Backstreet Rookie (2020)

Best ML/FL Chemistry I've ever seen

This is definitely not the kind of drama that you expect from Ji Chang Wook, he's far from that cool badass image that we all imagine about. That being said, this drama IMO was really really good.
The story was pretty average, pretty typical and nothing special within, but I like how it's so relatable to most of us, just ordinary people make a living and having a relationship with others on our daily lives.
The plot was pretty easy to read, but what makes this drama special was the chemistry between the casts.
JCW and KYJ's chemistry was off the chart, so much that their presence together will carry you throughout the whole series even if somehow you end up not liking the story. They look so cute together and clicked so so well. The chemistry between the FL and the 2nd FL was also really good, along with JCW's family was also very entertaining to watch.
The overly exaggerated animation on some action sequences was made to be funny, can be a bit cringy at first, but u'll get used to it, don't think about it too much.
Now time to submit the review and re-watch the whole thing again after I just finished it 2 days ago!

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It Gets Better and Better as the Episodes Go On

I loved this show! The beginning was a little rocky and I wasn’t sure if I would finish it after episode 1. It wasn’t because of the controversies other have said. It was because his friend was disturbing at first and the ML had a girlfriend ( I did not want to see the FL going after someone with a girlfriend.). To be honest I did not see the racism that others claim. I think the friend was just a weird guy who liked reggae and had dread locks. That doesn’t make the show racist. Anyways, I am so glad that I continued watching it. The show got better and better. After episode 8, I was stalking the internet to see if the next episode had come out. The final episode was very satisfying. A large part of my high rating is because I really liked the end.

The acting was great by all of the cast. I had never seen Kim Yoo Jung before and now I am looking forward to seeing her in more roles. The OST was good also. This was a great romantic comedy, not too much drama.

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sooo how about we use racist comedy and ruin our drama?! "Yes, lets do it"

It's actually fun if you only watch the cute love story and skip the rest. But I can't say I liked it because of all the racism and cultural appropriation in this show. I mean, instead of just finding it funny how he acts, they constantly ridicule everything related to Jamaican culture. They even depict him as dirty because of his dreadlocks and his darker complexion.
By the way, honestly was the blackface really necessary? It didn't add anything to his character, I mean -combined with his hair- the only goal was to perceive him as disgusting, smelly and dirty (they even added bugs around him as if he was rotten or something). I just think that's not right, if he was shown as an actual admirer of Jamaican culture and the comedic relief was only focused on his personality/obsession it would've been a lot more respectful. I basically dropped it when I saw that character, because I skipped all of it to get to the end sooner.
Seriously wtf were they thinking using racism as a "comedic story line"?
It's absurd dude, the audacity these guys have is just unbelievable.

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Beautiful story about family and relationships

Likes:
1. Despite the initial backlash, i still watched this show before making any judgments and surprised to find a beautiful story about families and relationships.
2. Daehyun's family was not perfect. They may not be rich but they make up for it by being hardworking and having a nurturing and supporting relationship with one another. (Well, except for the sister!) On the other hand, no amount of money can justify being rude and insulting to other people.
4. The relationship between Eunbyul and Saetbyul. In the end they were sisters and they have no one else to lean on but each other. And Daehyun's parents for treating them like family.
3. For relationships to work, both parties should make an effort to sustain the relationship. Yeonju didnt trust Daehyun and kept lying, concealing and even cheating. She only found out what a good man Daehyun was unless it was too late. And she still tried to force her way back to Daehyun through dirty tactics. On the other hand, Saetbyul may be younger but she fully supported and believed in Daehyun. Age doesnt matter sometimes if the couple are on the same wavelength. Daehyun always showed Saetbyul how precious she was and how she was "good enough" while Saetbyul liked Daehyun the way he was. They even have the hand gestures that only the two of them can understand.
4. Dont judge a book by its cover. Dalsik and Geumbi on the outside may look weird and hated each other at first, but once they looked past the outside and focused on the inside, they realized how well suited they are. "Find someone that matches your crazy." And turns out Dalsik's family is even richer than Geumbi! But instead of mooching off his family's wealth, he set off on his own and followed his dreams.

Dislikes:
1. The ages of Saetbyul and Geumbi could have been adjusted to 1 or 2 years older. Or have a time jump in the end where they are older.
2. The ending was too rushed, with Yeonju and her family's issue with Daehyun's family resolved with just one meeting.

Rating: 8.5

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Pure Entertainment!

Putting aside the controversies revolving around this drama in particular. This is one of the entertaining drama of all time. Of course, there are flaws to it as well like the depiction of "Reggae Boy" and ML being too kind or obsessive; he can't seem to be able to leave his Gf (SFL)and is always saying sorry even if it's not his fault. But it's sense of humor and character interactions are top-notch. It would have been better with more kissing than the slight peck at the very beginning but then again, I heard they deleted those scenes due to the controversies of the age difference between ML and FL. Personally, I don’t see why that should matter at all since they are both adults and they don't seem to have a problem with it. It was also really nice to see ML's mom redeemed herself as she realized her son being happy was more important than being with someone just because they are rich. I love the moment in the end when ML tells his parents, he wants to live with them even though they are not in the perfect circumstances. All things considered, this drama really had a lot of funny and touching scenes with some life lessons.

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well plotted rom-com drama

Some reviews are complying that Chang Wook has a lousy role in this drama but for me it is not! Definitely not! I'm glad that Chang Wook took this drama because it is a fresh plotted for me and well executed! One of the reasons why I love this drama is because of the commitment and perseverance of both leads because Saet-Byul which portrayed by Kimm Yoo Jung; she is a soft-hearted sister and a person even though she is very strong physically and her little sister is passionate towards life. Dae Hyun's role is well played by Chang Wook because of being a decent and pure hearted man whom is very family oriented and her mother is very clever towards her family and also towards his husband but he is a caring mother. Their bond as a family excluding his sister (haha) is very warming because even though they are belong in the "not so low economic status" they are dedicated to take step ahead. Also, the hated relationship of Mr. Fire Volcano and Ms. Aphrodite that turns into platonic love is very satisfying and entertaining to watch. Anyways, Yeon Joo and Ji Wook portrayed well because even if Ji Wook wants Saet Byul, he truly care event though they remain as friends and Yeon Joo is very smart but not a good woman for Dae Hyun and Dae Hyun really made his choice more satisfying than ever. The way this drama brings me so much joy and motivations towards life and love.

This drama depicts slice of life, love in family and friends, comedy and romance (all blended well). Great Drama!

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Lighthearted, enjoyable, FaMiLy FrIenDly

Despite all the negative comments regarding this drama and jcw's recent choice of scripts, I decided to give this drama a go and I am so glad I did. It's lighthearted and funny and was a welcomed distraction from the heavy emotions loaded psycho, but okay (soo good, but so melancholic x).

Well addressing the elephant in the room, yes its obvious stereotypical and racist portrayal of that artist/friend - character was inappropriate, unnecessary, not at all well thought out and simply frustrating as it puts a huge damper on the otherwise enjoyable drama. Honestly I felt sorry for that actor, because he's a fabulous actor as can be seen in the fiery priest and even his performance here was good, but yeez that character was really ridiculous, didn't even blink when the supposedly comedy involving that character set in .

Now for the good parts:

The story is simple, yet it didn't get boring at any point, except for the last two episodes, guess they ran out of ideas. The comedy moments were apt (except for some scenes in the beginning involving the ml's friend character), one could definitely see the fiery priest touch and any references to that drama or any other movies such as parasite or pulp fiction added to that humorous tone. Some anime-inspired fighting scenes seemed over the top, but one quickly adapted to that style, as it goes well with the flow of the drama. The music was also surprisingly good, that crazy crazy bit reminded me of honey honey from the fiery priest. And for the actors, I keep forgetting that jcw is not only the greatest looking guy in the K drama world but also a brilliant actor. He portrayed the store keeper with ease, showing us his playful, lovable side just like in Empress ki and also the female lead did a great job in portraying saet byul, whom I first found to be obnoxious and annoying but who turned out to be an actually likeably, bubbly character who would outshine obstacles in life with her bright smile, a positive attitude and a strong mindset. Even the side characters like jcw's family were very likeable and not only resources to bring progress in the leads' romance (well, maybe a bit). Especially the mother and the girlfriend were well thought through and 'real' with their worries, faults and behaviours. Other characters like the obvious bullies, like the ones terrorising high schoolers, the typical conceited shareholder's wife or the malicious egocentric boss-figure eyeing a woman in a relationship were solely for the purpose of adding villainy and incarnation of problems to the story, but no harm in that, if it helps the plot. Saet byuls sister and the second male lead got some more screen time and were likeable, too.

The greatest part for me is the relationship between saet byul and the manager. Not necessarily the chemistry, but the overall healthy relationship they share. The way they would communicate through hand articulation, what for outsiders seemed odd and incomprehensible, but made perfect sense for them or support each other with genuine happiness and sympathy and would crack witty jokes at each other all the time, it was pleasant and cute to watch, made oneself long for that kind of a pure realtionship. I'd like to add that I also enjoyed the realtionship b/w jcw and his girlfriend, their little quarrels and makings up and I even found myself rooting for the gf when she would storm of to see jcw and reestablish their relationship.

All in all, it's a good drama, which I genuinely enjoyed and actually would re-watch for the lighthearted story and the likeability of some characters. Plus, after all the complaints regarding the 'inappropriate romance' etc in the earlier episodes you could really see the production team's effort in making the drama more family friendly, ended up being one of the purest K-dramas I've ever seen xD

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A “ Backstreet” Away From Ji Chang Wook’s Successful Roles?

In all honesty Backstreet Rookie isn’t an entirely unbearable drama to watch; the story concept ( although based on a webtoon) isn’t anything new from the “ oblivious and good looking” Male lead ( Ji Chang Wook) to the girl with a secret crush ( Kim Yoo Jung) and of course all the overused tropes seen and done before ( idols, bullying and impoverishment to name just several) , however, one of the saving performances of the show was surprisingly offered not through Chang Wook’s performance, but Yoo Jung’s fairly good acting as Jung Saet- Byul. Of course this isn’t to say that Chang Wook is entirely bad here at all. However considering his renowned rep as an actor, it is fair to say that ‘ Backstreet Rookie’ is one of weaker roles to date.

On the other hand, there’s no beating around the bush that Backstreet Rookie’s sense of plot development, characterisation, and “ comical” moments were just poorly- written. In between the cheap budget special effects,
the drama has received mixed controversy for its outdated jokes and comedy moments. Whilst some may not mind this others may easily take offence. This naturally moves us onto the second problem of the drama; the actual story progression behind the “ chemistry” behind main characters of Jung Saet Byul and Choi Dae Hyun. There’s no denying that by sourcing its material from the eponymous webtoon, the drama had pretty much already sealed its fate to be inundated with classic romantic trope cliches(especially between the “ younger” female lead and the “ older” Male lead).

In all honesty, this isn’t actually main concern over this “ age difference” behind the pairing. Instead, it is more how the drama actually presented the two characters; Saet Byul’s “ feelings” for Dae Hyun through physically clinging on to him could verge at times upon harassment ( especially considering that he respectfully had a girlfriend) whilst Dae Hyun’s ignorance for the majority of the drama was fairly unbearable to watch. The cliche of “ obliviousness” is of course a classic trope in most Korean dramas, however, whilst most shows actually present the respected lead being able to soon recognise or misunderstand their own feelings, Dae Hyun’s ignorance became fairly insulting for both his girlfriend and respectfully Saet- Byul.

This isn’t to say that he should’ve given Saet- Byul , a declaration of his love and run into the sunset with her in episode one, however, it did become apparent how these misunderstandings occurred for Dae Hyun’s girlfriend and what may have caused Saet- Byul to act the way she did if Dae Hyun was sending off wrong “ signals”. This naturally led a lot of the actual relevant plot being directed by numerous cliches and the sometimes unbearable toxic behaviour of Dae Hyun’s parents at times in the show ( particularly towards still using physical corporal punishment against Dae Hyun even if it was supposedly “ playful” and his mother’s rude comments towards Saet-Byul also).

Respectfully from an acting perspective , the show is a bit of an odd and mixed bag; Yoo Jung is probably one of the few decent actors in the drama, closely followed probably by Ji Chang Wook and then his fellow costars who could have some lacklustre line deliverances at moments ( particularly Kim Sun Young and Eum Moon Suk). In regards to Ji Chang Wook, it’s fair to say that although Chang Wook wasn’t terrible within his performance and certainly added a level of less glamour in his role as a 30 year old man still living at home, his performance in Backstreet Rookie certainly hasn’t been one of his best and most challenging performances ( in comparison to Healer, K2 or even Suspicious Partner ) either.

Backstreet Rookie’s scriptwriting by Son Geun Joo, channels the bygone era of ‘90s and ‘00s Korean movies and dramas where comedy scenes and setups were often seen as the norm . Sadly Geun Joo seems to lack awareness towards changing attitudes in South-Korea in a show which feels neither nostalgic of old dramas, or retro but old-fashioned, clumpy and questionable in parts. The comedy will evidently differ amongst viewers but nevertheless whilst the romance has a slightly cutesy air to it, ‘ Backstreet Rookie’ is the epitome of “ I’m going to watch during a binge watching season because I’m bored” rather than a long-time commitment.

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Cute drama with a bad timing

I just finished this cute little drama and I definitely think 7.7 rating doesn't do it justice. While it's by no means a master piece and the story is quite simple, it is a good piece to watch if you need a break from all the overly dramatic stuff. I especially enjoyed the acting and I didn't have a need to skip over any scenes, which is always a good sign for any drama. I even cried a couple of times and that doesn't happen to me often unless animals are involved :-D SO yeah I do recommend this one if you are looking for something that is fun and not overly complicated.

Now I'm going for a rant here and if you did find the drama truly problematic, perhaps don't read this. I'm not writing this to argue with anyone and there is no reason for ou to ruin your day. This is just my opinion :-)

I'm truly glad I've seen someone advice to skip on all the controversy around the drama because I got to enjoy it for what it was. I only read the news afterwards out of sheer curiosity because I wasn't sure what it did so wrong to get such backlash. I mean obviously I was guessing Dal Shik's was one part of it but that couldn't have been all, right? Well turns out it wasn't but the rest didn't feel justified to me. I honestly feel sorry for this drama. I think this is the worst possible time to come out because people are so easily offended by these days. Don't get me wrong if any Jamaican people were indeed offended by Dal Shik's character then I suppose it's a valid point but I bet most of the outrage came from the white people as usual. I for once didn't think of his character racist, I saw him as a person that truly appreciated the culture and was having a blast. It saddens me that you can't do that anymore these days because it will be immediately labelled as culture appropriation. The flies were a bit too much but it never translated to me as portraying people of colour as dirty. I mostly thought it was more of a implication about nerds and artists that are often portrayed as asocial and lacking when it comes to personal hygiene BUT I can see why people with dreadlocks found it offensive and it did feel rather unnecessary.

The rest of the arguing points was a bit ridiculous to me to be honest (and I'll probably receive a lot of backlash for it). The oversexualization seems like a stretch or at least not something that can't be found in most of the dramas or k-pop groups. There were two very frowned upon scenes, one of it was drawing of legs from a painter that was drawing erotica and one of it was literal imagination sequence using a stereotypical movie gangster lair. I get that it is a family drama but don't try to tell me children never seen such thing on TV before. Sexy scenes are everywhere and this was at least done in a comedic way. Same with the underage kiss. Been there done that. If the male lead initiated it then yes, not good. However that was not the case, he didn't expect it and she was a young rebellious girl with a crush. How many romance TV series about high school student and her teacher romance are there? Never seen people boycotting those as they did this drama because of this one scene. And don't even get me started on anime. -_-

If you ask me, not knowing the controversy while watching I genuinely thought people had a problem with how Boon Hee was beating her husband. Sure, he deserved to be yelled at a lot of the times and maybe a kick in the shin would do him good but even with the comedic way it was done it sometimes felt too much. I could see how this could be a problem since domestic violence is a thing and men don't come forward and ask for help more often than women since they are taught to be strong and being beaten by a woman is not something they want to talk about, which is truly sad. Yet unlike the other points no one seemed to be bothered by this because it was comedy. Thankfully, the drama somewhat saved their relationship in the last episodes and I was able to tell myself that it is done for fun and I shouldn't overanalyze it. I feel truly sad now, remembering the how the actors and the crew celebrated their work in the final episode, clearly having fun with it and hoping people would enjoy it. Well I did, so good job guys! :-)

END OF THE RANT...SORRY EVERYONE :-D

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I don't know what compelled me to actually write a review, but looking at its high ratings, I thought I should add my two cents and tell you how I felt about this drama.

Lets start with the thing that's on both of our minds. Backstreet Rookie tried to be a lot of things at once, and that's where it all went downhill. Kdramas are usually bad at handling sensitive topics but I gotta say, this hit a new low. The team (producers/writers) should've been quick on their feet to alter what wasn't working. The fact that they just reduced the screen time of the problematic arc was what pissed me off the most. Like duh, even kindergarteners can do that much. I expect better from professionals who have worked in this field for years. So, I was majorly disappointed when nothing changed.

Ik some of y'all are gonna come at me say that they didn't mean any harm, but its not upto any of us to decide what hurts the sentiments of the people of that culture. Misrepresentation does much more harm than no representation.

If a person from that culture thinks its inappropriate or hurtful, who are we to tell them it isn't? It's as simple as that.

Setting this aside, this drama was kinda a train wreck, yet for reasons unknown, I couldn't drop it. It could be Ji Chang Wook's dreamy looks, or the utter cuteness that is Kim Yoo Jung, or their chemistry, or the fact that there was soooo much RAMYEON, I just couldn't stop! But I gotta warn you, my standards are really low. So, don't hold this in high regard, I completed "Forest" (which has to be one of the most pointless kdramas ever) bc I have the inability to drop any series.

The leads had an ADORABLE chemistry which kept me coming back for more. There were some points where the drama was funny. It was a given bc the drama tried really hard to be funny, sometimes to the point it became cringe worthy and uncomfortable.

The story was really loose and it felt like they did not try to develop it at all. Its the same bs fed to us all over again. The story had so much potential, but they turned it into yet another kdrama cliché... I can't! I have so many complaints, but I'm aware that this was an adaptation of webtoon, so I am just gonna leave it here.

What I actually liked was Saet Byul's character development. I loved the fact that our FL was so tenacious. Losing so much at an young age would be been devastating, but she pulled through with her optimism. She loved so much and so deep, and her love was what made her stronger.

And their chemistry, did I talk about that enough or should I keep going? It was soooo cute!

I didn't like how they ended the drama either, there were too many loose ends and it felt wayyy too rushed. Some characters didn't even get a closing, and it was very disappointing. I don't like what they did to Yeon Joo either. She had the potential to become so much more, but they just made her yet another rich, entitled, bitchy ex-girlfriend. I hate that her relationship with Seung Joon (her childhood friend/boss) wasn't explored either. There was something good brewing there.

Except for the Dae Hyun's mom and Yeon Joo, the other side characters aren't worth remembering tbh.

The music is pretty good, especially in the latter half. I would add at least 1 song to my playlist from this OST.

I am pretty sure I will not be rewatching this, bc this is a one time watch, at best. Watch this drama as filler drama, or if you are a fan of Ji Chang Wook, or Kim Yoo Jung. The only good thing is the chemistry of the leads and a lot of pretty faces. Don't take this drama too seriously, once you start this, you'd know they didn't take it seriously either.

Hope this helped, thanks for reading!

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