A review of Numbers starring Kim Myung-soo, Choi Jin-hyuk, Yeon Woo, and Kim Yoo-ri
This is the first time ever that I enjoyed a show where I had a tough time keeping up with a lot of what was happening. By the fourth episode I was able to keep up a little bit more, but throughout the entire series there were definitely a lot of high-finance terms, strategies, and concepts lurking around every corner and that made it a bit of an adventure.
If not for the excellent acting from the entire cast, I’m not sure this would have been the show for me. I kept going because I was determined to give this a fair chance (and because I absolutely adore Kim Myung-soo), but I probably gave it more of a chance than many probably will.
Here’s how I rank each of the sections in my rating scale:
Story (7/10)
Written by Jung An and Oh Hye-seok, our story follows that of Jang Ho-woo played by Kim Myung-soo. Ho-woo has lost his parents but does not remember how or even who they are. Devastation finds his adopted father as his company is bought out and shut down. Ho-woo meets an accountant working on the buyout, played by Choi Jin-hyuk, who tells him that the power to save or sink a company all falls with the accountants.
This prompts our hero to study hard so that he can properly investigate what happened with his adoptive father’s company. He becomes the very first accountant at Taeil Accounting Firm with only a high school degree. His unique perspective and strong work ethic helps him get the answers he is looking for and some that he wasn’t looking for as well.
While it had a somewhat interesting premise, a bit of a twist on a revenge story, it was incredibly hard to follow. This is why I am super surprised that I liked it so much. After I got about 4 episodes in and started to understand a bit more of the finance world, it started to flow a little easier.
After it hit its groove, the story did feel a bit better and I found myself sitting on the edge of my seat waiting to find out what was next. It definitely got me in the feels too, especially in the anger department. I found myself enraged at the villain later in the series and was certainly invested in how this person was going to eventually go down.
My two main critiques were that it was hard to follow at first and that the ending was not as satisfying as I would have liked, but I also believe that it was left a little bit open on purpose in case they want to continue the story. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy it, I would have just liked things to end a bit differently.
Characters (9/10)
The characters and the actors who played them were in my humble opinion, a-ma-zing! As I mentioned above, Kim Myung-soo (L from the K-pop group INFINITE) and Choi Jin-hyuk played our two leading men, accountants at Taeil Accounting Firm and boy if you ever thought that this would be a boring character to watch, they proved us wrong. They were fantastic. They brought intensity, powerful emotions, and excellent chemistry with all of the cast.
Not wanting to leave the ladies out, our leading women of Jin Yeon-a and Jang Ji-soo played by Yeon Woo and Kim Yoo-ri were equally as great. The character of Yeon-a was a nice counter to the intensity of Ho-woo’s character and she brought a warmth and lightness to the screen that I enjoyed very much.
Out of all the characters and all of the actors, however, I have to give a huge shout out to our villain. Han Je-gyun played by Choi Min-soo was easily one of my top hated villains of all time. He played evil like no other. It is not often that I find characters in dramas that I am so emotionally invested in taking down and he was one of them. This actor did an absolute top-notch job in this role.
Binge-ability (5/10)
While I always was interested in what was going to happen next, I could only watch 1-2 episodes at a time because it took a little more of my mind to watch than normal. I had to concentrate on the storyline so that I could understand it and some of the intensity of what was going on would leave me drained. So for that I give it a 5.
Repeatability (6/10)
I am giving this a 6 because it’s not like there’s never a chance of me watching it again, but it’s probably not going to be for many years when I have completely forgotten the story or when I need a serious fix of some great acting.
TOTAL 27 out of 40 Delicious Cupcakes!
This puts this drama after My Lovely Sam Soon, but still toward the middle of my rankings.
Stay tuned for my other reviews to keep seeing this rankings list build itself.
Where to Watch Numbers
If you want to give this a watch, you can find it on Viki.com with VIKIPASS Standard or a KOCOWA+ subscription.
