Perfection Achieved.

Are you looking for an intelligent plot? An absorbing story-line? Some intriguing characterization? Gripping emotional roller-coasters? Rewarding conclusions? Award worthy acting performances? No expenses spared production? On point direction? Engaging OSTs? A flawless ending? ...OR maybe a satisfying overall watching experience?

Well, what the heck are you waiting for? Tune in! This one has it all. All in one place, And all done exceptionally well.

This starts good, but it doesn't stay just good rather it gets even better and better and better. From start to finish, you won't be leaving your seat, that much I guarantee

I won't review this one, as everyone should go in blind to watch this one and gain an experience of their own.

As I said before in my title, 'Perfection Achieved', Loved it, No Complaints, Easy 9/10.

Read More

Not for the faint of heart

Never have I ever expected this level of quality from a web series!

The production, be it, the cinematography, editing, locations, sets, dresses or soundtrack, everything was just spectacular! This is a period drama and they made you feel the period literally. The environment is very well setup and we can easily see that no expenses were spared while making this. Maybe due to short length they were able to flesh out each episode much much more.
On that note, don't get me started on episode length itself. Despite having only 12 mins of runtime, every episode is so well directed and edited that you won't feel that its only been 12 minutes! The pacing is really well done. No complaints in production, absolute phenomenal job by the team responsible. Straight up 9.5/10 for production.

The storyline, is unconventional, to say the least, but very gripping nonetheless. Let me warn you here though, the story is not your usual one, its filled with toxicity, angst, revenge and whatnots but everything is written beautifully. Go with an open mind, not expecting anything or maybe expecting something unique or something different. This drama will surprise you. For those expecting same old story or same character development, you will be sorely disappointed. The ending is a bit weird, but satisfactory still. Just take it as it is without nitpicking. And a note to nitpickers: "We have a conclusion and there's no point in contemplating how it happened or doubting it rather. There could have been a thousands, if not more, events that could have led us there. If something's not shown doesn't mean it didn't happen."

As for the romance, damn! The main leads outdid themselves tbh! Absolutely brilliant acting and amazing chemistry. Loved every single moment they were together, even when they were hating each other. And of course, there is fluff, and there is a lot of it too.

I binge watched the entirety in one sitting, so easily a 8.5/10 for story for me.

The music, much more so, was mesmerizing! Especially that "You are a storm, not a sunshine" by "Liu Yi Xin", what a track! Such a beautiful voice and such a unforgettable melody. Every single scene this OST was played in became a moment in itself. A clear cut 9.5/10 for music!

As for acting, everyone, even the side characters, did a good job. Main leads, ML and FL, did an extraordinarily amazing job. No complaints here too. Easily a 9/10 for acting/cast.

Overall, a great watch. Despite its flaws and some slight problems, absolutely loved it. A very well produced, directed and acted series which was totally engaging throughout. 9/10

Read More

A genreless trash!

What a nuisance tbh, you created a plot then destroyed it yourself. I think storywriters had a stroke midway through.

This drama went from fun and sweet to draggy to an absolute nonsensical bs! The ending in itself is a mockery of viewer's intelligence.

To prospective viewers, don't watch this, save your time but more importantly save your mind. Everything you're hearing in reviews and comments is completely true. If you're expecting a rom-com, this is not rom-com, it deceives you as that. If you're expecting a fantasy, there's only 1 or 2 moments that could remotely be called fantasy. This is a genreless drama incapable sticking to any single genre or plot at all. A genre that fits this perfectly is "Trap", but sadly no such genre exists on MDL.

I'm blacklisting these storywriters so that I never again have to waste my time on nonsense they spew. Giving this a 1/10 because a rating of 0/10 doesn't exist.

Read More

Don't be fooled by summary

Summary is just for first few episodes, story takes a whole new turn after the island arc. The island arc in itself was good and I hoped it was longer but sadly it isn't and the rest of the show just a weirdly twisted convoluted mess.

Let's talk about the problems first

First Problem: PLOT! The plot is incoherent convoluted mess. There are rudimentary twists just for the sake of twists. The narrative keeps on shifting from one stream to another. Sometimes the plot seems to be about revenge, other times about business politics, many times about a femme fatale and many other times about unrealistically complicated relationships. There is no main focus at all. Not to mention, despite having so many twists it becomes predictable. The twists themselves become predictable to the point of absolute boredom.

Second Problem: CHARACTERIZATION! The characterization is abnormal tbh. For the whole time, I was not able to comprehend the motivations of these people at all. Every single decision they take could lead only to torture for themselves, nothing else. So why are they taking these decisions? What an oddity. Seriously, I have rarely seen such a weird characterization. Is it good or is it bad? Its....ummm....ridiculous tbh.

Third Problem: ROMANCE! There is a problem in this area too sadly and actually quite a different one from what you would generally expect. The chemistry is not lacking tbh but...its....ummm....erratic to say the least. So this is how it goes, in one scene main leads are madly in love and in next they are meeting each other for the first time. That's how inconsistent the chemistry is., and not just for main leads but almost everyone. The relationships go off and on without any reason or plot changes. Most of the times you will find yourself confused about who loves who or why.

For the good parts, I would say, acting was decent, production was quite good in island arc but okayish afterwards and OST was decent.

Overall, skipped some watched some. Its watchworthy that much I could say, but average at best. 5/10

Read More

Get a grip please!

I have seen Circle of Love and that's how I came across this. While I absolutely loved "Circle of Love", this one was a weird chaotic mess! And that's not because its vertically filmed or is short length, there's just too many other issues with this series.

Let's start...

First, the editing.....omg! It was a hell to watch this incoherent havoc. To call the scene change "abrupt" would be an understatement. There's no chronology to scene change at all! Sometimes the scenes that should happen before will come later and sometimes the vice versa. It's like someone made a badly arranged collage out of recorded scenes from a full length drama. I have seen short length series before but we can't even call the episodes equivalent to trailers here because even trailers have some consistency. That's how bad the editing and by extension direction is.

Now, let's talk about story and plot. Story had potential, I would say, but sadly it never got realized. While the core storyline could have been engaging but the characterization was an utter mess. The character motivations and character actions make no sense at all. A person driven by hatred (ML in this instance) loses his hatred in an instant without any outer or inner impetus. Similarly, a person tortured (FL in this instance) falls in love in an instant without any lingering anger, hate or hostility even. RIDICULOUS! Rest of the characters? Nothing worth mentioning. The redemption arc is missing too. A 3/10 for story, it gets that 3 for atleast following the unconventional route.

Acting/Cast was good. Actors did good job with the script they were given. ML and FL had good chemistry, so cheers to both main leads actors for that. 7/10 for acting.

Production....umm...tbh there is nothing that could be mentioned. Show takes place in interiors mostly, even with a low budget they could have performed well. Not much cinematography, costumes or sets were needed, so let's not rate that because its not relevant.

Music/OST again its not something you will remember but its just slightly there to make the atmosphere. I found it a bit lacking tbh, so 3/10 for music.

Overall, this was a pain to understand due to horrendous editing. I do have habit of skipping a lot in full length drama, so imagine if it was incomprehensible for me, how hard it would be for a regular viewer. Final rating 4/10 which I feel sad giving since I really felt that core storyline had promise if properly executed.

Read More

A good story with a bad focus

This has a good story but a lot of time is wasted on irrelevant events or irrelevant characters leading to less time for actually interesting characters(mainly ML and FL) and character development moments. That's the gist of my whole review, but if you want to know more read on.

Story: The premise is good but the execution is bad. That is to say, the baseline story of a rich spoiled princess turning over a new leaf due to interactions with a crude, blunt and down to earth man and then turning over a new leaf, is actually quite a good premise. This premise offers a lot of room for character development, lot of opportunities for actors to tap into their acting prowess and lot of areas for writer or director to include some heavy emotional scenes. But, sadly, what we get is severely lacking and nothing close to the possibility.
9/10 for premise but the story we got was nowhere near, so 7/10 for story.

Direction: I found it lacking in a lot of areas. Too much time is wasted on side characters and the events that should have taken more of episode time are rushed instead. Pacing is not the issues, proper management of screentime is the issue. Music is good but badly placed. Just playing a song in background doesn't create the ambiance. To create a specific atmosphere you have to play the right part of the song at the right time with a right pace, a lot of other KDramas are a good example of that. The drama seems to also struggle on whether is a melodrama or not. Its the duty of direction to realize the potential of a story, but sadly that's not the case here.
Direction gets a 3/10.

Production: Not lacking but nothing extraordinary too. I found costumes lacking at some place.FL's wardrobe was good but ML's wardrobe could have been better, it definitely was in Secret Garden. Cinematography is decent, they could have used more locations though. In this type of story, tbh, production's relevancy is very less.
7/10 for production.

Acting: I started this because of YSH but, tbh, his acting was erratic in this one, sometimes off by miles and sometimes quite on point. YEH on the other hand acted quite good and carried this. I loved her portrayal of a rich spoiled heiress. Her transformation into a confident and caring person was also quite good. That's not saying that YEH's acting was perfect, I still spotted minor mishaps here and there, but most of them were not noteworthy. My biggest problem though was chemistry between ML and FL. As other reviewers have pointed out too, chemistry between ML and FL felt lacking, and that's not a skinship problem but the actual chemistry was lacking. I don't know if that's due to bad direction or acting.
6.5/10 for acting.

Characterization and Character Development: This is the area where this series should have excelled and it does but not without some problems. The story presents a great chance for character development spread throughout the 16 episodes, but, sadly, character development only happens in a select few episodes where if you have completely missed the other episode, you would have missed nothing. Characterization also falters at points where a character's decision or slowness will annoy you a bit. I would say direction failed the story massively in this area. Still, due to good base storyline and decent acting this area is still satisfying to watch.
8/10 for Characterization and Character Development

Music: As I said before too, OST is decently good but badly placed. Also there's not much variation in OST.
6/10 for Music.

I started watching this for the story and ML (YSH). I continued watching this for FL (YEH) and character development.
Overall its a decent watch, sad part is, it could have been much much better.
Final rating, 6.5/10

Read More

It's generic tbh

From the summary I thought I would be watching something different but sadly that was not the case.

For the first half the FL was unbearable. Her characterization, her acting or her dialogues, everything was just off. The actress is a veteran actress so I don't know what happened there. ML carried the first half. Story had premise though so that kept me hooked.

For the second half, FL actually becomes a little bit likeable but then ML's characterization and story starts suffering. The majority of episodes revolve around nothing and there is no main story development. For me, story is the backbone of a drama. I could bear with bad acting, absent osts or lacking production but when the story or characterization starts suffering, its like the whole drama comes crumbling down. The second half, sadly, has a lot of filler content, plot inconsistencies and illogical decisions but the relationship development between ML and FL is good.

Thankfully, conclusion itself is done really well. Everything wraps up smoothly into a proper ending.

I think a lot of problems of this drama could've been solved with a shorter length. Right around the middle of the series, I think they ran out of ideas of what to do and they had to stretch the irrelevant sections to match the episode count.

Overall, it was not a bad watch. It had its moments but it did bore me quite a few times too. As I said before its generic, but definitely watchable.
7/10

Read More

Quite a unique plot

First of all, let me say this, don't expect the same level of quality from these short vertically filmed series to a full length drama. That won't be fair at all. So I'm rating this accordingly only comparing this with other similar length series.

Okay, now onwards to review.

Let's address the elephant in the room first, the length of episodes. Direction and editing suffer immensely due to short length, The whole series felt like a trailer on top of trailer. That's how abnormally fast paced this is. Scene change is so abrupt that a lot of time you will be left wondering whether you missed a whole episode? That was my main gripe with this series because rest of the things were quite good.

The plot is unique and original. Storyline had real promise but short episode length never gave it much time to shine. This story had potential for a full length 16 episodes drama easily. 9/10 for story.

Acting/Cast was decent. They acted good in some scenes and then a little bad in some too. ML slightly better than FL though. I do have to commend them for their chemistry though, flawless! 6.5/10 for acting.

Production was quite good unexpectedly. Yes, even with a low budget short series, I didn't see any problems with production. Costumes were good, cinematography was spectacular and sets and locations were quite appropriate. No issues in production. 9/10 for production.

OST/Music was just there. It was neither good nor bad. That is, you won't be remembering it but it sufficiently creates the atmosphere when needed in scenes. 5/10 for music.

And finally the ending, absolutely loved it! This ending upgraded my overall score for this short series by quite a lot.

Overall, its a good watch if you can bear with vertical frame and abrupt scene changes. The whole series will feel like watching a drama with finger always on fast forward button. The best part about this is the story and chemistry. Quite hard to find such a unique story and such well done chemistry. Final rating 8.5/10, upgraded by 0.5 - 1 due to that amazing ending!

Read More

Unadulterated hardcore angst!

A man deceived, a man with only vengeance in his mind, a man determined, takes on the cruel and arduous task of exacting revenge on the one who hurt him and his loved one such. Sadly the target of his revenge is very very very misplaced. The solace he searched for was not in the cruelties he delivered but in the forgiveness he received.

This is a story about how a man becomes a psycho due to his misery and pain and how that psycho becomes a man again when confronted with love for another. It's a story of how feelings of 'hate and disgust' convert to 'devotion and care' when confronted with 'guilt and forgiveness'. Make no mistakes though, this story is filled with controversies. There is kidnapping, abduction, torture, assault, deception, obsession but there is also pain, sorrow, guilt, redemption, attachment, longing, care and ofcourse love.

If you can't stomach controversial tropes, don't watch, I warn again, there's a lot of them. If you can't bear with bad production, don't watch, the budget won't do this show any justice. If you're looking for an unusual plot with flawed characters, bad decisions, long misunderstandings but satisfying resolutions, this is your goto.

Our ML dishes out unbridled one sided torment to our FL. Our FL, who didn't do any wrong, just endures and endures and endures until our ML realizes the evil he has wrongfully done to one he actually started caring for. Rest is his journey to earn back the love from the one he hurt and to exact revenge on the rightful target.

I actually liked ML's overall decision making in this one, failing at first revenge didn't mean that he let go of the original perpetrator. Rather, he actually proved "Revenge is a dish best served cold". FL's character was that of a doormat for the whole show and irritating tbh. Their chemistry, though, was riveting. I would say their personality complimented each other very well.I skipped most, if not all, of the non main leads scenes in first half as they didn't contribute anything to the story. And ofcourse, I found 2FL/Villain absolutely annoying and irritating.

Overall a 7.5/10. I won't say it was something extraordinary or special, as is evident from my rating, but it was definitely quite unusual and a fun watch indeed.

Read More

A good story destroyed by bad writing and direction

When I started this drama, I was hooked instantly. The first 10 episodes were an absolute blast to watch. I thought I finally found another 9/10 rating worth gem. But....sadly as the episodes went by the quality degraded considerably. While the first half was super fun, the second half became a nightmare to watch. Romance became scarce and main leads chemistry suffered a bit too. Totally lovable characters became horribly flawed. Plot became uninteresting. New sub plots kept on appearing which were out of place altogether. So I will rate this drama accordingly by rating the episode groups themselves.

First 10 episodes (1 - 10): Engaging story, good romance, great chemistry, lovable characters especially FL, sensible decision making, really good character development. Overall easily 9/10

Next 10 episodes (11 - 20): Still interesting story, okay romance, good chemistry, questionable character ethics, questionable character decisions, abysmal character development or maybe a little bit character regression itself. Overall 7/10

Final 10 episodes (21 - 20): Absolute mess of a story, scarce romance, lacking chemistry, boring and badly written characters, idiotic and flawed decision making, total character regression save for the ending. Overall 3/10

And thus the final rating, since we can't just rate this based on the good parts alone, is 9 + 7 + 3 /3 = 6.33 or better rounded off at 6.5/10. To summarize, I would say this was a really good story with major promise but got destroyed by very very bad writing, pacing and direction.

P.S. Would like to commend the OST though, absolutely wonderful.

Read More

Weirdly bad...

This is a really hard one to rate. It started really really good with the first few epsiode, actually upto episode 6. ML was the communication king! ML and FL had real good chemistry and their acting were top notch too. The plot, though simple, was quite interesting. The characters were also smart, especially ML. Every single one of his actions felt smart and realistic given the situation. FL showed steady character development. Despite the bad production I thought I found a hidden gem in lakorns and was going to rate it 9/10 just for plot, characterization and chemistry itself.

BUT!!!

This show suddenly becomes a totally weird mess after that. A misunderstanding happens which continues till end and never gets cleared iirc. FL becomes the dumbest person with negative character development. ML turns into some weird different persona which doesn't at all match with his old personality. He also becomes dumb too. The 2 2FLs become unbearable to watch, with motivations totally unclear. The 2ML/Villain becomes the instant skip target, he was a pisshead before anyways. Plot turns into absolute madness, long lasting misunderstanding, timeskips, twotimings and whatnots. Chemistry between main leads remains good thankfully though.

So as you see, I'm really conflicted on how to rate this. This had real potential and it got wasted hard. Such a disappointment. To rate it I will have to summarize.

Positives
+ Likeable ML
+ Good Chemistry
+ Weirdly bad but engaging plot
+ Acting
+ Characterization in first half

Negatives
- Production
- OST
- Weirdly bad but engaging plot
- Characterization in second half

Sensible Overall Rating 7.5/10

Read More

Skip, skip, skip until the main leads scene

Besides the main leads nothing worth watching, so skip skip skip until its main leads scene. And this IS one of the controversial ones, so if you can't digest that don't watch it.

I, for one, actually like watching controversies and contemplating character decisions in those situations.

Now coming to drama itself, production is bs as is in most lakorns, acting is okayish, OST absent or badly placed, character development abysmal, only thing worth watching here is the relationship and angst between the main leads.

The characters themselves, besides main leads, were not watch worthy so skipped all of them and that's my suggestion to anyone else too.

As for main leads, I actually found the FL literally annoying. She caused herculean amounts of misunderstandings and miscommunication just by not giving the guy a single chance to explain himself or even talk. A super one dimensional character who can either love or hate someone and once she starts hating she won't stop no matter if the hell bent over. ML, as pointed in summary and tags, is possessive and obsessive and by a good amounts too. He is lacking in communication department too, but, then again, the angst can't be created so I kind of understand storywriter's perspective here.

The relationship in itself, is like this, confused -> love -> hate -> hate -> hate -> confused -> confused -> confused -> love. As you see, the relationship progression is not actually bad but the event that lead to change in progression are weird to say the least. Like how suddenly "love" converted to "hate" just because of one reveal that ML is interested in her money. She didn't even give him a chance to talk, she just went from "love" to "hate" in an instant! And then she stays in that "hate" phase for quite long. That's why I'm calling FL one dimensional. How "hate" converted to "confused" is another story altogether, it was quite fun to watch. And how "confused" converted back to "love" was rushed beyond reason, it happens in 3-5 mins only, I think?

Anyways, overall....ummm....its a rather unique watch, only a very few people could actually like this and there are not very many things to like here. I rate it 6/10 for the uniqueness. That could've been lower though if I didn't skip a lot.

Read More

Looking for fluff? Look no further

I usually stayed away from C-Dramas due to weird and convoluted plotlines, messy characterization, long and stretched episodes count and whatnots. This, however, was the first one, that being such a refreshing watch, it changed my opinion on C-Dramas completely.

Watch this for romance and fluff, this won't disappoint! Romance is really well done here and the main leads have a real good chemistry. Even the secondary main leads have good chemistry.

The story is simple but its done beautifully. There are cliches sometimes but they all get resolved in a very positive manner. There is angst too, many a times, but the end to that angst is very rewarding. This is exactly how a good story is written. I was engaged throughout and it also never left a bad taste in my mouth.

Characterization, on the other hand, was done amazingly. Most characters if not all were likeable in their own way. Very rarely did I find myself getting annoyed by a character's decision and that too for a very short period of time.

FL's character for one was really likeable. In some scenes she was super adorable tbh. Real good performance by Zhao Li Ying.
ML, on the other hand, was a bit too stoic. He needs to learn to communicate more, caused too many misunderstandings needlessly.
SML was okay throughout. His character did develop a bit later on.
SFL, though, was the one with the most character development of all. She actually matured from a childhood infatuation to real love. Quite a major character development right there. Despite many hating her for her selfish decisions, I empathize with her situation and understand why she did what she did. Amazing acting by the actress Li Cheng Yuan.
All the other side characters were likeable too, no complaints nowhere at all.

Overall a super sweet and super fun uplifting show.
This might be my first time rating a C-Drama above 8, but this deserves it without a doubt. 8.5/10

Read More

A characterization catastrophe!

First thing first, great chemistry between ML and FL but.....WHAT NONSENSE DID I JUST WATCH!!?

Characterization is an absolute mess here. Such annoying characters are rare to see literally. Let me start, one by one. The most annoying of them all, 2ML is an insecure obsessive possessive piece of shit loser who coerced the FL into marriage by hiding a major fact about ML. This shit should be beaten to a pulp at first sight but on the contrary he is getting apologies from everyone?! JUST WOW! Every other single supporting character surrounding FL, be it her mother or mother in law or who the fuck ever, should learn to mind their own goddamn business stat. I would have slapped each one these the first chance I got, hypocritical toxic nonsensical shits all of them. Coming to ML, he is an idiot and a massive one at that, learn to communicate more please.

The only two characters I actually liked were the FL and 2FL. FL was likeable and her decision making, though flawed, was actually due to coercion by others so we can't actually blame her. On the contrary, 2FL was the best part about this drama, such a supportive, devoted and helpful character. She remained a gem throughout and awesome performance by Yoon In Young.

Plot had potential, acting was good, OST okay...but with this bad characterization I can't give this a good rating at all. 3.5/10

Read More