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Revenge is best served in 12 episodes!
I didn't initially have any interest in watching this drama but then a recommendation from a friend led me to give it a chance and I'm glad I watched it. It's such a deliciously satisfying story of revenge and payback.Summary: Woman gets betrayed. Woman dies. She transmigrates to ten years earlier. Woman gets revenge!
This is a very fun show to watch. It's super satisfying too. Though episodes 12 to 16 just nosedived into hell and I can't even pretend to like that bit. The ending was extremely cringe too. This show should've been 12 episodes and finished with an elegant ending but then they dragged it on with silly subplots for way too long. It was embarrassing. However, the run from episode 1 to 10 was probably one of the most satisfying arcs I've seen in any show. Is it a bit cliche? Yes. Are the actors the best ever? Probably not. Was it a total rip-off of Perfect Marriage Revenge? Sort of? But that's actually a good thing! So if you enjoyed that one, you will definitely love this one too.
The acting was also pretty good. I mean, the main actress was a bit melodramatic and her acting is a bit wishy-washy but the secondary actors were worthy. Like the best friend? She was one of the creepiest characters I've ever watched! BOA is a terrible actress though. Whatever she does...she should just avoid acting. That was so embarrassing. I don't get what the director was thinking with that casting.
Also honestly? I actually watched this twice! So it's one of those rare shows that I consider worth a rewatch.
Music, I only noticed one use of music in this and it was the extremely satisfying use of No More Dream at the end of episode 6. I jumped 50 centimeters up in the air. I'm not even exaggerating. My leg hit the table and I had a nasty bruise afterward. Production-wise, it looks like they worked a lot but honestly? The fashion and general vibe of 2013 is all wrong. Just watch one 2013 show and you'll get what I mean! The fashion follows all the current trends and it's almost like halfway through, they forgot that this was set in the past. The only thing they kept diligently correct was the phone.
Overall, I'd say if you want a wish fulfillment, revenge story with over-the-top fashion and an interesting plot, then go for it but be ready to get really annoyed after episode 11.
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UGH! Can we stop now?!
I'm so sick and tired of these ridiculous action shows. Enough already! I'm so sick of this and I hated watching this and I would've already stopped if Lee Dong Wook wasn't in this but goddammit he's so sexy! UGH! I genuinely just watched this awful show because he's hot. I don't even have an excuse. That was it. I barely took in the plot, mainly because it was jumbled and not very good to begin with so it was very difficult to feign investment in what was happening but also because the main point of this show is to drool over one (1) sexy man and then just...feel dreadful worry for the good guys as these tank-like VILLAINS just piss you off for FOUR HUNDRED AND EIGHT freaking minutes!!!!UGHHHHHHHHHHHSummary: Hot uncle dies. Niece comes home and then for some reason that gets explained WAY too late into the show, a bunch of psycho murderers start attacking the house, trying to kill her. UGH! WHY?!
Plot: This plot was just mediocre. Was it horrible? No. But it's just not worth all the fuss.
Acting: Actors were very good. Lee Dong Wook is hot... I don't know, that's like 80% of what I registered. Sorry, a bit one-track-minded over here.
Music and production: Again, good production is worth horse dung when the plot is boring.
Rewatch: No...but I'll probably watch season 2! (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
Overall: This was an action show. I don't like this type of show. I just accidentally got attached to the characters and had to finish this.
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Plot: Season 2 doesn't have the majority of the pacing and goals issues that season one had. In fact, it's so good at setting small stakes that not only do the first two episodes have a separate revenge-style agenda set for the main character but the final episodes also have a clear sense of risk and drive. While the main character is still an unpleasant dumbass, the show is finally more at pace with it and it comes across as an inside joke between the viewers and Death than just a badly written MC. Plus, the emotional connections that season 1 lacked are here galore and it can really get to you by the end of the show. I actually liked this part a lot. I guess the issue was always a pacing problem but I give the writers some credit, it feels like a difficult plot to balance. There was still plenty of melodramatic violence and I want to say some was gratuitous but at least this time it worked with what the plot was trying to achieve.
Acting: I feel like maybe this half also had a stronger cast? They brought the characters alive and sure, we had more time to connect with these characters (thank goodness!) so it was easier to have emotional investment in them but the good acting helped too.
Music and production: Same as season 1
Rewatch value: Hmmm still none.
Negatives: The MC really is an absolute idiot! So it didn't ruin the show this time but he does frustrate a lot. And the jump from episode 4 to 5, there is such a dramatic shift from fighting death to revenge plot that I was a little skeptical at first but it was well-executed so it wasn't so bad. But they sure took their time to make a very simple point!
Overall: This half was actually good. I know it wouldn't be a meaningful show without the first half though. So this is a conflicted review. I can't tell you to watch the first half because I really disliked it and 50% is a lot of a show to tolerate for the longest build-up. But if you're willing to sit through that, this half of the show was very enjoyable so definitely keep watching. I mean, it's not a top ten show of the year or most loved or anything for me but it was watchable.
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UGH
This is like The Emperor's New Clothes. Like why is everyone praising this show? I would love to know what stood out so magnificently from this that everyone is throwing up their guts praising this. This show is probably one of the most pointless drivel I have watched since I started watching Kdramas. The only reason this isn't a 0 out of 10 stars is that: 1) Production was good, 2) The character of Death was okay, and 3) Episode 4 was actually good.Summary: Dude kills himself. Get punished to die 12 times again. But he's given the chance to try and save himself and live as that body. Then he proceeds to be an idiot 12 times in a row. 12 times is not enough. This dude should just be punished to die over and over for eternity. How is he so stupid and selfish and annoying and-
Plot: The premise is interesting but the execution is so far from good that it makes the premise sound stupid too. There's no proper stake here. You would think eternal damnation vs. a chance to reinvent yourself would be such a simple and driven goal, right? Wrong! Because the main character makes no move to actually save himself. The lives are too short, too so you end up not really connecting with any of these characters. What we learn about them is thrown at us as exposition in little montages. That is just unimpressive. The relationships that could be invested in like the girlfriend and the mother are not there long enough for it to go anywhere. The personalities are disjointed, especially in case of male lead who first comes across as a simple and dejected young man but through out the reincarnations or whatever you call it, he's just a greedy, pathetic, selfish loser who wastes every chance he's given, never tries to guard the precious lives in his hands and instead focuses on power trips he was denied in his first life and money. Why would you root for such a character? A jerk. And the reincarnations aren't better either. With the exception of the the kids and the last one, the others are just nothing characters. Bland. I couldn't care about any plot point because all I was focused on was saving these lives and this dude was into everything but that. That's a dissonance between what drives the character and what you as a viewer want from this show. As a result, it was a dissatisfying watch with very very VERY annoying beats. Plus, most of the show is just focused on nonsensical, sensationalized fight scenes or special affects moments which while impressive as a production fact, didn't really add flesh to this flimsy plot. Episode 4 was slightly better but having watched episode five since then, I know that the show did nothing with what was built in that episode so the potential for any character development was wasted away too. Making even that one good episode feel like a pointless blip.
Acting: This show is stacked with heavy weight actors. What a waste!
Music and production: Music was, I don't know, okay? The production value is very high. But this is a classic case of sacrificing substance for technicalities. The show is made with high technological value but what's the point of all that pomp and ceremony when the plot is nonsense and weak?
Rewatch value: None
Negatives: Everything.
Overall: I don't know, if you liked this, we probably have vastly different taste and could never recommend anything to each other. I hated this. Awful. Horrible.
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A basically perfect urban fantasy about grief and obsession
I'm so glad I came across this show when I did. I had seen it around but to be honest, Taiwanese dramas haven't been on my radar much so I never looked into this, even though I saw a few mdlers watching it on feeds. I'm glad I found this through Avenue X. One thing is though she hates on a lot of shows in an exaggerated manner, she's at least reliable when it comes to recommendations. This show is nearly the perfect modern drama with an interesting plot, engaging narratives, great characters, humor, lots of emotions, and a professional production to boot.Summary: The story follows Yiyong who's a descendant of some reincarnated demon or something and that means he's really good at calligraphy!!! But while this seems like just a random skill, it proves to have extraordinary connotations when he wakes up from a two-year coma and discovers an ability to communicate with the dead.
The Plot: The story develops very naturally. I don't think this is an adaptation and kudos to the writers because they've come up with an amazing storyline. Each plot connects very neatly to the other. The plot twists are thoughtful and surprising only when they need to be. I also love the fact that this is ultimately a story about grief and they manage to bring that up in such a beautiful, poignant way. The character developments are so well placed but...and it makes me wonder because these character developments are there but they could also go on? So I wonder if there's a sequel at work... The chemistry between the characters and the way each relationship develops (from Yiyong and his mother to the vengeful ghosts and the grandfather and everything in between) is very naturally integrated into the way that the plot progresses.
Acting: The acting in this show was really well done. I thought the humor landed well and everyone's timing was perfect and the three mains had great chemistry which made their friendship all the more believable and lovely. And did anyone else think Tseng Jing Hua kind of looks like Arthur Chen? They look so similar to me. He did a great job with the emotional beats and made me cry a lot. What's impressive is that the supporting cast are also very good. So good that you easily develop emotional stakes and start to care for them, deepening the investment in the show.
Music and Production: The music was fine. The production is great. The set designs and the outfits are very character-specific and tell us a lot about each character's personality. The camera work and lighting is not just good, it's actually way better than most East Asian shows I have seen. 100 times better than Cdramas...The CGI was so good!!! It had a lot of those and they were all done so well. So good.
Negative: There's a gag about how low the ML's IQ is and while I get the reasoning for it I didn't love it. It was a bit in poor taste.
Overall: Highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good urban fantasy story and mysteries. The show was an absolute delight with a balanced amount of humor, sadness, mystery, and whimsy. I wonder if there will be a sequel. I'm fine if this is it as the arcs close neatly enough and there isn't much need for a second season but given how the format is sort of like cases that change every episode, I can see there being more and that the show may develop more on what was already set up. I'm fine either way. 2nd seasons are usually bad anyway. But really!!!! Watch this! It's very good!
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Unexpectedly good
Looks like this is the gay year! This is the second watch of the year and this year is off to a great start with one great surprise after another! I had no expectations when I picked up this film but it was so hilarious, emotional, and well-crafted. It made me laugh so hard, but it also shocked me with its plot twists and made me cry. That's so special since I've just gone through some shows lately that were so emotionally uninspiring or lacking. Then there's this film. It goes the extra mile in its silly, goofy humor but also stays level-headed enough to tell an interesting story with a logical plot and give that extra emotional kick by the end.Summary: A homophobic policeman accidentally gets himself into a ghost marriage with a gay guy. In his desperation to get rid of the ghost, he tries to help him reincarnate by fulfilling his wish. The last wish? Avenge his death by finding the killer.
Plot: It's not super complex but it's very well-made and it just works so well from start to finish, it was so satisfying. It also had some elements that I'm so not used to seeing from East Asian shows that I was a little shocked! hehe... I also liked how bold they were with both trying to land the jokes and also just pushing the characters out of their comfort zone. The film was committed to the gags and that was impressive.
Acting: Everyone did a great job. Better than their other projects that I have seen before. Now, if I think about it too hard, I can see some people complaining about cliche stereotypes but I feel like that would need a dive into some philosophical arguments about heteronormativity and socially expected behavior and asfdaghshd....it's not that deep! The acting worked in context.
Music and production: It was good.
Rewatch value: Sure, if you have the time.
Overall: This was a good funny film and I really enjoyed it. Highly recommended. Warning: It has nudity. Just...saying.
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A good start for the year
This was such a good watch as the first show of the year. A sweet, hopeful, and cozy watch, with adorable and sympathetic characters you enjoy watching and rooting for. It is a very balanced story with proper mystery elements, dramatic buildup, and emotional stakes, as well as, sweet moments and appropriate humor to keep viewers entertained. Nothing was overdone here. No over-the-top emotional meltdowns or exaggerated humor (which is my main point of dread while watching Jdramas). The plot is not complicated but it works and while there were certain plotholes, they didn't harm the story nor negatively impact the flow so it would be a bit nitpicky to point them out when they were so insignificant.Summary: A man is stabbed in an alley and left for dead but miraculously recovers after seeing an angel. When he returns home, he finds the angel to be very real and still very much there, crankily asking for food and informing him that he has amnesia and nowhere to go. The humanitarian move would be to give the poor angel a place to stay and so Koukisan does just that!
Plot: As I already explained, it's a cute story that mainly leaves you with warm and fuzzy feelings. It's balanced, not too long nor too short, and every important question of the plot is answered by the end. A lot of aspects are resolved off-screen however as the plot is very character-driven and only focuses on the dynamic between Kouki-sad and the angel which...can be interpreted differently based on the viewer's preferences I guess. For me, it was just a sweet dynamic and I enjoyed their easy banter and development throughout.
Acting: The only real actors of this are the two main characters. While others appear briefly, they are not very significant so I am mostly ignoring them. But the main two actors were both great with Nishimura Takuya having the best deadpan delivery of jokes and just generally looking so angelic and disgruntled at the same time. He comes across as innocent and pure and simple and it was so good. Uesugi Shuhei was also great for his part as he showed the character's development and changes both with on-point expressions and body language. His emotional acting was also very touching and clawed at my heart which I thought was impressive to achieve with only 6, 25-minute long episodes.
Music and production: Tbh, I didn't even notice the music, sorry. Production... it was perhaps cheap? There wasn't much to it as it was mainly the inside of the eponymous "one room" of the title. That said, it doesn't *look* cheap. It looks just well enough for the show. Some flashback scenes to Kouki-san's past felt a bit under-budgeted but since they were not relevant to the present plot, I can forgive the vague setting. In the end, any shortage was covered by good directing choices.
Rewatch: I never rewatch but I can see the value in rewatching this for others. It's short enough.
Overall: Loved it! Recommended. I'm glad to start the year with a good show.
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Shorter doesn't mean good
I'm so irritated by this show because it started with such an intriguing and interesting premise and it kept the suspense going for a while before everything became too complicated but ultimately, it had such a cop-out ending that it just made the whole thing underwhelming. I feel like with a better production, not more expensive but better as in better direction and story development, and a better conclusion, this show could've been basically a perfect suspense mystery.Watch if you like:
1. 10-minute long dramas
2. Gaslighting used in the correct context of its meaning
3. Infidelity plots
4. Sad endings
5.Unreliable narrator stories
6.Mystery/Suspense
Summary: A woman has an accident and afterwards has some trouble with her memory. She then suspects that her husband and best friend are cheating on her. Things get worse when she begins to suspect a deeper scheme at work: that her husband may just be trying to drive her crazy in order to get rid of her!
Plot: Honestly, the plot started so interesting. It was actually mysterious and intriguing and I just feel like the production quality was low and they struggled to perfect the delivery in certain scenes but otherwise, it was good. And to be fair to the creators, the last 4 episodes wrap the story up...it's just that they do it in the dumbest, most convoluted and ridiculous way possible! There is one very simple issue with the completed arc of this story and it's the fact that the linchpin that holds the whole show together is something so unrealistic and illegal that this show can't even exist in the realm of fiction. It's just so dumb that I want to scream at someone about it. But I also don't want to spoil you so -_- Anyway, I would say, it manages to stay afloat but the ending ruined it. It was the equivalent of "it was all a dream" and we all know that's lazy writing.
Acting: It wasn't great. They manage...sort of...but not really!
Music: It was adequate.
Production: Again. I think this show could've thrived in the hands of an auteur director. A lot of the scenes look like they were filmed for a TV ad or some other super low quality purpose but if they had been filmed with intention by someone who knows proper cinematography, symbolism, etc. they would have had high emotional impact. I would actually love to see a better remake of this.
Rewatch: No.
Conclusion: I don't really recommend watching this but I also think most people will enjoy this if they give it a chance and the concepts of the story are among those that usually interest them.
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♡✧( ु• ⌄ • )
Let's be honest with ourselves! I only watched this for one reason and one reason only: I missed Tae!Despite that, this show was actually enjoyable and I got really into it. Be warned though. You will catch the worst case of munchies and want to cry as the craving for Korean food will reach an all-time high! The food looks SO good! I craved stuff I've never even tried (and probably never will because I can't eat spicy food)!
The cast really grows on you, even if you're only here for Taehyung. Still, he was the best part and I personally think, the show could have MORE Tae. Yeah. Personal comment: More Tae!
Plot: The plot is very straightforward. They just run a restaurant. Someone mentioned that it gets repetitive and well...yeah! It's the same thing over and over! You don't watch this for the plot! The people are why you sit through this so if you're hoping for some special event or exciting incident, this is gonna be boring. But the human interaction aspect is so fun. It's also lovely to see all the people who try Korean food for the first time. Those who keep coming back. The funny or cute interactions. It's all fun and wholesome in small doses.
Cast: I'm gonna say it, I don't much like Seo Jin. I said what I said. He was mean in unreasonable ways and call me a protective Army but I didn't like how he talked to Tae, either! It wasn't just me though! I was watching with non-Armys and they all said he was acting weird even before I said anything. I almost didn't watch this because I knew Seo Jin would be mean but ultimately, it was worth it so he's not a turn-off. He wasn't all bad. He had his moments but eh. Least favorite character. Yu Mi is an angel! I came out of this, feeling so impressed by her. She rolled those Gimbaps like a pro! Standing on her feet all day long, making so much, and never complaining. What a sweetheart. I'm gonna check out her other works just because she was so sweet. I also really grew to like Seo Joon and Woo Shik whom I didn't like before. I didn't dislike these random actors but I was pretty indifferent toward them but then, Seo Joon impressed me with his professionalism and focus and Woo Shik is just such a charismatic, kind, and warm person! It was really delightful to watch him interact with the customers. I might make a second attempt to watch Our Beloved Summer... And Tae. What do you want me to say?! He worked so hard! I'm so proud of him! They said he was slow. HE WAS NOT SLOW! Omg...he could barely make noodles before this!lol...and he was very cute. The whole family is in love with him now!
Music: BTS music: perfection! Classic music: also perfection. The rest of the songs were good too.
Rewatch: Yeah...I actually watched this show twice already! We basically watched every episode twice so...very high rewatachability!
Conclusion: If you like cooking shows, watch it! If not, don't! lol
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The Murder in the writers' room
A murder has been committed. Victim? The show's script. The prime suspect? The writers. Accomplices? The director and editors of the show.You come here, thinking it's a story about an arson/murder case only to find out it's another petty spat about rich people tearing each other's throats out for money. I went on and watched the Japanese adaptation of this story as well, just to make sure that I wasn't hallucinating the mystery aspect that I expected this show to have and while that movie wasn't good by any stretch of the imagination, it most definitely had the Agatha Christie style suspension that I had expected. So this show has no excuse for being such a bland and boring mess with an incohesive plot.
Summary: Rich dude is about to die when he finds out he has an illegitimate son. He asks this super successful assistant in his vaguely important and powerful company to find him (because it's not like she has an actual job to do). She succeeds so fast, you wonder why the dude didn't just make the call that she made himself to find the boy in two seconds...
Plot: I'm not even sure how I should properly nag about this. Do I complain about the setup? Because the setup is awful. I don't know about others but I'm personally over this trend in modern Cdramas where there's this super important and successful company (and you are never even told what the company does) and the protagonist is a 30-year-old who is extremely successful (without even once seeing them do their actual job) and then there are all these political dramas surrounding the company as if it's the parliament or something. This self-grandiosity in shows just makes me roll my eyes and I can't take anything that happens seriously. It's simply beyond stupid. Anyway, this show had that.
Do I complain about the characters? I know China has an allergy towards having antagonists as main characters and productions would rather have everyone walk on their hands and speak through drawn faces on their stomachs rather than having a grey character as MC but it was honestly ridiculous how far this show twisted itself around in order to not show any fault in their main character. She's a genius, gorgeous woman with a heart of gold who has never done anything wrong, she probably farts rainbows...I hated it. In addition, the show is made up of an entirely exhausting, incompetent, spoiled rich cast of villains that are all so bad at being bad that half the show is just watching them be petulant over not succeeding at anything. The romance is slightly better but it's not really that touching so I'm at best indifferent towards it.
What do I even say about the case? Because the real crime of this show is that it's supposed to be a freaking murder mystery and you literally get 10 minutes of detective work and everything else is explained in voiceover and monologued in the last episode! Just why?!
The suspense is maintained like a feather on a needlepoint (as in, it's not.) At every turn, instead of building suspense, the show just blows everything up like a balloon and spills everything then wastes more time on silly family drama. They don't even do a good job with that. The characters are as boring as can be and their personal drama is just as terrible.
The more I write, the angrier I get so I'll just settle by saying it was terribly written. The worst script I've seen so far this year. Possibly in the last 5 years! What even was this...
Acting: I kind of feel bad for Steven Zhang for being in this show. He's usually a good actor but acting is just not enough when the plot is this bad. The actress who plays the lead wasn't good in my opinion. She seemed more concerned with looking beautiful and barely had proper expressions throughout the show. She had moments but overall bad. The rest of the cast was just sufficient, not very impressive though.
Music and production: The music was alright, better than the rest of the show. The production looked cheap. It wasn't done with much thought, it looked like every other average show out there. The editing was terrible. Censorship or not, they really butchered the show. The voiceover (I'll never stop mentioning it) was just a slap to the face. Awful.
One good thing I can say is that the opening sequence was nice...that's it!
Rewatch value: NO!
Overall: This is not a good show. It's not absolutely terrible, so I gave it a 7 and not the 5 I personally felt it deserved. The name of the show, the trailer, and the synopsis all created this false expectation that this was a show in a similar tier as other short-form mystery dramas that China has been making lately but one episode was enough to realize this is merely a watery romance wrapped in petty, rich-people, family drama masquerading as a murder mystery. It was a failure. I don't recommend this to anyone. If you're really desperate to watch something about Kairoutei, just watch the Japanese one. At least it makes sense...
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Fix-it Fanfiction (featuring cooking puns…it just happened idk)
I was very excited about this show. For multiple reasons. The most important being that it paired up two actors who previously portrayed one of my all-time favorite couples in any Cdrama ever. The other is the concept of Royal Kitchens which reminded me of one of my all-time favorite Korean dramas: Jewel in the palace. Suffice to say...it did not deliver on either front...sort of.The plot: Similar to The Story of Yanxi Palace, Royal Feast uses the excuse of the harem setting to make a commentary on the commodification of women. From being buried alive along with your husband, to a woman’s life being treated as less important than a barely formed fetus (something that is ironically still fresh news in our time). The show doesn’t really have a clear or concise plotline. Instead, it’s made up of slice-of-life episodic stories that each capture a new horror or tragedy of being trapped in the Palace. That said, either through bad editing or bad writing, but most probably from a combination of both, the attempt is sloppy and not as impactful as the graceful scene that was drawn in Yanxi Palace. Characters are raw sketches of what they could be, the passage of time is extremely precarious, and stories are not properly developed and end abruptly, with little impact or consequence for the rest of the plot. It’s really hard to connect with the characters because it feels like instead of getting to know them, we are swiping through an album of pictures with faces that rapidly become familiar in motionless snapshots, without much knowledge of their personality, unique voice, wants or needs that would help flesh them out as believable human characters. Overall, the show feels like a script that needed to be worked on. It’s like a dough that hasn’t properly risen yet.
Acting: I think everyone tried...but their characters were just boring. Right off the bat, I think Xu Kai was miscast. He has the looks of a free-spirited youngster and doesn't have the gravitas of a crown prince or emperor. He does this "puffing of the chest" acting and it just didn't work for me. I don't think it's his fault. I just think he was wrong for the role. I don't like the agist, sexist takes I've seen about Wu Jinyan's looks in this show. She's a good actress and that's the only aspect I care about. Sadly, she was given the bare minimum to work with here. The only standout in the cast was He Rui Xian who injected as much unique flavor into her character as she possibly could.
The production: The production is beautiful. From the artistic food arrangements, and the opulent sets, to the extravagant dresses and the saturated cinematography, the show looks expensive and high quality but all the world’s professionalism and money can’t buy a show any credit if its all just fodder for a story that doesn’t utilize the ingredients it has at its disposal to the fullest. A real waste.
Music: Did this show reuse Yanxi Palace's music? It sounded just like that and somehow less magnificent too... how did they manage that?!
Rewatch: No. Despite the moderate episode number, the show still managed to become really boring after episode 30 and that's being really generous as many would argue it was boring all the way through.
Negatives: There is something really wrong with the post-production of this show. The editing and flow of narratives are all over the place. There is at once too much time wasted on every arc while also everything is underdeveloped and not thoroughly thought out. The romance is instantaneous, the friendships and rivalries are not given enough background to feel genuine, and the political plots are there but it also feels like the show didn't want to waste time to develop any of it so it's just "So problem existed and um...emperor had to solve it...and then HE DID!YAY!"...very weird! Every character is super bland. No one has proper motivation or any charisma. I just kept waiting for someone, anyone, to develop some interesting personality trait but it was all for naught. Plus, the show tries too hard to be inoffensive to the point that all the villains are misunderstood or secretly really tragic. None of which lands at all because every villain was super stereotypical and common. Like I have seen similar idiots in at least 10 other shows and books.
Overall: Once the novelty of seeing my favorite couple living out their best Alternate-Universe-fix-it lives wore off, it just became a task to finish this. The plot was kind of better when the kitchen stuff was happening; though this was nowhere near as well-thought-out or exciting as Jewel in the palace, and once the main character moved to the harem, the plot just straight-up died. This was the blandest harem ever. And I sat through The Sword and The Brocade! Not a single interesting person in that palace! Everyone was like those caricature village people in games.
This wasn't a hate-watch though. More of a pity-watch or a mercy-watch. That is like mercy-kill but more painful and took much longer.
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Dissapointing
What a disappointment!Summary: It's a shame because this show had such a cool premise. A 300 years old soul chasing his soulmate through three lifetimes, is finally in a position to finally be with his beloved but then is shocked to find out that the woman he loves has reincarnated in the body of a man. Drama ensues. (How cool is this idea?!)
Plot: The show takes this really interesting concept and does NOTHING with it! It wastes the entire potential. There's no development of the romance, the conflict is never developed or solved, it's just...gone. There's a freaking meaningless love triangle that does nothing. It's just so sloppy. There's not much more to say.
Acting: It was almost okay but Jeon Chang Ha is just bad at acting. Jin Gun almost survives but not really? They're both really rookie and wooden and their chemistry is not there at all and it all looks cartoonish and exaggerated when they try too hard. Especially since the script just gives them absolutely nothing to work with either. Song Han Hee is the only saving grace, acting-wise.
Music and rewatch value: No.
Production: Bad. It looks like they filmed the whole show, every set of it, in a hotel apartment?! Like a really cheap one that students on their gap years with a budget would only go to. No set design worth a dime, no proper lighting. It's like a young filming student's class project that he filmed with his friends.
Overall: Don't waste your time watching this. You'll only get depressed at the wasted potential of what could've been. This could have been so good and it just wasn't. It barely functioned.
Better luck in your next life, soul!
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Just so you know, there's a bonus scene after the credits of the finale ep
Watching BL dramas (I've only watched Korean ones) has been a never-ending source of disappointment. Even shows that are loved by regular watchers of the genre were merely average for me. I never connect with the characters. I find the plots to be lazy, the acting is subpar and the chemistry is mostly nonexistent despite what fans insist. In general, the directing and cinematography are immature like the creators are students still learning to make films, and the production quality is without fail really low. So I started Semantic Error with absolutely no positive expectations. I was ready to be disappointed, once again. So it was an absolute delight when Semantic Error turned out to be an exception to what has come to be a rule for me.Plot: Simple, sweet, and straightforward, there is not much complexity to the story. It follows an enemies-to-lovers story and since romance is the main incentive of the show, it was important that the development of the plot and the characters' interactions be in service of that end. Which they were. Most of the time, these BL shorts fail to have a plausible or compelling romance built up. It just feels like the mains get together because that's the genre. Here, however, the romance is really well-thought-out and it feels authentic that they are put together.
Acting: I believe this show was the roaring success that it was thanks to good directing and good acting. The main actors were a rare treat with truly good, sizzling chemistry and performances that were not wooden or too obviously scripted. Park Seo Ham, in particular, shines. In addition, the supporting cast, Kim Noh Jin and Song Ji Oh, were also good. They animated these characters with some level of finesse and it just made the whole show feel real and alive.
Music: The end credit song is really good and the background music is not overwhelming or irritating, which is always a blessing.
Production: This show actually has a production worth talking about. It's clear that the creators cared and put a lot of thought into set, light, and costume design. The rooms are not miserably empty or filled with mismatched and random garbage. Each character has a space that defines and highlights their character. The play with light was symbolic of the character arcs, and the cinematography was more complex than setting a digital camera on a table and filming two actors talking at each other. We had close-ups and angles and everything. I was so impressed.
Rewatch value: Yes! It does have a rewatch value. It's short, enjoyable, and complex enough to have something to offer through a rewatch.
Negatives and Overall: So why is this not a 10/10? Well, because there's still so much room left for improvement. I would love to someday see a queer drama with a full-hour template and 16 episodes. A show with complex plots and a few subplots, and more than the bare minimum of supporting characters. Just a proper show. Semantic Error shows that with more dedication and care, it's possible to have BL dramas that are not just hyped because viewers are settling for them and that there is room for us to demand good quality productions. I really liked this show, despite the fact that the beginning didn't immediately impress me. It was a show with creators who cared and that caring came to fruition because they strived for perfection. I hope in the future we will get more shows that follow in Semantic Error's footsteps.
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The inherent feminism of being a shrewd woman!
Agatha Christie meets Jane Austen in this riveting historical romance-mystery. This show was a surprise favorite for me. A diamond in the rough, a show with seriously feminist aspirations and an unapologetic stance on its radical and rebellious views. And the pièce de resistance? It’s an originally written story that avoids 99% of cdrama cliché pitfalls!If you’re still not convinced that this show is worth a watch here are some more reasons:
1. Pride and Prejudice meets Mrs. Marple!
2. A headstrong, intelligent, and flawed female lead who had a steady personality and an unbreakable spirit
3. An intelligent, nuanced, and flawed male lead who grows and develops through the story with not a single jealous cell in his body…like WOW!
4. An actual good second male lead? With freaking personality and flaws?! Who isn’t a sticky gum and doesn’t scheme against the leads and doesn’t think he knows best for the FL, thus undermining her personhood whilst acting like he’s soooo nice?!?!?! Like...what?! He’s mine now! I have adopted him! He’s my child now, no one hurt this baby! He’s too pure for Cdramaland.
5. A villain who is not an idiot or a caricature who keeps the mains on their toes and is in return kept on his toes by the leads!
6. A truly enjoyable ensemble with interesting stories, arcs, and journeys.
7. A meta-commentary on women’s lives in the olden days
8. Actually good mystery cases
9. One of the best romances I have seen in historical dramas in a while
10. Enemies-to-lovers, slow burn, with “there was only one bed”!
11. Nice parents?!?!?!?! (Is this even a cdrama at this point? Where am I right now?)
12. And more!
Summary: Qiu Yan is the concubine-born daughter of the second master of Qiu family. Everyone in her family dislikes her except for her legal mother who loves her beyond anything. When Qiu Yan was young, she and her biological mother and brother are caught by bandits but a young man saves Qiu Yan and gives her a fan that becomes the symbol of Qiu Yan’s yearning to become educated and step above her station in her deeply misogynistic and biased society. The story follows Qiu Yan as she uses her wits, knowledge, street-savviness, and intelligence to survive and make her way in life. And the ML is Liang Yi. He's pretty cool, too!
Plot: I loved this show and mainly because it was so well-written. The characters make sense, the plot makes sense. The themes are clear and the writer knew exactly how they meant to explore them. No scene is unnecessary. Each character and event had a purpose. The tone is a good mix of romantic, comedic, emotional, and thought-provoking. It hardly has the usual stereotype pitfalls of historical dramas. I have to mention that the show has a very modern tone and the female lead’s opinions are beyond her era and time but the show somehow makes it work. On top of it all, the stories that are explored were stuff I had never seen in any other show which made this very refreshing for me. What was interesting was that I could recognize the plot as mentioned backstories in other shows but I had never seen a show that actually explored the plot, head-on. As for the romance, I loved it! The growth of their feelings felt natural and the progression of their relationship was super satisfying. No unnecessary misunderstandings or overly complicated melodrama.
Acting: I was very impressed by the leads. They had such amazing chemistry. Jeremy Tsui has an amazing voice and since everyone is using their own voice, the performances feel that much more real and authentic. I liked the supporting cast too. Minus one or two cannon fodders, I think everyone did a good job conveying their character and working together.
Music and Production: Music was okay; nothing too impressive. The production didn’t look expensive and it did leave some things to be desired. The cinematography was simple, the clothes and makeup were passable. Overall, this is the section the show might fall short but many of my favorite historical dramas have average or below average productions so I didn’t mind.
Rewatch: Right! Forgot about this! I never rewatch shows but this is a fun show so I would say it's worth it? Idk, watch new shows, why rewatch?!
Negative: There is a slight hiccup in storytelling in the very last episode. I have deduced that the reason is that the show did too good a job at closing all loose ends and just ended up with 20 extra minutes with nothing else happening there so they had to pull a last-minute twist to fill up the time. I didn’t care much for the twist but it didn’t affect the plot at all so I don’t care. What matters is that we got a happy ending and after watching such a good mystery show for 23 episodes, it was easy to see how the ending worked in the context of the whole show. (like I don't want to spoil but you could tell that the twist was super temporary)
Overall: I was expecting something like Jun Jiu Ling or Sword and the Brocade when I started this show but was pleasantly surprised when it turned out the way that it did. I almost dropped this! But I couldn't stop thinking about the characters so I went back and I am very happy with my decision. It was a joy for me to watch this. I laughed in every episode, I cheered for the main cast of characters to triumph and I was heartbroken for them when they suffered. This was one of the best watches I’ve had and though the show may not be perfect, the happiness it brought me made me decide to give it a 10. Because at the end of the day, we watch shows for enjoyment and that is what they should provide. The Autumn Ballad did just that. Highly recommended.
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Well, I did not enjoy that.
I'm not sure how I finished watching this show. Around episode 11, I realized that I wasn't enjoying this very much but I thought I'll finish it anyway. Around episode 18, the show became unwatchable and I had to fast-watch my way to the end.After watching "A River Runs Through It" I became interested in youth dramas and I decided you watch a few more. "Our Secret" cured me of that. I think I am done with youth dramas for the foreseeable future and need a total palette cleanse with some seriously good shows to get over this nightmare. I don't recommend this. I just can't. I hated it.
Things that exist in this show that infuriated me beyond belief:
1. Sadistic younger brother
2. Unhinged, abusive, moody, and immature mother whose behavior is excused as caring
3. A second male lead who must possess a Time-turner because there is no way he achieved that character assassination in just three years
4. Dumbest university arc ever.
5. The female lead's voice. It was like having honey poured into my ears if honey was made of acid. -_-
6. Villain of the weeks who make you gain respect for scooby-doo villains
7. Regressive sexist rhetorics
Plot: This was like a slice of life, high school drama with an appendage arc in a fantasy university in which meeting drawing club deadlines is somehow more important than spending arduous hours crying over your engineering homework that you will definitely not finish anyway. The plot starts fine. It's a bit sad and I was really feeling for the FL. The characters were so balanced and nice, even though nothing important happened, I was enjoying it but before the show even reached its halfway mark, I was done with it. It was too long and things moved very slowly at first so eventually, everything became tiresome. The romance plot was sweet but they had to wait until they were out of high school to consummate it and that hurt the story because it took too long to reach that moment, made more complicated by unnecessary melodrama plots that were pointless and it just wasn't engaging anymore. So the story became lazy and exaggerated and boring.
Acting: The ML is fine. He isn't doing anything much. The plot doesn't require complex acting chops so moderate skills would suffice for all the performances. Unfortunately, the FL lacked for me, still. Her talking style was grating on my nerves. At first, it was fine but slowly...it just felt like my ears were bleeding. She sounded like a spoiled child who is constantly pouting. The ensemble was pretty subpar too as most fell into really cliche archetypes so again: bare-minimum skills required.
Music: Idk, most of it was copyrighted so the YouTube video's sound got muted...I wasn't gonna like it anyway. Generic, whatever sounds.
Production: I wanna say bad? This was supposed to be 2009. It looked very little like it was from that time. I was in school back then and save for their phones, the fashion, the decoration, and hairstyles all looked out of place. Just watch some shows produced in 2009 and you'll understand. Moreover, the concept of seasons was not one the creators had heard of. Characters wore freaking shorts in winter...how? This was probably filmed in summer. No matter what season it was, everyone was constantly in summer clothes. That is just lazy.
Rewatch value: Oh sure, I'll torture myself again.... -_-
Negative: The whole university stuff. This show should have ended after they took the entrance exam and ended my misery. I might have rated it higher.
Overall: If this is the best youth drama out there, then I was right to avoid them from the start. I'll have to write down my love for ARRTI as an anomaly. This show had no real direction. It must've been targeted at younger viewers. Perhaps actual high school students but even in that case, some plot choices become even more dubious. How can you encourage your young viewers to just take the abuse of bad parents? Or become a new person to appease a boy you like? wtf! Don't teach girls to put someone else's likes and dislikes above their own. Only in a fantasy world would anyone give a job to a person who is studying a completely different field. Trust me, I learned that the hard way...
At the last leg of the show, there is a sudden realization about the weird messages they have sent their young and impressionable female audiences and they try to fix that but it's just such a frustratingly silly fix that it made me angrier.
Anyway, I don't know how clear it is in my tone but I am so mad right now; mostly at myself for watching this but also at the creators for starting the show normal and just ending it so ridiculously. Dear creators, please make steadily good or bad shows so a b**ch can know her deal from the start and not waste so much time investing in a show that will crash and burn later.
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