Worst writer of 2022

This is one of those cases, the writer only has the synopsis and nothing else so they use the forbidden book. Also, enemies to lovers is better for dramaland cuz sweet fl meets sweet ml and they don't play games, so they get together fast, and "breakup" or get thrown in a mess of we can't talk right now...


The story of a girl who worked at the funeral home that could see the ghosts in their final moment and grants them 1 wish
She had X amount ppl to deal with, some wanted small revenge, some wanted a message or a gift delivered. Sounds interesting right?
And it was until the writer stopped using that and instead went to the "sht my characters got together too fast, bring in the ex" honestly atleast 3 or 4 eps were wasted on the ex and her nagging.. and her mom...
Then the writer not only had the most basic past trauma, which was the exact copy of love is for suckers, but she made the three leads share the same traumq and worse, made 2nd lead a psycho..
And that took 3 more eps until poof, 2nd lead feels remorse and regrets it..... oh whoops, I didn't help a dying kid cuz I wanted a better life.. and I blamed my brother for it. And I tried to kill fl, omg I never wanted to be like my dad TT

And the last straw that black listed this writer... SHE MURDERED FLS DAD! the sweetest dad in dramaland, the most harmless dude... and how? By reusing another pregnant lady.. like where was her husband? Why kill the security guard/dad... why leave the house if you're not smart enough to not get near a movers truck..


Sure I knew with the countdown someone important had to die, which is another cheap mistake. But a big accident with multiple ppl would've been tragic enough

Maybe the itaewon tragedy made the writer change things but I doubt it. The story was laid out from the start. The writer obv used the "cliche kdrama guide for dummy writers" but things moved as planned

Cuz no drama makes the fls dad meet and like the ml unless what? They wanna murder the dad

Like there were 2 uncles they could've taken.. the fl was already momless.... just a few tears and she moves on for her happiness with the ml...

Read More

one of the best 2019 drama

I think people (including me) started expecting more of this drama because it was something new and never seen before. The promise of the story itself opened so many options about how the drama was going to unfold, and as I started theorizing, it kinda made me disappointed when they didn't happen. (this also happens to me when I watch crime dramas that hide their main criminal, I start expecting something that's just basically "my version of a story".)

Basically that's why I tried to minimize MY writing/interpretation of this drama and I just tried to watch the drama's version of events. that became harder when the drama started it's last chapter, mainly because I'm an overanalyzer and things were too clear that I even fell for the writer's trap at one point xD

IF I wrote this drama I would've done it differently, but that doesn't mean the original writer's version was bad. this also goes for the characters, but seeing the end made me accept that "this" danoh, "this" haru and "this" school were made for "this" story.

I don't want to make this review long, though this might be my longest review to date, and I don't want to add spoilers, so I'll try to summarize the next part ;)
the acting were really perfect for "this" story, I already knew most of these young actors, and I'll keep an eye out for their next projects ;)

for the OST, I have to say I really loved how each character had their own little theme song, I need to find A3's song and make it my ringtone xD

my rewatch values are either a 1 or 10, and now that I've seen the ending I really want to watch the drama with a different view point ;)

Read More

there are 2 things; one, the director had a vision of weirdness they wanted to express so this felt like an independent film rather than a drama, and I feel like the plot lost substance trying to achieve that vision.
and two, I don't know what they teach to all korean writers but they cannot explain their plot in less than 16 eps and they need 100 side plots to distract people from the main plot, so in this it felt like they had a 16ep plan that got reduced and they just picked random events fit the drama.

I'll cut this into 2 story points too,
one is the main plot around the fl and the ml which was ok, they explained well why she used toys and they even gave her a nice solid base that didn't feel flat. she had a past and she didn't just "start" when the drama began, most stories do that they give us a written back story and the main character starts from point 0 when the drama starts so they are as clueless as the viewers -which might have it's charming points but it's over done.
she had friends and a life around her and I really liked her arc with the friend though again like everything else in the drama it was not used well. also she cried weirdly alot, they literally had her flop down like a 5 year old and cry ;)
on the other hand the ml felt flat, he didn't have much base and he just felt like he suddenly manifestation for the fl's story. he didn't have much characteristics, friends or a life outside the fl..

and the other part is the kids..
I feel like they were the weirdest thing, their stories were weird, their actions were weird that they felt exactly like the jellies, they were floating around with their plot moves as if they too only existed for the fl's arc



my favorite part and character was Mr. Mackenzie, not because I'm biased with yooteo, but his character added conflict, mystery and depth to the story. though I think he just disappeared, I didn't pay too much attention to the last two eps..


for acting I think both mains did a better job than their previews works, Jung Yoo Mi was less awkward than her character in live and Nam Joo Hyuk finally broke away from the teen roles they forced him on, he really felt like a nice grownup.

the music was as weird as the flavor of this drama but it was nice and I never rewatch stuff.

Read More

I understand why this wasn't subbed, the story kinda felt like an exotic foreign film that needs a required taste. You know like they are not really korean drama/movie fans but self proclaimed intellectual "film" fans?

The thing I had the most issues with was the texts xD I gathered that the 2 mains somewhat met as "online pen palls" who never met in person and when they met they didn't know they knew each other? I mean I might need to look at the names of the texts to be sure xD

Anyway. Both were broken souls. The ml was a cop who let a drunk driver through the checkpoint "for a reason or no reason -another missed subless context xD" and that guy got in an accident and hurt a woman and himself too so he was questioned and even got wrongfully accused by the victims husband for taking a bribe.

Now he had more trauma around him. 1 was his girlfriend breaking up on frozen Han River -and I don't know if it was implied that she killed herself? Or they were just talking about how thin ice was.
Anyway his other trauma was his mom cheating on his dad and his dad trying to commit suicide in front of him but he only got half paralyzed? though, the synopsis says it was his mom? so why was his dad sick too? ;)

Then we had the fl. Again things seemed really vague. Her mom was paralyzed and she had to take care of her, she worked for a party planning business(?) And the boss was her dad? Also from that knife scene I kinda felt like she wanted to kill him, because he was the one who hurt her mother?
And her mom telling her "next time take me with you on a vacation" was kinda a sign that she didn't want to stay alone and the fl cried because she knew she wasn't coming back?


fast forward to both ending up in the same island (?) Which both went to so they could kill themselves but then they met and randomly (maybe even wistfully hoping for a life line) they agreed to meet on the day they both wanted to commit suicide. But the ml tried to kill himself before that meeting time so he never went to her even though she waited until the last minute (because she didn't want to do it either!!!) And thankfully a little girl saw the ml drowning and he was saved so his 1st thought was to check on their meeting location and the fl was there locked in her car! But again he was able to help her out while the taxi driver called 911 and so both survived TT__TT it's kinda like a reversed Romeo and Juliet :(
And that was the message "they didn't want to die they just wanted to end the lives they suffered in" TTT____TTT


I feel like the story needed a little more depth and connection between them, like the texts felt too impersonal and maybe they both talked about going to that island to kill themselves and that's why the fl kinda looked like she "recognized" the ml after seeing him in the ferry, and also maybe she did tell him who she was -I blame the lack of subs for missing this- but it needed more especially since it was only 1 hour and 20min. overall I liked it

Read More

Dirt wrapped in facy bow

there are 2 categories that's missing from the above rating system, cinematography which was a 100/10 and plot development which was a meh 5.
so like, the shots were so extravagant, so beautiful, so well though tout, so well balanced, but the story? the backstory for the evil organization was trash. the "twists" eventhough they were shocking were stupid, basically the villains were so smart yet gave away their own lives and worse make a stupid revenge scheme that compromised herself more than her victims..

like sure, sangah was a psychopath, but an elaborate acid water scheme, that obviously put herself at more risk? and the tree bottom becoming an acid pool and boom one push and it's over?
here's how I'd have done it differently. poisoned gas, and she wears a protective mask but it gets cut off by accident and boom we see her suffering chocking on her own plans. (don't judge me, I'm writing this with a writer mindset xD)
her whole persona was "conducting plays", a puppet master if you like, she planned and played everyone, we as viewers needed to see her plans fail and her seeing the wires cut off, that was the real suffering, she had no real power

and suddenly everyone was rich, when her friend got 12 years in prison.. so it was that simple? there was no death mystery cuz she never died. they didn't need to piss sangah off when they could've laundered the money that easily?




some people would look at this as a fancy metaphor for "the top 1% and people exposing their true colors infront of money" or whatever else one likes and they are not wrong
but to me it wasn't that deep. it was just 1 psychopath that married another, and her father conveniently had an organization of psychos that liked to kill to reach their goal, for what? petty angst, why? cuz that's how shallow the writer is
squid games is not a metaphor of rich and poor, it's entertainment. you can ofc see any metaphor you like, it's not wrong. we can all look at the ink on the page and see a flower, a monster, or just a splash of ink.
one and two aren't crazy, and 3 isn't a cynic that lacks creativity. I can look at a literature piece like little women the book, and say it wasn't a rich vs poor, it was just a love story. or personally I think it was more about a woman's position in society, regardless of background, women are forced with 2 options, marry rich or marry love, and the 3rd variable is the rebel's "if I don't want to be either I'll be neither"

I did not compare little womens cuz besides the basic, 3 sisters, poor, artist, material world, nothing is similar. others can see more similarities but no one is wrong


sooo, long story short, as an entertainment piece, ep8 was the best. the psycho's Truman Show was a great touch, the manipulation, the step by step puppet show and everything just being for sangah's enjoyment watching injoo's reaction was a better story choice than the veitnam, sad mommy issues, money, Vietnam and 99% of the show thinking Do Il would betray her. or being over involved in his feelings for injoo when like literally 7m is a great reason for someone to help cuz 70b is way too much to want to escape with

the songs were great, Uhm Ji Won as a calm psychopath is a great addition to makjangs and their recent love for screaming women. Kim Go Eun also rocks heavily emotinal scenes. for me, her meltdown in prison, and sangah's scheme in ep8 deserve to be in the "acting" hall of fame



going to compare this to eve, both are makjang, both wanted to go crazy, and tbh I'm sick of romance dramas breaking up the best couples and say "sad endings are realistic", it's not sad to beautiful people didn't end up together, real sad endings come from death, and the ones that need a sad ending are makjangs, a happily ever after makjang isn't worth all the pain and angst
killing the villain is not a satisfying ending. they get caught? they kill themselves. they go crazier? they fall and accidentally die

real suffering comes from detaching the villain from their power. let their world crumble. and thus, in Eve the ML saw the amount of destruction they caused and what did he do? suicide but with murder. and that's they point, muurrrrder (again don't judge I'm a writer xD) but how to make murder worse? one dies and one lives but loses everything, her memory, her sanity, her personality, her life, and she lives in a state she doesn't know what's real or not, she's just a shell
but I guess Eve got there 1st so this couldn't copy it. and psych ward is the 3rd option for villains anyway

Read More

it could've been better

the drama started out interesting, but the middle part was empty, repetitive and boring.. I always say shorter dramas don't get 16eps just because the producers know they can't drag it for that long.. basically, a movie or 4 eps would've been enough...
the acting was PHENOMENAL from everyone.. I think they all portrayed their characters perfectly, and I think they alone carried this show.. but they also felt like, puppets? the writer didn't let them reach their potential...
and beside the main "group" the rest of the characters were empty fillers..
the gore and graphicness of this was, funny.. they promised a 19+ last ep and they still blurred the tiny knives and blood splatter.. and the fight scenes looked over dramatic to the point it was comical? also I think the writing was weak too.. by the last ep everyone just started to feel forcibly flat, like the writer just wanted to wrap everything up in a little bow for his own perfect ending..

The ost was another beautiful thing about this drama, it was perfectly hunting and mesmerizing..

Noh Jong Hyun stole the show for me.. among psychopaths, there needs to be something you can connect with. also that last friend, he was a hero :)


my rewatch values are always a 1 or 10 and I don't think this needs anther watch..

Read More

this is probably the best acting from PSH, but that says nothing because she can't act, even here I could sense her typical whimpering crybaby surfacing, and she talked in a faked aegyo. YAI is not any better, he's over reactive.

it was highly unrealistic how a trained cop died in 2mins but a nonathletic girl who only mountain claimed and a gamer dude could survive that long,

plus that drug wore off way too fast, like 5min. they just wanted to add yet another plot move to drag this out, basically 80% of the movie is them in their apartments and literally no one else in their area survived, but magically there was a boy, there was a girl, and they fell in love ;/

Read More

I've never seen a more empty plot and ridiculous "love" story ;/ the story had nothing to do with a restaurant or trots, it was just a move to make this seem different while it went about the same cliche stories.

the whole drama was built on 7 years of misunderstandings and miscommunication that by the last ep everyone was crying "I'm sorry I didn't say it before" and it was over ;/
their 1st meeting he was walking around with a bag of underwear (becasue he's a ceo in an underwear company) and the fl thought "omg pervert" ;/
what I hated the worse was how dumb they made the fl be like "omg you have a twin that sounds just like you" because the ml wore suits at work and sweats at home ;/
and it got worse when the ml thought that dumb conclusion made the fl "pure" and he liked her more for it ;/
then they added the 2nd guy and his pathetic love line built on -you guessed it- misunderstandings. he didn't hear the girl and he went on a one man pity party until later he found out he was wrong ;/

Read More

This was the most devastating, realistic, hopeful, peaceful yet so full of tension, dread and fear.
It felt as real as the event itself. Sure actingwise only a couple of the kids had talent, like teil and mark felt like they were the kids they played. But the awkwardness of the others actually carried the realism of normal kids stuck at a cave. It almost felt awkward seeing the real pictures at the end cuz to me they were them


The world is a horrible cruel place but to think of how one disaster untied so many different countries, cultures, social standings, a governor, a weather analysts, a ranger, a diver and so many different people became one. each and every one of them is a hero and may the one that passed away saving those kids rest peace as well.
Trash like squid games don't deserve hype, this drama does. I do remember hearing about the incident, I actually hate the news so I stopped my mom whenever she talked about it until she told me they were all saved, so I never knew how long and how difficult the whole ordeal was
Like beside it being a real fresh global news, the filming was able to look beautiful, charming and devastating at the same time. I do think the time the kids stayed in the cave before food came was glossed over too fasd, even the final rescues, 5 hours for the 1st kid, 12hours for 8. Though understandably this wasn't a documentary
I sincerely hope everyone got paid well while the rescues got medals and idk superhero capes with golden planks that has their name on it
You can't rate the story low cuz it's literally based on a new worldwide disaster, tho directing, it wasn't bad also. It balanced well between each event the only shortcomings was the newbie acting


Also, this might fall under "music" but I watched this dub, I'm not used to thai and this was a heavy drama, but I do think the English voice actors did a better job at delivering the emotions. Their tones moved well with every tension, hope, sadness and anger.
The korean dubs sounded like news and the thai was flat

Read More

the story was simple, it starts with jean wanting to live a "militaristic" lifestyle, which is when you only have the basic furniture and utensils. it sounds easy until you realize it means you need to get rid of everything you ever collected.

in some ways they were kinda like hoarders xD they had too many things laying around, they couldn't let go of them. everyone has boxes of memories hidden somewhere, gifts, childhood stuff, CDs and anything that has sentimental values. and in someways getting rid of the objects was like getting rid of that memory so it's actually harder than it seems.

now I didn't get why most of the things she had were actually things she borrowed or took from other people xD tbh I do keep things but I'd never keep something that's not "mine"..


aokbob is a really great actress, this was basically mostly about her character, though her brother was a cutie and her friendship with pink was nice too~
the directing and camera work were good quality but the audio was weird, especially that random horn(?) sound when her korn friend asked about his picture..

also tbh other people were selfish too, the moment they heard she was giving things back they started asking her to look for a random photo or a belt. I get the photo but it kinda seems random that everyone remembers what she took..

I never rewatch stuff so it's eitehr a 1 or a 10

Read More

this was just as great as the 1st season, Section Chief Hong was the queen, it's so rare to have supportive female seniors in dramas. also, behind every "guy saves the day" was a woman ;)
this series should be a manual for companies. for one most of them don't even know what they are doing "wrong", and basically, they are way obsessed with the "norms" that even a man wearing pink and baking is not "manly", a woman that stands up for herself and says no becomes "noisy" and "unappreciative".
also, the whole "sunbae" lineage thing needs to chill. this doesn't justify them, but even a man speaking against the mistreatment becomes outcasted, and so basically they are forcing the younger generation to keep quite to gain the sunbae's approval. I really didn't like Sangwook, but the change in him just proves, change is easy.
they really need to make laws and talk about these issues.

my rewatch values are a 1 or a 10, and I'd prefer a 3rd season instead of a rewatch ;p

Read More

Watch the original instead

The best part for me was the opening scene. I hoped this went with the quirky "live actioning" their webtoons as a theme instead of copy pasting the problems from the original and dragging it to death

The original felt like Misaeng, the fl was "out of toon" with the business world since she never worked, the manga world looks detached but the editors were mentors, managers, supporters, cheerleaders and sometimes parents to manga writers
It takes several layers of attachment, social interactions "normal" workers don't usually do, and more severally our fl
But she brought a new outlook from her own experiences in life, she didn't react in ways to please the writers and instead she was sincere


And those are the things I felt lacking in this adaptation , mauem felt like a company maknae that has worked in several companies so she always had a "people pleaser" attitude. She was always bright, social, fun loving, self centered, and insensitive. She always said what's her on her mind without thinking of others

The problems were the same from the original but dragged out and boring


I loved seok jihyung the most, the world needs more bosses like him, and I'd have loved a romance focused with him

Their main big conflict was also flat.. their villain just a dude that was doing his work.. so what the company wants to close their webtoon section? one can easily make their own company. In Misaeng, the ml was too desperate for his work life to take off, and he's desperation felt raw and his connection to his position was like a baby duck finding his mom. Here, no one cared cuz honestly it'd that simple. It's just a job, there'll always be more cuz the webtoon world is successful and huge, editors won't disappear

Read More

Trying too hard

this just tried too hard to be sad, the stories felt too convenient and after watching the same sob stories it kinda makes it less moving.
the whole dynamic of the cold guy, the dysfunctional family to the "guardian" that needs to change thing happens way too often, even the whole life full of misfortune that makes the ML jaded thing

but I have to say, lee je hoon's acting was amazing, he played the sad soul to the hopeful soft soul really well. a little too well cuz everyone else seemed basic.
Lee Jae Wook and the whole meeting with LJH had more depth than the story though the ending again was just another move for the tears so it felt meh, but his acting was great too
and Ji Jin Hee as well, he did the perfect father role really well


the story about Jung Woo finding the baby, and the slow building love from Sang Gu were the best parts. I also liked Choi Soo Young, I wish she had a bigger role

the ost was basic and I never rewatch stuff.

Read More

sadly I think this is the worst season, either it's because of the audience that made the stage more lively or the fact that they have a 4:2 talented/tone deaf ratio in every single ep that's it's easy to figure out who's what. and every ep they pretended the chances of having more than 2 tone deafs was high, but just like their talent/tone deaf ratio, the only times they went with 3 wast 2 out of 12 eps..

and what's worse is when the 1st one out is a tone deaf so it's just a 1/4 percentage till the end and the more talents get eliminated the easier it gets to realize the last stage's results ;(

also, I preferred when they showed the 2 stories in the first part, the keywords now aren't that catchy and by the time they reveal the "what if" of each contestant there's no need to even consider it becasue it's over they're eliminated

I also never liked the last part, the last questioning session was never useful and the panel always likes to create doubt, they don't care whether they're right, they just want to confuse the guests


I did love several of the stages and the writers indeed work hard to make up believable stories, though they don't need to make all the women possible makeup artists
and I feel like they're very prejudice against women and "pretty" people, they'd be like "you're too pretty to sing", "with that face you'd have succeeded already", but overall they can't really feel the "vibes". and the detectives just want to create confusion rather than find out the truth so I wish 1- they'd change the old ones and 2- make them only talk when they ask them

Read More

the story was really original, but the execution lacked, it felt rushed, not planned out enough. for one thing the fact that the fl had 2 outfits (even in a flashback from several years ago) and the ml had 1 outfit kinda made it seem low budgeted.

the main idea of rohan's super power was amazing, the execution on that part and the cgi was also great, and each story was a stand alone that kinda connected each ep, but it wasn't that well developed. they didn't have time to add substance to each character though I easily loved the 2 mains, I wished for more connections, more interactions, more backstory ;(

so basically it was too short and too rushed but still great idea~

the outfits, well the fl's 2 clothes were really really pretty, and for rohan, his head piece felt weird and he should've worn tighter pants. and the other manga guy's outfit just like rohan's head piece felt too cosplayish. it's like they walked right out of the manga xD

the acting was great, Takahashi Issei played off the eccentric goofy manga artist with a wast knowledge and a deep secret really well. though I love to see him do more dark dark roles, that doubled feeling felt right for rohan.
Iitoyo Marie too was cute enough to be the bubbly kind and she was kinda clingy but then it came off as uncertain assertiveness that blended well with rohan's 2 faces and I just liked to ship them ;D

the songs were nice enough, the way each book had a different style was really clever and though I never rewatch things I wish for a 2nd longer seaon

Read More