36
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Jeana
In Fucking Beast Mode
So obviously, it was because of him that I started watching this drama. However, despite my unconditional inclination towards him, I'm not the kind of person who'd give out a biased review and so to be completely honest, even though Master's Sun has a lot of perks, it isn't as dazzling and mind blowing as people claim it to be.
I mean an 8.8 rating? Hm dramalist, you know that's pushing it a little bit, no? But then again, if trash like Love O2O can get as high, I think we'll let it slide.
Story:
Even though the premise of this show is quite unique, it hasn't truly escaped the KDrama cliche. You've got your recurring theme of amnesia, the "I love you so I'll let you go" bs, the martyr-esque actions on the hero's behalf, the unnecessary back and forth love between the main leads and of course the irrelevant draggy parts where the creators thought of prolonging the story into further two hour episodes instead of wrapping it up in one like it should've been.
However, the reason why all of these minor flaws are overlooked is because this drama gives so much joy. All the characters are extremely likable and throughout its episodes it somehow manages to maintain a steady rhythm that keeps the viewers interested. Every episode has a new ghost story, while simultaneously having a backbone that gave the serial its direction. The characters develop beautifully; they grow into themselves and by the last episode all of them had evolved into mature and three-dimensional personas.
Cast:
The thing I love about So JiSub is that he always delivers a performance where I can look past his name and immerse my self into the character he plays. When I watched Master's Sun, it wasn't So JiSub that made me relentlessly crack up, rather it was President Joo.
The best term to describe Joo Joong Won is adorably nasty. He's very materialistic, selfish and practical and yet he radiates innocence. When he's being a brat and telling people to get lost, instead of getting offended you can't help but want to squeeze his cheeks. Every thing that comes out of his mouth is just plain hilarious.
Countless of times, I had to press the pause button so that I could get my laughter in control. He's incredibly witty and his comebacks always gave me so much life. At the same time he is a very loyal and devoted man and you can't stop all the warm and gooey feels that erupt wherever he's concerned. I swear, I'd be his candy girl a thousand times over.
This is my first drama by Gong Hyo Jin and I admit that I was a little apprehensive. Not gonna lie, I'm a pretty shallow person and even though I preach about inner beauty, I do like my characters to be pretty. Tae Gong Shil literally held up her middle finger in the face of every single stereotype that society associates with beauty. Her hair has never seen a brush, she stinks, she has major panda eyes, her clothing is "drab" (if we're being kind) and she doesn't give enough fucks to be embarrassed about it whatsoever.
Now starring against a man who's so incredibly handsome is very hard when you're playing such a supposedly dull character. However, soon enough you start to see her pretty heart and you start to love her for who she really is. She is kind hearted, strong and persistent. Even though in the beginning she appears to be an insecure and weak woman, soon we discover the deadly claws she's been hiding. She's extremely blunt for what she wants and if she wants you to know you're no good, best believe you'll know it. She can cut you up pretty nicely and later in the show she more than makes up for all the times she had to deal with Joo Joong's shit.
One very refreshing thing about this drama was how honest the main leads were with each other. They don't have the same petty misunderstandings that usually plague KDrama relationships. They have conversations, they talk and stabilize themselves as independent people before being together and that was something I really respected.
The side characters are also pretty amazing. Secretary Kim, Kang Woo, Yi Riyeong, Joo Won's aunt, her husband and even Tae Gong Shil's older sister and her blabbermouth brought their own to the show.
This serial has so much fluff and happiness and is truly a feel good drama. Despite all this though, I don't think I'll be rewatching it anytime soon for it doesn't bring forth drastic bursts of emotion and isn't exactly a never before seen phenomenon.
It has a more of a "enjoy it while it lasts and then say goodbye" vibe. And that's exactly what I'm doing for despite all of its cuteness, it isn't something you cannot let go of.
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Also, I felt warm inside when they quoted a few iconic lines from "I'm sorry I love you" and John Kim's like, those lines are very familiar, I wonder where I heard them from. I was like, very sly m8, I saw what you did there and I loved it. xD
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This is the first Asian drama that I watched that had so many episodes. I finished it in three days, where I was relentlessly stuck to my laptop screen. I laughed, I swooned, I sighed, I screamed- all in all it was a fairly enjoyable ride.
To be honest, the star of this show is Zhou Zhen. The drama would essentially be nothing without him. He's an Alpha Male to the boot. He's got the looks, the rough exterior, the charm and the golden heart to go with it all. He's possessive and controlling and yet, so tender and affectionate. He's a true badass and even though his fight scenes are awfully corny at first, they grow on you. The actor playing the role delivered his best and really there couldn't have been a more perfect Er Ye than Zhou Zhen. The loyalty his subjects have for him is endearing and his courageous personality and give no fucks attitude is so fucking attractive.
And well that's about all this drama has, to be honest. The supporting characters all lie on various scales on the spectrum of annoying and dumb. The main heroine is a horrendously stupid and weak af damsel disguised as a smart female lead. It's convenient how she's apparently good at almost everything except, things that matter.
Like, literally the only time she took out her claws was is in front of the man who loved her with his all. Which was hilarious because for all her bark, she's so irrelevant and legit has no bite. She's always saved by the hero and even when she apparently becomes this badass later, she does nothing except create problems for the guy. Like, there was no scene in the entire show where I was like "Go Girl, that's some mojo".
Nope, she's useless.
Plus, towards the end she commits one of the most brainless acts ever committed in the history of dumb acts committed by brainless heroines and has to pay heavily for it, just because she thought trusting a shady ass man who she met a coupla times was better than trusting someone who was there for her through thick and thin. I really don't understand what Zhou Zhen saw in her and how he was capable of loving such an ungrateful TSTL so unconditionally that he forgave her for her selfishness time and time again.
Then comes Ming Zhu. This girl is even more dumb than our heroine. (Which is quite a feat to achieve in itself, to be honest) She let's herself be manipulated time and time again by the bad guy and has to face so much shit in her life. She suffers horribly throughout and at the end always asks God, why it had to be her.
Well, the answer is because she buried all her intelligence under a rock somewhere and went on her merry way. Like, all the messy things she gets herself in could've been easily avoided but nope, she was hell-bent on making irrationality her best friend. Like really, let me ask you, if somebody who tortured, hit, raped you and was emotionally blackmailing you to do hideous things offered you a gift, would you fucking take it with a big smile or would you throw it in the nearest trash can and be 'oh shit I'm outta here'.
Like, how dumb can you be to trust a guy, you hate? Who's inflicted horrible things on you countless of times. How can you be brain-dead enough to later wonder why he lied to you and deceived you? Like bitch, you thought? You really thought the guy who made your life hell was gonna turn into a boy scout in sixty seconds? I can't.
However, the women are not the only epitome of stupidity here, because we always have the second male lead Ying Dong to fulfill the quota on the men's side. He's simply a selfish, childish brat who always creates troubles for others. Like, he literally does not have a single redeeming quality and frankly, his existence is a waste.
Atleast, throughout the drama he gets rightfully taunted about how he is trash (which he is) and in the end admits that he can only love himself. I literally wanted to punch him in the face. Throughout the show, he gives these fierce and angry looks where he pretends that he's all that but like, he just needs to sit tf down cause he isn't shit. He's a worse damsel in distress than our heroine and his ass constantly needs saving. It's a pity that at the end he still does get almost everything (while even in the last episode he creates shit for other people). His brother, Han Chuan on the other hand was so respectable and a clever and true businessman who I really liked from the start.
Also, one thing that nobody seems to notice is that Cruel Romance plagiarized an entire scene from the Korean Drama Innocent Man, where Ming Zhu asks YingDong to meet her and jumps in the pool in order to show that she is willing to end her life for him. Tsk tsk. However, where it was an impactful scene in Innocent Man, here it was just further evidence of Mingzhu's lack of intellect.
A perk of this drama though, is the Bad Guy. Qian Tian is a good villain. His psychotic and bloodthirsty character was very interesting and he had his wits till the end. The back and forth between the hero and the villain was so entertaining to witness. Qi Ji and Huang Xiao Ming portrayed excellent acting skills and really, they were the only thing that made this drama worth watching.
Even though the heroine independently wasn't much, her chemistry with Zhou Zhen was amazing. The romance aspect of this drama is brilliant and it's filled with iconic, swoon worthy moments. Despite the fact that the drama lost its soul towards the end and just kind of wandered aimlessly with unnecessary sub plot lines and repetition (Literally, the second last episode is filled with characters having flashbacks of things that happened before again and again- I skipped almost all of it because of the sheer redundancy of it ) and the ending wasn't executed well at all but if you're a romance lover and like your guys to be Alphas and bad boys, you'll ignore all of its shortcomings and still get extremely entertained.
For Zhou Zhen's swagger is enough to overcome all that this drama lacked.
I wouldn't say I'd rewatch all of its 40 episodes but there are some scenes that I'd definitely like to revisit.
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In the sea of K-crime dramas, Memorist tries to be a blue whale but ends up being a fluke- the most abundant fish in the waters. It's generic, follows a pattern already used by many others, unoriginal and unfortunately boring by the end of the day.
In order to be apart from the norm, a mystery/crime show has to bring its own color to shine through. Stranger did that with the unique characters, Voice did that with its powerful antagonist, Defendent did that with the brilliant acting but Memorist, unfortunately has nothing that stands out.
Trouble with over powered protagonists (like the ML here, can read memories, is a kickass fighter, super smart, handsome , has a fan base) is that you're less forgiving of their stupidity. The ML's reckless actions and punch first, think later idealogy was less charming and more idiotic to me. It kept him from doing what matters and unfortunately, that meant I'd be stuck with more episodes of the same running around in circles with the plot I have no interest in.
Yoo Seung Ho is good here. He knows how to act but does not have the wow factor to make you connect with him (unless you're already a fan), the FL's character is well written but the actress's portrayal of her is just bland enough to make it meh.
Sure, there's mystery and the whodunnit factor and the frustration of not being able to catch the murderer but to me personally, it felt like I was seeing more of the same thing. And the idea of watching the same thing for the umpteenth of time, digesting all of the info dump with a mediocre setting and characters for 16 hours straight does not sound appealing to me at all. Some people say it got better, others say the plot just became messier as the episodes progressed, I for one don't have the patience to find out.
Maybe more suited for watchers that are new to the genre and fans of the cast but for a seasoned watcher? A hard pass.
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