Unnursvana
Iceland
As I said Squid Game was a bit of a typical story from this type of entertainment that you often find in movies from countries like Japan and Korea (like Battle Royal) and for me it was not that original with them and neither did they do something new with this type of narrative. Which may be why there was very little to the story that actually surprised me. even if I really enjoyed watching it. I found it a bit typical and it mainly just reminded me of other such stories that have come before it.
The violence is not for everyone. I can stomach quite a bit of it without it bothering me. I often think the violence in this type of stories goes a little too far but there is a purpose to it in some ways and the story puts a lot of pressure on your endurance as a spectator, because that is the purpose of it. It's hard for the characters, it should be hard on you. You can hardly look away even if you want to and that is one of the traits of these types of stories. And in that Squid Game is very successful.
The story starts off with a bang, but after that is does take it's time to find it's footing but when it manages it toward the middle part the show becomes really binge-able, before taking a slight dip towards the end. The theme of the effects of late stage capitalism and it's grip on our society and the situation that has created among us is very interesting and the story does a good job underlining that.
Really good amount of suspense going on there and some good character moments in between them, although I thought the story never really took full advantage of it's characters as it spent more time on other aspects of the story. It was also a little too noticeable to me that this was written by a man based on how some of the characters were written and it bothered me a bit. I think the choice of actors, who are all great, made the character more interesting than they might be.
I felt the ending was a little too empty which slightly made the ride on this roller-coaster of a story slightly less thrilling. It didn't leave that much behind. I felt I was missing some emotional payoff from the story. I felt like the personal journey was a bit lacking in the end so it didn't stick the landing. And I didn't feel like enough questions were answered in the narrative. It was as if the story was relaying little too much getting another series. And I appreciate kdrams for giving me complete stories in one season.
This is a nine-part gory Korean film. It really felt like it was made with that sort of target audience in mind; those who really enjoy this genre of Korean and Japanese films (as this is one of the most popular genres of Asian films in the west, which I sometimes find a bit sad but I also understand the appeal). It's good gory entertainment and I can see why it is as popular as it is. It's thrilling, violent and addictive while it's going on but it didn't leave me with much in the end except maybe blood and gore.
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This review may contain spoilers
With movies such as Train to Busan (but also another very underrated comedy called Zombie on Sale) and the Kingdom series, South Korea is proving that no one is really doing the zombies as well and them right this moment. Ashin of the North is not the much anticipated third series of this hugely popular kdrama Kingdom, but a kind of prequel to a character we will get to know better in the third series. When we get to do that we will have to wait a bit more to find out.Ashin is dark, not only in terms of it’s story and the subject matter of the story, but also in how it was shot. There were scenes, that were supposed to take place at night, where I did not see properly. That got on my nerves, but nothing that completely ruined the story for me or anything.
Personally, I would have liked to get a good three episode arc from Ashin and not this one and a half hour movie that we got. I thought the story was a bit hasty in parts and maybe a bit rushed in the first half and I really would have wanted a whole episode just to set things up and spend more time with the characters. Really explore the people’s actions and the consequences that came with that later in the story. And I would have liked more screen-time with the adult Ashin and her thirst and drive for revenge.
Getting a good two episodes where more character focus and a nicer buildup to the escalating tension would have been nice. Because I felt it was a little lacking. And I was expecting more of a connection to the previous season of Kingdom and perhaps more answers regarding the plant that is the root of this all. There was not much information we were getting from this story in my opinion.
Except for Ashin’s revenge of course, which will come to play later on. The revenge and how it all comes about is still a really cool and interesting, dark plot twists and what I enjoyed the most within the story. It wasn’t until that section came about where the story caught my attention.
Ashin is dark and thrilling in parts so if you’re just going into this to experience some excitement and a bit of zombie horror then Ashin manages to be completely satisfying. Maybe Ashin falls into the trap, like the first series Kingdom did for me, of being just an introduction or the beginning of something and not telling a whole story. Perhaps I will not really manage appreciate its genius until I finally see the third series and where the story will take the character of Ashin and the conclusion it might give to that story.
If Ashin was supposed to be something to quench my thirst for the third series, then I did not think it managed that as well as it hoped, although it is very good entertainment and a thrilling ride with some good twists. I just wanted a better buildup to things and character work. Had fun watching it though. Just didn’t leave as much as I wanted behind.
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The drama wastes no time and the plot starts immediately. It manages to introduce us to the characters and show us the dynamics between them as the plot moves along at a brisk pace, before slowing down a bit towards the middle. The first half of the drama focuses a lot on the characters and their relationships. You are drawn into the story through them. The characters are all rather well ingrained in the story and well-rounded.
I enjoyed seeing a story about the common people and people outside the palace. We don’t get a whole lot of that in sageuks. I could watch them just do the dishes and chat and do the housework for about twenty episodes I think. This small, quiet home life and everything that came with it was one of the strongest parts and the charm of this very character-driven drama.
The romance here so incredibly slow and full of yearning and longing. It’s not going to be for everyone, but for me it actually hit a really sweet spot. This is also such a well executed fake marriage and found family trope. Even though the drama is constantly separating the main couple, or they do not express their love very much and the wait for the kiss is very long, it never seems too forced and you can really feel the love between the main characters even though they do nothing but look at each other with mellow eyes.
I must admit that I have not been this enthralled by a romance in a drama as much for a long time. Most of the time I like, or enjoy the romance. But there is something about this longing and yearning and kindness that is between these characters that completely makes me melt. It does something for me. I just did not get enough of the main couple. Longing and yearning and this rather quiet love is something I really enjoy.
Jung Il Woo really suits sageuks and Yuri is really good in this role. This is her best acting performance to date. There is a really good spark and chemistry between them and I think the character they play feel sort of refreshing in this genre. Although there some side characters who feel like these typical sageuk characters the actors (as well as the script) managed to make them fun and interesting. Soo Kyung is really prim and proper in her demeanor who wishes everyone well but she was never put in the background or anything, like a lot of female character do in their sageuks. The story was just as much about her as it was about Ba Wu.
The romance is slow burn, but the story also feels a bit slow and has a habit of repeating itself a bit, or it goes back and forth a bit, but it’s also such a character-driven narrative so it feels like normal progression within the story. And I think it has something to do with how good the character are and that you understand the reason for their actions. The story seems to flow with them and their decisions rather than the character moving as the story wants them to.
Towards the middle the drama goes that traditional ‘we have to go to the capital’ route which does crop up all the time in sageuks that takes place in the countryside. It tends to dampen the story a bit and give the viewers something completely different than the story seemed to promise, but personally I found that change in Bossam rather natural and although the story focuses a little more on the palace politics in the second half of the drama I felt it never completely takes over the story or comes out of the blue.
I felt it was nice mix of the very slow-burn romance of the main characters, their home life and then the politics that is there to add a more more drama into the story. Personally, though, I’m rather fond of palace politics so it could have an effect on my enjoyment of that portion of the story.
Bossam could very well end up being my favorite drama this year. From the romance, to the cute found family and a really cool character-driven story that never went too far ahead of itself or was trying to be bigger or more impressive than it was, it managed to tick so many boxes from me. I really enjoyed following these characters. It seemed so mature and down to earth and there was something pretty classic-sageuk about it. This is a sageuk drama that I had been waiting for for a long time.
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The drama actually sounds as crazy as it sounds on paper and yet I don’t think the description does it justice. Usually, I do not like such makjang type dramas or over the top soap opera style shows, but here it is done with so much humor and skill so instead of getting on my nerves I got this weird mix of soap opera, thriller, and comedy and then a group of weird, flawed and morally gray characters. It is a weird mix, but it works surprisingly well together. There is a good balance between all these different factors, and it makes quite a cohesive story.
Despite all the laughs and the absurdity that the drama throws at us, it never seems as if it is mocking the story or this soap opera world that is had crafted around it. It’s more playing with it and really take advantage of it. The show takes itself quite seriously with it tone, and yet it does not because it’s main goal seems to be making the most entertaining story, and achieving that is not easy. It’s shows a certain strength within the story and the vision the people behind it had. And that shines quite clearly within the story and makes Vincenzo quite stylish.
The story goes in circles a bit. Sometimes things just seem to happen just because the story needs them to happen just for it to move forward. Some things feel too convenient but the show seems to be very aware of it that you kinda don’t question it too much. It feels wonderfully self-aware of it’s genre, which also helps you suspend your disbelief and keeps you thoroughly entertained while even the most convenient plot points are happening. The story sort of manages to be logical within this small world it has created.
It plays with the soap opera formula and the clichés that comes with those stories and tales of the mafia, to take the story and comedy to another level, making things more exciting, crazier, without making fun of it. It has all done to entertain us or to provoke sort of reaction out of the audience.
But I think it is the characters that really make this show what it is. They are just so fun or interesting! Every single character, whether they are supporting characters or not, have their own quirks and darker sides, although to varying degrees. They are all quite ridiculous and complex in their own way.
Our hero Vincenzo is more of an anti-hero and even the antagonist gets some nuances and quirks that even if you sort of hated them you also enjoyed watching them. I have personally not enjoyed a villain in a kdrama this much for quite some time. They brought so much tension, drama, and comedy into the show that I was almost more excited to see what they would do more than our protagonist.
The same goes with the supporting cast. I enjoyed every scene, every little side-plot that they had going on, which does not always happen. Sometimes they feel like fillers to extend the story for no good reason, but here the supporting characters get to control both the humor of the episodes but also the heart of the show. They all felt important, flawed, and interesting in their own way. They are not just comic-relief,
The romance in Vincenzo is slow and never takes over much of the story itself, although it is very often lingering in the background and the drama is always alluding to it. However, it is never the center of the drama. It is not the main story or focus, and I have to say for my part I am usually fonder of a slow-burning romance and that really worked well here with everything else going on. I love some good pining and longing because the character does not want to admit that they are in love or have not realized it. And there was more than enough of that in Vincenzo. Both are learning to trust others and become good people. Although no one is really a good person in this show.
Do I feel like the drama could gave allowed Chae Young to save herself a little more instead of always having Vincenzo come and save the day and the drama itself had a tendency to rely a little too much on the charm and the visuals of Song Joongki for my taste. It became a bit too repetitive after a while.
Vincenzo is a style of kdrama that I rarely see. And although it contains many basics of soap opera storytelling and other types of kdramas out there, I feel it does stand out because I have never quite seen this mixture before. No matter what the drama did it was always exciting to see what happened next and it always kept me surprised even though I thought the story went in some circles and brushed over certain things along the way. I never felt like they truly ran out of ideas to entertain me and entertain me it certainly did. It never really dealt all its cards.
Vincenzo is not flawless, but it is a hell of a good time. There is always this tension within it, you kept on wondering what would happen next, what these characters would do. You have no know what is going to happen. There is always a lot going on and so much high drama, such high stakes, yet still always so filled with humor. It was a real roller coaster ride from start to finish.
Vincenzo grabbed me completely and did not want to let me go until the very end. I have not enjoyed a kdrama and the discussions that took place around this much it for some time now. And that is what I will take from it; it was just pure fun. It was pure entertainment for me.
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The tone here is warm, quiet and down to earth and the story itself is not very grand, as it would not fit the story that this drama is trying to say, and yet it truly grabbed me right away. There is a certain softness and wholesomeness that this story just exudes. It radiates warmth and kindness. There was always something so pleasant and comforting about tuning into this show every week and the message of chasing your dreams no matter where you are in life, and it’s never to late to try is beautiful.
Navillera is a really character-driven and character-focus story as we just follow these people throughout their daily-lives and their interactions with each other. There’s really nothing I’ve not seen before here. It’s a simple setup; Two very different individuals need to work together and somehow they were just what the other one needed. One character is cold and closed-off, the other is not. You’ve seen it before so many times, but it works, and the drama never seems boring despite the fact that you sort of know the story that’s being told because it has so much heart and tells the story well.
Chae Rok’s relationship with this grandfather that he has been tasked to teaches ballet is so wonderful and pulls at your heart every step of the way. Deok Chool is one of most adorable and wholesome character I’ve ever watched. He’s the heart of the show and wow what a big heart it is. Their relationship and Deok Chool’s determination to chase his dreams is going to make you get misty-eyed every episode of this show.
Song Kang and Park In Hwan do such a good job in these roles, although it is the latter who really carries the show on his shoulders, as his character is the heart of the show. They are both so sincere here though and that really shines through. All of the actors on this show do an amazing job to bring these fully fleshed characters to life. I felt like I understood everyone, why they did what they did and their attitude towards life, whether I liked them or not.
Often I feel like these types of dramas tend to drag on for a bit or the story isn’t big enough for the drama itself, not enough history to be to fill in all the episodes but Navillera uses it’s time really well and never really drags on. It rather chugs steadily on while focusing on the character and their relationship in a really sincere way. And it certainly helps that Navillera is only 12 episodes, but not the usual 16, like kdramas tend to be.
There are certain things that I found predictable within the story, especially as it descends into the latter half and the stakes rise a little bit, but it never got on my nerves and I never found it too bleak. It sometimes filled me up melancholy but because the drama set all of these things up really well these things never came out of nowhere. I was prepared. And there is a certain string of hope that persists within the story despite the lingering sadness that was present within the story. Hope always seems to shine through.
The story may be a little standard, a bit after the book at times, but I can not fault the drama because of it because it set everything up very well, it builds up to things, it lays all the groundwork, the character were good, everything that happened seemed earned and not just randomly thrown into the story. It was the story it wanted to be. Plus, the story has a huge heart. So even though I always sort of knew where it was heading. Everything somehow came together really nicely. I got pretty much everything I wanted and expected from this, which was satisfying. It’s like a good home-cooked meal that your mom makes. You get what you expected, but it’s nice.
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Whether we need this gender-swap to tell the story I am on the fence about. I think but that the story could have worked well enough if the main character was just a woman from the 21st century. Sometimes it seemed to me that they were brushing over things that should have underlined the struggle that a person who is not in that time, not in their body, would deal with. And I don’t think this is the radical or feminist take that some might have wanted about of women or the gender. But I also don’t think the drama ever intended to be a big commentary on society or gender roles. It just wanted to be a comedy sageuk with a twist.
I liked pretty much all the female characters in the drama for different reason. There was a range of characters and even the more comic relief ones had more to their roles than just that. Most of my favorite moments in the show had something to do with the main character’s friendship with their maids as well as the mutual respect that existed between them.
The sort of regular, everyday life of the court, especially for the women in the highest positions, was something I enjoyed too. Those moments are usually more in the background in these dramas. And I found the humor mostly revolved around that; life in the palace, the people who worked there, a little bit about politics and power struggle, but also the fact that the main characters was from another time period and how that person did things differently from the others and the conflicts that created. Much more than the actual gender-swap. Which is why I think we didn’t need it.
It took a while for the drama to mix the humor with the more serious tones of the drama that boosted the suspense in the story. The humor that led the drama in the beginning, but the more political bits never felt too jarring to me. And after a few episodes I felt like they managed to mix those two elements well enough so they worked together.
Despite some complaints about the politics taking up too much time, Mr. Queen was always a comedy and manages to keep the humor up throughout the drama, despite the politics and all the power struggles taking place. But even in the darkest, most tensest moments the show always manages to mix in lighter and funnier moments in. I never felt like the overall tone of the show dropped, or that it become too heavy. The humor never dried up and the story never became too dreary.
Many people do not like the high stakes, which never feel that high compared to other such period dramas, or the politics and just want the romance and the comedy. But personally I think dramas like these could not keep the story going with just funny moments and no politics. There have to be stakes and in the palace stakes comes with political maneuvering. Most stories are based on some kind of tension, risk and conflict.
The conflict here comes out in subtle fights for power, very under the table political tactics to, shifting of allies and clashes between several powerful clans within the Joseon era. But those conflicts never took over the whole story. It is the usual shenanigans that you usually see in these period dramas, but just a bit more woman focused, which I enjoyed a lot. How the women used their power and manipulated the court and people around them. The king has his focus as well, but the is surrounded by really smart, calculating women.
Overall I felt like Mr. Queen was a pretty standard period drama that tried to have a little bit of a different angle on things, that just aimed to be very fun and entertaining. It never took itself that seriously, but I also didn’t think it was saying that much either, although criticizing society through comedy is what the genre is sort of made for. Yet the light-hearted spirit that was always persistent through the drama, the character and just the amazing performance of Shin Hye Sun, made Mr. Queen overall a really easy and entertaining show to watch.
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There was a bit of a superhero-feeling to this all, which I always found really fun to watch. It was the right amount of cool and camp in my opinion and I like how the show never felt like it was trying to be super serious, while also never feeling tacky or just odd. And I always admire it when a show manages that, because I feel like that is the right type of tone for a story like this. It gripped me completely from the first minutes. The plot is nicely paces, there is nice suspense within in the story, although it drags a bit towards the end, but there are countless questions and cliffhanger moments that come up in each episode that always made me excited for the next one.
I did feel like the show did drag a bit or loose some steam when it focused to heavily on the crime and human corruption of the show, rather than the supernatural problems of the characters. For a drama about people capturing evil spirits I wanted them to capture more evil spirit and for that too have a more central role within the story than it did.
Although the drama did a good job with mixing the characters conflicts, their backstories of the characters, with the main story, I also felt like I had seen that type of story play out a bit too often and there could have been more balance between the crime plot and the quest for fighting evil spirits.
There was a lot more crime in there than I would have wished for, but I can not say that I was bored while watching it. The story has it’s momentum, I could never really guess where is was going. It has a good pace, and there was always a bit of humor and a lot of cool action to go along with it with some really loveable characters that you just can’t help but love. This drama has a lot of good things (action, humor and heart) and does those things really well.
Our main character are true underdogs, and you really do feel for them. They made me tear up several times. Especially So Mun and personal quest and his connection to his new superpowers. He really does grow with it. It may all be a bit typical for a story like this one, but it works really well.
All the main characters are deep, with their own flaws and strengths. They frustrate you, yet you love them and feel so much with them. And I found the evil spirit, their main rival apart from the evil politicians and corrupt police officers, really well crafted. I just really like that aspect of the show. That was why I tuned into it and why I continued on watching it.
The love and affection between all the characters is just wonderful. It’s overflowing with heart; whether it’s the love that So Mun has for his grandparents and vice versa, his friends from school and then the little family that the Counters have. This little found family really touched my whole heart, it’s one of my favorite tropes and I love it when it’s done right, and made me shed tears many times throughout the drama. There’s just a really good heart in this story.
The Uncanny Counter is just a lot of fun. I feel like it sort of threads this path of being familiar and yet unique enough that it feels fresh and exciting. There is suspense and humor and heart at the core of each and every episode, and the cast is super loveable and tug at your heartstrings a lot and which is the true strength of the drama. That found family aspect and the friendship and love between the main characters. It talks a lot about human greed and corruptions and how that feeds the evil spirits and vice versa, which does sometimes feel a bit heavy handed, but the plot is well paced and exciting, so I never got bored, and there is a really good underdog story there that makes it all worthwhile.
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This is not some Cinderella tale, where the rich guy falls or the poor girl or anything like that, and while I often like those dramas a lot, it was also so refreshing to get something like this one, where the characters were just normal people and we just follow them through their young adult life. After the drama I truly felt honored to have been able to see them grow as humans.
I was truly amazed by the fact how nostalgic it felt, and how it evoked that nostalgia within me, despite the cultural and the time differences, that I had from this drama. I was feeling not only nostalgia for those universal things like; your first crush, your first day at school after the summer, first idol band you liked (granted, I was never that kind of kpop fan, like Shi Won, but then again I never lived in Korea, where these kpop idols where, with that type of idol culture), while also nostalgic over time that I had never experienced. And that connection, that nostalgia and that coming of age aspects of the story made me weep like I have never weeped before.
The drama may have been set in ‘97, but the story feels sort sort of timeless, even if we didn’t grow up or were around Sung Shi Won or Yoon Yoon Jea’s age in '97. Throughout the drama I found myself saying this to myself; god this drama speaks to me. It perfectly describes emotions that I had felt when I was a teenager and even beyound that. That age where you feel like you could where you put everything on the line for the smallest of things like a boy band or something. A more naïve and innocent times.
It’s a story about you first love, about your first heartbreak and just about growing up, but so much of it is just about friendship. There is so much heart and soul in this drama and it hits such a sweet spot, at least for me, which makes Answer me '97 is quite a unique drama. It was just so original and wonderful. And it has had such an impact of this more slice-of-life, coming of age type stories in kdramas.
It was just this little show produced by the cable network TvN that just became so big and so successful. It just fills us with empathy (or sympathy) and nostalgia. I felt like the writer(s) of the drama understood what it had been like, being a teenager, just like I feel like a lot of adults forget what it is like to be with all those hormones and emotions and can’t therefor quite catch those feelings when they try to talk to you or write about it.
The later half was much more about the supposed lover-triangle. I did feel like they did a good job on it and I felt like they did keep us guessing for the most part throughout the drama. It was wearing a little tiresome by the end, but I didn’t feel like it ruined the story or anything. But I always got the sense that the people involved knew what kind of story they wanted to tell so they didn’t go overboard with the story, so it become too crazy or just fell flat. It just hit that sweet spot.
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The story of Miho (Gumiho) and her earnest quest to become human really got to me, as well as the tone and the humor of the story. I was hooked from episode one. The story and the characters were quirky and intriguing and I just couldn’t get enough and that feeling sort of stayed there or just grew even more as I continued to watch the drama.
It was pretty solid in the acting and the writing department, the leads were really likeable and it was just very cute and fun to watch. I had such a good time with it, it felt breezy, with some fun fantasy elements thrown in there, and some fluff; which is honestly what I require from a rom-com such as this. I don’t think it dragged too much. Some might say it’s far fetched, I think it fitted with the fantasy elements of the story.
I even liked the comic-relief characters, which doesn’t always happen. They do tend to annoy me and just be in the way of the main story or the main couple and sometimes I just get bored with it, but I think the Hong sisters usually do a good job writing them as quite the likeable characters with their own story that you can get invested it, while also making them fit well into the main story.
The problem on the other hand are often the second leads, which they use more as props to add tension to the plot, or as obstacles to the main couple. They aren’t that well developed and one of the few negatives I will give this drama.
I really liked the humor here, which doesn’t surprise me since I also really liked You’re Beautiful and My Girl. The humor that the Hong sisters use just clicks with me, I guess. There were some good laugh out loud moments for me (and as someone who rarely laughs out loud that’s something), and even when the drama goes a bit more dramatic toward the end, there are always some cute, heartfelt or chuckle worthy scenes in every episode
The main couple was super cute, the chemistry there was off the charts, and I quite liked the journey they had about learning to be become more human together, since Dae Woong’s grandpa refers to Dae Woong as non-human at one point because he is lazy and always up-to-no-good and he really matures throughout the series and Miho learns how to be human and what that is like, as she is a mythological creature. She is one of my favorite kdrama heroines.
I am not too familiar with the Gumiho myth, but I also feel like they handled the fantasy elements or how they corporates it into the story without it being over the top, too bizarre or creepy (I’m looking at you, Twilight), even if she is what 500 years older than him.
My Girlfriend is a Gumiho sort of just manages to do all of that for me, so I am very happy with it. It really tucked at my heartstrings, it was cute and fun and had some heart and humor, and overall I just enjoyed my time watching it. I even watched some of it even when it wasn’t completely subbed, on Viki, just because I couldn’t get enough of it and I just wanted to watch it sooner rather than later. I even watched it again a few years ago and I still bawled my eyes out when it ended, because I just loved it and the characters so much.
The Hong sisters haven’t always delivered such amazing show for me after the holy trinity that is My Girl, You’re Beautiful and then My Girlfriend is a Gumiho, but when they are good they are goooood.
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It was also just the drama that I needed at the time. It was such an escape, since I wasn’t feeling that great mentally and then Dream High gave me something fun and cute to watch every week and something to look forward to. It became my feel-good drama and I have watched it a few times through since then and it just makes me smile.
Despite the acting not being top tier in every aspect of this show, Kim Soo Hyun may have carried it a bit on his shoulders and his characters is in a lot of ways the very heart of the story, or the biggest heart, and it does have some great actors in the supporting roles as teachers and other adults (and then JYP is just JYP). And I feel like each and every character fit the idol that was playing it, and they found some really creative ways with getting around those more stiff acting moments from the cast (many who were acting for the first time here) so it never truly bothered me too much. I was too busy having fun with it.
It’s that standard underdog story that you know and love, but it just did it so well and it hit all the right spots (at least for me). There were some great character moments, there was actual character developments and plot developments going on there, it was not just for fluff or just to promote some kpop groups, It manages all of that while also being a completely great, fun and easy to watch, coming of age story. It was a great fun.
Some actual thought went into this story, which made me really fun to watch. it didn’t drag a lot or at all and it didn’t suddenly become bad or anything. It was quite consistent though it did become a bit more dramatic toward the end but it was still cute.
I cared so much about the characters; both the teachers and the students and I just wanted them to do well and fall in love (there were some great couples there, my favorite being the Milky Couple) and just be happy. And unlike a whole lot of kdramas, this one kinda made me guess which lead the main heroine would end up with. Like, I was worried there for a second. I usually always figure it out quite early.
This is a kdrama for kpop fans. I feel like this is a kdrama that you make someone watch to get them into kpop, or vise versa. The way they incorporated the dancing, the singing and the music into the story, without shoehorning it in and making it just be there as filler, was excellent. There was a real emotion there when these people sang their songs, and actual stakes to the performances. And then also some really funny inside jokes if you follow kpop. It just had a really good mix of kpop and kdrama elements.
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This drama is all about the characters and their relationships, how the grow as a human being and so on. The real heart of it all is Yeo Woon and Baek Dong Soo’s friendship (or more depending how you read into it).Their relationship is the core of the drama and what makes it quite addiction to watch I must say. There is a lot of bromance, a whole lot of angst, some pretty people in pretty period clothes and some fun action and sword fighting scenes. There are some cutting of limbs and blood so maybe it isn’t for people who don’t like that or find that triggering but I honestly didn’t find it so bad. If anything I found it a bit too over the top and comical at times.
The angst is a blessing and a cure, as it can be a bit frustrating and repetitive, but the way Yoo Seung Ho does it is so good and even if you don’t agree with Yeo Woon or what he is doing or saying (no one is destined to be evil my boy) you can totally empathies with it, but I also think it’s because Yoo Seung Ho did such a good job with the character. He made the drama what it was! He is the angst in this drama and this drama is very heavy on the angst.
And I think that’s the case for a lot of the characters in the story, it’s the actors that make you like them, not the writing, which doesn’t do that good of a job (especially for the minor characters and the main female lead) to draw these characters out or give them consistent motivations. Some of them were as interesting as a dry brick wall, especially if the actor playing that characters wasn’t up to par.
There is a nice contrast and parallels between Dong Soo and Yeo Woon, and you can also see similar things in their relationship with each of their mentors, the Sky Lord and the Sword Saint. And it that aspect, and the angst, I think the writing did do a good job, while it severely lacked in others. I find it hard to comment on the political maneuvering and the intrigue, because this is an edited version of an old review I did back in the day and back then I did not really care or pay attention to these things as I did now. But it never really stood out to me, in my memory, for being super fun or that interesting to watch.
But I also don’t think it tried super hard with that. I think it was just suppose to be a fun action drama, with some lovable characters, and you just need to sprinkle in some politics for some extra tension in the story. It’s there but it’s never super heavy ether. And it sort of succeeded at that. It was just fun, for the most part; Angsty, but entertaining.
The story did start to drag a bit towards the end, and it did that classic kdrama thing (which isn’t as much of a thing anymore) where it got extended and the writers just had to find new angst and new things to fill in that hole that was created, which didn’t help it at all. It might have made the finale the way it became, which I will say has left some scars, so I don’t go into spoilers. Did I eat upp all that angst and all the drama and tears and whatnot that the writer did through at me though? well yes… I did. I just wanted to see more of Yeo Woon and Baek Dong Soo.
Yet, despite some flaws in the writing I can’t help but note how incredibly hooked I was watching this, how much fun I had and how many emotions I felt while watching this show. It made me the Yoo Seung Ho fangirl that I am today. I will always give Warrior Baek Dong Soo credit for that and for just taking me on a journey that I never got tired of the whole way through. It was also the start of my love and interest in sageuk dramas. It’s such a starting point for me. And I think it might be a good starting point for other people. Because it’s not super complex or super deep, and it’s mainly just about the friendship between these two dudes, and I don’t think it was trying to be anything other than that in the end.
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I am a big fan of when a story or a show can turn a cliché or a story you think you have seen so many times and make something new with it. Because even if this drama is just a high-school story at its core, with a really cliché love story in the background, there was just something fresh about it. It offered a different perspective on this type of story, different angle, which I just enjoyed so much.
There was this warmth that came with it. It was sweet, cozy feeling that was always there, it was light and fun throughout it all, no matter what clichés and troubles were thrown towards our main characters. And that is in large parts thanks to the characters that we followed throughout this whole story. They really made it their own. Cozy and sweet are the words I would without doubt use to describe this drama. Like a quiet summer evening just before the air started to cool and the world just seems to stand still for a moment. That was sort of the feeling this drama evoked in me.
Eun Dan Oh is just such a gem. I love her so. She is so true to herself. She is such a determined and cool character, and you feel so much for her and her quest to get to be herself. She just wants to live and be herself and be happy. Her shine was never diminished to focus on any love triangle or the boy’s story while she just floats on by until they need her. No, Dan Oh is absolutely the main character here, just like she is the main character in her life. She is this show's center through and through.
Meanwhile, all those clichéd things I would expect from a show like this one; the love triangles with these typical characters that came with that, the poor girl, the rich boys, the annoying mothers-in-law, that was all in the background. It moved the story along, but it was not the center focus. And I thought that take on it was such a brilliant thing. And how the character we were focusing on went in and out of the comic story while having their own emotions and views, and their own story aside from all that was so well done.
And by having a rather typical romantic story where you can almost see where it's going before it starts, if you've watched kdrama (or read shoujo mangas) in the background you could both avoid following it in the main story, as well as the play around with it to suit the main story and take advantage of it in a rather original way. And I think that made the drama so enjoyable to watch. Because this was something a bit classic that you knew, yet it was not totally what you knew. There was something different and new about it. And the characters were so wonderful and so vivid. They were allowed to step outside the box that was given to them or the ones we have come to expect from this type of story in a way.
Because the characters that Dan Oh meets and forms a friendship with can also avoid some of these clichés that you expect. The boys who would normally have been cast as the second leads against the coldhearted boy with a sad backstory who warms up to the world when the poor girl shakes his world a bit. They are the ones who are in the lead role here, except with a much greater personality and I just thought that was so neat. I enjoyed it so much. This drama was just so sweet, but not sickly sweet.
There were times when I thought it was getting a bit repetitive and there are certain things that did drag on for some time. But those dragged out and repetitive moments almost felt so typical to a story like this that I thought it might be done deliberately. The world in the drama is quite well thought out in my opinion.
There were times where I could see where the drama was heading but that never really got on my nerves. You could always see the authors intent for it. I was also just enjoying myself so much that I just let the drama carry me with it. I thoroughly enjoyed watching this drama. I let it consume me for three and a half days, and I am not usually a binge-watcher. But I just could not stop watching it.
I found it so sweet and cozy and fun. I loved the relationship of the main couple, I loved the friendship between the characters, I loved our main characters and her search for herself and her freedom and the freedom of those around her. I cried so much over the last two episodes, mainly because I just loved these characters so damn much and something about the story just moved me. And it has been a while since a kdrama has done that. And this is somehow not a story I expected to cry over, because it actually always managed to be rather light and fun even if the stakes were raised a bit.
At its core this is a very ordinary high school drama about love and friendship and finding yourself. The drama just does a lot of things really well. It is not perfect, but it is so sweet and with a huge heart behind it that makes you fall in love with it and it takes you on a journey. And it is just so nice to watch a story, or read a story that you know quite well, is a bit of a cliché but that you know you can enjoy if done well, and it is done really well. With a slightly new touch. And that is what this drama is.
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The story is dramatic and a bit of a tragedy at times (it's a melodrama after tell) and sometimes that does tire me out and after a while I tune out a a show like that towards the end and there are certain clichés like memory loss and evil rich parents and so on within the story that would a lot of times make me sigh. But Flower of Evil did somewhat manage to use those types of things to their advantage or do something interested with it that I didn't initially groan whenever those type of things happened.
The only real criticism I could sort of think of was that their child was almost just used as a plot device at times and if not the is conveniently with her grandma so her parents can run around doing whatever they need to do at night.
The story is very well layered and I could not predict non of the actions of the characters or what was going to happen for most of the story. Especially Baek Hee Sung, and Lee Jun Ki is really pulling one of his best performances here. I could not agree with every decision he did (he is a bit of a noble idiot at times) I could always understand where he was coming from and could see his reasons behind everything that he did. He, just like every other character, was just very well realized and well crafted. Non of the things that happened just felt like they were being done to drag the story.
The way the story talked about and explored his trauma and how it effected him as a child and as an adult and just his whole personal journey was really well done. They never really brushed over anything, they never slowed down or dumb down anything or any action that any of the characters did. The drama always felt very smart and well thought out.
The story was filled with suspense and mystery so you never really could tell where it was going. There were so many times I thought the drama was running out of story and it would start dragging it's feet a bit. But no, it just threw another cliff-hanger at you.
The romance worked surprisingly well within the story. I thought it might feel out of place or clash with the more thriller side of the story. But it and just the characters quest to feel love and belong somewhere and the tenderness of it all really was the heart of that story.
The story is dramatic, and emotional and packs a punch in all the right ways. It's not going to be for everyone and some kdramas definitely go over the top with it. But Flower of Evil does not feel like one of those dramas despite how dramatic it can be. Because it's used to well, it's never predictable, it fits with the story the drama is telling and it feels so earned.
I got a lot of enjoyment and emotions out of watching the show. Much more than I ever thought that I would. I had my worries about it being very predictable and just a bit boring but just like I could never really predict where the story was going to take me I could not predict how much I ended up liking this show. I was at the edge of my seat pretty much the whole time.
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The story in Train to Busan has a good heart with the father-daughter thing at its core. You really do care about those characters while also just being amazing action-horror with a really simple yet effective story that is incredibly fun to watch. And it is really re-watchable.
It was always going to be hard topping that movie and I knew the sequel would never truly manage to live up to it. But I was very hopeful and when I went to the cinemas to see it I was just hoping to have a really fun time.
Peninsula is not Train to Busan in any sense. It does not even come close. It has none of the charms of the first movie and it just feels like it's trying too hard to seem bigger and better, when the simplicity of Train to Busan and the whole movie just taking place in a very limited space was what really made the movie work and gave it that charm and this urge to survive that was really earnest and intense. Peninsula just wanted to much, with the action and the CGI but it totally lacked the story for me. As well as the characters.
The story, what is supposed to be the driving force of the movie and the thing that hook us (and not just people shooting zombies), just wasn't strong enough. Or really that good. It almost didn't feel like it was about anything as we follow so many characters that don't get a chance to shine in an over bloated story as they get limited screen time due to everything else that's also happening, or get that much depth so we actually care about them.
And sure, the movie tries super hard to queue up those emotional scenes that it had and did well in the first movie. But the problem is that none of it really feels earned because we have not spent enough time with a lot of these characters and therefor it just all falls flat. It feels like the movie is telling me to feel sad, while not actually putting in the work of making me sad.
There were some actions scenes that I really thought were cool and fun to watch. But after a while they just feel a bit too much or just the same. It is just people driving cars fast at zombies or shooting them with guns. And my issue with that sort of action might just be that I really do not like guns and I find it really boring to watch people just relentlessly shooting people (or undead people) with them.
People trying to kill each other with swords, magic, or some sort of superpowers? yes, can watch that again and again. But something about people shooting each other like they did here in Peninsula gives me no thrill. I just feel bored.
Train to Busan really made it all about survival and people just being desperate to survive and using whatever they could on that train to do so. This one does not manage that at all. Possibly because the scope of it all was too big. The action to felt so empty. And I know that there is only so much you can do with zombies, but Train to Busan showed us how it could be done. I have seen other movies were people really make that work, while also telling human stories along the way, while Peninsula was just a big blockbuster action-horror and nothing else. It was just made to make money.
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The Cursed use their story structure really well and everything flows together quite well, as well as having really interesting and likeable characters that you really root for. The story here is slower and more suspenseful, with a focus on the mystery of these curses and maybe not as action packed you might hope after hearing Train to Busan. But there is also a decent amount of horror there. Some gory, some more atmospheric.
Korea loves their evil spirits and ghosts in their horror I have noticed over the year, so a lot of the things that I saw in The Cursed was not necessarily new to me. But there is nothing wrong with using the genre and people’s expectations to your advantage and you do not always have to invent the wheel so to speak with every story. Sometimes you can just take a well-known path and do something interesting with it. Which The Cursed did, even if it became a bit repetitive towards the end.
I like horror so a lot of the gorier stuff doesn’t actually bother me, so The Cursed did not make me want to cover my eyes in any way. The gory bits were used for a specific purpose here and rather sparingly and maybe not only as shock value - although it's a bit shocking at first.
But what I liked the most about this drama was not the horror elements, but rather the characters and the dynamic between them. That is what really stood out to me.
The found family aspect of the story really tug at my heartstrings. I love the mother-daughter relationship that Im Jin Hee and Baek So Jin had and that was truly the heart of the show. Seeing these two ladies work together and care for each other while solving horror mystery together was the reason why I liked this show so much. It was just so sweet to see how much So Jin looked up to this older woman, which was probably the very first mother figure that she has had in her life in a long time.
I also liked that that Im Jin Hee did not have any love-lines, as that would not have worked in the drama. Well she has a love-line, but she is already married to the guy so that kind of relationship does not take the forefront of the show. Would I have liked to see more exploration of that relationship as the story progressed? Yes, I would have. But what we got was nice. It is nice to see a married couple work together in a kdrama.
Their main antagonist, the evil CEO, was not the most original or compelling character ever. But he still served his purpose. In a sea of complex and interesting characters, many of which get to be more than black and white, it is alright to have one that is just kind of evil for evils sake sort of.
The Cursed is a bit of a procedural drama, which is not really my cup of tea and those bits of the story were probably my least favorite. But they did tie into the story quite well and overall, the story became a bit repetitive towards the end. But it had a heart and some good character and enough horror to keep me happy.
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