Completed
Strong Girl Namsoon
1 people found this review helpful
Nov 27, 2023
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 9.0
Story 7.0
Acting/Cast 5.0
Music 6.5
Rewatch Value 7.5

Watch it for what it is

I thought it was fun and I watched it for what it was, it's was fun and funny.

I am a big fan of Strong Girl Bong Soon and was so excited to see the spin off getting released, I usually watch series when they are finishes as I binge and hate waiting but for this I watch it on the day it was released. So ok wasn't as great as Bong Soon, but still I found it fun to watch. If it was the same as the original might as well watch that again for the 3rd time, I found it different, especially the way the 3 woman can sense each other.

I didn't like the mothers acting which was OTT or Nam soon's but I over looked it and finished it. I dunno why the big fuss of so many people say its rubbish and dropped it as I thoroughly enjoyed the series.

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Ongoing 5/15
Moonlight Romance
1 people found this review helpful
Nov 27, 2023
5 of 15 episodes seen
Ongoing 0
Overall 6.0
Story 6.0
Acting/Cast 6.0
Music 3.5
Rewatch Value 1.0

Not sure about this one

Dear goodness,
I’ve never struggled so hard to watch a series. No lie. Episode one was not that intriguing but I was interested in the plot so I kept watching. By the end of episode 2, I was already getting this melancholy vibe from the FL. They play the sad music when she was talking or thinking. He didn’t smile much. I could just sense she was the pitiful character. ML was okay but it’s just something not right with this one at least up to episode 5. It was a bit cringe. Like a kid story or something. I’m sure there’s more but it’s definitely one that has to be watched in segments otherwise you’ll be disappointed.

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Completed
Twinkling Watermelon
1 people found this review helpful
Nov 27, 2023
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 8.0
Story 8.5
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 8.5
Rewatch Value 4.5
This review may contain spoilers

Fantastic except how they treated talk of suicide and used gayness as slap-stick

I want to say that I loved this drama and watched it all in one sitting. I also had two holdbacks that kept slapping me across the face as the show went on because they never went away.
How they treated talk of suicide and used gayness as slap-stick.
Spoilers from here on.

Eun Yu travels back in time to literally kill herself. She tells Eun Gyeol multiple times, and NOT THING HAPPENS. HE BARELY REACTS AND BY EPISODE 12 IT'S LIKE SHE'S TALKING ABOUT THE WEATHER. IF THIS WAS NOT FICTION (AND EVEN IN FICTION), WHEN SOMEONE TELLS YOU THEY'RE GOING TO KILL THEMSELVES, COUNT YOURSELF LUCKY THEY TOLD YOU THIS TIME. I DON'T CARE IF THEY'RE JOKING, OR UNSURE, OR IT'S SPUR OF THE MOMENT.
THIS. IS. A. CRY. FOR. HELP.
I would give anything for him to have reacted appropriately once. To have acknowledged what she said, to have even checked in, "so, I hear you want to kill yourself. You serious?" Instead, by episode 12, she's holding full conversations about coming here to kill herself multiple times in an episode, and .... and.... HOW CAN THE CONVERSATION JUST CONTINUE. I'm sitting here, like, wait, dude, bro, like what? Are you at least going to ask her if she still plans to kill herself? She's talking in the present tense here and it's not the subtitles' fault.
If you were someone who has a suicidal friend or family member and saw this and even considered for a moment, "this is how people respond when someone tells you they're trying to kill themselves?" that's bad. If suicide isn't talked about in a community, and more media than not treats it as unreal, un-urgent, or even a joke... this will affect your view and behavior. You are also going to treat it that way. And if you, the reader are saying "media doesn't affect your behavior; no one's that stupid," have you seen the internet? Are you not here on this website? Have you heard of Hallyu? The Korean Government knows how much media affects people's beliefs and behaviours. They built their entire trillion-dollar economy on it.
If you are suicidal and see someone else's suicidal behavior talked about like this, you're going to be horrified. You're going to take this as more evidence that if you tell people they won't take you seriously. Also, this is Korea, one of the countries with the highest suicide rate in the world. If you think about it, it's absolutely f-cked up that they treat suicide like this. "Oh, suicide, it's a part of life. Let's pretend she didn't say anything. Everyone's a bit suicidal these days, etc."
For - using gayness as a joke was very off-putting. Each time someone accused the brother or father of being gay for the other, they both reacted like it was the end of the world (Maybe that's what the ultra-devout Christians want us to believe, so what, you want to forward their agenda) You couldn't just leave it at a friend being overprotective of a friend/family member they are afraid for? You had to say that that much affection and protectiveness between or shown by a man must mean he's gay!?!?! Wow. Just Wow. I know it's a plot device, but please. This is only a stairway landing up from killing the gays - yay, we made it into the 20th century, now let's just make fun of gay people and use them to excuse away too much male sentimentality. wow.

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Completed
White Lies
0 people found this review helpful
Nov 27, 2023
159 of 159 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 10
Story 10
Acting/Cast 10
Music 10
Rewatch Value 10

great

One of the best series in the history of South Korea. It is surprising to me that this series has not received an award, its actors and the writer and director are all great???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

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Nov 27, 2023
12 of 12 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 8.5
Story 8.0
Acting/Cast 8.0
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 9.0
This review may contain spoilers

Emotional Depth and Beyond Expectations

It was very hot, enjoyable, and (especially in the first half) rich in passion. The BL series exceeded my expectations. The quality of Japanese BL series in recent times surprises me. I highly recommend it. It was emotional, but the pace was not slow. It had a very appropriate flow.

The lack of focus on the fantasy part was odd. I loved how Adachi's emotions and thoughts were portrayed so beautifully, realistically, and logically. At one point I could only watch Adachi; he could carry the story alone.

In fact, at the end of the series, it seemed like Adachi was with Kurosawa to spare himself from the sorrow of not being loved. After all, his exploration of his gay identity happened entirely because of Kurosawa's intense love for him. I wonder if Kurosawa were a woman, would Adachi have agreed? Probably yes :D. Again, Kurosawa won, and that didn't come as a surprise :)

I didn't like the storytelling of our second couple. It started with great potential but turned out to be empty and developed too quickly. There was no chemistry between them and our author's behaviour was too exaggerated for his age. While the writer's tough and mature side was excellent, falling in love in two days and the absurdities in their actions were very nonsensical. I couldn't feel the love.

Lastly, Adachi's decrease in confidence in the second half saddened me. Adachi should have been cool, silent, and aloof because Kurosawa was outgoing, talkative, and social. They were a beautiful contrast to each other. However, when Adachi became insecure towards the end, it made me wonder why the boy was so fixated on him.
And in my opinion, the reason they presented was insufficient for falling in love with someone lacking self-confidence. If Adachi were confident but cold, distant, and introverted, then the given reason would have been sufficient.

And please, I'll cry, but we NEVER GOT A SINGLE KISS. Well, even if we did, it probably would have been just a touch of lips, but I would have been okay with that, knowingly. ??

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Completed
Let's Fight Ghost
0 people found this review helpful
by Otiose
Nov 27, 2023
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 8.0
Story 10
Acting/Cast 6.0
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 10
This review may contain spoilers

Remake has all the high and low points of original

This version holds its own compared to the original meaning that the viewer will see all the original high and low points of the original story. However, the finished product has a few rough edges. Some of the support acting (or perhaps the director?) was a bit weak. On the positive side a few of the subplots were improved over the original in particular the relationship with the big bad doctor and his female student and third in the love triangle with the two leads. The Korean version didn't develop this relationship whereas the Thai shows us the potential.

Several rough edges came through which may be due to the many writers involved in the Thai version.

The lead's uncle withholds key information (that there is a demon stalking him) until suddenly he reveals a few morsels in front of the ghost girlfriend which struck me as odd. It moves the plot tension but didn't make sense to tell his nephew based on prior exposition, particularly because a few times in the same episode and before he told his shaman ally that he absolutely could not tell his nephew about this demon, and then he does...in front of a ghost he knows nothing about. It would actually have made a lot of sense to explain all about this dangerous demon much earlier.

A really rough edge occurs in an early episode when the Detective explains to his officers that he wants them to tail the doctor suspect. One officer does, and the doctor detects this, and leads the officer behind the building within a stone's throw of his clinic and parked car, and kills him. Then.....nothing. What happened to the body? Neither the Detective or any police officers note the absence of their colleague. That was just sloppy execution.

Something interesting that caught my attention was in the 10th episode at 4:30 the two leads are in a scene which was probably improvised where they are bantering over their dinner. The female lead speaks Thai followed by Japanese, and then a few English words. The difference in voice timber was striking. Her voice is very different in the three languages. I've heard this often among Japanese where both men and women will have totally different voices between English and Japanese.

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Completed
Where Your Eyes Linger
0 people found this review helpful
by SunaMe
Nov 27, 2023
8 of 8 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 8.5
Story 6.0
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 6.0
Rewatch Value 9.0

Big Impact in Short Episodes

Is it normal for such short episodes to make you feel so much emotion?
It was enough that the first episodes were short, but I especially wanted it to slow down a little more towards the last episodes. It would be unbeatable if there was just one more episode. The way he handled emotions made me feel like I was watching a Japanese drama.
The only thing I can say negatively is that what I typically dislike in most k-dramas is that the kisses are shown as lips touching each other. Looking for a French kiss in K-dramas is like searching for a needle in a haystack.

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Completed
Strong Girl Namsoon
1 people found this review helpful
Nov 27, 2023
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 7.0
Story 5.0
Acting/Cast 8.0
Music 4.0
Rewatch Value 5.0
This review may contain spoilers

Decent but lacking in many ways

Strong Woman Do Bongsoon is one of my favorite dramas, so I was really excited when they announced Strong Girl Gang Namsoon. Unfortunately, they did not really deliver with this follow-up series.

For one thing, why is it called Strong Girl Gang Namsoon when for a majority of the show it feels like her mother, Hwang Geumju, is the protagonist? While I liked that we got three different storylines with three different generations, I often felt they preferred Geumju over Namsoon for the main story.

Namsoon was incredibly irritating to me for half of the show too. She was so headstrong and never thought before she acted, but there was rarely a consequence to her actions. It was annoying to just see her doing what she wanted with no repercussions despite being constantly warned. She felt very much like a Mary Sue.

I hated the storyline with Bread Song. It felt so disconnected and annoying for the entire show and for it to lead up to a cliffhanger in the final episode was even more irritating.

The only good thing about this show was Ryu Sio, played by Byeon Wooseok. His character’s backstory was incredibly interesting and made him very sympathetic to me. I kept hoping there would be a bigger evil that would give him a chance to become a hero, but it didn’t happen. I was disappointed especially in the way that his character ended and finding out that Binbin, his only friend, was alive and still evil.

The romantic bits between Namsoon and Heeshik were cute, but it felt like they instantly fell in love within 3-4 episodes and no time was spent directly developing their relationship. While it worked for me, it was not the strongest. Also, why did they never come back around to the fact he got hit in the head with her horse’s bell?

I really am disappointed that the show ended by setting up for another one. It left too many loose ends, which is not something I’m used to with k-drama. I’m blaming it’s rising popularity in the West that’s leading to things being done in parts or seasons instead of just finishing up a show in one go like they used to.

Overall, this series is quite funny and had some great storytelling, but had too many plotlines going on that made it convoluted and silly. The final episode feels like a speed run to tie up loose ends and also set up a follow-up series which left me feeling disappointed. Aside from the name and concept, this show is really nothing like Strong Woman Do Bongsoon and it barely deserves to be considered related to it. If you are a fan of the original series, you really won’t miss anything if you skip this one.

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Completed
Story of Kunning Palace
4 people found this review helpful
Nov 26, 2023
38 of 38 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 9.0
Story 9.5
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 9.0
After scheming her way to becoming Empress, Jiang Xuening is forced to take her own life after a coup staged by the equally scheming Xie Wei and her former childhood friend Yan Lin upends the state of Qian. She awakens to find herself back in time before she entered the palace and is determined to change her fate and the fate of others around her. Little does she know that the seemingly treacherous Xie Wei has a painful past and is much more than he seems.

While the setup is nothing new, the drama manages what I feel is a rarity these days in Chinese drama land - sustaining my rapt attention for the full 38 episodes. The script wisely stays focused on the story and characters - balancing the political storylines with the slow burn romance that is allowed to develop organically, without anyone acting out of character just to create a sense of forced drama or romance. The supporting characters are given time to develop as well and actually add to the overall story. They support our male and female lead in their journey of finding their true selves and each other.

What prevents me from giving this a 10 is the often heavy-handedness of the direction - blinding lighting, distracting camerawork and odd framing of shots give an overall unpolished look. There is a tendency to make things a bit over the top, but these are small quibbles and a matter of taste ultimately. The cast overall do a solid job - I am most impressed with Wang Xing Yue. Despite his young age, he is able to hold his own in a very stoic role.

This is a great one to binge and re-watch. It's not meant to be an artsy, profound expose on life, death, fate vs self determination, etc. It's just great fun to watch.

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Completed
Story of Kunning Palace
22 people found this review helpful
Nov 26, 2023
38 of 38 episodes seen
Completed 8
Overall 9.5
Story 9.0
Acting/Cast 10
Music 9.5
Rewatch Value 9.0
This review may contain spoilers

17 Steps Ahead of King Schemey McSteamy

This series surprised the heck out of me because I never even intended on watching it. When it was postponed I never really thought twice. Then I saw ZLH in MJTY and was intrigued plus at the time I hadn't seen BL in anything nor any of the other leads though the supporting cast I was somewhat familiar with. I'm not a fan of palace politics but this series got me curious from all of the excitement it generated once the drop date was announced. I nearly gave it a perfect 10 if it wasn't for the very few cons, I couldn't get past. But it really was the 17 steps ahead of King Schemey McSteamy.

Pros: It should be very obvious who the favorite character is; ZLH's acting has improved leaps and bounds. This was his first morally gray protagonist and he absolutely nailed it. He was like a mad scientist in every way. I have no idea how XW's brain worked. It was like he was psychic and planned things as he foresaw them. The story originally started more on the FL's side and she too just knocked her role out of the park. It was her redemption/rebirth story plus reverse harem so our ML had to be the 3rd wheel for a while, something that with his absolutely insane jealousy streak was heart pounding and hysterical at the same time.

YL was Spider-Man; dude had supernatural abilities when fighting in that heavy ass armor that the actor even said was really hard to move in. What made this series really worth watching is that other then our cast which were all absolutely amazing; I can't say anyone screwed up their parts, was that the plot was always rolling along. You kept waiting for what's next. You never had to ffw or you'd miss something vital. Furthermore, the cast filmed during peak summer months and in extreme heat, they were constantly on the verge of heat stroke. I loved every member of the cast the ones mentioned above, ZZ, the princess, JXH, the hilarious and yet awesome guards of XW, fake DF, and everyone else, even the villains sans Lord Pinghead as I think he was used as more of a plot device to get the leads together. I'll speak more about him below.

The leads chemistry especially Ep. 36; people should know what I'm talking about. King McSteamy was born! I was actually surprised how much made it in. Usually after a passionate kiss, it's cut to spotlight and curtains or next scene. Here we saw more and it was great! And so glad that the kisses were real and XW was an absolute panther. I could probably write a whole review on just his love and lust plus jealousy alone. From what I wrote in the comments: That whole “JXN: I want you” bit? Woof! And then of course…Duke asswipe is all “I’m gonna rule the world.” Our boy goes “Hold my Qin. Back up dog, emperor and I got this on lock before I even left!” Who saw that coming?!?

XW, uncle, cousin reveal actually brought a tear to my eyes. It was a brief but beautiful moment. Plus XW's jealousy of his own son liking ZZ was too funny and a totally face-palm moment. JXN needs to nip that in the bud before the son starts picking up dad's negative traits lol. Daughter was too cute too. There were so many great moments in this drama; even the villains did what they had to do and for the most part were intelligent so it wasn't like some trope or cliche.

Costumes, sets, fights, OSTs, were great! I probably will come back to write something I missed or forgot lol. Just too much goodness.

Cons: Very little of these, but the .5 was knocked off for several reasons. Though I wish the modern day wasn't returned to, I understand it was done so because of censorship; I really would have preferred the 7 minute wedding to be in the last episode instead of an extra one plus do it before the scene with kids, instead of her dreaming of XW killing himself per lifetime number one. We're past that, no need to go back. Furthermore, Lord Pinghead's whole arc towards the end felt off to me because, he's supposed to be this murderous insane villain who killed children and destroyed a city but it looked more like just a ploy to get the leads officially together. He really wasn't much of anything. Just a paranoid killer. Duke asswipe had mountains more on him in terms of evil.

Wish they kept ZZ's rebirth arc because otherwise even to the almost end, it seemed he was still pining for her and it felt incomplete. He should have been given his own proper ending. Should have killed loser Xue son as per the novel too. Why was Duke asswipe allowed to stab XW with so many guards around him just because he was staring at JXN? The poor guy was already pin cushioned 6 ways to Sunday. YL and DQ should have finished the job before he even launched himself off the ground. Lastly and this felt the most unnecessary, was the death of FY. They could have killed ZYZ as is, he held her captive and tortured her. Why did she have to grab hold of him and he stab her? He could have just kicked her away and run; he would have been caught regardless and JXN should have delivered the death blow herself like "You think I can't kill you? Watch this, bitch!" FY's death was completely pointless. I don't understand this portion at all.

Would I recommend it? 100% would. It was a gem that I didn't expect to fall in love with but did. The pros way outweighed the cons. The plot was very well handled even the portions that deviated from the book. This is how dramas should be written and done with proper endings. Must watch y'all!

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Completed
Story of Kunning Palace
4 people found this review helpful
Nov 26, 2023
38 of 38 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 9.0
Story 8.5
Acting/Cast 9.5
Music 9.0
Rewatch Value 9.0

A dream that felt too real

This drama is definitely not the typical historical Chinese drama you would expect. It is based on the story of a strong female lead who wakes up from a dream that felt too real. In that dream, she was a selfish woman who would do anything and use anyone to achieve her ambitions. However, when she wakes up again, we see her character development as she tries to be a better person and make up all the mistakes she made and all those she hurt in her dream.
I really enjoyed this drama as it was really realistic and relatable, especially the relationship between the characters. I especially loved the chemistry between the main leads Jiang Xue Ning(Bailu) and Xie Wei(Zhang Linhe) and how they went from enemies to cooperating together to save the Yan family and many more. Jiang Xue Ning was the only light in Xie Wei’s dark view of the world and end up being the most important person and support to eachother.

Acting of the main leads were quite good but I felt like the supporting characters could have a bit more and better changes in their expressions to show their character development.
Music was good and I loved all the songs, Bailu actually sang one of them aswell!

The biggest flaw in this drama for me would be the pacing throughout the episodes. I just felt like the ending felt way too rushed, especially after seeing and getting used to the slow moving plot (up to around ep 33). The female lead only seemed to truly understand the male lead in the last 5 episodes and his intentions behind his decision and only then did she confirm her feelings for Xie Wei (with only 5 episodes to go). I felt like it could’ve been better paced to make the episodes flow more consistently and make it comfortable to watch.

Overall, it was a very unique drama and enjoyable to watch. Recommended.

Ps. This is my first review hahaha

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Ongoing 7/24
Chase the Truth
0 people found this review helpful
by Lilo
Nov 26, 2023
7 of 24 episodes seen
Ongoing 0
Overall 7.0
Story 7.0
Acting/Cast 6.5
Music 4.5
Rewatch Value 6.0

Messy timeline

The story line is just kind of messy. Starting the episode with a flash back was a bad move personally speaking. Each episode is a cliff hanger then you start the next episode with a flash back before continuing with the new storyline......
The acting is mediocre. Both the FML and ML's acting is really not that great, especially the ML fight scenes. You can tell it just look too performance like. Still don't understand the point of the FML being there besides having a crush and slight romance.
WAY TOO SLOW! felt like they dragged the show on just to make the watchers be on the edge...
Music is alright..... not that great but not bad either. Definitely keep you on the edge and want to make you binge watch. So that is a 10. Overall rating is 8/10.

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Completed
Kingdom: Legendary War
1 people found this review helpful
by Miva
Nov 26, 2023
10 of 10 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 9.5
Story 8.0
Acting/Cast 10
Music 10
Rewatch Value 10
This review may contain spoilers

Honestly, I'm not entirely satisfied.

Sure, the groups' performances were great - their singing, dancing, facial expressions, costumes and the enormous effort that each group put into it. They showed us something that we can't see in their music videos (MVs). Things like sweating, crying, making mistakes, stressing and working on performances that we don't normally get to witness, but here we were given something to appreciate. The interactions between the groups and the way the 3rd generation of kpop guided the younger generation was priceless.
But honestly, if it weren't for Stray Kids, who I've been a fan of since their debut, I wouldn't have watched it at all. However, although I cried with happiness when Stray Kids won, I felt dissatisfied with the actual result. Stray Kids did deserve the victory - no doubt about that, because they won thanks to hard work and their creativity. The entire show however focused more on fan voting than "survival". But that doesn't surprise me at all because the bigger the audience, the richer the show is, and the more popular the show is, the more money they make from it. Some may say that Stray Kids didn't deserve to win because they didn't get the best votes from the judges, but those people forgot that this particular episode was intended to give the groups feedback and help them learn from their mistakes, which I really liked as a viewer. The way these groups advanced after this episode was so damn satisfying that I can't even put it into words of wisdom XD.

The most depressing thing about the program were the sad moments where the people self blame themselves for mistakes, as well as the constant stress and anxiety. The fact that they all had to devote literally half a year to this performance, composing and setting everything up while being active idols made it exhausting to watch. Imagine how these six wonderful groups felt? But then came the most amazing part of the show, the Unit Round, during which two groups were formed: "It's One" (IKON, SF9, TheBoyz) and "Mayfly" (Stray Kids, BtoB, Ateez). The performances of these Units amazed me and I literally had to watch the performances several times because of how great they were.

But the ones that caught my eye the most were, of course: 
- Stray Kids - "God's Ddu-Du Ddu-Du" - I don't know what was more shocking: a tribute to DeadPool or a giant tank or the hot abs of a cute brownie boy? 
- Mayfly – “Wolf”, “Love Poem”, “Colours” – I admit I'm crazy for them all! 
- It’s One – “Spark” – I got goosebumps listening to and watching their performance!
- IKON - "Classy Savage" - special moment performed by LISA from BlackPink herself.
- SF9 - "Move" - wow, their performance...!!! so damn sexy!
- TheBoyz - "The Stealer" - I didn't expect a ballet breakdown at all.
- Stray Kids - "Pray" (Stray Kids version of "I'll Be Your Man" by BtoB) - I couldn't take my eyes off the screen because of how captivating the story plot was!!
- Ateez - "Wonderland" - the ship, kraken and Jongho with the flag was really amazing.

The worst thing for me as a viewer was that even though I am Stay 24/7, I am also a multi-fan. Groups like IKON, BtoB which were one of my first groups when I started listening to Kpop along with BigBang, Shinee and SuperJuniora and SF9's whose songs I love a lot and Ateez who I support (especially Wooyoung)... seeing them perform and get evaluated was both exciting and stressful at the same time. Same with TheBoyz who although I wasn't familiar with, I was rooting for them - the most during Sports Day because they were so hilarious XD. 

I watched these groups tremble with fear, have panic attacks behind the camera, exhaust themselves, hurt their bodies and it all was killing me but at the same time it made me proud of all of them. And even though it's not a perfect show, it's worth watching plus it's not a secret I've re-watched it about ten times...

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Completed
Strong Girl Namsoon
15 people found this review helpful
by Gone
Nov 26, 2023
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 2
Overall 3.5
Story 3.0
Acting/Cast 6.0
Music 1.0
Rewatch Value 1.0

The Enemies to Lovers trope would have done this wonders.

Mediocre. What a mediocre series. I have so much to say but I'll start with my headline.

What a wasted potential. I'm not saying she should have ENDED up with the villain because the way this was written, it would NEVER WORK. In order for it to be a good "Enemies to Lovers", it needed the villain to be the male lead so HE is the focus of the story. Some people will say they didn't like him and that is completely valid because he was written to be UNREDEEMABLE. If he was written to be LIKED, people would have changed their mind about him. All the writer needed to do was make him smarter, make the female lead smarter too in the way she spies on him, slow burn it a little and then build it up from there into his redemption or a anti-hero ending. Then you will have the greatest progression for a love story that is refreshing and not boring. And for people who hate villainous characters, I promise you, one story that doesn't conform to the standard isn't going to make all the usual romance in kdrama fade into oblivion. There is always wholesome drama that airs EVERY season. We are not running out of stock from those to watch. So there is no need to be agitated that people liked a bad guy as if there isn't thousand of dramas with cute good guys characters. There is something for everyone. For this one in specific, the enemies to lovers would have done it WONDERS.

Despite what I said, I have to say, this drama, even without the romance, was TOO MESSY. It started out good. The first 4 episode were pretty enjoyable but the writers decided to half bake everything else. Too many side plotlines that go NOWHERE. The story was BARELY moving forward. So many unlikeable characters taking the spotlight for no reason. I wish the male characters were more well put together. None of the male characters had more to their story than being useless (except the dad) and don't get me mentioned on the brother constant target for fatshaming. It made me roll my eyes. I thought his story would conclude well as a life lesson that if you fatshame your child, you can endanger their life which is a message I don't mind seeing depicted but then they kept showing scenes of him eating or just talking about food as if that's his only trait... it feels like even the writer didn't learn a lesson from their own storytelling.

Also the FL doesn't feel like a FL here. Her mom and grandma took most of the spotlight away from her. It would have been more enjoyable to see both mom and daughter work and plan together but still have the daughter as the MAIN focus. Instead, she got sidelined in her OWN story. She have all these super powers and abilities yet all of it disappeared in the other half of the story. As for the grandma, if she was the character who ALWAYS save the day when her daughter and granddaughter in trouble, she would have be a badass character.

As for the romance, it was BAD. What is the point of watching a romance drama where the male leads already in love by episode 4? Let's say, okay, we like the early romance because some dramas actually do them too... but... there is no build up? No confession leading up to being together? One day, they are together. They just throw a scene with both of them and hope they convince you into liking it. The kiss scenes are all randomly placed and the grandma have MORE of a romance storyline than the FL. People only like the romance because it's the male lead and female lead. Not because it's actually well written.

I gotta give it to Byeon Woo Seok's. His back must hurt from trying to carry this drama. The villain was the only interesting character in the show. I loved the FL at the start but like I said, she got SIDELINED SO HARD, there is nothing to say about her. I've made a character analysis of Ryushio if anyone's interested. https://mydramalist.com/729535-strong-woman-kang-nam-soon#comment-15450791

The villain got all the package. Good backstory, goals, ambition and was even soft to watch him when he wasn't being a menace to society. He progressed the story when nothing else was. They made him dumb in not figuring out the FL identity so they can extend this to 16 episodes but that can be forgiven because without it... OOOOOF. Would there be a story??? The villain is the best thing about this show. He brought a good amount of the international watchers. I was never going to watch this show if I didn't come across his edit. My sister also WASN'T going to watch either if it wasn't for these edits. There is too many good dramas airing to be wasting it on a mediocre one like this one.

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Ongoing 4/27
Suchwita
7 people found this review helpful
by Pietje
Nov 26, 2023
4 of 27 episodes seen
Ongoing 0
Overall 10
Story 10
Acting/Cast 10
Music 10
Rewatch Value 8.0

Suga Shines: A charming show with a chill vibe

This “talk show” is so enjoyable. I’ve only seen the episodes with RM, JK, V and the second episode which is with a famous/popular MC/comedian.

Suga is 100% perfect as the host. He’s welcoming, comfortable in his role, makes the guests comfortable, asks thoughtful questions, fosters quality conversations and is just really amazingly good in this series thus far. There is a segment at the start where they have a chat about the beverage the guest has brought that’s interesting and informative. It’s fun to see what each guest brings and listen to the discussion.

I’m looking forward to watching all of the episodes and hope this series continues.

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