catherine
Cute at some points
There's so much potential between the two leads — they started off really cute together. But the plot gradually lost steam and I just felt like this drama didn't have a strong plot going for it and I didn't feel like I was waiting to see anything happen.There are also some strong bouts of noble idiocy (expected in a 2011 drama) and very cliche characters with the warm female lead and terrible second lead. But I was pleasantly surprised that they didn't make the male lead a rude jerk so at least that was enjoyable!
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Better than I expected
I read the short story right before this and honestly didn't think a film would be able to do it justice, with how mysterious and nameless the characters are. But this movie really managed to create that atmosphere of impending doom, of a question you're just on the brink of answering. This is one of those movies you feel.And they kept a lot of the original lines from the original short story, and the William Faulker reference! I was really worried they take that out. The only thing that maybe bothers me is the fact that they did greenhouses instead of barns.
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The one thing that stood out to me the most is the music and the cinematography — both really impressive and immersive, with some of the most dramatic and beautiful shots I'd ever seen.
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Not comparable to the prequel
Seriously, this should've just been its own zombie movie, not Train to Busan 2. I loved the first one after watching it for the first time this year — it not only had the right amount of tension and stress, but also made me love all the characters and go through the heartbreak of losing them.This one had none of the same heart in it. It essentially felt like an action flick. And if that's what you're a fan of, then you'll love all the drag racing and the shootouts. But I'm not really a fan of mindless action, and even though there were some scenes where they tried to be tragic, I hadn't connected with the characters at all, and crying scenes felt dragged out.
Ultimately, it was just too formulaic — there was no deep-dive into the human condition (though there were some dystopian vibes), and zombies were relegated to the background the same way a general would wield an army, as a weapon. It was still a nice watch; after all, I LOVE the Train to Busan zombies — but all this movie did was hit home how good the first one was.
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A nice watch but I wanted more
Overall a nice watch and a lot of mini lessons and touching scenes, but I'm kind of surprised it's rated THAT highly here. I think the beginning was stronger for me, more about JH dealing with his prison situation and who the people around him are, rather than the latter half which had more rotating bad guys and random baseball obstacles. I thought the drama would deal a lot more with morality and be heavier, but overall it seemed pretty light-hearted to me.There are A lot of rotating characters, which makes sense given the prison system, but it just makes it feel like the writers dropped the ball on their stories. One side character that was consistently present throughout the entire series got a terrible ending; I know how unrealistic it can be to give everyone a happy ending when there's such a big cast but it just felt terrible to watch and so unsatisfying :'(
A lowkey star of the show — Paeng! So much depth in his character, from his own backstory to just how he interacts with the inmates. And Minchul was another fave of mine.
Obviously, I loved the bromance and the friendships throughout but I think it could've gone further as well if they handled more serious topics about unjust laws / redemption / life paths / power dynamics, etc.
Anyways! This was a fun one for me and as a fan of the friends-to-lovers trope, the fact that we got two of that was a huge plus.
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Fun but had to grow on me
I enjoyed watching this a lot, even though it was definitely something that had to grow on me because all the toilet humor wasn’t my thing. I really appreciate how quickly the plot moved through everything and learned to care about all the characters! This drama did a really good job forcing me to suspend my disbelief and even though it had a lot of tropes, it honestly didn’t FEEL cliche, at all.Now —I have such MIXED emotions about the ending? While it was definitely fun and not altogether so unrealistic, I felt like a lot of sub-plot was left out, like the debt and loan sharks, Yoon-hee's piano-playing, familial relationships, etc. Some sub-plots felt a little unnecessary and I think the time could've been used to explain other things better.
Similarly, I felt like they could’ve really subverted our expectations with some of the lovelines and having some couples NOT end up together — it’s not just that I didn’t really like them, but just that the relationships were based on so many issues that I don’t think were successfully worked out and I think the characters needed more exploring on their own.
So, same goes with some of the characters by themselves — as much as I loved cute domestic fluff, Hyuk's character was pretty under-utilized, while Han-chul’s cancer plot felt like it was only used to justify his obsessiveness and angstiness.
Overall, still a fun watch and very fast paced. If you liked Eulachacha Waikiki (which I didn't) you'll probably also like this sort of slapstick humor.
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I was surprised to see how much hate it got in its earlier episodes, because that was the part I loved the most. There were funny fish-out-of-water scenes for our female lead — but she wasn't stupid, the chemistry with both male leads was building, and there was the backdrop of people willing to take extreme measures for the throne so there was always the feeling of there being high stakes.
Once things started ramping up, however, the sub-plots disappeared and even the main competition for the throne started feeling less high stakes when all the cards were pretty much already laid on the table.
The romance dwindled as well, mostly self-sabotage by the characters who were lacking development and seemed to constantly be changing their minds without good reason.
And much of this has to do with the terrible use of time skips. Time skips where nothing really changes BETWEEN characters really have no purpose, especially since we were given such little context for why things changed. To add, they started adding more characters and focusing on side ships at the halfway mark who I didn't care about.
They really underutilized the time-traveling aspect as well. Hae-soo had visions every once in a while, but her role in history was very passive and reactive.
All in all, I honestly felt everything was predictable, especially the ending. The difference was, at the start, I was emotionally invested in it and by the time it happened, the dynamics between the characters had changed so much I stopped loving them.
Also: a "gotcha, they're not actually dead!" moment for a villain simply shows me to that they didn't build up the infrastructure for a system of obstacles and needed one character to drive the whole thing. It also feels lazy to have not one, but TWO kings descend into madness — neither of which were explained very well.
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A fun watch
This was overall a really good and enjoyable drama, and everything wrapped up nicely!I love a strong, outspoken female lead, and for the most part, she stayed that way. There were some moments where the dialogue and actions for her devolved completely into nonsense and the drama went into overdrive on the angst. I also thought the acting for Yikyung started out really great, but after Doorim was introduced I couldn't unsee Yikyung as Doorim.
We also got really good plot development where misunderstandings and secrets weren’t dragged out, and people were brought into the loop quickly.
While I wish the sageuk part was distributed more evenly throughout the drama, I honestly loved the intensity of that part, even as its own story.
I would have rated this a 7.5 but honestly, the last few episodes took me out. I can’t help but feel like a lot of the last three episodes were unnecessary. I thought we’d already gone through the noble idiocy but they really doubled down on it and added a time skip for it, and I kind of hate that. The way it played out — sort of resolved with just rainbows and butterflies — just did not make logical sense and it felt written that way because they had to wrap up the drama. Some of the resolution with the antagonists felt that way as well.
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The humor was there but it wasn't really my style of humor (which usually is more dry and sarcastic), and the mystery/melodrama of finding out the past also wasn't heavy and engaging enough to make me shed tears.
Something about the way it was edited/produced also made some of the flashbacks, especially at the start of the drama, look parodic as if the characters were just dancing in front of a green screen, and it was hard to take it seriously that way.
I do appreciate the handling of several important topics like child abuse and trauma though, and how the DID played into this was really touching.
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Bittersweet
This was overall a really fun watch and I never thought it got too heavy to handle even though it addressed a lot of heavy topics like dream-ending injury, suicide, assault, etc. It was overall really bubbly.The way they did the love triangle was really different from any other drama I'd watched. I already knew who was ending up with the girl at the end, and I felt like if I didn't know this would've been the drama that would actually SATISFY any SLS. The romance played out really well and exactly how I wanted it to. I hate other dramas that have the heroine end up with whoever she's "supposed" to be with, and this drama talked about loving the person who is there for you instead. Beautiful and realistic.
However, I do think I enjoyed the first half of the drama better than the second half if we look only at plot. Both the male characters went through this emo phase where they just refused to communicate with other people. They were for different reasons abut it honestly felt a little annoying and repetitive — it's already my least favorite character arc and we had to deal with it TWICE.
The first half had more of the underdog story as well, which I really like. The "us vs. the rest of the school" plot is always super fun to watch, especially when the main character had experienced such a harsh fall to hit rock bottom and still has so much confidence in herself.
The ending is honestly a little bittersweet to me, partially because I'm never a fan of epilogue time skips, even though I knew we were always going to get that, with the drama starting out with the K mystery. With that being said, I did enjoy how the pendant necklace bounced around from person to person, not only becoming such a strong symbol but also making us wonder who is going to end up with it at the end.
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None of the conflicts really stressed me out, except for maybe how harshly the male lead treated the FL at the start. It was understandable though, KHJ is really over-the-top clumsy at the start for a few episodes, and I'm sure that put a lot of people off. But her character ended up having one of the largest hearts I'd ever seen, especially when it came to her relationship with her friend.
That was the best part, undoubtedly. You don't see a lot of sismance in dramas, and with the way the plot played out, I was worried we wouldn't see it in this one either. But the characters actually were really mature about dealing with issues, and you could tell that the two best friends had such a powerful bond with one another despite some real missteps.
I know a lot of people had SLS in this one, and I thought I would too; I'm a huge fan of the goofy, weird ML. But the second lead was a little too immature for my liking, and the male lead was pretty soft as well — main lead's character was just more intriguing to me.
With that being said, there were a few subplots in the drama but they felt oddly lacking in development and detail: Hye-Jin's sister could have been so much more than "I don't want to be ugly like my sister," Ha-Ri's family issues could have been paced better, and the whole "who is Ten" felt very forcefully thrown in.
With that being said, I still really liked how they went about the first love situation. I was worried it would become one of those fate and destiny tropes, but I was really glad they didn't do it like that. The characters simply fell for one another a second time, and it was really beautiful to watch.
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The plot was overall really interesting, and I loved how it seemed to treat the audience the same way the news organizations treat the audience in the drama — like little mice to do experiments on, to distract and direct attention with carrots and sticks, knowing the power of public anger. I do think the middle part of the drama was the most exciting: when the main conflict was peaking and the bad guys were playing even with our main leads. The ending was a little anti-climactic to me because I felt like the main leads got too much of an upper hand. Yet, I appreciate how the plot played out, and that a lot of characters got their loose ends tied up.
The romance was really interesting. I've always been a fan of friends-to-lovers and Pinocchio was constantly recommended to me. It did not let me down, and I really enjoyed the tension between the main character's romantic relationship and the clashes between and within their families. But it was dragged out a little too much — the disapproval by the grandfather did not have to last until the epilogue to get resolved.
The plot was honestly the strongest part of the drama, and the romance was enjoyable. Pinocchio honestly made me want to become a reporter.
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This review may contain spoilers
Seriously, I felt like I enjoyed this as much as I did because the OST really made every single scene. I had heard the DOTS soundtrack before I watched it and already loved all the songs — I only ended up loving it more when I saw them in the context of the scenes.I had a bit of trouble separating the drama from the hype when I was watching it (in 2020). It felt like I should love it because the rest of the world loved it. Ultimately, I did enjoy it, but there are a few things that I think would have bothered me more if they were in any other drama that I'll still talk about.
So many English-speaking actors. I don't have an issue with English in dramas, but it's the side actors that they get — the ones that speak great English but are terrible at acting. It honestly takes me a little bit out of the drama, and for me, immersion is everything no matter what I'm watching.
With that being said, I never felt like the "Agus" plotline or any of the antagonists posed a real threat. I don't know if it was the acting or just the fact that their backstories weren't set-up strong enough, but the only real conflict that stressed me out was the earthquake and its aftermath, which I think was the strongest part of the entire drama and made me cry a river. The amount of tragedy and unpredictability surrounding that drew the most emotion out of me, whereas if it was the good vs. bad guys, I pretty much always knew the good guys would come out on top.
I felt like th time skip at the end was kind of the same issue that a lot of dramas have issue with — a last ditch, huge plot twist at the end that separates the characters. And while I don't think DOTS did it terribly, its set-up was also meh because you also knew that the characters would end up not really being dead.
Even so, I loved both ships equally (a rarity) and the romance on its own was very strong. You don't often see two characters that are so strong and independent on their own, and the way they bounced their conflicting career values against the love they felt for each other — it was really, really, really good., and I really appreciated how upfront, communicative, mature, and understanding they both were. The same could go for the second ship; it was inevitable that their roles and personalities would clash considering how headstrong they both were.
Now two other things that I did love about this drama were the bromance and the humor. Seriously, it has one of the strongest bromance relationships that I've ever seen in any drama, and it made for lots of laugh-out-loud and replayable moments. The humor was very evenly spread throughout the drama which made it a pretty easy watch despite its harsh backdrop.
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Amazing chemistry
This is the type of couple I honestly love — teasing male lead and sassy female lead in a love-hate relationship who just really have amazing chemistry together. This is one of the dramas where I never stopped loving the main couple after they got together, which happens a lot to me. Even after getting in the relationship, the main female lead never lost her spunk. They were so good together.I really did not like the second lead at all honestly, and with that being said, my biggest criticism was with the big noble idiocy conflict. Not only did it make no sense considering the TX's personality, but it kind of messed up the main relationship — even if they had some good moments after, they never got back to where they used to be and all the new conflicts seemed so overblown compared to the rest of the drama. In my head I'll just pretend that that part never happened.
The side couples were really cute — but not all of them, and there were a little too much of them. The characters stuck in unrequited love ended up having really good character development and I do appreciate that a lot of the side characters got redemption arcs and their own stories, but there was really no need to push everyone together into pairs. The third roommate was one that I wish got her own backstory and had more of a role than being the dorm Dumbledore.
The friendships were honestly really good (both bromance and sismance!) and I think some characters could have done without the romance. I especially loved the guys dorm and how they teased LYB about TX. Adorable.
Overall, however, I loved that the drama was both romance, friendship, and chasing your dreams. The part before the noble idiocy would honestly go into my all time. This drama reminded me of Weightlifting Fairy KBJ (another of my faves) and there are so many scenes between the two leads that are worth rewatching.
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There's a lot to love about this
I'm gonna have to review this drama in two parts: before the noble idiocy and after.Before:
It's been a long time since I came across a drama that balanced romance and friendship so well, with so many fleshed out side-characters.
I loved seeing the progression of Miao Miao throughout the years — her glo-up was honestly so natural, both physically and mentally. He Xin was probably my favorite character; I've always hated female-chases-male-first because the girls are always portrayed as lacking independent thought and being so clingy, but He Xin wasn't like that at all and even when it came to matters of the heart, she kept her head and put herself first.
It felt like almost everyone had their own stories, and evil schemes / misunderstandings were never blown out of proportion — the characters believed each other, trusted each other, and even when love triangles happened the characters handled it very maturely, which was super refreshing to see. The same goes for the families — there were the typical parent-child/sibling-sibling fights of course, but it was still easy to see how everyone got along at the end.
The romance was definitely a slow-burn (my favorite) and there were so many jealous scenes (also my favorite, and Kuanlin's eyes are so EXPRESSIVE).
I also LOVED the fashion teacher!
I also wanna say that this drama was a lot funnier than I expected, and I laughed so hard my abs hurt. I gotta say though, that I also hella cried. A LOT.
After:
Look, I didn't hate the post-noble idiocy as much as I have in other dramas and I felt like they explained the reasoning behind it well, but ultimately noble idiocy is still one of my least favorite tropes and I felt like it was rushed.
There are some plot holes that were sort of left out — like how Miao Miao never asked Xiao Yue about the Doraemon flowers, but overall my rating for this is still quite high, and it's honestly because I loved the 'before' part THAT much.
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