Reviews

Not worth the trouble

sorry that my comment starts off negative - but considering reading the positive comment made me watch this, i feel the need to warn others. this is a waste of time - and what astounded me, is that people not only liked this, they gave it 10 out of 10 - why? how? this was just bad.. and not, as in boring or a plot with holes, the character's were bad - there wasn't one i liked. and plz - this is anything but love. this lust! basic sexual attraction nothing more nothing less.. trying to sell this, as a love story is an insult to the word love.

we got Sasaki who isn't just a pushover, yes-man he comes of a bit "slow" as in "the special needs" kinda way - watching him made me cringe in embracement and shame. he has little to no self worth/respect. and happily enables everyone around him to step all over him - happily smiling and excusing their behavior - when they do nothing, to even act apologetic - talk about doormat mentality.

then u got his supposed love interest - talk about a joke - this dude takes being a tsundere to a new detestable level. like most abusers, they can spot a "weak link" in the blink of an eye - little wonder Tamura can't help getting on Sasaki case, openly insulting this moron - who just bows and vows to do better - watching this made me see red - this is romance 101 sadism style

and if these two weren't enough we got Sawako, Sasaki's childhood friend that is more bulldozer then female. it was obvious to the world that she wanted more with Sasaki, who she kept pushing and shoving verbal. basically making a nuisance of herself. could go on and on - about how i despised this - but for what? think my sentiment is pretty clear. what a disappointment -

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Well… It was something…

now that this is over, I think I can say it was just average to me. I didn’t like any of the characters, and I found myself barely connecting to any of them. I’m not sure where the Mew storyline went because he was the least complex, least interesting, and overall most flat character.

I think everyone hyping it up, trying to analyze the characters, and general noise from the fans was making this seem more than it was. it was nice to see them push a bit against the norm for Thai bls, especially in the exclusive pairings factor, but I can’t say it made up for the lack of attention in fleshing out stories/backgrounds.

it was an interesting watch, but not something I found too enjoyable. the slut shaming of Boston was also a huge annoyance to me and I think he deserved to be seen as a person, not just a drama factor. he was the main reason the series could even keep going, so it was disappointing not seeing him get to say his piece.

this almost pushed the “open relationship” mentality, as I don’t see this as poly. it just fell short. I don’t really know what else I can praise this for… khaotung’s song? forcefirst being a thing? overall I just watched this to watch it. after the mew dramatics, knowing damn well it was just for show, it lost a lot of wind for me.

anyway, not a bad show, but it didn’t work for me personally.

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THIS DRAMA WILL SURELY NOT DISAPPOINT YOU!

I really don't understand why this drama is so underrated like seriously .I want to really appreciate the screen writer and director for their work .If you are a crime and mystery genre one this is it .honestly speaking after watching first episode i wasn't that into this drama but as the story goes on you'll be hooked to the drama.You'll be confused at the start like what's going on but once you start watching you'll understand how everything is connected.

There are many drama writers who get messed up sometimes but that's not the case with this you'll get answer to all your questions. The whole drama focused mainly on the story it never felt that the were off the track.This story starts when a skeleton is found on a railway station which was closed since long time.But the confusion gets more tangled because the dead body of the person they found was alive in this world how? TRAIN.A train which connect two parallel worlds. The detective was on medicine so no one couldn't even trust him like how can train join to parallel worlds.But when he traveled through it and saw the person who died in his world and was alive.But their was difference in both worlds, it all started when Do Won made different choices on that rainy day when Seo Kyung dad was killed.This story revolves how Do Won finds the killer and also how he protects whom he couldn't protect earlier.Why would a killer kill people from a world and dump in another and also not know about it?
1. The story line is actually amazing
2.The writers kept everyone in confusion the whole time but they didn't got messed till the end.
3. sometimes Do Won aka Yoon Shi Yoon spoiled the scene with his acting but that wasn't that noticeable
4. Seo kyung aka Kyung Soo jin i really can't believe she did to fell like i really didn't from her much but yaa she was really good.
5. Miss.Oh's acting is also appreciable she played her role really well(Lee Hnag Na)
6.cliffhangers in this drama are real torture like seriously just binge watch.

starting will be confusing but once you start understanding both the worlds you'll also how they are connected.The cast isn't that famous or something like that but story is phenomenal. really wish you guys to watch it. i wrote this review because many people don't know about this drama yet so i want you to give it a shot:)

~END~

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Great portrayal of Silicon Valley

I've seen a lot of reviews that pan the ambiance this show creates for startups. I'm writing here mostly to say, they nailed it! I lived in Silicon Valley (Mountain View and Sunnyvale) from the time that Google had one building, leased from Silicon Graphics, until just a couple of years ago. I had many friends who worked at Google. I attended focus groups and workshops there, and ate in the famous cafeterias. I knew people in other startups and used an incubator for a while with a group I worked with. I had a close associate working for a self-driving car start-up. Start-ups are regularly bought for big money just to grab the talented programmers for a couple of years, and everyone ends up wealthy. It happened to someone I know. The images created in this drama were so accurate that it was like being back there again. So when I say that they got the ambiance right, I know what I'm talking about.
That said, it's not much like that any more - the renown Google food has deteriorated, the people aren't having fun any more, and it's become largely tech rat-race.
AS for the story, it's ok. There were things that didn't go the way I had hoped, there were loose ends. Although I watch a lot of K-drama, I don't pay any attention to the fan wars or other stuff that surrounds them, so I'm blissfully ignorant about all that. I loved seeing Kim Hae Sook, one of my favorite actresses. I looked forward to every episode, and I was sorry it ended. There are plenty pf reviews out there that dissect the plot and everything else in painful detail, so read those if you want to know about that stuff. But if you want to visit the world of tech startups in the early days, this is a great place to do it. They got it right.

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a lot of hype for randomly resolved storylines

Last episode just premiered, and I'm sitting here thinking wtf did I even watch. Granted, I made it to the end so it was entertaining enough to keep watching, but there was a lot of unfulfilled potential.

Story-- The premise here isn't original, it's a Parent Trap style twin swap story where we follow one twin in his efforts to save his brothers dream after his brother was attacked in his place. After watching Not Me, it's hard to do the twin trope better than that, but this one is a more of a lighthearted and innocent story, so for the concept it works fine.

Something about this show just doesn't flow very well, or should I say nothing this show flows well at all. Part of it was probably poor acting, but the writers/directors/producers must have all been totally out of sync because the story was all over the place and the drama behind it all just made no sense.

Acting-- Frame, the actor who plays the twins is kind of a poor actor, his scenes are exaggerated and the characters themselves are not so well written imo. You have one that's supposedly wild dog crazy but when he has to play his brother he's a huge softy, and then the other who's apparently incredibly popular who's just a POS in general, and they just arent on the same page, makes no sense at all.

I did rate the acting well though because the cast is pretty good otherwise, I wish the rest of them had more screen time. I love the side couples, and even the main couple is cute at some points, but theres just a lot of drama dragging on.

Music-- Yhe music is fine, nothing too crazy, just unimpressed.

Anyway, with all of its flaws, I was able to make my way through it, I was even excited to get those new episodes every week. It was a "happy" ending, it just didn't really make sense, and I left unsatisfied. Worth a watch? Up to you.

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Go watch it ... It's that good!

I have never watched a republican era drama... I have almost nil knowledge of Chinese history and i zero knowledge of capital market. That said.. this drama have all these aspects and i thoroughly enjoyed all 38 episodes. Each episode keeps you on the edge.

About Plot;
The journey which began with the sparkly eyed poor mathematical genius, a 23 year old young boy called Wei Ruolai and his ambition leads to such a rollercoaster ride.

A very commendable mentor-mentee relationship which is the foundation of this story all built on their Mutua love and respect for each other and how it transforms over the years while both stick to their ideology believing that's what the people of China needs is the heart of the story.

I laughed, I cried, I had 6 people on my hitlist before 10th episodes.

This drama keeps the audience engaged ,where u feel for the characters, their pain their helplessness their anger feels like yours.

About Cast:
Wang Yibo! what a commendable actor! Wang Yibo's interpretation of Wei Ruolai makes you root for him. You wait for his smile , you wanna slap the people who hurts him. He is that good! C-ent should be proud to have this young and extremely talented actor.
Wang Yang, Li Qin being the lead role in this series, they played their roles very well. Wang yang have that very polite intellectual who loves his family and his mentee and his country. He is the one who has to make choices most of the time and he has to fight the ones he love. Li Qin gave a powerful interpretation of young lady driven by the thought of doing good for her nation and she is ready to go to may extreme length for that.

All the supporting castes of this series played a very amazing role that each of them stays with u..


I can write a book about this story I guess and I will surely miss all of them!

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Cold delivery and predictable ending

I will start by saying this: Shin Sung Rok as Jayden Lee carried the whole drama from the beginning to the end. So Ji Sub did a decent job. However, his delivery felt too cold and emotionless most of the time. While his expressions showed a little of his character, the tone and delivery of his line were the same throughout the whole series and in the end, it started to be annoying. I couldn't connect at all with a character that was adamant about taking down a medical center and its chairman but didn't show much character.

The FL was annoying. For a prosecutor, she felt too emotional and overly dramatic with constantly spilling the ML's plans to the enemy and then was surprised when the enemy was a step ahead. The romance between her and So Ji Sub (the ML) was so little that it wouldn't make a difference if there was no romance at all. It also seemed absolutely unnecessary for the plot to continue their romance (or non-existent romance) after the five-year-jump.

Overall, the show felt overly dramatic, especially the entrances to the courtroom. The finale was kind of predictable. The ML's and FL's acting (So Ji Sub and Im Soo Hyang) was average compared to other actors like Shin Sung Rok, Lee Kyung Young, Kim Tae Gyum and Woo Hyun Joo.

The drama is decent. Not too great and mind-blowing but not boring either.

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First of all, I wasn't expecting a steamy love scene in episode 2. Secondly, I wasn't expecting said love scene to make me laugh my butt off from all the not-so-subtle imagery of rockets and trains and tunnels and jets....

I've watched enough TW dramas to have fairly low expectations when I start a new one. I was pleasantly surprised by this one. At first, I didn't like Chen Xin Yi's mom and sisters, but eventually their rapid-fire "discussions" became hilarious. Ji Cun Xi's granny was also funny and I really liked her. I thought the acting was, for the most part, really good and the OTP had great chemistry.

Unfortunately, about 2/3 of the way into the drama, I'd had enough of Anna and I really wanted to just shoot her through my computer screen. Somewhere around the last 2-3 episodes, I wanted to shoot the writer of the series, because it was definitely, absolutely, being dragged out waaaaaaaaay too long, to the point where I was just plain annoyed that the show wasn't over yet. Get to the happy-ever-after ending already! Geez!

Overall, I don't have the patience to re-watch the entire drama, but I'll probably re-visit my favorite scenes from time to time.

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Marry Me, Mary! KBS2, 2010

Just finished the last episode and I have to say this one didn't get better over time. The further down the line, the less interesting this drama gets, I felt it was becoming difficult to relate to pretty much any of the characters. I initially choose to watch this drama because of the female lead Moon Geun-Young's performance in Cinderella's Sister which I thought was great. However, it was not meant to last past the first half of this series.

Out of all the characters, there's just Kim Hyo-Jin's performance and a brief appearance by Yun Yu-Seon which stand out. Geun-Young's character Mary doesn't seem to suit her too well, but at least she has decent acting abilities. I was not impressed at all with Jang Geun-Suk nor with Kim Jae-Wook and the latter reminded me of Micky Yoochun's performance in Sungkyunkwan Scandal, bland, plain, boring and apparently void of emotions. The other actors either fail to make themselves notable or just didn't get enough time on the screen in order to show their capabilities. I like it when supporting characters' stories are explored, that didn't happen in this drama.
The music was alright in this drama, which is good because it plays a fairly important role in the story. I felt though that they could have given some more time for Kim Hyo-Jin (Seo-Jun) and Lee Sun-Ho (Lee-Ahn) to also show some acting. The drama production plays a central role in the story after all.

The story was decent I suppose, but I was never really happily surprised by the twists and turns throughout the drama. None of them were particularly inspiring or elevated the drama to a new level. Some of them were even meaningless altogether. Nothing to be in awe about.
I wouldn't want to go as far as saying that one should definitely avoid this drama, I'm sure there's plenty of people who would still enjoy seeing this a lot, but for me this was a disappointment.

5/10

http://www.reddit.com/r/KDRAMA/comments/l0q67/marry_me_mary_mary_stayed_out_all_night???_???/

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Waste of Time

So I personally did not enjoy this one but before I go into that, I have some positives.
1.) Cast- I think everyone did a good job at their roles and were cast well. There were some very good acting moments, which is rare in a drama like this.

2.) Length - It’s only 4 episodes. Even though I didn’t like it, I would have been much more upset if I spent 16 episodes watching this.

3.) Scenery - The place where they filmed this was absolutely beautiful. It’s hard to be angry at a show when the ocean is right there.

4.) Friendship - The characters interacting with each other and caring for each other was sweet.

5.) Lee Jinhyuk - I’m biased, sue me.
Okay, now for some negatives.

1.) There was not a good/healthy relationship in this drama. I guess that could be the point but it got to be too much for me. A good relationship would have been appreciated.

2.) The main couple is the worst part and most of my complaints are about them. So now I will complain about them.

a.) Communication is key to a good relationship. If you feel the need to break up with your partner, instead of telling them what’s going on in your life, you shouldn’t be together.

b.) Respect is important. If your partner breaks up with you, holding onto them and trying to make them be with you is wrong.

c.) Self-respect might be even MORE important. If your significant other breaks up with you and tells you repeatedly that they don’t like you, you owe it to yourself to move on. You deserve better.

d.) Possessiveness is not cute. Do I need to explain this?

3.) The secondary couples were much more interesting and yet, we barely saw them.

4.) Minah’s comedic timing often felt off which normally I wouldn’t care about but I’m so upset I wasted my time on this, I’m feeling nitpicky.

5.) Why was there a second guy in this? He literally didn’t do or add anything to the show. What was the reason?

6.) Repetitive. I felt like the first 3 episodes were very similar in what happened in them. I swear the main couple had the same conversation at least once in each of the first 3 episodes.

Okay, this was more of a rant than a review but honestly this drama left me feeling very frustrated. If you loved this drama, that’s great! Please don’t take what I said to heart.

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Sour Face and Silent Lady

The actor who plays the ML has a permanent sour look on his face. Why does he permanently look like he just secretly ate a pack of Sour Patch Kids? He doesn't have another facial expression other than this one, and I just can't understand why. I could make allowances for some wooden stoic archetypes but to have your one and only facial expression be so sour? Hmmm.... no, I can't make logical sense of this.

Plenty of wooden actors in Chinese dramas, but none of them have this sour expression permanently pasted on their face. This trait belongs to this actor alone.

As for Bai Lu. Well, I can't fault her. She is so beautiful and likeable. I think it's impossible not to like this actress. She is one of the best Chinese actresses working today.

The plot feels quite empty. Young, mute noblewoman sent to a prince's estate to learn from him about life. Finds herself falling in love with him, and he with her. She stops being mute at some point in the story.... oh, and there are a bunch of wars going on and political intrigue. The only interesting character is the antagonist, of course, because he isn't just handed what he wants, which is to marry the woman betrothed to him in childhood, and to be the crown prince, which he is clearly the best candidate for to begin with, but.... mustn't make things easy for him or he wouldn't end up the bitter antagonist.

I was quite content with the characters that died, since I didn't like them anyway. I was rooting for the antagonist the whole time and hoping he would get everything he desired in life, after suffering so many disappointments. I don't think he was a terrible person, if I remember correctly. Anyway, all I felt watching this drama was excruciating boredom, so I skipped a lot of it, as it was incredibly slow in any case. Yeah, yeah, the FL saw the ML's "inner beauty", but for me, the story didn't reveal anything endearing, never mind beautiful behind that sour face.

4.5 silent sour faces out of 10.

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Cliche or not, plot or not ... King the Land slayed anyways!

No drama needs a sophisticated plot, to be good enough. And I think we should literally stop with the cliche comments, cause this wasn't a space movie after all.

Now I don't want to repeat what many have already said but, personally, this drama didn't need a lot of twists or drama or plot to make me absolutely love it. I looked forward to it every weekend cause it really felt like my happy hour and put me in such a good mood.

I wasn't here for the plot, I was here for the healing love stories, for the charming Gu Won and Ro Woon, for the green flags all the main characters were, for the life lessons, for the so amazingly strong chemistry between the leads, for the mind blowing kiss scenes (thank God they weren't cringe like most the dramas out there). I was here for the princess halmeoni that makes me cry in every drama in a way or another. I was here for the family Sarang, Pyung Hwa and Da Eul had built, for all the times Gu Won violently kicked No Sang Sik out of the office. I was here for the family Gu Won and Sarang found, and I felt part of all of this. And sorry if I didn't mind the plot or whatever you couldn't find in this drama.
I was here for the people and the feelings they intended to give to me as a watcher and guys, you did it beautifully.

Let's please thank all of the crew for their amazing job cause they might feel bad with the fans splitting into two opposite love-hate directions, let alone the offended watchers that pretty sure messed up the rating.

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I rarely watch affair dramas. I made an exception for this because of the actors. However, the writer's perspective was interesting. I was emotional while watching and cried several times which is rare for me. The drama is slow paced, but doesn't give the feel of being too drawn out and boring. Every scene has it's reason and emotion. No one is blameless, but it isn't anyone's fault. Sometimes when living life we don't always see what is really going on. We don't see that the people we love are suffering and we forget to appreciate the people we love that are near us. Also, just because you love your significant other doesn't mean that you won't be attracted to or even care for someone else. I'm sure it happens every day. Valid Love makes you think from every perspective. The relationship between Hee Soo and Il Ri is beautiful. They are so close and it was great to watch them interact. My favorite relationship in the drama is their story line. I also liked the side story between Il Ri's sister and Hee Tae's brother. They were too cute. The draw back is that there are some strange happenings with the parents. I get the point the writer was trying to make, but it was borderline unnecessary. The ending was good.

Uhm Tae Woong did a nice job of conveying all of Jang Hee Tae's emotions. I felt his love, anger, and sadness. I was mad at him sometimes and routing for him other times. Lee Soo Hyuk was also great as Kim Joon. He made Il Ri comfortable enough to pour her misery out to him. I kinda felt bad for him, because it seemed he started every thing because he saw she was unhappy. He should have known that he would just end up hurt though. Lee Shi Young was amazing as the quirky, 4 dimensional Il Ri. I enjoyed her character so much. A lot of people might blame her, but I empathized with her. There were many times that I just wanted to yell at her to run away. I absolutely loved Choi Yeo Jin as Hee Soo. Her character was a large part of why I kept watching the drama.

The music is fine and appropriate.

I will never rewatch this.

If you like a slower paced meaningful drama, then I recommend this. It isn't action packed or epic, so please don't expect too much. Like I said in the feeds, Valid Love is oddly emotional and addictive.

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Funny and superficial so I guess a bit fasfoodish?

As a parody of all the main character´s invincible halo and many other clichés of dramaland, it is nice. I did enjoy the comedy quite a lot in the first half, the acting is ok, the visuals also. I admit I did skip around ten episodes as they were not necessary – you know what will happen after the first (few) episode(s). I will maybe go back to them when I am really bored and in need of some background comedy.

*As for the characters or acting …. All is within the realm of genre. From the last servant to the ideal Mary Sue female lead. Their motivation or background are unnecessary and uninteresting, their portrayal ok. *

The story is simple and flat and not that well-made but considering it sets out to point out and ridicule those traits of its genre, there is no need to attack them on these grounds. They are well-aware of it.
I was wondering about the end – because in this kind of story there is only so much you can do. And they went for the most kitchy one! It is not bad – it stays true to the parodic tongue-in-the-cheek comedy vibe. Similarly, I did appreciate that the girl admitted in the end that the story is bull***t.
The funny thing is that if you don´t want to, you can ignore the parody and happily enjoy/be furious with the simple and clichéd romcom. This, I think, is also intentional. They put just enough jokes about the silly plotlines or stock characters etc. to retain the impression of self-reflection. Thanks to that, the audience can enjoy the romance, comedy and dramatic bits without being annoyed with all those clichés.

As for the feminism or gender equality themes that are addressed here…. Firstly, I think it comes as no surprise that it is done quite cheaply and simplistically. Yes, it points out some issues and absurdities and as a light-hearted start of this discussion can be somewhat accepted. However, the alleged cultural differences are used only when the plot allows it, the main leads stick to the classical drama-couple dynamic, there is not much of independence or value outside of their pairing, the ML saves the girl while the FL is the angel redeeming his soul (honestly, this is such ugly and dangerous trope the bad boy reformed through love!) etc. etc. On the other hand, it was nice that the original genre setting was so simplistic and childish, it went well with the female lead´s personality and writing ability.
Secondly, it seems that the theme is used mainly as a crowd pleaser. Not sure that the authors ever intended to contribute with anything worthwhile to the discussion about gender equality. Rather they just wanted to have something attractive for the audience – something that will address an interesting and popular topic and will create an illusion of difference (similarly the parodic bit can be viewed as an illusion of taking the audience´s intelligence into consideration).

Overall, it is light-hearted and simple romcom that uses all the clichés it is making fun of. All the stock characters, scenes, plot devices and solutions. It tries to distinguish itself from the horde by admitting to it by using the parodic angle. Yes, it makes the superficiality and hollowness of such stories obvious. However, it still stays within its realm… so what is the point? I suspect it is just to appease the viewer. This way their weakness becomes their strength and their, albeit short-lived, allure. It seems that more than being a critique of the low quality of (isekai, historical, fantasy,…) dramas it just wants to gain more popularity without actually doing that much extra work.

As some other reviewer already said – lower your expectations. Accept the cheap parodic bit and you have simple romantic comedy to watch during your lunch or before sleeping. Easy to digest, quick to forget. But don´t forget, same as with fast food, the nutritional value is quite low.

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