Pandora: Beneath the Paradise

Cheesy sequences, whiny dialogue, corny music. It's trying very hard to be intense and thrilling, slapping a ton of dramatic music over every single scene, which gets old very quickly. I've watched only the first episode, but it really didn't leave me wanting to watch the second. It lacks grit and depth, and feels like just another cookie cutter experience that is largely forgettable. Each scene almost feels like a copy of the last, like a soap opera, with the dramatic music building, then cut, rinse and repeat. It just feels super laughable after a while, almost like it's done on purpose to troll viewers. Everything is also too perfectly clean, even the "messy" scenes. Not one piece of hair is out of place. Did I mention the music is terrible? Hard pass.

This is a show with a twist every few scenes. Sometimes less is more. Unfortunately here they just went overboard with the twists and exaggerated overacting. The story could have been simpler and it would have been better. Also the story seems to lack a sense of humour. Usually makjang shows have a black comedy throughout but this one lacks wit. This show makes Penthouse seem like a masterpiece.

The looks is glossy and the sets are nice. The cast is quite suited to their roles. Lee Ji Ah does her action thing quite convincingly. Who knew. Lee Sang Yoon looks sufficiently evil. But just so many are evil.

What a rollercoaster ride.

Where would you even begin with this crazy hot mess? The first 3-4 episodes were acceptable despite moving too fast and creating many gaps. However, as the drama unfolded, it became clear that it was biting off more than it could chew. Right off from episode 5, the drama became an irrecoverable mess. The pacing was erratic, jumping between weak fabricated plot twists, jarring narrative and bloated segments with no sense of cohesion. The drama was throwing everything at the viewers to see what sticks. Action, thriller, fantasy, sci-fi, mystery, melodrama, the drama couldn't decide what it wanted to be nor it managed to mix any of them well. The characters felt like caricatures rather than fully developed individuals, and their motivations often seemed arbitrary, inconsistent and generally weak. If the drama wanted to go for stupid ridiculousness then why not raise the stakes to match? Not even the ending could measure up to its intent despite its "supposed" twist.

Korean Drama '' Pandora : Beneath the Paradise '' is a sci fi melodrama.

The drama is messy, using too many genres, but failing to deliver in any of the fronts it opens. From a boring melodrama, to an eye-rolling spy thriller, the drama didn't handle its twists well, and so the story ended up being hard to keep up and hard to believe, even for a makjang. It seemed like the drama wanted to explain things that got out of hand by using unbelievable technological achievements without explaining anything further. Also, there were a lot of plotlines that were left half baked or unfinished.

Finally, the performances were good enough, even though the script didn't aid them.

So, overall, three out of ten.

I specifically created an account here to comment on this series after watching the whole thing. I feel mentally disturbed and unwell. The writers must think their audience are completely idiots. The characters they created are inconsistent and make no sense in their action. Drama are created just for drama. Stories doesn't add up. Actors are fine and amazing, but their characters are jokes. I have heard that it's the same group of people that created a very hot show 'Penthouse' three years ago. Although I haven't seen it. People are saying it's very similar in the shooting and plots. Maybe they have forgotten what's important and just went for the money.