Really cool Gender swap Romantic thriller!
I heard Kim Jieun (FL) saying that this show is a Romantic thriller in a radio interview and that's what it is exactly! A really interesting one at that! It has short 24 episodes of almost 22-25 mins each. Easy to watch, mostly light-hearted and quite well acted. Picks up pace after Ep 4.HIGHLIGHTS :
1) ACTING: Actually I have become a fan of both FL and ML (Lomon) and went back and watched most of their old shows because of how good they are here! When they gender swap the change is so smooth it's like they actually swapped! They both have done a really great coordinated job here! 👏👏
2) CHEMISTRY : It's simply Fire! Both the leads look so hot together! 🤩 And I am sure many of you are here because of those kiss scenes YT shorts! 😁 But mind you, the actual romance part is really subtle, don't expect fireworks romance and sweeping declarations, you just have to imagine those things yourself! 😭 LOL (EDIT: Now that I have completed it, I can say that romance gets more visible towards the end and for that I am infinitely happy :D)
3) STYLISH SHOW: When you watch it you will realise they have added all elements to both aesthetics and the plot to make it modern and stylish. All the Marketing ideas they come up with in each episode is so new and cool and overall very interesting and I really enjoyed those scenes in each episode!
4) I personally like a no nonsense strong headed FL and here she is perfect as one! she's no saint and don't go expecting her to be one either you will be disappointed! She's superbly grey! (EDIT: For people looking for character growth, let's just say they all become better versions of themselves in the end.)
Mild spoiler :
5) It's a thriller so be ready for huge plot twists! Things may not be as they seem in the first 3/4th half of the show! 😉 But they are totally worth it! Accept things as they come, it gets better and better! (EDIT : It's certainly all worth it in the end! *HEA* <3 )
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Totally Loved it!
I really loved it because the main actors were superb! They both behaved like adults unlike most c dramas where adults behave like teenagers most of the time! Here the situations were very much real and their reactions too. Just minus 1 point for uninteresting secondary couple. Just skip their scenes!If you like mature drama with ML and FL having a really healthy balanced relationship who actually take time for each other and clear any misunderstanding they might have the very next moment it happens, then here is the show you are looking for!
Music was awesome too! Especially the starting song!
9/10 from me! Highly recommended!
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Lost its purpose
So I watched the namesake k drama just last week for the first time after I saw that this is a remake of that. So I'm just going to compare both and give my opinion.Revenge plot: K drama did it better. Even another k drama with the same story 'Perfect marriage revenge' did the revenge plot better. Here the whole purpose of being given a second chance is defeated because the Fl is still too soft for her own good and overly trusting and forgiving! Ugh she was murdered because of these very traits the first time and she didn't learn anything new in her 2nd time in the J version unlike the K versions!
Only place she shines is the meeting with the parents which is similar to the k version and very satisfying to watch! Otherwise she still seems like a pushover who needs the ML and his sis to come to her rescue everytime... :(
J drama makers need to stop showing evil people getting forgiveness in the end! They always tell that they are evil due to their circumstances and hence deserve forgiveness no matter how many innocent people they have hurt and don't regret! They even showed a son(ML) simply forgiving a lady who killed his mother for property in another drama! Ughh...
They don't understand that by showing such nonsense they are insulting millions of other people who are in a similar bad situation or had even worse childhood than these evil people but still chose to follow the right path and remain as good individuals without hurting others! So no, it's not about the circumstances, but it's all about individual choices one makes to follow the right path or not! So good people deserve praise and bad people punishment not forgiveness!
Acting : Both k and J dramas have stellar performances, especially J villain lady was fab! She totally creeps you out! Lol
Music : I generally don't notice the music in dramas but here it was actually so good that I noticed it.
So basically for me the J version's only plus point is its short length, unlike the endlessly long k version especially towards the end the fiancee story was a drag there, here it's short and crisp. If the j version had the proper revenge plot too, then it would have been 10/10 but now it is only 7.5/10 for me.
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Interesting but not without plot holes.
So just finished watching 9 puzzles and I must say it was fun to watch. I am a fan of mystery thrillers and this one was good enough. It has enough red herrings to keep you guessing like even though you may have already guessed the killer in the beginning itself, they do provide you enough stuff to doubt yourself sometimes. So basically it was fun.Also I always love a male and female detective pair working on solving cases, so that was good too.
But what's not fun was the FL's acting! Gosh I could hardly look at FL's facial reactions throughout the series. I think her character was supposed to be wierd and quirky, sometimes psycho vibe giving odd ball but the FL's acting was so OTT at times and sometimes, especially in the starting eps, you can hardly decipher the reactions on her face.
Idk I actually thought this is her first drama or something and just now on MDL I found out she's been acting for a long time! Anyway, imo the show would have been much better with a different FL.
The other minus would be some glaring plot holes, especially why the whole murder plot came to be. I don't want to spoil too much, but if someone has watched it already they will understand I guess... Like the old lady should have searched for the precious thing she lost where she lost it in the first place immediately, rather than sit at her home and wait for that precious thing to find her! Whoever does that sort of stupid thing?!
Either way, I would like to watch S2.
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Reminds you of Reply 1988.
Lovely drama that kind of reminded me of Reply 1988. I love Reply 1988, so this drama giving me that vibes was actually the best part of the show for me. Same childhood friendships (albeit a bit different, don't wanna spoil! Lol), same camaraderie between small town neighbours and friends and almost the same vintage vibes.Acting wise everyone was fabulous, all are veterans, so I have only praises for everybody! And I love Fl's and Ml's acting already from their previous dramas, so no surprises that here too they aced it!
Now coming to why it is not a 10/10 for me is because after the initial 6-7 episodes that I binged watched, the story felt like a never ending soap opera to me. Too many side characters with too many filler scenes and episodes. They could have made this more crisp by making it 12 eps instead of 16. The episodes wasted on their grown up son's tantrums could have been easily cut short and I skipped almost whole eps because of those boring things!
Also the repeated flashbacks was so irritating, especially since I binged it, I felt that if they removed the Flashbacks they could have easily reduced the number of eps!
Another tiny issue that the Director should have taken care of was the FL's flawless makeup in certain scenes especially where they are supposed to be dirt poor with no food but her face was so fresh with perfect makeup! It looked so odd to me...
Anyway, I guess I should have watched it while it was airing because of all the content that is packed into each episode was a little too much to take in while binging it!
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Very interesting time loop/travel romcom drama
This has become one of my most fav short romcom C dramas ever! Story is really interesting and funny and at the same time somehow by the end you can genuinely feel the love between the characters, like you can feel their yearning for each other. I checked it out by chance because I mistook the FL to be another actress by looking at the stills but I was totally surprised by both the FL and the MLs acting! Really good actors!It has both time loop and time travel elements which are both one of my fav scifi tropes, so it's an extra fun love story.
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Cute romcom!
Generally, I love J dramas mostly for their Detective dramas as I find their romance dramas (except few exceptions) not very strong, especially I mostly find the FLs acting in most J romcoms very cringey and seldom cute like most others seem to find... But this show seems to a pleasant exception as the FL doesn't do the usual J drama childish acts and acts quite mature but in a cute naïve way.The Ml and Fl got decent chemistry. The cast is good overall nothing exceptional but decent enough acting by everyone involved, including all the supporting cast. Title and ending music is catchy.
Story is ok, not very great but a nice tropey finding your childhood sweetheart again kinda romcom. He is an upcoming drama/movie star and she is a elementary school teacher who accidentally becomes his celebrity manager. There is a small love triangle just for namesake but you know it wont matter much in the end. Romance is sweet and at the same time angsty just the way I like it! Comedy was hardly there, so nothing to mention about it. Overall a decent time pass drama.
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Funny drama with 3 quirky superheroes and their Super master!
In its essence this drama is a super hero or rather heroes story with a lot of lol moments! Set in 1999, it's tells us the story of 3 very unlikely village outcasts, who are also unwittingly close friends as in one of them is still not convinced that they are part of the friend's group till the very end! 😅 Anyway they then somehow gain some super powers. How they, supposedly not very smart people according to the villagers, deal with those powers, whom they get help from, etc forms the rest of the story. The whole thing is told in a quite funny non serious way.The actors were all just too good in their comic timing! The ML and FL have good chemistry. ML's styling is very superman like with superman glasses and all! And of course since it's CEW, he looks damn good in it! 😁 And Special mention to Ajushi, he made me lol with his straight faced dialogues! Also our badass grandma is ❤️
Overall a good light-hearted binge worthy drama. Do give it a try if you want some funny timepass show to binge on lazy weekends.
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Better version of all!
I have watched 3 versions of the same story- Korean, Chinese and Japanese. And J version seems to be the best of 3 because they have removed all the unpleasant things from the other 2 versions which will generally bother you namely the amount of rudeness the ML shows the FL for no apparent reason! Here the ML is more sensible and therefore more likeable of all 3 versions of the ML. And since it is only 10 episodes there are no unnecessary fillers which is a huge plus!Acting wise : In Korean version, the FL's acting was over the top, ML was good, in Chinese version, the FL is good actor, the ML has no expressions at all! In this version FL is good and ML is OK but needs to improve a bit. I have watched him in anime based movies where exaggerated reactions are necessary but here he should have toned in down in certain scenes but overall this version has both leads who act well.
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Mob boss trope done right
So nowadays I am finding these super short c dramas more interesting than long dramas airing these days in all languages. This is one such interesting drama.Basically it's about a lady's revenge, the details can be read in the MDL summary but what is the actual interesting part of it is its different Mob boss romance trope combined with enemies to lovers trope! Meaning you have a powerful mob boss who is charmingly in love with his so called wife, which is a common trope but in almost all such dramas, the FL are just pretty flowerpots, but not here! Here the FL is emotionally strong, has her own mind, schemes and plots her revenge, which makes it different and interesting.
Acting and chemistry both are good too.
I didn't like all the knife poking and slapping stuff they do to each other but since it's overall good, I am going to overlook it. Story is also not very logical and all but for 15 mins if we rest our logical mind, it's a fun watch.
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Tries to make a point but has its own flaws
Show tells us how the teachers get bullied by student bullies and how a newly formed org deals with those bullies.Starting scenes of most eps were very traumatising to watch for me with all the graphic bullying of helpless students by their school bullies and few suicide scenes too, so I mostly ended up skipping all such scenes.
Then the ML arrives and kicks their asses literally 😁 which is very satisfying to watch! And I think that satisfaction was the reason I continued to watch it till the end. Fl does great action too! Bullies getting their ass kicked thoroughly and getting what they deserve is the main reason to watch the show! Also special mention to all the actors who acted as bullies in each episode, they all did really good acting. 👏👏
But the show has few major issues.
1) Firstly romance b/w fl and 2nd ml was totally unnecessary because they didn't have an ounce of chemistry whatsoever! I understand they were trying to make an age appropriate pairing but then they should have checked the pair for chemistry before casting.
I have watched many of FLs work and I have always liked her pairings with her costars but this time they should have casted someone else to be her pair or should have skipped romance altogether because it wasn't necessary at all! The last few scenes b/w them look so forced and bad.
2) Secondly, the theme of the show itself is an issue in some episodes, especially where they showed that girl student make false SA accusation. They somehow indirectly made it seem as if all such cases are false and all teachers are innocent in the concluding scene of that ep when in reality so many teachers actually SA their students. And so many children are afraid to speak out fearing no one will believe them.
So I wish they had showed that the other foreign language school teacher had actually SAed her and because no one helped her, she became what she became instead of showing that just being denied admission in that school as the reason she became a bully, which didn't make any sense.
3) Third being how they dealt with that psychological evaluation episode. Like it was so stupid the way they revealed that teacher's evaluation in front of her colleague and even revealing she was trying to kill herself indirectly. I mean they should have called her separately and informed her about such sensitive matters especially for a person who was attempting suicide just mins before that evaluation scene and fl actually almost saw it herself!
Overall an interesting drama with a different perspective. 7.8/10
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Action with a gripping plot line
Ok just binged it and I'm super impressed with the whole thing. It is an action drama done the right way! I am actually not a huge fan of mindless action but this show is different because the action sequences here are not mindless, there is a definite purpose to it, it's meaningful.Direction of this show is superb because there isn't a moment where you can stop watching in between!
First episode starts with a bang, err literally 😁 but in between the bang bangs they will tell you the reason behind it in bits and parts, so once you get a hang of that story telling, there's no stopping, it just grips you till the very end!
Acting is fantastic and special mention about the lil girl kiddo who plays the younger version of fl, my God she deserves an award for that emotionally charged acting! Just fab!
Although there are quite few minor blunders, loopholes in the drama, overall it was very well made. Story is very unique too. So if you like action combined with mystery, you can give it a try.
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Very cute second chance, co-habitation romcom
Watched this drama 4-5 years back for the first time and then have rewatched it many times since then but I am unable to find it anywhere now. So came here to see where we can watch it and saw that it had such poor rating! So thought I would add a review for one of my fav dramas. :)Anyway, so coming to the review, I would say if you like cute romcoms with likable leads and bearable second leads who don't act like obsessed psychos, then you will like this too.
Story: Basically it's about 2 childhood friends /sweethearts who got married way early, when they were 17/18 yrs old and divorced almost immediately for silly chilish reasons. Then they meet again after 5-6 yrs and how they rekindle their relationship gradually is the crux of the story.
Ml is a lazy rich kid with kind heart who is sent by his dad and grandad to build a resort in their old hometown island where FL resides. Fl is a veterinary college dropout and takes care of villager's horses in her ranch for a fee. Fl's family had got scammed of their horse ranch/home and the scammer sold it along with adjacent areas to ML's company which he is unaware of.
So after finding out the truth he agrees to give back her property to her for free but she refuses and instead they make a deal that she will help him get consent letters from the village people who are opposed to the resort one by one and will also pay for the property in installments. And due to certain circumstances he ends up staying at her home which she shares with her younger sister.
So we get a co-habitation romance too where ML and FL act like 2 cute bickering bunnies for most of the time! 😁
The 2nd leads are nice characters too. In the starting they actually show us the budding romance between 1st leads and 2nd leads but due to various reasons that doesn't work out and as time goes by our main leads rediscover their love for each other.
Overall, the way they end up with each other is a very satisfying watch. We even get funny cute jealous scenes too! 😁 It basically has everything you need in a good romcom! Btw It's also called as Paradise Ranch. So if you find the drama anywhere, then surely give it a try!
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Cute and funny short drama
I just binged it. It's a funny, sometimes silly short duration romcom drama that can be found on YouTube by the name 'Office watch - Gossip room' . CC eng subs are available. It kinda reminded me of 'Gaus Electronics' drama which I had watched earlier.Story is about a few quirky colleagues in a car ride company like Uber. I guess it's an ad for a real Korean company called Socar in this case. Either way the ads are placed in a decent way, not in your face type of ads you find in some dramas. ML and FL have cute chemistry, so do all the supporting characters and overall everyone had a cute story. Bts in the last ep is also funny. Overall a happy watch. Give it a try when you want to watch something light and happy.
April 2026
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Time loop dealt in detail
I binged it for past few days and I really liked it. The time loop stuff is dealt in a very detailed manner here unlike other such time loop dramas. Like every possibility is explored and every outcome is shown to us in different loops. Makes you think a lot. It was a very interesting watch.Only thing which was a negative point for me is that they made the FL have a saviour complex asusual! Like I don't mind her wanting to save others but always putting the ML and herself in harms way for saving others just didn't sit right with me in few loops. But either way like they say alls well that ends well, so in the big scheme of things I guess it's all ok.
Acting was really good. Leads especially ML was very good. But the star of the show is the main villain .... SPOILER ALERT....
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The lady was just fantastic! My God her acting gave me goosebumps, so crazy (literally) good!
Anyway the whole bus scene made me realise that cheap dirty perverts roam in buses in all countries and do the same dirty things everywhere! Ughh...
Another thing that this show made me realise is that it is really scary to go and report some crime to the police! My God the way they were interrogated gave me heebiejeebies! It felt so real and scary!
Anyway, a really good show! If you love scifi time loop stuff, definitely give it a go!
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