Rich Man

Rich Man

3.5/10

Rich Man

Genre:                                                  Episodes: 16                                    Year: 2018

Romance

Comedy

Synopsis:

Lee Yoo Chan is the CEO of an IT company, but is arrogant and rude. He suffers from an inability to recognise faces, only being able to recognise the face of Kim Boon Hong, a girl he met years ago. Despite being smart, Kim Bo Ra struggles to get a job after graduating collage, but manages to get a job at Yoo Chan’s company by using the name Kim Boon Hong.

Cast:

Suho (Lee Yoo Chan)

Ha Yeon Soo (Kim Bo Ra)

Oh Chang Suk (Min Tae Joo)

Kim Ye Won (Min Tae Ra)

Park Sung Hoon (Cha Do Jin)

Yoon Da Young (Park Mi So)

Han Jung Hoon (Lee Dong Ha)

Lee Jae Jin (Kang Chan Soo)

Choi Kang Il (Nam Chul Woo)

Kim Min Ji (Kim Boon Hong)

General Thoughts:

This drama was in no way shape or form a good drama. As a person who likes to complain, I tend to enjoy having a good rant after watching a bad show, but ‘Rich Man’ has left me kind of exhausted and lifeless.

Sad to say, but I just wasn't a fan

I had a hard time categorising what this show was supposed to be. Comedy? But it’s not funny. Melodrama? But it’s not dramatic. Romance? But there’s no actual romance (until the last episode). It was just in this weird no-mans land were it wasn’t one thing or the other. It was just…nothing. Which sounds harsh, but it’s true.

Do I care about the company? Not at all.

Even though I have sat down and watched all 16 of these episodes, I fail to see the point of this drama. Because it wasn’t a cute romance that made me happy and giddy, it wasn’t a hilarious comedy that made me laugh out loud, and the plot really had…well…no plot. Tae Joo just turns against Yoo Chan for kinda unclear reasons, and then Yoo Chan has to rebuild his company. And then he does. And where back to where we started and Tae Joo and Yoo Chan are friends, and Next In is back up and running and…why did I have to watch this happen? Why did this show make me sit through 16 hours to get right back to where we started? Sure, Yoo Chan is less of an asshole, but he’s still kind of an asshole. Not to mention his dramatic personality change happens in the span of about two seconds in the second to last episode. It’s not like we got a slow, steady character development here. I haven’t seen the original Japanese drama but I heard that the Korean version changed up the plot and characters a bit to stop it from being a direct copy. I won’t lie- a part of me wishes they’d kept it a direct copy, because despite not having seen the original, I highly doubt the Korean version is an improvement. The plot just struggled along, not quite sure what it was trying to do, and not really giving satisfactory answers to any of its plot points.

Our 'hero' was even dating a different girl for 90% of the show 

The drama tended to hyper focus on a mystery or plot and then wrap it up really quickly with very minimal explanation. First it focused on the Boon Hong thing, then on Yoo Chan’s relationship with Tae Ra, then on Next In falling apart. There was very little to actually fill up the drama’s 16 episodes, and so I found myself rapidly losing interest in the story and its characters.

Sorry, but no

It always felt like the show was spinning its wheels and taking too long to solve issues, and there was just no spark that kept me engaged. The cherry on the top of this rather disappointing cake is that the acting was pretty crummy. The only comments I saw commending Suho’s acting (in fact it seemed the only people watching this drama) were from hardcore EXO-Ls. Which is fine- an idol you like is starring in a drama, fangirl away! Lord knows I do when it's an idol I adore. But from an unbiased perspective, Suho’s acting wasn’t good. It wasn’t insanely bad either, but it definitely didn’t make the drama any better. Suho has the charisma and the presence of an idol, but as a lead in a drama with rather shoddy plot, that just isn’t enough. His arrogant acting was believable enough, but I really struggled whenever Yoo Chan had to show either an extremely happy or extremely sad reaction, as Suho just didn’t have the ability to make the scenes feel authentic. He has great potential, but acting in a drama is very different to a music video or musical, and I really wish he’d taken on smaller roles to build his confidence and experience before jumping right into a leading role. To be honest Ha Yeon Soo wasn’t much better.

These leads suit a bubbly, frictionless rom-com. Not...whatever this drama was trying to be

For an actress I’m aware of and recognise, she actually has very little experience. She was good at being cute and charming, but similarly to Suho, any scene that required any real emotion from her felt very lacking. The chemistry between the two leads was pretty much non-existent, which probably contributed to how unentertaining I found he drama to be overall.

She was pushy and possessive, but at least she wasn't hateful

Kim Ye Won was probably the best actor in this series, but her character was rather dislikable and had little substance. However, unlike other actors, I found Kim Ye Won was at least able to add something a little bit of her own to her character that made Tae Ra feel more layered and detailed than other characters in the show. Oh Chang Suk wasn’t bad, and I liked hm when he was playing the mild-mannered good-guy, but his character had such a randomly sporadic shift in dynamic that I don’t think anyone could have acted it believably. The directing I found to be pretty okay, but not outstanding, but the problem here is definitely with the writing. The two writers behind this drama have almost no experience with dramas (as far as I’m aware), with one being involved mostly with movies, and one being pretty much new blood with no credentials. And it shows. There was not enough plot to span 16 episodes, and the characters were written as flat, 2-dimensional beings. The relationships between the characters felt awkward and insincere, and nothing in the events of the plot or the personalities of the characters felt remotely authentic.

An accurate depiction of chemistry levels

And while I’m sure the soundtrack had more than two songs on it, ‘Hard for Me’ and ‘Real Love’ felt like they were just playing on repeat, and I got real sick of them real fast. They weren’t even bad songs, they just played them way, way, way, way, waaaaaaay too often.

What Was Great:

Side Characters:

I don’t even mean the side characters here. I mean the side, side characters. As in the more or less nameless employees at Next In- particularly the three boys on the Big File team. Chan Soo was an absolute delight, 

Do Jin was pretty fun too

and I adore Lee Jae Jin in these cute and fun roles. He has an energy that grabs me right away and makes me want to know more about his character. Steve was also a character I found myself wanting to know more about, and these two characters provided most of the successful comedy in this show. Steve’s ‘confusion’ with using formal and informal speech was a hoot, and the guys on this small team just added a lot of warmth and heart into an otherwise dull workplace setting. I wish the writers had expanded their characters more, and that we’d seen more of what made these smaller characters tick. Lord knows we had the time for it. I mean, that romance for Chan Soo in the last episode came out of absolute nowhere- I would have adored seeing that relationship hinted at and then start to grow. Or maybe the writers would have just spoiled that too, and we should just be glad that these dynamic, smaller roles weren’t completely ruined.

What Wasn’t:

Basically All the Main Characters:

Pretty much everybody sucked. Yoo Chan was a self-absorbed, entitled asshat who cared about no one but himself. When he was kicked out from Next In so unceremoniously I think the writers were trying to evoke a sense of sadness and sympathy. But all I felt was a vicious sense of justice.

Looks like karma to me, buttwipe

I mean, this guy has been firing his employees out of the blue with no explanation for how long now? It only felt like he was getting what he deserved when he got fired himself. No sympathy from over here. And while Bo Ra was quite likeable at the start, she was on a steady downwards trajectory. Yoo Chan is in a fairly serious relationship with Tae Ra, but Bo Ra never sees that as a sign that he’s off limits.

You are literally the 'other woman'

I think the drama was trying to push that she and Yoo Chan had such a strong connection that no one could come between them, but honestly it just felt like she was being a bit of a b*tch and using her knowledge of Yoo Chan’s past experiences with her friend Boon Hong to steal him. Yeah, yeah, I know you can’t ‘steal’ a person, but Bo Ra’s decision to not acknowledge or respect Tae Ra’s relationship with Yoo Chan felt extremely conniving and really lowered my opinion of her. That’s classic b*tchy second-lead material right there, only this time it’s in our lead. Not cool. Tae Ra herself was actually not bad, but she was pretty annoying at times. Her insistence on trying to monopolise Yoo Chan felt competitive and controlling, and while I agree that Bo Ra was way out of line, Tae Ra could be pretty snitchy about it. I liked her way more when she was focused on trying to bring out the best in a young, undiscovered artist. Even if that whole plot line was a bit random. Her brother and Yoo Chan’s best friend, Tae Joo, was sweet and sensible and kind. Until he wasn’t.

Care factor- Zero

The drama really threw his character under the bus in order to create some ‘tension’. I say tension sarcastically as by the time Tae Joo’s character turned on Yoo Chan and revealed his harbouring animosity I’d already pretty much clocked out of this drama and was just watching it to get through it. By the end of the show I suppose we can say that they’re all better, kinder people. But their development was so sporadic and unbelievable that I didn’t buy these character changes. Nor did I care. And Mi So, the money-obsessed roommate that git knocked up was just materialistic and shallow from start to finish. Were we supposed to find her endearing? She wasn’t.

Ah yes, marriage, the obvious answer to a failing relationship

And for the love of all things good, I really wish dramas would stop touting marriage as the solution to accidental pregnancies. Yes, I’m aware that it’s more South Korea’s stance rather than a particular show, but when two people who fight a lot get married for the sake of a baby it’s just a divorce waiting to happen. And a messy one too.

Unoriginal:

Wealthy man is a rude jerk until he meets a nice girl.

Childhood trauma does not give you the right to be  jerk to literally everyone

Seriously, how many dramas could I be describing with that synopsis. Probably slightly more than half. There was absolutely nothing original in this show. Nothing. Rich guy falls for poor girl- been done. Boss falls for employee- been done. Love-triangle- is done in like, every drama ever. Workplace conflict that no one really cares about- I can’t even tell you how many times it’s been done. It’s not that every drama needs to be completely ground-breaking, but there does need to be something that sets it apart from other shows. Unfortunately for ‘Rich Man’ pretty much every aspect of it I had seen in a drama I’d watched before. And done better too. It just made the show feel like a cheap knockoff. Or a drama that was designed by a teenage fangirl with no writing talent trying to live out her K-Drama dreams by mashing every romance show she’d ever seen into one big, awkward mess.

Recommend?

Never in a million years.

Evidently 2018 is not the year for rom-coms in K-Dramaland

Defendant

Defendant

7.5/10

Defendant

Genre:                                   Episodes: 18                         Year: 2017

Mystery

Thriller 

Synopsis:

Park Jung Woo is a prosecutor who won’t let go of a case until he is sure the criminal has been brought to justice. One day, he wakes in a prison cell with no memory of the last four months. Jung Woo has been arrested for the murder of his wife and child, and must work to discover if he truly is the criminal, or if he is being framed.

Cast:

Ji Sung (Park Jung Woo)

Uhm Ki Joon (Cha Min Ho/Cha Sun Ho)

Yuri (Seo Eun Hye)

Oh Chang Suk (Kang Joon Hyuk)

Uhm Hyun Kyung (Na Yeon Hee)

Shin Rin Ah (Park Ha Yeon)

Kim Min Suk (Lee Sung Kyu)

Jo Jae Yun (Shin Chul Shik)

General Thoughts:

It’s not hard to see why this drama was such a ratings success in Korea. While procedural dramas aren’t exactly my favourite thing (they tend to feel a bit same-same), ‘Defendant’ was able to give the brand a new feeling. The show never took the steps that were expected of it, and told a whole new story rather than just having the usual set-up and giving it new characters.

Where am I? Who am I?

The cast, directing and writing were all pretty slick and gave the show a real professional feeling. While all K-Dramas are professional, this drama seemed to go out of its way to make itself grab your interest with its narrative consistency and finishing touches. The soundtrack definitely added to the feelings of danger and tension, but I did find that it could be a touch overbearing at times.

Getting' ready to play dirty

The characters all made nice, logical sense (except for maybe one- I’m giving you some serious side-eye Joon Hyuk), and acted in ways that were consistent with the way they had been constructed. It was evident fairly early on that our main villain Min Ho had a huge weakness where Yeon Hee and his son were concerned, so it made sense that this would be what our hero uses to target him. I adored that our hero wasn’t above doing some things that were a smidge against the law as long as it got a favourable result. It can be a bit of a kicker when the hero is too darn righteous to do things that would capture the villain- but here I was convinced that Jung Woo was doing everything in his power to reveal Min Ho’s crimes. Jung Woo never did anything morally dubious, but rather he was ready to bend the rules a little to get what he needed. He was happy to send Chul Shik to Min Ho’s home under the guise of murdering them (totally not legal), but made sure Chul Shik was aware that the woman and child weren’t actually to be harmed or even scared (morals stay intact). It meant that Jung Woo was able to remain a hero as he never did anything awful, but he also didn’t end up frustrating viewers with his blatant unwillingness to play ball. But it seemed our hero used up all the awesome the leads were given.

The boys were definitely the main course...leaving Eun Hye as just a side dish

Eun Hye was barely present at all considering she was the main female lead. I’m pretty sure there were whole episodes were she was delegated screen time of 5 minutes or less. As a character she was pretty unimportant once she convinced Jung Woo to figure out the truth instead of moping around (which we’re all thankful for).

Awesome acting aside- this silent staring got old pretty fast

I was expecting Eun Hye to be doing a lot of work on the outside to help Jung Woo locate his daughter and find evidence, but she did very little and was only really called upon when a car was needed. As far as the plot went, it was just okay until just before the halfway point when it really hit its stride. Once the plot got into the bulk of the story, it was hard to turn away. Watching Jung Woo try and remember things he’d once known but had forgotten tended to be a bit annoying, but once it got to Jung Woo trying to outwit Min Ho and how best to use the evidence against him it became a lot more interesting. While most of the plot was pretty airtight, there were some aspects that I wish had been explained more. Such as Jung Woo’s amnesia. Okay, yes, it’s the drama’s whole catch, but the way it was explained didn’t really fit with Jung Woo’s personality. He’s a determined, intelligent lawyer who loves his wife and daughter, and doesn’t care about status or power- if you’re a bad guy he’ll bring you to justice. But then you want me to believe that he’s lost the memories of himself figuring out who the bad guy is (and who he suspects has his daughter) and all the evidence he hid away to catch him, and it’s all because of a self-defence mechanism that takes him to his happiest memory? Yeeaaaahhh, not really buying it, but I can let it slide because it was the initial setup (amnesic prosecutor doesn’t know if he’s guilty or not).

Maybe instead of wasting time living in a memory you could, I dunno, do something?

Perhaps it wouldn’t have been so annoying if it was possible that Jung Woo was the murderer, but no one thought that at all. Then there’s absolutely no explanation of who the hell Seok is. A young man is doing the clean-up for all Min Ho’s murders and even driving the truck-of-doom into more victims, yet he’s given no more depth beyond being labelled ‘henchman’- which is pretty sucky considering that Min Ho relied on this kid heavily to clean up his messes and keep him out of trouble. And while it was made very clear that Min Ho’s weakness was his love for Yeon Hee, I do wish it had been more obvious what Yeon Hee’s feelings were for him.

This woman is ambiguous as faaaaaark

I wasn’t sure if she hated him, loved him, or loved the memory of him but was hurt by what he had become. She was an enigma until the last episode during Min Ho’s trial when she had her (awesome) confession to him that ended up being his undoing. But on the bright side, these were all very minor details that were easy to overlook.

What Was Great:

Finale Build-Up:

The thing I personally find irritating about legal mystery/thrillers is that they can tend to be pretty heavy on the angst. Usually the heroes go through so much pain and suffering (about 14 episodes worth) and then everything gets tied up in the last few episodes.

Seeing the bad guy lose his cool is soooo satisfying

But with ‘Defendant’ there was a nice push-and-pull feeling. While the beginning was pretty heavily skewed in favour of the villain (because we need a story), from the middle onwards it was a pretty even playing field. There were enough small victories for our heroes that it doesn’t become an unbearable angst-fest, and there were enough times when Min Ho lost his cool that he felt like an opponent that could be beaten. Not to mention I really, really, really hate it when no matter what the hero does the villain just smiles in this really unconcerned way. I hate it. But Min Ho was outsmarted enough that he knew Jung Woo was someone to be cautious of- I mean, why else go to all that trouble to frame him if he can just buy his way out? I totally wasn’t expecting Ha Yeon to be brought back to her father before the ultimate showdown, so I actually loved that he stole her back before the last bunch of episodes. It was a great morale boost for our heroes and gave the feeling that it was a slow, gradual battle to overcome Min Ho- everything didn’t just happen at once. There were many smaller victories that added up to the final battle being won, and that’s part of what made the series so addictive.

I must say, this show makes prison look like a pretty fun time

The show gets two thumbs up for not being draggy for the last few episodes, as episode extensions have a way of slowing momentum right down. I actually felt the start was more dragged out than the ending, and the plot ran smoothly despite adding on two extra episodes. 

Acting:

All the acting was pretty fabulous. Ji Sung was absolutely amazing. The last drama I saw him in did nothing with his talent, so I’m overjoyed that this was a drama where Ji Sung could show what an accomplished actor he really is.

I like him best in serious roles

While he can be good in comedy, it really is angsty-determination that he excels in. His desperation, anger, and complete heartbreak were all so clear, and it wasn’t hard to tune into his emotions. Our female lead, Yuri, was nothing amazing, but she also wasn’t outright bad. While her acting did feel green next to the much more experienced cast members, her role wasn’t difficult so she was able to blend in easily enough. Uhm Ki Joon was dynamic as the villain and was able to flip between his character's two faces seamlessly. It was really necessary to have an excellent actor in the villain role as our hero was so well acted, so it was fabulous that the two main actors were on the same level. Shin Rin Ah is just pocket-sized dynamite. She’s explosive in whatever role she plays, and adds a tremendous amount of heart to her characters. Once again, I fell in love with her character quickly, and Shin Rin Ah had amazing chemistry with Ji Sung and Kim Min Suk, the two actors she interacted with most. While a lot of child actors can feel a bit like they’re just reciting the lines and actions given to them, Shin Rin Ah always makes her scenes and characters feel believable- as an adult actor does. I really think she’s a cut above other child actors, and I always feel confident that she’ll do an incredible job- which she did.

I love her in everything she's ever been in

The side characters were absolutely perfect. While the prison inmates were used mostly for comedic relief, they still felt like real people rather than just ridiculous characters (*cough*StrongWomanDoBongSoon*cough*). They added the lightness that the drama needed, but never overplayed the humour. And I have a bit of a Kim Min Suk bias I’ll admit (when will he get his own leading role? Wheeeeeen?), but he really was perfect in this role. He always tends to take on adorable puppy-like characters, so it was the perfect way to set up his involvement in Ha Yeon’s kidnapping. It’s a sweet young character being played by Kim Min Suk- I did NOT expect him to be a kidnapper (and nearly kid-murderer).

Why show, whhhyyyyyyy?

But of course he returned to his sweet puppy nature and gave us a wonderfully conflicted character to love. My only gripe is that his character’s death felt a bit unnecessary (Min Ho was so f*cked whether Sung Kyu lived or not). I fear he might have been collateral in the episode extension.

What Wasn’t:

Slow Start:

Oh my goodness, at the start of this drama I really couldn’t understand what all the fuss what about because it was so darn slow moving. Like, yeah, Ji Sung’s an amazing actor and he can move me with his awesome crying skills- but after a while I got tired of him being so mopey.

Why not put some effort into finding out how your wife died?

He had no desire to find out the truth, didn’t interact with anyone around him to find out what was going on (like he could’ve saved soooo much trouble if he confided what was up to his cell buddies), and the biggest issue was that he had no belief in himself. We were being told that there was all this evidence that pointed to Jung Woo being the murderer, and that it was enough to get him to doubt himself, but we didn’t actually see this evidence until much later on. Like, if I woke up in jail and was told I’d killed my family but had no memory of it, I’d be like ‘nope, no way’ (especially if my job involved getting on the bad side of criminals). But Jung Woo just kind of accepted that he killed the love of his life and his precious little girl. What up with that. Seeing Jung Woo stare at walls and try to figure things out by himself wasn’t all that entertaining, particularly when he seemed to have no desire to find out the truth of what happened. Maybe this slower start would have worked if the audience hadn’t seen who was so obviously behind the crime (hello crazy murderer on the loose with a vendetta against Jung Woo), and might have believed that Jung Woo actually could have been a psycho capable of murdering his own family. Once Jung Woo opened up, started getting help from those around him and made a real effort to discover the truth, the show got a lot more interesting. But up until that point…meh.

The prisoners were excellent and I wish Jung Woo had started interacting with them earlier

Lame Redemption:

I hate forced redemptions. I had a feeling that this one was going to happen as Joon Hyuk didn’t really do any crimes that went beyond covering up someone else’s, but he was still a huge jack*ss.

You, sir, are an a-hole.

He either believed his best friend killed his family or knowingly helped frame him- and both of those are pretty sucky. His character projection was understandable enough- he’s a slimy bloke who wants to get ahead in his career, but the things he did were enough to get him axed off any friend list. 1. Did not attempt to find the real murderer. 2. Knowingly destroyed evidence that could have been useful (CCTV footage). 3. Once he knew Ha Yeon was alive he made no effort to get her back, and actually told the crazy murderous criminal to go find her. Yeah, after all that if you hear about him hanging around your kid’s school you should probably tell him to f*ck right off, NOT try and mend the relationship. That’s just stupid. Redemption arcs can be rewarding when done well, but Joon Hyuk didn’t seem nearly sorry enough, and didn’t grovel and cry nearly as much as he needed to in order to earn forgiveness. Get that mofo out ma face and into jail.

Recommend?

100% yes. This is the best drama to come out of the first half of this year. Ji Sung and Uhm Ki Joon (and the rest of the cast) deliver spectacular performances in every single episode.

Prison break