Gangnam B-Side

Korean Drama '' Gangnam B-Side '' is a dark, action drama.

The drama has a quite dark story, and is unafraid to show a more realistic approach on the underground of Gangnam, as its title gives away.

It also has many action scenes and fighting sequences that were well-choreographed.

The characters were interesting as well, even though some of them were moving stereotypes.

In addition, the drama rushed things through, and so the chemistry and the relationship between the characters were inorganic and unrealistic, as well as some parts of the plot. The time jumps were not smooth either.

Finally, the performances were great and enjoyable by everyone in the cast.

So, overall, six out of ten.

It starts with the raid at an illegal club. The police scoop up one of their own there. When the officer is being questioned about his crime activities, he says he was just making a delivery. It was the first time he ever did anything like that, and what are they going to do, arrest /everyone?/ ❓ The whole violent crimes unit is involved in this, he says❗ GBS is a 2024 release that is rated 90 on AWiki. It is 1 season consisting of 8 50-minute episodes.

We cut over to a party where the women aren't being respected. Jenny makes a run for it and she doesn't leave empty-handed. She has a dangerous video. Now she has a target on her back.

Jo Woo Jin (Alienoid: Return to the Future, Happiness) is detective Kang Dong U. He won't take bribes. He insists on putting perps in jail, even if their uncle is the mayor. He was involved in cleaning up the last police scandal. He got awards, but that was for show. He's been a pariah and was pushed to the side ever since that award winning heroism. His wife is a stunningly gorgeous, smart anchor woman. Ex-wife, that is. And his daughter's in psychiatric care. She's been brutally bullied and she's not coping well. We see video of her slamming her head on the table. It's heartbreaking. She's discharged from inpatient care, and as he's driving her home, she begs him to find her friend, Jaehee (Jenny), who has been missing for weeks. "I need her to live," she explains.

Ji Chang Wook is Yun Gil "Ho". Ho runs Ho's. He's a pimp! I don't know what to think of this guy. He's top tier ML, both action and romance, it's just that for every good casting choice he's also made a poor one. He's the lead in The K2-8 - one of my gateway Kdramas & a top notch action thriller, he's the romantic lead in Lovestruck in the City-7.3 - really a fabulous romance (I've had the nagging feeling, for a while, that I've underrated it, I'll have to watch it again), he's solid in the crime thriller The Worst of Evil-7.7, but Backstreet Rookie-6.4 has way too many problems and he lacks sex appeal in it, while Melting Me Softly-4.9, has a declining IQ that dipped under 70 before ep14. It has some nice moments, but overall, it's awful. So, pimp is a new look for Mr. JI, and h's killer in this role. His performance is exceptional. All the acting is exceptional. The writing in the 2nd half is what keeps this show from flying high.

Ha Yoon Kyung See (You in My 19th Life, Umbrella) is prosecutor Min Seo Jin. She grew up poor. DA, Tak, recognizes her as someone that he could use. He knows she can be bought because of her deprived background. BIBI- I pretty much fell in love with her while watching The Worst of Evil. She has unlimited potential. Here, she plays Kim Jaehee / "Jenny". Ryu Hye Young from Law School-8 & Reply 1988-8.6, is one of the cops, Seo Ji Su. R88 is 20 episodes that are around 90 minutes each. Once a person's spent that much time watching a family, one feels adopted into it. I'm thrilled to see sister Bora working and doing such a great job. Jeong Man Sik (Iris-8, Vagabond-8) is Tak Ju Il. When he's fully dressed, all I've noticed about him is his kind looking face. That doesn't mean that he can't play a tough guy, but there's something likeable about him. In The Worst of Evil, he's a gangster. There's a shot with him shirtless showing his muscularity and, in that show at least, he's covered in tats. It was impressive looking. Park Noo Ri (Money) directed and co-wrote with Jo Won Gyu (Argon).

By the end of ep2 my thought was: O-shizzle-me-fizzle, this is good! GBS has some multi-layered complex humor to it. Jo Woo Jin as the Detective and Hyun Bong Sik as Kim Jang Ho have a few scenes together. We're following a grizzled, hardened cynical cop... He went state's witness and locked lots of his buddies up. He needs help from one of them, now. His old partner is now a gangster and he actually has the gall to go ask him for help. The way they write their dialogue and the interactions is marvelous. These 2 can't help but lapse into recollecting the old times. They're on a stakeout together and the gangster starts reminiscing about what they used to eat during their past stakeouts. The acting is aspirational - it's divine. I've seen Mr. Hyun in DP-8.4, Our Blues-8.5, & The Witch: Part 1. The Subversion-7.6, just taking him for an off-the-rack bad guy. He's much more. I'll be paying closer attention from now on.

The show does get a tad outrageous, but anymore, I expect that for everything I see and hear, reality is that bad or much worse. The world makes more sense since I've adopted that view.

We have 2 male leads. The cop wants to save his daughter. The pimp wants to save Jenny. This isn't a world in which everyone gets what they want, not even all the bad guys. We get a depressing look into the seedy side of Gangham, Seoul's most affluent neighborhood. The timing and the editing are crisp. Most of the music is techno noise. The opening credit song is dystopian sounding technopop.

This show is for those who enjoy hard hitting crime and action, who won't get triggered by violence - severe violence - against women as well as men. There isn't scene in which Ho's face isn't battered and bloody, and yes, you should see all the OTHER guys - they're in the morgue.

IMHO〰🖍

📣7.3 📝6.7 🎭8.4 💓🦋🎨7 🎵/🔊6.5 🔚🤗2 ▪ 🌞2 ⚡7 😅3.3 😭6 😱6 😯3 🤢7.7 🤔5 💤0

Age + Language: R-rated w/ F💣s Scantily clad women. Drug parties that seem like they'll soon be origies. Violent, bloody knife fights. Killing hookers. Betting on fights to the death. Brutal stabbings.

Re-📺? Probably won't subject myself to this again

In order of ~lite&trite~ to ~heavy&serious~ you may also like:

⚡/🚀 - Flex X Cop-8.5, Missing: The Other Side-8.3, Inspector Koo-8.4, It's Okay Not To Be Okay-9, Descendants Of The Sun-8.3, Itaewon Class-8.7, When the Camellia Blooms-8, Uncanny counter-S1-8.4;S2-4, Vagabond-8, Why Her?-8, Sisyphus 8 (give it 2 episodes, ep1 is confusing), A Taxi Driver-8.4, Beyond Evil-7.4, Blood Free-8.5, Tunnel 8.5, Iris-8, Revenge of Others-8.1, The Cursed 8.3, Flower of Evil 8.9, Awaken-8.7, A Shop for Killers-8.7, Moving-8.5, D. P.-8.4, Light Shop-8.6, The Man from Nowhere 8.9, The Wailing-8.8, Black 9, Sweet Home 8.4 Oldboy-9,

〰 Hulu Catalog 〰

A Shop for Killers-8.7 Big Mouth-7.4, Blood Free-8.5, Call It Love-8.4, Crazy Love-7.8, The First 1st Responders-7.8, Flex X Cop-8.5, The Golden Spoon-8.1, Han River Police-7.1, High School Return of a Gangster-7, The Judge from Hell-4.5 The Legend of the Blue Sea-7.2 (this show is marvelous except for taking a quality dip in eps 20-22) Light Shop-8.6, Link: Eat, Love, Kill-6.7, Maestra: Strings of Truth-6.8, Moving-8.5 Pandora: Beneath the Paradise-3.9, Parasite-9, Revenant-7.4, Revenge of Others-8.1, So I Married the Anti Fan-6.8, Uncle Samsik-8.4, What's Wrong With Secretary Kim-6.8, Why Her?-8, Wonderful World-7.8, The Worst of Evil-7.7.

I think this is one of the best dramas of 2024 (if not the best). This is a hard look at really that society wants us to forget and ignore. Choosing Gangnam as the backdrop of this story was a great move, because behind the glitz and glamour that this place represents lies the dark truth at all is not well in this world. The stories of survival in this drama touches on reality , and it was really very well told, it did not hold back, whether it is painful or not, acceptable or not, the story told it as it is. Those who watched it and understood what it is all about will find it thought provoking (and painful at times). With 4 episodes down, we are really rooting for the characters to have a "saving grace ending" (to be less painful and a lot hopeful)...This is a must watch.... Great work to all those who made this masterpiece of a drama.( Special mention to Ji Chang Wook who must have had the hardest time shooting, great choice of work) Bravo!!!!!

Gangnam B Side has been such an intense ride so far! Ji Chang-wook delivers another incredible performance, and his action scenes are on point as always. The plot is full of suspense and keeps you guessing, with each episode leaving me wanting more. If you're a fan of action-packed dramas with layered storytelling, this one's worth checking out. Can't wait to see how the story unfolds!... ) The story was based on the book Made in Gangnam by Jo Won-Gyu, and he is the screenwriter of this drama.

2) Ji Chang-wook's Yoon Gil Ho character role was inspired by the 17-year-old boy. The screenwriter met him while he was working as the call driver.

3) Ep 5-6 faced problems from some high people in SK because it was real.

Overall 9/10.

Let me tell you when i watched a korean youtube review, it seemed like a burning sun scandal and it gave me goosebumps after hearing that story really happened in gangnam based on the author's interview. I really like the story which is based on a true story, the plot also has lots of unique characters and ji chang wook acting is really insane lol. This feels like another world with the worst of evil actors. Episodes 1 and 2 are a bit too heavy because they tell different plots for each role. However, in the end little by little the facts began to emerge one by one. I think Episodes 3 and 4 are perfect and can slowly resolve the problem. Next episode will be more interesting, but why is bibi and ji chang wook chemistry so angst? Lmao. Please reunite them again with romance!