I anticipate that this review will be short and not so sweet. We started watching this drama when it first aired. But we put off watching the rest until the show's final week. We probably would have dropped it had it not been for Kwon Yu Ri, one of Oppa's favorites in SNSD. And while the show did not particularly do a splendid job, there were some interesting moments too.
Plot
Good Job tells the story of Eun Seon Woo (Jung Il Woo), a chaebol CEO/detective who's bent on solving the mystery of his mother's death (Kim Jung Hwa of Hot Stove League) around 20 years ago. His paths cross with Don Se Ra (Kwon Yu Ri), a woman with super vision who grew up in an orphanage and now juggles numerous part-time jobs. Seon Woo hires Se Ra as his assistant as she proves to be a valuable asset to his sleuthing missions. The drama takes us through how Seon Woo and Yu Ri's relationship develops as they help each other solve the mystery behind the death of Seon Woo's mom, along with other mysteries on the side.
Jung Il Woo as Eun Seon Woo
This is our first Jung Il Woo drama and I can't say that I enjoyed watching him here. And I don't think it had anything to do with his acting skills. I found his character problematic. Seon Woo's overconfidence and abusive ways (especially to women) were so reminiscent of K drama male leads from long ago. Like how he initially left Se Ra after using her to conduct an ocular inspection of actress Oh Ah Ra's (Shin Go Eun) house but came back for her when he realized that her super vision could be of value to him. Or how when Se Ra helped him in the bar scene, he chose to rub it in her face that the necklace he lent her was expensive instead of thanking her.
I suppose Seon Woo's bromance with his best friend, lawyer Yang Jin Mo (Eum Moon Suk of Confidential Assignment), and his secretary, Manager Hong (Lee Jun Hyeok of Happiness, Itaewon Class, Hot Stove League, and Misaeng), were supposed to be cute and funny. But I found myself mostly neutral with them.
So, nope, I don't think I've seen enough of Jung Il Woo to judge him objectively. I need to see more. And hopefully, not in a Seon Woo type of character.
Kwon Yu Ri as Don Se Ra
I can see why Oppa loves Kwon Yu Ri. Aside from being very pretty, she's also very charming and appealing. And she was good in acting too.
Although I appreciated Se Ra's character because of how she countered the show's tendency to be misogynistic, it's still unfortunate that there was place for misogyny in this drama.
While Yu Ri was okay over all, I was not a huge fan of her baby talk when she pretended to be Seon Woo's girlfriend.
Seon Woo and Se Ra
I admit that for most part of the show, I was not really feeling the chemistry between Se Ra and Seon Woo. A lot of their supposedly romantic/sweet scenes together felt contrived like that scene when Se Ra had to unnecessarily protect Seon Woo from the flying water bottles, which caused her a sprained ankle. The only time they succeeded in making me feel giddy was when they comforted each other about their painful past. I felt their sincerity during those moments. But when they went back to being just a cheesy couple, I went back to being indifferent towards them.
Yang Jin Mo and Sa Na Hee
Jin Mo and Na Hee (Song Sang Eun), as the best friends of the main leads, were supposed to complement Seon Woo and Se Ra's relationship. And I admit that they were quite successful most of the time. I felt that they had better chemistry than the main leads. I found their sweetness cuter and more credible.
While Na Hee was mostly okay, I had issues with Jin Mo. His humor was quite slapstick. And I didn't like that he allowed Seon Woo to walk all over him most of the time. I get that they're best friends but he's a lawyer and I wish they had some boundaries too when it came to their professional dealings.
The Villains
What didn't really work for me in this show was how the villains seemed weak.
Kang Tae Joon (Yoon Sun Woo of Hot Stove League and Moon Lovers Scarlet Heart Ryeo) was probably the best among the villains. But I still found him lacking since he had the tendency to be over the top with his angst.
The Vice Chairman (Jo Young Jin of Secretly Greatly) was so-so, although I appreciate that he was able to hide his true colors all these years.
Kim Jae Ha (Hong Woo Jin of Squid Game, Hospital Playlist 2, and Crash Landing on You) was supposed to be the show's super villain. But among the three main villains, I found him the weakest. I didn't find him scary at all. He was more pathetic than terrorizing.
Execution
The show had a very promising/interesting/refreshing concept - a detective pairing up with a girl with super vision. Unfortunately, I don't think the show was able to capitalize on this unique concept. In fact, Se Ra's super vision was mostly not discussed towards the end of the show.
Aside from that, I found other problematic stuff. I really wish the show did away with the misogyny. Or if they really wanted to do it, they should have left it with the villains. It was just too painful to watch when even the main lead was guilty of it too.
Then there were too many things happening at the same time. A lot of stories were emerging that things felt all over the place. And a lot of these things had no follow through. Like the auctioneer who sold the necklace of Seon Woo's mom. Or the thief who stole the necklace from Oh Ara. Or Oh Ara's stalker/adoptive dad of her son and how she left with the child so he can get surgery overseas for his heart illness. Or the hospital's role in that story. Or Oh Ara's agency gathering porn material from their talents that they can use to blackmail them. Or Tae Joon's meltdown in the bar. Or Se Ra's orphanage sister (Min Chae Eun) who was kidnapped because of drugs. Or the corruption stuff in the Seon Woo's company. And many other things. I wish the show narrowed down the stories and focused on a few of them so that things would be more orderly.
The humor was not that great either. I mentioned earlier that there were slapstick stuff. And there was even disgusting toilet humor.
I wasn't too happy with how Seon Woo's team would have some sort of production number before they started a mission.
And some things didn't make sense too. Like how Seon Woo could still talk and negotiate with his attackers after he was abducted and stabbed. And how they didn't call for police back-up right away. And how Seon Woo recovered so quickly without going to the hospital. The fight scenes felt too staged/choreographed as well.
I was hoping the ending would offer something better. Unfortunately, I still found it lacking. It didn't make sense to me that they knew that Kim Jae Ha was coming after them, yet they left Se Ra and Na Hee all by themselves. And when they realized that Se Ra was in danger, they didn't call for back up that was near the scene, like the company's security.
And when Seon Woo was finally reunited with Se Ra, it totally didn't make sense that they lost their focus - opting to check out on each other, which led to Jae Ha escaping. Oh, it was also funny that Seon Woo had the time to sneak in his GPS in Jae Ha's pocket while he was being strangled.
And while Se Ra's detective orphanage brother (Cha Rae Hyung of The Silent Sea) always stuck with Seon Woo, even leaving Se Ra behind, which led her to being kidnapped by Jae Ha, it didn't make sense that when Seon Woo had to catch Jae Ha, the detective chose to stay behind.
I also found Kang Tae Joon's change of heart quite abrupt. It felt out of character.
And then we had some garbage time spent on the paparazzi chasing Seon Woo and Se Ra. Then the law firm went on to become a full-fledged detective agency. Which I felt was taking things too far ahead. Seon Woo was now a highly-touted detective when the real main case he has solved so far was his mom's death, where he of course had a very personal motivation. I also didn't enjoy how the detective was depicted as someone so dumb and naive when it came to girls.
Over all, while the show had its moments, I found it lacking most of the time. And it was mostly worth the watch only because of Yu Ri.
Oppa says...3.2.
Noona says...3.5.