UGH

This is like The Emperor's New Clothes. Like why is everyone praising this show? I would love to know what stood out so magnificently from this that everyone is throwing up their guts praising this. This show is probably one of the most pointless drivel I have watched since I started watching Kdramas. The only reason this isn't a 0 out of 10 stars is that: 1) Production was good, 2) The character of Death was okay, and 3) Episode 4 was actually good.

Summary: Dude kills himself. Get punished to die 12 times again. But he's given the chance to try and save himself and live as that body. Then he proceeds to be an idiot 12 times in a row. 12 times is not enough. This dude should just be punished to die over and over for eternity. How is he so stupid and selfish and annoying and-

Plot: The premise is interesting but the execution is so far from good that it makes the premise sound stupid too. There's no proper stake here. You would think eternal damnation vs. a chance to reinvent yourself would be such a simple and driven goal, right? Wrong! Because the main character makes no move to actually save himself. The lives are too short, too so you end up not really connecting with any of these characters. What we learn about them is thrown at us as exposition in little montages. That is just unimpressive. The relationships that could be invested in like the girlfriend and the mother are not there long enough for it to go anywhere. The personalities are disjointed, especially in case of male lead who first comes across as a simple and dejected young man but through out the reincarnations or whatever you call it, he's just a greedy, pathetic, selfish loser who wastes every chance he's given, never tries to guard the precious lives in his hands and instead focuses on power trips he was denied in his first life and money. Why would you root for such a character? A jerk. And the reincarnations aren't better either. With the exception of the the kids and the last one, the others are just nothing characters. Bland. I couldn't care about any plot point because all I was focused on was saving these lives and this dude was into everything but that. That's a dissonance between what drives the character and what you as a viewer want from this show. As a result, it was a dissatisfying watch with very very VERY annoying beats. Plus, most of the show is just focused on nonsensical, sensationalized fight scenes or special affects moments which while impressive as a production fact, didn't really add flesh to this flimsy plot. Episode 4 was slightly better but having watched episode five since then, I know that the show did nothing with what was built in that episode so the potential for any character development was wasted away too. Making even that one good episode feel like a pointless blip.

Acting: This show is stacked with heavy weight actors. What a waste!

Music and production: Music was, I don't know, okay? The production value is very high. But this is a classic case of sacrificing substance for technicalities. The show is made with high technological value but what's the point of all that pomp and ceremony when the plot is nonsense and weak?

Rewatch value: None

Negatives: Everything.

Overall: I don't know, if you liked this, we probably have vastly different taste and could never recommend anything to each other. I hated this. Awful. Horrible.
Edit: You wanna read my part 2 review too...trust me!

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Allow me to convince you to watch this!

The more I like a show, the harder I find it to talk about it. I just have so much to say! I'm gonna push through though. So my initial rating mark for this was 8. Then it was raised to 8.5 and I was worried that I would later lower it because so many shows lately start well but digress in abysmal ways until you end up hating them and reading everyone else's reactions, I was so scared that I would be bored by the last ten episodes and end up hating the show by its unsatisfying end. Thankfully that was not the case at all and I ended up finishing this show on a pleasant though super stressful (those last 10 minutes omg) note. I decided to give this a 9, instead.
This show is just really good in many ways. The plot is emotionally stimulating, the aesthetics are unique, dark, and mysterious. The acting is great by the principal cast and good enough by the supporting ones. The music is lovely and the show avoids a lot of tropes that are typical pet peeves. And when it plays into tropes, they do it in a way that isn't too offensive and manages to be dignified. There were some hiccups in the quality but nothing I couldn't look past.
So the plot follows Xue Fangfei, the talented wife of a simple official who is framed by her husband's family for adultery and buried alive by her husband. Confused and heartbroken, she comes back to seek revenge by pretending to be the daughter of some grand minister and whatnot. On her quest for justice, she meets the formidable Duke Su who is equal parts suspicious and fascinated by her.
I'll just list some of my favorite things about this show:
1. Unlike most shows, this is not about a virginal young girl, inexperienced and cute. The story follows a woman who has had a married life and that is already so fresh and liberating that I can't praise it enough. Moreover, the show doesn't shy away from expressing how happily in love she was in that relationship. This helps deepen the grief from the betrayal and fuels the motivation for revenge. It's also just refreshing to see a second-chance plot that is REALLY a second-chance plot.
2. The show has many instrument-playing scenes, in almost all of which sans one, the movement of the actors matches the music being "played". It's just deeply satisfying to see actors actually act as if they're playing an instrument instead of just moving their hands around wildly.
3. The plots don't get dragged out and although there's plenty of drama and petty acts of villainy, arcs wrap up nicely and the story moves at a good pace. I was never bored or utterly frustrated by the characters being obtuse just for the sake of dragging out misunderstandings and elongating the runtime of the show.
4. Though the villains are black-hearted and do many extremely evil things in the story, none are overpowered. It's common for dramas to have villains who achieve levels of villainy that should be out of their logical capacity and it's so frustrating as it almost seems like the villains are superhumans. Here, we had the grand princess who operated from a position of extreme power and yet, she was constantly held back by technicalities and thwarted at every turn. Similarly, the evil stepmother does evil things...but within the boundaries of a stepmother. She tries to ruin her stepdaughter's life in ways that a lady from a powerful family would think of and not as some freaky sadist god.
5. There's no unnecessary misunderstanding between the leads or unnecessary love triangles. With potential love rivals being treated as what they are: momentary obstacles. Where there was potential for unnecessary male rivalry, the trope is cleanly avoided in favor of giving us a supportive and lovely side character.
6. The story takes detours but ultimately stays on course and the revenge plot is delivered very satisfactorily.
7. This show also had an amazing darkening arc for its main villain. It was subtle and precise. So delicious! This show might just have one of my favorite villains of all time.
There's probably more stuff I liked but I'll cut it short.
The acting is of course amazing. Wu Jin Yan might not be the most ethereal Chinese beauty but her acting in my opinion outweighs almost all of the rest of the Chinese acting scene. She's always so natural and there's just something about her acting that makes you feel like she doesn't just do what she's told. She actually thinks about how she wants to deliver her characters. She manages to play an older, wiser woman pretending to be a young girl really well. You can tell she's not as young and inexperienced as she pretends to be but she's good enough at pretending that in-universe people fall for it just enough for her to get away with it. Her occasional emotional outbursts perfectly capture the trauma her character has experienced and that makes her performance that much more moving. I think this was Wang Xing Yue's best performance yet. He did a really good job in Kunning Palace too but I think this is the first time I believed he had what it takes to be a leading man. He just had such charisma and gravitas, he looked hot and it wasn't just because he's pretty. He managed to carry his character in a way that was dark and captivating and I loved that....he also looks hot but that's like a bonus. I would like to say that most actors did a great job here. Chen Chain En and Li Meng being standouts; with Li Meng starting sort of weak with overacting but then in the last 10 episodes she stepped up and her character was just so well-rounded by the end. But the award for best supporting role goes to Liang Yong Qi who was freaking brilliant! This man needs more roles. He was so subtle, so obsessive, so humiliated and yet you could practically feel the rage pulsing under his skin...man...he just knocked it out of the park! He really matched Wu Jin Yan step by step and I have to admit I liked watching them interact just because of how good he squirmed in an invisible way when his character was around hers. Just brilliant. Su Ke also had a standout moment by the end...had me sobbing.
Production, music, and set design all was so good. That's the thing about the evil who shall not be named. He may be a jerk but he knows how to make a good show, that's for sure.
Negatives: So, the show is not perfect. There's a very distinct aesthetic at the beginning of this show, very dark and moody. And it sort of holds onto it for the whole series but a lot of that also fades as the story changes locations to the capital city. Humor gets its pound of flesh and a lot of color interrupts the dark blues and browns of the beginning and it's not bad, I still like it but I also think they could've maintained the aesthetic a bit better with a bit more effort. There also seems to have been a budget issue...some of the fight scenes looked sparse? Like there weren't enough extras to fill up the scene. I also think the show (like many Cdramas) was written for a longer runtime but they had to cut it down to 40 episodes (for the better) but it does leave me wondering if some scenes...were shown at double speed?!
Overall: I recommend this. It was such a fun show and the first full-length Cdrama I could finish in a long long time. I appreciate this a lot and I think it's definitely one of the "worth watching" ones out there.

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Much Ado About Nothing

"Expectation" is a dangerous thing. Our expectations and assumptions set us up for disappointment and heartbreak. In a lot of ways, Snowdrop is a story about just that; thwarted expectations. It’s about realizing that the person you loved is not who you thought they were, realizing your belief system was a house of cards. It’s about realizing that at the end of it all, no one is coming to save you; you’re on your own.
I felt that shattering disappointment myself when I watched this show and I have only myself to blame. I had this very detailed expectation for what this show was going to be. I thought, for some reason, that this was a historical romance set in a politically sensitive era of Korea’s history, about a student protestor who is injured and seeks refuge in the girl’s dormitory where he is given shelter by a fellow student whom he had dated before. I thought the show was going to be about how the ANSP creates this narrative that he is a northern spy and they eventually catch him and kill him based on those accusations. Suffice to say…I was wrong!!!! That was 95% wrong.
I was disappointed. Still, had the show delivered an intriguing story, I wouldn't feel as underwhelmed as I do now. The show isn't horrible. The production is good and it had its moments. I did enjoy it for a while, but ultimately, it wasn't my cup of tea.

So, you should only watch this show if:
1. You’re not here for the romance!
2. You like the actors VERY VERY VERY much ‘cause I’ll be frank, I like Jung Hae-In a normal amount and this show made me like him a little less. I watched SITR at the same time, just to like him again!
3. You’re craving spy movies.
4. You like political jargon stories all about corruption and stupid politicians. Not a single brain cell here.
5. You’re really desperate for that 80s aesthetic.
6. You love shows that the main cast consists of villains only and a wild doe-eyed virgin running around, crying.
7. Hot guys…JHI does shirtless push-ups…just saying…
8. You like fictional history that doesn’t have to make 100% sense.
9. Romeo and Juliet AUs
10. You like the movie "Die Hard"...Idk...hostage movies...?
11. Tragic endings

Plot: (okay this section is ALL rant)I’m almost embarrassed that it took the screenwriter ten years to finish this. It doesn't feel like it was worked on for a decade but it does feel ten years *old*. The romance plot is stale as one-month-old bread. The tone and pace of the show were all over the place. There were too many themes that the show tried to tackle, with a never-ending web of backstories that were either not thoroughly developed or were just plain boring. The dark comedy is a bit gauche. Like a giant child squirming around and slapping and breaking things with its awkward limbs, the dark humor here just flapped around, desperately hoping that its unsophisticated theatrics would land with its viewers. It was not funny. Not even in a dark way. Landing dark humor needs a level of elegance that this show only had the posture for but none of the finesse. Overall the show felt both overstuffed with content while also extremely repetitive and empty. The middle episodes all had the exact same formula. They used the exact same trick to thrill the viewers which after a few episodes stopped working because you could just predict what would happen next. The stakes were both extremely high but also extremely low. The plot just had too many characters that it did not know what to do with. It only moved them around with little significant plot drive and refused to kill anyone for the longest time.

Sidenote on the romance: I think telling a story about a whirlwind romance that develops solely during a high-stress situation can be really interesting, but the show didn’t really do that. As a thriller with too many plots and characters, the show just didn't have the time to focus on the romance. The build-up in the first three episodes was alright, had the show have a proper follow-through. But then certain things happened and the events developed in a certain direction that I couldn't buy their later connection down the narrative, at all. It felt unearned. This show is low-key a two-male-lead show. While it's true that Young Ro is the defacto female lead, her significance is only in sparking the events of the show. For the rest of the series, she is pointlessly there with little character development and even less purpose. Instead, it's the two male leads who have the most significant character arcs. The same can be said for the rest of the female leads, each to different degrees. If anything, I think Boon Uk was the real female lead who had an important character arc.

Sidenote on politics: So this show makes very little political sense. Allegedly this is around the 1987 election but it was fictionalized beyond recognition and the show doesn't really make an effort to introduce the viewer to its own fantastical setting so it's just a lot of confusing conversation about god know what. Though I guess if you don't know anything about the history, it wouldn't matter.

Acting: It was fine. Some actors overdid it. The mains were all good. I believe this was Jisoo's first role? I think she did fine considering what she was given. She doesn't quite have the hang of proper expressions yet, but I compare her with IU in Moon Lovers and I think she did okay. Jung Hae-In was wasted in this show. I'm actually upset he was here. From what I've seen him in, JHI does a good job of micro-acting. A lot of which was lost in this thriller-action show to weird editing or just focusing on his newly acquired biceps. He tries to bring in his style to it but...*sigh*. Kim Hye Yoon was the stand-out. Despite the fact that her character was antagonistic, she brought a great deal of charm to her performance that made watching her enjoyable albeit also frustrating. Overall, I would say the characters lacked charm and charisma for a great part of the show and only really settle into themselves later in the show. I don't necessarily blame the actors for this, however. I think the writing did little to help the characters.

Music: The music was actually good. Both soundtrack and background music were lovely and I liked them. They were also used well.

Production: We have finally arrived at where this show excelled at! The production for this show was great. Beautiful set design, costuming, and props all over. The directing was good, the cinematography wasn't my favorite but it had its style. What I loved about this show's production was the attention to detail and the things that we might not notice but made a lot of difference in the overall quality of storytelling. (Not gonna give examples because they were super specific) In fact, I enjoyed the story that these details were telling a lot more than those ambitious scripted moments.

Rewatch: No, thanks.

Negative: Addressing the elephant in the room. So this show had controversy due to the time period it portrays. Ultimately, it manages to clear its name but I think there are certain implications in the story that will make a case against the show in some ways. It sort of did romanticize the ANSP. It wasn't much but it did bring a great deal of sympathy for the members of ansp and I can see how that could upset some. There was also a lot of anti-North propaganda in it which helped with softening whatever it said about the South's government...I thought it was all tasteless. Overall, a whole lot was said and argued over nothing. This show was just not worth all the noise that was made about it! I bet it would've flown so far below the radar that it would be beneath the crust of the earth if only it didn't have its prolific cast attached to it!

Overall: I don't recommend this. So watch it at your own risk. I was disappointed but I would be lying if I said I didn't enjoy it at all. It was good enough to get through once and it has enough interesting parts to be enjoyable. However, story and plot matter a lot to me, and Snowdrop lacked in that regard. Therefore it ended up being just average for me. It could be someone else's cup of tea.

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The One that Got away

I always avoided youth dramas. Not for any specific prejudice. I've just spent my whole life watching high school dramas and I'm kind of over it now. I also never really got drawn by the youth cdramas I came across until I found "A river runs through it". This show took me by surprise with just how good it was. The emotions it stirred were so authentic that it reminded me of my own unrequited love AND this amazing story with an unrequited love that I had read many years ago. It just brought back all those feelings and squeezed my heart. That's why I liked this show because it managed to reach a genuine and true emotion. Unhappy love is such a universal concept and the show manages to capture that bittersweetness to the fullest.
Special shoutout: This show had one of the best opening titles. It was so cute that I didn't like to skip it.

You should watch this show if you like:
1. 90s retro aesthetic
2. Unrequited Love romances
3. FRIENDSHIPS
4. Complicated romances
5. Devoted male leads
6. School/University life
7. S l o w B u r n . . .
8. Weird epilogue
9. Love quadrangle...?

Plot: The show is based on a book and you can tell it was a proper novel because the show also has a very clear form to it with cohesive themes, tone, and pace. It stays focused on the concepts it tries to explore, has a good mix of comedy and melodrama, all the side stories are developed in thoughtful ways, and it keeps a firm grip on its themes. I thought the pacing here was nice. In fact, I have almost no complaints about the show's story except for how it ended...I'll get to it later. I loved the development of friendships and romances. The main romantic plot was just so good. The focus is not on the characters' studies so it's mostly sidelined to the melodrama but when there were b-plots focusing on it, I found them to be thoughtful and logical as well.

Acting: I saw Wang Rui Chang initially in TLB and I just really didn't like him there at all. I won't sugarcoat it; I thought he was pretty bad at acting. I was gonna avoid him forever. But then I started to watch this because everyone was raving about Lu Shiyi and I was blown away! He was just so good here. Perfect comedic timing. He just did such good physical acting and also with his voice and eyes and omg! What a talented young man! Hu Yi Xuan was also very good. Her performance did not overwhelm. She was not whiny, nor did she overact, she brought Xiao Ju to life. The supporting cast were just fine. I especially disliked Judy Qi's performance. It was bland and really watery. She had no soul and I just wanted her scenes to end as fast as possible. Everyone else was sufficient.

Music: I don't remember the music at all. Sorry!

Production: Shoutout to one of the most gorgeous and adorable opening titles. I wanted to say that because I thought it was just special and I loved it. This show is set around the turn of the century and the general vibe of the era was captured. I loved how they paid special attention to the male lead's weird fashion sense. It was very adorable. The sets were also meticulously made, everyone had their special style. The coloring of the show was pleasing to the eyes with a nostalgic haze that made the heartache more powerful.

Negatives: So the novel's ending is different from the show... as in it's not a happy ending. I think the creators wanted to reward the viewers with a happy ending and I appreciate that but the last two episodes of the show were some of the worst things I have ever watched and that's why this show is not a 10 for me! I almost lost all my faith in the scriptwriters because the moment they lost the book's guidance, the show just went to the dogs. If you stop at episode 34, you'll hate the ending but I think it saves the dignity of the production. Those last two episodes with their weird time jump are just skin-crawlingly bad. All the things that I complimented before: good writing, good acting, good lighting, and set design, it's like they all fly out the window. I have this theory that those were a part of the "extra" but they stuck it at the end as a consolation prize. I wish they hadn't. The main couple's dynamic is super off in those scenes; it's like they digress back to their initial state and lose their character growths, there's a scene that reads like r*pe to me...it's very weird, I hated it. Those two episodes are full of cliches and I would delete them out of existence if I could. Episodes 35 and 36 are not canon for me. They are just a bad dream I had after I finished watching the show. Don't get me wrong; I wanted that good ending so badly which is why I didn't stop after episode 34 but I wasn't satisfied with how it happened. It almost ruined the whole show for me. So even though the show has a happy ending, I still had to mourn when I finished watching t because it felt fake. It really didn't feel like the end was a part of the show.

Overall: I really loved this show. It was cozy, nostalgic, sweet, and funny in most parts but it also captured the bad parts of love in a way that the heartache was so palpable. Everyone was yearning for something they could not have. This added substance to this show and elevated it above an average youth drama and I wish more shows were like this. I recommend this show but my personal suggestion is to stop watching after episode 34 and just watch the extras!!!! It'll only be a little confusing!

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Being married to a possible serial killer doesn't have to be a bad thing!

I mean if he cooks, cleans, cherishes you and your child, takes care of the house, creates beautiful metal works of art, and looks like Lee Joon Gi, does it really matter if he is *allegedly* murdering someone in your basement?! I mean no marriage is perfect!!!!Right?!
Jokes aside, this show was one of my favorite shows that I watched this year. I didn't so much as watch it as I inhaled the show!

Let's get to it!

You should watch this show if you like:
1.Mystery stories
2.Detective stories that develop in a non-traditional manner (not a police procedural standard plot)
3.Established relationships
4.Handsome husbands who do the domestic works while their wife kicks ass
5."Sometimes I look at my spouse and wonder if they ever murdered someone..."
6.Psychological thrillers
7.ROMANCE THAT CUTS YOUR HEART OUT AND LAUGHS AT YOU AS YOU BLEED ON THE FLOOR
8.Happy endings that really put you through the wringer for it!
9.Cliffhangers
10.Childhood Trauma
11.You know this east Asia trend of watching hot men suffer and cry A LOT? It has that! (I love it!)

This show starts with a happily married couple, Baek Hee Sung and Cha Ji Won, and their little daughter. Everything seems great about their marriage. Ji Woon is a detective and the show starts when she gets assigned to a case of domestic violence. She believes in the sanctity of family (since hers is so perfect) but this journalist she knows tells her about this really terrifying serial killing case from almost 20 years before, and how families can cover some messed up secrets. Then she ends up exhuming that very same case when a copycat shows up. Soon, she keeps getting vibes that her perfect (truly perfect) husband might be involved in this gruesome serial killing case from the past, in a very sinister way and everything starts to fall apart.

This show has an amazing plot! Everything moves so seamlessly and the plots connect so well. There is not much time wasted on pointless B plots and what it does have in that regard is connected to the main story in a way that moves the story forward while still being compelling separately. It does wrap everything up in the end with a neat little bow but I personally liked it. Some people prefer dangling unrelated B plots that just waste time and lead nowhere and mean nothing to the main plot, maybe, but I preferred the way the show did it. It's such a thrilling plot too, I mean I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. Now I didn't totally get hung up on the "Is he? Is he not?" suspense of the show because I just liked the character immediately. Halo effect activated (or was already activated, I won't get into it because SPOILERS!) and I was just rooting for the story to move forward instead.
The romance is very good in this story too. I usually prefer detective shows without family drama but this show managed to change my mind by intertwining love, family, and trauma so perfectly together with the murder, mystery, thriller side that I was in love with where it was going with it. Every episode has some kind of tie-in from the romance into the events and the couple is so endearing that it just melts your heart. The supporting couple duo was also well-done. I really liked how that relationship developed so realistically. It was very mature and self-aware and not just there to be cute which I really appreciated. I know some didn't like the happy ending because it seemed like fan-service. I have my own theories on why it wasn't fanservice and why it mattered that it ended like it did but that will be spoilery so I won't write it here.
There are essentially two timelines in the show which slowly come together. I really liked how we got a drip of information from the past, it made everything that much more interesting.

The acting in this show was PHENOMENAL! Even then the 3-year-old baby was good! Lee Joon Gi was perfect obviously. He just acts so hard it's like a punch in your gut, right? Anyway, Moon Chae Won was amazing too. She did this thing with her voice when she got emotional that was just perfect. Their chemistry was perfect too. I think they are my favorite pairing from the 2020 shows that I have watched. They really sell the "we are already married" dynamic and they are both good in both the emotional scenes and action ones. Jang Hee Jin's performance was subtle, Nam Ki Ae and Son Jong Hak were terrifying. Kim Ji Hoon was...a bit too much for me. I felt like it was a bit too melodramatic next to the other actors and it amped up the whole show's melodrama level because then Lee Joon Gi became too melodramatic and ... I get why it was like that but...didn't love it! The detective trio was great. Their comradery was so organic and endearing. And the baby was also great! So cute.

Cinematography, lighting, and set-design was aesthetically homogenous. They all looked like they belonged to the right show. They were all well-matched for the psychological thriller set up and helped amp up the tension and atmosphere.
The music was ok. -_- I don't know. It was music!
Negatives: Some would complain about "coincidences" in the story but let me just get that out of the way. There are really only two coincidences in the story (the rest are just, at least to me, natural consequences of the situation the story has laid out) and I wouldn't call them that either. I would say they were rhetorics of the story. These two coincidences are not really there for the convenience of the plot but there to actually set up the plot. What I mean is that each story starts with some given facts. The "what if X happened/what if Y did this and then... the plot starts". So basically in order to tell a story, you have to create a situation that you will put the characters into and then see how they react in those circumstances. That's what this show does on several fronts.
What if a detective is married to a high-functioning sociopath who has been tricking her, their whole life?
What if two characters' fates are forever entangled because of a mutual acquaintance?
What if your past comes back to haunt you?
What if you get a chance to solve the mystery that has been haunting your adult life?
These are all the situations that the plot wants to address. If we say "well, it's too coincidental for a policewoman to meet a psychopath" then maybe you shouldn't watch this show because that's literally what this story wants to explore. There are tons of shows where the detective is married to a fridged-spouse or a teacher or something. You can watch those if you hate this plot! lol. So yeah...not a valid complaint. Especially when you consider the fact that every single Kdrama has ridiculous coincidences right and left. Everyone knows everyone since childhood. All ten Korean characters who make the main cast have all met each other in a foreign country at the same time! Everybody is related... that's just how they are. Just turn off your coincidence-meter when you watch Kdramas!
Now I'm not saying there weren't any plotholes or that situations weren't conveniently solved BUT overall, the show was enjoyable enough that it didn't matter. The point is to have a good time watching a show and this delivered and it was above average. WAY above average.
Also, just asking viewers, if they'll forgive a murderer husband in favor of him cooking, is such a profound question. I have been thinking about it for weeks and I still can't come up with a genuinely moral answer to the question!!!! I mean he's super handsome too! He's not just a good cook and a perfect dad!

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Romantic and tragic

I watched this version of the Butterfly Lovers per AccentedCinema's recommendation. It's such a beautifully tragic story and I think this movie was a concise rendition that neither dragged the story out nor diluted it by over-simplification. There were attempts to add humor and depth to the relationships and I consider both done successfully.
The actors did a good job and while I'm not used to listening to Cantonese since I rarely watch Hong Kong films, I really loved the way they spoke. It just sounded so melodic and nice to the ears.
The production quality is alright....until they try to do special effects! hehe...it was very basic and when you remember this was 1994, it gets a bit awkward but honestly, it didn't redact from the emotional impact of the story.
The actress looks so beautiful in the costumes. The scenery is so gorgeous. The music is melancholic and touching. The whole story has such a romantic air to it. In fact, in many ways, they don't make movies like these anymore where the most important element of the film is the elevation of the human interactions that are being commented on. I wish they made more romance movies like this. It felt cozy and ethereal at once and I honestly enjoyed watching this more than films with much higher production value but vapid stories.
If you can find it, it's definitely worth a watch.

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A basically perfect urban fantasy about grief and obsession

I'm so glad I came across this show when I did. I had seen it around but to be honest, Taiwanese dramas haven't been on my radar much so I never looked into this, even though I saw a few mdlers watching it on feeds. I'm glad I found this through Avenue X. One thing is though she hates on a lot of shows in an exaggerated manner, she's at least reliable when it comes to recommendations. This show is nearly the perfect modern drama with an interesting plot, engaging narratives, great characters, humor, lots of emotions, and a professional production to boot.

Summary: The story follows Yiyong who's a descendant of some reincarnated demon or something and that means he's really good at calligraphy!!! But while this seems like just a random skill, it proves to have extraordinary connotations when he wakes up from a two-year coma and discovers an ability to communicate with the dead.

The Plot: The story develops very naturally. I don't think this is an adaptation and kudos to the writers because they've come up with an amazing storyline. Each plot connects very neatly to the other. The plot twists are thoughtful and surprising only when they need to be. I also love the fact that this is ultimately a story about grief and they manage to bring that up in such a beautiful, poignant way. The character developments are so well placed but...and it makes me wonder because these character developments are there but they could also go on? So I wonder if there's a sequel at work... The chemistry between the characters and the way each relationship develops (from Yiyong and his mother to the vengeful ghosts and the grandfather and everything in between) is very naturally integrated into the way that the plot progresses.

Acting: The acting in this show was really well done. I thought the humor landed well and everyone's timing was perfect and the three mains had great chemistry which made their friendship all the more believable and lovely. And did anyone else think Tseng Jing Hua kind of looks like Arthur Chen? They look so similar to me. He did a great job with the emotional beats and made me cry a lot. What's impressive is that the supporting cast are also very good. So good that you easily develop emotional stakes and start to care for them, deepening the investment in the show.

Music and Production: The music was fine. The production is great. The set designs and the outfits are very character-specific and tell us a lot about each character's personality. The camera work and lighting is not just good, it's actually way better than most East Asian shows I have seen. 100 times better than Cdramas...The CGI was so good!!! It had a lot of those and they were all done so well. So good.

Negative: There's a gag about how low the ML's IQ is and while I get the reasoning for it I didn't love it. It was a bit in poor taste.

Overall: Highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good urban fantasy story and mysteries. The show was an absolute delight with a balanced amount of humor, sadness, mystery, and whimsy. I wonder if there will be a sequel. I'm fine if this is it as the arcs close neatly enough and there isn't much need for a second season but given how the format is sort of like cases that change every episode, I can see there being more and that the show may develop more on what was already set up. I'm fine either way. 2nd seasons are usually bad anyway. But really!!!! Watch this! It's very good!

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Fix-it Fanfiction (featuring cooking puns…it just happened idk)

I was very excited about this show. For multiple reasons. The most important being that it paired up two actors who previously portrayed one of my all-time favorite couples in any Cdrama ever. The other is the concept of Royal Kitchens which reminded me of one of my all-time favorite Korean dramas: Jewel in the palace. Suffice to say...it did not deliver on either front...sort of.

The plot: Similar to The Story of Yanxi Palace, Royal Feast uses the excuse of the harem setting to make a commentary on the commodification of women. From being buried alive along with your husband, to a woman’s life being treated as less important than a barely formed fetus (something that is ironically still fresh news in our time). The show doesn’t really have a clear or concise plotline. Instead, it’s made up of slice-of-life episodic stories that each capture a new horror or tragedy of being trapped in the Palace. That said, either through bad editing or bad writing, but most probably from a combination of both, the attempt is sloppy and not as impactful as the graceful scene that was drawn in Yanxi Palace. Characters are raw sketches of what they could be, the passage of time is extremely precarious, and stories are not properly developed and end abruptly, with little impact or consequence for the rest of the plot. It’s really hard to connect with the characters because it feels like instead of getting to know them, we are swiping through an album of pictures with faces that rapidly become familiar in motionless snapshots, without much knowledge of their personality, unique voice, wants or needs that would help flesh them out as believable human characters. Overall, the show feels like a script that needed to be worked on. It’s like a dough that hasn’t properly risen yet.

Acting: I think everyone tried...but their characters were just boring. Right off the bat, I think Xu Kai was miscast. He has the looks of a free-spirited youngster and doesn't have the gravitas of a crown prince or emperor. He does this "puffing of the chest" acting and it just didn't work for me. I don't think it's his fault. I just think he was wrong for the role. I don't like the agist, sexist takes I've seen about Wu Jinyan's looks in this show. She's a good actress and that's the only aspect I care about. Sadly, she was given the bare minimum to work with here. The only standout in the cast was He Rui Xian who injected as much unique flavor into her character as she possibly could.

The production: The production is beautiful. From the artistic food arrangements, and the opulent sets, to the extravagant dresses and the saturated cinematography, the show looks expensive and high quality but all the world’s professionalism and money can’t buy a show any credit if its all just fodder for a story that doesn’t utilize the ingredients it has at its disposal to the fullest. A real waste.

Music: Did this show reuse Yanxi Palace's music? It sounded just like that and somehow less magnificent too... how did they manage that?!
Rewatch: No. Despite the moderate episode number, the show still managed to become really boring after episode 30 and that's being really generous as many would argue it was boring all the way through.

Negatives: There is something really wrong with the post-production of this show. The editing and flow of narratives are all over the place. There is at once too much time wasted on every arc while also everything is underdeveloped and not thoroughly thought out. The romance is instantaneous, the friendships and rivalries are not given enough background to feel genuine, and the political plots are there but it also feels like the show didn't want to waste time to develop any of it so it's just "So problem existed and um...emperor had to solve it...and then HE DID!YAY!"...very weird! Every character is super bland. No one has proper motivation or any charisma. I just kept waiting for someone, anyone, to develop some interesting personality trait but it was all for naught. Plus, the show tries too hard to be inoffensive to the point that all the villains are misunderstood or secretly really tragic. None of which lands at all because every villain was super stereotypical and common. Like I have seen similar idiots in at least 10 other shows and books.

Overall: Once the novelty of seeing my favorite couple living out their best Alternate-Universe-fix-it lives wore off, it just became a task to finish this. The plot was kind of better when the kitchen stuff was happening; though this was nowhere near as well-thought-out or exciting as Jewel in the palace, and once the main character moved to the harem, the plot just straight-up died. This was the blandest harem ever. And I sat through The Sword and The Brocade! Not a single interesting person in that palace! Everyone was like those caricature village people in games.
This wasn't a hate-watch though. More of a pity-watch or a mercy-watch. That is like mercy-kill but more painful and took much longer.

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It takes a whole tower to exact justice

I started watching this show one hour after finishing Goodbye my princess and I thought to myself, what would make me feel better about the tragedy I just watch? A show about a girl dying at the young age of 28, of course. The perfect follow-up to GMP!
As I had predicted, with just 16 episodes, this show is one of the easiest shows to bingewatch. I watched the entire thing in two days and barely got tired. Masquerading as a whodunnit, this show is actually using the excuse of a murder to tell a story about the silenced victims of crimes that are not as big or as flashy as murder and therefore go unnoticed, unavenged. I won’t say more so as to avoid spoilers but I would say this: If you are here for a smart and snappy murder mystery with heavy police work and use of deduction skills, then you’re in the wrong place. The police work in this show is actually abysmal! They don’t even make a timeline of events. Their study of the murder scene is very superficial. I noticed things just by comparing it to other detective shows I have watched before but none of that really mattered because I kind of caught on early on that this isn’t the point of the show. The show deals with a very sad and real fact that sometimes law and justice fail those who need it the most and the worst kinds of crimes go unpunished because the gray areas are just too complicated to maneuver. If that doesn’t tickle your interest, then I don’t know what will!

You should still watch this show if you like:
1.Agatha Christie novels and their adaptations
2.Mysteries
3.Feminism
4.Female friendships
5.Tragedies
6.Stories that appear like one thing but then it turns out something else is going on
7.Good productions.
And if you can handle:
1.Violence
2.Abuse
3.Upsetting concepts in which bad people hurt innocent people including women and children
4.Murder
5. And other things that are definitely spoilers

Summary: The story starts when a young and beautiful coffee shop owner dies in her apartment in Horizon tower, a tower that is a very symbolic clash of class and culture. What appears to be a crime of passion becomes more and more complicated once the detectives on the case discover more details of the victim’s past.

Plot: This was a high-tension, mystery with a considerably big ensemble cast whose roles fit together like puzzle pieces. Every episode became better and better in my opinion. The weakest link in the show was probably the characterization of the victim which was basically “beautiful and perfect in every way” which…eh, boring. The more you learn about her, the more refined her character becomes but I honestly think she’s the least developed character in the story. It’s not that she’s not complex, it’s just that putting the label of “perfection” and “angel” on a character in a show that is meant to be realist, kind of makes it seem childish. Anyway, to me the further the show steps from its façade of a murder case, the better it got. It might not be a seamless web of cunning plotting, but you will hardly notice in just one watch. The main point is that it’s an exciting, provocative story with a satisfying ending and also just a very progressive message. It’s a bit of a heavy watch, since injustice against children comes up in it and these kinds of topics are always hard to watch but I think the overall effect of the show was very satisfying and totally worth it.

Acting: The ensemble did a really good job. Because of the nature of the story, you don’t get too much of anyone besides the detectives and the victim but the supporting cast really did a great job in this one. They all used the limited time they were on screen to communicate their character’s particular behaviors and it was great. I’d heard Angelababy is terrible…I don’t know she was fine here? Very muted and calm performance without any overacting. Her crying scenes were a bit fake looking sometimes but I think she was fine. I haven’t watched her in anything else, I don’t really have a point of reference. I was expecting her to be terrible but really, she held herself up against a very good ensemble. And her voice is not high pitched. I really appreciated that. (I know it’s not a choice but still.)

Music: This show had a very generic but well-executed English pop ballad and standard mystery music. It was fine. It worked well for the show.

Production: Now the production here was great. The sets look great, the costumes helped the characters define themselves. The cinematography and editing were great. There were no weird jumps unless specifically done for artistic reasons. The lighting was atmospheric and everything really looked professional. I think a lot of modern Chinese dramas maybe lack this level of production value unless they’re a Lights On series show. Those are great.

Rewatch value: I wouldn’t say no. It’s super short and very easy to get through and there’s enough foreshadowing and mystery to maybe go back and try to find more clues once the whole thing is solved.

Negatives: It’s not really a murder mystery case show in the traditional way. If you’re somehow one of those people who have beef with modern society striving to do better socially and culturally for equality of men and women, then you might get your panties in a twist over this. (Side note: don’t care. Block me if you really have anything against the message of this show because wtf is wrong with you?!) Some say the “villain” is ridiculous or unrealistic... I don’t think that was the case. I think it was a choice to make him seem like a bigger threat than he was to highlight the trauma of the victims. As in, he *seemed* that big to them because they had weaknesses that he was exploiting. It was actually a very poetic choice. I do have some doubts about how the show depicts laws concerning SPOILER BUT ALSO CENSORED BECAUSE I’M SURE THAT WORD IS ON SOME KIND OF WATCHLIST SO NO THANKS, I WON’T SAY IT ALOUD. I mean I assumed the whole world had some kind of law against *that thing* that protects victims but the show kind of never addresses the consequences of having SPOILERS of SPOILERS. (Sorry. These sentences are helping no one.) What I’m trying to say is, there’s a bit of a loophole to the show’s overall logic if you want to be nitpicky but I doubt anyone would notice because the show is very thrilling and viewers will be too busy biting their nails to realize the plot could be solved in three seconds. (Spoilers in the comment.)

Overall: I liked this show. It was a very high-quality production which a great cast and an engaging and IMPORTANT story to tell and it wasn’t dragged out and it had some serious ideological concepts to chew on and I really appreciated that. I felt both thrilled and emotionally touched and I highly recommend this show.

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I give it six months!

The initial review I wrote for this show when I was only a third of the way into it, was a much more positive one than the one I’m writing, now that I am done with this show. To be perfectly honest, this show is very cheap. Not just in the sense of its budget, but also in content and quality. Yet, it has some redeeming qualities. The main character is a rather likable blank canvas, the show is not as sanitized and prudish as the more popular and well-produced shows, and there is certainly a charm in its simple yet entertaining plot that manages to seduce the viewer into keeping up with it. So as a result, I am deeply conflicted in my review of this show and in my assessment of whether I enjoyed it or not.
It would be a lie to say I hated watching it. It would also be a lie to say I found the romance irresistible or nurturing. The best way I can describe this is perhaps to say that it feels a LOT like someone turned a 13-year-old girl’s Mafia-romance fanfiction into a semi-watchable show. It’s watchable because it tickles the nostalgic sentiments of a naïve and long-gone idea of romance that a lot of people harbored in their new young adult phase. As long as you take it lightly, it’s a short and entertaining watch.

You should check this show out if you like:
1. Mafia AUs
2. Short and concise shows with little Drama
3. A good time without much brain-usage
4. Modern Bodice rippers (Lots of sexy times. For a cdrama. It’s like kids’ play in comparison to western shows, though)
5. Summer aesthetics
6. Bestfriends shipping the main couple
7. Happily ever after

Summary: Five years ago, Ruan Nan Chu accidentally wanders into a gang territory and is taken hostage by them. In order to protect her, one of the leaders, a man named Lee, takes her into his custody. As Nan Chu spends more time with him, she begins to fall for the man. Then Lee helps her escape but seemingly perishes in an explosion. Despite that, in the following years, Nan Chu has maintained the belief that he is alive. Then unexpectedly, she actually runs into a man who looks exactly like Lee, named Li Teng, at a party. Drama ensues.

Plot: The plot is weirdly simple! In some ways that’s good. They don’t take 20 episodes for the characters to reveal their true identity and 30 more for the love triangle to develop and another 10 nothing-episodes before they will get an exhausted, long overdue happily ever after. The show’s run is short so things move forward rather fast but also because the main question of the plot is resolved in 5 episodes, the show still feels a bit too long. I used the fast forward button rather generously. In addition to the simple plot, there are some seriously questionable narrative choices made by the writers that left me both amused and confused. Almost no effort is made to make the romance seem like anything remotely plausible or sustainable to any extent! The two barely know anything about each other, their interest in each other seems purely physical, the male lead is honestly creepy most of the time with controlling and jealous streaks, and that’s the level they stay at. They never once have a meaningful conversation or evolve into better partners. It’s a stagnant dynamic that is bound to burst once their honeymoon phase is over. Or when Ruan Nan Chu will report Li Teng for domestic abuse. Whichever comes first! The second couple is no better. The SFL is clingy in a not-cute way and very immature. Her male counterpart seems to be hassled into the relationship by intimidation and a sense that it would be rude to reject her. With the romance so lackluster, the mafia plot should’ve been a bit more interesting but that was also sloppy and rather easy to resolve. Despite the atrocious romantic dynamics, and the pedestrian mafia subplot, the show has this charming x-factor that gets you! I was invested. I wanted them to succeed. The best thing I can say about the show is that it had no delusions of grandeur. It was self-aware. The plot was simple and so matters were resolved easily. It also has a dual-edge of both being feminist and forward-thinking (sexual agency, focus on the FL’s career, etc.) and being deeply problematic and backward (Li Teng is a controlling love interest and it definitely will digress into an abusive archetype at the flick of a finger).

Acting: The acting is not great. The only one I was really impressed with was the female lead but I thought the male lead fell short because he was constantly carrying this brooding smolder expression that was interrupting the authenticity of his performance. The sexual chemistry between them was great and there was plenty of steamy kiss scenes to highlight that but when they were not kissing, the acting was just not good. Everyone else felt like fodder as well. The only balanced performance belonged to the female lead who honestly deserves better projects where she can shine.

Music: Generic pop ballad that repeated over and over again. Overall, like every other cdrama out there.

Production: They maintain a certain aesthetic throughout the show. The costuming is very consistent with the female lead having a clear style throughout the entire show, a rarity when there’s ample chance to flaunt flashy fashion choices. The whole show has a special color grading which makes it cold and clinical. I didn’t love it but it did make the summer heat of the coastal setting seem less painful at least. For such a small budget show, with barely functioning anything, the fight scenes were seriously well-choreographed and created a nice hype.

Rewatch value: It’s short so it encourages that. I won’t rewatch it though.

Negatives: Evil femme fatal, tired trope! The gratuitous second prospective love interest in the Shixiong. The weird love triangle towards the end. The child character being annoying almost consistently throughout the show. That one female character who went mad because her husband died (wtf kind of 50s sexism is this?! Not to mention the weird implications about how mental health works). I’m still not sure what Lee’s job was prior to the bodyguard business. Was he in the military? Another gang? No idea! And to top all this off, there were those ridiculous shampoo ads implemented into the plot. It was hilarious but also just so absurd. There are a lot of questionable plot points with holes and just sloppy planning but if you don’t take it too seriously, then it’s more fun to watch.

Overall: I don’t regret watching it! Every time it became too stupid, I just laughed it off. When it shows genuine moments of sincerity, I enjoyed them. It reads like a fanfiction that is not particularly well-written but it is a fun time, anyway. In some twisted way, I want to recommend this show, actually. Just don’t watch it with high expectations.

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I think I just found a new favorite Kdrama!

Sometimes, a hyped show is overrated. You keep turning it up and down, trying to figure out what others see in it but it makes no sense. Then sometimes, the show isn't bad by any means but it's definitely not as good as others say. But on very rare occasions, the show is actually as good as everyone says it is! Twinkling Watermelon is definitely one of those rare stars in the night sky. Sure, it's a musical and that is a bit irritating, but the show makes up for it with a very creative plot, amazing cast with natural chemistry, effective humor, and so much genuine emotional anchoring that not watching this show would be an absolute loss.
Now, obviously this has time travel and I think they did it in such an interesting way and we're not gonna over-analyse the logistics of it...anyway, I thought the way that this works out which is sort of similar to "Back to the future" was so cute. It's just so emotional when Ha Eun Gyeol, the main character, meets his parents for the first time.
The plot is complex, very complex, but the show doesn't fumble and it wraps it up so well. And I'm so surprised to be saying this but I think this show could've had maybe an extra 20 minutes to explain some bits from the ending even more! (I know, asking for more time when usually 16-episodes shows drag, already! WILD!) The whole thing is heavily relying on the relationships between the characters and these characters are just so easily lovable that watching the show is just so fun. I didn't totally love our female lead as she caused a whole lot of drama but the actress is a personal favorite and she did a good job and despite the frustrations, it's all a part of her character growth so I think it wasn't a bother. My favorite characters remain Ha Yi Chan and Chung Ah, though. And of course, nothing beats the relationship between Yi Chan and Eun Gyeol. It was so touching and I just wanted them to be happy. :(
I've already expressed my love for the four main actors but the supporting cast were wonderful too. Everyone was just right in their own position and they all did such a good job. Kudos all around.
I wanna gosh more about just the plot and the perfect humor and the fact that despite a little hiccup between episode 11 and 12, this show manages to escape the curse of epsidoe 12 and the show doesn't lose the narrative momentum in episode 12. Despite the fact that it could've ended at that point, the story does find an excuse to keep going but at least here the excuse they use lands well for the plot and facilitates the existence of some of the most emotional moments of the whole show in the final episodes. Overall, I'm just so impressed with the writing in this show. It stands out among the sea of repetitive (if still endearing) and overwritten shows that keep getting made. And I think this isn't even a webcomic adaptation, right?! An extra star just for that!!!!
The production is very good here. It's nothing revolutionary but there are little affects used here and there that just make the show quirky and unique. The story is mainly set in 1995 and the fashion is just the right amount of vaguely retro that it isn't offensively modern and still conveys the 90s aesthetic. At least they don't have a 30 year old woman wear a 2024 trendy hairclip!
I might rewatch this actually. I loved it.
Final comment: This show deserves its place at the very top of Top Shows list. It was a delight to watch and I recommend it to everyone!
P.S.: If anyone knows who the singers for the main characters are, please let me know! Thank you!

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Could be gayer?!

Warning: This movie is for 18+ viewers ONLY.
A year ago, I came across this movie but it wasn’t available anywhere so I read the summary on Wikipedia and gave up! Now about a week ago, by complete dumb luck, I found the movie on a website and thought I’ll watch it, anyway. It’s a good movie. The production, the story, the acting, etc. were all nice. On top of it all, it has a well-executed love triangle of the type I like. So it was a shoo-in for 10/10. It’s just…I liked the first two-thirds but the third act was kind of…meh? I wanna say it was a total sad surprise but I kind of could already tell I wouldn’t like the ending when I read that summary a year ago. No, it’s not negative bias that affected my judgment. Because when I started watching the movie, I expected to be underwhelmed but the movie surprised me by how good it was. Then the third act happened!
I’m really conflicted over this film. About how I felt about it and what to rate it. I said I’ll give myself some time to think it over but a week later and I’m still none the wiser.

You should check this out if you like:
1. Historical fiction
2. Tragic endings
3. Love triangles
4. Internal conflicts
5. Betrayals and moral ambiguity

Summary: The king of Goryeo is gay. He’s been sleeping with his chief of guards (whom he may or may not have groomed since childhood) for a long time. The problem is that Goryeo is now a vassal state of the Yuan dynasty and if the king can’t provide an heir, his country will basically get taken away from him. So, the king has the brilliant idea to have his queen and lover provide an heir for him…because that would still be in the family, right? Well… wrong!

Plot: Love triangles get a bad rep because these days we are sort of sick of them and also because they have turned into formulas that are uninspired, repetitive, and stale. Back in the noughties (The author of this review was on a noughties drama nostalgia bender at the time of watching this movie and reviewing it!) the trope wasn’t done to death yet and people still had the guts to go really wild with their love triangles. That’s the kind I love. Like here, where all three points of the triangle are involved with each other romantically and everyone is simultaneously in love with the others and jealous of them. It’s a MESS! And believe it or not, love triangles are only fun to watch when they are really bunkers. If you can already tell which side will end up together, then it’s not a love triangle. That’s two people in a relationship and a stalker. Anyway, this movie really impressed me because, for two-thirds of it, it delivers all the delicious, terrible feelings of being in love with your love rival and feeling hella conflicted and guilty about it. The final act though was rather tonally different. It was still great. The best of the acting happens during that time and it’s packed with plot and action but it fails to deliver the satisfying emotional punch that was building up in the first two acts, for me. Because while things seemed ambiguous and uncertain before, the last act tries to deliver fast and concrete answers to those questions and it cheapens the story that was told before.

The acting: It was great. I wasn’t super impressed with Jo In Sung here. His expression began to meld into the same two after a while. (But then I watched WHIB right after this, so I think he’s great anyway!) Joo Jin Mo was really good though. A Standout. Everyone else was fine. I wanna pour a drink out for the female lead who had to do so many explicit scenes though. Girl, I wouldn’t wanna be you. That looked so awkward.

Music: Great music elevated the emotional scenes in the film. It set the sad and somber mood perfectly and was also pleasant to listen to.

Rewatch value: Probably not. It’s a tragedy and has too many explicit scenes.

Negatives: For the record, yes, it does matter if the story has gay romance or not. The whole conflict exists because of the issue of sexuality so there’s no way to think about the plot by pretending the tension would still exist if the love triangle wasn’t set up the way that it was. Because the thing that makes this movie interesting and watch-worthy and the thing that sets it apart is the fact that it is known for the relationship between the king and the guard dude. If the guard was just a friend, the story would immediately be way less interesting. That would be something they would make nowadays. Not the noughties!!! With that said, I think the story was a bit conflicted in itself. Like they hesitated to lean into the implications. It didn’t know if it wanted to be about the tragic gay couple or the star-crossed straight couple and that hurts the last act because a lot of the nuance disappears as the king and the guard take the shape of stereotypical rivals more and more. The thing is, by modern standards, the straight part is not a love story at all. It’s just a physical relationship so there’s just no charisma to it. I couldn’t root for the guard and the queen to save my life! They have nothing in common except their physical desires. I can’t fault the story though. In a historical setting, I can understand how that was as good as either one could wish for. It’s just that their romance became the main drive of the last act and that was just not a strong enough romance to carry the plot. So it’s a bit less interesting to watch than when everyone is in love with everyone or married to them and they have all these feelings of lust and betrayal and confusion that they don’t know what to do with.
There were also way too many explicit scenes! Omg, just…so many! Why?! I fast-forwarded most of that because I just couldn’t stomach it. It almost looked clinical. Really disturbing. I felt so sorry for the actors…just YIKES!

Overall: The film has such a perfect set-up. When we meet the characters, the king and the chief guard seem to have a very good and intimate relationship. Same with the King and Queen who though obviously not romantic, still get along. The queen and the chief guard have this mellow rivalry which is very polite and respectful in appearance and the political unrest is interesting. Then the stuff happens and the conflicts are deliciously tantalizing as we see the three characters torture themselves and each other with their silences, with the things they keep from each other, and the stuff they want but can't have. It’s just such an interesting story to tell. The ending is still good even if it doesn’t live up to its potential. The beginning promises an epic fallout and we do get one. It’s just that it could have been an even BIGGER fallout. I think it’s worth a watch. It’s a very well-made movie.
Sidenote: If you think about it, all the problems would be solved if Hong Rim could just identify as a bisexual.

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How to boil frogs alive?

Warning: This show has a lot of triggering content, including suicide, drug use, corporal punishment, abusive language, and sexual assault to name a few. If you have any trauma-specific triggers or cannot handle extreme violence, then tread lightly.

Violence breeds violence in this visceral, dark study of what it takes to break a person who is getting broken every day, over and over again, to the point of no return. The show connects violence in male-dominated environments to domestic abuse, to complacency and apathy in an ominous epic where heroism is nothing but the polished facade over a sick and rotting within.
This was such an unexpected watch for me. I wasn’t planning on watching this because I dislike military and everything connected to it (including fictional works about it) but it’s just 6 episodes and I like the main lead’s acting to I thought I should give it a watch and I was blown away (pun not intended). This was not at all what I had expected from a Korean show. They never hit as hard as Korean films do but this show is a visceral, horrifying watching experience. I can’t say I enjoyed watching it. It induces a lot of stress but I also couldn’t look away. The show tackles the military with a critical eye. It has a “lord of the flies” lens and it shows how the hierarchies in the military enable sociopathic, violent people with dark fantasies to do as they please without any consequence. It’s a system that sustains itself with gore, intimidation, humiliation, and mind-break. The show is almost too successful in exposing these and also connecting the issues of that environment to the hierarchies and toxicity existing in the society outside of the military compound.

You should watch this show if:
1. You hate the military like I do
2. Can handle violence and injustice (extreme)
3. Short format with no wasted moment
4. Subtle character developments
5. Realism with a touch of dramatization
6. Buddycop dynamic
7. Tragedies
8. Police procedural
9. Dark humor

Summary: The show follows Ahn Joon Ho, an apathetic young man with no prospects, no future, and no emotional attachments who joins the army for his mandatory 2-year service, seemingly on a whim. He survives the initiation process through his sheer will to feel nothing! Then his observation skills and sharp mind land him a job with the deserter pursuit unit and with every new case he follows, his icy veneer melts away as he starts to care. A bit too much, maybe.

Plot: This is a very sharply written show. There’s no one scene wasted on unimportant matters. The show is subtle with its character arcs and humor, which helps put the exaggerated and extreme violence in the show into stark focus, making it feel more jarring and uncomfortable. Foreshadowing, symbolism, and parallels are used with great cunning to help flesh out the world and the characters in it. I really like that detail about it. Aside from technicalities, this is an adrenaline-packed, mystery-solving, action story wrapped in trauma and social commentary. It’s an exhilarating watch that will hype you up while also draining your emotions. The format is more or less episodic with each episode following a case. This does dampen the show’s edginess a little bit, as all procedurals do, but thankfully it’s super short so it doesn’t get pedantic.

Acting: The acting was amazing! I already knew Jung Hae In was an amazing actor but I just couldn’t imagine him in a violent, macho military show. Turns out he’s not just good at dramatic acting and being an extremely ideal love interest. He’s also really good at throwing punches. But I have to say, the show benefits from his skills in delivering emotional punches (lol so many boxing puns!). With his naturally sad eyes and empathetic expressions, he raises the show above just being gratuitous violence. Koo Kyo Hwan plays his sardonic, eccentric character to PERFECTION. His humor is not slapstick and cheap and when the emotional moments come up, he keeps his performance steady and mature. He was amazing. Jo Hyun Chul deserves some sort of award for his performance. If he doesn’t get anything then the awards must be rigged. The ensemble was all good in their roles as well.

Music and Production: The music was fine and it worked well for the show. This was a very well-produced show. The camera work, details, sets, everything was done with great care. I guess it’s a Netflix show so it’s expected to deliver a certain level of professionality.

Rewatch value: No. It was too much. I can’t watch it again. I’ll watch a sequel, though.

Negatives: There is an overarching plot and there is character development and the whole show is a very in-your-face social commentary but the procedural format does redact a bit from it. When the plot really starts connecting from episode 4 to 6, it becomes a bit too melodramatic and certain parts are not as enjoyable as the very stylistic first episode that has you hooked. It survives though. There’s extreme violence and it can be argued that it kind of goes against its thesis by showing such over-the-top violence but I rarely see anyone critic compulsory military service so whatever, I’ll take it!

Overall: Definitely a good show. I would give it a 10 but that’s for shows I have fun. This was not exactly fun to watch. It was painful. Just the kind of pain that is worth getting through. One thing I loved about this show was that it has that "get revenge from the bully" situation but it manages to make you not enjoy the righteous violence despite the justice in it? At least for me, it was so. I’m curious to see if the show will get a second season because it has space to say more. As it stands, it could pack a harder punch. It does show the absurdity of the military so well and it almost makes fun of it but the humor is so dark that it’s almost no longer dark humor, just dark. I would like to see them explore the problematic structure of military a bit more. I won’t ask for justice or a journey of righting wrongs because it’ll be tacky but I want to see more of the show.

So how do you boil frogs alive? Well, how about not doing that, you sick sociopathic monster! Not every man has to be a killing machine. Some men like to plant flowers and draw comics and teach children that they are worth it and they deserve good things and you know what? They are more heroic than those who kick a person just because they can, because they have big muscles or a weapon and whatnot...anyway, don't boil frogs but if you do, just expect one to jump out and bite your head off.

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Why you should instead watch the director's cut

This is not a proper review. Yes, this show is amazing. The story is heartbreaking but beautiful. The acting is professional and the entire ensemble did a great job. The show is gorgeous with beautiful sets, costumes, and wonderful principal photography that highlights these gorgeous setups. The ending is sad and the romance is nothing to write home about but it's intentional and very well done.
But I am actually here to tell you to not watch this and instead go watch the director's cut version of the show.
Yes, it's only three episodes longer and it does have more parts that are not directly related to the romance plot but:
1. The story makes more sense
2.The flow is better
3.This is a very classic cut with weird jumps and messy editing but the editing in the director's version is better and more professional. It actually is just an overall better production in that version because it's how the director meant to tell the story.
It's technically the same but that one makes more sense and it's a better watching experience.
So if you are turned off by the first episode or if you haven't started this yet, jump over to the Director's cut version and watch the superior one!

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Harem Drama Lite.

Is this you? Have you just read a certain fanfic for a certain fandom that is a Harem AU and now the story hasn’t updated for weeks and you are just craving that good concubine no. 3 feels? Are you really tempted to watch one of those big harem dramas like Yanxi palace but you see the 70+ episode count and you feel like it’ll be less painful to take your organs out of your body with your bare hands than sit through that many episodes? Are you just itching to watch a bunch of stir-crazy people fight over who gets to sleep with an average/mediocre/ok-maybe-he’s-cool dude? THEN BOY DO I HAVE A SHOW FOR YOU!
With a humble 45 (GOOD GOD! FORTY-FIVE?!?!?!?) episode count, the sword and the brocade gives you all that good “my love, I may have many in my harem, but there’s only you in the harem of my heart” feels while not actually making you want to crawl up a wall from all the palace intrigue melodrama. This is a show about two sourly yet genuinely good people slowly falling in love while every single character around them gets b*tch slapped by Karma! It’s fun…until it’s not.
I can’t in good conscience recommend this show though, mainly because I had such a negative experience making it through the last fifteen episodes of this show. It starts really well, it’s very gripping and there are so many delicious feelings throughout but the pace slows around episode 25 and just about becomes unbearable after episode 36. So maybe watch this only if you are very desperate for a Harem drama that isn’t as cut-throat or extreme as those palace ones.

You should watch this if you like:
1. Harem dramas
2. Murder mysteries
3. Happy endings
4. Meddlesome mother-in-laws (the real villain, everyone!)
5. Arranged marriage
6. Enemies to lovers but not very intense
7. Cinderella stories
8. Ming dynasty misogyny
9. Pro-monogamy harem plot…
10. Sewing (?)

Summary: The main character is the daughter of an unfavored concubine. Now it has come the time for the official mother to marry off her unfavorable concubine-born daughters in the most politically advantageous way. But best-laid plans of mice and men, everything goes the exact opposite way as she wanted, so now her least favorite daughter is married off to a beautiful, jade-like marquis of a man, instead of an abusive, drunkard womanizer and that’s karma for you! There’s a murder mystery, a skippable political plot, lots and lots of concubine drama, and the MOST unlikable, meddlesome, STUPID mother-in-law in the whole world, there too.

The story: I will give them a little credit. They were trying to say something, about women’s lives in the olden times, the terrible conditions of concubinage, the unfairness of the social hierarchy and they do manage to do that for the most part but it’s just so weak and it seems like they gave up on nuance very early on as they fall into the pitfalls of cliches and cinematic stereotypes of catfights that have proven to bring in excited viewers in the past. That’s my way of saying, they tried to be woke but realized it’ll make more money if they just go for the good old melodrama. I think Yanxi palace tried to do a similar thing but they achieved it with a lot more grace and elegance and the point was more solid there (even though that had its melodrama shenanigans too). There's also this bait-and-switch plot that is used too many times to show the change of tides in the plot that was cool the first time but got annoying when they did it over and over again.
The story also has something to say about getting lost in traditions and rules that can lead to denying people their agency to make choices for their own life. The show starts with this truly jaded man who has been forced into marriage and taking concubines and just putting up with all of this, even though he really couldn’t care less. He’s completely disillusioned about women and sees them as opportunistic people who will use sexuality and beauty to gain money and power. This is the best detail of the show because you can see how the female lead changes his perceptions throughout the show and finally makes it possible for him to figure out what he wants and what his problems were all along and how to ask for things that he wants.
But this also means that the female lead barely had a character arc! She was a pretty smart and level-headed person from the start and she is validated all the way to the end of the show. Her only change in the story is to fall in love but other than that she is a fully formed woman with a great understanding of herself and her principles from the very beginning.

The acting: Despite all the problems I had with the plot, I actually liked the two main actors. I prefer the more subdued and calm acting that Seven Tan did here and I also liked Wallace Chung’s acting. Not sure about the couple's chemistry, though. One was more into the romance than the other, I thought. I’ve also decided to add a new criterion to how I judge the acting, by judging the ensemble’s acting as a whole and basically judge how well everyone’s acting worked together. I have to say, here the acting was very homogenous. Everyone was on the same level. Shout out to He Hong Shan’s acting, she gave this very bratty voice to her character and it was brilliant. It made you want to slap her so bad! I also feel bad for Daddi Tong. I didn’t like his character but he did a good job and I hope he’ll get male leads in the future so he can be less pitiful.

The music: This is probably the best part of this show. The background music is just okay but the soundtrack is very romantic and it really worked well for the romance. As a whole the production was fine. Nothing special to say about it.

Rewatch value: None. Unless you’re THAT desperate for a harem drama that isn’t in the palace actually.

The negative: There’s a lot of weak writing in this show. For instance, there’s an attempt made to connect the political stuff with the harem stuff and the murder mystery all together, and yeah they’re connected but I don’t think anyone who was watching cared even a little for that political stuff, and for good reason. It was boring and very simple and it just took up a lot of space that had nothing happening in it. The other problem was the pacing. The show has a lot of little arcs and these did not mesh well together. Instead of having one big arc and small arcs intertwined together, each tiny arc is resolved separately. This means that we end up with the same story over and over again. Getting rid of a bad concubine? Three separate arcs that are solved one at a time, fighting over the second male lead being a potential homewrecker but with different intensities? Five different arcs! It just makes the show feel like a broken record because they keep arguing over the same things over and over again. After episode 25, everything just turns into a Groundhog Day. Everyone just goes around each other repeating the same issues again and again and each time only one thing is resolved until FINALLY, it’s all over. Really this show should have been 30 episodes. It was too long.
There was a lot of nothing in the show too: getting on and off carriages, purring tea, just moving from one place to another. You’d expect them to omit these in editing.
There’s also a bit of a negative bias in the story. Those women were all victims. The mother-in-law was a monster and she created this poisonous environment that only nurtured poisonous snakes. But the story somehow puts the main character on a moral high ground over these other victims. Even though there was no reason for her to be holier than the others. It’s not even her fault, it’s just that the show gets so twisted around itself that it ends up reaffirming the traditional values of women that the show was criticizing at first.

Overall: This show came into my life just as I needed it. I did binge some twenty-something episodes of it like my life depended on it. It’s a skippable watch unless you know mandarin and can just let it play in the background then maybe it'll be better. Just be ready to get annoyed.

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