Such a bad story line

This was the worst Korean drama I saw in 2021. In fact, I stopped watching it after episode 6. I took time to read reviews so I knew how the story ends. Apart from the fact that the main leads are good -looking, and their acting is superb, this story line is so lame. How can a woman like Nabi be so stupid and indecisive? Too many monologues. I thought she would be wiser as time goes by, but reading the review of episode 10, I gave up. It's not worth warching. The side stories are even better than the main one.

I hope there would never be a Season 2. Better to see Han So Hee and Song Kang in other news dramas, rather than being together in this bad one.

Read More

A weird story line

I know that in real life there are toxic relationships anywhere, but this BL could only make me this: what a wierd couple. In fact, are they really a couple? We don't even see any dating scenes or romance between the two leads. It is more like slavery. "Come live with me, no worries about expenses, but you have to do whatever I tell you".

After watching episode 1, I was hoping to see a growing relationship berween the two guys, but what we get are silent monologues where both hide their inner feelings. One enjoys being the dominant master, and the other unconsciousy enjoys being the submissive slave. Of course there was one moment when he rebelled whle being drunk, but that was it.

Apart from seeing two cute actors and their fine acting, the story line did not excite me at all. Boring and repetitive scenes.

Read More

It started well, but then .....

Yes, the first 4 episodes did excite me, and started to wonder where the hidden agenda was. Ok, i got it. Then afterwards, it became boring and the story seems to be dragging with no excitement at all except fot their cute faces. I like Joong, but didnt quite like the character Joke, who is sort of dominating and possessive in a non-aggressive way. As of Dunk, I think he could have done better. How come he was so expressive in episode 1 when doing a story telling session with an animation, but then his acting and expression became monotonous?. Not sure if i wanted to continue to the end, but oh well, I've reach episode 10 anyway/

Read More

Nice beginning. Terrible story line

I just watched this series for fun. It started as a sweet romantic story, although some parts seemed questionable (like swapping houses with your bestie, and then it turns up to be somebody else's home. Really, could that happen in real life?), but oh well, like I said I just watched it for fun.

I do think the acting was really good. The actors and actresses were mostly good-looking. The scenery was beautiful (countryside, the island, city scenes), but the storyline was so terrible. Okay, this was the usual rich girl/poor boy love story with all its challenges. The plot is also filled with politics, social injustice, family business, trust and betrayal, love and revenge, but the romance became more and more trashy. Why make this into 17 episodes, when you could have stopped at episode 10. I couldn't stand the "I still love you--No, I dont love you anymore- Yes I love you--No I dont love you" and the "Let's sign the dvorce papers--No, dont--Yes, I will sign it--No, I wont sign it" cycle. This seemed to be never-ending and was very tiring to watch.

Could the title also be changed to "Bad Romeo, Bad Juliet". Khim was not the sweet-and-innocent rich girl who cannot be blamed. Yes, there was an issue of mistrust towards people around her. But she also had her share in making Kla's life miserable. It went both ways.

The final episode was -what can I say?- too simplisitc and boring. A nice honeymoon on an island, with cheesy romantic talks between Khim and Kla. Then what happened with the other characters? Suddenly we were suppossed to forget about them all. The happy ending, left us with no further explanation on what happenned to the other characters: Khim's father, cousins, aunt, bestie, ex-boyfriend, and also Kla's sister, stepmother/natural mother Asia. Everything seemed to be hanging, and viewers were just supposed to forget they all existed? Okay, let's just focus on the everlasting love between Khim and Kla. Now everybody's happy. Ha ha ha.

One minor thing which also didn't make sense to me. Do super-rich people who live in huge mansions live alone? Khim's father, Asia, even Carl (Kla) lived alone and did their own house work. No domestic helpers? No security guards? No drivers? No gardeners? I just can't believe this to be true.

Would I watch this series again? I dont think so.

Read More

A BL fantasy worth watching.

I've reached episode 10, so my ratings may change later after the series are completed, and may add a few more things to this review later.

I must say there are some episodes which seem to drag too long, and become somewhat boring (especially episode 8) but I'm still watching it. I've never seen the acting of the two main leads before, and they're really good. Job Tuchapon Koowongbundit was great acting as the temperamental, somewhat abusive and unlikeable, adult Nut, but wow what a change when he becomes the shy, insecure, teenage schoolboy Nut. In Sarin Ronnakiat played his role well as cute, sweet, curious Tofu, but then suddenly has a different body language when he becomes the cool, popular, (assumingly) straight basket ball athlete, Nueng.
------
Ok, now I've completed watching this series and whew, it is both tiring and exciting for me. Watching a 16 x 90 minutes show was too long, but I somehow did not give up. When at first they said there were only 15 episodes, I was a bit surprised when I watched Episode 15, how come it did not seem to end? There were still mysteries that had to be answered, and yet it was made into a forced happy ending with the two main leads spending a holiday in a beach resort. But wait, how come they still have previews for the next episode? Surprise, surprise, it did turn out to be a 16-episode series like many others.

Now episode 15 for me was overwhelming. Too many twists and too many mysteries were unfold at the same time, and yet there were more that were not yet answered. The biggest question I had each time I saw each episode was: when is Tofu going to reveal that he IS Tofu the Teddy Bear? Tofu may have many questions in mind, but at least one thing he knows is that he was Nut's Teddy Bear. He could have told Nut earlier, but then maybe there wouldn't be much of a story if he did.

This was certainly a different kind of BL compared to the ones I've seen before. Yes, there were always family matters, but this one was more complex with issues of sibling rivalry, jealousy, having an abusive father and a weak mother with mental health problems, The story line also included workplace interactions, political activism, capitalism vs enviromentalism, and (attempted) murder. Yet all these matters were perfectly seamed into the story, without us have to think this is heavy stuff.

I loved both Job and In Sarin's acting. Job in particular, did a great job playing the role of an abusive, introverted guy with many traumatic experiences in the past. I give my thumbs up to both of them! The other supporting actors/actresses also played their roles really well. The ending was sad, very sad, but I knew that it would have to be that way, but final scenes made the ending also sweet at the same time. Love this series, but may have to wait a few months before I rewatch it.

Read More

You're never going to be perfectly ready....

This is such a beautifully-written drama. Each episode moves you in such a way, that I could not help watch it with misty eyes. I cried not particularly because of something sad or tragic that happened, but because of touching moments like the dancing scenes at the end of episode 8 (Chae-Rok dances in the park in front of Deok-Chool) and episode 10 (Deok Chool dances on the road in front of Chae-Rok).

Similar to Start-Up and Run On, this is a drama about chasing your dream. But this one includes an old man. You are never too old to make your dream come true, as long as you have the will to try. “When you want something with all your heart, you shine brighter than anyone else” (episode 11).

It shows a beautiful relationship between a 70-year-old senior citizen and a 23-year-old young man, each struggling to make their dreams happen. What started as a teacher/student relationship eventually turned out to be more like a father/son (or perhaps grandfather/grandson) relationship.

First of all, I really do admire senior actor Park Im-Hwan (who in real life is 75 years old!) who took the role as Deok-Chool. I read that he has been acting for more that 50 years, and yet he humbly admitted that he learned so much from this drama, pairing with the young Song Kang. The chemistry with Na Moon He (his wife, Hae-Nam, in the drama) was also great. I read that they have played as a couple too many times that they found it so much easy to connect with each other in Navillera. Having read that, now I remember that I’ve watched them both in Miss Granny.

Deok-Chool was such a fatherly figure whose purpose in life seemed to be encouraging people to chase their dream. Not once did you see him being mad at his children (the family dynamics were interesting). When the youngest son, Seong-Gwan, decided to become a film-maker, and left his job as a medical doctor, he said nothing. When his eldest son, Seong-San (who was not a pleasant person to begin with) did a huge mistake at work, Deok-Chool gave him baseball gloves and told him to pursue what makes him happy. He was so supportive to his granddaughter, Eun-Ho, who had just begun to build her professional career. He even gave encouraging words to Ho-Beom, the antagonist. Of course, you would find more heart-warming dialogues between fatherly Deok-Chool and Chae-rok throughout the drama.

One of the best quotes from this drama was when Grandpa Deok-Chool told Bo-Heom: “You’re never going to be perfectly ready. Start now and get better 0ver time. Diver right in, even if you don’t feel ready”. Yes, whatever it is, follow your dream. We may be terrified to begin, but we had better take the first step.

Now I also want to give two thumbs up to Song Kang who brilliantly and beautifully portrayed the life of the aspiring ballerino, Chae-Rok. In the early episodes, Chae-Rok did sometimes come out as a difficult character, using harsh words to his fellow workers at the restaurant. He was also rude and nasty to grandpa Deok-Chool at the beginning stages of teaching ballet. He rarely smiled at the beginning and yet you still liked him. Perhaps because there was this subtle sadness on his face, and then knowing he had a strained relationship with his own father, that made you love and sympathize Chae-Rok.

I liked the fact that Song Kang took his role seriously by taking ballet lessons for six months before acting in this drama. This is one thing that I admire about him. I also liked it when Song Kang perfectly pronounced French ballet terms, such as devant, passe, releve lent. I look forward with great anticipation to see more dramas/movies with Song Kang’s wonderful acting in it.

The father/son dynamic between Deok-Chool and Chae-Rok was beautifully portrayed by showing how it growed stronger and stronger in each episode. You can just see that they both needed each other. They were both benefiting each other, not just on ballet, but on life and pursuing dreams. They were also thankful for having found each other, ending with a very touching airport scene in the final episode.

This is my first Korean drama to watch in 2021, with no romance, love triangles, or jealousy. This was more about chasing your dreams, soaring high, and developing human bonds regardless of age differences. A highly recommended drama to watch.

Read More

Dont think I want to rewatch it

The trailer was on Netflix and then I thought why not watch this BL drama which was made more than a year ago. I had no expectations, and since it had only 12 episodes, I thought: okay, I may be able to finish it in a day or two. I enjoyed the first few episodes: a homophobic guy living on-campus with a gay roommate. Then I could just guess that they will eventually become a couple, but will have to go through a stormy relationship (just like Sotus, My Bromance and 2gether; all three were my favorites).

But as we get to the later episodes, I find the drama lacking substance, a bit dragging and boring. Oh, they could have just made this into 8 episodes, I think. Other reviews here have already mentioned why the storyline is problematic: the sex scenes which were not completely consensual and Type's childhood trauma which suddenly magically disappeared after episode 3.

I don't mind about the ups and downs of their somewhat toxic relationship (toxic from both sides) and the jealousy and possessiveness of both Tharn and Type, which puts more "drama" into this drama. But how come the development of each character were not given enough justice. It would be great we could see Tharn as a musician, instead of a "nice patient boyfriend" who actually can only think of sex. But we only saw him play the drum twice during rehearsals and one show in the bar.

What I found annoying was Tar and Tum at beginning episodes. Who the hell are these guys? There was no hint at all of who they were . Why do we have to watch this older guy picking up a high school student at school? Also the lunch scenes at home. I had no idea what their relationship was. Were they brothers? Lovers? Whose house was this? No parents at home? One scene showed Tum receiving a phone call from Mom, and that was it. Then Tharn bumps into Tar in episode 9 or 10, Then it was like: "Oh okay, now I see who the boy is".

The drama had so many un-mended holes in the story. Some scenes could just be taken out. Dinner with Tharn's family was not only awkward but also artificial. When Type met his childhood friend back home, the friend came out to him being gay. Then what? Oh I see, this was just a pasted scene. Nothing significant. The fighting scene on the last episode was the worst. Assuming this was on-campus (all five boys were still wearing uniforms), weren't there any security officers around?

Anyway, I think the actors were great. They played their roles well. I would love to see each of them in other dramas. About this one? I don't regret watching it, but I don't think I would like to spend time re-watching it either. I'd rather watch My Bromance The Series, SOTUS, and 2-Gether over and over again :-)

Read More

Best Historical Drama of 2022

The first Korean historical drama I watched was Scarlett Heart Ryo, which I still consider the best. Next to that comes Mr Queen. I really loved the main lead's acting. From these two I get to understand all the politics, relationships, jealousies, hyprocricies, and issues of trust/mistrust within the palace. I didn't watch Under the Queen's Umbrella until December 2022, when the series had already completed, and as I finished watching all the episodes I could only say: Wow, what a great story line.

Of course the acting was all good: the queen, queen dowager, the king, princes, court ladies were all superb. But the story itself was very strong. You get so many surprised in each episode, not knowing what the queen did before hand. Sometimes as a viewer, I felt "deceived" by her actions by not knowing she did many thing for good purposes, such as accusing her daughter-in-law for murdering the crown prince (when in fact she was saving the crown princesses life). Her relationship with the other wives, the princes, the court doctor, the deposed queen was so beautiful protrayed with many twists and suprises.

I think this is one of the best historical drama I saw in 2020. It was also a visual treat for me to see the costumes, country scenery, and court ceremonies.

Read More

WOW

After watching this documentary on how the series was produced, I can only say WOW!

Thumbs up to Director Boss Naruebet Kuno, the whole production team, and all the actors/actresses who did every well. I'm impressed at how the director really puts into details how the actors/actress, particularly Teh and Oh-aew, should express their emotions.

One particular part I liked is how they made the underwater kissing scene. Wow, so many that takes had to be made, and both Billkin and PP really did a good job. I could not help feel so bad when PP really cried out of fear, after the first shooting of this scene.

The rest of the documentary shows that each particular scene was well-thought, well-planned (with flexibility) and beautifully executed.

Read More

A very touching story - a masterpiece drama

At first, I was a bit reluctant to watch this, as I thought it might be a horror drama, when someone told me it was about death. Then another friend, who was a fellow movie lover but rarely watches Korean drama, recommended me to watch this one with two thumbs up. There were only 10 episodes, and each episode was no more than an hour (40-60 minutes).

By then, I haven’t really moved on after watching Navillera, which to me was a beautifully-made drama on deeper issues unrelated to love and romance. Now here was another similar Korean drama. Yes, there was definitely love and romance in it, but not among the main leads. This was more like a family drama, but with many social issues added to it. This was a drama about stories untold by people who had left the world. It shows that each of us has a story to tell, but not always have the opportunity to do so.

Move to Heaven was inspired by a book "Things Left Behind" by Kim Sae-byul, who used to be a “trauma cleaner”, a professional job which I did not know existed before.

In the first episode we were exposed to a story of occupational hazards and a company that does not care. Then we were exposed to stories about Alzheimer's disease, elderly couples, suicide, parents who disapproved their gay son’s love relationship, domestic violence, child adoption and the search for one’s natural parents, deported Korean kids who returned and could not adjust to life in Korea, and illegal gambling and cheating.

But most of all this was a story of a father’s love towards his son, Geu-ru, who had special needs, and how he raised Geu-ru to become an independent, self-reliant person. It was also a story of a rude, uncaring, ex-convict uncle who came into Geu-ru's life, who eventually came to love his nephew so much (this somewhat reminded me of the movie My Annoying Brother).

At the end the whole drama was about learning to let go. Geu-ru was so concerned about other people’s lives and witnessed how they all had to let go of the past and move on. Eventually Geu-ru learned to do the same thing: learning to accept the loss of his father and to move on with his own life.

If there is one thing I’d like to criticise about this drama is that the whole story took place during the pandemic. The dates were specifically mentioned between April 2020 and July 2020, and yet none of the actors/actresses wore masks or kept physical distancing, not even in the hospital (and I think people in hospitals should really observe health protocols).

I know there were many dramas made during the pandemic, but since those stories was not time-bound, it doesn’t really matter. Start Up, for example, had a three-year lag in the story line. So we don’t really know (and don’t really care) in what year the story began and when it ended. This is also the same case with Lovestruck in the City, Run On, Hello Me and A Love So Beautiful. But Move to Heaven specifically mentioned dates which happened in 2020.

Anyway, this is an emotionally-touching drama. In fact, I could say it's a masterpiece. There were so many scenes which brought tears to my eyes, and yet it was not too melodramatic. I give my two thumbs up to the 17-year-old Tang Jun Sang who brilliantly played his role as Geu-ru. I’d like to see more of him in the future, and I’m sure he will be a great actor. Lee Je-hoon also played a great role as the obnoxious uncle.

Read More

Great acting

When I saw the first two episodes, I thought "is this some sort of comedy"? Yes, I did like the funny parts, but was not expecting to see a comical historical drama. But as the acting was really good, especially the female lead, I continued watching and loved everything about it. Besides the usual romantic moments, it also had a flavour of many things in it: jealousy, court politics, greed, social justice, and cooking. Yes, I loved all the cooking scenes.

I read other reviews mentioning how much they disliked the last episode. To a certain degree, I agree with that. I don't particularly like the last episode in most dramas which seemed to be a bit lame. For this one, I kind of like the ending, because they did not make a forced happy ending just to make the viewers happy.

However, I do feel the same way as others, knowing that the king actually fell in love with the queen's "other personality" instead of her true self. I just wondered how the king's life continued, having a queen who was probably a boring, submissive woman compared to the other strange yet fascinating personality he actually fell in love with.

Overall, I loved the acting of all characters, including the antagonists. They all did very well.

Read More

A teenage love story

I did not watch the Chinese series, so I will not (and obviously cannot) make any comparisons. I had no expectations on this drama, so I guess I just loved it as it is. Everything you needed in a high school romance drama was there: hanging out with buddies, falling in love, teenage crushes, good and bad teachers, school assignments, meeting (or not meeting) parents at home and extracurricular activities (sports, theater, singing).

The main leads were nice and cute, and so were the other 3 supporting leads. The male lead was kind of a shy, aloof and awkward guy who didn't know how to express himself and the female lead was cute girl who badly needed attention in a nice way. The friendship dynamics among the five of them was cute. I particularly liked the scene when they went out of town, and lied to their parents about staying overnight at each friend's house, and all sat down watching the evening scenery.

The acting was good. The female lead, Soo Ju Yeon, who is 27 years old, really did well acting as a high school girl. Kim Yo Han was also great, knowing that this was his first drama/film. In the last episode, where they showed behind-the-scenes, you can see how totally different Cha Heon's personality was compared to Yo Han in real life. Yo Han really looked like he enjoyed the dancing scene (at his best friend's wedding) so much, which was not the kind of thing you would expect from the quiet Dr. Cha Heon.

Anyway, I enjoyed this drama. Something nice and sweet, bringing back memories of your youthful days (as also mentioned in the last episode), Would I watch this drama again? Yes, definitely.

Read More

A real good series to watch

I accidently found this series on Netflix, while watching an ongoing Korean drama.. i watched episode 1 and then continued watched the rest in two days. This was a real, refresing series to watch. The two main leada with opposite characters, Haru and Gaku, were really fascinating to follow. The two actors did a great job.
Each episode brought a new surprise, a new twist or shocking revelation on who is.playing games on whom. Both sides, the start-up and the conglomerate company were greedy and willing to do anything to crush their rival. I could imagine that such rivary, with all its sly moves, ambitious plans, and agressive competition, exist in the real world.
The only part I didn't quite like was forcing a romantic encounter towards the end, which I found unnecesaary.

Read More

I read other reviews and have mixed feelings about this series, but....

..anyway, I binge-watched this series on Netflix in two days. Not as bad as some reviews say, but I also wouldn't say this was this us a great dorama. I know it's science fiction, so I wouldn't expect everything to be perfectly logical. But there's one thing that bothers me, although I take it lightly, these people were stranded in the middle of nowhere, starving for a few days, not taking showers for how long I don't know, and yet they still looked good in clean clothes with hair still in good shape? Okay, a hairstylist gave a free haircut to everyone, that was fine with me, but wearing the same clothes for days and still feel comfortable wearing them?

The personality clashes between passngers were fine with me, and in fact this was what made the series more realistic. You could find the usual human character type her: the Hero, The Non-Conformist, The Trouble Maker, The Attention Seeker, The Rebellious Adolescent, The Worrywart, The Neurotic, The Self-Centered, The Clown, The Genius, and of course the Followers. Also the "war" between Train #5 and #6 just shows our human nature: being selfish, greedy, possessive, and entrusting our lives to leaders whom we don't really know about. This is just like daily politics between groups and between nations. Who do we really trust and believe in?

Another thing which did not make sense was when the three main leads found out there was another community living nearby, which happened to be another disappearing train, how did the community leader (which apparently were passngers of Train #6) knew exactly that they were from train #5? It was also strange that after building peace with Train #6, we never heard about them anymore. When Train #5 passing discovered the worm hole, no one remembered the other community. In fact nothing was mentioned about them afterwards.

I would not be surprised that as they return back to 2026 (instead of 2023), not many people would believe that they were lost in 2060. But in a film, to make this more dramatic, shouldn;t there be at least someone who believed them and approached them? Also why was there no comments from the scientific community? Yes, one survivor managed to meet his professor, and another survivor managed to inform a minister, but if this was in real life, i am sure there would be controversies.

Anyway, this was light entertainment for me. The only thing I did not like was the music. They could have made a better musical score for some dramatic scenes, and oh, I couldn't help sensing some bromance between the two male leads. In fact, it could have been made into a fantasy BL series :-)

Read More

Short series and good enough to rewatch

This is a light, high-school romance type of story, which has only 8 episodes. It's worth watching and it took me just one single day to watch it. I love the soundtracks and theme song, and just found out that the actor is actually a singer in Taiwan. I'd love to see more of the main leads in the future, and it would be nice to have a season 2.

The family issue is so familiar-parents who say they love their children, but in fact are forcing their needs and desires to their kids. Hope Guang can find a win-win solution on Season 2 (hoping there will be one). What I also like is that the two main leads do not portray the usual, somewhat stereotypical BL characters, with on being the cool, caring and sometimes dominant senior and the cute junior who wants to be taken care of. Both Ye Guang and Qi Zhang are sort of "equal" in their role as lovers, and the mutual friendship affection is so strong in this story.

I would love to see more of Jyun Shen and Zhen Hao Li in the future.

Read More