Reviews

Wonderful law show

I love romance shows and this wasn't one. However, it was so well-written, full of interesting characters, and one that I got completely engrossed in. The actors were all wonderful. Go Ah Ra and Sung Dong Il were especially effective in this. I saw this a few years ago and realize I had never rated it, maybe it's time to go back and watch it again. I do remember wondering why they all kept their coats on when they were at work - they must keep the sets really cold! I usually don't have a problem meeting the required word count, but here, I'm at a loss.

All I can say is, take a chance, I think you'll really enjoy it.

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A cute, short drama somewhere in between True beauty and Extraordinary you

Overall the drama was great: I’m a sucker for a high school romance and it was addictive, I loved the enemies to friends to lovers trope of their romance as well as the fact that they still maintain the enemies aspect even when they’re in a relationship. I would’ve rated this so much higher if not for the fact that, A. there is NO KISS (unacceptable), and B. the ending was so confusing - this may be intentional so the viewer can decide how they believe everything ended as well as the dynamic between the two worlds but I’m just simply confused because I have no imagination (although I’ve just read some other reviews with good theories so I’ll probably go with one of them). :) But definitely worth the watch!

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Someone said obsession?...Ready to watch!

Recently I keep coming upon series where the main theme is obsessive love. Well, this one is in a class of its own!

Double Mints is a story of two men with a same name who cannot live apart no matter how bad they are to each other. We know nothing about the two characters: what is known is their relationship: toxic, codependent, raw, addicted, obsessive, damaged.

They met in high school where one becomes the owner of the other one calling him "the dog". Every time "the dog" tries to break free, he is pulled back into the weird relationship. So much so that "the dog", even adult, has no will of his own before his master. But when he realizes that his master is someone else's dog (in this case, he has become an errand boy for the local yakuzas), he starts to change. They are still addicted to each other but the erstwhile dog decides to become equal. And they understand that they are the two halves of the same . Soulmates sounds too fluffy for this damaged relationship. But that is what they ultimately turn out to be! Unhealthy it may be but they need to stay together.

What is it about these toxic , obsessive relationships that is so fascinating?

The movie is dark. The cinematography is appropriately black and bleak. The acting is perfect: the actors managed to portray complex feelings through posture, voice and facial micro expressions. The cello music is ominous and rather scary not allowing for a glimmer of hope in this world filled with cruelty. The editing is a bit messy: the timeline seems stunted and it is difficult to understand how much time has passed between the scenes.

It is a hard watch, long and draggy at moments with minimal dialogue. They did not need to say anything, everything was crystal clear from the way they walked and behaved.

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Business Focus with amazing chemistry between Qin Lan and Wang Yang

Subjective Gut Rating: 8.25

“Stand or Fall” is very similar to other female-centric dramas about women in their 30s. However, this one has a very strong business focus and a majority of the time we follow Guan Wen/Qin Lan (FL) and Ding Ning/Wang Yan (ML) through their ups and downs at work. The main attraction of this drama for me is the strong chemistry between Qin Lan and Wang Yang. They are two of my favorite veteran actors and they did not disappoint.

Recommendations:
1. Fans of Qin Lan and Wang Yan
2. Fans of Business dramas
3. Fans of sisterhood of women in their 30s

Qin Lan has a similar role in “The Rational Life” where she plays a very successful businesswoman. What differs in “Stand or Fall” is her character’s strong, assertive personality and no BS approach to work and life. She was a lot mellower and calmer in “The Rational Life”. I quite like seeing Qin Lan in a more feisty role. On the other hand, it took me a quick second to see Wang Yang not in a villany, gray role. I’ve been so attracted to him/ his characters in “The Rebel” and “Lost in Kunlun Mountain” that it’s quite fun seeing him in love and jealous. He is still as charismatic and attractive as always, playing the successful counterpart to Qin Lan’s character. The two of them have so much chemistry and their bickering and outsmarting each other are the highs of the drama for me.

The other two female leads have a decent amount of screen time. They are both fun characters and the trio’s sisterhood is fun to watch. However, the supporting romances lack chemistry and their careers' storylines are not as interesting. ML’s BFF appears here and there to provide work gossip and support. But he is quite a one-dimensional character.

As I mentioned earlier, there’s a lot of business talk in this drama. If you are not interested, you might be bored. The dialogs are fast with business lingo yet Qin Lan and Wang Yang are experienced enough to make it seem natural. The drama is not dubbed (thank god coz I love their real voices) and you can hear the live recording with some post-production corrections here and there. I also love all the business attire at work. Qin Lan has quite a nice collection of business suits, shorts, dresses, and skirts. She looks so beautiful and I love her new short hair cut. Of course, Wang Yang doesn’t look too bad himself in formal suits and casual attires.

“Stand of Fall” might not be a solid 8.5 but I have a great time watching it. It met my expectations of Qin Lan and Wang Yang and how amazing they are together.

Other Random Observations:
1. Glad to see Qin Lan not afraid of getting dirty or having lipstick drawn on her beautiful face. But she's way too skinny though.
2. Why would a mother goes into a sleeping child's room and turn on the bright light?
3. For once a mother spoils a daughter and not a son.
4. When people in their 30s fall over each other, it's not a slow mo romantic scene but of them hurting their backs. LOL
5. Love the unique relationship FL has with her brother.



Completed: 8/19/2023 - Review #341

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İt's so perfect that I watched it 3 times ??

the whole thing in this drama is perfect but no lie I loved VegasPete more ...
I wish they had a seperate drama for themselves ?
yet it's so worth your time, I'm even gonna watch for the 4th time, NO REGRETS


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Superficial entertainment at most

I liked the poster as it suggested fantasy and maybe interesting relations between the ML and the different women, so I watched it on a whim. Well, I was disappointed somewhat, because the poster as well as the title are rather misleading.

It is too short to introduce fleshed out characters, the ML and the female antagonist are probably the best among them as they have a relatable backstory. The rest does not have much explanation as to who they are and what made them that way. There is scarcly any development either (just weired fluctuations)
The FL was pretty annoying in my opinion. There is no consistancy in her behaviour, she seemingly randomly does stuff without much justification or explanation why she suddenly acts that way. Constant fundamental changes in character that need a lot of goodwill and thinking off-screen to sort-of explain. I don't like having to fit together the story myself all the time. She is also always in need of being rescued, whatever she does on her own, usually doesnt end too well. The other females would have been so much more interesting, but we learn only little about them. In the end, they are just mainstory supporting steppingstones.
Some scenes are riddiculous, like the dress up as males.
World building is sloppy and does nothing to establish some framework. Everything seems random.
There are massive plotholes and whole storyarches missing that would offer some connections between different ideas. The fun of the first scene ends there and is not picked up. It could have just been deleted and no one would know. I really don't think the title fits the story, it is really not about the Chief of Thieves at all.

Acting was okay but nothing stellar. As I have watched much worse recently, I might be biased. Costumes and Set are well made and fit the story, that's a strong point of the movie. The martial art scenes are okay with quite some CGI that is so-so. Music was okay but not memorable.

All in all I feel the movie stays superficial in all aspects: romance, inititial storyline, character development, world building,...

I will not watch the movie again.

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Why R U so all over the place?

What did I even watch? It’s all over the place! The plot is a mess. There are too many characters to really keep up with all of them. And I feel like I watched the same two scenes about ten times each. The plot had a nice set up at first, maybe a bit too dramatic for my liking, but it was interesting. But then it went up in flames. The idea that all that happened is due to the bet between Zon and his sister quickly became a side thing. Instead, the series tried to keep with a bunch of couples and completely failed at that.

The cinematographic aspect was not the best. Some shots were very strange and with certain scenes constantly repeating, it felt like they did a lot of that just to fill in the time. The series could have easily been a few episodes shorter. Included less couples. The background sounds were all over the place too. I felt like they exaggerated with the comic sound effects.

Fighter & Tutor: they are both idiots. At first, I though only Fighter is an idiot who should just sit down with himself and decide on what the hell he wants. Or doesn’t want. His hot and cold attitude was not cute. The way he treated Tutor throughout the series (except for their cute and in love phase) was not okay. Tutor was doing okay at first. He was a bit confused, but he knew where he stood. And then he decided to keep secrets. To make decisions without his partner. To make an even bigger mess of things. That, however, does not excuse Fighter’s behavior or actions. It was how he handled things that made me absolutely hate him. I think both Zee and Saint are great actors, and they did good with intimate scenes and had great chemistry, I just don’t like the characters they played.

Saifah & Zon: I thought the two were supposed to be the main couple. But they got less screen time than the other main couple. At least it felt like that to me. They had me confused most of the time. Zon is dramatic. And Saifah is flirty. Together, they are a hot mess. I don’t think the switch in Saifah going from possibly hating Zon to being completely enamored by him makes sense. It happened in a second, which made me confused if he is simply messing with him or if actually likes Zon. There was a lot of back and forth between the two, but I also feel like nothing much happened. They sang, played the guitar, flirted and denied flirting. I don’t mind low-drama couples, but with everything else going on, they kind of faded into the background for me.

There were a few other couples – Japan and Thantai, Dew and Blue (with a sprinkle of Champ), Natee and Zen, Junior and Soda, Daw and Hwahwa. None of the mentioned (possible) couples got proper story development nor enough screen time to really round off their stories. I think they just added to the confusion.

There’s also Zol, Zon’s sister and the author. What happened with that plotline? I know it was supposed to be a way to start the story off, but it was never addressed if her writing came true or if it was just a coincidence. I feel like that just faded into the background. A similar thing happened to Zon’s parents and their role in what was going on.

To be honest, I did a lot of skipping. I also watched a lot of it on double speed just to get through it faster. I am just happy to be done with it.

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If it contains any spoilers, it conserns only first 5 episodes.
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Firstly: the story.

The link between main characters reminded me of Goblin, which If you ask me is a pretty accurate observation. In both those girl is out of luck and out of family (o.0), good-hearted and strong (in a way), while the guy is a super-being, bound to appear whenever his lady calls. Here though the stories go their separate ways. (Obviously I’m not saying there couldn’t be found more similarities).

I must say I enjoyed most of the character in the show and their relationships. The story was a nice balance of humour, drama and bits of horror.
I liked how the reason for Kong’s love wasn’t ignored. Like - we knew it all along, but it was nice that it was reminded every then and again. Also the way the love all-together was treated was very humane. I like that it was perfectly understandable why she felt the way that she did. I think it shows good writing.
I liked that Sun Mi wasn’t just all fragile; a damsel in distress. /I like her more than the Goblin FL (but maybe that’s something about me)/

And though the overalls feelings were rather positive, there are some negatives that I cannot leave out.
Something that really bothered me was the unnaturality. Which may just be the very essence of kdrama, and it’s romcom genre. Something about the theatricality. How come they have so much monologues? It just seems scenic, and kind of pretentious.

Secondly: the music. As such it wasn’t bad. But it’s not just what, but how. And I didn’t appreciate the use of the ‘main song’. The one that must play in every episode, and it must be every slightly maybe romantic situation, so that I, the viewer don’t have a doubt who is supposed to fall for each other.

As for rewatch value i must admit i don’t know. I wouldn’t watch it again, but then again i rarely do rewatch, so I don’t know.

I’m not such If you could make something out of my rambling I just felt as though that my poinys may’ve accure to someone as well.
PS: As you may’ve notice English is not my first language, so if anything feels oddly worded – not you know why.

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Can you love a virtual Character?

And more important: Is a virtual Character able to love? If you are in the mood for a thought-provoking Gamer Webseries, this can be an entertaining pick. If you are in search for a fluffy rom-com, sorry this drama has unexpectedly some very philosophical dialogues that questions the ethical issues of Artificial Intelligence that is able to feel emotions.

A shortwhile and interesting plot for sci-fi- lovers, but very likely not an easy watch for those that have their difficulties following scientific based dialogues. These were at least for me the most surprising aspect of this show. A pleasant candy for Geeks and Nerds that dont't like too much empty lines and phrases in dramas.

For me it was a random pick by accident. After i watched the first episodes i kept watching. I watched it while it aired and without even noticing waited with anticipation for the next episode the next day. Till the 15th episodes it was actually very satisfying but dropped radically nearing the end, so don't have to much expectations for a happy ending.

All in all a technical very solid cdrama with 20 episodes of 8-10 minutes. Visual pleasing, in regards of actors, scenery and scenarios, no unnecessary repetitions, no illogical or inconsistent plot developments or plot holes. Even if you are left with some unanswered questions. It's a low-budget sci-fi, come on! A very one-dimensional antagonist, but all other characters were surprisingly well-written for a webseries. Decent action scenes, that are actually fun to watch if you consider the weird editing. But proper flow of events even if you binge all episodes at once.

I'm suprised how much i can write about this drama, but obviously this is one with depth. Enjoy! :)

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Twisted love tainted with blood

When society punishes people for being not beautiful in their eyes, some become monsters.

Every episode features a vignette of specific characters' moments in life. From the 80s to current times, we follow how characters without being self-aware punish themselves and their loved ones.

Young-lady hiding her face for love.
Young-man searching for love through streamers.
Old-lady that creates lies about her son to be adored by society.
Young-lady who finds friendship in dark places.
Young-girl disregarded by society due to her blood.

One of the most beautiful korean shows of 2023. Cinematography was creative and aestheticly done throughout the series. The main highlights were episode 1 and 7.

For those that like heavy-scripts, comedic horror and ill-fated tragedies.

Do not watch trailer. It spoils everything. Watch it blind.

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Great chemistry but pretty predictable plot

Acting was good, I liked the characters and the actors played it well. The chemistry between the two leads are good too.

However when it comes to the story, its pretty predictable, its something you can see to other romance stories, and not quite refreshing. Furthermore, there are flaws in the plot, like I feel it has too much episode for a simple story, some scenes can be out in the story like its not that necessary, plus I wish they could elaborate more the ML's feelings or experience from his past, and the first few episodes are pretty good, but as the story goes on, I lost interest.

Overall, the only thing I don't like about this is how story flows like it was too stretched, but I admit that some scenes are great, and the acting are great too.

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Nothing new offered

I know the male lead Junho as an actor not as an K-pop idol he was an intense actor in Just Between lovers drama. This drama doesn't do justice to his acting skills.

The female lead Yoona Iam not a fan of her neither as an idol nor as an actor. I really don't like her acting. Being beautiful doesn't mean you are a good actor though I don't think that she is the one of the most beautiful idols.

The story Cdrama viewers would have seen multiple dramas with the same plot. There is nothing new to offer but at the same time it dint provide the enough excitement while watching.Same old story Rich man/poor woman cliche.

I really don't understand the concept that how only the friends of the FL tend to get hell amount of problems in their professional life. The FL characterization is the worst. The sister of the ML there is no proper ending to her.

Nothing exciting!!

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