Endearing lead characters with their cute story but the rest is flat.

1/ STORY:
Young, pretty and multi-talented young woman offers service of contract marriage to men in need of having a wife for a certain period of time renewable. After 13years of activity, she decides to quit but she is soon embroiled in two situations that she has to manage until things "get better".

The first part of the story was interesting as we get to know her background story and how she ended in that line of job. Her past and the remnants of her past made her character endearing and lovable. The ML also has a touching story even if we just learn enough to explain his lack of social skills. SML is annoying. These three try to sort their true feelings and finally make their choice. Then the story doesn't seem to know where to go anymore. It creates new confusions and challenges from a very old situation just to show that these people care for each other. In the end a deus ex machina stunt arrives from the past and saves the day.

2/ CHARACTERS - ACTORS:
- FL : Choi Sang Eun was endearing considering her past since childhood and she still managed to make a living using her talents. She dealt with the sad part of her upbringing by bottling things. Loved that she and the ML gradually opened to each other. PMY was ok in this drama. Better than her previous ones that I dropped. Still sometimes she had to carry the scene and she kind of overdid it. Still like her tho.
- ML: Jung Ji Ho: His lacking and flaws were properly explained and he did improve and developed into a brighter more open guy. First time seeing GKP as lead actor. He did the part.
- SML: Kang Hae Jin : Deluded kid stuck with his infatuation that turned him into a weirdo talking on the phone to an even weirder interlocutor. He is very annoying but finally turns decent guy when he finally knows where his place is.
- SFL: Jung Ji Eun. Not the evil ex. She went from great evil spouse to clingy ex then good lawyer, understanding rival and finally helpful friend.
- The Roommate: Good friend but what a waste of talent and of a character. Very underused and underdeveloped.
- Mme Yoo: weirdly written character who did things very questionable.

3/ OST: Pretty good

4/ Rewatchable Value : Probably will never watch it again

5/ OVERALL: Starts well with weird but endearing characters who try to deal with their own sad past, to fight their own difficulties to give a new direction to their life and make it better. The main couple is especially endearing. Their relationship, how it starts, develops and how they find a way to become a couple is really cute funny at times and nice. They are the best part of this drama. In the end for them, all is not well (contract couple) that ends well (real couple). 7.5 /10.

Read More

A dull sequel

I put this on hold after ep6 and decided to binge watch to the end. Honestly it is disappointing. The story can be written on a paper of cigarette. "Mun's friends is in a sad predicament, and he does everything to save him". End of story. The rest is a lot of useless brutality, violence and fights that become tiring and even unsufferable. The fun is no fun. That new sniffing whining making faces character is not funny at all. The grinning bad guys are either ridiculous and useless or pointless with no real purpose. There is no sense of danger for the good guys as it is like they will always get out of the situation.

I would not recommend this as it tries a lot to impress and entertain with actions, CGI, cheap cornelian dilemma, cheap emotional moments apart from the Ha Na story... But in the end, it was not interesting and not entertaining for me. The actors do the most with the little base material but they can't save this. 6/10.

Read More

Good story spoiled by a bad storytelling

1/ STORY:

- The Romance: Very fun and refreshing. ML and FL are coworkers. Because of a phenomena, they start to play a game of seduction which is very fun, charming, a bit adult content and demonstrating an incredible chemistry. This is the lovely part of the drama. The SML and the love triangle are annoying. Especially the stunt about FL mistakenly assuming an idea about SML. To me it was badly done and taking the audience for dumb. They should have used more subtility. Not use the SML but another character so FL looks less stupid. Something which suddenly contradicted her previous trait of personality. Also the ending is uselessly draggy with ??! developements between the lead couple even if it is happy ending.

- Thiller part: unexpected because the first part does not give any hint about this kind of development. It is not a bad story but it is badly blended with the office romance. They should have introduced this earlier with some elements via FL's mom or dad or ML to make it intriguing and more acceptable. In the end it feels rushed because it is resolved too fast using flashback easy tricks.

2/ CHARACTER / CAST:

- Cha Min Hoo: middle aged man not really attractive but he is competent, helpful, supportive, fun, charming, mysterious... all the traits to make the FL attracted to him. Never rated Cha Min Hoo but I liked him here.

- Hong Ye Sul: competent working woman in her thirties with a difficult love life until she hooks up with her boss. At first she is fun and smart and daring in the game of seduction but at some point her personality changes like she losses 30 IQ point overnight and she is unable to communicate properly and she makes dumbs moves. Overall she is charming and I liked her. I am more an more impressed by Seo Ji Hye since CLOY and Dinner mate.

- Lee Pil Yo: The ex bf back to take back his soul mate who moved to someone else. Annoying SML with his plans to lure FL back to him but he reveals himself to be a decent guy.

- Oh Ji Young : Annoying younger sister wanna date oppa but finally takes the lot of consolation

- Oh Seung Taek and Ban Ho Woo: fun characters and sidekicks of ML and FL. At first sleeping together buddies and then "do you like me not?" coworkers.

3/ OST:
It was ok. Nothing special.

4/ REWATCHABLE VALUE:
I will not rewatch it.

5/ OVERALL:
Loved the lead couple: cute, charming, mature. Their relationship started in a really refreshing way. But to say it honestly, it took a dive after ep 7 when the FL and ML had their misunderstandings. They resolved them nicely but then the thriller part happened and felt rushed. I am split about this drama. The romance was great. The thriller part failed to entertain me. 7.5/10. Will watch the lead actors' next projects.

Read More

A shitload of despicable characters in a maelstrom of bullsh!t

1/ NOT BAD:
- The kid : He was really cute.
- The dad : endearing character
- ML : At least he never renounces to pursue the FL and let her choose until almost the end.

2/ NOT GOOD:
- What the hell was this story? Stupid plot with men and women chasing, sleeping, meddling with each other and talking about love and marriage and responsibility? Sick minded people.
- Relentless piling of fcked up situations with fcked up people, threatening, yelling, slapping, beating out of evilness and stupid lack of communication.
- FL: One of the most stupid FL I have ever seen in a drama. Because she would do anything for her kid and people to be happy, she takes all the wrong decisions from start to end. Slappable face every episode. Does the same mistake twice but won't learn anything and keep doing wrong while talking bs. Plus the whole drama she seems to have no sincere feelings for the ML.
- ML: The guy doesn't mind that the woman he chases after already has a kid (in his mind) with his older brother. wtf?
- Most of the characters are stupid and rotten to the core and behave like evil kids but in the end, they all become nice people in a world of rainbows and flowers and butterflies.

3/ OST. Terrible. Repetitive angsty music all the time and so called emotional music out of place.

4/ Rewatch vale; Don't even watch

5/ OVERALL : a fckfest of lakorn tropes done in full stupid nerve wracking way to the point you just want all these people to go rot in hell. A waste of time as it is not even funny or enjoyable. It's a truckload of bullshit situations with a terrible rushed ending that is not even romantic or believable.

STAY AWAY.

Read More

Little short Web Drama but it does the most

STORY:
A simple story based on a bunch of students attending a dating course. The idea seem weird and it is even weirder when the class turns into a coaching program for dummies to date someone. It starts slowly with the introduction of the different characters but when it is done, the drama takes a very good pace to tackle topics and matters that I was really not expecting to see. I was happy how the drama dealt with them in a simple and heartwarming way.

CHARACTERS/ACTORS:
- Ji Young, Eun Sol, Joon Won. Three girls. They have different personalities and styles. One is quiet and simple, one is original and looks playful, one looks strict and cold.
- Yoon Soo, Ha Jun, Tae Jin: Three guys. One is a caring nerd, one is an immature loving guy, one is a mysterious intimidating buy.
The characters are cute but they also become endearing as the drama make them meet various issues and answer questions regarding dating and relationships with others. All of them looked realistic and humans. Throughout the class some of them find each other some won't just like in life.

MUSIC/OST: I enjoyed it.

REWATCH VALUE: Probably not but not because it is not good.

OVERALL: If your watch list is empty or you are stucked between two dramas and wish to watch something fast and well crafted with good emotions, cute characters and cutes stories but also issues of relationships, this drama is made for you.

Read More

Accidentally found this drama after I started watching Chinese dramas. It was my first youth chinese drama.

STORY:
The story is very simple as it follow a couple at the end of their university year and the beginning of their professional life. I thought it was well told with a good balance between school life, training life and their challenges and a bit of office life. And all along we are seeing these two persons getting together and how they become a couple. Everything looked natural and the pace of the story was very good. There is not evil person, no terrible drama, and although things looked very secured for the main couple I felt concerned and close to them and I cheered for them. I believe it is because the narration gives less parts to the secondary characters (second couple, rivals, friends, family...) and invites us into the "almost" intimacy of the main couple as we these two live, eat, sleep, go to work, go to the supermarket together in assorted colors every day. Overall I thought the story was cute, very natural and the ending was nicely wrapped.

ACTING / CAST:
This was my first time watching Fair Xing in a drama. I thought she was spot on in this role. She was cute, smart, combative and tried not to doubt herself. The main guy was great too. Perfectly portraying some cute gentle nerd who overcomes his lack of sociability for the girl he liked out of hand. I am looking forward to see his new projects. More than everything, I thought the chemistry between these two people was the biggest quality of this drama. They were just incredible together on screen and yes the difference of height helped a lot. The second leads were nice too. The second lead actor was a bit stiff but I guess it was his role. I saw him in other works where he was quite fun. The couple he forms with the second female lead has less cuteness but how they become a couple is credible too and you are happy for them as they are good persons. All the actors were ok and I liked the mother, the parents which brought the nice family touch to this drama.

MUSIC:
I guess the music was good and helped . I don't remember much of it meaning I did not like it to listen to it beside watching the drama. I was a bit surprised there was some many cat and animals sound' effects but you get used to it and it brings something to the cute mood.

REWATCH:
I think the story is very simple and although I felt close to them and eager to know how they would end I don't think it is good enough for me to rewatch it entirely. I still remember some great scene I would gladly rewatch though: the hospital when she is sick, the trip to the seashore, the failed first time, , the trip to Germany....

OVERALL: One of my favorite of 2019. Super recommended.

Read More

Only the leads characters are good

1/ STORY:
A fairy Cupid lives a forbidden love with a human. It is the depiction of this forbidden love. How it happened and what were the consequences. Will they manage to break the curse and be together?

2/ WHAT I LIKED
- The two lead characters, their personalities, how they got together, how they discovered the truth about their common past...

3/WHAT I DID NOT LIKE
- The thriller plot. It was convoluted and messy and repetitive.
- The romance throughout time. Hard to follow as we are spoon-fed by flashbacks. Gods's actions and discourses hardly understandable or logic.
- Second couple is a joke and finally not a couple.
- No endearing character apart from the lead couple. BFF is uninteresting. Fairies are useless. One of them is a liability occupying too much screentime for nothing.

4/ ACTORS:
- Good acting from the lead actors but good actors can't save a bad script.

5/OST: Good enough

6/ REWATCH VALUE: None

7/ OVERALL: Only the cute romance between the present version of the lead couple kept me following this. Their version in the past were in overly complicated convoluted situation. This drama was a mixture of many genres historical fantasy serial killer comedy ... that made it hardly digestible. Honestly, it is a disappointment, and I cannot recommend this drama. 7.5/10.

Read More

Enjoyable for the leads

STORY:
A woman Rattawan and her son are abducted on an island to be killed but they are saved by Naboon the owner of the island who protects them until they can go back to the continent. He goes with them as he has feeling for the mother and decides to protect her and unveil who ordered to kill her. This part was fun and entertaining for the plot, the action, the way they slowly start to trust each other and develop feelings. After this, Naboon is injured and Rattawan decides to stay away from him. Ensues plenty of misunderstanding as they push each other away even if they know each other's feelings. This part was quite draggy and the plot did not advance. In the last part, the pace really picks up and there are a lot of good action until the enjoyable closure.

CHARACTERS/ ACTING:
- Naboon: Weir did a good job portraying a great boss and a good guy. Torso naked on the island or in suit with tie on the continent, he was always full of charm and a good leader. At times I found him not decisive enough specially in his relation with Rattawan. He missed many opportunities to kiss her or hug her. They still kiss when one of them is sleeping. It made their relationship look a bit unrealistic and boring as it lacked a little foolishness. Both of them wanted to be a good person. A litlle daring side in their feelings would have made it more fun in my opinion.
- Rattawan: I liked the portrayall of this woman who looks quiet but can be strong and decisive. Again, she was too restrained regarding her feelings but I guess it is the character. Her chemistry with the male lead was very good. She looked a good daughter and a good mother too.
- Paramet : the husband who looked a spoiled rich kid who forgot to grow up and did not notice he is married with a son. He was funny and crazy at the same time.
- The evil woman : she was a bit too grotesque and I thought she had too much ugly make up and too much spite. I liked her demise though.
- Captain Patai was ok as a friend and partner of investigations. I thought he was very not in a hurry to find his sister and his complex of inferiority is understandable but I don't really know why he hid his feelings for that.
- Boonjira was a nice character but her bad experience turns her into an annoying one. I kinda pitied her for constantly being taken for a fool by her brother and the friend.
Others interesting characters with depth and development: Son, Rotsukorn.
Annoying ones: The little girl who likes Naboon on the island and becomes part of Rattawan's peopl, Chumpon the distant relative and Erb's brother. Funny how these two ended.

MUSIC: A bit repetitive.

REWATCH VALUE: It was entertaining but not enough epic or romantic scenes for me to rewatch

OVERALL: an good drama which is entertaining with excellent leads characters and good secondary characters but a bit draggy in the middle with too many back and forth and misunderstandings between the two leads.

Read More

A good lakorn to watch

This Lakorn is one of the most well produced I have seen. From the quality of the actors to the various places it is shot and the actions scenes... everything looked good. The story was unbalanced anyway and there are some very good arcs of narration and some a bit draggy.

THE STORY:

The story is divided in different arcs or periods.

- The first period is the early episodes when they meet and the tragic events happens. I thought it was well introduced. Anyway there are two events that looked quite illogical for me and I had to really force myself into accepting them and keep up with the drama. The two main leads take decision that I totally found were unacceptable. (Jee decides to lie at the funeral about her own action and Thit basically tries to kill her)

- The second period when Jee is harassed by plenty or crazy women who don't like her for no proper reason and she has to deal with Thit hating her. The part was emotional and fun. I liked how she managed to stay herself and the strongest possible despite the adversity.

- Third period when they meet on the Island to the demise of her step father. I was quite surprised by the turn of events here. Because suddenly they are elsewhere and the character development took a new direction and a fast pace. I really enjoyed that part for the good action and the fact that they managed to appease the tension between them and get close to each other.

- Fourth period until she leaves him and disappear. I fought that part was very draggy and redundant. I felt like the writer purposely made this part a torture session of Thit. It lasted too long even if Thit deserved it.

- Last period and ending. I liked it how they took the time far on a deserted place to find each other the feelings they started to have for each other and built a trust from all the wrong of their past together. It was cute and they looked adorable to me.

THE CAST / CHARACTER:

- Thit: Overall I liked him but there was really high and lows. I liked him hating Jee. Even if sometimes he was really too mean but you can feel he could not accept the death of his gf. He could not do like others and forgive and move on. He was trying to kill his own pain by making her feel pain but he was a bit extreme from trying to kill her to saving her from death. I hated him when they got close together because of events, he still decided to induce her in a shameful bargain which fully hurt Jee and he still could not act better afterwards. He could not sort the garbage in his own head and behave decently to her. In the end, he finally matured and showed his sincerity and his good side. The actor was good as he was very despicable in his hate, very emotional sometimes and charming towards the end.

- Jee: I really liked her as a girl from the slums and a poor and difficult past who becomes a TV star actress but still has to fight as plenty of people want to hurt her. She endured many sacrifices along the way to the point she had to quit and loose her status and she can finally find and accept a world with the love and affection she craved for. She has a nice character development from the beginning to the end being strong, friendly, courageous, weak, daring and fighting... Amazing work from the actress. The only thing I did not liked about her was her relationship with her friend Chaiyan the director she is not the main responsible here.

- Chaiyan: One of the two morons I hated most in this drama. I did not really care about his crazy wife who became crazy because of him for sure. But he did not know it. He wanted her to change to be better when he changed to be the worst. He kept sticking at Jee with his lustful sight on her and seizing every opportunity to be touchy with her. True she also did not told him to stop and sometimes played this game with him. I can believe why the wife became crazy of jealousy and Thit misunderstood Jee. In the end, he knew everything and still hid them Thit and toyed with him, his so called "brother". I did not cared if he reconciled with his wife or not because I just hated him and her.

- Suki: Second moron I hated in the drama. Basically, all the shit happened because of him. He arrived on the site of the accident and just took the worst decision and lead everyone into a maelstrom of misery. Aside from his grotesque gay manners and tone, I hated the fact that he was a despicable two faced weasel who worked with Jee's mother to control her and harm her and he cries and makes Jee's have pity of him after he caused a mistake. He deserved to be locked in a wood chest and dumped into the deep sea.

- Piak: a complete lunatic psycho and possessive. The character was a pain to watch and one cannot even believe how she became "normal" again

- Dao: I liked her very much. A real and caring and understanding friend for Jee. I liked her honest nature and her gentle demeanor. This girl is the cream of the crop. The actress was very convincing for me.

- Jate: Hated him. He hid his game for a long time behind his smiling face. I thought he looked hypocrite. I could not believe he changed so fast from Jee to Dao. I did not feel he was really a sincere man. He did helped Jee a lot though.

- Jane: I was shocked to see the actress in this drama as I just watched her as the FL in Khun Mae Suam Roy. I though the character was nice, fun, cheerful, hardworking, courageous, smart and dilligent. The voice of the actress was hard to stand sometimes but she did a good job.

- Pim and her manager: I just wanted to take the head of one and burst the head of the other with it.

- Sitta and Jiraya: pretty decent vilains. Jiraya turned to help after she hurt her own daughter. Does it need that to become a better mother? Also Jiraya had the medical proof that Jee was drugged when she was led to drive. All she had to do was to go to the police with this proof and say not sure who drugged Jee and her daughter would have been saved from hard sentence. But she was too bad of a mother to act properly.

- Pattana, Aree and Tiew's mother were nice and good characters.

MUSIC:
I liked the music. I thought some songs thai and english were nice with lyrics very adapted to the story

REWATCH:
Too long and to painful to rewatch for me but I well remember some good scenes

OVERALL : It is a popular lakorn and I think it is well deserved. The story and the two main leads are providing lots of emotions and some other good characters are enjoyable also.

Read More

I am not a great fan of Thai Lakorn. Only finished a few of them. I watched this one out of curiosity.

STORY:

Very simple story: a girl goes to live with her family and falls in Love with her guardian who is her older brother. They find each other and fight plenty of hardships to be together. I thought the story was cute. I am not used to this kind of plots. I regret there is such a big age gap between the two in the biginning. Something like 18 or 19 years. 17 eps is too much for the story. The pace was draggy at times. I think the story would have been more entertaining with a faster pace and characters a bit more complex. Most of them were very one dimentional with a precise role.

CHARACTER / CAST:

- The main lead is a liability in this drama. He is handsome and well built but he is weak and fickle and his decision making is no good like when he choses to escape or step back multiple times and makes the girl cry. He always go to ask counsel or help from his Royal Friend. He receives plenty of help from his sister, his cousin Pongthep, his rival Nop, his friends, even the maids of the house... but he doesn't plan and execute what is needed to chase his girl and defend their Love. When things turn difficult he looks like a cry baby. It is weird to see him cry just because it is complicated. I found he was a very weak character. The guy is supposed to be 35 and a lieutenant in the military. The actor was pretty good though.

- The main girl for me was just a cute kid who met her first Love (likely). I did not like her crying too much. She was silly and wild but had a good character evolution. I liked the fact that she was abused and scolded by the grandmother and she had respect but also was able to talk back. She was good at fighting barehands but did not used it to kick asses in the house. The actress did well but I liked her acting better in Maturot Lohgan. She was more funny.

- The main vilain the crazy bipolar psycho grandmother was unbearable. Could not stand her. I was so glad she kicked the bucket in the end. Or else she would have found ways to torture everyone and specially our main couple. I found she was the cause of everything wrong in the house.

- Pongthep looked evil at first but surprisingly his character became good. I did not understand his infatuation for his cousin's gf and then ex. They don't look an assorted couple.

- I like the supporting characters, the good ones : The little sister, Nop, the maids, the royal friend, the grand father...even the guy from the newspaper. The evil cousin and her mother : too grotesque.

MUSIC: I found it was a bit repetitive. But the songs were ok: Massaya, Slipping away and Hitam manis

REWATCH : No, sometime too draggy and painful to watch

OVERALL : OK drama to pass the time.

Read More

Trash but addictive

1/ STORY:

Two best friends working together have their friendship and their life turned upside down due to unexpected events. One decides to stir up the life of the other until the shit goes up the surface and hits the fan. Trash characters making trash choices out of their own miserable situation and justifying all this by the pain they are suffering. The horrible circus of lame human beings gesticulating and hurting each other, taking advantage of each other, lying to each other, yelling at each other, begging forgiveness, crying their heart out of their misery is pathetic and irksome but also fun to watch as we want to know what happens them in the end.

2/ CHARACTERS/ ACTORS:
- EK: Lame character who became obsessed and started hurting people she thinks mistreated her. Lame excuses for a lame behavior. Challenging role for Seo Ju Hye but she did well as a master of puppets.

- Ba Da was the best part of the drama. Sure, she had her shortcomings, and she prejudiced many people while being too selfish but at least she was not ill intended. In the end she facecd a big choice and did something good. Bravo girl. Loved Hong Soo Hyun in this drama.

- CW: His life was fine until he started to lust after someone. Lame, bland, a coward, undecisive, the guy had no foresight and never saw the manipulation coming. Weak link in the drama. Lee Sang Woo perfectly bland and annoying faces.

- Eun San: little brat who needed to prove she can turn a loser 20y older than her into a decent father and man of the house she never had. Her falling in love with him in the process is a good case for a shrink.

- Old Cow NC eat young grass and in the end, he becomes a boss. Good job. The actor really looked too old and unsophisticated for me.

- The two mothers: take the head of one to smash the head of the other with it.
- EK's mom and dad: pathetic losers and unworthy parents who raised two lunatic daughters.
- The rich chairman grandfather: Should be sent to jail for assault.
- Uncle: started decent man but then entered the crazy cheating maelstrom.
- Ex of EK: Jerk and a real moron. Well done.
- Mi Poong: please shut her up.

3/ OST:
A bit repetitive but good overall.

4/ REWATCHABLE VALUE:
None for me. Too long. Too trash. No memorable scenes to enjoy.

5/OVERALL:

Most of the characters are annoying and crazy indecent persons at some point of the drama or all along the drama for some of them. They all are imperfect and doing some crazy trash thing but somewhere, they manage to gain your sympathy and make you interested in them and in what will happen to them. I was hooked enough to watch until the ending which was good enough to not make me think I lost my time. I found a logical evolution in most of the main characters that is satisfactory enough.

Not a great show but it was enjoyable putting myself in the shoes of these crazy people. I will rate this 8/10 but only recommend it to people who are not afraid of crazy hysterical plot with lots of trash situation.

Read More

"Spat on me and I'll leave" . LOL. Very good drama

I have not been immersed in a Korean drama for a very long time before this one. Good dramas make you laugh and then you cry all your tears. This drama will make you do both at the same time.

WHAT I LIKED:
- The story is not predictable and has a good pace like it is a real adventure. The main lead really goes through changes despite looking so stubborn doing things like he wants only. FL is likeable despite always swearing at the ML.
- The end was well handled.
- The mix of humour (situation, irony, absurd, slapstick, noir, burlesque...) in the right dose to balance with the sad subjects tackled (orphan, loneliness, unhappiness, illness, death...)
- The acting. I loved the two lead actors WDH and LYM in this.
- The pictures, like it is fine photography.
- The soundtrack, especially the songs closing each ep.

WHAT DID NOT LIKE:
- SML actor is too old for the part. He looked twice the age of FL. At times, he looked and talked like he was the father of the ML.
- Don't smoke. It's bad for your health.

I really enjoyed watching this. Recommended. 10/10.

Read More

Considering my expectations for this drama and the final result, this has to be my most disappointing Chinese drama from last year. I was totally into the hype after the first trailer which presented such a quality in the photography great looking characters and two main actors I really like Li Xian and Li Yi Tong. Sadly the promises turned into the most weirdly twisted plot with useless gibberish and redundant annoying fights until the last part which is just a huge messy turn of events with a terrible finale.

STORY:
It starts like a traditional Kung Fu revenge story with a betrayal, a rising young boy going through stages to help him reach his ultimate goal aided by his aunt. The beginning has many characters intervening in short but blabbering scenes but ok, it is possible to keep track. Then in the middle the fights scenes which looked great in the beginning are less realistic and boring and repetitive using bad CGI. The characters and there is plenty of them lack development as we see the hero climbing levels but not really endangered and he does not show any amazing skills either. It's like a video game where you go to the next level after a fight or reading a book or eating a candy. In the last part with the introduction of new situations, plenty of characters just start to appear or die faster than you say it. There is a lot of plot holes and you leap from a point to another just to make the story advance until the final unveiling of what happened. It gets down to a love triangle and some lunatic woman who felt betrayed. Her ending was ridiculously cheesy and made me burst of laughter. Worst thing is the villain who was the most powerful in the beginning turns into a mouse and then he is even spared because he is the savior of the nation after all. And the other evil guy is saved and can quietly go on vacation because he is the heir. As for our hero, he turns into a mourning hermit. Basically the despicable final is : The good ones must endure and the evil ones must rule.

ACTING:
I thought the actors were good. Li Xian played his character convincingly and the lack of empathy you can have for him does not relate to his bad acting but the poor and unexpected development of his character. Li Yi Tong was good portraying a quiet but supporting female character. She really reminded me of these quiet female heroine in old Kung Fu movies from Hong Kong. The actor portraying the King and the Queen were good. The rest of the cast including the females fighters are interesting and well portrayed but you don't really have time to like them of hate them.

MUSIC:
At some point, I found the music quite annoying and misused in exposition scenes and slow motions. No song to remember here.

REWATCH VALUE: 0
OVERALL : It's really very disappointing. Better save your precious time for something else.

Read More

Fun movie!

STORY:
The story doesn't shine because of its complexity and depth. It is a straightforward spy movie with a simple plot involving many spies and thugs and other gangsters. It is an action packed buddy movie very fast paced but you don't feel like it is missing something. The pace is good and events are unexpected, fun and entertaining.

ACTORS/CHARACTERS:
The main quality of the movie is the numerous characters who allways bring something to the movie, most of the time something funny or a good fighting scene. The main couple is the best of them. Their good chemistry reminded me of Mr and Mrs Smith.

I have watched Kim Young Kwang in the Secret life of my Secretary, Go Ho's starry night and On our wedding day. I feel like he is always the same dumb but caring character who finally does the right thing. Here he had a particular set of skills which gave him a nice dimension. He can be an action hero (anti hero).

First time watching Lee Sun Bin in a lead role. She was surprisingly good.

OST: Nothing special. It supported well the action scene.

REWATCH VALUE: Yes, for the jokes, the fun and the fighting scenes, in particular the last one.

OVERALL: The movie does the job at entertaining the audience. It looks a pretty success in South Korea and there is possibility to make sequels. Highly recommended especially if you like action packed and comedy in movies.

Read More

Failed to be really entertaining

I have never read the novel or source material of this drama and I have not watched any other versions of this drama. I watched it because it popped up in my list of suggestions and because it was the latest version. Here is a feedback FULL OF SPOILER.

CHARACTERS/CAST:

- Sumire: She looked beautiful, competent, with a lot of professionalism and she was a successful woman at work. On the personnal plan, she was a mess. She was wishy washy and indecisive. She did not know how to address her own issues always looking for her pet to comfort her. I really had hard time to understand the difference of personnality and I could not find her likable. She was annoying specially when things started to become draggy. She was dumb to accept the marriage proposal when she was not sure of herself. Only at the end she decided to make things clear because she accidently found the truth.

- Takeshi: I liked him for the qualities he displayed although he looked very young: He was caring, gave attention, he was cheerful and he really had the ability to understand people and situations. In the same time, he looked struggling himself and trying to use the situation to his advantage to find the courage to progess. I thought he was a real good boy despite his own challenges and shortcomings. I liked how he managed the situation and the emotions and feelings he had the best way he could.

- Hasumi : Granted he was handsome and charming but that was the nice facade. I found he was pretty bland and not sincere at all. Too good and too proper to be real. I did not liked him as a person even if I could understand his sitution. And he was a coward until the end when she liberated him of their deadlock.

- Fukushima: She looked a total psycho and a gold digger and a stalker with her crazy schemes to steal the man she likes. Her personnality is weird because in the end, she reveals herselfs a reckless woman full of insecurities, family issues and she has to fight crazily for these reasons and find what she calls happiness. For me it does not made her any better.

STORY:

Basically it is about the relationship between Sumire and Momo and how it contradicts and enters in conflict with her relationship with Hasumi.

- Sumire and Hasumi: Sumire felt inlove with this student who cared for her and looked for her in the forest and saved her and her glasses . But their relationship short and intense does not last because he has a gf and Sumire moves to the USA. 10 years later, she meets her first love again and they quickling rekindle their feelings but truth is the guy is another guy now. He is a handsome professionnal reporter who is always looking neat and great and every girls like him. Their relationship is wrong. She is stucked with her old emotions and feelings for him and she likes being in his arms because it makes her feel valued but she cannot open her heart to him and be herself. As for him, work is his priority, he is not very sincere and never calls her when he is on business trip. He barely cares to know her or what she wants and what are her intentions or needs. It is like he is with her just for sex and he would not pay attention if she does not tell him. They are both human and I can totally understand their situation but I was still annoyed they could not find a solution like adults. Only their continuous mistakes will lead them to an inevitable exit.

- Sumire and Momo: This is called a pet/owner relationship but it has little of that. You can call the drama "You are my baby brother' or 'You are my little step cousin". There are few moments where he behaves like a "pet". He is rather a baby brother that she takes for cuddling playing with his hairs and giving him shampoo. The pet narrative is so inconsistent that it has little credibility. So it is normal that the "baby brother" who is not blood related starts to develop feelings for her and he hides this and plays the game she likes to support her. I thought that relationship was cute and the complexity of it was well described but it became draggy at some points. Maybe there was too many episodes. Momo put an end to this by making a big choice but his declaration was weirdly done. Luckily in the end it unflods greatly for them.

- Hasumi and Fukushima: Yes this is the second couple which forms towards the end. For some reason, Hasumi falls for Fukushima. Because on the contrary of Sumire who does not open to him, Fukushima has no shame and no fear to march head on to woo him. So he cannot resist the panzer charge and starts to think about her and be drawn to her. So it is easy for her to finish the job by establishing brazzenly a de facto "pet/owner" relationship with him which rather looks like a married couple relationship. I hated how he went back and forth and tried to marry Sumire asap to escape the situation. I started to really dislike these two even if they looked funny. Good thing they ended together as their personnalities and sexual needs looked very compatible

MUSIC: Good but nothing special

REWATCH VALUE: No I would not rewatch that.

OVERALL:
I would say it is a drama well made, well acted, with characters who are very humans and sensible despite their many shortcomings but it failed to entertain me because most of the time, they are tortured by their inabilty to face their problems and speak their true self. Overall, I think these kind of romances and their outcome are understandable but it does not make the characters involved any likable or sympathetic so I finally had little sympathy for them .

Read More