I don't understand why the rating is so low
First of all, I almost gave up of starting this drama because I thought it would be a mess since all the reviews are a bit negative. I was surprised. The story is a lot cute, there's the romance, the friendship, the visuals. I missed an OST more powerfull but that's all. The drama is refreshing, and it has a good story, the characters development it is really good, and now I ill point why I think this.Hye Jun - It is a character who puts a lot of effort in everything he does, if it is his dream, his relationship, his friendships. His relationship with his grandpa is something that worth watch and we can understand through the episodes how he was capable of maintaining his image even after all the scandals people tried to envolve him, it was all because he's really a good person, considerate, someone who values the people around him more than status. His relationship with his dad is a bit problematic but I thought it was enjoyable in the drama too because that's life, who of us never had any misunderstandings on our own families?
Let's talk about Jung Ah, she's someone who suffered a lot because of her mom, she felt abandoned most of her life so she thinks it's better to admire and support someone who is far, someone who will not dissapoint her, I completely understand. Many times in our lives we admire singers, athletes, models, people that as far as they are we think they are amazing, because you know, life gets a little complicated when we know people personally. She choosed the right person, and you know (maybe there will be some spoilers here), I think she did right when she decided to end/postpone a relationship to focus on herself and build her own career, sometimes you have to do this, you have to considerate your feelings more before things just end up ruined. So I think it's delighting the way they meet again years later after both stay more mature, more openly to live their love fully, I think the end of the drama shows it to us too, it's not a sad ending, it's like if they are starting again, but this time being complete on their own, as individuals.
Talking about the other characters I think this is just what happens with Jin u and Hae Na (but I have to say that I missed a better ending for them), and Hae Hyo discovering himself besides his mom influence worth to watch too because it's him getting out of his bubble to draw his own path.
Anyway, I think I was rambling a bit but I have to say, it's a good drama and the bad reviews doesn't define it really well, I enjoyed to watch and recommend it to everyone who wants to watch a simple drama that you can watch with family and have a good feeling about the story in the end.
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This review may contain spoilers
I will keep it SPOILERS FREE for the first half, and then unleash the rant. I have complaints. I had hopes… and they were crushed.The first few episodes made me so happy. I was in heaven with the cute and fun interactions between the characters. The romance was sweet and down to earth. Jung Ha was able to fight for her rights, Hye Joon stayed true to his morals and Hae Hyo was on the way to cross the villain line. And then… nothing happened.
There are quite a few plot lines here; basically every character gets one (Ha Myung Hee must be Oprah wannabe or something), but none is truly explored nor well established. At first, this messy and unbalanced way of directing and editing seemed charming to me. Life is messy and unbalanced you know. I liked how some important plot lines were not explained right away, but, for example, we got a whole scene of the female and male leads discussing how one should apply hand cream. It worked coz I was sure the plot lines will be slowly addressed as the drama progresses… Sadlyl, they weren’t.
All the characters were rather poorly written, though had great potential to be amazing. Hye Joon is boringly perfect and everything works out for him. Jung Ha has a great 180 closer to the end of the show, Hae Hyo was truly useless plot wise. All the supporting characters were there filling the space, but their motivations were never explained. Why do they do what they do? Who knows?
It had its moments. Park Bo Gum crying? A+. Well, that would be it.
⌧ So now, let’s drop some SPOILERS! ⌧
How did the relationship between Jung Ha and Hye Joon go from perfect communication and understanding each other, to never communicating what they truly want and feel and making all the decisions on their own? We had so many dramatic plot lines that could bring the tension in the last episodes, why add new bullshit one?
Why introduce Ahn Jung Ha’s mom into the picture when this story was never truly explained nor explored? She just shows up to give Jung Ha an excuse to be sad and cry, and then she is gone. They ONCE mentioned how Jung Ha has problems accepting help because of her mom, but it was never mentioned again, it has no meaning in the story itself.
Why did they never do anything with Won Hae Hyo? He was neither good, nor bad nor gray. He was just kind of there. How interesting would it be to actually see more of his internal struggle between being a loyal friend and disappointed actor?
Why give us a side romance between Jin Woo and Hae Na? Probably the most useless plot line in the whole show. This could let us explore more of the controlling behavior of Kim Yi Young or be another burden for Hae Hyo: one friend “stealing” his spotlight, and the other dating his little sister and hiding it, pushing him into “I have no one I can trust” state of mind and explaining his feelings for Jung Ha, who was always honest with him.
Why did they never truly use the Charlie story? It was always somewhere in the background, but at the end it had no lasting consequences on the characters at all. When dating make up artist affected Hye Joon more than having a famous designer as his gay sugar daddy? Where is the logic? Why even add the story when it was never important to anyone?
Kim Su Man was painfully dumb.
The "2년 후" aka the boring ending.
That’s it. Not really. But I have no strength left to write more. Damn… this could have been such a good show.
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The drama basically depicted the cluelessness and lost feelings during the twenties and gradually becoming more matured and composed while entering thirties. It is very practical, rational and logical. Nothing what was showed was unrealistic. Inevitably to exist in any sector is quite grappling more so in the entertainment industry. Our lead protagonists, facing various odds and adversities, tried to make their own names in the industry, making honesty, diligence, modesty, humanity and truthfulness their sole weapons. Pragmatically they tried to hold on to their dreams no matter what storms swept their steadfastness, persistence and self confidence. Realistically speaking that’s how it should be. Sometimes it is difficult to always remain hard-headed, afterall we all are human. The characters' vulnerability has been shown as well. At night, during their lone time, they bawled their eyes out when nothing seems their way. Nobody can deny we have never done it many a times.
Secondly Korean dramas are always one of the best to show some practical family issues. All the issues presented with each young person’s parents are undeniably genuine. I could relate to every single of the issues, either I face some or I have seen other people facing the same problems with their parents. Despite the fact they sometimes become the terrible judge of our lives or want everything to be perfect, at the end they are ones who by default stand by us and want the best for us. Every single aspect of the familial issues shown irrespective of rich, middle or poor class families are undoubtedly most credible.
Thirdly, the romance aspect between the leads is what can be normally seen in the entertainment industry. Often times the couples part their ways due to ridiculously overbearing work schedule; work comes first before romance. Deliriousness overpowers between choosing romance and work as both are imperative for existence. Also hackneyed topic but romance between people from completely different social strata is truly sort of impossible which is portrayed by another couple.
Moreover, another point is also worth mentioning which has gone a little unnoticed is the fact that age does not matter if anyone has the motivation and will power to commence something. The grandfather of this drama took initiative to do something for himself though much later but he never despair for his old age. This also gives an appropriate message to the elderly (in fact to all ages)- "better late than never", a person can do anything if they set their mind into it and should utilize their time in a best possible way before they die.
What should I say about the acting of the casts? They all made me cry, laugh, happy, sad and irritate all at the same time. One of the best ensemble casts selected who made their own individual character extremely convincing. Additionally, the main leads dialogues are full of eloquence, it has smooth texture which is unbeatable. Both of the protagonists have the best lines to say in any given situations resulting into breaking any sort of monotony one might develop while watching this drama. Admittedly, I have full admirations for such intelligently written dialogues. The soundtracks are also one of the best portraying the right kind of feel during many scenes.
This is overall an excellent drama to say the least I could relate to about youth, friendship, romance, familial chaos and unity, workplace scuffle and constant fight to better oneself. Yes it could have been better but I understand the writers did not want anything flashy to make it unrealistic. I thoroughly enjoyed more than sixteen hours of my wonderful journey.
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A “ Record” Of A Waste Of Time....
Despite its fresh appeal with Bo Gum with a suave pre- Military haircut and So-Dam’s brilliance as a witty makeup artist, the drama was simply lacklustre . Although the drama did obviously touch upon the problems of relationships ( familial and romantic) as well as career choices for our young protagonists, Record of Youth simply reduced most of the characters to nothing more than plot devices throughout the drama.
On one note of appraisal , Bo- Gum was (,as usual,)brilliant within channeling the soul of his character, Hye-Jun. Playing an “underdog” model and aspiring actor, Park Bo Gum did seem to truly step into fleshing out a character , who was rawly undercooked in depth and characterisation by the scriptwriters through his ability to portray the raw emotion of Hye- Jun throughout the drama.
Sadly, however, the scriptwriters didn’t give any justice towards Bo-Gum’s character, Hye- Jun.
This was defined by one fatal mistake by the scriptwriters’ focus upon Hye- Jun as a plot device in regards to his his relationship with Jeong- Ha, meaning that any characterisation that viewers see throughout the drama for Hye-Jun, is severely underdeveloped by the ending of the show.
The most notable example towards this problem, had to be from his sudden “ anger” to “ apathy” around his father and brother and of course his shared love for his mother and grandfather . Whilst his initial feelings towards his father and brother in the beginning of the show was understandable, it was a strange leap in Hye- Jun character to suddenly go from being incredibly infuriated at times by his father and brother, to simply “ not caring” and remaining “ cool- headed”. This would have been understandable if we’d actually see Hye- Jun progress with the plot, but instead, any emotional capacity he possessed as a character is simply thrown away by the near ending of the show. In particular, this is also portrayed by his attitude to Jeong- Ja and his careless decisions within their relationship.
This of course moves us onto So- Dam as Jeong- Ha, a witty makeup artist with her own dreams to become a beauty influencer. Parallel to Bo-Gun’s acting, So- Dam was brilliant within capturing the comical and heart driven moments of her character and therefore there is no denying that Jeong-Ha seemed to be more developed as a character upon some grounds that Hye- Jun.
This also includes the ability towards viewers actually learning why Jeong- Ha aspired to be a makeup artist from her father, something which we never really learn in depth as to why Hye- Jun wanted to be an actor apart from the fact that “ he wanted to do it for a long time”. Additionally, it was refreshing also to come across a level- headed female lead who isn’t ditsy in a relationship, or starts a screaming match with her enemies, but approaches things in a calm , succinct and realistic manner as an intelligent and reasonable individual .( Such as being professional whilst dealing with a senior makeup artist determined to make her life hell.)
Despite her strengths, sadly Jeong- Ha’s greatest flaws from the scriptwriters probably did also come from making Jeong- Ha sometimes a little too “level- headed” than for her own good. Whilst this did naturally add to the “ drama” of the show, it was just as bad for other reasons that Jeong- Ha did not speak out or communicate with Hye- Jun about her feelings or respected boundaries within their relationship. Her attitude towards encouraging and growing closer to Hye- Jun’s best friend Won Hae-hyo ( Byeon Woo- Seok) , was understandable due to her anger towards Hye- Jun, but it seemed both unfair and unkind (regardless of her excuses )towards leading Hae- Hyo on in such a manner. By the ending of the show, a lot of Jeong- Ha’s strengths were sadly greatly overshadowed by her decisions as a consequence.
Ironically, whilst normally I wouldn’t comment upon the reasons of a second Male for chasing after the female lead in such a cliche manner , Woo Seok’s portrayal of Hae- Hyo as a Male lead who has had everything handed to him on a silver plate by his mother, Kim Yi-young ( Shin Ae- Ra), did add some understanding as to why Jeong- Ha became such a figure of interest for him.
One of the biggest emotional trials which Woo Seok comes to grasp with in the show, is realising simply how overbearing his loving mother truly is within controlling every aspect of his life ( including his career) and his sister’s ( a part of freedom which manifests within his sister dating another one of his best friends).
With the fact that his best friend , Hye- Jun, has had the freedom to chase his own dreams and aspire to do acting on his own part, the aspiration of chasing after his best friend’s girl did add the note of a cliche. On the other hand, this understanding towards why Woo- Seok was intrigued by Jeong- Ha, wasn’t left blank for viewers by the scriptwriters. This was simply because Woo Seok wanted control over a relationship. This of course , did add
some explanation and depth to his decisions, but it was overly cliche and stepped across several boundaries of disrespect for both Hye- Jun as a friend and of course Jeong- Ha within the drama as nothing more than an object for both Hye- Jun and Woo- Seok to use.
Whilst of course the drama did delve into some additional “ youth issues” (including a minor plot line of homosexuality,which was only brushed upon for the plot to advance), the drama really didn’t add enough depth or even covered the universal issues as a youth drama. Although we must bear into respect Korean culture and “ sensitive topics”, it was still too glossed over not to come across a youth drama which tackles issues such as drinking , partying, or even smoking , especially with the younger characters’ ages. This is not to glorify these acts in any manner, but, these are issues which realistically, most youths tackle fairly universally ( especially in Korea). For a drama to not even mildly suggest these youths have never done such an act, seemed more of a commentary upon appeasing younger audiences to “ not do this in real life” , than to learn about the real world for youths.
In addition to that his, there was of course the glossed over image of the fashion and makeup industry as well. Whilst naturally the drama did delve into the problems of “ scandals” for Korean celebrities and of course blackmail, these issues became overly repetitive. This of course is an issue which tackles many celebrities on a daily basis in a Korea, but did we really need to have this screamed at us by Hye- Jun’s manager Lee Min Jae ( Shin Dong Mi) for several episodes without thinking to tell Hye- Jun to be more cautious? Probably, not.
In reality, there was little actually exposed about the severity of other issues in these respected industries ( especially fashion ). It’s understandable that the drama didn’t want to delve into this too much in in order to focus on the relationship of Jeong Ha and Hye Jun, but, there was still a lot of exposed ground which the drama could’ve covered on even briefly. Not least, the actual problems for young models upon eating disorders, smoking , diets and of course especially, for young makeup artists, revenue and exploitation as well. For a drama not to even cover upon the issues in addition to poor characterisation, left Record of Youth as a forgettable and cliche show which did not tread any new ground upon Korean dramas.
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This review may contain spoilers
I don’t get why it’s getting too much hate. Maybe not for all.
If you’re looking for an overhyped drama where newbie fans end up disappointed because it doesn’t contain your usual cliches (fighting over females, cinderella leads, etc), this one isn’t for you.I tried to analyze why it’s getting a lot of hate, and I can only come up with 2 probable reasons - the pace and the ending. If you’re into fast paced dramas with happy predictable endings, skip this.
However, if you enjoy slice of life dramas while watching real character growth, characters who are actually relatable and mature romance, I highly recommend you watch this.
Things I love:
- I totally related to this story. Being a 27 yr old who still feels lost with my chosen career path, seeing the characters in this drama go through the same thing totally gave me a great comfort. The pressures Bogum’s character got from his parents for his career choice, wow, I’m sure a lot of us relate to this at some point. I totally felt for his character every time he argued with his dad, and every single time he started to doubt his own choices. I guess I wasn’t alone.
- The romance was very sweet and raw. I love how they were both mature enough in handling some of their problems as a couple, and I love how everything was realistic (no parents throwing money to undesired partners, no chaebol - cinderella, etc). These were two people who were struggling in life and found solace in each other’s presence. I loved how ordinary everything was about them. The only thing I didn’t understand was the break up. The slow fall out due to the ML’s stardom was understandable, but the female’s reasons for her decision felt too sudden and unexplained. Other than that, i liked how raw this couple was.
- The “second lead” who never stole the girl and destroyed his friendship with the ML. I appreciated how this character also showed depth, and I enjoyed watching his struggles with overbearing tiger parents.
- A glimpse of life behind the spotlight. This drama taught me a lot of things about the lifestyle of famous people in korean’s entertainment industry (like not to instantly believe articles about our favorite artists because a lot of them may be fake news). It was truly a treat to someone who’s such a fan of the entertainment industry.
There’s still a lot of things I love - acting, OST, the writing and the metaphors used, cinematography, the use of social media to as a record of one’s youth... too many. This drama really deserves more love from people who believe in stories that are more real.
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This review may contain spoilers
Let's talk about the plot. For me, I like the topic about trying to achieve one's dream but having so many hurdles in front of you that a lot of times, you just want to give up. I sensed that in the first half of this drama. I felt the hardship. Being ripped off, being seen from others as a no potential, having others stepping on you like your worthless because of your status. At the same time, we see two sides of family impact as well, barely any support and too much support to where they are controlling and you don't know how to adapt to reality. Some people may find these kind of issues in a drama boring but I liked the realness of it and I could sense it. I would've been fine with this drama had the whole drama revolved around this, focusing on the family relationship issues and the relationship hurdles when becoming a celeb now.But here's where it went wrong. The writer lost a sense of direction in the second half of this drama. Past ep 8 is pretty much worthless to me. They added conflicts that, in my opinion, weren't needed. I think they were trying to add the reality of scandals occurring in a celebrity's life but I just didn't see a purpose for this relating to the initial plot. The annoying reporter and the stupid old manager who cheated on Hye Joon's success and growth were a real pain that ruined the 2nd half of this drama. To be honest, the last few episodes weren't handled well. The last episode may solve a few things but in honesty, a lot of episodes wasted.
Character wise, they have a few strong moments but it's really forgettable due to the overall character of the leads being pretty bland.
Music wise, this drama has some great OSTs. It's just that it wasn't played much as I would've liked to hear.
Definitely not worth a rewatch after seeing the direction the writer decided to go with this. Had the potential to be a good drama for me but failed miserably.
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The Title is What the Story is About
Like the title, this show is pretty much a record of a youth story.Why would I say that? Because it is really like a video clip that records some ordinary life story that tells a person who had hardships while pursuing his dream, how he overcome it, how he fall in love, maintain friendships, deal with family conflicts. Even the love story between two main leads are very very realistic. It isn't the normal "love drama" where two people have to go through a lot of misunderstanding, realising they fall in love and go through tragic fates. NO, this show doesn't have any of these, they meet, feel great towards each other and just eventually get together. The way they are dating is so realistic like what a normal dating couple will do. Even to the end, the story between the couple is quite realistic too.
Hence, to be objective, this story is quite boring. The whole series has no climax and I was actually going to drop it but I wasn't watching much show so I decided to go on. So you shouldn't be having high expectation on this, but if you just enjoy watching Park Bo Gum or Park So Dam, then go ahead and watch it. Basically it is like a documentary of someone's life, but a very ordinary one.
Well, not to mention, Park Bo Gum's acting is as good as always:) Even a small detailed expression or action, he portrays it real good, I'm impressed! Good luck for PBG's enlistment and hope he stay safe and get good drama when he's out! :)
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This review may contain spoilers
It's not what you think
Don't let the main poster of the drama fool you, this is not a drama about the three young people, it's just about PBG'a character and his family.The drama actually presented in the first episode what's all about, the story of a young model who persuades his dream of becoming the top actor of Korea which becomes reality, he has various scandals, some families and relationship issues but after 16 episodes he made it. Oh but if you expected to see this drama -like me- because of the actress from the Oscar winning film Parasite, Park So Dam. Well, bad news cause she became successful and achieved her dream in a freaking second where 2 years happened.
The drama is so cliche, I don't even know why dating is a scandal but they dragged the story too much for this, and all the focus on the gay fashion designer, I have seen better treatment of the lgbtq community in Itaewon Class.
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One sentence review
Record of youth = How you felt with game of throne series!Writing more because MDL did not allow me to post only the above sentence.
Please feel free to ignore the below sentences haha
Starts off great and half way through you are thinking what the hell, why are they doing this and then at the end you will feel like why did they waste such beautiful cast on such crappy writing.
I was so excited and looking forward to this series and in the beginning I couldn't wait for the next episode and was cursing myself as to why I started watching on-air series (which I never do). Mid-way I was like okay, there are so many different directions this show can go so I was hopefully that show might redeem but then yeah.. IT DID NOT
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An honest spoiler-free viewpoint; Watch the show if you are a Bogum fan
I was anticipating the arrival of this drama and I did have expectations which this drama upheld until its first half.The idea of showcasing the 'youth' was nowhere followed as the focus was diverted into multiple sub plots which do not end in a neat format and feel pointless as the show ends. They also do not add to the interest of the viewer.
The villains lack motivation and are present just to add distress and unnecessary tension in the male lead, Hye-Jun's life. They frustrated me more than I can say and also made me want to drop the show due to massive amount of screen time they got for creating pointless drama
The poster is very misleading- It is not a drama centering the 3 leads but it primarily focuses on Bogum's Hye-jun. The entire show is focused on the story of his family ( special shoutout to HJ's brother who ended up being one of my motivating factors to continue!) along with Hae Hyo's mother who seems to have more screen time than HH himself. The Female lead, Jeong-ha is barely given enough screen time to be called a lead. The character writing for HJ and JH was extremely poor and they had no development till the end of the drama.
The one character that garnered my interest was Hae Hyo. I was keen on knowing how his journey unfolds but the poor writing of the plot as a whole does not allow us to see his character grow or for us to see how his journey finally concludes.
This was my first drama by Bogum and so I was excited to see him in action and I will go forward to say that he did not disappoint. Park So Dam was great in the acting department as expected but the surprise package for me was Byeon Woo Seok. The entire cast acted really well and that was one of the sole reasons i kept going.
The OST of the drama was excellent and if the writing of the show was better it could have elevated the drama even more.
To conclude, the drama has a strong start but loses its essence in the middle and goes downhill from there. If you are a fan of Park Bogum I would recommend watching the show as he is the primary focus of it and does his best with the little that he has.
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Lack of development and communication of the characters were the major flaws of this drama
Record of Youth debuted with great potential to be an incredible drama. The cast and the story, at first, captivated me a lot, however throughout the episodes I started to have the feeling that the story was not developing. The focus of the drama was the growth of the main characters, both personally and professionally, however the story revolved around only Hye Joon (Park Bogum), the other main characters of the plot were erased and we viewers, practically not we saw their development.Jung Ha (Park Sodam) when it appeared was poorly developed and all the plots that the story opened for her character to be developed, ended up not gaining much focus and worsened the development of the character. I really wanted to see a little more about the construction of her salon and the solutions to the problems she had with her parents, but unfortunately, almost no screen time was given to her plot, sometimes I had the feeling that her only role in drama was to be the love interest of Hye Joon and Hae Hyo, thus creating a love triangle for the story.
Talking about Hae Hyo (Byeon Woo Seok), he, for me, was always a complex character, since the beginning of the story I wanted to know how he would react when Hye Joon started to be the focus of attention, and the story at that point it surprised me, because it didn’t turn him into the envious character who wants to take down the protagonist, in fact she showed a real character that had reactions that all of us in his place could have, but unfortunately the story didn’t develop much of his character’s story either. end we ended up not seeing his development very well after he found out that his career was practically bought by his mother, i found his end too open and it bothered me that the story didn't show how he was after the time jump.
About Hye Joon's family nucleus: For me this was the nucleus that best developed within this drama. At first I thought his father was extremely toxic, but throughout the episodes I got to understand him a little more and I liked the way he has evolved throughout history. Hye Joon's grandfather was also a great character in this drama, I loved the evolution of his relationship with his son and I admit that I was very moved by their final scene in the drama.
I thought the end of the story was coherent and I preferred to see them become friends a thousand times, their relationship was very beautiful, but from the beginning I thought that they behave more like friends than boyfriends. Their open ending was coherent and it is up to the viewer to think about whether they stayed together or remained friends.
The performances in this drama were very good, but unfortunately the characters and the story prevented the actors from shining even more in their roles. The drama ost is good, but it is forgettable.
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This review may contain spoilers
A disappointment altogether :(
Ok I have to say that I started this drama with high hopes, I mean, look at the cast (and I'm a huge fan of Park So Dam), but boy do I regret wasting my time on this one.I was expecting a high paced drama, full of fashion, intrigue and of course, romance. If that's what you are looking for, don't waste your time like me, this drama is dull.
You get a lot, I mean a LOT of family drama vibes with this one, and it's actually cute, but not entertaining enough to cary the whole drama (sometimes you don't care about the main leads family life outside their interactions with the leads) and it's not the premise that brought you in.
The main leads did not have chemistry (their bickering is not sexy or smart, they just look like an old couple that is past their passionate times in their relationship) and that shows, because they are almost never together (and the PDA is scarce).
They completely forgot the FL, I mean, she had passion, a career and dreams and a mysterious background, and all of this kind of get in the backseat and is not properly dealt with.
The storytelling way of the drama is also boring, they kind of introduce you the conclusion of a situation and then spend the hole next episode, retelling EVERY SINGLE UNIMPORTANT DETAIL, instead of glossing over with the juicy bits and moving on with the next plot.
I felt like I was watching a drama with no real plot, and the person presenting the story to me thought I was too dumb to pick up the details without them being overly explained in a very fastidious way. It feels like they tried to put a lot characters and ended up not developing any of them, and that's truly a waste of talented actors.
Well, it was a waste of time (for me) so save yours and go watch something more exciting.
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