Okay here's my thoughts about the show. I'm sure there will be people not okay with a lot of stuff, and without giving out any spoilers I'm just going to say it's just fantasy. Gu Hai was OBSESSED with him. There are so many things I would never think of doing in real life that I totally enjoy seeing in fiction! Like the bad boy trope. Or stalker love. Or the bad guys getting it in the end. So yes to me his obsession made the fantasy even more exciting. Personally, I loved the really hardcore make out and sex. Skinship wise, I'd say it's sufficient. Kind of a slow burn but when it does happen it's so satisfying.

The story made me feel every possible emotion. I knew the finale was coming and felt like I was going to miss these characters. I love the very raw, powerful kind of portrayal. Something that begins from basically bullying each other in stupid ways to growing into a deep love. Just wow. Just one thing, if you get offended easily this is not the show for you. If like me you prefer flawed characters who make blunders because of what they're going through and you can suspend disbelief then you'll love it. The unfortunate reality of the majority of the Asian world is their lack of understanding for same sex couples. I realize that the entire team and actors were threatened and basically they were unable to make a second season. There's nothing you can do about that. But you know what, just forget that last scene of her appearance and it finished off perfectly at the parking lot car scene. That's it. Let's show our support for these shows so people can understand same sex stories are marketable and people love them, so love can win over hate. Again, thanks to the creators for being brave enough.

As for the two main leads both Timmy Xu and Johnny Huang are gorgeous (though I have a shameless preference for Huang).

Xu plays the role of Bai Luo Yin who was abandoned by his birth mother and has been living with his father for most of his life in a financially tough situation because of his father's meagre earnings.

Huang plays Gu Hai, who is extremely rich, but his birth mother died in mysterious circumstances and since then he's always held his father and his step mother responsible. Even though the step mom tries hard to get along with him, Gu Hai never listens to her or his father.

Basically when they interact at school neither Luo Yin nor Gu Hai realize that they both share a person-- Luo Yin's birth mother is actually Gu Hai's step mom who is about to marry his father.

But Gu Hai and his father have a falling out and Gu Hai leaves home to live in the same neighborhood as Bai Luo Yin. He hides the fact that he's rich from everyone. And the first time Bai Luo Yin encounters Gu Hai it's not pleasant.

They both end up not getting along and literally bully and tease each other to hilarious lengths. But one day when Luo Yin's complaining to a friend about Gu Hai, the friend tells Bai Luo Yin he believes Gu Hai doesn't hate Luo Yin at all in fact he explains why he believes Gu Hai actually likes him. Bai Luo Yin finds it strange that a person who bullied him that way could like him.

Anyway from here on out you are taken on a somewhat strange journey. As Luo Yin goes from extreme annoyance with the new guy who refuses to sit anywhere else but behind Luo Yin in class, to a weird kind of friendship to love and plain obsession from Gu Hai's end.

But man what a journey! I couldn't get over it for months.

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I was trying to figure out why this drama feels different than any other tragedy and why it just rubbed me the wrong way. And I'm going to try and explain my low rating. The thing is when you are rating a piece you rate not only based on your overall experience but also on how it works as the genre it claims to be.

This one started out so well I had such high hopes and all the cast did their job perfectly, so why doesn't it stand out as something that I'd recommend? It is a melodrama after all, it's supposed to be sad, so what went wrong?

Okay, first off I love tragedies and melodrama. If you don't already know. So I'm not rating low because it made me sad. I'm rating low because it made me sad FOR NO REASON.

I'll try to explain.
Yes this drama is sad in the worst way and the it's realistic and reality can be ugly.

There were things that bothered me at first, especially the BLATANT misogyny. The daughter was supposed to cook and do the house work that sort of thing while Minho could sleep all day and drink and no one told him to do the laundry, WHY? But I wanted to give the writers the benefit of the doubt I figured it would be part of the story. So, despite being aggravated I stuck to it and watched the whole thing. And guess what? The misogyny was NEVER CORRECTED. Even the daughter who's supposed to be this progressive chick who's having an affair with a married man didn't ONCE mention it! No! Nor did her brother ever step up like Dad we're millennials we don't do that or never once helped with the housework. He just was this super sweet guy with issues but not a bad person so why couldn't he do the damn laundry once in a while to help his mom or sister when he wasn't studying and didn't have a job?

Look, I get it. I still was on board like maybe even despite the misogyny something about the plot will make sense at some point. Let's overlook the misogyny for a good story and good content.

Now here's the thing.

My favorite stories are the ones where people choose love over everything else meaning they chose to be with family and correct their toxic behaviors if given a second chance. They work on the relationship.

But this was a story where those toxic behaviors were SO EASILY FORGIVEN, it made the entire experience feel like grueling torture. You sit through all that and you're left feeling cheated. Like, you promised me something heartfelt and deep and instead handed me turds. Hyperbole? Um, sit down through the grueling torture and then get back to me.

So the problem with the characters is they don't really understand their toxic behaviors are anything to fix! They're like oh so we all like to be jerks to each other because we had a terrible life but we're living the rest of it together because WE LOVE EACH OTHER SO MUCH. Which is clearly what the writers believe. They don't see these behaviors as toxic and something to work on they act like they just have to deal with it if they love each other.

So yes, it's a realistic account of a family's struggle with their own toxic behaviors but there's no correction of the behavior at all. Which again I realize that it's the reality for a lot of people because fixing toxic behaviors is not for everyone and not everyone can do it. But this family didn't feel like love felt more like codependency when the guy clearly said this one time his wife is dying and he doesn't feel sad but regret, WHAT?

Anyway so while I absolutely admire the actors this didn't work for me. There's no real point to the misery they put you through. And if you're watching it for Minho well he wasn't a major character in the sense he barely had a few scenes but he did such a great job so I feel bad for rating it lower because of the actors but it is what it is.

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I love the new Minki! I thought this is an excellent crime drama that was always entertaining and kept me watching. The characters were likeable and they had their own strengths and weaknesses which made them relatable. I adore Joon Hyuk and I wish to see more of him with hopefully way more screen time. I just love everything about him. But okay Lee Yoo Young has become a constant in a lot of good crime drama like Tunnel and Your Honor and her acting is always good and her characters become memorable. And really Minki has really grown as an actor and you can tell he's trying hard to not be typecast as the hot evil guy lol I mean I'm not complaining, I love hot evil men on TV but I admire what he's tried to do in Lies Within and I love it.

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Reviewing because I personally don't agree with the really bad reviews, but hey everyone is different so it's fine but I just wanted to give my own thoughts.

SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER

First off, yes the direction is not perfect, nor the writing but I feel like I was still into it, and watched without getting bored.

A mermaid named Yixia gets saved by this guy who's a minister Yuanshan and married into the royal family and then things happen and Yuanshan falls for the mermaid pretty hard and cheats on his wife.

But there's a Dragon, a monster chasing the mermaid and trying to kill him but Yuanshan saves him again, but his wife ends up dying.

And so Yuanshan ends up abandoning Yixia, because there are other things happening in the background.

He's basically the person who becomes the guy who will be next on the throne because the current Prince is just so bad, doing all kinds of dumb things like hiring the same monster Dragon as his confidant.

But when Yuanshan abandons Yixia who is immortal by the way, he's hurt but comes back to face Yuanshan after three years.

By then things have severely escalated.

And when Yixia learns that despite abandoning him, Yuanshan actually does love him, he becomes emotional again and says he's going to protect Yuanshan with his life and we literally see Yixia go inside Yuanshan (no pun intended lol) and then we find out that Yuanshan now basically has the mermaids power and he has the mermaids jade silk in his hand as he lays on the bloody ground.

MAJOR ENDING SPOILER

Okay now for the controversial ending.

When I first saw someone say 'cut' and 'Yuanshan' takes off his wig and we see the historical movie set and the others actors etc are all interacting but Yuanshan just takes his food and goes to sit to one side like a loner.

Ngl I did feel cheated at first because I was like wth is this meta shit lol

Buuut hear me out.

I thought this for maybe two seconds till 'Yuanshan' or the actor playing Yuanshan still carrying the Jade silk in his hand, goes towards the ancient building which is where the movie was being shot, and he's going there as if in a daze and then we see all the love making scenes again, the one in the bathroom and in bed with the red sheets as though Yuanshan is remembering it and then finally we see him getting a little emotional, and then he just stands at this one point and gets tears in his eyes, until we see someone put their hand on Yuanshans shoulder - and then it's revealed that that person who was carrying a camera, was none other than Yixia.

Well, here's my interpretation.

Because of the Mermaid's powers, Yuanshan is now immortal like Yixia, and it wasn't an actor but the same Yuanshan and those scenes were his own memories from all those years ago.

Clearly Yixia also survived somehow, or maybe it was just his desire, to see Yixia, I don't know, but personally I feel like they're showing that their love basically transcends the boundaries of time and life.

So you tell me how it's not at least a little poetic?

Like I said the execution may not be great but for one things there's skin ship in this one that is just so good! Like full on proper Thai BLs level skin ship! You should at least give it a way h for this alone xD

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So Bros before hoes lol Ah I kid.
Seriously, the only word to describe this show would be EPIC.
Because of the sheer number of episodes you feel like you've taken a long journey but because every single episode is so packed with action and intrigue, you can watch five episodes in a row and not get tired.
There's always so much happening and it's super addictive.
I seriously fell in love with Amy Chen, the way she played her character was so nuanced and her acting is top notch and her bad bitch persona just couldn’t get enough of her.
Tbh I wasn't a big fan of Yu Ran but she did grow on me. But till the end, I found her character motivations a little frustrating. Her and the Iron Warrior or whatever his name was, he was so random and the decisions he kept making just screwed everything up and I honestly to the end could not sympathize with him when I was able to sympathize even with most of the antagonists and villains.
That's the kind of show this is, you even cry for most of the villains and the supporting characters.
And of course, the highlight of the series was Asule (Turbo Liu) and Ji Ye's (Chen Ruo Xuan)  bromance and it doesn't disappoint, not to mention they're both gorgeous.
And the writing is excellent!

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In the beginning this didn't look like my kind of movie it looked a bit childish but then I really got into the story and characters. Entertaining and the graphics are done well. It's basically about people dealing with their guilt and how the past continues to haunt them. Death is used as a metaphor for a life that's devoid of family and loved ones because of some mistake you made when you were young. I personally liked all the guardian reapers and the dark humor was nicely done. What I didn't like was that they basically used DO for clout, he's not even on the poster. I just noticed. I honestly watched it to support him. But clout or not he did his character well and it was important no doubt his character. And the second season teaser in the end I liked it, will definitely try the next one. So in short entertaining watch.

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"You had a happy dream but you don't remember it at all. Or you had a nightmare and it felt so real as if it was a reality. Or the reality was just so harsh that you just kept on sleeping." This is a story about two people dealing with the grief of losing someone. Poignant, heartfelt, intense. Great performances and meaningful, insightful writing. wo people dealing with the grief of losing someone. Poignant, heartfelt, intense. Great performances and meaningful, insightful writing. Like Black Mirror it has a timeless, spaceless feel. That period of grief that makes you feel dazed and sleep becomes the only respite from the harsh reality.

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They started with a bang but despite the fact that I preferred Lee Jin wook to Jang Hyuk in the Detective role, I wasn't exactly wowed tbh. For one there was no real resolution, so it's pointless to comment on the overall story arc. I also don't want to give out any spoilers but the ending cliffhanger I'm okay with that. Its just the overall story was pretty mediocre and personally for me Kim Jae wook made it worth sitting down for the last part in the last season and no doubt the last half of Voice was mind blowing. Voice 2 though the stories are interesting I feel casting choices were not great. People ended up being villainous who basically I felt nothing for so there was no real sense of loss and I do find the main female lead bearable at best so it's impossible to relate to her. Just like last season, Yesung played the role of the computer hacker on their team and I could connect to him and the other supporting characters more, this time around it was officer Jin. Even in the finale I was able to get some entertainment because he was involved. But the thing is how he reacts to what happened to him wasn't realistic at all. He was basically just fine and talking to people, has anyone on the show ever been through actual trauma? So even in that they were lacking. Overall, just an average show. Not terrible but nothing memorable either. I did like the Detectives storyline. Even darkness wise it was pretty mild compared to last season.

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This show is BRILLIANT.
Death Note and Battle Royale level brilliant.

It's executed so well (except for the ridiculous product placement ugh but honestly the kind of content this is that one cringey thing can be easily forgiven).

Everyone's acting was so good! Especially, Nanon and Chimon were my favorite characters overall but everyone's stories made me cry omg Gun played Phun so well! And Jane was just so amazing at delivering a multitude of emotions playing Claire and Fiat stole my heart.

I just realized there's no second season yet and no book either so I'm not happy! That doesn't mean it didn't end well, not at all, that ending was PERFECT. That's what makes the story so impactful.

Just beautiful.

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Very rare for me to cry for a villain and his unrequited love, this movie is excellent! Good thriller with characters that will move you.
Kim Hae Soo did a remarkable job bringing the powerful woman that Na Hyeon jeong is supposed to be and at the same time bringing forth the vulnerability that comes from her character's past.
At no point do you doubt that she's absolutely capable of doing the badass things that her character does. Tbh this is more an action thriller and it's not something with too much depth but still pretty entertaining and not exactly shallow either. The characters might not be as fleshed out but they're not one dimensional either.
So, like I said, an effective action thriller.

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There's not ONE thing about this film that I felt like it wasn’t done right. Im a huge fan of Matsuzaka Tori, I always appreciate his choice of projects but ok the actor who completely stole my heart was Abe Sadao who played the role of Jinya Sano, the older man in Towako's life who she resents and constantly abuses but he never gets angry at her and keeps being a doormat when it comes to her. And of course this film would be nothing without Aoi Yu's phenomenonal acting who played the neurotic and impulsI've main lead Towako. She's so convincing in her role no matter what she does. Tbh this one can't be called a Matsuzaka Tori film because he only has a supporting character but that doesn't mean I didn't get to enjoy the view of some hot sex scenes, I mean I could watch him all day he's so beautiful but he also does all his characters very convincingly. Anyway the thing about this film is whatever you think this film is, it won't turn out to be, that's all I'm going to say without giving any spoilers. Absolutely a must watch.

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