Reviews

Don't Judge a Drama by its Poster....

Classic example of 'Dont judge a drama by its poster!!'
If you think this is a cliche rom com, you would be missing one of the best suspence murder sci-fi mysteries of 2023!!!!

I don't know why this became unappreciated. Anyways, this was worth watch and i highly recommended no matter how picky you are on genres.

The plot was very gripping and didint disappoint with the ending.The leads were 100% succesful in bringing out their charecters to life (Jin ki joo is a cutieee❤️) The ost.. especially thriller scenes were lit.story line with its unique twists?The village scenery were really soothing and went well with the mysterious plotline.

All i can say is ,its a package of romance,action, investigation (star of the show),thriller,comic and feelgood surprise box!

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A "Red Pill" into the Real Life of Jinri

This was difficult to get through. Her pain really shows.

With that said, I am also glad they released it. The minimalistic approach to editing allowed the space for Sulli's thoughtful, albeit painful, responses to be seen. For an idol that was silenced and filtered her whole life, I feel like the editing of the documentary did a good job of just allowing her to exist, to talk, and to show emotion. This interview could've been edited to 20 minutes but instead they gave us everything. I think Sulli would've wanted to be seen and understood in this vulnerable state because it's honest and raw. Embrace her for she is human too.

Thank you for giving us the last little pieces of Sulli's life. She is still missed dearly. Rest well, angel.

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BEST HISTORICAL KDRAMA !!!!!!

After a long time a drama that is soothing as well as which could prick ones heart have got to watch ,the potrayal of lead characters is quite appreciatable and commendable , when they longed for each other we longed for them to be together more , even though there were episodes were the leads doesn't have scene together one doesn't feel to skip because each character had a worthy story to tell about .
Two characters who called themselves selfish but when the time came they forgot themselves and fought for others with all their might , The depiction of female lead is quite good neither a whining girl who is waiting for her prince nor a girl who can fight off ten men but simply a girl who is strong willed and believes in what she does , her characters growth from the beginning to the end is vast . Talking about lead male ,what to say when the actor emotes with his eyes even we shed our tears along with him , the character is too deep , a noble born man but do like to be known as man who brought noble title with money , tells he has no empathy for people but all he did was simply live for them , a hero who doesnt gives a motivational speak of patriotism but someone who simply speaks with his actions , his words not nurtured by many yet it was all him who had wise ideas and tried to colloborate with everyone , courage not in his words but in his veins , last but not the least that laugh with that "aigoo"! how can one forget it , the depth of his love for his Gil chaye makes one wonders what is it to love a person , even after knowing she was pregnant though she was decieving him with it he simply wanted her to be happy , he wants nothing but simply her happiness.
If someone ignored this masterpiece thinking they have no taste in historical drama they are simply fathoming a brilliantly written and acted drama , which could show you one of the finest lovestories of joseon era ❤️

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Perfect marriage

MBC will forever be to me the channel that doesn't do things halfway. They either have awful dramas or really good stories, I am glad to say The Story of Park's Marriage Contract is the latter. Another good example of why 12 episodes long dramas are sometimes better, no time to waste and unnecessary conflicts.

Lee Se Young and Bae In Hyuk gave great chemistry. They delivered solid performances and nuance characters. There is no perfect relationship but the leads of this drama come very close through proper communication, team work and love. Particularly when you take into account there's time traveling and corporate spies trying to take them down.

Joo Hyun Young, Jo Bok Rae and Oh Yu Jin are scene stealers. Every single interaction between each other or the leads is gold comedy with the added attribute that they are actually super cool characters that have full lives, apart from the main story. So, it's interesting to see well developed secondary characters. Same goes for the rest of the cast.

The story per se it's really fun and the mystery well done. Every week, I wanted to a new clue to resolve what was happening but also find out what new adventure leading lady was going to have. Her charm and openness to the world was invigorating. Definitely one of the best characters of 2024.

Overall, this was a very enjoyable story and I recommend it.

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BEST HISTORICAL KDRAMA !!!!!!❤️❤️

After a long time a drama ,that is soothing as well as which could prick ones heart have got to watch ,the potrayal of lead characters is quite appreciatable and commendable , when they longed for each other we longed for them to be together more , even though there were episodes were the leads doesn't have scene together one doesn't feel to skip because each character had a worthy story to tell about .
Two characters who called themselves selfish but when the time came they forgot themselves and fought for others with all their might , The depiction of female lead is quite good neither a whining girl who is waiting for her prince nor a girl who can fight off ten men but simply a girl who is strong willed and believes in what she does , her characters growth from the beginning to the end is vast . Talking about lead male ,what to say when the actor emotes with his eyes even we shed our tears along with him , the character is too deep , a noble born man but do like to be known as man who brought noble title with money , tells he has no empathy for people but all he did was simply live for them , a hero who doesnt gives a motivational speak of patriotism but someone who simply speaks with his actions , his words not nurtured by many yet it was all him who had wise ideas and tried to colloborate with everyone , courage not in his words but in his veins , last but not the least that laugh with that "aigoo"! how can one forget it , the depth of his love for his Gil chaye makes one wonders what is it to love a person , even after knowing she was pregnant though she was decieving him with it he simply wanted her to be happy , he wants nothing but simply her happiness.
If someone ignored this masterpiece thinking they have no taste in historical drama they are simply fathoming a brilliantly written and acted drama , which could show you one of the finest lovestories of joseon era.....

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The Crowned Clown Clone

I usually dislike Yeo Jin Goo in historical roles but this was one of his better ones so that's nice for a change. While the story may have been interesting at first but it didn't quite live up to its premise. The clone needed to have a better introduction and build up. The king was useless and had no role other than to kick-start the narrative. We only had brief interactions between the clone and the king. The drama would have been infinitely more interesting and enjoyable if it wrote the king as a prominent character and had a consistent dynamic with the clone. The last episode was awful in all regards, a significant downgrade compared to any of the previous episodes. No thought or care put into it at all. An outsider must have wrote the last episode alone, there's no other way! With all that being said, I found the drama to be a decent watch with a handful of interesting elements, if you were to temper your expectations you'd find something to like about it too.

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Now I know why this was the lesser-known sequel to the original

The first and original season of "Hitotsu Yane no Shita" is not only one of the writer Shinji Nojima's best work but also one of my favorite J-dramas too but unfortunately the second season wasn't fully available and translated at the time, so I had to make do watching his other works at the meantime. I've seen a lot of his other known dramas, but none were as good as Hitotsu Yane No Shits 1 with maybe the exception of "Miseinen" which I considered it to be his second-best dramas series. It still baffled me why the second season was known as the lesser-known sequel even despite being one of the highest-rated dramas that aired in the 90s even more so than the original but took such a long to subbed...until I finally watched it a few years and after completed watching several dramas later. Which all I can is how ironic that a sequel to one of my favorite dramas is one of my worst J-dramas that I've ever seen which you couldn't tell from the ratings while slightly lower it couldn't be that bad for a sequel right? Well, it is if you're a fan of the series that honestly really didn't a sequel or at this case was not fully ready to make one in the first place.
What made the first season so special was the balanced storytelling between the main storyline about reuniting the family together and each of its 6 family members' own story arc and how they all successfully come together in full circle at the end of the story (Note: The Drama's opening is actually the ending). But while the story of this sequel appears to be about the 6 members of the Kashiwagi it's really about 5 as one the more interesting, most difficult, and most important family member of the series was written off at the first episode only to conveniently reappear at the last few episodes just to bring a conclusion to a story arc that spanned from the first season with disappointing results. Because of that sole reason the story's balance was completely off and to make up for most of this character's absence they added 2 new roommates to live with the Kashiwagis who are not bad characters but are just weak replacements overpopulating the drama's already large cast. My only theory as to why the actor's role was reduced was possibly because despite how huge the original drama was, it's still pretty rare to make a full season follow-up with the same cast because of how popular and busy the main cast are especially with someone like Nori-p unless it was for a special or a movie maybe. Honestly if f they couldn't have that actor commit to a full season, they shouldn't have made this disappointing sequel in the first place.

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It already fails with the most used and easiest love trope – the love triangle/corner.

This was a mess. Completely all over the place with no depth or any development.
It felt like the director & writers wanted to make another KinnPorsche, but then realized in the middle they're better at making another Lovely Writer.

Was it even directed by one person? It genuinely feels like every 10 minutes someone else directed it with a script from a different writer, and these different teams didn't communicate between each other. Like, "oh yea, let's all make short films about these characters, every team will work on another time period of their story, and then add these shorts all together to have one full series. Oh, and also, we won't tell each other what exactly we're gonna put into those scenes – who needs communication, when you can surprise each other." Basically. That's what I imagine the producers said to the team working on it.
If not that, then it felt like the director(s) (& writers) never watched a movie before, never did anything in that field, never even read a book or consumed any type of story.

I'm convinced that a kid, who watches nothing but "baby shark" on Youtube all day, would make a better director & writer than this team did.
At least for the overall plot.

There were scenes here and there that I did like, where it really seemed the team has actually put some effort and passion into what they want to show, and then really flourished to prove to everyone what they're capable of. Particularly episode 7, at the end, had beautiful shots; also props to the camera and color grading team for that.
Generally, the cinematography was mostly beautiful and great. The camera team are definitely professionals; at least they knew what they were doing and put their passion into it, despite the awful writing and probably also directing.

~

Episode 1 starts off with a rather "dark" tone, talking KinnPorsche or generally mafia vibes. As far as I know, Yai's family is not mafia, just very rich. That already felt out of place, because while they were going for the dark tone, there was no dark plot whatsoever.
Yai seems to be into BDSM and drugs people a lot apparently, but that's it. It's like Yai listens to too many of those "POV: you're a mafia boss" music playlists on Youtube and tries to make it his personality, but the problem is that nothing in his life suggests to be dark or even fit the mafia vibe – except for being rich and having bodyguards.
He tries to be that dark playboy/womanizer, who doesn't let anyone close to his heart, but ends up failing every time he puts up the facade. Manipulated by TikTok into wanting to be the main character so badly, wanting to be this hot and dangerous mafia boss, and refusing to give up, even though he knows it's not his personality.
Well, it was never said that being a playboy was just a facade, but if it's not, the story would make even less sense, and my brain is just trying to fill the gaps.
The Yai at the beginning and the Yai at the end, especially episode 7, feel like two different characters.

As said earlier, there was never any development. No transition between scenes, plot points or character personalities. It was constantly jumping. In one moment he's that dark rich kid and in the other he's that shy kid, who lost his mother too early, and just needs to be held by someone. If my "theory" about his personality is true, then it would definitely make a little more sense, but the thing is it was never addressed in some way or the other.
In ep1 he’s basically a mix of Kinn & Vegas (from KP), and the rest, especially the second half, he's like Gene from LW.
But it's not only him. In one moment, Mangkorn is that hot womanizer, who makes out with another woman every day in the back of some shady bar, and the other moments, he's like Nubsib (from LW), who just wants to finally get together with the crush he had for so long, but doesn’t know how to be honest or make friends.

The only characters, who stayed the same from beginning to end, really were only the bodyguards, Pong and Park. Goofy, awkward, clumsy, comedic reliefs without being funny (at least for me the comedy felt forced and out of place), and horrible at their job.
Why does Yai even have bodyguards? First off, Yai's family doesn't seem to be hated or anything, there was never any dangerous situation in the series, where they were needed. Secondly, they're so horrible at their job, that, if there really were a moment where they'd be needed, Yai would die sooner than they can blink or even realize that he's in danger.
At this point I think these two are cousins of him and just needed a job, so the dad made them bodyguards, even though Yai doesn't need them. Just so they have some kinda job on paper and get legal money from that.
Or Yai was just lonely, so he hired them to basically keep him company.

Also, the rival thingy. They're supposed to be these two rivals, who aim for the same women, hate each other and apparently also want to make each other’s life miserable, instead of focusing on getting the woman.
And apart from that, the woman they're fighting for, didn't even seem interested in either of them. Like, if you do the rivals trope, at least show that they are in fact rivals.
What are rivals? Two people who have an equal chance of winning. All they had was an equal chance of losing, because if you'd asked her, she'd reject them both. Edward & Jacob, those are love rivals. But Yai and Mangkorn? They may hate each other (for no reason, because they've never actually met before the moment at the bar), but you can't call that rivalry.
How did they fail at making a love triangle/corner, when it’s the most used trope in the romance/YA genre? All they needed to do was to actually just make the woman be interested in or at least attracted to them. Show that she’d pick at least one of them. How can they be rivals, when the prize they’re competing for isn’t even in their reach to begin with? It’s like as if two runners were arguing over who of them will win the next marathon at the olympics, but they both forget to actually sign up for the olympics.
Especially because as soon as they slept with each other, they completely forgot about the woman they were fighting over. Rivalry gone in like two seconds and suddenly they're not interested in her anymore, and make out with other women.
Sure, it's hinted that Mangkorn never actually hated him in the way Yai hated Mangkorn, and just played along with his game, pretending he's into the woman, to make him jealous. His intentions would make sense, after you find out the backstory.
But Yai? He got drugged by his own bodyguards (accidentally), slept with a guy for the first time, who happened to be that guy he hates and wanted to ruin his image with a tape (by filming how a woman rapes him, which is another part I don’t get… if he’s a womanizer, surely everyone knows he sleeps with lots of women. How would a video, where he sleeps with a woman, or, well, is getting raped by her, ruin his image?), but instead that guy figured him out and stole the tape (which had footage of the two guys making passionately out), and then threatens to post it, if Yai doesn't do what he says. So, from Yai's perspective, their relationship is based on a threat, which would surely make anyone hate a person even more. Yet, when Mangkorn asks him to be friends an episode later, Yai seemed to have forgotten their hateful relationship and agrees. And then suddenly they’re really lovey-dovey, talking about deep feelings, as if they’ve known each other for years.
What? Did I miss something? Was there a whole episode the producers had to cut? Seriously, either the writers have no idea how to write smooth transitions and make realistic developments, or there actually were some more scenes, but for some reason didn’t make it or were forgotten. But it feels like they skipped a whole season.

I started this drama mostly because of the "rival to lovers" trope but got deeply disappointed in that aspect.
Later at the end, there was another rival relationship, with Mangkorn & Nine. Now, these were real rivals. I actually wanted them to hook up, so that the teased "rivals to lovers" trope could finally be fulfilled, because that would've worked. Not that I ship these two, but a make out session would’ve been cool.

And then there are the sexualities. Since they were both womanizers before, and after having slept with each other, you'd think they're both bi/pan. Well, apparently not.
Mangkorn seemed like he knew he was bi, considering he knew what he was doing in ep1 and the fact that he had a crush on Yai for far longer. But aside from that, we've never seen him hooking up with a man. If he knows he's into a guy and doesn't mind it, why does he only make out with women then? Is it easier to get a woman or was he not ready to explore his sexuality? Or is he "only gay for him"? Questions that are never answered or even hinted at.
Yai too was supposedly that hot playboy, but we only ever see him make out with a woman once – except that short BDSM scene with a call girl, who he often calls. Don't get me started on this, because the whole scene was just awkward – they wanted BDSM but didn't know what to do with it; the girl was just basically hitting his leg, trying to get him in the mood, but he didn't seem like it and wasn't even naked; then they talked about him being down and she leaves… and the BDSM aspect is never explored again.
He's also never slept with a guy before, given his butt was hurting af after their first scene (typical trope you find in college BLs) and he didn't know what to do about it. He does have a kiss with another guy, though, but never with a woman again, making it seem like they pulled the trope "I was hetero before but he turned me gay", forgetting that bi- or pansexuality exists.

Oh, and the lesbian couple. GL asian dramas are rather rare, but even rarer it is to find them in a BL drama. I was thrilled when their relationship was confirmed, but at the same time just confused, considering they didn’t seem like a couple at all. I did ship them, but they seemed like good friends, who might have a crush one another, yet aren’t even close to the point of confessing to each other. And then it turns out they’re actually already together and have been maybe dating for a few years (they talked about marriage)??
They were cute, but ultimately didn’t seem like a couple. I thought for a sec they could be an aro/ace couple, but considering how non-modern and non-2023 everything else was, there’s no way the directors/writers have even heard about the aro/ace spectrum.
And then they had a somewhat kiss, and oof, was that awkward. It was just a kiss on the cheek, or, well, that’s what it was supposed to be, but her lips didn’t even touch her cheek. Why? Isn’t it common for women to kiss each other on the cheek, especially for heteros? There’s no way the actresses were uncomfortable with that, unless kissing friends/family on the cheek isn’t a thing in Thailand.

And they throw an arranged marriage trope in there. Huh? In 2023? Apparently it was only a plan between the dads, the mothers had no saying in there and the kids didn’t even dare to talk with their fathers, even though they both didn’t agree with the marriage.
Can parents even force their children to marry someone nowadays? Lawfully speaking. Why did the kids seem like their world was shattered, when technically it shouldn’t even be a problem? Dude, it’s 2023! If your father forces you to marry someone, especially if you’re a son, you can just laugh at him and give him an updated calendar.
But even then, why were they so afraid of talking to their fathers? They didn’t seem to be abusive in any way. At least they could’ve shown a scene where they once tried to talk to them and since then know it’s useless, but with what it is, the audience is basically clueless.
Weird thing is, that, in the last episode, the mother of one of them was like, "oh, I finally talked to your dad and he’s okay with you not marrying her."
Huh?? So it was easy after all?? All it needed was one talk?? Wtf? The marriage proposal was made so dramatic, that it seemed like the kids would rather die than marry or talk to their dads. Dude!

~

You can’t tell me that 8 episodes is too short to flesh all of this out on its own. Each episode is around an hour long, that is more than enough time. Considering there are kids shows with 8 episodes, each only 10-20 minutes long, and somehow can develop things perfectly.
Sure, there were definitely too many plots thrown in there, but even then it isn't an impossible task to write connections between the plots and give it a somewhat depth.

The high rating really just comes from episode 7. The last 15 minutes were beautiful, truly art. Episode 8 was way too dramatic honestly, but also had good shots, with the director finally realizing what they’re good with: filming static, emotional/intimate, slow scenes.

Technically you could watch ep1 and skip to ep7 right away. You wouldn’t miss out on any development, because there was none. You’d also have more fun, because then you wouldn’t need to sweat through those unfunny & forced comedic scenes, as well as the unrealistic moments (like the one at the doctor's office or Yai chasing Mangkorn at uni).

Oh, and btw the OST is amazing, particularly "Dancing with the devil" by Isbanky. Only that the song doesn’t fit the series at all – it’s like what they wanted to be, but miserably failed in trying. (The song would fit PeteVegas from KP pretty well, though.)

There's also no homophobia or dramatically realizing they’re into the same gender (looking at you, SOTUS), so that’s a plus. And Mangkorn’s mother was also really supportive and mature – saying that she doesn’t care which gender he likes. 

The two main actors had beautiful chemistry and I got butterflies during each of their intimate scenes or even when they were just holding eye contact for long. The other male actors were overall also good, though not as good as the two mains.
But the women… mostly just awkward. Well, not really the actors itself maybe – this is probably just another mistake by the writers.
Especially Yai’s stepmom. She was too dramatic, and it didn’t even make entirely sense.

Overall it basically seems like the writers first wrote the hot scenes between the main couple, and then realized they actually will need some kind of plot, but had no idea how to write „normal“ plots and especially never heard of smooth transitions (only jump cuts), let alone what development is.

-07.01.24

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Salamander-Man

The idea of a gang pretending to be fortune-tellers to scam people sounded promising, but the show had a hard time keeping up a consistent comedic rhythm throughout. It tried to mix in this absurd humor and wacky scenarios, but most of the jokes felt like they were pushed and stretched too thin. They turned more stale the longer they kept going. While the characters may have been acceptable but they lacked in verity, more archetypes were needed to bring the comedy to life and create a more interesting dynamic. It could've been a bigger problem if the runtime was to be longer. Anyway, even though there were some moments that showed off creative thinking and quirky charm, it just couldn't keep that interesting premise going.

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Joseon Ex-Exorcist

I noticed it started and ended without accomplishing anything, it just went over a singular small event that wouldn't even fit a movie format. Then I realized it was a drama that was cancelled. Regardless of the cancellation, I didn't see anything appealing or interesting in these two 70-min episodes. These possessed creatures were your generic screechy zombies with no life in them, no pun intended. The drama didn't provide a good introduction to set up the story or a good introduction to establish the characters in these two episodes, which should have been an enough duration to do both things easily. It got cancelled but at least the cast got paid.

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Love it

Looking forward to seeing 《Castle in Time》for a long time. Finally here it is. Thought this was filmed in 2016, but Zhehan was still handsome and professional.

This is the first drama i watched since August 13, 2021. Thanks a lot Zhang Zhehan! Without you, I don't watch any TV programmes. Just Love yours.

Zhang's talent, combined with his attention to detail and dedication, makes him a standout actor in the industry. If you're a fan of historical romances or fantasy dramas, "Castle in Time" is a must-watch, and Zhang Zhehan's performance is not to be missed.

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You sly dog! You caught me monologuing!

It's not monologuing that weighs down "Gyeonseong Creature" as much as it "dialoguing".

There's some very credible attributes of this drama and it deserves some accolades. The photography is terrific. The pyrotechnics and slow-motion shots are stunning. There's a few low light scenes in the countryside that are jawdropping. The score is solid. The wardrobing, at least to this layman's level of expertise, is exquisite.

There's some solid supporting characters and actors . Jo Han Chul, in particular, is as good here as he has ever been. There's several great actors that just don't have the character depth unfortunately though. The talents of Im Ki Hong, Im Chul Soo and Ok Ja Yeon are almost completely wasted. For the villainry, Kim Su Hyun and Hyun Bong Sik and Choi Young Joon all play extremely terrible and awful monsters. But then there's a lengthy list of other wrongdoers and each time one of them absorbs any of the focus, it detracts from developing the main antagonists.

And there's plenty of bloat all around. Kim Hae Sook is listed as a lead but there's no need for the character to appear at all. Wi Ha Joon disappears for vast stretches and when he is visible, is bland and forgettable.

As for the leads, when given the opportunity to showcase their strengths, they deliver. Han So Hee and Park Seo Joon deliver in the action set pieces and exhibit all the grim resolve a viewer can handle when things get dark. Sadly, these moments aren't enough.

While the structure of the show is compelling, the ground-level narrative is twisted so badly with unnecessary side- and back-tracks, incomprehensible gaps in plausibility (the ventilation shaft that literally holds an entire squadron of soldiers is particularly laughable), interminable stretches where the highlight of the program, The Creature, is forgotten and, egad, the dialogue! The production team apparently thought nothing of stopping gunfights and melees and action to have some of the most saccharine and cliche and dull exchanges between characters. Of what had most likely been hundreds of pages of script, they needed to be reordered on a wholesale basis and almost every line rewritten. This was a concept that begged for a brief backstory up front and then a deep and long and uninterrupted dive in to a suffocating, claustrophobic, dark and forbidding place. Instead, "Gyeonseong Creature" is a tedious mess.

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OverHyped

Had gr8 potential but iam disappointed and also the female lead is annoying and often selfish. She loves then leaves the male lead with no explanations. This is not love. Leaving someone to pick up the pieces after your breakup is immature and doesnt let the other person get closure. If the roles were reversed, we would be calling the person toxic. Unfortunately, women seem to get away with a lot more selfishness in dramas. Netflix has great production, music, locations but somehow loses out on empathatic characters. The women are portrayed as get-up-and-leave kinds in the name of female emancipation and freedom. I just dont get it. Had Dropped the drama after 12, felt its draggy . Drama could have finished in 10 or 12epi .She seems to be stuck, acting out like a high schooler.

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