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The Heirs
77 persone hanno trovato utile questa recensione
giu 17, 2014
20 di 20 episodi visti
Completo 0
Generale 5.5
Storia 4.5
Acting/Cast 5.5
Musica 5.0
Valutazione del Rewatch 1.0
Picture this. A beautiful, nicely decorated cupcake is sitting right in front of you. Its sweet smell is hypnotizing you, and that icing is just calling out your name, telling you to take a bite.
And you do.
Only to spit out a stale piece of rotten, bland bread.
That's the only way I can describe Heirs.
It had a promising cast, promising writers (the same as Secret Garden), and a great budget. But once the episodes began rolling, you got a taste of the dry product.
Anticlimactic plot, the drama missed some sparkles, the romance was roll-eye worthy, and the humor was cheesy.
Bland, irrational characters. I never understood why two guys were vying for the annoying, wimpy Eun Sang. Kim Tan was as 1-dimensional as it could get. And why the hell did Kim Woo Bin's character turn against Kim Tan? I never fully comprehended that.
Incredibly sucky acting (I'm looking at you Lee Min Ho), perhaps Kim Woo Bin and Kim Tan's biological mom were the only rescuable ones. Oh, and they also wasted Choi Jin Hyuk's acting.
And to top it all off, as unoriginal as it could get. It was obvious they wanted to recreate an entertaining mess a la Boys Over Flowers, but they sort of missed out the entertaining factor.
I usually try to find a positive point in this drama, but even the OST was annoying.
Pass this drama.

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TharnType
174 persone hanno trovato utile questa recensione
gen 8, 2020
12 di 12 episodi visti
Completo 15
Generale 1.5
Storia 1.0
Acting/Cast 8.0
Musica 1.0
Valutazione del Rewatch 1.0
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I stuck with this series because of the acting. Gulf did an amazing job with Type and Mew, when his character wasn't creepy or crying, was pretty fun. Mild's Techno was wonderful, I much preferred his interpretation of the character than the one in Love By Chance.

Having watched now both T/T and LBC, and read a bit here and there about the other storylines of the novels, it seems that virtually every storyline in this story universe has some element of sexual assault in the backstory or conflict (even Ae/Pete, which is a wholly consensual relationship, is triggered by a sexual assault and blackmail that Pete is trying to deal with). These plot device assaults are not dealt with well, the effects on the characters come and go as suits the storyline, and there are no consequences for rapists. When characters we are supposed to like commit assaults, it's treated as part of the romantic development rather than called out for what it is.

This is particularly badly done in T/T. Type has a traumatic, really major sexual assault in his history. In the entire series, the only scene in which this history was used in a way that felt realistic and important is when he recognizes Tar's trauma, which occurs in the last episode.


Tharn is gross. Just awful. He has zero respect for Type's boundaries. He sexually assaults him multiple times: in the shower; while he's sleeping; tells Type to "watch his ass" after they become friends again and after Tharn knows about Type having been kidnapped and raped; pushes him into a wall and threatens him when he thinks Type is flirting at a bar... just horrible. He agrees to have sex with Type even when Type explains that he is offering because a) he feels like he owes Tharn and b) he's afraid Tharn is going to do it at some point anyway so he wants to get it over with. When someone tells you they don't think they can say no to having sex with you because of factors that don't have to do with their immense desire to have sex with you, going ahead and having sex with them is rape. The writing completely ignores the coercive element of their first time. No, in fact, afterwards, Tharn tells Type that even though he said they could do it just once, it wasn't going to be just once, and then proceeds to continue to pester him until Type gives in again, which basically marks the start of their "romantic" relationship.

These constant assaults are not treated by the writer or director AS assaults, never problematized or called out. They are also really confusingly shot and plotted, to the point where at the beginning I thought we were seeing Type's fearful dreams/worries playing out (which would have been MUCH better, in that we would have understood more Type's reaction while being able to continue respecting/liking Tarn)


On top of the outright assaults, Tharn is horribly emotionally manipulative. We can, of course, dislike Type's homophobia. But given that it's routed in trauma, and that Tharn knows this, a realistic and compelling storyline would have Type moving through his fears and overcoming his prejudices while Tharn gives him some emotional space to process these changes and reconsider his worldview.


What we get instead is that every time Type concedes something, Tharn pushes the next boundary without asking and then gets mad/withdraws affection when Type is upset. On the very day that Type admits they are something more than friends, Tharn convinces him to go out into public and then kisses him IN PUBLIC without asking. On what planet would you expect the traumatised, recently severely homophobic guy who is struggling with his sexuality and only hours ago was willing to admit that maybe, just maybe, there's something more going on between you than being fuck buddies is suddenly ready to be outed at a bar? None. Actual people who understand relationships would not make that move and if they did, they would understand that THEY were the ones who did something wrong.


What does Tharn do? He gets mad, sulks, leaves for days and doesn't come back until Type apologizes.


The Tar storyline is also terrible, but I'm going to leave it here. I can't honestly recommend the show, although I can understand if you just want to kind of close your eyes/mind to the flaws and try to enjoy the fluffy parts, because that's clearly what I did. The characters are so inconsistent that when they are not being awful, they are pretty cute and likeable, so the fun fluffy scenes are there. Still, I'm not sure if it's worth it. I feel sort of gross for having watched it to the end.

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Jirisan
55 persone hanno trovato utile questa recensione
da SKITC
dic 12, 2021
16 di 16 episodi visti
Completo 2
Generale 6.0
Storia 4.0
Acting/Cast 9.0
Musica 4.0
Valutazione del Rewatch 5.0

An impressive collection of talent badly underutilized by a troublesome script & production misfires

One of the recent additions to the literature genre is The Recipe Blog. It is characterized by insufferably long backstories rife with unnecessary details, long personal digressions and endless teases that it is about to get to The Big Reveal of, y’know, The Actual Recipe. [scroll scroll scroll “Where is it?!!! Aaaarghh, back to the Google search…]

It is easy to imagine the producers of “Jirisan” concocting this show much like the reader of a recipe blog: imagining the beautiful final product, struggling to get through the preliminary preparations, getting to the list of ingredients, then finally running out of patience, throwing them in a bowl haphazardly, giving it a few stirs, tossing it in the oven and going to have a very large glass of whiskey. It’s not that “Jirisan” is an hopeless, ugly mess that doesn’t merit a meal, but it needed a skilled chef at the helm to blend all of the elements together in to something that comes close to approximating the sum of its exceptional parts.

And the parts, in isolation, are a murderer’s row of impressive quality.

The supporting cast is Grade AA+++: Go Min Si as the fresh, novice ranger. Oh Jung Se (OH JUNG SE!!!) as the lonely veteran ranger. Jo Han Chul, Sung Dong Il and Jun Suk Ho are all terrific character actors. The mountain is a gorgeous setting to the show and viewers are treated to some outstanding drone shots of the scenery.

Jun Ji Hyun is the star and is every bit the talented actor needed to anchor a big budget drama. It’s not an award-winning role, but Yi Kang is a a solid lead character - enough complexity and development, a dry sense of humor and the tragic backstory. She is highly guarded personally but has a good development arc as the show progresses.

The other lead is Joo Ji Hoon who stands out more as an actor and his character, Hyun Jo, is the most intriguing of all. Joo Ji Hoon is really as complete a package as there is in the industry - all the physical attributes and a wonderful actor. He is warm and outgoing and understanding of Yi Kang and also exasperatingly driven to stop the killer that has escaped capture. Every time the show puts Hyun Jo in the spotlight, the energy of the show picks up noticeably.

All these various individual qualities, unfortunately, don’t mesh into a scintillating vehicle for entertainment. The chief culprit is, ironically enough, The Culprit. The murder mystery is flat out not particularly suspenseful and “Jirisan” never works out how to generate any measurable amount of tension. A fair amount of blame goes to a script that incorporates so many multiple timelines that anyone outside of a quantum physics practitioner is likely to struggle to make sense of. It also doesn’t help that the present day storyline has both main characters incapacitated to a certain degree and, as a result, incapable of interacting with each other. The show also starts out on a bizarre and awful sequence involving a rescue amidst a embarrassingly badly rendered cgi rockfall. The OST promoted a solo BTSer effort but it is wholly forgettable. And there’s little things like frequent splatters of blood that don’t look anything like actual human blood.

At no point (other than the opening sequence) is “Jirisan” tedious or unpleasant. But this production desperately direction and editing that made it’s little multiverse more accessible and the interaction between the cast members more meaningful and resonant. As it falls short on those areas, it’s very much a middle ground of a show - with some fine actors and a couple of intriguing main characters that are very much in search of a better blend between them.

Is it recommended? Kind of. Maybe? Not really or at least not strongly at all.

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Never Let Me Go
80 persone hanno trovato utile questa recensione
dic 13, 2022
12 di 12 episodi visti
Completo 0
Generale 7.0
Storia 6.0
Acting/Cast 7.5
Musica 8.5
Valutazione del Rewatch 3.5
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the writing did not support the interesting premise

Overall: I was super excited for a twisty action thriller but the nonsense/cliche plot turned this into just another teenage GMMTV BL series. Aired on GMMTVs YouTube channel.

Content Warnings: murders, attempted murder, beaten up/violence, bullying, blackmail, manipulation, unwanted public outing, drugging, kidnapping

What I Liked
- that the first scene wasn't a flashback or flash forward
- the beginning/first episode hooked me
- Chopper and Ben (Perth did a great job)
- production value (minus my quibbles in Room For Improvement)

Room For Improvement
- there is a lot of nonsense plot things, some of which could have been explained with a few lines or a short scene and that makes it even more ridiculous (one example, a highschooler is a full time fisherman and he happens to fight and shoot a gun really well)
- characters don't feel realistic or have realistic reactions (Palm's interaction with his mother as an example, both of them just chillaxing on their beach vacation instead of how I think most people would be feeling)
- I wanted some plot twists or for this to be different but it's a standard GMMTV romance with window dressing
- the night scenes were too dimly lit, a couple of times the music was too loud over the dialogue
- it dragged in many places, I wanted an action/thriller and this was not it
- Chopper and Ben felt very rushed at the end
- overall I just didn't end up feeling much of anything, scenes that were supposed to make me sad didn't because of the huge plot holes

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Shen Yin
108 persone hanno trovato utile questa recensione
dic 12, 2023
40 di 40 episodi visti
Completo 13
Generale 10
Storia 10
Acting/Cast 10
Musica 10
Valutazione del Rewatch 10

Xianxia at its best

So much looking forward to this drama, and watching it now, it doesn't dissapoint, and meet more than my expectations. Productions and CGI are breath taking & topnotch, you will be really transform to the magical world of chinese mythology and fantasy. The story and plot is engaging, characters are properly introduced and acting are superb. Zhao Lusi is really a formidable actress, she can carry the role and any roles for that matter so brilliantly. Kudos to all TLI cast & crews, this drama is worth waiting and watching .
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Our Beloved Summer
83 persone hanno trovato utile questa recensione
gen 26, 2022
16 di 16 episodi visti
Completo 1
Generale 5.5
Storia 1.0
Acting/Cast 9.5
Musica 5.5
Valutazione del Rewatch 1.0

Dull and repetitive!

As expected of Netflix´ standards, the directing, the cinematography and the musical scoring are outstanding; full of eye candy scenes. Quite beautiful and very melancholic heavy, which I´m a sucker for. So the experience was a joy for my eyes and ears, with that in mind it was easy to sometimes overlook the non interesting story and the lack of character development in the early episodes. But once it hit episode 12 everything just fell apart and the story/writing/main and supporting characters shortcomings became apparent. Once the main leads´ internal conflict was resolved which happened in episode 11 the remaining five were just abysmal and the beautiful cinematography was not enough to keep me interested.

Should I recommend this series? Yes, if you´re into young angst, love beautiful productions and you´re willing to overlook story and characters.

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Omniscient Reader
83 persone hanno trovato utile questa recensione
lug 23, 2025
Completo 0
Generale 1.5
Storia 1.0
Acting/Cast 1.0
Musica 4.5
Valutazione del Rewatch 1.0
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CASH GRAB ADAPTATION

I don't understand why korean production like to ruined everything from original work. You can tell this is just purely cash grab. I understand if they cut some parts or change some character designs but to the point changing unnecessary thing that should not be changed? WHY? All the females characters got misogyny treatments. Chae soobin's character supposed to be someone who is promoted in her job but in the movie they make her resigned? Then Nana's character changed backstory too. How can you make the main character who was bullied to someone who bully others 😭. Such a disappointment.

I hope the actor fans be open-minded at how bad this script is because it's farrr from the original story.

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It's Okay to Not Be Okay
317 persone hanno trovato utile questa recensione
ago 22, 2020
16 di 16 episodi visti
Completo 32
Generale 6.0
Storia 4.0
Acting/Cast 8.5
Musica 9.0
Valutazione del Rewatch 1.0
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A lacking story with a pretty package

**CONTAINS SPOILERS**

**The GOOD:**

1) Aesthetics: the FLs costume, cinematography and animations are really eye-catching. However, it must be said that the animation style and aesthetics style they went with is very derivative, clearly taking inspiration from the works of Tim Burton (and his team) as well as Tadahiro Uesugi and Neil Gaiman (Coraline). Anyways, bravo for the art direction department.

2) Representation of people in the autism spectrum: although seen in Western movies and series, it seems that in Kdrama-land the depiction of people in the spectrum is overall lacking. Oh Jung Se also does a great job in this role, picking up on the small details without coming off as a caricature.

3) Acting of leads and chemistry between the main couple: Oh Jung Se and Seo Ye Ji showed that they're great actors. Kim Soohyun was good too, but I wouldn't say he was particularly remarkable. However, he and YeJi did a good job building the chemistry between the main couple. Also, on a superficial level, they just look good together, period.


**The BAD:**

**lots of spoilers ahead**

1) ASPD being used as lure without proper development and approach: the drama original title (Psycho, but it's okay) is sensationalist enough -- and one might say even offensive to those who suffer with ASPD -- but it could be given leeway if they were to subvert the stigma carried by people diagnosed with ASPD. However, besides one single mention by a secondary character, the show never expands on the FL alleged diagnosis. Her toxic behaviour in the beginning of the series were even excused by some viewers on the ground that she has a personality disorder. Unfortunately, in the end, we learn that the FL was just a person that had traumas and developed (toxic/unhealthy) coping mechanisms. So basically the show used ASPD as an "exotic" character trait to get viewers interested on the show and then didn't raise any awareness about it. It was a mere plot device.

2) The trope of the toxic male lead but with genders reversed: we all know that many kdramas are guilty of having a jerk ML that constantly mistreats or looks down upon the "doormat" FL only for him to be redeemed and the couple finally get together. Usually, in order to redeem the ML we learn that he actually had a terrible childhood, even though he was rich, his parents were abusive or just absent etc etc. We all know that. What this drama does is the exactly the same thing, except that the toxic part of the couple is initially the FL.

A lot of people considered her rudeness, aggressiveness and manipulative behaviour as "badass" and others excused her because of her supposed ASPD. Well, even if she did have a personality disorder that absolutely doesn't excuse behaviours like sexually harassing the ML, using his disabled brother to lure him to her house, among other gratuitious mean behaviours she had initially.

The whole idea that one should endure boundary-pushing, threats, and manipulation until stockholm syndrome kicks in and they finally heal their stalker who loves and obsesses over them is just an outdated and tired troped that should be dropped by writers at this point.

On a side-ish note, I guess it has also become a trend in kdramas to have a FL with alleged "sociopathic tendencies" as seen recently on Itaewon Class for example. Seems like writers are overcompensating years of male toxicity by writing toxic females, which is not the point of feminism at all. And seeing people lowkey (or highkey) glorifying that behaviour is kinda disappointing too.

3) The trope of the destined connection: aka "we actually knew each other as kids but can't remember that for some alien reason!". Do I need to say anything more about it? I guess it's consensus by now that we're done with such trope. And it was barely needed in this drama too.

4) The trope of the forced cohabitation: again, not only this is tired but it was also connected with the FL toxic behaviour as explained above.

5) The gigantic plot hole: welp, the whole way they dealt with the FL mom was a mess and a half. It was textbook *deus ex machina* plot device. The implausible survival and comeback of the mother serves as a way to bring "resolution" and a happy ending to the characters.
One could disregard this argument and say this series is inspired by fairy tales and it was borderline within the magical realism genre. First of all, I think it's a strech to call it a magical realism work of fiction. But even if it was, every work of fiction regardless of genre should have generic verisimilitude (https://www.masterclass.com/articles/what-is-verisimilitude#what-are-the-types-of-verisimilitude-in-fiction), even fairy tales. No matter how outlandish the premises of the work are, it should carry internal consistency. In the world/universe established in IONTBO the mother plot still doesn't make any sense, nowhere it's hinted that magical plastic surgery exists etc. It's just poor writing, let's admit that.

6) The trope of 'love heals all': people who loved this drama will say the characters improved on their own and weren't really codependent. But weren't they really?

The haircut moment -- usually used as an example of MY independently healing -- is more a symbolic and cathartic moment but it by no means is proper treatment or would accomplish major strides by itself. The show didn't give treatment of mental illness any layers of complexity. Not once she had to sit through therapy sessions, take medication, and her progress was pretty linear when in reality we have ups and downs. Another issue I take with her development is that she barely builds any relationships outside of the one with the brothers.

KT could also have gone through therapy to learn some healthy coping mechanism and how to assume his role as a caretaker in a less burdensome way.

What we saw on the show was that the leads healed as their relationship developed/romantically progressed, it was an intertwined process. The overall message conveyed is that they could ultimately heal because they were each other "safety pins" and that's neither healing on your own nor how it works irl.

So yeah, the show did not approach healing of trauma in a groundbreaking way, they went with the "love heals wounds" path.


**The "what isn't really my cup of tea but isn't objectively a flaw" aka personal side notes one shouldn't take as criticism**

1) The drama is really slow-paced, nothing much happens in its first half and barely on the second. But hey, some people prefer slow-burning stories and character study dramas. So there's that.

2) Having not read much about this show before watching, a friend told me this would focus on mental illness, so I build the expectation of it tackling this social issue in the way Sky Castle did with the Korean school system. But the show actually is just a romcom/melodrama that is set up in a mental institution. The main focus is the romance and not a commentary on the Korean mental health system.

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Playful Kiss
214 persone hanno trovato utile questa recensione
apr 7, 2011
16 di 16 episodi visti
Completo 13
Generale 3.0
Storia 3.0
Acting/Cast 8.0
Musica 7.0
Valutazione del Rewatch 3.0
As with Boys Over Flowers, I am almost afraid to review this for fear of flames. I did not like this drama. The reasons?

1) I do not like it when a woman blindly and stupidly follows a man that mostly could care less and treats her like crap on a regular basis.

2) I do not like it when a teenage girl is portrayed as completely without sense and is kind of a stalker.

3) Even worse when she is encouraged by said boy's mother! The mother helps her stalk her own son! I liked the actress, I did but that's just too much for me to wrap my mind around.

Maybe I am too old for this one. I did not like the message it sends. I am all for going with a story. I can forgive a lot because I have a ridiculous romantic side to me but this one left me wanting to yell at that girl and shake her out of her blind stupidity.

Here is what I did like: The boy kind of redeems himself toward the end and she wakes up at the last minute...kind of. ..but not enough.

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Falling Into Your Smile
58 persone hanno trovato utile questa recensione
lug 17, 2021
31 di 31 episodi visti
Completo 9
Generale 4.5
Storia 5.0
Acting/Cast 5.5
Musica 4.0
Valutazione del Rewatch 3.0
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A Sugar-y Mess of a Drama

This drama was more about gaming scandals than the actual love of the game. I've never seen such an obsession with gaming players as if they are idols. It genuinely felt ridiculous but getting past that, this drama's focus is on the ML and FL. So with regards to that, this is where the drama survives and dies at the same time. The female lead character is so freaking stiff, unmoving, and non-expressive which really wastes the male lead's effort. She is completely reactionary without even showing a reaction. The production team should have found an actress instead of an idol to play the role. But it almost seems to me that this drama was supposed to be a self-interest thing anyway. However, to be fair, the Chinese web novel it is based on that vibe but the female lead character is a bit more active compared. Go figure, another drama where they strip the female lead character of autonomy and complex character.

As for the the male lead character, he is what keeps audiences interested half the time with his swoon-worthy moves. He is almost spot on to the novel character with the exception of the more "horny boy" moments that were obviously cut out to make this more cookie cutter.

The gaming parts of this drama had cooling effects but boring ultimately. I skipped over most of them because it felt like a waste of time.

The side characters with the exception of Jin Yang, Ai Jai, and Jian Yang were very one-note. Jin Yang and Ai Jai relationship felt more honest to the realities of dating a pro gramer and not being interested in the game. Jian Yang was pouring emotions as the second lead that made you wonder WHY the hell the female lead didn't give him a second chance. The flashbacks of the two also showed a more natural couple compared to the FL/ML interactions which were so stiff.

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Mr. Plankton
33 persone hanno trovato utile questa recensione
nov 12, 2024
10 di 10 episodi visti
Completo 0
Generale 7.5
Storia 7.0
Acting/Cast 7.5
Musica 3.5
Valutazione del Rewatch 5.5

Cliche but good

Sincerely, I started to watch this K-drama because I was bored, thinking it would be another average love story and that I'd ditch it halfway as soon as the "bad boy" wout get his cute girl to fall in love with him. I couldn't have been more wrong, I thought, after laughing for five episodes straight-actually, this is not that bad. Even though it was a totally fictional plot, the connection with the characters amazed me with how real they were. My heart started to feel heavy and squeezed by emotions throughout the whole journey. It was a total rollercoaster of character relationships and emotions-their acts, sometimes selfish, sometimes absurd, sometimes pitiful, made them so human. But everything they did was to seek one thing: love.

People are so foolish for searching love where they aren't needed, forgetting to look around and see those who love us no matter what. People who aren't related to us by DNA but who gather with us throughout the journey of life. The main characters did a beautiful job portraying this feeling. Sometimes when I try to explain love to my friends, I imagine this down-to-earth, realistic, but still such a powerful, unimaginable feeling that I cannot explain.

Other than love in its many forms, we felt loss, forgiveness, redemption, letting go, rebirth, and the meaning of self and so much more.

I just want to say thank you and hope others can take a piece of the story with them, just as I did.

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My Princess
33 persone hanno trovato utile questa recensione
nov 6, 2012
16 di 16 episodi visti
Completo 0
Generale 5.0
Storia 5.0
Acting/Cast 8.0
Musica 7.0
Valutazione del Rewatch 4.0
I wasn't going to write a review on this, neither was I going to complete this drama. It took me forever to complete it because it was a snooze fest for most parts. But this is the absolutely only drama that I gave second, third and so on chances to because of the two main lead actors.

As for the story, it is a plain one about a girl who finds out she is a princess. There wasn't much original in the plot and all the Imperial family politics bored me. I was lazy to complete this drama because I wasn't invested in the second leads either. By the way, I generally don't like judging actors by their looks but Park Ye Jin looked absolutely hideous in her hairstyle and annoyed the hell out of me.

After watching this, Kim Tae Hee is hands down the most easily likable actress in the Korean industry for me. I don't remember the last time I was so impressed with an actress playing an ordinary character in midst of a boring story. Also, Song Seung Hoon was equally good as Park Hae Young and complimented Tae Hee's character well. Plus, their awesome chemistry made me want more. Their scenes are all fluffy and cute. At least these two people didn't bore me.

Because this drama is a victim of poor writing, Lee Seol's character was also nothing special. But Tae Hee's amazing acting skills made her entertaining. Generally, I have a record of hating female characters which cry a lot or behave immaturely. But Tae Hee makes even this funny and enjoyable to watch. The drama had nothing but to rely on Tae Hee and Seung Hoon's talent to make it to the end.

Overall, it is an easily forgettable drama. But because it is light and has great lead actors I could tell you try it once. Recommended for fans of Kim Tae Hee and Seung Hoon!

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The Eighth Sense
33 persone hanno trovato utile questa recensione
mag 1, 2023
10 di 10 episodi visti
Completo 7
Generale 7.5
Storia 8.5
Acting/Cast 9.5
Musica 6.0
Valutazione del Rewatch 7.0

I have fallen in love with the story and characters, so I am personally offended by the execution.

My title came off a little strong, so here’s the short answer: this drama is definitely amazing for a gay romance coming out of Korea, but has really poor editing that was consistently jarring and some loose ends.

Now here comes the long answer (starting with the good of course!):
I really do appreciate this drama because it made an effort to tell a genuine gay love story, and I would say they succeeded. I especially appreciated this effort because the homophobia of Korean society tends to encroach on the acting and direction of some other BL series I’ve seen.

From the script alone we already have a good starting point, but the actors definitely took this drama to the next level. Im Ji Sub and Oh Jun Taek were stellar lead actors. You could always tell how their characters felt just through an expression or exchange. The chemistry and tension between them was on point. You could always feel a tangible mutual romantic curiosity between the two of them. It never felt stiff or awkward, or like they were forcing themselves to “act gay.” The effort and care put in the acting and direction gave the romance an authentic feel.
The setting and story were both quite nice. The school setting felt realistic, and the surfing aspect worked with the story surprisingly well.

The main characters themselves were both interesting. I liked to learn more about them, and see them grow and change throughout the series. I wasn’t a fan of Eun Ji or her writing. It wouldn’t have hurt anyone if they put a little more effort into making her a little less of a one-dimensional villain archetype, but in the end she served her purpose.

Now for my main complaint, and the achilles heel of this entire show: the editing.

I wish I was being dramatic when I said the editing made me die a little on the inside. As someone in visual arts who has experience with video editing, I genuinely started to wonder about the vision from the director and editing team, or if there was an editing team and if they got paid. Possibly they were held at gunpoint to make some of the most questionable editing choices of all time. The look of the first two episodes was alright, but the editing lost its way at episode 3 and barely managed to find its way back by episode 8. The coloring and filters were too exaggerated and varied. It very rarely did anything to add to the mood or tone of the show. At worst it was very distracting and at best it was tumblr-esque and outdated.
To be fair, there were a handful of shots I thought looked lovely.

Now if you're someone who doesn’t care about the aesthetics of a show, there is still a reason to care about the quality of the editing. The transitions. This was where the editing really started to hinder the storytelling. It made the story convoluted and hard to follow. I often had to skip back to see if I missed something, only to realize I hadn’t missed anything at all. The transitions are really just that jarring. It didn’t help that they would often throw in random scenes without context and then move on with very little explanation.

Overall, I would still recommend this show and I think it is a step in a great direction for Korean BL dramas. The integrity of the story and characters holds up, even if the transitions and editing made me want to pull out my hair.
The story also leaves me wondering about the character’s futures. I felt that we missed out on some of the development of Jae Won that the story was hinting at. I’d like to know more about our main character’s families and backgrounds, which are still partially unexplained. I would definitely tune in for a season 2. I may even rewatch it eventually now that I’ve come to terms with the horrendous editing.

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My Journey to You
33 persone hanno trovato utile questa recensione
set 16, 2023
24 di 24 episodi visti
Completo 5
Generale 8.5
Storia 7.0
Acting/Cast 10
Musica 9.5
Valutazione del Rewatch 8.5
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I wanted this to be my favorite cdrama of 2023

today i completed my journey to you and i will start off by saying this is one of the best cdramas for me of this year — cinematography, performances from the actors, musically, and visual wise. it simply took my breath away from the start. the intensity of the episodes, each one ending with a cliffhanger that left you wanting to know more and what would happen next. i loved this drama so much i’d look forward to getting up every morning and watching the next episode!

onto the characters — my favorites were the main couple. many people were saying they weren’t feeling the romance between the leads, and while i do agree with the lack of screen time between yun weishan and gong ziyu, every moment they shared together was incredibly sweet and made my heart ache from ziyu’s lovely words towards his bride to weishan always being on ziyu’s side despite him not knowing. my journey to you is a drama about an undercover spy on a mission — “if a spy falls in love with her target, she’ll face a tragic ending.” a romance that could end in tragedy, but it still lit a light in my heart that just made the drama simply perfect for me. i especially loved gong ziyu’s character because he is a character with a gentle, warm, and pure heart who saw the good side in everything. he treated his lover with so much care and love it moved me to watch them together. she was willing to give herself up for his sake, and he was willing to let her go so she could achieve the freedom she has been searching for the majority of her life. they were such a sweet couple every scene of theirs felt like a precious gem that needed to be preserved and cherished. as for the secondary characters i will say that i have a strong dislike for the gong brothers — many viewers enjoyed their scenes but i found them to be annoying, always plotting and scheming against ziyu. they always had an agenda hidden up their sleeve.

despite my utter enjoyment of the plot, the characters, and the beautiful visuals of this drama the ending was an absolute disappointment. too many questions were left unanswered; i would have been okay with a sad ending, anything that would give some sense of closure but so many holes in the plot were created and it could have all been fixed with some extra episodes. who is the mastermind behind all of this? what happened to SGQ after she left the gong mansion? did weishan disappear, or die? why did she disappear? why did they reveal weishan’s twin so late into the drama and what has she been up to? so many questions arise and were left unanswered, the ending being an open one just leaves much to be desired. im so disappointed with how they ended the show. they didn’t give the main leads enough screen time and didn’t even explain what happened to them. weishan just disappeared and that’s how it ended which left me very confused and upset. everything about this drama was perfect for me but the ending was a total botch of a drama with so much potential, but with many missed opportunities.

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Ai Long Nai
33 persone hanno trovato utile questa recensione
dic 16, 2022
12 di 12 episodi visti
Completo 3
Generale 10
Storia 10
Acting/Cast 10
Musica 10
Valutazione del Rewatch 10
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Im glad I don’t pay attention…

To negative comments, I watch for myself and decide. Many of you want to nitpick and tear a series apart just because you did not get material to fantasize about. This series did not have all the angst and negative behaviors that most of you feed off of, no abuse, no rape? How dare they! Rate a series on the music, really? Its cute light hearted and enjoyable series, I have already watched it twice. I for one, skipping many series because they are focusing on extreme behaviors with couples and we are suppose to ship them as a loving couple, yea, no!! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen in comments watchers are trying to rationalize all the negative behaviors. “It happens in real life” is one of my favorites. Come on! Im glad to see some writers/directors steer away from all the negative BS because they are realizing they are losing viewers. Ive a small circle of friends that got me into BLs and not one of us are regular viewers since KP. The average age of a viewer watching BLs are 14-early 20’s and they want us to fantasize about falling in love with an abuser? Smh. Give this series a try and have no worries that someone is going to get hurt in a menacing way. The only thing I have to mention is there were a lot of loose threads, but my gut tells me there is a reason. Maybe S2? I also wanted to see more of Porsche and Arm!! Next time? My last comment.. with all the haters this series still rates a close 8 out 10. Not bad, uh? Enjoy and have a few giggles.

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