Drama Rating: 5/10 Neck Score: A++
I really loved how Byun Hyuk started out as a worthless chaebol who always caused problems and Jae Hoon had to clean up after him, but by the end he was a revolutionary force for good. The progression from worthless, clueless pup to a hero of reform is a fairly natural one too, so that it's a gradual thing, and he learns from each experience. I loved that part. But sadly, they put all the effort into the character development (which I love) that they had no idea how to wrap it up or even move the most basic plot along. I thought they gave Jae Hoon (Gong Myung) a decent character arc as well, we got to see why he was the way he was and were given plausible reasons for him to change, and then saw him change too. I feel like Baek Joon got the least development, because she started off pretty great and her changes were more minor, but that doesn't mean they weren't there. She went from having no hope, but being driven by her experiences to wanting to make plans and decisions, even if they mean completely changing her focus in life. Still decent development.
The thing the show was focused on, however, was the agenda of revolutionizing the chaebol. It was about changing this generation of the workforce, be it conglomerate heirs or the average working person, so they are not continuing to make the same mistakes and living the same way as their parents. It was to end corruption and create a world where anyone can have hope of winning, to promote fairness and to change the corrupt conglomerate ways. It focused on that so much that the actual plot suffered for it. By the last episodes we were just laughing because it was so slapped together that it almost defeated it's purpose. But whatever, at least it was funny bad instead of painful bad.
Also, major points for T-1000 who might just be the most competent policeman ever. I am in love with him so much! Literally saved the day and the show at the same time. Competent cops are sexy, especially when they are also sexy looking, and especially when one of the things they are competent in is dating (my OTP was T-1000 and the flight attendant!). We even named our Christmas tree after him, because we kept saying T-cheon instead of T4, which was the model number we were buying. It stuck. So, yeah, we loved that there was a competent, bad-a, sexy cop in a show that isn't about cops, and he had a righteous prosecutor uddy who was also attractive, so bonus.
So while it was never terrible, it could have been so much better if it had been reigned in a bit and the writing tightened up so that it wasn't just a bunch of decent characters acting really stupid at the end, but it could have been smart like... Chief Kim. Ok, I couldn't help but keep comparing it to other shows like that one, because it could have been like that with some better writing, but alas. It's fine, I never hated it, and maybe because we were watching two other awesome dramas at the same time, this one was just comically bad by the end, it was disappointing. Still, it was enjoyable to watch and there as a lot of pretty, so why not?
