ShortCircuit

Yeah, well, you weren't paying attention to Cheng Yi LOL. (Just kidding, I know the drama definitely has its down moments. And plotlines. And bad actors. Okay I'm gonna end it at this LOL.)

I'll say it again, for myself, I've no idea what is it about Love O2O that people like. She was kind of wooden, he was the epitome of Perfect Prince Charming (and stiffly so, enough that I never got interested in watching another Yang Yang drama again) Maybe it's one of those unexplainable things :D

Would you recommend a drama where Yang Yang shines as an actor? (I don't necessarily mean a popular drama, I've been burned by them before.) I really want to give him another chance, but he seems to be typecast already, always playing the perfect hero and that kind of character is rather meh for me...

So takeaways from episode 3.

The leading lady of NIS definitely warned the gansters to take off. But she's not the mastermind, because she'd have covered her tracks way better. And I have this impression she wasn't a top dog yet at the time of HJH's disappeareance.

Je Yi is the daughter of a NK defector/abductee (how is that HJH's fault?) who tries to wriggle her way into NIS for her own purposes. So far this is the most cliche plot line and kind of ham-fistedly pushed in... I mean, she's of NK descent apparently, and also has top grades in her master in - ta-da! - chemistry. Juuuuust like what's needed to be the greatest drug-maker in SK, apparently, according to the drama, LOL. Not suspicious at all :D Aaaand she wants to be the insider on everything HJH related. And acording to the cast list, it just so happens her dad is actually Baek Mo Sa (it looks like the same person). Oh well. Is that trying to say she is the evil mastermind?

I am now 80% convinced that Kyung Seok is the double agent, which yay! because Hwang Hee might come back. Soo Yeon still has no purpose in the story (which, considering this is about a quarter in already, doesn't make sense at all.)

Also, I am about completely fed up with top gangsters who do drugs themselves. That's not usually what happens, I think. If they start using, they start losing control, so why would HMS had been already an user even before his son died? Not to add that his acting is way over the top, too. I wish SK dramas depicted drug dealers as the cold-blooded, ruthless and SANE people they are. No need for extra insanity to point them out as evil. Their deeds are enough for that.

At this point, I'm only sorry for Lee Choon Gil, and it looked like HJH did care about him a bit. For a drug dealer, HE was kind of honest in his actions. Oh well.

You know when Jack (Keanu Reeves) tells Annie (Sandra Bullock) that he heard relationships forged in stressing conditions never last, in Speed? (She said it to him first). And she tells him they'll have to base their relationship on sex then.

I TOTALLY get that feeling with this drama.

I already gave up trying to find a logical storyline, I'll just have to keep watching it for the top-notch action scenes and the gore :D

Nothing happens to further the story in 2x speed either, but at least time passes faster...

What, nothing about "Love & Redemption"? :D Both the FL and the ML had hidden identities, and it played out really well.

I've watched some of these (not all) and for some reason, I really really didn't like "Love O2O" (it has nothing to do with the later scandal, I'd finished the drama long ago). Yang Yang has no appeal to me as a lead, I found his character there stiff and kind of obnoxious, and the FL's character was kind of lackluster too, for me. But then, esports related dramas don't have much appeal to me anyway...

Chen Zhe Yuan was on fire in "Handsome Siblings", Hu Yi Tian wasn't helped much by his character's story line, IMHO.

Bromance is on another level in WoH - LOL, you can say THAT again. The censors were sleeping throughout the whole censoring process LOL. If that's just bromance, then my mind must be in the gutter (that's a rhetorical observation, no one needs reply to it LOL.)

You're right, for some reason I keep mistaking it with "Secret Garden" LOL, that's the one I meant (and thought "Meteor Garden" was a reprise/variant of.) (Because I didn't like SG either...)

I watched BOF, woe is me. LMH with curly hair is... okay, let's not even bring up the memory. But I do love the OST - well, mostly Ji Sun's "What Should I Do", the part that plays when she jumps in the pool waiting for him to come get her. Wow was the drama tropey LOL.

BOF burned out all my interest in seeing any other variations LOL - and I came to know kdramas from watching anime and jdoramas, yet never could get into Japanese shoujo or harem/reverse-harem manga or anime, Fruits Basket and Yamato Nadeshiko Shichihenge aside. And even those were long ago :D So anything like BOF or around the same genre is not really up my alley, unless I mistakenly start watching and it proves good.

What is SOOD?

Yup, XZ's long legs - I was looking a lot at them and the clever cinematography really did a number on both of the guys, and on quite a number of the support cast, too, LOL. Every time JC is running around being dangerous as a wild huntsman, the crew managed to get a shot from the down upwards showing those long legs hehehe. Almost like they knew there were some pervy persons (I admit NOTHING!) just waiting for those moments LOL. And obviously I have my favourites among FMVs :D

Like them being just big children (un)friendly competing for MZX's attention:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joL6Qqsvopw

Or just JC's cheeky wink and that blinding smile - if I were MZX, I would probably forget Wolfie in an instant LOL.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eOciuZ-OI8

But XZ looks pretty good - and a lot more mature than his other roles - as Yan Bing Yun in "Joy of Life", too, manly&dangerous JC aside. No facial hair, but no smiles either - I still hope he'll be in the second season of the drama, but he's now such a big name, it's kind of improbable. Oh well. Here's hoping his star is still in ascension and that his next few projects will really showcase his range, he can do so much more :)

LOL, the George trope is probably based on "The Abominable Snow Bunny" cartoon, though by now it's basically everywhere, and it means I want to monster-hug Darren's character in TSOMD to death by cuteness overload (well, not real death anyway LOL).

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AndCallHimGeorge

I knew Fu Meng Bo was Taiwanese, because someone complained in the drama's topic his accent wasn't what they (the commenter) expected it to be, for a purist Mandarin Chinese-speaker, as FMB is (To be honest, I was under the impression that Taiwan only kept the traditional writing, not necessarily the accent, but that might be just my impression). I have no ear for Chinese accents (YET! I'm working on that!!), so I can't tell, but if that was FMB's own voice and not a dub-over, he has a great soothing voice, IMHO :)

I haven't watched Meteor Garden because I tried the kdrama of the same title (are they related?) and couldn't make it past the first episode, even though that one comes with good marks. It might be not my kind of drama, or maybe I need to give it more time... or it might wait for just the right moment, LOL.

TSOMD comes from a GREAT novel in process of being translated (almost done now, I'm peeking at it from time to time, but I'm hanging back until it's finished, because I'm a speed reader and I NEED it to be finished before I dive in, LOL. Can't wait for more Tang Fan+Sui Zhou+Wang Zhi goodness! (Isn't Wang Zhi just the greatest?! I am straddling double ships right now. Can there be a catamaran of a relationship or something for these guys? :D)

"No Boundary" didn't start badly, IMHO, but I was easily captured by TDJ, so who knows, it might've been cuteness overload for me :D But I fully intend to go back to it and I don't care about the ratings - I've seen plenty of bad dramas before, and plenty of so-so ones, I'll take any disappointment if it comes. But it might be a good drama in the end, anyway. Tastes are everything :)

2. The trailer of "The Wolf" has scenes that never made it into the drama - you can bet a lot of it was cut out in the censoring phase. Like in the trailer, he's running with actual (CGI) wolves and his eyes turn red, his skin cracks and he goes through a shape shift from man to wolf. And there's the scene where he's talking to Ji Chong, where JC tells him if they didn't love the same woman, they'd be friends - that isn't in the drama. It was the scene I most waited for. And there's no scene of JC walking into the snowstorm (I wanted that!! :()

Then there's the whole supernatural storyline erased - how he and the other animal-suggesting quasi-monster characters got actually tamed and why, and WHY was there such a great importance placed on the fate of the First Prince (who barely makes it in through flashbacks and as a means to control Fourth Prince's actions.) You could see through the cracks things that might have turned this into one of the greatest fantasy stories in cdrama - but the ban on supernatural things downplayed everything sadly. From a Chinese take on Little Red Riding Hood / Beauty and the Beast we ended up with an almost-cliche at times too-political action drama that was only saved by their insane chemistry.

And I won't give up on Ji Chong, LOL. I liked WDL's character, but manly XZ's JC, with that loose ponytail and that little hint of facial hair and wilderness about him - wow, that was eyecandy walking. Those long legs! (OK, that comes through as lecherous LOL, but hey. He IS that good looking, can't pretend to be enamoured just by the character's inner traits, though they're there). Which reminds me, his backstory of leaving his place as a prince is also kind of skipped over rather fast - so sad!

As for WDL - the BEST scene of the show EVER is that one with almost no music where MZX follows the butterflies to that bridge where Lord Bo is listening to the wind and catches her perfume sachet. I love that scene.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnEswOGEwXY

I haven't watched many dramas that I knew were Taiwan-made (except for a few BL ones, that were kind of short.) I do need to expand my list LOL :D

I was about to say I only know Darren (Da Lu) Wang, but THEN!

I saw Darren Chen (Chen Guan Hong)~~~~

Do you know that saying, ”cute as a button”? Because under the dictionary definition of the phrase you'll see Darren Chen's picture, LOL. He's so cute you want to kiss him, hug him, take him home and call him George all... the... time!

I've only seen him in "The Sleuth of Ming Dinasty" (and started "No Boundary/Storm of the World", but well, "The Devil Judge"got in the way LOL), but he definitely impressed me! He's cute and charming as a rogue-ish and gluttony judge, cute and shy as a very feminine girl in travesty, LOL, cute and angrrry like a kitten when he's mad, well, cuteness overload, in that series. I definitely needed to see something like that, and it helps the series is pretty good, plot-wise, has a stellar cast (all hail Liu Yao Yuan, playing Wang Zhi, one of my new character crushes :) and also Fu Meng Bo, the titular ML along Darren), and it never lets up until the very end, If you haven't seen it yet, watch it, it will be worth the while :)

But Darren Wang too is very good - I liked "The Wolf" (though I am so sorry for what could have been instead of what made it through the censorship. And well, I definitely rooted for Ji Chong, what can I do? SML was overpowering here.)

I'm sorry to say I don't recognize the rest of the top 10, and that's my lack. I might check out some of the dramas, for a look-see :)

They become and remain best friends forever. BFFs if you want :D

It just takes a lot of time and misunderstandings until then.

But I don't get it yet - the informer set them up against targets that the gang picked, apparently, but one of the targets was the boss' son, so now the boss is looking for revenge?

In that case, why isn't the informer dead, and where was HJH for a year? Or is the informer another gang's tool and he's an insider on removing the current mob boss?

OR. Is the informer actually another undercover agent who turned rogue and is now doing his own thing? (Or being controlled by the NIS mole, if there is one?)

I guess Hwang Hee won't be coming back as a bad guy... I would have loved to see him again.

Well, the second episode improves the storyline a bit.

This looks like a blend of The Bourne Identity (the book's beginning, not the follow-up), Time Between Dog and Wolf and maybe a bit of IRIS thrown in.

At this point, after an explosive intro, they kind of mellowed it down immediately, which doesn't bode well - for me anyway. And even the beginning had its suspension of disbelief moments - like completely insanitary operation rooms that were supposed to be used to harvest organs. So much blood, so much dirt, no way to easily take the organs away to awaiting clients... It felt like a total gore setup for the sake of it.

I definitely cannot feel the cast gelling up - unless they want to make everybody into a suspect and the MC a lone wolf character. I don't know what Soo Yeon's deal is, but she came through as totally fake and lifeless (I've only seen the actress in Two Weeks, and her role there was pretty stereotypical.) We'll see if that's who the character is, or what the actress makes of her.

Just because I really really like Hwang Hee, I want Kyung Seok to be a double agent who betrayed them and faked his death to disappear to his island. (His GF didn't recognize the body, the ring was planted there rather impossible to miss, and he was in an undercover op, would he really have worn it?, and it was definitely an inside job.) I vote for KS to come back and be a villain. Let Hwang Hee break out of goody-two-shoes character types, please!

And in any case, Ji Hyuk's recruiter is definitely a suspect, because they always are.

For such a well-known actors studded cast, I definitely expected a lot more bang.

Also, question: I am not wrong, most of what's happening in the "now" is set in 2016, right? Because that's what was on HJH's medical records after he was retrieved. So we're going to have a time skip somewhere along the line, right?

Finally a big pet peeve of mine... Why did Namgoong Min have to bulk up so badly? He even does the gymrat walk (moving his feet in paralel lines, like he's always flexing his muscles.)
Normal people don't do that, is that supposed to be in character, or is it a NM thing?...

Gonna give it a few more eps at least, in hope of HH's return. Let him be a villain who's also smart, pretty please.

First episode impressions... Still on the fence about it.

I've just discovered the joys of 2x speed. This is the first drama I've done it for, and it might let me finish it without dropping, LOL.

Also, F* Subway. Ate there once and never again. I know the producers need the sponsors, but the PPL is getting disgusting with three times SW meals in one episode. Let the poor guys go to a mom-and-pop restaurant every once in a while, no need to poison them all every day.

Past episode 3, I have no interest left in what's next... this episode wasn't even food porn any more. I have no way to tell if the actors are any good, the plot and editing are all over the place.

I might give it another episode then drop it if it continues like this - I like slow burn, but not glacier pace and there should be at least some actual chemistry between the leads at least. Too bad.

GOOD!

Nobody should lose their entire career/livelihood based only on slander from anonymous persons on the internet. If there's any truth to it, there would be proof or witnesses. If there's not, then public judgement should not convict a person who might be innocent (in some cases, just because it's trendy or the slanderer is seeking attention.)

For LYX, you should definitely try "Love is Sweet" - it's a cute romance, but it has LYX and Bai Lu (she's another or my favourite actresses). He has a chance there to show his comedic timing (he has it), and while the story is romance-tropey, it's good to watch. I promise you'll be laughing a lot :) I kind of wanted to watch "Broker" but the trailer didn't convince me and I've already suffered through "Fox in the Screen" just for him, so thanks for the anti-rec :) I'll just be quietly waiting for "Immortality" (because I have a crush on WanNing LOL).

So, after mentioning STLDFM, I just HAD to go to youtube and find "Give My Love". I still remember the lyrics (even the Korean ones) after all these years. They - and us - we were all so young! I'm probably going to do a Ji Sung marathon soon enough, LOL. "Defendant" looks good from here :D

Re: "Moon Lovers" - for me it's the other way around, I've only watched the Korean version and couldn't watch the Chinese original, though I hear it has a happier ending. I kind of like bittersweet endings, though, if they fit the overall story. I think I'm one of the few who really-really appreciated the ending of "Faith" for example, LOL. So ML's ending didn't phaze me... I just would've liked to see more of Wang So and less of Wang Wook's side love story. And as I'm usually drawn and caught by a drama's soundtrack, the ML OST is great (the BGM in particular.)

I have no idea why LJG is taking this year off - I've seen a news in his actor topic here that he's supposed to do a reality show for Netflix... but I really-really want to see a new drama from LJG. Pretty please with a cherry on top! Or else I'll have to dive into the last reserves of still-not-watched LJG dramas, and I don't have many left! *despair*

Ooh, if you like unscrupulous AHs, you're going to LOVE Kang Yo Han!! I've been a fan of Ji Sung since "Save the Last Dance for Me" (omo, it's been a long while!) but he definitely shines all the brighter as he gets more mature. And he's STILL an extremely handsome man. Well, JinYoung is set there to draw the younger audience in, and I do like him too, quite a lot, but the show is carried by Ji Sung and Kim Min Jun (playing the villain. I keep thinking about her. She's mesmerizing.) I tried to move on from the drama, but I just can't, I need more Ji Sung, so I'm about to finish "Dr. John" and I've no idea what I'll do with myself afterwards, LOL.

Run Yu started out a heart-breaking victim of the Emperor and his wife, and then out of the blue a switch moved and he turned into a main antagonist, and not only that, but it became clearer he had been moving in that direction for a while. But it all came from a place of hurt and frustration and quite a lot of a vengeful feeling - I completely FELT that scene when the Empress kills his mother and he raises his head to look at her. But he was redeemed in the end, even if he lost what he wanted. Can't wait to see LYX as Chu WanNing, he's going to be AMAZING... Here's keeping fingers crossed they do the tale justice!

"The Sleuth of Ming Dinasty" was a complete surprise for me - I didn't expect (very mild) BL, and such a cute ML (he's extremely cute, and I say this having watched thousands of cute guys in dramas, LOL). The story is also very good - I'm waiting for the whole novel to be translated (about a month or two now, I think) and then it'll be my holidays' reading LOL.) And Wang Zhi - I definitely wasn't expecting Wang Zhi. Okay, now I'm sad there's no more Wang Zhi. I could always do re-watches...

Gong Jun is amazing in WoH. I've seen him a few romantic series, and even started Flaming Heart, but put it aside for the moment. FH suffers from poor script, poor planning, lack of a budget and so on, and it was filmed way before WoH. You have to give it a try - his character, WKXand his partner, Zhou ZiShu are more gray than anybody has any business being in a BL OR romance drama. They fit perfectly and their path isn't that clear either. If you can find it, watch the special versions of the episodes (not all of them are special, there are some extra scenes that were presented to the international audience but removed for the Chinese one, scenes that hint at a lot more than bromance between them, LOL.) IMHO, Wen Ke Xing is Gong Jun's best character so far, from what I've seen. He's always been cute, but now he has some kind of radiance, you totally believe him as a bad guy/good guy dichotomy - and he did really demonstrate he had the acting chops to carry this character. Just... try the first three-four episodes. You won't regret it :)

I was thinking how many of LJG's roles are anti-heroes. He becomes one in "Time Between Dog and Wolf", he starts out as one in "Two Weeks", he's a very subtle one in "The King and the Clown", and he's kind of an asshole character, LOL, in "Arang and the Magistrate". I think the only series where he remains a true hero throughout are "Iljimae" and "Hero". Maybe. It's been a long time since "Hero". Maybe in "Criminal Minds" too, but TBH I don't like the original after the first season, and then the SK remake didn't make a huge impression on me. Oh, and in "ML:SHR", he's definitely an AH. I wish that drama got more recognition! :(

Gonna stop this rant here, LOL, because I keep remembering AHs in dramas I've watched and that's inductive of procrastination :D

Dexter is a lovable villain though, almost like Light Yagami in "Death Note", in my opinion. Or like Greed and Wrath in FMA (not the :B side, the first series.)

If you want to see someone just as much a villain while on the outside looking like a saint, watch "Mouse". (I dropped the drama, but it's not a reason not to recommend it to someone looking for a certain kind of MC.)

Also, "Rugal" and "Taxi Driver"(SK 2021, in case there are more of this title) might fall in the hunting-criminals-for-a-living trope drama where the hunters aren't all that clean themselves.

SPOILERS AHEAD!

I just finished "The Devil Judge" so I'm nominating Kang Yo Han. Good backstory, unscrupulous AH, but in the end, he comes through for everyone. And Ji Sung, as usual - rocks it! Though TBH, I kind of loved the villain too.

And how come nobody nominated Run Yu yet? "Ashes of Love" would be pretty vanilla without him, and in the end I only watched it for him. He's another unscrupulous one, and at first you even take him for a victim, while he's been slowly moving toward his target all the while. And it definitely helps it's Luo YunXi (because he does wonders as a tortured hero descending into AH territory - but then his mask comes off.)

And last but not least at all, my latest favourite pragmatic AH who's almost a nice guy (he just doesn't usually show it to anyone, not even his very few friends): Wang Zhi (Liu Yao Yuan) from "The Sleuth of Ming Dinasty*. He's delicious, more so at times than the two MLs LOL, and he's never an outright hero either. He completely stole the show :D and I highly recommend it!

Edit, wait I have another one! Another unscrupulous type - Wen Ke Xing from "Word of Honor" is the mould of this type, LOL. Also a good backstory, he's a revengeful kind of person who plots ahead and it doesn't matter if innocents get in the way, oops! But then by the end he's completely redeemed. Kind of. (And you should just watch the drama for Gong Jun, because he's great in it!)

Edit 2: also, you tricked usss, you did! You showed usss an image from Moon Lovers and there's no Wang So inside, what's this, preciousss?!

And this article makes me realize I like the unscrupulous kind of AH more than any other kind. Hmm. In-teres-tinggggg.