Jesus Christ...! Let me tell you: this is crazy. One of the most intriguing and suspenseful dramas I have ever watched. Mostly because of the main character. Seo In Guk is spectacular. It's maybe the best acting I have ever seen in a drama series. He just nailed that character which means something when a character is that complex. The way he talked, his facial expressions – everything was just perfect. This series haunts you even after you finish it.
The acting, the way the story was told (the dialogues!), the music, the production – this is beyond great.
The only problem: the plot is paper-thin if you look at it from a distance. It doesn't bother you while watching the series. The drama is so well made that you are longing for more and more ... But after finishing it, you really wonder why it had to be like this. Why certain things happened. You feel like it could have been avoided all together.
It seems this series is a remake of a Japanese drama. They changed a very important part of the plot and I feel like if they hadn't done that, the plot would make more sense. I don't want to spoil, but the motives and the behavior of the brother of the female lead made no sense. They tried to explain it later on, but it didn't convince me at all.
Overall this drama is too great to not rate it very high. I watched it until the end and didn't skip a scene. I even plan on watching it again, just to enjoy Seo In Guk's great acting. His co-star was good too, of course. Jung So Min always delivers. I would love to see those too again in a drama.

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I stopped watching korean dramas a while ago. I'm just tired and bored. It's only about looks, cute boys and girls doing cute things, damsels in distress who need the protection of a superhero. Where are strong female leads like in "Secret Garden" or "City Hall"? Where are the smart storylines? People talk about dramas like "Pinocchio", "Love from a distant star" or "Healer". Who can watch this until the end? It bores me to death, even though Ji Chang Wook ("Healer") is a terrific actor (everyone should see him in "Fabricated City"). Well, I don't want to bash other series, I'm just really disappointed with Korean Drama lately. So I came across THIS. First, I love Lee Seung Gi, he is my favorite actor (worldwide, honestly), his acting is incredible if he gets a good script. "Korean Odysee" had this kind of script. The fantasy elements, how the story progressed, the interaction between the characters - it is all great. Even minor characters are doing an incredible job. The first 10 episode of this drama deserve a 10/10 - or even more. I was not bored for one second, I didn't skip any parts (which I normally do, because ... I mean, who has the patience to go through a korean drama until the end? I sure don't). It is really, really good and highly entertaining. The love story is something I have never seen before and they did a really good job with it in the first half. Son Oh Gong is a great character who doesn't change over night and falls head over heels for the girl. It's a slow process which I really enjoyed. The whole drama (side stories included) is constantly pulling on your heart strings. The zombie girl was getting to me. Very charming actress. The secretary was also very likeable. I think I don't have to talk about Ma Wang, everyone seems to love him. Chae Seung Won plays this kind of role pretty often, but it never bores me. I have seen him in more serious roles like "Man in High Heels", he is very versatile. So why only 9,5 (which isn't a bad rating btw)? They dragged it out. That's pretty typical for Korean dramas. They start out incredible strong and then they lose their charm pretty fast. "Korean Odysee" lost it somewhere around ep 12/13 for me. I liked the female lead at the beginning, but to the end of the series, her face just looked like she was constantly crying. And, honestly, it annoyed me to death. So now I'm sitting here, glad that I could watch such a great drama, but also sad, that at the end the female lead had to became a mess. I'm still waiting for a strong woman to appear. No wonder I always loved Kim Sun Ah ("City Hall", "I Do, I Do", "My Name is Kim Sam Soon"). Korea, give us some charming and strong woman, please! Only then good actors like Lee Seung Gi can really shine.

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This show is crap. Now feel free to down vote my review. My patience is running out. This is impossible to watch. I'm finding myself rolling my eyes constantly. So what's the problem beside the soap operish production, the cheesy and misplaced music, the slow pace (you can watch this on YouTube with 1,5 speed and you will be able to read the subtitles just fine). The problems are (plural, yes!) the badly written characters, the boring and empty plot, the childish conflicts that are dragged out for eternity and the lack of real emotion (New disappoints with his performance, he has the same dull expression throughout the whole series). They changed Kao's character three times now. From a nerdy, insecure and unhealthy jealous guy in Kiss The Series he went to a bold, strong character who knew exactly what he wanted in KMA only to transform into an insecure (again!) coward who prefers lying over facing a difficult situation. So he is afraid of coming out? REALLY? He has a loving mother, supportive friends and a boyfriend that loves him very much. Believe me, when I tell you, he could have it much worse in life. MUCH WORSE. Tay as Pete is doing a better job acting-wise, his character is better written too. If you're looking for some good dialogues and some wisdom it's mostly Pete who delivers that, yes, despite his hot-headed personality and his jealousy. Enough of the main leads. The second leads aren't engaging at all. Sorry. They tried, I guess, but there is no passion (and I'm not talking about sexual scenes). The spark just isn't there. The whole show is just ... I guess you can tell at this point, that I'm angry. Sometimes I think "It's my fault" or "This show just isn't for me", but then again I discover a good show and I remember that good shows do exist, but DBK is not one of them, that's for sure. If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck and quacks like a duck – it is a duck. And this show looks like crap.

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It's pointless

I'm dropping this at episode 5, because I can't bring myself to watch this any further. For me it's pointless, and a waste of time.
When this aired, I had zero expectations. I thought it would lack a good story like so many other BLs out there, especially the more sexy ones, but I was pleasantly surprised, because there was some potential for an intriguing plot. The acting is incredible from First, Khaotung, Neo and Mark. Force and Book are almost unbearable to watch, because they aren't able to breathe some life into their characters. Better actors could have done a better job for sure. Well, not the whole cast can be stellar, so that's not the biggest issue here. I was hooked after episode 2, enjoyed episode 3, was bored by episode 4 and started skipping scenes, and now at episode 5 I will end my misery. This series reminds me of some German soap operas, where the couple gets together in a few episodes, they love each other, and you don't even know why, and then they get separated, and you have to watch endless episodes of family, friends, and the jealous ex-girlfriend plotting schemes to keep them separated until they get together in the 99th episode and marry in the 100th. Apparently this concept is very popular in Germany, and most likely all over the world, despite me to this day not knowing how something like this can even be considered an entertaining watch.
What is my point? I don't enjoy people plotting schemes and making their life miserable for no good reason. I don't enjoy the idea of love where you don't even understand why they are attracted to each other. They are all obsessed with someone, while having good potential partners around them. It's just shallow, damn shallow. You can't feel the character depths, which makes it hard to root for anyone here. I don't feel sorry for them, I don't want to see them happy, I'm just annoyed by their dirty little games and their stubbornness that makes them miserable human beings. It honestly feels strange to look at those characters who are played by great actors, some of them I really like, and just thinking: I don't care about your issues. I don't.
Still, I'm not surprised that this series is popular at all. Most people enjoy this kind of drama. I even think it's pretty realistic. We have more bad people than good people in this world, and when it comes to relationships, so many behave like lunatics.
But I personally feel too old to watch some guys f*cking around and being dramaqueens for no good reasons. I feel this is something for people in their mid 20s, especially for those who enjoy the NSFW content, which I normally do, but it cannot save this series.
To sum it up: I don't think it's a bad series. There sure is an audience for it. The acting (most of it), the music (!!) and how some of the dialogues are written isn't bad, some scenes are beautifully filmed too. But the characters are too shallow, their intrigues too dirty and pointless. So it's a no for me.

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This series got me very excited. It's a while since a series made me fangirl like this. I was waiting eagerly for every new episode. Still I cannot bring myself to rate it higher.

Let me tell you, that this series fooled me. I thought this could be something more than a silly BL series, but at the end of the day it proved me wrong.

STORY (7,5/10): While the overall plot is very serious, interesting and full of twists, there are many rather silly scenes throughout the series. The comedy wasn't working for me most of the time. The policemen looked like a bunch of kids playing cops. The tone of the series changed completely in the second half. From silly comedy and unnecessary cliche BL scenes it went to flashbacks and drama, only to be rather cheesy in the last episode. I feel like the script could have been better. Still, this is a typical HIStory series. While I wasn't that critical with other HIStory series, this time I feel the need to remove my BL googles and rate this objectively. So, frankly speaking, the storytelling was a mess. Even if you binge watch the series, the plot just doesn't "flow". They clearly had some trouble balancing this out. It felt like two different people worked on the script. Less comedy in inappropriate situations, more consistent storytelling, cutting out unnecessary scenes with unnecessary characters etc. would have done wonders. I'm also not a fan of those kisses, where a character has the eyes wide open or those trip-fall-catch scenes (BL fans know what I'm talking about). I feel like those HIStory writers have a checklist and are forced to include those scenes. Some embarrassing touching – check. Getting nervous, because someone is half naked – check. This is silly and I hope they could just stop. Or maybe I'm just too old to giggle and blush, because of such scenes. For me it's just second hand embarrassment.

The love stories were written pretty well though, at least between the main characters. Tang Yi & Shao Fei were intriguing to watch. I enjoyed the rather straight forward approach. At the beginning I wasn't that impressed by Shao Fei's character and by Jake's acting. But throughout the series I started to appreciate how he portrayed Shao Fei. Yeah, the character is a bit goofy, he seems a bit silly and impulsive, but he is smart, brave and strong. Both characters are very complex and multi-dimensional. You want to know what happens next, how their relationship develops. They are adults with a past and certain goals. I really liked how slow the relationship developed, if was very natural and plausible. The chemistry is pretty good too. It's awkward sometimes, but then again those awkward scenes fit the characters and the story very well. Jake & Chris feel very raw and real. Unfortunately in the last couple of episodes both characters lost some of their charm and become rather one-dimensional, because of the dramatic circumstances. Their interactions also felt repetitive. After they became a couple, sh*t started to get down.

Jack & Zhao Zi: This couple was just too silly for my taste. They were mostly cute and lovely. You get the impression the couple was inserted just for fan service. Zhao Zi as a cop is not working. Jack isn't that credible either (constantly playing with his knife like some wannabe street gangster, while being dressed like a K-Pop idol). I honestly feel like the series lost a lot of its seriousness in the first half because of those two characters. Comedy and cuteness is okay, but they really went overboard with the second couple. I got invested in them later on though. I can see why people like them. Both actors/characters were pretty charming.

The hetero couple: I think this is worth mentioning. Those two are very likeable characters, especially Hong Ze as Tang Yi's "sister". She is sassy and really cares for Tang Yi. The love story was cute and got me emotional. Thumps up for including a hetero couple and a likable woman in a BL series! But let's be honest: this storyline was not needed for the overall plot. Cut it out and nothing would change. I guess you can say the same about the second gay couple. At least Zhao Zi and Jack were more involved in the plot.

ACTING CAST (7,5/10): There were a lot of different characters, a lot of different roles. I felt that most of the roles were pretty challenging and most of the cast did a good job. Almost everyone had a moment where she/he could shine. Still I think there was room for improvement. The actor who impressed me the most was Chris Wu. In some scenes Jake Hsu even out-acted him, only to show us a rather lacking performance in the next scene. Looking back I really feel like Jake's acting was a bit inconsistent.

THE MUSIC (9/10): Very nice music, nice intro and outro. The music that played at the end of ep 12 was beautiful. The whole scene was great and one of the best BL scenes I have ever watched. They also had good background music in some tense and action packed scenes.

REWATCH VALUE (9/10): I normally don't rewatch a series. This is a first for me. If you want to understand everything and not miss any details, you have to rewatch it. It's worth it though.

Overall I give it a solid 8,5 and hope, we will see similar series in the future. Still if you look for a BL series, that you can take 100% serious, then this one is not right for you. It seems many local fans hated on "Trapped" and I don't understand why. "Trapped" is not much different from past HIStory series. It had the same ingredients: embarrassing scenes, emotional scenes, cheesy scenes, dramatic scenes and the obligatory HAPPY END. Yeah, it was not a high school romance, the police-gangster background was different and something we don't see often, but still it was your typical BL at the end of the day. Don't get me wrong, this isn't a bad thing. But like I said, for a moment I thought this could be something more.

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It's one of those series that make your heart beat like crazy. I don't really know why. It wasn't done very well, the male lead was cold (he was supposed to be like that I know), the kisses were stiff, the female lead was stupid and annoying. I never read the manga, didn't watch the anime and I don't feel like watching any other adaption of this story. The special episodes released were pretty stupid too. So why did I like it? Who knows ... It's about falling in love and being hurt by the one you love ... and never giving up on love ... sigh ... somehow it was touching and I started rooting for the girl ...

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Since I loved the directing in "Better Days" I checked this out. Same actress too. Beautiful cinematography, great acting, but horrible script. To make it short: I was annoyed by this movie throughout. I hated it for many reasons, mostly because the women were so weak and dependent on the men, while at the same time it seemed like they were in love with each other. They had a very intimate and complicated friendship. But then again, if you think about it, the male lead, who was bland, boring and unappealing was somehow the cause of it all. Who was loving who? They were hurting each other and themselves constantly for no good reason. Depressing, really. Good news though: The movie redeemed itself at the end, mostly because they put the male lead aside, and didn't go for a cheesy happy end. 8/10 to be fair. My enjoyment was maybe 4/10. Rewatch value ZERO. But despite me being annoyed by the movie: the director is crazy talented. There was not one boring moment. It was pure art.

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Okay ... I wrote a review, deleted it, and now I'm here again. I have a hard time to put my thoughts into words when it comes to this series. First of all, I liked it. And then I didn't. Then I liked it again. And then I didn't. I have a hate-love relationship with this series. Objectively speaking, there was some greatness to be found along the way. But I don't like the style and I couldn't get into the story most of the time. Historical Chinese drama is over the top, cheesy and very theatrical (people flying around and spinning dramatically before attacking an enemy). It looks pretty (the colors, the actors, the backgrounds) and cheap at the same time. Some special effects were really bad. They couldn't even provide some proper wigs. The story itself isn't groundbreaking and innovative, but it is well told. Unfortunately, you must be Chinese to understand most of it. The magic, the instruments, the swords, the clans, the "cultivation" - what the hell? It wasn't explained at all. If you watch the whole series you get an idea how it works, but yeah, I'm not impressed how this was just thrown at me.
Talking about the relationship of the two main characters: I'm not crazy about it. I felt like it was a one-sided love. Wei Wuxian is a very charming character. But unfortunately many people died because of him (it was not his fault, but still). At some point I thought it wasn't fair that he got to live happy ever after. So many people were willing to sacrifice themselves for him. Good people. I really wondered why he had to be saved at any cost and at some point I couldn't really feel for the tragic hero anymore. The love was problematic, becasue Lan Zahn was too fixated on Wei Wuxian and - like many others - suffered a lot because of him. His stubborn love made him a rather pitiful character in my eyes. But I guess that's what people call "romantic".
Still, it's a good series. That's why I rate it so high. But it was not for me.

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If you want to see the most stupid movie/drama on earth, then go for it. Seriously, it was ridiculous, but fun to watch. They could have chosen a better guy. It was so obvious he was a man. That muscular body? Hiding constantly the adam apple? Really? A girly face alone isn't enough. The movie "Jellyfish Princess" had a boy crossdressing as girl who was much more fitting for such a role. Boys with small bodies and slim figures do exist.
Overall it was cute, romantic, funny, entertaining. If you don't take it too serious, it is very enjoyable. I even watched it twice and I don't do that often.

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I liked it. Such stories where being gay isn't that big of a deal so that the characters get together pretty fast are once in a while refreshing. The interaction between the characters felt very natural. I wished for more kisses or touches, but the one we got was great. Overall the story was a bit mysterious and not that well done. I wouldn't want to watch such a movie only because of the second story line. But hey, why not trying out different things? It was an ejoyable watch with some charming characters. I had to rewatch some scenes because I liked them so much. So go watch it! It was nice.

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Breathtaking

I wonder why I never wrote a review for this 2nd season. I was hooked from the beginning to the end and enjoyed it more than the 1st season. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. Some characters were just incredible, the acting was overall pretty good, I even started to like the main guy. The plot was as intriguing as in the 1st season, but this time they tackled some moral questions that really got me thinking. It's a while that I watched a series, and I had to pause it just to take it all in and get my thoughts straight. This series really deserves the hype.

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I wanted to rate this with a solid 7.5, because despite me not liking it very much, it was pretty well made. But after thinking about this series for two days and feeling like I wasted my time and I want that time back, I think I can no longer be objective. I HATE THIS. The characters are annoying, the gore is boring and too much, there is no character development, people just die for the shock value like it's common in those zombie apocalypses - but why should I care? The characters weren't likable or relatable to begin with. They gave some characters like the girl's father an important story arc just to end everything in such a pointless way.
So ... the filming is good, the acting is good too. I don't blame the actors for those lifeless characters. I'm pretty sure they were told to act like this. The older actors were pretty disappointing though. I expected more from them. The comment is a mess like my head after watching this pointless series. POINTLESS is the right word I guess.
NOT IMPRESSED.

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Today I'm on a Tin&Can-marathon. I enjoy the new season ACTL and I watched 2Wish, which I really liked. So I thought I would give ReminderS a second chance (the first time I watched it I couldn't get into it). I must say I still don't like it. The story is all about insecurity and jealousy how it's written in the description. It's just tiring. An hour and a half full of misunderstandings. Mean's acting is a bit ... hard to get used to, and Plan plays a character who isn't very likable. In 2Wish we have the same characters, but they feel differently and there is a different power balance. Saint and Perth ... well, I don't know. I liked the story between Phun and Noh the most, I guess. Not impressed. Sorry.

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