Shinira bulriwoon sanai

I had more questions when the series ended. I was hesitant to watch it because of a low rating. I agree it turned out to be comical which is too bad because the character of Michael And Vivian was promising and the story was not that bad either. But the other characters not so much. The ending of the main villains was so disappointing, they didn't even had a scratch in their body, I was in disbelief. They just died on their own terms. After all the turmoil he has gone through that is all that happened. Worse, it appeared to be an open ended ending.

This TV show is absolutely atrocious. There's really no other way to describe it.

If you've spent some time watching Korean television (as I have), you know their dramas tend to be overly melodramatic; that's OK if you don't lay it on too thick, however this series takes the melodrama factor to a level of absurdity I've rarely ever seen. The only reason I kept watching this train wreck is because the ludicrous story line and plot twists are just unbelievably hilarious.

SPOILERS AHEAD!

This show revolves around an orphaned boy who grows up seeking vengeance on the men who murdered his parents. While growing up, he becomes super rich and super skilled at all methods of mortal combat in order to get the revenge he deserves. As an adult, he goes by 3 different names; let's just call him 'God' shall we. He's supposed to be the super suave and smart man that can do no wrong, has it all, makes all the ladies swoon, etc. The only problem with this is the guy that plays him (don't know what his name is and don't care), well, he sucks as an actor (at least based on this show). He's supposed to be the strong and silent type of leading man, but instead comes across as a dim witted lunatic who often can't form complete sentences.

"God" is also a legendary international assassin. How he has time to do this, while plotting revenge, training in deadly arts, pleasing the ladies, and running a billion dollar corporation, is beyond me, particularly so when it's obvious he spends most of his time styling his ridiculous hairdos. And, what is the international code name of this legendary killer? Of course, it's Peter Pan!...Brilliant!...I would have been reluctantly OK with this if it were just a throw away nickname, but, everybody in this series references it constantly"'God' is Peter Pan?"..."Peter Pan is coming to get me?"..."Peter Pan is doing what?", etc. It's simultaneously irritating and comical.

The rest of the "plot" is an absolute mess; there are 3 girls in love with 'God' (despite the fact that he's a douche and a mass murderer with a severe multiple personality disorder). One of these girls is first loyal to 'God', then disloyal, then repeat. The second girl is irrelevant to the plot and is purely there for eye candy (she does have really nice legs though). The third girl is some wide eyed reporter who gets in the way of the revenge plot, and becomes the main love interest throughout this show; her and 'God" somehow fall in love (which is absurd because they have absolutely nothing in common and zero chemistry). Her character is as dumb as a rock, and became more useless and annoying as this series dragged on.

The "best" storyline involves the girl who wants to catch 'God'. She's a detective that was raised by a single father. Unbeknownst to her, she's also adopted, and is 'God's' younger sister. Her father was actually the henchman who worked for the dudes that murdered 'God's' parents years ago. The father was supposed to kill 'God's' entire family, but decided to save young 'God', and his sister, at the last second. Young 'God' was sent to an orphanage, and the father took 'God's' sister to replace his own dying daughter. 'God's' sister (who 'God' thought was dead), eventually grows up to be the detective who's hunting 'God'. The father considers revealing the truth years later, but he can't cause the main dude hunting 'God' glued his lips shut, killed him, and framed 'God' for the murder, so the detective ('God's' sister) would hunt and kill 'God'.

This detective/sister plot is absurd enough as it is, but why stop there?...The illegitimate daughter of one of the evil dudes 'God' is chasing happens to be the same dingbat reporter that 'God' loves, which technically makes the "eye candy girl" her biological sister. The main dude hunting 'God' (it should be noted that he's an even worse actor than the lead character, if that's possible) is the son of one of the other evil dudes who's bound to a wheelchair, and he also happens to be in love with the reporter. The brother of the "eye candy girl" is in love with "loyal/disloyal girl", who's still in love with 'God', etc. This type of nonsense literally never ends!

This show is breathtakingly out of control. I'm continually amazed at how many outrageous things this show can come up with; need a contract killer of the week?...bring in the guy that fights with a whip and poisonous add on nails, or the Geisha ninja, or the secretary self defense expert, or Pascal from Vegas (don't ask). Need the main love interest to reminisce about being with 'God'?...let's film her longingly looking at still production photos during their "happy times" together (nobody will notice that she couldn't possibly have these photos unless they were actually provided to her by the production team). Also, every main character involved with this show has endless chances to easily accomplish their goals, but they can't because they over complicate everything, make really bad decisions, and are just too stupid in general. And, on and on it goes! This show is so bad that I wouldn't have been surprised if the wheelchair bound dude stood up at some point to prance around a board meeting like a deranged Jiminy Cricket...Oh wait, that actually happens!

Bottom Line: this show is unbelievably BAD! But, it's almost worth watching to see how bad it is. Almost! On a scale of 1 to 10, it gets 1 point to start with (because everything is worth something), 1 point for the abundant pretty ladies, and 1 point for the comically unintentional absurdity of it all. It gets no points for story, script, pacing, plot, writing, direction, acting.

Final score: 3 out of 10, and, I think that's being kind. Watch this at your own risk!

While some might demand a more rational scenario, this interesting venture presents a combination of fun, seriousness, complicated intertwined situations that makes it full of surprises. Il-Guk Song shines in his very multiplicity of characters, yet remains strong in acting them all up. At 39, he is already a very accomplished actor and it show quite well.

The story is of revenge against those who killed Cho Kang Ta (Il-Guk Song)'s father. And all the antagonists and family offer a variety of situations that are, at times, very comedic, other time cringey serious and that bring the real sister in the picture as all actors deliver perfectly from innocent to nasty to oblivious.

Convoluted for some but, in all, it got me to watch this series more than one and I enjoyed it.

The best thing about this show was the story kept moving along, not as many filler dead spots as most Asian dramas. The bad guys and good guys are always coming up with new ways to win. Many Asian dramas have long periods where nothing much happens.

I'm reviewing this in comparison to other Asian dramas, it would not rate as high compared with Western dramas. The fights, reasoning, effects, etc. are a little low when compared with Western dramas. And, I did have to get past the braided mullet that the protagonist wears for most of the show, maybe a thing in Korea in 2010?

I thought the ending was weak, which is very common for Asian dramas. Poor endings make it look like the writers and cast were suddenly told they had one episode left to wrap everything up with half the normal budget. Often, there is never a denouement following the climax.

Overall I enjoyed it more than most Asian dramas, which I generally find a slow moving. But, I mostly watch Chinese dramas because I speak Chinese.

This movie pushed many of my emotional buttons. and kept me engaged- a lot of Korean culture is exposed - which i found interesting. i recommend this movie despite other's vague and slightly ambiguous: "luke warm", less-favorable reviews