Train Wreck
I watch this based on a review on this website, I believe it was an article about Lakorn’s to watch. It started out with some promise, even though the arrogance of the main lead was almost more than I could handle. I figured once he fell in love with the female lead that he would get his comeuppance. No. He was in sufferable the whole 16 episodes of the drama. His immaturity, arrogance, pouting, forcefulness....I really can’t understand why the female lead “fell in love” with him. Maybe it was the dimples. I will give him that. The redemption that we were supposed to feel as character development didn’t come until basically the last episode. And even then it wasn’t believable to me. And the female lead became just as insufferable as him halfway through the series. I think it had some good potential as a story, that’s why I rated the story itself as a higher. But between the punching, slapping, women fighting, men grabbing wrists, forced sex, it was probably the most cliché and bad representation of a Lakorn that I have ever seen.Was this review helpful to you?
An Untypical Seoul Love Story...
Revisiting Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo with additional years of knowledge about genres, actors and tropes, it’s intriguing to note exactly how this series has attracted such a cult following , and why certain issues can still be correlated with it as a failure in mainstream South-Korean popular culture as well.
It first must be said that Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo doesn’t necessarily have an original idea within its concepts of love triangles and trauma in college , but its characters and comedy are surprisingly well- rounded and relevant for its “ youth” sub genre.
Our main female lead is the eponymous Kim Bok Joo ( Lee Sung-Kyung); a self-conscious and kind-hearted female weightlifter who ends up falling for obesity doctor Jung Jae-yi ( Lee Jae Yoon). Her affections become complicated , however, when she meets Jae-yi’s mischievous younger brother and swimmer Jung Joon-hyung ( Nam Joo Hyuk) who in-turn shares a deeply traumatic past and a complicated history with Bok Joo’s new roommate, gymnast Song Shi-ho ( Kyung Soo-Jin).
Perhaps the most appraised element of the show is its sensitivity and portrayal of mental health issues as well as sexism; Joon-Hyung suffers from trauma , Bok Joo lacks self-esteem and is often cited as “ less feminine” (by both genders) for sport choice and despite her nastier flaws, Song Shi Ho is heavily implied to struggle with an eating disorder .
Yet against the more angst-ridden moments of the show, one of the most surprisingly well-portrayed relationships in the drama is shown through Bok Joo and Joon-Hyung. From teasing to an eccentric friendship to something more, it is still fairly refreshing watching this drama again that Bok Joo’s feelings weren’t something which magically ensured she was “ head over heels in love “ with Joon-Hyung ( even by the ending of the show), but something she learnt gradually and naturally . This is for once a touch of freshness and realism to a relationship in a drama; feelings are complicated and whilst it is romanticised to find one’s true love at first glance, it isn’t always a reality .
Yet getting to the more pressing issue , it’s important to note that often there are several “inconsistencies” which are glossed over by drama fans when it comes to this show. The biggest being pacing- whilst viewers get to know the majority of our main characters in the first few episodes, the show sometimes did hit a slag in terms of story development often either being dragged out or just incredibly slow.
Additionally, the other issue is whilst the issues around the characters are fairly well-tackled, some of our characters were lacking depth including our female heroine. Bok Joo did defy a lot of stereotypes compared to many Korean dramas as a female athlete who stands her ground , but is still conscious about makeup and boys, however, this didn’t initially define her as a character. When it boils down to it, Bok Joo always felt a little too roughly drawn-out for her own good. She had all the right elements of being an intriguing heroine but besides being used for angst and comedy during the show, Bok Joo lacked a lot of actual character depth.
Admittedly this isn’t just Bok Joo. Whilst Joon Hyung’s trauma and past were surprisingly well-delivered, Joon Hyung was often played too much as the farce character with Bok Joo- sweet, but lacking an inner core of depth as an individual.
Overall it’s fair to say that Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo will always have its lovers and haters - whilst undeniably brilliant due to its portrayal of relationships , mental health and youth issues, it’s easy to see why the show is overrated to a certain extent with certain glossed-over issues, poor character writing and slow plot. A fun show and certainly worth a watch, but not flawless.
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I just wanted to watch this since it is the perfect length to watch for study breaks and I had run out of other web drama options.
This is the best mini/web/whatever drama I have watched for a while. I laughed and I cried, which I didn't expect going into it.
Don't expect an in-depth drama, that's pretty impossible within the time frame of shows like this. What this is instead is sweet and frothy fun. It knows what it is (a lot of EXO fanservice) but I didn't feel like it went overboard with that.
I have seen some pretty atrocious idol acting in the past, but this was a surprise given that the performances were pretty solid. It was campy, yes, but that''s fine, anyone who likes s'mores will tell you camping is fun.
The directing was good and the music wasn't just overblown EXO on repeat. I would happily re-watch this.
Again, DO NOT watch this is you expecting something that has layers and depth. I will use Suhan's character (lovingly called, "Suhan") and his love of coffee for an analogy:
Some dramas are short blacks, it is all coffee, but you have to take time to see the nuances of flavour in every cup. Then there's cappuccinos. The coffee flavour is diluted with milk or cream with lots of froth, but it is still delicious, just a different type of delicious. A cappuccino is what this drama is. Maybe even just the froth of a cappuccino, but that doesn't mean it's not drinkable!
I am saying these things because friends of mine put down this drama without even trying it as just fanservice fodder.
Also, Kwang Su and Suhan's bromance was so cute. The EXO members bromance with each other was cute.
I thank this drama from the bottom of my heart for easing my overloaded and wrung-out brain with ten-minute episodes of frothy-cappuccino fun.
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Watch this only for Kang Ha-neul
This series could have easily been shortened to the usual K-drama length of 16 episodes, but I guess the producers stretched it out to 20 episodes to milk as much money as they can from the TV network. That's why the show dragged starting around Episode 11. The writers should look for another profession.Gong Hyo-jin, who played the FL, is a terrible actress. She had a blank expression on her face throughout the series or cried that looked so phony. She cried in almost every episode (sometimes several times in the same episode) and whined that she was abandoned as a child. I didn't mind her whining about her sad life for 3-4 episodes, but EVERY episode? It gets old really fast. I blame the writers for this. By Episode 18, I was really hating her - so pathetic and irrational. During Episode 19, the tale of FL's mother's early years, it was supposed to be sentimental and tugged at your heart, but it bored me and I fell asleep. At Episode 20, with every character's storyline wrapped up nicely with a bow, I felt like puking. At the end, the kid had grown to an adult but the ML and FL had not aged - not one single gray hair after being together for 15 years (they met when he was 34 and she was about 1-2 years older)!
All the Korean mothers were overbearing: ML's mother who initially can't accept her son falling in love with a single mother, the model wife's mother who schemed to have her daughter take as much alimony from the baseball player, female lawyer's mother-in-law who is a nag and a bitch. Is this a cultural thing or do the writers hate mothers?
The only acting that stood out as exceptional were from the ML, the baseball player, the dead friend/coworker and the little son. They all showed a great range and depth of emotions. It was good to see Kang Ha-neul, the ML, in a comedic role after seeing him in a serious role in Moon Lovers:Scarlet Heart. I watched this show specifically to see him after seeing his outstanding performance in Moon Lovers but felt his talent was wasted in this show.
I would not rewatch this show or recommend it to anyone unless they absolutely needed to see Kang Ha-neul.
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I give this story an eight because while it's not an original storyline, it's a very cute and captivating story. The actors and actresses however are what really drew me in.
Yoon Eun Hye is an outstanding actress who I've liked since Coffee Prince and Goong and she carries her role well here. What I liked about the female protagonist was that she was strong throughout the story. There were lapses here and there in her character and towards the end, I wanted to smack her a little bit for her indecisiveness but I respected her throughout the story despite her crying jags and drunken fits of temper. Those were hilarious to me though!
As for Kang Ji Hwan, this is the first drama I've seen him in and boy did he blow me away. I won't lie; I hated his character at first and at one point I wished the character would just take a long walk off a short pier. But he managed to win me over and had even me, an ardent lover of all second male leads, rooting for him.
Sung Joon's character got a bit left out in the dust in the wake of Gong Ah Jung and Hyun Ki Joon. But I loved him from episode 1 and if it's one problem I had with this drama was that he ended up getting less and less screen time. Nevertheless, his role here is what got him another fan.
As for the rest of the cast, they did pretty well, all things considered. Special mention goes to Hong Soo Hyun whose character's transition was very good.
The OST for this drama is also AMAZING! There's cute, there's sad and there's absolutely beautiful music on it. A favourite OST for me! Also, there was a lot of Western music here which I was pleasantly surprised to hear.
Another thing about this drama:
KISSING SCENES.
Yes! Finally a female lead who KISSES BACK. Thank the heavens. I can count the number of female characters I've seen actually kiss their man on one hand. Thankfully, there's one more finger up.
Overall, I thought this drama was very good. Definitely worth giving a try.
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This review may contain spoilers
This is underwhelming. It had a lot of issues going on that were solved in a flick of a finger or brushed under the carpet. The leads' chemistry is lacking. The music does not even match the vibe of the show. It's a generic plot that brings nothing new to the table.The only good thing in this show is Na. And I'm happy they didn't forget him in the finale. I'm also glad that they introduced the idea of surrogacy in there.
I feel bad for Podd and Khaotung because I liked them both but this is really just not it for me. I can't even feel their chemistry at all. The beginning part was serviceable (even if personally I didn't like the slapstick and parody) but it just got worse per episode. Even Mike and Toptap were downgraded in this.
It's taxing to finish it but I thought I'm obligated to because of my love for the actors. Definitely good riddance and not worth a rewatch for me.
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Plot: The story itself had a a great plot. You learn that Nitta Hayato [Miura Shohei] is searching for his older sister whom he only discovered existed after his mother's death. This brings Amihama Saki [Nakama Yukie] into the picture. What starts off as a heartwarming reunion soon turns into an eerie mystery as Hayato discovers that his lovely sister may be someone completely different than what she seems and she's actually got a hidden agenda of her own. She's out for revenge and nobody's going to get in her way. If you're someone who likes suspense, you'll definitely enjoy this drama because the whole time you're on the edge of your seat wondering what's going to happen to everyone and how she's going to bring them down. Although her actions are undeniably evil and wrong, you just might find yourself unable to hate her as the drama progresses. Up until the very end, I could not hate her character at all despite everything she did. This drama was very well done. You might feel a bit weird about wine and steak after this one though Lol...
Acting: The cast lineup and acting was great. Nakama Yukie was perfect at portraying an angelic woman who is in fact calculating and leading her targets to their own destruction. Her ability to express Saki's emotions was so amazing and I really felt for her character during the last episode. I'd love to see her reprise this kind of role again. Miura Shohei did well too and had great chemistry with Nakama Yukie although, I was amused at first since they went from having a student-teacher relationship in gokusen 3 to brother and sister xD Aside from that though, the cast was great. Uchida Yuki was awesome. I actually wish we saw even more of her in the drama. I'm also a fan of Okada Yoshinori so I was pleasantly surprised to see him in this drama. Takashima Masahiro, Kyo Nobuo, Ishiguro Hideo, and everyone else were great in their roles as well.
Music: Takahashi Minami's song Jane Doe was a great opening song and TVXQ's catch me fit perfectly with the ending scenes. There was also an english song they played, I'm not sure what it was called, but that song matched really well with the scenes they showed with Saki. All the music gave a perfect feel to the story.
Rewatch Value: I'd watch this drama again. The only thing is that the mystery part isn't much of a mystery anymore after seeing it twice and you somewhat lose the suspense so it won't exactly be the same. It's still a great drama and worth the time though. I'd definitely recommend this to anyone who likes mystery or suspense. And of course, if you're a fan of Nakama Yukie but haven't seen it yet, I'd say check this one out as well as Utsukushii Rinjin, where Nakama Yukie played her first role as Saki =]
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Story: The story follows a short period of the lives of some students from a school. It touches on a lot of harsh subjects such as being a homosexuality, domestic abuse and other subjects not often shown in dramas. Although the story is jam packed full of controversy it also has a bit of a boring side to be honest. Some parts of the story drag on for way to long then what should have been necessary. The only story i purely enjoyed was Nicole's story for some reason. I found the story about Du and Shen Qi to be not needed as it seemed so out of place and i think it could have been done a lot better.
Cast/Acting: There are a large range of actors in this drama but only very few appealed to me. Lin Chen Xi who played Nico/Nicole was my favourite actress in this drama as she made the character that she was playing really believable.
Music: Was really well chosen for this drama i personally loved the Song Gloomy Sunday from the story from Nicole's story and after i looked it up i found out why it was so well chosen for this drama. I admit i loved the song so i downloaded it as depressing as the song is.
Rewatch Value: I personally would only watch 2-3 stories again as some really made me sleepy watching them as they were so much more mild then others but everyones tastes differ.
Overall: This drama was really something worth watching cause even if you did not like some of the stories there will be at least one or two you will enjoy and will really make you think. I recommend giving this drama a try but its not one for people who cant take sad and depressing stories.
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Girls love set in 2046
Set in 2046, The earth is plagued by heavy fine dust. The human race is divided into two categories, N and C. N means Non-clean, people who couldn't be vaccinated and C means clean, for those who are vaccinated with antibody shots. Life expectancy for C's is 100 years and for N it is 30 years. As result discrimination becomes a bigger problem than fine dust. Yi Oh (Choi Sung Eun) finds out she wasn't given shots during her birth, she is now an N. She develops an interest in Joan (Kim Bora), whose other N in her school. As her life is short, she spends time with Joan.According to my understanding, this is clearly a GL (girls love). I could see the way they both look at each other. a beautiful lesbian story. Kim Bora sang a song in this drama and it's so beautiful. I loved the Bgm and cinematography. I love the 2046 set. Everything is foggy and there is longing to live. Who knows this might happen in the future. The story is beautiful and the acting was cute. As a hardcore fanboy, I wanted a kiss scene, I know it's a lot of ask but still, the bars were quite high. I need to confess that each and every scene was so beautiful.
There is a big twist in the end. I swear I saw that coming but it was just a thought and seeing it happen in the end was a shock. I love the way they ended the episode. it's beautiful. What I learned for Joan's Galaxy is sometimes you got to let things be the way it is, instead of searching and digging deep into it, just live your life and do good to others. - by Godwin
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I really love it and I suggest it to anyone! Please give this drama a chance! It'll make you happpy/sad all at once!
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Beauty is In the Eye of the Beholder.
Blueming is not your typical short KBL – It is a painting. Honestly, there is no other way I could find to articulate it. The entire drama is like a mysterious work of art that has to be viewed in person to prod your emotions.And I feel like Jin Moo Hak from 'Dali and Gamjatang'. I'll get to that later, but this is definitely one of the most difficult dramas to score. It would be somewhere around 8 - 8.5 for me.
Si-won, having been bullied for being chubby when he was a child and following his dad's abandoning their of family, has had a rough time. He values keeping up his external facade of a cool and handsome young boy. Until he stumbles into Da-Won, a new classmate who is automatically God Gifted with everything that he worked hard to attain. Despite feeling jealous of him, Si-Won Inadvertently gets stuck around the enigmatic Da-Won.
Blueming is a drama that floats due to the very interesting characters and their insecurities. There is a high chance you won't like it if they don't grow on you.
I initially cringed so bad at Si-Won. He appeared like a typical hero with an inferiority complex who landed in several highly embarassing situations which directly got him in front of Da-Won, the object of his jealousy. But, after you get over the cringefest, Si-Won starts to become a really realistic and lovable character.
However, there was a constant air of sadness and pain in him. This is explained really well in the latter half of the drama.
Da-Won takes the cake for the most eccentric character I've ever seen in a KBL. He falls for the insecure Si-Won and attempts to treat him in the best way he could. Dude creeped me out a lot, unfortunately, during the first half of the drama. But, I found his pursuit of Si-Won a highlight.
The characters are flawed. A lot. But, aren't we all? That's the charm of Blueming. At one point or the other, we get to interpret their actions/misconceptions and even relate to their insecurities.
Si-Won had a couple of friends, especially Boom Mike guy and Yun-jeong. Despite having little screentime, we got enough to know that they are more than just one dimensional characters.
The framing in Blueming is one of the major highlights. I don't know anything about filming, but this drama was just plain beautiful to watch. It had an almost abstract quality that reminded of Utsukushii Kare and To My Star (which is directed by the same director).
One major issue that I personally had with this drama was how we needed to conjecture certain details about characters. Particularly Da-Won. I felt like a lot of his life is a huge fill-in-the-blanks. And I felt that certain emotions that the director/writer wanted to convey to the audience did not reach me. (I had the same trouble with Utsukushii Kare.)
So, some of the subtle hints and beauty of this show where wasted on me. Hence, why I compared myself to Jin Moo Hak, who never understood art.
Looks like I wrote this while I was half asleep. I still feel like a dizzy squidward after watching this, but I'll rate it an 8.5 for now.
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Happiness comes in various shapes
F4 Thailand is one of its kind.Story:
The story picks up at a school, where bullying is severe and seem very dark.
Poor girl meets rich arrogant guy, who eventually fall in love and become a couple, facing the issues of their social standards.
The story is nothing new, it is basically every cliché put in a drama, yet F4 Thailand managed to do it in the most intriguing and charming way.
Especially the usage of social media as bullying medium is implemented phenomenal and just shows how fast a little spark can turn into a huge wildfire.
Each episode was build to have its own arc, making me go on a rollercoaster ride of emotions every time and anticipate every week.
Within' the episode, the antagonists got introduced.
We get to learn about them during the episodes, making them coming alive and emphasis with them.
The director and screenwriter did an excellent job creating those characters and make them not feel one dimensional only.
But that came with a price.
As much as I liked to get to know the side characters, they took away the screen time of the main cast and their story, which already had to be cut down to 16 episodes.
Making the F4 Thailand a fast-paced drama, that sadly, did not go in depth with the main story arc.
The cinematography is outstanding.
Every shot picked out carefully, showing a lot of symbolism and really emphasizes the story and the feelings of the characters.
Acting/ Cast:
- Main Cast:
The main cast is chosen out perfectly.
I could not imagine any other portraying F4 and Gorya now.
The cast showed multilayered characters, who were portraying the emotions in a raw and vulnerable way.
Making me laugh, cry and at some point trying to hit them.
The bond the cast share was natural, and you could tell, that all of them cared for each other.
- Family:
Goryas Family is a safe place for her.
Whenever she felt down, she knew that her family can and will cheer her up in the most loveable and fun way.
The characters were portrayed nicely. Fun, supporting, and just a joy to watch.
OST/ Music:
The music itself is great. I really love the "Who am I" which perfectly describes breaking out of your habits and go on a journey to find yourself.
Other than that I like all the other OSTs too, except some were used in odd places, which led to the score.
Overall, F4 Thailand is a modernized approach of the other BoFs.
It started really well, and I was intrigued, showing off to my friends as one of the best dramas I probably have seen in a while, but that excitement slowly faded away at the last quarter of the show.
It might be due to the fast progressing storyline, but I missed some crucial parts and was not really satisfied with the ending, like I was supposed to be.
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Mid down the line
They clearly had a bit of money so some aspects were well formed, but:- the pacing was chaotic,
- the B plot felt very tacked on,
- the chemistry was lukewarm
- they should have had some budget for background artists, consulting from people who run dog cafés or work in veterinary clinics, and more multilingual cast/crew to smooth out the oddities around characters who don't speak the other's language. Earpieces don't really cover that gap.
There is some great fashion though.
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Skip this show if possible. Save yourself 14+ hours.
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The story is decent, but honestly, it's nothing that special. I don't even know what it is that made me genuinely enjoy it, but Lunch Queen left me with a warm, happy feeling.
Lunch Queen is just a feel-good drama. Nothing that outstanding or original about it, but you can count on it to put you in good spirits. The cast was really good and the actor's worked well off each other. The music was very nice and fit well with this drama, but I wouldn't go searching the internet for it to download. This was my second time watching this drama and I still didn't get bored, and I still have the same feelings, so I'd say the rewatch value is pretty good.
Not my favorite jdrama, but one of the good one's for sure.
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