Reviews

It's not for singles?just avoid it

Just a perfect high school story to start and end with such a beautiful and remarkable notes thats makes it a impeccable drama and also gives a lesson that life is not easy for anyone, there are many ups and downs, so you have to choose which path you'll get along with. I'm gonna rewatch it sometime. Just go for it. Just love the characters. A nice rom-com drama to enjoy on weekends and specially when you away from your family and your closest ones and students don't watch it please study and work hard don't waste your on this type of dramas just a healthy remainder

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Good lesson about work life balance because hard work may not worth it if one lost love and health.

"Fake It Till You Make It" is a 14-episode drama about the riches and the ordinaries as they try to co-exist in a business legal firm based in Shanghai where not everyone is genuine. They have to fake it till they make it.

I greatly enjoy this drama, and Elvira Cai and Elvis Han's onscreen chemistry is great. I like their intelligence, pretentiousness, and non-committal Conversation/relationship. They are both too proud and stubborn to admit that they like each other, and they are playing pretentious games with each other and with others they are interacting with.

It is all about money talk and showing off one's possession of material things to feel accepted in the highly rich society in Shanghai. I have watched 8 episodes already and can't wait to see the last 6. I give it an 8.5 rating.

It is a good and relatable drama about hard work and is it worth it in the end? It is about work life balance because har work may not worth it in the end if one has to loose love and health.

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"Can't I find my own happiness?"

Ozu once again examined how a traditional family was forced to confront modern thinking in relation to love and marriage. He did so in a humorous manner without wandering into the dark side as he was capable of doing. In Equinox Flower a father with two independent minded daughters found himself suffering in a sea of his own inconsistencies from which only the women in his life could save him.

The film opens at the train station with a storm warning. If only the men in this film knew the storm of independent thought that was going to upend their lives. Hirayama Wataru gives an emotional toast at a young couple's wedding. He praises them for marrying for love because his marriage had been a pragmatic arranged marriage. Later that week an old friend visits him and asks him to check on his daughter, Fumiko, who has left home. She didn't want an arranged marriage estranging their relationship. Wataru found her working at a bar and in love with a musician, but happy and healthy. No problem there. One of his daughter's friends, Yukiko, asks for advice dealing with her mother who is always trying to matchmake for her. He tells her not to be in a hurry to marry. "You may think marriage is golden, but it can end up being brass." When she dreams of a love match-no problem. When a young man name Taniguchi comes to his office asking permission to marry his oldest daughter, Setsuko---big problem. He was not consulted and didn't even know they were dating. Without realizing it he begins to set into motion the kind of estrangement his friend had with his daughter. The women around him begin to mobilize in their own subtle and not so subtle ways to help him change his mind and give his blessing to the young couple.

Setsuko and Yukiko pinky swore to help deal with their domineering parents and Yukiko laid the perfect trap for Wataru. Wataru's youngest daughter, Hisako, pushed for Setsuko to have a love match knowing it would be her turn next. Kiyoko, gently nudged her husband to do the right thing, always believing that he eventually would. With four women against him he never stood a chance no matter how controlling and cantankerous he could be.

I had to remind myself numerous times that this was 1958 when Wataru dropped his clothes on the floor for Kiyoko to deal with, told her to turn the radio off like you would a child, and went drinking or on reunion trips with his buddies. He also grounded Setsuko and told her to quit her job because he was angry with her. Ozu's wives always seem terribly confined to the house with no social life whatsoever except caring for their husbands. Wataru worked late and spent time afterwards with male friends. Kiyoko stayed in the house with only a maid for company. When Kiyoko yearned for the days during the war when the family huddled together in the bomb shelters because they were actually all together, it was sad indictment on her life.

Ozu put color to good use in his first film to use it. While much of the settings were beige and gray, most of the men dressed in gray suits as well, he displayed bright pops of color in red, green, and blue. The women, with the exception of Kiyoko, often wore bright colored kimonos. His teapot (red) had a couple of closeups and trains also figured into the story as they usually did. I have never grown tired of his meditative compositions and framing of shots. The colors he chose were as soothing as they were in black and white. The only drawback to his style, for me, was as ever, the face nearly straight onto the camera framing which was jarring during dialogues because the characters were looking at me and not the character they were conversing with, bouncing back and forth like a ping pong.

Papa Hirayama came across like a 1950's man, one who was used to getting his way in everything at home. What was different was that the women in his life called him on it. Yukiko complained in the same way about her overbearing single mother and Fumiko refused to go home because her father wanted everything his way. The old tradition of a parent determining who their child would marry was giving way to the young people wanting to marry for love. And while Wataru could appreciate that for everyone else's daughter, he had trouble letting go of control of his own. Fortunately for him, the women in his life banded together to show him his own hypocrisy. He also learned when a woman said "it's fine" that he should not assume he had won the argument. Wataru was right though, it takes a lot of work to turn brass into gold in a relationship.

9/9/23

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Not sure about this one

Watched until episode 8 thought this will get better but no not for me. Way too slow and I guess I don’t like the soft spoken voices. No real action more like a soap opera.

Maybe because I like fast paced action.

Oh and the sister is extremely annoying I don’t see the purpose of that character.

The actors are ok not a fan of Esther Yu don’t see the big deal.

Also my preference to these types of dramas are more like Ten Miles of Peach Blossom, Novoland Pearl Eclipse, Legend of Fuyao, Who Rules the World, Love Like the Galaxy etc along those lines.

Simply my opinion.

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Lawless land with a whole lot of attraction... and smiles

This is the story of the evil lawyer with a devilish smile who falls in love with the stupidly kind Tai Kwan Do instructor at first sight only to find himself in a bit of a dilemma... a dilemma that sends the two off in to a dangerous pit of corruption, misunderstandings, people framing each other and some kind of healing done fun...

The acting varies quite a bit but the devilish smile of the lawyer ml pretty much makes up for any shortcomings among some of the side charakters and honestly So does Silvy who impresses me more and more every time I see her, why has she not gotten lead role yet? Seriously girl has talent and attitude, and to top it off she even has a really good voice. As well as the grandma who is just a total sweetheart.

The story is pretty predictable, but has a lot of angles, the villain is as evil as it gets both the villain and the lawyer with the devilish smile have some really good lines.

Half of the male second couple is good the other half annoyed me while the female second couple could easily have stolen the show all together, maybe made a spin off where they create a trio cabaret with the grandma and tour the world...

So what can I say it an okay watch with a whole lot of fun and entertaining but also a whole lot of meeh and bad acting

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Film at its best!

Women can be absolutely amazing sometimes. In Ang Lee's classic and glorious martial arts film, they are the ones responsible for all the action, all the rescues and villain roles. The men are mostly allowed to be contemplative and stand silently by. It simply couldn't be better.

The story itself has several spices of old myths and legends, but is also a very current and moving love story where looks mean more than a lot of empty words. Actually, you probably shouldn't reveal too much of the plot, the film works best to be experienced without as little prior knowledge as possible, but when Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon kicks off, a disguised youth steals an important sword, called the Green Fate. But everything doesn't go quite as it should, an old villain named the jade fox - Totally crazy cool! - Forge evil plans and the real heroes, the master Li Mu-bai (Chow Yun-Fat) and his friend Yu Shu-lien (Michelle Yeoh) soon find themselves in both conspiracies and wild chases through the trees.

Now that martial arts movies have had a real boost in the western world in recent years, the pictures have become increasingly colorful, Hero or House of Flying Daggers to name just a few, but Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon shows that the story itself is at least as important. The film was also something of a breakthrough for Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi, who plays Princess Jen here, and who managed to combine both strength, arrogance and shyness with a single tear.

To mention some of the best first, the fight scenes are absolutely huge. When Zhang Ziyi and Chow Yun-Fat jump between both treetops and water, it is visual and fighting aesthetics at the highest level. But the coolest thing of all is when Zhang Ziyi and Michelle Yeoh lock themselves in a cramped room and try to destroy each other with all kinds of weapons. Incomparable and gorgeous!

At the same time, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a great movie because there is so much else to gripe about. Especially the love story between Chow Yun Fat and Michelle Yeoh's characters. They treat each other with the greatest tenderness, but through their looks you can read love of the deepest nature. Well acted and above all, well captured through Ang Lee's sensitive camera and his use of silence.

On the whole, it's really hard to find anything to complain about in Ang Lee's rich film. Sure, it may be a bit slow at times, but on the other hand, it highlights even more the exquisitely choreographed fight scenes and gives weight to a film that otherwise continues to run when most of the reels have already stopped.

In short, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is cinema at its best. Exciting, surprising, lustful and tragic. Seeing it is like going through a whole palette of emotions and that is exactly what makes the artist Ang Lee create a tableau out of the ordinary.

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Hilarious, wholesome friendship, found family

I loved it at first. The first 2 episodes were hilarious like I was literally dying. I don't think any other drama made me laugh like that.

Ep 3-13 was good. Very entertaining, There were moments I laughed out loud but mostly I was just smiling and I enjoyed it quite a lot.

Ep 13-17 are my least favourite
I would have rated this drama higher ( 9/10) if it wasn't for this part, mainly because of the weird love triangle between Yuna, the chef guy and Dong-goo. This part made me dislike his character a lot. He was so immature and it wasn't funny or entertaining at all. And I didn't see why yuna was attracted or had affection for him. Like he would literally make her do more chores and boss her around just so she wouldn't see the other guy ( pathetic ) they were my least favourite ship but I liked how he treated he after they got together.

Ep 18-20
The spark of the show came back and I grew to love Min Soo Ah and Bong Doo-Sik together and individually.

My favourite character was Lee Joon-ki and it is mainly thanks to the actor who did an excellent job. He was hilarious but also precious and such a good friend and boyfriend.

Kang soo join was a character I liked a lot, especially in the beginning. Baby Sol was cute too.

Overall a heartwarming drama and I like when the part of OST where they mention the drama's name. ( ? Waikiki Wonderland ?)

And I loved the ending scene ❤️

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Not a Traditional Sequel

This is not a sequel in the traditional sense which didn’t bother me. It’s a sequel in the same way that the first few seasons of the HIStory franchise was a sequel, in that it only shared the name. However, there were two links that sort of connects this to the first season (see 1st couple description).

This series was ok, but had problems with the execution due to the script and editing. As for the script, it was inconsistent. It had many great moments that was mix with some poor/questionable aspects. It also does not help that the first episode has a very dark and bizarre beginning with no gradual transition from dark to light subject matter. This episode continues to be confusing, for me at least, because they try to introduce all the main characters in a very short time span. The story progression and pacing was better by episode 3. The cast was great considering what they had to work with. Unfortunately, the character development is off with many of them. The relationship development between two out of the three couples was ok. As for editing, they should have alternated the flashback scenes at the end of each episode between all three couples to help the views understand all of the characters motives. We don’t get to see the flashbacks involving the other two couples until episode 8 which did not help the story progression.

Couple Breakdown (Don’t worry, no spoilers):

1st Couple (Lee Hyun and Kim An): This couple had the only loose links to the first series. They are both in a class with “Marriage and Family” in its title and have a scary mystery element. The relationship development was odd but at least the series gives you hints about their past relationship from the start with flashback scenes. The only real problem is the mystery story element does not get a complete resolution and left some aspects completely forgotten.

2nd Couple (Min Woo and Ma Roo): This had a very basic romance storyline. Their relationship development was ok, but was tedious at times. There were no major bad elements that made me not want to know how they end up.

3rd Couple (Joo Hyuk and Sung Min): This is my least favorite couple. Joo Hyuk was too aggressive at times and played too many mind games. This made their relationship development too cringy for me. I found myself skipping forward some of their scenes. It does get better by episode 8, but it’s a case of too little, too late. I found myself not really caring or being invested in their storyline.

Random Notes:

Once again, the synopsis on VIKI does not match the actual content of the series.

Don’t blink. Kim Tae Hwan and Han Hyun Jun’s cameo in episode 5 happened so quickly that my brain almost didn’t register it. It was cute, but added nothing to the series. It’s interesting that they didn’t attempt to make a connection from their season to this season. It was also weird that the cameo of the lead actors from Private Lesson had a bigger cameo and actual lines.

Although I’m not bothered that this is not a true sequel, I would have loved to see a storyline continuing a possible relationship between the characters Kim Nam Jun and Min Jae. I always felt this was a missed opportunity in the first season.

You can see the Boom mic and other production items throughout the series. The most noticeable one is in episode 5 (time stamp 14:04) in the upper left-hand corner.

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BEST ROMANCE CDRAMA TO DATE ><

I’ve been a serial drama watcher since 2016 from dramas to Jdramas, I’ve watched them all and I haven’t watched a drama that’s had me glued to my seat due to being in love with every aspect of this show!!!! The leads and and sub leads did their parts perfectly and there wasn’t anything TOO cringey that would have made me skip through some parts. 10/10 would rewatch and would recommend to anyone who likes a cute romance. And I love that is was a slow burn but it was just the right amount of slow and not too many misunderstandings and what misunderstandings there was, were resolved mostly in that same episode. One last thing that I lived for was the time skips. I love a good time skip and they did multiple just right and it didn’t leave me confused on where we was at??

BEST CDRAMA OF 2023❤️❤️❤️❤️

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Watch without regrets....

Ho Gae and Seol ended up together passed the hardest situations and the time together.

"The first responders" compare to two seasons Dex is the most underrated villian in this arc, he is powerful and manipulative committed more murders in Korea and USA.

Ho Gae and Seol romance moments in the final episode is good their chemistry and their love and care between the even in the hardest situations they care for each other, not giving up their love for silly reasons and they pass together in that situations. Compare to some other k drama couples, this couple is different.Ho Gae and Seol relationship progression in S1 & S2 slowly and steadily without rushing things compare to Do Jin.It's not a romance based drama but leads value their relationship in hardest time and not giving each other and give strength eachother.

Overall, drama has unpredictable twist and turns, writer killed even one of the main lead Do jin. It's worth to watch and invest time.

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Somewhat mysterious...

To be honest, I decided to watch it because Lee is in it and I've liked what I've seen him in so far. The story is intriguing, sweet, cheesy, funny and annoying - seriously, all of those. I had heard of all the male leads, but only seen a few of them in dramas - I didn't know what one of them (Off) looked like! Generally, the acting is good and characters believable.

What I liked: I was impressed with Nanon's acting - interesting part. Krist was really good and some of his facial expressions were hilarious/impressive. I'll look for more of his stuff. Mix - 3rd drama I've seen & this is my favourite character so far.

What I didn't like: some of the female characters were just annoying!

I'll watch to the end because I think the 'secret bar' idea has been cleverly done and now I want to know more about it. If you want to watch something that's not too complicated and can keep you intrigued, this might be one to watch.

Update: I felt that the ending was rushed , but there were explanations for some of the Jungle's behaviour. There was a (micro) scene (with Off) near the end, which felt like it wasn't in the script and made me laugh out loud.

Overall, I'd recommend watching it. It was fun.

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Nasty work of art with superfluous depictions of violence.

I would like to know the name of the unspeakable author, who is responsible for sadism, violence, torture, rape, psychological terror, especially at the end of the series. I would not have expected the Chinese Film Control to allow such filth.

The various cruelties took up a lot of space, and the filmmakers wallowed in detailed depictions. The bad guys almost always had a free hand, but the plot was anyway only the vehicle of the disturbed filmmakers for their favorite themes: Forced sex (in front of the tortured lover) violence, humiliation, poorly motivated mostly by jealousy.

The revenge on the villains are short and very mild for the misery they have caused. Instead, the heroine even skins her own breast as revenge on the chief criminal!
The wretched work torments us for four and a half (4.5) hours! But the revenge sequence lasts only two (2) minutes, which is filled with superfluous talk about childhood mistakes. Finally the end comes with a quick sword stroke, mercifully for the criminal.

You sick writers, hey director: what's wrong with you? Shouldn't you better get psychiatric treatment before you spout such filth?

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