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Did not even get past half of the episodes; the leaps of logic and over-dramatization was too painful to bear. The stellar cast and their performances made me stick around for a few episodes longer than I would have, but finally decided to go for other dramas that do not require their audience to be mindless.
This is my first attempt at a review. Just to give some background I have been an avid kdrama fan for 3+ years and I am a huge Big Bang fan so there is some TOP fangirl bias. Overall IRIS is a wonderful mix of kdrama angst and western spy thriller.
IRIS — Grade (fangirl/sympathy grade A-) (real grade B) Here’s why
In comparison to american spy dramas, 24, alias etc this drama is not that good. Think Chuck with nonsensical elements that don’t make sense, but not goofy cuz Iris is certainly not a comedy. On the other hand, I may be being too critical, because there were/are def plot flaws with all of the spy series on U.S. tv because well they have to drag out and thus they to fall victim to plot twists that make no sense.
Anyway up til about 3/4 through the drama everything made relative sense (wierd engrish signs and mispellings notwithstanding), then the spy stuff gets a bit hmmmmm well it doesnt make sense some things that happen.
Why the A-; Story of a Man/SLingshot, Money’s warfare etc are well written good dramas because they deal with topics that are inately korean or at least that korean’s are very familiar with. The CIA stuff is clearly not familar with and it shows. However, they did an OUTSTANDING job making the drama seem real. The headquarters were very spylike the acting was phenomenal (caveat…. Lee Tae Hee’s acting bothered me a bit, but i have been somewhat tainted (not her fault, just is what it is) by all the hype about her and some bloggers dislike for her so i don’t know that if i did not know it was LEE TAE HEE if I would have been as bothered or even bothered at all). If you watched Queen Seon Duk I think part of the problem with the queen’s character is similar to LTH’s character in Iris. The mishil character was written so badass that even a better actress would have faded against her. Same with Iris, Kim So-yeon’s character was written so much more awesome than LTH’s in my opinion. (so pissed KTH got a bigger award then her but whatevs) Lee Byun Hun, Top, NK dude, actually all the boys acting was very convincing.. I get the impression all the guys like playing these badass characters and they really reveled in their roles, which was great.
The location shooting did not feel like.. WE ARE ON LOCATION like say in BOF, but rather like places the characters would really go if they were in hungaray or japan or whereever.
Let’s talk about the english…everyone’s english was either spoken by AN AMERICAN ACTOR (not some russion pretending to be american lol), or korean actors that spoke English, Lee Byun Hun’s english was flawless. Top’s english was not bad,,, but they explained his accent so they knew it wasn’t perfect and made it a part of the storyline, finally directors recognize that you cannot pawn some dude from ubekestan as a german diploment from american… people will fracking notice.
Finally, I gave it the sympathy A- because the show was ambitious, and riveting. this was one of those dramas like alias that left you on a cliff hanger where you HAD HAD HAD to watch at least the first 15 min of the next ep to find out how they would get out of their latest pickle.
Why the drama really is only a B at best. Yes it was slick, Yes it was se4xy, with hotties coming out the wazoo and explosions (that made sense) car crashes (that looked painful and real) etc etc, but the drama in an effort to be cool and just like the big boys was missing that element that we have come to love in k-dramas. IRIS does not have that IT factor that makes you wanna watch over and over, makes you cry buckets, or makes youy fall in love with it. When I see the name Eun Chan my heart smiles. When I think about Dong Woo (from the slingshot/story of a man) I shiver and wonder where that bastard is right now. When I think back at Iris I will think cool drama, but easily deleted.
watch even if its just for the historical purposes (i have a feeling future spy drama will crop up and all will be measured against iris)
overall 9/10
i am not a fan of action drama, but the cast and the synopsis lured me in to watch this one and i wasn’t sure i was going to be able to finish the series, until i finally realized i was addicted to it. The action is “on the seat of your chair” with guns, and bombs and in between all the action scenes you find yourself the a-typical love story of love at first sight and then un-foreseen separation and romantic “entanglements” too. there is enough in the story line to keep you wanting to keep up with this one! i recommend this one for any kdrama fan of any genre!
IN MY OPINION
A REVIEW/RECAP WRITTEN IN THE IRIS AFTERGLOW
I finished watching IRIS yesterday, and some of my opinions have changed since I last wrote about IRIS after viewing only the first four episodes. And after episodes five and six, I was this close to giving up on the show all together. Thankfully, the show redeemed itself, and I was able to continue enjoying it after the debacle that was episodes five and six. (An example: You are a spy. You’re girlfriend is also a spy. You are injured; you are being pursued by the Hungarian police, the North Korean security detail, and your best friend. You and your girlfriend want to escape Hungary, so you go to the train station. What is going through your supposed well-trained spy mind to make you say, “I’ll go get the tickets, you wait here.”?)
Despite what I felt were several moments of sheer annoyance, over all, I really did enjoy IRIS. This was a show that was right up my alley. I enjoy shows as well as movies that have a lot of action and intrigue. Now that IRIS has wrapped and is still fresh in my mind, I’d like to take some time to recap what I liked and what I did not like about this show.
THE ROMANCE:
As a rule, I am not a fan of romance in shows where something else should clearly be the priority. For example, as much as I am obsessed with CSI, the Grissom/Sara relationship bugs the hell out of me. In NCIS, as much as I want to see Abby and McGee get together, I will be highly irritated if Ziva and Tony have a romance. So, with that being said, you pretty much know where I stand on romance in my action/adventure/spy-type series. In IRIS, there were actually two romantic storylines (well, three if you count Seung hee and Sa woo, which I don’t.) One worked, and one, well, not so much.
WHAT WORKED: Mi Jeong and Vick. This minor pairing showed up enough to be intriguing, but not enough to be a distraction. The first interaction scene between this couple was one of the scenes in episode six that, at the time, didn’t make a whole lot of sense (although I highly enjoyed it.) In the bigger picture and the greater scheme of the storyline, everything that happened between them made sense, once you find out exactly what is going on. The chemistry between Juni and T.O.P was incredible, in my opinion. You could see the attraction their characters held for each other in their eyes, and “the” kiss, well, it was amazing. (Curse you, KBS for cutting it! Many blessings on OCN & You Tube users for making it available for the rest of us to see!)
WHAT DIDN’T WORK: Seung hee and Hyun Joon. I have been watching Kdramas for 9 months now, and have never been tempted to fast forward through any of them (including 90 Days, Time to Love, which I hated). The scenes between Seung hee and Hyun Joon, on the other hand, made my fast forward button look really tempting. Their romance scenes took up way too much of the storyline, in my opinion. (Ok, alright, we get it, you’re in love! *vomits*) When you take my general distaste for overbearing romance in these kinds of dramas, add to that how much air time was spent on this romance, and the fact that Kim Tae Hee and Lee Byeong Hoon had zero chemistry, you get something that was better left on the cutting room floor.
THE ACTORS:
Recently, Javabeans published an article on her blog featuring a scorecard of how each of the actors in IRIS measured up: http://www.dramabeans.com/2009/12/scorecard-how-did-iriss-stars-measure-up/. In a blatant rip off of this article, I’d like to add my own opinions of how I, personally, felt the actors measured up.
LEE BYEONG HOON: Being a Newbie to the Kdrama scene, I believe this is the first thing I have ever seen this actor in, and even I can see why he is one of Korea’s top stars. (I can also see why he is considered hot, even though he does nothing for me personally.) I believe he was well cast for the part of super-spy/turned rouge-spy/turned back to super-spy Kim Hyun Joon. I know I’m not alone in this opinion, as I believe everyone else has already raved about his performance, so I’ll keep this brief. Although, one does have to wonder with such a fantastic actor being the male part of main romance, how it can be that the couple seemed to have no chemistry…which brings me too…
KIM TAE HEE: She annoys me. She annoys me the same way Katie Holmes annoys me: for no good reason. Despite the fact that she annoys me, if she is in a project that I would be interested in watching, she won’t deter me from watching it; my friends will just have to put up with me griping about/making fun of her. After all was said and done, I had a really hard time buying her as a spy.
JUNG JOON HO: He did not make an impression on me one way or the other. Considering he was the second male lead, I’m thinking this is probably not a good thing….
KIM SEUNG WOO: Very believable as one of the heads of the North Korean security force. He didn’t get a whole lot of screen time, and I’m not that familiar with him, so I will just have to go with other’s opinions that he is good.
KIM SO YEON: Love, love, LOVED her! She was amazing in her role as the North Korean spy/turned rogue spy/turned back to loyal spy. I’m fairly sure it was her, and not a stunt double, in the ambulance scene in one of the early episodes (I want to say four) and if that is the case, she can totally kick ass! She has this incredible way of being tough as nails one minute, and soft and feminine the next. I became such a fan of hers in IRIS that I’ve started watching All About Eve, where she shows the same talent for being strong and soft, but uses it in a completely different way. I will definitely be searching out her other works.
T.O.P: Before I get accused of being fangirly here, let me preface this review by saying that I first had an interest in IRIS, then I developed an interest in T.O.P, then I became a fan of Big Bang. That being said, I will admit that this may not be the most object actor review because I feel, well, let’s just say “love” for the boy. (Yeah, “love”, that’s a good “L” word to use…) I have read reviews where people have said he was believable until he opened his mouth. Maybe, since I don’t speak Korean, this was lost on me, but I like his voice. Javabeans referred to his “gangster drawl” I believe is how she put it, but he played a bad ass assassin, so I’m thinking maybe the whole “gangster drawl” isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Oh, and his eyes! His eyes were very expressive, especially in his last scene with Juni, which gave me chills, and yet, I couldn’t look away, and, in fact, backed it up and rewatched it several times, just because that scene was so intense!
JUNI: As far as I can tell, no one has really given her a grade for her second drama role. I thought she was great; I really enjoyed her performance as the “cool computer chick” a lot. As I said before, she had really great chemistry with T.O.P in all of their scenes. She also has a really nice voice, and I enjoyed it when she had a chance to sing. Once again, I find myself comparing her with Pauley Perrette from NCIS, another “cool scientist chick” which a really great voice. There were some moments, in fact, when Juni came on screen that I was looking to see if she, too, had any trademark tattoos!
FINAL THOUGHTS:
All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed this drama. It was a fun, intense ride, and I always was on pins and needles waiting to see what happened next. There were a few elements that will keep me from giving this drama as high of a rating as I gave Time of Dog and Wolf, but, this is still a drama I will be ordering on DVD when it is available. (And I will probably be throwing gummy bears at my 52” TV screen whenever Kim Tae Hee comes on…)
Iris… The first western style drama!
The good and the bad, here it comes!
First let me start off with that the basic overview of this drama. This drama is very similar to an american mystery/thriller that mixes in spy action alongside the popular OMG A NUCLEUR BOMB IS GOING TO GO OFF theme that many western tv shows such as 24 implement. In my opinion, i think that the producers have done a very good job in picking out A list actors that can properly play the role that they are given… in this case Lee Byung Hun and Kim Tae Hee play the main characters that fall in love but are split apart due to a sequence of events that will uncover as you watch the drama.
Starting from the first episode, the drama throws in many different action scenes that instantly draw in any type of audience that enjoy fighting and gun fights but also gives the typical love scene that any romance addict would be drawn too. Unfortunately, with the multi million dollar backing that they had to support to creation of this drama, i do not think that they creators of this drama did the best job that they could have with all the money that they spent. They make several mistakes in their editing throughout the drama and the story line is very cliche and cheesy. If an american version of this drama aired, i could easily foresee failure and low ratings. HOWEVER, being a korean drama that is one of the first to actually use a western style filled with a lot of drama and suspense, i give it props. If you are one of those drama addicts, you can easily see the different style that they used. If this is confusing to you, what im trying to say is that instead of throwing in a bunch of filler scenes for the middle 55 minutes of the drama and only putting the suspense in the first and last 5 minutes, this drama is suspenseful throughout the each episode keeping the audience on their toes.
Also, if you are one of those people that only watch dramas because of the actors’ looks then this is might be heaven for you. For both guys and girls, this drama has a cast of some of the best looking actors and actresses in Korea. If you’re a guy can i say KIM TAE HEE? She is considered one of the most beautiful if not the most beautiful female actress. In most survey, shes the one that always wins most envied or the one i want to look like. She is infamous for having absolutely no plastic surgery done (WOW A FIRST!). Anyways, her looks just blow you away in this drama. Now girks… you’re even luckier than the guys. Do i even have to say his name? Lee Byung Hun… Even though hes older now his looks are still their and just look at his body. His body is the body that any guy would envy. Now now, if you dont appreciate Lee Byung Hun, you still have T.O.P. HOLY COW DID YOU JUST SAY T.O.P.? yes i did. He’s tall, charismatic, buff, good looking….. the list just goes on. Do i need to say more?
Overall this drama has a lot to offer.
With a season 2 in the works with even more A List actors this drama is something you dont want to miss. With these in mind these are the numbers i give it.
Overall: 8.0/10
Storyline: 6/10
Aesthetics: 10/10
Production and Editing:8/10
Great drama.
The good: nice intensive pace throughout the movie with car chase, face off, and or surprises that kept me anxious to see what happens next.
The awful: The storyline was great, but Hyun Joon turned a bit dull after Sa Woo betrayed him. He turned into this quiet puppet walking through each event. I understand the script was for him to feel confuse, but he looked confuse almost the entire drama.
Overall 9/10
my take on IRIS.
This is not a Kdrama as the ones I used to watch. More in the line of 24 but with more romantic sub-plot. It is not without loopholes but still angst enough and hype enough to keep the viewer wanting and impatient for the next episode.
Loopholes as I mentioned an example: when the terrorists infiltrated NSS. Though they were North Korean ultimately it was IRIS that controlled it. Beak San is IRIS and as Head of NSS he must have known what they were coming for. What I don’t get it is why did he send Choi Sung-hee back to NSS.
Since there will be a Season 2, I guess other unanswered issues will give it essence to develop. I don’t know how IRIS season 2 will look like wthout Hyun-jun or maybe the writers will do a ‘Jack Bauer’ and make him come back. In any case I do not see IRIS season 2 without Lee Byung-hun. It was his acting and charisma that pulled off IRIS.
I am part way way through episode 13 and I can sum up this drama in one sentence. It has just enough action for a guy like me, and just enough of a love story for the kdrama fan in me.
This drama reminds me about the thrill rides I can get from such American shows like 24 and Prison Break. There’s the back and forth espionage quality but its not real time like 24 is. IRIS tends to go at the pace that Prison Break went at. There were some episodes where I practically could not wait till the next release of the subs that I finally made my donation to withS2 to get my VIA access.
Not to spoil the plot too much but the first couple of episodes starts off a bit slow in that it is establishing the characters and the overall situation. But as you watch it, it builds up. At the moment at around episodes 12 and 13 it slows down a bit. But it’s still good.
Also this drama is loosely based on Shiri which if you aren’t totally into Korean media, Shiri was probably the first famous hollywood style movie that came out of Korea. Shiri was a movie that also explored the tensions between North and South Korea like IRIS is doing here. If you notice, one of the cast members in IRIS was also in Shiri. (yes, I watched it the other day to make some comparisons)
Yoon Joo Sang was actually the director of OP in Shiri and now he plays Oh Hyun Kyu in IRIS. I thought that was neat nitpick that I discovered the other day.
I can’t say much about the guys. But apparently the other reviewers say they’re hot. BUT with Kim Tae Hee, I like her. Kim So Yeon is not too bad also.
So in the beginning, I said that this drama has just enough action for a guy like me to like. So girls, if you’re wanting to introduce your boyfriend to kdramas and asian dramas in general, I’d say IRIS is a good start.
So, my rating is 8.5/10
I would not say it is the best love story type drama I’ve seen but it has enough of a love story to keep me interested and its got some action to satisfy my testosterone in the process.
I’ve watched IRIS till epi. 10 with my roommate! *many thx to WithS2 for da subs!!! XD*
First of all, I wanna say that, I start watching this drama because of TOP~ *smirk* LOL XD Cuz I saw the preview and pictures of this drama and find that he’s HOT in it! Plus the drama itself look interesting though! One reason is also that I love action/assassination movies or dramas!!
I watched the first epi on TV (KBS World), so now I download all epi so I get faster~!!! X)
My first impression when I first started watching it is: Why do they get ByungHyun Lee *sry if i got the name wrong* as the main guy in it??!
*no offense* He’s not that good-looking~ *ooh~ but he got a HOT body~!! =Q__*
But after watching all the epi, I started to think that, he definitely suits the KimHyunJoong’s character!! X)
I really have to say~ TOP is sooo damn hot in it!! He’s da “bad” guy, but I can sense that later in the story, he’ll appear as the good one~ *angel’s face*
So far from those epi I’ve watched, he got THREE different hairstyles already!!!!!!!!!! I love da wavy/slight curly hairstyle the most! *I forgot with epi is it, but the setting is in Akita, Japan, where he tracks down HyunJoong and held Yuki as hostage. In the green coat and white shoes, awesome style!!!*
Another thing, I feel soo sorry for SaWoo~ =( Although he kinda do some mean/bad stuffs in it to HyunJoong, he’s in a real hard position in between HyunJoong and SeungHee….
Ok~ Im going to blabber on, so Im gonna stop!
Its a real good drama!! Recommended from me!!!
IN MY OPINION:
A MINI-REVIEW OF “IRIS”
Having watched the first four episodes of “IRIS”, I can’t help but compare this show to one of my favorite American shows, “NCIS”. It’s not that these shows have a lot in common, but some of the characters feel familiar to me.
The three main characters of Hyun Joon, Sa Woo and Seung Hee remind me of Dinozzo, McGee, and Ziva, respectively. Also, the cute computer geek chick reminds of my favorite character ever, Abby Sciuto. (Sidebar: Being a “McAbby” shipper, I totally want Sa Woo and computer geek chick to hook up. He should forget about Seung Hee.) And, in probably the strongest comparison thus far, the Vice Director of the NSS very much reminds me of Director Vance of NCIS.
Despite the character similarities to the original NCIS, to me, IRIS has successfully accomplished doing everything NCIS-LA has tried to do and failed. So far, I am really enjoying this show and look forward to the continued intrigue and action.
As much as I am enjoying this drama, I have to say, I’m not really feeling the romantic storyline. I don’t know why, but this particular couple annoys me. When they are separate and working on their assignments, I like both characters fine. Seung Hee is smart, she really knows how to do her job, and can appropriately kick butt. (She doesn’t kick butt as much or as well as Ziva, but then again, a profiler shouldn’t be as bas ass as a former Mousad agent.) Hyun Joon is an awesome spy, his chemistry with Sa Woo is awesome, you can totally feel the friendship between them, they are great. But when you put Seung Hee and Hyun Joon together, I don’t know, for some reason, they irritate me. It’s not that they don’t have good chemistry, it’s just that when they are together, it’s like she’s the man and he’s the woman. What I mean is, Hyun Joon comes across as more naïve, innocent, and less experienced, while Seung Hee is taking the physical lead. This seems backwards, as he is the one who kissed her first. I don’t know if his hesitance has to do with her being his supervisor, but it really doesn’t seem to fit their characters. Also, he’s the one talking about marriage when she seems less than interested. Doesn’t that seem backwards to most people?
And, on a personal note, T.O.P. is awesome. He’s a badass in manliner, and he plays his part well. I can totally buy him as a deadly assassin. He really kind of makes me want someone to put a hit out on me! Anything to be able to stare into those eyes, even if it IS the last thing I ever see! I’m highly considering adding him to my “K-drama man-harem”.
I wrote this review after watching the first four episodes of IRIS, and now that this constest is going on, I have a place to post it! *lol* Now that I’ve seen more episodes, I can say that while episodes 5 & 6 didn’t make a whole lot of sense, I am still enjoying this drama. Also, my choices for the romantic entanglements have changed, but I will say, I still don’t care for the “main coupling” in this show.