Unique Story, But Beware Plotholes

Before writing this review, I watched this drama through twice, back-to-back. The first time was a full watch, from start to finish, with not a single second skipped, while the second time was a speed watch, where I skipped over scenes and plots that didn't especially hold my interest the first time around and paid more attention to the main storyline/lead couple.

I want to start this review off by saying... Overall, I definitely enjoyed this drama. It gets points right off the bat for being a unique if not incredibly ambitious drama. W tells the story of Oh Yeon-joo (played by Han Hyo-joo), a (somewhat struggling/untalented) cardiothoracic surgeon who happens to be the daughter of Korea's most beloved webtoon/manhwa artist, Oh Seong-moo (played by a scene-stealing Kim Eui-sung). Seong-moo's creation-- W-- is lead by main character, Kang Chul (played by Lee Jong-suk), an extremely successful and wealthy, self-made, former gold medal Olympian in shooting, who's family was murdered by an unknown assailant ten years before the start of the series in the comic book's version of Seoul.

After Oh Seong-moo's wife leaves him, taking Oh Yeon-joo with her, the artist struggles with alcohol abuse and suicidal, self-destructive ideations. He uses his creation, Kang Chul, to act out his own cowardly desires and self-destruction, but the strong-willed main character who fights for righteousness refuses to go down without a fight and accept the death his artist chose for him. From that point on, Chul continues to fight against Seong-moo's intentions and drawings, increasingly derailing Seong-moo's attempts to sabotage his creation, who he grows more and more frightened of with each defeat. When Seong-moo makes one last, desperate attempt to destroy Chul, both he and his daughter are pulled into the world of the webtoon, and their immediate actions upon landing there will have deep repercussions for the webtoon, the characters within it, and the real world they are from.

When I say this story was ambitious, I mean it. There are essentially two casts, the cast of the webtoon which consist of Chul's nearest and dearest, the villains that pursue him, thugs he regularly faces, and a slew of background characters, and then the cast of the real world, populated by the apprentice artists in Seong-moo's studio and the other doctors and residents at Yeon-joo's hospital. Chul's version of Seoul is filled with penthouse apartments, high-end boutiques, and sports cars. Yeon-joo's version of Seoul is filled with overworked doctors surviving off naps in a cramped break room and manic, demanding superiors. Chul's world is filled with the excitement, adventure, and thrill that made W so popular with readers, while Yeon-joo's world would be boring if not for the webtoon beginning to bleed into it. I think the series does a good job of differentiating these worlds, even though we're repeatedly reminded that not only are they taking place in the same city, but many of the buildings appear in both (just with different names).

There are a lot of special effects throughout the series that are in and of themselves kind of a character in the series. Production didn't seem to spare any expense when it came to them. We see cartoon panels draw themselves, characters and items be drawn into existence out of nothing, and characters appearing and disappearing as they fulfill their purpose or fight against it. Considering the world they were creating, the effects are sound and impressive.

That said, the series may have been a little -too- ambitious with the story they were trying to tell. The rules for the universe seem to change on a dime and be inconsistent. Chul seems to explain these away as "variables," but it's mostly just inconsistent story-telling. Rules exist for something when convenient, and when they get in the way of advancing the plot, they're suddenly abolished for no apparent reason. For example, we learn early in the series that Chul (and other key characters in the series) are able to pull Yeon-joo into the webtoon just by thinking about her. The magic drawing tablet (a character unto itself and the most inconsistent of them all) doesn't have to be on or functioning for this to happen, the character just needs to need/want her for it to happen, yet at the end of the series, Yeon-joo is stuck outside of the webtoon for a year of webtoon time because.... Honestly, I have no idea, and I watched it twice. It seems like they try to tie it to the tablet being turned on again, but we've seen her travel without the tablet functioning/being on before, so why? It was just what they needed for the story, I guess. Those inconsistencies and plot holes are frustrating, to say the least.

Character-wise-- and I really hate to say this-- I think Kang Chul is the weak spot. Let me immediately clarify by saying this is in no way a condemnation of Lee Jong-suk's performance! He is electric on the screen. Eyes are drawn to him and his charm is undeniable. The disconnect is on the writers/material he was given. Kang Chul is just-- to me-- a bit unlikeable and inconsistent. Chul's relationship with Yeon-joo feels decidedly imbalanced, especially their first go round, but also still in their second. Yeon-joo wears her heart on her sleeve for Chul, the ideal man she dreamed up as a child, but the affection often feels one-sided to the point more than once I experienced a kind of secondhand embarrassment on Yeon-joo's behalf. By the end of the series, I can accept them as a couple, but even then, to a certain degree it feels like Chul has just accepted Yeon-joo as his fate (even though he insists he chose her).

The best acting in the series comes from Han Sang-hoon, who plays the double role of both Yeon-joo's father and the murderer of Chul's family and his greatest enemy. He swings back and forth between the roles in a moment's notice, invoking fear then sympathy, followed by psychopathy and patheticness in dizzying succession. If you're a crier like me, Han Sang-hoon will pull a few tears from you in the finale, I can promise you that. Lee Jong-suk and Han Hyo-joo each perform their roles well as the leads. Lee Si-eon as Oh Seong-moo's apprentice Park Soo-bong and Kang Ki-young (who I adore!) as Yeon-joo's fellow resident surgeon Kang Suk-beom are great in their supporting roles. I never really warmed up to Jung Yoo-jin as Yoon So-hee, Chul's assistant and expected love interest and Lee Tae-hwan as Seo Do-yoon, Chul's bodyguard and best friend. They both felt a little one-dimensional and one-note as characters, but maybe that was intentional since they're supposed to be manhwa characters... I don't know. Either way, the characters around Yeon-joo definitely trumped those around Chul.

The music in W is, in a word, fantastic. I bought the OST right away after finishing the series a first time. I'm a little reluctant to admit that Jung Joon-young's performance of "Where Are U" is a standout given who he turned out to be, but the song really is great. The hip-hop track, "In the Illusion" by Basick, featuring Inkii is an unexpected gem. "Without You" by N of VIXX and Yeoeun of Melody Day is great, as is "Falling" by Jo Hyun-ah of Urban Zakapa and "Please Say Something, Even Though It's a Lie" by Park Bo-ram. I'm a big fan of KCM, but his song "Remember" is the weak spot of the OST.

I would definitely say W has rewatch potential. I caught things on the second go-round that I had missed the first time, so I'd even go so far as to say repeated watching would be a good idea. I think it's especially true since there is a lot of complexity to the plot, and it was overall easier to follow and understand in my rewatch than it was in my initial viewing. I've seen it twice now and I'll probably give it a third watch at some point in the future. It hits a lot of good notes; there's action, adventure, love, and sacrifice. It's not a drama to have playing while you're doing other things; it requires focus to follow, but it was more fun the second time around, so I would definitely encourage rewatches.

Overall, I enjoyed it. Is it perfect? No. Are the characters and writing perfect? No. Is the world-building perfect? No. But is it enjoyable? Yes. Do I regret watching it? Absolutely not. So give it a chance. It's a pretty good way to spend sixteen hours.

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Sweet Little Drama

First and foremost, if you're looking for something new and revolutionary, this drama is not for you. There is no reinventing the wheel here. It is chock full of tried-and-true tropes that pop up in many, many K-dramas. Amnesia? Check. Secret identities? Check. Villain out to destroy the leads? Check. Shared childhood between leads that haven't seen one another since said childhood? Check. Powerful/rich male lead falls for poor/lower class woman? Check. Childhood trauma that follows the leads into adulthood? Check. Dead parents? Check. Love triangles? Check. Second-lead syndrome? Check.

But just because it follows all the expected tropes doesn't mean this drama isn't worth the watch. The story focuses on (reluctant) Crown Prince Lee Yul (played by EXO's D.O., Do Kyung-Soo) and Yeon Hong-Shim (Nam Ji-Hyun), an assumed-dead noblewoman living in hiding in a rural village with her adoptive father. Being a victim of palace intrigue and backstabbing all his life, Lee Yul is mistrustful and cold to the world around him, even those closest to him. While he performs his duties as crown prince and excels in everything he does through hard work and effort, he loathes nearly everyone around him for their weakness, deceitfulness, and/or treachery. He's trapped in a loveless, arranged marriage with a woman he doesn't like and can't even touch or stand the touch of. With a father-in-law (Jo Sung-ha as Kim Cha-eon) who killed his mother and a wife (Han So-hee as Kim So-hye) pregnant with another man's baby, it's no surprise when Lee Yul becomes the target of a plot to eliminate him before he exposes the betrayals of those around him.

Hong-Shim, meanwhile, falls victim to a decree made by Lee Yul that demands all individuals of a marrying age find a partner to marry in the hopes that the weddings (and the resulting baby boom that is expected to follow a bunch of people getting married) brings rain to end the drought. Fiercely independent and self-sufficient in her own right, Hong-Shim tries to delay her inevitable pairing off by insisting she's engaged to a soldier from a neighboring village, Na Won-Deuk. Her lie can only take her so far though, and just when it seems like her life may be over for defying the Crown Prince's orders, her father discovers an injured amnesiac in the woods that he insists is his daughter's long lost betrothed. Little does anyone know that amnesiac is none other than Crown Prince Lee Yul after a botched assassination attempt.

The setup is obvious, but that's okay! There's nothing wrong with obvious or predictable. The true charm of this drama exists despite the predictability. Lee Yul/Na Won-Deuk is a man out of place in the rural village, struggling to cope with what feels "right" to him (fine goods, plentiful food, talking down to everyone, not getting his hands dirty, literally and figuratively) and what he's told he likes and does (manual labor, simple foods made of rather disgusting ingredients, a simple life). Hong-Shim is struggling with wrangling a loose-cannon of a husband while trying to survive in a world and system that has little to no regard for the lower class. She's left trying to clean up Won-Deuk's messes, while also trying to make life better for herself, her family, and her neighbors.

As a viewer, nothing can really compare to watching the two gradually win one another over. The pair set boundaries galore from the moment they were married, yet those barriers begin to lower as they find they might actually like or even love the person they are married to. Watching them come together and ultimately be torn apart is heartwarming and heartbreaking. Each struggles with who they are, who they want to be, and an immense amount of guilt and responsibility on their shoulders. You can't help but root for them to find their way through the dizzying maze they're trapped in by birthright, betrayal, and the actions of others.

While I've talked a lot about the leads, this drama wouldn't be half as good as it is without the supporting cast. Songjoo village is full of characters that will make you laugh and despair simultaneously. The characters in this series tend to be pretty black and white. The "good" characters are just that; they're loyal, loving, friendly, forgiving, and generous. The "bad" characters are greedy and heartless criminals with no qualms abusing their power and wealth while always on the search for even more power and wealth. There are very few gray characters in this series. For the most part, you're going to love or hate (in the way you're meant to) pretty much everyone you're introduced to. What makes that especially beneficial is there's not a lot of filler. Since you'll have pretty strong feelings about everyone, all scenes feel relevant and important to the overall plot, regardless of whether they're light or heavy.

The acting in this series is top notch. Everyone is believable in their roles, sometimes frustratingly so. This is the first time I've watched D.O. act and in the first few episodes I was a bit turned off by his performance which felt very clinical and mechanical and dry, but after a few episodes it became clear it wasn't bad acting and was instead Lee Yul's cold, detachedness. As Won-Deuk begins adjusting to Songjoo village and his place within it and opening himself up to others for the first time, a new side of Lee Yul/Won-Deuk begins peeking though, and that side is only expanded upon once he regains his memory and place within the palace. By the time the series comes to a close, the mechanical Lee Yul is gone, so if you start the series and have a similar experience of not connecting to/with Lee Yul... just keep going! D.O.'s performance actually ends up being one of the best parts of the series.

Personally, I'm not usually one for period dramas. I don't care for the class system, palace intrigue does little for me, there are a lot of formal roles/positions within the palace and society that I don't really understand or care to research, and the costuming can be as distracting as it is beautiful. Most of the period dramas I've started I've lasted an episode or so before I move on to something set in the modern era, but 100 Days a Prince easily hooked me.

The music wasn't anything especially memorable or noteworthy. The score was overall there as a background character, supportive and present, but not especially key or necessary to what was unfolding in front of it. I always love when the music is a character in and of itself within the drama, but this wasn't that. When I purchased the soundtrack after finishing the series, I was disappointed to find there were only a few singles released. "Erase It" by Gummy and "Cherry Blossom Love Song" by EXO's Chen are the highlights and worth a listen/purchase.

I will definitely rewatch 100 Days My Prince again in the future. It's not one I want to watch and rewatch back to back, I feel like it's one that needs to breathe a bit between viewings, but it definitely has rewatch potential. The characters are easy to grow fond of and the story is tried and true.

Overall, this was a really sweet drama with likeable leads that have tons of chemistry and charisma. Give it a try! You won't regret it.

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Fluff at it's Finest

This is the first review I've written, and it seems a bit silly to be writing it for a drama that's been out for seven years as of now, but after just finishing Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo, I felt like I had to write one to share just how much I loved this drama, from start to finish.

First and foremost, if you're looking for a sitting-on-the-edge-of-your-seat, high-suspense thriller, this is not the drama for you. There is no major villain plotting to destroy the lives of the main characters; there is no life-or-death threat looming over our heroes. Instead, this is a slice of life drama. Everything and everyone the viewers are introduced to in Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo is real. Chances are you know people just like them in your own life.

The characters are not caricatures and the plot is not unrealistic. They are not motivated by unrealistic things, and the results of their efforts are not unrealistic either. There are no chabeols popping up out of the woodwork throwing money at everything and everyone, no bouts of amnesia, and no forbidden love affairs. It's just young people trying to navigate and figure out adulthood. It's first loves, unrequited crushes, broken hearts, self-doubt, self-esteem issues, and lots of second-guessing. It's trying to figure out if what you're good at is something you love, or if you love something that's just not good for you.

For me, there was no bad episode. Usually, by the time a drama is done, I can name half a dozen plots that were unnecessary and made it drag, but that wasn't the case with this one. Every episode felt poignant and relevant to the story being told. I never felt like the story or plot was dragging. Honestly, I'd have loved even more episodes. I wasn't ready to say goodbye to the characters by the time the drama came to a close, which is truly the mark of a good drama for me.

I can admit to being a bit of a crier when it comes to K-dramas, but this one got me in places even I was surprised by. Some of the most deeply emotional scenes for me are found in the titular Kim Bok Joo's experience with unrequited love and being a woman that the world doesn't see or treat as a woman. It was touching and relatable and again, so very real, that I almost felt like some of my own pain was healed through her journey. There's no bigger compliment I can give to the series and the acting than that. Maybe this series wouldn't resonate for anyone who was devoid of an awkward phase or who never had an unrealistic crush on an unattainable person, but for anyone who has, this will hit all the right spots.

Knowing anything about weightlifting is entirely unnecessary. I went in completely ignorant and was never left feeling like I didn't understand what was going on with the weightlifters or what they were doing. Everything is either explained or more or less just there. You don't need to really -know- anything at all about the sport in order to follow the plot.

The acting is perfection. Every actor and actress delivers on what the script gives them. There's not a lot of inconsistency in the performances. Everyone is believable in their roles. Lee Sung Kyung and Nam Joo Hyuk as Kim Bok Joo and Jung Joon Hyung respectively are especially consistent and committed to their roles to the point I plan on seeking out additional dramas with them in it. The supporting cast is just as solid.

I am used to a pretty solid score/OST in my dramas, and that was something Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo actually lacked. For me, the score should be a character in the drama as well, but you don't really get that here. There's not a lot of music, and what is there really doesn't feature so much as just occasionally play in the background. It's not distracting though and what is there fits the narrative. I will be getting the soundtrack, but I would've liked the music to be a bit more prevalent.

The rewatch factor for this series is limitless for me. I am going to rewatch this one regularly, I just know it. It's just so feel good and comforting, that it will now be my go-to for something that's going to brighten my mood and take me away from life's worries for a little while. I've only just finished it, but I'm already thinking I'll give it a rewatch in the very near future, it was that good for me.

If you're looking for something to make you smile while you cuddle under a blanket and eat some popcorn, this is the drama for you. I cannot recommend it enough.

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Really Not Great

I want to start by saying... I am a huge Song Ji Hyo fan. I've watched "Running Man" for years and she was a favorite of mine from her very first episode of it. She's extremely talented and seems to throw herself into any challenge wholeheartedly. I have wanted to watch her acting for some time but had never gotten around to it until now. I thought starting with a movie instead of a drama would be the best way to go. Now, I think that was definitely not the right call.

"Codename: Jackal" is just not a great movie. In fact, it's not even a good movie. It's middling, and that's pretty generous in and of itself. It's an acceptable way to spend a little under two hours, I suppose, though even that is possibly debatable. I hate turning movies off once I've started them, but more than once I considered doing so for this one. I regularly checked how much time was left, just wanting to get it done with.

Any good story should have a beginning where you're introduced to the characters and key plot points, a middle where the story unfolds, and the ending where the story is wrapped up. Obviously, the middle chunk should be the majority of the story, but in "Codename: Jackal," the balance between the three is insane. You're introduced to the characters and basic plot in the first ten to fifteen minutes of the movie and the ending is basically about ten minutes long. There's well over an hour of middle where some laughs are intended, but very little is added to the plot. The characters aren't really further developed or fleshed out, the story isn't expanded, and the setting never changes. Every scene is more of the same, just with different characters making appearances and different obstacles being blundered over.

I think this movie is intended to be an action/comedy. Were there funny parts? Yes, I suppose so. The humor isn't very clever or thought provoking. It's basically juvenile slapstick, maybe slightly raunchy juvenile slapstick. There were moments when I cracked a bit of a smile, but I never laughed, even though I really, really, really wanted to be able to find something about it I loved. For the most part, this wasn't the fault of the actors. They worked with what the had been given, they just hadn't been given enough or the right stuff, I guess.

For the most part, the acting is commendable. Song Ji Hyo and Kim Jae-Joong had great chemistry and were clearly doing their best with the script they were given. It felt like much of their chemistry was wasted, but that didn't stop it from being there and obvious. Han Sang-jin as "Team Leader Shin" made for a sound, frustrated straight man trying to be the ringmaster in an ongoing circus throughout the movie. Oh Dal-Su was believable as a lecherous, seasoned detective and Seo Yi-An was excellent as the brightest and most overlooked part of the task force.

The downside in the acting department came from the most secondary of characters. When I say they were chewing the scenery, I mean there were entire set pieces with chunks missing from them, it was that bad. Seo Dong-Won as the greedy hotel/motel manager was the worst offender with Ra Mi-Ran as the lazy-yet-demanding head of maid services and Joo Min-Ha's stalker character tied for second. These roles were clearly intended to be comical, but are so over-acted, they become painfully unfunny and fully cringeworthy.

The story is not great. The really, really long middle section is a whole lot of absolutely nothing. Character motivations are never made terribly clear, and that becomes even more true once the "twist-ending" is revealed. Calling it a twist ending though is a bit misleading, since I predicted it very early in my viewing as the most logical outcome.

Production made seriously odd choices. Putting the stunningly beautiful Song Ji-Hyo in an embarrassingly cheap afro-style wig for a majority of the movie is a whole choice, but not a good one, to say the least. Many of the characters looked distractingly and awkwardly sweaty throughout the entirety of the movie. Costuming was nonexistent. It looked like the wardrobe department visited a mall in the late 90's/early 00's and shopped off the rack at Wet Seal. Again, it was a choice, and not a good one.

For a movie about an idol that is played by an idol, there was remarkably little music to take note of. Ideally, the music in the movie would be a character onto itself, but that wasn't the case here. A better OST would have made some of the movies flaws more easy to bear, because if there is one thing the Korean entertainment industry really seems to do well, it's OSTs, but the ball was dropped here. I tend to buy every OST for every piece of Korean media I consume, but I have zero interest in this one.

As for rewatch value, I find none really. Nothing about it was compelling enough that I'm going to rewatch at any point. If I ever do rewatch it, it will likely be because I want to see if it was as bad as I remember it being. Listen, if you want something light and not thought-provoking, emotional, or anything at all beyond surface-level, this movie might be right up your alley. There are much better comedies and much better action movies out there, but if you're a fan of Song Ji-Hyo or Kim Jae-Joong, then maybe it's worth additional hours of your watch-time, but I don't think there's really a whole lot of rewatch potential here personally.

Overall, the movie is decidedly okay. It's not great, but it's also not the worst thing I've ever seen. An overall rating of 5 seems most fair and honest. If some out there enjoy it more than me, more power to them, but I honestly think this is mostly just a middle-of-the-road movie. Forgettable, try-hard, and a bit boring, but not the worst thing in the world.

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