An intense experience

At first glance this seems like your typical police thriller, but watching this gave me a much more intense experience.

First off, this drama isn't afraid to show violence and gore, which really made it all feel so immersive. Huge props to the prop department (pun intended) and to the makeup department. Every slice, every body part felt super REAL.

I'm also impressed with how this drama managed to humanize and provide depth to all its characters — main and side characters included. I have always loved Taiwanese dramas for their ability to extend stories beyond their characters, and this is no different; it's more subtle in this show, but there's social commentary and it makes every single character and case feel really heavy and important. It also shows that it's so much more than a simple detective drama; this show knows how intelligent its audience is.

I'm definitely looking forward to S2.

Read More

Two great ships in one fantastic show

Look, I’m usually not someone who likes the one-night stand trope because I prefer the gradual development of feelings and two people getting to know each other. But omg. This was so good and we still managed to get that.

I really loved Jim and Wen and seeing how they started learning about each other’s lives and helping each other grow and make hard decisions, and that’s not even mentioning that the chemistry was off the charts both in terms of physical and emotional intimacy. They completely sold their characters, and it couldn’t have been done without the great second leads that were Alan and Gaipa.

Heart and Liming were also a fantastic second couple. As a foil to Jim/Wen, both of who were somewhat jaded about life and romance, we saw a much more innocent first love situation as two people started spending time together. The commentary on deafness and communication was really beautiful as well. They stole every scene they were in and between these two ships I found the show not having one boring moment.

It was actually so refreshing that there were no villains and no terrible misunderstandings between any of the couples. I was so impressed with how much JimWen and HeartLiming both communicated, and having the story focus on the theme of parenthood was also really powerful, between seeing Jim/Liming’s relationships, to seeing Liming’s mother return, and more.

I really do wish this was longer because the plot developments felt kind of thin sometimes when it came to Gaipa’s mother — who I didn’t really see enough of go get emotionally attached to — and also when it came to the chicken diner and the corporation that wanted to buy the land. Despite what we learned out about how the diner started, the place itself never really had “personality” after the first episode, if that makes sense, and I didn’t feel the high stakes of losing it.

Nevertheless, this is a comfort drama for sure and it just might’ve changed my mind about the “one-night stand” trope.

Read More

Hilarious main romance, with some other blah stuff

As a rom-com, this is awesome; I love how chaotic both the characters are at the start and seeing how they went from that to gradually enjoying each other’s company.

As a more slice-of-life drama, this show hits the spot as well. The theme of motherhood is really powerful, especially seeing the “found family” aspect between the main female lead and Hae-e. I also loved seeing the different types of families and seeing how academic pressure played into familial expectations in different ways.

And then we get to the other genre: the mystery or thriller or whatever. This part of the show didn’t work for me at all. I don’t think the show was very good at switching between tones, so it was jarring to go from a rom-com scene to seeing a random murder, especially because it felt like show often forgot about its murder subplot; there would be few consequences for things that happened so the tone of the show never balanced itself out.

Other than that, I think there were almost too many threadlines sometimes, and the show sometimes dropped the ball on them, or there were smarter ways to tie storylines together that the drama didn’t think of. For example:
- When Hae-e wakes up, the entire murder plot is already over. It just makes everything feel pretty anticlimactic.
- Su-a, whose arc is about academic competition, should’ve played a much bigger role in the Sun-jae/Hae-e accidental cheating arc. Instead, she just disappeared during these episodes.
- Su-a, who started getting hallucinations about hurting Hae-e, could’ve also played a role after Hae-e’s accident, like not being sure if she’d been involved or not. Instead, her hallucinations just randomly stopped in the penultimate episode.
- Hae-e’s mom comes and causes a rift between Haeng-seon and Hae-e, which they never resolve through communication. Instead, Hae-e’s mom leaves of her own accord and the problem just goes away. I felt like this could've been a really good opportunity to highlight the motherhood theme again.

The second couple romance also feels really out-of-the-blue — it comes in halfway and by then ’d really much rather have the show focus on the familial relationship between him and Haeng-seon and Hae-e, because most of the time he seems to just be…there. There’s no chemistry or depth between him and his love interest, so I think the show should’ve either built up the plot more from the start, or not have done it at all.

Overall, I still had a fun time watching this. Even with the murder aspect, it feels generally low-stakes, and is a light-hearted watch.

Read More

Perfect, except the ending

I was completely captivated by this drama from the very beginning — the plot of two people both in the darkest time of their lives finding each other and healing is always so beautiful, and I think Last Twilight sets it up perfectly. You can see very easily how Mokh and Day’s clashes actually bring out honesty and clarity for each other, and the theme of acceptance and treating people with disabilities as equals are both really powerful. I also just love the fact that there aren’t any villains; everyone, even the side characters, have their subplots, their motivations, and their development.

And there’s the beautiful episode 9 ending scene, which really stole my heart and made me shed tears. It was one of the most cathartic moments I’ve ever watched and the OST, particularly the main theme by William, perfectly ties everything together emotionally.

I continued enjoying the show until the penultimate episode and I was immeasurably disappointed to be hit with the last-minute break-up trope, and even more disappointed that the reasoning behind the break-up was something that had come up in the story before but had never been an issue. It felt way too fast and out of left field.

And then the final episode came and my jaw dropped when we were suddenly hit with a three year time jump. It’s another one of my least favorite tropes, and it just feels so many things had changed in the lives of our main characters and yet we were supposed to also believe that they didn’t change that much and were able to pick up exactly where they left off without extended conversations about what kind of people they had become. We got a little bit of them addressing their situations, but I felt like the “I’m sorry for feeling pity for you” resolution felt really shallow and didn’t at all capture how much depth was in their relationship before.

There were also additional plot developments that felt so random and rushed — such as Day getting his eyesight back at the last minute. There’s the argument that it’s okay because he’s already grown to accept himself either way, but it still felt really disingenuous to the disability theme to show that he needed his eyesight back for it to be considered a happy ending. Part of this is also just because it all happened so fast it felt thrown in.

I felt like I really emotionally checked out for that last episode — there was just such a huge gap between who I was seeing on screen and the characters I’d grown to love from the previous episodes. For me, that’s the consequence of time-skips, and I’m sad because this was on its way to becoming one of my favorites before it.

Read More

Has everything except for the plot

I really loved the first few episodes — there wasn’t much of a plot but the “city girl escapes to the countryside” premise promises comfort and I definitely felt that. There was the overarching plot of Samdal’s career, the yearning of an exes-to-lovers romance, and the three sisters providing the family aspect — all of which I loved.

And then as the show went on it started to drag, and I found that there weren’t that much of the countryside vibes, and they introduced plots that were detrimental instead.

First there’s the love triangle, which is the most unnecessary part of the show, and I’m saying this as a love triangle trope defender. The love triangle where the second lead has zero shot, who the FL never once considers a potential love interest, and who has no plot other than the romance and standing in the shadows looking at the main couple steadily progress…we have to leave that behind because all it does is waste screentime.

And then there was the reason behind the main couple’s initial breakup: parental disapproval. It’s a common trope in kdramaland too, and one that I also think is really outdated and frustrating, especially for a drama like this where there’s really nothing else going on.

A third thing that got too much screentime was the gossipy old ladies, who were frustrating even if they weren’t completely horrible by the end.

In terms of the subplots, I think they started out strong but also fizzled out a little. The eldest sister’s romance with her ex-husband was really funny but I wish it was more serious at times rather than making it all so slapstick. The youngest sister’s romance and relationship with her daughter was the best part of the show, especially in connecting the theme of motherhood throughout the show. It’s a fantastic theme that I wish had a better throughline rather than coming in and out, because the mother-daughter scenes always hit really hard.

I also actually really like the focus on Samdal’s career and her adversary, and I wish it didn’t come so late in the show. I also wish they didn’t lean so much into one character being downright evil, and it doesn’t quite give you the satisfaction of karma getting her in the end due to lack of screentime. The plot line of Samdal rediscovering her love for her hometown and photography was really heartwarming still.

Another thing I wish got more screentime was the friend group. We had some at the start of the show when Samdal returned and some at the end when they were helping her, but overall the show leaned into the love triangle and other scenes instead and I felt like we never really got to feel how close they were the way we grow to love the friend groups in dramas like the Reply series.

Overall, it ends on a satisfying note and wraps things up in a neat little bow, but I feel like I didn’t quite get as many comforting vibes I wanted.

Read More

I’ve seen this film before

I think there’s definitely an audience for this out there — if you are a fan of fantasy mixed into real life and adult romance (think Goblin, Legend of the Blue Sea, My Love From the Star, those classics) I think you’d really enjoy this.

For me, it was just okay. I think I prefer my romance a little more down-to-earth and conversational; a lot of the more flashy scenes where they were saving each other didn’t really have a strong emotional impact on me and felt borrowed from the aforementioned classics, while the more domestic scenes where they were talking to each other or working together were stronger but not enough for these characters to set themselves apart from other dramas.

Additionally, and this is absolutely personal preference, I think I’m just not the biggest fan of linking saeguk and modern plots with the past lives and reincarnation premise. It’s been done to death (See Goblin, and most recently A Good Day To Be A Dog and The Story of Park’s Marriage Contract) and I just can’t find it in myself to care that much about their past story, since that’s all it is: past. Our non-immortal main characters have lived different experiences. I understand how it adds a level of angst to the leads (as if destiny works against them) as well as upping the stakes (from basic company politics, for example, to actual death) but it always just feels like a tangent.

With all that being said, this was just okay. I didn’t care that much for the modern plot about the company, but also didn’t really find the backstory to be all that memorable. The main characters are likable enough; Dohee is strong, and Guwon is a convincing demon that balances between being heartless and hilarious, but overall they’re both kind of cookie cutter characters.

This ended up being sort of “I started it so I might as well finish it” kind of show for me.

Read More

Modern Day > Historical

I’m trying to review this without taking into account the horrible airing schedule this drama got, but it’s hard. So just to get it out of the way, I just want to say that the one-episode-a-week format (plus some skipped weeks) definitely did not do this drama any favors.

With that being said, while the airing schedule didn’t help, I think I fell out of love with this drama as it went on for several other reasons as well.

I think there was a really strong start and I was really invested in the story when it first started; the tension between Haena and Seowon was great as they cycled through the different relationship dynamics: unrequited love, Haena having to hide her secret, growing feelings, etc.

When the drama started covering the backstory behind Haena’s dog curse, I unfortunately realized that I just didn’t really care for the saeguk/historical subplot. The characters felt really distant and disconnected from our modern day characters, I felt no emotional connection to the “past lives” theme, and the reason for the curse itself was kind of anti-climactic (and yes, I felt the same way when I read the webtoon). Overall, I just enjoyed the more grounded, modern day plot better, and I didn’t really care for the side characters who were related to the backstory either.

As a result, I found the overall plot with the second lead intriguing until the actual reveal and watching it play out. I enjoyed the tension better than actually seeing what happened.

In terms of the amnesia arc, I don’t think it was super frustrating and I didn’t hate it, but amnesia is still one of my least favorite tropes simply because it feels random — we already know the story is never going to end with it, and the logistics of it very rarely make sense anyways.

Even with a few angsty arcs, on the subject of acting, I enjoyed many of these actors in other things but I don't really think this drama showcased any of their acting chops well enough, in part due to the feeling of low stakes, and in part due to the rom-com nature of the show.

Ultimately, I think you can say that this drama was paced well. Unlike many dramas, it doesn’t fall into the trap of leaving too many things unsolved at the last minute. Unfortunately, it seems to have the opposite issue where the last episode feels just like a filler episode because the main plot is already wrapped up, but overall it’s still a light-hearted, decent watch.

Read More

Eccentric lead, Underrated drama

This drama is so underrated. From the very first episode I was captivated by the female lead — there's something about these very eccentric but straightforward and socially unique leads that just feel so relatable and immediately create a different dynamic wherever the drama takes place, which, in this show, is a newsroom.

I really enjoyed the episodic format of this one as well, and it was even more interesting than typical episodic dramas because of how well they tied in the subplots of each side character with different cases. By the end of the show I truly felt like I knew every single person working in that newsroom.

My only criticism is a minor one: I enjoyed the backstory arc of the main female lead, which was revealed about halfway through the way, better than the actual ending arc, which was treated like the finale. It's not a dealbreaker by any means — in fact, logically it makes sense for the story to wrap back around to present day, but I just felt like it wasn't as emotionally hard-hitting.

Overall, I still really enjoyed this drama and I'm sad at how underrated it is.

Read More

Just fine

I felt like this drama had a really strong start — the female lead's spunkiness made her really likeable, the mystery was intriguing, and the time travel also made for really interesting parallels.

As the drama went on, I felt like it a lost a lot of its spark, opting for either humor or a modern-only plot, leaving the saeguk mystery and time travel element both really neglected until the last episode and not really tying the two timelines together well enough. It didn't make much sense what Yeon-woo's time travel had to do with the modern storyline, or why those parallels even existed. I think the stakes weren't established well enough for me to feel emotionally invested: I paid painstaking attention to the modern day characters to figure out how they were tied to their past lives, but by the end it felt like the modern day characters were the far more important ones. I really think this drama could've used a full 16 episodes to balance out the modern and historical plotlines and add some explanation for the time travel.

Other than that, I felt like the side characters were fine and occasionally funny but pretty unimportant to the plot, and the main romance was also fun but generally a cookie-cutter ship. It's a fun watch but for me, not very memorable.

Read More

Inferior to the prequel

On a surface level, I don't think either this film nor the first film were that unique — the premise and plot development is all relatively expected. But while Part 1 had a really powerful screen presence from its main characters, Part 2 opts for a more cliche, unspeaking "fish-out-of-water" superpowered lead, who doesn't really stand out from the overwhelming number of side characters (there like like four different antagonist groups) who all have the same "badass bad guy" personality.

The plot itself does feel less directed. Whereas there was a clear goal in the first one, this one felt much more passive; we spent basically the entire movie waiting for the bad guys to catch up to where our main characters were, siting still.

With that being said, as someone who understands both English and Mandarin, I did not really enjoy either of those groups. The English sounded fine, but the acting was not good, and it was very annoying to hear "Chief! Chief!" every other line. The Mandarin just did not sound good.

I think the final thing that just made this film feel more unserious was the special effects. There was something very nerve-wracking about all the Part 1 fights being up close and personal, even though everyone had super strength. It made everything scarier and bloodier. In this one, they opt for something in the vein of what the kdramas Strong Woman Bong-soon and Strong Girl Nam-soon went for — people getting punched and flying back 500 feet. It feels more comedic and doesn't at all match the serious tone the film seems to want to go for.

While I didn't dislike the main character, she was just...fine, especially in contrast to the main character from Part 1. In fact, it was amazing how much screen presence Ko Ja-yoon had when she finally appeared, and I realized I'd rather have gotten a story about her journey to getting where she is now, rather than time jumping to her return.

Read More

Stranger Things, but darker, grittier, and bloodier.

Ko Ja Yoon is a fascinating main character, and she makes the film intriguing despite the world-building being sort of thin and the plot being generally predictable. I think the most impressive thing is that nobody in this film is stupid. When strangers are creepy and weird, characters — both side and main ones — recognize it and act accordingly. It was refreshing.

In fact, I'm pretty impressed with the more down-to-earth elements of this film actually; the dynamic between KJY and her family and friends were really interesting, and I want to give a special shout-out to Go Minsi, who really sold her role as the spunky best friend.

On the other hand, while Kim Dami and Choi Wooshik have fantastic chemistry together — the fight scene between them is one of the best moments in the film — I feel like I didn't feel fully convinced by the main scientist or the other "powered" people. Going back to the thin world-building, I think the environment of the government facility, the motivations of the people in charge, and the backstory of other experimented people were just not altogether there.

Overall, it's still a quick, engaging watch and I can see why it got so popular.

Read More

Warm and comforting

This was a really comforting movie despite its original premise being so sad; the entire vibe of the family spending time together just cooking or cleaning while it rains outside makes you feel really warm.

In terms of plot and story, I honestly don't think it offers up anything new, but it still successfully makes use of one of my favorite tropes — one person has been pining for a long time just for you to find out the other person has been pining for even longer — so this isn't even even a complaint.

I do wish this was longer. I'm not sure how or where it would go, but I felt like I didn't get enough scenes with the leads and their son for me to see them as parents, as opposed to just being a couple (since we got a lot of their love story, which I loved). The theme seemed to bounce between romance and family without being able to make it cohesive.

Overall, I'd say the story goes pretty much as expected, but it's still a really comforting watch.

Read More

Interesting premise but...

I felt like the premise was really interesting and there was a lot of potential for this to become a really thrilling mystery, but it suffers from something that many mid-2010s dramas do, which is that the romance and the attempts to smush the leads together hinders the show's ability to be darker.

The romantic set-up is a very common kdrama one: childhoods connected by tragedy. I'm fine with this, but the ML's story was just so much more interesting and the chemistry with his brother and the serial killer so much more intriguing that all his scenes with the FL felt just so "blah," as if they were going through the motions.

With that being said, the trio — Lee Hyun, Min, and Lee Jun Young — were absolutely the best part of the show. Their performances were very convincing, and there was a lot of tension in all their shared scenes, and I was also really excited to how the story would play out.

On the other hand, I think the individual cases were fine, but didn't really grab me; in fact, they were a little vague at times, or it just didn't that high stakes. It didn't really help that the FL felt very reactive throughout, never really planning or investigating anything until it was right under her nose, both when it came to individual cases and with the overarching plot.

Now, the ending really does leave a lot to be desired. I felt like they rushed through it (which a lot of kdramas fall victim to) and it focused on giving us unnecessary closure for the romance instead of for the more interesting thriller plot.

Read More

Draaaaaaag.

If this was a romance about Dao Ming Si and Shancai, it made no sense that the two of them maybe got about 60 minutes of screentime, with half of that all being in the first episode before everything went to crap.

It's all been said before, but there was absolutely no reason we had to wait 13 episodes for Shancai and DMS to meet again, and then ANOTHER 11 episodes for him to get his memory back, all for nothing to come of it until a 10 minute reconciliation at the end, all without any sort of meaningful communication between them before that.

I could write an entire thesis about why I hate the amnesia trope, and I know the source material is to blame for this arc even existing, but with that being said, I absolutely could not bring myself to care about anything that happened during the amnesia, much less any scenes between Ye Sha and Dao Ming Si. It was refreshing, sure, that she wasn't a manipulative mean girl like in the other versions, but amnesiac DMS was basically scrubbed so clean he wasn't himself. Most of their love story occurred in a world without familial or financial pressures, which made it feel low stakes. And all of that doesn't even compare to the fact that we, as the audience, knew how the story would end anyways and all the wishy-washiness just felt very dragged out.

We also get to see a little bit of Meizuo's romance and Ximen's family arc in this one. I didn't realize that Ximen's romance arc wouldn't get a conclusion (which is slightly disappointing as it was my favorite part of the Korean version), but overall I don't think I had the patience to appreciate either of these side stories because they took up screentime while the main story was still being frustratingly slow.

On the other hand, think my favorite part of this drama has to be Lei. He's come so far since the start of the show, and he got all the meaningful conversations Shancai should've had with DMS. I didn't have SLS in every adaptation of Hana Yori Dango, but this one...oof.

Read More