Actually Deceitful

The drama fell short of its promising premise, stumbling through a maze of poorly executed plotlines and lackluster character development. It didn't take more than a few episodes, after the first couple of cases, to show its cracks, the narrative was disjointed, as if the writers couldn't decide which direction to take. Once the main case with Kyung Ja & Jay was brought to the front, the story went haywire. The drama failed to maintain a cohesive storyline after that. The main antagonists motivations were a total joke of a writing, let alone, the unhinged obsession of an adult over a little girl. While it's clear the creators aimed for a clever blend of mystery and drama, the execution fell flat, leaving more frustration than entertainment.

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Cityless Behaviour

Initially, the drama was captivating with its picturesque setting, charming characters, vibrant village life, and delightful slice-of-life moments. The dynamic between the village people created a lively and heartwarming atmosphere. Each character brought something unique to the table with lots potentials and the slow burn romance between the leads was a highlight, initially. However, as the focus shifted to the romance between the leads around episode 11, the vibrancy of the village dynamics began to fade and the the drama lost some of its spark. At that point, the drama turned into a very long compilation of cheesy uneventful dates sequences while neglecting the small-town dynamics and community interactions that initially drew me in. Their interactions became more unbearable as the drama went on and the male leads supposed problems were an additional let down. Anyway, it wasn't perfect to begin with, Yeong Guk & Hwa Jeong triangle and story was the weakest link in the village and borderline ruined many scenes. The drama could've definitely used more people in the village and more stories, even if it were to add more sidekicks. Moreover, many of the stories from the village started and ended within a few scenes/episodes. I really wanted to see more investment in the Pub owner rather than Yeong Guk triangle. Eventually, the resolution turned out to be just acceptable. While the drama remained enjoyable overall, the overall decline in quality after the leads got together was a really big disappointment.

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Who Thought A "Main Character Syndrome" Drama Is A Good Idea?

The female lead is probably one of the most insufferable characters you might encounter in a drama. Despicable and repulsive through and through. Props to the actress for putting in the effort to sell it as such. The drama was destined to fail with how they adapted it. It suffered from the same problems most long-running webtoons suffer from, by over bloating the material with events, abandoning plotlines and threads along the way and lacking coherent structure as it progresses. Unfortunately, they forgot to accommodate to what a live action format might mandate. The leads, Joo Da and her love interest, were an example, they were used to kick start the series of events just to be worth less than a background white noise later on, despite their core involvement in the concept early on. The concept had a lot of potentials but the end product barely serviced a story, let alone, something watchable.

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Heat Death of The Universe

Well, the drama certainly failed to cheer me up. The entire show was manufactured to be a spectacular disaster. There was no one major issue that held it back but rather a complete systematic failure. Starting from the top of the pyramid, about 80% of the cast members were barely surviving to remain functional. In equal terms, about 80% of the characters were generic youth NPCs from a modern lens. Speaking of characters, how did the writer think that writing the female lead this way was appealing in the slightest? It's baffling! That's also applicable to her cheap copy-cat, Joo Sun Ja, sharing the same revolting DNA. Moving on to relationships, pairs, ex-lovers, triangles, and squares, all of which can be tagged as insufferable spectacles. The reason why the drama added the mystery side plot is because it was unbelievably dry and was in desperate need for something supplementary to help creating the illusion that something is actually happening. It wouldn't have been bad if it served a functional purpose with the overarching narrative. Now, this is a drama about cheering and dancing but this had the worst moves I've ever seen in this context. It was nothing more than choreographed performances by PE teacher for elementary kids. It's seriously bad and embarrassing! Especially when it's coming from Kpop-land. Obviously, there were a lot more to be said but these were some of the highlights. The writer worked on both V.I.P (2019) and this drama, a solid bad track record so far, should be very cautious with future projects.

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This Is So Sad Alexa Play Lonely By Akon

Unfortunately, the drama took the least favorable route for a makjang drama. What makes a good makjang is having a reasonable push and pull balance for its conflicts, however, this drama tipped the scale all the way to the other side. The result is having an utterly doormat female lead which led to a miserable experience for the viewers. Throughout its runtime, everyone was pushing her around with all kinds of abuse, but there was never a real push back. Waiting in desperation to see her bite back but the drama didn't allow it. The attempt to show her standing up for herself resulted in a successful failure, as expected. There were other problems relating to balance all over the drama. The ending as well followed the same pattern, denying the viewers a reasonable amount of satisfaction after all the preceding events. God bless the ML's aunt, Jung Eun suk, for keeping the drama tolerable and watchable. One more thing, the drama definitely feels like it was cut short, hence, why the last 3-4 episodes were scrambled together really quick. There were even some obvious signs like attempting to introduce a new character/side plot at episode 41.

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WHERE'S THE MONEY LEBOWSKI?

Reading the plot alone seemed like it's going to be a lot of fun and it didn't take more than the first scene to convey the same thing. That first scene also had the drama's signature soundtrack running along with it, which totally sold me upon hearing it. It played dozens of times throughout the drama and it was always a banger for its scenes. The story was chaotic in the right way and the added light comedy and suspense created an enjoyable mix. A good selection of cast was present with a varied dynamic between them. Each had a small part with a side story running in parallel, although some of them I wish they had more time especially when considering its relaxed runtime. Otherwise, it could've benefited from a shorter runtime. Despite some shortcomings, it was quite an enjoyable watch.

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Macaroni Noodle

To put it simply, the drama was not good. Selling a love story between an android and a human is a tough task on its own but the lack of chemistry and a functional dynamic between the two made it an impossible task to achieve. Not only the female lead was bad as a character but her inconsistencies pilled up more problems. Allegedly, she was his bodyguard and a strong headed ex-UFC fighter but she always ended up being the weakling princess who needed saving. I thought the drama might do an interesting play between the real guy and his duplicate android but the drama didn't put in the slightest of efforts in that regard. In fact, the entire narrative the drama went for was a load of crap sucking out any possible merits that might arise.

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The Bad Sequel

In season 1: The introduction threw a wild scenario with a big stretch which helped attracting the viewers but the drama didn't return to the main case until the last 1/4. Meanwhile, it added fillers in the middle with okay cases but nothing interesting or outstanding like the initial jolt of rush, however, these middle parts helped connecting the characters together and form their relationships. The male lead character played out well with the setting and Park Shin Yang did a good job with his portrayal. The female lead was the most useless character in the drama. She had no role to play in anything other than being an insignificant side character. The return to the main case was good but unfortunately the drama went a bit soft in the punishment of the culprits.

Moving to season 2, I'm sure that season 2 is the worst non-consecutive sequel I've seen in any drama series ever. It's truly impressive how these seasons were in stark contrast to one another. Season 2 had a bad introduction and setup right away. There was a big disconnect between the male lead and his struggles. Which couldn't achieve the same impact as season 1. Everything the drama built, developed and achieved in season 1 was neglected in season 2. All cases were random generated garbage with little to no coherency to its theme, story and character. The male lead character was almost nothing like season 1. They went as far as erasing his past. He became a new character played by the same actor. It's a good example for how a character can change with a different director/writer even when hiring the same actor. Other than the 2 main lead, the drama had a full list of immemorable selection of cast members, completely blending into the background and turning into a white noise mush. Right from the beginning the female lead was the antagonist here but the drama built her story and character in a comical cheesy wronged by society kind of way. Her character had no real weight and ended up falling flat despite being played by a veteran actress Go Hyun Jung. The drama's attempt to make the viewers sympathize with her case and struggles at the end with an emotional climax was unsuccessful. If you really want to watch season 2 then don't watch it immediately after season 1, come back to it a month later because otherwise it will ruin your experience with season 1.

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Forget The Sequel

The introduction threw a wild scenario with a big stretch which helped attracting the viewers but the drama didn't return to the main case until the last 1/4. Meanwhile, it added fillers in the middle with okay cases but nothing interesting or outstanding like the initial jolt of rush, however, these middle parts helped connecting the characters together and form their relationships. The male lead character played out well with the setting and Park Shin Yang did a good job with his portrayal. The female lead was the most useless character in the drama. She had no role to play in anything other than being an insignificant side character. The return to the main case was good but unfortunately the drama went a bit soft in the punishment of the culprits.

Moving to season 2, I'm sure that season 2 is the worst non-consecutive sequel I've seen in any drama series ever. It's truly impressive how these seasons were in stark contrast to one another. Season 2 had a bad introduction and setup right away. There was a big disconnect between the male lead and his struggles. Which couldn't achieve the same impact as season 1. Everything the drama built, developed and achieved in season 1 was neglected in season 2. All cases were random generated garbage with little to no coherency to its theme, story and character. The male lead character was almost nothing like season 1. They went as far as erasing his past. He became a new character played by the same actor. It's a good example for how a character can change with a different director/writer even when hiring the same actor. Other than the 2 main lead, the drama had a full list of immemorable selection of cast members, completely blending into the background and turning into a white noise mush. Right from the beginning the female lead was the antagonist here but the drama built her story and character in a comical cheesy wronged by society kind of way. Her character had no real weight and ended up falling flat despite being played by a veteran actress Go Hyun Jung. The drama's attempt to make the viewers sympathize with her case and struggles at the end with an emotional climax was unsuccessful. If you really want to watch season 2 then don't watch it immediately after season 1, come back to it a month later because otherwise it will ruin your experience with season 1.

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The IDOLM@STER Universe

Back then when they were transforming the IDOLM@STER IP into all sorts of different media, including a Korean drama because why not? The drama itself played out exactly as you may expect and the first episode gave the necessary impression to set the expectations going forward. The cast members consisted mostly of idols so you may expect varied degrees of on-screen presence and performance. The drama explored one of the girls stories every 1-2 episodes but these were extremely predictable and bland, offering no variety, theming or appeal. You would expect this type of show to be much shorter but for some reason they went for full length, I guess they had the IDOLM@STER budget.

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Pathetic Love

Given that it's a drama from 2002, you may expect it to be extra dramatic with loads of self-sabotaging moments and forgiven unhinged behavior. The entire story was driven by a combination of last minute calls, missed opportunities and unreceived information which is expected from such a drama but sometimes it just gets a bit too frustrating, and the last episode amplified that even further. The first incident described in the synopsis was plain stupid and a general poor setup of characterizing the main characters. Compared to other melodrama from late 90s to early 00s this would rank at the very bottom. The last episode was objectively bad and was designed this way to rile up the audience and stir a conversation. It's an attempt to go for the "there is no such thing as bad publicity". Anyway, the drama was a flop.

Not a single character mentioned that Tak Suk was shot with a gun by Dong Hwa, not even Ji Yoon. Tak Suk and Ji Yoon couldn't be together out of guilt but choosing to marry and have a kid with the other guy is just retarded, yet she still doesn't know that Dong Hwa shot Tak Suk. They should've cut the drama 6 minutes early before the 3-years time skip where she choose neither of them, that's the only reasonable move.

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Season 5 in first place

God's Quiz in general was more mystery/thriller/investigation than medical. The main lead, who's a medical examiner, was doing more field detective work and following suspects than the real detectives. I didn't like how they setup the main lead character, he's genius because of a drug experiment in his childhood and this led to all kinds of made up scenarios stemming from his condition across different seasons. Every season, they twisted it in a different way which took away from having a consistent character. It's the eternal problem of any unplanned sequel seasons in a series. Which imposes an impossible task for any multi-seasons writers.

Production: Seasons 1 to 4 were molded under the same OCN early days template, which all shared the same level of underwhelming production value. Soundtracks during season 1 & 2 were super generic stock background noise, only with season 3 they started to include music. Although season 3 was filmed better but had a much worse audio production in general. Season 4 was a noticeable improvement in production but it still wasn't quite there yet. This is all in comparison to regular shows that were released around early 2010s. On the other hand, season 5 brought with it a proper production and other improvements.

Characters: The dynamic and chemistry of the entire group during season 1 was abysmal, overacting from everyone, forced unnatural interactions and none of them clicked. Season 2 somewhat got better in that regard, you can notice that they got more relaxed but still not quite there yet. The ending scene of season 2 while the ML is kissing, his lips were shivering like crazy. It must have been super awkward to the point that they couldn't afford to have another take. Season 3 took a step backward with its changed cast. Detective Bae Tae Shik brought an awful dynamic to the table. Him and main lead didn't click together and created a bad on screen combination. It's probably why the writer didn't write him in for later seasons. The same can be said about other characters associated with Bae Tae Shik. The relationship and attempted romance between ML and Kyung Hee during season 1 & 2 was plain awful to watch. Only in season 4 it got reasonably better and season 5 fixed this issue completely by dropping the childish romantic tension and having them behave like adults. I liked seeing Kim Jae Won as a flashy villain in season 5, it was fun watching a different type of role from him.

Story: The structure of every season consisted of having a few cases then dedicate the last 3 episodes to the final case which had a personal connection with the characters. These last cases in every season were quite problematic for a variety of reasons, only season 5 had a better implementation despite its weak climax. More highlight across the seasons, the last episode of season 3 was the worst out of the entire series. The cloning plot in season 4 was super trashy and tacky, despite having an obvious playing room to take it into very interesting directions. The ending of season 4 featured another super weird and awkward kiss. The entire thing about AI in season 5 was really janky and a big stretch for the viewers to accept. In general, the cases were a mixed bag in every season, some were decent and interesting while others were boring, flawed or being stretched thin. However, season 3 featured mostly bad cases in addition to the handful of other problems which made season 3 to be the worst one in general.

The series as a whole was alright with a lot of ups and downs. It had a good concept with a varied degrees of execution. Although season 5 is the best one but it wouldn't have been that good as a stand alone drama without the accumulation of these characters journey. The ending of season 5 with both leads walking outside was very nicely done. On an unrelated note, it was impossible to not notice the ML's height.

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It's A Goodbye, I Guess...

Although it's a short mini drama but it's star studded with a full production. that's pretty rare for most short format drama below 4 episodes. Some already decent short dramas just need a good cast and production to elevate it. As sad as the story may seems but the writer over bloated it to the extremes. Everyone around the FL had problems, conflicts and worries (from friends family relatives), each adding an additional layer to her eventful life pre-cancer and an additional one while facing death. Adding the grandmother with dementia to the mix was too much. All of this took away from the most beautiful goodbye. It would have been better to keep everything within the limit of the family (only kids + husband).

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Barely Danceable

The drama was much better than what its synopsis, title, poster or cast selection might entail, the same can be said about some of the initial scenes. The drama itself turned out to be decent despite taking sometime to kickoff, it took over 3 episodes. However, it was a bit dry sometimes and was missing the necessary link to tie everything together. The romance was an awful addition to the mix, really wasn't needed. On the bright side, it was only half the length of a typical 16 episodes drama. Yet, the drama could've worked better in a 120-150 mins movie format with better production. Speaking of which, the production value was really rocky and barely serviceable.

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Budget Wedding

The drama had a decent introduction and seemed promising with its theme. The first 3-4 episodes gave the impression that the drama was going to be an episodic formula about a variety of different scenarios and struggles couples could run through around their wedding, however, although they had a couple of these scenarios early on but everything after that boiled down to the typical financial issues which the drama repeated and reskinned 5-6 times until the end. The drama had a good set up to easily come up with a handful of other ideas themed around preparing weddings. On the other hand, the drama had a good cast for a short drama which made the whole thing more tolerable.

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