Pathetic FL and Selfish ML

I'm trying to like this show but my interest in started dropping by Ep 4 and it took me a while to pick it back up again Ep5.

The FL becomes annoying as she comes off not only as desperate but almost obsessed and pathetic towards the ML. Of course, it's easy to see that she gets mixed msgs from the ML but even though he rejects her, she doesn't give up.

Then we have to watch this cruel deity and a foolish "fairy", the ML, just basically hash it out for what? Because the ML accidentally shot himself with his own arrow and fell in love with the wrong woman? Makes no sense that the deity wouldn't be able to lift the spell of the cupid's arrow. Whatevs. Why is that deity, (God of Fate),such an a-hole anyways?

Then about the ML...You would think that after living 500 years in punishment and also cruelly subjecting his friends to the same punishment, that the ML would learn a lesson. Even after the fact that two women that he opened his heart to not only died, but one was viciously murdered. But did he learn his lesson? Nope. Apparently not. His selfishness stirs up more trouble. Not only he is selfish in regards to his friends who are suffering from the same punishment but his selfishness towards the lives of women who have died or who are in danger because he opened his heart to them. After the murder of one of the women, you'd think he would self-sacrifice his feelings to prevent any future tragedies and murders, but it's apparent that it isn't heading that way. It also makes no sense that his friends don't seem to concerned that he might fall back in love.

The perilla leaf scene and the FL getting jealous of her friend being helped is the stupidest, childish writing. I don't get how she's supposed to be a grown, career woman but she acts like a highschooler in love with her crush. Her character is so immature and childish. The ML specifically tells the FL not to go out and of course, she goes out. Why are they making these women so dumb? I'm also so over this FL being drunk all the time. It's too much. Alcoholism isn't attractive. I'm losing count how many times she been piggybacked home. It's such a writer's cop out and an excuse to add unnecessary kissing scenes. Why not just be sober and courageous at the same time? This is just lazy writing to me.

Worst of all, the storylines and genres of this drama goes all over the place. One minute we see the past Joseon era, then there's present time and the recent murder, then it goes back to that past of the other murders, then there's the love triangle, in the Joseon past and present time, then there's the FL and ML rom-com antics that seems so out of place. Their characters are so immature at most points all the while there's a serial killer on the loose. And then we go back to past lives and back and forth all over the place. Then the deity shows outta nowhere. Then there's the ML's useless friends and what's the point of the dog turning back to a human sometimes? After 500 years, you'd think that all these guys would be very wise, mature and serious. But apparently their lives just seem to be spent being lazy and good for nothing but basically shooting love arrows. Even that whole storyline gets randomly put in. We stopped hearing about the punishment being over soon, then it's back on topic. So when exactly will the metamorphosis happen? Also, the ML being a cupid, sometimes they want you to think he's powerful but you can't take him seriously because he looks so young and his actions are often immature.

It feels like mutiple different writers wrote different versions of this drama and they mashed all the ideas together awkwardly and while it lies in a messy pile, they randomly pull out scripts.

I'll update my post at the end if I can make it that far without dropping it. Finished ep6 atm.

Read More

Yang Yang's Best C Drama

Firstly, I just want to mention that I'm not a gamer at all and no nothing about esports but I learned a bit after watching this Cdrama.

I can admit that I'm a fan of Yang Yang but I don't overly stan him hard and I don't like all the dramas that he's in. Sometimes I find that his acting is the same broody, main romantic lead. However, I really like him in this one. This is probably the only drama where I've seen him smiling and laughing the most and still have those serious moments. This is also the only drama I can recall where he's seen eating desserts! I like that Yang Yang plays a quiet and serious leader but he doesn't go into an overly broody persona.

The writer did a good job with the ML. His character, Ye Qiu/Xiu wasn't overly strict or dramatic. Even when all that hype about why Ye Qiu left Team Excellent Era, it kept on the down-low without the truth being revealed.

I also like the fact that the King's Avatar avoids any romance. Seriously, the fact that there's no romance, really keeps the story focused on just the creation of the new team, Team Happy. There isn't any distraction of romance which makes the storyline even better. (However, I wouldn't mind if Dilraba made a cameo appearance in S2. Reprising her role in "My Glory" and makes a comment that Ye Xiu looks like her husband! That would be so funny!) But back to the King's Avatar, there just a lot of friendship build-ups, some conflicts and resolutions.

The way the story flowed from live to gaming (anime) was really smooth. The anime part was always interesting, sometimes comedic and often times exciting.

The only drawback I had was with the women in this show. I wasn't a fan of the women. Tang Rou's character was so annoying and every time she lost, the story always went in a direction like she couldnt handle it. She always sulked off like a real loser. Even at one point, another player says, "She's having a breakdown." Go figure, only a woman character gets described that way. Chen Guo, the manager was the most annoying of them all. I just didn't like her acting. The voice actor who dubbed her voice was terrible. Couldn't stand the way she would whine but I couldn't like the actress either. She just seemed so annoying all the time. I also didn't find her strong enough to play the role that was expected out of her character. I just wanted to cut off the tails, (braids), in her hair. Ugh. But overall, I do think that the writers never gave any of the women a stronger vibe and there's only 3 of them out of the whole drama. Some of the guys were a bit annoying as well like the reporter kid, Little Moon, and An Wen Yi. It was very hard to like them.

Overall, I think I just like that fact that it's mixed live and anime. There are a few dramas like that but this is the only one I've actually enjoyed watching. They keep it simple in terms of gaming, and no over the board drama. This is one of the few dramas I go back and rewatch whenever I can. The OST seem really fitting and they played it at the right moments.

I hope that in the 2nd season, we will see the same smiling Yang Yang, more stronger women and more exciting anime.

Read More

If you like dramas about one-sided love, then this is for you!

First off, I just wanna point out that the poster is misleading. There are three characters who aren't on it and at least 2 of them should be. If they added these two/three actors/actresses with everyone looking in the right place or at the right person, you would have a basic understanding of the storyline as it first starts. Apparently, this series is about someone who likes someone who doesn't like them back.

I usually like to write a detailed synopsis about what this show so major spoilers ahead:

The storyline takes place in college. There are two main couples.

The first "couple", the main leads, are best friends, with a one-sided-love-triangle-trope. The guy likes the girl, who is his bestie, but the girl likes someone else who likes her back.

The second couple is the "Magnet Couple" or "Campus Couple". The girl in this relationship has a female "friend" that has a kind of stalker-ish one-sided love for her obviously taken boyfriend.

In total there are 9 characters, 4 guys and 5 girls. 3 of the guys including the ML and SML are roommates and 3 of the girls, FL and SFL, are roommates in the separated dorms. There are "what do the women think" and "what do the guys think" opinions of the same issues and problems.

Then there's the mysterious author of a post that starts off with "Dear M". This is a post confessing that some mysterious person likes someone in their Photography and Appreciation class. All of the above characters share this class so everyone is wondering who wrote this letter that was posted on one of the school's forums for everyone to read. Everyone is trying to guess who wrote the letter and who is "M". More letters follow after.

There are a few things that annoy me about this:
-The campus couple and their lack of communication. It's not that they don't talk, it's just that they don't share important need-to-know crap. There were a lot of red flags with the stalker friend, but SFL just pushes her suspicions aside and by the time she finally confronts the stalker friend, it's a bit too late.
-Also, the SFL falls into the "I'm going to do and say this to my boyfriend but I'm secretly hoping that my boyfriend won't listen or do what I say" scenario. Then she runs crying and whining to her friends when he actually just does what she says because dude is just a nice guy.
-The boyfriend, the second male lead, is played by Bae Hyeon Seong. While he's nice to look at because of course, he looks like BoGummy, most of the time he looks lost and sad. If it isn't his girlfriend, it's his studies. Every time I watch him, I think, "Poor guy... doesn't even know why he likes his girlfriend." Lol. He's still a good actor though just his character seems depressing every time he's not smiling.
-The FL, played by Park Hye Soo, looks like she belongs in high school or maybe even middle school. I'll be honest and say that I don't think she's a suitable FL. The way she acts all shy and naive is definitely out of place for a uni student. I get it she's experiencing first love vibes and all but it's the same kind of acting that keeps going on with her. Also, her kiss with her crush is while drunk and she barely remembers it the next day. Really?! That's the worst kind of 'first kiss' cliché.
-Another thing I really dislike is the FL lying and saying she likes this and that so it's the same likes as the guy she has a crush on. She managed to get inside information about him and used it to her advantage. So she pretends she's interested in everything he likes. Literally. WTF. Because of this, the career path she starts thinking of is the one that her crush says she would be good at. Go figure.
-The same goes with the stalker friend but her route about finding out more about her friend's boyfriend was more in a stalker-type way.
-There's a scam that's very obvious.

What I like:
-So far I love the acting of ML, Jaehyun and I really think that he's suited for this role.
-I love the bestie relationship and their story but more so with the ML and how he really knows his best friend and the way he takes care of her more than she does of him. She does like one major thing for him but that's really all I can r member. He does all these little trivial things for her and it's endearing even though she's oblivious.
-the Karaoke scene was very well done and I loved the beginning where it seems almost like they can't sing but then the duet comes and it's perfect. They pulled off the duet in a creative and interesting way. It's my fave scene so far that I rewatched that scene a few times already. I'm hoping Kdramas do more scenes like this. I hate it when they have an actor/actress who can sing but in a drama, they "fake" sing terribly.
-The storylines are interesting enough and so are the backstories of some characters
-The road trip scene with the lip balm was hilarious and the curse cafe was funny too.

All in all, this is holding my interest but when I really think of it, all the women are written poorly with more flaws than the guys. The women are either clueless, naive, b*tchy, stalker-y, or victims. Sigh. Right now I'm at Ep6 and I like the fact that they're dropping a lot of episodes at once. I can't rate too high as of yet but I'll update my review later if necessary.

Update:
I was glad that this series dropped 6 episodes in 2 parts at once because I don't know if I would've been excited each week to wait for new episodes. For me, it's started getting draggy. I fast-forwarded a few parts because it wasn't holding my interest.

I'll say that ML, Cha Min Ho played by Jaehyun, was probably the only character I was rooting for because I got irritated with everyone else. Everything ties up at the end and once that happened it wasn't like fireworks or cute "awwww" feelings. It was just so so. All of a sudden, the couples were just... boring. There is the standard, typical k-drama trope where the actresses always look surprised every time they're being kissed. (What's up with that btw? The guy goes in for a kiss and the girl is always surprised. Even the ones in relationships. It's always like watching a bunch of teenagers kissing for the first time.) There was a wedding dance that was so cheesy that it should've been cut out and as for the villain girl and guys, nothing much happened to them. The mystery of Dear. M was answered and left much to be desired. Everyone looks bored by the ending scene and it made me bored. Overall, it wasn't too bad but not great either. Jaehyun's acting was really great and gawd knows he's got that eye batting and longing looks down! I'll probably rewatch his singing and cute confession scenes.

Read More

Could've Had a Better Ending with Different Villain

I really enjoyed this show and I'm looking forward to another season. I will say I was a bit disappointed with the ending. Please stop here if you don't want any spoilers...

I was really disappointed who ended up being the villain and that his father was also killed. Just when it looked like the relationship between the ML and his father was finally coming around, the father is murdered. So the ML had no real family by his side anymore, just the crazy, lost-her-mind stepmother who treated the ML like crap his whole life. So the ML, Jin Isoo, lost his mother at a young age, then his father. It's kind of disappointing that the writers didn't leave him with any good familial relationships, except his secretary. I would've liked it better with a different villain (like the step-mother), and at least leaving the ML with his father and step brother. Also, I didn't like the way the father let his wife treat his son like crap, knowing what he knew.

Other than that, I loved the way that his involvement as part of the Violent Crimes Division evolved as well as the funny, comedic bromance and I actually liked that there was no romance involved. It is definitely rewatchable if you're a fan of Bo Hyun!

Read More

The Martian and Apollo 13 Meets Murphy's Law

Let me start off by saying that I am a huge fan of DO Kyungsoo and I was eagerly waiting to watch this.

I've watched a lot of the space and sci-fi genre and if anyone has ever watched The Martian, Apollo 13, Armageddon, The Core, Lost In Space, etc, you will find that The Moon is very similar to all these films/series. It's already difficult to make a space movie taken in the "present" time and not have some similarities found in other films and TV series and that's to be expected.
And of course, just like Murphy's Law, everything that could go wrong went wrong. So much sh*t hits the fan that it becomes hard to believe that he even survives. I think in retrospect, they went a bit overboard with all the unlucky accidents and failures.

Another thing that stood out like a sore thumb was whenever they showed the "NASA" HQ, you felt like you were watching a pep rally where everyone attended the "University of NASA" because mostly everyone working there was wearing NASA hoodies. As if they wanted to make sure the audience knew it was NASA. We got it... the hoodies and jackets told us so. Honestly, they could've just worn regular, normal clothes and we would've still believed it was NASA. But it was pretty obvious that NASA's merchandise branding was everywhere. It was even less convincing when the head FL at the NASA HQ, couldn't speak fluently English. It would've been better if her English was a bit more proficient or at least dubbed. This is NASA after all.

There were other parts I wasn't particularly fond of... apparently no one at the KASC, the Korean space HQ, could make a quick decision or a solution every time a problem arose because there was only that ONE guy from the outside who was the only one capable and there was that one other dude who just f*cked everything up and the Minister who was so incompetent at his job too. It also seemed odd in the beginning that it felt like the other astronauts didn't seem to like the ML. It just didn't fit in with the storyline.

All in all, it was an interesting watch but it just didn't feel very original. I did, however, feel emotionally invested in Maru, the drone. I thought DO Kyunsoo did a good job as usual but I'll be honest and say that I felt he looked too young for the role. I think a more mature-looking and older actor would've been more convincing especially since DO's character was a Navy Seal. Someone like Park Seo Joon or even Gong Yoo, (if he hadn't already been in Silent Sea), would've been more suitable.

Read More

A Failed Paradoxical Expectation

First off, let me reiterate that I am fan of both Choi Woo-shik and Son Suk-ku. I think that their acting was very well done and I hope to see them working again in another drama or movie.

That being said... I don't know what I was expecting but from the trailers, I thought that maybe it would be more supernatural in genre. That his first kill made him somehow able to "see" the crimes of the people he came in contact with. If you ever watched the Memorist, you'd know what I'm talking about. But alas, it wasn't so. It was more that Choi Woo-Shik's character, Lee Tang, just becomes a vigilante at best with some kind of small intuition to feel out evil people.

I think one of the problems with the storyline was basically Lee Tang's character development into a serial killer. One minute you see him like a regretful and tortured accidental killer and other times, just as a serious murderer. He goes back and forth like this and somehow it didn't allow the storyline to flow smoothly. Maybe that was part of the paradox they were aiming for but it just didn't work. Sometimes he's a coward in hiding and other times he's a cold-blooded killer. I don't know if the second killer was worth bringing in. Also, the nude sex scene was like a Michael Bay-Netlix-Let's-Show-Some-Boobs-And-Sex thing. Why was that even in there? Added nothing to the story but just degradation of women in film as usual.

Overall, it was good enough that I binge-watched this but I don't think I'll rewatch it.

Read More

Drama Doesn't Suit Both Main Leads

Please beware of spoilers....

I'm a fan of both Bai Lu and Dylan Wang but there's just something missing in this drama. Both characters seems lacking. The writing and plot are just so-so. There isnt any real emotions coming from either actors because the storyline and writing is limited. The problem I think with Dylan and Bai Lu is that when we see them in other historical/costume dramas, including ones that either have the fantasy genre, wuxia or martial arts, these actors have action scenes and CGI to fall back on. Things like special effects and CGI, mystical powers, brillant costumes, cable wiring and martial art scenes all give the actors that extra flair. But take that all out and put Dylan or Bai Lu in a modern day drama, well, there's not much but their own acting to fall back on. And of course, shoddy writing is a killer too.

Major spoilers:
First, when the FL's bf cheats on her, you don't get feel any emotion from her character. And she even allows herself to get shoved aside by the "mistress" and then she goes out and pouts like a little girl. Even when another colleague steals her interview, again, no real reaction from the FL. We're supposed to take her seriously as a reporter but at the same time, we see her crushing hard on the ML. For someone who was betrayed, the FL has no problem quickly trying to target a rich person. I expect highschoolers to act the way she does but she's supposed to be a professional, grown, mature woman. We have to repeatedly watch her stare at the ML and in slo-mo too. Her staring-while-awkwardly-smiling scenes are so much that it's giving off cringey, stalkery vibes. Also, too much dead space when she just stands there uncomfortably smiling and making no eye contact. Her inner dialogues are often immature and overdramatic. We don't need to hear everything she's thinking if it's just going to be about dumb assumptions. All annoying. It's doesn't make the FL look any better and doesn't complement nor highlight Bai Lu's acting skills at all. Also, her hair and makeup is all the same. Very bland.

As for Dylan Wang, he plays this no-nonsense CEO but he has his doubts. Instead of playing to that emotion, he just seems like he's boringly competitive and jealous. Like how do you make jealousy boring? Apparently the lack of compelling writing and direction can. I'm not sure who the stylist is but some of his suits and jackets don't look properly fitted to him. He sometimes looks like a kid in big clothes. Don't even get me started on his glasses. It's like instead of making him look "dashing" and model-like, his clothes look baggy and often makes him look "aged". He has a good physique so it's disappointing to see him in ill-fitting clothing. The only time he looked really good was when he wore riding clothes. Also, what's with all the camera angles always panning from under Dylan's chin when he make some kind of grand entrance? Not exactly flattering. There's always that low panning of the camera angle on Dylan and then a higher camera on Bai Lu. And is his character supposed to have some kind of "super hearing"? As for his acting, he's the typical Dylan Wang and his character is pretty basic.

I really don't understand the purpose of Dylan's niece. She's just another woman being made to play a dumbed down and immature character. Why do cdramas make women like this? Enough already. And even the FL's best friend just seems like she likes rich dudes too.

Anyways, I'm hoping that the storyline improves. It's a bit draggy. I'll update this later if necessary. (Ep 10.)

Updated:
I just realized I dropped this drama after Ep14.

Every time the two leads were in the car, the car trips are a waste of time. The FL is always avoiding eye contact but then she smiles and giggles when texting and their texts are even boring. So much texting because afterall, they can't have grown up, decent conversations. And then in one scene, the FL runs away and hides from her cheating ex. Why? Because it was the same restaurant they went to? Like who cares? She was sitting with a way better dude. And let's talk about her running away from the ML half the time especially after the FL kissed him... which was... meh.

Apparently the FL lead has no idea about relationships because she keeps calling her bestie for advice who gives the worst advice. She even gave advice when there was a guy in the room who actually knows the ML. Like every woman knows that's just ain't something women do. The bestie can't even get her own sh*t together either.

Then we have to watch the young niece pursuing one of her uncle's friends and she had the audacity to ask him if he was gay when they barely know each other. She's basically stalking him. Actually, everyone is stalking each other! Lol!

And lastly when we finally see the two leads holding hands, it bothered the hell outta me that her jacket belt was undone. Sounds ridiculous, but I telly ya', it was distracting.

Overall, the whole push and pull theme is just boring and unoriginal. There's only so much awkward smiling I can take from the FL.

I read some comments and everyone is complaining about the pace. I don't care how long it takes for the leads to get together, so long as the build up to get there is interesting. I understand that others are also saying that it does or doesn't mirror the book but a show should be able to stand on its own and make you want to read the book afterwards. That's just my opinion.

I'm passing on this for now and if I do pick it up again, I'll be fast-forwarding to only the leads' scenes together. Lowered my rating from a 6 to a 4.

Read More

A Loose Adaptation of K-Drama "Something in the Rain"

If you've watched "Something In The Rain", then this is pretty much the same storyline with a few changes. Instead of the ML being best friends with the FL's brother and the FL being best friends with the ML's sister, the ML and FL in this drama are step-siblings. The ML's mother and FL's father are married. I personally think this relationship is actually worse than the original version because it's just way too close for comfort.

The storyline has a few changes but all in all, it is similar. Unfortunately, IMO, I was only a fan of the first half of "Something In the Rain" and I thought the last half of it, just made the drama fall apart so depressingly. There were a lot of reviews that also agreed with this. We have yet to see if this drama will re-write the direction the original storyline went and hopefully learn from the former's mistakes.

So far, in this drama, (Love The Way You Are), I think that the build-up of the love story is lacking. Compared to the original, the ML spends time with the FL and starts to slowly fall in love with her, but in this adaptation, it feels like the ML has a crush on her instantly for whatever reason, which I can't see why. Especially since the FL has a boyfriend in the beginning that ML knows about.

Anyways, I don't find that the FL leads looks so obviously older than the ML, (7 years difference), and the way they call each other "brother" and "sister" in the first few episodes, made me cringe because you're constantly reminded that they're step-siblings.

I'll continue to follow this but I'm already finding myself fast-forwarding scenes of the secondary characters, especially the annoying ones. You'll have plenty to choose from! I'm wondering if this drama will be able to keep up the pace because I'm already finding it draggy. I'm not particularly looking forward to how their relationship falls apart knowing the storyline already.

I'm at ep 12 atm and I'll update my review if it's worth it.

Update:
By the time I got to EP 17, I was starting to fast forward. The whole kid issue with the SML and SFL was just in bad taste and his confession outside in a fountain area where lots of people just happen to be standing around watching was terrible, terrible, terrible. I felt sorry for the extras having to participate in that scene. Seriously. I basically fast-forwarded until ep 20 and by then I had enough... The FL and SFL are supposed to be "strong women" but how? Who the f*ck knows. Apparently, men just come in and do the save-the-damsel-in-distress trope over and over again.

Then I was just confused as to whether or not the main leads actually slept together because they edited and strung scenes together that made no sense. If I hadn't watched Something In The Rain, I wouldn't have figured it out. At least SITR was clear about it. It was so confusing.

And still, all the other side characters are just pathetically annoying as well. Especially the youtube gal. Why do a lot of C-dramas have an annoying character like her? The girl that tries to be cute but she's just unlikeable and annoying as hell with stalker-like and possessive traits?

Also, the father still wants her to be with her ex even though the ex almost killed her. What kind of father is that?

I'm done. Dropping this because it's just way too draggy and lacks substance. I highly recommend that you DO NOT waste your time on this one. I've changed my rating from 5.5 to 3.0.

Read More

Damsel in Distress Theme Way Over The Top

While I liked the concept of the storyline when I read it in the details, so far, it fails to deliver.

The female lead is so irksome and annoying. At first, they made it seem like she could hold her own physically but that soon goes out the window.

I'm not impressed by the way she keeps calling the ML constantly for help even for the most stupidest lovey dovey crap. Then of course, she rendered completely useless when she supposed to catch a criminal or when faced against one.

The way the female lead acts all speechless or dumb when faced with her boss (who she idolizes) is so ridiculous that it's embarrassing and cringe-worthy. It's pathetic.

I don't know if we're supposed to look at her as an immature and childish woman or just a plain naive one. Even her "job" is pretty useless. I really don't know what's the deal with her co-workers. They're just there for them to pity her. They're so unimportant and add nothing to the story. You can take them all out and nothing would change.

As for the ML, I dunno why he's described as an antagonist who is supposed to be "evil"... the show doesn't really portray him like that. He's supposed to be cunning and manipulative but he's more of an egotistical jerk wannabe. Are you honestly supposed to believe he's really from another time or fantasy fiction? We're just supposed to somehow dismiss it and believe he's just sooo smart.

As for the secondary characters, the boss pining after his former secretary is uninteresting. She looks a lot older than him that they seem so mismatched. It's like he just comes to work just to "stalk" and spy on her.

Right now I'm at E6 and I'm very close to dropping this if the FL's character doesn't improve or mature.

So far this is just a fluff and light drama. No real depth in any of the characters.

Update:
I watched up to Ep8 and couldn't get back into it. Not worth wasting any more time watching this. I'm starting to realize that most CDramas are showing FLs as either really dumbed down or overly bitchy. You can't have a strong female lead who doesn't take crap from anyone and can hold her own. As an international viewer from North America, I'm finding myself in general turned off by a lot of cdramas and just like this one, it's just not worth watching.

Read More

WHY THE F--K DO C-DRAMAS DO THIS??

I swear, the amount of times CDramas are ruined for me is when they infantalize the FL. She's supposed to be the "older" woman but she acted like a highschooler. Seriously... not only is she supposed to be like 30 years old or something and a famous singer too and yet she acts immature and like another reviewer stated, "coy allll the time." The only time the FL ever has a backbone is when she's facing a female rival because of course... let's be strong against bitchy women but weak with men. Put the FL back in front of the ML, and she's so lacking. I couldn't listen to her "baby" voice anymore.

The side characters were so boring ... the love triangle was useless because the other dude wasn't really a contender. I don't know him as an actor but he definitely wasn't a good fit for the role. How are we supposed to be interested in the love triangle part when the SML looks so much older and unfortunately creepier? He looked like he could've been the FL's uncle. Ugh. I just couldn't get on board with him and his fashion. They should've had a real contender for the love triangle.

Another disaster was the SFL. Of course, she just can't move on with her life because of her ex. He's getting happily married and she's like, "I'm giving up my dream of being a drummer! I'm so upset he's getting married, I'm gonna crash my car and then get drunk!!" Wah wah wah... O.M.G!!!! Someone get this lady a "Wah-bulance"! Writers, I beg you all, stop giving women a bad name. It's 2023. No man, especially an ex, is worth a woman giving up her dreams for. Who wrote this crap of a storyline?Bejezus!! I felt sorry for the guy who kept chasing her. She clearly rebuffs him, consistently and constantly and he just didn't leave her alone. Why he liked her in the first place was beyond me.


And the ML... he carried most of the show but his roommates and classmates were also like a bunch of geeky highschoolers who couldn't even get their own gfs. I wished the ML actually left to study abroad because I was just tired of seeing him chase after the FL who wouldn't hear what he had to say but listened to everyone else. Ugh.

Anyways, I think this was geared towards a younger audience. I watched this on and off, hoping to finish it slowly but I just couldn't take it anymore.

Read More

Standalone from Its Prequel, "Veteran"

Upon hearing about the rave reviews of this movie, I waited patiently until I could finally watch it. While waiting, I found it was connected to the movie, "Veteran" with majority of the same cast, so I watched Veteran first. I really enjoyed watching Veteran as it had both funny and serious tones throughout the whole movie.

Now back to "I, The Executioner" (ITE), I enjoyed it also but for those who haven't watched "Veteran" yet, you do not need to watch it first before watching ITE. This movie can standalone by itself.

While ITE is good, there is one vast difference between this one and its counterpart. Veteran had more funny and crazy moments sprinkled throughout the entire movie while still keeping to its serious undertones. Even in Veteran, the main lead's wife had a shining moment when they tried to bribe her. Whereas in ITE, the only funny scenes are in the first few minutes of this movie. After that, it's basically a :cops vs vigilante" serious movie but they did ramp up on the action scenes.

There is one great fighting part with Anh Bo Hyun on the rooftop and in the rain. Those fight scenes were really good in terms of camera angles, cinematography and fight sequences.

The only drawback I think that it had was that earlier when they showed drug addicts upon drug addicts, their make-up looked realistic. But then when they finally came to Bo Hyun's character, his make-up looked too "clean" compared to the other drug addicts' make-up. He just looked pale and not like the other drug addicts they previously showed. You could obviously that the make-up artistry were completely different. But what can you say? Bo Hyun is just too handsome. Lol! Also, in one scene at the police station, his make-up looked more "drug addict-like" but then in another scene his make-up just made him look pale. I did like the way he acted when he looked at Jung Hae In and he just knew that Hae In was psycho.

Speaking of Jung Hae In, I'm still on the fence about him as the villain here. He was good but I wasn't entirely convinced by his psychotic side. There was that extra something that I felt was missing but please don't come at me Hae In fans! This is just my opinion. I think it had to do with the way he was normally around everyone. His character seemed off in normal settings anyways. I think it would've been more convincing if he acted more like a really nice and normal guy in front of everyone so that they would've had a hard time believing he could be the villain. But instead, his character was always that "awkward-dude-that's-kind-of-weird-but-you-can't-put-finger-on-what-it-is-that-makes-him-creepy" vibe.

While I thoroughly liked this movie, I do think that it was missing some of the funny and crazy moments that made Veteran more "charming". In Veteran, the team has some pretty funny moments where they "lose" it and go crazy but not so much in ITE. But both movies are good in its own right. Like I said before, you don't need to watch Veteran first before watching this. Make sure to watch the post credit scene. It's at the end of the credits.

Read More

Disappointing Female Lead

I enjoyed this at the beginning but then the stupidity of the FL and the trying-so-hard to be a villainess fake Princess started really getting on my nerves. First they had that hint of fantasy where she had that magical bracelet that allowed her to foresee the future. Then she lost it and that was that. She was good for nothing. I don't know if they explain the magic of the bracelet in the later episodes but it looked like they only used the bracelet as an opportunity to foreshadow and give the viewers small previews of what to expect in the series. She loses this bracelet early on and even though the ML said he would "drain the lake" to get it back for her, nothing was being done. You'd think that with the power of foresight the bracelet provided, it would be an important item to get back but nah... buh bye Bracie!! That one scene where she gets kicked in the water was so hilarious. Her clothes were already soaking wet before she even "jumped" into the water that you could see beads of water come off her clothes as she's jumping and a puddle of water on the deck. The editing was so bad there. Makes you wonder how many takes they did for that particular scene.

I got tired of watching the FL basically be good for nothing and I was getting annoyed by the same eye-makeup and clothes. She was a very boring and annoying character. The ML had basically three expressions... serious glaring, kinda glaring, snickering but still glaring. Don't get me started on the "villain" guy, General Hu. I couldn't take him seriously as a villain. His acting was mediocre.

I thought I could get through this really easily considering the episodes are short but I could only make it to 12 episodes so far. Maybe later I'll pick it back up but for now, I'm dropping this.

Read More

What A Waste of Yang Yang!

Uggghhhhh!!! I was so disappointed! 8 episodes in and I still couldn't like the FL especially when she acted like a high schooler chasing after her crush. Also, I'm really not a fan of how the camera did all this slow zoom-in and out panning on the actors' faces or when panning in on a room. It seemed a bit amateurish. What was with the shower ending scene after the first episode? So out of place and unnecessary. Both of them staring off into nothing in their own shower was so, I dunno, useless? It's like they threw that in randomly to draw in the audience. I almost laughed.

All the slow-mo gazes were getting so tiresome. While I'm a big fan of Yang Yang and his acting, as he can pull off any role, I hope that in the future he chooses better scripts that portray a stronger female lead. This drama seems so off balance because of the weak FL's character. I'm not sure if it's the actress and her acting or her portrayal of the FL, but whatever it is, her chemistry with Yang Yang was flat, and the dialogue so bland and tonal. I struggled through this and I honestly wish I hadn't. I gave up after I found myself fast-forwarding.

They had all these so-called dramatic scenes but really, it was a bit over-the-top and ridiculous:
-FL freaking out when her car was getting filled with water but then here comes the ML wading in it, waist high, to come and save her. OMG. It looked so bad.
-The ML running out of a cloud of black and grey smoke with a child in his arms in sloooo-moooo, as the FL stares after him even though she had just finished performing CPR on a patient... seriously? What doctor would shoot lovey-dovey eyes in a situation like that?
-Every time the ML went to the hospital, the FL just happens to be the doctor and even when she had to administer a needle in his butt, apparently there was no privacy because people just walked in through the door.
-The running with the medical antidote like it was some kind of donor transport.
-So many bad hospital scenes and how many times was the FL the doctor who was sent to the site where the firefighters were?

Also, I really didn't like where the storyline was heading. After you find out why ML's mother left and how his father died, why on earth would ML want back his ex who left him similarly? It made ZERO sense. He was obviously traumatized by his past and yet he still pined after someone who really didn't deserve him. And let's not talk about how the FL wanted to work to find her "independence" and not rely on her rich parents, meanwhile living in the fancy apartment her parents got for her. Yeah, right. As a doctor, y'all telling me she couldn't find a place of her own to rent? Sheesh.

Anyways, all this just got me rolling my eyes and I dropped it. While I am a fan of Yang Yang, that doesn't mean I can't dislike dramas that he's in. I don't blame him but in this case, the writing, the actress who played the FL, and the production overall. If it wasn't for Yang Yang, I probably would've rated this lower.

Read More

The Art of Walking In Slow Motion and Staring Into The Camera

I'm keeping my review short as I haven't finished watching this yet and I feel like it's getting a bit repetitive at the 30 episode mark. But I will say that I'm getting tired of the constant slow motion walking scenes. Almost every single character gets a slow motion cat walk, even the servants, and especially the ML, Duke Su gets one almost every time. Then there's the repetitive looks into the camera as if the characters are staring at each other. And then the slow mo walk and then the look at each other and then into the camera, and then the slow mo walk...

The storyline started off great but like I mentioned before, it's now feeling repetitive. By 30 episodes in, I was hoping to see more development on the relationship between the two leads but now there are less than 8 episodes for me to watch and nothing solid between these two yet. Just a lot of flirting with word play. The villains get skinship but the main leads... on ep 34 they censor the kiss? Wtf?

I'll update my review if I manage to finish this.

Read More

REPETITIVE... WASH,.RINSE, AND REPEAT

This show started off strong but I started to find the storyline a bit repetitive by episode 6.

So reading about the details of what this show is supposed to be about the Uncle, Joon Hyuk taking care of his sister and nephew in "hiding" but right up to episode 7, we deal with Uncle and family vs. the villains the "Momvelies". Basically a bunch of rich moms who own their own apartment units vs the renters like the Uncle's sister. So there's a war that goes back and forth between the rich mom group and the Uncle and family and of course, their young kids also hate each other and the young, rich kids are the typical bullies.

Now there's only so much I can watch with the dumb mom group being manipulative and a bunch of liars and the typical bullying and even when the Uncle gets the upper hand, somehow his side is either begging for forgiveness or his solution is to get the mom group to give back what they took away without really suffering any consequences for their lies and deceit. It's all too repetitive.

Now about the Uncle, of course, as he trying to make a comeback, something happens to derail his plans, EACH. AND. EVERY. TIME. On repeat...

After the Momvelies, finally comes the abusive, rich grandmother who plays the "new" villain. Of course, it's the same typical storyline of evil, rich in-laws thwarting and threatening everyone's happiness. Same ol', same ol'.

I'm a huge fan of Oh Jung Se, but I have yet to see how this show will tackle and focus on the Uncle finally perhaps making a serious comeback and to see whether or not this show will seriously address domestic violence and physical abuse.

(watched ep 10 as of writing)

A few months later... still haven't gone back to finish watching this after all.

Read More