This Is How To Do A Good Second Season. Well... Mostly

When they announced a second season for The Uncanny Counter my first reaction was: "Yay!"
The second was: "Please don't fuck this up."

And in my opinion, they did an excellent job with this. The effects were good, the cinematography was on par and the ost SLAPPED just like in the first season. There are three points in particular that I want to talk about.

Writing Difference: I didn't know this when I started watching but there were pretty significant changes in the writers for this season and that difference is definitely noticeable. From the very first episode the dialogue felt slightly different and the way the villains were set up also felt very new. I've seen people say that they felt this was to the detriment of the show. Personally, I believe that if you're able to get that fact out of your mind, you can easily enjoy this new way of writing just as much as the first since the difference isn’t THAT big imo.

Characters: There are a bunch of new characters joining the original cast in this season and I enjoyed almost every addition. Na Jeok Bong fits into the team perfectly and I thoroughly enjoyed Ma Ju Seok's character and his journey. I love Kang Ki Young as an actor, but Hwang Pil Gwang was a villain I had to get used to. Ji Chung Sin was such a great antagonist in season 1 for his likeness to So Mun, something that Pil Gwang obviously lacks. He is very much just plainly evil without much reason, but it honestly didn't bother me much as I don't feel like every villain needs a sob story background. Some people are past redemption and allowed to be labelled just 'evil'. Furthermore, I really enjoyed the dynamic between the trio of evil spirits.

Love(possible spoilers incoming): And then we arrive at my one complaint about this season. So Mun and Ha Na's love story line that was hinted at continuously in season one, was just abandoned and a new love interest was introduced. Do Hwi was fine as a love interest, but I really expected Ha Na and So Mun to at least get some development in this season. But there wasn't even a hint at jealousy on So Mun's part when Do Hwi entered the picture. It’s like they expected us to just ignore that he clearly had feelings for her in season one. I can agree that Ha Na and Do Hwi's story line is cute, but this is just a case where my expectations were just horribly let down. What a waste of the chemistry we know Kim Se Jeong and Jo Byeong Gyu have.

Overall, this season was a success to me. I'm going to be honest and say I don't really anticipate a third season, nor am I hoping for one. This season tied up all the ends neatly for me.

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If Only the ending...

Like a lot of other reviews have pointed out, this show wasn’t very eventful. Not a lot happened and even though it’s only 8 episodes, I don't feel like it even needed all of those. But my main gripe of the show, isn't even with the uneventful episodes, it's with the last ending.

For anyone who's seen 'My Beautiful Man'(another Japanese BL), I kinda feel like this show was trying to do what they did. MBM, for those who don't know, is a show where the two leads are also in a relationship with a severe power imbalance. And just like in this, one of them is in charge and kinda unlikable throughout a lot of the show. And just like in this, the entire show was set from the pov of our main character aka the ‘underling’ or ‘submissive’ one in the situation. The entire show, except for the second to last episode, which was from the pov of the other lead. And just like in this, they resolved things in the end.

Unlike MBM tho, this show doesn't do a good enough job at explaining and redeeming everything Segasaki did. I understood him more yes, but I still didn't really like him or felt like a lot of his actions were now justified.
Another thing MBM did a lot better is the resolution in the last episode. The conversation they had on the bed very much felt like it was supposed to be them resolving all their gripes in a big meaningful conversation, but to me it kinda missed the mark. Yes, Segasaki clarified his feelings but they didn't really address the biggest point of contention. The ending failed to wrap up and explain to me how they are going to navigate a healthy relationship in the future.

In MBM there is also a power imbalance, maybe even more severe than here. But the entire point of that ending is that they address that and promise to navigate a relationship trying to treat each other like equals.

It's a real pity bc the characters clearly love each other and if only that conversation at the end had been done differently than I strongly believe I would've loved this a lot more. The actors did a wonderful job portraying their characters and I strongly believe that Higuchi Kouhei is the only reason I didn't HATE Segasaki's guts by the end of it.

In summary, I strongly believe that your level of enjoyment of this show will depend on what kind of viewer you are.

If you appreciate sexual scenes and if you are the type that doesn't mind 'toxicity' and enjoyed couples like VegasPete in Kinnporsche, than you'll probably like this show. But if you're like me and find it difficult to watch a show of a couple you're not really rooting for, than this show might not be for you.

It’s filmed beautifully, the characters were interesting and it had potential but I can’t help but be disappointed at the way the ending was handled.

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A Female Lead That Know What She Wants? I'm Here For It!

From the bat I'm going to make the disclaimer that I didn't even know this was another webtoon adaptation so whether it did a good job at adapting the webtoon I don't know. Instead, I have two main points I want to touch on.

Characters: When I tell you that Ban Ji Eum is one of my favourite female leads of all time, I mean it. With the premise that she's lived multiple lives, comes the bonus that this is highly skilled woman who has lived long enough to know what she wants and how to get it. I was honestly not too excited that the 'rich CEO boyfriend & employee girlfriend' trope was seemingly getting a revival in recent kdramas like ‘King The Land’ since I’m not really a fan of the trope. But this drama did it in a way that made it feel new. She's assertive, smart and chasing her guy with confidence without coming off like a cringy 'girl boss' trope. Shin Hye Sun's wise and otherworldly aura really makes the character of Ban Ji Eum one of my main reasons for loving this show as much as I did. Naturally, Ahn Bo Hyun did an amazing job as always, as did the entire cast. Special shout out to the child actors who really pulled their weight in the flashbacks.

the ending (no spoilers): I've seen a lot of people in their reviews complain about the way this show ends. Without spoiling anything, I get where their disappointment comes from but for me it didn't ruin my viewing experience at all. Was it the direction that I was hoping they were going? No, not really. But I did enjoy the way they tied it back to the first few episodes and although it wasn't the best ending, I still finished this drama feeling satisfied.

The cinematography was great, with the exception of maybe that one sequence in one of her previous lives. I enjoyed the Ost, especially Doyoung since I didn't realize he had done the Ost for this until I suddenly heard his voice lol. Overall, this was a fun drama to me. Out of all the romance dramas that I've seen lately, I'm happy to have finally watched one that interested me from start to finish.

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For All Those That Enjoy Fluff

Ok, I initially checked this show out bc Zee was in it and I hadn't seen him in anything for a while. I really enjoyed the side characters and the chemistry between everyone was great, but that is kind of where my list of compliments ends.

In my opinion it really dragged in the middle. I don't know if it was just me but there was a point where I just started cheering for them to argue because I was bored of all the fluff. Keep in mind, I'm the type of person that gets annoyed with other shows for dragging conflicts out for to long or basing the entire plot on miscommunication. But at some point I was really just wishing for something, ANYTHING other than the constant stream of fluff and kiss scenes.

In series like 'Ingredients', lengthy periods of just fluff didn't bother me but I was just expecting more conflict and the multiple episodes of not really anything happening threw me off. I feel like this show could've been shortened to like ten episodes. My sister felt the same, but it might just be our short attention span.

I didn't particularly like or dislike the main couple, even if it was a bit vague to me when exactly Lian fell for Kuea. One moment he's insulting him and saying he doesn't want to get married and the next he's suddenly in love with him.

I'm not going to say much about the second couple since I was pretty indifferent to their storyline and tuned out most of their scenes while watching. I'm not going to bash them since from the very beginning their storyline really didn't interest me. But the one thing I will say is that I HATE the way they were dressed in this. My sister pointed out that they literally look like father and son at some points in this and I just couldn't get the thought out of my head. Khondiao is dressed so colourfully and playfully, which isn't bad, but next to Yi who is always wearing a suit he looked like his son more than his boyfriend.

Long story short, if you go into it knowing there's minimal conflict once the show reaches the halfway mark you might enjoy this. It just wasn't for me.

(also, English isn't my first language so excuse the spelling and grammar mistakes)

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Don't judge a book by its cover

Middleman's love is exactly like a lot of people described it. A typical office romance with a predictable storyline, obnoxious Thai humour, ridiculous characters and circumstances and a main character so extra it borders on annoying.

Or at least that's what I thought for the first 4 episodes but, DAMN.

Jade starts out as a very outgoing, meddling and to some maybe even annoying character. He's high energy and his face and voice are all over the place. He very much feels like Thai humour was just poured into a character. That is what it seemed like and that's how I expected it to stay. I didn’t think this show would ever turn into anything more than just something I could laugh at. So colour me surprised when episode 5 rolls around and they actually get into Jade's backstory.

Without spoiling anything, this show spends 4 episodes focussing on humour and the crush Mai has on Jade. But when episode 5 rolls around it actually gives all of the characters much more depth than I initially expected.

Jade isn't just obnoxious and annoying, he's hurt, self conscious and afraid of getting hurt again. Mai isn't just an emotionless man that's endlessly chasing after his crush but a guy who's trying to stay determined and both do the right thing while still honouring his own feelings.

This show doesn't deal with the endless layers of trauma that Bed Friend does, but that's not the point. It's a show about Jade, the middleman, finally getting noticed by someone and how his past and own mind desperately try to deal with the attention.

So if you're a TutorYim fan, like (or don't get angered by) Thai humour and you're looking for an easy to watch bl that still has some depth but doesn't deal with the endless layers of angst that every bl seems to have nowadays. Than Middleman's love might be for you.

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