My Annoying Roommate

I don’t normally write reviews but because this was a short drama (only 12 episodes and about 30 minutes long), I was able to finish it in a day’s time. I’m not too familiar with cast although some looked familiar, the only actor I recognized at first was Xu Bin who recently starred in Stay With Me. His character is completely different but he was funny and not so serious in here. The story starts off with a boy who comes to the countryside to take a break from the entertainment industry. He attends school with FL and for some reason, ends up moving into her house with her uncle. Of course they don’t see eye to eye at first and she calls him a jinx, but they gradually get to know each other and he becomes friends with her friends. In flashbacks we see ML remembers FL from when they were children, although she doesn’t know until much later. There are some annoying parts like silly tantrums, but it doesn’t distract from the overall story. ML likes FL first and the jealousy is cute and not too cringe or toxic, but they don’t confirm their feelings until towards the end. Last episode had main leads apart from each other for most of the episode (a year to be precise), and they finally share a kiss. Of course they’re still both young so don’t expect fireworks, but it wasn’t dead fish kisses either. I say if you want something light that doesn’t make you feel like you have to pay close attention to, then binge watch this on the weekend or something then move on to the next drama.

FYI— I have iQIYI VIP so I was able to watch all episodes. If you don’t have it, you can either wait and watch one or two episodes until you complete it or wait until they’re all out and binge watch it. I haven’t checked where else this is playing so if you can find another site, then 👍🏽

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I’ve never been so intrigued with a C-Drama as much as this

First off, I don’t normally write reviews (although I read them to get a general idea if I should watch or skip a drama), so you know if I’m writing one that means it got under my skin (see what I did there lol). First off, story was epic from beginning to end. I started this drama originally on Viki and while waiting for new episodes to air, I went to iQIYI out of the blue so I can watch another drama while I waited. I’m glad I did because iQIYI had their episodes up and fully subbed so I could watch them asap. I like mystery and crime shows and to me, this was a cross between Law & Order SVU and Ocean’s Eleven. It’s a whole big bag of whodunnit with just enough drama to keep me interested. Aside from Tan Jian Ci and Baby Zhang, this cast was unknown to me (although the actress who played Li Han looked familiar), so it was refreshing to see different actors instead of the same ones over and over again, and each one played their role perfectly. I won’t go into too much about the OST because honestly I skip the beginning and ending credits and I didn’t really pay attention if there were actual songs in this drama, so if you’re hoping for a good OST and maybe a little romance, then this is not the drama for you. They have a good amount of bromance though although it took awhile, they got there. And finally, the last episode and especially the last scene, tied everything together. Or did it? Are we going to have another season? One could only wish. I hope this review will help you determine if you should watch it or not, but don’t just read my thoughts. Let the high reviews and praise help you start (and/or) finish this masterpiece.

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Bright Time: A Story of Friendship (and more?)

Just completed this. I saw a clip or bonus scene of the 2 ML’s in college but it wasn’t in the final episode. This drama started out a solid 8.5 but towards the middle-ending it kind of went downhill. I’m sorry to say that the FL was probably the most mousy childish FL in awhile. She had this aura of talking softly and almost babyish and even wore her hair in childish rubberbands and clips. Even if her best friend wore childish clips it wasn’t as bad. I found myself skipping most of her scenes that didn’t include the 2 ML’s. I even skipped parts with the annoying popular girl that Ma Yiming liked. She was so snobby and I hate that the writers forced them together after the way she treated him throughout the show. I liked monitor’s and Qingtian’s relationship. Started from a one sided crush to being friends to him telling her he likes her in the final episode. They held hands briefly and she even drank his cup of bubble tea so there was that inadvertent kiss, but other than that, don’t expect any more romance. And finally on to the 2 ML. If you told me this was a BL disguised as a bromance, I would have believed you. All their interactions were so cute. They really made it impossible to believe they didn’t have secret crushes on each other. They even had these not so innocent moments that made me almost blush. From the hand holding to them laying down next to each other with their heads nearby, everything about them was chef’s kiss 👩🏽‍🍳💋

Would I watch it again? Probably not. But if they had a drama with just the 2 ML’s then I would definitely watch it. Even without the subtle romance, they had a friendship that started from childhood and into high school and beyond. Although they were enemies at first, they became best friends at the end. Please someone make a new drama with these 2 again.

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“It’s a deal. You protect the world. I’ll protect you”

What can I say, except that this movie is a pure masterpiece. I don’t know if I remember seeing a clip of this on Instagram or Tik Tok, but I had put it in my watchlist along with my many other dramas. Lately I’ve been putting shows on hold, or dropping them altogether, or not even have a chance to start it. Seeing as this is a movie, I thought “why not”. At least I’ll know I’ll finish it in one go. And I’m glad I did. The topic of bullying is a touchy subject for some, and although I was teased as a kid by mean classmates, it never got physical. I tried putting myself in the main character’s shoes, and honestly, although it was a movie, things like this happen all the time, but the director and cast did a great job in portraying it. They didn’t gloss over the violence and actually showed the bullies the consequences of their actions. I think although most of us see this in movies and shows, it’s different than what we perceive. The way that even though the main characters got dealt a bad hand, they still found solace and comfort in each other. They wanted to better themselves and I love how they brought it out in each other.

Okay, so the cast is relatively new to me, but can I say how Oscar worthy their performances were? It almost felt real and raw and that they weren’t really acting. Props to Zhou Dongyu and Jackson Yee for telling this story. I was in shock when I read that Dongyu was almost 30 years old when this came out and Jackson wasn’t even 20. It felt like I was watching real kids in high school and almost forgot that she was almost a decade older than him. They really had my head scratching, because I really thought he was older than her in the movie.

And as for the ending, it leaves it up to the viewers interpretation. Did she know he was out of jail and following her, or was he silently watching over her? I would like to think that she knew he was there and that they built a new life together. By the way, when you start to see the end credits, don’t assume it’s over. There’s dialogue and the actual end where I’m talking about him following her. Although I would like a sequel to show how their life is now as they’re adults, I’m very satisfied with the ending.

I watched this on Amazon Prime as I am a Prime member, but I see that you could watch it on Freevee with ads if you don’t have Prime, Hulu, or AppleTV. I highly recommend this movie. Just have Kleenex on hand as you will get emotional. 10/10 would recommend.

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