Reviews

Hot Actors Mediorce Writing Missed Opportunities

Okay first let me say I liked the concept. The actors were pretty decent but the story was all over the place. Frame is a new actor but I think he managed to give Zee and Sprite a different attitude that they seemed different enough.

While Sprite had a goofy smile seemingly happy go lucky, Zee was always mean mugging and so cold and hateful except with Salmon.

It seemed they totally abused First as Sprite allowed Zee to continue to crush First' sprit. I loved First he was so soft and loving even when angry. I think First loved Zee even though Zee treated him like crap. So when Zee changed First was immediately into him even though it was Sprite.

I wish to have seen First in a room with both twins. One madly in love with him, the other that hated him. But this was a cliche BL but props to the actors foe pulling it off.

I hope to see Ryan (First) again. Although he also appears in FOR HIM. Same for Frame (Sprite/Zee) get this man a good BL and a good director and he will soar.

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Dumpster fire

Season 1 left off on a positive note with a promise of a lot of future character development. Unfortunately, season 2 did not develop said development.

Niao Niao (NN) was portrayed as an abused and neglected teenager who learned how to navigate life with her intelligence and ingenuity. Unfortunately, this intelligence and ingenuity was left in season 1. In season 2, we didn't actually see the thought process behind her ingenuity. She liked to build things. But we never saw her build anything. We only saw the finished product. On look, she built a small cross bow. Oh look, she can do a deep tissue massage. Oh look, she can improve farming equipment. What? How? We never saw her learn how to do anything. For someone who did not actually enjoy learning, it remains a mystery how NN achieved these tremendous heights.

When it came to character development, there was no character development moving forward. We knew NN was an intelligent and independent free thinker. But, there was nothing intelligent about her in this season. She was actually quite self-absorbed. Ling Buyi was a total package. He had the power and influence. He was a warrior general in charge of an army. And he was head over heels in love with her. She was previously concerned about missing out on a good husband, yet her bitching about him supposedly "oppressing" her because he cared too much was legendary. He was a bit too over-protective but he did nothing in bad faith. She agreed to marry him and then told him to his face that she wanted him out because he kept giving her unsolicited advice. Apparently, for someone who cared about boundaries, having a conversation about setting boundaries was out of the question. I didn't even know why he was in love with her at that point. In season 1 she was intelligent, courageous, quick-thinking. In this season, she was stubborn, unreasonable, and self-absorbed. All the qualities that made her interesting were gone.

Instead of giving her the transformation she needed, the writers arbitrarily decided to give NN unearned princess treatment. She quickly became the new palace darling who could do no wrong. Everything she said was gold. Everything she cooked was delicious. Everything she made was awesome. Everything was handed to her without her making any effort to earn it. The most ridiculous thing was that her teenage wisdom was completely unquestioned. Basically NN: I am only 15, but let me teach you about life.

She stuck her nose into everything and always had something to say, which quickly became very annoying. When Ling Buyi asked her not to interfere in palace politics because it was literally bad for her health, she made it all about him trying to control her for the Nth time. The emperor and empress seemed to have replaced her parents, which was a stupid plot development because her entire character rested on the premise of her parents abandoning her. There were so many scenes where NN could reconcile with her parents, particularly her mother. For example, mom bringing her a blanket could've led to an honest heart-to-heart conversation. Instead, we got the usual scene where NN asked mom an uncomfortable question, mom looked away, NN walked off. Later on, the writers made her parents virtually non-existent. Her entire time at the palace was spent cozying up to the empress as her new mom, instead of receiving lessons and moving on with her life. Even the lessons were just a pretext to create more drama for the sake of drama, which contributed nothing to NN's character development. It would've been way more interesting to have her learn to navigate through conflict using her intelligence to outsmart her enemies, making friends and allies, and then winning using her brain. Instead, she either went to the emperor to complain or poured dirt on someone because she was "vindictive". Her vindictiveness made her look just as bitchy as those spoiled brats who bullied her in the first place.

NN's relationship with Ling Buyi was also very confusing. There was a very sweet moment at the empress' birthday party where she drank from the same cup as him because the wine tasted "better" that way, and then she gave him a kiss. They looked very much in love. But, as soon as he found out she was pushed into a lake, we were back to square one how he was oppressing her and how she was "afraid" of him ... because he wanted her to confide in him? The writers never made it clear why NN was afraid of him. He was always nice to her. And now apparently every bad thing that happened to her in the palace was his fault. Huh? "I've always been like this! Why must you force me to change?" How dare he ask her questions about being bullied. Seriously, who decided this was good character development? She was absolutely insufferable.

Yet, everyone loved her and she could do no wrong. The writers couldn't have made her more mary sue level boring together with her perpetually constipated looking fiancé with no personality. (And there was still no wedding date!) Even the freaken canning of Ling Buyi was instigated by the emperor to make NN finally act on her feelings for him. *barf* Everyone literally became an NN simp. Speaking of Ling Buyi, he had a whole of two expressions in the entire drama - constipated and more constipated. This was some of the worst acting I've seen in a c-drama. Even for a stoic, no nonsense character, there should've been times for him to inadvertently show emotion for a person he cared about.

This show had such tremendous potential, and it was completely wasted on martyrization of the main character, turning her into a perfect princess, while making everyone else continuously kiss her princessey arse without her actually deserving it. What a waste of time.

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Not bad but not good

It's an easy watch, no need to use your brain at all. Probably a good way to destress.

Plot
The writing is not amazing, but it's not so boring that I would drop it. As other reviews already mentioned, it's a mix-and-match of your favourite typical cliches. NOTHING AGAINST CLICHES, I like them.

Cast
Amazing visuals from the main cast, Song Kang and Yoojung, and they have amazing chemistry in my opinion (I mean what else can I say?) Acting is great.

Music
Amazing setlist omg, I would totally add the OSTs to my Spotify playlist. The opening theme is catchy and well. Tiktok speaks for itself.

Rewatch value
Rated it kinda high because I think it's really easy to just throw this on and enjoy it.

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This Changed my Perspective on Life

This show has changed my perspective on life. Never have I watched a show and felt truly changed after watching it, but Itaewon Class achieved that for me. Yes, this story is about revenge, but it's more than that, it's a story about a guy who has a goal and believes in it so strongly, that he will do anything in his power to achieve it. And while this premise is expected of a revenge tale, he works toward his goal by creating strong bonds of trust, friendship, reliability, and a sprinkle of stubbornness.

He is able to build and care for a community of friends who gather around him and support him because he returns the same care and consideration to them. He aspires for them to be better while also trusting their competence to improve. He recognizes a value in people who would otherwise be outcasted. And in that recognition, he is set so far apart from character leads in other K Dramas, and in TV in general.

He not once deviates from his ideals, values, and core essence. He, as a character is written to be very strong and focused. And Park Seo-Joon's portrayal is powerful, emotional, and real. He even inspires me to want to believe in him. I've watched so many revenge plot shows and I have never wanted a character to win as badly as I wanted him to. You can clearly tell he is a genuine character who deserves the validation of overcoming an enemy who did nothing but attempt to destroy his life. The pain he endured repeatedly was layered throughout and built up to a satisfying turning point for Sae-ro-yi in the 15th episode. The portrayal of Park Sae-ro-yi was heartfelt, emotional, and quite inspiring. That he was willing to study his opponent's success, compliment his rival's competency, and even show respect under fire...Park Sae-ro-yi is a world-class character with a heart of gold.

Jo Yi-Seo is another character who captured my heart. She stood for Sae-ro-yi from the moment she liked him and became such a great advocate for the ML and the people he loved. I loved her growth, her change from being a rude sociopath to a rude, but lovable manager. Her strength is in the love that she allows to completely change her and inspire her to improve the world around her. Her world, being DanBum pub, with Sae-ro-yi and the rest. She's an unforgettable character.

The cast works very together, great chemistry all around. The acting was convincing as well. I often found myself stressed, worried about what would happen next!

This is my first review I've left, but this show moved me so much, I needed to write this. I want to see more kdramas follow in their footsteps. .

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estou triste que acabou ?

eu amei cada detalhe desse drama, foi um misto de sentimentos que nem sei como colocar em palavras, só posso dizer que eu amo muito o guwon e a dohee e vou sentir muitas saudades deles.

foi incrível acompanhar o desenvolvimento deles ao longo das semanas, não sei o que vou fazer sem eles ?

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In the name of darkness, let light prevail

Jan. 20, 2024

My Demon is definitely that kdrama to start this year of with. I know that this has been hyped up for a while due to the popularity of the casts. Needless to say, it is definitely worth the hype. It has a good mixture of cliches, vibrant of what a typical fantasy rom-com kdrama.

I know a lot of people are saying how the plot is not really a plot. And I definitely agree with that. This show is very light hearted and fluffy to digest. Even though there are darker themes shown and discussed, it is still easily taken over by the light hearted of the shown. The plot is very basic, and at times it can be predictable. However, no matter what critics might say, I definitely still love and will continue to rewatch this series. I think it has given me a good nostalgia ever if I rewatched it again as My Demon is on par with that season of really good kdrama in the last quarter of 2023 plus the first few months of 2024.
(I am referring to the fact that My Demon, Welcome to Sam dal-ri, Park's Marriage Contract, A good day to be a dog, Castaway, Doona, Vigilante, etc. are around the same time of airing. And this era of kdrama airtime is really that good. I always kept looking forward to them every single week).

As for what kept me hooked into the show, I am for sure that it is due to the execution of the cast rather than the plot. The casts of the series carried the show, especially in the latter part.

It is a happy ending, and I enjoyed the roller coaster ride of emotion My Demon has provided. There might be plot holes but it did not really bother me at all.

Cheers ?

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WATCH IT OR NOT?!!?

mhmm I'll keep it short.

This was quite the Romance/Fantasy rollercoaster and I'm all for it!

Firstly I would like to point out that all actors were on point and this Drama was definitely up there from the OST to the Story especially the VISVUALS oof...

Great watch value for sure if you are looking for a Romantic drama with a basic but interesting Fantasy aspect such as "Deamon".

This is one of the dramas that actually end with the last episode resolving all the viewers questions as such making it just another great point to watch it if you hate bad/open endings.

Every episode keeps you hooked and maybe it will be a bad idea to watch it if you are short on time cause if it was fully aired when I watched the first ep I definitely would have binged it through!

If you are looking for something to make your days a bit more happy, from the visuals to the romance I would definitely recommend this Drama.

Well that's it for this short review, hope it was helpful.

EXTRA:
[Something that caught my eye was the Cap that said Deity was wearing changes form Goød(the second o is scratched out if you look) to Good at the end]

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terrible writing

So far the mystery aspect has been pretty good but the overall writing of the show is some of the worst I've ever seen. The main characters are seemingly going out of their way to act either intentionally stupid, or like they want the main antagonist to kill them.

The ML gives overwhelmingly credible evidence to the police force who seem to be staffed by brainless idiots and they simply disregard it. No reason behind it they just disregard it, and because of that people die. Not for any particular rhyme or reason but just because...

Not only that the FL supposedly witnesses a murder and just doesn't remember it? and then a bunch of other witnesses that also saw the same murder just start coming out of the woodwork and dying?

It's intentionally lazy writing.

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Story

After watching the series I really enjoyed it. It's certainly not one of the worst BLS.The actors did a pretty good job..My favourite pairing was Sam and
Tan and I was hoping to see more of them being loved up.Sam was sweet and would have been a great match for Sprite.The pairing of First and Sprite although they played the parts well I didn't think they were
ideally suited.Ihink the height of First put me off. The
storyline was decent enough.Had a few flaws but all in
all it was good. There was plenty of male testerone
flying about and really good-looking males to keep you riveted.
Well-done to everybody involved.

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The drama left a mixed impression..
To begin with, I want to say that it is already clear that both parents, both mother and father, are to blame. If we talk about the mother, after the 2nd chance nothing really changed in relation to her daughter, she continued to neglect her and leave her, although she should have always been nearby or at least taken her away from her father after the first suspicion that he was involved. And she “lost her” several times during the 2nd chance, which brought her to the point of absurdity.. at some point I thought that the whole script was absurd, although only the actors’ acting saved it . so I watched and thought, admiring the acting of the koreans, that the americans couldn’t do that, or rather old Usa films were just as soulful as asian ones at the moment, only the politics of cinema have changed or something, and such soulful games can no longer be seen in the USA and the EU, perhaps old films, while the chinese and koreans continue to “heartwarming” game.”. in terms of, they really play emotionally, vividly, whether it’s a series from 2010 or 2024.. when u watch it, the game itself is literally mesmerizing, it seems as if the actors themselves are living the lives of their characters., the emotions on their faces are so vividly expressive, interesting. look .. probably the exact expression is a deep game. They literally pass emotions through themselves in order to convey them clearly.
This drama is the case when the acting of the actors themselves was more exciting than the script itself! I liked it ( I guess I’ve probably been analyzing the game itself more than watching the movie))
In general, I think that they could have saved Dong Chen if they had taken the president’s son hostage in exchange for Setbel and Dong Chen’s brother, this would have been a turn of events when everyone would have benefited.. although in this case they would not have punished the criminals..
I really liked the game of DonChen’s friend, Jenny, she’s a jokester lol I love a team where everyone does their own thing and is devoted to each other.

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Sad but you know it’s coming…

I knew I shouldn’t have watched this so soon after this week’s episodes from Pit Babe, Last Twilight, and the Sign… seriously.

It was good and the story and acting kept me watching, even though the ending was going to be bittersweet because it couldn’t last. Some people mention how some parts where the ghosts interacted with the real world didn’t make sense but I understand it as the focus being on the unfinished business and the relationships than the semantics of afterlife interactions with the living.

There was character development and growth, love and closure.

The only part that made me go huh is the very last part where Peach is standing in the closed cafe and Yoon Oh’s bracelet drops then the kettle steams… I thought he was supposed to have moved on. Was it one last message of comfort and goodbye from him to Peach?

In any event, I enjoyed it. It’s sad in many ways so the likelihood of me rewatching is low which is why I rated that part lower. Who wants to be purposefully sad?

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The most boring drama

It's the worst Chinese drama I've ever watched, too slow, it was hard to finish it and needs strength to continue after each episode, FL and f support role are too boring. fl met someone not long ago and showed up at her other house without invitation and she accepted, even riding bikes together lolllll and there is this Shanshan who irritated me the most in this series.
it was a waste of time, 36 episodes for what? i enjoyed only the last three episodes.
A lot of unecesary scenes, it would have been better, too bad.
The screenwriter and realisator need to learn for next time.

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Picked up this drama because the premise sounded interesting: a virgin meets another virgin and enters a FWB contract. Occasionally adorable, but mostly predictable is that they both caught feelings after having coitus a couple times. Of course, a drama cannot do without a rival love interest or two, who obligatory part ways for the leads to end up together. Despite the sexual tension Takada and Totsuka bring to the screen in the beginning episodes, it did not carry towards the end. Waste of talent, especially Izuka’s. And I certainly didn’t expect the weak-a$$ peck that fell short after the enormous buildup. Watch only if you want to pass the time, but not necessarily.

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Kim You Jung, estou obcecada por você

Estou encantada com a atriz Kim You Jung, uma grata surpresa conhecer ela através desse trabalho!!! Tenho que admitir que o que realmente prendeu minha atenção inicialmente a esse dorama foi a química dos protagonistas! Minha única ressalva sobre a história é que enrolaram demais no desenrolar do plot e deixaram de investir no desenvolvimento de personagens secundários!

No quesito atuação, tenho que bater palmas para a Kim You Jung, o ator que fez o Do Gyeong e o Seok min. Para mim, as cenas mais emblemáticas conta com a participação deles

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From ‘not again’ to ‘what a great ending’

After watching “lovely, still” which was a great disappointment in my eyes, I started this one, cause I wanted to see how the writers would handle the disappearing - reappearing act. Around ep 21, I became very angry and frustrated and wanted to drop the series, cause I thought it would be the same way as in the drama mentioned above (doormat FL, just accepting the fact that ML comes and goes and make decisions for both of them like he pleases)

But I’m glad I didn’t drop it and watched till the end! A great respect to the writers, for writing FL as reasonable and close to normal human reactions (and not just accepting MLs behavior like a goody little wifey).

The writers let FL ask the same questions viewers would ask, Fl gets mad and depressed plus, the ending is perfect in the way of getting a taste of your own medicine. I love it!
(In my eyes, this was the only reasonable way out, cause there just wasn’t any rational reason, why ML couldn’t tell FL the truth. At all.)

What I need to add:
- Kudos to the FL, the actress did a great job portraying the emotions of her character ❤️
- Kiss scenes are included, and I’d say the pairing has a great chemistry
- Overall, pretty good quality for a mini series!


ENDING SPOILERS see below :

SPOILER
*
After they catched the culprit, FL disappeared overnight, leaving ML behind, ML is devastated and doesn’t understand at first, but keeps on remembering his behavior towards FL, which kind of tells that he (hopefully) realizes what he did wrong. Viewers don’t get to see FL again, but in the last scene, ML is standing under ‘their’ tree, looking in the distance, beginning to smile, which is open for interpretation but certainly means that FL finally reappears.
*
SPOILER

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