Underdeveloped story filled with clichés and steretypical troupes

I wasn't attracted to this drama when Netflix kept putting it up on my recommendation because, despite having a female protagonist, I had a feeling it would just be another stereotypically C-PeriodDrama offering that plays out in a male dominated storyline where the female protag still needs men to rescue her at every turn. In the first few minutes, it seemed that this might not be the case as the princess protag was actually cherished even though she wasn't a prince (where usually having a prince is the utmost achievement in Asian monarchies). Plus she seemed to be able to take care of herself as she displayed some martial arts abilities. Unfortunately, an episode later my suspicions were proven to be correct and I realised that the first few minutes had been lies to bait me in. I did end up watching the rest of this series because I have a certain weakness for men in period drama WITH LONG HAIR!!! And Princess Weiyoung, unfortunately, really really delivered on this!

Firstly, don't watch it if you're expecting a series with a good female protag. She's not. Otherwise, read on for spoilers...

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To say that I was disappointed with the storyline, or the lack thereof, is an understatement. Maybe it was too much for me to expect that the trigger for the princess's journey would also be the task that was on her mind. Because of the machinations of an ambitious general, her family gets wiped out in a fake coup allegation and her people are enslaved. Her father and grandmother are killed before her very eyes and the people involved are seared in her memory. True, her grandmother had advised her to not pursue revenge and instead pursue a simple life of stability and happiness but when she meets someone whose identity is, by a quirk of fate, quite intimately tied with the perpetrators of the dastardly deeds she had decided on exacting justice (because what is revenge but justice obtained through other means?) for her father and her people already... so why didn't she commit?

For the rest of the fifty-four series long blah we get a repetitive cycle of Weiyoung being framed then saved, framed then saved, framed then saved... framed then saved, repeat, rinse and repeat cycle again. She is a passive recipient of events and plots happening to her and is able to escape from them from many, many deus ex machinas interventions. When she elicits the attention of a prince, of course the stereotypically favoured heir of the emperor, she gets support and a savior all in one. There seems to be nothing done in her part to source out whom her enemies and allies really are, what their weaknesses and strengths are, and what resources are available to herself to really use. When one plots after another is resolved in her favour, she doesn't seek to tidy up the loose ends to ensure she is not a victim to the same tactics again ie using the same disguise techniques to imitate Weiyoung and implicate her in a royal murder. And like a bad Mary Sue plot (which is SO synonymous of Asian writing, unfortunately) we get every powerful male in the region lusting after her and fighting each other to have her and, of course, women who are mad at her because they lust after those men, with the exception of the princess Tuo Ba Di who does not resent her but is instead her ally.

I expected a series about a resourceful and clever princess who somehow fights her way to clearing her father's name and that of her kingdom's. What I got instead was a series of a trophy woman who is at the mercy of other women's jealousies and is saved by the men whom those women lust after. None of this is new. What is worst is the methods are always the same. Each. And. Every. Time. Something happens. Weiyoung is blamed. An evidence is planted. She begs for time to investigate and exonerate herself. She is helped/rescued or she has planned a counter from the beginning because of some BS reasoning and lack of logic but in the end she is cleared. The martial arts skill we saw in her at the beginning is nowhere to be found again later on and an episode where the schemes pivots on a maid copying her disaster relief plan was just WTF. Maids aren't educated to read or write well, if at all. The Li family themselves noted how Weiyoung could've come up with such an elegant plan given her country education so how the eff would a simple maid have been able to read her writing and copy it out speedily and legibly in the first place?!?!

She ends up being a personal servant to an emperor who was ignorant of his general's, and his son's, ambitions and agrees to free her people from slavery but will not clear her father's name of the fake rebellion and, as a princess of Northern Liang, she sees absolutely nothing wrong with that. JC. Has she no pride? The emperor basically claimed the iron ore mine, that this plot was borne from, allowed his subordinates to be the ones who dirtied their hands and still kept the credit. She saw nothing wrong with that! Even when she does reveal who she is to her beau, she still does not mention her original name. By the end of the series, we get her giving her conditions to prince Nan An that her people and father be cleared of this fake treasonous coup but we never get to hear any edict on that front. Like everything in Asian cinemas, the male POV takes over to the point where the struggle becomes Tuo Ba Jun's struggle for the good of the Wei empire (the very ones who took over her Northern Liang empire) and he becomes the main character and we never really remember her ID as the Northern Liang princess anymore. Goddamn, I was cursing and laughing at the ridiculous plots every single episode, especially the latter episodes that insinuate she has terrible calligraphy. It was just a way to show how the man is superior to her, even having to teach her how to write calligraphy when she would've had the same royal education that he had and she also had no problems writing out her disaster relief plan.

Having said that, I did watch it till the end as there were a few promising arcs that I was hoping the show would develop: Minde and princess Tuo Ba Di, general Chi Yun Nan and Hong Luo and Cheng De and Jun Tao. Two out of three ain't bad. The writers should've really went into the potential arc for Chi Yun Nan and Hong Luo though as I found her background and their relationship interesting and there was a lot of baiting in their interactions to suggest that he has feelings for her but, alas, the ineffectual princess and her Marty Stu beau dominated the screen. Pity... because HIS HAIR!!! And he has earrings!!!

What I was pleasantly surprised about was the prince Nan An character though. He was very nuanced and incredibly unpredictable. I was about to dump this series until we got to the episode where we discovered his childhood trauma. Then this char became interesting. Plus... HIS HAIR IS GORGEOUS :D And I was also glad to see Li Chang Le drop the stereotype of an eternally-longing-woman-with-an-unrequited-love and just drop that obsession already. Nevermind that she swung to hate instead, at least she broke out of that eternal limerence state, unlike her cousin Chang Ru.

Watch value is probably a 2 or 3/10
Rewatch is a 1/10
Presence of male chars with long hair 10/10
These don't add up to the 1/10 that I gave this series but that's coz the only thing that made sense were the hair anyway :P

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Supernatural clickbait. Consent has left the room with this problematic kdrama.

Consent seems to be a concept that is giving issues for some kdramas. This is the case for Destined with You.

The series promotes a supernatural themed experience replete with Joseon flashbacks. It starts strong with a visceral curse of a bloody, red hand haunting the male protag and also a haunted shrine to start the ball rolling on events. A couple of episodes later, however, that enticing premise is nowhere to be found.

Lee Hong Jo's character is unlikeable and unrelatable. She is insecure at work because she is not invited to the collegial team luncheons. There are suggestions that she is bullied as well. At first, I thought she might be a low ranking public servant. The synopsis itself says she is a "low grade public servant" however, at one stage we discover that she is in fact an assistant manager, ie the second in charge. At that point, all sympathies for her work problems evaporate. If she's skilled enough to get to that point she should be skilled enough to handle the politics.

Furthermore, we discover that she stole Na Yeon's bf in high school. For some reason Na Yeon chooses to apologise to her for the incident and Hong Jo has the gall to refuse to forgive her. This was quite early on in the series already and had cemented my dislike for this character. But I decided to keep on with the show by switching focus onto the male protag instead. That, unfortunately, also sank like another cement block in the river.

The premise of this show is that LHJ decides to cast a love spell on a crush at work. This distastefully amoral deed, which smacks of psychopathy, backfires and instead (and quite predictably) Shin Yu gets lumped with the spell on top of his curse. I dropped the series at the start of episode 5 when it was revealed that there was no way to break the spell. Shin Yu is stuck with having to feel feelings that he does not have for a woman he had no inkling of having those types of feelings for in the first place. This show became as romantic as watching a guy try to woo a woman he roofied. It's not cool for it to happen to a woman. It's not cool for it to happen to a man too and it was tragically sad watching Shin Yu struggle against being physically gravitated towards Hong Jo and saying things he doesn't want to towards her while the vacuous, insensitive Hong Jo just keeps asking, "why are you here? Why are you staring at me like that? Why did you say that?" etc when he has said, time and again already, exactly why he was behaving like that and has literally begged her to help break this spell just as multiple times.

For the fact that it also became obvious the supernatural themes were just used as clickbait and there's no substance to the characters or the story, it was not worth even a first watch.

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Formulaic with weird paedophilic groomy vibes

When I saw the synopsis for this I knew it was going to be a teen drama replete with unrealistic behaviours and a female ingenue character that bordered on vacuous. I still gave it a go because I found out the lead was none other than Zhao Lu Si from 'Who Rules the World'. However, even having her as the protagonist couldn't keep me on.

Firstly, I have no idea why CDramas, or Chinese productions in general, always edit the characters' voices. Women always end up sounding like a chipmunk. Is that sexy? It's certainly not mature. Definitely not natural. Zhao Lu Si's lovely timbre in 'Who Rules the World' is reduced to a squirrel's that sounds like they have a perpetual cold in 'Hidden Love'.

Secondly, there is no life to Sang Zhi at all except when she decides to say or do something manipulative; if she puts half the energy she has in those moments into her studies, it might seem interesting. As it was, a childish, spoilt younger sister protag who has a crush on an older brother's friend and doesn't focus on her own education, dreams and ambitions was too formulaic and mundane a teen drama. Is Jia Xu the only friend Sang Yan has? Is he the only guy she's ever met and known all her teenage life? Will he be the only one there is? Surely, realistically not. And using an actress that's younger than the fourteen Sang Zhi was meant to be, when she first meets Jia Xu, didn't help with the whole groomy vibes too.

Dropped it after first episode as couldn't gel with the characters and didn't care enough to see their journey. Hidden Love did not utilise all of Zhao Lu Si's talents, not even a tenth of it. Disappointing. Only nice things to note were the food!

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Nuanced characterisation and amazing acting. Strong female characters. Great storytelling.

It's hard to find a women-centred series that isn't ultimately about the aftermath of a man's infidelity and the modern day take of harem infighting that goes on between wives, mistresses and empires. It's harder to find a female revenge story that's really satisfying. 'Burn the House Down' or 'Mitaraike, Enjou Suru' ticks both boxes. To say that I was blown away by this story was an understatement. The female characters are really strong and nuanced and the plot twists keep you guessing till the end. Ultimately, it was hard to draw the line between wrong and right and most of things were left in the grey areas.

What I loved about this story was how fleshed out and realistic it was. It's usual to have one character shoulder the burden, and hog the limelight, for the plotting and revenge work but to share the work between the two sisters was really unique writing. I really liked how the sibling relationships were explored in BtHD both between the Murata sisters and the Mitarai brothers as well. It's refreshing to see supportive, functional sibling relationships as well, having been so used to competitive and backstabbing ones from western shows. All the psychology behind the characters were also realistic. The ineffectual father, the only son from a family of dominant women, was on point. The fact that Makiko could handle the sisters' bullying better and the fact that Yuzu would be too young to fully understand the father's character and the dynamics at play.

Mitarai Makiko was portrayed as the villainess from the start but in the end, the audience is left wondering "what the hell?!" when we discover that her only crime had been envy and being a protective mother. Is she still someone we should hate? Does she still deserve all that bile buildup from the onset? Or was she also a victim of circumstance and only acting out of self preservation? It's all still up in the air. What's not up in the air was Suzuki Kyoka's acting though. From the moment she appears on screen she really captures the attention. Her micro-expressions when witnessing the fire was also excellently acted to portray both possibilities of what the audience was first led to believe was schadenfreude and also the immense relief at being able to start her slate anew that we later discover was the actual case. Kyoka really inhabits each scene she has with the confidence that comes from being a battler single mom Makiko, something that Satsuki desperately seeks. Makiko is a tremendous survivor of the odds and despite her major setback we see her endeavour to make a comeback again in the end. She is not a pure white character but a real one and though her methods were questionable one can't really judge the means by which she employs her resources to survive in a society and culture that is not kind to single, poor mothers. Makiko's juxtaposition against Satsuki was fantastic in that she brings out the "life" in the latter.

As the show developed there was a suspicion that Satsuki was an unhappily married woman. Satsuki's character was interesting in that she was only unhappy because she felt she could not be enough to help her husband in life and career, not because of problems with the husband. All her thoughts were for her husband and family. This was a character who wanted nothing more than to be an effective and competent homemaker, a stark contrast to most portrayals of stay-at-home mums being sapped of life because of their choice to be SAHMs. Despite being bullied by her sister-in-laws Satsuki wanted to develop confidence, not to defend herself, but to help her husband in the family more. She wanted to learn how to communicate what she wanted and felt, and to even know what she wanted to begin with. We see that her blog posts are described as lifeless and mundane. What a great little piece of information to show a facet of her character. In the end, Makiko's family's acts sets her on this path to self deconstruction and reconstruction. We hear harsh words from her that we'd never imagine could come from a selfless, kind, compassionate Satsuki. Words like "I've hated you from the beginning" directed at Makiko, "I will never forgive you" to Shinji, words that would be more fitting coming from villainess Makiko than pure Satsuki yet when she utters those words and feelings there is a life in the woman, for once. It dawns on the audience and now, with the flaws and the dark thoughts, Satsuki has found that confidence and life that she lacked and so desperately sought in the past. Having this contrast made it seem like Makiko and Satsuki were the perfect yin and yang, bringing out the little light and little darkness that balanced everything out to be more harmonious people. Both were not perfect yet both are real. And because of the diametrically opposite dynamic of their characters it was fitting for Satsuki to have been the one who brought down Makiko by doing something slightly Makiko-ish ie underhanded. By doing so, Satsuki became a less passive character and ended up being the one who saved herself.

Anzu is an incredibly strong female character that is so rare on the screen. Nowadays we are used to badass women who are badass on the male level ie they are warrior like amazons or compete well on a male dominated corporate level or similar. Anzu is none of those but still a badass because she is focused, disciplined, and resolute. She was scared of Kiichi but still plowed through those fears because her mind was made up from years ago. She was scared of other things going wrong, of being found out, of this, of that, but she still did it. She didn't meekly take the push from Kiichi but also pushed back. Courage is having fears but still doing it and Anzu is the embodiment of that. When she stood up to her father and b!tchslapped his phone out of his hands Anzu was really showing the strong feminine energy that's rarely, rarely celebrated. Being the firstborn, she's seen the father's role in the Mitarai family, acutely appraised his character from his behaviour during the 13 absent years and know where she stands in what she's doing and his place in it. Unlike Anzu, she has no illusions that he can be relied on to be even a chance of an ally to her plight to clear her mother's name. Where it is usual to portray daughters as being easily fooled by the excuses of errant fathers Anzu has long ago decided she has no place for his BS. The phone smack would be considered utterly rude and unfilial, in the cultural context, but morally correct in the universal justice context. Anzu showed that she was a bigger person in defying culture and her patriarch. The real badassery from that act was the fact that she did it as she was championing her family, which included her mother and her sister. Because, as Anzu so rightly contextualises everything to Shinji at his confession, it is all about protecting one's family, just as he did.

The reveal was a bit of a rollercoaster which hovered on comical in that it was too "Come on! What?! How 'bout the cat? Did the cat do it too?!" However, the flashbacks interspersed in between and the way the characters have behaved throughout (Makiko always refers to protecting Kiichi, Makiko discovers she still had the cardigan but it was in a box whereas the cardigan on the CCTV shows it being worn) supports it. Because the careful editing supported the conclusion the plot twists did not feel like a gimmicky add-on, which made the story even more masterful.

The ending, imho, was very satisfying. It wasn't linear but it was right. Everything that should happen did happen and the characters all found their own peace. Only let down was the odd soundtrack but it sounded like some 80s video games which I thought was an allusion to Kiichi's fondness for video games maybe. It's not a dealbreaker by any means.

I highly recommend this series for ppl who love great stories about strong women and aren't looking for neat, linear endings but real ones. It's refreshing to see a predominantly female cast in the testosterone filled film & tv industry, even more so that the characters aren't cliche and shallow stereotypes.

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Disappointing Cringefest with Zero Sensitivity and Respect for Sentient Beings

Waited for this to finish uploading before tucking into it. Like Doctor Cha, it was uberly disappointing. Unlike Doctor Cha, it wasn't even good enough for me to consider adding to my "treadmill list", which are a list of shows ok enough to watch only while I'm on the treadmill but not really to capture my utmost attention and emotional investment.

Main reasons were:-
1) For Asian shows that deal with animals, the first thing I'd prefer is "No Animals were Harmed" precautions. If the 'Secret Royal Inspector and Joy' series were able to achieve this—and their story did not revolve around animals— why couldn't 'Behind Your Touch'? Especially since animals are such a pivotal theme to BYT.
2) The plot was so cringey and paper thin nonsense. Woman keeps going around holding onto a moving being's butt to "read" them is not quality writing. I've read better stories from 9 year olds.
3) The male and female behaviours were WTF. Having a man Judo-flip a woman onto a bitumen road floor isn't cool. The same kind of uncool with getting flipped off a treadmill in 'King the Land'. Neither was remotely quality slapstick comedy. Plus the "romance" between the policeman and her aunt was cringefest to the max.
4) The characterisation of the protagonist was unrealistic. Vet Sci is a hardcore course in any country to get into yet the FL is an emotionally underdeveloped idiot who doesn't have seem to have any instincts or confidence around handling animals.

But, ultimately, the main reason I decided to drop this disaster was the treatment of gender violence. Having the FL find out that her ex coursemate might have abducted a woman whom he is abusing is one thing. To have it glossed over and ignored by fluffing the rest of the minutes up with comedic routines was incredibly tone deaf. If writers are going to show gender violence have some backbone to treat it with the care and sensitivity it deserves. The portrayal of it as just a plot device to fill in the time, without any context or follow-up, seemed an extremely lazy and cheap writing serving only to titillate for views. Pathetic. Are we supposed to laugh at the carrying-ons of the ML and co at the farmyard and completely ignore the horrid images of the poor abused woman whom have been seared into our memories? Go f#ck yourselves, male Sth Korean studio execs.

Have some respect for crime victims. Have some respect for animals. And, especially, have some respect for discerning viewers.

Don't waste your time on this BS. Unrealistic portrayal of a vet. Stupid approach to animal whispering and brain dead characters all around. Only stars were the animals but since there's no way to know if they'd been treated well at all during the filming of these series it's especially not worth supporting a show that could have been unnecessarily harmful to animals.

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Tumbleweed fest

The catchcry for this is a woman rebuffing the advances of younger men. This isn't true. It's not about the age difference. It's the fact that she doesn't want to date with another colleague again as this age issue is resolved within the first couple of minutes in the series where we discover she's only a year older than him. That's right. A YEAR. Shows some insecurity issues for the ppl who actually promote and produce this webtoon and series if they think a year's diff between a woman and a man is a huge deal.

That aside, this show is a huge WTF for Rowoon. It doesn't showcase his full abilities at all and as a character Hyun Seung was flat and without personality. What does he like? Whatever Soon Ah likes. What makes him happy? Whatever makes Soon Ah happy. What's his favourite food? Whatever is Soon Ah's favourite food. *facepalm* It's quite a change watching him play a doormat in this whole series where nothing really happens. I stayed with it till the end because the cosmetics industry insides was interesting to watch and I love series where you get a good idea of an occupation from the characters' lives and She Would Never Know delivers on this at least. But the unlikely pair of older sisters that Hyun Seung has, and the going-ons of their love life was just a whole bunch of fantastical BS on display. Ji Seung, the older sister who is a successful entrepreneur and gorgeous is single. She is courted by Soon Ah's big boss, Jae Woon, who is a chaebol heir and single and is interested in her to the point of stalking her. He says the most weirdest things to her and she is all submissive and accepting of his behaviours because Korea and women apparently *rolls eyes*. Yun Seung, the oldest sister I think, is the "successful" woman and person of them all because she's married with a kid. She tries to match her siblings off asap and has trained her daughter to be focused on only appearances and boyfriends. Excellent. No need to educate the little girl, just prance her off to some escort service since men and skin beauty is prioritised highly in her metaphorical books. Those industries like the girls young and vacuous anyway.

The whole Jae Shin and Hyo Joo arc is weird AF. If he was really interested in Soon Ah and not Hyo Joo his behaviours and actions would not have been as it was in the series. The Jae Shin character behaved that way solely because the execs wanted to drive through the point about him being a cheater but the implausibility of how he treats her and keeps her in the dark stretched the suspension of disbelief too much that I just dumped this whole character. I couldn't take him seriously at all. He was just a pawn to act in whatever way fitted the plot and not a real organic character that was believable. It's quite a common trait anyway in Korean writing to have things be plot oriented rather than character oriented, which makes for implausible characters behaving in implausible ways.

Anyway, the only blimp that happens in Soon Ah and Hyun Seung's r/ship was her having some attack of doubts in Paris when he visits her. All that is resolved when she returns to Korea after her Parisian assignment and decides she wants him after all. And like the doormat that he is, of course he returns to her. Predictable. Then there's a wedding in the end and that's it.

A lot of blahs in between but not a lot of real substance to this series. All the characters are dull, boring and flat. I felt like I was watching ppl going through the throes of life post-lobotomies, tbh. You could replace druggies with the actors and you'd get the same spaced out results playing surreal situations that go through a predictable trajectory.

Rewatch value is -10.

I really wouldn't even recommend anyone watching this unless they were interested in marketing, esp retail marketing, as this is portrayed well in the series. The characters are shallow and dull and the story is just a bunch of nothing. Watching grass grow would have a better rewatch value.

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Disappointing ending but still worth a watch

I tried to hold back from watching this series until it was fully uploaded on Netflix but it was hard! I ended up finishing the 10th episode with a few days to spare for the last 2 episodes. When I finally watched it I was flummoxed. To say I was disappointed would be an understatement.

Firstly, the story is beautiful. The cast and acting were above par. Shin Hye Sun is a confident actress and really takes to this role like a well-worn shoe. She portrays Ban Ji Eum so comfortably it sets the tone for the rest of the cast to follow her standard and Ahn Bo Hyun really takes to the challenge well. His portrayal of adult Moon Seo Ha is convincingly done. Bo Hyun gets the right mix of innocence and naivety in Seo Ha’s deer-in-headlights reactions to Ji Eum’s assertive advances that hits all the right notes. Veteran actress Cha Chung Hwa, as Ji Eum’s grown-up niece from her 17th life, is a fantastic energy to bounce off Hye Sun. It was great to see these two cast together again after their time in ‘Mr Queen’. I was gratified to see Kim Joon Ho here and even though he only occupied small screen time, he still did the uncle character justice. Hope to see more of this actor as he was memorable from ‘Secret Royal Inspector & Joy’. The actress who was his niece character, Go Do Yeon, was a great pairing against his avuncular intensity, lighting up the screen when the duo had their singing and Accordion playing scene. Go Do Yeon was spectacular and had a great voice. Hope to see more of her talent in future kdramas.

Possibly the only one who fizzed in the whole set was Lee Chae Min, the shaman char. From the moment he comes onto the scene he was a wooden character and in the end episodes his lack of range is especially obvious when cast against Hye Sun’s 1st life char’s rageful scenes. This wasn’t really the reason why I was disappointed by the series though.

I’m not sure why this series only had 12 episodes allocated to it when dramas typically run for 16 eps on average. There were definitely areas that could’ve been fleshed out more. The ending left questions such as how did Ji Eum’s 1st life rage vow/curse affect Han Na, Seo Ha’s mother to make her one of the ones who remember their past lives, like Ji Eum? Why is Kang Min Ki allowed to retain his memories when the others had to relinquish theirs—because it’s his atonement for his ‘sins’? Other stuff like pinning the accident and murder on the uncle was implausible to the extreme as, up to the end, the father was portrayed as the villain, and a believable one. I found it a headspin to see that we’re meant to forgive the father and sympathise with him when his character gets a 180 makeover from a clear villain to a repressed, grieving husband. This characterisation of him is not believable at all. Let’s not forget that he had an affair on his wife with a woman who might’ve poisoned the wife while she was nursing her and subsequently handed over his wife’s precious hotel to the woman to destroy in slow measures by her negligent mismanagement. His interactions with Seo Ha is also mostly filled with angry outbursts that suggests violence is never far behind. All in all, Seo Ha never felt safe with him or in his presence and, as a viewer, were I in Seo Ha’s shoes I wouldn’t either. I was expecting to see that it was his dad who had organised the accident, his mistress who agreed, and his brother who, being the lackey character, obediently carried out his wishes because the violent brother is the alpha male not to be challenged. Based on the setup of the characters and the way the story was going, there was nothing at all to make me believe the uncle could ever have taken this initiative upon himself to do something so harmful even if he had only meant for it to have been an accident. His uncle was very much portrayed as not the brain of the operation but the hand. So a big letdown for the way this was done as it’s obvious the writers just decided to BS this story arc just as they BS'd the fact that Cho Won really likes Do Yoon instead of Seo Ha, even tho all signs pointed to her liking Seo Ha, because it was more convenient than trying to figure out how to solve this rivalry between the sisters.

Finally, the way the “curse” was explained felt like such a cheat. Ji Eum herself set this in motion? Really? That’s the best they could come up with? All she did was clutch onto the bells while she said she was pissed and wanted to be eternally pissed at the shaman dude… that’s it. No ceremony. No ritual. In fact, the fact that the shaman had to cut off one of the ribbons from the bells made it seem like that should’ve arrested the curse in the first place because something was broken and he was the shaman. As a viewer, while the whole explanation was very holistic and philosophical the implementation could’ve been more, I don’t know, “oomphy”. Why did her curse work? Did she have gifts in this shamanic field too? Is she a bloodline to something special? Is she part of a group that is susceptible to these types of reincarnations, like Han Na? Basically, in lieu of rituals and incantations, why did her words work? Perhaps she needs to be special and chosen before being the designated dyer and preparer of the shamanic bells’ sacred ribbons. The fact that, for the time and era, she could think of something so adverse to the cultural conditioning and question the validity of their shamanic theocracy shows there’s something exceedingly unique about her. All these perhaps that could’ve been fleshed out way more and maybe even spill into a sequel or season 2 that could’ve rivalled Alchemy & Souls! GAH! Wasted chance!

It's a mixed feelings review but the 5 stars is for the fact that it’s nice to see a reincarnations themed storyline that doesn’t just focus on eros love between lovers. The storge, familial love between Ae Kyung and her uncle was just as relevant and heartwarming, and was the one that really saves Ji Eum in her 19th incarnation! If not for 17th life story, this series would’ve gotten a 1 star for the underwhelming way it was all written.

I would still rewatch this show because the acting was superb but the way the storyline ended was underwhelming and disappointing to the max. It is likely I’d stop watching at ep 10, tbh. However, for those who haven’t seen this show b4… well, oops for the spoilers but hey, u’ve been warned!... I do wholeheartedly recommend giving this show a looksee simply because it is quite a beautiful story. The music is on point throughout and Ahn Bo Hyun’s deer-in-the-headlights acting is cute AF. The adorbs Go Do Yeon is DEFINITELY worth a watch. I’d watch it again just to see her sing and dance alongside her uncle char.

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A try-hard that misses

Dropped it after 1st ep.

What I liked about it:
—of all the kdramas I've watched thus far, this is one of the few that has the languages downpat. I was impressed with Sa Rang's Mandarin and English, and Gu Won's English was good too. This added truth to the reality the show tries to portray with the different countries at play.

Things that turned me off:
— obvious Euro-centrism with "we are so rich that we are overlords to white ppl in their own lands". Did they need to juxtapose their wealth against westerners to make their point? Rather smacks of insecurity and overcompensation. Was a very cringeworthy scene, to say the least
— parallel of Gu Won receiving a bouquet on his graduation and Sa Rang receiving it from her beau, as though her greatest culmination was the attentions of a man whilst his, the attainment of higher education. Real warped idea of female empowerment that clues me in on the values of this show.
— despite the above, the thing that made me decide to discontinue with this show was watching Sa Rang try to get Gu Won's attention by speeding him off the treadmill. Not quite sure what the writers had in mind but in which planet is this harmful behaviour, that can potentially kill someone, actually acceptable? Just watching the show continue on after that and Gu Won stand up and brush it off was watching a gaslighting exercise in its own right. This behaviour is not acceptable and normal and garnered me zero sympathies for the female protag from that moment on and because I have zero emotional investment in any of the characters I won't be watching the rest of this series.

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Predictable but interesting

Second foray into Jap shows so it was an education into their cultural coding. The villain was obvious from the get-go and the male char's machismo was annoying, but female character was fantastic. I hope to see more of these portrayals of a cool and calm woman. And I loved how Kiriko was not sexualised in any way. I appreciated the subtle undercurrent of romance in the series as it becomes obvious early on that Taka highly respects her and starts to care about her welfare more and more. I don't think changing the show to a romance would've worked as it's firmly in the espionage/action type of genre and I'm glad the writers refrained from that.

What I found distracting was the soundtrack. I don't know if the music director was aware of it or not but having the ending credit track to Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (with Gene Wilder) as Invisible's movie track was weird because of the different time and genre involved. Plus, the track didn't even fit with the overall vibe of Invisible so one wonders why it was that they used it at all. Also, the constant repeat of Taka's traumatic flashback felt like a time filler for the writers in lieu of a real storyline.

Great for one watch but I don't plan to rewatch again.

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Entertaining. Fun. Great Acting.

This was a seriously enjoyable and entertaining watch from beginning till end. First intro'd to Seo In Guk in Doom At Your Service where he looked bored AF. Having watched Cafe Minamdang, I can see why. He's got a great comedic range and is effusive and charismatic in Cafe Minamdang. He goes through the roles of brother, friend, mentor, shaman, son, charlatan, detective and beau effortlessly. The chemistry between him and his movie sister, Nam Hye Joon, and his longtime buddy, Gong Soo Chul, is so genuine it's a pleasure to watch. Also Gong Soo Chul and Nam Hye Joon is a seriously cute couple.

Although it was obvious to this viewer that Cha Do Won, the prosecutor, was the villain from the moment he appeared it still did not detract me from enjoying this hilarious romp. There were enough shenanigans that were unpredictable to have kept my interest going.

Probably the only thing I'd criticise is the age consideration in the casting. Jung Da Eun is meant to be years older than Won Hyun Joon and Seo In Guk a few years older than Oh Yeon Seo. And some unrealistic behaviours like how when Cha Do Won called out for help when he caught and was decked by Goo Tae Soo, I would not expect a detective like Han Jae Hee to go to him without looking around her and seeing the assailant run away. Also, I would've liked to have seen Gong Soo Chul's character show more of the fact that he had been a homicide detective in the past. Aside from the flashback, he was consistently the clown character throughout the series and at times it was frustrating as one can't help but feel that he wouldn't think or react this way because he's been trained as a homicide detective before! But anyway these sorts of unrealistic behaviours seem to be a hallmark of many Kdramas anyway so it's tolerated.

Highly recommend.

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Ridiculous

Plot: Upon finding out that she has 100 days to live, Dong Kyung makes a wish for the end of the world to Doom who wants her to redeem it by the time she dies. If she refuses to, he will kill off the person she loves most. **Either way she dies**

Remember the last line. Because the writers didn’t.

The person Dong Kyung most wants to protect is her younger brother. If she were to adhere to her wish her brother would die too after she’s gone. In a drunken stupor, upset and bitter about the injustice of her life gone to cancerous hell, she makes this destructive wish without having thought about the consequences of her words. Doom doesn’t care about any of that. She made a wish. He’ll fulfill it for her. She just need to reaffirm the wish again. So in another “brainflash” she decides she’ll fall in love with Doom and not wish the world to hell and both she and Doom will be the only ones who’ll die in the end. At this point, the whole story becomes very, VERY predictable.

It's obvious that she’ll regret it and try to save him from dying because she loves him. It’s obvious that they’ll fall in love (although how a non-living entity and embodiment of destruction can even feel any emotion is anyone’s guess). It’s obvious that nobody dies. What’s not obvious is how badly this is carried out.

There is absolutely no chemistry at all between the male and female protags. They just keep saying they love each other and that’s meant to be it. No work done. No bonding effort made. Nothing. The whole quasi explanation from the “mother of all life” character just added in a WTF element to it and partway through, when the writers instill a time loop arc, as in the characters lose their memory and repeat the whole meeting and falling in love again, you KNOW the writers have literally lost the plot and don’t know what to do anymore but to fill in time with more time wasters. Seo In Guk, as Doom, looks so bored the whole time I can’t make out what he’s feeling exactly when he says this or that, which adds to the whole Doom persona but viewers can’t help but wonder if the actor is actually bored… (he probably is. Go watch him in Café Minamdang where he’s able to show off more of his acting range. Poor dude’s talents got underused in this series.)

The second story that’s meant to help move things alongside the primary arc is a raised eyebrow plot. Girl falls in love with a stranger who kisses her while passing an umbrella to her. Erm, no. Maybe look up ‘consent’, South Korean studio execs. Strange men who kiss women are usually considered in criminal legislations or cases rather than the beginnings of a romance. Plus, it’s obvious Lee Hyun Gyu was only interested in Na Ji Na insofar as to compete with his older brother. Whenever his older brother is in the picture with Na Ji Na, Hyun Gyu ups his game with Ji Na and suddenly finds the courage to be meet her and tells her how he feels. How convenient. Methinks he should have a relationship with his brother instead, esp since his older brother says he’s his favourite person anyway.

Watched this coz it was the series that jumpstarted the careers of some actors I liked but will not watch again. Disappointing story. Rubbish and non-existent romance. Nonsense ending. Not recommended. Only watched till the end coz I usually like to watch shows that showcases professions and the look into a publishing company was interesting but it was too brief.

Funniest things were watching Doom wait at the traffic light for it to turn green when episodes before he was able to stop time and just walk across the road. Also, when watching the "mother of life" char become better and have a good time in her school and school uniform, with friends waiting for her, I thought, "she thinks it's great because she's not getting bullied" then remembered she was in The Glory... so I guess life's not that great after all! Just like this show!

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Not as satisfying as promised

The Glory promised to be a woman exacting revenge after bullies traumatised and assaulted her when she was in high school. Though there was definitely plenty of that the whole revenge aspect fell flat for the lack of planning and reliance on deus ex machinas, or luck, that came through.

The plot of school violence is similar, though more extreme, than what happened to the protagonist in The Sound of Magic and in both series I’m left wondering why and how the impoverished protagonists were able to afford being in an elite private school in the first place. It’s clear social class played a motivating role for the bullies in both shows so it seems the easiest way to avoid it is just to have the working class be segregated from the seemingly more violence prone elite class. One would think private schools would do that, since they charge an arm and a leg for admission, but Korean schooling systems must be different because both protagonists, who are dirt poor, are able to attend private schools. At least in The Sound of Magic, there is the constant foraging for money to maintain admission. In The Glory, Dong Eun seems to have selective “affordism” where she’s financially able to handle the private school but not food. But anyway, I’ll focus on The Glory for this review, of course.

My expectation going into the series was that the revenge would be meticulously planned to the point where the bullies had no choice but to move into disadvantageous positions for Dong Eun to capitalise on, almost like a Go game. The calibre of planning expected were similar to those in stories and shows like The Count of Monte Cristo, The Shawshank Redemption and The Sleepers. However, aside from the mention of the Go game itself, the protagonist’s moves did not seem to have much planning involved other than waiting for the well-placed apartment to be available. A lot of the events that happened to help advance her revenge seemed fortuitous and attained by luck and nothing else. The luck in finding her greatest ally, the similarly wounded and revenge-hungry Yeo Jung; the luck in discovering the true paternity of the antagonist’s greatest weakness, Ye Sol; the luck in finding a helper in Hyun Nam; the luck in finding another helper, Gyeong Ran, a fellow victim traumatised by the same bullies; and so on and so forth all within a few years and months of the revenge culminating. It took away from the sense of Dong Eun taking her power back since most of how the bullies suffered by serendipitous means rather than by her hand.

What was frustrating was watching how little the writers actually understood about human psychology when seeing how the mother character was used as a hindrance for Dong Eun. I'm not even sure what her issue is until the char was dispatched off at a mental institution for, of all things, alcoholic substance abuse. Alcoholics don't actually linger around for years just waiting for rich benefactors to gift them with money so they can act up again and get in the way of their daughter's life. Dong Eun's mother seemed ok and sober all the years prior to the antagonist tracking her down and when the contract is made, her modus operandi isn't even consistent with alcohol abuse. Addiction isn't a switch that can be turned on and off conveniently to fulfill a plot but that seems to be how this nuisance character was written. The sense of "convenience" to the whole setup doesn't help with the whole "Dong Eun just got lucky" feel that viewers get when watching The Glory. I was left wondering why, if DE planned so meticulously, did she not tidy off this very raw and obvious loose end in her life so she can't be blackmailed with it as she had been in the past. The answer was that there's no reason but for the screenwriters wanting to just leave it till later when it's "convenient". This takes away from the organic, real life progression of the story and stretched the suspension of disbelief too much to invest in DE's "triumph", if it can be said as that.

Didn't enjoy it as much as I'd hoped and felt they should've invested more time in Yeo Jung's revenge, if only to prove that it's not all luck and deux ex machinas since she can replicate it again.

Was glad to see the actor who portrayed Yeo Jung as I thought he had too brief of an appearance in Hotel del Luna but this series is not something I'd watch again.

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Toxic AF

Wanted to drop it after 1st ep but thought maybe I could stay on because of Kim Chang Wan but could. Not. Do. It. Dropped it 5 mins into ep3.

The male actor, Kim Soo Hyun, seems to be typecast into leads that are paired with toxic, prima donna women. First intro'd to him in My Love from the Star, which is on my treadmill playlist (films with moving images to keep my mind off the exercise time but with shallow plots that won't require any emotional commitment or interest on my part), then the short cameo at the end of Hotel del Luna, then now. His work in Hotel del Luna was good because it was short. His work in It's Ok Not To Be Okay... it's just not okay.

Female protagonist exhibits psychopathic tendencies since young age and is socially maladjusted yet everyone pampers to her every need because she's dressed up like a porcelain geisha doll replete with ridiculous high heels, f#ckable hyper short-skirted dresses, an emo attitude and a goth lean in look and makeup. Talking about the male protag's brother having erogenous zones in his hair triggered when the brother, who is clearly autistic, had a physical altercation during her book signing was inappropriate AF. The male protag just accepts her behaviour because why? He's scripted to? Because she's hitting onto him and she's flawlessly beautiful? Right.

Flip the genders around and see if her behaviours are ok. The way she tracks his info and then tracks him down. Stalking. The way she talks about wanting him like cars and pretty things. Objectification. The way she keeps talking about erogenous zones and bringing up the topic of sex work with him. Inappropriate talk. If it were a guy who did all this to a female protagonist the story would not be romantic at all. Why should we believe it's ok for a woman to do any of those to a man? Is it romantic? Not to this viewer. I prefer my romances healthy, functional and without red flags.

Was looking for a quirky romance. Since this was neither quirky or romantic and was just plain WTF, dropped it like the radioactive sludge that it was. UGH. Does not even make my treadmill playlist. Would not recommend.

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Misleading victim narrative

I saw the promo for this on Netflix back in late April and decided to wait till the whole series finished uploading in early June to watch it. It wasn’t worth the wait.

Dr Cha’s premise is that of an ambitious woman who gave up her dream of becoming a doctor to became a devoted housewife to an unappreciative and disrespectful husband and family. It promises a great comeuppance epic for the middle-aged woman who gets a new lease on life, a second chance at her medical dreams replete with a haircut that makes her look more youthful and a toy boy to elicit jealousy from her cheating husband. What an enticing mix! Except, we find that this narrative is all BS in Dr Cha’s case.

The premise is set up in the following manner: we get intro’d to a near middle-aged Dr Cha who questions whether having given up her medical license, and her dream of becoming a doctor, to become a housewife was worth it or not. Her mother-in-law assures her rearing children is the most worthy pursuit in life before instructing her on performing her duties and chores, which is basically as a servant of the household. The protagonist then has advanced hepatitis and we see how meaningless her selfless sacrifice has been. Her husband (In Ho), the only compatible donor for a liver transplant, is not only reluctant to save her life but is having an affair on the side. The oppressive mother-in-law puts the life of the family above hers yet guilts her into being more “considerate” of In Ho’s future as a surgeon and actively stops him from donating his liver to her. Oh, the outrage! Oh, the inhumanity! What a bunch of a-holes. Except we find that Jung Sook is anything but a victim.

In only a couple of episodes, all the poor victim housewife narrative is debunked. Firstly, Jung Sook never had a medical license so she was never a doctor. I’m not even sure how the scriptwriters figured in her residency years when she got pregnant in only her 2nd year of med school. Medical degrees are usually 5-6 years, with a year’s internship before the residency years, so she wouldn’t even have made her residency years. It’s doubtful that she even completed her degree. Plus, she never had a dream of becoming a doctor until she had her brush with death, in the present, so this part of the premise fails too.

Secondly, there was no betrayal from the “affair” since Jung Sook and In Ho didn’t get married because of love. They got married because Jung Sook seduced him in a situation that can only be described as the lamest reason to hook up I’ve ever seen—Jung Sook basically had sex with In Ho because the room they were in was very warm. *roll eyes* Laziest scriptwriting ever. And I say she seduced him because at the time, it was well known in their course that In Ho and Sung Hee (the “mistress”) were in a r/ship. They were the it couple of the program but because, and I quote verbatim from Jung Sook, Sung Hee was not there to stop them, they had sex together. Not only was love never part of the equation, the mother-in-law had never approved of Jung Sook to begin with; instead, she preferred the gf, Sung Hee. Despite this, they did marry because In Ho was man enough to take responsibility for the child and felt obligated to provide for mother and son. So it was understandable, in the present, that In Ho was reluctant to put his life and career at risk to donate his liver since there was never any love between them to begin with. And being that there was no love, his “affair” could not be construed as a betrayal. Thus, the whole unappreciated, betrayed victim housewife angle fails spectacularly. Not only that, it quickly becomes clear that Jung Sook is really an opportunistic and petty airhead.

For one thing, Sung Hee not only stole In Ho from Sung Hee but also Sung Hee’s best friend, Mi Hee. Also, although we get told that she’s good at studies, she gets better grades than the surgeon husband, In Ho, and also a higher residency mark than her son, a surgical intern in In Ho’s department, the reality of her abilities is totally different. Of all the hospitals she could have applied to, for her residency, she applies to In Ho’s hospital. Why? Is it because it’s a good hospital? We don’t get told this so—no. Is it because it’s sentimental to her? She suggests this but even Mi Hee vetoes the idea so—no. It’s because she finds out that Sung Hee is his colleague. Yes, the gf that, when Mi Hee was recounting the past with her, she claims she doesn't remember at all. Talk about starting anew—NOT.

Then, rather than diligently focusing on her work, which is literally life and death for patients, she indulges in petty office politics by resolving to keep an eye on her son’s strict supervisor (and secret gf), doesn’t know the basic medical acronyms, sulks about being reprimanded for getting medications wrong (which could’ve killed someone!) and gets upset over not being treated with respect as an elder. What an entitled attitude. This is after having the gall to meet the woman whom she stole the bf from, asking Sung Hee if she remembers her before asking her to support her application to the hospital. Unbelievable nerve. By right Jung Sook could not have made it in at all but for the same agency that brought her a compatible liver in the first place—luck! This airhead is nothing but lucky and did not make it in anything in life on any of her efforts because they don’t exist! She gets lucky by getting knocked up by a skilled boy, whom later becomes a good surgeon, and then lucky by an applicant dropping out of the running for the residency position. How does she celebrate all this luck? By drowning her new liver with the very thing that would damage it—alcohol.

The toy boy angle was a mess in this clusterf#ck of a series. The whole American-surgeon-moving-to-Korea thing was obviously created to enhance the appeal of the toy boy, and her middle-aged "revenge", but, like her medical license that never was, the angle made not an ounce of sense at all. It’s great that toy boy went to Harvard or Stanford med school and all but being an adoptee who grew up in America, how the heck did he learn up adequate Korean to be able to be a surgeon in Korea? Why did he come back to Korea anyway when his family and life was all in America? Just because someone was born in Korea doesn’t mean they’ll be able to master Korean when they’ve grown up in a non-Korean speaking country most of their life! Not only that, conversational Korean would be vastly different to technical medical Korean, of which toy boy would have had to have mastered to be able to give the simplest instructions in a surgery. Did this obvious fact not even occur to the scriptwriter at all?! Jeezus!

I tapped out half way through episode 4 when Jung Sook was trying to guilttrip her son for not doing everything that was rightfully her job as a resident-in-training in what was meant to be her dream career. She's effing useless and I had no bond with the character nor any inclination to want to invest in her journey, which is the most important thing for a screenwriter to have to do with a character. Instead, the writer created a self-absorbed narcissist who should find somewhere else to play out her misguided victimhood fantasies so that she can stop endangering the lives of patients.

Despite this, I do plan to finish this series but only while on the treadmill where I don’t need all my brain cells but just moving images to keep me going. For those who do want to watch shows with a full brain though, I wouldn’t recommend this. The suspension of disbelief needed to watch it with full attention is asking too much of a discerning audience. It’s just insulting to the intellect to watch Jung Sook being valorised as the victim when she was the real mistress and villain to begin with and I felt sorry for Sung Hee for the villainess tag that the series was obviously trying to pin on her.

Disappointing AF.

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