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Completed
Anata ga Shitekurenakute mo
25 people found this review helpful
by MPL88
Jun 25, 2023
11 of 11 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 2.0
Story 3.0
Acting/Cast 8.0
Music 1.0
Rewatch Value 1.0
This review may contain spoilers

Interesting exploration into marriage without intimacy, before nosediving into absurdity.

This series took an interesting look at marriage and how things can break down over a lack of communication and intimacy.

Considering how things went for the two couples profiled in this, I thought their marriages had reached the point of no return. Makoto's wife was more interested in her career than having a family, and in turn denied him emotional and physical intimacy.

And Michi's husband did not want kids at all and rather work a mediocre job and play video games, while at the same time denying her emotional and physical intimacy for more than two years. In the mist of all that he decided to physically cheat on her with his colleague and had little remorse for it until she (Michi) started to pull away from him.

Makoto and Michi became emotionally involved due to their loveless marriages and ultimately divorced their spouses, but break up with each other after the divorces. Still they continue on with their lives. Makoto working on growing his career and Michi doing the same, but also learning how to stand on her own. I thought the story ended in a good place at the end of episode 10 and should've stopped there. I didn't understand why another episode was needed.

Imagine my surprise when the main couples spent all of episode 11 ignoring what had destroyed their relationships in the first place, some of which were things that could not be overcome i.e. one person in the relationship wanting kids while the other didn't and extreme selfishness by one party in the relationship. Only to get back together in the end.

It was good to see Michi try to work on herself. Thus, it was extremely disappointing to see her reunite with Yo just because he told her he loved her. SMH. Very elementary and immature of her. This guy never worked for their relationship, except when that work would result in him getting what he wanted from her. Their relationship was never about them or even her. It was always about him. Moreover, he was unambitious, emotionally stunted and extremely selfish. In no way a match for what she envisioned for her life. It made absolutely no sense that he'd suddenly decide to leave the coffee shop and open his own. Honestly, I don't know how the shop he was working for stayed in business when there was never any customers in there.

This had to be one of the worst series I've ever wasted time watching and it was all due to the ending. I honestly had no investment in Michi and Makoto. I didn't care whether they ended up together or not.

However, I did think enough had been shown to logically conclude that both of their marriages were irreparably damaged and that they needed to move on. What a cop out to have them a) still interacting with each other, not just their exes, but the exes of their former "lovers" and b) to have the suddenly realize they belong together and reunite with their spouses. It made no sense whatsoever. Overall, the only good thing about this was the acting, which was actually pretty good. That aside though, this is not a series I would recommend and is obviously not worth a rewatch.

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Completed
Ready, Set, Love
11 people found this review helpful
by MPL88
Feb 25, 2024
6 of 6 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 4.0
Story 2.0
Acting/Cast 6.0
Music 6.0
Rewatch Value 1.0
This review may contain spoilers

Ready Set…Should’ve Been So Much More Than Love

This started off like it was going to be light comedy built around a love story with all the bright set colors and silly incidents with the FL. But once the story started to unfold I found that there shouldn’t have been anything light and fun about this series. Or if there was going to be comedy it should’ve been used to lighten the story when it got too heavy.

The premise of the show was interesting and original, but the writers failed to do a deep dive on the themes they were throwing out. For whatever reason the birth of boys had severely declined. We are never given a reason why or even if research was being done to determine why they were rarely being born. As a result of this decline, there was a shortage of men in the world, so the government’s response was to essentially hold every boy that was born hostage at “The Farm”. They had this national reality game where women would compete to marry a man , but then we are told that’s just a scam and the marriages don’t actually happen.

It seemed as if TPTB were forcing the men to be with women whom they chose, for the purpose of…we’re never told why? The assumption was also if a girl was born, she was allowed to be out in the world and free. It was said that some women’s son’s were stolen from them and taken to The Farm if the they failed to comply with the law in giving up their sons. And those women would then be drugged and imprisoned. But if all men were held hostage at the Farm, who was impregnating these women in the outside world?

So again, it wasn’t clear what the government was hoping to accomplish with imprisoning boys at the Farm and marrying them off to what appeared to be wealthy families. As previously stated, this show had an interesting concept. There were many social commentaries at play ie “fake” vs “real”, population decline, human rights just to name a few.

With all the other more pressing story threads going on the love story was really irrelevant. And at times it seemed as if two shows were being explored within one, but the writers didn’t know how to merge those stories into a coherent show. The leads looked good together and had nice chemistry. It was sweet that they got their HEA but it seemed so out of place within the context of the story, much of which was not properly explored.

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Completed
My Name Is Loh Kiwan
11 people found this review helpful
by MPL88
Mar 3, 2024
Completed 1
Overall 2.5
Story 1.0
Acting/Cast 5.0
Music 3.5
Rewatch Value 1.0

A Compelling Journey of Peril and Perseverance, Abandoned for a Ridiculous “Love” Story

Started off as a brutal look into the struggles in immigrating from North Korea. The journey was tough to watch as Loh lived off the grid with his mother in China while she worked to raise enough money for them to escape to some European safe haven. Things don’t go exactly as planned when they are discovered by the Chinese police and his mother is killed while they’re attempting to flee.

Loh makes it to Belgium but continues to encounter some very difficult hardships. Though his encounters with the locals always escalating to violence, on their part, was heavy handed and unrealistic, his struggles for work and warmth and a roof over his head were authentic.

The part where this story goes off the rails is with Marie. A woman whose rebellion against her father over the death of her mother involves doing drugs and being the pawn of a Belgium gangster. It’s not love at first sight with these two being that she steals his wallet, which has all he has left of his mother and what little money he earned from her death. But soon their lives become entangled when she promises to get his wallet back and gives him a tip which results in a job.

There’s nothing more to their love story except a shared meal over which they didn’t talk but spent the entire time stuffing their faces, but somehow they came out of that being deeply in love, with Loh willing to do everything from OD on drugs, face off with gangsters and risk his ability to gain citizenship to save Marie. It was utterly ridiculous.

The movie seemed to have spent more time on the “love” story and Marie’s drama than on what should’ve been the focus of the story, Loh’s journey to freedom. In the end he finally gets citizenship in Belgium and in a voiceover states that he faced “many storms to get there. It would’ve made for an excellent story if we’d actually seen it. Instead his story became about saving Marie, then giving up his citizenship to go be with her on some island in the South Pacific. Needless to say I was left a bit perturbed by this waste of two hours.

I will say the Korean actors were great in this, but the premise advertised is not what this turned out to be.

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Completed
You Are My Glory
6 people found this review helpful
by MPL88
Jun 12, 2022
32 of 32 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 5.0
Story 3.0
Acting/Cast 9.5
Music 4.0
Rewatch Value 1.0

An Ambling Story of Glory

This show started off interesting even with the typical cliches of the leads having met in high school years before and one having a crush on the other. In the beginning I was concerned that the story would spend too much time on the ML training the FL on gaming but thankfully the show pulled back from that as the series progressed.

The leads are attractive, most especially Yang Yang who is beautiful. They had nice chemistry and looked good together, but the story just wasn’t there. The gaming training provided some story as did the conflict that arose when one of the leads wanted to date while the other didn’t. Then it was just episode after episode about the everyday boring minutia of one of the leads lives. Seeing this had nothing to do with the overall story and was time wasted on nothing. This went on until the leads finally got together. Then when they got together the story was over. The series was basically about the leads happily dating without any conflict.

I can appreciate a show not going the typical route of interloping exes or people who never dated the leads but think they are more deserving of their love. I can appreciate a series showcasing a healthy and loving relationship. However, they didn’t need 32 episodes to do this. Most of the episodes was a hodgepodge of poignant moments in the mist of meandering story threads. Honestly there were no story threads. In essence this was boring.

The writers could’ve done a lot with the FL being a famous actress/singer and the ML being a Aerospace Engineer, but they squashed any story potential in the first few episodes. I will say the writers/directors and actors did a good job making the coupling of the leads believable. They actually kissed, hugged, slept together etc. they acted like adults in a romantic relationship which ironically enough is oftentimes not displayed in these romance dramas. But that was about the only thing that was really good about this series.

With the lack of conflict and story, this series could’ve wrapped in 10-12 episodes rather than 32. But more importantly this series is not worth watching.

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Completed
The Fabulous
5 people found this review helpful
by MPL88
Dec 27, 2022
8 of 8 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 5.0
Story 6.0
Acting/Cast 8.0
Music 8.5
Rewatch Value 1.0
This review may contain spoilers

A Foursome of Friends strives to be Fabulous in the Fashion Industry

This is a simple, yet engaging series that gives a peek into Korea’s fashion industry. What holds this show together is the friendships between the four leads. They’re all 20 somethings either working to find or maintain success in the fashion industry. Their friendship is endearing as they support each other through their triumphs and struggles.

The career storylines floated between the monotony of the day the day for those working in the fashion industry, but also spiced things up with demanding celebrities, strategic failures and business relationships overlapping with personal entanglements, which resulted in a few awkward situations.

The love story at the center of the series was okay. Woo-min and Ji-eun were certainly cute together and the will they won’t they had some entertainment value, but I honestly didn’t get why Woo-min broke up with her in the first place. I enjoyed their friendship more than their romance. The storyline with Ji-eun’s boyfriend (Nam-Jin)then ex-boyfriend, then boyfriend again was one of the worst plot contrivances I’ve seen in a while. He broke up with her early in the series. It wasn’t just a break up, but what he said to her during the breakup. He was cold and condescending. He basically told her she wasn’t good enough for him. Then not even a week after he breaks it off, he’s desperate to get her back because he realizes she’s “different just like he suspected.” Ji-eun takes him back because she wants to “make it work.” Why? Is beyond me considering what he said to her when he broke off the relationship and her not seeming to be all that into him in the first place, considering she cheated on him with Woo-min. It was obvious their reunion was solely to stall the ship that was Ji-eun/Woo-min, which is not unheard of in a romance drama but this was poorly written.

The storyline with Doo-young was pointless. The character and the stuff he got up to was only there to fill out the hour of the episodes. I get what the writers were trying to do with him, show a character’s initial entry into the fashion industry as the other characters already had some type of established career in the industry. But though the actor was cute, he did not have the face or charisma that made him becoming a model believable. Moreover, he was meant to be comic relief but more often that not he was too chipper, and just annoying. Lol.

I liked Seon-ho the best. She was tough, yet could be vulnerable. She didn’t take any sh*t from anyone. I like that when her successful modeling career started to wane she was proactive in thinking about what was next for her professionally once her modeling career was completely over. What was disappointing was the writers backed off this story thread having her miraculously revive her modeling career after being blacklisted. I think it would’ve been more interesting had we seen her go all the way in exploring a new career away from modeling.

The eight episodes were just enough, and really I think they could’ve tightened the storylines and stopped at episode 6. This is a fairly entertaining and feel good series. If you’re looking to watch something that’s light with basic storylines and minimal drama, you might like this.

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Completed
Love and Leashes
6 people found this review helpful
by MPL88
Feb 27, 2022
Completed 0
Overall 1.5
Story 2.0
Acting/Cast 8.0
Music 1.5
Rewatch Value 1.5

Tried to be risqué, but failed

The idea of a guy whose secretly into S&M finding a Master at his job could have been an interesting setup for a hot and steamy story about pleasure and pain, but this was just bad.

How it was discovered that the ML was into S&M was so contrived. Why would he have a submissive collar delivered to his job when he lives alone? The FL suddenly becoming curious about S&M and thus willing to be a Master seemed random, considering she’d never participated in or been curious about such behavior before. And though she was interested in the ML had only just met him.

The leads had no chemistry whatsoever, and the S&M scenes were tamed at best. The office storyline was boring and many of the scenes between the ML and FL were silly. The best thing about this was looking at Lee Jun-young’s pretty face. He’s an attractive guy who has talent. He can do drama and comedy well, but he could not elevate the material here. Neither could Seohyun, who is also a very good actress.

Going into this I knew that the chances of it being good was going to be a long shot because Korean dramas just don’t do well with risqué material or anything involving a couple being sexual with each other. However, I watched because I like the actors and thought the synopsis sounded interesting. Unfortunately this was a fail.

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Completed
House of Ninjas
7 people found this review helpful
by MPL88
Feb 24, 2024
8 of 8 episodes seen
Completed 3
Overall 3.5
Story 2.0
Acting/Cast 8.0
Music 2.5
Rewatch Value 1.5
This review may contain spoilers

An Incoherent House of Potential

It’s difficult to give a coherent review on this one because the story was so disjointed. So in short the Fuma who are apparently an ancient Ninja group of Japan wants to remove those who are currently in power to install their own puppet master to do their bidding. What that bidding entails is never explained. But then in order to reach this goal, they kill a bunch of innocent people and are fixated on some ancient scroll that details the genealogy of the Hojo clan. The belief is that as long as they have the scroll they will succeed in their goal to rule Japan. Again, we are given no history on these clans and ninja groups. Some things are implied but never explained.

We spend several episodes on Haru and the reporter investigating all the mysterious deaths and disappearances only for the reporter to become irrelevant halfway through the series.

In the final battle the Tawaras are fighting the Fumas and are about to lose the battle when a group of ninjas whom we’ve not heard of or seen, show up to help them out. There were many story threads not fleshed out, that didn’t make sense or just there it seemed to fill time with no connection to the overall story.

The actors had strong performances in this, and there was the potential for a good story but it just wasn’t well, written.

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Completed
Amidst a Snowstorm of Love
3 people found this review helpful
by MPL88
Jun 30, 2024
30 of 30 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 4.5
Story 4.0
Acting/Cast 8.0
Music 4.0
Rewatch Value 1.5

A Day In the Life of Lovers Who Live to Play Pool

Really liked that the story took place in Finland. Loved that the ML was instantly smitten by the FL upon first seeing her. The originality of the story being set around professional pool players was intriguing.

Unfortunately, the story dragged. There was no story really just the monotony of daily life for the leads and their friends. The show didn’t need to be 30 episodes. They could’ve told what little story they were gone tell in 10-12 episodes.

The leads did have nice chemistry and again I enjoyed the backdrop of the story being winter in Finland, but there wasn’t any substance to the series. It was literally episode after episode of the leads (and their friends), dating, working and playing pool. No conflict. No angst. No start building towards a climax then move towards ending the story. No nothing. Just a day in the life…everyday life for these characters during this period.

If you’re looking for a series about the day to day life of a couple and their friends then this may appeal to you. Otherwise I would not recommend this show.

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Dropped 12/14
Moon in the Day
5 people found this review helpful
by MPL88
Dec 22, 2023
12 of 14 episodes seen
Dropped 0
Overall 3.0
Story 3.0
Acting/Cast 4.0
Music 1.0
Rewatch Value 1.0
This review may contain spoilers

The Past Outshines What Should've Been An Intriguing Present

There seemed to be a crisis every episode with this series, especially during the present day. The historical storyline from 1500 years earlier was way more interesting than the present day story. The present day had promise until the ML became possessed, then he spent most of the series walking around with an "evil" look on his face, brooding about why he was delaying in completing his mission in killing the FL. That got old fast.

The leads had nice romantic chemistry in the historical storyline. Perhaps due to the kind of star-crossed lovers aura and thus angst that embodied their love. Strangely the present day version of them lacked the same emotion and connection.

I found myself mostly fast forwarding through the present day storyline because it just wasn't that interesting, so that I could continue the story from the past. But once the story from the past finished, circling back to where it left off in the first episode I just couldn't garner the interest to keep watching. So I stopped.

If this was only a historical drama I think it could've been really good. Would I rewatch what I did watch? No.

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Completed
101 Marriages
2 people found this review helpful
by MPL88
Sep 5, 2024
24 of 24 episodes seen
Completed 3
Overall 1.5
Story 1.5
Acting/Cast 3.0
Music 1.0
Rewatch Value 1.0
This review may contain spoilers

"Love" Story with Problematic and Antiquated Relationship Tropes

The forced marriage that turns to love can be fun with the right writing. Unfortunately, this series fell short. Though the leads had great chemistry their relationship was problematic. The ML basically pays the FL’s adoptive mother $50 million dollars to “rescue” her from her adoptive family i.e. mother who treats her like trash. Mind you, the FL had no romantic interest in the ML as she was in love with the SML. Once married, the ML proceeds to yell at the FL, manhandle her and lock her in the home when she doesn’t respond to him the way he desires.

Granted he does secretly pay for her incapacitated brother’s care, but that still doesn’t make up for his possessive treatment of her. When they finally divorce, which he initiates as he decides that he has to “let her go” so that she can be happy, he then follows her around town (essentially stalking her) and continues to do things to control her life, such as arranging an apartment for her without her knowledge and ensuring that she chooses that place for her new residence. Of course, the FL finally realizes that she loves him and, in the end, they reunite, but honestly I don’t see why. Despite them being close schoolmates in high school and him doing a couple of honorable things that would warrant appreciation, that evolving into her having a romantic love for him made no sense.

The SML and SFL were a cute couple. They had nice chemistry and a descent love story until that relationship was destroyed by the SFL’s mother and unfortunately materialistic needs. The corporate drama wasn’t well played and the storyline with the FL’s incapacitated brother seemed to be an integral part of the story to start, but then was immediately dropped and was only revisited for a blink and you miss it moment, late in the series.

This was a very entertaining show. I did find that I wanted to see what happened next, but the writing wasn’t good and neither was the love story. The acting was hit or miss and some of the designs of the scene settings i.e. the homes and businesses, left a lot to be desired. Is this worth watching. Not really. Would I re-watch. No.

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Completed
Love Under the Full Moon
2 people found this review helpful
by MPL88
Jun 7, 2022
24 of 24 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 1.5
Story 3.5
Acting/Cast 3.0
Music 1.0
Rewatch Value 1.0

Great premise. Poor execution

I enjoy stories that explore multiple timelines, with sci-fi and even a love story thrown in. So when I read the synopsis for this show along with seeing the starring actors I thought this might be pretty good.

It started off strong, with what appeared to be a mysterious chase through a snowy forest only for the protagonist who looked to be trying to escape some threat strangely appearing in a world 10 years into the future. When this happened I thought now things are about to get really interesting. Only for the story to completely stall out in an effort to build a romantic rapport between the leads.

First off, though the situation was strange and understandably difficult for the leads to wrap their heads around what exactly was happening, it didn’t make sense that the very intelligent AI which could solve very complex problems couldn’t make the very simple deduction, based on the sum of all the events, that the anomaly of the FL showing up the way she did was connected to the Super Moon. But I gave that a pass. Then the ML allowed the FL to stay in his home for what appeared to be weeks, knowing that she had amnesia, claiming he was going to help her find her family, but his only attempt to help her do that was take her around the city.

He didn’t bother to take her to a doctor, who may be able to help her or look up missing persons cases. He just took her shopping and to different locations around the city. Hoping something would jog her memories. Ok. So the writers were killing time in an attempt to build a strong foundation for an eventual romantic pairing between the leads. Again, I let it ride. Then this guy from the FL’s previously life, decides to ask her parents to close the book on their missing daughter so that he can be free to move on with his life. I’m thinking because they were engaged to be married or maybe even were married. But nope, they were just dating. So why the need for the parents to let go so that he can move on with his life? Then he proceeds to do a live stream of a memorial service he’s orchestrated, without the parents consent, to declare his GIRLFRIEND dead. Again why? She was only his girlfriend. No one would begrudge him moving on with his life after she’d been missing for 10 years. I again suspended disbelief.

However, when the FL finally found out her name and pretty much had no interest in vigorously pursuing her past and who she was, I was too done. Instead she was more interested in making googly eyes at the ML. Sigh. Then wasting time on nonsense like opening dessert stores and avoiding her parents for reasons that were deemed legitimate but could’ve easily been overcome with a little creative thinking. But the writers wanted to stall the story and create unnecessary “angst” and “drama” for the FL. This show had an interesting premise, but unfortunately spent way too much time on the boring stuff and storylines that didn’t make sense but were forced on the audience to create the narrative the writers wanted , a love story at all cost, even if the story in which the love story grew made no sense.

The actors did the best they could with the material, but that was about it. I wouldn’t recommend not even wasting your time watching. There are many other love stories with a sci-fi twist out there, that does a much better job with execution than this series.

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The Princess and the Werewolf
2 people found this review helpful
by MPL88
Aug 10, 2023
30 of 30 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 6.0
Story 2.0
Acting/Cast 10
Music 7.5
Rewatch Value 1.0
This review may contain spoilers

The Princess, the Hot Werewolf and their Strange Kingdoms.

This series had some fun moments and a cast that played well off of each other. However, if you look beyond the surface there’s not much to this series. The premise was strong. A king from a beastly kingdom needs a princess from a human kingdom to save his life and subsequently his people, with the requirement of love between the savior and the one to be saved being included in this very cliché story setup. For this reason, the beastly king kidnaps the princess and off the story goes…well sort of.

The show spends a lot of time setting up the relationship between Qi Pan and Kui Mu Lang, but not much else. We only see Qi Pa’s kingdom very briefly before she is kidnapped and there’s no insight into how the kingdom works who is on the royal court? Is there a royal court? Who are Qi Pa’s friends etc. We see her parents who of course want her to find her soulmate and that’s it. After she is kidnapped we don’t see how her kingdom is dealing with the kidnapping of their princess, only the royal guard looking for her when it becomes convenient to the story.

In the Beast kingdom, we do learn why many, not all, have beastly features, but beyond that, no insight into the inner workings of the monarch and the society it serves. Kui Mu Lang, the king, only has one right hand man and apparently no royal guards as people can access the palace grounds and the king (and Queen’s) quarters at will, to do nefarious things. Kui Mu Lang had powers but apparently no one else in the kingdom did. This was never explained. Did he have powers because he was the king? Or did he have powers because it was convenient to the story? Additionally, there were individuals who tried to kill the king numerous times, but when caught received a punishment of planting trees, copying the laws of the kingdom numerous times or no punishment at all. Odd.

Moreover, though the beastly city appears to be your typical Chinese kingdom, Daxia which is Qi Pa’s home seems to be a mix of modern experiences and historic Chinese customs. For Qi Pa mentions haute couture, makeup sets, high heels, having jet lag etc. while still dressing, for the most part, like a princess from the 16th century. Very strange. Additionally, when the audience did see the palace grounds for Qi Pa’s home, there was no one around. Just her and a couple characters, who seemed to only be around to prop her relationship with Kui Mu Lang. When she returned after going missing, there were no scenes of her reuniting with her family and when she decided to return to the beast kingdom, she did not inform anyone, but left her kingdom without a word.

There were a couple of antagonists in this series, Kui Mu Lang’s brother (Jing Mu) and some mystery man. Both spent the series failing at their nefarious schemes while Jing Mu whined like a 2-year old about no one paying attention to him. The endgame of their nefarious schemes wasn’t revealed until the last episode and even when revealed it still made little sense considering the mysterious man spent most the series mustache twirling and vowing to make Kui Mu Lang pay while Jing Mu whined.

Despite the storyline and world building for this series making absolutely no sense, the actors did the best they could with the material and seemed to have fun. Chen Zhe Yuan was pretty hot and looked good with Wu Xuan Yi. All of the couples had nice chemistry and worked well. With the leads being most interesting together when Qi Pa was interacting with Kui Mu Lang in his wolf/beast form. The series had a few really good scenes. Specifically, when Qi Pa and beastly Kui Mu Lang were arguing or angsty and there were some scenes that were funny. However, overall, the story was a disaster and execution just okay. Would I watch this again, nope. But I wouldn’t say it was a complete waste of 30 hours due to the actors being fairly charismatic which made the series, at times, entertaining.

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Completed
Gyeongseong Creature Season 2
1 people found this review helpful
by MPL88
10 days ago
7 of 7 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 6.5
Story 7.5
Acting/Cast 10
Music 4.0
Rewatch Value 4.0
This review may contain spoilers

So Much Potential Lost in Love and Repetition

The series opens nearly 80 years after S1, with the mystery of a biotech company - Jeonseung Biotech, which it turns out is the Japanese continuing their horrific experiments from World War II, but to what end? There is a serial killer on the lose who is obviously human but kills like the GyeongSeong Creature, Chae-ok is alive but living somewhat in the shadows. TaeSang is still alive too but living with amnesia as Ho-Jae. All these stories quickly converge to make for an excellent setup to what should’ve been an intriguing new phase to this story.

Unfortunately, the story just as quickly started to go nowhere. It became all about TaeSang/Ho-Jae and Chae-ok’s love which was always the weakest part of the series. The actors have no romantic chemistry whatsoever. With this pivot to love, the story just became repetitive. Chae-ok would get mortally wounded and/or she and TaeSang/Ho-Jae would end up in a trap set by Jeonsueng Biotech, leading to a death match with the security forces of the former. They’d get through it. Surviving, but then it’d start all over again the next episode. Wash, Rinse, Repeat.

I did like it being revealed how TaeSang and to a lesser degree Chae-ok ended up in the present. I also liked that almost everyone around TaeSang were descendants of his friends from the 40s or people he helped back then. There was so much potential with Seung Jo, the son of the pregnant mistress who got infected with the parasite in S1, but his storyline was all over the place. The writers really missed an opportunity in showing how he formed such a strong attachment toTaeSang, which would’ve made his complexity more tangible. Lady Maeda was back. Still mad and wrecking havoc because TaeSang wouldn’t f*** her 80 years earlier. SMH. She was a pathetic sociopath. I’m glad she finally met her end.

Like the first season there were many questions not answered. Too many to get into here but one of the biggest ones was Jeonsueng Biotech’s endgame. Was it really to poison all of Korea with the parasite? Or was that Seung Jo’s psychotic plan after taking over the company? I’m guessing it was more the latter than the former.

I did like the ending. Chae-ok had been through so much horror up until that point. I’m glad she was given the gift of forgetting and can live a happy life with a positive motherly figure and likely friends, not knowing the horrors she suffered…at least until things go bad again in the next season (if there is one). I was also fine with she and TaeSang not getting their HEA. He was alive but they were separated due to circumstances. Fine by me because they were never believable as a couple. As terrifying as the ending was with that parasite infected bottled water being distributed to all of Korea, it will make for a great set up for a third season. I just don’t know if it’ll be any better than what we’ve already seen.

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Completed
Only for Love
1 people found this review helpful
by MPL88
15 days ago
36 of 36 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 7.5
Story 7.0
Acting/Cast 8.0
Music 5.0
Rewatch Value 1.0

If Only I Could Feel the Love

This show started nicely with the FL pursuing the ML in an effort to satisfy her work ambitions. When quickly that pursuit turned into something more. There were some hilarious moments in this, especially between the leads - Dylan Wang (ML) and Bai Lu. (FL). They did great job at playing up those moments and making them funny.

However, despite the show having some good humor surrounding the romance between the leads, the romance itself lacked spark. Shu Yi (FL) kept saying how she was falling for Shi Yan (ML), how she couldn't resist him and wanted him, but her emotions did not not embody the words she was expressing. This could be in part due to Bai Lu as I've seen her in other romance dramas where like here the romance had some wonderfully written words and moments. However, Bai Lu failed to convey the passion of those words in her line delivery and her acting. Perhaps it's a lack of restraint, but passion with nuance. But I digress. The bottom line is she and Dylan Wang didn't have the charm between them that was needed to make this love story glow. Thus it fell flat.

The other romances on the show were there to serve their purpose of characters who support the leads, but who can't just be alone. Lol. These couples were alright. That said, I did enjoy Ru Shan and Guan Ji more than the rest. Though they weren't smoldering either, I did find their romance the most interesting out of all the ones showcased on the show. The business /career storylines were passable, but not overly interesting. The acting was solid. I can't say I don't love seeing Dylan Wang in the historical/fantasy dramas, but it was nice to see him take a break from those type of dramas to do a modern series. Is this rewatchable? Not really. Overall, this was just okay.

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Completed
Present, Is Present
1 people found this review helpful
by MPL88
Jul 12, 2024
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 7.5
Story 7.0
Acting/Cast 8.0
Music 7.0
Rewatch Value 7.0
This review may contain spoilers

Past, Present and Future Collide via a Mysterious Cell Phone

Good series with a great cast. Though it wasn't fleshed out, the sci-fi element of the story was interesting and was a reasonable catalyst to drive the story forward.

There were a couple of nice twists, like the SFL being completely psycho and the ML being the mysterious guy in the future trying to change the past via the mystery phone. The power struggle within the business could've been better. I still don't understand what the SFL's father hoped to accomplish by getting the phone that could call the future. How was that going to save his health and subsequently his life? It would've made more sense if he wanted the phone for the financial gain he could generate from the technology, rather than his personal health.

The ML could be a selfish ass, but eventually grew and learned the only way he could save the future -the one he loved was to let go of his own personal desires. The love story was sweet. The leads had nice chemistry and their interactions felt organic. How their story played out in the final episodes was predictable. Yet it was entertaining. This wasn’t outstanding . There were some plot points that made no sense, but it wasn’t bad either. 16 episodes was the perfect number of episodes to tell the story. I wish more C-dramas would do more with less, similar to this drama. Enjoyable series.

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