Pride and Prejudice

So, let's talk about this gem:

I liked the first episode a lot, but I wasn't sure how it would hold up as a whole series. Still, the boys were cute and Law and Order is one of my favorite TV shows, so I thought I'd stick with it. I am super glad I did; it was one of those shows that I couldn't wait to get home from work to watch at least 3 episodes (or 5) before bed. If I didn't have to work, I would have totally marathoned this in 2 days. After the first couple of episodes I was totally hooked. This is definitely on my recommend list.

If you want more details why, follow the jump ----->




Let me begin by saying this isn't really super fast paced, it's not super funny, it's not very action-y. It has all those elements in it, it's just not focused up on one of them. It's more about figuring out the "whodoneit" aspect of each crime, which then leads to the over-arching question/answer of "who is the Big Bad?" The show does a good job of feeding you just enough to keep you interested, but leaving you with enough questions to want to watch the next episode ASAP.

And the eye candy doesn't hurt:

Choi Jin Hyuk

This guy is the main lead, Koo Dong-Chi (hereforeto known as DC), and he is not only a good actor, but very pretty too. He's not my typical type, but he certainly isn't hard to look at for 21 hours. His character is even likable in this show, he's never really the typical "jerk" that transforms into the good guy (though, since this isn't about high schoolers, I think that makes it more realistic).

Yet, anyone who knows me, knows that I always fall in love with the secondary character; the guy who's usually very sweet, innocent, and typically a dork (I'm looking at you Greg Sanders from CSI, and Spencer Reid from Criminal Minds, to name a few). These boys get nicked named "my boy" when I watch the show (clever, aren't I?). Needless to say, then, I am a sucker for second male leads in Korean Dramas; you know, those guys who never, EVER get the girl for some strange reason (because they're left over for me, right? Right?).  So, I will tell you, I was smitten with this other guy, who was never really technically a "second male lead" but still, what else are you going to call him?

I know what I'll call him...I'll call him sexy and keep him for my very own.

Lee Tae Hwan

I mean, for serious, he was adorbs all over the place. When he would come home and see the little kid, Chan, and play with him and take care of him...my heart would just melt at that smile. And then he would get upset over the memories of what happened to him and cry a little and I just wanted to hug him. Constantly. He plays Kang Soo and I want him to be my boyfriend now please.

Love! So cute! Dying!

I could eat him up with a spoon! So in love.

The main girl was a fine actress, but I don't think she stood out in any way. I mean, she was pretty and cried at all the right points, and stood up for herself at all the right points, but she's not someone I am going to remember for a while. She's no Jan Di or Chae Young Shin from Healer (two of my all time favorite heroines) but she's serviceable for the role. She's not a bad actress, I just don't think her character is very memorable, probably the most generic things about the show.

There is another young guy prosecutor in this show, and he's super duper cute as well, but I'll get to him later. I want to put it out there that I thought the whole entire cast was fantab, very well-rounded characters for such a big cast on a Korean show. I didn't dislike anyone; almost every character would come on and I was like "That's my favorite," or "I love that guy/girl." The thing is, you also suspect almost everyone the whole way through. Do I trust him or don't I? You don't really know, even though you want to, and that's what makes the show compelling to watch. You want to trust and like everyone but (and I think this is the point of the show) almost everyone can be corrupted. Good people can do bad things, sometimes for good reasons, sometimes not. Can you ever 100% trust people, family, co-workers, bosses, friends? I mean, in a perfect world you could, but you know you've had people break your trust, people you thought never would. Maybe they had a good reason, maybe they didn't, but you just never know. That's what this show plays on. You WANT to trust people so badly here, but they just keep being secretive- is it to save lives or because they are bad? You DON'T KNOW!!  Ahhh!

Therefore, before I get to spoilers, I just want to recommend this show to people who like this genre of things. It's isn't a romantic comedy by any means. I laughed out loud at least once per episode, usually more, but mostly due to the comedic duo of Prosecutor Lee and Investigator Yoo who totally make the show a complete whole (I don't think this show would be as good without them). There were fist fighting scenes probably every other episode, but nothing spectacular. This is more of suspense, mystery, Law and Order/Criminal Minds type of show. It is a little slow in spots, but not very many. If you like a good story and trying to figure out who did what when and where, you'll love this show.

Although, like every other K-drama, the ending will leave you fulfilled as far as justice goes, but going WTF all over the place with everything else.

Okay, I don't know where to begin here. I guess I'll start with the Chief, because he was awesome. I loved when he'd come in and just yell about nothing, or one of my favorite parts was when he pulled Prosecutor Lee out of the meeting still in the chair. He was great in that role, being over-dramatic when needed then low key and quiet when needed. You never quite knew whose side he was on; you really, really, really wanted him to be on the side of good but you never quite knew because he had to stand with one foot on either side of the line to keep people alive. I love that in the end it was proven that he was just trying to save his team the whole time; I really didn't want him to be a bad guy. He was definitely a highlight of the show.

Good or bad? The world may never know.

I am going to air a pet peeve of mine here. I've seen this in another K-drama, and I can't remember which one, but it obviously had to do with someone being arrested or going to court or something. Anyway, it did it about 4 or 5 times in this show, and this is me being nit picky, but it drives me absolutely bonkers when the English subs say "He's pleading the 5th." Now, I know what they mean; they are putting it into terms that people (American's mostly I assume) would know. It means he or she is abstaining from speaking on the grounds that they might incriminate themselves. I know that's a lot of words to put in an English sub, but saying "he's pleading the 5th" isn't right because "the 5th" is the 5th amendment of the United States Constitution. Now, I haven't looked this up, I don't even know if Korea has a constitution, but if it does, their 5th amendment to it better be the same as ours, otherwise it doesn't make any sense. You're telling me, English sub writers, that this Korean dude is pleading the 5th amendment of the US Constitution? Why would he do that? Wouldn't he plead something from the Korean Constitution? You have no problem telling me when scripts refer to things I might not get, such as fables and food and celebrities, but you can't tell me when they are referring to something similar to our 5th amendment? You just say "He's pleading the 5th" and move on. I know for a FACT that's not what he said, so just tell me what he SAID please. I can't learn if you just fudge things like that. It's not the first time I've seen it, it won't be the last, but it will get under my skin every time, I can guarantee that.  It just doesn't sit right with me, not sure why. Again, just a pet peeve of mine- most translation things I am fine with; that one just bugs me.

I thought it was smart how the plot was twisted together so that everything ended up being related in the end. I mean, yes it's convenient that they were all working on the same team, but that's why we have the show, otherwise, who cares? I still think that the clues were given to us at a reasonable rate, and I like that the audience wasn't smarter than the prosecutors at any given time. I like that they made DC smart enough that he didn't get his witness killed (really, in the end he didn't), and he always seemed to be a step ahead of the game when he supposed to be. I hate when I am smarter than lawyers on TV shows and this show never really did that. I like that the overall plot line was good, good story telling, and most things made sense. I think if I watch it a second time I might find a few holes here and there in the plot, but watching it through the first time I can't think of any that really stand out. Usually in a K-drama, I can remember about 10 after the show is over; this one I can't really find anything in my brain that stood out as weird or unresolved.

I loved the brother-ness of Kang Soo and DC, they played around and joked around like real family. I love that DC was the one to rescue Kang Soo when he was a kid, I thought that made their bond more special in the end. I am glad that Kang Soo was not Han Byul, even though that would have been cool, it would have made the overall story weaker, I feel. The writer knew that, so it was smart to get our hopes up, push us in that direction of thinking KS was HB, then crush our hopes and dreams. It really made you feel the same feels as the characters, especially the crazy mom character when she found out.

And let's not forget that rooftop kiss...that was pretty amazing for a K-drama kiss. Not as good as Personal Taste, but it ranks up there. I found this pic, someone made it very pretty for their wordpress blog, so let's thank them for this pretty eye candy, shall we?

Xandddie

I am unsure what I think about Jung Chan Gi's character. He was super annoying when he was the old drunk guy that my boy felt he had to take care of. I mean, not annoying so much that I wish he wasn't there, but I was tired of him pretty quickly. Then he had that sudden transformation and I feel like his character was somewhat written off at that point. I didn't know if he was working for "the company" to protect KS, or what. I feel like that might have been better to be fleshed out a bit somewhere. We know in the end he gave up pictures of the Big Bad, so he was on the prosecution's side, but I feel like he was swept under the rug for most of the second half of the series.

My biggest gripe, now that I think about it, is "Why the big cover up?"  Yes, Jung Chang Gi hit a woman and killed her. I guess, since he was going to investigate some sort of slush fund fraud, him killing someone on accident (WTF was that woman doing in the middle of the road in the middle of the night with a car coming? Koreans need to learn to look both ways before crossing the street, aish!!) would ruin his credibility....question mark? Yet, weren't the ones covering it up involved in the slush fund thing?Or not? That part was never clear to me- why kill a kid who witnessed his mom getting hit by a car on accident? That seems a little extreme. Maybe if I get a chance to watch it again I can answer my own question.

Despite that, I do love a lot about this show. The duo of Prosecutor Lee and Investigator Yoo, however, needs special mention. I looked forward to their scenes the most each episode. I am going to have to go watch everything Choi Woo Shik has done now (yet another reason to watch Fated to Love You, Fool's Love, and Rooftop Prince, all already in my queue), because his acting was spot on. He was so straight-laced, but cowered and stuttered at all the right spots. It was subtle but phenomenal, he had me rolling in my chair (sitting on my bed but whatever) every time he was on. I can't describe how much I loved every scene he was in; everything he said and did was gold. And she played off him perfectly. I absolutely adored the two of them, her telling him what to do, holding hands behind her father's back, him acting like a stubborn wuss only to pull it all out in the end and save the day (he is, after all, the team's ace!). Loved. All of it.

Choi Woo Shik   aka Prosecutor Lee

Dance club scene was hilarious

And just a typical expression from our boy here

The only thing left to talk about, then, is the ending. Wow, do I hate Korean endings. Movies, dramas, it doesn't matter, they suck. I think they like to leave things open ended so that you can decide what you want to happen... maybe? That's all I can think of, because you don't ever get a lot of closure in a Korean ending. I am a person who needs closure. This show gives very little.

First of all, did the Chief get killed? That dude sat in the car and stared at him for a long time and then he tilted his seat back and what? Just waited to die? I was yelling "Tuck and roll!" at the screen the whole time. He could have opened his car door and got out and ran away so easily. I mean, he's at a federal building, I think? Security guards are like RIGHT THERE. Why just sit back and die? It was so weird.

Then we have...3 years later...our main two in a courtroom, talking about doing something...outside...and they leave.........

The End. Bu-bye. I was staring at the screen like, "What are they going to do? Where outside? What is it that they are going to do outside? Why was he waiting for her (or her for him I don't remember)? He's a lawyer, not a prosecutor now? Because he killed someone? Wasn't that totally self-defense and saving Kang Soo's life so it's not that big of a deal?" Then she winks and points at the camera and it's just done? Whhhaaaaa.....t? 

I hate that stuff, man. It just kills me. I want to see like rings on their fingers or, like, even them out on a date talking about what they are doing now. Something. Give me SOMETHING. Sigh. Oh well, can't have everything I want, I guess.

Still, overall, it was a great show. I enjoyed watching it, I blasted through it, and I will probably watch it again in the future. I recommend it to anyone who likes a good drama, K or otherwise, just don't expect anything spectacular from the last five minutes of the last show.

So I will leave you, with this thought....