Maen Too Maen

Wow this show was melodramatic! Like suuuuuper melodramatic - although I will say that was part of its charm for sure. For the most part the melodrama added a cute comedic quality to this drama that was for the most part charming and exciting. The serious moments were done well, and the chemistry between K and Dark Death was what made the show enjoyable and worth watching for me. However I have to say that I felt that the chemistry between K and Do-ha was lacking, and the slow-motion romance moments with the same (really annoying) song felt frustrating and overdone. Also the English-speaking parts were very cringy, but definitely not the worst I've see in K-Dramas. Overall it was a fun watch, and K's facial expressions in the beginning when he had to deal with the spoiled, egotistical movie star he is guarding were absolutely delightful!

The benchmark for Korean & Chinese top rank film & TV seems unjustifiably skewed higher in nearly all reviews by those outside the culture. Characters & actors & scripts are nitpicked to a degree that U.S. productions aren't, and ignorant cultural biases are applied to character motivation that demonstrate total lack of awareness of difference in cultural mores. The very high level of self-parody done well that is lauded to the hilt in western efforts like the TV series Chuck is derided unappreciatively as shallow simpering, career trademark of Jim Carrey. Most of all, the production quality, in particular the substantially superior picture resolution & camera work, gets no mention. Again & again, I've been left agape at the beauty of just the picture or scene setting or camera staging in Chinese & Korean production that is so evidently a quantum level above even the best of what I see come out of Hollywood. Much of that seems to utilize the 16:9 aspect ratio with a panoramic sensibility missing altogether in western cinema weaned on the 4:3 TV screen so cripplingly dependent on the close-up of faces. Although I have only watched the first episode so far, I hesitate to binge watch this excellent series because just the one episode was so full of skilled nuance both visually & dramatically. K-drama is often derided as overly melodramatic, and I suspect the many lesser productions I never saw that constitute by far the bulk of the genre are such. But that has made the best of it, such as this show, all the more poignant as a result of its makers being well practiced in conveying passion on the screen.

I've enjoyed the show so far (Only on the second episode). It's pretty funny while being dramatic which is what I usually enjoy in a show. There's some action in it too but I wouldn't really watch it for that. It's just a nice addition. It might not be for you if you want a drama show with perfectly nuanced acting because this is more of a comedy drama show. It'll have a bit more over acting and less serious lines or scenarios.

The best aspect of this show, IMO, is the on-screen chemistry between Park Hae-Jin & Park Sung-woong. The latter, especially, since I'm so used to watching Him in a role as "the Big Baddie"... and clearly Someone in Movie-world agreed, as these two Gentleman go on to co-star in The Killing Vote a handful of years later.

Now for the critique: The Storytelling - while having great potential - was totally bogged down with Too Many Details. I counted no less than 4 different Storylines, loosely connected by some "artifacts mission" which I still - now at episode 8 - am fuzzy on. Also, there are Too Many Bad Guys, which prevents My brain from channeling My hate towards one specific character - "when everybody's a Bad Guy, nobody's a Bad Guy" - which works against My Own engagement in the Story, as a Viewer. Finally: WTF with Do-ha's hair?!? It makes Her look like a 14-yr old, which does Kim Min-jung a disservice... I have a hard time believing Seol-woo truly 'falls in love' with Her, since He/the character is too internal with His own feelings & motivations. *More 'inside-his-head verbal chatter as He takes external/visible actions' would have helped overcome this barrier*

Lastly - and I found this to be the most triggering for Me personally - making Seol-woo verbally cut Do-ha down in terms of Her personality, characteristics, and identity when He was advancing His Own agenda was a sh#tty way to do it. I'm guessing whoever wrote these scenes figured, "it's okay - Seol-woo is a Hot Guy, so He can get away with it..." Uh, No. NO!! This is a terrible Seed to Plant for the Audience, and it perpetuates this same bad behavior to be reproduced/copied/mimicked out here in the Real World - particularly with Viewers that identify personally with Seol-woo in this Story. So, IMO? A total Rookie mistake with this writing choice.

Despite these wrinkles - and not being one to "throw the baby out with the bathwater" - Imma keep watching through to the final episode. Cheers!

I really liked this series. Park Hae-jin is a pleasure to watch and Park Sung-woong is funny. Kim Min-jung is also good. I really enjoyed this series. It had a little of everything. Romance, comedy, drama and crime. Very entertaining.