The word that comes to mind is… annoying.

By the end I was chafing for it to be over. Once again I am stunned that this achieved such stellar ratings! It’s probably my fault. I came away from this drama with the feeling that these were all one-dimensional comic book characters when they are INDEED comic book characters so I shouldn’t be complaining. Yet I did and I do.

SPOILERS

I mean come on! You have a whole Park Seo Joon there! I expected more nuance, more depth, shouldn’t the live action bring the story some more human warmth?? Especially given that there are real live humans in it?

But in the end, it was particularly distressing that he had no chemistry at all with his leading lady. not even a whisper of mutual attraction. I’ve seen more sparks in anime characters tbh. The other female lead was only marginally better. But both female protagonists were cold, self-absorbed, really unlikable from beginning to end. One was shallow, materialistic, selfish; the other one was a borderline sociopath and racist. Guess which one he ended up with?

Doesn’t matter. Hated them both.

It also annoyed me that though the hero was on this methodical 15-year plan to exact his revenge, in hindsight it was the two women in his life who made the revenge possible. He would never have had wings to fly without one of them; and in the end it was the other who delivered the killing blow to his nemesis. so… what was his own plan exactly? He could not have calculated that these ladies would show up and pitch in as they did. In the end he just seemed like a clueless idiot who embarked on a revenge plan with little thought on how to achieve it and very little likelihood of succeeding had he not serendipitously had these woman by his side. Lame.

The other annoying thing about this drama. was. all. the…

Dramatic.

Pauses.

in. conversation.

A character asks a question?

.
.
.

Maybe.
there. will. be. a.
slow.
enunciated.
answer.

Or none at all, as the character gazes off into the distance and then leaves.

I mean, this kind of thing can add drama in moderation, but the constant overusage of this device was irritating as shit. Like fingernails on chalkboard after awhile.

So this gets a thumbs down from me. The story was poorly told, the characters were one-dimensional and the “romance” left me cold.

The only positive thing I have to say about this drama was they included black and transgender characters as full-fledged members of the supporting cast. You don’t often see such diversity. They deserve kudos for that.

#itaewon-class, #kim-da-mi, #kwon-nara, #park-seo-joon, #yoo-jae-myung