Smart Prison Living

Smart Prison Living

9.5/10

Smart Prison Living

Genre:                                                Episodes: 16                                     Year: 2018

Comedy

Melodrama

Synopsis:

Star baseball pitcher, Kim Je Hyuk, is sentenced to one year in prison after assaulting a sexual assailant. He must adapt to living in jail with other inmates and the prison guards.

Cast:

Park Hae Soo (Kim Je Hyuk)

Jung Kyung Ho (Lee Joon Ho)

Krystal (Kim Ji Ho)

Lim Hwa Young (Kim Je Hee)

Choi Moo Sung (Kim Min Chul)

Jung Woong In (Officer Paeng)

Lee Kyu Hyung (Yoo Han Yang)

Jung Hae In (Yoo Jung Woo)

Park Ho San (Kaist)

Jung Min Sung (Dr Ko)

Ahn Chang Hwan (Crony)

Kang Ki Doong (Officer Song)

Kang Seung Yoon (Jean Valjean)

Park Hyung Soo (Officer Na)

Kim Sung Cheol (Jailbird)

Kim Kyung Nam (Lee Joon Dol)

General Thoughts:

I love this drama, and there’s not a single thing I’d change about it. And I’m bloody picky, so you know that’s a big compliment right there. It’s the magic director-writer combo from ‘Reply 1997’ (and ’94 and ’88), and at this point I really think they can do no wrong.

I love this writer-PD combo and I love their dramas

The writer is an amazing and rare talent, and her dramas make me want to meet her in real life. To come up with such beautifully crafted stories with such real and raw emotion, Lee Woo Jung must be one interesting and intelligent lady. The director at her side is Shin Won Ho and boy have these two just learned how to work in sync.

From high school kids to men in prison

Shin Won Ho takes the story and fills it with life and flavour. He knows the exact emotional beats that the writer is aiming for and manipulates all aspects of filmmaking in order to bring that emotion to the audience. While I do admit that I’ve been waiting excitedly for the next ‘Reply’ instalment from these two, now that I’ve watched ‘Smart Prison Living’ I’m glad they deviated away from their hit franchise for a time. It’s not that the followup ‘Reply’ series weren’t good (because they were), but as they all worked around the same genre and the same type of characters (eg. hilarious, spunky female youth for a heroine), we all knew a little bit about what to expect. It’s not that we didn’t enjoy it simply because it was what we expected, but it is nice to be wowed every now and then. ‘Smart Prison Living’ proves that this writer-director combo aren’t a one-trick pony, and can work different characters in different settings into a compelling story about love, life and hardship. Backing up the fantastic writing and directing was an absolutely stellar cast. ‘Smart Prison Living’ differentiates itself from the ‘Reply’ series, and most other K-Dramas, but not exactly having one cast the entire way through.

There were so many characters to love 

The whole show is a revolving door of characters who come and go as we walk with Je Hyuk through his prison journey. Our one constant is Park Hae Soo as our leading man. I’ve only seen him in ‘Legend of the Blue Sea’, and I won’t lie, I don’t even remember him in it. This is another thing I love about this writer-director combo- they take actors who fit the role regardless of if they don’t have a lot of working credits or a wide fanbase.

How can that pudding haircut suit your character so perfectly?

While Park Hae Soo was unremarkable in ‘LOTBS’, I found him completely unforgettable here. He showed how Je Hyuk’s humility and calm nature mostly resulted due to him not exactly being the smartest prisoner in the cell. His naivety and vagueness often made for some hilarious moments, and Park Hae Soo was able to deliver these aspects of his character perfectly, without ever making Je Hyuk seem plain dumb. Sure, he was a little slow, but he’d get there eventually. However, on the other side of the coin, Park Hae Soo could really turn cold when Je Hyuk snapped. It was a subtle difference in facial expression and a whole change in body language that easily alerted us as to when Je Hyuk was riled and likely to do something impulsive. While his slow side tended to make the humour, Je Hyuk’s anger is where a lot of the emotion in the series came from. Je Hyuk had two extremes- completely calm or completely furious. Rarely did Je Hyuk get furious, but it was always interesting and compelling when he did, because so often it was for someone other than himself, which is ultimately what made him such a loveable and endearing character. He would listen all day to people insult him or push him around, but when that contemptuous attention was turned on someone Je Hyuk cared about, such as his cellmates, he was likely to snap completely.

I kinda loved when Je Hyuk got angry

Park Hae Soo could shift between these two sides of his character wonderfully, and did so believably. It always felt like Je Hyuk snapping was the stick that broke the camel’s back rather than Je Hyuk being schizophrenic. Jung Kyung Ho played our hero’s best friend and constant supporter. I’ve seen him in some of his previous works and loved him. He brings a wonderful energy to his characters and just has that charming charisma that makes you like him, and whatever character he’s playing.

Jung Kyung Ho is always delightful

Joon Ho was an interesting character as while he was nice and morally upstanding, he didn’t exactly radiate compassion for the inmates. While he never took advantage of his role as a guard or treated the inmates disrespectfully, he always gave off the vibe that he didn’t trust any of the prisoners, and avoided investing in them emotionally, unlike our other main guard Officer Paeng.

Nothing beats a bromance

Joon Ho was the halfway point between the authorities and the disciplined. He went by the rules, and didn’t take anyone’s side. Except for Je Hyuk. Which is where we start to really love Joon Ho. Despite being a rather strict guard and going by the book at work, Joon Ho does whatever he can to make Je Hyuk’s prison life that little bit smoother. He goes out of his way to ensure his friend’s safety- both physically and emotionally. Jung Kyung Ho brought a sweetly playful side out of his character when he was alone with Je Hyuk and gave him just enough empathy while maintaining his character’s rather minimal-investment personality. Jung Woong In was insanely dynamic as Officer Paeng. His character was one that was introduced and explored slowly in the early stages of the drama, but the more we got to know him, the more endearing he became. Officer Paeng was the depiction of rough-around-the-edges, but no one could deny that he wanted the best for the inmates in his care. Officer Paeng didn’t assume the inmates were bad people the way the rest of the world did, and saw them for who they were rather than their crimes.

Talk about a character with layers

He might have been lazy in some aspects of his job, but that carefree attitude is what made him so approachable to the inmates, and was a great facade for his caring nature, as he would often help the inmates out under the guise of not caring, when in actuality he cared more than almost anyone. He was one of the characters that gave the most emotional punches, as each time another snippet of his story was told it served to reveal what a kind-hearted man he was-

Sweet and fun and so, so sad

such as his extreme guilt and grief after following procedure and losing some inmates in a fire. Jung Woong In is a mighty fine actor, and I loved the gruff charm he brought to his character. As he’s an actor that’s played a range of characters in the past, I wasn’t sure if he was going to be a likeable character or not. But boy did he know how to reveal his character’s squishy marshmallow heart in the sweetest ways. There’s so many side characters that it really would be impossible (well not really, just super long and hard) to mention them all so I’ll try to restrain myself. I thought a particular standout was Lee Kyu Hyung, who gave 100% to his druggie character, and managed to make him fun without being ridiculous. A lot of the humour in our main cell came from Han Yang’s antics, and Lee Kyu Hyung gave him such a wonderful air of rich-boy superiority paired with just the right amount of vagueness from his withdrawal. His goofy character kind of made you let your guard down, so that when he actually came to deliver an emotional scene it was like a punch in the gut. Han Yang definitely had one of the sadder stories, with his desperation to have strong self-control, but always tending to fall at the last hurdle.

Poor Han Yang came so close to kicking his habit

I think Lee Kyu Hyung hit a perfect balance of showing just how much Han Yang wanted to break free from his addiction, but also how hard the struggle really was. For people who’ve never been addicted to anything it’s so easy to criticise his relapses and his choices, but Lee Kyu Hyung clearly and brilliantly expressed Han Yang’s disgust at his own inability to beat his addiction. His love-line was handled delicately and was awfully bitter sweet.

My poor broken heart

It was sad to see the relationship that had been so tentatively built fall to ruin. Knowing that homosexuality isn’t exactly widely accepted in South Korea, I did appreciate the addition. It didn’t feel like Han Yang was just gay for gay’s sake, but it felt like a genuine part of his character and played a large hand in shaping his story. It was also an interesting point to see how other characters reacted to discovering that Han Yang’s lover was actually a man, and not a girl as they thought. Some didn’t care at all, others were totally disgusted by it, and some were uncomfortable with it but learned to live with it because they cared about Han Yang and his happiness. The show did a good job at balancing the fun make-believe drama world with bites of reality, and Han Yang’s final decision to turn to drugs again, essentially throwing away his lover’s faith and trust, was definitely one of the darker moments in the drama. You just felt this awful drop of disappointment watching Han Yang’s boyfriend waiting in a cafe for Han Yang who would never come. It was in these quieter, sadder moments where the drama really grabbed your emotions, and the director knew exactly how much to show to create the biggest impact.

Your heart was either super warm super broken or racing super fast

Take the scene I mentioned above for example. We see Han Yang succumb to his temptation and get arrested again, but we never see him back inside a prison. We see his lover and his parents expecting his return, and are left with the lonely image of them waiting as we never see the moment they give up and go home. We were given just enough to know what was happening, but we were never over saturated with information.

Everyone's favourite hyung

The show never felt like it was looking for tears- it was just focused on telling its story complete with all its darker moments. It was the same for Min Chul- his repentance and regret paired with his life sentence made him such a lonely figure, particularly once he revealed that the young boys he mentored and looked out for in prison never came back to visit. And yet he continued looking out for these young kids and encouraged them to live honest lives. His relationship with Jean Valjean killed me, and my heart really dropped when Valjean didn’t come back to visit. However, Valjean’s rather late visitation plus parole plus Min Chul’s discovery of his delightful and very accepting daughter felt like a final glimmer of happiness after Min Chul’s long and lonesome stint in prison watching other inmates come and go. Despite the show’s very present bite of realism, it was these moments of happiness that made the drama feel extremely rewarding.

You will laugh and you will cry

Despite having rather miricle-like situations sprinkled throughout the show’s run (eg. such as Je Hyuk learning to pitch with his other arm, Min Chul’s daughter finding him, soldiers deciding to testify for Jung Woo’s retrial), the equally bleak moments

Yoo-Han combo was always fun

(eg. Han Yang falling back into drugs, Kaist’s son not wanting to see him again), meant the show was able to maintain a very realistic feel without becoming too dark. All the cast members seemed to be having a really good time on set, and they all seemed to get along with each other really well. The brilliant acting from them all definitely made the series better, but what made it really stand out is the comradery between all the actors. I think it must be much easier to give a heartfelt, convincing performance when you really enjoy working with the people around you, and the humorous scenes felt that much more hilarious because all the actors were obviously having so much fun filming. I know we hear a lot about how hard it is working on K-Dramas, and I could be totally wrong here, but it felt like everyone involved (staff and actors) were really invested in making a wonderful production and tried their best to help each other out, and that really carried across into the viewing experience.     

What Was Great:

Basically Everything:

There’s no one aspect of this drama that stands out as being amazing, but rather the combination of all its parts that make it such a wonderful experience. Admittedly, at the heart of this drama there was Je Hyuk, and this drama definitely wouldn’t have been what is was without him.

Definition of handsome idiot

He was the perfect character to centre this show around, as his celebrity status was something that worked both for and against him. It would have been hard to get into this drama if the main character hadn’t been instantly likeable- and with him being in prison he obviously needed to break the law, which makes you wonder how you would get the audience to like this man who is a criminal. 

You can't blame him

By using Je Hyuk’s fame and having authorities want to make a show of treating celebrities ‘fairly’ (by rather unfairly convicting him of aggravated assault), it ensured that he remained a character we could root for. His unfortunate conviction became a hurdle for him to overcome, and we could cheer him on through it. A part of Je Hyuk’s character I really enjoyed is that he wasn’t just a dedicated sportsman ready to beat the odds and get his career back. In a lot of uplifting movies and shows, the main character has an unfaltering determination and that unwavering faith and steadfast determination are what make them succeed in unfavourable circumstances. As strange as it sounds, I loved that Je Hyuk gave up. When things got hard and one thing after another went wrong, I appreciated that Je Hyuk got angry, cursed the world and threw in the towel. After a shoulder-injuring accident in his youth, stomach cancer, getting sent to prison, and getting stabbed in the shoulder, it just felt painfully and endearingly humane for Je Hyuk to give up.

I mean really- dude's had a tough run

And I loved that he people around him supported that choice. We’re doused with so much ‘if you fall, get back up’ and ‘hardship is the road to success’ that it felt wonderfully refreshing to have a drama say that it’s okay to quit. Because the truth is, while trying as much as you can for as long as you can is a good way to live, the fact is that sometimes things don’t work out, and it’s okay to quit.

We just want our hero to be happy

Sure, Je Hyuk picked himself back up with the support of his friends and family and inmates and worked hard to play baseball again, but I liked that he was furious with the unjustness of it all (and not just a saint of forgiveness and perseverance), and took time to walk away, explore other options, and figure out what he really wanted. He really was the perfect character to star in this uniquely charming show.

What Wasn’t:

Nothing?:

A drama has to be pretty darn good for me to not find fault with it (finding shortcomings is something I’m particularly good at), but there wasn’t anything glaringly obvious in ‘Smart Prison Living’ that hindered the show.

Admittedly, this face does increase my attention span

I stand by my opinion that no drama really needs to have episodes that go over an hour (my attention span is only so long), but I found that the 90 minute episodes weren’t really that much of a problem here. The plot didn’t really have an episodic format, so the story just flowed smoothly from start to finish, breaking where it did because we can’t (or shouldn’t) just sit down and watch the whole thing straight. Because I watch shows after they air, and because of the nature of this drama’s story, I really watched it at my leisure pausing whenever, and watching as much as I could whenever I could. I suppose the length of the episodes would have bothered me more if I had to take a huge chunk of time out of my day and watch a whole episode, rather than watching hours and hours on the weekend with intermittent 30 minutes here and there during the week. I also thought the transition of Je Hyuk from the initial detention centre to the prison was super weird. At the end of one episode Je Hyuk’s getting stabbed and at the beginning of the next he’s in a new facility with new cellmates and I had no clue what was going on, and actually wondered if I’d somehow missed an episode. Pretty small complaints overall. 

Recommend?

Yes, yes, yes. This drama is a beautiful and heartfelt show, and I guarantee that you won’t regret watching it.

This drama was hard to say goodbye to

Lookout

Lookout

7.5/10

Lookout

Genre:                                                Episodes: 16                                  Year: 2017

Mystery

Thriller

Synopsis:

After her daughter is murdered, Detective Jo Soo Ji does everything she can to bring he killer to justice. Due to corrupt prosecutors, the murderer avoids arrest and Soo Ji loses her faith in the justice system. She is approached by a strange group who act outside the law to bring un-convicted criminals to justice, and joins them in the hopes that one day her daughter’s killer will face the justice he has avoided.

Cast:

Lee Shi Young (Jo Soo Ji)

Kim Young Kwang (Jang Do Han)

Kim Seul Gi (Seo Bo Mi)

Key (Ko Kyung Soo)

Kim Tae Hoon (Kim Eun Joong)

Choi Moo Sung (Yoon Seung Ro)

Jung Suk Yong (Nam Byung Tae)

Park Solomon (Yoon Shi Wan)

General Thoughts:

‘Lookout’ for the most part was an exciting, emotional story of a ragtag vigilante group. Right from the first episode we’re drawn directly into the conflict and the series manages to keep its racing momentum for most of its run.

Super exciting pretty much all the time

It was a good move to have our heroine join the team mid-way through their revenge plot as it gave us an easy way in. Rather than trying to figure out who was who and how they all came together, we were drawn into the group along with our heroine. And what a heroine she was.

Our poor baby

Soo Ji was a character that was hard to dislike- a proud parent who worked hard both at her job and raising her (adorable) daughter. Yoon Ah’s death was brutal and shocking and was a surefire way to get us hating the villain and squarely on the Lookout Team. ‘Lookout’ isn’t the first K-Drama to go with the death of a child being the motivation for the hero/ine (‘Bad Guys’ being one), but most I’ve seen tend to have the children being murdered once they’ve hit their teenage years. It was much more horrific having Yoo Na murdered as a child- it’s basically the unwritten law of the world that hurting children makes you the worst of the worst. So with Yoon Ah’s death, the writers ensured that we all had a burning vengeance to see Team Lookout bring down Shi Wan and his father. Having other members of the team allowed us to be satisfied with the long game. Had there only been Soo Ji going for revenge the plot would have seemed very slow and ponderous, but adding in Bo Mi and Kyung Soo meant the series could keep its momentum rolling. As we’re introduced to the other members of the team, it’s obvious that there’s something linking them all together and each step towards that truth feels like a reward rather than a story simply being drawn out to cover more episodes.

Yoon Seung Ro sure messed up a lot of families

The show moved quickly and smoothly from Soo Ji joining the team to Bo Mi’s story to Kyung Soo’s story, with pieces of Do Han’s story sprinkled throughout the lot. Each of the different character arcs were woven together brilliantly, and as an audience we could see how solving each crime was bringing us closer and closer to catching Shi Wan and Dad Yoon. As interesting as each development was on its own, it was really the characters that were the driving force behind the story.

I adore that Kim Seul Gi got to play a pretty character.
I will forever curse 'Queen of the Ring' for calling her ugly. Curse you.

Soo Ji was obviously our main hero, but the people that surrounded her helped with shaping the story into something that was emotionally rewarding rather than just intellectually satisfying. Bo Mi was one of my favourite characters, and her survivor’s guilt was a poignant point throughout the show. Bo Mi's slowly developing relationship with Kyung Soo was also one of the show's highlights. With child murders and abductions and other rather dark things going on, Bo Mi and Kyung Soo became a little ray of much-needed hope in the show. Despite how bleak things may be getting in the show, those two could always be relied upon to provide a little bit of warmth and even humour. It kept the show from feeling too hopeless. While Soo Ji and Do Han were so focused on revenge and getting to that point, they'd never actually thought about what comes after. Bo Mi and Kyung Soo were the opposite of that- planning a happy future together once their task was over. Do Han as hero was rather interesting. At first I thought Kim Young Kwang was acting Do Han's smarmy prosecutor persona too well, and it was actually quite hard to like him. While as an audience we were always aware that he had underlying motives and that he actually was on Team Lookout, he was just so good at being a d*ck to characters we really cared about- like Soo Ji and Eun Joong.

I won't lie, it took a while to warm up to our hero

I really thought the nail in his coffin had come when he admitted that he'd thought Shi Wan might do something to Yoon Ah and didn’t stop it. But that was just another fascinating aspect to his character- and Soo Ji's as well. Most of the series I identified strongly with Soo Ji's emotions (except that one time she thought finding out who Leader is was more important than the mission at hand),

I still kinda can't believe you didn't try to save her...

and when it came to that revelation it was the same. I was shocked and extremely disappointed at Do Han’s confession and didn't think anything could redeem him. Yet as the show progressed, I found myself accepting Do Han and his situation more and more. It wasn’t okay or right that he’d not rushed to help Yoo Na right away, but his clear guilt about the situation and the fact that it was a brief hesitation and not a total unwillingness to help assisted in softening the blow and making Do Han seem likeable again. It was an added bonus that we could see these same emotions being played out with Soo Ji. While there was no way she could forgive him for playing a role in her daughter's murder, she could understand him after hearing his story and seeing his regret, and she was able to look past his mistake and work together again. Do Han really had excellent character development- I absolutely hated him at the start, but by the end I pitied him greatly and wanted the team to succeed- not just for the others, but for Do Han as well. This was a role where Kim Young Kwang really stepped up his acting a notch. While I personally haven’t found him bad in anything, he's also never floored me with his acting.

A rare moment of honesty from Do Han

In ‘Lookout’ there were several scenes where I was impressed with Kim Young Kwang’s acting ability. The moments he was himself with his brother the Priest were often emotionally heavy scenes where we experienced rare glimpses of Do Han’s true face. It was through these extremely brief moments that Kim Young Kwang had to pull us into Do Han’s story and make him a character we can feel for, and I think he was really successful in doing that.

The best I-f*cking-got-you face I've ever seen

I often felt Do Han’s fear, anger and regret in those short scenes. Another great example of Kim Young Kwang’s improved acting was toward the end when Dad Yoon discovered Do Han’s identity and his true goal. Kim Young Kwang’s manic, ecstatic grinning actually gave me goosebumps and made me extremely nervous/excited about the events that would follow. It was an expression that showed both severe joy and severe hate, and hinted at how close to unravelling Do Han had been all along, and how obsessed he had been with achieving his goal. Lee Shi Young was excellent as the heroine beside Do Han, with her quietly determined ways. A lot of her heavy lifting in the acting department came early on in the series. It was Soo Ji’s complete and utter devastation after losing her daughter that really captured my interest and pulled me into the series. Seeing this amazing woman lose everything she held dear made me want to see her succeed in ruining the person who took her baby from her. If Lee Shi Young hadn’t acted as brilliantly as she did in those scenes, I doubt I would have had such a reaction. The scene that really stands out in my mind for Lee Shi Young is when Soo Ji goes to Shi Wan's school to kill him.

I know on a moral level I shouldn't want her to kill the kid. But on a K-Drama level- killhimkillhimkillhim.

I never thought that I’d want the heroine of my drama to kill a teenager in cold blood, but there you go. I wanted it. I wanted it so bad. Lee Shi Young was able to get me right there in Soo Ji's mindset. I felt her hate and her anger, and I understood that it didn’t matter what happened after so long as Shi Wan died. Thankfully that didn't happen and we got a really good drama out of what came after, but it was a truly emotional, stunning performance from the actress. Both Kim Seul Gi and Key gave heartfelt, believable performances of their own, and definitely pulled their own weight when their turn in the spotlight came.

Cutest couple on the show (even though they had no competition)

The directing was all pretty schmick, with quite a few slick and stylish action sequences- particularly early on when we were getting introduced to the Lookout Team. During many of the missions, clever deviations into flashback often elaborated on how our heroes were able to succeed without disrupting the flow of the narrative. The soundtrack was also excellently effective (and ridiculously catchy). 

What Was Great:

The Team:

I think I’ve rambled on about this quite a bit above, but the driving force of this drama was really the characters that were in the vigilante squad. As we learned more about these characters and watched them grow as individuals and as a team it made us more desperate to see them beat Dad Yoon and his twisted son.

The lookout fam was just wonderful

While the plot itself was fast and addictive, it was the characters that really drove it. Yes it was interesting to have a whole family murdered leaving a sole survivor who became a shut-in constantly watching CCTV, but it’s the survivor’s feelings of fear and guilt and her slowly learning to rely on others and step outside her comfort zone that really won me over. Each of the characters had such rich backstory that shaped who they were. Sometimes even the smallest pieces of information could lead to huge emotional moments- such as Soo Ji blaming herself for Yoo Na’s accident because she lied that Yoo Na’s father was dead and ‘in the sky’ rather than admitting that he’d left them both. And of course the small moments of interaction between the team were just golden. It often felt like Soo Ji was becoming a sort of mother to Bo Mi and Kyung Soo (like the way she fixed Kyung Soo’s tie) and the relationship between Soo Ji and Do Han was endlessly fascinating. Although I do wish we could have seen a few more of these moments were the team really bonded together, I was satisfied with what we got, and the characters were brilliant at driving their own story arcs so that we could lead up to the final showdown.

What Wasn’t:

The Final Huzzah: 

Considering how excellent the series was for most of its run, it was a little disappointing that the final conflict was really the least thrilling one. I enjoyed the courtroom takedown of Dad Yoon, and while it wasn’t exactly an action packed scene, it was the swift, accurate move that the team needed to make.

I am adequately placated with that a-hole's smackdown

However, I was expecting something more spectacular for Shi Wan. I’d sort of come to accept that we weren’t going to get any backstory on Shi Wan- he was just born a psycho apparently, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t have an exciting downfall. Frankly speaking, I liked Shi Wan better when he was a quietly dangerous, you-don’t-know-what-he’ll-do-next kind of villain.

Your final plan was bad and you should feel bad

He had a stealthy sort of creepiness about him that just wasn’t used to its full potential in his final murderous plan. His ‘game’ was really just too out in the open. So far he’s been hurting small children and those weaker than him subtly and without anyone knowing. Suddenly he’s built a bomb and is making threats and is video chatting people mid-threat. He’s spent so much time and effort making people believe he’s normal that it just felt weird to have him throw all of that away in the final hour. Not to mention he’s not exactly threatening. He’s not a big kid and I don’t doubt that our two female officers could have overpowered him easily if they tried. I was actually pretty disappointed in Officer Lee’s reaction to the whole scenario. Sure, your daughter is in a dangerous situation but you’re a well seasoned detective for crying out loud! Her complete inability to even attempt to come up with a plan that could save Soo Ji and Se Won just annoyed me. Her response would have been acceptable for a regular mother, but I felt like she’d been constructed as a character who was smarter and better under high-pressure situations than she was at the end. And Se Won. Sigh, Se Won. I mean, what the f*ck. She is quite possibly one of the stupidest characters I’ve ever seen, and she flip-flops like a fish out of water.

Like...what did you think was gonna happen??

First she has a crush on Shi Wan. Then she totally believes that he pushed a little girl of a roof. Then she likes him when he befriends her (acceptable so far, she’s a total outcast and there wasn’t any solid proof he was a murderer), then she finds out without a shadow of a doubt that he pushed Yoo Na off a roof and avoids him (smart move). Then, oh my gosh I still can’t believe the stupidity of it, then she goes to a frigging ROOFTOP after she finds a note implying that he’ll jump off the roof.

The start was much more intense than the finale

Like, why follow him? He’s a psycho killer who’s been lying to you and murdered a child- if he jumps of the roof then good riddance. But no. She follows him to a place similar to where he’s killed someone before and then goes into a small, dark room that’s completely out of the public eye. And she kind of seems surprised that Shi Wan is trying to kill her. It’s just so stupid and so baffling, and cruel as it is I kind of didn’t care that much if she died or not because 1- she’s a fictional character who 2- apparently forgot that this dude is a nut-job completely happy pushing people off buildings. Even if Se Won hadn’t been the hight of stupidity, it still wouldn’t have made for a very exciting finale. We see very little of Se Won compared to our Lookout Team and I’m sad to say that I just wasn’t invested in her character. Sure, it would be sad if she was killed by the crazy dude- but better her than Bo Mi or Kyung Soo who I’m so completely involved with. I really think it would have been a better move if the writers had chosen to endanger either Bo Mi or Kyung Soo. While I would have been devastated if either of them died, I wouldn’t have put it past the show to take one of them out as Shi Wan’s last horrific act- the suspense would have upped the stakes in a thrilling way that just wasn’t possible with a character like Se Won. And now we arrive at it- Do Han’s death. Hm. Yeah. I don’t completely hate it, but it didn’t leave me feeling particularly satisfied either.

If I don't feel broken yet satisfied, then you didn't really pull off the hero's death well...

It actually felt like a bit of a cop-out. I’ve been waiting to see how Do Han and Soo Ji cope (or don’t) post-Dad Yoon and psycho son. They’ve invested so much time and energy into their revenge (particularly Do Han) that I wanted to see how they would live after they didn’t have that revenge driving them. But then Do Han dies.

How about NOT pushing him off a building? Hmm?

He’s lived most of his life as someone else in order to bring Dad Yoon to justice, so it kind of seems a bit meaningless for him to die as soon as his revenge is complete. It just felt narratively weak- like the writers were looking for an easy way out. Do Han’s death means that they don’t have to create a life for him after his revenge and it guarantees Soo Ji’s forgiveness- because you can’t really hate a man who saves you once and then moments later dies for you. You just can’t. Also, what happened to Shi Wan? Did he die too? Did he ever actually get convicted for murdering Yoon Ah? My distaste for the finale might make it seem as though the drama had a lot of downsides as I’ve written so much here, but most of the show was actually pretty airtight with 95% of the things I’m annoyed about coming in the last episode. It’s just a bit of a bummer when you love a show so much and it just lets you down at the end because the end is your last impression and what you remember the clearest (as it's the most recent). On the bright side, I appreciated how Team Lookout were still doing their vigilante business after they’d accomplished their main goal.

Recommend?

Yeah I would. ‘Lookout’ is one of the more successful vigilante K-Dramas around. It manages to neatly balance humour and heart-break (and even a nice little bit of action) and delivers a thrilling story.

Pretty awesome