Reviews

Flat out, this drama is a big waste of time. It’s been almost a year since I watched this drama, and to this day, whenever someone mentions “Heartstrings,” I am reminded of the 22.5 hours of my life that I can never have back (yes, I calculated it).

I’m being harsh. But my point is that there are a lot of good dramas to dedicate your time to. Hell, there are even some bad ones that are so funny that they’re more worth your time than this!

Heartstrings presents itself as a “feel-good,” light-hearted romantic comedy. And within the first few episodes, it absolutely seems fun and cute! The two leads are very cute, the music is upbeat and catchy, and the settings are cool, hip and visually appealing. But the more you actually learn about the two leads and the storyline develops, the less appealing everything and everyone becomes and the drama takes a significant nosedive into mediocrity.

Park Shin Hye makes a series of obnoxious choices, making her character change from the cute yet naive “girl next door,” to a vapid, slightly idiotic doormat. Jung Yong Hwa is the typical popular guy that everyone in town loves and/or desires, but for no apparent reason other than being physically attractive. The man has the personality and charisma of an ice cube. He also spends much of his time walking around with a chip on his shoulder and being unkind to the people around him. Oooh, so attractive...But not really.

I also didn't care for the way the writers handled the issue of an eating disorder with one of the characters. It was casually referenced periodically, but the writers never took any responsibility or stance on the topic. That was pretty unacceptable to me considering the audience for this drama is primarily young women. Since they brought it up, they could have at least made an impactful statement on the issue, but alas.

And don’t get me wrong, not all dramas have to be profound, political, thought-provoking or mind-blowing. Some dramas are meant to be taken in like yummy junk food--fun and enjoyable in the moment, where you don’t need to think too deeply about the plotline. Guilty pleasures, if you will.

But even as a fun, junk-food drama, Heartstrings fails. I can’t think of anything worse than eating unsatisfying junk food. It’s already bad for you, and in the end, it doesn’t taste good either!

If you’re looking for a good “junk-food” genre drama, go with Mary Stayed Out All Night or Switch Girl. Those dramas succeed in their genre and won’t leave you pulling out a calculator to estimate how much time you wasted on them...Like I did watching Heartstrings... 22.5 hours...That’s almost an entire day...

Read More

If I could give it a 0 star rating I would!

The worst drama I have ever watched. Everything about it is just bad. The lead actress is really annoying and the villain felt like trying too hard. The lead actor is far from badass. If any Italian mafia saw this drama they would commit suicide. The comedy is so bad I felt like gauging my eyes out. The genre mixing just made it worse. One scene being a thriller and the next scene being a comedy doesn't make it a Dark Comedy. Dark comdey is a completely different genre. I don't know how in the world does this have a 9.0 ratings. That's just disrespect to other dramas. I specifically opened this account to give it a 1 star ratings. I can't even express in words how bad this drama was. This drama gave me such a bad experience that I have decided not to watch any dramas with these actors in the lead.

Read More

A heart-warming family drama that gives you full of laughter and tears :)

Probably the very first family C-drama I've watched before. I've watched many modern dramas that have friendship, love and family but I supposed this one is pretty much towards the family side (siblings, father-son, mother-son etc). I really wanted to say: I LOVE IT. It's not some kind of show that will give you much excitement but it is definitely a show that you felt so relatable and a good show to cry on. I hardly cry for shows but this show just made me crying non-stop, especially the part where people are doubting their relationship just because they are not from the same family or even how they been through hardships but their loved ones are always there for them, with the OSTs, the whole scene just became so teary :(((( The dads' acting and Steven's acting are the best! TBH, SWL's side of story is as depressing as Steven's but I think he wasn't that good in pulling those heartbreaking scenes off, could have been better! But overall was still amazing:) I love all the side couples too (including oldies couple haha, it was extremely cuteeee!)

Some people might not like the romance part between the siblings but I can understand why writers do that, it is just to make them officially a family, so I don't mind that! Although I think it would be as great if they don't have any romance between the siblings.

I finally know how it got such high ratings on MDL, and they totally deserve it!

Read More

Extremely overhyped

I was ready to drop this drama at ep 9 but the only reason why I finished it is because I wanted to know the reason why it was so hyped up. Even after finishing the drama, I do not understand the hype. The story is not as great as people are making it out to be. It is literally like a typical romcom with action and the only unique thing about this drama are its villains. There are numerous occasions where overacting is done by the people from Geumga plaza and other actors as well. Taecyeon and the actress who played Myunghee acted very well though so I'll give them that. Joongki's acting was good but there's many other actors who could've done a better job portraying Vincenzo and I also expected Joongki's acting to be way better than it actually was. Yes, that's an unpopular opinion but it's the truth. I personally think that Ji Changwook, Kim Soohyun, or Park Seojoon would've done a way better job playing the role of Vincenzo because it would suit them more. Joongki looked too innocent to seem like a mafia member. I could not take this drama seriously because the writers failed very miserably at mixing the comedy and dark theme of the drama. There were many good jokes in this drama but a good amount of the jokes weren't even funny and many comedy scenes seemed unnecessary. The fact that everyone claims that this drama is perfect is very funny to me because I can list multiple plot holes and dumb plot mistakes, which everyone seems to have just ignored simply because they were too focused on the eye candy that this show provided them with. I really wanted to like this drama and I was extremely excited to watch it but it was a big let down. Another thing I disliked was that, although the character is unique, Hanseok's character did not have depth at all. The writers simply labeled him as a "psychopath" and never bothered to give his character more depth. I wanted to know more about the character because he was an interesting character but they didn't do justice to him. Also, Hanseo didn't get justice because he didn't receive a funeral and no one seemed to care much about him after his death. Vincenzo was more worried about Chayoung the entire time and they literally just let Hanseo sacrifice himself without helping him in any way whatsoever. How big of a dumbass does Vincenzo have to be to show up to meet Hanseok without anything to defend himself with? Like he was very well aware of the fact that Hanseok wouldn't hesitate killing someone so he should've thought of something but NOPEEEEE.

At many occasions the story gets repetitive because it's just "oh ok the villains set a trap which Vincenzo is going escape from within two seconds". The episode endings didn't excite me because no matter what trap the villains set for Vincenzo he was out of it within minutes so thats just a way to waste time and mislead people. Also, if Vincenzo is sooooooo smart then why didn't he just set up a hearing device in Wusang because that definitely would've allowed him to figure out Hanseok's identity way earlier. Don't give excuses like "it's not that easy setting up a device in the law firm cuz there's security" because that man and woman from Geumga literally went into the Wusang CEO's office and wrote the letter C using pigs blood. I can go on and on about stuff like that but I would rather not waste my energy. The episodes should have been shorter and the show should've been 16 episodes long rather than 20. One last note, this show romanticized the mafia way too much.

This drama is average in all aspects. I wonder how much everyone would have loved this drama if the cast wasn't good looking.

Read More

I just finished watching this drama and I am not exactly sure where to start. Midas definitely had its moments of intrigue, action and fun. There were times when I watched that I could feel the tension and build up to the conclusion. But overall this drama ended up disappointing me. I hate to say it because I do love Jang Hyuk. His acting truly blew me away in Chuno and I really liked him in Robbers and Thank You as well. Plus...he is just so gorgeous. I will try and pinpoint the problems I had with Midas.

1) If you are going to create a drama with the premise of greed and its consequences then give us some payoff for those actions. Why did the antagonist truly have no commuppance in the end? Why shift the burden of guilt? (I cant say more or I will spoil it!)

2) If you are going to create a love story in the middle of all this intrigue that makes the protagonist feel the burden of his greedy ways, give me something rich and make the love a little more palpable.

I did not feel the chemistry at all. I understand this show was not a romance but the writers are the ones who placed that romance there. They made the loss of that love and the possible redemption of the protagonist through that love a plot point. I expected a bit more drama, a lot more emotional weight from that.

3) If you are going to set up all these intrigues, money games and power plays...Go For It! Go Out with a BANG..not a wimper. I wish they would have had more build up with Do Hyun being immersed in the world of selling his soul for money and his immersion in the greed for more and waited until closer to the end for him to feel the consequences. Or if not...as he was plotting and scheming in the second half I wish they would have kept up the intrigue. When that part of the action started I was excited for where it might lead. It held me for a few episodes then fizzled. The set up at the end with several scenarios and character story lines could have been played out a lot better. I can not describe them or it would be adding spoilers to this review. I can't blame the whole "going out with a whimper" thing on the extended episode because I felt the real tension and drama waning long before episode 21.

I wish this would have been better. Again it had some fun moments but mere moments are not enough to give this better than an average score.

I look forward to others reviews on this to see their take on this drama. **also...This drama is 21 episodes, not 16.

Read More

A MASTREPIECE!!

so far I've watched all the episodes that have aired (11) and must I say, Lee Do-Hyun and Ra-Mi have done a spectacular job! At first, I was a bit hesitant to watch since romance has to be a strong point for me to watch a show but I'm so glad I decided to watch it. The drama grips you into the screen from the very first episode and every episode ends with you wanting more. So much keeps happening but it's not too much because it's written so perfectly and well sought out. I've cried for both the main characters multiple times now and I feel so bad for both the mother and son, I hope they have a HAPPY ending. The acting is SO GOOD that you feel every character's pain and just hope they catch a break. The revenge plot is also there which just keeps unraveling in such mind-blowing ways that you will audibly gasp multiple times throughout each episode. There is also a bit of romance but it's not the very main focus (still there though.. a childhood friends to lovers and sunshine x grumpy trope). Along with everything else this drama doesn't become too boring because it has the transitions from sad to happy and there are tons of light-hearted, funny, and swoon-worthy scenes. I wasn't that big of a Lee Do-Hyun fan before this but I am NOW!
Overall I fucking love this drama and it's going in my TOP 3.
I 100% recommend it TO EVERYONE!!!

Read More

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that."

"Through The Darkness (악의 마음을 읽는 자들); literally, "Those Who Read Hearts of Evil" is a live-action adaptation of the nonfiction novel of the same title, written by Kwon Il-Yong, Republic of Korea's first profiler and co-authored by writer Go Na-Moo, published in the year 2018.

Created by Studio S and Wavve, "Through The Darkness" is directed by Park Bo Ram while Seol Yi Na took the charge of screenwriting, which is a debut for both of them. Master composer Gaemi leads the music production while the show was broadcasted on SBS. It had a mid-season break of 3 weeks due to Winter Olympics but I guess it proved rewarding.

To be clear, this is not the depiction of the real life events of the profiler but the sequence of events are reflected from reality to a certain extent; that's why the novel is nonfiction. The drama is setup in late 1990s and shows the process and struggles of establishing the "Behavioural Analysis Unit" in South Korean Police Force as well as making "Criminal Profiling" an important factor of investigation, through succeeding years. I think this is enough for a gist given the theme and premise of the show.

Inspector Song Ha Young (Kim Na Gil) is reserved and somewhat introverted with abilities of reading through emotions and is highly piercing. Having a traumatic experience in early childhood, he has grown up into a person who seeks a simple life and want to persue his job with honesty and discipline. Detective Kook Young Soo (Jin Seon Kyu) is the chief of Forensic Analysis unit yet has aspirations to create a Behavioural Analysis team after being inspired from "criminal profiling" done by American FBI. Detective Yoon Tae Goo (Kim So Jin) is the leader of Special Crime Squad 2 at Seoul RIU who always strives to bring justice. Jung Woo Ju (Ryeoun) is a Statistical Analyst in the Behavioural Analysis Team, who is young yet determined and hardworking.

Other actors in major roles are: Baek Joon Sik (Lee Dae Yeon) as RIU Superintendent, Heo Gil Pyo (Kim Won Hae) as Special Crime Squad Chief, Detective Nam Il Young (Jung Soon Won) as Yoo Tae Goo's partner and Oh In Tak (Hong Woo Jin) as the current chief of Forensics. The performance by each and every major characters as well as supporting plus temporary roles was simple amazing, I must mention. Special credits to Kim Nam Gil and Jin Seon Kyu, who obviously were expected to carry the show on their back. Also, the performance from the actors playing serial killers is hugely commendable.

Plot development was stupendous. Let me inform you that it's neither a steady nor a plot, neither a staircase development and doesn't have any connecting plot elements either. Rather it's more of a biographical documentary of a profiler and him solving cases one after another, obviously along with people around him through a passage of time of about half a decade. The pilot episodes were impressive and able to make the audience look forward to further; might feel a little slow but it's a matter of time, you realize that the entire show was intended to be like that. The show greatly emphasizes on the methods of intensive profiling through which the male leads not only try to spread out the importance of criminal behavioral analysis, but also put efforts into learning themselves.

There is the least amount of suspense, I must mention. It's bcs the writer has opted to reveal the culprits at the beginning of the cases itself. On that note, it's not a psychopath crime thriller or any sort lf murder mystery, rather the weightage is on profiling, i. e. how the cops exercise their brains to get to the criminal. There are about 5 major culprits throughout and each case starts while the previous is about to end. Song Ha Young's growth as a rookie profiler to an expert is worth investing your time into.

I feel the most amount of credit should go to the screenwriter. Although the drama is a novel adaptation but turning books into live-action isn't as easy since the latter is more of a play script. Haven't read the original work but from what I saw on sns, they have retained originality for most of the parts, which should be commended. The premises wete aptly setup and the sequence of events were perfectly arranged plus organized. The momentary monologues and self-notes picked my attention as well. Even though the focus is hugely concentrated on the 2 MLs, others received a good amount of exposure as well, and on that note, the character arcs were drawn with great efforts and the growth in them was clearly conspicuous, again, especially for the 2 MLs.

I'm sure the directorial debut for Park Bo Ram PDnim has been a fruitful experience; directing the screenplay for such a fantastic script indeed would have brought joy. To me, the show didn't feel like being directed by a rookie at all, in fact, after watching 3 episodes, when I rushed to check out which amazing person has taken the charge, it turned out to be someone I never knew of. The pacing was perfect; the seeming slow paced development made the entire thing more meaningful, I felt. The cinematography with unlit & dim pallettes and dark hue was able to provide pertinent moods and gives, given the catastrophic theme of the story. The screen-editing was good for me, with less sound effects and being greatly focused on intense scenarios; the criminal chasing and fighting scenes were in fact enjoyable.

There are 4 soundtracks in total, composed by Gaemi nim and to the best of the show's vibes. I think it would have been still okay with no OSTs and this number was okay given the least utilization. "Lullaby" by Nerd Connection is a harmonious depiction of dark conflicts between emotions within your heart. "Can't Run Away" by Isaac Hong is a caliginous urge to give up on everything. Leopard of Mt. Kilimanjaro by 4Men was the last track.

What I liked...

ML doesn't shadows others...
# Seemingly nonexistent bromance... I couldn't concluded whether it was bromance bcs there was no eye-catching portrayal but the things between Ha Young & Young Soo was full of care, affection and mutual respect is all I can say. I loved their chemistry as partners who gave their best with the preeminent determination to get to the roots of all the cases, as well as to save and develope their team. "Bloom and Fall Alone" is a gloomy call from heart's core about the hostilities one goes through, with intriguing vocals of Kim So Yeon.

# Extensive emphasis on profiling...
Oh! I guess I'd have mentioned this point first. This is the thing that makes the drama one of the best. For 5 years, I have been waiting for something to come and level up itself with "Signal (2017)" and may be it wasn't able to reach that, but well, it is the one that went the closest, which makes me happy.

# No dramatic peak elevation... It's expected of a story of any form to have peaks; it's one of the essential factors that we all love about. But, the storytelling method for this drama didn't intend to have clear-cut elements of such. I've explained the reason above, and, in fact, this fact makes the show more of a realistic piece.

# Simple yet powerful and impressive... Again, it isn't a brainy drama with intriguing plot or astonishing revelations. Everything has been made crystal clear for you from the beginning so what's left for you to see? It's the way the detectives analyse and profile an event and personalities of criminals to get through the cause and the culprit. Indeed, the way everything has been executed, makes it highly impressive, entertaining and worthy of investing your time into.

# Apt exposure to side characters... I loved how the side characters and their parts were not exaggerated as fillers and were properly used, especially for Kim So Jin, Ryeoun, Jung Soon Won and Gong Sung Ha.

What I didn't like... There's only one thing I didn't like about this drama, i. e. in the screenplay, things that could have been explained by the speaker by simply telling the scenarios, was shown via quick flashbacks of the event. I guess it was a screenplay strategy by the writer and director but it could have been excluded in my opinion. Nevertheless, it didn't ruin the quality of the overall content, for me.

Final Remarks... I didn't have much expectations before starting this, ngl, and all I relied on was the cast which I admire and also the fact that the drama was on profiling. But, to my surprise, the drama left with no option but to applaud and eulogize everywhere. The overall execution of this drama including direction, writing, performance is definitely to the level of excellency and I would obviously recommend y'all to watch this. MUST WATCH!

Read More

No matter how much I love to watch Asian drama I never wrote a single review on any of them but I have to make an exception for this one. The writer, directors, and specially the main casts surely managed to put on a good show. I freakin almost lost my cool. Felt all kinds of emotion towards the characters. I almost flew to China just to tell Mei Lin to go to hell! Urghhhhh!!! Such a b****! Qi Yu is just ughhhhh!!!!! So much for the ending thou!!! Seriously writer and director? You could've added some more to it!! Hug or something!! It seems like everybody like Essen's character and that includes myself. Him and Yun Xian had a bit of chemistry going on! Essen's character was more passionate and we love it! Like seriously, I got mad at the end of the drama..I wish there was more to it!

Read More

HAHAHA this is my reaction when I read the reviews here. The reviews posted here are so biased in my opinion. I am a Filipino myself but did not let the first episode (which did have an issue) affect the whole drama. Being affected just means it is true, right? What is racist in that, I feel like its the fashion sense only, what they see I think. Come on, tell me you don't judge based on impressions and fashion sense. Also, this drama was already completed. Anyways, I think the storyline is good. I am waiting for the english subs of all episodes.I am always looking forward to the next episode. The story did have some issue like sometimes it feels slow but somehow, I still keep looking forward to it.

Read More

Cliché & Cringe

As a fan of the webtoon this was such a horrible adaptation. I will admit I’m biased towards SJ. This drama started to annoy me when they gave SH a bunch of SJ’s scenes. His personality is so dry. Their chemistry is so dry. Their chemistry doesn’t even compare to SJ & JK. That’s why they had to give SH scenes from SJ and also create this childhood backstory. Even with the scenes that didn’t belong to him their relationship was so flat, boring, & cliché.

He leaves for 2 years while SJ is there for her and he comes back & gets the girl back almost instantly. Barf. SJ who did more for her than SH ever did gets left broken hearted. While SH the wet blanket gets the girl with barely any effort after breaking her heart. This drama was so cliché & predictable. As soon as the childhood scenes & stolen scenes it was so clear who she gonna end up with. It’s like they didn’t even try. They could if at least given SJ his real part and made it really unpredictable as to who she was going to end up with. Even if she had ended up with SH after all that I would of given this a much better rating bc at least SJ got his fair chance like in the webtoon. I only finished it because I started it with my sis- in law & she made me finish it with her. If it wasn’t for her I was fine with never watching the super cliché & predictable final episodes of this drama.

The only good thing about the drama was the cast. I think they picked perfect actors that really portrayed the characters great. Too bad the writers / director really dropped the ball with the story. I’m so sad how this drama destroyed SJ amazing character. I’m so confused as to why everyone loves SH so much. Even in the webtoon he’s such a weird, awkward, & boring guy. His pretty face is the only thing he has. SJ has a pretty face and a bomb personality. #TeamSeoJun ALWAYS!

Read More

Its really hard to write this review cause i dont know how to describe... This Series is like... U eat something U know its delicious but after eating U were not satisfied... Dont get me wrong... I just have some "lost thoughts" of this series
1- On epi 6, when she found out abt his husband, she shows that she believes that he is "GOOD" but how could she torture him by bringing him to that crime scene...
2- Next, she broke up him saying 'I Hate U" & all those "HURT" words then following day she loves him again??? i dont understand how the writer play with the emotion
3- The scene were she was trying to catch him... she rum after him.. she is a "Detective" BUT she dont even have GUN??
4- Also epi 15, she is again DETECTIVE, why dont U answer ur phone.. hahahaha
5- When he lost his memory, legally she is his "Family" why did he not keep his husband in his house to bring back the memory??
AND... I hope they elaborate more on the Psychological Factor like why is his Father a Serial Killer.... till the END i did not understand why he kills people... or was it really him killing?? The Accomplish Killer, also i hope they did show more on why he turn out to be a killer when he has everything, thou i understand that it was that Serial Killer makes him like that but WHY?? whats behind him that he become a killer??
KUDOS to the Actors they were so good specially the Real Baek Hee Sung... goosh he is sooo damn bad but hot....

Read More

One Time Watch

List of Trigger Warnings ⚠️ Below

PROS:
◇The whole cast very talented and well known Individuals.
◇Shin Hye-sun fighting scenes & her acting overall ?? ????
◇The message of Turning a blind is also being part of the problem.
◇The realtionship between Shin Hye-sun charcter and Cha Chung-hwa character. They had great chemistry and have worked in past projects together.
?Slight Spoilers?


The Justice in the end. ??

CONS:
◇Fighting fire with fire ?
I understand it's a work of fiction but it still made a little uncomfy.

◇The ML didn't look like a teen but maybe because I know the actors real age.

Overall glad I watched it.
***PLEASE look at the Trigger Warnings before going into this one***

⚠️Trigger Warnings⚠️

◇Abuse (emotionally, physically and mentally)
◇Exterme bullying (Harrasment)
◇Public Humiliation
◇Violence
◇Abuse of power
◇Sexual Harrasment
◇Strong Language

Read More