Excellent!

Saw the first four episode. OveralI it's a decent drama. I was downvoted in other forum by her fans when I said she doesn't have range to pull off this kind of dark character. I was right so far she is doing decent job but there is hardly any expression in her face when is supposed to show strong expression. Overall it's a decent drama. Execution need to be tight and fast face some scenes are long and boring. It doesn't have that factor to hook you.

I think overall its well written, strong cast, great cinematography.

I think Kim Eun-sook casts Song Hye-gyo as a form of dry joke in this drama and I'm kind of digging it ha ha.
I want more suffering for all the bullies! I have not seen enough yet this far (ep 8). I want some bloody revenge! *evil laugh*

(Episodes 1-2) I was pleasantly surprised to see Jung Ji-so playing the teen version of Song Hye Kyo in the first episode. Jung is 18 years younger than SHK. She can give a wider emotive range of pain and despair as the victim than SHK can. The direction for SHK’s adult vengeance was to hide her facial expressions in darkness or shadows. Her delivery is still very wooden. I do not get the crazy, in-depth characterization of determined sociopath in SHK as I have seen in other Korean actresses such as Jo Yeo Jeong in Ms. Perfect. Here, Lim Ji-Yeon is more menacing as an adult who has honed her evil people skills. So it will be a difficult road for SHK to try to attain that level of performance.

It is a disturbing story about institutionalized bullying and wealth privilege, but the victim’s solution to terrorize a small child is just sick. The voice over narration is diliberate in the place of direct acting. As Dong-eun begins to build her associates in her revenge plot, she is at a crossroad of taking on the burden of another’s revenge/murder.

We know why she wants revenge, and we are beginning to see how she wants to accomplish her goal. It sets up that several people will get in her way or use her negatively since she still believes she is a "broken person."

1st episode might be a hard watch due to certain scenes, but the rest of the story is pretty much "been there, done that" plot, but it doesn't put off the viewers because the execution of the story and cast is pretty neat. Cinematography is on the high end and characters have enough chemistry to back stab...err play off each other. I enjoyed Dong Eum's interaction with Hyeon Nam, the most.

To be honest, I was expecting a crescendo in action, but the plan stayed straight forward and still managed to make the drama engaging. I liked the bits of humour thrown hither and thither.

Shin Ye Eun's acting as the younger self of the antagonist was good, so I do not understand why she keeps picking mediocre projects. Lee Do Hyun was cute, but I guess S2 will show him a bit more on the darker side.

I am no Song Hye Kyo's fan and this would be my first full fledged viewing of her drama, but the woman can act which makes me wonder if a majority of her previous directors just wanted her to be a pretty object🙄🙄 Such a shame when actors, especially females aren't given a chance to emote and are just used as a tool for all the sponsor ads🙄

I hope S2 will at least be half as decent as S1.

I will just copy/paste my review from the other forum.

The plot: Not really that deep or complex. It's pretty straightforward but because of that simplicity it was easy to watch. The only subplot I didn't like was the teacher's and his son's.

The villain: Yeon Jin was downright evil. We can go through mental gymnastics and say that....visits to shaman and evil mother made her this way, but yeah. Still a lacking character writing. The only complexity that you could see in her and Jae Jun's character was the love and care for Ye Sul. Lim Ji Yeon tried her best with the role so at least watching Yeon Jin wasn't boring.

The heroine: I liked Dong Eun. Well, not exactly liked but I think she was an appropriate hero to this story. She is someone who is an empty shell of a person, whose only goal and desire is to get revenge. She isn't supposed to be liked. I appreciated that she had lines she didn't cross and that she didn't intend to directly hurt the kid.

The hero: He was there. By the end, his presence even made sense. Moving on

The others: I liked the husband a lot. He was intelligent and decent. It felt like he married his wife because she fit the bill - semi nice, rich, gorgeous and has a career. He didn't strike me as particularly happy or unhappy, just resigned? The moment he finds out his wife is an evil reincarnated he doesn't seem particularly surprised but neither does he want to accept that.

Dong Eun's accomplice was also a nice addition to the show. I think if anyone can help Dong Eun to live a normal life it is her. She said that even though her husband hits her she is a happy person. Dong Eun needs that happiness in life.

Jae Jun seemed the most humane of the bunch. He still sexually harassed Dong Eun so he can go to hell. Watching Park Sung Hoon wear the most random suits was fun tho.

The cinematography/directing: top notch.

In conclusion, I liked the show. It wasn't King of Pigs level masterpiece, but it was still a good watch.

I don't really see why there are comments just disregarding Song Hye-kyo's acting, allow me to add that I have voiced my opinion about her acting before and I'm not a fan, but still, I don't find her deserving of so much criticism for this particular performance. Wooden? Although I didn't find her performance wooden, but rather the character, but still, even so, I personally prefer this particular wooden performance to the exaggerated performance we quite come across in the K-drama world a lot. Thankfully, not this drama.
For now, given how the drama ended, for now, I can't say I'm happy, but I'm satisfied. The build-up was done well, they told us the back story, enough to feel the pain our main character has and is enduring, but then again they have given enough space to other characters to make us not too bored with a straightforward plot.
Talking about other characters, I was so worried about Lee Do-hyun's character, especially after watching Shin Hyun-bin completely go to waste. I'm so relieved that he is a character of his own, and I'm waiting for more to come from both him and his character. I really enjoyed watching him on screen.

I didn't mean to, but I binged it all in one day. Is it March yet?

My main issue: its absolutely random of them to release Part 2 in March. Its not like the drama is not yet completed.

I really like the noir feel of this drama. The cinematography was top notch. The main actors really have solid acting skills -- main actors and their younger counterparts included of course. I like Song Hye Kyo and her acting in this drama. I like that she shows a mysterious aura with deep sadness and subdued anger. Jung Ji So had a tougher role since she had to convey a lot of emotions but she absolutely nailed it.

What I am most interested in is which side will Do Yeong choose in Part 2 since his role is critical in destroying Yeon Jin.

I liiiiiiive because Park Sunghoon has a deathgrip on me like a squeaky chicken toy, but I will only start when the next part comes out in March

Kim Eunsook's ghostwriters really putting in some mad overtime with giving everyone whatever and then with 8 episodes of foreplay she's like "lmao yeah back into refinement see y'all in March" and as much as I hate most of her works...kinda queen shit, lmao

I still think giving Park Sunghoon, Yeom Hyeran and Park Sungil pseudo-bit parts is kinda illegal but I will eat Park Sunghoon villains up with a huge plate (y'all know me and my intense passion for Ryu Youngjae dramas) so here we go, Kim Eunsook wins yet again manifesting snakes in my house for many things I love

On the show's use of red-green colour blindness:

Firstly, I got a really good laugh out of Jaejoon saying Anne of Green Gables and Little Red Riding Hood are the women he hates the most 😂

Secondly, red-green colour blindness is an X-linked recessive disorder. Meaning that Yesul would need to have the gene for RG colour blindness on both X chromosomes i.e. both parents need to be affected for her to be colour blind.....so this plot point actually makes no sense and I had a hard time taking it seriously.

For those who have seen all 8 episodes in Part One ~

The one thing that completely threw me was the prison visit by the female doctor who runs the hospital (Lee Do-Hyun’s mom). She goes to visit the man who murdered her husband and who is sending unspeakably disgusting letters to her son. She receives one herself which prompts her visit to the prison.

First, where on earth do prison officials allow letters that are sent to or sent by prisoners to come into or leave the prison unread? Perhaps it’s the practice in SK, but I find it EXTREMELY hard to believe. Officials read ALL correspondence to prevent this type of behavior from happening.

Second, the killer, in my eyes, is a complete doppelgänger for another cast member and his last name is Kang. Kang is the surname of the housekeeper who assisted Dongeun in her quest for vengeance. Does anyone else see a tie-in there with the resemblance and surname that could be a plot point that’s revealed in Part 2? Is my imagination working overtime?

The storyline is interesting but I found the level of bullying to be just over the top and completely unbelievable. Is this level of bullying common in SKorea? It seems pretty common, at least in kdramas (Boys over Flowers, Heirs etc), not just school bullying but workplace bullying as well. I can’t imagine this bullying behavior being tolerated at this day and age. And no one intervened, even after one student’s suicide and another student’s bruises and burn marks??? Incredulous to me. On another note, I am not seeing anything new with SKH’s acting in this drama. She has the same face and demeanor of all of her previous characters. I thought I would see greater depth and breadth of her acting but so far, I’m not seeing it. Her usual reserve and coldness fit her character here so I’m not seeing anything new. My opinion might change after Part 2.

its like watching korean movie instead of drama. the gore of the abuses, the non-stop smoking scenes, to naked scenes ( i see butt in one of the ep 👀).

both leads has their own brand of trauma. the bullying is so severe. Dong Geun scars is everywhere and i hope she deliver pains to each and one of them. in her twist of vengeance, to he** with "you are better person that that". they deserve to tumble down from that high and mighty place.

Ju Yeo Jeong tho. haunted by his father cruel death. it scares me when he took out bunch of knives and imagine killing his father's killer. the killer also kept sending letters to the son? uhh, why??

episode 1-2 really made me boiled coz of the preparators and also the adult (mother and teacher) really make me want to smack them hard..this drama keep me want to know what happen on next episode and end up make me sleep at 4 am just to finish the whole 8 episode..too much unfinish story like about the ML and how come his has little appearance on screennnnn and to wait till march for part 2 is too longggg..erghhh

There is no good reason for this to have 2 seasons. The first wasn't even that good, it is kind of bland and most of it will have been forgotten by March. After that horror fest in ep 1 it follows a straight path always hinting at some big plan that seems to be much more improvised than it should be and depend on a lot of silly coincidences.

The main actress is still limited but at least the character didn't have a lot of emotional moments so she isn't annoying. The bullies are mostly superficial psychos so nothing is discussed and a few actors get to have fun with this, no harm there. LDH is miscast, has no chemistry with FL and looks too young for the role, which has a stupid plot twist that was a bit ridiculous.

Some of the plot doesn't even bother to be reasonable. A friend from college finds out his father assaulted the victim and she will make a public complaint, with no evidence, which will cause a scandal, so he decides to kill his father. Sure. Moving on!

The best scenes were those of the Ahjumma Spy and Sexy Husband. Whenever they are there it becomes almost interesting.

Reborn rich always showed how the revenge plot took place after the fact. I feel like currently they don't really establish why we should be afraid of SHK wrath other than sitting creepily in an empty room with lots of photos. We don't have any insights into her plotting and when we do like the teacher plot, it's a big question mark of the son's motives and how she would push it.

So far the villains + side characters are carrying the show in terms of acting, they do such a good job of being evil and comical. I do like how they leverage her dry acting style to contrast. Those scenes with her just eating kimbap while plotting with a completely straight face is gold.

On a meta note, there's this interview with Jolie talking about how she chooses projects like Salt when she's feeling weak so she plays badass characters. Interesting, both SHK and SJK chose revenge dramas. Glad she's in a better looking drama though, her last one was so drab.

I did like it. It is hard to find a drama you want to binge watch recently. I did trough night to early morning . Finally SHK found something she is good at :) I was so disappointed her previous project that I was sceptical until episode 4 .I am the only one who was very disappointed with Lim Ji Yeon ! Her younger years actor was spot on. Sweet but cruel . I found the grown up version boring . She is supposed to be the most ' psychotic' between them but i did not get it. I also did not exactly understand 'hints' for her husbands character . He liked his wife because she was wearing Gucci at the blind date . He recognized Lee Do Hyun's watch and expensive shirt when they first met! So what does it mean! I also thought Lee Do Hyun as a candy at first half :) But he did managed to get into the story !

I binged the first 8 episodes in a day. I was doing other things too, but there were long stretches of the drama that held my attention. The high school villains as adults were far too villainous. There was a lot overacting, what I heard called "scenery chewing"--a lot of eye rolling, shrieking and menacing, bickering and swearing. By comparison, Song Hey-gyo and Lee Do-hyun seemed so reserved, like they were totally underplaying their parts. Yeom Hye-ran as "imo-nim" is so adorable that I am nervous she's going to be revealed as a terrible person in the second half of the story. I think one draw of the retaliation-against-bullying stories I've seen lately is that they all involve some kind of mystery. It's the unfolding of the mystery that makes a story compelling. It also seems, from the outside, like South Korea is going through a real reckoning about bullying and the demand for social conformity. Anyway I'm in for the second half--I really want to know what happens.

the ending prompted my thoughts to go in the direction that Dong Eun will let them do her work for her... they are all looking at one another's throats now.

I loved the first 8 episodes. The story is so well written, slowly building a narrative that keeps constantly the tension. Loved the acting of the characters, all of them were dragging me powerfully into the story. I can't wait until March.
On the other side, I'm not a fan of any actor or writer, but thankfully I'm objective and without prejudices. I find disturbing that people are criticizing the work of the main actress and writer because of previous works. Song Hye Kyo is here very solid and totally embodies the character . Obviously, the people who don't like her in this role are not being objective.
Oh, and you don't need either to start a praise saying I'm not a fan, but... I hated her, but ... Just acknowledge their work and that's it. Is that not close to psychological bullying, remembering always to someone their previous faults?

Let me tell you when that teacher's own son took him out I clapped. Like father like son.

As for the rest they all deserve to die.

I have finally caught up. Dong-eun states that her revenge will all be legal, but some of her means are borderline. The first four episodes had a Parasite quality to them; thematically, the Go game victory is to bring Yeon-jin’s house down by strategic moves. Her first victim died not by her hand, but by her suggestion to the son. If that is the blueprint, then she will not have blood per se on her hands. She is trying to align the bully group against each other. She is already in Yeon-jin’s head; the birth secret card is what will bring down the house.

Dong-eun’s lifetime of anger has given her good manipulation skills as she cleverly gets her Go puppy to become her executioner, a housekeeper into a spy, and scum lackey into her attack dog.

She is juggling many pieces at the same time, but her main plan seems to be:

Yeon-Jin to kill Myeong-O to stop his murder blackmail.
Sa-Ra to die from withdrawal or a fatal OD since Myeong-O no longer gets her good drugs.
Yeo-Jeong to kill Hyeon-Nam’s husband and maybe someone else then he is imprisoned for life where he will kill his dad's killer.
Do-Yeong to eliminate Jae-Jun to protect Ye-Sol.
Yeon-jin to go insane if her marriage, husband, child and career taken away from her.
Hye-Yeong to have marriage canceled resulting in a life in poverty; or take Yeon-jin’s wrath for being a betrayer.

I was also thinking that Dong-eun's goal is not only destroying Yeon-jin's life, but to actually taking it over. But would Do-Yeong marry Dong-eun, a second monster, to replace his current superficial yet sociopathic wife?

I agree with all the comments on the bullying episodes which I could neither watch except in small sections nor believe, particularly the episode with the Teacher beating the girl in front of other teachers. There are international courts for human rights which would take a very dim view of such behaviour, and it must be very common in SK as it appears so often in films and dramas. But the saddest thing for me is the casting of the female lead. There are at least half a dozen stars who could have done a much better job; a good actress can convey a wealth of emotions whilst remaining as still as SHK, but I do find her sadly very wooden and she doesn't convey much in the way she speaks, either. She isn't spoiling it, but she was SO dreary in Now We Are Breaking Up I had to abandon it half way through, so I was hoping for a return to form for this lovely actress in this one. Very disappointing, but otherwise a fascinating drama if you cut out the gratuitous violence. Again, all of this horror could be conveyed without having to make it so horrendously explicit.