Reviews

When perfect casting meets a great script!

2024 start off with a dump of bad C dramas then came Pegasus and made me have faith in C Dramas once again. This is going to be one of the best this year. Kudos to the writers/directors/actors!

Loves: (literally everything!)
1. Hu Xian Xu (LinZhen Dong) - Been a fan of his ever since Hikaru no Go. Seeing him reunite with Zhao Hao Hong as his side kick again was icing on top. HXX is amazing! You can see his micro expressions switching from 2 personalities in one shot. Definitely he studied Wang Yan Lin's expressions & gestures.
2. Wang Yan Lin (Zhang Chi) - I've seen him in some crazy support roles over the years. Now I can't imagine another actor playing Zhang Chi.
3. Supporting cast - Many familiar faces. Solid acting, great casting all around.
4. Actual script - Interesting fun story & good pacing overall. Great characters. I love how there aren't any single minded bad characters.
5. Production Quality/Lighting/Makeup/Music. Real voices, normal talking, no crazy make up, definitely refreshing!

Imperfession?
I really didn't need Sun Yu Qiang's side story to be so long. Could've used that time to focus more on the main story.
Wished for more episodes.

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A Cinematic Masterpiece: Kingdom Redefines the Zombie Apocalypse Genre

A word before my review:- "I'll be honest, zombie apocalypses aren't typically my go-to genre. In fact, I had a traumatic experience watching a non-Korean zombie movie when I was just 11 or 12 years old. I didn't understand the context, but it left me terrified, and I avoided the genre altogether since then. However, thanks to a friend's enthusiastic recommendation, I decided to give Kingdom a chance, and I'm so grateful I did! This series has completely changed my perspective on the zombie apocalypse genre, and I'm now hooked."

THE DRAMA - KINGDOM :-

This Korean drama is a Stand-out drama in the thriller genre, setting a new standard for zombie apocalypse stories.
The decision to set the series ( the story point of Zombie) in ancient times was a bold and really challenging move, but the makers pulled it off with finesse. Mainly where the " Sageuk" dramas main elements rule on the classic love-revenge-wars-betrayal, power-struggle for the throne. it's a really tough challenge to the writer - director to create Zombie world in this classic sageuk elements. But their hardwork shines in every scene and every character makes us emotional, survival tense.
and the Netflix 's Korean drama wave started from here.

*THE EXCELLENCE OF KINGDOM'S SOUNDTRACK AND CINEMATOGRAPHY*

"When it comes to the thriller genre, I'm particularly discerning about two crucial aspects: soundtrack and cinematography. Kingdom excels in both areas, elevating the overall tension and suspense to new heights. The soundtrack is masterfully crafted, with the subtle sounds of the zombies and the haunting background score for the main leads perfectly complementing the on-screen action. The cinematography is equally impressive, with a keen attention to detail that immerses the viewer in the dark and foreboding world of ancient Korea. The cinematography in the Kingdom is nothing short of breathtaking, transporting me to a hauntingly beautiful ancient ( sageuk/historical ) Korea time'. The dark tone cinematography is a masterclass in crafting suspense and tension, expertly leveraging lighting, shadows, and composition to create an atmosphere that's both foreboding and mesmerizing and capturing a hauntingly beautiful scenery of Korean old days with bare trees on the mountains, their silhouettes etched against the eerie backdrop like nature's own work of art."
The soundtrack is equally impressive, with a haunting score that perfectly complements the on-screen action, amplifying the emotional impact of every scene and character. The combination of these two elements creates a truly unsettling and thrilling experience that keeps me on the edge of my seat.

ACTING:-

"The acting in Kingdom is truly exceptional, with each actor delivering a standout performance that leaves a lasting impact. Ju Ji Hoon, in particular, brings his character to life with a depth and nuance that is simply awe-inspiring. The entire cast, including Bae Doona, Kim Hye Jun, Ryu Seung Ryong, Heo Jun Ho, and Kim Sung Kyu, delivers fantastic performances that are both convincing and compelling. The cast's extraordinary acting skills are a testament to their dedication and talent, and they play a significant role in making Kingdom the thrilling and unforgettable experience that it is."

OVERALL :-

"I'm a little late to the party, but I'm thrilled to have finally experienced the masterpiece that is Kingdom! The script is nothing short of brilliant, weaving a story that's both captivating and unpredictable. The director-writer's vision is masterful, transporting me to the eerie world of the Kin and plunging me into the midst of a zombie apocalypse like never before. With its flawless pacing, heart-pumping action sequences, and emotional depth, Kingdom has raised the bar for K-dramas and zombie apocalypse stories alike.

My Rating: 10/10

If you haven't yet indulged in the thrill ride that is Kingdom, do yourself a favor and dive in without hesitation! This unforgettable experience will leave you breathless, craving more, and forever changed. Trust me, it's worth the binge!"

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Love between pro killers can’t be more daring

It a pretty short, fast paced and straightforward Show. No beating around the bush!! This is a Medieval type of love story. it’s between a man and a woman revenging their dead parents. The ML lost his family when he was 10, lived on the streets and had to kill to survive. During his childhood he met the FL and protected her. The FL asked to learn how to kill too but the ML refused teaching her. The FL got adopted by the man who killed the ML’s family. When the FL’s adoptive father heard of the ruthless “Mr. Mo”(the ML’s undercover but real identity), he faked his death because he knew Mr. Mo was the son of the people he killed and knew Mr. Mo would seek revenge on him. He told his butler to tell his daughter (FL) that it was Mr. Mo who killed him. This was to instigate his daughter to go undercover to get close to Mr. Mo and kill him (as revenge for her father’s “death “) before Mr. Mo eventually finds and kills him. His plan succeeded ( well,.. the first part of it did). His daughter (FL) went undercover as “Xia Zhiqiu” a dancer at the club where Mr. Mo had connections with. Mr. Mo was a well known killer but no one knew what he looked like. Mr. Mo took the name Ye Yifan (among people). Xia Zhiqiu got close to Ye yifan ( coz she knew Ye Yifan worked for Mr.Mo). Her plan was to seduce Ye Yifan to love her, then use this as a reason to ask Ye Yifan to kill Mr. Mo for her. She did succeed to get close to Ye Yifan. Ye yifan knew something was wrong and confronted Xia Zhiqiu. She lied repeatedly and got exposed( her identity, name not being Xia Zhiqiu but Gu Qingyan the daughter of his parents’ murderer and her motive for getting close to him was known also ). She was driven away by Ye Yifan, but used to tricks to make him take her back in. Ye Yifan and Gu Qingyan( Xia zhiqiu’s real name)found out they were childhood friends. Gu Qingyan felt bad for lying to him but couldn’t stop because of her goal. Both the ML and FL fell in love with each other.Later on Gu Qinyan ( FL) found out that Ye Yifan is Mr. Mo. She felt betrayed. After a long time Mr. Mo understood the whole situation and knew that the Fl’s father faked his death. He succeeded to find the man. He brought him to the spot where he killed his family and killed him. The Fl who witnessed this was very angry and shot herself. The ML panicked and when the FL woke up( faking an amnesia) even tho he knew she was faking it, he chose to believe her and no matter what she did to him or asked he accepted because he wanted her not to hold a grudge against him for killing her dad. The ML finally confronted her about her fake amnesia, the FL wanted to kill him so bad! After awhile the FL found out that the reason the Ml killed her father was because her father killed his parents and almost killed him many times when he was a child. She also found out her trusted accomplice Shen Annian was just using her to get what he wanted ( a treasure and map that originally belongs to Mr. Mo’s family) . The day reached where Shen Annian went to attack Mr. Mo. He failed terribly because he didn’t know Mr. Mo had planted spies around him. Shen Annian lost his life. The FL and ML decided to get married and let go of their grudges. On the wedding day, someone kidnapped the FL. Guess who it was…….! The BUTLER!!! He was the real mastermind behind the everything. He instigated the Fl’s father to take the job offer of killing the Ml’s family, used Shen Annian to have the desire to get the treasure from Mr. Mo, used the Fl to harbour grudges and make her hate the ML and want to kill him. That day the Fl asked to speak with the ML one last time before the butler kills Mr. Mo, after which she stabbed herself. When the butler was distracted, the Ml killed the butler and took the Fl to be treated. After treatment the Fl left. After a year she came back to the same club she worked before knowing the ML was there and they relived their memories of when they first met at the club. THE END… what a satisfying end where all the antagonists were killed and the grudges dissolved!!! Totally recommend!!!

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It's been awhile...

Just like my headline suggests, it really has been awhile since we had such a solid kdrama in years!! I don't even remember the last time I felt so emotionally INVESTED and obsessed with a Kdrama. Sis checks twitter religiously every single day and hour for more updates lmao. I can't wait for it to end so I can finally concentrate at work HAHAHA TT but at the same time I aM super sad that its ending because when will we ever see ksh on screen again? in 3 YEARS? dude serves us a 3 course meal and then disappear like its nothing making us survive on crumbs after.

wow.. where do I start, this drama is like a breath of fresh air, it has everything! The plot itself is intriguing, literally had the whole world coming up with theories, we had doctors, lawyers, accountants all coming together to discuss the plot HAH. I am RUNNING AWAY FROM PEOPLE WHO CAME UP with the theory that hyunwoo dies at the end of this show. LIKE HELLO? nO. GET AWAY from Me.

anywho, I love how this drama brought all of us together!! This ride has been nothing but an EXPLOSIVE TREAT. The cast had already warned us during the interview that this show will have plot twist over twist over twist + case on case on case. They weren't lying when they said ep 5 was only the beginning because everything that came after that was just HELL. Had us ugly crying every ep frs. I was shocked to find out that each ep is about 1.5h long cause it doesn't even feel that long!!! also bc every ep is alluring.

The storyline to some may be mediocre, but its the storytelling that is enticing. The plot shines the harsh truth of how life after marriage would be, and in this case it may not always be a happily ever after. Miscommunications, assumptions, built up frustrations and unresolved hurts will always affect the relationship, afterall it takes two hands to clap in a rs/marriage. I like how they show the state of the contrast difference between the Hong and Baek family and how its in Baek's family that hae in feels comfortable about letting her guard down and learning to receive love. And I really love how clear baekhong's love is shown in this drama - to be loved is to be understood and known.

The ways the actors go above and beyond to make their characters come to life. Ksh and Kjw served INSANE chemistry both on screen and off screen, even I can't help but to ship them irl TT. (secretly wishing for them to pull a BinJin) The acting, the adlibs, the constant strive to do better in delivering lines and expressing emotions shows dedication to their craft. Man literally proved us once again why he is the king of ratings and one of the highest paying actor in sk! Both kjw and ksh delivered such a stellar performance, and ofc with the other casts as well, special mention to park sung hoon as eun seong cause man acted so well it made me wna PUNCH him every single time he comes on. He needs Jeon Jae Joon to teach him a lesson HAH.

As a fan of both of the main leads, I have been truly blessed by this series. And sending my heartfelt congratulations for everyone that made QOT come alive, yall truly deserved the recognition for all that hard work!! It really is a bittersweet feeling knowing that we're heading towards the finale of this drama, part of me is sad because this is the end of an amazing story, but also so happy for all the recognition and support they are all getting. I already felt the post drama syndrome kicking in at ep 14... ahha, this feeling is smth i've never felt for in such a long time. Thank you QOT, for once again reigniting my love for dramas. It really has been a traumatic ride HAHAH kdrama? no.. ktrauma.

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FL's mother is the only main character, everyone else is a support character

This drama is just FL's mother messing everything up and every other spineless character compensating for it.

1- 17 episodes the tension builds up where FL's mother keeps messing up
18 - 37 we expect either FL's mom to change or FL to grow up. Nothing happens

FL grows only a little bit and that's it. By episode 30 everything is same and everyone forgives FL's mother even though she hasn't changed. I don't know if the writer wants to convey that "we should forgive our parents even though they keep interfering in our personal/professional lives". FL's mother is still annoying. The only reason this deserves a 6 is just because the leads were awesome. There were a few good love/romance scenes but they were very less compared to the screen time given for FL's mother.

This drama would have been better if a) FL and ML got more screen time
b) FL grows up more
c) FL's mother becomes a good person at the end.

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My favvv….

I watched this a whileee ago but it’s one of my favorite Korean BLs so it deserves a review so more people can watch it. I absolutely love this series, it was so cute and the plot was everything. There was never a lacking or dull moment in the series for me. I usually hate love triangles because they be so toxic but this drama was actually the opposite. The “love triangle” wasn’t toxic and I can even go as far as to say it was kind of healthy (in some ways). The main character is so adorable and I feel like the personality his character was given should be more represented in BLs. I loved the main couple and the shyness added to my likability. I love the innocent and shy couple trope because it is so damn cute!!! This was just a very lighthearted story with characters, who struggle with certain issues (i.e. mental health), can finally have a happy or close to happy ending.

The acting was so good and the plot was givinggg everything. I really enjoyed it plus the 16 episodes were heaven sent. I love it when a good series has a decent amount of episodes. This is definitely a Korean BL that I highly recommend!!

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More like seeking shelter

Definitely have mixed feelings about this one. Overall the story is a bit of a refresher in terms of the storyline dramas that are being aired right now. This one is as expected from a Korean bl to be more on the mature side.
At first I was thrown off with the flashbacks without much to differentiate between the past and present.
The drama feels a bit rushed and lacks being flushed out due to the short time in both amount of episodes and them being like 18 minutes.
Besides that the plot: the plot is something that draws me in. Two people brought together and bonding over their shitty families but ultimately separated.
I’d watch it. There’s no big commitment to watching it and Jang Woo Young Is playing his role as a pushover too well *insert crying emoji.*

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Ge to Gege ?

April 24, 2024

Unknown has definitely been one of the well-written Taiwanese Bls in the last few years.

Yup, I said it. I think Taiwan was going through a slump of BLs in terms of their production and such. As I dropped a lot of the released BLs over the past few years.

The reason why I could not give this series a solid 10/10 is just that I could not really feel settle or fully feel comfortable regarding the leads. I know that they aren't blood related at all and by any means, they are basically strangers who just happened to become a family. Or like raised together as a parent/son? Older brother/younger brother ... See even saying this whole sentence, it already kind of makes me feel unsettled. I guess that's my only critique of this fictional show. I do know that there are many many series with this type of plot synopsis but still, I think that is for sure the reason why it just doesn't seem like a 10/10 drama for me.

Now in terms of all the positive aspects of this show:
- It is well-written. Both leads are written well, for their background, their motivation to succeed in time. In terms of accepting themselves given how society perceives them.
- This also goes to the supporting leads as well. Each of them are developed and there might be a few jagged scenes here and there. Regardless, it was not something that was so distracting and can go unnoticeable.
- The ending was amazing, it encompasses the vulnerability, yet steamingly hot and mature scenes. It was absolutely beautiful and I love it.

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a interesting story…

I watched this while it was airing but just now getting around to reviewing it lol…I like the plot of the story and how connected the characters were even when they didn’t know it (had history prior to getting to actually know each other). A lot of people didn’t like this BL because of its age gap which is understandable. It was a very cute and funny story with some heartfelt moments (at times). I did think at some times Shin was pushing for more knowing that Minato was unsure or wasn’t ready. This did get annoying or repetitive at times. I feel like it was a lot of back and forth between the feelings and there was a lack of communication between the two of them. Other than that, the plot was good and the acting was great. I would like to see this ship in another series together since I think they work well together.

The side couple was also cute but I can once again see why people wouldn’t like it (another age gap). Same as the main couple, there was a lack of communication from the older dude. A lot of back and forth which can get annoying or too much at times. But I enjoyed the series and hopefully I can finish the second season soon (been watching it since it was airing). Second season is definitely not to my liking compare to the first season.

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Pavel and Chen…

So I recently watched this and I know I’m late to the party lol…I watched this because I recently finished Pit Babe and wanted to see more Pavel. I was surprised to see Chen in this also so I was happy about that since I love him in GMMTV series. The plot was decent but I hated the cliffhanger especially since I know we aren’t getting a “2 Moons 3”. I didn’t watch 2 Moons but I wasn’t confused on the plot (you don’t have to watch 2 Moons before this one). I like all the couples and enjoyed that they all got their own moments within the show. It was a little boring at times and the plot was lacking in moments. I probably would’ve rated it higher if I had watched it in 2019 since the theme of the story fits that era better than in 2024. I loved Ben’s character in this one and the communication between the couples was decent (miscommunication is so common in BL which is something I dislike). I think the acting was decent but I’ve seen majority of the actors in more recent BLs and can see that they have improved a lot.

Overall it wasn’t bad but it wasn’t my favorite. It could’ve been better at times but for the time it was airing, I can definitely see it being popular. I wasn’t bother by the cast change from the first season since I didn’t watch it but I enjoyed this cast as a whole.

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Dangerous???

I watched this a while ago…but I am just wondering how was it a dangerous romance??! There was nothing actually dangerous about it and it was technically not forbidden or anything so i’m confused on that part. Other than that, it was decent. I like the ship but Chimon looked uncomfortable in certain parts of it. Idk if it was intentional or just how he actually felt when it was being filmed. The plot was ok, but it could’ve been more. I would like to see this ship in a better drama since this was their first one so it’s too soon to make any real criticism. For Perth, I think this role suited him so I would like to see him in more “bad boy” roles. The side couple was also cute especially since I like the enemies to lovers trope (at times).

Hopefully the next PerthChimon series is better than this one. It was just lacking in some areas and didn’t get interesting until the middle/end. I did enjoy it at times but it just wasn’t living up to my expectations or to the hype.

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