Shows I Watched In 2026

Brilliant!!! Loved this one a lot. It stays in my mind after I have finished it. Although I went in expecting different things, what I actually got served was quite different. That could either turn out bad or good, and in this one's case good won (kinda ironic).

As per the other reviewers I had watched and read before watching this, The Bad Kids is a show made with utmost care and with full intention of making a good crime, thriller and mystery show and no intention of being the popular moneymaking hit. Thankfully, that is what made this the second most popular show ever on douban, with a deserved rating of 8.8. I cannot talk deeply about the show in fear of spoiling it, but I will still try.

The show uses and depicts human psychology very well, and a lot of the things in this show are not told but hidden for the viewer to interpret. Mostly due to the censorship rules, and also to respect the audiences intelligence, there are a lot of things not told but hidden. The show asks a question, weather to believe in the fairytale or the truth? It might show you a fairytale, but fairytale might not be the truth. You have to see the hidden clues to know the truth, or you can choose to stay with the fairytale. And I'd admit, even I did not grasp the truth at first. It were the good amount of discussions online that I went through to see the hidden things.

Also, there was no boring episode. No single minute was wasted. Top tier show. I love both Strangers from Hell and this, and in some aspects I felt this went above SFH. If you loved SFH, this show is a good choice. Both shows have that feeling of 'there is something very wrong, but I cannot just tell it yet' and require more than one watch to understand the plot.

It was indeed a great show, and certain parts will be remembered well by me. It did falter in the middle imo, and I did expect a little more from the mystery part given all the praise, but the characters, the cinematography, the lead dynamic and the detailed + great writing (even with the drag) makes it totally worth it. One of the better kdramas.

Now if only some mules did not spoil Mouse for me, especially those Youtube content creators, I'd have headed to watch it next. I'd never not be bitter about this. They casually dropped spoilers in videos about funny scenes from romcoms that I once used to watch, until they decided to spoil thrillers.

CW

1000/10 for certain. One of the best period Chinese dramas with one of the best actress I have ever seen, my favourite Zhou Xun!

CW 1000/10

I have have practically watched and rewatched multiple parts of it ever since it's release, just never officially and fully started it as I was waiting for the right time. I've only checked a lot of it out as I couldn't help myself at times. I already know this is a 1000/10 drama and this rating wouldn't change, as I know all there is to know about it.

This is the ultimate healing slice of life drama. Certain popular 'healing' going to hometown kdramas don't even come close to this one. This is how it's done!!!

CW

Just saw the first episode and OMG its soo good!!! Is this really a kdrama? This is so much like the great Chinese historicals I love!! This really is different from other Korean dramas, so good and so unique!! I hope it keeps up with the quality and it might end up as a 1000/10 drama for me!

CW

Surprisingly (or not so surprisingly) I am loving this one a lot even while I am watching this along other great slice of life dramas. Taiwan really does romance well. After Meet Yourself, I am liking this the most. Really well made and I love the main characters already.

Taiwan's magic always works for me. So different from SOOD yet it already feels as good as SOOD in its own genre.

CW

LIGHT SPOILERS

Okay, 7 episodes in and I feel the high douban rating for this now. It truly deserves it. It is the 2nd time a kdrama is making me not check the progress bar and instead I feel so invested that I click next episode as soon as I finish one. The 1st such show was TLIYE. Honestly, it feels like this could enter my 1000/10 list. Earlier I expected Dear My Friends to make it to the list, but now that one is not getting to me like I thought it would and this one I expected to be rating 9.5 like I did for other 2 Reply series. This is truly the superior Reply.

Also, I am not really into making this a husband game thingy as I am a slice of life fan and Reply series should be judged for it's quality writing rather than the husband game, but let me just put my ships out here. First ofc Sun Woo and Bo Ra, the perfect role reversal of the grumpy and sunshine trope. I love them both so so much already. Bo Ra quickly became a fav from being annoying and episode 5 nailed it with her love for her country. Sun Woo is such a nice guy and I fully root for him. Second, Deok Sun and Taek because I am more into a good guy that is not mean to the girl he loves and clearly communicates his feelings. Also, he is so cute it makes me want to pinch his cheeks like an annoying auntie. The 2 of them will make a cute pairing. I do like Jung Hwan too, he is not that mean to her and his crush on her is lovable, but he is a bad communicator as seen already and idt that it will work out well if they are the endgame but I won't really mind it, but I like MLs like Taek. Jung Hwan feels more like 1997s Yoon Jae and his and Shi Won's romance was frustrating to watch due to the poor communication and romance was the least likable part for me there so yeah. Also, third ship being Taek's dad and Sun Woo's mom. This is just a wild guess, it will be so awesome if they really end up marrying!

CW

One of the best female centered story from Korea, and the first of this category from the country I believe (first drama, not film)

I am loving this, but I am still waiting before calling it excellent. I see an attempt to include not so slice of life things that seem to enter Thriller category, and if it becomes like a thriller towards the end then I'd not be able to love it. I hope not as I hate the hotch-potch of unnecessary genres in kdramas as they are almost never done well. If it stays the same, then it might be a 10/10.

Edit1: 3 eps in and this is going very strong. If this continues to be this good, it will be a 10/10 from me. Although not the same level as Brush Up Life for me (that was exceptional peak sismance show), but it's still very very good in it's own way.

CW

The cinematography here is so good!!! The town looks so beautiful, even if the tone is melo and it seems like a prison to FL, it just looks so beautiful I was left in awe!!! It is somewhat like places I used to dream of, beautiful towns like those.

CW

Okay, this is good. This is actually addictive. Idk what the Chinese do, but such dramas from their end are more often than not very good. The group chemistry is great, the mystery grips me, the supernatural aspect is very interesting and I love it overall. I can't wait to know the full story. Also happy that I have more works to watch from the creators of this, the recently released Mirage that was 8.3 on douban and the all time classic and top rated trilogy that is Moral Peanuts.

I will recommend everyone who loves a good mystery, supernatural, detective and thriller stories to give this a try. The acting by non mains sure is not that good and sure this show looks low budget as they say it to be, but honestly: both the acting and production quality here is much much better than that of Princess Agents and Princess Wei Young. And those 2 were high budget shows unlike this low budget gem. Also, the script here is very well written unlike the crappy and garbage writing of PA & PWY(comparing with those 2 as it was supposed to release in that time frame)

CW

CW

Of all 3 2013-14 kdramas I am watching currently, this had the strongest 1st episode. I feel quite interested as unlike other popular romance kdramas where there is a very annoying villain whose entire existence is to make things miserable and be just very evil for the sake of it, here we seem to have much more complex and well written negative characters (fingers crossed.) Also, no destined lovers or fated lover bs (hopefully.)

Edit1: 5 eps in and this sure is one of the better kdramas. I get the hype of this and it is indeed quite interesting. I just hope it remains this interesting for all 20 episodes as the biggest thing that stops me from watching romance kdramas is that they are good for the first 4-5 eps and then they drag till last 2 eps. I find the romance interesting enough even tho it is not a romantic dynamic I prefer: soft, righteous, quirky, oddball FL and strong, grounded, more logical ML is not really my thing, but somehow they make it work. Villains don't annoy me and the main villain is not exceedingly annoying like most kdramas

On Hold

4 episodes in and I don't know why its magic is not working on me. Since I discovered this show, I have always thought I would end up loving it to the point of it being a top fav. It sounds exactly my kind of show. I love old people, I love to hear their stories, I love non dramatic just life slice of life shows, I love melo and sad toned slice of life, I love realism heavy stories, and this has all of it. Yet it's magic did not get me 4 eps in.

I do feel that it would get very good later on and since I do not want to destroy the positive feelings and highs of this show by forcing myself to watch even with no motivation to go to the next episode, I'll keep it on hold for 2 weeks or so. I'll catch up again, hoping for its magic to finally get me.

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On Hold for now. Nothing wrong with it, it's actually very good. I just got busy and did not watch since long, and am watching other shows at the moment. Will resume soon.

On Hold for now. Nothing wrong with it, it's actually very good. I just got busy and did not watch since long, and am watching other shows at the moment. Will resume soon.

On Hold for now. Nothing wrong with it, it's actually very good. I just got busy and did not watch since long, and am watching other shows at the moment. Will resume soon.

On Hold for now. Nothing wrong with it, it's actually very enjoyable. I just got busy and did not watch since long, and am watching other shows at the moment. Will resume soon.

On Hold for now. Nothing wrong with it, it's actually very enjoyable. I just got busy and did not watch since long, and am watching other shows at the moment. Will resume soon.

On Hold for now. Nothing wrong with it, it's actually very enjoyable. I just got busy and did not watch since long, and am watching other shows at the moment. Will resume soon.

Had dropped before, might try again. Overhyped, but not as bad as other overhyped kdramas