however it slowly started to lose itself and it felt like it didn't really know what it was trying to achieve.

My biggest issue is that there are far too many episodes. They clearly did not have enough material to fill 16 episodes of upwards of an hour each, and it was just impossible to drag the storyline out for that long without it getting lost along the way. There is so much unnecessary filler in here, which I often don't even mind in dramas, but in this case it wasn't even particularly interesting a lot of the time. By the time it gets to the final 2 episodes it's just completely pointless and nothing is happening as they have already wrapped up the main crux of the story by this point, and it was so fillery that it was not only boring but also felt incredibly awkward because already pointless scenes were being dragged out longer than they needed to be. I didn't even want to finish it since the story had already been completely wrapped up and so there was no incentive to, and ended up skipping through huge chunks of the final episode because nothing of value was happening at all.

It also got to a point where it felt like the FL being able to detect lies - which was the main selling point of the premise - felt completely inconsequential to the storyline, as at it's core it's really just a basic murder plot and while to some point her lie detecting powers did help them solve the case, it very easily could have been solved without her being able to hear lies. There was also no reason for her to lose and regain her powers towards the end, in my opinion, as they didn't really have that big of an impact on the story in the first place and there were no consequences to her losing her powers either. I understand that it was part of her character development of her learning to accept hearing/not hearing lies, but again it just felt completely inconsequential to me.

To add to this, the storyline itself once you remove the FL being able to hear lies is incredibly basic and predictable. I knew exactly what was happening at every moment before it happened, and I had guessed the culprit almost immediately. I also had a feeling that the "twist" with Deuk Chan being in love with Do Ha was going to happen, although I wasn't sure if they were actually going to go down that path or not. The mystery as a whole left me feeling underwhelmed as nothing felt shocking or had an impact on me, and it really was just a run of the mill murder mystery.

The acting overall was pretty decent, and the main couple was cute enough, although I thought that this was supposed to be a romance first and foremost and it kind of lacked in that department for me too.

It's overall relatively decent and I managed to make it through to the end, but it didn't feel like it did anything particularly special and I felt a little underwhelmed and disappointed in the end as I had much higher expectations for it based on the first two or three episodes. I think I would have enjoyed it a lot more if it had been condensed into maybe 12 or even less episodes, but it's an easy enough watch (although TW for self harm/suicide) if it's the kind of drama you're looking for.

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Not very captivating as a mystery but the rest is worth a watch

I was very much impressed when i first saw this series, entered with no expectations and found it very cute and intriguing , enjoyed the first half of it but later with all the mystery scenes involved i felt they dragged it for a little too long so i was on the verge of dropping it ,but i am glad i dint . The ending 3 episodes were very well wrapped up .
Expect for how long they dragged to reveal the mystery, i was surprised by killer's true identity. Would have loved it , had they focused on it a little more much and revealed it much sooner . So this part of the drama had a loop hole but again because of a very clean ending i had a good experience watching it.
The writer chose common concept of lead having a special ability, murder suspect, hidden identity but execution was quite novel and didnot have a cliche plot.
The leads were super cute together .Loved how things ended with Kang min and all the supporting characters were well played.

Like how every coin has two sides, this too had its own pros and cons. If you are up for some cuteness, clean ending series, happy romance and would'nt mind skipping few scenes/ episodes - Dont miss out on this.

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Beautiful Modern Drama with a realistic touch <3

NGL, I was waiting close to every week for this. Monday and Tuesday had become the days I look forward to wind down after work thanks for this drama.

Kim So Hyun has always been one that I look forward to in terms of acting. She never fails. One of the promising actress in this generation. Minhyun on the other hand, was really good in this drama, towards the end. Maybe they manage to be less awkward but I am happy to see Minhyun grow. There are times where he was a little awkward but I find that it fits his character.

If you are looking for a realistic love story, I think this would hit the spot. They portray trust and love in a really realistic way and the problems that arises during each conflict are really true to life although the scenario might not exactly be that way in life because simply we are all not superstars.

Its sad to say goodbye to this drama and I kind of like the ending of this drama. I wished that there was more wholesome ending but this fits into their pace real well. The pacing of the drama, would be slow in my opinion as I often find myself skipping through the portion or fast forwarding it. Overall, a good watch.

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The Story line!

I didn't expect this drama will be this fun!
i laughed every episode and i swear its have the best ending that make you can't wait for next Monday and Tuesday!
highly recommended you this drama if you need something fresh and funny!!
ohhh andd it has mystery story too, so it complite story from funny, romance, mystery. The chemistry between female and male lead is amazing!! I love them onscreen and offscreen ^^
Hwang minhyun and kim so hyun chemistry is not joke guys! you will have a butterfly in your stomach xixixiix i will rooting for them! hwaiting my lovely liar team!!!

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Second half was mundane :(

I actually binge watched the first 6 episodes. Found it very interesting and intriguing. Unfortunately it did not last, as the second half became dull and mundane.

Many reviewers said that Hwang Min Hyun aka ML face was stoic and lacked expressions throughout. I tend to agree on that. The chemistry was missing between both leads. There were some kissing scenes but it seemed more like good friends kissing lol. The main plot was quite predictable and the last few episodes were draggy.

The side plots with the side characters were dull and uninteresting. All in all it was just alright. Which is a shame really, cos it had much promise at the beginning.

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Masterpiece at first and what the hell happened ?

Firstly to be fair the concept is good

First&second episodes where phenomenal and started with nostalgic feeling of 2016 era, this feeling continues till episode 6.

after the sixth episode… omg they literally dragging the ML story and focusing on his storyline !! while forgetting the FL ability!! they could make good stories by using her ability …

but, I love both actors and their chemistry is topnotch that why I will continue this kdrama and pray to NOT waste FL ability anymore and STOP dragging the CASE bcz this a rom-com not crime drama writers so PLEASE stop this nonsense.

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Cute and interesting.

Been a fan of Kim So Hyun for long and I know her capabilities as an actress, my first thought is that I'll watch the drama because of KSH but after watching the first five episode I've come to realize that the drama itself is quite interesting to the fact that I've been frustrated waiting for the last 2 episode's release.
There are some storyline flaws but its not that noticeable, the characters acting were quite good though i felt sometimes that theres something lacking(justmy opinion).
the soundtrack is quite good and the story progression is also commendable for it will make you feel a bit uninterested at first until you find yourself hooked with it.
Can't wait for the next episode.

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