Reviews

Great Action teamed with compelling story

My Name is a brilliant take on Action/Thriller involving gangsters, a woman seeking for vengeance and the hunt for the mole. The action sequences are done superbly and Han So Hee did a tremendous job with her part.

Clocking at only 8 episodes, My Name is shorter than other K Dramas, but it is definitely filled with amazing action and outstanding OST. It felt like every beat matched perfectly with the given scene, which made the overall show compelling and worth watching.

This Netflix original was good for its story, the attractive OST, the great casting along with commendable performance by Han So Hee, amazingly shot sequences with more than decent fight/action sequences and an overall violent atmospheric setting.


My Rating : 9/10

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Another Anusorn frustrating story

All this saga started, if you remember, after Director Anusorn directed "2Moons2". Despite the entire new cast of mostly unknown and inexperienced actors, some ups and downs in the series and having to waste 4 episodes so viewers could be reminded of what happened on the original "2Moons", the story was more of less successful and it gave us BL fans, Din and Joong. But, when the show was over everyone was waiting anxiously for season 3 but the company in charge decided to botch the project, yet again, by creating a musical group without Din and later getting rid of director Anusorn just to "flex their muscles" and show they had the power to do that. Director Anusorn went on to create "Call It What You Want" and "Call It What You Want 2" as a response, where he promised to expose the darkest secrets of Thai's BL industry... however, his productions fell short as he lost track of the initial plot/storyline and gave us some choppy story with some more or less disappointing acting and a villain who never gets punished.

Well, he did it again! This time with "Till the World Ends" and here's why:

a) The science behind the plot: OK, let's get this out of the way... scientifically, the Moon crashing into Earth is possible (it will be complicated as the moon is tidally locked with our planet and it's actually moving away from us every year) but, even before it crashes, it will bring immense consequences from the minute the moon begins getting closer to us... even Jim Carrey's movie, Bruce Almighty, showcases this when he tries to seduce Jennifer Aniston's character by pulling the moon closer to make the scene more romantic... instead, the next day, the news from severe flooding in some parts of the world begin to spread because the moon is responsible for the low and high tide of our oceans... even that silly movie pointed that out, but, OK moving on. In addition, if the moon crashes with our planet and nothing will be left (as the official government announcement keeps telling us all the series) there is no need for bunkers as NOTHING will survive... even if they do survive the impact, explosion, lack of moon to regulate day/night (which helps with our sleep patterns), etc., there will be no water, animals, plants and what, the bunkers will be floating in space if Earth is totally destroyed? Don't think so...
So, leaving the nerdy part out, and ASSUMING the bunkers could be a realistic possibility and ASSUMING that there will be some solid ground for them to step out of the bunkers after the crash... let's move on.

b) The plot/storyline: This story begins with the announcement of the end of the world and with Golf (played by Best) and his jealousy, lousy temper, annoying personality, and plain idiocy taking center stage throughout the whole series. He just blatantly attacks and nearly kills Art (played by Art... so original!) and then gets a guilty conscience and tries to help him recover only to fall in love with him. His older brother Gus (played by Michael) is in jail but is always Golf's moral compass and voice of reason. The end of the world drives most of the plot in the story as it becomes the centerpiece of the Golf-Art relationship as they navigate between staying at Golf's apartment while Art recovers, then Art discovering the truth and very quickly forgiving Golf, both living under the threat of the gang, Gus appearing after being let go or escaping (can't recall which one it was), all trying to reach a bunker in the Laos-Thailand border but taking a detour to see if Art's family is still home and then everybody dying before the actual end of the world leaving Gus and Art to cry, kiss and be killed by the moon.

The plot was original but the storyline began declining after episode 2-3 with very slow progression, barely any character development and violence... lots of unnecessary violence... almost to the point that the gratuitous BL steamy scenes we got between the 2 bad guys (Long and Joke, played by Knight and Songklod) and by Golf and Art felt somewhat out of context... the bad guys brutally kill someone and then turn around and start having sex or Golf brutally kills Long in the last episode, they witness Joke kill himself with a gun, and they (Gulf and Art) take a shower, go to the roof of the house and have sex. I've never rejected a NC scene in a BL story, but even these scenes felt wrong after I just witness all the killings, blood everywhere, an eyeball being stabbed and pulled out of its socket, suicide, Joke picking up pieces of Long's face after being killed by Golf, etc., the graphic nature of all this violence was shocking and almost nauseating. There is no explanation for the bad gang to be hanging around the apartment complex... they could've gone to a bunker, they could've gone to another apartment complex looking for more food, take a car, something... instead they hang around like vultures but don't do much. Golf kills a gang member in the early episodes and that sets the "we are getting revenge and killing them" mood, plus we don't get much of their backstory so we just know they are psychopaths who instead of trying to save themselves by reaching a bunker, decided to stay and kill as many people as they can before all dying courtesy of Gus and Golf.

In addition, the storyline also began including all these political and social messages, which we've seen in stories like GMMTV's "Not Me", and in both cases, they waste time talking too much about human rights and equality that it almost becomes boring when we have to listen to the same message. We know there is corruption, racism, discrimination, social and income inequality... no need to remind us every 2-3 episodes.
And, Art never really gets any closure... it's all Golf! He gets his brother back, he loses his brother, he falls in love with Art and lives his last days with him. Art wants to visit his family to see if they are still there and then go to the bunker to reunite with them in case they made it to the bunker... but he is the one who never makes it... this storyline was left to die as all centered on Golf.

c) The acting: Michael is the saving grace as his acting is the most memorable of all the cast with poignant moments in both dramatic and funny scenes. It is nice to see Art get a lead role as well, especially when he is on screen as a very marginal side character in "Between Us" and was affected after the scandal with Mew Suppasit after filming "What the Duck" in 2018 resulting on him getting harassed online by Mew fans and not many jobs afterwards (just look it up online if you don't know anything about it)... too bad his acting and Best's acting wasted some golden opportunities to truly deliver in some of the most emotional scenes of the show. As I said before, Art forgives Golf quite easily after nearly killing him and Golf seems to be 100% straight at the beginning, so his change of heart towards Art seems a bit sudden. Both lead actors do a decent job for moments, but there were just too many things for them to deal with... Golf's initial actions, Art's feelings before and after finding out the truth, all the deaths they had to witness, going to die, etc., so it was just too much for them to navigate through.

In the end, director Anusorn is becoming a synonym of frustrating. He thinks and develops some interesting ideas but so far both "Call It What You Want 1 and 2" and this series, end up falling short of my expectations.

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Don’t waste time

I admit I watched because of the female and male leads, being a fan of both. But let me tell you, it stops there. This seems to be the situation where putting two popular actors together don’t make a right. The chemistry was LACKING.

While the story is suppose to be good, the storytelling is just way too slow and doesn’t provide substance.

The overall production lacks quality and just plain fake. I should have pulled out the 80s vcr and watch the old stuff for that matter.

The fight scene is not exciting and doesn’t have the draw that makes you watch to root for the hero/heroine.

Just about the only thing that made this drama is the costume department. The makeup team did a good job on the ML, but FL looks really washed out.

Watch this if you want to watch you favorite actors. Otherwise don’t waste time.

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Dilraba and Leo Wu did not disappoint

The two main leads of a drama always make a big difference to a drama. For this, there are 4 leads who completely mesmerise - Dilraba, Leo Wu, Rosy Lusi Zhao and Liu Yu Ning. Additionally, there are the support roles played by Allen Fang and Yi Da Qian, Kudousi and Geng Le - all outstanding in their own rights.

This drama tells the story of a Tang dynasty princess. Li Chang Ge, whose father was the crown prince and was killed by his brother who also massacred his nephews and became the emperor. She escaped and made her way to the northern border in the hope of securing support from her father's former generals to overthrow her uncle. She met an Ashile prince on the way and ended up in the kingdoms in the north. They went through a lot together and fell in love. Along with this, there were secrets, and what appeared to be and was not.

The story is interesting and keeps your attention. There are very few lull moments. To craft suspense and lip-biting moments in dramas, very often scenes which are silly and illogical are conveniently thrown in just for this purpose. There are relatively few of these. The story is pretty convincing although fictitious.

Dilraba who hailed from a number of highly rated dramas like Ten Mile Peach Blossom and its sequel lived up to expectations. Leo Wu who acted the teenage bodyguard Fei Liu has grown into a handsome young man did equally well.

Costumes, music, cinematography, backdrop are all excellent. But I do not like the caps on the male actors - look quite silly.

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Watch for the cast, stayed for the story

This was my first airing C-drama in 2024 that I watch diligently live, waiting for new episodes with bated breath. That means theres sometging grippling about the plot that makes me come back for more.

I thk I have a thg for female coroners. *Cue.. one of my favs: The imperial coroner. I like when FL have brains and wits in historical China. Then there's this face swap thg that reminded me of ..*Cue another great drama: A familiar stranger.

We have a strong cast but Liu Xue Yi's Pan Yue was bang on the money. He is so commanding on the screen, and brings so much to the character. It wouldnt be rash to say he's a great big part of why the drama is so popular. JJY's Yang Cai Wei was okay, she did remind me of some of her other period characters. Shes probably more memorable as the obsessed Shangguan zhi. The leads have chemistry and I enjoy the push pull in their relationship when the secret wasnt reveal yet. Li Ge Yang was a great casting too and he had lots of chemistry with 2FL Wu Jia Yi. I felt like I wanted her character to do more than just being there for 2ML.

For the reasons above i nearly rated this at 9 but rationally I thk an 8 is more deserving. The biggest reason being overly convenient and glaring plotholes. Evidence no1 both ML and 2ML are great in fighting but they stand around and let the resource person (imp on revealing the secrets they were trying to solve) to be killed right under their noses. Evidence no2 they make the leads a bit out of touch with the rest of the world. We were first shown ML and FL who upholds and values justice but the writing makes them brush past and move too fast from the deaths and sacrifices of ppl around them. This kind of writing is just careless imo. Because I've watched other C dramas execute this much better, I cant help penalising.

For rewatch I would only do so with clips and shorts. It has been a good enjoyable watch for 80% of the time and among the better historical dramas offered this year.

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I wouldn’t tell you guys not to watch it but my opinion is that it got repetitive quick. The FL (extra) was annoying after she got with Haru, it was just ‘Haru haru haru’ it’s like they forgot her character and what her goal was and her sole focus was just on her teenage relationship which won’t last anyway because the writer could erase them in his new manhwa, I mean Haru disappeared twice, whose to say he won’t disappear again...

Also the ending, I know the reason why some of the characters weren’t in new comic, was because the writer chose not to write them, but they gave us no closure for the other characters that people liked.
And there was a time jump, nobody asked for that...

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If you think the man should always save the woman, and that all independent women should become submissive, you've come to the right place. Honestly, the love story didn't even make sense. She fell in love with the guy because she thought he was handsome. He never properly shows that he loves her either. Throughout the whole drama they were just these two people that had absolutely no chemistry with each other. It didn't help that their story lines was so cringe. Like, whoever wrote this drama obviously was a shallow person. If someone could just please enlighten me on how this drama was soooooo great. Love? Cute? Where?

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enjoyable & worth watching!

I never thought ill say this but this by far one of the best kdrama ive ever watched, i cant believe its already over. by this time most people are interested in 'its okay to not be okay' kdrama, but im my opinion its a good kdrama but some parts in episodes might be dull from time to times, while when i watch 'backstreet rookie' i enjoyed (enjoyable) it every episodes and its gets me hooked for more. when i first watch this kdrama i never expected this but i got really satisfied by the kdrama even though theres only one kisse and i even what season 2 for this kdrama. i dont usually interested in this kind of kdrama but this kdrama got me hooked just like 'weightlifting fairy kim bok joo' did.

this kdrama doesnt deserve the hate they got right now,i really hope theres this kdrama got a lot of attentions from seoul or intern fans. overall this kdrama is 10/10 i never felt this satisfied when watching a kdrama so i can assure you that you will enjoy this kdrama too. Good Job JCW and KYJ! <3

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Yes, I read all the bad reviews and I’m glad I did not read them until after I watched the drama, because I enjoyed this romantic fantasy and I enjoyed the actors’ interpretation of their characters and their parts.

The drama is presented in two sections; How it all Began… You start out with conflict and mystery and as the drama solves the mystery and secrets of the past it also brings our main characters to a whole new level of understanding, of themselves and of each other…

The workings of the human mind is amazing and in the second segment the drama is going to focus on the DID and how the characters are affected by it. The drama tries to show you the depth and complexity of the personalities, the reality of their lives and questions how to face those realities.

How would you cope with their realities? And how would have the drama end?

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OVERALL
An okay drama to watch with low expectations. Do not let Kim Sohyun and the awesome soundtrack deceive you. It has a lacking plot and stagnating characters, and you will spend most of the time watching it with the urge to slap someone.

THE STORY
So, imagine you have the choice between the story of a girl with no self-confidence who learns to take control of her life and not be tramped on, and the story of a girl with no self-confidence who gets trampled on again and again, and gets saved by someone, again and again. Which one sounds better? Well, the writers of School 2015 think it's option B. The drama had zero character development, and gave the bitter feeling of things being uselessly repeated, over, and over, AND OVER again.

I am particularly frustrated with the production crew of School 2015 because their original premise was very promising. Different from other School dramas (I frankly think it shouldn't have been part of the School series; it's like an apple among oranges), but promising. There was intrigue, meaty characters, school drama. But they just had to completely ruined it one third into the show, sacrificing all the plot for the sake of a very bad love triangle (one couple was coherent and the other didn't make sense, and if you know anything about Kdrama geometry you can guess which one wins in the end).

THE ACTING
Why did I watch the drama until the end? For Kim Sohyun and for Go Eun Byul. The former was awesome playing two separate characters, and the latter was the best character for me (because I am a fan of characters who aren't all bad or all good but somewhere in between). Other actors played quite well as well. Jo Soohyang was amazing as the irreversible bully, but her character was one of the never-evolving ones, unfortunately. Sungjae was quite impressive as Taegwang, especially since he's a rookie actor. Well, Taegwang was impressive, period. Nam Joohyuk was the only one who didn't really strike me as good, but he wasn't bad either. Poor guy had to play a lousy character too, so I don't hold it against him.

THE MUSIC
A.MA.ZING. That's probably another reason why I watched the show until the end. To get acquainted with the soundtrack and download it. All. My favorite is Baechigi's Fly with the wind (ft. Punch).

REWATCHABLE VALUE
I want to rewatch it for its epic beginning; for the mysteries and the dramas of the beginning, for Go Eun Byul. But just thinking about the latter half of the drama...*shudders*. Probably won't rewatch unless I can't think of anything better.

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