It's pure fanservice, but somehow it works. The comedy is silly, the characters are silly and their interactions are silly, and it’s great to watch. It has some touching moments hidden behind the comedy, and watching the characters get close to each other and form a friendship was just enjoyable. So that was a nice light gift for all the fans of the cast members. It wasn't top-notch writing, and it was not supposed to be.

Did I enjoy it? Yes. Some episodes more than others. Some characters were better written with more believable and relatable storyline, some were exaggerated and presented in a comedic way. With such a cast with a variety of truly different characters, I believe everyone will find someone whom they like and relate to.

Episodes focus on different problems all Tee's face and how they help each other overcome them. Not all tries end with success, but that's life. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, but you always have to keep striving for improvement.

I might have enjoyed it more if it was not for episode 7 and the last storyline explored. It made me slightly dislike some of the characters ("slightly dislike" might not be the correct statement, I was truly annoyed when I watched it). The ending was emotionally heavy, but since the set up for it was quite weak, it didn't hit me as hard as it should, taking into consideration the discussed subject.

The acting was good. As always, Gun takes the trophy for the best crying scene. I could see clear improvement from all the cast members (though Krist surprised me the most).

Overall, I would say die hard fans would love it, fans would enjoy it, others it's 50/50 chance of liking or being meh about it. I enjoyed it, but with every episode, my excitement kind of slowly died.

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Entertainment over quality… repetitiveness on the rise.

Don’t get me wrong though. It’s not necessarily bad quality, rather… basic? I’m gonna write a few criticisms I had with the show, but I want you to know, I still enjoyed it quite a bit - I would drop it otherwise.

Starting with the short points, I will elaborate on them later.

So what’s good?
◽ The characters’ personalities and the chemistry between them. The variety of amazing interactions we’ve got depending on who was on screen was perfect.
◽ The comedy was to die for. Even if some episodes felt like fillers, I was still mostly okay with them because I got to laugh a few times. Especially any scene with the Crown Prince and Mu Deok was a comedy goal.
◽ The lore. For the first proper high budget Korean fantasy drama like this, they did quite a good job with creating a believable and detailed world. Yes, they broke some rules they set themselves, but overall, in this aspect the writing was rather consistent.
◽ The production quality. This show is simply beautiful. I have no complaints about CGI either, which is a surprise, since I always complain about some details related to it.
◽ The acting from the majority (but not the whole) cast.

What had a potential, but could be improved?
◽ The villains. While on paper everything adds up - they had proper goals, motivations, plans, enough power for it to be believable, the presentation left quite a bit to desire.
◽ Love lines. There were just too many. Cutting off half of the love lines, and exploring more the ones that are left would be a huge improvement.

What did not work out?
◽ The female characters. They told us how strong, smart, brave, driven they are, but then relegated them to be some sidekick characters or just a background for the story to unfold. Including the female lead.
◽ The present plot and pacing. Having such an elaborate lore and using so much time to explore and explain the characters and their background, sadly hurt the current plot a lot. Too much repetitiveness, too much narration and filler scenes, that, while entertaining, did nothing to move the story forward.

Getting into more detail now.

So, what’s up? It was built on extremely basic and boring tropes. And while I love everything around it, the core is still... basic. Especially in terms of Jang Uk's writing - a special boy, with his special powers and special fate. Magically learning all the magic that he needs at any given time. There are literally no real stakes with him - we know he will somehow get out of all the issues with no real long term consequences.

The worst crime this show committed was reducing the revenge seeking, confident, skilled female lead into nothing more than a love interest for half of the young male cast. Girl just gave up her goal at some point and was nothing more than Jang Uk’s maid. How sad it is, when she opened the whole show with a bang and badass fighting moves. Realistically speaking, she was a far more interesting character than Jang Uk, and yet she was pushed to the sidelines.

I feel like the drama overall failed its female characters. For example, Jin Bu Yeon was an extremely important character, and yet the majority of viewers shared the “I don’t care about the oldest daughter plotline” sentiment. What does it tell me? Hong sisters and Park Joon Hwa failed to convince us it’s worth following the story. They failed at setting it up in an interesting way and failed to show how connected it is to everything happening. Which is sad, because from the few scenes we have seen with Jin Bu Yeon, she seemed like an extremely strong, brave and worth watching character.

There is another interpretation of Jin Bu Yeon’s wasted potential - Hong sisters from the start did not care about her character and never planned for her to be anything more than just a background story. And this just makes me sad to even think about. She is literally one of the most interesting characters in terms of her story - one of the most complex backgrounds and connections, and yet she was nothing more than a background?

Honestly speaking, the majority of the characters lack the complexity and depth, but they make up for it with the extremely well written and directed chemistry. There is a huge variety of different relationships (not all romantic) that are entertaining to watch. Some of my favorites are - Mu Deok and the Crown Prince, Mu Deok and Yul, Crown Prince and Jang Uk, Master Lee and basically everyone, dumb Scooby Gang aka Crown Prince, Yul and Dang Gu.

So, we know there was a high entertainment value in terms of the characters, but also some painfully unused potential. What about the plot?

The pacing was awful. Honestly tragic. They did an amazing job with expanding and explaining the lore and character’s backgrounds, but as for the present plot - it was barely moving. We were getting closer to the end of part one, but I felt like we took maybe two steps forward, and mostly just ran in a circle. And the precious screen time was wasted on random comedy scenes (which were great, does not change the fact they mostly added nothing to the plot), romance EVERYWHERE, and side plots that a lot of viewers, me included, did not care about.

The romance? Jesus Christ, you think love triangles are annoying? Wait to see all the love lines and all the geomatics love shapes. Everyone is somehow related to everyone in a romantic way - be it past relationship, present relationship, arranged relationship, one-sided crush etc. At times I felt like the love lines were more complicated than the actual plot.

What exactly was the villain's plan? They had literally everything they wanted and needed to take over… but they didn’t. Because, reasons? They were just chillin doing the bare minimum waiting to get caught.

AoS tries to set up quite a few plot twists and big revelations, most are sadly predictable for anyone who watched even a few wuxia shows. It just follows the most stereotypical story with the most common tropes leading the way. They also kept explaining things that were already revealed and explained - the plot is not THAT complicated so I would need a constant reminder about each and every plot point.

Production quality and acting were good. What many fantasy shows fail at is the over the top, complex CGI. AoS did a spectacular job with it. Everything crafted to make the show pleasant to the eye.

Acting wise, I have to talk about Jung So Min. She is one of my favorite actresses and I knew she could deliver any role, but I was still surprised how she was able to manage so many personalities and shift her acting to fit specific scenes. I’ve also been a fan of Lee Jae Wook since his debut as Marco in Memories of the Alhambra, and knowing how diverse the roles he took so far were, I did not worry about his performance at all.

I’m also quite impressed with Shin Seung Ho. The Crown Prince was not an easy role since the character has quite a few contradicting qualities, that could seem ridiculous with the wrong delivery.

Overall, being perfectly honest, I did enjoy it for most part, but I would not recommend it. At some point I had more fun ranting about it on feeds with friends than watching. Not sure if the few entertaining scenes here and there truly make up for all the mediocre and bad aspects. I might just be biased because I love the cast so much. And since this is basically a 30-episodes long drama, is it worth it to spend 40 hours watching it just for the interesting set up?

Taking 0.5 from the rating for the fact it was split into two parts for no reason whatsoever.

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62 days in - no signs of true romantic affection.

If you saw the show, you know what I mean. If you did not see, you can vaguely get what I mean. Can’t believe I’m saying it, but it would be so much better if it was not a BL.

Let’s start with some positives. I truly loved how everything here was rather selfish, even when they tried to do things for the other person. Good intentions are not always enough, and expecting gratitude just for the effort, when the result is not preferable is again - egocentric. And I loved it.

While the story might have been lackluster, the characters were actually well written and really consistent. No weird change of behaviors because the scene needed it, no quick character development that removed all the flaws and made the leads saints. Both the leads were frustrating (one more than the other), but they also made sense in their behavior - I might have been mad, but I understood where their behavior came from.

Sadly, the plot did not present the same level of cohesiveness. The first two episodes were great in terms of pacing - proper set up and characters’ introduction. Nothing felt rushed, and that’s what killed the show. Taking the sweet time in the first half forced the director to cram all the important plotlines in the last two episodes - just the highlights of a story, nothing gets truly resolved nor developed.

I don’t want to talk about chemistry. It was great when they were friends, but it stayed “friendly” till the end of the show. 2gether hi5 had more romance behind it, than whatever they tried to do there. I loved the low-key angst and the confusion that came from not realized jealousy, but all that buildup led to nothing.

The acting was decent, but got worse the closer to each other the characters got. The editing was fine, but got worse the closer to the end we’ve got. The directing was nice, but got worse each episode. You get what I mean - all went downhill real fast.

Overall, as much as I enjoyed the first 4 episodes, I truly disliked the next 4. Last two? I was just laughing. Conflicts came out of nowhere, none of the characters actually talked about the events and issues, as if they did not exist. We skipped through so much, it was all meaningless by the end.

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Why did I even bother?

Usually hate-watching means the show is so bad it’s actually entertaining. Here, it’s just bad, with the characters so annoying it’s hard to find someone to root for. Truth to be told, if I knew the ending before I started the show, I would not bother with watching at all. I was intrigued by the interesting beginning, and not smart enough to leave when I saw the first red flags warning me, this leads to nothing good. One could say I’m Na Bi, and this show was Jae Eon - leaving me angry, annoyed, frustrated and exhausted.

What seemed like a promising portrayal of a toxic relationship, ended as nothing more than another angsty young adult love story, that is even more pretentious than I could ever expect it to be. When in fact, it’s just fancy trash with pretty actors in it.

The main plot is the relationship between Na Bi and Jae Eon. Here’s the thing though - the relationship makes no sense. At first it’s presented as a strong sexual attraction, but it never really moves to anything more. Whenever the writer tried to incorporate any strong feelings from either female or male lead, it made no sense. What are these feelings even based on? By episode 4, the main romance became extremely repetitive and boring. How many times can we see Na Bi cry and Jae Eon be a jerk?

Na Bi was just painful to watch. By the end of the show I felt like she literally learned nothing. There was no development and no progress. The moment I saw some change, she took a U-turn into a crying mess.

Jae Eon was one dimensional and an empty shell. Don’t know what the writer was thinking, but you cannot develop something that does not exist. Giving him a last minute character development, when from the start he had no character or personality was a miracle in itself.

Bit Na and Gyu Hyun were more fun to watch, since both characters were stronger and had more of prominent personalities, but even they ended up on the rather shallow note. While they could have addressed some more interesting ideas about relationships and be a good mirror to Na Bi and Jae Eon’s relationship, the writer left me with little discussion and no real conclusion.

The only couple I truly did enjoy watching was Min Young and Kyung Jun. They were funny, sweet and relatable in all the best and heartwarming ways.

Except for them, there are exactly two things that Nevertheless, did well - LGBT representation and the amazing soundtrack.

While we’ve gotten more and more gay relationships in k-dramas lately, rarely ever we see lesbians presented in any way. At best it’s vaguely suggested or mentioned as a “personality trait”. It’s good to see a side story that truly explores the romance between two girls, and how they both deal with growing feelings. Sadly for me, I could not enjoy their ploy, since I could not stand Ji Wan as a character.

No matter how much I might dislike Nevertheless, the soundtrack is full of amazing bops. I listen to Butterfly and Love Me Like That daily - some of my favorite songs from 2021.

Overall, I could easily write a whole essay on why this show was basically a writing failure, but I honestly do not want to waste any more precious minutes of my life on this title. Let it die on my completed list, never to be visited again.

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Let them stay bad and cunning - for that I am grateful.

To sum it up: great pacing, interesting and likable characters, solid chemistry, thrilling schemes, problematic gege throwing hands at both his enemies and his lady (which in this drama was perfection, don’t call me out). On the other hand, I was not crazy about how all the romances developed and in some areas, the acting could have been better.

Still, top level of solid entertainment. Thank god I was watching it as it aired - otherwise I would not be able to stop and binge watching all of the episodes would simply kill me - I’m too old for it.

It truly surprised me how much I enjoyed the pity palace drama. Usually I’m barely stopping myself from skipping this type of scene, but here they were some of the best aspects. I appreciated glorious slaps, calling out stupidity even on your own team, backstabbing for survival - it all sounds so dramatic, but in the drama itself, it’s presented in an engaging, but palatable manner.

What’s more to love are all the women in the drama. Variety of the characters, personalities, strength and weaknesses - exactly what I want to see. You don’t just get your typical - smart and cunning, and dumb, but loyal. They nicely mix it up. We get the asshole who overestimates her abilities, we have a smart and loyal friend. We saw women who push their limits and ones that prefer to not push them. We have bad, good and morally gray.

On the other hand the drama lacks quality men. Those that are fun are not developed enough, those that are developed more are annoying. Xie Wei being the only true saving grace. Yes, Zhang Zhe is cute and righteous, but that’s all he is. Yan Lin might be fun and good at fighting, but he is the definition of the “supporting from background while having little to no individuality”. I enjoyed them as I was watching, but by the end of the show I had little to no thoughts about them.

I’m glad plot wise the overall arc was well explained. I understood the motivation of all the characters, why they made the choices they made and what was their goal. Some strived for power, some for survival and some for redemption. I do wish the drama was longer. While they wrapped up everything quite skillfully, I still wanted to see more. Especially in terms of romance.

And that’s my biggest regret. Not even a flaw, since the final execution was done well, it just made me crave for more. All the romance driven plot lines were quite sidelined, so by the end, they tried to put 20 episodes worth of development into maybe 8. I enjoyed every second of it, but I wanted more.

Acting was good. Bai Lue did what she does best. In no universe she could fail delivering a character like that - it’s made for her and her only. Zhang Ling He was great in some scenes, not so great in others. Wang Xing Yue and Zhou Jun Wei both did not really have a space to show any skills - how the characters were written did not really allow that. I’m glad that the whole cast had a great chemistry though - be it platonic, romantic or rivalry. And them kissing scenes… we do not get kissing scenes like that often.

I know many people complained about the make up, personally I liked it. The over the top magical red eyeliner that showed up when Xie Wei turned into his toxic hot gege persona. Yes, the eyebrows for the female characters were… a choice, but after a few episodes I just stopped paying attention to them.

Overall, high level of entertainment. Story of Kunning Palace has such a high binge watchability, it’s actually scary and could be a health risk if you are not careful. It’s both exciting, but approachable - balances well between how dramatic, but also easy to digest it wants to be.

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When the episodic format was both the best and the worst part of the show.

This is a drama made for all the fans of friendship, bromance, male and female friendships, discussions on the topic of loss and how to deal with it, presented in an easy to digest manner. For all that love great acting and good on screen chemistry. Viewers who like to accompany the characters on their journey to figure out who they are, what they like, what they are good at and who and what they care about. Do you fit in the group? It’s more than likely you will enjoy it.

The best aspect of the drama was easily Tseng Jing Hua’s performance and Pu Yi Yong’s character. There is so much depth in that performance. The best part? The gaze. Depending on the situation Jing Hua was able to completely change the way he looked at people and things, and clearly show the viewers all the emotions the character was feeling. With all the hardships he had to go through after the coma and newly discovered "skills" - we were presented with a strong, but also vulnerable lead.

Yi Yong, Guang Yan and Chu Ying became one of the most entertaining trio I have watched this year. Distinctive personalities which at first seem not to mash up well, created a mix one cannot resist and ends up loving. Yi Yong being the most empathic, Guang Yan - smart and genuine, and Chu Ying driven and motivated, three characters perfectly fitting into a well known trope of “heart, brain and muscle”, but at the same time being more than the two-dimensional trope.

While the separate cases of the spirits and their stories were great and had surprisingly a lot of depth and detailed background, I cannot say the same about the overall arc and plot. And that was my biggest issue - I enjoyed the show when I was watching, but I did not feel the urgent need to check the new episodes as they aired.

Most of the longer plotlines were not elaborated and explored enough and the set up to the conclusion was weak. They dropped some information here and there, but they did not diversify the hints enough. You need to literally cut out and paint your own puzzle pieces to truly create a full picture in your head. There are a lot of great revelations in the last episode, but they would be far more impactful if they were spread in time a bit. Instead of dropping all that’s important in the last episode, how about showing bits and pieces in the earlier episodes? Sounds like a more engaging storytelling method.

Basically - they opened with a really elaborate set up for the characters and their backgrounds, then we get close to nothing for most of the show, just to be hit with a tsunami of information by the end…

As I said earlier, Tseng Jing Hua’s performance was one of the best aspects of the drama, but truth to be told, the whole cast did a phenomenal job. Big props to Jack Yao, who played my favorite spirit.

The production was amazing. Brilliant styling and design for all the spirits - all unique in their own way. Everything just created a cohesive and believable picture, which is honestly not that easy to do, when your show has so many fantasy elements.

All the calligraphy scenes? Pure perfection! From the acting of Tseng Jing Hua (again, how the character’s gaze changed each time he picked up the brush just gave me goosebumps), to the design of the whole process, up to the CGI and camera work!

Overall, great drama that slightly missed the target to be an unforgettable beautiful journey.

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"But there must be a reason behind it all"

"Do you want me to teach you how to be good at work? Don't ask yourself: Why?''. I think this whole show was a commentary on how we stay in the well known patterns, even if they are not productive, simply because things have always been this way or they bring us monetary gratification. But why do we even care so much about money? Because this is what society tells us is important. A vicious circle of bullshit.

Trying to suggest change is scary, and since everyone accepts the current state, it means it's working so why would anyone even try to challenge it? Everyone cannot be wrong, it's more likely I don't understand why it's like that. Stuff like the Milgram experiment or Asch Conformity Experiment explain it well. Both good examples how awful people are at going against:
1. Authority
2. Groups of people.

And if you add actual reward (money) for the conformity, people will do a great type of mental gymnastics to justify the current state.

Like drawing the circles, then erasing them and doing the same with x, just because the boss said you have to do it. I'm sure many of us did things we knew were pointless, but they were orders we just had to do. You can think you are not part of the problem, but you most likely are. Not to the same extent as the characters in the show, since everything was over exaggerated, but as long as we participate in the society, we do stupid things for the sake of some kind of benefit - money, popularity, recognition from strangers. But why do we care?

Each episode presents us with different takes on what one can sacrifice for money: pride, self-esteem, time, family, morality. It also shows what we truly want - connection, love, freedom, a feeling of belonging, self-worth.

The show opens with the best episode, so keep that in mind. On one hand it sets up the story well, but it also makes the remaining episode have less impact. Each short story is connected to each other, even though they changed the main character. Personally, my favorite episodes were “Dancing on the sand” and “Family Vacation”. Both had strong messages that resonated with me and my experience.

The production and the acting were phenomenal. Truly would not change a detail. The short duration of the episodes (most were a bit over 20 minutes) made the show more digestible and left some room for interpretation and reflection for the viewers. I feel like depending on your own life experience, perspective and expectations, you will see something else in each and every story.

Overall, great watch, but not for everyone. It’s weird and symbolic. While on the surface the overall message is easy to understand, there is far more than “what people will do for money” if you start digging deeper. It’s also an impactful watch if you are willing to reflect on how the messages fit into how you are handling your life.

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It’s a bit like an extremely pretty art, but then you find out it was made by AI and it starts to feel a bit empty. On paper it’s a perfect soft angst full of longing and pinning, but the closer you look, the more imperfections you find.

While I did find the overall idea behind the story compelling, I’m not so sure about the execution, especially on Ikegami Fumiya's side. He did not tell the truth with hopes it will save the relationship, as they can start over, but then he kept making sure to not cross the line between roommates and potential romantic partners. This behavior was something I did not quite understand. My guy was in a risky business - deciding to hide the past in hopes for a better future, without actually being sure Ritsu will never remember their relationship, and without actually trying to be with Ritsu in the present.

That said, I actually find Ritsu harder to figure out and judge. We know little about him before the accident, and his present self was driven by what he forgot - trying to remember and being confused about his place and life. Because of that, he felt less defined than Fumiya and harder to connect to.

Since this is a relationship and character driven show, I put some effort into trying to understand the characters, and that was the mistake. If you try to dig deeper into what is happening on screen, you start to see a lot of small things that make little sense and at some point it becomes a pile too hard to ignore. I think the best way to watch it is just accept whatever they throw at you without asking too many questions.

Acting wise, it had its ups and downs. For the most part I had no complaints. The slightly dull delivery was clearly the directing choice to fit the overall atmosphere of the drama. That one time Honda Kyoya literally squeezed that one tear out of his eye made me chuckle.

That said, I still think it’s a solid melancholic watch. Some of the editing and the transitions between the scenes might be a bit confusing, but for some strange reason it adds to the charm. In a subtle way it shows how all relationships need work, and without addressing the core issues, you cannot start over and be happy, even if you get to hit the reset button.

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This should have been a special episode only…

Let’s be real, they could have just put the last arc in a special episode and it would work way better. Most of the episodes were nonsensical and Minato was just frustrating on a whole next level. Why did he feel even more shy and teen panic after they got together than in season 1?

Season 2 does not really give you many sweet scenes to feed your fluff desires, nor does it develop characters in any meaningful way. Everything important happens in the last 2 and half episodes, so what’s the point of all the rest? I thought I suck at romance, but Minato is a whole new level of failure and if it was not for Shin’s undying patience, this relationship would fail hard. Realistically speaking, I just mostly felt bad for Shin in the first 10 episodes.

The second couple was way too similar in their dynamics to Minato and Shin, I quickly lost interest… Misunderstanding and lack of communication is a clear indicator the writer did not really have any solid idea what to do with them, they existed to fill the screen time.

The acting was great, just as it was in season 1. At least from Kusakawa Takuya and Nishigaki Sho. Quite a few scenes that were surprisingly touching, a number of scenes that worked only because they did their best to deliver, even if the script itself was lacking.

Overall, it’s more or less skip worthy.

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The whole show was based on the lack of communication.

If they actually started talking to each other even a little bit, the show would be half of the length if not less. One could think this will be a rivals to lovers type of a drama, but it ain’t it. It ain’t anything.

The plot had potential, but they should have established the initial conflict a bit more. They “warmed up” to each other too fast, but to keep the story interesting we got some random miscommunications. If you want to make your show a full on cliche entertainment - fine with me, but lean into it. It was just too basic. It was not realistic in any aspect to appeal as a slice of life, but it was also not bold and fun enough as a mindless entertainment. It’s half baked fluff.

There was also one side plot that simply made me feel uncomfortable and it's worse the more I think about it.

The leads had a mild and mediocre chemistry and while the acting was decent, no one wowed me, but I also did not feel offended by the performances. Yes, the “nsfw” scenes were cringe and funny, but I blame the directing, not the actors themselves. The way they tried to frame it as sensual, but delivered full on awkwardness…

The production was the biggest clownery. I mean, I was more discreet about recording lectures at university than them acting as reporters. They could have done a better job with props and framing to make it a little bit less ridiculous.

Overall, it’s a show I’ll forget I’ve watched in two days, but I don’t regret watching it. It weirdly grows on you as you watch it. Watching it every Friday became my afterwork routine.

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Great concept, confusing storytelling.

On paper I understand what I’m supposed to get from the story, but I am not sure the director did a good enough job for me to say the idea was translated well on screen. It ended up with me feeling like everyone is unhappy, because of the choices the female lead made.

While the movie had many great and poetic moments, I kept getting distracted by my own feelings which were: I felt extremely bad for the husband. Especially during the bar scene - whatever charm the scene was supposed to have, lost for me coz I kept thinking about the husband and how awful the whole situation must be for him.

The performances were great, though I was just not that into how the characters were written. Personally, I did not find Nora either likable or interesting. Not sure if I liked Hae Sung or just Yoo Teo’s pretty eyes and face, but he for sure aced the melancholic nostalgia feeling.

There was one scene that I really liked, and it was the “waiting for uber” one. I felt like it perfectly sums up the themes of the movie - connection, timing, hesitation. Would prefer if the movie actually ended there.

Overall, kind of enjoyable, but you truly need to completely ignore the husband and his side of this whole story not to feel at best awkward, at worst awful.

Side note - Polish subtitles in the cinema were awful. Maybe Korean phrases were translated in such a weird and “strong” way as if the characters were swearing left and right, when the meaning was supposed to be much lighter in tone.

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Predictable and rather simple, yet surprisingly charming.

Not gonna lie, this is not the most complex story I have seen. It’s the same old crime for greed dressed in fantasy elements. Yet, this fantasy set up makes it stand out compared to other shows and make the watch more enjoyable.

I honestly don't care much about the investigation, if it was not directly linked to finding the bodies of the people living in Duon Village. Sure, the mystery was well crafted and had great pacing, but I honestly don't care about the living people involved with it. The plot shines the most when it focuses on the residents and how/why they died.

Some of the characters I liked the most were Thomas, Jang Pan Seok and Baek Il Doo. Most of the cast had a great chemistry between each other, and the friendship between Wook, Pan Seok and Thomas was fun to watch.

Sadly not all characters had much to offer. Personally I found Choi Yeo Na painfully annoying, and at times quite selfish. She had little going on as an individual character, and mostly served the role of delivering exposition and motivating other characters to do some work. There was nothing interesting nor entertaining about her.

No complaints about the production. Maybe some of the cgi was questionable, especially when the residents were leaving the village - the more detailed, longer and more close up the scene were, the worse it looked. That said, Missing: the other side was a beautifully crafted show with quite a number of screenshot worthy moments.

Overall, a fun and easy to binge watch show. I took my time with the first half, but watched the second in one sitting. While there will be a second season, this one can be easily watched as a stand alone, as it provides all the necessary closure.

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Fun, exciting, engaging and entertaining - just a bit diluted.

I would be lying if I said I did not have a fun time watching. So Hee was as unique as always, Ji Yeon as crazy and Ji Gu as grumpy. Their friendship was still the best and strongest part of the whole show (till one specific scene). Compared to season one, it also focused on them outside of their friendship, so we’ve got less group drinking moments, but instead could see them interact with other people more.

One thing I liked was the fact Kang Buk Gu did not really feel like the main character. I don’t think he had more scenes or importance than for example Kim Sun Jong, which I don’t complain about since he was never a character I looked for while watching the episodes even in season 1. It might be something that others dislike though.

The issue I had with this season is how disjointed it felt. First two episodes don’t fit into the timeline at all and while I understand they had to give a proper closure to the events from season 1, I am not sure they handled it in the best way storytelling wise. And the similar “individual stories not quite connecting together” feeling lasted for the whole duration of the show.

Some episodes were truly great, some were nice, some were not memorable at all. The quality fluctuated a lot. As a whole it was less funny, less moving and less entertaining. It’s still a great drama though, far above the majority of comedy shows. It just pales in comparison to season 1.

The arc this time was them as individual people learning how dependable they are on each other, and how it does not always have positive effects. I understand it on paper, but I think it was not quite well presented in the show itself.

Then, there was one side plotline that was the biggest issue for me. Without giving any spoilers of what happened, the events just made me question why these 3 girls are even friends and how did this friendship last so long. We got an unsatisfying conclusion to an extremely complex problem. The writing of this one side plot was so bad, I actually lost any interest in ever rewatching season 1 and 2. I just cannot see the friendship in the same light anymore (more about it in a comment below).

Performances were amazing - great continuation of the phenomenal deliveries from previous season. It truly feels as if the actresses were born to take these roles.

Overall, you can sense that this season is different and I think the change of the director is obvious. Personally I preferred how Kim Jung Shik handled the story. Season 1 was my first 10 in 2 years. While season 2, while I don’t regret watching, I would not exactly recommend others to check out.

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Hate to love scenario between me and Jung Woo. Damn, I disliked his little smug face so much in the first two episodes, I thought it would be impossible for me to jump on the ship in the future. While I warmed up to him in later episodes, I never sailed with the two dudes.

The biggest flaw of the show is the fact we truly know nothing about the characters. What are their motivations? Why do they do what they do? Why is Jung Woo working with Laura? What is his goal? Why is Do Gun so into keeping true to the basics and so against the innovations and new ideas? Why is he obsessed with working at Laura Dining? What is Laura’s deal? They did not explain anything. Literally not one thing. Who is Jung Woo anyway?

It’s also the first time I felt exactly zero romantic chemistry on screen between the main leads in BL. While I enjoyed their bickering and them having fun, their romantic scenes just made me feel slightly uncomfortable, because it felt like they were not that into it either.

The acting was good. Both Jang Eui Soo and Lee Chan Hyung have acting experience to back up their performance.

Production quality is what we usually get from k-bls: indie web drama vibes. Personally, I truly enjoy these aesthetics.

Overall, fine to watch when you are in between BLs and have nothing else to watch. Would not prioritize this over other shows though. It’s like a filler show.

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The world-building that lacks the necessary detail.

I knew what I would get, but I honestly wanted to love it. I adored the first two episodes and thought they were as strong as an introduction can get. And then it led to nowhere.

The idea was there, it just lacked the necessary detail to make it truly engaging for me. Too many questions were left hanging, the folklore was barely touched, the backgrounds of the characters were shallow, the motivations were not set up that well. I don’t even want to talk about the villain on the human side, because that was some next level of clownery.

Loved the “first act” - the introduction to the characters, the initial set up for the story, the questions that were asked that we were supposed to get the answers for as the drama progressed. All that got me curious - I wanted to know more. The variety of the characters was perfection - we had the hardworking and strong female lead who just tried to survive, the scholar that tried to solved the decades long mystery and the sceptic detective who tried to make sense of all the unexplainable. And behind it all an evil force that seems untouchable and always one step ahead.

Sadly, the second act was just too damn long and not written well enough. Some stories were just dropped without proper explanation, how the ghosts work and what can be done with them was not explained either. A 30 second google search can give me more information about all the types of ghosts that were introduced. They just never explored any ideas they introduced.

What's more, I was just too frustrated with the characters. It took them too long to learn from their mistakes and their actions often were simply stupid. Hae Sang was unnecessarily cryptic refusing to explain anything to anyone until it was too late, San Young was all over the place it’s actually hard to even describe her character, and while Hong Sae was fun to watch, for 80% of the show he seemed out of place for the story written - his bits felt more like crime rom-com than supernatural thriller.

For a story like that to work, you need one of the two: rich and interesting folklore or great teamwork. Revenant had none of these. As I already said, the whole world buildup was weak. As for the scooby gang - we had to wait way too long for them to actually start working together, and when they did… the drama ended.

All that said, I adored the casting for the leads. It was refreshing. Oh Jung Se in a serious and stoic role is what we needed. I'm far more used to seeing him in more animated and exaggerated characters, so this was a fun new take.

Hong Kyung going from Oh Beom Seok to Lee Hong Sae is something I thought I would struggle with, but surprisingly, I had no issue putting my hate behind me and enjoying his character in Revenant.

Park Ji Young as a "weak" character was also so weird, but so good! Kim Tae Ri's role was not surprising since her career is short enough to not be type cast yet. She was also smart enough to take roles that are rather different from each other since day one. Loved the duality of her performances even if I was not obsessed with how Gu San Young was written. Kim Tae Ri just simply never dissapoints with her acting.

The production was great. Can we all collectively appreciate the lack of black eyes as the indicator someone is possessed? No cheap snapchat filters for ghosts. Amazing use of light and shadows, good special effects - it never felt like they overused them. Even the supernatural events felt realistic and grounded in the presented picture.

I guess I just have a love-hate relationship with Kim Eun Hee’s writing. I am obsessed with how creative her ideas are, but I’m also pissed at how she cannot truly execute them in a correct way. I feel like she needs someone who will ask her questions about her stories. How does it work? Why did the character act this way? What was the origin of that issue? How does this premise work into the world you built? Answers that will fill the framework of the idea she has.

Overall, was it a fun watch? Sure. Did it have a lot of issues I just cannot see passed? Yes. I knew the directing would be my style based on the people behind it, I knew I would have specific issues with the writing based on the past works of the writer. I knew I would love the acting and I knew I would overall enjoy it, but I would not be amazed. And that’s exactly what I’ve got.

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