Reviews

Suddenly This Summer is a coming-of-age, slice-of-life drama that feels SO realistic and relatable. He Luo and Zhang Yuan, the main characters, have one of my all-time favorite drama-land romances. This show isn't as addictive or dramatic as some other similar shows that I've liked (such as With You). The focus is really on character growth over time, which some might find boring, but it's so relatable and solid and sometimes it's nice not getting emotionally jerked around. :)

THE GOOD: Realistic relationships and romance done right. Also some pretty good acting and good pacing.

Having a realistic, wholesome romance seems so simple, yet it's amazing how much I love this drama BECAUSE of how well the romance and relationships are done. You won't find any cliche plot twists or evil and petty romantic rivals here. Instead, the villains in this show are time, distance, change, and circumstances of life. Sure, there are some romantic rivals, but it's astounding (and almost UNrealistic) how RATIONAL and normal they are! They respect the fact that the people they're interested in are in relationships and don't try to sabotage or intentionally mislead. Which seems pretty standard in real life but is really novel for drama-land.

Both Bu Guan Jin (who plays He Luo) and Bai Yu (who plays Zhang Yuan) are so great and natural in their respective roles and really bring each character to life. Part of what makes the show and the relationships and character growth feel so real is in the acting! There's no stiffness and they emote so well. The pacing of the show is also good, with time devoted to high school, college, and post-undergrad so that we can really watch the characters grow over time.

THE BAD: I'm being nit-picky but -- random anime scenes and confusing passage of time.

This might be a personal thing, but I really didn't like the anime scenes that frequently showed up in the beginning of the show, and gradually disappeared. I get that it might be an homage to the original novel, but to me they felt random and didn't really add to the story. I would rather get more time spent on some of the side characters!

I also found the passage of time really confusing throughout the show. The scenes flowed together, which made it feel like each episode was only spanning a few days, when in reality sometimes they would cover whole months or years. At one point I thought only a month of college had passed, when in reality the characters were already in their second year! What! I only remember two parts of the show where the passage of time was actually shown in captions. It would have been a lot less confusing if they had shown some sort of intermediate shot showing the passage of time. Maybe the seasons changing? It didn't really detract from the viewing experience, but just made me confused.

Overall, I would highly suggest watching Suddenly This Summer if you like realistic romance and slice-of-life dramas! It can be a little slow and doesn't have a ton of ups and downs -- I didn't really cry or squee -- but it's wholesome and will leave you feeling good.

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There's no doubt that Dream High is way better than its second part. It is a light story full of dreams and the pain one goes through to fulfill it. The "one" being a bunch of teenagers and you know how school life is incomplete without a little bit of rivalry, competition and the need to win over everyone else. Dream High is a combinations of sacrifice and dreams. Realizations as well. The cast is superb, the best teen cast out there. I liked all the female leads for the first time in a drama but Suzy could've controlled her stiffness. The music's good with the theme song being my favourite. You know, the title song that starts with a violin is nice. Rewatch value for me is good coz I watch the scenes (mostly IU and WooYoung's - The Milky Couple) when I stumble upon it. Overall, its a one time watch for me and for the competition thrill.
P.S - Its much much MUCH much much MUCH better than Dream High 2. :-|
So go watch it once.

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I like it... not so much however (AN HONEST REVIEW FROM A LONG TIME LAKORN VIEWER)

I really dragged myself to finish the show because my lovely Mark was the main lead. (Mind you, it's been awhile since I watched a lakorn since the airing of Baifern's 'Bai Mai Tee Plid Plew'. And I forgot how long lakorns are!! 1 hour and 40 minutes per episode!!) By the way, I really think Mark likes this cold and arrogant character, similar to his previous role in Kleun Cheewit.

Anyways the story, I felt like there were really random parts of the story which took way too much of the show. Such as the hacking between our main leads. Then Myanmar. Then the Moei going off-grid to avoid him. I loved the scenes and they do seem relevant enough, I just don't think I need two to four episodes long in one issue. It was draggy, and the real excitement I actually got was from the beginning when they got married. Honestly, I felt that Yada and her abusive husband had more of an interesting story than this show overall was. I have to admit, I skipped so many scenes to finish the show. Why, because it takes 5 minutes for one scene between two talking people. DRAGGY AF.

I loved the way the writers made Moei's love for Thien consistent. Everything she does is for him, at some point in the drama it starts to feel stalkerish and obsessive but you know how dramatic Lakorn can get. One particular thing about Mew is that she plays her role really well. For example in scenes with Mark; she will constantly look at him and smile like an idiot because that is the character she is playing-- someone completely in love one-sided. Could be the script, but could be that she is an amazing actress.

I actually hate Thien's character. I just really feel like his character could've been written better. Mark executed the script great, just hated how bad they made the character so oblivious.

The cons:

I don't know if it was just me but some scenes were very toxic and are sadly portrayed in media that it's just love. I hated the scene where Thien tied her his bed frame to keep her from going out of his sight. Or when he confiscated her electronics and locked her up in a room a day with no food. Or when she was denied internet connection because he didn't want her contacting the outside world. I know this is typical Thai Lakorns but isn't this too overused. I am a killer for slap n kiss, but this wasn't even that.

Anyways take my review with an grain of salt, you might end up liking it because Mark and Mew did a wonderful job. Yet, as a long time Lakorn audience this was just a typical drama played by two popular celebrities-- and for me was not worth the hype.

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you better put your rose-colored glasses on for this one guys

Let's set the scene.

Imagine you are a teenager, just discovering BL and watching a show called Until We Meet Again and you fall in love with a little side couple called WinTeam. And there are rumours that they will get their own show!? The years go by and you still harbour the hope that maybe, just maybe they will get another chance at telling their story again. And then, it happens. News breaks out. Between Us is happening! It is actually happening. You mark your calender and count the days, actively following the countdown on the company's instagram. You stumble over the cast and are little shocked to find five (!) couples listed in there, but you tell yourself it's gonna be fine. You waited three years for this, they know what they are doing. And finally on Nov 6th, the first episode airs. You are thrilled. And you think this show actually managed to live up to the insane hype it gathered over the past few years. Can it be? A show that actually can live up to someone's expectations? And then you keep watching and a few weeks later, you suddenly catch yourself fast forwarding through an episode of your beloved show and you stop and ask yourself: What happened?

If you think to yourself: Wow, this reviewer didn't have to ramble so much in such great detail to tell us this story, it got boring pretty fast. Well, then I guess this show and I have something in common.

Sometimes the best stories are the one's untold. What makes Goncharov so good is that it doesn't exist. And maybe what made WinTeam so popular is the fact that they got just enough screen time to get viewers interested but never enough to give us something. But I'm rambling again.

This show is said to start with Win and Team entering a FWB situation. But the writers, directors, or whoever is to blame for this, didn't seem to know what the key factor of a friends with benefits story is, it's the friends part. They are friends first. Friends before anything else. But Win and Team were barely aquaintances before they hooked up. That's why I think FWB set different expectations that were impossible to fulfill. If you'd ask me I would describe their relationship as a one-night-stand that slowly turned into casual hook-ups with no emotions, then they got to know each other and became friends and developed feelings for each other afterwards. If they had labeled it as such, I'm sure more people would've set their expectations accordingly. There was never a line that got a little too blury for them between being friends and being in a relationship, because they were never friends to begin with.

This show also had a massive time problem. I already mentioned the five couples, one of which only get's blick-and-you'll-miss-it screen time, which is fair because they got their own show already. For the other four well... To summarize it: Wayy too much time was wasted and there was too much back and forth that led to the ending feeling rushed.

Win and Team: Okay, let me be straightforward for once, they could not carry 12 episodes. The beginning was strong, but towards the middle they became more boring. If took these guys 11 out of 12 episodes to finally confess their love for each other. That only gave us one episode with them being happily and sort-of openly in a relationship. And I wish BLs would stop pretending that after you enter a relationship everything is perfect and your get a HEA. I want to see them get together AND how they work in a relationship.

Team's "does he like me or does he treat everyone like that?" didn't make any sense. In UWMA yes, maybe. But not in Between Us where my man was out here leaving his room unlocked for his teammember to come in the middle of the night and sleep in his bed. He was making him breakfast, paying for his lunch, taking care of him when he got sick, driving to his dead cousin's grave to pick him up in the middle of the night while it's pouring, and a bunch of other stuff (not to mention that he literally said something about his FEELIGNS FOR HIM). And Team looked us straight in the eyes and said "yeah but maybe he does it for everyone"??????? ARE THESE OTHER PEOPLE HE'S DOING IT FOR IN THIS ROOM WITH US RIGHT NOW??? And Win too like "nothing every belonged to me, I always had to share" my guy this is not a Barbie doll or your favorite jumper, this is another human being. I'm sorry that you as well suffer from being the Middle ChildTM but pLEASE.

Speaking of which, I would've loved to see not only Team's trauma, but also Win's struggle with trying to please both his parents and supporting his siblings.

Prince and Bee: Their scene felt so out of place, like they gave off such different vibes that I was always so violently taken out of the story every time they appeared on the screen. They were cute, yes, but the acting was lacking. With a little more experience they will make a great couple. I also partly blame the material they had to work with. They couldn't get me invested. Sadly, because the concept was interesting. Also, if my friends would constantly make fun of me, I would not consider them my friends. I'm so over the friend group just being complete assholes to the guy and it never being called out. Saying that a guy is out of his league is one thing but to constantly rub it in his face and make fun of him for trying to make an effort to get with the guy and calling him dumb and whatnot, A and Sea were truly a waste of my time.

Waan and Tul: Probably the side couple I was most intruiged by. They got like five minutes of screen time every other episode and it was not utilised at all. They spent too much time on them talking to their phones. You tell me that Waan who told Tul multiple times "I don't want to meet you in rl" had the audacity to blame him for not telling him immediately that he was T-Rex??? And for some reason Waan hates liars so much that he is not even ready to hear Tul out but we never find out why??? Their story was so intruiging and I liked their chemistry. And the NC scene in ep 12 UFF what happened my dudes? I don't know if it's Yacht or O being uncomfortable kissing men or if it's the directing or idk. But it was really awkward and happened way too fast. We just had the big fight between them and they are already making up in the next episode. Give me at least a few minutes of angst and pining, jesus.

Manaow and Phruek: Oh what trist and grey show we would've gotten without them. While I wasn't sold on them in UWMA, I was definitely on board with them in Between Us. Sammy has a great on-screen presence and I love her energy. Even though I gotta say that I wish they would allow Manaow to be a little more serious sometimes, because Sammy can do serious scenes, but the constant over-acting was getting on my nerves a bit. Especially when it was used for cheap comic relief.

Wiew is a ray of sunshine and I'm glad he was added to the cast. But it seemed like he was a middle schooler rather than a high schooler, because he was acting like a child, not a teenager. His naivity was bordering on stupidity a few times, but Santa has a certain charm that makes you overlook it.

I wish this show would've cut down on WinTeam's drama a bit and maybe a couple or two and use this time instead to show us more of the friend group. I missed Team, Pharm, and Manaow so much and the little crumbs we got of them was everything to me.

Between Us feels very 2019 to me, even though this show tried to make some changes and adjust. And I was on board with some of the changes (most noteably the sheer amount of CONSENT LIKE YESS!) but not so much with others. Like New tried to recreate UWMA. Instead of P'Deeeaaan we got Hiiaaaa, ever other second. And now Team is suddenly scared of intimancy and doesn't like kissing his boyfriend for...reasons and he seemed to whine a lot more. And Win is suddenly no longer the flirty, grinning, always down for a joke type of guy but very serious and overprotective of Team. This show tried so hard to be UWMA, but it's not and therefore it didn't hit as much as it could've. Because the passion was there, you could feel the love of the cast members who put their heart into this show. That makes it even more sad that Pharm and Manaow and their friendship with Team felt more like an afterthought, since they got pretty much sidelined with their boyfriends. I did appreciate it though that Win got some bro-love from his two besties.

After seeing a lot of BLs directed by New, I think it's save to say that I just don't vibe with him. I don't know what he's doing but it's not it for me. On top of that I just disagree with his stance on NC scenes. The shade he has thrown at them just doesn't sit right with me. He acts as if Nc scene are inherently something dirty to be ashamed of. And if that's what he thinks, than the problem is him. And I wish he would just get over himself and leave high heat projects alone and get himself some BL scripts that are "pure" and have almost no heat in it. So everyone can be happy. Alas, he seems to get so many stories with interesting concepts (and with a high heat source material).

While we still haven't fully moved past the stereotypical portrayal of a gay relationships, we now get more shows that portray the two parties as equally in love and not one having to constantly chase the other. And excuse me, I have to get this off my chest: IF I HAVE TO WATCH ONE MORE SHOW WHERE ONE PARTY (USUALLY THE YOUNGER/SMALLER ONE) OF AN ALREADY ESTABLISHED RELATIONSHIP SEEMS TO DISLIKE KISSING THEIR BOYFRIEND IN THE COMFORT OF THEIR OWN HOME WITH NO ONE WATCHING I WILL LOSE IT!!!

PS: To like the five people who have not watched Until We Meet Again before watching Between Us, I'm sorry. Seeing Pharm and Dean having a cameo every other episode with little to no context of what the heck is going on must have been confusing as hell. You are truly stronger than I am.

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Why Indeed

Why Her is a character-driven suspenseful legal drama with romance undertones that explores top attorney Oh Soo Jae’s ambitious rise to prominence as well as her subsequent journey of redemption and finally search for the truth within the cut-throat world of South Korean politics and corporate culture that are mired in corruption all the way to the upper echelons of power. The storytelling includes themes of noona romance, love triangle, revenge-justice, courtroom drama, office politics, corporate mergers and acquisitions, criminal investigations as well as friendship and youth within a university setting. In short, this drama is reminiscent of shows like How to Get Away With Murder, The Good Wife (US and South Korean) and Law School, to name but a few.

Park Soo Jin (Dr. Romantic, The Hymn of Death) and Kim Ji Yeon co-direct this SBS production while the screenplay is written by Kim Ji Eun who specialises in melodrama/ makjang, aspects of which are manifested to an extent in this drama as well. Park Se Jun (Melancholia, Mouse, Vincenzo) serves as music director.

The soundtrack features 6 love ballads, which is indicative of the general atmospherics to be expected. My personal favourite is Sohyang’s cover of Vincent. Full listing as follows:

Vincent by Sohyang (cover of the original by Don McLean)
Beautiful by DOKO
What About Us by Hajin
I Will Love You by K. Will
I'm Here by So Jung
Where in the Fog by Ga Ho


What I Enjoyed

The lead actress, Seo Hyun Jin. Amazingly this drama represents the first work I’ve seen of her in what has been an eventful career that she’s had so far. I’ve become a huge fan because she is beyond phenomenal. She exudes class, charisma and gravitas to pull off such a stunning portrayal of the immaculately stylish and powerfully intimidating FL, Oh Soo Jae. Her wonderful performance here embodies perfectly the indomitable spirit, depth of character, emotional complexity and delicate vulnerability of the characterization the way it was perhaps designed to be. The character may not be without its faults, being shrouded in grey mist through actions and motivations but Seo Hyun Jin’s masterclass is certainly as near flawless as it could possibly be. I daresay without her presence, this drama perhaps would have been found lacking in its execution on so many levels.

This drama goes into the no. 1 spot - at the time of writing and unless something else comes along that dislodges it - of the most complicated drama of 2022 for me. To give viewers a taste of what to anticipate, a brief summary of the content (this list is by no means exhaustive)…

Push-pull noona romance and subtle hints of a love triangle
Murder and crime mysteries, including one that spans a decade
Politics revolving around the Presidential race and ministerial appointments
Corporate mergers and acquisitions
Various judicial wranglings
Longstanding hidden identities and secrets
Vengeance, retribution and justice sought by multiple parties

Expect intense power dialogues, heated confrontations, beast-mode slaps, shocking twists and reveals, among the many plot devices infused into the story, and a dash of makjang for good measure as well.

Production quality is commendable which is reflected through the ambience of the drama smoothly transitioning between mellow romantic sequences, powerful scenes of face-offs, and profoundly evocative atmospherics all throughout. The settings of the various arcs are generally well rendered, including the Seojung University Law School campus, TK Law Firm, and Hansoo Group corporate office. I also liked the framing of certain scenes that come across as symbolic of the state of affairs for which they allude to, which is testament to the excellent cinematography in this drama.

In addition to Seo Hyun Jin, the performances by the ensemble cast are on point, for the most part. Heo Joon Ho delivers a memorable portrayal of TK Law Firm’s chairman, Choi Tae Guk. Of the supporting cast, Kim Chang Wan’s understated Director Baek Jin Ki is also worth a mention, as is Lee Kyung Young in his third drama appearance this year as another antagonistic character, Chairman Han Sung Beom.


What Could’ve Been Better

I feel that the ML Gong Chan, played by Hwang In Youp, could have been better written. In fact, at times I think the entire romance aspect had more potential than was ultimately executed. The connection between the FL and ML is one of the major plot points of the story but is made unnecessarily tumultuous, for instance with the presence of a third party competing for the FL’s attention. The actor himself perhaps demonstrated a rather limited scope due perhaps to the character design which did not allow him to articulate the role even further.

Somewhere at the midway stage, the plot languished somewhat which threatened to derail the entire narrative. Too much time was spent meandering around certain side stories. Fortunately the drama eventually picked up the pace towards the closing stages of the second half to a rousing end. The presence of numerous interconnected arcs and subplots also contributed to the confusion and unevenness of the storytelling and character development, which require significantly more attention to details and effort to piece together the various threads.

I feel the need to rant about a certain plot device that transpires in episode 14. Without spoiling it, let's just say that for the sake of giving this drama a grand finale with another spectacular "twist", the screenwriter resorted to creating an unbelievable scenario that came out of nowhere. Totally unnecessary and which could've been written differently in a number of ways, in my opinion.


Final Thoughts

Despite some issues in the execution and character design of the ML, I actually enjoyed Why Her more than I thought I would. Much of this is attributed to Seo Hyun Jin who carried this drama and without whom, the story would perhaps have fallen flat. If you’re in the mood for highly complex storytelling with complicated plotlines and convoluted dynamics, like I was, then this is the kind of drama that fits the profile.

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My review will be short and sweet with a link to my very extend review at the bottom if you wish to do some extra curricular reading!

The Good:
1) Reaper and Goblin's Bromance
2) Soni and Reaper's Relationship
3) The theme song
4) The cinematography
5) The locations shot in

And that is ALL!

The UGLY:

1) 60% of the episodes are completely plotless.
2) The last 5 or so episodes are completely rushed with about 6 major plot points in each of them
3) The cringey, over-obvious product placement
4) EunDak is the worst character ever. She's so selfish and so stupid and she gets so lazy once the boys take her in.
5) Eun Dak and Goblin's relationship should NOT be romantic. It would've been much better as a Father/Daughter realtionship
6) The editing was rough in a lot of parts
7) Deok Hwa's character was so undeveloped and so underused. he deserved better!
8) The lack of relationship and character development for all of them actually
9) The ending is an absolute mess. Why did the not all die so they could start over again?!
10) So many scenes felt half done. I feel like so much was either not filmed or just simply edited out and I feel like I was missing whole chunks of scenes that were needed.
11) The over the top ridiculousness such as the SnowBoard accident, and the Goblin pushing EunDak and causing massive problems in the car park scene. Those scenes were so stupid. Those scenes were far beyond being able to suspend disbelief.
12) Completely ruining Soni and Reaper's personality and all their charm in their new life in the final episode.
13) Rushing through the final. Those last 15 or so minutes DESERVED and entire episode. Not the rush through that it got.

The excessive overhype this show gets. It's really not that good.
If you really want my Essay-long review of this show, check it out here: http://sambart93.tumblr.com/post/179925136539/dokkaebi-goblin-its-not-bad-but-its-not-good

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WHAT I LIKED: The acting was amazing. The characters are all lovable, especially all the ones excluding the main couple. The color palette was so pleasing to the eye, as well as the furnishings, the clothes, the ambience was all fitting to the story and a joy to look at. I loved everything involving books, as a book lover myself. I loved the interactions between the founding members of Gyeoroo, especially Eun Ho and the President. I also loved the sisterhood between Ms. Go, Ms. Seo and Kang Dan-i. That was my favorite part of the entire drama.

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE: The plot weakened towards the second half of the drama. Gyeoroo allowed Kang Dan-i to resign for something that wasn't even her fault in the end, and was even on the verge of firing her, and then she was referred to a small, shady publishing company for who knows what reason (I can't believe Ms. Go would do that!) , then rehired to Gyeoroo when the President was reminded that they have a "special recruitment policy". I mean what?? Couldn't you think of that right after she'd resigned and y'all were missing her?

Kang Dan-i never speaks of her past life as married woman, and after one scene of her videocalling her daughter on the phone, there is no mention of the daughter again. I found it very disturbing, considering that she laments her divorcee and mom status when thinking about dating again. The story focuses solely on her struggles to reenter the workforce, and her experiences as a wife and mother do not factor in at all in her growth. I get that the husband was an utter jerk and deserved a nice beating, but a complete omission of that aspect of her life didn't sit well with me.

I found Eun Ho's character and his relationship with Kang Dan-i hard to swallow, and not just because of a meh chemistry. Eun Ho is that perfect man that shouldn't even exist in kdramaland; rich, handsome editor, professor and successful writer who is down-to-earth, responsible, friendly, kind, and sensitive, who has suffered a one-sided love for his noona for twenty years, is ready to buy expensive clothes for her, furnish a room in his house for her, will wash dishes for her and cook food for her, help her here and there at her job at Gyeoroo, is ready to stand up for her whenever possible, and will rush to her when she's hurting (Except when he didn't keep in touch with her enough to know she had been divorced a year ago and was pretty much homeless?) What's more is that Dan-i just seems to take and take and give back very little. Sure she saved him from an accident when he was little, and she helped him out with some problems involving his parents a long time ago, but for a woman who wants to write her own story and not be a Cinderella, she does get rescued by him in the first few episodes. She's older than him but at times he was the mature person between the two, especially when it came to expressing love.

Both Dan-i and Eun Ho (as individuals) seem too nice to be believable. I did like her interactions with Ji Seo Jun, and of course I loved the dog! I think that the Seo Jun - Hye Rin pair seemed just a tad forced in the last episode.

The only thing that kept me going was the support characters and their hilarious interactions.

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THE most healthiest and Best Xianxia Main CP! Totally worth the journey in the end!

Moonlight Mystique is among one of the anticipated drama's I have been wanting to watch, since I know this is adapted from the novel which is part of the trilogy/spinoff that focused on Tian Qi and Yuemi love story from Ancient Love Poetry (Shang Gu Novel). After watching this drama as a whole, I can tell you that Moonlight Mystique has the least(almost-to-none) connection to Ancient Love Poetry, so this can be regarded as a standalone drama/story featuring Fan Yue/Jing Yuan and Bai Shuo/Xing Yue.

So you don't really need to watch Ancient Love Poetry to understand the backstory since it was changed completely. MM doesn't feature the god realm, and has no relation/connection to the original backstory for Tian Qi and Yuemi in Ancient Love Poetry.

Instead of the God Realm(ALP), in MM, this was changed to the 3 Divine Realm: Lunar (Govern by Goddess Xing Yue), Demon (Govern by Demon God Jing Yuan) and Hidden (Govern by the Hidden God Mo Li).

Before Jing Yuan and Xing Yue backstory was revealed, I didn't know it would be like this out of all my speculation, but it actually turned out to be so different than what I imagined their backstory to be like. I really love the playful and silly side to Jing Yuan from back then (60,000 years ago), because one way or another, I still like to find some references that will tie back to his original character in ALP (Tian Qi). So with this being said, I am glad his character somewhat stayed true in that sense that Jing Yuan is not afraid to confess his love/feelings to the woman he loves, in this case it is Xing Yue and I love that. In it's originality, Tian Qi is someone who will choose to protect the woman he loves first before the three realms. He would go that far to just protect that one person. I'm glad to see that Fan Yue/Jing Yuan is the same, in that sense where he will always choose to protect Bai Shuo/Xing Yue first. These are traits and qualities that I'm glad they kept to the original in MM.

But in MM, I am glad that we get to see that this is being directed at someone like Bai Shuo who can return his love equally. He deserves to be love. They both deserve their happy ever after at the end of all this. I am glad they got this happy ending in the end.

The God Realm is my favourite arc, although it was short but their backstory truly touched my heart and made me fell in love with Jing Yuan and Xing Yue back story.

Even when the story to MM was changed completely from their original backstory for Tian Qi and Yuemi, please don't let this discouraged you from watching Moonlight Mystique though, because I can assure you that the journey for our beloved main character: Fan Yue and Bai Shuo and this beautiful pairing is very worth it in the end!

While from ALP fans perspective (since I am also ALP fan), I get why fans want some form of connection back to the original story too. Since that is where their backstory started.

But from the writing perspective, for fans who never got exposed to their backstory and watch this as a standalone, they probably don't want to see Jing Yuan(Tian Qi) loving someone else in the past and Xing Yue(Yue Mi) being hurt by this unrequited love in the process.

To me, the change has its pros and cons. The change was done better for Tian Qi part for me but cant say the same for Yuemi with what was portrayed in their backstory revealed as Xing Yue and Jing Yuan in the past. Since Yuemi will never hurt Tian Qi on her end. But as we have seen from their past; despite they love each other, they cannot be together, and this leads to their tragic ending, which is very sad. I love how they made it clear/explained that Jing Yuan have been searching for Xing Yue on his end, and I find their story to be somewhat bittersweet in that sense. I actually wrote up my feelings in this thread in here, if you're interested in reading: https://mydramalist.com/discussions/zhu-yue/134640-jing-yuan-and-xing-yue-ending-contain-spoilers

With that being said, I will add this part to my review as well, I remember when this drama(MM) started airing, I told my online friend about it, since we both like Tian Qi and Yuemi story in Ancient Love Poetry, and we were talking about the cast selection. When I shared this to my online friend about the actress Bai Lu in this drama; he made a comment saying if I can still watch Bai Lu? Since he knows how I feel about her, and if I am going to be honest with you, her character Li Su Su in Till the end of the Moon had really traumatized me to the point there was a period of time, I cannot watch any of her drama's at all. I remember back then(when MM was still airing in the early episodes) my reply to my online friend was: "At the end, Bai Lu can either have two outcome for me, she either will go into my blacklist if she turned out to be another character I don't like in this one by traumatizing me once again, OR her character in this drama (Moonlight Mystique) will heal my previous trauma of her character in Till the End of the Moon. So in the end, what I can say is, I am glad I gave her this benefit of the doubt, while it is true that I started off neutral with her, but her character growth/journey and her portrayal in Bai Shuo or Xing Yue had really won me over and made me became a fan of her as the story progresses, although I love Bai Shuo better because her character is written more to the way of my liking. Bai Lu have done an excellent job bringing out the character: Bai Shuo and Xing Yue to life. I like how she played out the emotional scenes, and her crying scenes didn't feel force but genuine. I like that because it makes it more impactful when I watch those scenes.

As for Male lead actor goes, I have never seen Ao Rui Peng in another drama before, and the irony was while I have watched a few episodes of Blood of Youth back then, his character didn't stand out to me in that drama, BUT him portraying as Fan Yue and Jing Yuan is just on another level!!! Love him and his make up/costume in this drama. He looks so cool/handsome and especially with the purple shades in his hair when he played as Jing Yuan (The Demon God)!!! Ao Rui Peng whether he is Fan Yue or Jing Yuan, he is very good at playing out these emotional scenes as well. He also has a very passionate chemistry with Bai Shuo/Xing Yue (played by Bai Lu). I love all their screen time together onscreen, and their interactions is just a delight to watch, even at the beginning! There is never a boring moment when they're onscreen! They are definitely noted down as my favourite couple of all time, as a matter of fact, I think I am bumping Fan Yue and Bai Shuo up as my no.1 favourite Xianxia CP!

When it comes to pairing side of things, I don't think I have ever encountered a pairing that is this healthy, what I mean by healthy is... Both Fan Yue and Bai Shuo, they have communication, they will talk it out and not let it lead to any miscommunication or misunderstanding between them. Communication is the key!!! And Bai Shuo and Fan Yue have this and I am really thankful that they are consistent with this to the end from their characters. This is really refreshing to see, and I really love it. It makes them stand out to be the most well written pairing that have communication that work through things together. Not to mention they definitely have chemistry as a pairing!! Their Kiss scenes makes me blush and I am glad we got these beautiful scenes for our beloved pairing!

Xianxia is my favourite genre, but if I am going to be honest here, how I feel about xianxia in the overall have been disappointing as time goes by in terms of having a promising start, but a disappointing ending where they recycled the plot about the "responsibility in protecting the three realms". I am honestly at the point where I don't want a love story where the ML have to shoulder that responsibility in choosing to either protect the three realms or the woman he loves.

I want a love story where the ML choose to put the woman he loves above the 3 realms(or how many ever realms there is). I guess this is why Fan Yue and Bai Shuo love story appeal to me so much, because I see this as a breakthrough to the overused plot of choosing to protect the three realms and carrying that burden on your shoulder and cannot love freely the way you would want to without those responsibilities.

So going back to my favourite character here, whether it is Fan Yue or Jing Yuan(in MM), he is really a romantic person in my eyes, because he will continue to protect the woman he loves above anything else. I honestly love his love for Bai Shuo/Xing Yue. I LOVE FAN YUE & JING YUAN!

One of the things that makes Moonlight Mystique(MM) stand out is that there is never a boring moment with the plot that makes it feels like a filler, because each arc has a purpose that tells the story and will connects to the next one, which makes everything come into place at the end. Even when the side character/stories have their own impactful story that was written so well that it made me cry or teary for them, so they really stand out on it's own(in a good way).

I love the kids actors who played as Fan Yue and Qi Feng and Bai Shuo and Bai Xi, their backstory played by these little actors where they played their role in the backstory, made the present time more impactful because you know how much has changed between them from back then (as kids) and now (as adults).

I also want to make a memorable mention on the character Chen Ye, I didn't think I would like him when I first saw him, even when I found him handsome, because he was cold and ruthless, but when his backstory was revealed, I cannot not like him you know. I even love his interactions with Fan Yue and all their screen-time together (because...... I won't spoil the details for you).

Fu Ling is another character I didn't think I will like, but in the end, she has become a character that I came to like on my end. I also like her love story with Chong Zhao as well. It is quite sad to be honest. Yeah sad, meaning they got a tragic end.

In terms of ending for Fan Yue and Bai Shuo, I just want to say this, I really love the ending to MM, I was really nervous that it will be a last minute happy ending like ALP or TLI, but I am glad it isn't the case in MM. To be honest, I was already happy with the ending I got from Episode 40 because they get to hug and shared 1 last passionate kiss together, but when they gave us an epilogue to show their wedding at the end, this just makes it more satisfying for me, because I have come to love Fan Yue and Bai Shuo so much. I love them to the point that if their ending is a Open Ending, I don't think I will be able to control my emotions. I mean, I was really disappointed with Song of the Moon(SOTM) Ending which is another Xianxia by IQIYI by cutting out the ending I know was filmed, but they never included this in the epilogue in that drama(SOTM) so this is why in MM, I am happy and over the moon for finally giving us and our beloved pairing Fan Yue and Bai Shuo their happy ending in a satisfying way! They deserve this to be honest!!! Because they have suffered so much from their past as Jing Yuan and Xing Yue!!!

MM ending is loveable in my eyes because we got a satisfying and conclusive ending for the Main Pairing, and the other side characters was implied and confirmed they will return one day (so that is a hopeful happy ending for our beloved side characters who died for the great cause). The writers didn't have to give us this but they did so I love them for this.

Among the three story: Ancient Love Poetry(ALP), The Last Immortal(TLI) and Moonlight Mystique(MM), as far as ending goes, while they are all a Happy Ending, but MM definitely have the best and most satisfying ending compared to the other 2. I felt like TLI(Yuan Qi and Feng Yin) got the short end of the stick, because at least Bai Jue and Shang Gu(ALP) get to hug, but Yuanqi and Feng Yin(TLI) ending was them standing at a distance looking at each other.

In the end, it's up to you whether you will watch it or not, but IMO, if you don't watch it then you are really missing out. It may not be every one's cup of tea and that's fine, but I will just say that for me personally, not many Xianxia nowadays pull through as the best and this feeling stay true to the end, since they normally started off well, but then got boring like how I feel towards The Blossoming Love which was airing at the same time, In The Blossoming Love, I got bored with the plot and the direction it was going whereas for Moonlight Mystique, the plot and characters got me engaged/hooked into the story from beginning to the end!

Oh and let's not forget about the OST! Please be sure to check it out because they are all so good!! I love all of them!!! And I have to say that this is the first time, I never actually want to skip the Opening (Intro song) and Ending (Outro song), because they are very captivating!!!

P.S: Fan Yue and Bai Shuo is now officially my no.1 favourite Drama CP. I still want to make an honorable mention to my other favourite pairing: Jing Yuan and Xing Yue! To me (if you have not read that thread of mines), then I will just add it here as well: In the overall, how I took the theme to their backstory and ending is, Fan Yue and Bai Shuo are reincarnations to both Jing Yuan and Xing Yue, and they lived on as their happy ending. Just like what Jing Yuan said to Fan Yue before he joins Xing Yue in the stars: that perhaps his awakening(60,000 years later) was to give them(Fan Yue and Bai Shuo) a chance to be together. He told Fan Yue to protect Bai Shuo well and don't let their(Jing Yuan and Xing Yue) regrets in the past repeat itself 😭😭 so to me, this is how I saw it... To say I am not sad would be a lie, because I was sad in that scene, but when I look at this in another sense/perspective, their ending gives a sense of bittersweet where their happy ending lives on in their next life(as Fan Yue and Bai Shuo) it actually makes sense if you look at reincarnation side of things. I felt like how the writers wrote this was very poetic and sad, yet beautiful at the same time that the love they held for the one they love is irreplaceable. We saw this through Fan Yue, Bai Shuo and Jing Yuan.

So in the end, does this make me dislike Fan Yue and Bai Shuo for having a happy ending? No!! Because Fan Yue and Bai Shuo deserves their happy ending too and considering all their suffering and sacrifices they earned it and I am glad one way or another Jing Yuan and Xing Yue can live on in Fan Yue and Bai Shuo in that sense(since that is their next life), without Jing Yuan and Xing Yue backstory, then we wouldn't have the Fan Yue and Bai Shuo that we came to love in this lifetime. And I will end my review with one of my favourite quotes in this drama:

"That's all in the past. This time, we've met again, not as Xing Yue and Jing Yuan, but as Bai Shuo and Fan Yue. In my heart, you're the best Bai Shuo, the only one in this world, and is irreplaceable" - Fan Yue.

Thank you for this wonderful journey, thank you for making a great start in 2025 for me! MM gave me back the hope that Xianxia can have a happy, satisfying and conclusive ending! I am still reluctant to say goodbye to my beloved characters, so this is currently on my rewatch list!!!

After several rewatch of this Drama, I decided to check out the Novel, in which I have on my end, and here's my feelings to the Novel in comparison to the Drama: https://mydramalist.com/discussions/738079-zhu-yue/139258-reading-the-novel-made-me-appreciate-love-the-drama-better-contain-spoilers (In summary, after reading the Novel, it made me appreciate/love the Drama even more).

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The Movie is about 2 Married Women who aren't satisfied with their marriage and have an affair with other men. The story itself goes back and forth from one couple to the other. The actors do a great job displaying affection towards each other. Steamy scenes were very realistic, which isn't too common in Korean Movies/Dramas.

Overall I thought it was an OK movie, wouldn't exactly say it was a great movie. Only reason I gave this movie a try in the first place was because of Lee Min Ki. So if you want to watch a more a mature movie that will make you laugh, then give it a try and enjoy ^^

WARNING to the younger viewers the sex scenes aren't very explicit (no major nude scenes) but I would mostly recommended to the more mature audience.

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hated the ending, wasted all of the stories potential in 5 minutes

Good things first (skip to the rant if you want to see how the ending is bad)
the acting and chemistry in this drama is actually so good. the Main FL actually has chemistry with all of her love interests to be honest. to the point that if you had just showed all of her scenes with ML and the SMLs (without taking into consideration screen time since the ML will obviously show up more) then i genuinely believe you would not be able to point out which one is the true ML of the series since she fits in well with all of them.
small criticism, i didn't really see the build up for the romance. like, it felt kind of sudden to me how he just started liking her seemingly out of nothing really. but that may just be me, maybe i wasn't paying proper attention? during the scenes that actually set up the romance plot between the FL and ML.
other than that, i like that while she didn't lose herself after marriage that they kept it somewhat balanced with the fact that she became a little more respectful and tolerant compared to when she was single, but again, not to the point that it feels like a completely new character. because i feel like usually the FL either does a 180° after marriage and she is suddenly the model wife, OR she keeps on being super rebelious and it brings her and the ML a lot of more problems.

RANT about the ending:
like... you had SUCH a compelling story, honestly, and you built and built and built tension all throughout the episodes, all for THAT to be how the main political power struggle was resolved?!?!?! AND we didn't even get to see what happened AFTER?!!! no resolution?!!? nah, you suck. like actually. not only was that ending anti climactic as hell, but you also fumbled on HOW you actually close the show. there was NO resolution what so ever! all we see is the newly revealed main villain die at the end and yall leave in between flames and he carries her into the the night...CUT!! that was it... that's how it ended. fucking fade to black as some random ass monologue is going on in the background...... genuinely so dissapointed. after weeks of waiting for all of the episodes to be out so that I didn't have to wait week to week to watch as episodes dropped i seriously regret dedicating a whole day to just finishing this drama since i was left so unsatisfied.

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"If I love you, what business is it of yours?" (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)

“Luo Zhi loves Sheng Huainan. And no one knows about it.”

You’ve been warned. This is a long review.

Within the first few episodes, you’ll notice that the show’s stylist didn’t particularly love Luo Zhi enough to give her a memorable style. She’s a brilliant character - committed to her ambition, clever, meticulous, sincere, composed, and yet full of secrecy, shame, longing, and regrets, but she is dressed so...poorly and forgettably. And honestly, I could care less, if I weren’t using this bit to make my own little clever joke, because the juxtaposition of Luo Zhi’s beautiful depth and terrible fashion is exactly how I feel about this adaptation of 八月长安’s (Ba Yue Chang An) web novel, 暗恋橘生淮南 (Unrequited Love.) It has so much potential, gets certain things right that 99% of dramas miss, and yet...suffers from so many flaws. The team behind this show had the right intentions and chose the right story, but dressed it inadequately.

My relationship to this drama is quite mixed. There are elements that I absolutely adore, and yet, elements that frustrate me. But because it gets certain pieces of romantic storytelling right that most Chinese dramas (Asian dramas in general) completely miss, I also keep it close to my heart. The best I can do is to give a sincere review of what I love & hate about Unrequited Love (2021). This review is full of spoilers btw. Beware :)

Elements I Adore:

I. Sheng Huainan & Luo Zhi.
For the first time in Dramaland, I am fully aboard this ship. I am genuinely convinced that if there were a Sheng Huainan and Luo Zhi in our reality, that they would fall for one another. This element is the sole redeeming factor of this drama for me. I’ve found myself watching drama after drama, wondering how both characters fell for the other, and why the story needed to contrive reasons for the couple to come together (cue the usual person falling and the other main character catching them and then...they’re in love! How? We don’t know! But they are…)

In the beginning, we’re told the story of this romance framed by Luo Zhi’s shame and regret. She feels like a ghost beside Huainan, forever chasing after his shadow, but is unwilling to make herself visible unless he sees her first. This pining follows her from high school into her college career. In Luo Zhi’s heart, her yearning for Huainan’s attention isn’t just rooted in the affirmation of a childhood promise, but also in her self-actualization. She’s convinced herself that the best version of herself will undoubtedly catch Huainan’s eye. It’s cringy for us as the audience, because we know this narrative is self-defeating and reeks of shame. But the story’s unwillingness to hide this narrative of Luo Zhi humanizes her. Beside this secretive yearning for Huainan to fulfill his childhood promise, Luo Zhi is an individual who will work as hard as she must in order to achieve the goals she has set for herself. Sure, she’s a softie for Huainan, but she is as tough as it gets outside of her secret yearning. And I love that about her.

Huainan, on the other hand, is both thoughtful and simplistic. Perhaps it’s more accurate to say that he’s idealistic to a fault. This man is exactly the albatross that he and Luo Zhi talk about. In terms of academic performance and popularity, he soars in the sky, full of ambition and potential, but his only aim for landing is to find a soulmate. He pines for someone who can share a telepathy with him. Yet when he lands on ground level, he becomes the Big Clumsy Bird he describes the Albatross as. These ideals he crafts in his mind are incomprehensible to most people and highkey irrelevant to most people’s lives. People see him for his looks, his family’s wealth, and his popularity, but he sees himself differently. It makes him feel isolated, invisible, and wary of others.

When you bring the two together, their shared fascination for one another is what makes this drama shine. Their conversations are endless, and I loved seeing that portrayed on screen. Luo Zhi’s shyness and Huainan’s persistence feel natural and painfully realistic. And I adore their initial dates. The surprise gift of Gibran’s poetry? Has my whole heart. Huainan saving the leaf they serendipitously grabbed at the same time, and Luo Zhi finding it as she peeks into his journal -- and Huainan SEEING her find it? I was embarrassed AND blushing for them.

II. Reframing “Missed” Love

I think we can agree that this show isn’t truly portraying “Unrequited Love” when it comes to Huainan & Luo Zhi. It’s portraying missed love. We’re shown this from the very beginning in terms of Luo Zhi’s self-inflicted pain of an “unrequited” love. The truth is, Luo Zhi’s suffering came directly from her own shame. She planted that seed of rejection all on her own and ironically created the distance between her and Huainan, because she never opened any opportunities for their meeting.

I love that the show sets up expectations for us, and then shamefully misses it. Because it’s this same shame that has kept Luo Zhi both resenting and perpetuating the 0.6cm distance between her and Huainan. The drama reveals to us that this distance between her and Huainan is self-forged. Luo Zhi herself has yet to let go of all the shame and self-hatred she developed in her secretive admiration for Huainan, and because of that, she sabotages most of their initial interactions.

The whole merry-go-round of the show is an unwinding of Luo Zhi’s shame. There’s an incredible scene in the movie Saving Face where one character confronts her lover in an airport and says, “You're too scared to look the world in the eye...and let it watch you fall in love.” Which fits perfectly with what Luo Zhi heartbreakingly inscribed on the rooftop wall: “Luo Zhi loves Sheng Huainan. And no one knows about it.” At this point, Huainan doesn’t even know of Luo Zhi’s existence. Her heartbreak is a whole narrative she has spun all on her own. And I think some of us might relate to that - the feeling of ending something before it even has the chance to begin, because we’re scared of the risks involved in putting ourselves out there. And she sets up these conditional requirements Huainan has to meet in order for her to finally reveal their childhood history, but those conditions are deceptive. The truth is that Luo Zhi is not ready to meet Huainan in her fullest vulnerability. Her ambivalence is fueled by her shame and fear.

When Huainan meets Luo Zhi, it’s as if his lonely lil Albatross self has finally found a place to land. It’s lowkey unfair to him that Luo Zhi comes in with so much reservation and secrecy, but we’ll save that conversation for another day. A part of me loves that though, because it’s painfully human. How many of us aren’t secretive and wary when it comes to love? I’ve been a partial Luo Zhi before, and I’ve also been a partial Huainan. I’ve been an admirer, and I’ve also been an overly cautious person. I’ve been the person full of shame, and I’ve also been the person who wants to risk losing my societal mask(s) in order to grow closer to someone.

I dislike the way they framed the eventual 5-year wedge between Luo Zhi & Huainan, but I respect the reasoning for it. The romantic in me loves and is in tune with how Luo Zhi describes their love: It is rooted in mutual, shared belief. Both of these clumsy Albatrosses believe that they will land in the same place, but for now, their ambitions are diverging. Their love is a commitment to the belief that they will come together without reservations, without shame, without secrecy standing between them. If I were to call myself a believer of love, I’d be in agreement with Luo Zhi. I think my truest belief in love is where choosing myself is already choosing the other person, because becoming who I am will naturally lead me to someone who is most compatible with me (granted that they too feel as if they are becoming closer to their ideal self).

And the irony is that even during this period where they are far apart in both time and distance, they are the closest they've ever been to each other at heart. They’re often in the same places, by coincidence, and even peruse the same book. And yet, when they were closest in terms of distance and time in college, they were farthest at heart, because they were clothed in shame and secrecy, which bred miscommunication after miscommunication. I guess the winding of this drama is meant to show us that Huainan & Luo Zhi had to come so close and yet spend so much time apart because they were the ones closing the door on one another. They were rejecting each other, or rather, rejecting themselves from fully accepting the other. And thus, as Huainan says, “isn’t it the absence of a thereafter that makes something romantic?” Now that they’re in agreement of a shared belief in love, there really is no “Aha!” moment the show owes us. They are in sync, and time and distance no longer reduce what is already shared between them. A true meeting of heart and mind.

“Sheng Huainan loves Luo Zhi. And the whole world knows about it.”

III. Zhang Mingrui
I loved this character & the actor's portrayal of him. His bond with Huainan was both believable & heartwarming. I also appreciate how his relationship with Riqing unraveled -- and how he was honest about not having any lingering feelings for her. I honestly think Luo Zhi & Mingrui were compatible all on their own, and wouldn't have minded if the show-writers decided to give us a "Luo Zhi's first love is Huainan, but her second love is Mingrui" kind of ordeal. My all-time favorite moment of Mingrui in this show was the scene where the uncomfortable classmate takes Huainan's bag of chips, and Mingrui says, so candidly, "Excuse me?" It was one of those scenes that felt so natural -- as if these characters really were just college students in a library, completely caught off-guard & bewildered by the actions of a *strange* classmate.


What Fell Short:

The. Side. Characters.
I’m going to be brutally honest and tell you that I skipped past most of the side character storylines. The dynamic between Bai Li and Ge Bi? That’s a big ~nope~ for me. I pretty much only watched Bai Li when she was with Luo Zhi. I will say one character that I passionately abhor in this show is that one boundary-breaking, fear-inducing, unreasonable stalker of Huainan. And I don’t abhor her, I abhor the characterization of her. She was so contrived. I won’t spend my words on it further than that. If they took out the side characters and focused more on Huainan & Luo Zhi's period of separation, I would give this series a higher rating. But these unnecessary & pathetic villains are not it.

The Misunderstandings
Scrap the entire feud between Luo Zhi and Huainan’s families. It was unnecessary and barely fleshed out. While we’re there, scrap Huainan’s family downfall too. And that bit about Huainan giving Luo Zhi the raincoat as a test? It was weird and off putting. It felt like tacky story writing. It’s what I mean when I say the show had heart, but was poorly dressed.

I’m definitely going to come back & edit this review, because I’m still contemplating how I feel about the show. But I still treasure the feelings it gave me because it reminded me of my own belief in love.

The Initial Daydreams
I have a strong dislike for any show that uses this technique. Showing the audience a scene and then revealing to us that it was all the character’s imagination is both uncomfortable and unnecessary. We KNOW Luo Zhi is pining after him, and we KNOW he doesn’t know her yet. Please spare us the trickery.

I don’t have much to say about where I feel the show fell short because I feel as if they were problems in the show’s exterior -- that’s not where my heart is at. My heart is in the interior of the show - the crafting of Luo Zhi & Huainan’s love - of which I’ve already penned a gazillion words.

If you’ve gotten this far, I do recommend the show. Just skip the side romances. And give space for Luo Zhi to grow on you, because she will. If you liked this show, I’m recommending you Nana (Japanese Anime), Ao Haru Ride (Japanese Anime), Whisper of the Heart (Japanese Anime), "A Love So Beautiful" (Chinese Drama), and “In Time With You” (Taiwanese Drama).

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LR: Raised the Bar of Modern Cdramas

This is the first Cdrama I wished have more than 33 episodes. Each scene is done beautifully - visually and metaphorically - & makes you realize how other dramas pale in comparison.

The first few minutes on the show already draws you in. The opening credits are spoiler-free as the show takes you to a montage of easter egg hunts you’d soon discover as you watch on. The title episode screen with a quick shot of a scene in the episode is a visual delight.

From the cinematography, quick witted dialogues, acting, and OST — this show truly captured a great dynamic of both leads (and ALL supporting characters.)

What I honestly love about this show is how wholesome this is. It’s a rom com with healthy relationships. Misunderstandings are resolved without dragging on too much. The devotion each leads have on each other is outstanding. The SLs actually SUPPORTING the main characters.

The chemistry with the leads are so electric and natural that it almost feels like they’re not acting at all.

You will laugh, you will cry, and you will also shed happy tears as you cheer them on.

LR is at the top of the board across all the other C/K/J dramas I’ve watched (including all the other hyped up shows)

If you’re hesitating, please give it a go. I urge you to give this a chance (past the ML’s hairdo, which apparently irks people), you’ll find that your standard for dramas are raised higher because of this show.

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Family Fun

I really wanted to like this and decided that this was going to be my festive October near Halloween drama. Instead. It took me two weeks to get through the twelve episodes because, honestly, they were a bit hard for me to get through. Which makes me a little uneasy writing this review as the six previous reviews before this one spoke very highly of the drama. This drama was 100% silly "family fun" which isn't my cup of tea.

I loved how this drama was a unique perspective of a zombie wanting to become a human again and basically trying to blend in, not wanting to be caught. He also harbors a small hatred for humans as all movies and dramas that come out, portray zombies as these creatures from hell that need to be brutally murdered, but he soon starts developing a bond with Sunji and her family. I also loved all the random cameos - all the members of A.C.E., one of my favorite kpop groups (Jun & Chan getting the lines in multiple eps), Sam Hammington (who I know and love from Return of Superman), and last, even though she wasn't a cameo, but I love her anyway, Hwang Bo Ra, who plays Sunji's cooky sister. I also LOVED all the music they picked - either the random references to Hollywood movies or when DPR Live's Martini Blue randomly started playing on Sunji's headphones.

The last thing I loved about this drama was the bits and pieces of darkness with all the crimes (a total of 3 main ones). But this also goes hand in hand with why I didn't like it as well. I feel like this drama didn't really know what it wanted to be or the vibe it was going for - one moment President Le is fighting a bad guy off, but literally getting bashed in the head with a trophy over and over again (in any normal drama, he would be unconscious or dead) but a moment later Wang Wey slams into the glass door trying to escape, much as in a scene from a Saturday morning cartoon with sound effects and all. Cut to the next scene, Prez Le is totally fine and minor blood. It was almost like the show was maybe going for a PG Saturday morning cartoon feel and was over the top too cheesy and dramatic for my taste, personally. Some jokes hit, most didn't. Which is fine and cool, maybe this drama was written for a younger audience, but then you have DARK scenes and situations, that are 100%, not PG, but all of them were my favorites.

I also had a hard time because I wasn't a huge fan of most of the characters. This drama was 100% silly "family fun" which isn't my cup of tea especially when the characters don't sit well. They all had so much potential, such as the main characters, and could have been amazing detectives from the very beginning, but decided they wanted to be clumsy in the beginning so they could come through in ep 12 and complete a very simple operation and pat themselves on the back. And this is all my personal opinion. I thought that catching the Christmas/Santa Clause Killer was a harder task than the one in ep 12. I also wasn't a fan of President Le and his agency, but they did embody what this drama symbolized and they also followed the formula of having potential, but only coming through at the end. I think the only characters that I somewhat enjoyed were Sun Young (she is very consistent in embodying one character in all her dramas), her son (he was so cute and randomly always in the right place at the right time), and Sunji's best friend who owned the tripe shop (who always came through with her contacts at the hospital). The two mains were alright - I loved Moo Young's determination to solving cases and finding answers, but it would get discouraged very easily and then want to give up, and I loved how supportive Sunji was with her friends and family and wanted to do the right thing, but she was very clumsy and impulsive and it was very annoying. She was very good at her job and had the potential and the heart to be a detective, but she lacked a bit of common sense. Both characters got better towards the end, but it made it hard for me to personally watch while waiting.

Overall, if you want to watch a PG drama with some dark themes, but covered up with Saturday morning cartoons jokes, and scenes, this would be a good drama. I personally thought that there was a lot of fluff even though this was already super short. I will not watch this drama again, but I am happy that I did watch this. I wish I could give it a better score because of the music and the cameos and all the good promoting, but this was a miss for me.

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The Lovesick Queen Maker and his peace-loving & compassionate Wife.

This would have been insane if they made it longer and if it was handled by a better production company with sufficient budget. The main idea and how the story was set up is something that has been attempted for years and I truly feel bad that a potentially good story like this went to a mediocre company who turned it into something underwhelming—disappointing.

Although the entire show is full of plot holes, like literally left and right, I can really see that this type of narrative could have been built into a more comprehensive and detailed platform where it can be given a chance to elaborate and incorporate the real message of the story with more precision. The way it was created and ended felt so rushed, that I myself started feeling bad that it was treated and squandered like that.

Something I initially like about this drama is its pacing—It went by so quickly not wasting any episodes throughout its first half but ended up ruining the other half eventually. All I can say is that their idea of putting up the story like that escalated pretty quickly which causes it to backfire at the very end. I still find it crazy how they leaped through the most important events like it was nothing important. It genuinely felt like the climax was skipped over just so that they can end it—which is a very dumb decision to be very honest.

Another thing I find ridiculous is the fighting and martial arts scenes. They tried so hard to make it look great at first but I guess they gave up on it as the story goes on because the way it was executed on the succeeding episodes was simply terrible you won't even have to think twice to say it's really that bad. It was too evident and crystal clear like they didn't even try hiding it. Hahaha!

Lastly, I just wanna say that the way they depicted women here with resolute resolve is something I truly like. However, the execution is where it all went wrong... such scenes could have ended great and inspiring but for some reason it looked prematurely done. The power and determination is there but the lack of conviction and weak representation made it feel and look like a literal staged play—an act.

P.S. The ML (Yuan Hao) is an expert in playful-cuddly-romantic scenes. I swear! He makes my heart leap countless of beats everytime he acts like that.

Story - 8.5, It is promising and is actually good, however, the people who directed and created it is disappointing otherwise. How I wish it was handled by a better director, script writer and production company with sufficient funding.

Acting/Cast - 7.5, The acting is very inconsistent! I had to pause multiple times and mentally consider a lot of things e.g. dubbing, voice syncing and so on. Because I thought the problem may have been caused by that. But at the end of the day, none of those are the reason why I was bothered. The problem really lies on the facial expression, emotion and overall body language of the actors and actresses. Most of the time I think they do not even know how to act their scenes and were just doing the best they can do; as a result it turned out pretty awkward and bad. Yuan Hao did great though!

Music - 9.5, Music is Good. There's this one song they used I believe on Ep.8 that I can't find the tittle of which I really love and I will surely hunt that one down. For sure!

Rewatch Value - 8.0, It was not that bad for me not to rewatch it. I would say it's worth my time and as I mentioned, is a potentially promising production and could have been more, with better team working for it.

Overall - 8.5, I contemplated so much with this rating. I was set to give it a 9.0 - 9.5 however the unexpected ending made me retract on how I feel about this drama. I understand that they lack the resources and all but I cannot accept that they chose to off screen most of the exciting scenes and eventually ruling all the commotions they have started from the very beginning to a draw. Like, did you all just wasted your entire effort from the very beginning for nothing? Hahaha!

IF you find my review helpful please let me know.

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RECOMMENDED IF YOU WANNA LAUGH AND CRY!!

As someone who works with people with disabilities, I super appreciate this movie as they somehow focused at what a mentally unstable person can do. I love Kwangsoo's acting cuz he actually pulled off the role. I've watched it twice without a sub, and I'm still crying a river. This movie is so good, I dont mind watching it over and over again whenever.

This movie shows us how we also have to look out the emotions of an autistic person. They cant express things as much as they want but their emotions have huge impacts on their actions. I cry everytime kwangsoo cries. its jus too hard not to. i felt all the emotions in this movie. First, you would be dying of laughing then next thing you know, you’d be crying a river.


Wether you are a guy or girl, I doubt you can control your tears. lmao. A round of applause to the actors especially to the two leads. Lee Kwangsoo and Shin Hakyun! This movie deserves a 10/10 rating! I learned a lot of life lessons from this movie and its just overwhelming. Currently my fave movie!

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