The series was enjoyable, and both funny and heartwarming in turn. The main character Kim Je-Hyuk (baseball player who ended up in prison) and his inmate 'friends' formed an entertaining ensemble, for the most part. Oddly enough, I personally found the character of Yoo Han-Yang irritating and overly done. I thought the idea of putting in the mix a drug addict battling his addiction and struggling through withdrawal symptoms a good idea, but ultimately, the premise was drawn out far too long - pretty much throughout the entire series! His quirkiness and the constant bickering eventually got tiresome. This was a shame. The comedic elements were hit and miss, though more often hit than miss. It failed when comedy veered into slapstick moments (often yet again involving Han-Yang's character), accompanied by her icky comedy sound effects ('boing' and such). The 'brotherhood' theme worked really well, and I like that it downplayed the prison yard clashes trope (although there was of course some of this) more in favour of prison friendships. The phased exit of key characters (as inmates were released from prison, or moved from one prison to another) worked really well to highlight the bonds formed between the characters, but also introduced a measure of realism in the show (people after all move in and out of each other's lives). It was unfortunate though that Dr Ko (portrayed excellently) was the first to leave, but I suppose this allowed Jailbird to move back in to the position of sidekick to the main character. Overall, a good k-drama with plenty of touching moments.
Review of Prison Playbook
