Why would a Goodie do-Gooder go back to the sloutherhouse?

Normally I don't watch romance-less thriller kdramas, because they almost always suck. They are often full of immersion breaking sloppy writing and have many incredibly silly scenes. I feel that Squid Game certainly has them both. The characterization of the ML and of quite a few other contestants had some major problems. Personally I always hated it, when a random moron wins against smarter, more motivated opponents in a setting like this, however the ML's actions often felt arbitrary, beyond just an idiot's actions. Then again the whole thing is FULL of plotholes on a fundamental level, so the players frequently acting out of character is not even the biggest problem here, although Cho Sang Woo's death is just ridiculously stupid. All that he has sacrificed to win, for THAT to end up happening, well done! (evilME would have just thrown the knife for W45.000.000.000) Also what's the deal with the policeman's plotline, is there really a point beyond giving mental demons to his brother in season2?

The ending is trash of course, the minor cliffhanger is so bad that it's difficult to put into words. The final post-game twist is almost intelligence insulting too, especially considering how I went back and looked at what happened before frame by frame and it just doesn't make any sense. (pink solder raised the gun > the camera moved out of sight > boom > back in sight > man seemingly down) This is a preproduced drama and all the episodes were released on the same day, so the assumption that the audience would just forget about past details is just wrong.

The base ideas behind the show are pretty good, I guess the creator took Liar Game as the main inspiration & borrowed some ideas from Hunger Games and other Battle Royale titles. Mixing all that up with Korean children's games worked a lot better than I thought it possibly could have.
It's rare that a Korean TV show has one person as the director and the screenwriter. Hwang Dong Hyuk may have done a pretty bad job as a writer, but as a director I can only praise him. It's incredible how he succeeded to make the MOST BORING GAMES EVER exciting on TV. I found the tug of war game especially impressive. I have played tug of war many times & also I have seen tug of war on Running Man countless times, I have never thought rope pulling could be this exciting..

The best things about the show are of course the incredible sets, the symbology, the OST and the incredible cinematography.
I think the art director may have contributed more to this show's success than the director/screenwriter himself. I may have disliked many things about this show, but there were moments here and there, when I felt almost astonished at what I was seeing on screen. I do understand why Squid Game has become a worldwide sensation.

People talk about this show being the big hit it is, because of the human side of it, due to all the social interactions the contestants had with each other between the games. I'm not sure if I agree, most characters could not have been more two dimensional. Though certainly the actors did an excellent job showing a wide array of authentic emotions.

-
Most English speaking characters were cringeworthy as usual. They could have done much better in that regard, considering it's a Netflix production. The silly dubbed accents were not even the worst part, but rather the whole VIP member commentary in the last 2 episodes could not have been more out of place.
--
If we consider kdrama a genre, not just "korean made TV drama", then Squid Game is not a kdrama. It breaks several kdrama taboos, such as it has a Hollywood like explicit sex scene (not counting the gay foreigner thing), a lot of blood & most importantly the main characters are not astonishingly beautiful people. Personally I don't particularly mind, I'm just a little surprised by it all. I guess this is a real Netflix production with the western audiences in mind, perhaps Korea only embraced it, because it has become a huge worldwide sensation.

Read More

Watchable, if you are REALLY bored!

This is a watchable show. There is enough cuteness to provide some decent entertainment, but there is not much else there. The admittedly talented actors were more than enthusiastic enough, but that's arguably not enough in this format. Then again it's difficult for me to understand what's the point of a 2 hours long romcom to be presented this way. If I look at it like a movie - It should be fair, since I watched the entire thing in one sitting - it does not hold up. I could pick any random Hollywood romcom, or even just a random vampire flick and Kiss Goblin would fall short. On IMDB I would rate this as 4/10. The writing is weak and jittery. The production quality is decent, so it's more than a little sad that they could not find a writer to match that. I mean it shouldn't be that difficult to fill up 2 hours with some semi creative ideas, right?

On a more positive note, it's nice that the writer had no time to further ruin things by focusing on the love triangle, or Sageuk flashbacks..

Read More

After watching the first 4-5 double episodes I was thinking that Angel's Last Mission: Love is just a cheap imitation of Goblin. Many of the major themes in the show are essentially the same (reapers & angels are kind of the same too), which isn't bad, but the execution is worlds apart. I mean sure Shin Hye Sun's acting performance was out of this world good, but that was it. I was skipping scenes featuring sponsor board meetings(?) and I did not like all the stupid scheming and the asshole second lead character. I felt that L had the same acting teacher as Jinyoung and I don't mean that as a compliment. Many reviewers did not like the second part of the show, but to me the second half saved it. They've dialed down on the stupid Chaebol corporate bullshit and instead of meaningless scheming we proceeded with murder attempts that were a lot more interesting really. Also the second lead had much less screen time, which was a huge bonus. Even L's acting has improved, I felt genuinely touched at certain scenes. It was good romance, not much of a comedy though in the second half. At times I was even sitting at the edge of my seat.

Sure the last 5 minutes did not make any sense, it is the same ending as Goblin's, but the context is different. "The Deity is cruel" should've been the main theme of the show, it makes very little sense that the Deity would change his mind like that, then again I'm a sucker for happy endings & a sloppy happy ending like this is still better than tragedy with the conclusion that love is not eternal, the person that survived should move on & forget everything.
(If I were the writer I would have went with exAngel asshole guy sacrificing himself to keep the balance for a more reasonable happy ending.. :P)

The OST does not have too many tracks, but 2-3 of them were really memorable. It's way way above average.
The cinematography was good, though the cinematographer really likes the composition form called "the tilt".

TLDR: Out of all the 50+ kdramas I've watched this is the most similar to Goblin, it's nowhere near on the same level, but it's well deserving of a watch & perhaps a rewatch .. (Shin Hye Sun should get an award..)

Read More

I was sufficiently entertained so I would feel bad for giving it less than 8 stars, however the story is pretty bad at times. As a romantic comedy it's pretty great really, even the second pair has a good chemistry. There was no real love triangle, which I always appreciate. The actors were great for the most part too. Personally I didn't mind the casting changes, if I look at the entire series as a whole (with the novel as the basis) perhaps the ML in the second series was more fitting for the role. With My Amazing Boyfriend 1 the chinese wanted to copy the success of My Love from the Star and they've picked a lead that's extremely similar to Kim Soohyon both in looks and mannerisms & I don't think that would have worked for the story in the second season. I prefer Janice Wu over Yu Esther for the female lead role, but thanks to the long time between the two shows the change did not bother me too much. For a replacement Yu Esther was quite outstanding.
I hated how the first show has ended & I'm grateful that they've given me a satisfying conclusion, at last.

So I mentioned above that I had problems with the story. First and foremost the show is really long, the 38 episodes translate into the length of a 19 episodes long kdrama, which I'm normally fine with, but there was a lot of time wasted with the (really stupid, a normal person would have seen it from a mile away) child kidnapping plot, followed by a second kidnapping plot, so yep that wasn't great. Tian Jing Zhi's character is also written in a weird, inconsistent way. In the first show she practically threw herself at Xue Ling Qiao, but in the second show even after they've gotten engaged the woman decided to practice abstinence for quite a whole for ehm reasons and once all the major troubles were resolved she decided to develop a marriage phobia, I mean come on webnovel writer you could have done better..

Read More

Having watched Memories of Alhambra first, I did not expect much from this. Here the writer does a much better job in every way, but ultimately at its core this drama suffers from similar problems. The setting is obviously much better, instead of a super boring MMO world we have a manhwa world, with some interesting spaghetti western elements, a subtle noir vibe is also present. With the premise that magic is real, sometimes nonsense stuff kind of makes sense in W, it's not like Alhambra where everything is a jumbled mess. With that said W is a mediocre drama at best, yes the cast had some amazing actors, the OST was mostly great at setting the right atmosphere and the cinematography was very pretty & the darker lighting was also very fitting most of the time, but all these don't make up for the fact that I just wasn't that interested in the villains & their deeds. The romance was fine, but this is probably the worst chemistry that I've seen Lee Jong-suk have with anyone, it's by no means below average in kdramaland, but I've expected more. A nicely wrapped up happy ending would have improved my opinion of the drama a lot, it's a shame that it did not happen, it's nice that they got together for the last 5? minutes of the drama, but for all we know Kang Chol would just end up in prison again for not having a legitimate identity... (in the fantasy genre normally I wouldn't care much about this, but in W the plot device of not having a proper identity is brought up again & again...)

This writer really shouldn't work alone, if she could just be responsible for the world building & maybe the characters, while pairing up with someone that knows how to keep the audience interested.
I think she also wrote Queen InHyon's Man, I like that drama quite a bit, but the writing is not very good there either.

Read More

This show is very 2005 kdrama like, especially the first half. (The Taiwanese flavor does not feel very strong.) In those ancient classics though the final 20-40% always tends to be very makjangish with absolutely insane Brazil soap plots. Luckily in this one the crazy is toned down a lot, so while they set up quite a few of those, they fizzled out every time, the drama does not even feature a breakup. The love triangle starts out as the very annoying friendly `ge` type, but discounting one (or two) three way handgrabs, it's far more tolerable than what you would normally see in a drama of its ilk.
The romance & the main characters are super juvenile as is common in this genre, though 28? yo virgins acting like preteens is understandably not going to be everyone's cup of tea..

Overall this has been solid entertainment for me, though it does get a bit draggy near the finale. (the plot has some really stupid things in it too, like the gangster's redemption ark, I mean what to fork was that?)

---

The repeated anime dancing is so silly that I could just not look away, even after seeing it 20+ times.

Read More

Disclaimer: I have not watched the so called season1, because I have been warned about the terrible plot twist beforehand. (which makes it a 2/10 drama from the get go)
---
This is basically a rather generic cdrama romcom. There is almost not a single new thing here, maybe with the exception of checking marriage license authenticity with amnesia. The chemistry is average, the comedy is average, the acting is average and the plot is average too (which means it's bad objectively speaking). There is also a rather typical semi-weak love triangle, though it ends very peacefully.

What makes this drama stand out a tiny bit from mediocrity is that it's a bit shorter than normal (12ep kdrama length) and so the plot is progressing rather quickly & there are no big annoyances anywhere. It's basically 70% fluff n sugar, which is something I always appreciate, even though the romances could not have been any shallower. While the villains are really poorly written and all, the fact that they barely have any screen time & fail to cause any big upheavals is pretty great.

One thing that somewhat annoyed me is that the drama has several very forceful kisses, but it's played off as successful seduction or something along those lines..
Oh I almost forgot, some of the product placements are just direct ad breaks basically, they start talking about certain brands directly & unnaturally. (Adolph Shampoo & whatever sanitary pads)

Read More

Not as amazing as the original, but it's still one of the better localized adaptations I've seen.

I Hear Your Voice is one of my all time top 10 Asian dramas. Up until a few days ago I did not know this adaptation existed, so I quickly lined this up to watch during my daily workout sessions. Overall I'm glad I did. It may not be as good as the original, but I would say it's about as good as watching that for the 3rd time would be like, still plenty great.

Cdramas are inherently less intense than kdramas, but since this came out back in 2019 it's still far more intense than what we are used to today. So the general mood of the original kdrama is quite nicely transferred over. The writer made some changes, from the second case onward the cases are different, but with one big exception* most of the iconic scenes, moments and even the annoying love triangle (the only bad thing about the original) is there. The casting is good, but of course not nearly as good as in the original, but they picked fitting actors.
There is one thing the adaptation did much better than the original, which is FL is not trying to push away ML nearly as much and she completely accepts ML as her future partner. I'm not a big fan of open endings, this felt nice.

*My favorite part of the original drama was when ML pretended to have a memory loss & that is essentially completely missing from the adaptation. Sure ML does get a memory loss, but the pretending part only lasts for 5 minutes & has no romcom relevance.

Read More

A-

This is a very decent Chinese romance drama. Overall it's quite similar to You Are My Glory, but it has more comedy & the setting is different. (entertainment industry vs. corporate environment in this one) Janice Wu is always 10/10 in romcoms & this paring's been quite fantastic. Also I like "faceslaps" in Chinese fiction & this drama has plenty of that.
One big positive in this drama is that the high school flashbacks are quite well done. There are not overly many of them & have proper child actors, which is always nice to see.

So why is it only an 8?

Well, for starters the final 4-5 episodes were quite difficult to get through. The crises were not too serious or anything, but the whole "company's in dire straits" thing was really unfun to watch & then a rocket had been launched & we got fed an incredible amount of Chinese propaganda stuff before the ending credits.

There is also the matter of ML's younger brother. To me it feels like the writer thought the leads are ready to get married, so let's fix the ML's "big problem" before then, I'm quite disappointed with this, the kid was comedy gold, would have much rather watched him bicker with FL, over whatever corporate shenanigans that went down.

Also I really disliked most of the songs. Mainland Chinese rock that gets to be on TV almost always sounds really weird to me, but this drama has been perhaps the worst offender so far.

Oh I almost forgot, the drama is full of insane product placements.

Read More

I have conflicted feelings about this movie. While I -a fan of the drama- have somewhat enjoyed watching it, it did feel redundant & a bit messy. In all honestly I have extreme doubts that someone who has not seen drama could even understand let alone enjoy this. The plot is about as complicated, if not a bit more so than the original drama's main plot (it's the same with complications basically), but all that is presented in 100 minutes, It's a bit like imagine Back to the Future 1-2-3 as one 100 minute long movie, would we even root for our heroes with that little buildup to the various time travel events that happen there.

Oh well, Wu Bai is still legend & Last Dance is still one of the best songs I have ever heard!

Read More

It's on the cusp of greatness, but the writing has ruined it.

To me it feels like this drama had most of the ingredients to become something really special. Namely, we've had amazing actors and an absolutely amazing production team. With a better writer this could have almost been a Goblin. To me everything outside of the plot is working really really well. The lead couple I think had great chemistry & the actors did a phenomenal job creating some really touching scenes, to some extent letting the audience feel that emotional roller coaster in a good way.

But of course the plot has almost ruined everything. In the comment section I remember reading someone criticizing that most romantic progress in the drama is conveyed by side characters trying to convince the leads that they have something going on. I can kind of agree with that take, the romantic plot just meanders aimlessly, even in the final episode. I cannot believe that anyone would think this show has wrapped up nicely! Is this even a happy ending, is it even an ending, what the heck has happened?
The biggest problem of course is that this is a time travel show and the plot is completely random. Deus ex machina is considered by most people a writing tool that should be used very sparingly if at all, in this drama though it is everywhere. In general it's quite difficult to write a time travel plot that makes sense, oftentimes the audience is expected to turn off their brains, but this is perhaps the least consistent time travel story I have ever witnessed.
Of course the pacing is totally off as well. So much time is wasted on meaningless stuff like that delivery guy's story, but when it comes to important stuff everything is so condensed. For example the title has saved 10000 times in it, then why is that important plot point so rushed , why are the events that led to this standing on such a shallow footing?

The show has a love triangle, it's not a very offensive one, but at the same time the second ML keeps popping up, he confessed in the final episode as well.. I very strongly dislike love triangles, this is close to the limit of what I can still endure.

(This is supposedly an adaptation, but it barely resembles the kdrama & only does so very early on..)

The OST is quite good, the song "慢慢走吧 Man Man Zou Ba - 王梓赫 Ray " is really really great. (you can easily copy paste the Chinese name and find it on Youtube)

Read More

Twins separated under oddly mysterious circumstances is a very popular trope in Chinese pulp novels, as such I was kind of looking forward to watching this, despite knowing full well in advance how bad some of the plot is going to be. As far as this genre goes the setting could have been far worse, it's pretty bad of course, but due to a lack of explanations the parts that are told the audience are honestly not nearly as outlandish that I've seen, or rather I've read before. With that said most of the drama is very enjoyable, the fluffy romance is quite up there, the leads look great together and have good chemistry. While the children are not very skilled child actors compared to what's normal in a cdrama of this budget, they are of course very cute & adorable making the drama even better.

So why is this only a 7?
The big one is that the ML has made some questionable choices that made me dislike the character a little. Also the episodes (4-5) preceding the finale are quite bad, but stuff like this ALWAYS happens in this genre, so I suppose I should've known what's coming.

Can triangle haters watch this?
I think yes, because the ex is only present for a couple of episodes and she is rebuffed with resolve, for me at least this much is bearable.

Read More

A simple and warm show

So basically this is an extremely warm, but at the same time very simple show, which is quite remarkable, when considering the CEO + Cinderella setting. In fact I cannot recall a single other cdrama that was this chill & conflict free during its entire run. (despite the the semi corporate setting)

So why is it not 10/10?
It's true that there are no major flaws, but at the same time the show feels way too lacking in complexity, like a Hallmark romance flick and I'm saying this is an avid Asian drama watcher, without expecting any significant mental exercise. Also it's not just the simplicity, while there were some decent humorous moments, the comedy is not exactly top tier. While the leads do look good together, I've not been entirely sold on the chemistry either.

Well I lied, there is one major annoyance & that is the OST. The "You are part of my life" song is rather horrible & they kept playing it seemingly all the time..

Read More

It's basically a 170 minute long movie.

There is nothing revolutionary about the plot or the narrative, but for a Chinese movie, it's more than just highly unusual. The subject matter & the narrative are both something I would maybe expect from an artsy Korean movie, but never coming from mainland China. This is really a production that is very much like a western indie movie prepared for the festival season..

Anyway, I liked the black comedy & I hugely liked the ending. It's also worth noting how the rather melodramatic events that happen, or get revealed in the drama are presented in a way that makes it very tolerable even for people that hate angsty content. The romance is good & at times borderline magical..

So why is this not 10/10? Well, episode 7's plot with the sister in law is strongly out of place. Black comedy or not, that alone taints the show quite a bit.

Read More

It's a magical show with significant flaws.

Rating this show is extremely difficult. On one hand it's been such a long time since I've seen a kdrama that I enjoyed so much. It kind of recaptures the feeling of some of the greatest kdramas I watched, when I started the Asian drama watching hobby. (Lover from the Star, Secret Garden etc..) However the -2005 era-ish - love triangle is annoying on multiple levels, even though it's not the most frustrating one I have ever seen, it leaves a sour taste in my mouth. Also the writing is not only inconsistent, but also multiple annoying cliches are used, such as falling onto lips, weird relationship contracts, agree to go on 3 dates with the ex, getting filmed by bystanders at an opportune moment etc..

Onto the good things, I think the cast is great, the leads have increasingly great chemistry as we go along & while the special abilities are a bit underutilized, they add a nice flair to the drama. There is a lot of charm going on across the board, it really often feels like I'm watching art, not a technician's work. The office life part of the drama is above average, there are some kdrama specials of course, but it's usually far worse than this.

As for the ending, I detracted an entire point from my rating due to the last two episodes. Up to episode 10, this is a flawed, but very entertaining fluffy romcom, however that's followed by 90 minutes of flashbacks & the big crisis of the drama, this part held very little interest for me & while I was waiting for the inevitable happy ending the last 20 minutes happened. If this was in episode 7 I would have loved it, but before a 10 seconds happy ending? Heck no, what were they thinking? I guess this is what happens, when the production team thinks they don't really need an established writer, since it's a webtoon adaptation. They were mostly right, except the webtoon is ongoing & season 1 ended with a cliffhanger & the writer did not spend enough time to think up a reasonable way to give us closure. Though with adjusted pacing it could have worked, who knows it might be 90% the editing's fault, after all the audience has no idea what ended up getting cut..
Then I again I'm not sure if I blame them, this is a long ongoing trend in kdramas, the production team doesn't care much about the last episode, because it does not influence the drama's success, people already watched the product placements, it's not like you need the audience to come back for another episode, right?

edit: I should give more credit to the writer, yes she has botched the ending somewhat, but the drama's plot is better than the webtoon's in my opinion. (usually the reverse is true, see Secretary Kim, Business Proposal)

Read More