Not the ending I wanted but still a good watch

WHAT I LIKED:

- The main romance. How they met and made a promise and it led them to become a couple years later and nothing and nobody would come between them. Cliché but cute.
- The love triangle: Not too annoying. SML was nice because he could have forced a final twist...
- The story and narrative arc of the Third ML. It was clearly the most interesting part with everything enjoyable: sad fate, duty, destiny, revenge, swordfights, romance, forbidden love...
- The "Who is who?" game in the first part of the story. The mystery was well made.
- The young gisaeng
- Jang Tae Hwa: His action are bad and he justifies them with his obsession and need for revenge. He was a proper bad guy.
- The pace of the story was good. No draggy part.
- OST was ok.

WHAT I DID NOT LIKE:

- ML characterization was a bit erratic and ultimately disappointing. He first appears to be a soldier then he leads a rebellion he did not instigate and in the end, he goes live an idle nobleman life. Too bad because he had nothing less than the other guy to become King. He just renounced his duty and responsibilities in the name of Love. It undermined his character for me.
- SML: not an interesting character for me. Not a charismatic leader. He won the race because his opponent quit. In the end the royals lied to the people.
- The King : grotesque character until the very end. Should have been more evil and less crazy.


OVERALL: The story is interesting with each one of the leads having their own trajectory that combines well with the others. 8.5/10. A good historical kdrama to watch.

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Cute leads in a cute romance to hide a wobbly thriller full of plot holes and wrong messages.

1/ STORY

1.1/ Thriller:
ML wants to find his long lost twin sister. Moves back to his childhood place and sets a new restaurant. But he does nothing. No investigation with pictures, places, suspects, links... on a huge board. He wanders from his place to the grocery store or the fish market with FL. Police does nothing but chit-chat and drinks in the evening. Suddenly in episode 15, the FL remembers something and the culprit is caught. Mystery solved.

First, the triller is an engaging dark comedy with plenty of people to suspect and dark humour in life and death situations but halfway it becomes a standard korean serial killer drama. Disappointing.

1.2/The romance:
ML spends the whole drama building his restaurant. The evening he cooks food with nice wine to comfort the FL because he feels her emotional mess. They get closer and closer to the point they kiss, date, break up, date, break up, kiss, break up because their lives are intertwined with sad past events. When the culprit is caught, everything stops and they become normal couple.

2/ CHARACTERS /ACTORS

2.1/ Good guys:
Let's say it, the two lead actors save this draggy romance and draggy thriller thanks to their chemistry and their cuteness which make them enjoyable to watch on screen. The other good point goes to the child characters and actors who are mostly cute, bring emotions and are at the core of the mystery.

- ML: A cry baby who tries to solve a mystery with the FL and enters a game of push and pull. When he is not lovey dovey with FL, he cooks, walks, cries or gets angry or beats people.
- FM: Poor girl trying to improve her life but she is victim of a stalker and has nightmares. She finds comfort with ML but stalker is not happy and tries to break their relationship. Flawed character but still likeable.
- ML's best friend Jin Hoo : Does one good thing to advance the plot then spends the drama loafing about in the restaurant.
- Eun Jung: Looks evil and scheming at first but quickly spends her time chatting with Jin Hoo in the restaurant.
- FL mom and grandma: a pair of ex con look alilke who behaves suspicious and funny but soon it becomes redundant as the story stalls.

2.2/ Bad guys:
- Stalker: crazy lunatic chasing FL but she prefers the cook so he tries to piss them off by unveiling a part of their past but only manages to trigger something he is not going to enjoy. Too much screen time for him.
- Other bad guys: Don't even know where they come from, why they did what they did. They just appear, act stupid, bad guy gets caught and voilà, the end for them.

2.3/ The police: (MAJOR SPOILERS)
A bunch of lazy asses who do nothing but drive round, chit-chat and drink and commit misdemeanors. In the end, they look at a video, start running and serve the people.

- Wontak: Stupid kid with anger management issues who rat on his dad as kid and now he is a cop who beats civilians and or threatens them and finally beats up his cop boss because he is so angry he left his dad suffer for years but he prefers blame others. Stupid brute should have ended in jail but the cops covered his misdemeanor. Bravo the police.
- Police officer Min Jo: ex lover of Wontak who does nothing but covering Wontak 's crimes and torts until the end when she save her ex lover's ass from being fired and goes back to be in couple with him. BS.
- Officer An Jung Ho: the worst of all. He does not remembers key events when he is sober but he does when he is drunk. And cherry on the pie, he committed a crime of hidding a murder and a misdemeanor of getting rid of a corpse. If he investigated that victim, everything would have been solved. And he has a happy ending anyway. Congratulations!
- Officer Young Wan suspects a guy who is not the right guy but police officer is not happy so he spends time harrassing him from time to time. Harrassing an innocent civilian when you are a cop. Bravo Mr police!
- Other officers: other stupid idiots.
The message saying the police members are good for nothing drunkards and criminals with a badge and people who do unlawfully but they can escape the Law because they were internally conflicted.. This is wrong.

2.4/ The "good" people:
Some rotten people who know a part of the truth but would not talk but they would lie and hide the truth in order to protect other and they get away with it. One character should be charged with failure to asssit a person in danger. One escapes murder and another escapes the crime of hidding a murder. They are not even bothered by the law. They all walk free. But ok, so many plot holes in this drama anyway.

3/ OST:
Honestly, the drama became so annoyingly draggy the main song they played just started to annoy me.

4/ REWATCH VALUE:
No

5/ OVERALL: If you like the two lead actors and want to watch a beautiful couple on screen who look cute and endearing no matter what, you can watch this drama. For the ones who look for a cute romance but also a consistent and well paced story with an original and intelligent thriller, you can pass. The romance is draggy and the thriller part is leading on and feeding the audience bit by bit with slow progress and nonsensical twists where villains and their actions are not even explained. Also in the end, the mystery of the ML feeling FL's emotions is not explained. 7.5/8 and avoidable.

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Good title. It was Affection indeed. Not Love.

1/STORY

GOOD : The dramaturgy of the early episodes. Endearing leading teen actors. Cute first Love story. Nice twist of fate.
BAD: The palace schemes and action part only in the beginning and in the 2 last eps. The drama is 20eps but a long part of it is about a fake love story because it is rather Infatuation from his part and Affection from her part. It can't be called Love when it is plagued with lies and confusion and deception. The final part is rushed, messy and quite ridiculous.

2/ CHARACTERS:

- Dami/Lee Hwi:
GOOD: Dami was great. Lee Hwi was consistently written and well portrayed (kudos to Park Eun Bin and Choi Myung Bin). She was credible as a woman forced to live the life of another person and carry on the mascarade while trying to protect the ones she cared about.
NOT SO GOOD: Never understood why she kept living as CP and King just to avoid death. We all die sooner or later. Living just to avoid death means you are already dead. I was expecting her to live for something greater than herself as a woman, a person or a King. Nope. It was just about saving her butt.

- Ji-Un:
GOOD: Good kid who grew up to be a fun young man, talented, charming, a tease, dedicated to people and keen on justice.
NOT SO GOOD: He soon became a sorry character stucked in an unconditional puppy love and crawled back to his daddy to be a part of the props and be able to see the CP/King.

- Bad Grandpa: Never understood why the guy was so feared. He did not look so powerful. In the end he is a very weak vilain and his demise was a bit ridiculous and pathetic.

- Grandpa's dog: Ji Un's dad and a children killer. A man full of lame excuses for his terrible actions. No redemption for him. Straight to hell.

- Hyun: I did not like his obsession for the CP at first but he grew on me. A dedicated man, a good brother and a good friend who ends up on a high note.
- Ga-On: A man with a sword and his own agenda who achieved his goal and helped others at the same time. The real silent hero of the drama rewarded with a cute ending.
- Noh Ha Kyung and Shin So Eun: Two sad fates who are endearing enough to create empathy from me.
- Also I liked Commander Yoon good soldier and a man of duty.

OST:
I really started to hate the main song. Because it was played on every "romance" scene between the two leads and that "romance" was draggy and lopsided.

REWATCH VALUE:
Zero. Nada. 20 eps of that again? Surely not.

OVERALL:
A promising drama at first but ended draggy and disappointing with a thin palace plot and a draggy romance you can't buy because the FL and ML are on different agendas. It did not entertained me actually so I will not recommend it. 7/10 for it still has some qualities.

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Pretty good for 2/3 of the drama then went downhill until the swerve.

1/ STORY:

A young hacker and a rogue police inspector meet by chance when dealing with a ring of illegal gambling. Things turn bad and they part ways but they are reunited later as student and teacher in the KNPU (Korea National Police University). From there they start a collaboration to stop the criminals from the ring hidden in the university.

The thriller starts interestingly. The drama manages to present a suspenseful tracking of the bad guys and it is difficult to identify the suspect among the different characters. The duo works well on the field and emotionally. It's like a buddy cop movie. The team of two is growing bigger as young Sun Ho befriends some comrades and they help him and inspector Yoo Dong Man and other professors give contributions.

There is a romance part. ML and FL are good-looking in uniform and their romance is told in a cute and unexpected way.

After 2/3 of the eps, things get serious as the dominoes start falling. And this is when the drama goes downhill. The drama puts misery on the ML and his professor and spins 5 episodes around the question of who the ultimate boss is. The final revelation of his identity and why he did what he did is ridiculous. The drama ends with a lesson of moral as the ML punishes himself out of a misplaced need to obey the Law when the society asked nothing from him about his mistake. If he wanted to pay, all he needed to is donate the money, take down the illegal website, become a cop asap and do the right thing. Why inflict himself a dumb punishment to make him loose two years of his life. Really an immature thing to do which spoiled the ending. When everyone was cheering during graduation, he was like an idiot.

2/ CHARACTERS:
- Yoo Dong Man : loud and annoying sometimes but has his own dedication and ethic regarding his job that are not so bad.
- Kang Sun Ho: useful skills as hacker but I found him a bit bland and saying sorry too many times. His decision to punish himself in the end was respectable but the way he did it was plain stupid.
- Oh Kang Hee : Pretty useless apart from that intervention in the shooting range. She was there mainly for the romance.
- Park Min Kyu: Annoying love rival who still has a happy ending.
- Two goofy friends: nice friendship and rivals in love with a funny ending
- Judo professor : I liked her. She looked both a fun person with a sad past and a suspect of crime.
- Law professor : From suspect to buddy.
- Professor Seo: Boss of KNPU and benevolent guy with a too human side
- Park Cheol Jin : Good guy, good cop who lost his way.

3/ OST:
Nothing special. Adapted to the cop genre.

4/REWATCH VALUE:
Nothing sparkling and fun enough to make it rewatchable.

5/ OVERALL.:
Started well but ended disappointing. The last episode was crap. 7/10. You won't miss anything by passing this one.

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Good fun with the two leads, good suspense with the thriller

1/ WHAT I LIKED:
- The interplay between the ML kidnapper and the FL/Kidnapped girl. They are very funny together and their relationship starts on a very wrong foot, but they slowly develop a close relationship, some kind of affection for each other.
- The story. I did not expect it to include these subjects and themes: research and ethical science, international gangsters, family rivalry, abuse of children... The mix was coherent enough to make it interesting all along.
- The cops’ part: Good cops were not too ridiculous this time.
- The abducted girl: she is very smart, but she is so impertinent and mocking too. A phenomenon.
- Main bad guy Jackson: He is so annoying, but his demise is so satisfactory.

2/ WHAT I DID NOT LIKE
- A lot of characters are involved, and the pace is fast. The viewer must keep track of the many characters who they are and what they did, or it becomes confusing with far-fetched relationships.
- ML: I found him a funny, kind, courageous and dedicated guy to the persons he loves, I also found his goofy antics a little bit annoying at times. I put him in this category because in the end, I think he has a responsibility in what happened. Why he saw nothing?
- The culprit's identity is a surprise but also not a surprise. The final was drippling of good feelings, and it made me uneasy. There is a culprit but a lot of people responsible people.

3/OVERALL
Honestly, I watched this drama week in week out until ep 7 and put it on hold because things were messy for me. Then I binged watched the remaining eps. Maybe it had a consequence on how I see this drama. It is good with a good story, good suspense, fun and emotional moments between the two leads. It is entertaining overall. 8.5/10

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Not what I expected. Not what I started to believe it would be. Entertaining anyway.

1/ STORY:
Part 1 : Favourite grand daughter works for favourite grand father's Law firm working to become a big shot in the firm. She is ruthless, kind of jaded and indifferent and uses any mean possible to reach her goal. Gets dismissed and sent to work as pro bono lawyer with a weird guy she clashes with because of their different personalities and way of seeing Law and Life. But are they so different?

The murders happening are more than simple serial killings. Things turns darker and darker and more and more people around the lead couple are involved. It is not only murders, it is a whole scheme

2/ WHAT I LIKED:
- The lead couple: Their respective personality is endearing. They are clashing in a funny way. They learn from each other and they indiviual sense of moral and justice try to connect. The first part of the drama was very good on that point and they had a good chemistry. Second part with the murders was darker and they kind of worked "separately". The bond was distended and the drama became a bit draggy and less sparkling. Last part they are back. But not together. And this is the best part of their relationship with lots of mysteries unveiled and they finally see who the other one really is.
- The mystery was a bit draggy but overall the scheme was smart and the reason of all this is acceptable. The brain of the murders is a bad guy but the way he was depicted was good and human.

3/ WHAT I DID NOT LIKE
- ML: how the guy missed the evident under his nose?
- A bit draggy in the middle part.
- Some characters could have been better used: The wife of Gi Do of Gi do's henchman or FL's dad.
- I wished the daughter had a bigger role. And why it took her so long?

4/ OST :
Good enough but I felt the songs in the beginning and in the rest of the drama had a very different tone.

5/ REWATCHABLE VALUE:
Difficult when you know the outcome of the mystery. But very watchable.

6/ OVERALL
A surprisingly intruiging drama which slowly drags the viewers in a terrible and dark story which ends in a sad emotional way and then an optimistic note. I do not regret watching this. Recommended 9/10

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Huge let down in the final episodes and a terrible rushed ending.

1 / GOOD:
- The lead couple's looks : Let's say it, they look beautiful together. Their beauty and handsomeness really compliment each other. It is a pleasure for the eyes.
- The lead couple's chemistry: The first episode they hardly found a way to communicate but when one of them starts to change his opinion, there is a very fun chemistry between them until the last eps where things turn sour and their new lack of communication is barely understandable.
- Loved the acting of the main couple.

2 / NOT SO GOOD:
- The story is quite bland. There not a huge scheme or a battle to fight. Just some annoying people to put roadblocks.
- SML and SFL are super annoying and their story is very forced. Nothing believable.
- Supporting characters are not interesting. No sub story with any of them but one third couple which was a comic relief more than a real sub story.

3 / TERRIBLE:
- Latest episodes have outrageous schemes just to piss the FL off and make the ML and SML look stupid with complete change of behavior. The ending is totally rushed with ML's back story almost laughable. And last but not the least, the ending where the evil character who lied and mistreated ML for years and FL just gets away with it in the name of "family", That old hag did bad things and made people suffer for decades and she receive an award. Lame.

OVERALL: I started this because of the two main leads. The beginning was a bit messy but they were so cute and the dynamic between them was fun. But towards the end, it becomes awful to the point I started to hate the ML and could not understand the SML.

6.5/10. Ultimately disappointed and I regret I spent so many hours watching this. I clearly do no recommend this despite the fact that I loved the two leads and their cute scenes.

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Enjoyable Youth drama mixing Friendship and Love

The drama tells the journey of a band of friends from last year of high school to University and work life for some of them.

1/ STORY:
The story is nice and a good balance between friendship and love. The unrequited love part is the most important anyway and it is a little hard to take but the good thing is that no matter how disappointed the characters can be regarding their Love situtation, they don't forget to be understanding and to support their friends and help them go through difficult and tough moments. All the episodes go at a good pace and make the drama a roller coaster of emotions. It is really heartwarming and fun and emotional.

The ending is disappointing though. It feels rushed and the writers mismanaged the time. They left 2episode to tell the events of them meeting again. They basically threw the two leads together in a maelstom of situations not cute nor very enjoyable and closed the story with a far-fetched cranky manner. Happy ending anyway.

2/ CHARACTERS:
- Lu Shi Yi : a troublemaker at first but grows into a reliable friend and he is allways true to his feelings. It is like he never doubted them and he was always there for the FL.
- Xia Xiao Ju : Pathetic at times but adorable in her efforts to pursue her love. Loved her bickering with the ML. She is lucky he is a patient guy because most guys would have never waited so long for her.
- Cheng Lang : Mr perfect but he has a sad part. He is as great judgement in friendship as he has bad judgement in Love.
- Lin You : She could have been the worst and she is quite annoying in her Love relationships but she is also honest in friendship. She has an interesting trajectory.
- Qiu Le Tao : Looks the plain and bland girl at first but it is all the contrary. She would not be given the stick easily. Loved how things ended for her.
- Huang Jun: Great friend. Bad Lover. Didn't like how he hid things and found excuses.
- Bao Xiang Xiang : chubby dumb guy turned into a boss.
Supporting characters were fun for most of them.

3/ OST:
It was OK. Nothing annoying. Just well adapted to the scenes.

4/ REWATCH WALUE:
It was better than expected and the drama is a roller coster of emotions. But the love triangles last very long. It would prevent people to rewatch.

5/ OVERALL:
It was good. Each episode is fast paced entertaining and you always want to know what happens next. The ending is too rushed and lacklustre because we don't see what sparkle finally put them together. It like they all schemed against the FL so she has to make her choice. But ok, it is a good watch.

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Lovely characters depiction.

This drama is a slow drama focusing on two people, our main leads, their personality, character and challenge: Can they make their love and couple work? The problem is that they are both timid, introverted, candid, nice persons but they can't easily talk their mind and feelings and they are not assertive. Usually in drama it is two opposite but complementary characters. This is where this drama is different.

STORY:
I liked the story even if it is slow. It was nice to see two good and cute persons meeting, falling for each other and finding a way to be together as a couple. The two leads had a superb chemistry and it was refreshing to watch them like two teens growing a cute love despite the people around them who made things difficult for them as they are all entangled in complicated past and present stories.

But if finding each other despite adversity is charming, dating each other and being a couple is not so simple. These two quiet lovers face people who manipulate them, use them, bellitle them... Their personality does not help them and things turn sour as an improbable event combined to their inability to properly communicate makes one of them take a hard decision. They needed to know their true feelings and change their way of doing, renounce to some things, speak their heart, before they win the Love of their life.

I liked some messages of the drama:
- You can fall in love before you know it but to be a couple is hardwork and communication
- To be happy when the person you love is next to you is easy but to make this person happy to be with you is not so easy.
- To love people is not to blind them of a reality to protect them but to give them the courage to face it.
- Talk well, Love well: communicating is not only to say things within a couple. It is also what not to say. And when to do these.
- When you chose the wrong path, you can keep the good memories but you must have the courage to change direction
... usual messages in drama but nicely presented here.

ACTING / CHARACTERS:
- I only saw Park Eun Bin in Stove League. I did not notice she was pretty but in this drama she is very pretty. Despite being a bit introvert and candid, she has many qualities: she is courageous, competent, true to herself and her feelings, she can also acknowledge her mistake and take step to correct her life.
- First time seeing Kim Min Jae in a lead role: he was good. Very handsome and innocent looking, struggling with personal issues and trying to find the one to make him happy.
- Other characters were good but they mostly served as obstacle or support for the leads in hugely intricate relations.

MUSIC:
Lots of classical. They used the right amount so that it does not become annoying. The OST of the drama was ok but no real song to remember.

REWATCH
The two leads were so cute I really liked some scenes: the happy birthday scene, the trip together, lowest moment of their relationship... but I would not rewatch the whole thing.

OVERALL:
I enjoyed it even if I found the last part bit erratic and unclear in its ending message. I recommend it to the ones who like slow dramas with deep and complex characters related by complicated stories. Don't expect action. It is about people deep inside their heart.

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Good if you like Morlum music.

WHAT I LIKED:
- Tossapol : I like Weir as an actor he is able of a lot of emotions in different genre or dramas. I liked his portraying this cool ex cop kind of country bumpkin guy . He is very dedicated to his work, his family, his hometown. I liked all the thing he does for them and he tries to woo his so called wife to make her change and improve. I like the fact he never wavered from his obtective to make her personality and her life better even if wooing her is part of the job.
- Chilo: She was unbearable at the beginning but the life in the countryside turns her into a decent and even charming character.
- Kom, the evil guy: he is super idiotic and fun but also very ruthless and underhanded.
- The Dad and Mom: two weird and fun characters.
- The little sister and her friend
- Dr Patachnon was an idiot in the begining but I liked how he kept helping Chilo and brought himself closer to the people in the village.
- Chaimanee: This actress is often a bitch in Thai dramas but here she was a fun and nice character.

- The story is pretty decent: a rich heiress in Bangkok is scammed of her fortune and has to marry a contry bumpkin she hates but their life in the countryside will make them get attached to each other. Also there is a good connection between the events in Bangkok and in the countryside that the end unveils. There is some pretty decent action too.

- A lot of thai humor in this drama: silly humor, horrific humor, salacious humor. Humor of situation. Cute little insults. Imaged mockery... I am not sure the english translation is as effective as the original words but it still is very fun.

WHAT I DID NOT LIKE:
- A bit draggy at times :They insisted too much and uselessly of the life in the village and events between the characters. Some storylines are useless and you feel like it is here just for fun and comedy and fill in. It made me fast forward a litlle.
- A clearer ending of the rival "Mo" whould have been appreciated.

MUSIC:
Big warning: This drama is largely built on Thai music and Thai Morlum. The main guys in the drama are a Morlum band and some actors are even Morlum singers. Every episode has its share of Morlum songs and music in scenes or as music videos inserted. It has also a lot of reference to Thai way of having fun, having parties and holidays. I like this music so I don't mind but some might find it annoying and would fast forward.

OVERALL:
It was fun to watch but this is some kind of special drama. Not sure everyone would like it as it has it main toryline but a large part of Thai morlum, Thai humor and fun, Thai family and village matters...

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Great if you are a fan of the lead couple. So so if not.

1/ WHAT I LIKED:

- Naksu / Cho Yeong / Jin Bu Yeon : We left Naksu as a petrified soul shifter at the end of part 1. We find her here as Bu Yeon with a new face and new powers. She will slowly regain her memories as Naksu forcing a struggle of souls which will determine the fate of our heroine. I thought the transitions were well made despite some conflicting theories. I enjoyed the character’s journey in this part 2. I did not want her to go back to her sword days. I was content of her evolution.
- Jang Uk: Dark Uk is pretty badass as a bounty hunter of soul shifters. Scheming Uk was quite ok when he counter schemed the bad guys' plans. His role became a bit messy in the middle part but he makes de last and decisive moves.
- Uk Yeong : I found Uk's relationship with Yeong sizzling at first, then rather fun and cute because of many magic moments they threw in the drama just for the sake of the two characters. I enjoyed these moments. The relationship has some back and forth a little bit annoying especially from Uk’s side, but then Naksu starts to find her memories back. It was a little underwhelming how they finally recognized each other but I liked that they did not make a huge thing of it. Instead, they made choices to address the challenges and issues they were in and accepted their fated encounter. I liked that quiet responsible approach.
- Jin Bu Yeon / Ji Seol Ran: The truth about the character explained and resolved the situation.
- Closure: The drama gave a proper ending to most of the characters.

2/ WHAT I DID NOT LIKE:

- The plot was thin and I felt it lacked consistency and smart writing. Jin Mu looked a weak villain and his demise was not even impressing. Rather funny. There are some twists about the royals and the mages and one character which were decent but a little too "easy" to be called "twists".
- Master Lee : Man became annoying suckling theories out of his thumb.
- Love triangle. Funny in part 1. Annoying in part 2. CP used to hit on Mudeok but it looked acceptable as a race for an unmarried woman. Here he hits on her new version knowing she is “married”. The confusing status of Bu Yeon and the sense of no propriety of the CP just for the sake of love triangle was upsetting for me. Yul 's trajectory was terrible. He made rash, out of character decisions that made him unlikeable at some point.
- Dang Gu was useless other than giving hints until the final fight.
- I wished they toned down Park Jin's funny new hobby but ok it has some good purpose at times.

3/ CHARACTERS - ACTORS:

- Need to praise the acting of Go Yoon Jung. I was skeptical. She bluffed me. I loved her in this drama. Great job composing a complex character who inherited different names and pasts.
- Lee Jae Wook was good. He created a very cold, powerful Uk with a sensitive touch in this part 2.
- Shin Seung Ho made the CP quite fun and likeable despite his flaws.
- Good acting from the rest of the main cast except for Yoo In Soo that I found a bit extreme in his expressions.

4/ OST: Very good. Loved it.

5/ REWATCHABLE VALUE: Yes for the cute leads and their fun emotional scenes and the action scenes.

6/ OVERALL: A proper part 2 for the ones who love Uk and Yeon and want to know their fate from being born to being master pupil then dead and revived to recognizing each other again… There are some draggy parts, some contradicting and confusing revelations and a lacking plot but overall, the story of these two is nice and entertaining. I enjoyed watching this drama week in week out and comment it with the fellow Alchemists. 8/10.

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A good gangsters vs cops dramas in an old Hong Kong movie style.

This is typically the type of story you used to find in old Hong Kong crime movies with men and brothers fighting each other in a story of cops, crime syndicate, mafias, and undercover operations. It was usually very romanticized, violent, and dark and in the ends, the outcome left no one unhurt. This drama totally follows this path.

1/ STORY
The story is rather simple. A cop accepts to do an undercover operation for a very personal reason. This leads him into a world of gangsters where bad guys also have their values and laws which make them not so bad and good guys are not always so good but have deviant behaviors and make questionable choices. He navigates in this and meets a local boss, and they develop an understanding and a friendly bond throughout time. The problem is that two women enters the scene, and they will make the two men question themselves, who they are and who and what they want and love. The result in the end is a terrible outcome for everyone.

2/ WHAT I LIKED
- The bonding between the two male leads and the bromance despite an uneasy personal situation in connection with the FL.
- The individual character development of the ML and of the SML. As I said, they are very romanticized but there is a clear beginning, a transition and an ending that is well told.
- The action and violence. I would have liked a little more of them.
- The ML and SFL. Their interplay was endearing. Cop guy and gangster girl trying to handle each other.


3 /WHAT I DID NOT LIKE
- The schemes were not so well made. I questioned some events that looked a little bit too simple or unrealistic.
- A little too much of "Who has the bigger balls". But I guess that's inevitable in a gangster's vs cops story.
- The last 3 eps were a bit underwhelming with some plot holes and far-fetched events that make them look rushed and inconsistent.

4/ CHARACTER - ACTORS
- Joo Mo: a simple and dutiful guy who becomes a gangster to bust a drug ring but he makes encounters that change him, his values and vision of thing and make him question his job. I liked the character and JCW was good portraying him.
- Ki Chul: simple guy with big dreams but a romantic who will question himself and try to change things for the best or the worst? Endearing despite his bad actions. WHJ was convincing too.
- Eui Jung: Some say she is useless in the drama. On the contrary. What she does or do not do triggers most of the tragic events. She is the main cause of everything. Im Se Mi. Second time I see here after True Beauty. Totally different. Good acting.
- Lee Hae Ryeon: the crazy and fun character who reveals herself not as hardened as expected. Superb job from the actress.
- Hwang Min Gu: The brute cop. Too much screen time for him and his antics. But his demise was fun.
Not a lot of noticeable characters beside these.

5/ OST: I enjoyed it bit nothing memorable.

6/ REWATCH VALUE: Probably rewatchable but a little too dark.

7/OVERALL
It is darker and sadder and more violent that expected. The schemes and counter schemes kind of drag the plot at times but overall, it is a good story. I would say the mafia and crime thing is not the most impressing or the most important. It is the personal situation and development of each of the main characters. From their point of view, it is a tragedy. A well told one. I totally recommend this drama. 9/10 . I do not give 10 because of the few telling flaws of the last eps but It is a good drama.

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A surprisingly good historical kdrama with a great Queen

1/ STORY : A Queen Lioness has to defend her cubs against an evil who hates her and her sons just because she needs to constrain and manipulate people to feel happy. A Drama with standard plot of palace struggle for power between a faction led by high ranking royals + officials against the Queen and the great princes using the rest of the harem and their princes. But a drama with a modern tone.

2/CHARACTERS:
- The Queen: She is a modern woman in Choseon era and a benevolent Queen. A caring mother with a strong personality and an ability to scheme and counter scheme to defend her sons and her people. Loved that character.
- Grand Prince Seong Nam + Chung Ha : I liked the two characters from hot headed GP to taking his brother's role and becoming a father and from rogue daughter to CPrincess and becoming a mother. A Cute little romance.
- Most of the princes are good kids who love and support each other despite their different moms instigating some against others. Fav: Prince Bogum, Prince Muan, Prince Hodong.

- Main villain: Awful person who causes deaths and tragedy just for the sake of manipulating people and having them in control.
- Second main villain: The guy looked funny and most of the time he was in a crossfire.
- Third villain : Kind of pitied her despite all her schemes she looked miserable.
- Son of villains : Annoying guy and cold blood murderer and conspirator
- The doctor : Sorry mate but you did bad.

2/ WHAT I LIKED:

- The pace : The drama has 16 eps but it is fast paced with a good development of the main story and sub plots that are funny and emotional especially between the Queen and her sons.
- The story has a lot of characters involved and their relations or connections are intricated. At some point it looks messy but the ending twists clarify the situation and unveil an unexpected but entertaining story.
- The drama tackling modern questions: gender identity, teenage pregnancy...

3/ WHAT I DID NOT LIKE:
- The demise of the bad guys is not really satisfactory. The death of the big villain is too lenient. After all the murders, attempt murders, conspiracy to murder... Her ending is still on her own terms.
- The cold blood murderer and conspirator got away with his bad deeds and crimes. Shame.
- The character GP Seong Nam takes a nose dive towards end. Probably the writer did not want him to overshadow the Queen and they gave him less screentime and less importance.

4/OST: A good sageuk one.

5/REWATCH VALUE: Valuable. But probably I won't rewatch it.

6/OVERALL: I binged watched this drama after it ended airing and enjoyed it. It is a good drama with a few flaws. An unclear plot at some point because of characterization, the lack of sense of danger as the good guys would always prevail, some repetitive elements, and the closure brought to the characters not always satisfactory for me.

Still this drama is one of the most entertaining historical Krama I watched since a while thanks to many good characters and their rivalry or their cute and kind, heartwarming interactions. I totally recommend it. 9/10

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Not perfect but still enjoyable with a good last part.

1 / GOOD
- Magician: Very interesting and intriguing character. A magician who is protective and charming but also dark and scary and weird at times. His backstory and the events around him towards the end is the best part.
- Female lead: She is endearing even if she is struggling. I liked her evolution from ugly and persecuted and struggling to understanding the world around and finding her own path.
- Final plot twist. Good. I did not see that coming even if it was an easy one.

2/ NOT SO GOOD
- SML ; I could not believe in his character. He had too few interactions and knew too little about the magician to change his path the way he did. I was never convinced by his new passion.
- SFL: She was annoying. Her actions lacked of clear motivations. So it looked also unrealistic at times.
- They tried to provide too many messages about life, choice, happiness... and some were messy and redundant.

3/ OVERALL
The drama almost lost me until the plot thickened with the thriller part. It is enjoyable. 8.5/10

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Addictive but not really entertaining

WHAT I LIKED:
- The chemistry between the two leads is good. The actors Kem and Mookda did great.
- Prin : He is a very human character with his flaws and qualities. The story starts with him doing something terrible to Mitra that should send him to jail but he gets away with it. The good thing about him is that it is possible to understand him without excusing his wrongdoings. After making several mistakes he really put his heart into redeeming himself and try to win back the woman he loves and their children. And for that he is selfless, super charming and has a lot of patience dealing with Mitra. He is the best part of the drama.
- Chen and Kaweena : they are the fun and fresh touch.
- Gun : Not a popular opinion but I had sympathy for him. I could understand his choice to try to win Mitra but also how and why he rekindled his friendship with Prin. Too bad he kind of just disappeared in the last eps.
- Pam: typical evil woman in Lakorn but the actress was successful in making her look a crazy lunatic with wtf schemes just because she is jealous.
- Than Thawee's wife: she has little screen time but she is savage.

WHAT I DID NOT LIKE:
- Mitra: She made wrong choices since the beginning because she is spoiled and stubborn. I could excuse her first mistakes because she was too young but after she decided to reconcile with Prin and he wasted the chance she just went sulking and taking weird decisions which just brought problems for everyone. For me she was not a great person and sometimes she was too extreme. I could not have sympathy for her.
- The arc of narration with the Dr Traitor and his lover is weak. They did all this just because one wanted money and the other wanted to please him.
- The final vilain was there just for the revelations about the kids and Prin's origins. He was so not challenging I was disappointed and even laughed during the final showdown between him and Prin's father.

OVERALL:
The drama is nothing special and full of clichés and tropes but at least it manages to make the viewer curious of what will happen next for our two main leads and how they will get together. Finally it is nice to see how it ended well for the good ones but there is not a lot of fun in this. There are a lot of misunderstanding to solve and secrets to unveil but not enough intensity. The truth about the kids was unveiled in such a funny way. It is an OK drama but not an unforgettable one.

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