Reviews

It's Fine - That's the Highest Compliment I can Give It

You ever watched a story and found yourself thinking, 'had this aired at a different time, or perhaps if I were a different personI'd have liked (tolerated) it better?' When this started airing, I thought I'd love it. I left myself a note at the end of episode 2 stating how much I enjoyed how the plot and setting both reminded me of 'Business Proposal' & 'Welcome to Samdal-ri'. Dramas that, while I thoroughly enjoyed, had (and still get) scathing reviews.

The scathing comments kept coming in, and for the initial 5 episodes, I tuned them out. The show worked for me, and I like what I like, so whatever. Screw what the naysayers were peddling. However, after episode 6, I started slowly siding with the masses.😭

Let's start with what I liked
🍄‍🟫The comedy - They did have some funny bits. Did I find myself laughing to the point I lost my breath or had tears running down my face? No. But they did manage to get several chuckles out of me.

🍄‍🟫References to previous dramas - They had Anh Hyo Seop on the team, and they decided to milk that for all it was worth. They had multiple references to 'Business Proposal' -some obvious, some not-, as well as K-pop Demon Hunters. I also believe that the sprinkler kiss in the mushroom greenhouse was a little nod to 'King the Land.' That's my kind of fanservice and I was very happy about it.

🍄‍🟫The live selling aspect - This is purely based on the fact that it's a niche interest of mine. I kept wishing (and still do wish) that they gave us a deeper look into that. Because 2 reasons
a. It serves a particular interest of mine.
b. It showcases a much different career path than what we're used to in dramas

🍄‍🟫The villagers and Dam Ye Jin's 2 coworkers - The villagers' r/ship with Mechoori was quite endearing to watch - you know, b4 they turned on him. I liked that tsundere r/ship he had with them. I loved how Dam Ye Jin and her coworkers remained friends, and they had her back despite her being kicked out after the scandal. They worked well together

My Frustrations
🍄‍🟫Noble Idiocy - Ah! The Achilles heel of many a Kdrama (Cdramas and Jdramas included).
So both characters are struggling with things in their past. Ordinarily, I would be empathetic; however, I found myself struggling in this case. If you look objectively at both their past traumas, any reasonable person would at least suspect a setup. Even without damning evidence against the other party.

Based on that, the burden they chose to carry (because, yes, this was very much a choice, and a bad one at that) really made no sense to me. I understand when authors and screenwriters wanna write green flag, pure characters, who feel deeply, but it comes to a point that..... Nah man.

🍄‍🟫The therapy debate (or, rather, the lack thereof)
Our mains needed some serious therapy to help deal with the issues of the past. But, despite being well off enough to afford it, no one suggests, considers, or seeks it. She, abuses sleeping pills to the point of detrimental side effects and is a workaholic. He, on the other hand, hides, becoming a corporate life recluse in an idyllic farming village.

I would want to yell at this drama for this one, but this is an overarching Kdrama issue - not one specifically tied to this one show. Therapy is for the birds in dramas. Depression, suppressed trauma, and other mental health issues are fixed by copious amounts of alcohol (I'm looking at you, Doctor Slump), comeuppance, and the amazing power of love... sigh

🍄‍🟫How do time and distance work in this world?
In the 1st (?) ep when she has to go to the village to meet him, it takes the better part of the morning. She also mentioned that she needed to leave the village early as she had a broadcast later that night. When they started meeting daily so he could give her the meds, they showed on the navigation that he'd have to drive about 2, maybe 2.5 hrs to get back to Seoul. This is at around 1/2 am, when one would assume there's no traffic.

Now, based on those instances, can someone tell me how this man got from the village to Seoul and managed to save her from almost getting run over that one night? Can he teleport? Could his car achieve speeds of light speeds and they never told us? I hate it when seemingly turn off your brains shows make me turn my brain back on. You need to find a balance with the absurd, unbelievable nonsense. I can only gaslight myself so much

🍄‍🟫The sleepwalking and the sleep phone calls - Went on for too damn long

🍄‍🟫 I wish we had gotten her mother's side of the story.
Something more than 'I will sabotage and be rude to my daughter for years after the tabloids said that she took a bribe to sabotage my career - and she said she did in a heated moment.' I think the story about a woman choosing a career over being a mother is such an interesting one.

We rarely see these types of stories. It sucks that they never explored it. I would've liked to see her internal battle/struggle with this vs the trauma on the child, coz both sides are valid. We only get to see how Dam Ye Jin was hurt, but never quite the mom's side. But perhaps this particular drama wasn't the best vessel for such a deep and nuanced conversation

🍄‍🟫The romance/chemistry - I didn't get butterflies or swoon. Were they cute? Sure. But while they told me they were in love and they acted as people in love, I didn't buy into it. Into their chemistry.

This is in comparison to dramas like 'Filling for Love' and 'My Royal Nemesis'.

As I type this, the former is 2 episodes from the finale, and so far, I have loved the chemistry between the main characters. I bought into their journey to each other and the romance. They are swoonworthy and spicy. In the latter drama, both of them are crazy. We are halfway through airing, so they have every chance to fuck it up (fingers crossed they don't), but their journey so far is more on the giggle, kick your feet side.

Now having this show air in tandem with the other two... yeah, not a fair fight. The romance and chemistry in this were certainly and glaringly lacking.

🍄‍🟫Final Thoughts🍄‍🟫
While it did start with the potential to be good in my eyes, the plot, pacing, and absurdity of some choices and sequences put me off the show. IMO, skip it. But if you wanna try it, perhaps watch it as a background noise drama. It has some good, but they are overshadowed by the bad.

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The fairytale that wasn't

If you've been seeking out a review from someone who racked their head to find one, just one positive thing about The Next Prince and pathetically failed.. Congrats! You found it.
Fair warning - I'm going to tell you what this series was about but if it comes across like I'm desperately trying to convince you not to watch it, it's not me, it's them. The makers of The Next Prince have come up with a series so devoid of soul that there's isn't a single thing I can say to convince you in earnest to give this a try, and honestly, I'm not sure I'd want to.

This felt like a script idea that they fed into ChatGPT with the words
"Write a series that is based on The Princess Diaries, Harry Potter, Hunger Games and a few other movies of your choosing. Most importantly, make it as boring as you can."

The story develops from Kenneth being an outsider in an unknown environment to a story about singing protests?
Kenneth is Khanin by the way, the lead. I can't call him anything else.

Anyway, the story starts out with Kenneth being this smart, sassy and bratty fencer who is living his life in England, until Charan (played by the increasingly stone faced Zee) kidnaps him and takes him back to some fictitious kingdom that can't be situated on any world map, Emmaly. Kenneth, as it turns out, is the kingdom's long lost prince.

Emmaly has a weird monarchy, it is split into four regions ruled by princes and Kenneth's grandfather is currently the king and he rules all of Emmaly. His biological dad is one of the contenders for the throne because irrespective of time and space, once in a while, there is a competition where the grandchildren of all four regions essentially compete in a Hunger Games-esque competition so that their fathers can become the next rulers. Incredible. Basically, Kenneth has been kidnapped to compete in his father's stead.

But our boy doesn't take it sitting - he's away from home, his adoptive dad is pronounced to be dead by Charan, he's a wreck. He lashes out, he tries to topple the monarchy (not really). For all of two episodes. Because Kenneth is surprisingly resilient. He is a duck's back. He's being an absolute delight, taking classes, being his princely self all with a bit of flirtatious rebellion because of course. You would think that this is all pretence - so he can root the monarchy from the ground within and run off to find his dad, but no, he loves it. And he's in love! With Charan, the dude who almost made him vomit just from the sight of maybe two episodes ago.

He's in love, and he's willing to do the competition because.. reasons. So the rest of the story obviously has to be about the competition? Now that we've successfully become the epitome of royalty, and completely forgotten about everything else? Wrong.

This is where the story pivots into fan fiction. Specifically for Kenneth and Charan. The public ships them after they dance together during Kenneth's reintroduction to society and about three episodes are dedicated to their fake relationship to improve Kenneth's PR imagine. They visit all the kingdoms, they go clubbing, we learn about Charan's trauma and they almost kiss. All this while, Kenneth's Grandpa has been doing some evil plotting involving separating the two of them - but because plot said so, he obviously can't. But Grandpa's evil arc isn't over yet.. not by a long shot.

They romance and other unnecessary stuff like a second and third couple development happens, only to stop there because they get no more development. There are assassination attempts when the focus, shockingly, shifts back to the competition for a half a minute, but before we know it, they're romancing again. This is where stuff gets genuinely bad though.

They bring in the storyline of mining protests, which I was told was based on real life events (thanks Jojo), but if you were going to do that, why not take it more seriously? Singing protests, abrupt mood shifts, there was no real substance to that plot point, which somehow became all about Kenneth. He was supposed to be the person who grounded everyone else, yet somehow he came across as the most set apart from reality of them all. Grandpa is obviously involved in this - he's been involved in a lot of shady stuff all this while.

And because Grandpa's evil deeds know no extent, we find out that all the protests and the assassinations, literally everything had to do with - revenge on him. Which admittedly, is predictable but not bad. This may have been the only plotline that actually made sense and kind of did tie the story together and that's good. But not when it lasted all of one episode before the focus was shifted back to a useless competition.

But we got a happy ending of course! With complete ignorance of all the plot holes, missing characters and horrific storylines they pulled off, but who cares! All that matters is that we get one more awkward NC scene as cherry on top right?

It's so unbelievably sad how quickly this sank, maybe it was bad from the beginning but I was too wrapped up in what could have been to actually see that. And what could have been huh? I genuinely would not have minded a very fan fiction, silly type of series with abrupt comedy and some weird storylines. But in being so serious, the writers have turned the story into a serious mess. The mood shifts were jarring, the storylines were incredibly choppy, the logic was all over the place..

The characters writing was atrocious. I thought for a couple of episodes that we were finally moving on from the caricatures that Zee and NuNew so often play, but old habits die hard I guess, we were back to whiny and emotionless characters in a minute. And I'm sorry (not sorry) but Zee and NuNew have no chemistry. I was bored out my mind watching them on screen, I felt no real bond because their relationship was so rushed and most of it was awkward and uncomfortable to watch.

Ohm and Jimmy had potential as Ramil and Paytai, but their characters are once again, written so horrifically you can't root for them. Net and JJ looked like they would prefer to be literally anywhere but in this series, who can blame them?
I genuinely hope their individual shows can make better use of their chemistry, because admittedly, they do have some. But this series spent an absymal amount of time on either of them, so what do I know.
And all the other characters were either written badly and had some screentime, or were written badly and had no screentime. A select few like Ava and Chakri were written comparatively well, but had no screentime.

All the investment in making it look pretty. But what use is holographic video calls when your plot is less stable than the Internet connection they used for those calls? This could've easily been an eight episode series with the most incredible plot, crisp and concise, with great couples and cinematography. What we got was dressed up nonsense.

I wasted around 15 hours experiencing pure torment and wouldn't want you doing the same, so if you want to watch it.. I don't know.. do something productive while you watch? Maybe five sit ups everytime they do or say something egregious. Or journal. Do your dishes. Dealer's choice.

Because remember, at the end of the day, this is the series that hinged on Zee's abs to do all the heavy lifting.

Leggi di Più

I was going to give it a 7 but there were too many things that bothered me, too many plot holes.

I enjoyed watching this drama more times than not. It was relaxing to look at, with the great cinematography and breathtaking sceneries. Music was great and very fitting. The actors were more or less very fitting in their roles and felt natural. The chemistry between the male cast was flawless.

I guess my main and only issue here is the writing. There are two types of supernatural dramas: the one that explores human emotions through the supernatural; and the ones that use it to tell your usual story. I think Goblin was somewhere in between.

I still appreciate some points of the writing. What I dislike is the plot as a whole. I liked the overall idea but not the execution. I like the idea of supernatural and powerful beings, like ghosts, goblins, grim reapers and gods, are living normally among humans without being noticed. I liked the story of the little boy we meet early in the drama to see his fate and effect on the Goblin (and vice versa). I loved the heartfelt story of Eun Tak's ghost friend, and enjoyed the company of the group of Ahjuma ghosts.

What I greatly disliked is the way the main story arc was handled. At first it felt overly dramatic, but later it felt so underwhelming that it removes and intensity felt before. When it ended the way it did, I felt there was no point to the whole story. Essentially were back to point zero.

I think the writer has some original ideas, but no guts to go deeper. As a result interesting topics were touched lightly, but never went beyond, hence felt shallow. I wish more time was spend in exploring the world, getting more concrete information on how demons are created and how to deal with them. Instead you just follow the characters' daily life of not doing much, and supernatural elements were just used as a convenience.

When it comes to romance, I didn't care much about the age difference due to the supernatural part of it, but I just didn't enjoy it, I didn't feel it. I don't know when it happened. Also Goblin was beyond childish. He was too moody and unbearable at times. While I was more invested into the secondary couple, I still felt the same, as in a missing episode of them going out and truly falling in love with each other was missing. I didn't like the way both couples went.

The non-romance relationships were great. The bromance, there was more than plenty. It was perfect. The focus and the growing relationship felt authentic and real. I also loved the relationship between Grim Reaper and Eun Tak. I did enjoy Deok Hwa's presence, but man was he so underused!

Other things that bothered me but not necessarily cause any deduction to the rating is over the top product placement. At one point it looked like subway was about to save the world, one sandwich at a time. And the wardrobe of poor little female lead, I just wonder how she manages to fit all those clothes in such little luggages and how she can afford them. I love how they presented Quebec at first, but I got mad that they didn't try to be accurate as to how the city looked at this time of the year. Worst of all is the episode length. It was needlessly long.

I don't regret watching this drama. I still had a great time watching. Although the last three episodes felt too draggy and less enjoyable, but it still had some good moments. Well all moments with GR for me are great lol. Enjoy! And don't hate me too much for the rating :P

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A MISSED OPPORTUNITY - A Storm of Potential, Washed away by Weak Execution

BIG BUDGET, TOP STARS, BUT HALF BAKED EXECUTION

Tempest drama is just another typical spy espionage thriller drama, boasting top stars, strong production crew and reputed director, screenwriter with big elements America, South Korea, North Korea, Mercenaries, International-Spies, Secret Agents everything looks solid right but it only on the story board and ultimately feels like a half-baked cake.

As a big fan of spy espionage thrillers; I had some good expectations for this drama, especially from one of my favourite director KIM HEE-WON but the execution fell down. While the story feels fresh compared to previous spy thrillers, the plot is poorly developed.

This really drama’s biggest drawback is instead of leaning into the genre’s elements – conspiracies, betrayals and psychological mind games it turns into chaebol-family conflicts in midway, slowing the pace and weaking the narrative drive.

Good at
• Initial episodes.
• Production design.
• Acting.

Major disappointments
• Underdeveloped plot.
• Midway focus heavily on family conflict rather than espionage.
• Forced romantic subplot.
• Lost momentum in maintaining real suspense and tension.

Technical aspects 6/10

Bad editing, the editing feels sloppy in some episodes. Scenes cut and jump too quickly, breaking the actual flow of the story narration and making it hard to connect to the scenario. Soundtrack and background score feels off but in early episodes it was on the track. Average Cinematography.

ACTING 7/10

One word- Underutilized talent of acting power houses JUN JI HYUN & KANG DONG WON, I loved acting and they portrayed roles perfectly but unfortunately the script doesn’t give their characters enough depth or opportunity to showcase their full range. Their characters becoming average in this context is a sign that writing failed to maximize their potential. Same goes to supporting actors they also given good performance according to roles.

Final thoughts—

Kim Hee Won is one of my favorite Korean directors; her making style is always best according to the story. She has delivered some acclaimed different genre works like—Vincenzo, Little Women, Crowned Clown, and Queen of Tears (the making style). Tempest feels like one of her weakest works. She missed bringing her mark - powerful characterizations in this drama.

Also, Screenwriter Jung Seo Kyung created a powerful story but failed to build the strong characters with enough depth. Also, instead of focusing on the story's key aspects evaluation, the narration shifts midway into a romantic track just when it should have taken sharper turns.

Some viewers may enjoy that romance subplot, but the as for storytelling aspect of this is a complete failure. Ok, let's take this as "the screenwriter approached the romance plot because they tried to create a dynamic relationship between the main leads and for a strong climax," but it backfired. Even the family conflicts sidelines the core story, and the plot twist also shows no impact.

Technically it is some appreciable - dark atmospheric tone, some well executed action scenes along with the alignment of the US-KR story setup and actors costumes. Even if the makers have a big budget and top stars and the best crew, sometimes the content is kingmaker. When makers fail to polish their strong potential into compelling content, the results inevitably fall flat. A story should be given what it really demands, forcing - in unnecessary elements only ruins it.

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Feels very realistic and like a movie

Everything was done at a very high professional level and it felt like a movie I just hate how they didn't end up together. As soon as Doona's manager kept coming back after abandoning Doona I just knew her relationship was over and it was gonna be a bad ending. I mean she was able to become a popular singer again but her romantic relationship was over they also gave you an opening ending as well which I hate. I really wanted Won Jun and Doona to have a happy ending but they don't.... you would think after a while of being apart when Doona and Won Jun meet up again they would get back together but they leave you on a cliffhanger after they reconnect so you don't know if they are friends, get back together or their meetup was just a once off after they said they missed one another. Which is a shame cuz the whole series is good but the ending makes me hate the drama entirely and don't recommend it if you are like me and want to see them be together.

Leggi di Più

This may come off as rude to some, but I'm not trying to be shady. This is my genuine opinion.

I started this show because everyone seemed to obsess over it. I figured it should be a worthwhile to give it a go. To my dismay, I ended up watching what I'd considered as one of the most boring dramas I've gotten to watch.

The main character is adorable, but pretty dull and always very whiny and can't ever stand for herself. Supporting characters are just as boring or irrelevant, and their personality is too extreme for me to care about them; they just yell all the time. Nam Joo Hyuk's character is really the only one doing anything interesting on the show.

I just don't understand why this drama has such a cult following and fans calls it a must watch. Everyone praises this show but it's honestly very slow and boring. I've watched over dozens of Korean dramas from different genres that were better than this one.

The reviews on this website are biased. It's honestly all in the ratings, and for a reason -- Weightlifting fairy Kim Bok Joo is slow, boring, with very dull characters and a non-interesting general and side plots. It is cute, but nothing beyond that.

Leggi di Più

A visually stunning drama with lots of "tea"! (pun intended)

I went into Glory with very high expectations and, as expected, I wasn’t disappointed. Recently, there seems to be a wave of strong dramas with “Glory” in the title, and I was kind of anticipating The Glory, Blossom or even Blossoms in Adversity - type of vibes. Surprisingly, this drama turned out to be very different.

First of all, this drama screams high budget!! The production value alone is impressive: every detail of the setting is beautifully crafted and clearly well thought out. The Ming-dynasty–inspired aesthetics, the costumes, and especially the tea plantations are absolutely stunning. I also really appreciated the historical tea facts shown at the end of the episodes. The OST is gorgeous too and adds a magical touch to many scenes ✨

Despite having noticeable flaws in both the story and the characters, the show somehow managed to put me in a chokehold. It’s addictive enough to keep me watching, constantly wanting to know what happens next. What a pain watching this while it's airing!

But there are also some issues that could have been done better.
The first arc of the story, especially the husband-selection plot and the whole He Xingming/Yang Dingchen storyline, felt unnecessarily long, and I think it could've been shortened. It took up a lot of time of the drama without contributing much to the overall progression. Story-wise it could've been a 10 for me, if this arc and the one in the last 4-6 episodes were excluded.
This is my first drama starring Gülnezer Bextiyar, so I can’t fully judge her acting yet. However, her facial expressions often felt a bit stiff. At times, it was difficult to tell whether her character was quietly scheming or genuinely surprised/upset. Nevertheless, her visuals suit the role 100% - like she's got that sharp and cold “Ice Queen” aura (>o<)
Now on to the characters: Rong Shanbao is a mixed bag for me. I admire how she prioritizes family above all else and refuses to get dragged into internal power struggles. Considering her difficult upbringing, her composure and emotional restraint do make sense. However, I don't agree with how she treats Lu Jianglai. While it’s true that he betrayed her first, he later makes continuous efforts to redeem himself, especially by solving the case etc. Yet she keeps him at arm’s length, barely treating him differently from the earlier husband candidates. Her lack of communication and tendency to keep everything to herself becomes frustrating over time.
As for the sisters, tbh it surprised me that the Rong family managed to survive for so long given how disunited they were in the beginning. I’m glad Rong Yunyin and Rong Yunxi had character development though. Rong Yunyin’s growth felt more believable, while Rong Yunxi’s change felt abrupt, like a jump: how does she suddenly trust Shanbao and even speak up for her?
Also, I'm actually grew even more interested in Yunxi and An Cha's story than Shanbao and Fusheng's... :(
The grandmother is another frustrating, illogical character. Despite her experiencing many setbacks, she sticks to her old mentality - familial piety, strict rules bla bla bla - alwways disregarding her granddaughters’ wishes.

Despite these flaws, there are many more things I genuinely enjoyed.
The story (while sometimes stretched) was engaging because of the constant twists where I expect them the least, especially the 2nd half kept me hooked!
And lastly, Rong Yunwan completely stole my heart. She’s adorable and one of the most lovable characters in the drama.

So imo, Glory is far from perfect, but it’s visually breathtaking and I loved how the story develops, so I rate it 9 despite the few flaws ❤️

Leggi di Più

The same tale that's been repeated thousands and thousand times again and again, 'Once We Get Married' has nothing new to offer other than the same old trope of contract marriage almost been in dramaland more than a decade, it's same-typical-tropey and cliche. Maybe the difference would be we are getting a lot of kissing scenes... I mean it lol.

How on the earth I must believe that Gu Xi Xi is a fashion designer when even she doesn't have good dressing sense lol, it's not terrible but it's unbelievable. She's shown to be a smart, witty girl in the prior episodes, but if our FL doesn't become dumb at the right moment how can knight save her in shining armor lol... so yes she just loses her brain when it's needed.

Yi Si Chen is he any different. hell NO. He's cold and obnoxious.. and CEO (This is a must for contract marriages lol). 'Love changes everything' if it doesn't follow this, is it even a drama? as by the rule, due for sake of his love... he's not cold anymore, ah but it comes with possessiveness and jealousy. He does seem to be a workaholic in pilot episodes... a hardworking businessman but when he's in love, how can he be the same.... a looot of free time to wander around.

Mo Zi Xin our 'perfect' SML, seems unemployed coz he doesn't have anything to do other than following oops helping FL around. Did I forget to mention... he loved her for years, you know what? the main problem with these SMLs is timing. See he knew her way before, he liked her way before but ofc he can't get girl coz he's not icy-cold CEO... he can be ge-ge or senior. In course of time our goody perfect boy becomes a stalker... time to wear off SLS lol

Zhong Li Li... here comes I-wanna-slap-that-bitch, am I being too harsh? No! the purpose of her life is plotting against our lead couple, she seems to own some company but she legit has nothing else to do other than make plans to destroy FL, she definitely can be considered one of the most annoying SFLs even existed. Her personality qualify for being in makjang for sure.

The second couple is boring as hell, they don't have story-chemistry or anything that can stop me from pressing the FF button,

We have our perfectly-made-for-contract-marriage characters.... do we need a story? I mean first, our leads will fight with each other over the nonsense thing, then boom something comes up they need to marry... staying together makes them attracted to each other, then we have SML to create some jealousy and tension... SFL who have nothing else to do creates problems.. hence after overcoming everything happily ever after, Done!... Wow, I guess I should also try to write a plot someday... I don't think anyone needs something called creativity or uniqueness lol, just repeat some cliches and old tropes, word done.

Despite having a looot to rant about with dozens of things bothering me, the chemistry between Wang Yu Wen and Wang Zi Qi is on fire, first, they just look great together... second ah they are so adorable. So I did enjoy their time together.. the only thing that kept me invested till the end.

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Honestly, when I first heard that the Heirs was going to air, I was excited. Because I simply love the main actors and have liked many dramas of theirs.
However this was a huge disappointment. After watching the first two episodes I already knew I didn't like this, the plot felt really poor and Minho and Shinhye's characters annoyed me. I'm surprised I even managed to finish this.
I felt like the story never moved on, they had pretty much the same problems trough the whole drama. Eunsang kept crying over everything and I honestly wonder why in hell did she get two guys crushing over her. Also the ending was really poor. I felt like nothing changed in the story in the end. In my opinion this drama didn't need 20 episodes, it was too much.
There were also too many side stories that didn't have anything to do with the main story. They only left me confused and frustrated.

There were some good things in the drama, though. For example, Woobin's character was my favorite. I also liked Kim Tan's and Eunsang's mothers' friendship. Minhyuk and Krystal's characters' relationship was also adorable. I liked Krystal's character anyway.

They chose good actors for this drama, can't deny that, but the whole script was just a mess that even good actors couldn't save. Kim Tan was uninteresting and Eunsang was a cliche kdrama main actress.

I hated the OSTs. I think they played mostly 3 same OSTs, and seriously, none of them were good. 'Love is the moment' was overly used and if I ever hear it again I think I'll have to hit something.

I'll never ever watch this again, I'm just glad it's finally over.

Leggi di Più

Let The Last Thing I Forget Be You

Story:
The pacing for the story was perfect. It did a great job developing the leads relationship and had them gradually get to know one another. It wasn't a "love at first sight" moment or a childhood crush but just 2 normal individuals, with completely opposite personalities, that just slowly got to know one another. The chemistry between Gu Wei & LZX was so natural it made you question if it was a literal drama or us stealing a glance into someone's relationship. They made you laugh, cry, and get fully invested into them making you want to take sides when an argument ensued and caused you to question who you believed was right or wrong. But, in the end, it felt balanced with the right amount of humor, romance, and a bit of slice of life. My only issue really was with the side characters who I felt didn’t have much to do with anything and caused more issues than not. The main issue being SanSan and probably the only one. Even though there were other characters that liked the leads I felt they had character development and were able to change after realizing it wasn’t meant to be. The only one that just couldn’t get things to click was SanSan - the friend that you wished never got involved in your troubles. Overall, I felt the storyline was beautiful and had a great ending that felt it wasn’t rushed but gave all the answers to the questions you may have had. There was even an incredible wedding which invited all the characters and just felt like one big joyous moment. The entire last 2 episodes were just extraordinarily done and really tugged at the heart strings.

Acting:
The acting overall was incredible. The main leads Xiao Zhan & Yang Zi did an amazing job portraying their characters and had great chemistry. The way Xiao Zhan would just glance at LZX and added elements of the nose rub and his line delivery were just perfect and cute. When he was going through his traumatic experience, he did a great job portraying each one of those details. Yang Zi and her relationship with her in-drama father was perfection and made me feel the sorrow that a family member would have in those moments. But I do want to mention the actor that played LZX’s father – in the last 2 episodes – did a remarkable job and really added a lot to the story and just made the entire last 2 episodes just completely beautiful.

Music:
The OST’s for this drama were fantastic. Xiao Zhan & Yang Zi did a great job and the moments they added the musical pieces really added more to the story. Even the instrumentals they had for the violin & cello were just beautiful – I still hope I can find the song when they played at the restaurant.

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An average fantasy drama that does not live up to its potential, with outdated character dynamics

SPOILERS BELOW

This drama had a promising start and and interesting setup. A secret princess and a wolf boy who was turned into a killing machine go from lovers to enemies because of fate and the evil machinations of the higher powers. Their relationship is repeatedly said to be “cursed”. But will Zhai Xing and Lang Zai’s love triumph in the end?

…No, it won’t. Because this drama’s promising setup turns into a mess of recycled tropes and predictable, cliché storylines as the episodes progress. The characters also lose the freshness they had at the beginning and become walking tropes repeating the same lines and doing the same things over and over as the story drags on. By episode 30 I was ready to drop this drama because the eye rolls were getting too frequent, but I kept watching to stick with the few storylines that I liked and to see if the ending had any redeeming qualities. It didn’t. The ending was actually the final nail in the coffin.

THE GOOD:

The best aspect of this drama is the higher-than-average production quality, that can be seen in the sets and the costumes. The CGI isn’t top notch but is also not bad for a production of this kind. The battle sequences are also well made.

The story is also not all bad. There are some beautiful scenes, some good character moments, some emotional parts. The first ~15 episodes are good and don’t drag that much. Ji Chong’s arc is, for the most part, good. He is the most normal and relatable character and I enjoyed most of the moments the FL spent with him. He’s smart, capable and caring. The FL can actually grow and develop thanks to him. He was honestly the only breath of fresh air in the middle part of this drama.

THE BAD:

My biggest problem with this drama are the two main leads and their dynamic.

Nowadays, overbearing, jerky and brooding male leads feel like a thing of the past that new dramas are moving away from or are trying to put a new spin on. But The Wolf doesn’t do that with Bo Wang.
The ML is constantly humiliating, putting down, lying to the FL to “make her stronger” or because of some other excuse. I couldn’t keep count of the cringey moments that are played as “romantic” but it’s actually the ML being an a**hole to the FL, pinning her to the wall, throwing her on the ground, physically hurting her, forcing himself on her etc. This is such a bad and outdated drama trope. You might find it sexy once or twice, but beyond that it just makes you feel uncomfortable.

I would understand the need for those moments if Zhai Xing actually got stronger and was able to strike back at Bo Wang as a result, but no, he always overpowered and outsmarted her. Even when they’re enemies, in charge of opposing armies, they’re not equal. He still treats her like a child who needs to be coddled and she just lets him degrade her.
And in the end she always falls back into his arms and he gets forgiven for the horrible way he treated her because LOVE, I guess.

The FL is mainly a plot device, with very little agency, tossed from one place to the other, from one role to the other, in service to the story and to the ML’s manpain. She can’t even get her revenge through her own determination and hard work, because it’s the ML who does everything and decides that he has to sacrifice himself to give her her revenge. And in the end they didn’t even give her a good and happy ending, but a contrived and baffling one which was the biggest eye roll of all. She truly only existed in service to the ML’s manpain until the end.

Finally, I have mixed feelings regarding the acting. I think the actors did the best they could with the script they had, that leaves little room for character depth and constrains them into too many tropey and repetitive situations. I also heard there were reshoots that probably had an impact on the performances.
In the scenes where the actors can express themselves more or play different emotions than those usually assigned to them, their acting shines more.
Xiao Zhan is probably the one who gets to play his character with more freedom and range. Li Qin is not exceptional here, but she does her job well. Out of the main cast, my the biggest problem is with Darren Wang: if he’d been able to give his character more humanity, letting us see the Lang Zai under the surface a bit more, I think Bo Wang would have come off less of a wooden jerk. But again, it's probably not all his fault but the script’s and the direction’s.

CONCLUSION:

The only reason I would ever recommend this drama to anyone is if they're a big fan of any of the actors and are just satisfied with seeing their idol on screen. If you're looking for a fantasy drama that explores love, friendship and revenge through a good story and well-written characters, The Wolf is not it.

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The most adorable KIM BAEKDO

Before starting this drama, I thought it was going to be some sad and slow story, but I was here for our BELOVED Jang DongYoon and our cutie Kim BoRa....But oh boi I was wrong, this was NOT AT ALL a sad or boring story...I enjoyed every SINGLE second of this drama....I know, I know, for many people it might be a typical murder mystery BUT the warmth this drama gave us is unmatched...♡♡♡♡♡

Let's talk about the STAR of this show, KIM.BAEK.DO.....Literally the most ADORABLE human being on this planet...You don't agree? well go argue with a wall....My man (yeah I'm delusional), Jang DongYoon did a FANTASTIC job at portraying this role...That chubby JDY will forever be one of my favorite memories....JDY, literally changed his whole vibe for this character...KUDOS to him for being our VERSITILE KING...

Our FL, Oh DuShik (sorry I forgot her real name) was a strong and determined character and her acting was AMAZZZZING..She gave us a perfect combination of her tomboish and feminine side....I LOVED IT....

KIM BORA didn't have a lot of scenes but the ones she had, she portrayed them like a QUEENNNNNNN(Ilovehersm)....♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

Finally, the other supporting cast also did a FABULOUS job at making this drama super amazing...(especially BaekDo's friends and the fellow cop)

I did figure out who the real culprit was, not because the script was weak but because they did a little bit mistake in casting......


Overall, I absolutely loved this drama and would recommend it, if you're looking for a story that is sweet and simple....♡♡♡♡♡

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Be Passionately in Love was a drama with a good core storyline but ruined by lazy writing, poor dialogues and disconnected screenplay.. Even the dubbing was bad.. The one redeeming factor was Wang An Yu..

The first half was very disappointing.. It just didn’t connect with me.. Once again the issue was lazy writing.. This drama could have been salvaged easily if the writer had simply done his job with a bit more effort.. The no kiss issue only added to the drama’s problems.. I heard Liu Hao Cun had a no kiss clause in her contract.. But there is no official confirmation yet.. If that’s true she honestly shouldn’t have been cast in this role.. What is she doing in a drama literally titled Be Passionately in Love if she can’t kiss?? It just felt inauthentic. It’s true that passion doesn’t necessarily require kissing or intimate scenes.. But this drama was already lacking and abrubtly cutting those moments didn’t help its case at all..

The second half was definitely stronger than the first and the last few episodes were genuinely good..

All that said.. I still liked the drama.. Yes, it fails in execution.. But I appreciated it for what it tried to be.. A story about two teens dealing with realistic problems.. Family issues, uncertain futures and misunderstandings caused by a lack of maturity.. Another highlight for me was the absence of the usual annoying SMLs, Creepy characters hitting on people already in relationships, forced breakups and last minute patch ups.. It was clear they didn’t want to rely on the typical overused tropes and I genuinely appreciated that.. It even had strong, well written supporting characters..

“What I want might be a bit greedy..
It’s a passionate and unwavering love.. One of a kind.
It has to be just me.”

Wang Anyu really needs to consider changing his agency or start being more selective with scripts himself.. Because this isn’t the way to build a solid career.. His last few dramas haven’t been particularly impressive and that’s unfortunate given his potential.. Hopefully his upcoming roles will reflect the kind of actor he is capable of being..

Overall, Its a good drama if you can look past the shortcomings in the writing and screenplay.. Like I said earlier, the absence of the usual overused tropes was refreshing and that alone makes it worth a watch for those tired of overly familiar cliches..

P.S.. I totally respect her choice but I hope Liu Hao Cun stays away from dramas with romance as the main plot..

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SIDE STORIES>>

"Flowers don't bloom just for one butterfly" - Bit Na

Waste of time, probably wasted 8 hours why NOT 11 hours you must think? Right? Because only the side stories are good but sadly they have less screen time :/ This drama is meaningless and will just make you frustrated.

The drama started off quite well, the realistic portrayal of modern college relationships was really relatable. The MAIN story is slow paced from the very start but at some point it became repetitive which made it boring. I have to admit that the plot was exaggerated, the drama should have been not more than 6-7 episodes honestly. But the way it continues is AWFUL and the word "realistic" is thrown out if the window and was replaced by fairy tale ending .

MAIN CHARACTERS

Nabi, honestly at first I thought Nabi AIN'T DUMB but she is. She is the dumbest character I have seen in my whole drama life. Her actions are really dumb, they can make you frustrated. I liked the way the writer portrayed Nabi's insecurities. Han So Hee really did a great job portraying the character as well.

Jae On, the walking red flag. If you're reading this please don't normalize Jae On's actions just because you're the actor's fan. Jae On's character is pretty much a playboy for whom love isn't a thing, it's just attraction. I never approved of his character. For him Nabi was also one of his butterflies. Song Kang did pretty well at first I couldn't get those playboy vibes from him but later he was a bit better.

Do Hyeok, the potato guy, he is the "cliche" good boy type character, one of those who still believe in true love. Sorry to say tho he was really nice but he was kinda pushy as well.

The main story is SO MEANINGLESS, what was the point of their story? If their was no moral of the story? this drama was a fairy tale, it definitely was. This drama is ridiculous just because the two leads had chemistry doesn't mean there toxic character had to end up together. It's not about which team you are team potato or red flag. I was legit team FL end up with nobody. Her character development where is it? FL really need self love classes.

SIDE STORIES

The only reason I didn't drop this, I won't go in detail because some of the ships were pretty unexpected. They're stories were short yet really beautiful. I'm really glad that the writer was brave enough to portray them!

MUSIC

This drama has beautiful OST lineup I swear, even if you don't watch the drama you can listen to the OST, one of my fav is "Love me like that" by Sam Kim.

OVERALL

I was glad that Korean dramas are trying something NEW than the cliche college romance drama BUT sorry this drama crashed real bad. Should you watch Nevertheless? No. Personally I won't recommend it. The outcome of drama was really disappointing. I would never recommend one to watch it.

Now this drama is definitely NOT for everyone. If you can't differentiate between what's toxic and what's not, please don't watch this.

IF YOU FOUND MY REVIEW HELPFUL PLEASE LEMME KNOW ^^
END :D

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Story: What is fated love? This drama explores this well with an excellent backdrop of history and action. There is never a boring scene in this drama. The fighting scenes are phenomenal and they are actually my favourites - they are not too complicated or fancy like the chinese kungfu series but energetic and very real, hence the beauty of them. I like it that the writer had choosen to depict a romance story amidst a time of turmoil in Korean history when there were struggles between slaves and aristrocats while being under the rule of a weak king. I like it that the story did not overly dwell in the political scenarios but used the political scenarios as a backdrop to what is to be a "dramatic" love story.



Acting/Cast: What can I say? I fell in love with Jang Hyuk through this drama. He bears the mark of a true actor in his role as the angst-revenge driven Dae Gil. His was a very challenging character and he pulled it off PERFECTLY! He spoke with his eyes, his expressions and his intonations had thoroughly pulled me into his world of slave hunters and his misery of loving and yet being unable to love. Oh Ji Hoo as Tae Ha (righteous, dutiful, loyal) and Lee Dae Hae as Hye Won (meek, fearful and a woman with a secret) were also perfect choices. Even the dudes who acted as slave hunters, mountain brigands, slave rebels and evil ministers were wonderful in their roles. I seriously could not find any fault in the acting and cast of this drama.



Music: I absolutely love the OSTs in this drama. I listen to them frequently in my walkman. I think this in itself tells you how wonderful I think of them. What I absolutely love was how each OSTs are perfectly coordinated with the scenes and feelings in the drama. Whenever I listen to the OSTs, they reminded me of the drama and the unforgettable scenes in the drama.



Rewatch value: I had rewatched parts of this drama twice. I am not a fan of rewatching dramas as I am a very time poor person but for this drama, I actually rewatched a number of parts that I absolutely love. I must admit that I had never rewatched any dramas entirely, not because they are not worth rewatching (how I wish I have the time and luxury to rewatch dramas!).



Overall: This is my advice to you who had not watched this drama..... go and get a bag of chips or popcorn, a box of tissue and maybe a pillow (because it is quite addictive and you might just decide to skip sleep to finish this drama in one go) and just WATCH THIS DRAMA. You'll never regret it! :)

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