Itaewon Class (2020) 이태원 클라쓰, directed by Kim Seong-yoon.
Watched 12 - 20 May 2023 — 16 episodes (DRAMACOOL)
Starring:
Park Seo-jun as Park Sae-ro-yi
Kim Da-mi as Jo Yi-seo
Kwon Na-ra as Oh Soo-ah
You Chea-myung as Jang Dae-hee
Ahn Bo-hyun as Jang Geun-won
Kim Dong-hee as Jang Geun-soo
Lee Joo-young as Ma Hyun-yi
Ryu Kyung-soo as Choi Seung-kwon
Chris Lyon as Kim Tony
Kim Hye-eun as Kang Min-jung
Lee Da-wit as Lee Ho-jin
Yoon Kyung-ho as Oh Byung-heon
FINAL THOUGHTS:
*Overall I liked this drama (despite its flaws) but I didn’t LOVE it as I’d hoped I would. It has a great start but unfortunately loses steam, especially when it decides to focus on the romance.
*Main flaw is the unconvincing romance between the leads. When Sae-ro-yi finally admits his feelings for Yi-seo, to himself first and then to her, I didn’t feel them. The romance was poorly developed, not in a natural way, the leads lack romantic chemistry, and the 4-year gap (where feelings were supposed to develop further but now happened off-screen) didn’t help.
*I also didn’t think that it was believable how Danbam became number 1 and how Hyun-yi became the best chef of the country in a blink. They could have showed more of Hyun-yi’s developing cooking skills and it could have been depicted better why Danbam set itself apart from the other pubs. Here again the 4-year gap didn’t help, all of a sudden IC was a big company.
*I’ve been on Team Oh Soo-ah for a great deal of the show. I was more interested in what would become of her than in the romance of our leading couple. I’m happy it turned out Soo-ah had an agenda of her own and that she was the one to bring Jang Ga down. She lived up to her promise to Sae-ro-yi’s dad to pay him back three-fold. I loved how she was finally rid of Jang Ga and could begin a life for herself. I also loved that the writers gave her her own restaurant and the icing on the cake was a cameo of Park Bo-gum as the new chef and a possible romantic interest for Soo-ah.
*Ultimately Yi-seo didn’t completely win me over. I didn’t like how she continuously told Sae-ro-yi that she loved him (while being in a professional relationship with him), even though he told her off repeatedly. Some commenters online regard this as sexual harassment. I wouldn’t go as far as that, but her actions do make Sae-ro-yi feel uncomfortable. We are supposed to find it okay and maybe cute because she’s our romantic lead but she was just plain annoying.
*I would have liked to see a face-to-face last encounter between Sae-ro-yi and Soo-ah instead of the phone call.
*Yi-seo behaved so childishly during her last encounter with Soo-ah. Soo-ah, on the other hand, behaved normally, like a mature woman, and looked beautiful and happy.
*In the last episode loose ends were tied up nicely. Most of the characters met a satisfying ending.
*I love how miss Kang and ex-cop Oh get a shot at happiness and probably start dating.
*The kidnapping plot twist was unexpected — though nothing surprises me anymore in K-dramaland — and I could do without the violence, but it took me out of the slump of the episode that verged on boring and it was one of the few times that I really liked Yi-seo. Looking dishevelled and without the smile and the smug confidence, she was more appealing.