Reviews

Pant. Puff. Re-pant. Re-puff. I have finished this DRAMA!
I so wish I had dropped it even before starting it, as it was my intention: my mum always tells me to trust my instinct, but I'm stupid enough not to listen to her. And after this review here I'm going to be stoned - by the fans of this drama, by Joong Ki's groupies, by the lovers of the genre, by those who don't like it but think I'm exaggerating as usual, and even by the random passerby who's simply entertained by public executions.
Never mind: I'll try to die with elegance.

Seldom have I seen such a huge mountain of misfortunes, illnesses, morbidity and gloom piled in the same spot. To this drama I own the sad realization that too much suffering works like an infallible anaesthetic to whatever emotion I was supposed to feel. If the writer's intention was to make me cry, I'm afraid she got the opposite effect: when the same person falls from a cliff, is struck by lightning, is submerged by a tsunami, attacked by giant ants, kidnapped by aliens, laughed at by a leprechaun and burnt alive in a furnace in case he hadn't yet died, I can't help but laugh. Which in itself is at the same time a failure of the plot and a further cause of annoyance for me, since it makes me feel as though I were heartless. The viewer is left with the 'pleasant' task of shouting to the screen in search of rhyme, reason, sense or sensibility which is nowhere to be found.

I'm sure a tiny example won't spoil anyone's trepidation: at some point a trip on the beach is planned. Great, it was such a cheerful prospect after all the gloom, I even made popcorn. But it was not meant to be, the nth twisted machination came in between and the writer sent me to bed with no dinner, burnt popcorn and a severe scolding: "clear off, offending creature! How dare you hoping for a cute interlude!"
I've racked my brain in search of a way to tell you about the ending without spoiling it. Because, you see, the ending is so lame I can't walk out of here without at least a mention. The only think I could come up with is this: imagine.
Imagine you are watching a war movie. The whole plot is built upon this momentous battle which has to take place, you are presented with lots of preparatory plotting, spying, codes to be deciphered, treasons, secrets, lies… in the end, you get Sid the Sloth and Manny the Mammoth playing hockey on a pack ice. WHAT? Fine, Sid and Manny are cute, but what in the gods' name happened to the paramount battle? They gave me 20 hours of people brooding around and conveniently skipped Every. Single. Important fact.

The acting didn't help. While in the beginning I was intrigued enough by the events as to overlook the actors' performance, in the long run it became obvious they were displaying the same couple of emotions over and over. All right, I atone: in the beginning I was intrigued by Joong Ki's looks. They are quite blinding, believe me. Until I realized I was so preoccupied with not missing even the tiniest twitch of his beautiful face, I actually didn't see any. And I know for a fact his features do move: in the past I went as far as watching a whole saeguk for the sake of his bewitching smile.

His female counterpart is carved in an even harder stone.
Wait, was that a genuine smile I just saw on Eun Gi's face? No, silly, that was a pixel out of place! And I so wish all the pixels had disappeared, because let me here declare how incredibly and insufferably odious I found the female heroine. I am furious at the production expecting me to love her, when in truth we are confronted with a spoiled and selfish brat who suddenly becomes psychotic and an almost killer for no reason, then a tamed mouse with no memory, then back to her previous bitchy self with lots of all the wrong memories, then… let's leave it at that, for the sake of brevity if nothing else.

The evil lady is so similar to plastic I suppose she's recyclable, and the evil lawyer probably hides glass eyes behind those spectacle of his.
I understand this is melodrama, but the genre does not justify endless starry looks and robotic movements. Mind you, this is in no way the actors fault, as it is the writer's (and possibly the director's). With only three emotions to express, even Sir Anthony Hopkins would be at a loss.
This fiesta of happiness is crowded with an assembly of disagreeable characters I have seldom had the misfortune to see gathered. We have a hero who's devoted to martyrdom, a heroine who's as out as a balcony and several villains whose motives are more often then not unclear. If you're going to remind me in life people are never perfect, let me reply that statistically speaking it is absolutely impossible for such a large bunch of jerks to be all born in the same city, let alone all meet for the same events.

The music was ok. For a while. It soon became haunting, in the nightmarish meaning of the word.

Please do not expect me to give this drama a re-watch value. Right now I'm trying to regain my lost neuronal sensitivity. Before I'm stoned, that is.

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Not exciting enough

I was apprehensive when I read the synopsis and saw the trailer. The show feels overly dramatic and the storyline is 'meh' at best. The main character acts like the victim and pushes everyone away when she made a decision that led to her ending up where she is in life. She doesn't seem to take responsibility for making a choice without including the person directly involved and doesn't try to see things from his point of view. She comes off as self centered sometimes and her "woe is me" attitude gets boring fast. The other characters seem to be going through the motions and the whole thing feels flat. When I started watching this I found myself just fast forwarding through each episode to the last few scenes because the episodes just makes me roll my eyes too many times. It's 3 episodes away from ending and I'm still yet to be impressed. It looks like it's building up to a predictable ending as well.

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The homophobic ending to this masterpiece made no sense :/

I'm ashamed to say, I was naive and hopeful enough to imagine that they would give this drama a just ending. So many people, including myself fell in love with this drama for doing everything right- atleast at the beginning. The deep and sophisticated portrayal of changing, loving and transforming one's self in order to love whole heartedly was what kept me hooked, baited and caught. And then episode 20 left me at the bottom pits of the ocean. Not only was my heart broken but also left me disappointed at the creators. Not just because of the homophobia we always complain about but also their pathetic attempt to tie the unfairness and messiness in pretty little bows and ribbons.

Are we supposed to be happy for the modern day chef who gave his all, risked his everything for his love only to come back refreshed like he went for a Bali trip or something? He fought to earn the love, admiration and loyalty of those around him in a time where he was in an alien, unfamiliar and often frightening place all alone, only to be left with no one left by his side at the end. He wasn't grieving or even missing his husband and the baby he fought and changed himself for once he came back to modern day? I don't buy it as a viewer.

The king was completely fine with loving a completely different person who he felt nothing towards despite being engaged to for a considerable amount of time once before??? Huh???

In one episode when Bong Hwang was acting sweet and feminine, the king was even shown to be uncomfortable and frankly a little grossed out. He fell in love with Bong Hwang and everything about Bong Hwang. The modern mindset, the cleverness, the honesty, the sweet fiercenesss. And at the end, the bravery of Bong Hwang was depicted to earn the king's loyalty and love. But not at the very end??? Then it was all for null!

They spent 19 hours showing us, convincing us of the love that existed between the king and Bong Hwang only to end it with " SIKE! You didn't think those emotions, the love between them was real did you? It was all just body hormones. And guess who gets all the credit for saving the kingdom and the gets to live with the king's undying love? The girl who wasn't there for 90 percent of the show of course!"

The creators let down thousands of viewers and their own professional integrities by going through with this 'happy' and insensible ending.

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Nicely balanced romcom, engaging story and characters

This has been a fun and refreshing ride. I'd like to congratulate the efforts of the actors and actresses for their respective roles.
I started this without knowing much of how the story and characters will be. I got hooked when it felt similar to The Beauty Inside and eventually with the added investigation, special conditions of other characters, the pairing (well suited couples), the mystery behind the mastermind of the whole zornia case and the comedy which balances everything in the story
I like that it's not all romance and comedy, but has some lessons in life to keep in mind.
I like the two sets of trios here and their relationships but I'm sad they killed Gen Nan and Yao.
This is a first for me to wait eagerly not only to the main couple's happy ending but also to the second and third couples' happy endings.
It didn't really go for the wicked mother-in-law plot, the mother-in-law daughter-in-law conflict, or the evil plot by main lead's family to ruin the relationship of the main leads.
We also got an amusing main lead family.
Xin Bai's mom is one of my favorites. She stole the limelight of some episodes when she showed her being a worried and caring mom and not only someone with a high status trying to protect her children's futures. My favorites are her reactions, her acting was on point, whether the serious conversations, semi-serious situations or the hilarious scenes are unforgettable
I like the Jiang family, SL's dad, and the grandpa; they're funny and entertaining (the umbrella scene and when XB's mom thought his son was gay and the rest had no idea what's happening ?)
The suspense on the real villain kept me going and I enjoyed the engagements here on discovering who he is, even doubting and questioning of some of the characters.
I have to say that Ruo Qian is a very interesting supporting character, well played GZC
I have my complaints about some parts of the story, character change and some character endings and have a lot more to say about this but it's more fun to discover them going through the story. It's a happy ending and you will find fascinating characters and even couples you didn't expect to cheer and look forward to

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Story is about divorce!

I don't know why everyone is so upset about the story of cheaters. It says "marriage and divorce" right in the title! It is obviously a build up to the second season. Without a Season 2 it would be rated a 1 because there is no ending. I thought the acting was great. Each actor played his role well. Most women are blaming the men for cheating and justifying the women's behavior. But I see flaws on both sides. Especially the viper of the lawyer's wife. Wow. What a selfish, self centered biatch. And the self sacrificing professor's wife is just subtilty as self absorbed becoming a martyr for everyone and not truly giving what needs to be given in a marriage. If I was a man I would feel just like her husband. That really plays on a man's self respect. And the doctor's wife is rather conniving, putting on a show but having some deep issues with genuinely loving people. So I have been very interested to see how this all plays out. In this culture, where demeaning men and elevating women in spite of their self-righteous behavior is cool, I would expect the reaction to this show to be critical. We'll see. Perhaps we will all be surprised! I thoroughly enjoyed it, watching relationships crumble because a foundation of love and respect was never built on both sides in every marriage. Now the mistresses.... that is what is a mystery! Conniving or genuine? Can't wait for Season 2!

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Spectacular Cinematography, Some Amazing Scenes and Star Power Ruined by Heavy Handed Moralistic Treatment . .

Can we talk about this ending? I want my hours back.

The first half of part 2 gets more violent and cinematic more Godfather or Infernal Affairs or Oldboy than a romantic drama. There's highly interesting framed scenes, and you often feel the visceral thrill of violence and revenge as Ling Bu Yi pursues his goals.

Where is Shao Shang in all this? Struggling. Realizing that she may be living her worst nightmare and desperately trying to stop it. This completely undermines the whole premise of Shao Shang as some sort of equal partner to Ling Bu Yi and robs her of her charisma. It does, however, create adrenaline and drama and compulsive watching, and there are some excellent plot twists.

Then the drama completely flips for last half . . . just a terrible horrible last ending

All the strategy, all the planning, all the intelligence drops out of the plot. Rescue scenes are repeated - Shao Shang is under threat in the exact same way as she has before. She always stumbles into a situation, bravely tries and fails to get out of it on her own, and then gets rescued. The rescue scenes just get more unhinged, and unrealistic and flat out nonsense each time. Just the browbeating lesson that Shao Shang is VERY SILLY TO THINK SHE CAN MAKE IT WITHOUT LING BU YI.

And then it just . . . . ends. With them all just staring at the sky - no last words of poetry, or aching love, or triumphant end nothing. . . Some might say the implication is they are all stars in the galaxy together now - all the family including Ling Bu Yi - no longer one moon or sun pulling the focus - but that is not said - or illustrated in any real way - I'm just making that up.

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Leo Wu was allowed to show more acting range in the second half but it really feels like he has only a few switches, bad ass killer, face twisted in remorse/sadness, and eager puppy. Zaho Lu Si was given very little to work with in the second half. Their kiss at the end was one of the worst chemistry kisses I've ever seen.

ALSO huge credit to Li Yun Rui as Yuan Shen | Yuan Shan Jian. He absolutely stole the show and the producers kept cutting his plot lines and not knowing what to do with him. He was highly charismatic and just kind of left to hang around and show how he couldn't do rescues like Ling Bu Yi (indeed he had to endure being rescued by Ling Bu Yi himself).

Music still has that one excellent piece of instrumental that is wistful and sad. Could potentially watch some individual scenes, but the rest I want to burn. I want my hours back.

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I grade on other criteria:

Themes: 5.0
Be honest with your partner and trust them to support you in supporting the state. In times of turmoil, devoting your life to the state and the people is the most rewarding thing you can do. Who wants some foppish thinker, or kind obedient boy, when you could marry a highly intense, compulsive liar, military man who can rescue you?

Character Growth: 7.5
Ling Bu Yi suffers the humiliation of realizing and despair of making a life changing error and it makes him become a bit more flexible and human. Shao Shang becomes almost frozen - the vibrancy gone.

The most touching character growth (more in the next bit) was Shao Shang's mother.

Complex women: 9.0 (A highlight!)
Shao Shang, her mother and her cousin have a really interesting well explored relationship on the dangers of favoritism and rewarding obedience. The only time I was touched to tears was when Shao Shang's mother realizes that the very things she was trying to suppress and beat out of Shao Shang, were what made Shao Shang special - and she wishes she could take months of undermining her. Also the frank exploration of difficult relationships between the grandmother (mother in law) and the other women in the family and how difficult the grandmother could be in her worship of her sons was excellent to see as well.
There was also Shao Shang's healing relationship with the Empress. How both Shao Shang and the Empress got to attempt the mother daughter relationship anew and how it healed them both.
Shao Shang also starts relating to her cousin better and makes strong female friendships.

I'd really like to give a 10 except the amount of jealous, delusional, back-stabby minor characters was really abnormally high and started to detract from the rest.

Cinematography and Production Values: 8.0
Cinematography was extremely strong, especially in fight scenes, certain wide and tracking shots. Some of the best larger battle scenes/fight scenes I've seen in dramas. Lots of production value was put into the fight scenes generally. Costuming and other sets were a bit subpar in comparis.

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All time favorite Drama

Firstly, I watched this drama, because of ZLS, however, the Male Lead CZY acting is superb. Both acting is very alive, can see their emotion in their eyes.
Storey is perfect, the acting is perfect, and the music is also very much entertaining.
I can't find any defect in the drama.
I am really sad, Finally, it is over. I hope I can watch it a little longer.
This drama gives me a lot of emotion and comfort. Not only DJX and SZ characters are perfect, but San Yan's support and the chemistry between Little Sis and bro code are also lovely.
I really forward to seeing San Yan's story, (Hopefully, Victor Ma will come back as San Yan).
PS. Even San Yan is perfect.
Totally Love it.

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I've finally found a drama I hate more than Missing You and I'm really angry about it. I have never before felt like writers were deliberately treating viewers like idiots but this drama felt like a slap in the face.

Lets start with the story. This is a story that's filled with disaster and tragedy, and whether or not he saves her life, or she saves his life, she gets to yell at him afterwards, and he gets to crack jokes. Why these two like each other is beyond me, the writers didn't give me a chance to get to know either character in a normal situation. Every time they finally got some time together, they were separated for his work or her work or her mother and then the next time they saw each other was an emergency. I had no time with them, i don't know who they are and so I can't care about them.

After 13 episodes I felt like I had disaster exhaustion and I wasn't sure if I had the stamina to complete a dramatic story with characters I didn't care about. I should have stopped. Without spoiling the ending I have never before felt like the writers thought I was an idiot and the whole production team was laughing at me for following them to the end. If you do decide to watch Descendants of the Sun, just stop watching after episode 14.

Song Joong Ki and Kim Ji Won were excellent. I believed their characters and their reactions to the world around them. Well done to both of them. Onew - this was the second worst case of overacting I've ever seen. he should never be allowed to act again.

If Lee Seung Jun hadn't been as funny as he was I might have stopped watching this drama after they returned to Seoul from their volunteering trip. So, a personal message to Lee Seung Jun: I will hate you forever for contribution to my watching this nonsense to the end.

The music was terrible.

Rewatch value, 0. I'm furious to have been treated like this by a writer and producers. I will never again watch anything for which they're responsible.

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A Promising Mystery Turned Into a Clichéd Melodrama

The Eclipse set high expectations in the initial episodes only not to deliver on them afterwards. It lost me somewhere along the way, probably after episode six.

The biggest flaw of this series is its inconsistency. It begins by making it clear that it will break the clichés of BL series, but it eventually gets mired in them. It fleshes out the characters so well, but then makes them do things that are completely out of character. It promises a slow-burn romance, but rushes all character development in two episodes. It has an intriguing mystery at its core, but it drags this mystery so much that it is easy to lose interest in it. There also was only one plot twist that I did not see coming.

The curse subplot – do not even get me started on it. Although the initial incidents could be taken seriously if one suspends a little disbelief, the ones afterwards were not threatening in the slightest, so the characters' panicked reactions seemed stupid to me. Furthermore, there were so many people involved with the curse that the whodunnit turned into a mess of plot holes in the end. When the final revelation happened, and I realized that I am happy that an allegedly good character just did something bad because at least he put an end to the dramatics, I knew that the script was sloppily written.

As if this was not enough, the romance between Akk and Ayan was handled poorly. I liked their dynamic so much because they were not a stereotypical BL couple. They intrigued me, and I thought that I had finally found an enemies to lovers queer love story done right. This turned out not to be the case, though. Instead of letting their romance develop naturally, the scriptwriters started forcing it into overused tropes for no reason, which resulted in unnecessary drama and a lot of predictability. At some point, the main couple lost me completely. I could not understand what drew Ayan to Akk. Although the chemistry between the two actors was hot, I stopped rooting for their characters' relationship.
Notably, the opposite happened with the second couple. Although I did not care about them initially, they eventually won me over. I think that the development of their relationship was smoother and more interesting than that of the main couple.

Overall, aside from the brilliant acting, which kept the sinking plot afloat, this series is not much different from other high-school BL romances. The mystery seems to have been introduced just to disguise the fact that this story is a cliché.

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This ain't no Train to Busan!! Skip it!

I am a huge zombie movie/ drama fan and this show was a waste of 12 hours of my life. Poorly written, poorly acted- the only reason anyone is watching it is because it is a Netflix production,
Unnecessarily includes sexual assault (which isn't in the original story) and nudity of a minor. If this was necessary to the arc of the story I would understand ... but it isn't so it seems to have been shoved into the story for shock value and probably some misogyny on the part of the director. Then the end game for this bullied student is SUCH A WASTE.
Same goes for teenage pregnancy and a girl with no sign of being pregnant seemingly and with no issues gives birth to her baby in the toilet and after this is good to go and run around town ... how is this relevant to the story? Who knows?
Poor character development and no one makes you want to root for them- in the end you hope all of them will be dead ...
Such wasted potential for a zombie drama set in a high school ...

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Typical "iyashikei" ^__-

Watching this "Pension Metsä", I couldn't help but:

a) compare this with "Pension Koi wa Momoiro", due to the "Pension" in the title, but that's, like, the only thing they share: that one was plainly terrible, while this one is pretty good! ^___-

b) think about Finland ^_^;...Why? Well, not only is "Metsä" a Finnish word (meaning "woods, forest"), but also, this short dorama has the same FL as the movie "Kamome Shokudou" aka "Kamome Diner" (Kobayashi Satomi) and in the cast there's also another actress who was in that movie too (Motai Masako)...oh, and in case you haven't watched that movie, well, it's set and filmed in Helsinki, Finland ^__-

Despite the Finnish reference, this series is as Japanese as they come, being a typical example of the "iyashikei" genre (quoting from Wikipedia: "...a genre specific to Japanese works [...]. It is a sub-genre of slice of life, portraying characters living out peaceful lives in calming environments, and is intended to have a healing effect on the audience...").
If you're in for a soothing, relaxing viewing experience, conveying some simple yet meaningful messages, well, you might like this...I did, and I would've given it a higher grade, hadn't it been for the fact that I found the last two episodes weaker than the rest.
Nice music, particularly the ending credits song.

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One of the BEST dramas of the year!

In the beginning, I watched purely for JCW. For any JCW fans out there, watching this is a no-brainer. However, as the show went along its course it got more and more engaging. It might just be me but, there's just something about new talents like KYJ and a chill-hop OSTs which really get me coming back week after week. The acting isn't too serious but, the story isn't too tacky.

Through my short time of recently getting into kdramas, Backstreet Rookie has a very unique storyline and with top-notch actors leads like JCW & KYJ its not surprising to see that this drama currently holds a position in the Top 10 Most Viewed Dramas so far this year.

Backstreet Rookie is full of some familiar faces but, for the most part, it is a refreshing reintroduction or introduction into laidback rom-com vibes. If you are planning on whether to watch it or not, my answer is simple. WATCH IT. It is very uplifting and with it almost being finished, leaves you wanting more episode after episode.

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I think the most important thing is to like the plot of the story, I love revenge

I think I'm going to really like the drama, I love this plot of the protagonist getting a chance, you know, I find it so engaging. I thought the leads were beautiful, I love this actress and I think she's going to act a lot. The first episode was the kind that hooks you, you know? It makes you curious about what will happen in the future. Anyway, the drama reminds me a lot of Perfect Marriage Revenge, which excites me because that drama really got to me and I consider it the best of 2023. Oh, I saw that the main actress lost weight for the drama, and I was amazed because the woman delivers so much, my god. Anyway, I'm anxious for the other episodes

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This review may contain some spoilers

First of all this is my own opinion so this may be an unpopular one but wanted to write.
the first half of the story was really good and I enjoyed it; their family bond, the spark between the leads. but the 2nd half disappointed me badly especially the ML. I was expecting an engaging storyline but there were so many unnecessary things and plots. It was like the FL is just striking alone. the last few episodes from 20 -24 was so annoying that I decided to drop it. the divorce part was so unnecessary.. FL was continuously expressing her love but the ML was in his own zone... However, I was having high expectation, may be, that's why feeling so disappointed.

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