Reviews

It is "okay". There are shortcomings

My Rating -
1. Story: 3/10 - Although the Divorced Mom Plot contain the career progress and finding new love, It has so many shortcomings and illogical scenes make you feel bored. Second Couple is too boring to watch. FL's Kid plot is too thin. I hoped Kid can have more screen time.
2. Acting: 8/10

Negatives -
1. Second Couple's On and Off Plot looked boring, I had to skip the most of the part.
2. The Plot with the Child is completely missing. If you're using the "Divorced Mom" plot then the writers must focus more on Child part. The Show began with a goal of a mother to get custody but later child goal got drifted.
3. Drama is too Draggy! Almost 85% of the scenes look like copied from other bossy dramas. Also, there are unnecessary scenes which make us feel bored.
4. Though FL looks good but her character is boring to watch. There's a growth in her character but there are more shortcomings.

Positives -
1. ML is good and handsome. I watched so many dramas of Liu Te.
2. ML interaction with FL's kid looks good but I felt writers should have added more scenes for them. Kid is good.
3. Sweet Kisses and Romances.

For those, who look for this drama in the future - It is happy ending with out Marriage Scene, Story can be improved and seemed off with the plot, Good Chemistry and there are Kissing Scenes.

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Dropping because its too predictable from watching just one episode

1st episode and this man already has a girlfriend, whom he did not treat well but he has ONE,
but since jo bo ah is FL so he will end up with her means, it will be cheating in relationship (not Marriage) but still cheating
then 2nd point here is he is also a murder and inhuman unkind
Only thing good about him is his height and looks, height is here unmatched with FL because Jo bo Ah is not that tall and looking how good a relationship will be only based on his good looks, in dramas it work but in reality after few months even Woo Bin and Hyun bin start looking normal to there wife's not some GODLY figures

Jo bo ah is having crash on SML and she might first seduce him then reject him for ML so this drama is not in mood to give you Second lead couple
i give 2/10 to story because there is nothing in it Cursed Box Girl love Cheating breakup and happy ending for Selected people called ML & FL
Raa won acting look artificial and fake, no genuine emotions Showen, being arrogant indifferent type of person is very easy to portray you do not need to much emotion there
this drama may try to follow what's wrong with, business proposal. King the land
Same bullshit sing Along
overall it needed 1/10 because some fake account start giving 10/10 without even watching

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A lot more mystery than romance

The premise of the series is not really my cup of tea but I decided to give it a go anyways as the trailer looked interesting. Sadly, the series didn’t really deliver. I put the majority of the blame for this on the script, editing and styling choices.

The script was not really well thought out. Most of the time, things were very slow moving and there was not nearly enough going on. There are a lot of things that also don’t have an actual explanation and / or proper conclusion. Or proper background information. Even just takin Mon as a lost soul into consideration – sometimes he can’t taste food or travel through walls and doors, and other times he can. It was a lot of inconsistency. Let’s not comment on what they did with the scene where the bad guy is caught. That was a disaster.

The editing cuts were sometimes done very strangely, so the jumps from one scene to another didn’t always look good. The flashbacks were okay, but I think the transitions between past and present should have been clearer. As for styling choices, the ghosts looked horrible and more like they have risen from the dead.

Mon & Thames: Mon does appear as a relatable character (which is more than I can say for a few others). He does appear kind of awkward, and I honestly don’t fully understand some of his decisions. Thames can seem quite arrogant at times, but we also see his more realistic and down-to-earth side when he is with his grandma. We do get some cute moments between the two, but their relationship just happens. There is not really any clarity on why they like each other. They just do. I also think that the two actors didn’t really have a good chemistry. There were times when they appeared really awkward with each other and I am not sure if this is due to the characters or the actors. I am loving Ping as Thames, I think he does well in the role, but Guitar’s portrayal of Mon does feel a bit flat at times.

The side characters were fun, I guess. I really liked Bua, she was a good friend and manager to both boys. The other two actors were a bit of a mess, I didn’t really like either of them. And the guardian spirit did very little guarding, but that’s fine. Mon’s work friend was an easy way out in the end, and I didn’t find his character persuasive.

A lot of focus was on the mystery part of the plot while the romantic aspect of it was not done well. It was lacking. I did enjoy most of the mystery stuff though, but there were a few situations that didn’t necessarily make a lot of sense or were just done in a weird manner that didn’t really fit the narrative or the characters.

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Not an Excellent crime/gangster drama, nor a BL romance drama

Browsing through MDL, “HIStory 3: Trapped” is rated pretty high for a Taiwanese drama and/or a BL drama. Unfortunately, I am not sure if it’s worth the 8.4 current rating. I feel that it tries to be a very good crime/gangster drama, and also a very good BL drama. In the end, it lands right in the middle: not excellent in either or both directions.

It was a slow start for me. I did not like the cop ML at all. I understand his motive of trying to find the killer of his mentor for the last 4 years. But the way he approaches gangster ML is unprofessional, unrealistic and super clingy and stalkerish. The acting is also a little over-the-top for me. On the other hand, gangster ML’s stoic but bland expressions distract me from his handsome looks and beautiful physique in a suit. You know, if you can’t act, no matter how good-looking you are, the drama is never going to be good.

Luckily, the acting of gangster ML gets better throughout the drama. When he’s not forced to act all cold, his emotional and normal scenes are pretty decent. Cop ML’s acting also gets more natural but his professionalism and unrealistic approach to solving the case never goes away.

The gangster turf fight is uninteresting and the pursuit of the murderer is half-baked. It tries to be a crime investigation/gangster drama but the writing is not up to par.

What about BL romance? The first half of the drama is more fun before the leads get together. Yes, cop ML is clingy and stalkerish, but at least the chemistry is quite good and sizzles a little. But once they got together, I was expecting more kisses and skinship. We have maybe 3 decent scenes with intimacy and skinship. However, the quality of the kisses is disappointing given this is the HIStory franchise.

On another note, the side romance is quite cute and sweet. Jack is the most attractive of the guys for me, and his character is interesting. I keep on thinking there’s more to him that meets the eye with his smirks and smiles. But his counterpart, the young cop, is way too naive and especially unbelievable as a cop. The pairing is cute but unrealistic.

Having said all that, I do appreciate a BL drama not set in a school setting and tries to be a more mature drama. There really aren’t too many BL dramas out there about real adults and not students, and good ones are even harder to come by. A few of the action scenes are quite good and not slow-mo fighting. Both leads look like they trained for these scenes. This is a quick and easy binge since each episode is only about 25 minutes long. From an enjoyment level, I will round this up to an 8.0. If I am judging strictly on writing/acting/execution, this will be a lower score. I will recommend this if you are looking for a more mature BL drama, just don't lower the expectations a little.


Completed: 8/26/2023 - Review #344

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A Weirdly Appealing Drama!

"The Disappearing Child " & "The Bad Kids " This one gave me similar vibes.So if you have watched any of those you easily get the mood.

Nobody Knows requires your full attention and your full patience.Yes is one of these Dramas you cannot play with your mobile/cat/dog while watching.And you have to dedicate yourself to it because it is not an easy watch.

Beautiful Cinematography.Emotional Music scores.Clever Direction which pulls all the right strings to make you feel a large range of emotions.Incredible and natural acting too.Zero complaints about any technicality.

As always i started it because of the Murder/Crime case.That was the "click bait" to me.Once again i fell into the same trap like a fool.The synopsis is quite misleading.Do not fully count on it.Its just the general frame.

The format regarding the timeline is weird,messy and confusing as hell.There is not a clear past-present or future.You follow the story with only indicator the time stamp which appears on your screen as a guide.
You watch the scenes and you are completely clueless about them.Because the flashbacks turns to be...flash-forwards!
I swear i paid full attention while watching.But for 10 freakin episodes in a row,i had the feeling i was missing very important details.(and this made me doubt my IQ!)But no!I did pay attention and i didn't miss any detail.
Don't worry.Every confusing scene will be cleared and fully explained in the latter episodes,so everything will make a perfect sense.

Because everything became more clear after the 10th ep.The story about the murder case(s) starts to unfold.Until then it was only a sub-plot,like the writer forgot about it.Too late for my taste,if you ask me,but at that point my interest shifted to the amazing and so well written characters,so my initial anger cooled down really fast.(because i started it with the impression it was a hard core murder case drama!)


The pace is really slow,takes its sweet time to tell the story.Which is mostly about the heartwarming friendship between the 4 main leads.Surprisingly to me i found the dialogues pretty realistic and the teen-agers' struggles,fears and hopes were too real.Going back many-many years ago(lol)i felt i could relate.And i think this is the biggest advantage of this series.The realism of every character.Made me feel for them and it was easier to follow up with everything.Because when you just don't care about the main characters there is no way to like the drama,right?

It is a fully detailed story about those kids lives.And i felt the urge as an adult,to advise them,guide them,protect them from life's hardships.I wanted to give them a big hug and assure them that everything is gonna be alright.Damn i had no idea before starting it,that will touch me in so many different ways.

If you decide to start watching it,remember to be patient.And please,do not drop it even if you are tempted to.
The last episode will pay you back for all the previous 15 eps.At least,i can guarantee you that!

"If i can save a heart from breaking...
I haven't lived in vain.

If i can take a person's pain away or relieve a person's grief
or help a lost robin to return to it's nest..
I haven't lived in vain"

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a very tame soap opera

When I started this drama it was said to have 20 episodes, very much Taiwanese drama standard. Come to find out it has 40!
If I didn't know it was pre-produced, then I would be convinced the producers of this drama also only found out this crucial piece of information, when it already started airing because it has sooo much filler and is stretched out to the max.
To the point where I wouldn't even call it "filler" anymore but rather from episode 20-39 is just watered down blah-blah.

(PRODUCTION)
Instead of making it twice as long as other tw-dramas and have it be regular length, they could have had a higher budget because that is one of the biggest issues this drama has. With stars like Marcus Chang and Eugenie Liu on board I thought this surely must at least look good... oh well I thought wrong. Or maybe they spent all their budget on casting ? Who knows.
Whatever it was - someone needs to teach this production crew how to properly(!) use a muffler or deadcat. The background noise of outside scenes was coming and going as if they had used the "remove background noise" button on a cheap video editing software like Filmora or ShotCut.
Another big issue with sound was that the mics were not configured correctly for scenes when someone is screaming or crying. My poor ears. If you watched early 2000s k-dramas, you know what I mean.

(DIRECTOR/SCREENWRITER)
But let's continue. Eric Hao, the director of the beloved classic "Lost Romance" collaborated with the scriptwriter of "Bromance" Shao Hui Ting, on paper this combination should evoke anticipation in you. Especially because the synopsis of "Trick or Love" is throwing things like "gender bender" and "pretend to be gay" in our direction... but once again the devil is in the details.
Eric Hao is also behind 2018's "Between" aka Sandwich Girl, an absolute catastrophe of a drama, so maybe his credentials are up for debate? Marcus Chang was leading that drama, so even the ever dashing never-aging beaut had his fair share of hit-or-misses.
(ACTING)
I'm aware that this is his official leading man comeback after his pretty serious health scare a few years back but for some reason he seems a bit rusty. One moment I'm totally falling for his flirty scheming, the next his facial expressions are so obviously acted / dramatized that I cannot help but laugh. I really am a big fan of his acting but more often than not he very clearly over acted in this drama.
This was also his second time leading a romance drama with Eugenie Liu and it's true, they do seem very comfortable with each other. Especially in the first part of the drama with the whole gender-bender. However romantic chemistry was not to be found. (We did get that from the second leads tho) Charming as Marcus is, I kept asking myself why Heng Wei would fall in love with Jing Tsen, other than following the script. Yeah she was nice-ish to him, but is that really enough to deeply fall in love with someone?
Eugenie Liu completely tanked for me, the acting was just very stiff and put on, maybe that's also why I couldn't feel any chemistry. I liked her a lot in "Triad Princess" tho. Probably have to give props to the costume department as she really did look very boyish / androgynous even when she was no longer pretending to be a guy.
Overall in the acting department both leads were a let down for me, especially because they did better in "Behind Your Smile" and their other respective work.
The supporting roles were all okay, some better, some more obviously acted but nothing horrible worth mentioning.

(STORY)
The first twenty episodes are pretty much as the synopsis says. I liked that, unlike in other cross dressing dramas, the FL was not too shy in front of the ML and was pretty neutral towards him and his flirts. Over the course of the entire drama we have some typical soap opera / melodrama moments, but all of them are pretty tame and easily forgotten. Things that seem important at first, got watered down as the story goes and by the end it's no longer that important. Characters that seem annoying or evil at first, change into nice ones by the end. As I said above the second part of this drama is not like the first half.
It's mainly about the second lead couple, that is actually more interesting and has better chemistry, but is also very cliche.

Funny enough, in the last 15 episodes the two leads slip into supporting roles, not that I mind, but they take up maybe 20 minutes of the 45 per episode. Another random thing I noticed is how much they infantilize his brother Heng Da. I was kinda shocked when I found out he is supposed be 23. Yeah you're still young at that age but they treat him like a minor and he also acts more like a child (notice: not childish but child-like). Dunno what that was about.
It's not a horrible drama nor do I hate it, it's just very, very watered down and most of the interesting stuff happens early on and then you have to hang on for another 20 episodes.

Last but not least: The OST is very good, probably the best thing to come out from this drama. Plus it made me discover Howard Lee, now a regular in my spotify playlist.

Okay, so why did I rate it a 6 if it's so boring and the acting is not very good either? I am biased. Firstly I added this drama page, updated it and I am a fan of Marcus. I also did some light translation work. So in some way this feels 10% like my baby and also the reason why I even finished watching it because... well... I would have dropped it at episode 1 otherwise.

My final conclusion: unless you really love soap operas with not much plot and love the leading actors, to the point where you don't mind anything else - skip this drama. 40 episodes is just way too long to waste your time.

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Left me unsatisfied

The story started out great. Lots of potential. The acting was good. But the whole thing spun out of control. Multiple couples were formed and I was never sure who would end up together. Lots of confessions of love but no confirmation. All that being said, no one was together long enough to build any kind of chemistry. The ending was stupid and confusing and it was just the last straw for me not to give this a better review. The whole idea of the King’s game is fun but only if the order is for the duration of the game. It shouldn’t be taken so seriously that it could potentially ruin someone’s life. The ending was just so open ended that it left me very unsatisfied.

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I wasn't prepared..

Normally, I will look at reviews before watching a series, not necessarily to get spoilers but I do want to mentally prepare myself if a show will have a happy or sad ending. And, well, I didn't do that here and I'm kind of regretting it.

Overall, it was a beautiful story about the struggle between self preservation and self sacrifice. At first, Jin Ho is all about self preservation and willing to trick Min Hyun into feeling for him in order to turn human. Then, as Jin Ho himself starts to catch feelings, he questions whether his "life" is worth the risk to Min Hyun's life. Meanwhile, Min Hyun struggles with the idea of losing Jin Ho and is willing to take the risk to try and help him with little regard to his own safety.

It may be a short series but it is filled with deep themes and potent emotions that leave the viewer wanting more. That being said, I wish the ending had been a bit different but I sort of see what they were going for. But it doesn't make for a high re-watch value for me, unfortunately.

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Menikah dulu, pacaran belakangan

Drama ini cukup berbeda dengan drama 'tiba-tiba menikah' lainnya. Pemilihan lokasi drama dan sinematografinya sangat bagus. Pemilihan outfit serta penggunaan properti di taman Jing juga cocok, sehingga menambah kesan healing.

Kemudian, saya suka akting FL dan ML. ML mampu menampilkan perasaan emosi dengan baik, dan saya juga suka perkembangan karakter dari FL. Interaksi mereka lucu dan menyenangkan untuk dilihat. Saya merasa tidak ada masalah dengan penggambaran karakter FL dan ML di dalam cerita.

Di awal hingga pertengahan episode, saya menikmati konflik di antara FL, ML, dan mantan ML. Mantan ML memang nampak menyebalkan, namun perkataan yang diucapkannya terdengar realistis dan menarik perhatian saya. Kemudian, saat cerita beralih ke konflik di mana kakak ML dan direktur Xiao muncul untuk mengganggu FL-ML, saya merasa ini terlalu dipaksakan terjadi. Direktur Xiao hanya disajikan sebagai antagonis yang dimanfaatkan oleh kakak ML. Setelah tidak diperlukan lagi, direktur Xiao langsung menghilang. Selain itu, saya pikir perubahan hubungan antara ML dan kakak ML justru terlihat canggung, karena cerita saat mereka masih kecil terlalu kuat.

Di beberapa episode terakhir, love line pemeran pendukung terkesan dipaksakan untuk ikut dimuat dalam cerita. Love line ini terlihat seperti ingin membuat pemeran pendukung juga mendapatkan pasangan masing-masing, agar tidak kesepian dan iri melihat pasangan utama. Menurut saya, mungkin lebih baik jika pemeran pendukung tidak diberikan love line sama sekali, atau berikan beberapa episode tambahan untuk menampilkan sedikit proses pendekatan sebelum resmi berpacaran.

Terakhir, penjelasan semua konflik di drama ini terlalu lama, namun penyelesaiannya terlalu singkat dan terkesan ingin cepat berpindah ke konflik lain.

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Luckily, only 30min/episode

I've watched a couple a k-dramas over the last weeks and apparently I've forgot to say something about them.
So, about this one. I've watched this drama 2 days ago. Thank (insert deity here) you get 30 min per episode. It went by in no time.
I'll start by saying it's something like a reality show, so that sucks. Even if the acting and the chemistry and the jokes were mostly fine, or even good, by making the actors look into the camera and say things, you get a low level drama.
Yes, the acting was good. The Main Lead Actor is very skillful, his range is quite good. I've seen him before (as did most of you, I'm sure) and he delivers, as usual. Maybe even more. The other actors were also good.
The cinematography and mixing are good to excellent. They did a good job. The director had some interesting ideas. Good ones. The soundtrack had a couple on decent, catchy songs. Most of them you'll enjoy.
The only downside of this drama is the story. The writer did a meh job. You need a whole season to get to some conclusion, because the Main Female Lead is made dumb just to get the story going. But as there are only 30min/episode, you get to the end in about 9 hours or so.
And that's it. You can watch it for the visuals and some nice acting. Have a lovely evening.

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A Pretentious 'Masterpiece'

Not all films or series with a good cinematography and acting are worth it, especially when the story is trash... This is how I'll describe this film.

This is very pretentious, to the point that there is no meat to the story in itself.

The actors and music were decent. Too bad that in its goal to be artsy, the rest of the aspects of a good creation was forgotten. To think that the length of the film was sufficient.

Even a problematic person would have a more decisive way of storytelling and reasoning than what the writers did to this film.

I deel bad that it looks promising but it remained to be all in the surface as nothing is inside it.

I ended watching the film with regret... regret that I even bothered to watch it.

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If you need a drama to cry, this is the one

This is the drama if you really need a good release of tears. I was crying almost every episodes. The story was not the most original since there are dramas that already portray lead characters with life threatening illnesses. But what I really appreciate is the tenacity of the ML to live with the disease despite the sufferings he has to face. Plus Haruma Miura was so good in this! It was quite rare for me to fully care about a fictional character and how his future will pan out because he was so convincing as an ALS patient. He is the soul for this drama, every expressions he does makes me want to hug him so much. Its such a shame that he was not with us anymore.

I also love how the story addresses the issues that Takuto has with his family. It felt so real and I could totally feel his pain for being the unloved child in the family and how he got the courage to voice it out to his mum after he got ALS. The brother's growth was also endearing.

But the only thing that I hate about this drama was the writing for Shigeyuki. They really did him dirty. He is more like a character to add more spice to the drama. I think the love triangle was unnecessary but I guess they want to emphasise how unwavering the ML and FL love is.

I am also not a fan of the FL, but she did grow on me in the end. I just felt confused with her portrayal in the beginning.

The music is really good. Everytime I hear Harukaze by Rihwa, the sadness just kicks on me.

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Hmm not too sure about this one

I had high hopes for this drama. It had an interesting set up and the cinematography was beautiful. But I think it definitely fell short of those expectations. If I had one word to describe this drama, I would say anti-climatic. I felt like they spent all 11 episodes trying to create suspense and mystery, but the ending of it all at the 12th episode was just anti-climatic. Like I don't know why we had to suffer through all those episodes just for nothing to really happen. The only thing I did like was how everything came full circle in the end, but even still. It was an okay watch, not the worst drama but I definitely expected more out of it. In addition, I liked the second couple enough just because they were cute but their story line was also really weak. At this point, now I'm just glad I'm done with this drama so I can move on to another. So that's it from me for this one, bye for now!

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