Record of Youth (2020)

Interesting and had a good start! Lackluster ending, unfortunately, and almost none of the character arcs had a good wrap up. I think this drama was meant to be more slice of life than it advertised itself, and than it began. It almost had the semblance of a plot.

However I feel that things came too easily to the main couple, that they lacked chemistry except for in one scene, and that the hardships the ML went through were extremely unrealistic and overplayed. It's not a waste of time to watch this, but I can't fully recommend it and it's definitely not worth a rewatch. Unfortunately somewhere in the middle it lost all the momentum it had built up and went into rapid decline.

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I was disappointed and I just wanted more

There is nothing wrong with a drama being overdramatic, as long as the overdramatic adds to the storyline or actually pertains to the story. In this case, I felt like there was too much drama that was just somewhat meaningless. The male lead, Park Bo-Gum or Hye-jun, after starting to get famous kept on running into problems and honestly, after a while it just got boring. I did not feel like it added to his character or make him a stronger person, just a huge lack of character development.

Let's talk about the poster for the show itself, I felt was not really even focusing on who the show was really about. The poster makes it seem like its about those three characters mainly, when in reality, it was really about Park Bo-Gum's character, I mean even at some point the female lead gets pushed to the side. Speaking of the female lead, Park So-Dam or Jeong-ha, there was also a huge lack of character development with her or really any other character in the show. Specifically with her, we were clued into her family problems and how those issues have lead to her being cautious when it comes to romantic relationships, but those issues were never addressed. The FL continued to just be in the dark alone with her own thoughts and continued to be upset alone while the ML knew nothing about it because he assumed she was fine and that they were happy together. That was what made me hate their relationship even more, they never really knew what the other was thinking because they never spoke about their problems or when they were upset. Byeon Woo-Seok or Hae-yo, the last person in the poster for the show, I thought in a way was the only character to actually change. Hae-yo is depicted as being in love with the FL even though she has a boyfriend, but he continues to just be her friend. As the ML gets more popular than he does, we start to see a change in Hae-yo's character, we see him struggle jealousy, anger, reality. We finally see him come face to face with the fact that he has not made it this far on his own but because he has had a helping hand the whole way. He was the only character I felt actually developed over the course of the show, he struggled very much with self esteem issues and being insecure but near the end, he started to realize that he wanted to take total control of his own life, and he proceeded to do so.

Overall, I felt the show lacked in some areas. It was fun to watch at the beginning but I would say that at about episode 8 or so, it just went down hill from there. But I mean everyone has their own opinion. :)

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I don’t understand the bad reviews

I’m not going around and writing reviews for every drama I watch. Either I like it or I don’t. I was very disappointed with all the bad reviews on this drama. I felt it was good. Very realistic. Not every drama has to have a soapy ending and not every story needs to be spelled out into details. I think it will drag the story and it will get boring pretty quickly. The actors did an excellent job portraying their characters and their life experiences. It was interesting to see how vicious the entertainment industry can be and how damaging the trolls comments can be to an actor’s life when all they’re trying to do it’s their dream job which is to entertain us. In the process, you’ll need to make sacrifices since life is not peaches and roses; you’ll also have your great supporters because they believe in you and the one ones the hate your choices because they think you’re making a mistake with your life choices. This has been one of the most realistic refreshing drama I’ve seen in 2020.

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This could have been so much better.... but a letdown in the end

I really liked the synopsis on Netflix and decided to give it a go. Didn't ready anything about the drama beforehand, no reviews, no comments... took a dive right in.
I really enjoyed myself, this is a good time drama about love, friendship, the importance of family and that sometimes the good guys win.
OK, I concede that there isn't really a lot of drama here, no real angst, people stay in their lane and you can feel nothing bad or too dangerous is going to happen, in other words, a relaxed and good time.

Spoiled by a rushed ending that wasn't all that satisfying (to me anyways). When I invest 16 full hours into a drama, I don't want anything left to chance, I want my stories (main and side) wrapped up (positive or negative). Is that really too much to ask? I'm not asking for pink bow-tied rainbow endings, but a thorough last episode. This Drama did not give us that, leaving me hungry for more.
As a result, I deducted a full point.

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Disappointing

There isn't much to discuss; it would have been better as a 12-episode series. I ended up fast-forwarding through the second half just to finish it. The ending was lackluster, and many storylines were left unresolved or forgotten. The only consistent aspect was the military enlistment of the male leads. It's disappointing because I was genuinely intrigued and enjoyed the first half of the series.
































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Great show but the ending? Meh.

This drama started out with a lot of promise. I was really enjoying everything that was happening in the first half of the show. I was enjoying it so much that heading into the second half of the season brought about some anxiety as I just knew that the other shoe was going to drop and everything was going to go up in flames. I was right that everything was going to change in the second part of the season but I was less invested in what was happening in the second half.

So this show follows two best friends who are both actors and a makeup artist who is fiercely independent and a huge fangirl over the main male lead, Sa Hye-Jun (Park Bo Gum). Sa Hye-Jun is a twenty-something-year-old actor and model who is looking for his huge break. He’s a struggling actor, working multiple part-time jobs to support himself and seems to only get the crumbs from his much more successful, and rich best friend, Won Hae-Hyo. The story follows the both of them as they struggle, Hye-Jun struggled with staying true to himself and to his beliefs in the harsh world of entertainment, and Won Hae-Hyo struggles with being in the shadow of Hye-Jun’s spotlight for the first time. He’s not used to coming in second behind Hye-Jun in anything and realizing the truth about every job he’s ever gotten, every follower he’s got on social media bites him in the ass so they both struggle with being jealous of what the other has.

When Ahn Jeong-Ha comes onto the scene, she’s proud to be a fangirl for Hye-Jun because he’s everything she hoped that he would be before she met him. When they became friends and they flirted their way into a relationship, I was so invested in their relationship and in their lives apart from each other. They were interesting characters who didn’t have it easy but were optimistic that eventually if they worked hard enough, their efforts would pay off. They understood each other better than anyone else in their lives and seeing them grow to care for each other on a more personal level was a lot of fun.

I really enjoyed a lot of what this show had going on. The relationship between Hye-Jun and his grandfather was a good one. The relationship between Hye-Jun and his two best friends even though they were all idiots at different points in the show. I liked the friendship that sparked between Ahn Jeong-Ha and Hye-Jun’s manager was another fun friendship that was enjoyable. I liked that they all had their own struggles that they were dealing with but were still there for one another when it was needed. I liked that their friendships weren’t perfect but they were trying to be good people and when things fell apart, that was where I was left feeling confused AF. I didn’t understand what drove Jeong-Ha to do a lot of the things that she did, where Hye-Jun was concerned. It felt out of place, and character with what she felt and acted throughout the entire first part of the show.

A lot of the issues that Hye-Jun suffered through with his family, his friends, and then with the work stuff didn’t make sense to me. Like Hye-Jun’s Dad. What in the bleeping hell was his problem? He acted like Hye-Jun was irresponsible. The boy was damn near killing himself working so many different part-time jobs so that his parents didn’t have to support him and his acting jobs, but that didn’t stop his Dad from bitching at him for breathing. The way that the Dad’s lopsided support system worked got on my hot damn nerves because Hye-Jun was paying for crimes that were not his to begin with. I was glad that the Mom supported him and loved him through everything. But the Dad and the brother got on my hot damn nerves. The Dad eventually wins me over but even until the end, the brother annoyed the shit out of me.

Overall, the acting was good and the story was a solid one but the second half didn’t capture enough to keep me in love with what was happening to the characters and I just thought the second part of the season was weaker than the first. So it had a strong start but the end left a lot to be desired and I’m not used to that with the k-dramas that I’ve watched so far. I really finished the last episode looking lost as hell.

Because, honestly, WTF kind of ending was that? It left a lot to be desired and I’m not a fan of those, leave it up to the consumer to figure out on their own BS. Tell me what the heck happens to them and leave no detail spared, please. So he comes back, sees that she’s wearing his shoes and …that’s it? Nope, didn’t like that shit. At all but I didn’t hate it enough to give this drama less than 3 stars so the strong start really saved this one for me.

I became a big fan of Park Bo Gum, Park So Dam, and Byeong Woo Seok so I’ll be on the lookout for more of their stuff for sure. Oh and another really big highlight for me was the Park Seo Jun cameo. OMG, every time he came on the screen, I was Hye-Jun’s manager. Haha, she was great and Park Seo Jun was fan-freaking-tastic too. I always love seeing him on my screen. So yeah, those were great and if the ending had matched the strong start, I would have given this one a higher grade but oh well…life’s not perfect.

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less than my expectation

i watch this drama because the visual is do attractive (of course Netflix did well) and i thougt is going to be lite drama that i can watch when i just don want to think about everything.

I really enjoyed for first quarter of this drama; slice of life. But the writter make the main actor always have many problem that never ending. The plot also have slow time untill i get sicked of this story.

The main reason why i still watch because the visual and the character the of the mom of tha main role. She has strong personallity and i love it. but overall the drama is tell about the bitter of youth of many people that they faced.

For the ending it self i love how the writter make it so realistic and real so it really suitable of whole stories.

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Gold Spoons, Dirt Ones & Keeping Up the Act °5.8° °bland°

Here's a recording of beautiful people. There's beautiful actors, beautiful wardrobe, beautiful makeup, and tepid drama. This record is dinged from overplay.

The charming Park Bo-Gum (Reply 1988) plays ML, Sa Hye-Jun/HJ, a man who is hustlin. He models, auditions, and acts. He earns actual money by being a bodyguard… and serving tables at a BBQ joint… and slinging sandwiches at Subway. What does he want? He wants what top star Park Do-ha has. Like Do-ha, HJ has lots of fans. He has fans at every gig, including Subway; he just doesn't have enough to lift his career out of the sub-floor. As the sun rises on the show, it's setting for HJ and his career aspirations. Ep1 features scene after scene where he is chided, cajoled and cheated in an effort to convince him to cut away from his dream. He's been putting off his military service, but he's at the point where he's about ready to get it over with. Grandpa is his primary supporter; grandpa, his BFF Won Hae-Hyo, and though unknown to him, also makeup artist An Jeong-Ha/JH. In reality, JH is his biggest fan. As it turns out, JH is given a chance to do makeup at a fashion show that HJ will be in. So they meet.

ROY is a 2020 release that is rated 87 on AWiki. It is 1 season consisting of 16 67-81 minute episodes. The FL, JH, is played by Park So-Dam. She looks sweet and her smooth face says young innocence, but “She's gotten weird after starting college. She only speaks the truth.” She's so genuinely nice that her character becomes boring. In Parasite, she plays the conniving Kim sister, Ki-jung, and she's anything but boring. I didn't even recognize her! That's acting. In ROY she's crazy bout HJ. She hasn't lost her head though. On one level she understands that she's in love with the /idea/ of him. Anytime we have a crush from afar, whether it be somebody famous or somebody we see everyday, we only have a crush on the idea of that person. Remember that before getting too lost over crushes and obsessions for people that you don't even know. “I think giving love is easier than receiving love,” JH says. She loves the feeling that love gives her, so she rides with it, but she doesn't take it too seriously.

Kim Jin-U is played by Kwon Soo-Hyun & Byeon Woo-Seok plays Won Hae-Hyo. They've all been friends since grade school. Hae-Hyo is HJ's BFF and an aspiring actor/model who comes from a wealthy family. His cloying mother, Kim I-Yeong (Shin Ae-Ra from Ugly Alert and Iron Daughters-in-Law) has been in the shadows working towards his success with every mean$ at her disposal. Mom is always at odds with her domestic helper, Han Ae-Suk (Ha Hee-Ra). There's little she can do about it as Han Ae-Suk's son is HJ, her son's best friend. Furthermore, she has grown reliant on Ms Han. Those facts leech contention into their relationship. Mom is jealous of the love, respect and attention her maid gets from her son. She is a narcissist in designer ruffles and blatantly talks to her kids as if everything about them, ultimately, is about her. Every thought in her head is about her. We've all seen destructive parents like that.

The director is Ahn Gil-Ho (Stranger, Memories of the Alhambra-7, The Glory). His works are very popular. I've only seen ROY and MOA, both of which have positives and negatives. Both could be better. Writer Ha Myung-Hee (Temperature of Love, Doctors) hovers mostly in the 6's on IMDB. ROY fits their resumes; it's okay but not great. The spark is missing.

With an IQ hovering around 85, ROY is designed for relaxation and is neither excessively idiotic nor intelligent. The plot and dialogue are simple to the point of exasperation. It passes the time. Eps1-10 are solidly around a 7. Then it starts to drag. This is another example of content perfect for 10-12 episodes (but not 16) that gets degraded when it's stretched too far. It forces the viewer to have internal conflict: I like this show, that slow part is no big deal… that poor plot point, that idiotic conversation, that irritating scene are no biggie… not /really/…right? It puts our logic at odds with our emotions. I'm tagging this problem malcontent - MAL-content. It causes discontent. Logically and technically, ROY is not good. Emotionally, it somehow is with its relax-a-while charm.

Into ep6 I was startled to realize that very little has happened. That trend continues. In chill-out fashion, the viewer hangs out with these characters for awhile, but for a slice-of-life piece to work, the characters have to draw us in. The viewer must enjoy hanging with them, and the human factor must feel authentic. ROY flounders in those categories. For instance, the FL is horribly boring. As this actress is not boring in other features, we must look at the writing and directing. It starts in ep12 - ROY becomes less pleasant and more of a chore to watch. By this time less is happening, not more, and it seems obvious not much is gonna happen, and if something does happen (it doesn't) it will be too little too late.

“When it comes to love, I'm a 9 year old kid,” muses JH. Her parents split when she was younger and the hurt never healed. This is a romance between 2 decent, almost saintly people. In real life that is as lovely as it gets, but for entertainment, tension is needed to create something truly special. Early on I felt nothing between them. She's bland; he has a tinge of aloofness to him.

“Being shallow isn't bad, it's all about your preference,” says HJ's mgr, Min-jae (Shin Dong-mi - She's adorable). That's essentially ROY's justification for itself. It seems like they set out to create a show around Park Bo-Gum's good looks. Nothing more. Whether that's enough to overcome its record of mediocrity is up to personal taste. (I'm not even saying that's an easy decision. He's nice to look at and quite a good actor. I find myself wavering…)

There's praiseworthy samples as well. “I'll uphold my values no matter what.” The two leads are excellent role models and if young teens will watch the show it is a good choice for them. “To an actor, a spoon is just a utensil,” opines HJ. Gold spoons and dirt spoons are a topic, referring to the “haves" and the “have-nots”. Some kids get the benefit of money from their parents and some inherit values like honesty and loyalty. Few get both.

It gets warmer, and the director does have his moments. In ep3 they are out in the rain and look into eachother’s eyes. The rain stops and then starts again slowly. It's a very nice shot. In addition, the music is VG. ‘Shine On You’ is worth a Sahazam.

The best takeaway is when we hear this ~ “There's 3 ways to male the best use of your time: Live in the present, learn from the past, plan your future.”

Should your future include a viewing of ROY? I must vote “Pass.” In fact, with the benefit of foreknowledge I wouldn't opt to watch it for the first time. However, Park Bo-Gum does shine. If you are a fan of his then you'll want to go on the record with ROY.


QUOTES

"There's no worse punishment than having to put up with your child talking down to you all the time."

The con artists are the problem, not the victim... Anyone who goes on about being the victim is rarely the victim... The biggest @$$hole in life is somebody who goes on about being the victim when he's the assailant.


〰? IMHO
Directing 6
Writing 6
Acting 7.5
Romance 5
Flutters 4.5
Warmth 4.5
Art 6.7
Action 2.5
Sound & music 7.5
Laughs 2
Tears 3
Fright 1
Tension 2.5
Gore 3.8
Thought provocation 2
Snores 3.5
Ending 6

?6 ?6 ?7.5 ?5 ?4.5 ?4.5 ?6.7 ⚡ 2.5 ?/?7.5 ?2 ?3 ?1 ?2.5 ?3.8 ?2 ?3.5 ?6

Age 13+ ROY is relatively clean with the following cautions: Language - b!+ch, b!+chy, $h!+, $h!++y - it's rare. A designer propositions a model - also relatively mild

Rated TV-14: Parents Strongly Cautioned.

What do I recommend? Glad you asked!

In order of ~lite&trite~ to ~heavy&serious~ you may also like:

Modern Day -
Crazy Love-7.8,
A Witch's Love 7.8,
Love to Hate You 8.9,
Her Private Life 8, 99 days with the Superstar-7,
Touch your heart 8.2, Another Miss Oh-7.5,
Crash Landing On You 9.1,
Oh My Ghost 10,
It's Okay Not To Be Okay 9,
Because This Is My First Life-7.7,
Love Struck in the City 7.3, Familiar Wife-8.5,
Hospital Playlist 9, More Than Friends-8,
My Mister 9.5,
I'll See You When the Weather is Fine 9


Historical/Period -
My Only Love Song 8.7 ~ excellent comedy,
Mr. Queen 8.5,
My Sassy Girl 8.5,
Saimdang 8.5,
The King's Affection 8.3,
Mr. Sunshine 9

Action/Crime/Sci-fi -
K2 8,
Private Lives 8.1, Descendants Of The Sun-8.3,
Sisyphus 8, When the Camellia Blooms-8,
Tunnel 8.5,
Signal 8.6,
The Cursed 8.3,
Flower of Evil 8.9,
The Man from Nowhere 8.9,
Black 9,
Squid Game 8.4,
Kingdom 8.3,
Sweet Home 8.4

Romance junkies only -
My Secret Romance 7 (if you ff thru overdone flashbacks),
Boys Over Flowers 8 ~ melodrama to the max,
The Bride of Habaek 7,
Heirs 7.3,
That Winter, The Wind Blows 7,
Something in the Rain 9,
C: Well-Intended Love 7.5 Rom-porn - extra points for the dopamine,
You are my destiny 6.8 cute, sweet & 1/2 padding,
A Little Thing Called First Love 8.5,
Find Yourself 8.9


Consider a Chinese historical/ fantasy romcom: The Romance of Tiger and Rose 9.8, Love Between Fairy and Devil 8.9, Love and Redemption-10 or Japanese romcoms: Maid Sama 10, Mischievous Kiss Love in Tokyo 7.8, Love, Chunibyo And Other Delusions 8.4, or Toradora 8.5

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A romantic story, but not the goal

It's not a must-see, if you're not Bo Gum fan.

There's a lot of secondary stories and they don't finalize the majority of them.

The romance is cute, but a bit cheesy. I think it's okay to be cheesy when you're in love, and they tried to show the couple's jokes and things like that.

For me, it feels like a drama to promote Bo Gum skills, and I confess I would certainly watch him as a bad guy. Not sure if I consider a great acting, but I believed in him when he stands as a good guy, doing the right thing.

I don't think it's a great romantic story, cuz it wasn't the main focus. The main focus is the protagonist decisions about life. If you watch with romance in mind, will be disappointed.

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I really didn't want to watch it because I had a bad feeling about it. I loved all the episodes except for the last 4. But I am grateful for the awareness of what celebrities and idols have to go through in South Korea when they become famous. I already became aware of the spitefulness, and maliciousness that fans of other celebrities/idols, agents, journalists, and paparazzi can bring to hurt them because of competition, jealousy, and or greed. The fans are the worst because they want to control artists, which angers me the most. Some agencies of these artists/idols at times will not do anything to protect them because some of them know that fans generate monies behind their clients being famous. Sometimes it gets out of hand as shown in this drama. What bothers me the most is the lies, rumors, and edits of photos/videos to get make their lies the truth, and their followers will believe them. In the aftermath, hate comments start and these hate comments end up hurting the Idols and their families. Netizens can be the worst for an artist/idol.

Park Bo Gum is a great actor and played his part well. I have always admired Park So Dam, she did well. I thank all the other actors/actresses for their part in this drama. I thank the team as well.

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Fresh and loving drama

To be honest I’m surprised to see the amount of really negative reviews on here. I have to admit that it’s not my favorite K-drama of all time, but I did feel a lot of important messages coming through. I also really enjoyed the acting, the OSTs are great and I could actually see a lot of character development. I’ll point out some of my favorite things/storylines:

- One issue that a lot of reviewers mentioned was that An Jung ha was amazing at communicating at first but completely stopped in the last episodes. I do get why people find it confusing, because it’s such a big part of her character and also a very big and centered character trait of hers. But for me it did make a lot of sense. I can totally understand how a person could even lose such a dominant character trait when being troubled 24/7. They didn’t really see each other anymore, she slowly felt like the relationship wasn’t right anymore. I, myself, would say that I’m a good communicator and will always say if something’s not right, but I also had times where I was just exhausted from always communicating and speaking up, when I already feel something’s off in a relationship. So I do believe that a person, especially at such a young age and when having a flourishing career.
- I got really mad at Hye Joons dad at times, because I will never understand how you could treat a son like that. But i think that we have to take the relationship between Young Nam and Min Gi into account before accusing Hye Joons dad of anything. It did frustrate me at times, but I also know that cultures differ and that talking to your children like that is normal in some. I am a sucker for apologies from parents though, so I did bawl my eyes out in the last episode, both at the awards ceremony and the scene in Hye Joons room. The last episodes showed the depth of Young Nam and Min Gi, I did wish it would’ve happened a little earlier.
- I actually did enjoy that Hae Hyo did not try to make any moves on Jung Ha. He did have a huge crush and did spend a lot of time with her, but he always stayed loyal to his childhood friend. The trio friendship itself was very beautiful to witness. Although they did resent each other at times, they always found a way back to each other and communicated well. The boys really do love each other dearly and they grew to be adults, but will always be boys when together.
- Hae Hyos mom was terrible in my opinion and what she did was only hurting her children. She was selfish and only wanted her Hae Hyo to succeed so she could have her way. In the last few minutes of the last episode there was a complete turn around of her character and although I do believe that she has changed over Hae Hyos military time, but I just don’t like her in general and believe that she still is quite toxic. She did bring a lot of tension and drama to the series, so I did enjoy it.
- The romantic relationship between Jung Ha and Hye Joon was beautiful and youthful. They did have their faults and I did miss the passion at times, but it did fit both characters well to be super understanding. I did not like the open end in the beginning, but it has grown on me. In my imagination they definitely end up together and Jung Ha will finally meet Hye Joons family (and will learn what a loving family is).
- My favorite message that I received from this Drama was that no matter the age, you can always follow your dreams and make success out of it. I feel like a lot of young people, all over the world, have to chose a career path way to early. Seeing the grandfather do what he really enjoys and being successful by doing it, might inspire a lot of people to chose a career that actually makes them happy.

What I did not like is the following:
- I felt like the last episode was rushed and so many things were put in.
- I would’ve enjoyed to see more of Jung Has relationship with her mom. A lot of people wrote that they did not understand why it was even mentioned at all. I think that it showed the contrast between a functioning and not functioning family quite well. Hye Joons family wasn’t perfect at all, but they loved each other a lot and somehow always found their way back into each other’s arms.

If you enjoy really dramatic and kind of toxic storylines where the man chases the girl to the maximum and is the dominant one, DON’T watch this drama, because you will hate it.
I did really enjoy it, because it was a youthful and fresh approach to a typical storyline. I liked the character development of the main, but also of some side characters.
It changed my view on a lot of topics concerning Koreans society and it also changed how I see Korean celebrities, they do not have it easy.
Would definitely recommend if you don’t like rushed storylines and like a loving relationship between FL and ML!

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don't expect too much

i personally didn't mind the show and i kind of wish there were more like it. a lot of people say it was disappointing but i wasnt expecting much when i first watched it anyway. i was looking for a kdrama that didn't have much drama and i got what i wanted. yeah, it's a bit slow but it's sort of an easy finish when you just want to wind down. everyone says the ending wasnt good and even though it wasnt great, it's definitely not the worst out there. the story is literally what the title is, 'record of youth'. its borderline realist. i like that it doesn't entirely focus on love either, i kind of like how it's a bit unstable. would i watch it again? maybe not, but i don't regret watching it once.

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