Low Life Review
Director: Kang Yun-seong
Date Created: 2025-07-16 22:38
3.5
Low Life Review: The new Disney+ K-drama (파인: 촌뜨기들), directed by Kang Yun-seong, is mostly famous for dark, gritty, character-driven shows like The Outlaws. Here, he collaborates with a strong cast of Ryu Seung-ryong as the crusty old Oh Gwang-seok, and Yang Se-jong as his desperate nephew Oh Hee-dong. Im Soo-jung stars as Yang Jeong-suk, a shrewd and icy investor who gets drawn into the treasure hunt.
The drama also features Jung Young-sub, Kim Eui-sung, Kim Sung-oh, Kim Jong-soo, Lee Dong-hwi, and Jung Yun-ho. The series is based on the webcomic Pain by Yoon Tae-ho and has 11 episodes, approximately an hour long each. The series begins in 1977 and is about a group of desperate men seeking treasure hidden under the sea, not for the adventure of it, but because they are desperate.
From the first three episodes that premiered on July 16, Disney+ Low Life is unique in its gritty tone and grimy storyline. This is not a fantastical treasure hunt — this is desperate people, bad decisions, and what people will do when they have nothing to lose.
Low Life Review
Low Life Kdrama appears to be a crime thriller of gold and antiques, but after watching a couple of episodes, you realise that it’s a human drama. The treasure is only a reason to unite all these broken people. Oh Gwang-seok (Ryu Seung-ryong) and his nephew Oh Hee-dong (Yang Se-jong) are the centre. They’re not geniuses — they’re just barely making ends meet, and when the opportunity of a huge treasure falls into their hands, they just can’t let go.
I liked that the show did not try to glamorise crime or the leads as being too “cool.” These are human beings with flaws who make flawed choices and struggle. But that is exactly what made them feel real. The pilot takes its time to get their circumstances online — how they get arrested, and how they get the idea to go treasure hunting. It’s slow, I’ll admit, but it slowly gets your attention.
One of the greatest things that I enjoyed in Low Life K-drama was the way all the characters just seemed to fit so perfectly into the story. With only three episodes, we’re introduced to a few supporting characters — some good, some bad — but none of them as filler. The show doesn’t try and cram heavy dramatic moments in early on but instead allows the romances and tensions to simmer away in the background.
There is one really compelling confrontation between Hee-dong and Gwang-seok. They don’t have big emotional speeches or melodramatic fights, but what they do say, argue, and even do say a great deal about what their relationship is like. That’s the sort of writing that distinguishes the show from your typical K-drama hero-villain fare.
Im Soo-jung in the role of Yang Jeong-suk is an assertive and cold presence on screen. She is firm without even lifting her voice, and she brings a business-like seriousness to the story when money is involved in the Low Life episode 3.
The one thing I was surprised at with the series was just how well they captured the 1970s. Unlike some of the other period dramas that are too sanitised and holier-than-thou, the Korean drama Low Life shows the time period as all the grime. The locations are dirty, the characters speak in regional accents, and nothing is glamorous. It was really like the old-school gangster movies — not flashy, but grounded in the hard facts of people just trying to survive.
There is also a conflict between greed and trust. As they start to get ready to go down and look for gold in Low Life episodes 2 and 3, the team is already disintegrating. Money problems, trust problems, and outside dangers — it seems like even if they are actually going to be able to find the loot, they might not all live long enough to. The tension between them is already rife with issues.
I would not lie, the show is not in any rush to pick up speed. The pilot had me hanging on the edge of losing interest, but I am glad that I did not quit. At episode 3, I was interested in finding out what would unfold. Adding new players, particularly those with agendas, complicates the plot.
All the same, Low Life Korean drama won’t be everyone’s. If you enjoy a flash-in-the-pan, rapid-fire thriller, this will be too slow for you. But if you enjoy rich character tales, knotted relationships, and moral ambiguities, it’s well worth watching. The plus point of it is that it doesn’t attempt to show too much too soon. It just shows you enough to continue, without feeding you the story.
Low Life Episode 1-3 Review: Summing Up
From the first three episodes, Low Life does appear to be a vintage, gritty crime show with a touch of reality. It does not go overboard with the mind games and soap opera plot turns. It does take its time to develop the suspense, with greed, deception, and survival.
This is a K-drama that does not so much care about what people are searching for, but how they behave when they are pushed to the limit. The treasure is buried in the sea, but the real drama is the humans searching for the treasure. A sluggish start, but fine performances and a credible world mean Low Life is a drama worth persevering with.
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