Areumdaun Sesang

Beautiful World follows the footsteps of SKY Castle, with less humour and more drama.

The series overall was dark, packed with emotions and followed a thrilling mystery. The pace, actually, of the story was managed pretty well and that helped the story a lot. The characters and the performances by all actors and actresses were brilliant and added a lot to the whole drama.

One thing that I, however, didn't really like about this drama were the final episodes. The cases were almost solved and the drama didn't really have much to offer. Therefor those episodes lacked intensity.

So, eight out of ten.

None of the events or crimes matter. What really matter is the astonishing incompetent police work. It's really hard to ignore that and continue watching. There was no need to show the police investigation done that way. Even if it had some truth in it tied with reality. The story would've been completely fine even if the police investigation was done right and the investigation ended properly while adhering to all the procedures. All of this happened in episode 1 which makes watching the next 15 episodes a bit too bothersome. The drama started to lose its focus halfway through and the story began to stretch. Would be much better to keep it to 12 eps and cut some of the middle parts. On a side note, Sun Ho feels like the most generic NPC in any visual novel. On an unrelated note, what's up with Choo Ja Hyun exclusively doing Chinese dramas prior to this drama? No wonder I've never heard of her!

Just a tremendous drama, compelling from start to finish. It starts off with a student, who fall off a school rooftop, and left with a broken body and in a coma. With questions about whether it's a suicide attempt or not, the students parents question the initial findings, and the drama takes off. School bullying, reactions from students, teachers, administrators and other parents creates a really quite compelling story, that involves how each group reacts, accuses, blames and search for the truth. The performance from all are excellent, and the storylines, which run the gamut of the petty to the monstrous create really tension, surprise and outrage. The ending, particularly the last few episodes are thrilling storytelling, and leaves one with a sense of rage, remorse, satisfaction and, a surprising sense of grace.

I was reluctant to watch this show at first because the story seems so sad. But after the first episode I was hooked and the story gradually took on the feel of a slow burn thriller where important elements are revealed one by one. On one hand we think we are so sure of the truth and yet there is always this lingering doubt that everything may not be as it seems. At the end what I like is that (almost) every character made decisions that are believable, whether the action is despicable or charitable. This is really a show that I enjoyed despite its unbearable sadness at first, and couldn't wait to find out if justice will be served at the end. The actors are fantastic, especially the two mothers and the rich boy. While not perfect (the villain is thoroughly bad and some parts are overly melodramatic), this show tells a powerful story and does it well.

The good points about this story are that it makes you want to see what happens and how the mystery is solved. Also as can be expected there are some effective and powerful emotional scenes. School violence is effectively dealt with. The acting is generally good. Worth mentioning are: The villain was the villain in Crash Landing on You. His wife is played by If Cho Yeo Jeong of Parasite. The good guy victim may be familiar as the younger version of main characters in other series -Nam Da Reum.

If the series had been 12 episodes instead of 16 it would have been tighter and more powerful. There were too many unnecessary frustrating scenes. Although it is very complete with so many hours it was just too long. Its heavy going at times. The characters are one dimensional most either 100% good or bad. The girl who was attacked is a weaker part of the story.