novaypre

3 ☆ ── first disappointing korean thriller.

i think it tried to be something deep but couldn’t? maybe i couldn’t see the vision. i HATED the psychopath and since her backstory isn’t well-developed i couldn't even understand her psyche. she is just evil, no excuses. we don’t know whether she was actually abused, we don’t know why she is so bent on trying to grab other peoples' properties. the only explanation can be that she is a silver spoon princess and wanted to carve a niche for herself for which she had no talent. i didn’t like yeongha much either. my fav character will be ui-seon, girl acted well and did all she could. the cinematography and the set are really pretty and the production is cool. i think it’s the visual aspect where the series gains points because the story/stories are weak. chanyeol’s acting wasn’t impressive but it was okayish. all in all, slightly disappointed as a korean thriller watcher.

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3.5 ☆ ── almost satisfactory

i haven't watched the korean version and neither have i read the original materials so this review is based solely on the japanese series. what i liked most about the show is that misa focuses on being a self-sufficient person and doesn't depend on wataru bcz she realises that she did have the choice in her past life to stop depending on other people. she doesn't dump every bad thing on others and instead focuses on what she can do in a given situation. i also liked that she goes through moral dilemma even in the last episodes bcz there is def a grey area in setting up other people for your mishaps; given how good/naive she was, she'll obviously not turn a villain without a second thought. i really liked misa and the actress's portrayal was more than satisfactory. in the second half however, reina stood out to me and reminded me of the supporting actress of the drama '49 days'. the young actress and the older actress both played reina so well. they acted with their eyes, i felt so bad whenever she even so slightly let slip the hurt that motivated her to do what she did. at the end of the day, reina was just a kid who wanted some attention and love and with no role model to follow, she leeched onto misa. the casting for reina and tomoya was perfect, tomoya just looks like the irritating good-for-nothing momma's boy and reina is creepy and psychopathic. it's just sad that she never tries to be better than misa, she wants to have exactly what misa has. i liked wataru for being level-headed and solution-oriented although in the last episode they made him superhuman-like with the wound. however, the actor lacked expressions so it was difficult to gauge what he was feeling at times. overall, the writing is good and quite coherent.

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3.5 ☆ ── for seung won

i'll start by admitting that i haven't read the webtoon so my review won't have comparisons. the acting and music was good. the chemistry between the leads heesu and seung won was really good and they did justice to whatever little screentime they got together. i say this because i think we kept seeing chan young and ji yu much more than the leads together, which would have been fine but they were just boring especially after they started dating. somehow all the cuteness they had in the beginning faded once they got together. the support they had for each other was really cool and i was happy that they showed that couple don't only talk lovey-dovey but also face struggles together. but the chemistry kind of lacked especially after ep7 when we were like we know they like each other and are healthy so let's just focus on heesu and seung won now. maybe chan young and ji yu's story became a tiktok song that got overplayed and i got bored of them.

seung won's entire personality was amazing, he is my fav character. i could understand all the decisions he made and was genuinely rooting for him. but i feel like, seung won didn't get that much time to shine. his character was reduced to being a silent lover and sometimes ji yu's friend. his family dynamic and his kindness and maturity were limited to minute-long conversations. still he stood out to me, so kudos to the actor! i liked heesu and the actor shone in the emotional scenes. he is someone who gives love advice but since his situation is not that "easy" and is full of confusion and fear he treads cautiously sometimes creating painful moments for himself. but i have no complaints regarding his late confessions or anything, i just like heesu.

some people were sad about heesu and seung won having little-to-no romantic moments but i think romance need not be performative especially since they are high school students. i actually liked that the writers had a 3d focus on family, talents, and friendship instead of making it just about love. i liked the oldest and the youngest sisters of heesu but not the middle sister who had that boyfriend. she treated him with no respect so i was enraged and skipped her scenes in the last 2 episodes. seung won's mother was cool and i respect her for the last episode conversation she had with seung won. finally, i loved ho sik and hee won and am really happy for them!

as with every ongoing drama i watch, i will miss heesu and seung won :(

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3.5 ☆ ── sayuri: the saving grace

what i liked: the beautiful cinematography where every scene is crafted to perfection. the characters of sayuri, nao and madoka.i liked that the all the friends were mature and resolved conflicts so well. nao is so cool for handling every confession with maturity and generosity.

what i didn't like: yui's non-consensual kiss. sayuri being a minor prolly started liking yui bcz she was kind and not bcz she genuinely wanted her. sayuri was vulnerable having to deal with her father's remarriage, her mother's passing and studies and in such a situation the fact that yui "pursued" her: stalking her, going to find her which was absolutely unnecessary given how mature sayuri is, made her "like" her. also, this was her first romantic situation so she prolly didn't even know what to expect. i consider nao a healthier option for romance than yui, objectively speaking. i also didn't like how the father didn't try to understand her pov at all and it took another woman, madoka to realise that sayuri needs space and comfort.

i am weak for beautiful cinematography so i was tempted to rate it higher but i genuinely didn't find their love story healthy, given the circumstances.

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4 ☆ ── cute but lacking

the best things about this series are the ost and the romantic moments between the second leads. other than that, i think because of the short runtime they couldn't complete any of the plot points. the parental pressure aspect was well-developed but the friendships are half-cooked. the main couple's ending felt extremely forced cz when did guang start liking him in that sense? he was giving bromance throughout: it was one-sided from qizhang. i felt bad for him bcz not only did the actor do a good job, but also cz the character is so likeable and his mother is a gem! i loved all of their scenes! i really wanted to like it but the direction was so incoherent and script so half-baked that i couldn't bring myself to rate it higher :(

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4 ☆ ── a nice plot, memorable characters and cool fight scenes.

What I liked most was the brotherhood between the “bad guys” and how all of them showed a range of emotions and were morally grey. I like morally grey characters so I felt they were written well, however I can’t say the same for the female lead. She was given the shorter end of the stick: the typical doesn’t know how to solve a single thing kinda detective we find in crime and sci-fi series/movies. Her dialogues and how other characters never took her seriously reeked of misogyny on the director's part. However, the actress was also at fault, although she was given very little to contribute she could have managed had she acted well; it was genuinely so frustrating to see her have one expression in every situation. Also, her dialogues were filled with recurring questions or preachy monologues so her monotonous delivery made them even more boring. Except this flaw, others would be the sometimes makjang-type feel where the fight scenes also felt a little dramatic and the beast/animal metaphors they inserted in every dialogue failed to bring in the poetic feel of the metaphors as they lost meaning over repeated usage. There were a few half-baked plot points and rushed explanations to some of the crimes but overall the loopholes were negligible.

The most memorable characters are definitely of Jung Tae Soo and Park Ung Cheol. The actors did a great job at the fight scenes as well as the emotional scenes. Props to Ma Dong Seok for even being funny on top of all that. He is the one I found myself rooting for the most. Kim Tae Hoon’s acting was brilliant although some of his actions were implausible especially towards the end where they seemed out of character.

I watched this as it was nominated for Baeksang and although I was not disappointed, I was not super awed either. Hence an 8.5/10.

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5 ☆ ── a character-driven realistic portrayal of love and friendship

I had gone into the drama expecting it to be just another steamy-scene-heavy one with good chemistry but lackluster plot and characterization. It looks like that but has such well-developed characters and a non-preachy realistic portrayal of some of the major young adult issues like alcoholism, relationship anxiety, childhood trauma, dysfunctional families and casual relationships. I loved that they brought in lesbian parents, a single mother with an unconventional job having a brilliant relationship with her son and the emotional turmoil a casual relationship brings in and how it becomes so difficult for people to stop depending on a toxic partner and start loving and respecting themself.

Among the characters I loved Mew the most. He had clear boundaries, was understanding, savage when need be but was made three-dimensional when he showed that sometimes in love wisdom and smartness go out of the window and we give in to a side of ourselves we come to despise. Sand was amazing, a hardworking person, a good son, a good friend to Nick and such a good partner to Ray. Major major respect for Khaotung for playing Ray so well, my heart went out to him while simultaneously being taken aback by how HOT he looked. RaySand's chemistry shone especially in the angst and emotional scenes. They are such good actors. Another great performance came from Neo who played Boston, amazing for real. He is one of those actors who can play an absolute jerk but instead of hating the character you just can't help but marvel at the acting prowess of the person behind him. Nick played by Mark was amazing! He was so vulnerable and tried so hard to understand and walk alongside the unavailable Boston that I felt like crying every moment. He reminded me of Gun from Theory of Love and War from Love Mechanics but I was so so happy to see that his ending was different and so well-done!

Honestly they have raised my expectations for other GMMTV series it's so good. A 10/10 from me and I will definitely rewatch it for the chemistry and drama.

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ROMERAFFY & DEAN

[Disclaimers: This is my first drama of all the actors except the recurring ones from S1. I have read only ROMERAFFY's parts in the novel. I don't remember much from S1 as I bingewatched it in a night.]

This drama was hardcarried by its actors. The writing was a bit annoyingly bad because the plot points were right there, if only they had tried to utilise them and maintain the flow. The characters were also sloppily written especially ARNOLD & TUA. Their relationship dynamic was the most boring of the lot and the fact that I didn't vibe with Joss and Gawin's acting didn't help.

My favourite character was DEAN: he was Machiavellian, sure, but he was also poor and not well-backed and priviledged like the rest of the characters and I feel the viewers and the writers conveniently forget this point, just like Jack. Dean has the burden to provide for himself, his sister and his mother (iirc) and he is just a university student. Plus, the nepotism and bias in the industry keep him from following his dream, which let's be real is very difficult to fulfill if one is poor and without connections and in this day and age, not popular. So, obviously he takes up the hosting job, does the couple thing with Arnold. He does what he can. The only downside to him is that he isn't truthful to Jack and is spiteful towards Raffy. But given how we see Jack questioning every decision he took, including his following Gameplay to his home, when he was stranded homeless, it is clear why Dean lies to Jack. Because no mater what he does, Jack will always nitpick. Jack stirs their relationship in whichever way he wants and treats Dean's views as secondary which Dean kind of internalises and hence wants to "change" for Jack. Jack created that pressure, even when they were on that break he reminded Dean that he had multiple Romeos he could easily get with. He is always ready to judge Dean for his choices but cannot provide alternatives to his problems. It is almost sadistic how he reacts when Dean is left alone by both Tua and himself and hence chooses safety in Gameplay's house. Jack's insecurity keeps him blinded from seeing Dean's situation. Also, the writers did such disservice by completely shoving the drug incident under the rug which led to that almost kiss between Arnold and Dean. I don't see Tua and Jack's reaction to that almost kiss to be overdone because cheating is anxiety-inducing and even though Arnold and Dean didn't kiss they wanted to/were about to and that also counts as cheating. However, the writers could have cleaned that mess by revealing the drinking and drugs that influenced some of that, especially in Dean's case. Jack was obviously insecure and hurt as Dean didn't tell him directly, and that made him rightfully mad as he saw that as a pattern. On the other hand, Tua being in an unrequited love with Arnold for long, obviously felt insecure as Arnold anyway had not shown his intentions clearly. This is a point I disagree on with a lot of viewers that their reactions were too dramatic for a non-kiss. Jack and Dean definitely felt like exes who still have lingering feelings and EarthMix played them so well. I cried during that breakup exhibition scene and kind of wanted them to have a last kiss in the last episode but didn't envision them ending up together as we aren't sure Jack has had enough development and as we see Dean choosing a different more stable profession but agreeing to act in Jack's play again, leaves us with doubts about whether their dynamic has changed. And anyway, one year can change only so much. They remind me of SandRay because I hadn't wanted them to end up together either.

The other character I liked was Raffy mainly because Boom embodied him so well. He is this entitled nepo kid who thinks he deserves the best of everything. I am kind of iffy about him liking Rome the same way Rome likes him but his jealousy over Pete liking Rome was very clear. Rome's character was a bit flat as the writers probably tried too hard to make him a green flag. He almost doesn't fit into the OF universe given how morally correct he is about everything. He was so head-over-heels for Raffy that it's almost impossible for him to hold a grudge. Bro just couldn't resist Raffy lol. RomeRaffy were easily the best part of the show.

The cast and crew said that this season is more character-driven and I side with them. I find the characters of this season to be much cooler individually. The earlier season had more drama and shock-value but this season they tried to be deeper story-wise. The catch is that the vision of the play and the behind-the-scenes drama of the play was so cool but the screenplay fell flat partly because of their CP agenda. They could've let Dean and Raffy kiss, Jack and Raffy kiss and Arnold and Dean kiss to match the premise they had set. The danger the intro sets doesn't translate into the episodes and it's frustrating to see them be so tame. I didn't want the cross-pair kissing for the drama but for the flow of the plot. Their relationship dynamics promised a lot of tension but couldn't deliver it. A lot of people who were fans of the 1st season are rightfully sad about it.

The intro was so cool, I never skipped it. The ROMERAFFY scenes are delicious and even their non-NC scenes (that one where Rome and Raffy are playing with the DJ set and their hands are on top of each other and that scene where Rome is backhugging Raffy to console him) are oozing with chemistry. They remind me of The Eighth Sense's couple - every touch, every glance screams they want to be together at any given point of time. I am so on the AouBoom train. I am seated for Billionaire Biker and am considering watching the other series they're in. They got the least amount of screentime but DELIVERED.

Even with its flaws, I was excited for every Friday and enjoyed watching the drama. I also enjoyed going on MDL comments and Tumblr every week and reading everyone's opinions of it. That, to me, is the best part of watching an ongoing drama.

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