Reviews

Such a disappointment

I just finished the drama yesterday and I was super frustrated and disappointed because after all I had high expectations because of the writer Park Hae Young with her Masterpiece drama (My Mister) but I was totally wrong. This drama had few amazing written scenes but most of it was a fail.

First of all, Mr. Gu I never understood him… and I found his character very poor written. even thoughI personally like the actor but this character was a big no. Always looking bored, lost and tired with a mystery past that was not exciting at all nor well explained. Also, his relationship with the FL oh my god… I have never ever hated main couple romance as I hated it in this drama. I almost skipped all of there scenes as I found it very boring, uncomfortable and very weird and not charming at all. I didn’t get their relationship at all and I don’t understand when the love bloomed? I hated watching nonsense so I just skipped it.
Chang hee was my favourite character. His scenes and dialogues were amazing and the actor excellently delivered his emotions, but I unfortunately skipped most of his scenes at the last couple episodes right after the stupid THIME SKIP. I the time skip thing was it necessary? Because actually the last three episodes were a total fail and the writer missed up. Ki Jung was also my favourite character as I found her very relatable outspoken and true to her self… but again why she super unconfident after being with tae hoon? Why all of a sudden would she accept mistreatment from his crazy sister and spoiled daughter? What happneed to the outspoken strong confident woman? I was really angry with how the writer ruined her character and even did not give her a clear proper ending. And tae hoon ahhh don’t even get me started. he promised to marry her when his daughter becomes 20??? and the way he ignores all the stupid things that his sister does to his girlfriend and yet pretending that he is the one who is having a hard time?


I would never watch this drama again and I just gave it 5 for the acting and couple of scenes.

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Poor execution of a good story

When I watched the first episodes I thought I would love this series. If this series was only about confronting relationship problems and the healing of a broken family, the series would be at least a 9/10, since it confronts a serious topic, however still adds a funny note every now and then. The actors are great and I surprisingly liked the side couples. However, what could have been a deep story about marriage was turned into the most stereotipical and superficial story. Every episode was filled with unnecessary car accidents and sacrifices. Everyone somehow had a childhood connection with the other, which made no sense as it is very often showns hiw everyone has such a different status and family background. The hate of the main character of his wife just suddenly turns into him giving his life every three seconds for her. Instead of escaping the unhappy life he lives, it somehow gets more miserable. I think less episodes and less "tipical kdrama plottwists" could've made this show into something very special. Instead it got turned into a whole a** mess.

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Defying time

Brilliant idea but lacklustre execution, unfortunately! I was hooked after two episodes, so much so, I subscribed to Gagaoolala in order to finish it. It did not keep its promise, sadly!

There are two different time periods that suddenly due to supermoon, get in touch and two sad men start talking to each other across time! Something happens between them but of course, there are so many obstacles in their way that nothing can come out of their love story. Just more regret and sadness.
The characters are very real and I loved the Wade's mother: open, helpful, optimistic, friendly an ideal mother in short!

The cinematography is stunning. It gives the whole series an out of the world, hazy and dreamy feeling, as befitting a fantasy! Beside interesting camera angles, the two time periods are filmed differently. Wade in 2020, pandemic and isolation, is all white, overexposed and too bright. Jose Manuel in 1974 is just like the Marcos dictatorship historical period: hopeless, dark and sad. The only bright points are JM's T-shirts. Wade's T-shirts also carry a message connected to the story
.
The music is moody and ominous announcing from the first seconds that this is not going to be a happy story! The huge problem is the sound recording: very bad!

The writing is original though a bit draggy and it is not very clear at which speed the time moves. They start communicating through letters: I love that concept. Their ability to communicate is due to the full moon. But that full moon usually lasts no more than three night every four weeks. Here it seems that they talk to each other every day and that there is the full moon in the clear sky every day as well (the shots of the moon are too frequent to correspond to reality!). They talk through the mirrors but sometimes they seem to see each other and sometimes they seem to be talking to themselves in the mirror: so it is not really clear how the whole communication thing works. They can talk to each other every day but they can see each other only when it is the full moon. Maybe I missed something? Another issue I found strange is that Wade thinks of finding the contemporary JM only after he definitely looses contact with him. While they were talking to each other Wade was never curious to find him in 2020?
The writers used the legend of Sidapa and Libulan which is tale of a controversial love affaire of two male deities in precolonial Filipino myth showing how impossible can become possible if you don't give up.

But the most interesting part were the episodes' titles which are the most romantic untranslatable words from a variety of languages:

1. YUAN FEN: (mandarin) fate or chance that brings people together predestined affinity or relationship (Budd.) destiny. Being able to provide explanations in a positive way, Yuanfen has always functioned as an attribution, the psychological process of seeking reasons for particular events.
2. FORELSKET is a Danish word that means in love, enamoured, or in love with. Forelsket is also a Norwegian word for the magical state of falling in love: it is exhilarating partially because it’s so impossible to control. It’s that fluttery, heart-pounding, palms-sweating, complete bliss that you feel when you’re first falling in love.
3. SAUDADE is a Portugese word for the emotional state of melancholic or profoundly nostalgic longing for a beloved yet absent something or someone. It derives from the Latin word for solitude. It is often associated with a repressed understanding that one might never encounter the object of longing ever again. It is a recollection of feelings, experiences, places, or events, often elusive, that cause a sense of separation from the exciting, pleasant, or joyous sensations they once caused.
4. VIRAAG is a hindi word meaning the anguish you experience when you’re physically separated from the person you love. This could mean a wide range of things. Perhaps your crush is in a relationship with someone else, so you’re forced to love them from afar. Perhaps you and your partner are in a long-distance relationship counting down the days until you’re reunited. Or maybe (unfortunately) you’re enduring a breakup and struggling to cope with the idea of losing someone forever. That pain you feel? It’s viraag.
5. MAMIHLAPINATAPEI: derived from the Yaghan language of Tierra del Fuego, listed in The Guinness Book of World Records as the "most succinct word", and is considered one of the hardest words to translate.This word is all too familiar for those out there who are a bit on the shy side. You like someone, and you think (maybe!) (hopefully!) that they like you too. You’re sitting across from each other, hands almost touching, but not quite. Your breath catches in your throat and you’re sure they can hear your heartbeat slamming in your ears. You look shyly at them. They look shyly back. But neither of you makes the first move. This moment--one of joy and anguish, fear and excitement--is summed up by the word “mamihlapinatapei.”
6. ONSRA comes from Boro language of India and means loving for the last time; that bittersweet feeling you get when you know a love won’t last.
7. KARA SEVDE They talk about kara sevda, an untranslatable Turkish concept that literally means “black love” or blind love and alludes to how uncontrollable desire and unrequited love can render someone hopeless and broken. It also means tragic love. It used for a strong, unrelenting and unhealthy crush in tragedies and folk stories.
8. ICHIGO ICHIE "one time, one meeting" is a Japanese idiom that describes a cultural concept of treasuring the unrepeatable nature of a moment, the practice of making the most of every encounter and understanding how important the “now” is.
9. HAPPENSTANCE means something happened because of certain circumstances, although it was not planned by anyone.

There is an unsuspected depth in this story which is unfortunately bogged down with sadness and hopelessness.

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Don't watch if you want a cohesive story

CW: HEAVY PLOT SPOILERS, sa, abuse, r*pe, harrasement, violence in general

I finished this like over a month ago so my bad if i get some details wrong.

As the title says, don't watch this if you want an interesting story about a twin dissapearing and the different aspects of sex and the sex industry. The show did have all those elements, but the end result was a mess, there were so many characters that by the last episode there were still people whose names I didn't know (eg the 2 football guys).

If you're interested in a lot of badly shot and awkward nc scenes, maybe give it a shot.

I understand that most people watched this for the nc scenes and to those people I ask: why? There were a lot of nc scenes but that doesn't mean they were good. The acting in those scenes was fine but the way it was shot left much to be desired, how am i supposed to believe two people are getting it on when i can see their bright pink "RICH" underwear in every shot. Comfort for the actors is always the most important part with nc scenes, and i hope they felt safe and protected during, but that doesn't mean you can't make it look real with some clever camera angles.

the story starts of interesting with the storyline of Zoey and Teena but by the time they get together in the middle of the show they get sidelined and forgotten until the last 10 minutes. Their conflicts were interesting with their dynamic of virgin x former-sex worker but they did have some strange out of character moments (eg Teena going through with sex when Zoey clearly stated he wasn't ready, this didn't feel like Teena at all). Zoey's character twist at the end could've been great, a r*pe victim taking back his sexuality on his own terms with someone he loves, but the fact it gets reveals in the last 5 seconds in a voice-over and that's it is really underwhelming, especially since we don't know if he told Teena or not.

Nont was definitely my favorite character since he was so passionate about finding his brother, which made his story extra sad when we find out what happened, but even that wasn't handled well. The perpetrator of what happened to his brother being revealed after the credits with no motive and no one who knows makes it obvious they were hoping for a season 2, but with the mid reception I don't know if that's possible. Nont deserved to know what happened to his brother, and the audience being the only one who knows is a bit depressing. Sadly I was really invested in this plot, but they had to make way for more nonsense plot with characters I don't care about.

Honestly I don't really have much to say about the other characters except 2 things: 1. it was extremely out of character the way the friends kept switching up on each other, first being mad at Zoey and then at Nont. This is an extremely toxic friend group but I had hope that Nont and Zoey would've stuck by each other. 2. It took me so much willpower to not skip through every scene with First and Soong because they were done so dirty with their dialogue and it was extremely hard to watch. all their random english lines and then some conversations being in english with the worst Thai dubbing i've ever seen was rough, but their story was at least kinda interesting.

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still adorable little penguins

this is not a traditional special episode so keep that in mind when going to watch this.

okay, so l'm a little biased because I truly love these characters and I feel like they brought a fresh new style to BL. when I heard there was a special episode I was over the moon.

I will say I LOVE that we got a different perspective of their love story told through Wela’s eyes. I enjoyed seeing things for Wela's side. to be honest, that actually made the story stronger in my opinion.

do I wish we got more new scenes? yes. yes I do. am I upset we got this kinda retelling? no not at all. this isn't a special episode in the sense of a traditional special episode, instead I feel like this made the overall plot of Deep Night stronger and kinda tied up SOME loose ends.

I will say reshowing all the NCs scenes made me chuckle. what can they say? they know their audience well. plus they pretty much made their own edit, so others don't have to 🤣🤣

I still wish we got more for the truple, it still feels like all the other side couples more or less got pushed aside.

that all being said I still really enjoyed this surprise special episode for what it is: which is the story of deep night told in Wela’s perspective.

I will still give huge props to the fact they learned all the aerial skills for this show. plus to me these two have the energy of two adorable little penguins that I want to keep in my pocket. I really hope we will see them in another series together. ❤️

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Like it!

In fact, even the first episode was enough to capture my attention. There are only a few things I dislike in this drama, but it's not to the point of deep hatred, I guess? It kind of bothered me when the FL chose to date another guy while being in love with Sena, but I kind of emphasized with her. She was unsure of how their relationship would turn out as she was afraid of ruining their friendship, and also, they didn't talk about their feelings. They were both going back and forth, and hence, took them a long time to finally be together. So, that's okay and understandable. However, it's funny that her junior seems to know her thoughts really well and was the one pushing them (all of them) to confess their feelings and advising them about it.

But despite that, there are a lot of things I like, such as their acting and chemistry. The way they express their character and deliver the lines really impressed me. It all seemed natural, you know? The storyline and pacing are also well done! The side characters were given some screen time and equally highlighted their part without being too much. It's hard to explain, but overall, the stories of the main couple and the side couple were portrayed in a natural way. There was no conflict between the two. It's like what it is. Anyway, I really like it. The comedy and drama also do not look forced.

So, it was a good watch! Really enjoyed the drama!

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Great chemistry between couples

Many people criticize Only For Love because of the constant miscommunication between Zheng Shuyi (Bailu) and Shi Yan (Dylan Wang). In my honest opinion, however, that doesn't really matter, because the storyline itself is great!

While there are many times when I felt second-hand embarrassment (especially with FL), I really enjoyed this drama. The chemistry between ML and FL was amazing. Sure, the FL might be a bit proactive, but it builds up the story. The ML may be bossy, but we all have to admit that he played his role well.

The second couple (Qin Shiyue and Yu You) was also very sweet. Like the FL, Qin Shiyue may be a bit too proactive, and Yu You was fairly hesitant to be with her at first, but when the two do get together, the result is beautiful love. In order to see that, though, you'll have to dive deeper into the drama, and go through all the times that Yu You felt uncomfortable with Shiyue, but I'd say its fairly worth it.

Overall, IMO, this drama is great, flaws and all. Some people will hate it, others will love it, it's up to you to decide.

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They're all idiots, your honor

This so clearly needs a second season.

I'll keep things vague but maybe add a reply with hidden spoilers below, but in general the comparison to The L Word is spot on. I love overly dramatic soapy shows, and this brings the DRAMA. The music is outstanding, everyone is beautiful and impulsive, the production values are pretty good but not perfect, and the connection to real world things like jobs and how many stripey shirts any one individual should own are tenuous at best.

AND. I finally get why some of the popular pairings appeal to fans, which I didn't before. I might even give A Boss and a Babe another chance based on watching this. I am now officially a Mark fan. I see you, GMMTV.

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A Full Package Of Entertainment

First time writing a review after watching just 7 episodes...if anyone still wondering whether to start watching this drama or not hey you just go for it ..it's the a sweet yet suspenseful romantic comedy drama.. really a emotional rollercoaster.. .it makes you fun,sad, excited and blushing ...you can't escape from the charm of handsome byeon woo seok and pretty and cutie Kim hye yoon ...as we all know it's a genre hye yoon already proved by her performance... here we can see a aspiring main lead actor woo seok he is really good at acting and his expressions is on point sungjae is a character which have a chance to get ruin if he done one bar higher or lower however he did a great job portraying sungjae... eagerly waiting for remaining episodes and manifesting a happy ending...😤😤

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perfect from start to finish

It actually breaks my heart for the series to end because I just wanted to keep going. It was cute and wholesome and nostalgic of high school life. It had enough conflict to push the story forward but not so much that it was stressful and overwhelming. Though set in high school, I’m grateful there weren’t many (if at all) stupid decisions and misunderstandings rooted in teenage angst and hormones. I could turn off my brain and just have fun watching how their life progressed through the different stages of growth. It’s the type of show I’ll pick up any day simply because it was just full of sunshine. Would recommend and would reward, for sure!

PS: I can’t believe that Zhang Lurang here is Ai Jia from Falling Into Your Smile! His range is surprisingly amazing. 10/10 fr

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The heavy theme of death in this drama is presented in all it's versions

Ok let's start by saying this is such a mature story, I couldn't stop crying in the last 5 ep, of course the acting is great from all characters even "the goose" :D
Even if the theme of death and loosing someone is strongly presented throughout the series, it was well done : being a kid or a grandma we all experience something like that in life and watching this series is such a comfort, trying to comfort the viewers well done.
the disability representation is good, although we don't see much of the physical struggles, we do get a good picture of the emotional struggles, fmc' s thoughts on relationship and striving to improve to make up for her shortcomings, and the mmc accepting her the way she is, and not seeing her disability as a disadvantage.
( just some of the good points of the scenario apart from the different ideas each generation believed in... understanding each other specially the new life style of modern woman, the representation of the country and working together to improve hometown....)

the way each character had enough screen time to know their story, and the grandmas oh I was so attached to them more that main characters 😂

just a good story, a good acting, heavy theme, simple production, all in all executed perfectly.

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