How this show got multiple seasons is beyond me.

I go into detail about the plot here so this review is full of spoilers. You've been warned.

Oh, boy. This one was a journey. I'm glad to say I've survived it.

I'll start by saying that crime shows are my all-time favorites and after finishing Beyond Evil a few weeks ago, I stumbled upon VOICE and the premise sounded nice (they are nothing alike besides the fact that we have a serial killer, but I was on a roll). An overall score of 8.5 here was also a plus. What I've learned, however, is not to trust scores too much. I've gathered all my strength to give a 7.5 although as I write this I keep feeling it deserves an even lower score. I feel I'm being too nice because of Kim Jae Wook. He's messing with my head.

Speaking of him, let's start with the good stuff.

A good crime show needs a good villain. It should make you feel disgust or fascination, or both. I think Kim Jae Wook was successful in achieving both. His voice, his looks, his facial expressions, were all on point. Towards the last 2 episodes, he carried the show on his back. And that's the reason I could finish it.
I also liked his MO, I don't remember ever seeing a killer using a kettlebell before. That got us some gruesome (although blurred) scenes, at least for kdrama standards (which doesn't show too much, let's be real). What I didn't like were the random killings. At first, I thought he focussed on killing women, that that was his "thing" but there was nothing specific about his killings besides the fact that he wanted to (as a good psychopath). The ones with a motive were people who got in his way, which, okay, I get it. This is not an inconsistency of the writing whatsoever, it's just personal preference. You couldn't do a profile of him considering his victims alone (not at first), because sometimes they didn't have anything in common. Again, personal preference regarding serial killer shows. I like the "he kills girls with dark middle part hair because it reminds him of his ex" like Ted Bundy or something. KJW wasn't like that, he didn't have a type. But you do you, booboo.

But overall, he's a highlight in the show, at least when it comes to acting, plot holes aside. And you get to see him in a bathtub at least 3 or 4 times. I swear every time I've said "I'm about to drop it", there he was in the tub again. Jesus.

Another highlight was the cases the team had to solve. I think the guest actors deserve all the praise in this show. They did everything they were supposed to do and more. You could feel their pain. Unlike the main duo who both had big traumas but failed to show the amount of raw emotion the guests showed us. Props to Choi Seung Hoon who was only 8 or 9 years old when the show aired and did amaaaaazing in his case!! This kid is so, so good. Can't wait to see him nailing main roles when he reaches his 20s. :) But honestly, all the guests deserve praise here, they were all great.

Now for the ugly part.

The main characters - Moo Jin Hyeok and Kang Kwon Joo - were really lackluster. Jin Hyeok was rude most of the time, hit the same note the whole show and it was hard to... I don't know, like him? The same goes for Kwon Joo. She's soft-spoken, which I think was a great contrast between her character and the job she has, which needs to be very fast as it is literally a race against time. But it also made me very frustrated while watching, her "nervous" tone didn't differ much from her normal tone except that she talked faster. I know she needs to be calm while talking to the victims, but you want her to be more active and she never is. She has "super hearing" which should be the main point of the show because that's what makes it different from other crime series but the only thing you know about it is the fact that she suffered an accident as a kid that made her that way. What about showing her accident through a flashback and give us a little of how was for her to get used to this new "ability"? How hurtful it was a first, how it changed her life? We get none of that!!

As for Jin Hyeok, we see 2 flashback scenes of him with his wife. Tops. I know they loved each other because, well, they were married so that's that! I mean, okay then??

I want to root for them because I care about them as characters and not because they are the good guys and that's the right thing to do. Give me something more than that. Give me development.

The way they investigate things was such a joke sometimes. We have countless scenes of the policemen running like a bunch of morons, without any success whatsoever. I swear to god that I almost throw my remote control at my TV when they started chasing Kim Jae Wook's character, who was INJURED AFTER BEING SHOT AND SORT OF DRUGGED AFTER THE HOSPITAL SHANNENIGANS, and he managed to escape!!! With 15 fucking people chasing him!! How useless can the police fucking get? I kept watching because it was the last episode but I swear I was done episodes ago.

That scene when they arrive at his beach house and both of them notice there's fresh blood in the ground right at the entrance and they are like "look, fresh blood!!" and instead of going inside the house where there's probably a very serious thing happening, they start talking to each other about things they can talk about later! I mean, didn't you just saw fresh blood in front of a serial killer's house? Maybe go a little faster and you might save someone? You've just let Dae Shik get his head smashed, congrats!

For a show about how time can save lives, you guys sure like to waste a lot of it.

Jin Hyeok's avoiding the gunshots by doing tumbles was just laughable. Oh, but at least they used their guns this time, which is better than nothing considering that part where the killer goes to Kwon Joo's house (and she knows about it because Jin Hyeok warned her) and she grabs a KNIFE to defend herself. You have a gun, why are you using a knife? Like, why? I'm not even going to talk about Jin Hyeok talking to her through the phone without leaving the police station during this very dangerous situation. Oh, I think I just did. Anyway, can't you talk to her and run to your car at the same time? Is that too much for you? But you can avoid being shot by rolling like a ball. Sure.

Did they ever explain why the hell there are 3 characters with the same weird mouth sound? Did I miss something? Was that really necessary?

I could go on and on about the bad and weak points of Voice and writing this is making me remember all of them, but this review is already long enough. I've said in the beginning that I gave this a 7.5 but now I'm changing it because I was being too generous (I feel like I still am). Kim Jae Wook and the guest actors deserve all the props for managing to make me watch this til the end. Too bad the main plot did them dirty, making this show with high potential at not-so-solid 6.5 at best.

Leggi di Più

An unorganized show with weak mini-plots that never let its characters reach their full potential.

This had so much potential. And it goes nowhere.
Laugh tracks alongside the most boring scenes (the actual funny ones had none whatsoever). Characters changing the way of speaking out of nowhere (I'm looking at you, Carson). Some of them have almost no development, no interesting arc, nothing. And some characters are just low effort and overall lackluster (ahem... Minnie and Sam). Seriously, were these two really necessary at any given moment? I couldn't tell.
You know... poop jokes can only get you hooked for like 5 minutes. Tops.

Hyun Min was a great character that suffered from being part of an overall unorganized series. The same goes for Se Wan, Jamie and, to be fair, all of them. Hans was completely misused, so did Terris, which, just like Hyun Min, had a lot of potential in a show full of wasted narratives (or should I say at times nonexistent). Carson's most interesting moments were when she simply wasn't acting like herself. If this isn't a sign that something is not completely functioning within the narrative, what is?

And there were moments in this show that simply made no sense. Without giving any major spoilers, a good example would be when they visit Hyun Min's mom. The way they handled that Se Wan scene during this mini-arc was atrocious, to say the least. What the hell was that?

I paid almost no attention in the last episode. I just couldn't. The few glimpses I gave were enough to tell me that it was simply so not worth it (ba dum tss). Sorry, I had to do it. lol

I wanted to like this so bad. The premise of having characters from multiple countries caught my attention and I was dying to see a kdrama with actors from different races (and I still want to see more of that in the future... but not like this). This one is a big NO for me.

I'm still trying to understand how this show currently has a score of 8.0. I guess I just wasn't feeling what everyone else was when watching this. Well, luckily we can all agree to disagree, right?

Leggi di Più

A decent rom-com that benefits greatly from its cast.

If you are looking for a super deep and unforgettable series, that will be stuck on your head days after its end, that will become THE romance drama to beat... this is not the show for you. If you are, however, looking for a pretty decent romantic comedy, this is a solid choice.

"The Beauty Inside" is a story about two people with unique features (to say the least): a woman that changes appearance out of nowhere and a man that can't recognize faces. Body swapping isn't a particular groundbreaking plot device at this point, but it does its job in providing entertainment most of the time (otherwise we wouldn't see so many works with this narrative out there) - which luckily was the case here. It is supposed to be a nonsensical plot, don't take it too seriously, and don't expect great explanations about supernatural events. Once you face this as a good drama to sit down and have some fun on a Sunday afternoon, without trying to give or find too many deep meanings to it, you will have a great time watching it.

I think the most important thing here was the cast. Seo Hyun Jin and Lee Min Ki were both good choices as leads and they did their job with their respective character's narratives and as a couple as well. It wasn't a once in lifetime chemistry but it was believable and good enough to carry the drama. The same can be said about Lee Da Hee, Ahn Jae Hyun, Lee Tae Ri, and Moon Ji In. They were all great in their own merit. Personally, this was one of these dramas where the second main couple interested me (at times) more than the main couple did, partially because their story was really interesting to watch but also because of Lee Da Hee and Ahn Jae Hyun chemistry, which was superior to the latter. If I had a choice, I would rather watch a drama with Sa Ra and Eun Ho as the main storyline rather than Se Gye and Do Jae's story. Luckily we have many moments between them to enjoy throughout the show.

The plot has several weaknesses, the main one is not being strong enough for a 16-episode drama. I think maybe 12 episodes would suffice for the story they were trying to tell. As a watcher, I did get a little tired towards the end but it was still enjoyable enough to finish it without dragging too much (I think I took around 3 days to watch the whole thing). We have enough comedy to keep the fun going, the romance didn't feel forced and the sad moments were somewhat decent. I feel like this show is the definition of an 8-score-rom-com. Nothing more and nothing less. Some plot points were resolved in a pretty disappointing way but the cast managed to keep things together. This show would not have worked with a different set of actors.

The photography was pretty, the soundtrack was just okay (none of the songs will make it to any of my playlists and I don't remember one specific track being more iconic than the other - they were all just fine). The costume design was great, as one would expect since Hyun Jin's character was an actress. She looked stunning throughout the whole drama, as did Lee Da Hee. The male characters also looked great.

It was an overall fun experience. I will probably not rewatch it, though. If I do, I will only watch Sa Ra and Eun Ho's storyline and skip everything else. I recommend this drama for those that like romance and are not looking for anything too hard to digest. It serves its purpose.

Leggi di Più