The Best Show of 2023 By Far

Yeah, I said it. Not that I've done a very good job keeping up with K-dramas in 2023, but regardless, I really do think Death's Game captures everything beautiful, intricate and powerful about K-dramas. Right from how tightly written every episode is, to the complexity of each character (no matter how long or how brief their appearance), to even the subtle threads that weave the fate of each reincarnation in the show together- for better or for worse.

There's nothing much more to say about it, really. The message about suicide was a touch preachy, I'll bite, but in the context of South Korea's suicide epidemic and tightly knit society/family structure, the PSA that life is worth living if only so you can try your hardest for the people who love you makes technical sense, even if it's not an opinion I personally wholly subscribe to.

Acting-wise, you really can't get better than this. Aside from our (brilliant) main characters, every cast member played their role with such conviction, heart and enthusiasm that there wasn't a second I was unconvinced by the naturalness of their character and the situation they were in.

And what would you know, it also made me call my parents up after a long time and catch up. Powerful stuff, indeed.

Read More

Imagine the most predictably unpredictable main character. Yeah.

I love dramas where the main character is in peril (character development! high emotion! fun!), and I definitely started this show absolutely knowing that this main character is going to be put through the wringer every second of her screentime. I was ready. I was so ready.

But...she, supposedly, saw it all coming. What? All the lying, the scheming, the action, the nail-baiting tension...she was always, ALWAYS, one step ahead of everybody else. And that's just unbelievable.

Therefore, this character had zero growth and zero flaws. Her only "flaw" was loving her sons too much? Give me a break! All the other characters, including the Queen Dowager and the concubines, are given well-fleshed out, thoughtful arcs where they grow as characters, but our main character is born so perfect that from start to finish, every decision she makes, every word she speaks, every punishment she mettles out, is thought through with the world's most elaborate game of 3D chess playing in her head.

Acting wise, while everyone was okay, the Queen Dowager and First Consort really stole EVERY scene they were part of! And with characters as rich, deep and well-rounded as them, it's a real treat to see how these talented actors make them come alive so incredibly. Which brings me back to the conversation about the Queen's character because this is, after all, an entire 16 episode TV show about the Queen protecting her children from certain death. The slight overacting aside, I really don't think the Queen's character really made me feel anything for her except, "Damn, she thought of this too?" Some of the "logical deductions" she made were absolutely insane given how shoddy, incomplete and limited the evidence for it was, and yet, with an eyebrow twitch and run-walking, she managed to outsmart some really, really smart people/plans.

Which is just boring, in my opinion.

Read More

No thoughts, just vibes

The moment I saw my girl Esom on the cast list, I knew I was in for some freaky shit I didn't know I wanted or needed, but suddenly its 2 AM and I'm clutching my pillow close to my face, giggling like a farting baby

Look, whoever is taking this movie so (sooooo) seriously needs to chill out. Writing wise, it's half-baked at best. Plot lines unresolved, random incest that has zero explanation, purpose or need, murky motivations and a narrative style that I personally enjoyed, but ultimately understand did nothing for the plot. And yet, I thoroughly, massively, obsessively enjoyed it. You know why?

It has got some KILLER vibes, you guys. Like, hahaha, I guess that's a pun, but no seriously. The dialogue delivery is A1, the direction and cinematography was incredible, and my KRYPTONITE trope: yearning. Pining. Longing. All that good stuff, all rolled into one dynamic that had me salivating.

Kill/Gil Bok Soon as a character was perfect too, and I guess her daughter was okay, too. I like the way the mother-daughter tension was handled, and while I got frustrated at the way Bok Soon sometimes handled her child, I also understood that it comes from a place of trauma, where you want to understand and support your child but you have no clue how. I really enjoyed how Bok Soon battled personal demons not when spilling blood, but at the thought of exposing her daughter to the brutality that plagues her daily life. I found that a really striking reflection of how generational trauma manifests in a parent-child relationship, where you have so much to hide from your child because you want to protect them but ultimately make decisions that end up pushing them away. I'm glad that the movie spent time on that because I could not give less of a crap about her "event planning"- I knew what I signed up for.

Of course, be warned that the movie will unecessarily raise questions that they do not even, for a fly's blink of a nanosecond, begin to address. The first two times you will be confused but will reassure yourself that over 60% of the movie is left. Over time, when you throw hands at the tenth question the movie will tease you into wondering (that you never even thought in the first place! But now it's in your head and it's a plot hole!) you will realise the movie is over and you're done :/

Gratifying, it is not.

Overall: Watch it for the vibes, which is what I did, and you will love this movie to bits!

Read More

UGH, I will absolutely die if Lee Do Hyun and Go Min Shi do not do another romance drama that isn't a tragedy. While Lee Do Hyun can definitely create chemistry with a brick wall, he and Go Min Shi give me such best friend vibes. I need them to be in a slow-burn buddy cop thriller, like yesterday.

Have zero complaints about this drama, except maybe a few minor gripes here and there (that ultimately don't affect anything much imo, but for the purpose of this review, here I go): while this drama definitely does not leave you behind if you don't know the timeline of the Gwangju Massacre, knowing exactly what happened and the sequence of events puts things into more perspective. The sudden barrage of bullets to relative silence and retreat from the militia is very sudden in the drama, but actually happens more gradually in real life, and I wish the drama showed that better. Ultimately, though, the drama is centered on the people of Gwangju during the May 18 protests, so it does what it promises beautifully- an insight into the people affected by one of the most horrific authoritarian crackdowns in human history.

Read More

How did it keep getting WORSE...

This had everything I love in a drama! Enemies to lovers (ish), marriage of convenience, angst, pining, cute leads, cute second leads and forced proximity! How! It takes a real tragedy of writing to combine all of that and create something that I end up disliking so much.

It's not so much that it was bad (I have definitely seen worse...if that's a metric you want to measure it against), but it started off quite promisingly, so when it just ended up getting worse and worse each episode (when usually its the exact opposite), the disappointment hits you really hard. Akiha and Shu were, INDIVIDUALLY, quite interesting characters, but together? Trainwreck. Shu especially. Up until almost the very, absolute last, he was so clueless about his own feelings and repeatedly hurt the FMC over and over again for no reason- unknowingly! After everything Akiha went through, it shocks me that she would even want to give this relationship a serious go, especially with a man like Shu who is so willfully oblivious of everyone around him. They don't make sense at all, which makes it very hard to watch what is essentially a romance drama.

The reason I didn't like the second male lead as a romantic interest was because I never took him seriously. Not once. It wasn't because his character wasn't written as a serious one, but because there is literally NO reason why he likes Akiha. None. She is a stranger who treats him like everyone does, who hangs out with him sometimes and complains about her marriage life. There is nothing. No chemistry, no tension, no interest. The jump from vague interest to love was so jarring.

Speaking of jarring love, Akiha's sudden "I'm in Love (L capital) with Shu" realisation came way too early. All he did was apologize for annoying her with his alarm clocks in the morning and admit to not being a morning person! Is that all it takes? There is, once again, zero actual romance in what is LITERALLY A ROM-COM. FMCs falling in love easily is whatever, I've been in the J-drama watching business for 7-8 years now, I've been the rat, I've eaten the cheese, I know what's up. But THIS is whole 'nother level of "you can't be serious" insta-love. A commitment-phobe falling in love because her fake husband wants her to wake him up? HA. Okay, Ashton Kutcher, now jump out and scream "You've just been PUNKED!" and we can all go home.

Read More

Yeah, this show was somehow at once a great disappointment but also a very pleasant surprise. I was dreading watching this because literally everyone and their mothers seem to be comparing it to Sweet Home, a K-drama with a similar apocalyptic concept that I ended up loving to bits. What if its similar and I hate it because I've already seen it? Thank goodness the similarity is exaggerated, because Imawa no Kuni no Alice is completely its own drama. The more I watched it, the less and less it was like Sweet Home. That doesn't necessarily mean I still totally liked it.

To start off, I'm really surprised at how good an actor Sakurada Dori is. Admittedly, I've only ever seen him do boring shoujo male lead roles like in Good Morning Call and Coffee and Vanilla, and never really gave him a second glance. Here, it took me a solid 2 episodes to squint and twist my head whenever his character appeared on screen to finally figure out who was, and I was s-h-o-c-k-e-d! Man's brilliant. A quick run through of his theatre experience and its clear that the Japanese drama industry is short changing him, 'cuz this man can ACT!

Tsuchiya Tao, my queen, great as always. Yamazaki Kento surprisingly was decent as well, one of the rare times he's not a cold shoujo love interest or whatever, though Yamazaki Kento is Yamazaki Kento in all his roles, which can be a great thing if you're a fan of the dude himself, but ultimately makes his acting style kinda boring.

My main gripe with this drama, and the reason I rated it a 7, is how the viewers eventually stop caring about characters because literally everyone except the leads die before we can form any serious bond with them. I know certain deaths were supposed to be really gut wrenching, but because we got so little time to get acquainted with the characters, I literally felt nothing. Whenever the main character agonised, I fast forwarded. I want a little bit of unpredictability in my deaths, and honestly I don't want the good guys to live and bad guys to die in a world where fair is fowl and fowl is fair. I want to be angry and outraged. This was just eh.

Plus, the extremities in this show are almost comical: Mr. Evil Evilini is super Evil, Ms. Good Goodman is super Good and Evil People do Evil Things because they are Evil. Yeah, alright, TV show. The brief attempts at making them complex falls flat because its not sustained or explored deeply. By the end, I grew kinda tired over how Good the main characters were because...BOOORING.

Read More

Guys! I watched this while it was airing, years ago, but it's a testament to how much I actually liked this drama that I'm revisiting this page and writing this review. Don't be fooled by my 7.5 stars- it reflects the drama objectively (where certain other things are also considered, which bogged the drama down imo), but in terms of pure watchability, it's definitely up there.

Li Jun and Wen Zhang [main couple] are hilarious together! They have an easy chemistry that is fun and romantic, and they really seemed to care for each other. Elvis Han and Hu Bing Qing did such a good job in portraying these old bickering grandparents moonlighting as hot young things to keep an eye on their grandchild- its adorable! Their dynamic and growth (from an old couple that despise each other to finally learning how important the other person is to them) is very nice, and reminds me of one of my favorite webtoons, Live or Not (which you should check out if you're a fan of stories like these!).

Where I think the drama could've been much better is probably the story progression, in that I wish it were tighter. Don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed watching all the plot fillers and side stories involving ol' (young?) grandpa and grandma here as they grudgingly stumble into love once more, but purely in terms of keeping the drama on track and not meandering every so often just for fan service, I admit, it stumbled. To someone not as invested in the main couple, it can see it being hella annoying.

Tl;dr- if you feel the main couple, you will feel the drama. They really make the drama what it is!

Read More

Ohhh how I wish I could red marker this entire drama and say "NO!" to so many scenes and plotlines. It took me an embarrassing amount of time (1 month) to get around to watching the last episode of the drama because I literally couldn't force myself to part with 45 minutes of my time to watching this boring mess of a show.

I have said this multiple times in multiple other reviews, but I actually don't mind TV shows without a lot of drama. Sometimes, that's exactly what I need. But my god, I need SOMETHING to happen. There was NOTHING interesting about this drama. Eventually, the second couple's romance line came to fruition and good lord, if the only thing that a viewer looks forward to is 5 minutes of screentime with a cute second couple who come like, twice an episode, then your drama is literally the pits (or atleast, very, very close). I'm not saying my expectations were high, but I did love the writer's other two shows, which is what makes this one such a bummer.

The chemistry was...awkward, to say the least. They seemed like they were mildly interested in each other, but would still do decently well without one another. Which is...alright (obligatory "yas our independent kween" moment, I guess)...but this is literally a romance drama with the romance BEING the drama. Will they? Won't they? Do we even care anymore? Because by the end, I surely didn't.

Read More

Amongst all the dramas of 2020, Birthcare Centre is a breath of fresh air. Short enough to binge in a weekend with powerful performances by every single actor in the show, its wacky enough to not take too seriously (which you already might've figured out given its setting in a plush rich people post natal recuperation centre and high school-esque social hierarchy) yet serious and heartfelt enough to genuinely convey important issues plaguing new mothers that rarely get talked about.

PROS:
-Hilarious mix of different genres: you have romance, comedy, drama, thriller, horror, historical/mythological etc. There are so many different elements of everything you love from various genres that its a treat to watch them all come together and create a mess (in a good way, for the most part...)

-Strong performances and diverse characters. You have your sanctimonious prick mothers, your 'screw authority' mothers, your 'we're not in Kansas anymore' confused as hell mothers and so much more, all played wonderfully by their respective actors. I'm dying to know how they fare!

-Relationship building: I loved how they portrayed relationships (both romantic and platonic) in this TV show in a realistic way. I especially love how they handled the 'will they, wont they' romance side plot of one of the mothers in the centre and dealt with it keeping in mind her personality and life. I hate it when dramas pull a 360 on a character's personality just to ensure a happy ending, but I think her ending turned out happy in her own way.

-Ending for the mothers- all ended very nicely and some, honestly, even abnormally. By the end, our main character got a happy ending that SHE wanted to get as a woman and didn't endlessly sacrifice herself for her child.

-And that is my final pro: the message that mothers dont have to endlessly sacrifice for their child to be a good mother.

Now...CONS (oh boy):

- Every mother shown in this drama has a significant other raising their child with them which is far from realistic. I was quite annoyed, to be honest, because this drama wanted to show "different kinds of mothers" but eventually ditched that in favor of cutesy romance (which is... fine, but done all the time).

-(I cant believe I'm writing this) Too much time spent on breastfeeding: uhh, okay, I'm not a mom (I'm in my early twenties y'all I need to graduate college) but I do understanding that the decision between breastfeeding or formula is super important. Totes, I get it. But to spend 3 episodes...oohing and ahhing over it...yeah, excessive as hell. Especially when there are other equally barely talked about topics that are addressed towards the end of the drama like post partum depression that need more screentime. Which brings me to...

-I really, REALLY wish they spent more time on post partum depression. If breastfeeding is the golden eldest child of this show, post partum depression is the neglected and pitiful stepchild that no one pays attention to. They relegated discourse about the problem to literally the last 15 minutes of one episode and then poof, almost nothing in the next.

- There was such a mish mash of genres that it was everything and nothing at the same time. It didn't know what it wanted to be and after a point became annoying.

- They barely did anything to redeem sanctimonious prick mother. She may be actually a very nice person, but I think the writer forgot that this is a very low-stakes drama about a bunch of mothers set in a birthcare centre: way she talks down and demeans any mother who doesn't go above and beyond for her child like she does, she can almost be considered an antagonist because of the direct opposition she poses to the main character. You have to actively try to get the viewers to understand her motives and see where she is coming from- you have to create a complex character without providing convenient outs and excuses like "husband bad".

Read More

Mild Spoilers ahoy

I really do want to preface this by saying 7 isn't a *bad* score. If Crash Landing wasn't such a hyped show, I might've bumped it up by a 0.5 star, but considering how everyone and their mothers have told me its the best thing to happen to K-drama since Lee Min Ho and Park Shin Hye, it's exactly that: a personal opinion that some very, very strongly believe and the rest...not so much.

To start of, I will say that the first few episodes of this drama? Innovative. Brilliant. Iconic. Never-been-done-before. I jest (sort of), but I truly loved the pacing and character-driven arcs of the first few episodes- yes, there was drama. Yes, it was a little unrealistic.

Scratch that, the whole drama was extremely unrealistic, as one would expect from a plot like this. Unlike many other viewers, though, I didn't really care about how...um...gentle...the writer was about North Korea and North Korean life. At the end of the day, I'm willing to suspend a bit of my disbelief because its a K-drama and I want a happy ending for everyone involved. The writer was very gentle in their portrayal of, well, everything- from North Korean politics, to military, to imprisonment, to daily village and city life, and hell, even made the South Korean NIS (National Intelligence Services) be kindly government employees who treat their North Korean inmates (special forces and probably SPY inmates) well and send them back to North Korea with a pat on the back and a lollipop to suck on. Realistic, this drama is not. But yeah, I really didn't give a rat's ass.

What I *did* give a rat's ass about, though, was how terribly they dealt with Gu Seung Jun (SML?). Can't say much or it'd be a spoiler, but my god, they NEVER gave him a goddamn break. Seo Dan, too. Though I admit, I can't say I cared much for the either of the romance lines (the main one or the secondary one), which is incredibly annoying in what is literally a romance drama first and comedy/action second, but I still became very, very reasonably pissed when the writer made very out of pocket writing decisions for the SML. I mean, to put him through all that and give him THAT ending? Damn.

Can't say I cared much about the acting either by the main leads. For some reason, I found the main actors (minus Kim Jung Hyun (SML), who I have seen and enjoyed before) really wooden in some scenes and wish they emoted more- especially Hyun Bin (ML). It's not my first drama of his, so I'm really disappointed- he can do so much better. Did he just not connect with this character? Because his chemistry with Se-Ri (FML) was so forced. Son Ye Jin did pretty okay around everyone except Hyun Bin, too, and then her acting seemed to become so monotonic I found myself skipping all the scenes where they just gaze lovingly at each other with tears in their eyes and talk about how much they care about each other (which happened a lot...).

You know, not to be crass (much), but for 30-something year olds who obviously love each other and see each other for only 2 weeks once a year, they act more G-rated around each than I did with my crush from kindergarten. You're telling me they go to damn picnics when they meet once a year? Yeah, I have two words for you: bull and shit. Also, that's such a weird HFN (happy for now) ending to me, because I'm sure its all magical for like, another 2 years, but imagine meeting your SO once a year for a few days for the rest of your life and not even getting to talk to them every now and then. They live happily ever after? 3 words. Bull, freaking, and shit.

This drama isn't without its redemption, though, because if there is one thing I never skipped and watched gleefully is the the ML's bromantic group of hilarious North Korean soldiers who singlehandedly save this drama from boredom. Watching their antics and their obvious camaraderie is such a good break from watching Mr. and Mrs. Tortured Love kill themselves (and the audience) over their mutual inability to so much as hold hands.

Also, I have a genuine question: did we EVER get any insight about Se Ri's past? It's implied and redeemed SO many times in the drama, but its literally like the author forgot to explain why Se Ri has such a terrible childhood at all. Every character has hint-hint-nudge-nudged at it to death and yet, NO ONE has bothered giving any explanation to the viewers what exactly happened. Is this a writing oversight? Or an editing mistake? Because these episodes are 1.5 hours long, so there was more than enough time to explain.

All in all, I would pass, unless you're a huge Hyun Bin or Son Ye Jin fan.

Read More

I mean, there's nothing I will say that hasn't already been said by the millions of reviews that came before me. It was a solid romance with just the right balance of fluff, angst and heart. Its my first time watching Lee Do Hyun and I absolutely ADORED him and his character- you bet I'll be checking out everything else he acts in! I see a very promising future for him. The cast is nothing to laugh at, yet he absolutely stole the show- if this character wasn't written exclusively for him, I'd be damned to find anyone else who would have been able to do as well or as much justice to the character as him.

Read More

Bai Lu fell on my radar a few years ago with King is Not Easy and I was instantly taken with her charming smile and bubbly persona. I have thirsted after Leo Luo ever since My Sunshine came out, and desperately checked his drama list often in the hope that he'd eventually lead a drama. The day is here and I cannot be happier that it's with Bai Lu. Both of them manage to produce such natural chemistry with their co-stars, and this time was no different- if I'm giving this drama an 8, it's purely, PURELY, because of them. It's so rare, but they actually acted like legit couples in that they were affectionate and touchy-feely. Very often drama couples continue to be so shy around each other even after dating for a while, which is ridiculously unrealistic and boring. Thank god there is none of that here!

Because the drama itself? Mediocre. I really didn't care about the secondary characters, and I skipped nearly all their scenes. It still annoys me that they relegated someone as talented and cute as Riley Wang to just a love interest for the female lead's best friend. The second male lead was annoying at best, but honestly, I hate what they did to him by the end. I wasn't his biggest fan by any means, but was it really necessary to turn him into the corrupt village creep? Honestly, I found myself wishing they ended the show at 30 episodes, it seemed like a decent way to end with everyone coming out better and grown. I am happy that we got more time with Jiang Jun and Yuan Shuai, but the way they twisted Du Lei's character was so unnecessary.

Also, the women in this drama were dressed SO bad. Honest to God, everything they wore was absolutely terrible. The men, comparatively, were dressed incredibly well, which made the contrast even worse. It became marginally better towards the end, and by marginally, I mean they finally removed that ugly-ass oversized check jacket and boyfriend jeans off Bai Lu. That alone made a world of difference.

Read More

Man, how the hell did they manage to make me actually feel not-so-angry at the dude's mother by the end of this? It takes one hell of an actress to pull her off, and Mizuki Alisa stole the whole damn show. Main characters who? I literally had shivers every time she sang in that beautiful, somber voice. God.

I will admit, her incredible performance overshadowed the rest and really exposed how...bland...some actors were, Hamabe Minami in particular. That's not to say Minami was bad- in fact, both her and Yokohama Ryusei were actually quite good on their own, maybe Ryusei more than her, but definitely nothing really obvious. A large part of this show is about their romance, which is admittedly very good, if a little frustrating. By the end, the push and pull started getting really old and I really wanted them to just sit down and have a nice conversation instead of assume random things, cry, and then separate (order might vary).

They have great chemistry, which I honestly attribute more to Ryusei than Minami in typical J-drama fashion where the male lead is usually a lot more enthusiastic than the female lead in kissing and the like. It gets really old, really fast when Japanese heroines find it perfectly okay to just stand still like the national anthem is playing in the background while the male lead goes to town on their mouths. If I could tell these directors one damn thing before I die, it would be to ensure both the characters act like WILLING participants and show equal passion. Alas.

Read More

I mean...I've really never watched anything like this. It was something ENTIRELY new, so that kept me on my toes. Of course, I personally wish this was longer, not only because I liked how unpredictable and fascinating the drama was, but also because I after episode 9, I really wondered how they were going to wrap up the whole thing in a single episode (what with there being so many knots and tangles yet to be unraveled), and I was right, one episode was not nearly enough, but good enough, I suppose.


And errr, probably another selfish reason why I wanted the show to go on is because the lead actor is quite possibly one of the most talented and handsome actors out there. And his CHEMISTRY, jesus. He and Aoi literally SMOLDER while together, the pure sexual tension between them primarily springing from how insanely sensual and sexually charged his eyes and body language are. Good lord, you need a fan to cool yourself down.

Read More

I dont think I can say anymore than what's already been said (for AAGGEEES) and I watched this pretty much only right now. After finishing this drama, 4 years and 150 dramas after I had started watching East Asian dramas at all, my only question to myself is: WHAT TOOK ME SO LONG?

To anyone else not watching this for whatever reason, what is taking you so long??? Admittedly, this drama isn't perfect. Ishihara Satomi's character is really, really fickle and it can get on your nerves how many times she passes up a great opportunity and chooses to be pushed around by Oguri Shun's character. Oguri Shun's Hyuga Toru is often an asshole (needlessly) and can come off as insensitive and pushy. But, from the beginning, you love the characters for these very reasons.

I dont really remember the music, so eh. Nothing remarkable.

I love Ishihara Satomi and Oguri Shun as actors, they are amazing and I will watch anything of theirs anyway.

Read More