Reviews

So just as a starter: If you liked season 1 of Love Sick for it's story and music and the cute and sweet moments as well as the comedy scenes, then season 2 will definitely be a good choice to watch.

Story: The story of season 2 finally resolves some of the issues and problems which came up in season 1. How exactly...that would be a spoiler ;D For me, season 2 seemed a little bit more mature and detailed than season 1. Also the producers finally decided to concentrate on the main couples and only show some scenes (for fun and entertainment) of other couples and storylines (still if you only like one couple or so, you're gonna end up skipping a lot).
Season 2, It goes a little bit away from the 'just romance' feeling and connects different elements of life with the romantic and friendship relationships between the characters. Nevertheless, season 2 is just as sweet as season 1.

Acting/Cast: The casting choice, I think, is perfect. The acting...maybe not so much. It is definitely better than season 1, especially in later half of season 2. You can see how the actors and actresses learned and became better at acting. So compliments to the cast :D

Music: I've never seen a show or real life, where the songs are sooo accurate to what someone is feeling...I love the music in Love Sick but sometimes I just have to laugh when I think about how they always seem to find a song which resembles their feelings exactly to the point o.O XD Still the music itself is great, catchy and suitable for the show.

Rewatch: Oh, I'm soooo gonna rewatch this!!! XD

So overall, if you get over a little bit of awkwardness and some annoying characters (I think there is no one who watched the show and didn't find at least one character they don't like) then I definitely recommend watching this. The story itself is definitely worth it!!!

Leggi di Più

Story: Two Weeks is an exciting, easy-to-marathon drama that can easily grip the viewer from first minutes of the first episode. I love the pace, it never lags, it never drags and has a well-planned story from start to finish. Prepare for an adrenaline rush from D-14 to D-day, as it showcased a very thrilling struggle of the protagonist against all odds. The cliffhangers are built strong and will make you wanting for more, so if you have the chance to marathon this unlike I did, you’re lucky. The romance doesn’t take the greatest part, more of the touching father-daughter relationship as this one makes the motivating pull to keep the story more engaging. I love every little yet meaningful moments shared between Tae San and his daughter. I’m satisfied with the ending it gave, I find it realistic, as true redemption and acceptance to oneself require time.

Acting/Cast: Overall, I love the four main leads. Yes, it’s a shame but this is the first drama I’ve seen Lee Jun Ki as a main lead and he did an awesome job not only on the action-scenes but as well as a mature actor portraying a father. Kim So Yeon, Park Ha Sun and Ryu Soo Young played their respective roles in a great and convincing way also. I love the daughter, cute, adorable and has a simply irresistible presence!

Music: I only remembered the song Run from Nell and I had already downloaded it for I really love it. It fits as beginning and the cliffhanger’s song. It is actually a great OST for a thriller drama because it enhances the tone of each episode.

Rewatch Value: Repetitive as I may say on every review, but I don’t rewatch as possible.

Overall: Great drama that will keep you on edge from beginning to end. If you’re currently selecting drama to marathon, this one’s for you. The drama is very enjoyable, engaging at the same time touching as our hero, once having a direction-less living overcomes everything for the sake of something significant in his life.

Leggi di Più

The ending ruined the entire drama for me.

I once said that Modern Romance drama will have a better ending than Xianxia at least it will be least tragic when compared to Xianxia.

After watching the ending to this drama, it really made me take back what I said about Modern Romance dramas ending being better. How wrong was I because this drama totally takes the king in terms of the stupidest direction ever.

I am sorry but not sorry for saying this, because I really need to put it out there for those people because I genuinely love the pairing Xing Zhizhi and Qin Fei. I love their flashback when they were kids and I love their love story on how they've met each other again when they're grown up and how much Xing Zhizhi loves Qin Fei. Their love is the definition of Xing Zhizhi falls in love with Qin Fei first and she falls harder in love with him as time goes by.

When the writers decided to go the direction to have Xing Zhizhi take the medicine where he lost his emotions, it already made me not like it as much because I miss the old him where he express his emotions at the beginning and not someone who feels empty without those emotions. But I still held onto the hope in this drama because I look forward to their happy ending.

To be honest, their wedding was what I look forward to seeing the most, but as soon as that happened, I was like "Wtf" at it. As soon as that wedding happened I lost all hope because I know it wasn't real! T^T

Qin Fei really shouldn't have made up that lie to have Xing Zhizhi return to Suman to speed up his recovery because this indirectly caused them that horrid ending in the end.

If doing an operation was what allowed Qin Fei to regain his emotions then so be it. Even if it takes time in China, at least it wouldn't be in a dangerous place like Suman.

The more I think about it the more I end up hating how it all turned out.

If you want to give a tragic death to the Xing Zhizhi, the ML, (NOT that i support it), having him protect the Qin Fei(FL) in an attack would have been better than that cheap direction and him being implied dead and killed OFFSCREEN!

But I seriously hated the ending, because it is totally unjustifiable imo. You don't have Xing Zhizhi recovers from his mental illness to be ready to get back together with Qin Fei (and she have been waiting for him) but then have him presumed to be killed offscreen! Yes, OFFSCREEN!!!! because viewers was not given an explanation on what happened to him after he was abducted!!

I really WANT to believe in the end, that ending was him!! All I needed was enough time for an EXPLAINATION, from Xing Zhizhi and tell her (AND US!!!) WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM, HOW HE WAS ABLE TO GET OUT, WHERE HE'S BEEN ALL THIS TIME!!! As long as the writers give us this explanation, no matter how stupid the last minute happy ending it is.... I would believe that he's really back!!

BUT we got NONE of that!! In the final episode and all the scenes that lead up to "that moment in the end", do you expect us to believe that he's real?!

I'm so sad and disappointed with this ending, and honestly this ending really did ruined the entire drama for me. Xing zhizhi and Qin Fei deserves better.... I cannot watch this drama again without being reminded of what happened at the end...

In the end, all we got was their journey was a complete waste. The FL Qin Fei ended up having the same mental illness as the ML Xing Zhizhi which he was trying his best to recover, he finally recovered but was killed offscreen, WTF. And then Qin Fei got the same mental illness as Xing Zhizhi imagining it was him and he's back... except this is the illusion she don't want to get out off because she couldn't live on in a world without him!!

Are you for real writers?!

There's two screen writers here, maybe Wu Meng Zhang wrote the first half and Shi Ruo Min wrote the second half...since Shi Ruo Min also gave a sad ending in LIP(Love is Panacea)! -_-

While I was sad that LIP have a sad ending but at least there was built up to that ending, but in TBL(The Beautiful Lie), that was SO RANDOM and SO UNNECESSARY! IT MAKES ZERO SENSE IN TERMS OF LOGICAL DIRECTION AND WRITING PERSPECTIVE. THIS IS WHY I AM SO PISSED AND DISAPPOINTED, because it defeats that whole purpose in the last half of the story where Xing Zhizhi was trying his best to recover and he did recover(able to feel those emotions again), that gave us hope and then that shit happened OFFSCREEN.

Shi Ruo Min is definitely on MY BLACKLIST. I hope SRM gets a lot of backlash from fans who was disappointed in this drama!!

This is honestly so traumatic and I absolutely hated the writing in terms of ending perspective. One for the fact that we dont get a clear explanation if Xing Zhizhi is dead or alive (hurts me to think he's actually dead, but no one in their right mind would believe he's alive at the end.....), and two, their journey went back into a full circle and left unresolved.... isn't this supposed to be a story about being able to heal your mental illness? I am not inclined to think this is anything "beautiful" at all. It's disgusting in terms of after everything they've suffered and been through, they couldn't get that happy ending they've worked so hard for, a happy ending in which both Xing Zhizhi and Qin Fei deserves!!..

Personally, I wouldn't recommend this drama if ending is something that matters to you.... I actually felt like watching My Boss again... because Xing Xu is my favourite and the fact his character was done so dirty with this ending, make me want to watch My Boss again to heal my heart from this trauma and nightmare.

I haven’t written a review in here for a long time now... but this drama and my disappointment in this drama at the end makes me wants to write this review.

It has a promising start, the main pairing deserves better but they were done so dirty and I am genuinely disappointed with this ending!!

Leggi di Più

Life may not be what it looks like - Masterpiece

This is by far the best Cdrama ever. Starting from one accident and gradually everything gets out of control, the feeling of depression and hopelessness in this drama is real, not even because the plot is dark but also because there are so many things shown in this drama might've happened to many of us in childhood. And I'm thrilled how they make the children to act so on spot for these highly gloomy and creepy scenes. The eyes of both the main adult leader Zhang Dongsheng and the child lead Zhu Chaoyang speak a ton of their malice. I got constantly scared by Zhu Chaoyang's expression even if he's just 13 yo in the drama. But when you come to think about it, if you were him, would you ever stop yourself from making that expression? Rated it 10/10 not because I'm psychotic person liking creepy plots but the sympathy I felt when watching the drama.

Instead of putting this drama into "thrill" or "psychology"or "crime" genre, I'm more inclined to describe it as a "family" one. Simply because every event happened in this drama resulted from tragedy inside each one's own family. Zhang Dongsheng killed his wife's parents and wife later because of their betrayal; Zhu Chaoyang's tragedy was a direct result of a divorced family and his sister's death; Yan Liang and Pupu came to this city in order to seek help for their long parted family members.



This drama depicts how the social and familial pressure could affect a child who has already developed a fracture of darkness inside his heart due to family issue, and with lack of care from parents side, it eventually turning his character to one he himself doesn't even want to be. It's heartbreaking to watch some of the scenes, especially episode 6 and 10 when Chaoyang confronting his divorced parents. It's so resonant to those who are raised by a single parent. Those kind of parents are already stressed out enough by the parental responsibility, and, what's more, every single piece of misfortune in their daily adult life converts into domestic abuse towards their child at night. But for the kids, in order to be recognized as a "good kid", they are forced to endure all the negativity their parents threw at them and behave so forth. The occasional "I'm proud of you" "you are such a good kid"phrases can be everything to children with innocent minds, but in the meantime, it's also a curse for children to shackle themselves from letting out their true childish characters only in exchange for that "praises". They think as long as they act according to the what they are told, they will get loved more; however in reality, parents did the opposite to what they told their kids, when kids realize all their parents care is themselves, the feeling of betrayal starts brewing inside them. If parents are the ones that break your illusion, how are they possibly going to repair your mind after that? The drama shows one of the possible answers to this question in the hidden storyline.


It's very mind-boggling to find out that all of the adults in this drama are extremely unreliable and selfish. Chaoyang's father's preference for his new family made him suspect his own son, and he also made Chaoyang lie to the police in order to protect his new wife, even though he's been teaching his son never should he tell lies; Chaoyang's mother is a control freak, she made his son to charge his own father in front of the police out of her personal grudge, only to be protested by Chaoyang about the truth of their divorce which his mother had lied to him over the years thinking he was too young to remember the detail. All his parents do is to blame the fault on the other; they never cared about what Chaoyang wants them to do. Yan Liang came to the city to seek help from that old guy with a fan, but was immediately reported to the police, even if he's YL's father's most reliable friend; when he wondered how severe a charge of blackmailing could be, he turned to Old Chen for help but was questioned his innocence without even letting him explain the situation. This adds to the gloomy tone of the drama, making it more reasonable of the motivation of what these children had done.


Having that Descartes's fairytale hinting here and there throughout the drama, it leaves an open ending to the audience quite resonating to the fairytale, asking yourself to decide if it's a good end or a bad end. After I watched for the first time I was about to believe in the fairytale although some of the obvious hints suggest otherwise, but still not strong enough to convince me with an alternative ending. But then after another couple of times of rewatching, sorting out all the hidden clues, I'm finally reaching the cruel truth, however, a cruel truth that makes so much sense. I really enjoyed the whole rewatching experience, but I guess mostly people stop after the first finish and proceed to find clues in other people's reviews to see the true ending. Or simply forget about it and agree with the fairytale ending. It's all up to your choice because it IS an open ending without many conclusive clues and you decide how far you want to go for the interpretation.

Music is elegant and one of a kind. A perfect match to a heavy story like this. Cinematography is so beautiful I'm capturing screen all the time.

Watched 4 times now and each time I found new details that enrich my view of the characters. Last time I focused on the leading child character Zhu Chaoyang, I was surprised to find so many underlying details even starting at episode 1 that point to his later change. Truly a masterpiece. I dare to say it's even much better than most of the crime dramas (eastern or western)I've watched so far. Please give it a check! Totally worth the time!

Leggi di Più

Entertaining but Predictable, A Solid Yet Unoriginal Revenge Thriller

This series is undeniably entertaining, offering all the key ingredients that keep an audience engaged, friendships, romance, suspense, mystery, and a touch of violence and action. It’s a formula that works, but it's not groundbreaking.

At its core, it follows a familiar narrative: a protagonist seeking revenge or trying to uncover the murderer of a loved one. In this case, the setting is a school, which isn’t particularly original either. The “high school murder mystery” trope has become a trend, where students must uncover the killer among their classmates, each hiding dark secrets.

However, some aspects felt underdeveloped. Certain characters lacked presence, compelling secrets, or even a true sense of revenge. Despite the title, Revenge of Others focuses on just one primary revenge arc. The series does, however, emphasize violence more than similar shows, with students resorting to torture and brutality, treating death as less of a taboo.

The female lead, Ok Chan Mi, often came across as overly naive and impulsive. She frequently jumped to conclusions based on speculation rather than evidence, acting as if her assumptions were facts. One interesting element was the portrayal of her twin brother, not as an innocent victim, but as someone with his own flaws.

The final two episodes felt somewhat unsatisfying, which is often the case with series like this.

Overall, Revenge of Others is an engaging watch with solid production, acting, and a dark tone. However, it doesn’t bring anything particularly new to the genre. It’s enjoyable but predictable.

Leggi di Più

I desperately want Chinese companies keep producing BL dramas, Toxicity on top hits different.

I can't believe it's the remake , This version totally eclipsed its predecessor
China has elevated the production value of BL dramas to new heights . And 2026 marks a turning point for more intense and creative Chinese BL genre .
The quality of Chinese Bls is day by day getting higher .
The first two episodes is about the backstory/ flashback of the past relationship between lu feng and cheng yi . The two lovers who meet again in the future as boss and employee , still stuck on their previous feelings .
Xiao Chen tries to deny his consistent feeling for lu feng
Their story improved in the next episodes , cheng yi discovered his unconditional love for lu feng .
Even though cheng yi never knew about how honest and sincere lu was , I just can't believe that he was literally head over heels for him , howw is lu feng that much devoted to cheng yi that he was willing to even give up his passion or job for himm , the biggest green flag , the was he was craving for cheng yi was insane .
The second couple's chemistry's fire , even though I hate yi-chen's guts cuz he keeps on troubling the lover boy , but can't deny he looks so fine with Qin lang.

Detailed Review ( Alert !? )

I'm sorry!! my reviews are quite detailed, cuz I enjoy capturing my emotional response to every significant scene

Don't worry my point totally changed till the end. It started crazy but till the end loses its uniqueness.. I hated what they were always gloomy and chaotic but later on they loosed that look forever..


Their emotional bond is truly unbreakable, and their enduring love is so healing to watch. I honestly had very low expectations after seeing the trailer, but episode one completely changed my mind.
Seeing them reunite—and watching Lu Feng literally give up his family, career, and wealth for love—makes me wonder if that's even possible in real life. The healthy relationship they’ve built genuinely brought tears of joy to my eyes.

Honestly, Lu Feng never stopped loving Xiao Chen. The way he continuously tries to reach out to him makes me cry. No one else could ever bear the pain he went through—from the physical beatings to being locked up by his sister—yet he never gave up. I just don't understand Xiao Chen's brother. Why did he hide all of Lu Feng's messages? If he hadn't kept them to himself, all of this painful misunderstanding could have been completely avoided.

The central conflict driving this heartbreak is pure homophobia. Lu Feng is the ultimate green flag; he willingly endures his father's physical abuse and accepts every ounce of pain just to stay by Cheng Yi’s side.
Tragically, the cruelty continues with Cheng Yi’s mother. It is devastating to watch a mother call her own children "abnormal" instead of offering them the unconditional love and understanding they deserve.
And what was the point of saying SORRY after literally destroying everything.

While Lu Feng’s love is unshakeable, Xiao chen’s constant pushing away is deeply painful and is driving Lu Feng to his breaking point.
Ultimately, neither of them is to blame—it is the toxic weight of homophobia that is actively destroying their relationship.
Everything's so horrible , their lives turned into a nightmare .

Xiao Chen never truly chose Lu Feng. Instead of fighting for their love, he took the easy way out by breaking up and marrying a woman he had no feelings for, just to appease his mother. He accommodates everyone else’s needs and listens to his family, showing kindness to the whole world—except to Lu Feng. It is incredibly cruel how he refuses to stand up and protect the one person who actually gave up everything for him.
He is painted as a kind, compliant person who pleases everyone, this trait turns into cowardice and cruelty when it comes to Lu Feng. He is simply unwilling to fight for their love, making him the ultimate source of Lu Feng's heartbreak.

Lu Feng, just do whatever it takes, we are completely on your side!
I hate seeing him get hurt like this.
He literally just finished eliminating those homophobic parents and dealing with Yi Cheng's nosy brother.

Now, after years of getting Lu Feng arrested and prioritizing his duties as a husband and brother, Yi Cheng suddenly remembers him just to cause more pain?
I seriously cannot wait to see Yi Cheng burn with jealousy.
..

The psychological power dynamics in these drama is fascinating. But too intense and aggressive isn't good , it's okay if it's in drama onlyy..
Lu Feng’s manipulative behavior—specifically using third parties to provoke Xiao Cheng's jealousy—creates incredible narrative tension, but too cruel, he's actually mentally abusing the other person, forcing him to stayy locking him up, that's kind of shitt.
And there are striking structural similarities between To My Shore and Double Helix that back this up. In both stories, the male leads (Yunxi and Lu Feng) suffer a major betrayal, spending years in prison after being reported by their respective partners. Furthermore, both narratives utilize extreme confinement tropes, with the leads trapping their wives to prevent them from escaping.

From being the greenest flagg to a manipulative black flagg...

Even after all this yi cheng doesn't feel bad about what he did to lu fengg literal 5 years ago, I just can't stop hating him, broo have some guilt.
Yi cheng totally deserved that gun shot and it's not lu feng's fault.

Seeing Lu Feng completely shattered after Xiao Chen was shot truly reveals the depth of his love. By staying at his bedside and caring for him every single day until he woke up, Lu Feng proved Xiao Chen's immense worth to him, showing a profound devotion that Xiao Chen often struggled to deserve. The raw fear of losing him was unmistakable in Lu Feng's eyes.
Ultimately, if Xiao Chen had not letting his own fear and cowardice dictate his actions, this entire tragedy could have been avoided.

I honestly cannot comprehend how Yi Cheng can just leave Lu Feng behind to go abroad with his brother. It’s devastating that he’s abandoning Lu Feng to face everything all alone with absolutely no one to turn to.
At least Cheng Yi Chen realized Lu Feng wasn't at fault once he snapped out of it. Learn from that.
Letsee what happens nextt.

It is incredibly painful to watch Lu Feng beg Xiao Chen to stay.
I knew how deeply Xiao Chen has been suffering emotionally. Even through all the trauma, his bond with Lu Feng is too strong to just let go. When Xiao Chen finally chooses to stay and attempt a healthy fresh start with Lu Feng, it highlights how tragic it is that the entire world seems against their love. Ultimately, it is a massive relief that Xiao Chen chose to stay and live his life with Lu Feng instead of moving abroad.

I was sadd too watch Lu Feng struggle with his deep-seated insecurities, past trauma, and the constant fear of losing Xiao Chen. My heart broke when he opened up about his trauma—especially the painful revelation that he avoided the hospital just to keep Xiao Chen from feeling burdened by a sick partner.

The plotline where Xiao Chen borrows money from his brother for the house is a hilarious idea honestly. Why is he overcomplicating things when he could just be direct with Lu Feng.
Given how severe lu feng's illness is, chen needs to drop the arguments and just force him to get help. Lu feng is completely stubborn with everyone else, but chen is the only one he actually obeys.
It is shocking how indifferently he reacted to the sight of Lu Feng's bleeding hand. Rather than rushing him indoors to tend to the injury, he chose to deliver his entire speech out in the pouring rain while Lu Feng bled. Sometimes this guy's reactions makes me laugh hilariously. But gotta say he's so good at wiping..
I actually wonder lu feng in love literally got himself mental illness whatt . It's so hard right going though that illness that drives you crazy??
For the first time chen accepted Lu feng as his familyy ..

Lu fengg had intense, uncontrollable, and toxic obsession towards Yi Chen, bordering on a severe mental health issue that manifests as erratic, manipulative, and often violent behavior.
That made him look like a ruthless and manipulative, displaying dangerous behavior such as isolating, controlling, and emotionally damaging the person he loves. It's all because of his traumatic past, but I didn't wanted him to overdo itt..
Him acting totally impulsively everytime instead of thinking properly and acting wisely, was okay at first but I got annoyed cuzz it doesn't look good everytime.

(((( Actually they could've planned the fake marriage to satisfy Chen's mother than secretly dateee and then when she dies.. That's a good idea ))))

After suffering for days and nights he finally got away from his mental illness.
At the end they got their happy ending and I'm happy about it, after bearing a lot of pain lu feng and chen got it.

Overall I really enjoyed this series I waited for literally every week, I always give it to first priority because it deserve this actors really acted very well I can see that in the literally deserve a big hand, I'll always support them. I had a very great time watching it every Saturday and Friday, not to mention sometimes I actually loss patience and I know actually the patience was worth it.

Beautiful quality of production and nice script except a lot of parts were logic less ( ofc nothing's perfect ) , I really appreciate each and everyone's effort in the production of this series.
They leads had great chemistry throughout the whole series, the second couple had a steady and healthy relationship.

It's really good to see the China is developing so well and we are getting something that is unexpectedly incredible.
I can't believe it's the time to say goodbye to double helix, and the story between lu feng and xiao chen will always stay in our memory.

RECOMMENDATION
I personally won't recommend this drama because it's extremely toxic. If you cannot handle extreme toxicity, you should definitely skip this one..

Leggi di Più

OMG I LOVE THIS SHOW

I don't usually write reviews so I'm not sure how helpful this will be but this was hands down one of the best shows I have seen. If anyone ever asked me to name a show that made me cry the most, it is this show for sure!
It is heartwarming and beautiful.
The actors did a wonderful job with their roles. You could feel their emotions and getting completely absorbed into the drama was very easy.
The story was deep and meaningful and it was executed very well. It delivers a very simple message which most of us might overlook even though it's right in front of us.
And the special appearances never hurt!

I don't mind sitting down to rewatch the drama again right now!

Leggi di Più

When I was little, I wished I was born a cartoon character or that I'll magically find myself inside my favorite story under the influence of an uncanny occurrence. Along came W with the scenario of my dreams and mostly ruined it.


But I learned my lesson: "Entering a cartoon is no child play!" It's not a messy writer's mission either.


Here's the problem: W aspired to be a lot of things: a mind-blowing, thought-provoking fantasy, a boundary-breaking love story, a thriller and a creeper, and perhaps a journey of finding oneself...


Unfortunately, it failed on most fronts, but I'm not surprised. First and foremost, we have to accredit the writer for tackling such fresh premise and attempting to explore the themes of creator/creation and free-will/predestination in such a creative way. However, unlike her previous works the writer failed to create clear and sound rules governing the travel between these two worlds. You might scream: "But, it's a FANTASY!" Then, I'll scream back: "Even fantasy has to have solid rules; otherwise, it's magical realism or Deus ex Machina conveniently controlling events."


It's hard to highlight this part without giving up the story. One might claim that the rules of entering/leaving the world were clear from the beginning. It's not true, though! We were never told why and how Yoon Joo was going in when the tablet wasn't involved. Then, there's the fact that the rules changed over and over again! They worked only when it was appropriate for the narrative. Many times, major dangers could've been avoided by simply using the rules. In all honesty, I have attempted to rationalize the show's plot more than once; I always ended up with a severe headache. It's either the plot is a collection of holes bridged by Deus ex Machina or I'm too stupid to get it.


But I could've still enjoyed the show, lapses of logic and all, had the writer tried to make her characters realistic. Isn't it ironic that the writer who criticized other drama writers for resorting to cliches to move their stories, didn't bother to give her own characters identities of their own?!


Take Yoon Joo for example. What is she other than the love interest? What do we know about her other than she'll do anything to be with Chul? For the love of God, the girl had cotton candy for brains and I was supposed to believe that she's a surgical intern. Yoon Joo was willing to desert her ENTIRE universe so she can play romance of the day with her fictional crush. How am I supposed to respect her? I'm a fangirl, mind you! But I still can tell the difference between fangirling and falling in love. The writer and Yoon Joo obviously couldn't. If I were to believe that Yoon Joo fell for Chul because he's her forever crush, why did he fall for her (over and over again)? There was a painful lack of buildup for that romance. The show ended and I was still wondering: Why were those two a couple? Why the hell I'm supposed to root for them?


They might've been cute together. But that was all they ever were!


Then, there was Chul. His life, his whole existence was a tragedy but he was a protagonist who had free-will in a predestined world. In his journey of finding himself, Kang Chul was supposed to prove his humanity. Curiously enough, I found his reactions to the world and to everything to be human in the first half of the story. However, the more he approaches the real world, the more he becomes robotic. Ultimately, he became so bland it was dull to watch him, much less to care for him. (again it's hard to explain without spoiling).


The most interesting and the only well-acted character was Oh Song Moon. I want to take a moment to applaud the acting. The levels of darkness and petty he fell into were very well acted. Unfortunately, the depth of this character was never fathomed. He was shoved away in favor of the stupid never-was-romance. His relationship with his daughter, his fears, his failures, his love were all thrown down the drain. He became a walking plot-device himself.


The acting in the show was uneven. Kim Eui Seong did wonders with his characters where Han Hyo Joo moves around with 3 annoying facial expressions (maybe four if you count her sleeping face :P). W certainly uncovered Lee Jong Suk's acting limitations. He fairs well in cute and playboy, but other than some particular scenes, his acting grew cumbersome to watch, even cringe-worthy at the end. Those crying scenes anyone?!


A shout out to Crazy Dog and Soo Bong: those two were my rays of the sunshine in the dark! Crazy Dog spoke my mind and Soo Bong was the only one who played bewilderment and every other shocked emotion well.



In short, visually captivating, definitely mind-boggling and occasionally a bit creepy, W might have started with a promise but ended with a letdown. Watch it if you're a fan of the actors or of twisty-twisted plots that leave you with more questions than answers, but don't expect any character to come off as human.

Leggi di Più

Perfectly paced and focused

This is officially the best break-up, moving-on, and recovering/healing drama ever. Not just in K-drama land, but in the entire world and in history.

Maybe it's too early to claim that, but 6 episodes in, and it's very evident already.

They let us see up close and personal what a person who loves someone so much, have given them everything, feels like and goes through after a nasty break-up, (specially because of cheating).

They did not rush the story. It was paced well, to bring out the emotions, the pain, the hurt. The psychological impact, and ultimately, how a person can get back on their feet.

The monologues were awesome as well. Every single one of it were felt. They showed us the process.

And as someone who have been in such a situation, Yoo In Na captured everything so well. Did she experience it herself? Because gawd, that was me. Desperate. Shaking. Hopeful. End-of-the-world. Will take all the blame, will even take the blame for killing Abel, or Julius Caesar. Will turn a blind-eye. Will even accept sharing your partner! Because at that moment, you're thinking you can not live without them.

You can not accept the new reality in front of you. You want to move on, but the new reality is unrealistic. You are not in denial anymore (otherwise you wouldn't even beg), you just do not want to embrace your new reality. You want to run away from it.

“No, that's not a reality I will accept, I can make this work, I can choose which reality I want, I can manifest it.”

It will be for a long while before this show is dethroned in my list as the #1 break-up, moving-on, recovering/healing relationship story.

Leggi di Più

Started strong, ended really bad

This drama was very underwhelming. For the positives, Kim You Jung's acting was amazing, she just has the face of someone that can act like a sociopath. The OST and the production of the drama were also really good. For the negatives, Kim Young Dae's acting could be better, some scenes the viewer couldn't understand his emotions at all. For the argument itself, the story is bad. A girl that was abused, abandoned, tortured since a child ends up being the bad guy of the story. It is true that she used the first man to cover up her father's murder, however the rest she wasn't the one to be blamed at all. And the end was terrible. Jun Seo acknowledged that A Jin was in an abusive relationship and still his first thought was how evil she was and how he could blame her, no sympathy at all for her situation. In fact, if we analyze the entire story, we understand that she was a victim of the circumstances. Her stepmother drowned her, her father beat her up every time he was with her. Re Na bullied and physically assaulted her, In Gang was already deep into his depression before committing suicide. Grandma fell of the stairs, her high school stalker stabbed her and Jae O wanted to die for her. Honestly, she can be barely blamed, at all.

Leggi di Più

Shaken and stirred.

Under the Power is the best historical c-drama romantic comedy I have seen recently. The romance centers on how two hilariously different people fall for each other unexpectedly and deal with differences in their backgrounds and obstacles from past wrongs. The internal romance plot plays out within an external investigative storyline around a series of linked investigations by the formidable jinyiwei or imperial brocade-clad spies/secret police aimed at exposing years of corruption perpetrated by the powerful noble Yan family. While the basic premise of the over-arching plot is interesting, the story-writing falls short and loses momentum in the second half. This drama's success is mostly due to sizzling chemistry and side-splitting performances by both main leads.

Lu Yi, a highborn jinyiwei, incenses fiery young constable Yuan Jinxia when he takes over one of her cases from the local yamen. To add insult to injury, he commandeers her trusty pistol and extorts her collaboration in a very high-handed way. I cannot lie - I initially did not like the obnoxious, noisy, and immature Jinxia and dropped this show. But desperation in times of coronavirus made me pick it up again and like Lu Yi, I inexplicably found myself falling like a ton of bricks for Tan Songyun's gauche, money-loving, gluttonous, mischievous, shamelessly obsequious, irrepressible and utterly adorable little minx of a Yuan Jinxia. This is the first time I have watched Tan Songyun and I am floored by how comical she is without at all coming across as slapstick.

Lu Yi is not a colorful character - he is rather aloof and wears a fierce, sour, still-faced expression; has no hobbies or evident vices or quirks... except for his x-rated eyes. Initially, he looks at Jinxia with ill-concealed disdain and annoyance at her crass, venal, and nosy antics. He is quite nasty to her. Ren Jialun's facial expressions were so spot on in terms of conveying how Lu Yi's feelings for Jinxia evolved over time that I was with him the whole way. As he comes to appreciate her intelligence, resourceful and unconventional methods as well as her innate loyalty and honor, there is both horrified revulsion and wry acceptance in his expression as it dawns upon him that he may be falling for her. This progresses into a very amorous, caressing gaze that is accompanied by a slow and sexy crooked smile that shouts out that under the embroidered robe, this imperial spy is both shaken and stirred. This is brilliantly written and portrayed OTP whose interactions move seamlessly between comic relief and searing, heart-stopping intimacy. This had me alternating between laughing so hard I was gasping for breath to fanning myself down frantically. Be warned that such moments can result in paranoid coronavirus self-diagnosis.

This drama is pretty much carried by the OTP -  the rest of it is quite messy. There are just too many flamboyant side characters that make a grand entrance and then just fizzle out or worse, get dumbed down into a tedious unrequited love daisy chain. You would think they could have done so much with a Robin Hood of the high seas, a tough-as-nails female head gangster, a master poisoner, a trickster Taoist priest, a doctor that can almost rise the dead, a brave general's wife etc. Instead, all we got were boring couples trapped in cliche romantic tropes who were so much more interesting when they were still single.

The critical mistake that wrecked the latter half of the drama was the unnecessary angst in the romance -  they threw the very tired "your family wiped out my family" obstacle at the OTP. Without serious suspension of disbelief, this is THE kiss of death - I have never seen any OTP survive this obstacle in a good and convincing way. They only barely made it work here by pretty much sacrificing the entire external plot. This is a pity because the most interesting character in the drama was actually our villain Yan Shifan, who is diabolical, despicable, vicious, humorous, and curiously likable. We know who he is from the beginning and most of the cases that Lu Yi and Jinxia expose are built toward eventually taking him down. He is in a position of strength and can afford to toy with them most wickedly (which he does) but ultimately it is a race to see who can bring the other down first. I was really looking forward to the final showdown. Which never happened. The internal (romantic) plot needed a grand gesture of atonement and reparation so no, none of his victims got the satisfaction of outmaneuvering him and taking him down in a final epic confrontation. His downfall had practically nothing to do with any of the main characters even though a well-loved character dies gratuitously for the cause! Worse, Lu Yi makes a really pointless and out-of-character sacrifice that subjects the final outcome for our lovers to the whim of a capricious emperor. The ending was so lame it should have the position of honor in the Lame Drama Ending Hall of Fame.

So is this worth watching? Absolutely, the OTP is a complete riot and their relationship is perfectly balanced between touching and uproarious moments. As for the rest of it, you just have to suspend disbelief and ignore a few plot holes and annoying characters. No one will judge you for fast-forwarding. To me, this should be an 8.0 but I gave it an 8.5 to recognize the main leads for making me laugh so hard.

Leggi di Più

They got their "Happy Merry Ending," but what about the viewer?

This was just a mess, plain and simple.

First off, this should have been a movie. The pacing would still be absolutely ridiculous, but at least not as noticeable as in drama format. Not to mention, the characters' conflicts and feelings come and go whenever necessary but not in any flowing or sensical way.

Really, only these positives come to mind: The leads' pretty faces, nice singing voices, and good kissing scenes. Nothing else.

Near the end, I felt so detached I would liken it to the experience of an AI robot trying to understand human emotions.

I honestly wonder if they made this just for the OST; otherwise, I can't see a point in its existence.

This is definitely a skip, my friends. I finished it only because I felt obligated to.

Leggi di Più

First of all, I really enjoyed the plot. It's not an ordinary one. In fact, I love how it treats about high technology and the way it effects society. Something that surprised me actually is that this kdrama portrayed homosexuality! South Korea is a pretty conservative country and the fact that the director had insisted on portraying it makes me realize their society is becoming more accepting :)
The feeling of anxiety, always being on the lookout, embarrassment, acceptance, denial, excitement were well portrayed by the main leads. I support Kim So hyun haha, she's a very good actress. I've known her since School 2015 and I know her capability. Our rookies here Jung Ga Ram and Song Kang did an excellent job and I'm sure they'll be very successful in their acting career in the future.
Okay now the things i disliked about the character: Sun Oh.
He's very possessive, clingy, creepy and hard to like. I couldn't really stand his character. The moment he went after Jojo, I lost it. Is something wrong with him? He clearly knows that Hyeyeong, his loyal and kind childhood friend liked her and he STILL WENT AFTER HER. It was almost as if he didn't want Hyeyeong to get the girl and started to used his'' charms'' that any girl can fall for to Jojo for which she in fact did fall for. It's so disgusting to the part where Song kang says something like'' Oh you were never by my side all along''. Like *****, first of all, he did let you have the girl and didnt complain about it. Grow up.
Anyways yeah that was my rant about how unbelievably disgusting his character is.
Overally, good show that is binge worthy. We'll see what happens!

Leggi di Più

So disappointing.

This series started off reasonably well. It was clear from the start it was't going to be a masterpiece, but it was entertaining. But it quickly bogged down into a really negative and unpleasant mess.

Ahtip and Poon have the usual enemies-to-lovers banter and conflict at first, but then they descend into moderately psycho jealousy, misunderstanding, and lashing out to hurt each other constantly. It's not fun, and there's no chemistry between them to compensate - and even if there were there's no opportunity to see it because they're always in a fight, and not the "you didn't put the toilet seat down" type of fight - it's the "you are a controlling psycho" and "you constantly quit your job and break up with me" type of fighting.

There are no less than four villains. 1. The woman who is after Ahtip, who has more screen time than either lead, and she's awful - it's so unpleasant. 2. The handsome chef from a rival restaurant. 3. Teng's weird boyfriend and 4. The OTT evil landlady. Do we need all this? Especially with two surly and unpleasant leads, and two surly and unpleasant secondary couple characters, there is just nothing bright and fun about this series. With the secondary couple, one is in an unhappy LTR but delibrately leads someone on, and that someone is pursuing someone he knows is taken and all three make themselves (and the audience) miserable. TBH, I've never gotten the appeal of BankBonus, and I'd be surprised if you do after this.

Ahtip's friend Tewit is charming, but it's hard to think much of him as he's obsessed with Amy, who is a horrible, selfish snob.

On top of that, the writer appears not to have any experience with day-to-day life, as really basic details are wrong and take you out of the story. A hotel restaurant has nobody but a head chef to clean the kitchen and nobody is ordering ingredients. Except the head chef. Landlords can cancel leases with no notice and kick out tenants, and Ahtip is such a terrible, terrible boss that there's no chance he could have achieved any success. Etc.

Even the cutesy ending fell flat - all these people were practically trying murder each other the whole series, and now they're all best friends. Amy's redemption arc was to stomp all over everyone and then with no effort or reason ends up with the richest and best-looking guy in sight. Even after he had a drunken gay orgy with half the cast, which is weird since Poon won't let Ahtip even kiss him (until he gives him a hugely expensive gift. Nice messaging there).

It feels like punishment to watch this - it's entirely unpleasant with no romance or couple chemisty to keep you going. Honestly, I'd rather watch 45 minutes of people falling into accidental kisses than watch this.

I can't recommend this at all - there are lots of bad BLs, some of which are fun. This is just joyless and dreary. I had really looked forward to this because I love Peter - maybe someday he'll be in something good.

Leggi di Più