Reviews

Great . . . ish

Because of the meticulousness of the social interactions and the ins and outs of court life, ritual and rites, and the various strata of society with which this complicated series was made, the total illogic of the first ep doesn't make sense. My theory is that because of the arbitrary cap on the number of episodes that the Chinese government slammed on theTV industry, the filmmakers, who knew the story backwards and forwards, took the opening two, four, even six episodes (or more) and smooshed them into one in order to launch the story like a rocket, and get that episode count down to 40. So absolutely nothing makes any sense--losing a bunch of potential watchers.

I sympathize--the arbitrary cap has to hurt when you genuinely have a complicated story, and have to get it set up. The opening of Nirvana in Fire has been talked about a lot for how the first two or three eps are tough to get through because story points come at you like bullets, leaving the viewer bewildered. It's only when you've seen more eps that that opening starts making sense.

Another example of a series suffering under the arbitrary cap, Court Lady, which actually began really well, for such a complicated storyline. But the last ten eps pretty much were munched, as if some poor editor, existing on nothing but espresso hacked and slashed madly in order to squash the story down to the mandated length. Leaving out one ep entirely (46?).

I think that might be the case here, because the first ep was jaw droppingly stupid, from the assassination attempt in which everyone, including the Evil Emperor just stood around, to the whole prison escapade. But once we got to the second ep, things started gradually making more sense. And when Jiuling started meeting her guys, the emotional sense locked into place.

I could quibble with the logic along the way, but the emotional arcs were so compelling that I was very soon hooked and stayed that way to the last. Some of that was the beautiful cinematography,b ut mostly it was the impeccable performances of the cast.

I thought Jin Han was an interesting, and then a terrific, choice for a hero. His looks are not idol-pretty-boy (which I do appreciate!); he's got one of the most high-voltage sneers of any actor in C-Dramaland, when he plays a villain. He just electrifies the screen. But in this role, he got to really demonstrate his acting talent--sneers there were, but laughter, tears, intensity, suffering, exalting happiness--sometimes all in one shot. He moves really well; his fight scenes are terrific. The two actors who played his brothers complemented him perfectly--when they are joshing around you can believe they are brothers, and when they get serious, they are as tough as their legendary father.

The love scenes, the kisses, the banter, were absolutely delectable.

Ditto the acting of the other guys in love with her. Du Ya Fei especially, in his role as the obsessive, borderline-mad Lu Yun Qi, was utterly riveting whenever he walked on screen. His micro expressions were amazing. His was one of the most interesting arcs in the entire show. I really want to see more from him, with meatier roles.

Contrasting, Wang You Shuo as Ning Yunzhao was quietly astonishing. Beautiful to look at, benevolent in character, he was a perfect contrast to Lu Yunqi's crazy, and their scenes together at the end were pure magic. Young Zhou Zhang, playing Fang Cheng Yu, was also fabulous.

I was so glad to see Liu Jun playing the evil emperor. I fell in love with that actor watching his range as the dad in Story of Minglan. He gave what could have been a boring cardboard character some interesting in this series. Likewise I was glad to see Zhang Yan Yan, who was so marvelous in Nirvana in Fire 1 and 2, and so marvelously evil in Minglan, playing the general's wife here.

Then there is Peng Xiao Ran, who did a wonderful job as Jun Jiu Ling. She was utterly convincing, especially when fighting tears. I loved the range she demonstrated here, especially once she and Jin Han got together. Their scenes together were sheer delight.

Everybody was good. The actress playing the grandmother, the snotty sister who had a change of heart--everyone was terrific.

To wrap this up, it seems to me that the makers did the opposite of Court Lady, who trashed the ending of the series in order to make it fit the mandate, and munched the beginning of this one. So I suggest that anyone wanting to give it a try stick it out for a few eps, to see if things smooth out enough for you.

I do know already that I will rewatch this, but i'll probably skip that first ep altogether.

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#Let's Get Drunk

Started with no expectations at all. The sudden "I'll try this" becomes "I like this!", that's what Work Later, Drink Now is.

A fun, and addicting drama. It was nice witnessing ji yeon, so hee, and ji goo with their adventures alone and together. A story of amazing friendship with an ensemble of comedy, romance in it. These three are totally different in terms of personalities. But when they are together, they compliment each other.

The last episodes lack because I wanted more of but it was announced that there was a Season 2, so we will see our girls once again. There are still more that we wanted to see of them.

I seriously love this drama!

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Not what I expected

Likes:
1. Jung Ilwoo playing a chef. He looked so good during all the cooking scenes that i can watch him cook for the entire 12 episodes even without a plot.
2. The food looked so good. The advices and lessons spoken by Jinsung and the 2 seniors were really comforting, even to me.
3. The wonderful performance of Lee Hakjoo as Kang Taewan. I loved his longing stares, cried for him when his heart broke, and cheered him on when he finally took courage to come out, to JS and to his father.
4. The electric chemistry between Kang Taewan and Jinsung from the very first episode when they bumped into each other all the way to their bittersweet ending.
5. The ending didnt go too extreme and kept the mellow pace. Not everyone came out happy but thats the point of the story. When something bad happens, we can cry, but we also get back up, and move forward. and there's always a new beginning and a chance to be better.

Dislikes:
1. That i actually liked the Taewan-Jinsung couple more than the Ajin-Jinsung is why i feel the show failed for me. I liked Ajin as friend of Jinsung but not as a girlfriend.
2. The whole premise of the show was pretty bad. A guy pretending to be gay on tv was good start, but then he kept on lying and everyone was dumb enough not to notice was unbelieveable. Even people not realizing Taewan is gay is also unbelieveable to me.
3. That Ajin was bullied by that annoying Gyu Jang, and the lady head director was so evil at the start, forcing Ajin to find a gay chef within a day, and even dangling a permanent position just to get ahead. Her only saving factor was taking responsibility for her actions and for the team.
3. I was expecting a show within a show type of drama where we get to see a lot of cooking and episodic guests but the story mostly happened offcam.
4. That Jinwoo and his dad had very few scenes esp towards the end. We didnt even get to see Jinsung talk to his family after he did the interview!

Rating: 6/10

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Interesting

"Growing Season" is all about love, sex, finding and loving yourself, and having a good community. The story was predictable but satisfying. I love how they all took care of one another, physically and emotionally. They left the ending of Hayoung open-ended which I didn't like because that would mean a season 2. I don't like season 2s especially for this mini-drama because I think the writers are just going to drag it out. I honestly liked the "friend" dynamic between Soo Ha and Ah In more than their "lovers" dynamic. Ji Yoo and Seo Bin had pretty good chemistry. One thing that didn't satisfy me was the kiss scenes. For a mini-drama that is based on sex, I would say that I expected better kisses. But, who am I to judge? Overall, I would recommend it for a mini-drama.

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Surrounded by scumbags could be an alternative title!

The acting is decent and all costumes look good as well. I can't really judge the ost cause I watched on youtube and it was mute on important parts. so I'll go with 6 judging by the remains of it.
The first few episodes were a bit confusing, things were just happening out of nowhere, but then it got better after 4 or 5 episodes.

I'm glad each episode was less than 10 minutes or else I would've dropped it! There are so many unlikable characters! Being a short drama looks like it had the liberty of having the villains as vile as they could be.
Here is a list of horrible ones:
-The mother in law! & her maid!
-The ML
-Shang Guan
-Yu Yan's lover

it might make you feel better if I listed good characters, right?
-One maid is really good and loyal to FL, and I don't even remember her name!
-the guy with the maid, I don't remember his name either.
-2ML

The romance is so little that it gets lost in the fog of ruthlessness.
I can understand why this is listed in romance genre and I also understand those who have stated in the comments that this is no romance!
At the beginning we are actually as aware as the FL, meaning we only know what she knows. she got manipulated by Lu Gao Sheng thinking he loves her! until few episodes later that his vile self was revealed. from then on this drama is deprived of the romance. there is none. well, until 2ML appears but by the time he appeared FL is done with romance.

you bet I was looking forward to the REVENGE! but it wasn't as satisfying as expected.
In the end it wasn't about revenge. it was about saving her sister I guess.

it was an okay watch and I won't be re-watching it.

one more thing, If you are here for Dai Gao Zheng, he'll appear in ep17.

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If you are a teacher, don't compete with your student over love interest! This movie is so funny, showing how a teacher stupidity over someone. It teaches lesson in life though. It shows how teachers are being trusted and being need their attention as second parents.

The movie is funny, have some little drama, competition and all, not boring (for me) but what I don't like in the drama, I think the rebellion scene between teacher and student is too much to watch, I mean, I know most of the students, not only in Asia, have so much respect with their teacher. And maybe this is just an exaggeration, doing it in funny way in this movie. I also love their OST.

Anyway the ending is so cool so watch it! everyone is happy! found out why!

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Reset-ing YOUR EXPECTATIONS *chef kiss*

Hi there! Here's another disorganized review!
Why did I decide to watch it? Because well, I saw lots and lots of posts about it in the feeds and I love the cast!! Yeah, my first c-drama was Whirlwind girl, and well, maybe third or fourth was a little thing called first love!

Anyways, coming to the story,
the story was as disorganized at times as my review but still, it was lovable and understandable and of course, mesmerizing! (Is my review the same though?)
It was basically all the repetition of "I go back, I come back" and just like any other time-travel drama but then, what makes it special? The back-story and character development!!
I've always loved Chinese Wuxia and Xinxia dramas but I never actually "loved" the modern ones, but this one really reset-ed my opinions about such dramas!
The characters were all so annoying and suspicious at the start but the way they're portrayed, the way they make us understand them so deeply and of course, the slight romance in the dramas make this one a true masterpiece. So, I DON'T FOR A SECOND, REGRET BINGE-WATCHING THIS DRAMA A DAY BEFORE MY EXAM IN ABOUT 12 hours or so?

So, I'm sure you won't as well.
Though what I think is that this drama would've been really short if they decided to start investigating from the right person but bad luck is to blame sometimes.
Of course, all the characters were really special and great [except the murderer(s)]. I totally and fully loved Lu, the apostle of the cats, conquerer of Asthma, the chosen one of the light, Di and his sweet cat, look at her/him - https://mydramalist.com/profile/XieLalisa/feeds/ZwyRAsx

And of course,
how can we ever forget all the sweetness and lovely families of all the people on the bus?

Though I still don't understand why they entered the time loop (don't tell me the ghost/spirit/ or whatever of a person has the power to create a loop in the timeline and make two people enter it as well), it's still alright! I loved it regardless! So, I'm recommending it!
Go binge it right away!!

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Let me offer a bit more detail than the synopsis up there does before I go further. I don't think it'll be very spoiler-y since it's pretty obvious to the viewers what happened, even if it's not obvious to the lead girl. So, the two leads are co-workers who are dating (secretly). One day, he disappears in such a way that we know he's probably dead, barring some miracle. The problem is that the woman starts getting text messages from him, which leads her (and us) to question whether he's still alive somewhere. I won't say more than that, but that might give a better idea of the setup of this special.

So onto some sort of review...the acting is good; the music is serviceable; there's not too much to say about that. The story is very simple, but executed well.

This drama special almost feels like a metaphor for the confusion and disbelief that we all feel when someone we are close to dies suddenly. Don't go into this expecting a fluffy rom-com based on the cute title and the "romance" genre. It feels very small and quiet and melancholic - and pretty real. This is also not melodrama, despite the sad theme. This is a window into someone's personal tragedy. For that reason, it might not be the most compelling hour of TV you ever watch, nor the happiest, but it's definitely a change of pace.

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Disappointed but not surprised

Starting this drama you should know clearly to not put high hope and to know the character that will get hurt the most.. story simply about chif who lie and say he is gay to get money from appearing in TV show. but they took this and go down hell, it start well with how they met and why he have to lie this big lie and the met between Jin sung and tae won aka best character) and i loved loved the way the focus on food and film the dishes beautifully but then as the story go they even stop doing that. and the drama go on big boring mess like love triangle while the lead still lying to everyone.

Acting was okay from male leads but the female was lost some times can find the right expression but not bad her hair annoy me.
music was good level

i usually didn't spoil but this one get me angry so i want to talk freely

in the start i liked JinSung character i can see his charm but as time go it turned to big fake character i hated it , he is so selfish, coward and stupid.. you lied to everyone just for one girl to be happy how childish is this, my crash will cry if she didn't make her program so okay lets lie and end her career, he don't have brain?!! how can you be stupid like that?? coward >> i waited him to say the truth all the show but he was so coward to say one word when he have 100 chance. selfish >> he try to stop his brother from starting his career because he was afraid to be caught. and if he didn't get caught he would still lie or run away he want to run away in the end.
I don't have a feeling to Ah Jin from the start she was like side character i don't see her charm and think she is stupid like how you believe he is gay after he kiss you? and the final make me see she have no character too lmao. He end her career but she go to him to see 'OMG you did that for me' what the F and don't want him to face any backlash and then the drama show people who comment badly as the bad people while they are in fault if that happen in real i would totally swear on them... should i see that as happy ending and what company will took someone like her again lets be real.
Tae Won was the best thing in this drama i think everyone watch will love him the most. and it angry me that JinSung use him until the end... he is so lovely from the start to the end

i don't give 6.5 to any drama in 2020 i think !! maybe 1? i hope Jung Il Woo come back with better drama because i love him, same go to Lee HakJoo.

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What just happened??

I don't get the ending... at all.. When she goes back to the timeline and was reading the book. All that was changed is that the book was revised to have a happier ending for the book characters only, and her existence isn't even important or remembered anymore. If that's the case, then I don't get why she went in the book/gets inside the story if she wasn't even remembered (I mean they hinted that the male lead either misses her or knows someone is missing, but that's about it). Did she even change the plot of the story? Since the recap on the ending part just shows that when He Huan was performing the ritual he failed and they were exposed, blabla...

I sincerely loved it, had a few laughs here and there, the actors and actresses did their part (felt some chemistry with all 3 couples), and I finished the drama due to my curiosity and I was genuinely disappointed with what happened. I love happy endings and sad endings equally, BUT I really hate it when the ending just baffles me and the drama that I spend time watching doesn't even have a clear ending.

I would rather prefer a sad ending (since they more or less forced it to be one, since she suddenly without any reason at all goes to ML's brother and pretends to have a fake relationship until suddenly she was forced to get married and she regrets her decision?) Like girl, you should've just stayed put with the ML, have the children there, and done, the drama has a happy ending. But since she suddenly finds herself in the air thanks to a what it seems to be a hot air balloon that she rigged to explode, they should've just made it into a sad ending in the book (meaning that HER presence changed the storyline in the book), BUT they meet in her timeline and finally reunite (or something IDK, anything is better).

Edit:
Thanks to another user, @Suzette Ser, there is a better alternative ending (refer to their comment or go to this link: https://www.douyin.com/user/MS4wLjABAAAA8Gft2z08CjrLcEI3BGbNk6CLkePD5pUTxQbD0haYQBF7uU0hiAy4KW651lRC_yAL?modal_id=7360304476701396239 and if you're interested go ahead and look at it). Where her existence is not forgotten since the ML in the book remembers her, which gives meaning to him looking at that flower. Even though they did not interact in the real world, that is still a clearer and better ending than what we were given in the drama.

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SuperMaen is a simple , cute but socially relevant drama . It talks about Poverty , Moral compass , Rights of women , Factual & objective journalism , No to false advertising , Social diversity etc. but in a very enjoyable and simple way. Everyone can easily understand the story . Every actors portrayed their roles very well . So much impressed by this drama .

Personally I really liked the part of Maen and Hero . Those scenes are super funny and l laughed alot. Talking about Maen's love interest , both the girls are just using him for their own benefits.
The family bonding shown in this drama is so heart warming. Most of us can relate to it.



// It's a Comedy drama not a serious one

#ส่งพลังให้Superแม้น

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the first time i want the ML and FL didnt end together because of the FL selfishness

this is the first time i hate the FL char in this cdrama , she s so selfish , n become big headed after she become famous n big , the way she talk and act is so disguting , i prefer her first time before she become famous ,she so humble at first time when she still struggle , its different when she famous , she even hurt her BFF feeling ,her husband that always there for her n support her ( in real life i would slap this bycth ). her husband so patient even sometime he can be so selfish too but its understandable when we know the reason , he text her he called her ,she reject it n then come back with another man? who normal man will stand that? n not to mention when she fall asleep at the other man room , she doesnt even feel a little guilty at all LOL ,and even cried to her daddy like she s the victim there, oh i so hate her for that, for her own dream she can sacrificed everyone around her that care n love her , its the first time i hope the ML and FL didnt get together in the end , i really want it the ending to be FL become top writer n super famous but alone with no friend and the ML married to other girl , thats the best ending for this cdrama for me

but in term of story i like it , its so natural ,its kind of different with other cdrama where we mostly like the FL char n feel empathy for her, in this cdrama i believe any normal person will hate this kind of FL selfish pig headed , the way she act really good make me hate her char in this cdrama , overall i think its a good drama to watch ,the first time u want they to didnt end up together , n also maybe only me that i got some scene where the amateur dubbing so bad , that when they speak the background sound is gone like water splash,car,crowd,door,steep etc ,its really kill the mood in it

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Scent of a Ghost was one of those strange combinations of romance, fantasy, violence, slapstick sex comedy, and tragedy all rolled into one. This review will be short because I don’t want to spoil any of the plot twists and turns although most people will see them coming.

In this fantasy drama, the most unbelievable thing for me was not the sex crazed and pervy ghosts lurking about, it was that the lovely Lee El and Kang Kyung Joon, 37 and 36 years-old respectively (in 2019) were supposed to be playing university students. I might have bought it if they were working on their second PhD or if they’d been professors, but as youthful as they appeared they didn’t look like college kids.

Despite the distracting age issue, the actual love story was sweet, funny, and bittersweet. Unfortunately, it didn’t take up enough time so more time was given to middle-aged people banging all day or the cops trying and failing to play ghostbusters. Son Byung Ho who usually plays wealthy CEOs, played a shaman with a good heart in a nice change of pace. The comedy was hit or miss and the sex romps began to wear thin. I really wish they’d devoted more time to the budding romance, it would have strengthened the story greatly. If you’re looking for a ghost story with humor (some funny, some not) and pathos, with a short running time, this might be a film to check out if you keep your expectations low, real low.

10/9/23

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Okay with a side of Cute

Oh man, how do I describe this show? It's... confusing, cute, and with a potential that could have been better. Not sure how else I'd describe it.

First, the acting. I am a huge fan of VIXX and so was excited to see Leo on here, but honestly I wasn't super convinced by his acting. He seemed to only have an expression of annoyance most of the time, and didn't really excel in micro-expressions, which I think his character called for. However, there were moments when his character elicited emotional reactions from me (mostly anger lol), which does mean that he has promise. But the biggest letdown was honestly just the lack of chemistry between him and Karam, which could be attributed to the fact that their relationship is deteriorating at the time of the story, but even in the beginning scene, I didn't really feel anything.

Similarly to Leo, I found Karam a little lacking, but he seemed to have better chemistry with Ha Jong Woo than with Leo (that might be more because of Jong Woo, though maybe not!). I did enjoy his moments of happiness whenever he was opposite Jong Woo, and I do think he did well, but he was wooden at times - not sure if that's because of it being a BL or just his general lack of experience in acting.

Out of the three main characters, I think Ha Jong Woo carried this show. His bright, bubbly personality (and that smile!) was super cute and I enjoyed every scene with him in it. That's not to say he can't act seriously - this was proven to us in the more emotional scenes he got towards the end. He also seemed the least wooden when it came to the kissing scenes, but that's kind of a low bar here. Either way, I came for Leo but very much stayed for Jong Woo.

Speaking of the kissing, I was sad to see the DFK (dead fish kiss) back again in a K-BL. We had had a good run with some of those like Semantic Error and To My Star that I had kinda forgotten K-dramas really like a good DFK! Again, not sure if this is due to the acting, directing, or some other behind-the-scenes, but it would have been nice to see a good kiss instead of just putting two lips together. But alas.

As a few other reviewers have said before, the plot gets a bit confusing. Not sure if it's the editing or the writing, but sometimes I was confused about what happened or why certain characters reacted certain ways. My biggest confusion was why everyone reacted to the "big reveal" in the last episode -- was it really that bad? The story was also wrapped up a bit too quickly. They drew out a lot of the drama and then wrapped it up in a nice bow in the very last episode. I would have liked to have seen more of character growth and development, but I acknowledge that you can only do so much in eight episodes.

All in all, it was a good show. I've seen better and I've definitely seen worse, but overall it's one of those you watch when you have nothing else to do.

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