Disappointing frontline responder drama

After watching First Responders, I missed it so much that i thought this would alleviate my longing. Boy was I sorely wrong.

The dramatic started off well enough as it was amusing and action packed but then quickly descended into the usual tropes: three way love stories, corrupt politicians, mafia, rouge hero law enforcers with tragic pasts…

For a drama called the Han River Police, they spend less than 25% of the drama ON said river.

Also for a 6 episoder, it really dragged along. Why is it First Responders can go on for 2 seasons with 12 episodes each yet this is so draggy at a quarter of the episodes? It had better NOT have a season 2!

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Why the ratings?

I don't understand the hype. Was there nothing else better broadcasting in this slot? This show has a great cast and the story and acting are ok. But it's certainly not better than or even near Crash Landing (which it is almost matching in terms of broadcast ratings). The 90 minute episodes definitely don't help - it just makes things draggy.

The only three things refreshing for me are that 1) we have a strong chaebol character who is female, rather than the trope chaebol son who meets a poor girl and loves her against all odds. 2) The story revolves around the value of life (without giving too much away). 3) The couple are married rather than most romcoms depicting courtship.

My top peeve is the relative ages of the cast and the roles they've been cast in. In particular, the actor who acts as the grandfather is in reality less than 10 years older than the actors who play his son and daughters. What is with this ageist casting?

The show is high budget enough for me to want to finish (they film in Europe - lucky Kim Ji Won gets to film in all the most exotic locations!) It also has its entertaining and hilarious moments but certainly not worth the hype.

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I dont watch variety shows...

I don't watching variety shows and reality dramas. However, I stumbled upon this on a flight to Korea. Having nothing to do, I gave it a chance because of Park Bo Gum. The show really blew me away! In the end, I ended up watching all the episodes even though I didnt know some of the celebs.

Watching the celebs grapple with sticky situations they had never encountered before, and come up with solutions because they don't want to wreck the real person's life that they've been dropped into. This sentiment comes from a genuine place of sincerity and wanting to do the right thing by another human being. This was true not just of the celeb but also of the family and friends of the 'substituted' person who try to help the celeb. I really appreciated that sentiment and it renewed my faith in humanity. There were hilarious moments, touching moments and just true entertainment from a curiosity angle.

In particular, I really enjoyed getting to know the real personalities behind the celebrities. We often see their onscreen persona but we don't know them at all, and ironically, while they're trying to BE someone else, their own personality shines through as they rely on their innate problem solving, adaptability and previous life experience to power through the 72 hours.

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Fresh angle to a school bully drama

This drama is so refreshing! Going into it, I expected the usual bullying-revenge drama or bully-turned-good drama. I was wrong on both counts.

I am not a fan of high school dramas, in fact, I often avoid them. However, after watching Twinkling Watermelon and Lovely Runner recently, I decided to give this a try because I enjoyed them so much. I wasn't disappointed.

Give this a try! It's only 8 episodes and absolutely worth it! There's not a dull moment or a wasted episode or plot hole. It's too short for that! The main actors are top notch too, even the supporting baddies are a hoot.

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Good wuxia drama

I'm not sure why this drama rates so highly. I like that it's a wuxia rather than xianxia as I prefer the former genre. The story was very fast moving and interesting initially. There was mystery and a whodunnit (or rather who's the real assassin) in the first 10 episodes However, it became really slow moving and draggy in the middle when they were expounding the love stories and back stories of each character.

Since I was already halfway through, I gritted my teeth to finish it. The fact that the show only has 24 episodes in total is the reason that I gave it a better rating - at least I didn't feel that I was (overly) wasting my life watching this! All the main characters were also eye candy - that certainly helped.

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Quirky sitcom

I like that this drama is a sitcom. It comprises short 30 to 35 minute episodes, easy to watch and not very heavy. There are some cute and funny moments so it's light entertainment. Don't take it too seriously. I binge watched it in around 2 hours (at 1.5x speed) during a public holiday break.

Meant to depict the training of wannabe idols, it doesn't delve too deeply into the more 'meaty' issues of such trainees such as the stress and exploitation rife and endemic in the whole toxic industry. Instead, it is a cutesy drama about friendship and camaraderie with hints of the darker issues looming in the background. .... Or at least this is where the show SHOULD have stopped.

I'm deducting 1.5 stars because the drama did attempt to introduce these issues in the last half of episode 4, but such a short drama doesn't allow the proper exploration and resolution of such issues. What emerged was a half-baked attempt that went no where and achieved nothing. Watching this drama just 1 week since the suicide of Moon Bin has made me view this drama in a whole new light spotlighting the dark undertones of the industry.

Pity that this drama was filmed in 2017 before it was fashionable to splice dramas into 2 (ie part 1 with say 6 episodes to test the market and then part 2 a few months later). Having a follow-up part 2 would really have allowed this drama to go into the depths it attempted to explore but could only touch on.

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Was a great healing drama ... until it wasn't

This was a great drama. It was a healing drama about how broken souls met up in the countryside and found renewed purpose and a new family.

All up to near the end when they suddenly had to make it a murder mystery and rushed through the final episodes to complete everything in 12 episodes. Why is there a need to ruin a perfectly beautiful human drama? Not everything has to be a murder mystery.

The drama couldn't seem to decide what it wanted to be. In the midst of tragedy, suddenly it turned light hearted. It's as if there are two writers and they couldn't agree with each other.

Nonetheless, I'd still recommend watching up till episode 9 where it's a beautiful drama. Drop it right after that. However the only reason I'm watched it to the end is because I had fallen in love with the characters by then. Not a great reason to continue on but curiosity got the better of me.

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Unlikely blend of romance and mystery

I'll admit I gave up on this show twice when it first aired. That's because I didn't even get through the first episode. I only returned to it 3 years later when it was on Netflix and I had run out of things to watch.

First off, the synopses found online for the show really don't do it justice. The drama is an unlikely mix of romance, underdog, and murder mystery. The real hook (for me) is the serial murder angle, which only appears right at the end of episode 1. Just based on the dongseng-noona romance alone, it's not my type of show even though I really like both Gong Hyo Jin and Kang Ha Neul. They're both excellent actors. However, the unlikely pairing of the romance with the undercurrent of a serial murder hooked me because the killer isn't revealed right until very nearly the end. I hate similar cop-serial murder mysteries of late where you know exactly who the serial killer is and part of the appeal of those dramas involves seeing it through their eyes.

All the characters in the village are loveable even though they don't start off that way. I like the folksy vibe and country-side setting of this and similar shows such as Hometown Cha Cha Cha and Our Blues . If you enjoy serial killer shows, suspend your skepticism and give this a try because it's not a straight cat-and-mouse show but also has romance and underdog drama, with a small slice of comedy thrown in. This show has something for everyone!

I deducted 1.5 stars because I felt the last 4 episodes were unnecessary. They dragged the show out beyond 16 episodes and went in a ridiculous direction.

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A live manga or 1990s Kdrama?

I've watched a lot of J-drama in my life but haven't for many years now. I now watch far more K-drama which is plentiful and accessible in terms of speed of subtitling. Thank goodness for Netflix. To be honest, I only watched this because it was on Netflix but I'm glad I did.

Watching this show however you first have to suspend belief. The acting is over the top and the characters are very one-dimensional, and the plot is so stereotypically straight out of a 1990s Kdrama. The antagonists are evil and scheming without any redemption, the supporting characters are around to provide comic relief, and the tortured Tsubaki and Nao who have to grow and learn, are so tortured by their past that they can't function as normal human beings. You have to suspend belief and treat it like a manga with all its cliques. The relationship between Tsubaki and Nao is farcical and almost borders on abuse. In true manga style, Tsubaki has a one sided smile and hair covering one eye. The show has also taken Kdrama cliques and one-upped them. For instance, the signature guy slams fist into wall next to girl to make a point was borrowed straight out of the K-drama clique playbook, and similarly, the K-drama back hug clique. I have not seen these cliques in other Jdramas.

However, something about the show is strangely enticing and watchable precisely because it's so retro. It is very fast moving as there are only 8 episodes so easily bingeable in a weekend. If you have a spare weekend, it's worth a watch!

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Good premise but too long

This drama was unnecessarily long. It could have ended after a maximum of 25 episodes. The premise was great but unlike other second chance shows where the protagonist has a second chance in life and goes back in time to change life and make it better for himself or his loved ones, this one didn't really achieve that. Halfway through, it suddenly introduced new characters as if just to prolong the drama. The overarching mystery was interesting but too drawn out. The high school friends had a good thing going and their chemistry was great, but they were very single dimensional. Far more could have been achieved with them given that it was a 40 episode drama. In short, watch it only if you are out of dramas to watch, otherwise other second chance dramas such as Still 17, Go Back Couple, and 18 Again, are far better.

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Wasted potential

I don't know how people are saying that they've completed all 12 episodes when there are only 10 episodes broadcasted till today.

Anyhow, I don't understand the high rating. This show has so much wasted potential. It could have been a mindf**k show with the time travel theme, it could have been the exploration of parent-child relationships, it could have been a show about an elaborate fraud scheme, it could have been a super-hero show, or it could been about mental health and healing. Or it could have been about an epic love story. Even Jang Ki Young was a disappointment if I was wanting to watch an 'idol' drama.

It has been NONE of these. At most I would class it as a somewhat interesting love story, sans romance. I keep watching and waiting for any one of these to emerge, but none has. The only reason I'm continuing is because I just want to see how bad it is at the end.

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Great crime drama

This is a fantastic fantasy crime drama - great pacing and no wasted moments. The story is a bit predictable in the first few episodes when they are crime solving but thereafter when the reach the main plot point (the body swap), the plot development is solid.

There are subtle social issues touched upon such as the strong chauvinism in a male-dominated workforce and vocation. For that, I give Ayase Haraku a thumbs up for a solid performance not only in acting as a suppressed feminist but also as a neurotic detective and then an over-confident killer. To begin with, I only watched the drama because of her and I wasn't disappointed! Issei Takahashi however is prone to overacting. I cringed every time he came on.

I've also deducted points for the hackneyed work of the music supervisor/editor. For goodness sakes, stop playing sound effects to emphasise a certain look the killer gives or inconsistencies in his testimony. We're not idiots. It's the equivalent of putting emojis to highlight clues the writers want us to take note of. Yes we get it, he's the one. That's childish and takes away any enjoyment I had in trying to figure out the clues myself.

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Great acting

I have just finished this show. Had put it off because the first 4 episodes were just too tragic and I had to take break until it finished broadcasting then I could binge watch. Basically, the good guys could never catch a break right up to the last episode, so its very frustrating to watch and unless you're a sucker for punishment, I don't know who else would watch it (other than to see more of Cha Eun Woo on screen!) Really glad the whole series only comprises 14 episodes.

The story is middling - nothing really mysterious about it other than brooding young males and overwrought mothers. At the end, you don't get the supreme satisfaction associated with great revenge dramas (e.g. the Glory) where the bad guys get their just desserts - and then some. It wasn't too difficult to guess who was at fault although we did want to find out how and why.

However, the acting is top notch. Cha Eun Woo really CAN act! I was pleasantly surprised after a very stiff performance in a Good Day to be a Dog although he was passable in Island. Perhaps he learnt from one of the best in the business - Kim Nam Joo. I feel privileged to watch another stellar performance from her. In fact, I feel that she's done better this time than Misty.

I'm so glad that this show didn't turn out to be another younger man-older woman romance. Thank god there is NO romance and it's all dark and tragic. That really makes all the actors shine.

Final word: DON'T watch it - for the story. DO watch it - for the acting.

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Confusing watching

Many other reviewers have written fantastic in-depth reviews so I'll keep this short. I wish this show would make up their mind. It comprises action, mystery, supernatural, and crime. What exactly does it want to be? There is so much flitting back and forth between two timelines that it's confusing.

This could have been a great action show that highlights and gives insight into the important work of mountain rangers - episodes around finding missing people, stopping mountain-related crime (eg trespassing, illegal logging, etc), and saving people in danger. That is, make the series semi-educational in the vein of what Forecasting Love & Weather did for the Korean Meteological Administration or what Where Stars Land did for airport operations. (I do have a beef with Where Stars Land and the ridiculous turn it took but that's another story). But it had to attempt to be different. There is no need to because the subject matter itself, Jirisan and its dedicated rangers, is already unique and different to so many other dramas, so focusing on that is enough.

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Touching show where the acting is the highlight

I love shows by Lee Kyu Hyung. I don't get is why this actor is so talented but has only acted mostly in guest or support roles. He's such a versatile actor - character actor, romantic lead, crime and mystery, comic, tragedy, etc. He's not idol material but he still cuts a dashing figure. He definitely deserves a show where he's the main lead, and this show hasn't failed to disappoint.

I also love Go Bo Gyeol who is a way under-rated actress. She come across as fragile and looks very young but she is anything but. She too has been relegated to support roles as villain or the jealous girlfriend but she is capable of so much depth, as this step mom role shows. The conflicting emotions she feels as a step mom who wants to do right by everyone can't be easy but she pulls it off.

In terms of plot, the entire series was good. Many episodes made me cry as it reminds us to cherish those we love as we never know when and if we'll see them again. However, the last 2 to 3 episodes just dragged things out. This is another case of bulking up episodes to make it to 16. I'm so glad cable TV came along and Korean drama series were cut down to between 8 to 12. That would have been a good outcome here. Hence my rating dropped from 8.5 to 8.

In short - definitely give this a watch if you like the actors or if you want a meaningful show about family.

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