Reviews

Breath of Fresh Air

I love me a drama with no unnecessary angst. Also, can I get a f*ck yea for realistic relationship progression? I'm so over the whole fall in love at first sight or for silly reasons schtick that you see in so many other dramas. I love how You Are My Glory simply shows a beautiful story of two adults falling in love, making and learning from mistakes, and maturing. No annoying, meddling second leads, no crazy makjang do or die situations.

It's so refreshing to see the FL and ML actually take the time to think and reflect on their relationship instead of spewing flowery promises at each other. I can't even think of the last time I actually FELT it when the leads say I love you to each other, but holy Jesus you can bet I felt it in this drama. I cried like a big baby, I was so touched.

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Ballerina (2023): A Flawed Execution

"Ballerina" makes the unfortunate decision to forgo its roots in Korea’s unique and captivating culture, opting instead for a Westernized presentation that permeates not only its soundtrack but also its overall ambiance. From the outset, the film presents itself as nothing more than a rehash of the worn-out, classic revenge tale we've all seen too many times to count, offering a viewing experience that's at best, one-time watchable.

The narrative unfolds with laughably poor acting coupled with a nonsensical revenge plan, culminating in a ridiculous "girls triumph" trope that falls flat on its face. Our protagonist, Ok-ju, initially appears as a passive character who miraculously transforms into a one-woman army capable of taking down a room filled with armed men - men who decided, quite arbitrarily, to turn their weapons against her despite their initial inaction. This far-fetched scenario screams of forced feminism and ends up feeling like a mockery rather than an empowering narrative.

The over-the-top ending does nothing to endear Ok-ju to the audience, leaving viewers with a bitter aftertaste and no connection whatsoever to the supposed hero of the story. It begs the question, why didn’t she use her firepower from the beginning? The decision to withhold until later scenes feels like a poorly conceived attempt to inject suspense, ultimately coming off as needless and contrived.

However, where "Ballerina" should shine - its action scenes - it instead fumbles terribly. The film's fight sequences are a chaotic mess, with the director opting for rapid, disorienting changes in camera angles that leave viewers struggling to follow. Far from being engaging or impressive, these scenes are a visual cacophony with no real impact. To add insult to injury, the soundtrack does little to complement these sequences, failing to enhance the viewing experience and leaving much to be desired.

In conclusion, "Ballerina" is a film you might watch once out of sheer curiosity but it is certainly not one that will leave a lasting impression or beckon for a rewatch. With its clichéd storyline, weak acting, and poorly executed action scenes, it’s a disappointing addition to the Korean film landscape. One can only hope future productions learn from these mistakes and deliver content that truly reflects and celebrates the rich tapestry of Korean culture and storytelling prowess.

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The story and actors are great, but it wasn't a great drama.
Probably because the plot isn't well developed. There are gaps in story telling that are never fixed.

The story itself took about 4 episodes to warm up. From then on, it was definitely entertaining to watch. Once Iljimae appears, things become exciting and fun. Everything about the character of Iljimae is very interesting- his adventures as Iljimae, his life as Gyeom and Yong, and the people in his life.

And it would have been great, if only for the blunt and inconclusive ending. Perhaps it is due to lack of time? but the last episode ends like a recap of the first episode, without adding any explanation on what happened or why the characters are the way they are now. It just feels incomplete.

Lee Jun Ki is great in the lead role. He gives the character an undeniable charm and exuberance.

Shi Hoo is a character who is built up almost parallel to that of Gyeom, but his character felt inconsistent at times, as he shifts from one side to the other. More than a sense of being conflicted, he gave a feeling of being closed. I can only wonder what was going in that head.

The music was fine, the stealing and fight sequences are very good. Then again, don't look for logic in the many fight scenes, where he miraculously fights and escapes. It's a wonder he isn't praised as much for his martial arts skills in the drama, considering that he manages to conquer everyone he spars with. (Every time he gets hit is because of his often-proven-wrong-yet-unshaken belief in the opponent's righteousness)

The romance bit starts off very well, and sustains till almost the last quarter, only to peter out to nothing by the end. If the romance bit had been handled better, it would have added to the charm surely, but as it is- When Iljimae himself has no time for romance, why would we care?

Overall, Iljimae is entertaining and has charming actors, but left me unsatisfied.

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Wish they didn't made another season

I am more contented and satisfied with season 1 : (((((((
Just an opinion though........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ IM CRYINGGGGG

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Promising Outbreak but Questionable Ending

The premise of "All of Us Are Dead" like the korean title "지금 우리 학교는" or "Our School Now" is centered on students who tried their best to stay alive from being trapped in their school through zombie apocalypse. All of Us Are Dead has 12 episodes with 1 hour long duration. Some viewer might find the story dragging, but I didn't at all. How and why I find this drama fun and engaging? Mostly because I got to watch the story from several different perspective, desperate teen survivor, detective and his framed science teacher, also military and political government.

[ Promising Outbreak ]
Unlike most of zombie series that started with main character's everyday life and the sudden zombie outbreak, All of Us Are Dead began with the background story of the virus itself. The starting plot is around a student who get bullied and how this character developed the virus from his science teacher father who helped his own son from death. It is then unfold from his laboratory room and how the infected bring their zombie virus from inside and outside the school. I appreciated how the writer put the issue of school violence into the root of the zombie virus. The emotional story from the parents of surviving student was also my favorite. I always love how South Korean included 'heartwarming' family plot onto their series and ended it harshly for tearjerking scenes.

The story is shifted from time to time but it is all still connected into one because the school background setting is labeled ground zero for the outbreak. They blend the detective, military, and the political side into the story pretty well. We got to see the view on characters who truly wanted to help surviving people, who just wanted to save the non infected citizen, and who wanted to save their own ass on status seat even in harsh condition. Back to the main characters and their zombie battle at school. The main characters here are the surviving Hyosan Students, that funnily were all in the same class. What is the possibility of you and your classmates to survive together in zombie outbreak? This drama writer be like, "Hell yeah, 99%. It is fiction so of course there would be impossible events, what would you expect?"

[ Questionable Ending ]
It wasn't an ideal one but I didn't know a better way to end this drama. The drama has an open ending like our real life Covid-19 situation, there is no light to see the end. I must mention i noticed there is some reference on "Sewol Ferry" accident in episode 12 where the survivors are being interrogated. If you don't know about it, try google search. It was heartbreaking real life tragedy of high school students who was abandoned by the official staff and government by leaving them drowning on sinking ferry. The student victims trusted the adults too much that they had to die in the end. So the dialogue "Why did you abandon us?" and "I won't ask adults ever again, don't ask us to cooperate." hit me in the feels. Not a perfect ending of course, afterall especially in our pandemic situation, which government have done a perfect job on taking care difficult problem? None.

But, how about the fantasy side from the virus and zombie? Yeah like when Nam Ra jumped from high school building, they once again left us with cliff hangers. I didn't get bothered by it, but I just wished to see more depth into their characters before the ending. What I find disappointing was how they started the 'virus making' well but they unfortunately leave the 'mutant making' with full of hanging reasons. There was definitely a chance for them to show more of background stories from Half Zombie characters "The Bully Guy", "The Sexy Girl", and "The Students Pres". Unfortunately we didn't get them until the end and we only could imagine and assume by ourselves.

[ Characters... Are Dead ]
I personally really hate the romance between main characters. It is as if they tell us, we have to crush on someone to be the main characters. Will it be okay without it? of course. If only their focus is more about friendship than love story, I think it will be more moving and affecting in a good way. Like my favorite scenes from the farewell between Cheong San and Gyeong Su, On Jo and Yi Sak throwback, and also Na Yeon character development story. I also find the supporting roles are more interesting, the two archery ladies, crybaby Na Yeon, chicken part timer wannabe Gyeong Sang, the realistic Ji Min, 2nd rank student ( i forgot his name ), the brother in law guy, and more! In comparison, the four main characters are more bland than the supporting characters to me.

Is their acting good enough? At first, both female lead actress looks awkward in my eyes, but they get better each episodes when they are mourning deaths and countering difficult situation. Male leads chemistry are the best, I like their bromance and I wish to see them in other projects. All of the supporting casts and the minor roles have amazing acting and they delivered their emotion admirably. I must mention the zombie stunt are perfect, plus point on cracking bones acting.

[ Zombies... Are Alive ]
Instead of creepy or dark atmosphere, All of Us Are Dead zombies are more gory full of blood ripped flesh and average people would find it disturbing. Most of them are executed on VFX and negative side we can actually notice it because the overall bright cinematography. There would be some plot hole in their action scenes and some people could get bothered by it. Like how the heck those zombie didn't get killed from third-floor fall but immediately died from a single arrow, but I personally didn't mind it because it was all for "plot armour" and just passed it by. I myself hardly get scared with zombie genre and I find most of the zombies here are hilarious. Believe me, I laughed a lot on suitcase, traffic cone, scissors, and kindergarten zombies. I repeated their scenes for comedic relief.

[ Music... Are Splashed Everywhere ]
I don't know what to say here. I don't remember any single background music in All of Us Are Dead and I just remember all the special sound effect of tearing flesh, splashing blood, and purking. But that is what made me focus on their action and dialogue between characters.

[ Overall... Watch it When You Are Alive ]
One you can expect from south korean zombie series is their focus on survival. I like this show from episode 1 to 12. It is a fun experience to see all perspective of students victim of harsh accident trying to get into safety in school area. There are a lot of cool extraordinary action scenes when they tried avoiding the zombies. The thrilling moments and in between relief of breath are exciting for me. The overall cinematography are also excellent, they have this green color grading perfect for image's depth, contrast, and contour to support the story's atmosphere. The behind production team is top notch. I didn't read this drama webtoon because I didn't want to get disappointed like I did with Sweet Home. That was my choice and I think that was the best decision for me. Because in the end, I mostly enjoyed All of Us Are Dead from the beginning until the end.

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I think I am a bit of a rare bird when it comes to this drama because where so many people are swearing up and down by its excellence, I am just here looking around wondering “where”? I can’t deny that the premise of this show is quite exciting and the mystery-thrill aspect has been executed fairly well in most of the scenes. The show manages to maintain suspense, intrigue and make the viewers play the game of “who-dunnit” very nicely throughout the first half. But is that enough? For me? Not by a long shot.

The thing is, this is a remake so essentially it can’t really get the credit for the story and all those things that are the show’s saving grace. Because basically the creators were handed an already tried and tested recipe along with extensive steps of preparation. All they had to do was follow the steps and cook a dish putting their own flavor on it. Unfortunately, for this drama the materials used were not very fresh and so the resulting dish came out to be rather bland.

By materials used, I ofcourse mean the characters. If I were to say, that the people telling this story were more or less hollow with zero to very little development, I wouldn’t be really off the mark. The show centers on four best friends with “scandalous” lives (which in my opinion were less scandalous and more “pathetic” but we will come on to that later) who have a murder mystery on their hands. Despite there being four of them, it’s very clear that Jang Se Yeon- single mother/widower- was the main protagonist which in Mistress translates to being the main simpleton of the lot of them.

If we somehow ignore the fact, that for the most part she was a bumbling fumbling idiot who literally had her mouth parted open like a sputtering fish all the freaking time, we still won’t find her character likeable. See, here’s the thing if you are going to show me a mother who is dumb enough to leave her child in the care of a babysitter for more than 24 hours, repeatedly trusting said babysitter after she has been proven to be a shady ass a couple of times, leaving your child unattended in parks, hotels, shopping malls e.t.c, spending literally no time with your child to the extent that you’re unaware your child is freaking dying and then in the next second you’re going to feed me the “concerned mother who loves her child to no end” bullshit where I am supposed to sympathize with the “suffering” she has to go through in order to save her child from all those nasty villains- sorry, but I’m not buying it. And before you bring up the “oh but she is a single mother who has to work to pay the bills and that keeps her busy” shit with me- she works in a stupid ass cafe as a barista which is conveniently ALWAYS empty. For fuck’s sake, say no more.

I have to like my characters in order to feel for their ordeals and with these half-wits I was just like you all are so damn frustratingly dumb that if you insist on making your beds, I urge you to please lie in them and never get up. The other two in the brainless bunch consist of a therapist (who is like a walking talking cardboard because of how dull she is) and a supposedly tech savvy/law-savvy stalker -(?) somebody please tell me her damn profession- whose sole purpose in life is unsuccessfully tailing people and looking pretty. No depth to either of them, their career is used as plot devices and they are there just for the sake of being there.

The only redeemable out of the four is our resident school teacher and husband cheater. She is the one who grows the most, acts the best and has the most interesting personality. But ofcourse not enough screen-time to make a difference. There are some love interests who are meh. The antagonists are more or less meh, except one of them (the shady babysitter lol). And the show itself is also pretty much MEH.

The best thing about this was the sound-track. I loved some of the songs and the instrumentals. The drama is also pretty racy for South Korean standards what with all the random sex scenes which were just funny for me because they were there- like the characters- just for the sake of being there, contributing zero to the plot.

So in conclusion, if you haven’t watched a lot of crime/suspense/thrillers and just want a quick mindless fix, this will work for you but for someone like me who lives and breathes this stuff, not only was it not anything different it was also below standard compared to what’s already there.

Enjoy!

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Thats the first histo-drama Ive ever watched. I started watching this drama cause of Lee Seung Gi but found myself getting used to this historical ambiance.
Im writing this review after finishing rewatching this drama.

Story
Its not simply about a gumiho trying to become a human. No. Its much deeper. Its about love, about family, about friendship. Its about trust and value of human.
The protagonist of this drama, who is so much honest and caring for the people he loves will face many tragical moments and he go trhough so many pains, but still he will keep on fighting for the ones he loves and standing for fairness.
What also I like about the story is that you get to know many characters sorrounding our protagonist.
But first you have to go trhough the first 2 episodes. They are not really as exiting as the other episodes. But they are important to watch to understand why, what, where.

Acting/Cast
PERFECT! Simply perfect! Lee Seung Gi did a great job. It made you believe the oains he was going through. The way he cries, the way he loves, you just believe in the emotions his character is going through and feel yourself feeling the same, too.
Suzy was also great, I have to admit at first I wasnt really into her acting, but she improved and became so good.
The support act were just awesome. Everyone character had a different personality and they acted it so well.

Music
While writing this Im listening to the OSTs. This drama got the best OST of the year. You wont be able to listen to them without a feeling of goosebumps.

Rewatch Value
As I said before, Im writing this after rewatching this drama.
And Im already missing Kang Chi (Lee Seung Gi), Yeo Wool (Suzy) and all the others, so Ill probably rewatch it again. So, not much left to say. :)

Overall
Ill give this drama 10/10 as every single episode made me going crazy. I couldnt breath because of fear. Because I was afraid that something bad or sad could happen every moment. It was just too exciting to watch, a ride of a rollercoaster.
I loved all the characters of the drama (okay, exept the bad ones).
I loved the music. So this drama deserve a 10!

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What I'm thinking right now is WHAT THE HELL I'VE JUST WATCHED? Why there's no any other drama like this one?! The most psychological mind game control drama ever. And what's all with that music? This drama climbed to my first place of the best OST's ever in the whole dramaland. Until this moment it was Soulmate with best music but WC definitely surpassed it. I don't know about the others but music is for me like the air I breathe and I'm never without it so I always pay every little attention to the music in dramas and in life generally. And when I heard in this drama my favourite group Massive Attack, then Alice in Chains, DJ Krush, AC/DC, Suede and many other bands that I adore, I was so excited and happy and it made me love this drama even more. Especially with Yoon Su's theme, DJ Krush's "Song 2", a true masterpiece. I could write all day about the music in this show but this should be enough.

As for the acting, I knew all of them from other dramas and honestly loved the most of them and respected them as actors. Although you could see that in this drama they were young and for many of them it was a beginning into the world of famous people and the whole Korean cinematography, also you could see after the watching this drama that they were fantastic. Literally. All of them. I mean, they are idol boys, they are models, I was fascinated that in only one drama I get to see the guys who were tall, all of them and all of them were, well and still are, pretty much a great looking young men. And despite that they deliberated us amazing performance of the all characters and showed us that they know how to play and act. If I have to pick my favourite character, well that would be Choi Chi Hoon- he was the smartest one no doubt, always with a cool head and cold thinking but very good friend, he was brilliant and also Sung Joon is my favourite amongst them, I just adore that actor. Of course Kang Mi Reu was my second one favourite, he was a true hero and a bad ass man! As for the rest of the characters, everyone was great and had their own role and purpose, everyone was important equally.
Twisted, dark, psycho, mystery, thriller drama with a perfect cast and the story about young people with many problems in their minds who were in some hand abandoned by the others and put in the biggest psychological test with a serial killer crazy man. Oh, I loved this show so much, I just feel empty now. ;-)
The only part I find a little bit predictable is that you can easily see after the episode 4 who were the main culprits and the part about that 7 strong men couldn't bring down one man with a gun. But it was well done after that so that little mistake wasn't important in the end.
And about the end, definitely THE MOST MEMORABLE ENDING EVER, it became my favourite ending part in some drama, I was so thrilled and satisfied in the end and for sure the ending scene had a big part in it why this show has such a high score, no doubt that it wouldn't be the same without that perfect end.
I will stop now and go to listen the whole ost and all of the songs in this show which is with a reason one of the strongest, greatly done dramas ever in the history of dramas. They should really make more dramas like this one, it's a pity for the rest of us who truly enjoy more in this kind of plot and story.

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Poor representation, lackluster story

Representation: I'm disappointed that people including Sarawat, Man, and Dim (all gay men), called Tine, Phukong, and Green the wives - this is a regression from the last season and a persistant problem throughout the series. "Team Wives" never rebukes them. And it's obvious why the reverse (Sarawat and Dim being called the wives) hadn't happened - because they're perceived as tops/semes and Tine, Green, and Phukong the bottoms. The same director also directed Dark Blue Kiss, which also had the same issue. Surprisingly, he also directed He's Coming to Me, which was pretty much flawless in this department. Apart from this, I must commend the show for putting in effort in repping with decorations and clothing: there is a Call Me By Your Name poster on Tine and Sarawat's apartment wall; Sarawat wore a pride shirt in episode 2, etc. These are small things that LGBTQ people won't ever miss, so thank you. In episode 4, when Sarawat's friend from the music club talked to him (in a rather obvious PSA moment) about his being so open with his love, he said it was not about courage but about 2 people in love, and that it was up to the couple whether to show PDA or not. Well, he's wrong. It is very much about courage. Homophobia is very real, even in Thailand, especially when people still look at your relationship through heteronormative lenses, as shown by this very show itself. And this is the least of our problems. So don't try and whitewash the struggles of being gay to accommodate the delicate sensibilities of a portion of your audience. You don't have to highlight it but to erase it like so is to trivialize our struggles. Before we look at our preferences with regards to PDA, we must consider our safety, our livelihood, our social life, etc. For many, the fear is real. Like all other GMMTV shows, trans people are shown matter of fact although they play very limited roles.

Story: Apparently fans complained that Sarawat wouldn't leave Tine in the hospital with Mil when he had food poisoning and the director retconned and said Sarawat actually was there the whole night but left in the morning to change, before Tine woke up. While this is great, sadly, like the last season the story is still very lackluster. Compound this with how the show treats Tine, Phukong and Green, at episode 5, I no longer want to continue.

Acting: I'm not sure if the actor is the problem, or the director. Tine has an aversion to affection, an annoying trope in BL, and continues to wear a constant constipated expression when he's around Sarawat (seriously, he's a lot chipper with other characters). For example, when Tine was sad that Sarawat was leaving to practice, he just gave Sarawat a sad smile when Sarawat told him about the extremely sweet story where he searched for Tine everywhere and even applied to the university in hopes of meeting Tine again. Tine was pretty much expressionless. Every time (and this applies to the previous series as well) they kiss, Tine looks like a deer caught in the headlights even when he's the one who initiated the flirting. This is not something I expected from someone who's still in their honeymoon period. I'm not sure if the director want Tine and Sarawat to have contrast with Type and Man but I don't believe this is the way to do it. That said, Tine was great with the lonely scene by the pool.

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Lack of development and communication of the characters were the major flaws of this drama

Record of Youth debuted with great potential to be an incredible drama. The cast and the story, at first, captivated me a lot, however throughout the episodes I started to have the feeling that the story was not developing. The focus of the drama was the growth of the main characters, both personally and professionally, however the story revolved around only Hye Joon (Park Bogum), the other main characters of the plot were erased and we viewers, practically not we saw their development.

Jung Ha (Park Sodam) when it appeared was poorly developed and all the plots that the story opened for her character to be developed, ended up not gaining much focus and worsened the development of the character. I really wanted to see a little more about the construction of her salon and the solutions to the problems she had with her parents, but unfortunately, almost no screen time was given to her plot, sometimes I had the feeling that her only role in drama was to be the love interest of Hye Joon and Hae Hyo, thus creating a love triangle for the story.

Talking about Hae Hyo (Byeon Woo Seok), he, for me, was always a complex character, since the beginning of the story I wanted to know how he would react when Hye Joon started to be the focus of attention, and the story at that point it surprised me, because it didn’t turn him into the envious character who wants to take down the protagonist, in fact she showed a real character that had reactions that all of us in his place could have, but unfortunately the story didn’t develop much of his character’s story either. end we ended up not seeing his development very well after he found out that his career was practically bought by his mother, i found his end too open and it bothered me that the story didn't show how he was after the time jump.

About Hye Joon's family nucleus: For me this was the nucleus that best developed within this drama. At first I thought his father was extremely toxic, but throughout the episodes I got to understand him a little more and I liked the way he has evolved throughout history. Hye Joon's grandfather was also a great character in this drama, I loved the evolution of his relationship with his son and I admit that I was very moved by their final scene in the drama.

I thought the end of the story was coherent and I preferred to see them become friends a thousand times, their relationship was very beautiful, but from the beginning I thought that they behave more like friends than boyfriends. Their open ending was coherent and it is up to the viewer to think about whether they stayed together or remained friends.

The performances in this drama were very good, but unfortunately the characters and the story prevented the actors from shining even more in their roles. The drama ost is good, but it is forgettable.

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