Reviews

One of the other low-budget Pinoy production series caught my attention this time with the story, less with its sometimes long-winded processing, repetition and stretching. Among the actors, I was particularly interested in three characters - Kai (the hard-working nineteen-year-old Ian Rosapan, Andre (John Padilla, he sang a song for the series and the film) and Drixler, perhaps also the mother, who, despite the other already weak acting performances, made it to seven for me. One , two, maybe even more trans - I didn't understand what significance they have for the story, in my opinion none and thus the viewer can think that the Philippine countryside is riddled with transsexuals in large numbers.


Jeden z dalších nízkorozpočtových seriálů pinoy produkce mě tentokráte zaujal příběhem, méně už jeho někdy rozvláčným zpracováním, opakováním a protahováním. Z herců mě zaujaly především tři postavy - Kai (snaživý devatenáctiletý Ian Rosapan, Andre (John Padilla, nazpíval pro seriál i filmovou píseň) a Drixler, snad ještě i matka, kteří to za ostatní již slabší herecké výkony dotáhli u mě na sedmičku. Jedna, dvě, možná i více trans - nechápal jsem, jaký mají pro příběh význam, dle mě žádný a takto si divák může myslet, že filipínský venkov je v hojném počtu prošpikován transsexuály.

Read More

How would I describe this Taiwanese series in one word? CUTE. Cute in practically everything (except maybe the sound). I gave the story a higher rating because it deals with a hot and modern topic, the acting was almost perfect in relation to the assessment of the life together of two men, the processing was subtle, decent so that the series could be acceptable to most viewers, but on the other hand " "tenderness" between the two men, between whom there is a real age difference of 15 years, was completely believable, natural, not two wax figures pushed together for a "pussy". Taiwan simply continues to prove that it belongs to the very top in the production of films and series with LGBT themes, and not only in Asia.


Jak bych charakterizoval tento taiwanský seriál jedním slovem? ROZTOMILÝ. Roztomilý prakticky ve všem (snad kromě zvuku). Příběhu jsem zvýšil hodnocení i za to, že se týká ožehavého a novodobého tématu, herectví bylo téměř dokonalé ve vztahu k posouzení společného žití dvou mužů, zpracování bylo jemné, decentní tak, aby seriál mohl být přijatelný pro většinu diváků, na druhé straně ale "něžnosti" mezi oběma muži, mezi nimiž je skutečný věkový rozdíl 15 let, byly naprosto uvěřitelné, přirozené, žádní dva voskoví panáci přiražení k sobě kvůli "pusince". Taiwan prostě dál dokazuje, že patří mezi nejužší špičku při výrobě filmů a seriálů s LGBT tématikou, a to nejen v Asii.

Read More

Yawn. Cringe. Yawn.

This one got boring about 4 episodes in... Main leads' (both couples) acting was bearable, but couldn't say the same about the supporting cast. Besides the first few episodes, the rest of the episodes had barely any story line. Kudos to the actor playing FZR though, he managed to portray strength and vulnerability pretty well.

The script and dialogue started to get cringey a third in to the whole series and it seemed as though the screenwriters were just trying to get to the goal of having the 2 couples fall crazily in love (aka strip each other shirtless and kiss/make out. alot...). And after that goal was achieved, most of the show was then just them getting separated or facing some overly dramatised obstacle, then yearning for each other, then getting back together again (and getting horny) very conveniently.

What hooked me in at the beginning was Ai Di's fiesty personality and BZY's tsundere character but it wasn't long before their characters started getting whiney, piney,, and angsty (and unlikable). The storyline, well there was barely any, was simply unoriginal and disengaging, and don't get me started on the awkward placement of bgm throughout the drama...

Read More

We Go FAST Through the Censorship Process...

This is one of those dramas where we witness how patriotism and propagande pretty much take away all the focus from the otherwise ok plot. A drama with some really good characters, friendships and relationships that just do not get the time they deserve to develop and give us our romance and fluff... Instead we keep on seeing how evil the foreign countries can be... How they just discard the Chinese engineering, and that China is better off fighting alone... or together with other Chinese people... putting trust in pretty much any one outside Chine is bad... and so on and so on... Between the moments of Go China we get to see opposites attract, trauma will confine you but love, trust and the mother land will set you free...

The pacing for the couples is frustratingly slow, and on again off again at times even if most of the characters are lovely. I did find it hard to relate to their choices. The drama could have been 10 episodes or less if they just cut out the flashbacks, slow mo, and repetitive stuff.

That said I did find myself curious about how things will turn out, I was rooting for the couples, and the umbrellas in this drama where top, top, top!

Read More

Love can't heal all, but it can make you enjoy this drama a lot!

The word panacea comes from the Greek: panakēs, meaning "all-healing,” it describes a mystical remedy for any disease. In current use, panacea is most often used to decry a remedy that falls short of what some claim it can do. Love is Panacea is not a show about how love conquers and heals all, it's a drama that shows that, while love can be a powerful motivator to achieving great things and helps to cope with hardships, ultimately it's not a magical solution. There only is a strenuous and unbiased medical research. Love is Panacea is therefore not a medical drama in the classical sense, rather a show about the ethics and process of medical science and research. Luckily, that's right down my alley.

The plot and script is the strongest, when it’s focusing on the hardships of medical research and coping with a deadly disease. If you go into this, expecting a romance, you might be disappointed. Not only is this not the focus of the show, the romantic scenes are written and directed inadequately. It’s the worst in the first arc in Lakaya, because they additionally relied on exoticm, which made it hard to watch at times. But it does get better after they are back in China! There are still some unnecessary cliché scenes with questionable editing, but if your love for Luo Yunxi, medical science or angsty romances "Love is Panacea" is an enjoyable and complex modern drama! I only wish, they wouldn’t have ended it so abruptly.

Read More

100% rewatchable

Honestly, I don't know why this show has such low ratings. It's a fun, low-stress drama, and the leads have chemistry unlike what some people have said. If you are looking for something simple and fun to pass the time, this is the drama for you. I also like how there are two potential endings but in the end, LXX and ZSK end up together regardless of the path they take. But tbh I'm torn on which ending I prefer. I don't want LXX to have to give up cooking for a long time to be with ZSK but I don't want ZSK to give up being crown prince either.

Anyways, I 100% recommend this drama especially if you like drama's centered on food, friendship, and love.

Read More

The “Good” Bad Mother or The Good “Bad” Mother. Life has its turns.

The word has been out for a little while, that The Good Bad Mother is a super hit. I will just add my voice in affirmation. This drama is a must see, especially for parents trying hard to master this parenting thing, and having to listen to their children tell them that they are not getting it right. You become “the bad mother” in their eyes of misunderstanding. Anyone with kids knows that children never see the real you, the real parent, while they are growing up. Children just misunderstand the protective you, the parent who tries hard to sanitize their world. And yes, at times as parents we can be overbearing and we don’t get it right. This drama gives you the prospective from both points of view and how both parent and child are forced to recognize each other, through a shared misfortune. The “Good” Bad Mother is appropriately titled.

The Story

The Good Bad Mother is about the struggles of a mother to raise her child on a family run pig farm, after the murder of her husband. It is a story of a mother’s revenge on the perpetrators of the death of her husband, as she recognizes that power brings results. Therefore, she strictly raises her child to be powerful, so that he can be the one who gets justice. She becomes The Good “Bad” Mother.

Nonetheless, her son faces adversity, because of a car wreck which leaves him with the intelligence of a seven year old child. She is left to start all over again raising her son. Through this adversity, both parent and child come to recognize the full intentions of the other. The story is well intended, but at times the story becomes predictable, even following illogical paths. That is a writer’s issue. However, this will in no way take away from two of the most outstanding acting performances of the year for 2023 for the mother and son.

Note: In the drama series Extraordinary Attorney Woo, we got Whale Moments. Be on the lookout for our cute Pig Moments in this drama series.

Quote: “Pigs use to roam free, keeping clean bathing in mud. People started to lock up in tiny pigsties. The pig could not bathe in mud anymore, so they began to rub their bodies in their own excrement. That is how they grew dirtier and more aggressive. However, what is really sad is that pigs cannot lift their heads, so they live their entire life staring at the ground. There is only one way for a pig to look up at the sky and that is to fall down”. The “Good” Bad Mother.

Acting Corner

The Mother—Ra Mi Ran (Black Dog) is outstanding as the misunderstood mother, whose sole aim is to protect her child. It would be no surprise to me if she gets a nomination for a Baeksang Arts Award (Korean Oscar) for 2023 for Best Leading Actress in a Drama Series.

The Son—Lee Do Hyun (The Glory) is the son who balks at the tiresome drilling of his mother, as she tries to produce a powerful man. After the accident, this powerful intelligent man is reduced to the mind of a seven year old. This character has super range, from acting as a seven year old to assuming the power behind revenge. Lee Do Hyun gives another outstanding performance. Again, it would not surprise me if Lee Do Hyun gets a nomination for a Baeksang Arts Award (Korean Oscar) for 2023 for Best Leading Actor in a Drama Series.

The Love Interest—Ahn Eun Jin has become an A-List Actress. I picked her up in her early years in the drama series ‘More Than Friends’, recognizing this acting potential. Ahn Eun Jin has two super hits in 2023 in The Good Bad Mother and My Dearest. Her star is being planted in the sidewalk.

The Good Friend and Second Lead— Ahn Eun Jin (Alchemy of Souls, The Uncanny Encounter Season 2) is the scene stealer, with his big personality. Ahn Eun Jin is a rising star.

Be prepared to have a solidly fixed smile on your face, because of the two outstanding child actors, Park Da On and Ki So Yu. The whole acting posse is stellar

Read More

"The truth depends on who tells it best"

Copycat Killer was a copycat of numerous serial killer stories, set apart only by its relentless and gratuitous images of young women been tortured and murdered. Told in a time before social media, it tried to paint television news as bringing as much chaos to society as the brutal murders of imperfect victims.

The drama utilized character types we’ve seen before. Chris Wu played the brilliant and moral prosecutor with a tragic past who is a thorn in everyone’s side for not tolerating any dishonesty and doggedly devoting his life to solving crimes. I found this confusing. Prosecutors in my country use the evidence police bring them to go to court and try the cases, they don’t dig up the evidence themselves. Cammy Chiang was the overly earnest young reporter disillusioned with the news media. The criminally underused Ko Chia Yen was Wu’s ex and a psychologist to help him make sense of the killers’ motivations. Ko is a gifted actress who had few scenes and none of which showed her range. Ruby Lin’s news anchor and producer had potential but the writing let her down as well. The villains ranged from mildly complex to laughable.

Copycat’s writing was uneven and the pacing slow. The first three episodes were more confusing than world building. Story lines that promised follow-ups were dropped. In the initial episode, a killer made the statement, “As long as the evil in your heart is triggered, anyone out there has the capacity to become a killer…Do you think there’s no evil in you?” The writing clumsily tried to push Wu’s prosecutor into that ethical corner. The news media was shown as morally bankrupt, uncaring of how much damage their coverage did to victims and their families as long as the ratings were high. Due to their race to air the most graphic or emotionally volatile content they became complicit in the killers’ crimes.

Aside from the writing and pacing issues, the main problem I had with this drama was its depiction of women. It tried to have it both ways-repeatedly show scantily clad women tortured and murdered in a titillating manner and then call out the media and society for blaming the victims. One character that was written for us to empathize with due to his loyalty and connection to main characters simply emphasized how unimportant young women’s lives were. The noble citizenry vilified the imperfect young women as being unworthy of justice and finding their killers a waste of tax payer money. The old myth of only the perfect victim, the chaste and obedient woman from a good family, being worthy of our sympathy or help was trotted out again and again. Perhaps Copycat was highlighting how victims and their families are often victimized as much by “righteous” people as the criminals who committed the heinous crimes but the lingering shots on chained women or extended scenes of gratuitously murdered women muddied those waters. The drama also briefly addressed the troubling old belief that the family of a perpetrator was as guilty as the criminal and not worthy of a happy life even if they had nothing to do with their relative’s actions.

Copycat Killer was a disturbing drama, not because it dealt with serial killers or had gory scenes, which it did, but because in trying to show society’s misogynistic and limited views of women they simply reinforced violence against women as a means of entertainment.

11/17/23

Read More

Not bad actually

Romance comedy drama wrapped in a law story. I had high expectations when I wanted to start watching this drama from episodes 1-7 I really liked it and wanted to give a score of 10, but after episodes 8-14 I skipped a lot when ML and FL broke up and ML received a lot of problems in her case. I don't know why but I felt a bit bored when the FL and ML problem wasn't resolved, the director focused more on the side characters which I thought was a bit of a waste of time, and I skipped until ML and FL relationship improved and they got back together. While episodes 15-16 are not too bad, there are only minor problems and I think it was handled quite well by the director. My rating is 8.5 for this drama or maybe 8.

Read More

Frustrated by a Plot Hole in Episode 2 but It was Good

I was enjoying but Episode 2 hit a snag. The main lead faces false surgery accusations, yet the show conveniently ignores what happened to the surgery recording. Did it disappear into thin air? No explanation. Realism matters, even in dramas. A simple line about the footage getting corrupted would've sufficed. I’m pretending that it’s just a live feed, not a recording and watching the show now. Annoying gap, hoping they patch it up in future episodes.

Continued after 2nd episode it was good but not that good. Some series make me drop in the middle but this was watchable. Sometimes I felt that the main leads could have been smarter. I don’t know how the law works on recording the surgery I continued watching considering that it’s was just a live feed.

Read More

it was my first drama and i am glad i chose to watch it is quite fresh and the CGI is great i recommend you to watch this if your new to watching dramas its quite short and simple and cute i love the Fl and ml is great guy i loved their chemistry the fact that the guy is game developer is so nice and his friend's rare so funny overall its a great drama

it was my first drama and i am glad i chose to watch it is quite fresh and the CGI is great i recommend you to watch this if your new to watching dramas its quite short and simple and cute i love the Fl and ml is great guy i loved their chemistry the fact that the guy is game developer is so nice and his friend's rare so funny overall its a great drama

Read More