RhopalocerA
Somewhere on Earth
This review may contain spoilers
The power of restrained love.
It was'nt until episode 9 I was completely invested with the storyline. 2 months ago, I started this because of all the hypes sorrounding this drama but at that time I can't moved past episode 6 because of the painfully slow and boring storyline thus put it on-hold. Why I picked this up again? Because I'm currently under Allen Ren's spell after watching him in TBW and have yet to recover. So this was my second drama of him. Don't read further if you have'nt watch this drama yet because my review a.k.a rambling contained many spoilers. Don't say I don't warned you.I didn't read any spoilers about the storyline or the ending prior to watching OAO so I was able to enjoy this as much as I can . Ignorance is indeed a bliss as they say. Let only suffer when the suffering comes. Here, I was hoping and praying for our main leads to get the ending they deserved especially our beautiful bone man, Zhou Sheng Chen. The ending made me feeling so angry and sad and angry and sad and angry and sad in a never ending loop...Tbh, I was more angry than sad.. I did'nt cried at all watching the last few eps because I was too furious watching bad people easily had their ways. Only my heart's wailing noiselessly just like Shi Yi's wailing in her mute mode . I am really pissed off that bad people (esp this xf**&^! two-faced snake, Liu Zixing) got to live longer though miserable but still longer than our main leads. He got many screentimes till the end. OAO can't help but remind me of drama The Red Sleeve (Korea) and The Crown Princess (Thai) as they had few similarities.
Plotwise, I guess ms writer was happy she achieved all her objectives with this drama. What shown in Drama is real,people. So,suck it up. Life is unfair. Not all love is united in this world. Good people always gone too soon and bad people always get to live longer. I don't want to get into details of reason why I rate what I rate. I just want to express my thought so that one day I can read this 5/7/10 years later and say '' Oh, this was one of the drama that I watched back in 2022 and made me in so much pain mids and post-watching.'' '' Allen Ren was perfect back then as he still is in the present . ''
Allen Ren's acting as Zhou Sheng Chen was perfect. All his expressions were flawless and he delivered perfectly. His chemistry with Bai Lu as Shi Yi was evident and palpable. All the longings, starings and deeds they did for each other knowingly and unknowingly I could felt it deep in my bones. OAO showed us how to make a perfect romance drama without kiss.
To conclude my rambling, I just want to ask and say all these to him. ''Is this life what you really want ZSC? You can't be real. It is a major crime to be as selfless as you, yk. What was the point of all that sacrifices when you still can't prevent war after you 've gone. What you did was pointless. People you loves still dies in agony one after another. You love your country to death but that very country failed you. Why can't you be selfish for once. Atleast ,take Shi Yi and run to South !!! You deserved all the happiness in this world . You deserved better...''
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The Good Detective : An epitome of what is a good detective.
This is my first (and probably the last) drama review of 2020. One review per year : Achieved. Yay.Here are my thoughts of TGD >>>
A] The storyline and acting :
Honestly speaking, to me Ep 1 - 6 were extremely boring and sleeping induced. The early story felt flat and dull. It got nothing that can captivate my interest at the time. Everything moved at snail pace and seems like a filler story. I think it was more than 10 times I've stopped and resumed watching the show again lol. Maybe the real reasons I still hold onto the show was due to a pinch of trust on TGD and a strong resolution not again to drop another drama moreover I already downloaded full eps of the drama , am not gonna waste all those precious data...(ok honestly the latter is the real reason)
Finally. It was worth every effort when the story picked up around Ep 7,8 onwards. It became more engaging,addicting and the acting also flawless. I found myself laughing at the witty scripts and funny scenes, emphatized with the characters, and the story moved at the pace that I wanted everything suddenly became not boring anymore.
B] The characters:
1) Kang Do Chan: He is the real definition of a good detective which we may rarely seen nowadays. He was fierce but knows to be soft hearted when the times need him to be. A very supportive collegue and humble at heart. His character development was one of the best in the show.
2) Oh Ji Hyuk: Ice cold good looking detective. The way the actor potrayed OJH, captivated me. The one who has a sad story of the past, a loner, independant, hides secret and keep all feelings to himself as he never trust anyone. But, when he fatedly partnered with KDC and his acquintance with Reporter Jin Seo Kyung, it changed him. He smiles more (oh I loved his smiles), learned to open up to people and start depending more on people sorrounding him. Personally and I am sure many who has finished this show will agree with me, his bromance scenes with KDC were the best!
3) The amount of good detectives here surpassed those of bad detectives. Usually when we saw a crime, detective, investigation dramas, there were numerous amount of bad corrupted detective that will make us lost hope in the police but here in TGD worry not. We got more than 5 good detectives ( Boong Shik, Ji Wook, Man Goo, Jae Hong, Dong Wook the 'Maknae' etc) aside KDC and OJH which were always united against the bad detectives/ the bad guys no matter how big their influences are. I enjoyed watching the guys's camaraderie. Very heartwarming and mostly they provide comic relief to the show.
4)This show has few villains with the main one was very annoying than the others. A sociopath because till the end of the show he never feels remorse about his wrongdoings. I was satisfied seeing he got his deserved 'happy ending'. The second villain kind of met his justifiable ends. To me, his greatest mistake was his incitement that led to the death of an innocent man. If only he didnt participate in that case, maybe I could like him abit.
C] The OST
I cant remember any....Not even one song.. But it doesnt matter much to me.
Last but not least, although I am not sure if there is anyone that read this review till this paragraph or even one person start reading this review at all, if you are here and still searching for a valid reason to start this, I hope my review helped you if not much, abit. Watch this if crime, detective, investigation, mystery are your genres, who knows you might like it more than me :)
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Thailand's version of Twilight .
But instead of vampire as ML here we have tiger as ML . He can moves fast with a strong sense of smell and hearing .So I am in a drama slump. It's been more than a month I struggled to finish every drama that I've started, ended up dropped lots of them. It was like I was stucked in a loop with no way out. Everything seem uninteresting. Even watching hyped drama did not helped. I used to enjoy watching Thailand drama/lakorn back in the days. But in these last few years, I mainly sticked to Chinese and Korean drama. So one day , I watched episode 1 of Love in Twilight ( without first reading the synopsis) and I was immediately sold! Finished this in just 3 sittings. So this was my first completed Thailand drama after 3 years.
Plot : Supernatural romance is always my cuppa tea. The storyline was quite angsty. If you're familiar with thai drama , every episode is long with 1 hour and 30 minutes. So feeling of dragginess can't be avoid . I skipped a lot of scenes regarding forest rangers, hunters and the bad guys. Their scenes was too much to the point I feel not enough of main couple's screentime.
Acting & character : This was my first Tono Phakin drama and WOW he did delivered! I was charmed by his acting & great visual here. His acting as Dr.Sama & Tiger King was impressive. When Tiger King was about to appear , his animal mannerism was evidence like he was really a tiger inside and out. How he roared, sniffed, did physical gestures like a tiger really embodied in him. It was not easy to act as an animal but he did it. I liked how mature, rational and gentle he was. Most of the times,I feel sad for his character. I could feel his loneliness, self-hatred and inner turmoils. To be something he did not want to be but had no choice in the matter. Fortunately he has Aunt Aung to share his emotional burden all the time. Richy Oranate was also good at acting as Parichart. All the confusion & dilemma she faced, I think if I was her I would be acting the same too. It took her frustratingly some time before she come to a decision. But when she finally did , it was all worth the wait ❤ . Chemistry between them was very good too. Their love to each other was evidence even without passionate kisses. Acting of the supporting characters (Nontha , Kalong, Aunt aung, Lee , Sa) were also good. At first, I was annoyed with both SFL and SML but later when their character matured, I grew to like them . But I understood the reason behind why they acted like that.
Cinematography & CGI: Good . I especially love the tiger effect. Adorable. But some of the CGI was laughable. The scene where Dr. Sama carried Parichart while moving fast through the forest. He wanted to show off his supernatural power to her then but instead of making the scene & he look cool they made the scene looked cartoonish instead lol.
Overall, I enjoyed this drama. Emotionally I would rate this 8.5/10 because this drama made me feel so much. But I settled for 8/10 when I considered all the aspects in the drama. If you like supernatural romance, in a drama slump like me or you enjoy emotional drama with good chemistry between leads try watching this maybe you will enjoy it like I did.
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This show just keep getting better and better!
To be honest, I enjoyed this season more than S1. Can't wait for S3! The challenges production gave to Paik and his crew did not make the show stagnant and boring. Also instead of relying on the same menu to cook & sell every day which if it was in this case the show would be boring but Paik & his crew were creative and put so much effort to cook & sell different kind of delicious menu everyday in the span of 10 days which in doing so was a challenge itself .I enjoyed watching each of them from the cast to the part timers. They're all so hardworking & genuine . They gave their all in making this show entertaining while introducing K-foods and at the same time the viewers could learn many things about cooking and selling process too. Paik especially, there's nothing he could not overcome. He could solve LIKE every problem. The title of this show is very well fitted indeed. I have so much respect for this guy.
So, my favourite worker in this season was the same as the last : John Park. Just how many languages he excelled at?! I loved listening him speaking Spanish here like when he speaking Italian in S1. What a talented guy.
To conclude my review,I would recommend this show to all K-food ethusiasts, fan of the cast and also food bussiness owners . If you enjoyed S1 surely you will enjoy this season too! BEWARE : watch it during eating or with full stomach only :)
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This review may contain spoilers
'' There is no wall in this world that can stop the sun from rising. ''
After more than a month I could not finish few dramas that I started (which I had alot of interest in them at the beginning but all of that wane away when I reach middle 2/3rd of the story) , finally kudos to myself for being able to finish this one successfully. The fact that this drama only has 24 episodes does help I think.My thoughts:
✅️ Cinematography & fighting scenes : 10/10. I loved the extravagant setting and how each scene were artfully filmed . Even if the story's bit lacking I was busy eye feasting with the beautifulness present in every scene.
✅️ OST: 10/10 . It was the best! While I usually enjoyed only one or two songs from a drama , I enjoyed all the songs here. Probably this become my favorite cdrama OST of the year. That song that has 'ge' in it was often played in Gong Shang Jue and Gong Yuan Zhi scenes really suited these two brothers relationship. Both since young have lost people dearest to them but later find solace and support in each other's arms. It does have a beautiful lyric.
✅️ Costume , hairstyles and visual : 10/10 . Everything is beautiful except I noticed one flaw that disturbed me for awhile while watching . They blurred hairline for all male here probably don't want us to notice how unnatural it look like lol .
☑️ Plot : 8/10 . Interesting beginning, a bit dragging in the middle but exciting ending. This drama surely have a lot of talking ,scheming scenes with non ending poetic languange in it script which definitely make you feel bored if you like more action in your drama. I remember being mildly bored and became instantly elated when a fighting scene is about to start lol. I think you need to be patience while watching all the talking scenes in order to understand the story better. About that ending scene. I am not even surprised anymore . Cdrama just love to have such an ending huh. Actually it was kinda expected because when we reach the last episode, Gong's mission to eliminate Wufeng still not achieve yet. Thus, 24 episodes is not enough to do it all. However I would not hold my breath waiting for season 2. Read somewhere that it is probably not going to happen.
✅️ Acting : 9/10. I think my most favorite character in this drama is Gong Zi Shang. I was never bored watching her dramatic antic. She was adorable to the max . While everything else in the story is dark and bleak she brings the sunshine into the story. I enjoyed all her scenes with Jin Fan. I'm happy she got her HEA. I think the main leads down to supporting characters did great in their given roles. While I did think that something is lacking in FL's character. I feel that her background story was not shown better . Other than her connection with Yun Que and Han Ya Si we know nothing else about her . Yes she talked about it with Gong Zi Yu but I prefer telling with showing rather than just telling only. Thus we inevitably feel detached with her character. Heck even Yun Que and Lady Wu Ji 's background stories was shown better than our FL. While everyone in the page comment section praises SFL for her performance here I have a different opinion . Something in the way she talks irritating me . It was the way she articulates each word looked and sounded greasy to me lol.
✅️ My Overall rating : 8.5/10
MJTY to me is like a beautifully wrapped -limited edition- candy with chocolate filling. You will feel good while eating it but after that it will leave you yearning for more .
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A draggy journey to find the truth.
This drama indeed took it's own sweet time to reveal the truth. 16 episodes drama often will do that to you. The main leads went back in time to 1987 from 2021. One came intentionally and one came accidentally but later found their purpose on staying there interconnected with each other.Actually , I never plan to watch this one. I started on this only because I was curious about that 8.6 rating.
So here is my thoughts after finishing this one. To me, MPS was a slow paced mystery , thriller drama. Going further with the story, though the plot building up little by little ,it never once hit the mark for me. I like my mystery thriller drama fast paced and get my adrenaline pumping most of the times but unfortunately MPS was'nt it.
Like most drama with unsolved crime,incompetent cops is a must here. I was curious about the killer but it was not the kind of curiousity that make me unable to sleep at night after finishing an episode. I got my sleep at night just fine. I think if I watch this while it's still airing maybe I would have dropped it at episode 8. So... this was one of those mystery drama that until near the end of the story, makes the viewer as clueless as our both leads were in finding the real killer .There were suspicious people until there were not. And that moment when they finally revealed who it is, I was like "Okay.. Totally not expecting that.." We don't have anything to convince us because remember, lack of hints given earlier . So when they showed us the reason of why he did what he did , it was underwhelming tbh.
The cinematography was amazing though. I liked how colorful 80-an looks here and many beautiful sceneries to sooth your eyes .
So to conclude, if you like your mystery drama slow paced rich of life lessons with a sprinkle of inexplainable fantasy this drama might be for you.
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The story was not as romantic as the title.
I start with what I liked from this drama :-1) While the story got draggy in the middle of the drama when they were investigating worm case but the story in the second half about the secret of Ancient Shu Town and Wei Du's backstory were pretty interesting.
2) The acting of the female lead, Li Qin . It was my first time watching her acting and she was good .I started this because of Allen Ren but I was mesmerized by her acting instead. Her acting was more heartfelt and genuine than the male lead. The acting of other supporting characters also good.
3) The humor in this drama was totally my type! People in Qingquan Stronghold provide good comic relief. I laughed alot while watching synergy between Dengdeng and her favourite side kicks, Dahai and her uncle. They were my favourite side characters.
4) ML & FL had exquisite change of costumes that further enhanced their looks. Allen Ren looks dashing in those dark color suits + those chains on his front. Same goes with Li Qin, she looks beautiful here.
5) Great and addictive OST. I loved the opening song , I by Allen Ren and the ending song You're My Only One by Lu Hu the most.
What I did'nt like about this drama :-
1) It really hurts me to say this . My biggest problem with this drama is Allen Ren's acting. I have so much to say about this. His perfomance in this drama was a total let down. I felt like he did not go all out with Lu Yan not like he did as Chang Yi , Zhousheng Chen. To me, he looked uncomfortable everytime he was required to be in scene together with FL ,that made me felt uncomfortable while watching them too. Its like there's this invisible barrier he placed between him and Li Qin whenever they were together. Like he do not like her as a person and can't wait for their scene to be over. Previously, I love Allen because of his excellent facial expressions in acting. He had good chemistry with his co-stars in his previous drama . He is one of the actor who has a beautiful smile to me, a reason why I was smitten with him in the first place. I love his sultry calm voice when he was delivering his lines. Even when he rarely kiss in his drama ,all the other qualities I mentioned compensated what he lacked in romance department. I saw those qualities in TBW, O&O and FAE but here not so much....
2) For a drama with romance as its driven factor, the romance in this surely was disappointing. TYFY had little to non-existent chemistry between main leads. Only in the second half I see an improvement but only slightly. Tbh, Li Qin had better chemistry with 2nd ML, her uncle, Dahai and with the whole Qingquan Stronghold's subordinate than with the ML but I know it was not her fault because I can see her trying but it won't work if only one party was trying hard while the other, not doing so much. I felt like the ML was not into FL like she was to ML. When FL tried flirting and teasing him enthusiastically, either he brushed it off like it did not happened or responded to her half-heartedly. Poor Dengdeng... I felt like the ML only took her in as a responsibility not as a lover. I really don't know what to blame here, the shallow script or the poor characterization or the weak direction.. maybe all three ?
3) It was annoying to see the ML always keeping his hands in the pockets . He always did that whether he was standing still or walking . You rarely seen his hands out except when he's doing magic things with his hands because he need them out to do that lol . Maybe the purpose was to make him look cool but it was just too much .
Overall, although the romance lacked so much but the other good aspects of this drama made me stayed. I'm not sure if I want to recommend this to someone maybe watch this if you like the leads.
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Story : The main story is nothing new even most of time was full of cliche but I loved the way it's being directed and how both the main plot and the subplot complement each other. It was perfectly balanced and there's nothing to complain about. I never get bored while watching it. This drama also has subtleness in every scene thus make the story has more depth despite having a light theme. Furthermore, I also loved the fact that each of the character has it own importance in the story as none of the side character get left behind. About the ghost,some of them were really scary combined with the CGI and sound effect.
Acting/ Cast : As I mention above, I'm not into the main cast. I found Taekyeon's acting to be average at best in Who Are You. Here, I can see there's a lot of improvement in his performance especially in later episodes. Maybe because he's paired up with Kim So Hyun who's acting is a lot better than him . Together they help each other thus resulting in believable acting and top-notch chemistry despite the age difference. I also enjoyed and had a good laugh while watching our comedy duo which provide comic relief in this drama.
Music : It flows well with the story. The sound was pleasant to my ear. Maybe I'll download them later and add them into my KDrama OST folder.
Rewatch value : Don't bother with this rating as I rarely rewatch a drama even my favourite one.
Overally, I rated this drama 8/10. I recommend you to watch this drama if you get tired of melodrama at the moment and want a lighter one, if you're a sucker for horromance as me or if you want to watch something to pass out time. Give it a go as you might like it like me.
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