Reviews

"Lost in the Drama: CWN-MR's Love Saga - A Rollercoaster of Emotions and Unforgettable Moments!"

From the moment I stumbled upon this captivating tale, little did I know that I'd willingly become a clown, forever enchanted by MR's endearing puppy-like charm and CWN's enigmatic cat allure. Their love story is a masterpiece, navigating the storms of life, teaching us resilience and the beauty of true connection. We've transformed into giggling, blushing, and stair-fearing enthusiasts, and the story's happy ending, uncensored scenes, and sweet moments have left an indelible mark. Here's to being forever haunted by the echoes of their love and the pure joy they've brought into our drama-loving souls!

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I'm glad they didn't take down the road we all thought they would

I don’t even know what I watched. But let’s start with the obvious, I don’t think that the twins, Korn and Kun, were in love with each other. It wasn’t a one-sided love either. Even if they had some rather questionable habits. Here’s the thing, the two are used to having each other only. They have probably never been apart for longer than a few hours, so the possibility of losing that is scary. Could you say that there is jealousy and possessiveness involved? Yes, and it might be stronger than what one would expect. But the two seem to have a stronger bond than siblings usually do.

I am not really sure why they decided to set this as part of BL anthology, but I am incredibly glad they didn’t take it down the road we all thought they would. The plot was very simple, but it involved a lot of growing up from everyone involved. It did feel patchy and kind of abrupt, especially how they decided to end most things. I just think there are a lot of conclusions that we just didn’t get or were skimmed over without being properly addressed.

It was an okay watch, but it wasn’t anything special. I did find the acting a bit lacking, especially in the more emotional scenes. However, I do think Mild did amazingly!

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Predictable

This is a good show, but since like episode 10 for something I have realized that the secret group was his long lost brother. And like any other romance dramas, the emperor has to be bad but no one knows it. And the husband has to be mean on the outside until you really get to know him. This is a good show the actors are good too. But the plot is really predictable and doesn't have any sparkle in it. I have also started watching it in 2x since I feel like it is being dragged on a bit, with all the other characters that the main dude supposedly flirted with before. Honestly, I think since like ep 20, they should've ran away and eloped and never came back.

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It's good, but I dont recommend it if you don't like cheesy romance

I haven't written a drama review in a really long time, and after watching this I just had to review it because there were. couple points.. that made me side eye.

I did watch all the episodes, with express so I dont recommend paying $6 to watch the rest lol its quite boring.

1. I feel like the characters got together too quick... like there wasn't much story buid up. It was so vague that I accidentally skipped from ep 5 to ep 9 without even noticing. When I went to rewatch the episodes, it wasn't even much, if anything it was quite weird. Like ok everyone else was there but why are you inviting a random girl you just met in person to your house and aksing her to be your girlfriend in. your kitchen.

++ they met in ep 4 got together ep 5-6 ;; like this is a 33 ep drama U CANNOT BE SERIOUS.

2. The overly cheesy romance. I, as a drama watcher I do love my occassional romance and cute little couples, but my god this couple needs to calm down. They are literally the definition of the couple in the friend group that you make a meeting about about the pda. It's not even the r rated PDA its just so mushy and gooshy that its like... "pls stop" its like the writers couldn't give enough story plot so they just kept adding plot to the romance but with like cringey words.

3. the physical touch. it could just be my own personal preference, but i did not like how this guy always like tucked her hair.. like the way he did it was so *shudders* again personal opinion lol

4. THE GREEN SCREEN. the hot air balloon scene was soooo funny because it was sooo badly taken and such a bad idea. it literally looked like one of those ancient chinese paintings that my family has in our basement.

5. i wish they focused more on the other couples earlier on the drama too, like they started them like ep 29-33 and it was so rushed it was horrible

-- i think that's all my points for now, but i highly recommend don't watch it if u cringe at couples gushing for 21 episodes LMAO

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Not interesting drama

This storyline isn't that great. With a great actor who had really fantastic act especially in The Forbidden Marriage and with an actress who dosen't fit to be main actress. She is good as a servant in historical drama. This drama dosent suit her at all, and I think wrong choice as she wont be a good main actress now and the future . it spoilt the whole drama when you had a great actor . Sometimes if an actor/actress who are not that great in acting they will spoil the whole drama. Not every actor/actress are good. Hoping they select better actor/ actress for all dramas. It may spoil the whole story if they do not choose the correct one

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this show surprised me

I was not expecting this but I am so pleased.
Sometimes warm, sometimes heartwrenching, sometimes sweet, sometimes bitter... it was a rollercoaster of emotions.

Got really attached to the hometown and almost all of the characters I am going to miss some of them dearly. The actors did such an incredible job I was amazed by all of them, even the small roles.

In conclusion, such a classic! A k-drama staple which is worth to rematch for comfort <3

The couple also had a lot of chemistry which sometimes can be hard for slow slice of life k-dramas but they made my heart beat so fast!!

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don't expect too much

honestly, writing this review is kinda hard because I'm so conflicted...
I had fun watching it and it was cute, but my expectations were probably to high and thats why i feel so dissapointed.

I really trust Korean remakes. Because in my experience Kdramas are often more high quality than other asian dramas.
thats why i was really surprised when i caught myself thinking that the Thai original was better.


First, the story was quite different. The only things they had in common was the enemies to lover trope, the novel that becomes reality and the university setting. I'm sure there are other but these are the most prominent similarities.

I like that it was not just a copy, but the story didnt seem very thought through? I found a few contradictions (but that might also be because of mistranslations)


Personally, i couldn't connect with the characters, but the actors had great chemistry and veeeeeeery convincing kiss-scenes lol


The biggest issue (for me) was that the scenes were often not connected well.
Yeah, because they were played after another you could understand what was happening but it seemed so cheap, because the scenes didn't flow seamlessly into one another and instead were cutted in a very choppy way.

None of the main leads had played in more than 3 dramas and I noticed very quickly that they were inexperienced actors.

Plus, the sound was weird at times and it was taking me out.


It's not a bad remake and it is also not a bad drama. even though I critcized it a lot, i still enjoyed it!
If you watched the original or enjoy very high quality productions, this is probably not the drama for you
but if you just have some time to spare and like fun stories, why not check it out!

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Hong Gil Dong - Take 2

The drama started off promisingly but took a nosedive after a pivotal moment around episode 7 when the plot took an unfortunate turn with the very conveniently timed amnesia break. This narrative choice not only broke the momentum built up until that point but also shattered the drama's coherence. After this abrupt twist, the series struggled to regain its footing, and the attempts to recover its initial momentum proved futile, leading to a disjointed narrative and a noticeable decline in quality. While attempting to portray the struggles of the oppressed, the series fell into repetitive cycles, as expected. The romantic elements felt forced and superficial. Rather than enhancing the storyline, the romantic subplot felt out of place and failed to integrate seamlessly into the overarching plot. It felt like they had to give the lead a girl, any girl. Would have been better if his siblings occupied that gap instead of being wasted on the love interest. At least the drama didn't end like Hong Gil Dong (2008).

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Flowers Over Boys

What might have seemed an interesting premise on the surface turned out to be the farthest thing from that, it crashed and burned in flames. The cast? They might as well have been cardboard cutouts. Pretty faces without a soul. Do Joon gave nothing but extremely uncomfortable creepy vibes made my skin crawl! The characters were like shape-shifters, their motivations changing faster than the weather. I couldn't latch onto them or the storyline. The drama also featured one of the worst love triangles with the highlight being the abomination of this female lead character.

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Not as compelling for me as the original Sweet Home

I really loved the original Sweet Home even though I normally cannot bear gore and horror. It turned out to be more about humanity, at both its best and worst. I found myself really moved by the relationships forged in that microcosm of the apartment building. Sweet Home 2, however, was too diffuse for me. Too many characters in general to do justice to in merely 8 episodes, too many uninteresting or off-putting characters and storylines, and just not enough of the human relationships that made the first Sweet Home so special for me. Perhaps more episodes might have done justice to the more compelling elements - for example, what happened to Hyun-Su, Eun-Yu, Yi-Kyung, Eui-Myeong, some of the key soldiers, and even that twisted Dr. Lim. It was a missed opportunity.

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Feel Good, Relaxing and Smooth Sailing Drama

When I first read the synopsis before the drama Aired I thought it sounded a bit odd and I didn't have huge expectation's going into this drama, but it has been a surprising delight and a welcome form of distraction from my daily life.

This drama was such a feel good, relaxing and smooth sailing drama and it did exactly what its supposed to do, giving us butterflies and drawing us in with each episode which is hard to find in romance dramas in dreamland. I’ve seen soo many Kramas, Cdrama that claimed to be 'romantic' but adult couples will only kiss twice and call it a day.

The whole drama focuses on the a developing relationship of the two main leads Mo Qing Cheng (Tan Jian Ci) and Gu Sheng ( Zhou Ye). A relationship without misunderstandings or anyone or anything interfering with them which in some dramas could be seen as rather gloomy and yet in this drama they continued to deliver pleasantly pleasing moments impeccably and I think we need to thank their chemistry for this.
The writers and director were also able to give us that sweet but with sizzling undertone kind of chemistry that give enough tension in their intimate moments perfectly and timely Otherwise these kind of overloaded sweetness can quickly be boring and cringy but thankfully it wasn’t in this case.
The Drama was just exceedingly good and delivered in all areas from casting , to pacing , to storyline to directing and the acting and also all the OST was amazing with Tan Jian Ci voice on many of the OST was just incredible. Absolutley Brilliant Romance drama.

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Petite and perfect

My first Lee Na Young Drama was "Romance is a Bonus Book" I rated that 5.5/10, meaning that for me it was mehdiocre and at best underwhelming. THIS one could not have been more different. Everything about this Drama was outstanding, including Ms. Lee's great performance.

The episode lengths were perfect too. Any longer and they would have sagged, shorter and the opportunity to let the puases sink in would have been lost. The cast was ASTONISHING - getting Han Ye Ri was awesome, but then to see that tyhe Drama drew Shim Eun Kyung back to Korea after years of focusing on Japan was chef's kiss. That's a clear tribute to the writing too, which was exceptional. The clinching proof of that for me was the final episode when I was surprised to find my eyes actively leaking. BRAVA!

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Don't judge a book by its cover

Middleman's love is exactly like a lot of people described it. A typical office romance with a predictable storyline, obnoxious Thai humour, ridiculous characters and circumstances and a main character so extra it borders on annoying.

Or at least that's what I thought for the first 4 episodes but, DAMN.

Jade starts out as a very outgoing, meddling and to some maybe even annoying character. He's high energy and his face and voice are all over the place. He very much feels like Thai humour was just poured into a character. That is what it seemed like and that's how I expected it to stay. I didn’t think this show would ever turn into anything more than just something I could laugh at. So colour me surprised when episode 5 rolls around and they actually get into Jade's backstory.

Without spoiling anything, this show spends 4 episodes focussing on humour and the crush Mai has on Jade. But when episode 5 rolls around it actually gives all of the characters much more depth than I initially expected.

Jade isn't just obnoxious and annoying, he's hurt, self conscious and afraid of getting hurt again. Mai isn't just an emotionless man that's endlessly chasing after his crush but a guy who's trying to stay determined and both do the right thing while still honouring his own feelings.

This show doesn't deal with the endless layers of trauma that Bed Friend does, but that's not the point. It's a show about Jade, the middleman, finally getting noticed by someone and how his past and own mind desperately try to deal with the attention.

So if you're a TutorYim fan, like (or don't get angered by) Thai humour and you're looking for an easy to watch bl that still has some depth but doesn't deal with the endless layers of angst that every bl seems to have nowadays. Than Middleman's love might be for you.

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Your daily reminder to watch TTEOTM : D

I've seen a lot of C-dramas. A lot of them are quite bad, and a lot of them are mediocre, and rarely do I stumble across what I find (subjectively) to be a gem: TTEOTM is one of those rare findings, with its interconnected storylines, immense number of jam-packed ideas (everything, everywhere, all at once), and superb acting... also I watched this directly after some widely liked dramas such as 'Love Between Fairy and Devil' and 'Hidden Love', so you could say I'm picking this one out from a set of some of the 'better ones.' I would advise you to stop reading here and start watching, but the review so far doesn't do anything to convince anyone. Let's dive into it a little:

FIRST, start with the ACTING.

It's magnificent. In a sense, there are dramas where one good actor carries the show, and interactions between the characters (what netizens call chemistry) is pretty lacking. Luckily, TTEOTM not only avoids those pitfalls but puts on quite the show; in fact, I'd argue the acting is so great that you could just watch Luo Yunxi (ML) and Bai Lu (FL) stand next to each other on a computer-generated battlefield for forty episodes and be reasonably moved.

As for individual actors, the star of the show is still Luo Yunxi. He plays half-a-dozen characters quite literally (Tantai Jin / Ming Ye / Devil God / Old Devil God / Cang Jiumin / Tantai Jin Devil God) and manages to make all of them distinctive and memorable. With a variety of expressive postures and gestures, his work here is definitely the best I've ever seen in a C-drama. The death glares from the beginning to the resignation at some points is all magnificently done, and for the record, I've seen a variety of heroes and villains portrayed by various actors- none quite make you feel the plethora of emotions and storyline as deeply as Luo Yunxi here in TTEOTM. It's not just tears shed for a simple but tragic storyline (which happens often, I find), but hollowness and internal conflict upon learning of his childhood, fear when watching the terror he manages to inflict as the Devil God, and contentedness/sweetness for his portrayal of Cang Jiumin (very, VERY much loves the FL). The distinctiveness of the characters he plays, I believe, even edges out Dylan Wang's Dongfang Qing Cang by far... a feat difficult to achieve as Dylan played a spectacular 'devil god' in Love Between Fairy and Devil.

Bai Lu's acting is always very pleasant and charming to watch, and I find her to make cute scenes even 'cuter.' I do think the personalities she plays are somewhat similar and representative of her true personality (to an extent), so the performance does not stick out to me that much... it's definitely great though considering the fact that it's Bai Lu and I love to watch works in her repertoire. Second leads such as Sun Zhen Ni (plays Pian Ran, a charming and flirtatious female fox devil) and Chen Duling (plays the antagonistic character that's kind of a plot twist... not really) portray their characters exceptionally well too, creating a sort of connection between them and the viewer.

SECOND, the STORYLINE.

Going into C-dramas, I have a sort of resignation towards finding an actually logical plot with good execution, so instead I look for a culmination of creative ideas/concepts. If you're one of the people who watch for logical behaviors, etc., I might warn you against this drama. It does have its fair share of strange plot holes especially towards the end and offers relatively questionable explanations for the reason things play out as they do. You might have to fill in your own gaps, and to me that's okay when watching a show simply due to my expectations (if I wanted to see something logical, I'd just neighbor-spy).

But I don't think that should deter you from watching, to be honest. The number of different arcs/storylines in this drama can be a lot to digest, but I think they're all meaningful and used properly. It's also the reason this drama is so great. None of it is fluff for the sake of fluff (the story does not sacrifice itself for the sake of a romance) or unimportant to the ultimate missions that face the characters.... it has a place in explaining the development and history of the setting (World-Turning Jade is an interesting twist), cleverly developing the relationships between characters (Ming Ye/ Sang Jiu is very important, imo) and furthering the plot/story. The way a lot of loose ends are introduced and ultimately tied back together towards the ending of the drama is masterfully done, so much so that the few logical errors/predictable behaviors of characters are forgivable (subjectively). There are just so many creative and inspirational concepts and ideas in this drama that deviate from the typical, predictable 'steam-engine-moves-forward-and-only-forward' storylines. It reminds me, truly, of 'Everything, Everywhere, All at Once'- which had its fair share of plot holes and possibly a slightly simpler plot than this (also more modern, to point out the obvious). I really appreciate the writers and original author of the novel for creating such a piece; most C-dramas need something more complex to show for, and they need that to an immense degree. Nothing is sacrificed for the story here.

I do think the character development for all the characters (even relatively minor ones) is really impressively done. Of course the focus is on Tantai Jin, but when we see even Ye Xiwu's older brother (so called coward) fight for the sake of his nation and people towards the end makes you realize that everyone really has an arc. Despite some repetitive, predictable, toxic behaviors of certain characters, the justifications for their motives typically make enough sense for me to accept given their individual personalities. I also appreciate the basic intelligence given to the characters which is way too rare in C-Dramas.

Finally, unlike many others, I appreciated the sad ending, thinking it's reasonable for how the ending developed. Otherwise, the ending would be pretty rushed, and that may not be to be the story's further. You could make it romantic with Tantai Jin's return... but I don't really get the point. It ended in an organic way rather than something really 'forced', and served as a conclusion to what I think is a story more than a set of scenes.

LASTLY, the OST:
Zhang Lei's First Time Loving was the star for me (I recommend it)... in general, it's a decent soundtrack, but not the best I've ever heard. I do think the accompaniment in certain scenes was done really well.

EXTRANEOUS THINGS:
- Maybe a little lighter on the makeup, especially the red lipstick on Tantai Jin...
- Beautiful outfits and well-done CGI... you could watch this just for the fight scenes

Please do watch this, it's one of the best C-dramas I've seen thus far in terms of ideas and acting : )

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