Reviews

Authentic! The people, the stories, the setting. Affectionate, humorous & true to life characters

"Diary of a Prosecutor" is an extremely delightful, unconventional and, despite all the sometimes snappy, sometimes cheerful, sometimes pitch black, sometimes heartful humor, it also offers a quite serious, profound examination of jurisdiction and practically handling the law. This embedded in the simple everyday work-life of ordinary people, told from the perspective of a provincial prosecutor. The script is based on the essay "Civil War Prosecutor", written by a real prosecutor and inspired by his personal experiences.

So it is primarily about the everyday life on the office floors and behind the office doors of the public prosecutor's office. First and foremost, this is about profane workdays that often last until late, including dinner and drinks with colleagues. However, this is also about a noble task, the juggling with legal regulations, the ideals of a just society and the diplomatic basics in dealing with superiors in the strict hierarchy from the bottom to the top. And last but not least, this is a potpourri of different individual stories of quite ordinary people who face the challenges of their inconspicuous lives every day anew, and eventually grow from them - as it is in life...

In other words, you get: a variety of people you grow fond of as you get to know them better; a job-portrait that is subject to the highest expectations, but whose credibility in the country is still not easy. And a (fictional) outskirts - a town at the seaside, famous for its oyster harvest. The filming took place in Tonyeong-si in the very south of the country, where practically the entire crew (around 150 people, including cast) stayed during the five-month shooting period... Provincial life is thus breathing from every pore of the KDrama - everything is a bit more relaxed, closer to nature. Seoul is far away…

Conclusion: Authentic! The people, the stories, the setting. The dramaturgical 'trick': the greater narrative of the omniscient narrator. The humor that comes along with it. Sometimes ironic, sometimes satirical, sometimes bone dry. Bottom line: funny and complex at the same time. Affectionate, humorous and true to life personality portraits. In script and play. The cases and the ethical questions involved go deep at times. And yet it is people who deal with it. Colleagues. Eventually in competition at times. Imperfect people, with weaknesses, even if they wear robes. Yet, people who can excel themselves at times, too. Other than that, the days, weeks, months and years go by, case after case, team dinner after team dinner...

As far as Korean life and culture is concerned, with this KDrama you can get pretty close to the people and their everyday world in many ways. Because of this and a wonderful overall concept, whose good spirit works on all scales, I consider “Diary of a Prosecutor” highly valuable.

Maybe it's a bit unusual at first. Don't let it irritate you. Keep going. I´d say it is worth it...

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How to Catch a Seditionist

In "The Legend of Zhuohua," we follow the journeys of two determined women in a society that doesn't always favor them. Our main character, Mu Zhuohua (played by Jing Tian), studies hard, passes her exams and rises in the government. Another woman, Princess Rou Jia (played by Wang Likun), secretly aspires to become the Emperor. Both women dream of bringing positive changes and cleaning up corruption in the government.

Their goals are similar, but they have different approaches. Mu Zhuohua wants an honest government and a stable monarchy. Meanwhile, Rou Jia gets consumed by revenge and a thirst for power, and she hides her true intentions behind a mask of philanthropy.

The story begins with Mu Zhuohua focused on her career, putting love and family on the backburner. Even though there's a deep connection between her and Liu Yan (played by Feng Shaofeng), they choose a unique path, deciding not to get married or have children. But as the story progresses, it shifts towards a full-blown romance, with Mu Zhuohua and Liu Yan growing closer. Unfortunately, Mu Zhuohua loses some of her initial spark as an ambitious woman striving for success. Nonetheless together, they crack the greatest conspiracy and catch the seditionist who is the mastermind of the whole thing.

It's said that the author was asked to change the storyline involving a female emperor. This shift causes Princess Rou Jia to end up as another negative character with a predictable ending, and perhaps the tone down has also weaken Mu Zhuohua's character.

In terms of acting, Wang Likun does an impressive job portraying Princess Rou Jia. Her transformation from grace and benevolence to calculated malevolence feels genuine and leaves a strong impression. Jing Tian's acting is decent, although it's a bit hard to picture her as the young and brilliant Mu Zhuohua due to her mature appearance. Feng Shaofeng's portrayal of Liu Yan, ailing but with a magnetic allure of a mature man in a deep voice with few words, is fine. However, the robotic voice dubbing is unbearable and distractive.

My Verdict

I initially liked the drama, but as it progressed, it became slow and filled with plot holes. The main lead characters seem to magically know the thoughts of their enemies. When they discover Princess Rou Jia's true nature, they show no surprise, which doesn't make much sense. The main female characters also become somewhat passive, and the male characters become rather banal.

My suggestion? Watch this drama while doing something else, like cooking or working out. It can be a background entertainment option!

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I am exhausted!

This show was so well done and I'm glad that I finally took the time to watch it. My brain feels somewhat fried, trying to keep up with the twists and turns in the story line, and attempting to keep the past and the present sorted out. I'll admit that time travel, butterfly effect shows are hard for me to grasp. Since this show is from 2016, the whole thing is kind of grainy in its film quality, both in the present and in the past, so it was sometimes hard for me to figure out which time period I was watching. A lot of the characters looked pretty much the same in both time periods, which you wouldn't expect from a 20-year time difference.

Corruption, unfortunately, was a big part of the drama, and that seemed to be the cause of so many unsolved cases. That got a little old. Plus, working under people that you know are corrupt was very hard to watch, their efforts were stymied more often than not.

The acting was excellent, most notably Jo Jin Woong as Jae Han and Lee Je Hoon as Hae Young. Especially impressive was the fact that so much of the time they were acting alone, with just the walkie talkie, and not face to face with other actors. I felt a whole gamut of emotions watching this, excitement, fear, sadness, and hope.

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The Best Fantasy Drama in a Long Time

Adapted from the web comic “Under One Person” (一人之下) by Mi Er (米二), YouKu’s latest fantasy drama “I Am Nobody” is a robust mix of intrigue, mystique, suspense and comedy. YouKu dropped the first four episodes unceremoniously on 4th August, 2023. Ironically, the next day, it was announced that the show has been suspended until further notice. After a month long delay, “I Am Nobody” resumed broadcast on 6th September, 2023. In the midst of all this drama, I really didn’t get the time to watch this show. I wasn’t enthusiastic about it and when I checked the first few minutes of the pilot episode, the show seemed mediocre. Despite that, suspending my disbelief, I decided to watch this show one more time, and this is what I learned- if you could get past the first few minutes of the zombie nonsensical action, then “I Am Nobody” is definitely your time. The show chronicles the main lead Zhang Chulan’s (Peng Yu Chang) journey as his life is toppled upside down when the said zombies steal his dead Grandfather’s body from his grave. Met with unusual circumstances in the “Outsider” world and haunted by a villainous group “Sinister Pleasure”, Chulan is forced to seek refuge with NDT Express (the official organization whose job is to punish evil Outsiders). Along the way, he is tutored by Feng Baobao (Wang Ying Lu), as he gets acquainted with other powerful Outsiders like Wang Ye (Neo Hou), Zhang Ling Yu (Bi Wen Jun) and Zhu Ge Qing (Julio Wan Yan).

Read the complete article here-

https://kcdramamusings.wordpress.com/2023/09/12/i-am-nobody-first-impressions/#more-126

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Ping was the best actor

I would have dropped this series if it weren't for the story being very very interesting and Ping was just so darn cute and really good at his character.

Guitar seemed a bit off his game. I'm thinking that maybe he was getting sick or he was exhausted. I don't have to have hot passionate scenes for BL. they could be light and fluffy... But Guitar just did not seem to warm up to Ping or pick up what ping was laying down if that makes any sense.
They seem to have really good chemistry at the beginning of the show but towards the end things changed... not in the plot, but in the way the Guitar was reacting. again I think maybe he was sick.

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This was one of my first jdramas and I'm not going to lie, it took me a while to finish it (three years to be exact). I had this on hold for so long and finally forced myself to finish it. At first, I found the premise interesting; it was my first time seeing a monk as the male lead! But it eventually became repetitive and overly melodramatic. For such a short drama, there was a lot of back and forth in their relationship, which was unnecessary. I did not like the male lead's character and found him annoyingly obsessive and stalkerish towards the female lead. I did grow fond of Satomi in this drama, though, and she has since become a favorite actress of mine. Here, her character was hardworking and had ambitions but was forced to choose between her future aspirations and a man she spent most of the drama avoiding, so I was not too keen on their romantic development. Sure, there were some cute moments but I mostly finished watching this for Satomi, regardless. It also had tropes I was not a huge fan of, like love at first sight and love triangles. So, if you're like me and don't like those, then this might not be for you. I'd suggest this to anyone who really enjoys both the lead actors and someone who's looking for a light-hearted rom-com to pass the time.

(Completed: 2016)

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on the film before starting it show Mu is married to Lord Dig why does the director show us the story? I hope it is not finished soon. Lord Dig played very well. I think actress Mu, her role is a little bit childish. I like the ladies played in Legend of Dugu special the first sister. Her role is natural. I don't like the youn guy played on emperor role. If i am director i give the role of young emperor to the lover of first sister Dugu. ( I don't the name of actor).

I have a question why chinese director bring some famous actor and actress in the film and movie . Some actors their face looks like emperor or prince like Kevin yan, Wallace Hue or Wallace Chang, Jeremy Tsui. I would like the new ones play some actors or actress have more experience.

I hope it is not finish soon and mystery continues.

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"A promise is a promise"

wow. this film is short but very fruitful. there were so many layers of angst and beauty in this 37 minute piece. i don't think i've ever seen a short film done this well.

po xiao and feng ren had a relationship so precious that it can't be put into words. the cute but almost silent bantering, the worry of losing the other and the absolute willingness to risk it all for the sake of the other. the fact that i got attached to these characters so fast was unbelievably real.

i have so much appreciation to everyone involved in this production because damn, the visuals and aesthetics were STUNNING. the cast truly killed it in the best way and the chemistry was off the roof. i can find myself writing fanfics about the characters because of how good the acting was. the music was really good and fitting whether it be a suspenseful or emotional scene. ALSO ohmy, the fighting scenes.

one thing i like about this movie was how the story was not overly complex. there were no side plots. the focus was centered around po xiao and feng ren which made the writing for their characters feel more natural. the conversations between the leads were all important to tell their story.

overall, a very well done short film that gets you riled up with so much emotions. prepare to cry. the tears are worth it. i promise.

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The Princess and the Werewolf is not a Beauty and The Beast remake; it is a fantasy similar in topic but it really tells its own story. The drama is a comedy, it has satire flair. There are some really funny and some warm moments but it seems grotesquely exaggerated for the most part. The drama is set in a historical era shadowed with a knack for the use contemporary effects such as: English language usage, the statue of Michelangelo’s David (1501-1504)-(covered by a cape, of course) that the Princess’ mother sent her from Europe, mention of abstractionist art, costumes with a modern flair, cocktail shakers and bartending tricks, a tango dance (a dance that originated in Buenos Aires in the late 19th century), and the character Chun’er which is the equivalent of a social media application, which indicates that this drama is not meant to be taking seriously for its content. For those that are expecting a great romantic story between the lead couple, it will lead to a great disappointment. The leading lady is supposed to be independent, smart, and “mischievous and lively” but, for most of the drama, her character is insufferable and she spends most of the drama been conjectural and manipulative. The leading man also comes up as only a deceitful person in her eyes even though he is constantly risking his life to save her. Also, for been a comedy, there is a REALLY unnecessary occurrence close to the end of the drama that leaves an overall sour feel by the end. The happy ending is rushed and uneventful.

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Romance themed zombie show with actually good acting. Not enough zombies though.

I'm not going to lie, after finishing the show and looked back at the 8.9 score, I had the urge to write this question and answer review to give my thoughts on this show that badly. I will try to make this as Spoiler-free as possible.

Q1. Is the Happiness k-drama about zombies?

A1; Yes, it is definitely about zombies. One thing I have to say is that if you enjoyed All of Us Are Dead or Kingdom, this show doesn't really deliver the hype when it comes to zombie scenes but there are other things that make this show actually good.

Q2. So it is about zombies, what exactly are the differences from this show to others?

A2; The pacing for the story was slow but it did manage to keep me watching. That's not the only main difference, the romance, like ROMANCE? I mean sure almost every zombie show has romance whether it's the main leads or the side characters but this show managed to heavily implement that part to the story and it actually worked which is why the score is 8.9 (as of September 12, 2023). Also like I said in A1, the zombie scenes weren't that hyped but I definitely got scared in most of the scenes but it's just that there just isn't really enough zombies shown.

Q3. What about the characters?

A3; I wasn't really shocked with the male lead but the rest of the characters definitely did their part. Especially the evil characters, they did so well to make the audience hate them but I guess the story plays a big part as well. I have to say, Han Tae Sok as a character is pretty interesting but I get annoyed sometimes with Sae Bom even more than the evil characters. And yes, Sae Bom and Ji Hyun are the important characters to keep this show going.

Q4. Is the story that good?

A4; I mean, I won't say how the ending went but throughout the show, I did get frustrated a bunch of times at the "evil" characters, I managed to not get too impatient because the climax or the part where zombies start to eat people doesn't happen until a few episodes later (which I won't tell which one exactly). Oh right, ROMANCE! It did play a huge part in the story, you will even get wholesome scenes every episode with the main couple which I didn't really enjoy but didn't mind. The zombies in this story are not that impressive although the way they can get infected is pretty interesting but not really that unique. Like I said, for the 3rd time, the zombie scenes are not that hyped, I meant to say that there isn't really an epic chase scene, there are 1v1 scenes but overall the collection for zombie scenes of this show isn't really that impressive. Overall the story is alright but way better than many zombie shows. The story mainly really just takes places in the apartment which is kind of like #Alive, a zombie movie that is kind of similar to this show. There are messages from this show that are actually really good life lessons so that's a plus.

Q5: Are you willing to rewatch this show again?

A5; Hell no, I'm going to give props to the acting and the unique theme for this show but I'm someone who doesn't really rewatches a certain show, let it be k-drama or anime but the only time I rewatch a certain show is when I really feel like watching again after a long time. I don't have to urge to watch the show again after finishing it unless the show is just so amazing.

Alright, alright, it's time to summarize this very underwhelming Q&A review.

Summary:

Story: 8/10 - It's pretty consistent and doesn't fail to keep on delivering but it just lacks when it comes to the way the show handled the zombies.

Acting/Cast: 9/10 - Pretty amazing choices for the cast I'm not going to lie, a lot of them played their part well, they can keep the audience rambling and keep watching the show.

Music: 6/10 - I don't really remember the music for this show but it's alright I guess.

Rewatch Value: 5/10 - Not really the type of show to rewatch unless you loved the characters.

Overall: 7/10 - Decent story, amazing cast, can't remember the music, wouldn't really rewatch, this show is alright to kill time but I wouldn't recommend it if you're looking for a zombie show with very epic scenes and such.

My bad if this review sucks but I just want to place my opinion right here and get it off my chest.

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Wanna see kisses every episode?! ?

This was actually really lovely, usually I keep an open mind with the short length series I watch, and watch it for what it is. This one i avtuallt wish it was longer, I'd watch a 30 mins per episode of this, but it may ruin it and get all draggy ?... so I'll be content.

I loved, loved, loved their chemistry and boy did they did it with kisses ?... every episode and they were those good ones too, no fish, no awkwardness. The couple just looked so great together, I'd watch another show with the together.

If you want something with a nice and interesting story, and a cute romance with tons of chemistry, and kisses... thats also short and not draggy, then gove this one a try.

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How an actress playing twins should be!?

I really enjoy watching short length series, especially after watching a regular show and idk what to watch, or it was too angsty.

This was pretty nice, the story was simple, it had nice pacing and the leads had a sweet chemistry. They had nice kisses and looked great together.

The actress who played both roles did an excellent job, this is how it should be when one actress is playing twins, it was soo believable which made this even better. At one point when they switched, I kept having to remind myself its one actress ?
The ML also did a great job as a blind person. I just love his calm demeanor.

This is definitely one of the decent short length series, it was really easy to watch.

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Good, but very serious

It was definitely a good watch, but it's pretty serious (& sometimes depressing). I will say there were some moments where it was challenging for me to watch relating to the ideas based on values & traditions. There were also times were I found the brothers and even the main character pretty annoying, but not detestable. I am glad that it didn't go down the route other shows go down with the ML & the FL. It also wrapped up nicely so that was another plus. While I did enjoy the show overall, I don't think there's much replay value. Also, they do a really good job of making the villains the most unlikeable people.

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Everybody is worth of human decency

"If calling someone ugly was enough to kill someone then everyone in this country would be dead"

What a line.

Well this did not go the way I thought. At least up until ep 2. Ngl I considered dropping when I got to that point cause I wasn't seeing where they were gonna take this but in ep 3 things got more interesting. MoMi's journey definitely had some surprises. Her story didn't develop the way I thought I would but in the superficial sense, she is a reflection of what many people deal with irl. With South Korea being the plastic surgery capital of the world and how common beautifying procedures are there, I've noticed a lack of empathy and cruelty towards those who are different and fit an ultra specific mold of beauty. All the main women here have tragic ends but I found it fitting to end the series with the first we saw of MoMi: a happy young girl that wanted people to love her back. The character-threaded episodes and how everyone's backstory leads them to Mo Mi was done well. Though the lookism commentary could've been a little stronger, I like the points that were brought up. Simply put, attractive people will always have an advantage but a person's value doesn't lie solely in their appearance. One thing I noticed while watching Nam Joo's mother's long and tiring revenge was that she used Christianity as some sort of twisted justification for her plan. She also never once reflected on her son's life or the events that led up to his death, which would've provided some context that perhaps could've led her down a different path.


SPOILER ALERT:

Why didn't Bomi just tell Nam Joo's mom that the reason why she killed her son was bc he tried to rape her? There was a bit of rage but it was mostly self defense. His mom would've still been angry but all she knew was that some girl killed her son and she ran with that.

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