This was a rare find

Although this drama has an Older Female/Younger Male dynamic, I would recommend this one for the grown and sexy. Not too silly, the romance was a slow burn but once it gets started it never stops. Although several years younger than the female lead, and in a different financial situation, the leading male still showed how supportive he could be of her throughout the show. The male lead started liking the female lead early on in the drama, but there wasn't a question as to why...some of these dramas the love is questionable...but it was easy to fall for the leading lady such Rou Xin...

The cast was perfect, the secondary couples were cute and did not take away from the main story.

I really enjoyed this one.

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Speak for five minutes on your last breath

No Boundary was a fun watch, especially the second half of the show where more action takes place.

Plot: The plot was detailed, and you can tell they put a lot of time expressing a complex story

Music: Not too bad, I really thought the music of doom was pretty funny actually.

Pacing: Here is where we have a major problem. Some scenes were unnecessarily drawn out like a blueprint for a stadium. There would be times where I was keyed up from a scene just to be let down when someone would die and start talking for five minutes as if they just didn't get stabbed fatally in the heart with a sword. Pacing is extremely important to me, and I would have rated this a seven if I didn't binge both seasons.

Flashbacks: Oh boy, there are a bunch of flashbacks that I feel like I traveled back in time. Luckily someone invented the skip button otherwise I would have been highly disappointed in this series.

Overall a reluctant 8 for this show...I would not be re-watching.

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It's not all that bad

Sometimes the reviews on here will have you believe that if you start watching a drama, hands will come out of the screen to choke you or something.

After reading the numerous negative reviews of this drama, I just had to see what this train wreck was all about and...it wasn't that much a disaster that I thought it will be.

I admit...it felt that between episode 10 and 11 there should have been another episode in between explaining what the HECK was going on, which threw the entire show...but I guess I've watch enough dramas to fill in the blanks not to be bothered by it much.

Also admitting, some OST's are so outstanding that they just stick out against non-emotional scenes. I found myself smirking numerous of times while beautiful music played against a scene that did not match the mood of the song.

Someone on here complained about the kiss scenes, and although I never really talk about these in my review, the complaint stood out so much it was hard not to notice the kisses between the main leads while watching this show. They were not all that bad...I've seen a million times worse...okay since you are curious on a scale of 1-10 I give the kisses a solid 6.

Now my major complaints
... from having a powerless villain...He was evil, but was really stupid in the long run...and to be honest, the actor was so good at playing such an evil character, I felt bad for him in this role.
...to having "so what" characters, like the prime minister, that really had no real role and took up too much screen time. And the little boy and his yo-yo, who should had more of a background to his story instead of a 5 second montage of nothing.

...I always give time travel and multiple universes a pass when story-telling because although it could be confusing and accepting things without question can be hard for some people...it all boils down to imagination.

So overall: I give this drama a solid 7, if you like your story tied up in a nice bow at the end...this may not be for you...you may be left scratching your head at the end, wondering...but, what about this??? What happened to this character???

Until my next review... I'll be watching another drama.

I'm out.

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I didn't read the synopsis...

...before starting this drama. I went in not knowing what to expect, but I was up to my head with watching horribly written plots and bad acting that I was desperate to try anything. I was more than pleasantly surprised to stumble across this gem.

Plot; This plot was well thought out, nothing was questionable, no plot holes to be filled, everything flowed at a steady pace, and there weren't too many flashbacks to draw out the scenes.

Characters: Each character was fleshed out, even the main villain wasn't one dimensional...as an audience we can even empathize with him to some extent. If I would have to question anything about the characters, it would be about the ones in Yung...but since there will be a part two, I wonder if they will go into more details about those characters and what their motivations are.

If you are like me, someone that's watched a bunch of dramas and seemed tapped out, this may be the one that can get you going again.

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A love story or a melodrama...

Pick one.

This was a cute enough story but the back and forth between the real world and the novel makes the whole thing draggy. Like many have mentioned, the real world story is just not compelling enough to stay focused and it was a relief whenever the story was redirected to the novel parts.

I do not believe they tied the two stories together to make them blend in smoothly.

Okay.

The acting was just alright in my honest opinion, but that could be because the melodrama parts seemed overdramatic, it played out like a soap opera.

There was an unbelievable scene, something miraculous happened to our main lead and I don't think they've executed the scenario enough to make the audience understand how something like that could happen without permanent consequences.

The main lead's brother and sister ending seemed rushed and not planned out; although who cared about their parts anyway?

Overall, this deserves a 7 from me, which is high enough to recommend watching it, for the novel parts alone...but there is no re-watch value here at all.

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Short enough

If this was a 12 episode drama I would have lowered my score to a 3. To be honest I am not sure the point of this drama, but it was short enough not to get upset about it.

The next is a very short sum of the synopsis...no spoilers...because...really there is nothing to spoil here.

Girl meets boy at a hair salon. Girl is busy with work all the time and never have time for boy. Boy likes that girl is busy all the time. End of the story. To be honest, this could be summed up in one 45 minute episode, but I really like the leading Male so I will rate a tad bit higher than suggested.

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I'm an ally

I jumped into this drama expecting the most compelling story of all time. The reviews on here are mostly all 10's, and I was ready for the binge monster to kick in....instead I got a cute story, decent acting (considering their ages and experience I was not expecting Oscar-winning performances but they carried their own in my honest opinion) and a social lesson on the struggles on loving as a gay person in the Philippines

Here is why I did not rate it a 10...

I did not see a problem with the pacing, but there was an issue with the story-telling for me. Just like in Nirvana in Fire, there was more explaining than acting going on. That could be because of the budget, but Karl's story was central to his decision making that a few more scenes with his family could have made a difference in perception. Also, Vlad's story was explained away as well. There is nothing wrong with story-telling but the direction has to pull the viewer in to actually feel the story.

I agree that the chemistry between the two was actually pretty good, but one of the characters ( I won't spoil) was just coming into their sexual identity and the moves he made were incongruent with how he was handling his newfound self...again I feel that this was a direction issue. Many of their scenes together were long music montages, and though I am a firm believer that you do not need dialogue to convey a message...the music montages were a bit too much.

The ending was rushed...and it was obvious...they could have cut out the walking face-time scene with the two girls and expanded on the ending a bit more...I hate rushed endings with a passion...it could make or break an entire drama.

General Thoughts on BL: I enjoy BL stories and am glad to see them moving in the direction to portray realistic situations that the LGBTQ+ community face...however, I also enjoy BL stories that ignore the social struggles and just tell a story of two people falling in love (solving mysteries, crime, mind-reading, vampires...whatever that is interesting) without worrying about said issues. I know some people thought this story was a bit too preachy...I actually enjoyed the lesson in this drama because it showed two different sides of the story.

The for-female-enjoyment BL stories were okay to watch but some people believe they could be problematic and I agree. Most people in my generation grew up with a Cinderella complex (look it up) and the millions of stories about a damsel of distress were reinforcing the idea that women need to be taken care of and saved...not being able to take care of themselves. So GSP was refreshing because they did not add toxicity to their story...creating a safe space for a gay story to thrive and can actually be relatable to a gay audience.

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I was debating on giving this show a 7.5

But decided to rate it a 9...solely based on Gav's Monica's reference...what does a Generation Z baby from the Philippines know about Monica???
I was shooketh!...when he said Angel of Mine...I was hehe'ing...thinking he unknowingly made a Monica reference but when he said Monica's version...I was like WHAT???
(And yes, I did catch Ariana Grande reference's too but she is the most listened to artist globally so not surprised there)

Anyway...to the review:

This was the first time I've seen a drama like this, where almost every scene had a social media tie to it...it was interesting to see. The pacing was pretty decent...as well as the character building, despite it being such a short series. I wanted to know more about Gav's character...but the focus was mainly placed on Cai. We know he's a gamer, have siblings, a mother, and even small details about the foods he enjoys. We know about Gav's tragic past, but what else? How was he able to send all these gifts to Cai??? Every time he bought something...I was wondering how he was able to afford it.

The story-telling is relevant to the pandemic we are going through and I like how it shows the impact such a pandemic has on people...and it briefly tackles subjects such as mental health, social distancing, mandatory quarantining and other related topics.

The reason I would give this a 7.5 (which I didn't because of the Monica reference)...is because although the story-telling was relevant, it was not compelling enough to warrant anything higher. If you take away the BL element, this story may not be rated so high. Like most cliche stories in Asian dramas we have 2 leads in love, the two second leads create conflict, a period of misunderstandings, and the eventual reconciliation. The physical distance element did add more to the conversation...but it did not deviate from the typical setup of most dramas.

(Just a side note...Gav's dimples..enough said...I have them too so I know what a smile can do to transform a face)

Just some thoughts
I'm from an older generation (Early Millenial)and this kind of thing is actually scary...just imagine years down the line where people only form relationships online...this pandemic has everyone communicating through technology and as a communication graduate, I remember learning that there is some sensory information that we are missing when we communicate in such a way...leaving out the necessary stimulants that will make us form a bond.

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Slow paced but watchable

I must admit, I went into this with high expectations. This drama received many awards and reviews on MDL is favorable so I was ready to binge, but it took me some time to get through this one.

What I liked:
-The cinematography was hands down some of the best I've seen...and in the beginning episodes, the transitions were unique.
-I loved the story-telling in each episode, it was a twist to some of the classics
-Sang Tae's character with autism-I has watched Touch Your Heart right before this and was impressed by the level of skill of Oh Jung Se could bring to the table...there was a different actor in Touch Your Heart that also had autism who did a fabulous job so I wondered if Oh Jung Se got pointers from him? At any rate, I like that he was a heartwarming character with many layers.
-I liked Ah Reum and Jung Tae story arc...I wished they would have expanded on it more ( As someone that's been in a mental institution myself, I know for a fact that patients can find love with each other and the fact that Jun Tae decided to heal instead of throwing all his hard work away was a testament to what people are willing to give up to overcome certain addictions to forge a better life in the future
-I also like the true bondage that PTSD can have on a person and the impact that war has on lives, I wished they would have explored this more too.

What I wished would change:

-The two leads did a good job, but I found myself wanting to skip whenever they were on the screen, it has nothing to do with the actors but the direction...the pacing was slow where it needed to be fast and fast where it needed to slow down.
-It's unrealistic for a patient that is on their death bed to stay at a psych hospital, I am not sure why it was written that way or if South Korean mental facilities are different but most mental hospitals only deal with the brain not anything else. Correct me if I am wrong here..
- I did enjoy Gang Tae and Sang Tae story but there was a lack in the FL character development in my opinion...the idea that love can change a person so drastically was unrealistic (like some suggested in other reviews) don't get me wrong, I thought she was an interesting...maybe even refreshing character, but there was something lacking there...I won't put spoilers though.

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New Title, Loving you like a crazy person

This show was FUNNY! I am not sure if it was meant to be that way but I binged watched it and had many belly laughs. I read some of the reviews of this show on Viki and on here and I disagree that this show was bad. The pacing was on point and each scene contributed to the plot.

Everyone and I mean everyone on this drama is Bat Chick'n Crazy. What surprised me in the reviews was that Kota was getting so much sympathy and I was expecting an all around good character that never did anything wrong to be betrayed...boy, I was wrong. Instead, you got a man that went from sane to insane in a couple episodes, doing unthinkable things in the name of saving his love. His overexaggerated expressions were funny as heck and I would not consider it bad acting but a way to make the audience chuckle at the ridculouslessness of it all.

Ran was also an absolute nutcase, willing to do anything to trap and keep her man...sometimes doing things to hinder herself.

I would not recommend this to anyone who is expecting a realistic...idea plot...this story is not for the light hearted because it deals with many sensitive topics.

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No Spoilers since nothing happened

I was looking for something interesting to watch, with a mind-reading plot and so I bumped into this piece of coal that should have never been created.

Let me explain.

Story: Is there really a story here??? The synopsis will have you believe that the male lead can read the girl's mind and that is the reason he falls in love but on the contrary, there is no reason WHATSOEVER why these two characters decided they liked each other...One Viki commenter said that the confession was anticlimatic, other comments wondered why the sudden switch...and I was wondering why I was continuing to put myself through so much torture.

There was not a plot...at all, so since there wasn't a plot there wasn't any pacing, this script (which I doubt there was an actual script) was filled with nonsense and many people were confused watching this...I was not confused about anything...I knew all along that there was no plot to be found to be confused about.

I feel so bad for Lee Hong GI....why does he put himself in these types of dramas is beyond me... Everyone who sees him calls him Jeremy from You're Beautiful which came out 11 years ago...the reason he is acting in a nonscripted, non directed drama about school (I say that loosely, this drama is not really about school at all) is beyond me. I hope he at least got paid well enough to act in this nonsense.

I won't put any spoilers...(there is nothing to spoil really since nothing happened) but at the very end of this show, they found every Asian drama trope and decided...let's add them all at once in the last 3 episodes for NO REASON.

Acting: Every once in a while you can get a good actor to pull off a decent performance from a non-plot role such as this but it didn't happen. The actors tried their best but the nonscripted drama was so apparent in everything that they said that there was no saving it. The fact that the actors and crew stuck around to film this is actually a miracle.

Music production: OH MY Chicken...please watch this show on silent if you are planning to torture yourself. The music production was so awful...the worst I've ever experienced out of the hundreds of dramas' that I've watched over the years. Sometimes they would have two OST's playing at once, other times the awful tunes will be drowning out the actor's voice, a serious scene is accompanied by an upbeat track, and the sound effects (especially the clock sound effect that had no purpose whatsoever, will overlap with a ringtone and a track....it's a mess just typing about it).

Rewatch Value: HAHAHA if you watched this one time you deserve some kind of compensation...the only reason I did is that I have plenty of excess time and wanted to see the train wreck.

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Don't let the episode count stop you...

From watching this amazing drama.
I won't go into too many details, but if you want an example of what unconditional love looks like...this is the drama for you. Our leads are outstanding together and deserve some kind of award for their portrayals in this drama.
There are not too many series that would make me cry because it over...Love and Redemption was one of those dramas...tears poured, I learned an important lesson and the acting for this drama was outstanding.

I would like to give a standing ovation to the side cast who added to the story, instead of acting like fillers. The supporting cast did such an amazing job that if you were to cut out the two leads (who were fabulous) there would still be an exciting story to tell.

The reason I did not get it 10/10 is because there were draggy unnecessary parts that were plot stallers...such as over 30 seconds of flashback montages and emotional silent scenes that dragged on forever but it is forgiven due to the satisfying ending.

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Why did I torture myself?

There must be a reason why I just stick with historical/ wuxia dramas...they typically are plotted well enough to justify a long series. This series is only 16 episodes felt like 40 episodes but should have just been six episodes long. I won't go into the details because I wouldn't want to spoil anything but there are many plot holes and unnecessary plot devices that just did not do it for me. The only thing that saved this drama from getting 1 star is the actors/ actresses. The secondary couples did a great job making you root for them.

Watch this if you enjoy fluff...long flashback montages that last more than 30 seconds and a very unnecessary nonstory plot device that was there for...???? Not sure the purpose.

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What to say here

I rated this an 8 because it takes a lot of plot focus to get me to rewatch anything. However, I love the concept of the female lead getting pulled into her own script via a dream and having to deal with the world she had created. There were many points made in this drama about the power dynamics between males and females.

Let's get into it:

The female lead did a wonderful job, I loved her here better than in Love Better Than Immortality. which shows growth from this actress. She was quirky in the right moments and she did not fall in love instantly, which is a huge plus for me.

The male lead: I have never seen him in anything else before, but he does a good job as well...he could be stiff on some parts but his romantic scenes are adorable. I would like to see him again in a future project.

The cast was complimentary to the leads and no one outshines over the other...I love a well-balanced cast where everyone has their unique talents highlighted.

There was one pair in this that I absolutely adored and wished had more scenes and that was the 1st princess and SuMu...we need more inter-able romances.

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Being Honest

I put this on my 'plan to watch' list a while back and was ready to dip into the story like a chicken nugget in some ranch sauce until I realized the nugget was soggy. I did not go in expecting much...but I love these Three Lives Three Worlds dramas and I was willing to give it a try. I will keep it simple...

What I did not like:
Dragging scenes that seemed to be thrown into fill the time
Dilraba's character at the beginning of the series was hard to take
Vego character in the mortal world and one of his role's in the so-called dream.
The demon princesses role- even though I know she negotiated some deal because she owned the rights to the story
No purpose demonic villain

What I liked:
Wayne Liu- Best character ever...I want them to revive this role for a whole new drama/ give him a better person to love and call it a day!

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