SKY Castle

Honestly, one of main reason why Korean dramas aren't my cup of tea, is due to their big love of romantic comedy flick across so many cliches and plots. Sky Castle, being told as story about college entrance drama among residents of so-called Sky Castle, an exclusive housing complex for renowned scholars and doctors in the country.

Sky Castle begin with so much things to be explored. The nature of parent-child communication, the Asian perspective on college, the hardships and its system, and the high-class and low-class perspective (while it's too cliche to be true). The story feel so original for me, along with the characters that aren't so blatantly evil, so as the episodes go, I feel a sense of empathy for them. With the nature of conflict that getting more complex, each subplot also begin to develop nicely during each episode,to make the tension between the plot more shifted. The news of Korean being crazily into cram school and college depicted here with interesting ways, so that we got insights to what's (probably) happening to the country beside their Kpop.

As many fans pointed out, the additional four episodes due its popularity bring the prolonged closure that feels too different than the early episodes that feature many dark topics. While it's a shame to be a letdown, Sky Castle still makes me mesmerized and cried in the penultimate episode. The biggest award should be addressed to Yum-jung Ah who played the complex character Han seo-jin. Her heavy character backstory in the series provide much insights about her and how it affects the action.

What's turning me from giving the perfect score is the highly unreal characters in Lee-so im family. Like being a hero and angel and playing the opposites of Han family, makes me annoyed. The acting is okay, but the logic behind their action are so questionable (forgiving so many bad people around them easily) it's so dull.

However, being a Korean drama, we got many cliches like comedic subplot with exaggerating acting. I think it's best to overlook those kind of things because as a whole, Sky Castle provide an original story with many touching/deep subjects that maybe we can't have for a long time.

First of all, thank you so much to everyone who co-created the most powerful and influential K-drama I've ever seen.

Like many extremely stressed out and struggling students in Korea (and other parts of this world), my younger, Korean cousin committed suicide while in high school, due to the ruthless, Korean education system.

I was so angry about this for the longest time (like many others), and I even shared my own expressions regarding this subject.

But since I seemed to have an invisible and silent voice in this world, I was so grateful that this K-drama has had one of the highest views, ratings, and popularity, which means it has reached many within humanity, and hopefully touched many Souls with deeply heartfelt Life lessons.

The story seems to get better with each episode, and is multi-faceted with an abundance of relatable Life themes, to include (but not limited to):

facade vs authenticity, dishonesty vs honesty, back-stabbing vs loyalty, sympathy (from the logical mind) vs empathy (from the feeling Heart), mental intelligence vs emotional intelligence, shallowness vs deep character, superficial success vs true/Soul success, control vs freedom, conditional love vs Unconditional Love (for the self/others/interconnected Life), and much more.

Like other highly creative, well-made K-dramas, this one also includes:

a very well integrated web of stories (even with some exaggerations that enhances the moments)

outstanding and convincing actors/actresses /

raw emotions and heartfelt feelings /

intriguing, interesting, and even refreshingly BOLD characters that grow on you, especially most of the female characters (and some male characters) who reminded me of the authentic, wild, raw, courageous, confident, assertive, BOLD, and/or expressive, lioness-like female characters from the popular Netflix TV show, Ozark

engaging dialogues where verbal expressions and non-verbal cues perfectly matched

as well as drama, hilarious comedy, suspense, action, romance, friendships, Soul connections, dark/shadow/unknown aspects of humans, unexpected twists, hardship, tragedy, and more (to include effective contrasts).

This K-drama also shared a great reminder of why it's so important and highly beneficial to Be Inner Wealth (Prosperity Consciousness) FIRST AND FOREMOST, that includes personal values, deep character, Heart-centered intentions, Life interests/passions/dreams, positive beliefs, etc.; and especially Unconditional/True Love (for the self), which helps us to fully, truly, and UNconditionally love others as well, since we cannot give to others what we don't believe we have from within.

Unconditional Love is the most powerful force within this world and beyond.

I trust that this invaluable story has encouraged, supported, uplifted, empowered, and inspired many within humanity, especially students of this world, who can truly benefit from major changes/transformations.

All this chaos because everyone wants their kids to become doctors. Wonderfully acted and the story line is engaging compared to the plethora of rom-coms littered on my Netflix home screen. A tad too long, the final act lasts a couple episodes more than necessary. I can't say I enjoyed it on a personal level because holy ... 90% of the cast is sooo unlikable. Most of the time I was going ... eff these rich ass people ... Which goes to show you how well acted the families are.

This one is a surprise. The plot had so many layers, with comedy, drama, tragedy, even crime and especially mystery, taking over and keeping the interest high throughout the whole drama. The tension was just right as well as the thrill that it provided to be entertaining. The characters, moreover, where unique and dynamic, each one different from one another and helped built a nice story. So, unsurprisingly, the performances were top notch from everyone, but I should give special credit to the kids, that were remarkable. Finally, the cinematography had an odd shooting way, but it was okay overall. So, 9 out of 10.

SKY Castle is a satirical drama that criticizes practices from corrupt business hierarchy to extreme parenting environments. The drama has impeccable directing, story is full of plot twists, comedy is subtle and melds well, and the cliffhangers are absolutely wild. The drama tends to often be dramatized, especially as it is a satirical work, but the underlying themes are never truly lost. Brilliant directing and production, engaging plot, convincing acting with a powerfully befitting soundtrack to boot. This drama is very well worth your time.