Reviews

A Poem a Day (2018) - I really like how the drama started, as being familiar with the hospital setting and seeing that this medical drama focuses more on things that are unfamiliar to non-medical people, I truly appreciate the fact that they pursued this drama. I also like that it is true to the drama’s title name, there is always a ‘poem’ in every episode. Being a slice of life drama genre, I am into this drama, lighthearted drama but has in impact. The bad side for me is that the main leads does not really have a chemistry romantically. Still, I like how they unfold the romance part of the drama, and truthfully I am very much pleased with who end up with each other. I think it's hard for me to see Lee Joon Hyuk in a romance drama so far base on what I have seen in his other roles but I look forward to it in the future. This is just my third Lee Joon Hyuk drama that he is the main lead and I am satisfied. Jang Dong Yoon as Minho suits him as well, and I find him more charming here compared to Tale of Nokdu. I also like the side characters of this drama, I find them almost all likeable and relatable at the same time. This drama is one of my recommended dramas for sure.

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Married to a Jerk

This story doesn't start off any crueler, the female lead is surrounded by pathological narcissists whose lack of empathy and self serving nature leaves you sick to your stomach. She's meek, trusting, and tries to persevere despite circumstances placed on her by her husband who is cheating on her with her best friend. Of course to add more fuel to the fire of sadness and tragedy, she has cancer with a poor prognosis. With circumstances related to her continued medical treatment that leads her to find out her best friend's betrayal; it is a catalyst for her reincarnation for a do-over and revenge.

I appreciate its storyline so far and its portrayal of narcissism at its cruelest coupled with the manipulative gaslighting of a spouse and best friend who executes their extreme cruelty on the person closest to them. Unfortunately, reality sometimes isn't too far from fiction. More light needs to be shone on pathological narcissistic partners, friends, family, and coworkers and their mask needs to be revealed.

I hope this drama will continue to give hope to anyone out there that has been abused, belittled, gaslighted, and told they were worthless. The tables can be turned and one can move on before they swiftly give their abusers a kick in the rear end.

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Gentleman’s Dignity (2012) - what made this drama solid is the characters. What do you expect with veteran actors but the best, that is why I could really see the subpar acting skills of the young cast, but they are not bad. The characters are really good to the point where it was easy to get irritated, to laugh, cry along with them. Each and every actor brought their characters to life in style and color. The story is beautifully written, the pacing is great in the drama and how it unfolded, the characters are well written that I really respect that particular age group presented in the drama. The drama is well adjusted to it's romance, comedy as well as life in general that something seems relatable to them. The drama is easy to love. To more dramas like this.

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Quite enjoyable but I need to rant

The AUDACITY Ki Joon has to be upset that Yoo Jin was dating and living with Shi Woo before him as if he wasn't about to get married and in a 10 YEAR relationship. Why was that such a big deal???? Ki Joon couldn't let it go but both of them were cheaters and liars????

Both Ki Joon and Yoo Jin are scummy cheaters who have no business being upset or angry or involved in the lives of Shi Woo and Ha Kyung. They have the NERVE to act the way they do when they cheated and abandoned their exes...they needed to be ostracized a bit more. Like how are YOU mad that both Shi Woo and Ha Kyung are working there when it is all your fault. Also, Ki Joon wanting to go half on the apartment to provide for Yoo Jin, Ki Joon having Ha Kyung write for him, him spying on them, the continuous lying between both cheaters, and the fact that they were never sorry and blamed their exes for their poor behavior. My mouth is on the floor.

You can't have your cake and eat it too!! like be so for real.

Aside from this, I am fond of the other main/supporting characters on team 2, the show being about weather is awesome, and I'm still enjoying watching it overall. I just don't like when cheaters act so entitled or their behavior is minimized so they eventually get redeemed.

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I think the lead actors ruined it for me :-\

This is my first time watching a drama with either of these actors and only my second contemporary CDrama. I've been trying to figure out why I didn't like the drama much, because I feel like I should have liked it. the first 20 or so episodes were awesome (solid 9) but then it dropped to a 3 on the enjoyment scale and I found myself reaching for the fast forward button often. I ultimately concluded that the two lead actors were the problem.
Allow me to explain.
1. The ML did a phenomenal job with sad, longing, romantic, and/or flirty scenes. But for the technical scenes as an engineer in particular, or where he was supposed to be cool and aloof, he came across as not at all authentic. It's like he couldn't pull it off. There's a difference between aloof and flat. Likewise, there's a difference between stiff and intelligent. His aloof scenes came across as flat and his scenes where he was supposed to be demonstrating how brilliant he was just made him look stiff/robotic. This character was supposed to be passionate about systems engineering and the actor brought no passion to this part of his role (so, basically the basis of his central conflict and the core of his character).
2. The FL was really, really fun to watch, absolutely fantastic, until the two leads got together in the 22nd episode or so. After that point, she started randomly behaving in this really irritating infantile way that got worse with each episode. Her voice got higher and higher until she was using a baby-voice by episode 30. I was so sad because I really enjoyed her character up to this point.
Anyway. I'm willing to give these actors another try, but this drama was ultimately just average for me despite the story and direction being solid.

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LOVLEY DRAMA ? RECOMMEND

I started this drama to make me sleepy but here I am 2 in the morning writing a review.

I loved how they brought all the tropes i enjoy
- enemies to lovers
-contract relationship/ marriage (personal fav)
-rich CEO assistant
- there was also a little bit of grumpy sunshine
in one drama that kept me wanting to know what's next . There were very many annoying characters (stresss) and the Enemies trope ended way too early but I loved it.The FL had me pausing and screaming at the screen because why you so stupid .I'm not a season 2 lover but I think I'll enjoy this one.💕

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It crashed as a romance

I expected more from this drama because of the hype it had while airing but sadly, it did not satisfy me. It couldn't seem to decide its genre and tried to include so many subplots that were mostly resolved haphazardly. The drama tried to match up almost everybody but did not really show any buildup so they all felt unrealistic and I just couldn't root for any of the couples. Honestly, even with the two leads, the chemistry was nonexistent despite the use of typical romance tropes. Then they just had to include a thriller arc which I think was not that necessary and felt like a filler to stretch out the drama into 16 episodes. The only saving grace of this drama is the relationship between the FL and her daughter/niece which made this somewhat bearable to watch

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Should've happened before Pieces of Me

It was much better than I expected. Especially considering what we were told it will be at first. I was very concerned about the original plot (Nick pretending to be 16 to get with Tod), so seeing that they changed it made me very happy. I do think it was better done this way.

However, the two parts did seem to drag on a bit, especially the second. The acting wasn’t very believable at times, which I think made it difficult to really feel the emotions in the more emotional scenes. They also ruined the ending by scheduling these two episodes after Pieces of Me. We already had a good idea of what to expect, which kind of prevent the buildup of what would happen in the end. Maybe switching the order of Pieces of Me and 1626 would be better.

Another complaint I have is about the time – when things happen, how do different events follow each other, etc. I found it very hard to keep up with what is past and what is present. There was no clear distinction between the two.

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Ji Chang Wook's best drama by far

When I first started watching this show, I didn't have very high hopes as I never saw it anywhere so I thought its not that good if its not popular. After the first 2 episodes I realised I was wrong as I couldn't stop watching. I binged this whole show in 1.5 days which I don't normally do as I like to almost get to know the characters over time. The acting was amazing, this drama was probably the best that I've seen from ji chang wook, his acting suits this kind of role so well. I was also shocked to see Bibi in the cast but oh wow her acting was good too. The story was captivating as well, none of those stupid misunderstanding plot lines which I hate as the misunderstanding takes half of the show. Park Jun Mo's change throughout the show was also presented very well and I was really immersed into his character. The romance was also there but it didn't take all of the show which I liked. I just don't understand why this show isn't getting the popularity it deserves. Overall I believe this show is worth watching, it is one of my favourites from 2023.

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Nothing can erase my love for this show

The show starts off by informing the viewer they're about to watch a "slightly silly love story about good natured, hard-working high school kids" and I think that's probably when I fell head-over-heels into crazy, stupid love, because boy oh boy does the series ever live up to its promise!
Everything about it is excellent, from the writing, to the acting, to music... it's all spot-on.
The humour is genuinely clever, often a lot subtler than you'd expect, and had me gleefully cackling more times than I'd care to admit. The plot may be nothing new but it depicts young love in general and young queer love specifically with such care and respect I was genuinely blown away by it.
And that's the magic of this drama, I think, the sheer amount of love so obviously put into it.
Not only are the characters deeply lovable, but their relationships to one another - romantic, platonic, or otherwise - are also incredibly healthy and there is huge focus placed on the importance of open communication and being honest about your feelings both with yourself and with others.
This portrayal of deeply earnest kids learning who they are, what they want in life, and how to speak to the people they love is hugely impactful in its simplicity and, quite frankly, offers some valuable life lessons which are important and relevant to audiences of all ages.
Furthermore, the show skillfully addresses more serious topics and issues facing young queer people every day such as prejudices, outward pressures to conform, and even internalised homophobia. None of these things are used for shock value, nor do they skew the lighthearted tone of the show towards the me angsty, but they aren't trivialised either, far from it.
This story may be very tame and PG but you can tell the show-runners wanted to create something truly worth while - a genuinely good piece of queer media for young people to watch and feel seen by - and they absolutely outdid themselves in every single aspect of that endeavour.
This show is an absolute triumph and a beloved classic for a reason. It will always be very near and dear to my heart and, I suspect, once you've seen it it will quickly claim a spot in your heart as well - just go watch it already.

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Ballerina is a perfectly adequate female-led South Korean actioner.

Korean revenge. Another one. I'm this close to making a list!
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Stunts - 79/100 | Some fine stunts in there, but the actual award here would go to the sound editing in this movie, which was really on-point.

Narrative - 71/100 | It's pointless to try and reinvent the wheel in the revenge genre. Martial arts movie lovers want their martial arts movies to end in a fight scene. Revenge movie lovers want their movies to be about revenge and to end in revenge. That's just how it is. In this one, we've got both, but the movie didn't excel at either.

Fight Choreography - 70/100 | The ending fight scene, although a bit brief, was delightfully chaotic. The rest was messy but still managed to be decent. This is an example of how you can still have good (but definitely not great) fight scenes even if they're over-edited. We can follow what's going on through the cuts.

Enjoyment - 70/100 | If my job as a Producer was to hire a director to make a Korean revenge story that's representative of the genre as a whole with decent action and visuals and a story that's engaging enough, I'd hope and hopefully expect to receive about this in terms of end product. And I'd be fine with it and consider it a job well done and money well spent.

So, basically, thumbs up

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Go for it

If you are skeptical or doubting yourself on whether or not to watch this series, just go for it. It has a very beautiful village atmosphere and the vibe gives out a perfect village feels with all the people and gossiping. The actors have done a great job. The characters that are supposed to be irritating are truly irritating. The friends gang is great. Even though there are a lot of things that they need to bring solution to, or conclusion to, I am confident that they will do a good job.

Male Lead: great job as usual. Those who have watched his other works like Healer, K2,Suspicious partner know what I'm talking about
Female Lead: Since I haven't watched her other works, I can not compare it. But, she did complete justice to the character
Ajumma(female lead's mother): My favorite supporting actor who has acted in a lot of kdrama. she is just apt for this role
ML's father: he is the villain I would say, but he has his reasons.

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Lots of plot twist and an ending that could be better.

The k-drama flows well at the beginning, but from the middle to the end it is loaded with plot twist, which didn't bother me. What I didn't like was the ending. I honestly expected an ending like other series in the same style of night has come, the remaining participants would find out who the mafia is and then they would be free to leave. The ending was bad compared to the entire course of the series. If the k-drama ended like I said, it would be better than that. I gave it a 9.0 because of how the series unfolded until episode 11, which was very good. The performances and the plot twist don't leave anything to be desired either, I liked it a lot. It's worth watching.

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“Wonderland of Love” is a great romance drama set in a historical period. The drama is an adaptation of the novel written by Fei Wo Si Cun, the pen name of the popular Chinese writer Ai Jingjing, original creator of “Good Bye, My Princess”. Wonderland of Love is really a masterpiece with a fantastic cast that masterfully brought their characters to life. This drama has a solid plot with great entertainment value, there are great action scenes, aesthetically pleasing cinematography , well placed sounds that adds depth and realism to the drama as well as a beautiful OST that helps convey the emotions of the actors and their actions. The leading couple, Xu Kai (as Li Ni / Shiqi Lang) and Jing Tian (as Cui Lin / A Ying) are a force to be reckoned with. Their characters are equally supplemented with artful intelligence and strategic schemes, great combat skills, strong mental and emotional bond, and a fantastic chemistry. Their
playful and friendly exchange of teasing remarks, the way that they understood each other, and their steadfast love was delivered beautifully throughout the drama. The drama would not have been as great if it was not also that the supporting cast (friends and antagonists) was phenomenal. If there is one thing to complain, for romance lovers, is that the leading’s couple romantic scenes takes always ended up with distant camera shots and angles. Still, Xu Kai and Jing Tian manage to delivers some heartbreaking and heart fluttering scenes that made the intensity of their love realistic. Overall, this drama is extraordinary, enjoy it!

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