Vagabond is a blockbuster drama with top notch action, cinematography, and music. LSG's role was practically written for him. Plotwise, nothing really pulled me in though. It's hard to believe it was written by the same writers as Empress Ki and History of Salaryman. This plot was so ridiculously unbelievable. The male lead is some random guy that somehow gets involved with the NIS and THEY JUST LET HIM HANG AROUND because they are so incompetent. I hated 90% of the characters. It's a very westernized drama that is probably better suited for a movie format than it is for a drama. I liked the second half of the drama better than the first and I think that's because "Vagabond" comes more into play.

Believe it or not conspiracy dramas have their tropes too and this was a whole bunch of them thrown in together. Some parts of the plot and acting were very corny. Some of the characters were very cookie cutter villain. You only have to watch a couple of these types of dramas to figure out who the real mastermind is. If this is your first conspiracy drama, you'll probably love it. If it is not, you'll probably find the plot mediocre.

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Someone decided to give these dorks their own show and I was absolutely here for it. This was part entertaining, part inspirational, partly impressive, and part second hand embarrassment. It all culminates into a pretty funny and entertaining variety show. Although the show is about dance and choreography, there is a heavy emphasis on the variety aspect of the show. You get to see the gang explore Los Angeles, shop, and deal with language barriers. The cool part about the show is that they get to meet with a lot of famous dancers/choreographers and of course there's the random celebrity appearances. The main thing I disliked was the amateur editing. It was sloppy and made the show a bit confusing. Parts of the show were also kind of a hot mess, but the boys managed to pull through in the end with some snazzy pieces of choreography. With only 8 episodes, it's worth checking out.

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Despite the average plot, V-focus managed to keep me interested until the end. It ended up being a lot funnier than I thought it would be, especially with cute elements like K.K. (the little AI robot). While the drama did drag in certain areas, considering this drama was extended, I think the pacing was pretty decent(particularly for the first half of the drama). V-focus also included some very interesting couple pairings. I loved the noonamance in this one. Also, there was a super refreshing love triangle, which I consider a breakthrough for Taiwanese dramaworld. I also loved the soundtrack, but by the time I got to the end of the drama I was so sick of the intro song (since they play it so much for break scenes). Overall, a light and fun watch to kill time, but don't expect an amazing plot.

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Beautifully shot, but hard to follow

Hidden Blade is a Chinese espionage film that takes place around the time of World War II in Japanese occupied China. It follows the stories of two men working for the Japanese government. Although it is a propaganda film, it doesn't feel as preachy as I was expecting it to be. It had a great cast starring some big names, such as Tony Leung and Wang Yibo to name a few. In my opinion, Tony Leung really stood out in his role compared to the rest of the cast. Before going into this film, it would help to have some historical context of this time period. Otherwise, the story is hard to follow as it is. The film drops you into the story and barely bothers to explain things. The main issue I had with this movie was the flow of the plot. There were a lot of times where the movie would jump back and forth to the same few particular scenes. It made it very difficult to follow the story and the timeline.

The musical score, though not bad, was a miss for me. There are some really great cinematic shots in this film. It is an art film after all. One thing I liked was the depiction of dogs in the film. There were various types of dogs featured that led very different lives. You can say their lives paralleled some of the characters in the film. If you've seen a lot of espionage films or dramas from this era, you might find the movie a bit predictable. Would I watch this film again? Probably not. Although it had some great shots and the climax was entertaining, the storytelling wasn't quite there for me since it was hard to follow. I also felt like there was a lot of subtext I might've missed. I knew a particular scene or moment was important, but couldn't quite put my finger on why. Even if I were to re-watch it, I don't think I will understand some of the hidden subtext unless someone explains it to me. It might be worth checking it out for the cast though.

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Bloody Romance had phenomenal acting, cinematography, and direction. The scenery and costumes were gorgeous. The music and sound editing were also great. The problem I had with this drama was mainly the plot. At first it was interesting, but at some point later on I just couldn't get into it anymore. It almost felt inconsistent at times. I understand that this was supposed to be a wuxia, but I wasn't sure what was going because they would incorporate random elements of magic at times. The plot was also changed significantly because it was based off an erotica, so maybe that had something to do with it. Either way, that enjoyment factor wasn't there for me. I just couldn't get sucked into the story for some reason. What I did love about the story was that they made the targets human. They weren't just some evil people that needed to be killed. Sure they did some shady stuff, but they were actually kind of likable. It was refreshing to see and it also reinforced the difficulties of being an assassin...having to kill people that aren't just pure evil. I also loved the animated storytelling of scenes from the past, which added to the aesthetic beauty of this drama.

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What a serious disappointment. This started off great, but after 20 episodes or so began to use the same tropes over and over again....like MULTIPLE times. Needless to say, it was super repetitive. There was a grandmother with dementia whose dementia episodes were hilarious, but got old real fast. The female lead was an absolute doormat. And don't get me started on the antagonists. These women were shameless and hypocritical. They showed no remorse whatsoever. I don't even think they learned their lesson. I kept waiting for karma to hit them like a bus, but it did not happen sadly...or at least not to the extent that I wanted. The secondary couple gave me life though. I loved them way better than the main couple and they are probably the main reason I kept watching. I have a higher standard for weekend family dramas, but My Only One seems like it was a daily soap that was slightly altered to fit the weekend drama time slot. With the way it was written, it is more suited as a daytime daily drama.

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It was by no means perfect, but this was a feel good drama and happy pill for me. I mainly loved this for the wholesome work environment. It was entirely unrealistic, but I needed a break from all the negativity in dramas. That's not to say this was void of negativity. You have Kwon Min Woo who serves as the closest thing to an antagonist. And of course you have the evildoers in all of those cases too. I'm a sucker for some character growth, so I really loved seeing Woo Young Woo grow as a person and lawyer.

Do NOT watch this show if you're expecting an accurate representation of someone on the spectrum. I feel like some things were exaggerated or misrepresented. However, the writers do get some things right. This drama brought up a lot of discussion on the subject matter, especially in countries where people don't have much knowledge about ASD. Some viewers made the extra effort to do some research and this is a big plus, but don't watch this expecting it to be accurate. The writers wanted a story to be different and they got one.

Do NOT watch this solely for the cases. I don't know how to describe them. They were a bit ridiculous, but outcomes/twists were entertaining? They seemed impossible to win, but somehow the team got lucky. Watching this law drama as a foreigner/outsider was a bit weird because I would think of a law in my country and wonder, "They don't already have a law about this?" and "How is this even legal?" But again, this is not my country so I cannot judge or make conclusions based on South Korea's laws. The cases from the first half were more interesting than the second. Then the show starts to go downhill again a bit. You can tell the writers got a bit lazy. Also, news of a 2nd season was announced so maybe they're holding out on stuff. Overall I enjoyed this as a workplace drama, where a newbie joins the workforce and makes a considerable amount growth by the end.

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A Loose Adaptation That's Kind of Okay

This drama is a loose adaptation of Rich Man, Poor Woman. They made a lot of changes so if you're watching it as a remake, you might not be as impressed. However, they made 2 or 3 major changes to the story that I actually kind of liked. They also made it a bit more romance focused. It was a decent adaptation for Thai audiences. That being said, one of the changes they made is that they simplified the business drama to something Thai audiences are more familiar with: a family business succession drama. Therefore, the business part of this drama is highly boring. All the startup stuff that appealed to me in the original was lost here. Neither leads appear as intelligent as they were in the original either. If you're watching this without seeing any other adaptations, this will seem like your average Thai business romance drama, expect there's an unusual face prosopagnosia twist and less catfights.

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Solid Remake, But Not Quite Funny and Wholesome as Original

This is a lakorn remake of my all time favorite Taiwanese drama. It's hard to review this remake without comparing it to the original. After watching this version, I can say that they didn't royally screw it up. It was an okay remake that was catered toward Thai audiences. It was more of a lakorn style, which included some over the top drama and a lot more violence. They managed to keep most of the core story intact. They got rid of a lot of the dirty jokes from the original and made some characters more evil than they were. As a result, some of the humor and wholesomeness from the original was lost. They also got rid of the little girl storyline, which was one of my favorites. As a result, this eliminated two of my favorite tropes from the original. However, some of the changes they made might keep you on your toes because they also changed a few of the twists. I thought the acting was decent. If you are a lakorn watcher who hasn't seen the original, I think you'll still enjoy this drama. There are no screaming banshees, so that's a plus. Some of the story is a bit predictable for lakorn standards, while some of it is not. This is definitely a more violent remake though.

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If not friend, why friend shaped?

This film captures the joys and sorrows of parenting when it comes to raising a special needs child. The "child" in this case is in fact a wolf that was saved as a pup. Realizing the best thing for the wolf is not raising him in the city, Li Weiyi temporarily moves to a prairie/protected sanctuary in order to rehabilitate this wolf back into wildlife, something that had not been done before. There are plenty of proud mama moments, such as teaching the wolf how to hunt and seeing just how smart he is. The biggest proud mama moment is, of course, teaching him to return to the wolves. There are a few minor flaws in the form of chaotic editing (although it was mostly chaotic good). It was filmed by an amateur director. Some scenes were probably reenacted. However, it's still very impressive considering the first few months of the story were all cut from home video footage. Also, there are some gorgeous scenic shots. Occasionally, the dialogue sounded fake or scripted. It doesn't follow the usual documentary format, so I'm hesitant to call it one. Anyway, I don't know about you, but I could watch cat and dog videos all day long. This was time well spent. No one asked, but I absolutely cried.

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Interesting concept, but gets draggy and cliche.

It has my girl Eleanor in it playing a badass master thief. I liked how the FL solved various gadgets and contraptions using her background as a thief. I needed more of it to be honest. This couple was pretty cute together. The theme song was also cute and the music in general was good.

However, I found myself "forcing" my way through it and having to watch it at 2x playback speed. It got super political and draggy toward the middle. It wasn't even interesting politics. It was the typical cliche stuff and it brought this drama really down. They waited until the last 2 episodes to clear things up. There were many missed opportunities on pacing through spaced out revelations. Also, I'm kind of petty about the ending of some of the characters, but since this is adapted from a novel, it's understandable.

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Cute couple, but unoriginal and uninspiring.

This is one of those typical cliché fashion designer dramas and it's full of tropes that are not even the entertaining kind. It's like a copy and paste with such unoriginal writing. The only difference is that, unlike the usual talented and naive female lead, the female lead here is strong and confident. She is also not your typical poor or orphan lead. She does not let people walk all over her. Other than than that, it's got your typical jealous characters trying to sabotage things for the main lead. A good portion of this drama takes place in France. Some of the scenic stuff was nice, but I'm not sure why so many episodes were spent on this abroad portion. Also, there's a second lead who's super annoying and clingy. In fact, 90% of the characters are annoying, spoiled, and unprofessional. It was all just bad writing.

The main thing this drama has going for it is Zhang Han. I'm not even a fan, but you can't deny his popularity pulled in an audience. He is also one of the better actors in this drama. The male lead is very possessive and a touchy feely kind of guy in this drama. He gives the female lead lots of hugs and is constantly touching her, but the way he does it so casually looks so natural. When he touches her, there is none of that slow motion nonsense or dramatic romantic music playing in the background. It's this factor that makes the couple seem more realistic and like they have natural chemistry. There's also some really cute cheesy stuff toward the end of the drama.

Overall, I would not recommend unless you are a fan of Zhang Han...Even then, I'd only recommend watching the first episode and then the last 5 episodes for the cute romance stuff. Let the flashbacks explain the rest of the story. The fashion storyline was absolute crap. All you need to know is that the main character is good at needlework and wants to showcase traditional Chinese embroidery in her work.

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A Light and Fun Introduction to the Sport

"It's not a loincloth, it's a mawashi!" This drama is a lighter more fun take as an introduction to the sport. It covers a more modern version of the sport on a collegiate level. It has female wrestlers, which I was happy to see because they are less covered when it comes to the traditionally men's only sport. The main character ends up joining the sumo team in order to graduate. He clearly doesn't care for the sport and is only there for the credits. The captain of the team is a girl who is super passionate about the sport and a strong wrestler. Unfortunately, she doesn't get many opportunities to compete and is often ignored by the team's alumni, who often only want to focus on the poorly performing men's team. Both of them have their own challenges that they need to learn how to face. Together they work together to first build a men's team and then bring the sumo club back to its glory days. Sumo is a strange world full of traditions, but I liked how this drama covered it from a modern sport perspective. It is a pretty wholesome drama. The club members absolutely suck in the beginning when they join the team but work really hard just to get one win and make their captain proud. I absolutely loved everyone's character growth by the end.

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Part Drama, Part Documentary

This drama was a relaxing and refreshing watch. I would call it a hidden gem. It's an experimental drama in the form of part drama and part documentary. Due to the documentary factor, it might not be for everyone. However, I would highly recommend it to art history nerds, documentary fans, and people who appreciate art (both tangible and non tangible forms). Sorry, romance fans. This is not a romance. However, there are a few people in love and they hint at a few ships. The female lead is adorably evil. It makes for some great comedy and entertainment. I loved the rivalry between FL and the competition. The guest cameos were stellar. And last but not least, the art is beautiful.

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