Synopsis
Yoo Jin Kang is a young advertising assistant and her brother, Yoo Jin Gook, live a quiet and happy life together. Yoo Jin Gook is a detective in Seoul and when he comes across a murder of a young 20 year old and beginds to suspect 30 year old, Kim Moo Young. Little does he know that Moo Young and Jin Kang have already met and began a strenuous and unlikely friendship. They begin to have this push and pull relationship that eventually develops into a romantic relationship. While Jin Gook has his reasons for disliking Moo Young he tries to dissuade his sister from having any relationship with Moo Young.
Review
Ah man, how to start this one. I know I've said this before but there are a number of things in my head that I desperately want to get out and onto this review. First, if this is your first time on this blog welcome and I hope you stick around for more! If you are returning then I heartily thank you for coming back, dear reader! On that note, I hope you don't mind some spoilers. I won't give too much away I promise it's just that I need them to explain my rating. Don't worry I'll indicate where I'll be using one so you can skip over it.
Now that we've got that out of the way, I think I should start with my rating. I gave this a 65% for the story on my sticky notes and a 3/5 on direction. I know, that is a low rating, and I promise you I've watched all 10 episodes that have come out. First off, the synopsis on mydramalist.com is a little misleading. Of course that is not to the fault of the site because the same synopsis appears on Viki. This is not a love story about a misjudged man and a bright-eyed morally right woman whose brother dislikes said misjudged man. If that were the case I would be all for it. That's what got me to click the first episode in the first place.
I love a good twist and a complex story arch as much as the next person, but the first 8 episodes or so really threw me in for a loop. I found the character of the friend Baek Seung Ah to be unnecessary. There was enough drama between the three leads without there needing to be an added aggravation. Those first 8 or so episodes really did drag on for me. Then you get to the climax of Baek Ah's story arch and you just can't believe it. It's sad, yes, but if they wanted to go that way they should have played that whole scenario out from episode one. Meaning have her in one episode and done, because the story honestly didn't need it.
It would have been much more interesting had they kept with the synopsis they advertised and just eliminated the first death all together. I get that they used the mystery of the first murder to show that Moo Young may be more devil than angel. Still, they already did that by showing his relationship with Seung Ah wasn't all that sincere and his whole philosophy of "an eye for an eye." He's somewhat of a chaotic good character, I guess you can say. He's not entirely bad, but not entirely good and has some questionable methods of finding justice. Anyway, for me the series started at episode 10.
On the other hand the series also ends for me in episode 10. SPOILER ALERT SKIP TO NEXT PARAGRAPH: Things were going great then they reveal one more piece of the puzzle and they hint that Moo Young had a younger sibling. Now, add to the fact that we already know that Jin Kang is not Jin Gook's actual sister and wham you have an almost Oedipus like problem. If they were going to make the leads siblings they honestly didn't need to make the relationship physical. Yet, that is exactly what the writer did. They go on their first date then, WHAM, sex. I'm not against the whole sex scene, I watch Outlander for crying out loud, but the incest implications are too much for me. I didn't need some weird complex Game of Thrones mixed in with Oedipus cenario here. I am only guessing at this point but I sincerely hope that is not where the writer is headed. I know that the series is based off a Japanese Drama and the leads did actually end up being siblings. I hope they don't follow that and until I know I will stop watching. I just can't swing that way.
I also gave the direction a low rating as well because the director has the tendency to switch from camera angle to camera angle and it is a bit distracting. I get it, he's trying to create movement and suspense by showing you different perspectives of each character's face. However, there comes a point when the movement is too much.
If you like mystery then this is definitely something to watch. There seems to be an enigma about the main lead, Moo Young, and you are left to wonder about who and what he is. He's not entirely good, but he's not entirely bad. He is reckless and a bit of a play boy. His charisma only adds to his dark charm, but there are moments of light and sincerity that make you regret thinking ill of him. I do have to say that Seo in Guk does well in portraying this character. He plays the complexity of the character so well it's nothing short of phenomenal. Over all the acting is great in this series, but it is Seo in Guk's performance that kept me coming back. Here's my thing, I can mostly do bad story lines but as long as the acting is great. That is where they hooked me here.
I know this is a fairly bad review, but like I said if you don't mind the whole possibility of incest then give it a shot. If you do happen to finish it, dear reader, let me know how it goes. The acting is great in the series, I just can't support the story. The show is available on Viki.com. Goodbye and until next time, dear reader.