scenophile

Healing

Wow, I really loved this one. The premise of a twin swap is already very promising, and the first episode was really strong. I was immediately captivated by the younger scenes of Miji/Hosu, and their friends-to-lovers romance went on to become one of my on-screen favorites.

This show really did a fantastic job balancing romance with more serious, darker topics. Each character had their own struggles and their stories, and I really loved seeing everyone grow individually and together. But the most important theme in this show actually turned out to be motherhood; I loved seeing different mother-child relationships throughout the show, whether it was about the twins vying for their mother’s attention, or about the struggles of being adopted, or about generational trauma. I was really impressed with how much nuance this drama had towards each story.

Aside from motherhood, it’s just a really touching story about growing up, healing from trauma, and dealing with adulthood, and I found every plot point to be really relatable.

There are a few things that I’m not the biggest fan of, even if this show handled it okay. One of those is the very well-known final act break-up. While I think Hosu’s reasoning of not wanting to burden his loved ones with his disability is very realistic and aligned with his character, I’m just never going to enjoy the final act break-up trope in media because it feels like introducing a new conflict near the end; in this show, I would’ve preferred if we took some more time to confront the twin’s relationship with each other or with their mother.

The other thing is the second ship, Mirae and Sejin. I don’t have any particular criticism here; I just didn’t really connect to the romance as much.

I’m ultimately satisfied with the ending but it is a tad bit open-ended; my heart wants to see more Mirae confronting the office bullies but my brain knows that it’s actually healthier for her to just remove herself from the situation and have her legal representatives deal with it. Either way, the message the show left me with is very true to life — life goes on.

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Not your typical drama

For everyone who's looking for a typical romance cdrama, this is NOT that. I think this show did a really good job at showing ALS's physical AND mental effect on the person diagnosed with it, as well as on everyone who cares about them. It's a really interesting to think about what you'd do in this situation — both if you'd want to put your loved ones through the pressure of caretaking, and also if you would be willing to become one if someone you loved was diagnosed. Lin Yi does a really good job at showing the progression of ALS, and Landy Li also does a really good job with emotional scenes.

Other than that, I actually found this drama to unfortunately be not as engaging. While I understand that the romance and "getting together" part wasn't the point of this show, I felt like the leads got together too early and quickly for me to connect with their love story, and the second couple was also a skip for me — I found them more irritating than anything else and their tone really clashed with the seriousness of the ALS plot. The second male lead also did not really add much. It's weird because all of these characters were great when they were reacting to the male lead or interacting with the ALS plot, but their love lines were not fun to watch.

Ultimately, while I like how this tackles a heavy topic pretty well, I don't think I actually really connected to the characters and story as much as the disease just being sad. For a similar plot, I'd highly recommend One Liter of Tears (jdrama) instead, though that one is about SCA and not ALS.

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Solid but not mindblowing

This was pretty solid across the board — interesting characters, a fun supernatural twist, a well-rounded mystery (with actual consequences), but it was still somehow missing the spark that would give it more tension and suspense.

While the mystery is well-written overall, it didn’t necessarily blow my mind and the pacing sometimes felt a bit slow. I also think the flashbacks at the start, while nice and did slowly reveal more about the story, did get a little repetitive and retread the same thing multiple times. The acting is also decent, but having many of Jin-young’s later dramas, it’s clear that he improved a lot since this one.

Still, this was nice watch, with a good mix of mystery and romance.

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Watch the drama

Coming-of-age Asian movies will always fill me with a warm, fuzzy feeling, but I really do prefer the drama version of this story purely because of the runtime.

The chemistry between the leads is decent in certain scenes, but I didn't really feel the longing or the slow build that the story requires, and the characters don't have as much depth as I wish. The plot also feels somewhat nonsensical, like we're skipping through scenes.

This movie does what most Asian coming-of-age dramas do — which is introduce a final act conflict and separation — and while it's necessary for the male lead's arc, the resolution still feels pretty rushed.

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Great mystery

This was great! I went into this one without any expectations and it turned out to be a really wonderful medical mystery. There’s a great mix of case-of-the-week mystery and an overarching thriller, and the pacing is done really well.

I ended up being far more attached to the cast than I expected; one thing Japanese dramas are really good at is giving each character backstory without making it the entire plot, and this one was no different. Everyone had their own mini arcs and backstories, but they felt a lot like real life people outside of them too. The female lead in particular was really likeable and down-to-earth, and I loved her relationship with her family.

This isn’t the most mind-blowing mystery out there but it was a really solidly written one from beginning to end, and I felt really satisfied when it was over.

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Action-packed bromance

The best part of Season 1 was the bromance and friendship between the two leads, so I’m really happy that the writers understood that and kept the heart of the show in season 2. The main leads (plus the other people in the gang) continue to stick together and it makes for both really good fight scenes and really heart-warming friendships.

I think the action in this one is better than the first one — the villain feels genuinely intimidating, and the fight scenes feel so much more brutal; huge props to the choreographer and the sound designer in particular. I felt every punch. I do think the emotional motivation for the villain is a little weaker than S1 where we had more backstory; here, the motivation is a little thin. Nevertheless, the actor killed the role.

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The cutest kid actor ever

I was looking forward to this one because of the good reviews, but it ended up not hitting the spot.

I've looked it up and while this show doesn't seem to be dubbed, the line delivery just felt very artificial and awkward, while made it hard to connect with right off the bat. And the way the plot develops feels very forced, especially with the annoying miscommunications in later episodes.

Both leads are okay, but I found the side characters to be pretty cliche and annoying; the SFL is your typical feminine, manipulative villain, and the SML the nice, long-term friend. I'm tired of seeing antagonists like the SFL, and the SML's character was bland and had no believable chemistry with the FL. The second couple also feels very fake and I didn't care much for them.

On the other hand, that kid actor was awesome and just SO cute. His character was definitely used as a plot device, but he was so adorable I kind of just let it slide.

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Your typical Taiwanese BL

I went into this one with pretty high expectations considering its high rating, but it ended up being okay and not so different from other Taiwanese BLs, where there's silly humor and. heart-warming home scenes mixed with random dramatic plot points like attempted assassination. The side ship also started off strong, but the short runtime really worked against them; they didn't really have time to develop, but I ultimately think this was the right decision because our main leads used the screentime well.

What this drama does do really well though, is deaf representation. It approached the topic with sensitivity while showing many different ways to communicate through his relationships with his family and friends. The male lead ended up being my favorite part of the drama and he brought a very soft tenderness to the show.

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Great to see them again

I liked this one still, but I definitely think it's generally weaker than the first season.

It doesn't have the more grounded plot of So Mun's normal life — and the bullying plot and So Mun's relationship with his childhood friends were my favorite aspect of last season. Do Hana has this this year, and while it's not a lot, it's once again my favorite part.

I like how this season similarly tries to make a personal connection with its choice of antagonist, and it definitely works. The emotional scenes are great and everyone's acting is great. However, this antagonist and the main villain really were the only ones I cared about, and the smaller villains came across as more annoying and unnecessary to me (especially when the characters spoke in very bad Mandarin sorry).

Of course, we also have a new addition to the Counter family, and while he's fun and well acted, I think he really needed more backstory so his character would have more depth and he'd have a more purposeful character arc.

Overall, still a nice watch, though I really miss the "underdog" feeling we got from the first season.

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Even better than S1!

I already loved season 1 but this season absolutely blows it out of the water — the world-building gets so much deeper and we're introduced to new characters that are such great protagonists and antagonists. You can feel the showing leaning so much more into the wackiness with the set design, costume design, and character designs, which adds so much more to how big and real the world seems.

As someone who's already caught up on the manga/anime, it's so interesting to see the foreshadowing they've been able to include. It's so satisfying to see the show take its time setting up stories and plotlines that aren't going to happen until seasons later, and they're able to be fun easter eggs for existing fans and add intrigue for new fans.

I also just have to give flowers to the casting department and the actors they decided on — I think every single character, even those with only a few minutes of screentime, were chosen perfectly, and I love seeing how into it the actors are. Mr. 9 and Mr. 3 were the standouts for me this season, but I genuinely loved every single portrayal.

Can't wait for S3!

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Best in its last episodes

This drama is at its strongest when it's about the historical era, whether it's the actual past life scenes, or when they're trying to figure the past out during modern day. This happens in the later half of the show, which ended up being my favorite episodes. It really feels like there are stakes to the romance and the friendships, and the parallels between past and present work really well, while the first half goes for a more typical mid-2010s type rom-com plot, which I didn't enjoy that much, especially since the female lead had no idea about it and just felt very detached from the main plot — an issue I also had with dramas like My Love from the Star.

I do think the love triangle was done extremely well here. Even though I already quite like this trope (as opposed to most people), this is one of my favorites because it really shows the different ways of love and how it affects who ends up together and who doesn't. It's also really clear that everyone cares about everyone else, which is so much more touching than annoying competitions. The love triangle gets to shine a lot in the last episodes, not by taking over, but by elevating the stakes.

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Heartwarming action

This was a wonderful drama full of action that still managed to show so much heart.

The main group of Counters is definitely the heart of the series, but I must say that what stole the show for me were the scenes with So Mun's school friends. The way they always stood by him was so sweet and opposite to where I thought their story would go once So Mun had his secrets. And the bullying plot was so satisfying to watch.

In general, it was really smart to blend a supernatural antagonist with a more realistic one — it made the stakes feel so much more personal.

There were some things that were more meh to me, namely the Yung people, who I didn't care that much about apart from Ms. Chu's. For the most part it seemed like they were placeholders for exposition or plot devices, and I didn't really like when they served as the reason for the plot moving forward that the characters had to react to, versus plot developments that were more character-driven (like the detectives investigating cases).

Nevertheless, this was a tightly written drama and I'm looking forward to seeing what shenanigans this little group will get up to in season 2.

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