Realistic and heart wrenching in a way

Although the movie is of a shorter length, it manages to deliver its message clearly.

All the actors did such a great job. Sometimes it was a bit hard figuring out whether their facial expressions were a part of the sign language or the acting/emotion itself (mainly during the scene where the FL was coming out to her parents) but overall it was beatiful to see all of the cast using the sign language to communicate.

My absolute favourite thing about the movie would be the past when Ayumi drew the gender, sex/body, and sexual orientation graph for Hana, and then Hana scribbled the sexual orientation one and just wrote Ayumi's name there. That was such a nice message, showing that you don't need to label yourself to be valid too.

The second half was focused on the supporting characters which took me a bit by surprise by how much screentime their flashbacks and stories got but at the end I was happy for it, their stories deserved to be told too. The best thing is that they all got their happy endings yet it still felt realistic.

Overall I rate this movie 9/10.

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Unique mix of fantasy and politics

What I really liked about Arthdal Chronicles is the world that the drama is set in. It feels like something out of fantasy book, yet so real at times. The bronze age setting in unique and not something I've ever seen before. What I really appreaciated were the explanations of the terms in Saram language and how sometimes even the characters had a short subtitle with their name appear on screen when they were present. Thanks to this, it was quite easy to learn their names and not to get lost.

The visuals of this drama are absolutely breathtaking! From the outdoor shots to the costumes and decorations, everything is amazing and detailed.

The politics reminded me a bit of Game of Thrones, every single character played it so well, tricking others and getting closer to their goal, there were also some plot twists on the political scene as well. I enjoyed this aspect of the drama very much, I wasn't aware beforehand that it would focus on political schemes but I'm so glad that it did.

Part 1 of Arthdal Chronicles certainly didn't disappoint me, so I give it a well deserved 9/10 rating! Starting part 2 as soon as possible!

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Mature and realistic depiction of a sapphic love story

It was nice to see a feature-length wlw movie again (and one that is directed by a woman!) which depicted the two women's relationship realistically. That was what I liked about the movie the best: how it felt so real.

I also loved the cinematography of it, the long shots and the views of Seoul as the characters were standing on high places, the lack of background music for some scenes, the way that the scenes themselves were rather shorter and changing often. It created an artistic vibe that was nice to look at.

I liked how the movie was for sure about the two women's relationship but it also focused on their lives out of it. We got to see Yoon-joo preparing for the art exhibition and Ji-soo's not-so-close relationship with her father. Both of them were also interacting with each of their respective friends.

Overall I rate this movie 8.5/10.

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One of my most favourite dramas

If you're wondering whether to start this drama or not, take this review as a sign that you definitely should!

All of the counters have explained backstories that will make you love them even more once you get to know them better but they are so much likeable even from the start. Don't make me choose a favourite among them, I just can't. Their characters were 3rd dimensional and felt realistic. Their relationship (found family!) felt so real too, it was so wholesome how they cared for each other and took care of each other. And I loved how this drama wasn't romance focused.

The drama mixes a variety of genres so well, mainly mystery, action, thriller, and comedy with a dash of school, political, and supernatural elements. It might seem like a lot of genres that don't go well together sometimes but this drama just manages to balance everything just right. My favourite would be the action scenes, I love to see some street-leveled superheroes that don't fell overpowered at the same time.

A well-deserved 10/10 rating from me and I can't wait for season 2!

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Both comforting and realistic

Although the story started in a really cliché way that reminded me of Christmas Hallmark movies (FL goes into a small town, hates it there but then she meets the ML who shows her the true meaning of Christmas... er I mean life, you get it), it quickly turned out to be something much more.

I liked how the relationship between the leads developed and despite the fact that there were two of my absolutely-not-favourite tropes (leads meeting as children & love triangle), the drama didn't focus on them so much for it to be annoying. Yes, the two leads met or almost met at multiple points in their lives but they focused mostly on the present. The love triangle was done so well and all the three leads have a great chemistry together, I liked how none of the MLs was a jerk and how they communicated well with each other.

The side characters in this drama were to die for! I really couldn't choose a favourite even if I had to. They were realistic, diverse, and mostly had their own ups and downs that got me completely immersed in their stories. I also liked how we were shown the lives of people of different ages, especially the three elderly ladies, I loved their friendship!

I rate this drama 9/10, if you're wondering whether to watch it or not, definitely go for it! It's more perfect for watching an episode a day/a few days rather than binge-watching though.

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What secrets lie hidden in the garden?

The biggest plus of this drama is the eerie atmosphere that it creates. Everything about it is perfect. The music with the OST being mostly without lyrics apart from one or two lines at the end of each episode, the camera work, the dark interior of the villa the secluded place in the backyard which both feel suffocating just from looking at them, the flashbacks being in black and white apart from things to focus on that are in colour. In the first episode, the eeriness is so strong that I nearly stopped watching because I thought that the drama was going to shift into a horror genre.

All the actors were brilliant, for some Moon Joo Ran (the main FL) felt a little flat but I think that Kim Tae Ri did an amazing job with her character even when the character was in a bad episode of her life and felt apathetic. Im Ji Yeon, who was playing Chu Sang Eun (the 2nd FL) absolutely stole the drama for me, her acting was the best of all, especially during emotional moments, I loved the most how she was acting at the funeral. The actors playing the two MLs also did a great job with their characters, mainly Kim Sung Oh, who was playing Park Jae Ho (the husband of the 1st FL). And Cha Sung Jae who played their son Seung Jae was amazing too, especially for his age.

Because we have unreliable narrators in this drama, it allows for a few plot twists to happen along the way, mainly at episodes 7 and 8, which completely blew me away.

And I have to say that I liked the ending.

9/10 from me, mainly for the athmosphere and acting! Well deserved!

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An ad that's better than some dramas

Seriously, although this was an ad for a period underwear, it had a strong story, amazing chemistry between the two actresses, and if I didn't know what it was an ad, I would have thought that it was an actual drama with a product placement taking place.

Oh, how I wish the drama "Legend of the Green Plum" which the two female leads were filming was real! It looked so great, I would have definitely watched that too in an instant.

But how did this get past the censorship? It's a literal miracle! Especially with the scene involving a rather intimate scene from a very well-known sapphic movie!

Last but not least I want to say that I really like how periods are getting normalized and how in more wlw media nowadays, the FLs are shown taking care of each other when one of them menstruates. I love to see that.

Overall, a 9/10 rating, very cute and sweet and worth rewatching for sure!

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So much fun!

I added it to my watchlist plainly because my favourite actress Park Min Young was in it but the more I looked into this show, the more it drew me in because I love escape rooms, detective role-play and solving mysteries. Don't let the episode lenghth (most of them are 1 hour and 20+ minutes long) scare you because the episode just flows by as you watch the detectives trying to solve the cases.

Some people pointed out that some of the scripted interactions seemed too forced to them or cringey, but that wasn't the case for me aside from a few minutes in the first two episodes. Otherwise all the episodes have a nice flow and even the scripted parts are written believeably.

I came to love all the detectives, each of them is unique and smart but I loved the most when they were put in teams and suddenly the guys were sharing one braincell together and solved one of the keys completely wrong way but still got the correct answer! I also loved the chemistry among the members, they were joking with (and about) each other so naturally.

I can't remeber the last time when I laughed so hard watching a show like this. It's funny yet the mysteries are complex. Amazing watch! 9.5/10 from me!

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Disliked the romance, sort of liked the time travel

This isn't a drama which I would normally start but my sister wanted to watch it. She dropped it two episodes in btw, but because I suffer from never drop disease, I put it on 2x speed as I was determined to finish after it was rotting in my On Hold list for over a year.

I'm not saying that it was a bad drama but it just wasn't for me. The whole teacher-student relationship was weird especially since the FL was just 16-17 year-old while having such a big crush on the teacher, who was 10 years her elder. She was very clingy towards him, even gifting him a shirt on his birthday and when the two of them got trapped together in school overnight, she pretended to not have her phone just so she could stay with him. Welp, at least the teacher wanted to set her up with his younger self. That was basically the plot of the first five episodes, after that it got a bit better since the ML got back to present and his younger self traveled with him too.

Then it got more interesting, I liked how the ML at the end had so many different memories of the past because it was like he lived all of them, but each was different a bit when it came to the terms where he and the FL met. However, I would prefer for the time-travel to be explained a little bit more.

Overall a 7/10 rating, not really memorable and there were some things bugging me.

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A little to no plot, mostly just vibes

And they were roommates!

Honestly, I think it's hard to include an actual plot into a short web-series with only two characters (there aren't literally any other characters on screen apart from them) and with the whole drama taking place in a house where they live together. Thus it focuses mostly on their relationship as they are forced by circumstances to find compromises in their housing situation. Due to their different personalities, they clash a lot at first but later get to know each other better and discover that they actually complement each other pretty well.

There are some swoon-worthy and cute moments: oh, the accidental almost-kisses! Although the clumsy ways they ended up in these situations weren't that believeable, the chemistry between the leads made up for it. Some of the acting was cringey a bit, especially the thinking scenes, I think that part could have been done better. But I liked the ending and also the birthday part a lot!

Overall I give the rating 7/10, an easy-to-watch GL that had a bigger potential.

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Confusing what it was actually trying to say

I'm still a bit confused what the main theme of the movie was supposed to be. We have a sapphic relationship here, along with disapproving mother, infidelity, dubious consent (not between the main couple), and a very questionable decision at the end.

Of course, it's mostly about the relationship between Por and Jane, who want to tell Por's mother about their relationship, but she isn't happy that her daughter is with another woman. The reason why isn't explained much, whether it's because she is afraid of what the world will think of them or whether she wants grandchildren, which is hinted towards the end of the movie, when she tells Jane (who got pregnant after having a drunken one-night stand with a guy) to not get an abortion. The mother compares Jane's situation to her own when she was pregnant with Por, but I feel like that was an entirely different thing because she was dating Por's father at that time and it was her own decision to keep and raise the baby on her own, while Jane had a drunken one-night stand and even offered Por that she would get the abortion only if they got together again. I feel like the mother had the most say in what happens when it obviously should have been Jane's decision and she should have discussed it more with Por but at the end Jane should be the one to have the most say in this.

I would appreciate more sweet moments between Por and Jane before everything went downhill and also if the story focused more on their relationship rather than the abortion part.

The fact that this was a student film and also based on a true story is what made me give this movie a higher rating than I initially wanted which is 7/10 stars.

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Great introduction to the series

The prologue did a great job with introducing all the four couples and blending their stories together without confusing the viewer. The change between the focus of each couple felt natural and I wonder how they will interact with each other in the actual series.

Pipim & Peeraya: Probably my favourite couple of these (I'm not saying it's because of the car scene but I'm also not saying that it's not ;)), they seem more mature than the others. The fake relationship dynamic is also interesting and although it's not my favourite trope, I'm looking forward to see how their story will unfold.

Papie & Jao: Their dynamic is also interesting since they are ex-lovers. which is a trope I don't see often. I also love Papie's character.

Tawan & Winnie: And they were roommates! Loving this, especially the coffee talk. Not sure how I feel about Winnie having a fiance though. It will certainly add more drama, that's for sure.

Jaojay & Sitang: I'm glad that they changed Jaojay's age to 22 year-old instead of 19. The office romance and the age gap reminds me a bit of GAP but I'm sure that there will be something to make it different and unique.

Overall a 8.5/10 rating from me and I can't wait for the actual series!

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Short & Sweet

The premise of the story actually doesn't promise much. A typical and clichéd story about two completely opposite people - a hard-working person 1 and a person 2 who doesn't really care about the subject in general - who are supposed to work together for a project in their class. It might seem like that but I promise you that it's so much more.

The best part about it was how absolutely everything felt realistic. Despite the shorthness the way how the two girls and their relationship with each other developed didn't feel rushed at all. The story was flowing nicely, there was sweet and cute moments as well as a great kissing scene!

Some more details I really liked about this drama:
* The supporting teacher who made the mock couple project
* Hee Ram's little list about what she wanted to do on the date
* Ga In's ear piercings and rings!
* The whole club scene
* Their movie date at the end

Overall a 9/10 rating from me and I absolutely can't wait for a second season!

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Such a Disappointment

This part 2 had so much potential and all it needed to do was to follow in part 1's footsteps. I'm pretty sure that we all loved the aliens' CGI, the way the students interacted with each other and with the soldiers and how they were trying to survive and find out what was behind the invasion and how to stop it. Well, part 2 took all of it from us.

It started after a timeskip (why?!) and all the students suddenly were miraculously good shooters, not afraid of the aliens anymore, not even the bigger ones. It was set in winter, yet the fact that the aliens could be killed by cold was simply glossed over by the fact that they somehow adapted to it. Won Bin was gone and absolutely no-one mentioned him even ONCE in the whole drama. We all should have probably stopped watching right after this, because it was clear that part 2 was beginning to steer in a totally different direction.

Instead of a sci-fi thriller, we got a psychological drama. Only a few aliens appeared, and they were mostly just talked about. We didn't learn anything new about them. At the end, it was explained that the army made some super deux ex machina weapon that killed 99% of the spheres. That was so cheap and still left us with so many unaswered questions. But not as cheap as one of the students going mad and killing almost all of his classmates. It was like the part 2 was an entirely different drama.

My final rating is 6.5/10, just because the actors did a wonderful job and the post-credit scene made it a little bit better.

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Worth the Hype

One of the best dramas I've ever seen! The concept was refreshing and the law cases were done in a really entertaining way. The episodic format of almost all the episodes helped it a lot. I don't usually like law dramas, but this one was able to mix all the law terms as well as the feels for the suspects and victims really well. I also like how it focused on the lawyer's jobs as a whole: how they have to decide between doing the "right" thing and the thing, which is the best for their client.

Young Woo was an amazing character (kudos to Park Eun Bin, she played her so well!) and as a person, who is an (undiagnosed) autistic, I was able to see myself in some aspects of her: the way she moved her hands, having troubles with social interactions, finding certain noises hard to listen to, not liking some kinds of food because of unexpected taste or texture... I'm not an expert but I feel like the role was done well. If anything it offered me a representation I didn't know I needed.
Another character that I absolutely loved was Geurami. Everything about her was great, from her fashion sense to her unusual friendship with Young Woo.

The romance between Woo Young and Joon Ho was so sweet! He was like a walking green flag, not pressing her into a relationship, respecting her when she couldn't hold hands with him, letting her take her time with their first kiss... There were rocky parts of course but overall it was slow-burn and cute romance.
One thing I disliked about this drama (and most dramas in general, to be honest) is the need to pair all the side characters together. The attorney Myung Seok didn't need to get back to his ex-wife but I can live with that. And also with Geurami having crush on Min Woo because it was only one-sided and also funny to see how confused he was with her flirting. But why did Min Woo did a total 180° flip on the Jeju Island and Soo Yeon fall in love with him out of nowhere? Just no.

Because of that I was originally planning to deduce 0.5 point from the rating but the pros definitely outweighted this one small con, and this drama deserved the highest rating. Hopefully season 2 will live up to the first one.

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