michelleoc

You should start this show and decide for yourself if you think it's worth your time

This is one of those shows that people either loved or hated, and I lean more toward the camp of not liking it.

Let me start with the cast. I thought all the actors were excellent and I've enjoyed most of these actors in other shows previously. I think that Kim Go Eun as Seol might have been the weakest link (she seemed pretty one-dimensional) but that may have been more due to the writing than to her acting abilities.

I could barely label this a romance, partially because there was so much other stuff going on, and the fact that Kim Go Eun and Park Hae Jin seemed so uncomfortable with one another. Hae Jin's character, Yoo Jung, was completely unlikeable throughout the show, so I spent a lot of time wondering that Seol saw in him. Did she think she could change him? Did she want to go against everyone else's advice? Every person that came into Yoo Jung's orbit suffered in some way. So, as I watched Seol trying to have a relationship with this guy, "run away" was playing in my mind.

I felt that Seol would have been a better match with In Ho (played very well by Seo Kung Joon), so even though I knew this wasn't the direction the writers were going in, I was disappointed.

I adored Lee Sung Kyun in Weightlifting Fairy, Kim Bok-joo, and she played a completely different character here. She was wound a little too tight and you were never sure what she was going to do next.

Overall, I felt that the show was never able to fully realize its potential, because the writers didn't seem quite sure of what they were hoping to accomplish. Did they want to redeem You Jung? I know they were trying to portray accurate university life (though Park Hae Jin seemed entirely too old for this to be effective) and the foibles of the different characters, but I felt that the characters were SO odd that I couldn't warm up to them much.

And the ending? The obligatory time jump (three years!) and very vague and non-committal ending left me completely frustrated and dissatisfied.

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I kept wondering if it would ever end!

This one is a difficult drama for me to review. When I read the synopsis, I thought it sounded really interesting, and somewhat original. I have enjoyed Fei Xing in other works (especially My Little Happiness) but this one really let me down. It started out well, but then one thing after another irritated me no end so it was hard for me to find the positives. I usually focus on the positive aspects in a review, but was unable to in this one.
1) Costuming for all of the cast was good, except for Fei Xing who wore some of the worst outfits I've ever seen in a drama. Big pants, big blouses, poorly tailored, I think every outfit she wore was unattractive. They went to a semi-formal event, everyone was dressed up, and she was wearing jeans.
2) Martyr syndrome of the female lead. She accepted responsibility or took the blame for absolutely everything that happened to anyone in the show. When she took the blame for what the evil character had done 10 years ago, that was just too much. The majority of the conversations had her starting with "I'm sorry"
3) Second couple - he was a stalker and she was trying to be tough all the time. At the end they got a bit cute, but by that time I didn't like them.
4) Overacting of some of the cast, especially the other guy that liked the female lead and the woman that played the aunt.
5) Wow! So many bad guys! By the time we went through 32 episodes and found out in the LAST episode what the main bad guy had done, it was rushed. Then there was more apologizing by the girl and the second male lead.
6) Serious lack of chemistry between the leads. They acted, for the most part, more like brother and sister. There was one kiss, but even their handholding, etc. lacked any warmth. I do have to say there was a sizzling kiss between the second lead couple toward the end.
7) Too long and drawn out. It was episode after episode of sameness.
8) And, oh my gosh, can we talk about the ending?!?!?! I stuck through this long, drawn out drama and that's the ending you give me?!?! It was one of those endings that makes me mad.
I will admit that I am particular about my dramas, so I would say, if you liked the synopsis and think it sounds interesting, give it a try. But don't say I didn't warn you.

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Funny movie

This was a fun, escapist watch. I especially liked how the balance of power kept switching from one person to another. The interactions between all the characters were so funny. The action scenes were so well-choreographed, and most were very funny as well, which was good for me, because action isn't exactly my favorite genre.

I had to score this lower because of the excessive cursing, which really bothers me - but if you aren't bothered by it, give this movie a try, because otherwise, it's quite enjoyable.

I do have to say, the cameo at the end really confused me. It seemed very random.

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Seriously, what did I just watch!?!?

Normally I wouldn't rate a show that I had to drop, but this show irritated me on so many levels. I watched a couple of the first episodes and then skipped to the last couple of episodes, so take this for what it's worth.

Female lead was tremendously irritating. Was it a self-esteem problem? An entitlement problem? I found it hard to like anything about her. She didn't appear to be very bright, and I just kept wondering what her deal was. Then there was the male lead. He had an interesting job, I'll give him that, but BOY was he boring. He had no on-screen presence and his performance was bland.

Oh, so very much drinking, and the FL even said that getting drunk is the only way to have fun.

This was filmed in 2016 but it seemed older than that. The clothing and the colors in the clothing were more like the 1970's and the male lead's hair reminded me of a football helmet.

So, if you are a tolerant person, you might want to give this a try. But for me, there was just too much wrong with it.

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My own personal, unpopular, opinion

I was fully on board for this one. I love all of the actors in it and was chomping at the bit for a decent rom com. Here's what worked for me -
1) Visuals. All of the actors are just so attractive.
2) Bickering main couple (at the beginning).
3) 2ML's daughter was just precious and not a brat.

It started out well for me, but slowly but surely went downhill for me. I'm all for a good trope, but this show was just too tropey for me. Some things were good, some just had me shaking my head and talking to the tv. It seemed to me that every episode brought in a trope to further the story.
1) He's loved her for a long time - I'm always in for this.
2) Their bickering was chemistry-ing, but I didn't buy their chemistry once they decided they liked each other.
3) Physically/emotionally abusive parent. I know this is used for comedy, but it was too much and went on too long.
4) Miscommunication - this applied to the main couple, the second couple, and both sets of parents.
5) FL's brother was pretty much a waste of time.
6) Of course, there was a woman that liked him that he worked with. Thankfully, she wasn't overly irritating and realized that she had no chance "They might as well start planning what schools their children will be going to" - what a great line.
7) Ex-girlfriend that wants him back. They redeemed themselves by having her come around to what was going on quickly.
8) Ex-fiancé coming back into the picture. This felt like manipulation to further the story, because why else would he randomly show up out of the blue?
9) "Let's keep our relationship a secret".
10) Parents trying to marry off the kids to others.
11) Parents against their relationship.
12) Parents against her career choice.
13) Secrets - 2ML has a daughter that we don't find out about for a while and then she's not really his daughter. Why?
14) Illness. Cue noble idiocy and not wanting to be with someone to save them from hurt.
15) 2FL going away for a year. A paramedic going to Antarctica for a year?!?!
16) ML's mom is a total bi-atch through the entire show, suddenly we think she has Alzheimer's. But no, her forgetting where she is, that she resigned and where she sent her suitcase is all due to stress?!?!
17) FL wanting to put the wedding on hold because she wants to focus on her career. Women are better than that at multitasking.
18) Wedding red herring. It wasn't the OTP.
19) The leads walk into the sunset, bickering as they go.

I would definitely recommend this show since I'm totally in the minority, but it just didn't work for me.

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Time I will never get back

and I even fast forwarded...a lot!

I have loved KHY in other things I've seen her in, but I didn't find her suited to this part. Her voice, her pouting, her arms crossed, it was all just wrong. You know how some people can portray a character in such a way that even if they are unlikeable, you end up rooting for them? That was not the case here. I didn't like her at the beginning, and I liked her even less at the end. I hate to say it, but KHY may be typecast as the friendly, bubbly FL.

Lomon was okay, but he could have played a bit part and my feeling for him would be the same. Nothing stuck out about him here.

Personally, I thought the script was very lackluster. None of the actors seemed fully invested in their characters, I felt like they were just going through the motions. It meandered all over the place, never arriving at something that made sense. I didn't feel any chemistry between the leads, but that wasn't helped by the script. She was hateful, then suddenly they were dating because she decided that was what they were going to do, and she was still her hateful self. Definite lack of character growth.

And PLEASE! A 10-year time skip, one of which she was around him but didn't tell him?!?! One opportunity I think that was really missed, when the other gumiho spilled about all that she had done for him, when he thought it was the FL - it would have made more sense for him to discover that the FL was actually human and not still a gumiho. Or maybe that's what actually happened, but I missed it, because I was counting the minutes until I could be done with this drama.

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Thank goodness it was only 10 episodes

Standard Disclaimer - This is only my personal opinion.

It has been quite a while since I've had such a visceral reaction to a rom com. I binge watched this just to finish it, and yet I felt like I was watching it for a month. For me, this is time I'll never get back. I don't usually go into a rom com expecting something outstanding and fresh, I'm pretty patient with tropes, I can usually ignore age gaps and unrealistic people as teenagers, but this show was bad on so many levels, over and over again. I felt like I was watching Groundhog Day. I could have started a drinking game with the number of times the ML and the FL talked about breaking up. "We're breaking up", "we already broke up", "we should break up". MULTIPLE times in episodes 1-9 followed by them looking longingly at each other, or having lunch dates even though they broke up, or spending the day together as their "last day". These things are nothing new, but everything was just so repetitive.

It wasn't all bad for me, though. Episode 10 redeemed it enough to raise my score.
Things I liked:
1) Secondary couple. I love Yoon Park and Park So Jin, and they were the cutest arranged marriage couple! I would have been happy to have more of them and none of the main couple.
2) The cutest scenes were in episode 10 when the boys kidnapped their mother. I was laughing out loud, and seeing the boys interact with a mother that they really didn't seem to know anything about was funny. I have always liked the actress that played the mother, and when she finally got the stick out of her butt, I loved her.
3) Beautiful architecture, especially the wedding venue in the last episode.
4) The music was good.
5) The last episode.

Things that just didn't sit right with me:
1) The main couple. Don't get me wrong, they were really cute when they were together, but that was MAYBE an hour out of the whole show. She was obviously older than him, which I don't have a problem with per se, but often she seemed more like his mom, partially because he was so immature.
2) Too much immaturity in the ML. He spent a lot of time pouting.
3) Too much drinking, and every time they drank there were consequences that they had to apologize for or pretend didn't happen. You'd think they'd learn. Another reason I had a problem with the drinking was the FL had an extremely abusive drunken father. I would have thought that she'd stay away from it.
4) Kim Tae Jung as the FL's high school brother. I like him as an actor, he was way too old for this role. Not to mention, in real life he's older than the ML.
5) The reasoning for the mother buying off the FL. That was never adequately explained.
6) The FL taking the money and breaking up with the ML. If you can do that, you aren't in love with him. PLUS, you took the money, broke up with him, and then walked around in misery for the entire show. She was depressing to watch.
7) Hair and makeup. This sounds mean, but whoever did the FL's hair needed to get a clue. She has ears that protrude away from her head and all the hairstyles that had her in just drew attention to her ears. As far as makeup, the men had more lipstick on than the women.

I would never, ever, EVER recommend this show to anyone, except maybe to suggest skip episodes 1-9 and just watch episode 10. You'll still get the gist of what is going on, but you won't have to slog through the rest of it.

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Wow, I can't even...

This review is ONLY so I can remember this show. Since I'm one of the only people in existence that didn't love this drama, please don't attack me.
It goes against everything I believe in to drop a show. I think in my years of watching K-dramas, I've only dropped two shows, and this was one of them. Maybe if the stories were told in a different order, I would have been able to continue, but heavens, what a bunch of unhappy, loser people!
I love Lee Jung Eun (and I LOVED her hair in this!!) and Kim Woo Bin, but even they couldn't help me like the people in this show.

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Very interesting story

I watched this on Apple TV. It's a multilingual story about wine, making wine, drinking wine, family drama, crazy parents, childhood trauma and overcoming it, and friendships that are developed out of adversity.

Yamashita Tomohisa as Issei is his usual stoic, distant, cold self (and that's not a bad thing!). He's fascinating to watch.
Fleur Geffrier as Camille Leger really has to grow on you as a character. She's a mess, but with parents like yours, you can understand why, but by the end I really liked her growth.
Watanabe Makiko as Issei's mother - WOW, what a piece of work! It takes some good acting skill to bring about that kind of hate for a character.

The story was very interesting, and I absolutely loved the ending.

I know this doesn't bother a lot of people, but my enjoyment was REALLY lessened by all the cursing.

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He's hoping for a season 2, and so am I!

Where do I even begin. When I first read that they were going to do this show, I wasn't too sure. But Suga is a natural. He's playful with his BTS mates, yet still manages to bring out new things that we didn't know. They are goofy together, dancing, cutting up, and laughing about silly things they've experienced. He also gave an opportunity to spotlight some other bands that we may not know and then moved to actors.

I love the idea of every guest bringing their favorite beverage, and it was funny to me that Suga didn't quite know what to do with the ones that didn't bring alcohol. Then, when you add that each episode basically turns into a mukbang, what's not to love?

Each episode had something special about it, but the last episode with his best friend Jang Yi Jeong was especially touching. When Jang Yi Jeong touched on his problems with his voice and difficulties mentally because of it, there were moments of silence that Suga didn't feel the need to fill, because it's well-known that Suga has had his own struggles in the past. Their support of each other was obvious.

Suga is respectful of every guest that comes on Suchwita, and manages to draw things out of them that fans, or people that will become fans, want to know.

This is another good show to watch if you are at all interested in BTS, not just their talent, but their personalities and their camaraderie.

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Very jumbled and rambling plot line

This show has been on my list for a while, and since I have enjoyed Bae In Hyuk in other things, I figured I'd give it a try. For me, it was torture to get through, and I've never been so happy to finish something in my life. I usually like to give all the positive aspects of a show, regardless of whether I ultimately ended up liking it, but hmmm, can't think of any here.

1) I found the Fl extremely irritating. Her bouncing around and then suddenly pouting about something, pick a mood and stick with it. This might seem like a small thing, but every time she said 안녕하세요 to someone, her voice went up about four octaves and she used this baby, breathy voice that was SO irritating!
2) STRONG triangle. It went on entirely too long and SML kissing her without consent, just no.
3) Why did ML and FL like each other? Never really saw development, they just suddenly liked each other.
4) The mystery. Why? I didn't care for it, and it went on for so long that once I got to the end I didn't care anyway.
5) The one "dance" they did throughout the whole drama. Their rehearsals revolved about that one arm-swinging movement, over and over again.
6) And can we talk about the costuming?! Oh, my gosh, the costume designer should have been forced to wear one of their own designs as punishment. It was really hard to take any of the conversations seriously while they were wearing their cheer costumes, they were so ridiculous. In real life, you would not have anyone want to be on the cheer team unless they were getting paid to wear those costumes. I can't get over how bad they were.

While I may not say run away from this show, I would suggest turning and walking away quickly, and find something better to watch.

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Unfulfilled potential

I was pretty excited about this show, I was looking forward to something a little more original than what I've been seeing lately. Alas, disappointment followed. I enjoyed some aspects of it, but with the uneven pacing and the glaring plot holes, pretty much all I felt at the end was frustration. As with most everything, there were positives as well as negatives.
LIKED:
1) Shin Hye Sun as Ban Ji Eum - I have loved her in everything I've seen her in. She's real, she's likeable, and she has a firm grasp on her acting ability. She knows when to give us more, as well as when to reign it in, to leave us WANTING more.
2) Kim Shi Ah as the young lady that was Ji Eum in her 18th life. For me, she was the standout in this. She was lovely and poised beyond her years. As I watched her, I felt that she had the knowledge from all her past lives and was somewhat jaded. Kind of like she was forced to act like a child when she was an adult. She was so sweet with her sister and Seo Ha.
3) Cha Chung Hwa as Ji Eum's niece from her 17th life. I love this actress and she brought humor to the role that was welcome.
4) Costuming. I loved the clothes in this, especially everything they put on Ahn Bo Hyun. He must have lost weight for this role, because I've always seen him as being in a sportsman role. He looked great and he wore everything well.
5) OST. Some beautiful music.
6) Cinematography, for the most part, was very good. I especially loved all the colors and movement from her first life. I just wish I hadn't had to see her first life over and over again.
7) I liked how the FL brought all of her skills from her past lives into her current life.
NOT SO MUCH:
1) Who did hair and makeup!?! Her hair was very "Cheese in the Trap" and distracting. Most jarring was the makeup on Ahn Bo Hyun. He looked so white, actually pasty. It looked like someone had slathered on the makeup with a trowel, and the lipstick on him was entirely too obvious and dark. There were multiple times I thought that I was watching a vampire movie, he reminded me of that.
2) I didn't like the forwardness of Ji Eum at all. "let's date". I didn't find it cute or endearing at all. To a certain extent, I felt the same about the 2FL. If someone isn't interested, move on.
3) The murder plot. It started out interesting and ended in a fizzle. What a waste of time!
4) I was never clear on why the guy with the bells was so intent on her remembering her first life, especially since he was there and NOT a good guy.
5) There is a difference between not remembering your previous lives and not remembering the people in your life currently. She didn't have amnesia, for heaven's sake! If she didn't remember them, how did she remember where she used to work? For me, the whole ending was clunky, like they didn't know how to resolve it and wrap everything up.
6) Lack of chemistry between the leads.

So, if asked if I think you should watch, I wouldn't say to run away, but there is a lot of better stuff out there to watch.

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I realize it's from 2001, but this one did NOT age well

Not only is the actual look of the drama grainy and bad, the sound leaves a lot to be desired. There are big gaps in the story - we go from ep 3 where everything is fine, to episode 4 where she is getting beat up by a guy. Then, there's the acting. It's bad. The clothing, the hairstyles contribute to the aged look of this drama. And F4 is supposed to be a group of extremely attractive young men, not in this drama. I have to say, that this story works better in a high school environment like the Korean version, because there is no way these guys could control a college.

Then there's the actual story line. I'm watching all of them because they are so famous and everyone raves about them, but I've got to be honest, I just don't get it. It's a group of bullies, with the ML being the worst of them all. He bullies her mercilessly and yet she likes him? He's nice for a moment but then reverts back to his normal, terrible personality. When they are "together" they fight all the time and continuously call each other names.

This story line is the poster child for toxic relationships.

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An extraordinary show

Let me start by saying that Romantic Comedy is my "go to" genre (this is not one!), and I don't give out a rating of 10 willy-nilly (must hold my attention throughout, without needing to fast forward, must be well-written, must have a high rewatch value, must have at least some likeable characters, can't be too melodramatic, and it has to have a good ending (wasn't too sure about the likeability of the characters, but they soon changed my mind. This was definitely more on the melodrama scale than I normally like, but MAN!)

This drama is written so well. I really appreciated the originality of it. Okay, we've seen the grim reaper thing done before, but this is in a category of its own. I loved how every episode introduced new characters for the reapers to get involved with, and no storyline was extended too far out, enabling us to move on without getting bored. There is a LOT of serious material that gets covered - suicide, bullying, the cost of fame, tragedies of many forms, and each episode gives attention to these issues, and we definitely see the seedy underbelly of human behavior. There were some episodes that were more difficult to watch than others, but they were so masterfully written, and you really get a feel into the complexities of people's feelings and what leads them to contemplate ending their own lives. The three main Reapers, when we first see them, are hard, unyielding, by-the-book and, honestly, not very nice people. When a half human, half reaper enters the picture, he really shuffles things up. We get the privilege of seeing him change them, as well as the other way around.

ACTING: Kim Hee Sun, Yun Ji On and Lee Soo Hyuk were excellent as Reapers. I really felt like their coldness was from centuries of doing this job, and it took Rowoon as Choi Joon Woong to come in and shake things up a bit. I especially enjoyed watching Yun Ji On - I've not seen him in anything before. He seemed so flat in his acting at first, but that was just his character, and when it addressed his storyline, my heart broke for him. Rowoon's character was a bit of a mess, floating through life, unable to get a job, etc. Lee Soo Hyuk tends to always play these mean, hard, unyielding characters and he's the same here, but once we get his back story it all makes sense. It's enjoyable to watch him "become human" and really start to care about others. I love Kim Hae Sook in anything I see her in, and she was excellent as the Jade Emperor. She had to be more strict with others in this role and that was a change from the way I've normally seen her. I also have to give a shout out to Kim Young Ok as Lee Jeong Mun (episode 13, I believe) - she is a seasoned actress that I always enjoy. I would love for her to be my grandmother, with her sweet face and voice.


CINEMATOGRAPHY/MAKE UP/ COSTUMING/SPECIAL EFFECTS: On point! It had a very noir feel about it, lots of blues and blacks. The make-up was very good, especially as it related to wounds, etc. Costuming was good - they put the Jade Emperor in some gowns that would have been ridiculous anywhere else. The special effects were used well, and not overdone just for the sake of having special effects.

MUSIC: For me, the music faded into the background, which I appreciate. I do remember one piece that was a cello piece and it seemed very dramatic and I thought it was perfect for where they put it.

EMOTIONAL INVESTMENT: I binge watched this in two days. I cried in a few of the episodes (and I'm talking ugly cry!). I didn't want to do anything other than watch this, but when it was over, I must admit to feeling sad. I seriously cannot recommend this show highly enough, and anything I say can't do it justice.

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