Reviews

Forgettable Drama

This drama unfortunately falls into the category of those easily forgotten. It's not a production to showcase Kim So Hyun's talents, not a drama to watch for fantasy genre, not a drama to watch for Hwang Min Hyun, maybe a drama to watch for the secondary character.

Great premise as usual but bad execution. It's the kind of drama that serves better as background noise. The mystery lacks depth and the chemistry between the characters never truly transcends the realm of friendship. The supporting cast tends to be more of a hindrance , being annoying and never changes, often repeating the same actions to the point of irritation.

The only nice people are the main lead and some people in the neighborhood. Unfortunately, the male lead's character comes across as bland, which may be attributed to subpar acting in this instance aka the male lead can't act in this drama.

In sum, this drama is easily forgettable and falls short of expectations. It's a disappointment that is likely to fade from the audience's memory within just a few months.

Read More

a not so professional review, its just how much i love the drama

first off, don't hesitate, doesn't matter what genre you like, im sure you'll like this.
now, let's talk about the cast!! the main reason why i watched the drama. i've been a fan of bai jing ting and zhao jin mai ever since a very berry long time ago and i've always known that their acting was good AND THEIR ACTING IN THE DRAMA ZDID NOT DISAPPOINT!! i was so surprised about how good they were in some scenes though TˆT *suddenly feel like a proud mother ahahah* what surprised me even more though was how good the other actors and actress were TˆT i was so surprised, i thought the other people on the bus would just be there and do nothing but they actually gave them stories which makes it so much sadder when they die TˆT and fshshshs the cause of the explosion, not gonna spoil anything but their acting was SO FREAKING GOOD!! AND XIAO BAI'S AND MAI MAI'S CHEMISTRY, HELP, SO FREAKING GOOD, THE SCENE WHERE HE HELD HER AFTER THE SHE WALKED INTO THE WATER THING, EVERY TIME THEY HUG, EVERY TIME THEY HOLD HANDS, THEY WAY THEY LOOK AT EACH OTHER AND HOW THEY CARE FOR EACH OTHER- PLEASE.
sort of hesitated before i watched it cause one, i didn't even know the plot ahahah and i actually watched the drama without knowing the plot because of the two, and liu tao, fan shuai qi and some others <3 the other reason was because even tho i didnt know the plot i knew that it wasn't something i'd watched because yea it's just not, also im sorry but as a cdrama fan for over 10 years i know that some police thriller cdramas, suck, like a lot, it becomes very, just not entertaining, stick to tvb ones if u like police dramas <3 but uwu this drama was so unexpected, even though every single scenes setting and clothing is the same i freaking love it so much TˆT and its so freaking addicting TˆT i havent been this addicted to a cdrama in a long while TˆT the storyline is honestly written so well and i love those little easter eggs they put in, like everything has a reasoning and it just makes so much senses. it's very realistic and entertaining at the same time! i just love it a lot aight TˆT lastly, i hated jing feng :D until ep 14, that scene with liu yao, where he got closer to her to listen and sort of comfort her like even though i know there's no romantic thingies at all it's just so comfortable to watch, its his first time not being impatient af in the drama. i feel like they have such a strong chemistry and i want them in. police, doctor drama like you are my hero so badly or like police anything idc just give it TˆT and lu di- uwu boi so cute TˆT
music is amazing, it sounds really nice, its just not my type.
going to rewatch right now to fully understand it more ahahha because watching to watch and watching everything the same time is different.
overall I LOVED THIS DRAMA, DEFINITELY A GREAT START TO 2022, alongside our beloved summer, i really loved that one too TˆT i liked the ending, though quite a lot of people didn't and ahahhaha you guys saw the hot search on weibo where everyone was sorry for liu peng (xiao he yun friend/partner) who had to kneel down and apologizes to their funders like 20 sth times but wasn't even in the ending right? AHAHAHA. and uwu lastly i love zhang cheng a lot, his determination, his hardwork <3

Read More

A sweet

In this drama , I fell in love with Park Eun Bin. I know a lot of you did in her previous drama as a lawyer, but I didn't watch it so it's not my case. Her acting here is so sweet that you get attached to her from beginning to end.
The story is really interesting, every main characters has their secrets and their skeletons in their family closet and it's really interesting to watch them grow with it.

Mokha is so attaching, I love her loyalty. She stays true to her own values (she doesn't let people take advantage of her) and she's mature. She shows that you can achieve your goals without stepping on others. I love how she's not fake, simply good. She's not the traditional "innocent" female lead we meet in dramas: the one who's life is terrible but she's such a saint that you wonder why it happens to her. No she's someone like us, you can relate to her. But she's what everyone will call a realistically "GOOD" person.

Park Eun Bin has an amazing voice and her singing was a blessing to my ears, my phone and my laptops. The drama reminds me of Imitation because of the theme, but Mokha is more attaching than Maha.

I came across the videos of PEB singing "Someday" on Instagram and her voice was so pure that I decided to watch the whole drama.

Read More

This is my favorite drama of 2019. Dramas in historical settings are often too tragic or stressful, so the humor in this drama was a breath of fresh air! It's funny without being silly. That's not to say this is a comedy though, as the political intrigue is intense. The plotting is intricate. Zhang Ruoyun is seriously stellar as Fan Xian, a laidback, smart, and sarcastic young man who doesn't want anything to do with court politics but finds himself inevitably pulled in. He treats his friends with loyalty and respect. He's also very smart, but the great thing about this drama is that he's not the only one. There are so many formidable characters. I can't wait for the second season.

Read More

The Blossoms were alright

At first this drama was going ok. I liked how they started out in high school and just giving some background story of their childhood. What I do not like is how fast they went for collage. I thought it was just not time for them to go because they have just started the show.

Jinwook's acting was ok. It was not the best. I wish he could have done a better job. To me he always looked sad. Never really had any good expressions. Just watching him some times kinda made me cringe. If you know what I am talking about?

Hui's acting was better. He had already been professional in acting so I was not worried. He expressed his feelings well but not too well. But I think he at least TRIED.

The side characters were funny and alright. I liked them a lot. I also do wish we could have seen more of Taesung's friends but you know what, its fine.

The music was great to me. I enjoyed the intro.

Overall I think the drama was pretty decent. I think I would rewatch it again but only when I am bored. I do wish this drama was a little better but this was fine. Really liked it. I would defiantly recommend.

Read More

EXPLORING THEMSELVES!!!!!

I like most thai dramas giving importance to LGBT but this drama explains how do they EXPLORE Themselves what their likes and dislikes are.
IT'S WORTH WATCHING!!!!
It says love doesn't have gender barrier if you truly love it. How can one explain himself what is more important and what he need to face to get it.
Teenage crush, love, sexual feelings are portrayed very beautifully and neatly.
the feeling of friendship between a group is cool.
The main characters helplessness for not getting what they need is again a breakthrough of the plot which was amazingly showed.

Read More

over and over again

The good:
. the acting of the cast. I think they performed well, convincing acting on everyone's part.
. exciting in the first perhaps 12 episodes. I binge-watched the first 10 episodes. It was exciting wanting to understand this entire time loop, to know what happened each time after the main leads woke up because things were always different after each loop and how they were gonna prevent the explosion.

The bad (just my honest opinion, that's all):
. as I mentioned I was hooked only until about episode 12, then I started to feel a little bored, the time loop was enough, well, perhaps because I do not watch a lot of time loop dramas in the first place, but the repetition was too much, the bus scene repeated and repeated, I was tired of it, I wanted to get off the bus.
As one person mentioned, the entire drama could have been condensed to a movie, rather than a 15-episode drama because there were some unnecessary scenes which did not help in moving the story. Well, to me, it was not necessary to condense to a movie, but shortening the drama could have helped perhaps.
. well, this is just my opinion, I did not really like the male lead, he looked fragile and sickly to me, this is merely my opinion, but his acting was good.
. this is not really a bad point, just an observation. I did not understand why the Chinese police had to deploy as many as 5 police cars just to pick the female lead, a vulnerable young girl, up for assistance in the bus explosion case, even if they think she may be armed, but 5 police cars to 'arrest' just one young girl? And in that scene, they were not going to arrest her, just inviting her to go to the police station for some assistance and questioning.

Read More

My love and respect for Joo Jin Mo has grown. First in Frozen Flower now this. Loved his intensity, passion and playfulness in this drama. Who wouldn't want someone to love them that much in real life. In the story he dedicated most of his adult life to this one person. Realistic, dunno but here in drama world YES very realistic. Story was well done, written and acted. You kind of figure what the next step is but you still go along for the ride and just enjoy it.Joo Jin Mo was intense so you can believe his story more. As usual you will ask yourself why is there always a woman in these dramas that will drive themselves MAD for a man that does NOT want them. That will blatantly say I DON'T WANT YOU, Never HAve, NEVEr will and means IT and for her this translates into LET ME TRY HARDER. Maybe if I kidnap him and tie him up and FORCe myself on him he will eventually fall for me and love Me (does not happen in this btw). But only in drama world will this happen where you just want to yell snap out of it, HE does not want you move on and pick up your pride off the floor and try to humbly move on. As for the story, loved it and happy that I watched it based on a recommendation I read. It's a love story, it has misery, some surprises you probably will figure out, some happiness, sorrow and hope, flew cliches some 'romantical' scenes (yes my word) romantical scenes. But I think you will cheer them on and hope for the best for this onscreen couple who are just trying to love one an other without any issues or people butting in.

Read More

Light and fluffy, unlike the Chinese version...

This drama is ideal for those who want to de-stress by watching some light romance with a happy ending.

Unlike the Chinese version, the male lead is soft and smiles all the time and the female lead does not bury herself in her insecurities. In the Chinese version, the male lead has to overcome the flaws of his personality and his essentially unsociable nature, plus embrace his feelings for the girl and grow to the point of expressing them. He even has to accept that his own unwillingness to face his feelings comes from his loneliness and sense of abandonment. He always expected, in the back of his mind, that she would leave him once she really knew him and so, in that sense, he was not surprised when they broke up.

Similarly the girl in the Chinese version suffers a lot more and we see more of his story being shared with her, especially related to his work and ambitions; we also see a lot more of her influence on his decisions, something I felt was not that clear in the Korean adaptation. Neither of them seemed to change much from school to adulthood in the Korean version and I felt that nothing very significant occurred in their growth arc from episode to episode. Whereas the couple in the Chinese version changes a lot from teenage to adulthood.

That said, the Korean version is pretty sweet. Unlike others I did not think the girl looked too old. She was cute and so was he - even with all that powder on his face - and they did a pretty okay job of the roles they were assigned. If you like angst and melodrama, I recommend the Chinese version. No tissues needed for the Korean one.

Read More

Less Rhetoric and More Stories

I was excited about this series. It looked dark, and dingy with A+ actors such as Gun and Off, but I walked away very disappointed. I have been to Thailand and I know about the political protests, but in my opinion, there was way too much moral grandstanding and preaching. I felt like the writers took 1960's American talking points and wrote a story around it. To me, this is an example of the elites, grooming other elites to be "revolutionaries," but who will probably be authoritarians themselves when they take power in the future (e.g. look at the leaders who imposed pandemic lockdowns, travel restrictions, freezing bank accounts of protestors, throwing protestors in jail without bond, etc). They missed opportunities to present problems that poor Thais face (except for Yok's mom), and chose to use rhetoric instead. In social science classes, we are always reminded that by sitting in a chair at university, we are by definition elite, regardless of where we start in life. Yok is the only member where you see a person living in poverty with a disabled single parent. Since this is fiction, of course, he is probably on his way to becoming a famous artist, and he saves himself (successful artists become rich) at the end by describing proletariats as a state of mind, not SES, or class. Instead of white savior syndrome, it's university educated syndrome, reinforcing that a formal education is the only pathway to a meaningful future. This is just my amateur opinion.

The acting was top notch, and I could see a difference between Black and White, that's how good Gun's acting was. I think that Gun deserves many acting awards for this role. I enjoyed seeing him paired with women partners too. Off has really grown as an actor as well, and he has gotten over his awkwardness when he has to do intimate scenes with Gun. I especially liked that they didn't use the normal filters, so we could see the actors' pores, blemishes and lines on their faces. The sets they used were just as gritty and grimy, fitting with the tone of the story. I felt that Black and White disowning their family was another 1960's cliche, and it made it seem like, all people working in government and the legal system are morally corrupt people.

I'll only rewatch if I fast forward through all of the rhetoric. Had they spent less time on rhetoric, and more time focusing on the characters (Yok's mom could have used more screen time) and people who are really struggling, I think that I would have enjoyed it more.

Read More

After reading reviews on this drama and finally watching it, I'd have to say I agree with what a lot of people have said.

This had a typical kind of story, rich guys, poor girls etc. But there was just something different about this drama. There was just something unique about this drama. I can't even put my finger on why or what made it unique. Maybe it was the all of the cast with a mix of the fun instrumental music that's played in every episode. I honestly can't say without giving spoilers away.

I absolutely loved this cast! The chemistry with all the actors was simply amazing. This is the first time where I loved every character, and that is simply hard to do. I couldn't even help liking the "bad guys". The main girl had such a strong personality and wasn't easily bullied. She would fight back. Which is something I wish more dramas would have. Lord knows how many times I almost punched my screen because the main girl can't stand up for herself.

Can I just say that Ji Sung & Jaejoong are some serious eye candy! First time watching a drama with both of them and I was impressed. I didn't expect Jaejoong's character to be like how he was with Ji Sung's character. And this was literally the first time where I didn't hate "The Other Girl" (Ji Hye's character) Yeah, when you first see her you think, oh lord, now the drama starts. But seriously right after that feeling I liked her! She was always fun to have in the scenes, she made me laugh a lot actually.

Wasn't much music besides a few songs and a few instrumental songs, but it all fit perfectly.

I would've given this drama a higher score but I honestly felt the last few episodes were unneeded. By 15 I wanted it to be the last episode but they kept dragging the last 3 episodes with a storyline that I felt could've been done within one.

But other than that, great great drama!

Read More

A show so relatable

Initially this drama was not on my watchlist for a lot of reasons... No romance being one of it lol. But it is only 12 episodes, so I decided to give episode 1 a try. AND I watched all 12 episodes in a go lol. It was sooo relatable and the pace, cinematics are just amazing. IT IS A MASTERPIECE.

The synopsis sounded so dry and not interesting... Yes, it was really slow paced... BUT I cannot believe a slow paced drama made me want to continue every episode and bawled my eyes out towards the end.

The first episode probably warned me that this is not about sweet romance with the suicide of the best friend and the overall dark cinematics. But it did not warned me that it will be so relatable and I will get hooked on it.

I am 28 this year and this is something I believed every person experience midlife crisis should watch. Talking about struggles in a big city far from home, to friendships, suicide, mental health, relationships. Basically very real life in general. After crying, I am going to think about my future lmao.

Story 100%. Acting 100%.
I only know Zhou Yu Tong but was surprised everyone else was great as well.

Everyone, do give this drama a chance. Especially if you have hit midlife crisis.
There are heavy topics on mental health and suicide.
If you need help, do reach out to someone, or even message me. We are here for you.

Read More

Love, life and the struggle to balance the two

Four moving stories about women trying to find their way in love and life, which doesn’t always mix well together. There are two episodes for each story making it feel like four movies, except the plots aren’t deep enough for a feature movie. However, they are deep enough to keep you interested. I won’t go over each story because Frangirl, who says she rarely write reviews, wrote one of the best reviews I’ve ever read. I would feel insignificant trying to follow that review. Lets just say this drama was worth my time and I think you will feel the same way. If you are interested in the pitfalls that love throws at us as we struggle through this beautiful life we are given, then watch this one. If you are wondering, story four was my favorite.

Read More

"Flourish In Time" is the first youth cdrama i watch after a while. I usually dislike this kind of drama because it always turned really cheesy and cringey. But that's not the case with this drama.

This drama is a slice-of-life story about how our main leads grow, dealing with issues such as disabilities and broken family, making good friends at school and realizing how important they are to each other. There is a love line, but not really focused into that.

What i like is even though FL is the bubbly girl who's not good at studying, she's not feeble-minded or helpless. There's time when she acts immature, but she knows how to solve her problems.
The ML is the usual cold guy with good grades, but he's actually sweet and caring to people he likes.

Side characters like, Shi Che, Xie Zi Ye, Chen Guo Guo and Qu Wei are all lovely and add their own charm to this show. Their friendship is definitely the best part of the show.

The pacing started off slow but had great build up to the story line. There's a lot of heartwarming and funny moments. Flashback scenes at the end of every episode was really cute. The acting was also great, especially the child actors.

Music used was goo. Especially the intro song, 時光少年, the lyrics fits the story. Other songs are also good.

Read More