Almost there, but not quite Meet Yourself

I had such high hopes.

This show started off and continued in such a beautiful classy mature way. I celebrated. Finally he was bringing us another Meet Yourself… however, that was not to be the case.

Don’t get me wrong. There is so much beauty in this script. Both his profession and her physical situation are unique. Both new to any drama I’ve seen before. The music, stunning.

The cast is stellar. The chemistry is perfect.

The script however- was churning along nicely, with the tensions, the slow burn development. It is heavy at times. Emotional. Tears will be shed. The relationship progresses despite the issues both of the leads are dealing with. The barriers start to break down. We see growth, and so you hope that we will continue to see them figure out communication skills, honesty and maturity.

Instead the writers take a massive leap backwards and drug this show into such a stupid place.

For a show like this that is not your a-typical cdrama romance of cold CEO, poor childish FL with every trope under the sun… you’d “hope” they could have modeled REAL relationship skills. Show the audience what dealing with complexities that affect your future actually looks like. Instead the FL just appears like she has had zero growth ARC the previous 75% of the show. The selfishness and inabilty to make ML a real part of the decision making progress is unbelievable and quite frankly, if we hadn’t been so close to the end, I think I may have quit, it is that bad.

I was so disappointed. Please don’t do this. There would have been a climax to the beauty of the show we have been captivated with thus far. We could have said “yes girl, thats how you do it!”. Instead I was ready to throw my shoes at the TV.

It ends ok.

It has a Marvel ending. Stay for the end of the credits. ?

Read More

Loved the OST, the toxicity not so much

Pros:
• Kisses/Chemistry of Leads
• 2ML for 98% of the time
• OST - wish I knew the name of that main song
• FL parents are so green flag

Cons
• Script - it gets beyond childish the further progresses
• Everyone in the except the 5 mentioned above
• Toxic plot of adopted siblings in delulu one sided romance with other sibling. Raised together as siblings. Thats GROSS. China, do better.
• Adult actors being forced to act like 6 yrs olds, with tantrums, manipulation and unending drama
• Plot repeats itself multiple times, same plan by baddies. Clearly the writers had nothing fresh
• Starts out tropey but fun and plenty of hope for a nice sweet cdrama journey, but quickly takes a massive nosedive in last 10 episodes
• Typical ideology of “parents did me wrong so by default its all the inocent childs fault” = you owe me everything you have
• Proceeds to take it
• “I like you/known you longest, so it is my right that you will love me” mindset with second leads - it shows up in most cdramas, I’ve started to wonder is that how people hook up in China?!?!
• ML becomes a total doormat
• FL sacrifices everything when she should just hold her ground
• Only viable business competitors are less interested in doing actual business and are petty and ridiculous the whole way through
• Slapping granny
• Drinking culture yet again being pushed as ok. No, forcing someone who chooses to not drink for whatever reason, to drink by a superior at work is harassment, disgusting and shameful. Cultural or not, stop it.

As you can see, the cons far outweigh the pros of this show, and full disclosure I watched to the end because of the leads and their chemistry. They carry the show. But this sadly takes a nose dive, beyond the typhcal tropey cdrama I show up for all the time, to take me into “time to skip” land, as the plot and the acting by the supporting cast goes into you’ve got to be kidding me, why????!!

Still overall the things I did like are the reason I gave this a 7. But when there are times this late in the drama you start wishing the FL will walk away from the toxic mess of what was going on with ml and 2fl sub plot. and that she will run away with 2ml, you have problems.

Casting was great, this show had some real potential but oh boy was that wasted. Sadly.

Read More

Super cute, quirky but lovable

Yes this absolutely has all the quirkiness of a Jdrama, but hey thats why I love them. With one of my fave K actors, it felt a little trippy at first experiencing the two combined. Glad for my Korean understanding because not all his thoughts are subbed (not sure why).

The story is cute and the chemistry between the too is sweet. Here we have an already introverted FL carrying a heavyweight of a secret and plenty of PTSD it seems. She is only going to shine with the likes of out Teao from Korea. Fun, kind and loving throughout he’s the perfect partner for Yuri.

It slows a little in the middle, but the whole drama is short enough its no matter. Even the oddball research buddy comes into his own eventually ❤️

Read More

2ML is the redeeming part of this show

Lacking in the usual flair of Wang Zi Qi, and the failure of ZYX to deliver her part, this couple really missed the mark on chemistry I had high hopes for. The plot has its good moments. High intensity and fun, but mixed in are some ridiculous script dialogues and scenes that look like they were written by a teenager. I skipped huge chunks of this show and thats too bad. I have never had to do that before for a WZQ drama. It’s ok, but nothing ground breaking and certainly not a rewatch. Whereas I’ve watched his other shows now multiple times.

One of the wins for me, is the SML. He comes across annoying and ridiculous at the start, but his arc was well done. I loved his character a lot, and I’d love to see hik in more shows. He certainly helped the rough parts of this drama have a little more zing that was badly needed.

For me it’s the execution of certain scenes. When the plot holes are staring you in the eyballs, there’s no masking it.

The story was for the most part an interesting concept. Just missed the mark in delivering- and childish side characters, or scenes with FL acting like shes 7, were not funny at all. Just sitting here thinking what on earth am I watching.

I’ll probably just forget this one. Worth a watch? Maybe once, I gave it a generous 7/10, but am I feeling major disappointment - yep I am.

Read More

Thank goodness for Steve

Oh man I was hoping for a classic cheesy rom com, but I don’t even know where to start. I feel like this calls for bullet points:
•What happened to the romance? Everyone got more romance than the leads! The 2FL. The bestie and the playboy. The sus VP. The rando artist guy. Even the last minute office couple. Seriously writers, you trolled.
•FL was so incredibly annoying. She only knows how to clompy run, can’t walk it seems, even just a few paces. Like her shoes are too big the whole drama. She cries ALL the time. She puts up with quite a bit (far too much) verbal abuse, mostly from the ML. For most of the show. Like 99%.
•Extreme lack of chemistry with ALL the relationships.
•So many plot holes, I’m not going there.
•Goes from mega rich to penniless in a matter of a day. Like seriously? You had nothing in the bank, and why does a rich person not own a home or a car?
•Plot was slow and pointless for too long.
•The scheming 2FL was as dry as a brick, the relationship was weird and cringe and went on too long.
•ML acts jelly in the early episodes and then seems to quickly forget he had anything to be jelly about.

Honestly I was hoping for a Cunning Single Lady type show and got something total pants. It’s so forgettable I’ve watched it before and forgot and only realized about half way through, at what point I watched the rest as I couldn’t remember the ending. Likely I’ll have forgotten about it next week.

Steve. We are all on #teamsteve. Thank goodness for Steve. For his weird facial expressions and random english lines that brought humor, laughter and a whole lot of funny comments on Viki. You did it Steve. You saved the show and the bored to death viewers!!!!

Read More

Dropping

I’ve made it through 2 episodes and I just can’t anymore. Why is FL so short snappy and angry? ML always so nice. Its unbearable to watch. The editing is so weird too. And the “romantic scenes” so strange they title the past flashbacks like that. Who made this series?!?!! A child? A clueless man?

I don’t know how to move forward. I like the light and fluffy nonsense shows, but unles this FL has a complete 180 I can’t see how its going to improve.

Theres a few gaping plot holes too but I usually skip over all over those things as long as the casting is good and the personalities are fine.

Read More

Cute Drama

I felt compelled to come here and leave a good review because I don’t feel like the ones that have taken the top spot up here accurately reflect all opinions. Sure I can see why some people feel disappointed. Or that they are reviewing it badly.

At the end of the day, that’s just their take. Let’s not be so overly critical of every little thing and sometimes just show up to enjoy a drama.

This show had a great plot and was cast well. A little predictable- but guess what, thats what Asian dramas do well. I thought thats why most of us are here in this space, but suddenly everyone has become an expert critic. Save the critic for the really awful ones, cos theres plenty of those!!

The last few episodes are the reason I can’t give this a 10/10, and thats because they did go down that road of predicibility too far. There are shows that handle the burden of media attention very well, and keep the leads together. Its so good, because they don’t use the breakup trope, just when we are fully expecting them too. The best dramas are the ones that surprise you, and I so badly wanted that to happen here.

Perhaps one day these writers will catch on to the idea of stepping away from the template.

Overall though I loved watching this story, and was along for the ride. I binged it in 2 days, and that says it all for me. There’s been far too many shows lately that have ended with a let down, so it was refreshing to have something I couldn’t put down.

Give it a chance and ignore the naysayers.

Read More

Just what I was waiting for!

After a slew of really disappointing dramas, I was just waiting for that one show that will shake it all up and that was this one for me.

I was intrigued by the premise and was completely hooked by the end of episode one. I know some people love the larger than life characters but I love the quiet unassuming ones best, and this drama delivered that with the two leads. I sensed the zing with them from the very first interaction on the drama and it continued throughout. Some may call it boring, for me this is exactly what I love. I loved Soundtrack #2 for the same reasons.

I did wonder how the plot would keep moving once certain milestones were reached, and the curve ball was a surprise- though there are plenty of cliches in this show… I certainly think its been a while since I’ve seen a white truck of doom so I guess Korea is not ready to be done with that trope yet lol.

The sponsors were so overly obvious lol and I kept thinking bro come on, you can do your sponsorship job just as well, in fact better, by just being in the scene, no need to be so obnoxious!! Oh this Kopiko it tastes like real coffee and it will keep me awake ???times by a thousand hahaha.

The music was fairly low key, I mean if you are not paying attention you’ll not even notice it. There were the occasional piano pieces that were giving Crash Landing OST vibes, which was lovely.

Overall I was hooked on this from day one, I feel in love with the main couple - sometimes you see very rigid acting from PMY but I truly felt like she and NIW were very comfortable in these roles. So sweet!

I enjoyed it, on rewatch theres plenty of scenes I’d skip esp the obnoxious you know who who really isn’t even that attractive. I always wonder why money seems to make some people think they are Gods gift to society, cos it certainly wasn’t her appearance in this show. Though behavior/personality can make even a good looking person ugly.

A great show! So glad we had something to rectify the disasters being streamed on Netflix these days.

Read More

Short fluffy drama

Overall I liked this short drama, and probably would have rated it higher if it wasn’t for some of the iffy writing.

The best friend is questionable far too often. Her lovely green flag bf has to put up with a lot, I’m not sure a guy would tolerate her flip floppy fickle behavior.

The FL also behaves very questionable for someone who’s been in love for 10+ yrs you’d think when it happens you’d be happy. I didn’t like how the writers wrote her response or her initial behavior once in a relationship. It just does nothing to build any chemistry and seems off.

There’s some angst but its very minimal, no triangles thank goodness and no drama with the parents, so lets be thankful that trope was skipped.

Little puppy is adorable we needed more scenes ?

Read More

What on earth did I just endure?

Oh boy. Script writing a disaster. Most people are toxic, including FL bestie. This is not a slow burn. This is burnt out. 90% of the comments are people telling you “oh is this like One Spring Night?” No duh, if you somehow hadn’t known that your eyeballs will be falling out from reading that the whole way through.

Yes, there are some similarities but the writing here is terrible. Can you watch this and enjoy it, some people seem to. There is a huge gaping hole in chemistry building scenes, so there is no sizzle between the leads. Yes they share a romance, but it has no feels. Its so utterly depressing for most of the show, and you don’t get any fun until a couple minutes at the end. I can’t even say I enjoyed the friends, because everyone is either so manipulative incl her bestie or total doormats being used by the delulu 2 ML. There is something to be learned perhaps by women who are being controlled by men and then told what they should believe and behave from other controlling individuals but theres like no growth here or no lessons being taught in how to seek out healthy relationships. What is clear, is if you are exiting a harmful relationship you need therapy and time to heal before jumping in again. This needs a lot of help, which was a shame. I usually love this kind of drama and China can make them really good. This show needed better writing or cut in half.

Read More

A comforting drama with a stellar cast!

I did enjoy this drama, once it got moving - it took a few episodes- as the beginning does feel like its just going in no direction at all. What we do get is never ending angst with lots of whining and yelling from the FL. They never seem to have the guys act like that, and its so common in kdramas having the girls screaming all the time, its ugly and hugely off putting to the viewer. Nothing will turn me off the FL faster than constant screaming dialogue.

The alcohol consumption in this show is off the charts. Like please, stop this korea, does anyone have a healthy liver? I highly doubt it. I know its common in Korea but this kind of drinking in shows is so disgusting. All the drunk scenes are ridiculous.

I loved this cast, especially all the side characters. I was here for that development between the younger sister and the dolphin center dude. Nothing felt inorganic in any of the plot lines, it was well done.

We do see quite a bit of character growth and that is a win for the writing in this show. So many characters saw a positive change, except maybe for the lying cow and the dad - who seems to remain just a fairly chill guy from start to finish. Even chasing JCW didn’t even feel overly threatening lol.

The views were great, I’m sure even more people will want to visit Jeju now than they do already, look out!!! ??

Loved the relationships amd connections and a community coming together.

Final thought, what is with all these time jumps amd people chasing their dreams alone in Kdramas??? Doesn’t anyone just hook up and go off together???!!!! Like for reals in this case it even would have made complete sense. At 38 with so much wasted time - another time jump felt more annoying that supportive. Amd it makes no sense in a drama. Like who sits and honestly watches the time wasting filler while we wait for thr inevitable return? Not me. Time waster. Last episode was incredibly rushed because of that, and what was the benefit of the credibility of the experience- he just comes back and is treated as not knowing anything still… like that was weird.

Overall, I’m glad I watched. I enjoyed this far more than My Demon, it would probably have hit a 10 for me if we could have toned down the screaming, the over drinking and lengthy circles this show goes in.

Read More

Don’t take it too seriously

What a riot lol, this show surely can’t even take itself seriously let alone the viewer, its so out there at times I was wondering what the writers were smoking!

Don’t take this super short cdrama too seriously and you’ll probably enjoy it. At times its so soapy it’s laughable and other times its pushing you to beg it to be giving serious cdrama romance.

Theres chemistry between the leads as the show develops which kind of takes you by surprise- this is certainly one of those FL that is dresses and styled like a little girl, which I don’t think I will ever understand. But the unique fun side to her is the reason why I’m willing to overlook that cdrama stereotype. Her sass and ability to take down the guys is fresh. The sound effects are so awfully stupid at times I can’t even take it seriously. The jewelry looks like it was picked up in the toy store.

Nice try, its a filler bit of fluff, but nothing to call home about.

Read More

Short, but full of heart

I was so excited to see another Soundtrack show, had loved #1, so was intrigued. As a pianist myself I can relate to so many aspects of her character. Both the main leads really portrayed the depth of emotions from the past and present scenes. I found myself deeply engaged in their story and was rooting for them. The moment of connection is filled with all the right feels and the chemistry between them is perfection.

I was glad thos didn’t end right there and took us on a journey through the challenges of second chance love, which of course has to be just a glimpse due to the length of the series.

Soundtrack is a short series, so everything has to be right on pointe or this thing just wouldn’t work.

Beautiful ending to a short mini drama full of heart.

Read More

Soapy & Draggy

Be warned, the same song is used a billion times per episode so get used to the Lucky Star song and if you can’t tolerate it, drop the show.

The leads were great, plenty of chemistry.

This became more soapy the longer it went and I skipped tonnes just so I could finish. If you can follow it on fast forward, well then it’s obvious it is not the best script ever written.

Lots of plot holes, laughable at times.

Won’t evet rewatch. So go down this road with caution. I think it had a few redeeming moments so I gave it a 5 overall. Thai dramas can be a hard watch, so this was doable but I was ready for it to be done.

Read More

Cliche driven, but easy on the eyes!

Lets face it, most people are either here for one of the 2 leads and the fact it promises to be the next best rom com on Netflix since Business Proposal. King the Land checks most of the boxes and has a lot of the same feels. Poor girl meets rich CEO heir, and works for the same company - paths cross = fall in love.

There’s all the typical cliches and product placement inserted so unorganically to make you want to pull your hair out.

Let’s break it down:
• Cliches - these are expected for the most part, though at times it didn’t feel very well executed- almost like it was there just to check a box, but didn’t really create any of the tension they were probably hoping for. It was nice that ML wasn’t swayed by the idiotic cliches in the script.
• Product placement - every show relies on it, but the moments are so obvious, it feels like a commercial being dropped in the middle of the show. Weird. Can we not promote product somehow without prolonged pauses on the front facing part of the product and fake “ooohs” by the actors that the product is indeed amazing. Wasn’t surprised by Junho’s Dior ad either. ?
• FL - eating scenes. Same face and sound reaction each time, it got annoying. Some variety in food consumption acting would be appreciated.
• Suits - yes Junho looks amazing in a suit, and all of the slow mo suit walks were great, but it would have been great a bit more often to see him dressed down. When they did, it added to his softness of the character.
• Lack of originality - not much new in this kind of story. Always poor girl and rich guy. She needs rich guy to save her from something which he does multiple times. Fulfilling your dreams are relatively easy when you have resources and power, she makes quitting a job and starting your own hotel easy, I guess she had saved a gazillion Won while working at King Hotels. It’s a little exhausting all the demeaning of the “peasants” in these shows. But these plots sell. It would be nice for once to have a nice FL who can stand on her own 2 feet from the get go, but perhaps the audience need to feel like some rich CEO might save them one day?!?!!!

Overall, it was worth the watch. You’ll feel good and appreciate the lack of unnecessary drama. However, this didn’t hold my attention like Business Proposal and I likely won’t rewatch like I did BP (multiple times). Something didn’t fit right with FL acting - she needs a lot more emotional expression range in her acting, and I could never tell the lengths at which she either loved or disliked the ML. The FL in red sleeve did this better. I’m still giving it a 9.5 for the production overall.

And for all the dumb noise over whatever everyone is getting their knickers in a twist over the Arab scenes. Move on people. Stereotyping happens in shows all over the world. Its life. Calm down.

Read More