Completed
Love, Lies
5 people found this review helpful
by OuBe
Dec 14, 2020
Completed 0
Overall 10
Story 9.5
Acting/Cast 10
Music 10
Rewatch Value 9.0

'Why didn't I know... How great it was... Why didn't I know then?'

My review will be split to 2 parts since there is two types of people will be reading this. Some didn't watch the movie yet so they are reading the reviews to find out if the movie worth there time or not, I'll give them the answer and why from my opinion of course, and the second type has already finished the movie and looking for words to express what they are feeling right now through other people reviews, I hope they'll find here what they're looking for.
This is my second time watching this movie and my first review ever, I always get lazy and don't write a review no matter how good the movie/drama was, but since it's a movie that I rewatched and I feel like I need to express my feelings, so I think I'm obligated to give it justice. Excuse my English it’s not my first language but I’ll try my best.


PART 1: For those who didn't watch the movie yet. Does the movie worth watching? YES OF COURSE!!! Why? Let’s see why:
1-->If you like Kmovies/Kdramas that revolve around the period of Japanese occupation of South Korea then you must watch this movie because it transmits the vibe of that era very well: the costumes, the songs and traditions... BUT even if you don't like it, you will appreciate its beauty, because the movie is not about the war even though it's set in 1943-1945, no sword or gun fighting scenes as we usually see in this type of movies.
2-->If you like musical movies where the characters sing some beautiful songs during it, then watch this movie you’ll be satisfied, especially when you know that the ones who are singing the songs are the real cast and the piano too.
3-->If you like movies that focus more on the woman than the guy, this movie is for you
4-->If you’re bored from watching a weak, pure and innocent protagoniste as the FL who has received injustice from the world and still not doing anything about it but crying, then you came to the right place. Our FL fights back to destroy who destroyed her no matter what the cost is.
5-->If you are a fan of Han Hyo Joo, then you’re not a real fan until you watch this movie. I can say that this is one of her best performances if not the best one so far from all of her works (acting, speaking Japanese, singing and dancing) and this is coming from someone who has seen 6 movies and 4 Dramas of hers.
6--> The main trio cast has worked “together” before in another beautiful movie ‘the beauty inside’.
7-->If you like revenge movies then watch it.
8-->If you want to know more about gisaeng’s life since we only see usually a shallow view of them in historical Kdramas.

Some reasons why you may not like it or that movie is not for you:
1-->If you are looking for a movie that will shock you from beginning till end you may be disappointed, as the plot summary spoils a big part of it already. But that doesn’t take much from the movie (I don’t agree tho that jealousy is what consumed So Yul, it was basically because of a betray from her loved ones).
2-->If you hate sad movies you may find this movie too dark for you (I’m don’t like dark movies myself, I find them heart breaking but I still enjoyed this one a lot)
3-->If you are here to watch a platonic love story with romantic scenes then sorry we don’t do that here.

So over all I highly recommend this movie, so stop wasting time and go start watching NOW and don’t continue reading as from now on, the review will include spoilers and details that you can read after finishing the movie.


PART 2: For those who has already finished the movie

_STORY 9,5: Not the first time we see a story revolve around friendship, love, jealousy and betray as those words are the topic of many works that we’ve watched in Kdrama land BUT we usually see the story from the point of view of a character like Seo Yeon-Hee, the poor, innocent and talented protagoniste that couldn’t help but falling in love with her best friend’s lover who helped her break free from the gisaeng’s life to have a more meaningful life as a pop singer who sings to the hall country poor and reach ‘heart of Joseon’ and not just to who pay high, and the ML who falls in love with her as a songwriter/producer first and then as a man, and we follow the story of the two as they suffer from obstacles made by people who try to stood in the face of their love and dreams like So-Yool’s character that usually is an evil second FL who feels jealous from her best friend who’s getting everything she ever wanted (singing and love) and tries to ruin their love and life and so we end up sympathizing with the two protagonists and hating the antagoniste. NO NO THAT’S NOT OUR MOVIE, ‘Love, Lies’ gived us an antagoniste FL that we saw the movie by her eyes wish made it special, I couldn’t hate So-Yool for what she felt or did or even blame her, and I definitely couldn’t like or sympathize with the protagonists as they showed no expression of guilt toward So Yool, they only cared about themselves. I guess that’s what I didn’t like about the movie, So-Yool used to be Yeon-Hee’s best friend since they were children but Yeon-Hee still didn’t show any sort of guilt or hesitation when she fell in love with So-Yool’s lover, and the same goes for Yoon-Woo who claimed that his heart only belongs to So-Yool at the beginning, I feel like we needed more from Yeon-Hee’s character at least, plus some scenes felt rushed a little bit I guess that has something to do with the movie time so I think they couldn’t help it. But overall, the story is very well done, I like the fact that So-Yool and Yeon-Hee are two of the last gisaengs in Joseon which give us the chance to know more about Gisaeng, we don’t see that a lot.

_ACTING/CAST 10: All the cast was outstanding and did a great job from the main cast to the support one, I know it’s a good movie when I see Yoo Yeon-Seok in it, same goes for Han Hyo Joo. I only saw Chun Woo-Hee in the beauty inside and I didn’t even remember her until I saw her in the cast, she did a great job and she has a beautiful voice I hope I’ll see more of her in the future. Yoo Yeon-Seok is wonderful as usual, I loved him with the piano too, for Han Hyo Joo as I said before this maybe her best performance, she portrayed So-Yool’s change of character very well from that innocent kind child who started a friendship with a poor girl, then a beautiful woman who dreams of becoming a singer and a wife to the one she loves, and protect her honor as a Gisaeng, to the vengeance version that can sacrifice anything and sell even her body to take back what she believes belongs to her destroying her friend, lover and herself in the process even after more than 40 years she still tortures herself by taking the name of Chun Woo-Hee and her song, I don’t think that what changed her was jealousy because though she saw her friend achieving what she was dreaming of, she kept trying to support her and smile to her but it was the betray that she felt after seeing Woo-Hee and Yoon-Woo together that broke the last hope she had, she wished to be her so badly that she stole her name after all this years. My two favorite scenes of Han Hyo Joo in this movie were that scene when she was trying to sing Heart of Joseon like Woo-Hee while listening to the record and crying, the second is the scene at the end when she finally heard someone praises her song ‘love lies’ and said 'Why didn't I know... How great it was... Why didn't I know then?'.

_Music 10: Beautiful songs and I think what gave them more value is that they were singed by the cast Han Hyo Joo and Chun Woo Hee, I gived it 10 because I listened to ‘Heart of Joseon’ uncounted times.

_Rewatch value 9: This is my second time watching the movie after I forgot a lot of it over the years, I enjoyed it almost like the first time maybe even more.

_ Overall 10: It’s not easy for me to find a Korean movie that match my taste like that. A masterpiece.

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Completed
Extraordinary Attorney Woo
5 people found this review helpful
Oct 14, 2023
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 2
Overall 6.5
Story 5.5
Acting/Cast 7.5
Music 4.0
Rewatch Value 1.0

NOT extraordinary, not awful

I hesitated about watching this drama for a long time, in the end it was neither as good as I hoped it would be nor as bad as it could have been.

One of the biggest problems I have with Extraordinary Attorney Woo is the way it infantilises and fantasises autism. I have no problem with the presentation of an autistic person who has an idiosyncratic speaking style, but the presentation of attorney Woo's speech is that it seems designed to be cutesy, and that was to be a problem with the entire presentation of her autism.

I cut the drama some slack for that because I know that Korea is an extremely ableist society. It demonises the different, and it may well be that the drama decided to present the attorney as a cute overgrown infant at least in part in order to overcome the deeply ingrained antipathy toward the different in Korea's extremely homogenous society. Nevertheless, it got very wearing. The intent may have been noble, but the effect it was, for me, counter-productive. Presenting her as “a genius fairy” was demeaning, and even her display of the characteristics of her autism was inconsistent.

Similarly I am fine with the idea that attorney Woo has cetaceans as her special interest. One of my best friends is on the spectrum and his special interest is Koine Greek grammar – his brother, further on the spectrum, has superhero comics as his special interest. Both display the same sort of devotion to their interest she does to cetaceans.

But again the presentation of her special interest was infantile and fantasised. Not in the fact that she always wanted to talk about them, that would be normal, but the whole fantasy element of her "Eureka!" Moments involving various cetaceans floating through a field of vision was disappointing for me. Disappointing because it suggested again that she somehow lived in a fantasy world , not like a normal human being .

That fantasy world was also evident in many of the cases. One of the worst examples was in episode nine, involving the "kidnapping" of the children from the Academy bus. Like the kidnapper, I find the whole concept of forcing children to effectively spend 16 to 18 hours a day in some form of schoolwork repugnant. Nevertheless, it is legal in Korea and the extent to which that episode relied on "jury nullification" and sheer feel good fantasy was disappointing.

The wide range of cases covered was a positive highlight, bringing attention to lots of serious issues that are seldom featured in K Dramas. Much of the dialogue when serious was also well thought out, and if it does anything at all to prompt some to consider neurodivergent people in a new light, that’s great. Park Eun Bin did a good job of portraying the character she was given, even if that character was in the end profoundly unsatisfying for me.

So in the end, I give this 6.5/10 – 0 points for its depiction of autism, 6.5 for its highlighting the issue OF autism, and for the often quite exceptionally relevant and well thought-out social issues covered in the cases of each episode

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Completed
As Gentle as You
5 people found this review helpful
by libbye
Dec 2, 2022
18 of 18 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 8.0
Story 7.0
Acting/Cast 7.5
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 7.5
This review may contain spoilers

Want more story

I just watched this drama yesterday and it was quite surprising. I love the two main leads chemistry, but I can do without yhe idocincracy of the female agent. The story is a bit one-sided since they don't focus the girl who got hit by a car. Finally, the ending leaves everyone hanging since the ML knew anouy the soul switch and the autograph, he should have known it was who he fell in love with. If they would consider making a season 2, I would definitely watch because I want to see the two leads be happy.
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Completed
Kieta Hatsukoi
5 people found this review helpful
Dec 21, 2021
10 of 10 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 9.0
Story 9.0
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 10

Funny, Sweet, Adorable

This show is very light and fluffy, with plenty of genuinely hilarious moments. Personally, the diverse yet lovable characters are what made Kieta Hatuskoi one of the best BL dramas in recent years.

1. Aoki is a spazzy character with a BIG heart
2. Ida is the cool and popular guy in class but with ZERO toxic masculinity
3. Hashimoto is the sweetest yet most badass female character ever!
4. Akkun is a funny but supportive good friend for both Aoki and Ida
5. Even Ida's volleyball teammates are great! The last episode had me pleasantly surprised :)

If you loved last year's Cherry Magic, you're gonna love Kieta Hatsukoi too.

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Completed
Secret Garden
5 people found this review helpful
by Sban
Feb 23, 2021
20 of 20 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 3.0
Story 6.5
Acting/Cast 6.0
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 3.0

Classic tropes now out of date

This is a classic and maybe it was one of the first to feature these now common themes and tropes in k dramas (like the evil MIL, love triangles, and self-sacrifice), so that's why it's so popular. It was one of the first dramas I ever watched. I recently watched it again and decided I am no longer a fan of it.

I do like Ha Ji Won and I see that she is a strong female lead actress. I also liked Yoon Sang Hyun's portrayal of his character. He was romantic and lovely. Surprisingly, I thought Hyun Bin's performance was one-dimensional and uninteresting, but I believe it was due to the writing and script.

The leads don't have romantic chemistry at all. It was written that way and it simply doesn't work. There is no reason for the two to be in a relationship. I can't stand the continuous physical and sexual harassment that happens throughout the show. While it is still prevalent in some current shows, it is pretty unacceptable. The bro love is strong and the dialogue between the two guys is interesting and well written, but the delivery is pretty much yelling at each other the entire time. Ra Im and Oska have the strongest performances, but they are wasted on their lovers because of such a lack of chemistry. One thing the show does have is endless twists and turns in the plot so it doesn't get boring that way.

All in all, I would not recommend this show except to see what dramas used to be like and how far they have come.

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Completed
Theory of Love
5 people found this review helpful
by Shiro
Feb 22, 2022
12 of 12 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 8.5
Story 9.0
Acting/Cast 8.0
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 4.5

Third (time) is the charm...

The first (Khai) is a total player and insensitive jerk but Second (Two) and Third are just sweet and adorable right down to Bones who is also such a sweet soul.. this drama has a lot of my favourite tropes, and hits lot of good spot.

The drama is entertaining, painful at times but easy to watch, easy to binge and has very few annoying disturbances and mostly lovable characters.

I was truly impressed by guns acting in this drama, he really conveyed all the emotions (mostly pain) of falling for your best friend. A performance that definitely stood out and made me want to see more of him. Most of the rest of the cast did a pretty decent job too, with the exception of one or two side characters most the shortest roles were well written and well preformed.

What I loved about this drama was how all bad behaviour was called out for what it was, but also the show of conflicting emotions and knowing that person is bad for you but you can not help but love them a reality that I unfortunately think many can relate to. And though those who are jerks in real life really change it is nice to dream of a better world...

The next thing I loved about this drama was the bromance, crew friendship though they where sexist jerks a times they were pretty decent friends and I just loved how they supported each other (especially Two and Third).

Definitely a drama I recommend all GMMTvs lovers out there, I also think this could be a good starter drama for those who are curious about GMMTVs dramas.

Also, for those of you who remember Earth from A Tale of a 1000 stars, he does a good job here too, but it took a while for me to recognise him, his styling here is not nearly as good as in ATOTS...

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Completed
Our Secret
5 people found this review helpful
Mar 6, 2022
24 of 24 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 6.5
Story 5.0
Acting/Cast 7.0
Music 2.0
Rewatch Value 1.0

Well, I did not enjoy that.

I'm not sure how I finished watching this show. Around episode 11, I realized that I wasn't enjoying this very much but I thought I'll finish it anyway. Around episode 18, the show became unwatchable and I had to fast-watch my way to the end.
After watching "A River Runs Through It" I became interested in youth dramas and I decided you watch a few more. "Our Secret" cured me of that. I think I am done with youth dramas for the foreseeable future and need a total palette cleanse with some seriously good shows to get over this nightmare. I don't recommend this. I just can't. I hated it.

Things that exist in this show that infuriated me beyond belief:
1. Sadistic younger brother
2. Unhinged, abusive, moody, and immature mother whose behavior is excused as caring
3. A second male lead who must possess a Time-turner because there is no way he achieved that character assassination in just three years
4. Dumbest university arc ever.
5. The female lead's voice. It was like having honey poured into my ears if honey was made of acid. -_-
6. Villain of the weeks who make you gain respect for scooby-doo villains
7. Regressive sexist rhetorics

Plot: This was like a slice of life, high school drama with an appendage arc in a fantasy university in which meeting drawing club deadlines is somehow more important than spending arduous hours crying over your engineering homework that you will definitely not finish anyway. The plot starts fine. It's a bit sad and I was really feeling for the FL. The characters were so balanced and nice, even though nothing important happened, I was enjoying it but before the show even reached its halfway mark, I was done with it. It was too long and things moved very slowly at first so eventually, everything became tiresome. The romance plot was sweet but they had to wait until they were out of high school to consummate it and that hurt the story because it took too long to reach that moment, made more complicated by unnecessary melodrama plots that were pointless and it just wasn't engaging anymore. So the story became lazy and exaggerated and boring.

Acting: The ML is fine. He isn't doing anything much. The plot doesn't require complex acting chops so moderate skills would suffice for all the performances. Unfortunately, the FL lacked for me, still. Her talking style was grating on my nerves. At first, it was fine but slowly...it just felt like my ears were bleeding. She sounded like a spoiled child who is constantly pouting. The ensemble was pretty subpar too as most fell into really cliche archetypes so again: bare-minimum skills required.

Music: Idk, most of it was copyrighted so the YouTube video's sound got muted...I wasn't gonna like it anyway. Generic, whatever sounds.

Production: I wanna say bad? This was supposed to be 2009. It looked very little like it was from that time. I was in school back then and save for their phones, the fashion, the decoration, and hairstyles all looked out of place. Just watch some shows produced in 2009 and you'll understand. Moreover, the concept of seasons was not one the creators had heard of. Characters wore freaking shorts in winter...how? This was probably filmed in summer. No matter what season it was, everyone was constantly in summer clothes. That is just lazy.

Rewatch value: Oh sure, I'll torture myself again.... -_-

Negative: The whole university stuff. This show should have ended after they took the entrance exam and ended my misery. I might have rated it higher.

Overall: If this is the best youth drama out there, then I was right to avoid them from the start. I'll have to write down my love for ARRTI as an anomaly. This show had no real direction. It must've been targeted at younger viewers. Perhaps actual high school students but even in that case, some plot choices become even more dubious. How can you encourage your young viewers to just take the abuse of bad parents? Or become a new person to appease a boy you like? wtf! Don't teach girls to put someone else's likes and dislikes above their own. Only in a fantasy world would anyone give a job to a person who is studying a completely different field. Trust me, I learned that the hard way...
At the last leg of the show, there is a sudden realization about the weird messages they have sent their young and impressionable female audiences and they try to fix that but it's just such a frustratingly silly fix that it made me angrier.
Anyway, I don't know how clear it is in my tone but I am so mad right now; mostly at myself for watching this but also at the creators for starting the show normal and just ending it so ridiculously. Dear creators, please make steadily good or bad shows so a b**ch can know her deal from the start and not waste so much time investing in a show that will crash and burn later.

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Completed
Exte
5 people found this review helpful
Oct 25, 2012
Completed 0
Overall 8.0
Story 6.0
Acting/Cast 10
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 7.0
Man this movie totally gave me the creeps (and it was my first time watching it too.) This is not for the young at heart indeed. I gotta say the actors did a good job portraying the characters and the music fit perfectly well. All i gotta say is if you ever except hair from a stranger and you start noticing strange things, especially if a stranger comments on your hair or appearance, keep it in mind and do some research and find out the stranger's true motives or attentions. And you may not want to get your hair done after a while once you see this movie. Good , but very creepy and scary.

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Completed
Detective K: Secret of Virtuous Widow
5 people found this review helpful
by CeeCee
Dec 4, 2013
Completed 0
Overall 10
Story 10
Acting/Cast 10
Music 10
Rewatch Value 10
Well for one thing you laugh from beginning till the very end. Hadn't seen great quality movie in some time. That I really enjoyed and wasn't disappointed.

The detective has great capabilities of discernment and is investigating serious stuff...you have so much fun as he is seeking the truth. Things are not what they seem.

It is hilariously funny, witty, interesting,plenty action,his sidekick is great. It offers a little bit of everything, you don't get bored.

Actor Kim Myung Min which I loved his role in King of Dramas and Beethoven Virus...has delivered an excellent performance.
Kudos!

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Completed
Hidarime Tantei EYE
5 people found this review helpful
by Erin
May 17, 2016
1 of 1 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 10
Story 10
Acting/Cast 10
Music 10
Rewatch Value 10
Am I the only one who thinks the detective genre/series is a great fit for Yamada Ryosuke? I mean.... "Tantei Gakuen Q" and then the "Kindaichi" series, too. Also, Yokoyama Yu is always a fantastic actor! His talent to submerge himself in to his acting is amazing! This special/film was the prequel story before the series, so I don't want to say too much.

It did move fast in some areas of the film, but it also didn't go so fast that you would miss something or not understand something. The story, itself, progressed rather quickly, I thought. But, that also could be my imagination because ever since I pressed play on this story I have been completely sucked in!

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Completed
Chronicle of Life
5 people found this review helpful
Jul 31, 2016
37 of 37 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 5.0
Story 6.0
Acting/Cast 10
Music 10
Rewatch Value 2.0
This is my honest opinion. This drama was full of life until the last 3 episodes. It was a drag and it turned out to be very disappointing. Not gonna lie, I was depressed at how bad the ending was, it was kinda like wasting my time to watch this drama. But the acting was on point. I loved all the characters and the how the story began. After that it went down hill.
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Completed
Healer
5 people found this review helpful
Feb 26, 2017
20 of 20 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 10
Story 10
Acting/Cast 10
Music 10
Rewatch Value 10
Healer. Wow. This drama has been on my "To be watched" list for a long time, and it kept just being something I didn't want to start. Then I started watching The K2, which also stars the ridiculously charming (no, seriously, it's criminal how charming this man is) Ji Chang Wook. Unfortunately, just about every single character I encountered in six episodes I've seen so far of The K2 has been despicable. Which is not to say that it isn't a fine show, just that I can only take so many doses before I have to walk away for a while. Contrary to that, Healer is filled with delightful characters that really inspired me to care about what was happening to them. Did I mention that Ji Chang Wook is inhumanly charming? He embodies the character of Healer, a "night courier" who does shady work for high pay. It also has Park Min Young as the spunky girl reporter with a mysterious past (well, to be fair, most everyone in this show has a mysterious past) with whom he falls in love. This one is a lot of action, a lot of political drama, some family drama, and a bit of lovely romance thrown in to season it all with hope. Ji Chang Wook is a joy to watch in action scenes. And non actions scenes. And gratuitous shirt-less scenes. And cute falling in love scenes. And hot kissing scenes. And outraged black-hat-turns-white-hat (though really he was always more of a grey hat than a black hat) scenes. And devastating emotional loss scenes. He'd probably be a joy to watch in reading the phone book out loud scenes, truthfully. Throw into the mix Yoo Ji Tae as the intrepid, famous, successful investigative reporter and add some truly outstanding supporting cast members, such as the ever versatile Kim Mi Kyung as Healer's hacker ahjumma, and the outcome is a very engaging race to the finish line.

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Meow Ears Up
5 people found this review helpful
by labcat
Jun 1, 2022
8 of 8 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 7.0
Story 7.0
Acting/Cast 7.5
Music 7.0
Rewatch Value 7.0
This review may contain spoilers

A lot of hollow cuteness, and also somewhat disturbing

Cats. Cute guys. BL. Lots of affection and friendship. What could go wrong?

Well, if you isolate the different parts, it's all good. I wish the real cats appeared more frequently. They are adorable. The leads are cute and sweet too. There's even a bit of GL thrown in as a bonus.

But even if we don't care about the lack of a story in quite a number of episodes (the danger of Meow getting into deep trouble because his ears are revealed isn't really made use of fully), there is the awkwardness of the human-evolved cat romantic pairings. At what point does love for the cuteness of cats become romantic love for the human form of the cat?

Even if we just take the evolved cats to be more like humans who can transform into cats, the characterization of Meow is problematic. Meow doesn't seem all that young, but he behaves very much like a really young kid who does not know anything. Come on, cats grow up much faster than human beings, and why would a cat remain like a kid when a human kid has grown up into an adult who has been working for a number of years? And then the talk about Meow "growing up" in the future and Meow's seeming ignorance of romantic love makes the whole relationship between Dermdem and Meow pedophilic. Such a portrayal of Meow is very much unnecessary. Can't he simply be a young grown-up who is really innocent but is still aware of his own romantic feelings for Dermdem? (Even young teenagers are often curious about romantic relationships and sex, so Meow seems more like a toddler in a young adult's body.) There's no need to exaggerate his innocence given that this is a live action series featuring human actors.

Some parts of the series are quite nice, like the first half of Episode 8, which brings some of the significant events together. Unfortunately, overall, the potential provided by the cuteness of cats and the cuteness of the actors isn't really used.

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Phetra Naruemit
5 people found this review helpful
May 23, 2023
17 of 17 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 9.5
Story 9.0
Acting/Cast 10
Music 10
Rewatch Value 9.0
This review may contain spoilers
TL;DR - A solid and very well produced time travel lakorn. The plot, characters, production and music are great. Romance is top notch. The kind of drama where I wish I could forget what happened so I can watch it again. There are hiccups here and there but overall I'm happy, and it's worth it to see the magic of Mike/Mook again.

Obligatory disclaimer that I love this couple although even if I didn't, I would still give this lakorn a high score. Not only is the romance superb, the story, secondary characters, music, production are also amazing, and in my eyes, done very very well. I didn't have much expectation going into this, and I had doubts that Mike could pull off a classic boran character, but I'm happy to say that I was wrong on all counts. I'll start with the story first.

The story is about a modern girl (Mae Orn) who travels back 200 years in the past due to a spell the male lead (Khun Luang) chants to find his soulmate. Time travel plots can be tricky, because you have to make sure it all makes sense, and that there's no loopholes the audience can see. This aspect was done well because every character was held accountable for their part in making sure Mae Orn was sent to and stayed in the past. There was purpose and logic to the things characters did in the past that made the events in the future timeline make sense. It really comes full circle in the end. The pacing of the drama was good and although the rest of the story was simple, there was a good mix of comedy and fluff to make me happy, but enough tragedy so that it didn't feel stale and out of touch. 

Of course, I have to gush over our leads, Khun Luang and Mae Orn. I wasn't sure Mike could pull off a gentlemanly character since I'd only seen him in ML and KKSR but boy was I wrong. He was sweet and sensitive, but not a doormat. A total gentleman who could think for himself, has strong morals, is an advocate for women, has a super nice body (:P), and much more. I loved that he could see through Bua's scheming (mostly) and his devotion towards Mae Orn. Mookda was great as Mae Orn; someone who was spunky and not afraid to be herself, but knew when to draw the line and be conscious of her surroundings. Her teaching her modern ideals and mannerisms to the servants and Khun Luang was super endearing and I replay those moments a lot. She could be a bit too self-righteous at times (esp concerning Mae Bua) but it wasn't too in my face, so I could ignore it. 

Since I love our leads as individuals, I'm obviously gonna support them being together and my goodness, I swooned and fangirled hard every time these two interacted. Khun Luang's gazes of love to Mae Orn gave me the same feelings of when Por Date would gaze at Mae Karakade (Love Destiny). The magical Mike/Mookda chemistry struck again, and it was a beautiful slow burn romance that gave me all the feels. I liked how the drama didn't make them fall for each other just because of the soulmate spell, but made them spend time together and go through events that tested their relationship. Whenever one got mad, the other would come over and talk to them to figure out why and try to resolve it. They both openly communicated with each other, and both wanted to protect the other at their own expense. I honestly could go on and on about their love story but for now I'm just gonna say I'm very happy with it and it's a well deserved HEA.

The secondary cast were all great and added to the plot. I especially love the servant gang, who added colour to the story and this drama wouldn't have been such a great watch without them. MVP is of course Por Yong, who was the reason Khun Luang could meet Mae Orn. Kaew surprised me; Chorkaew (Kaew's future self) was pretty flat but Kaew herself was sassy, bubbly and her facial expressions were always on point. I love how the servants (wanna shout out Chun and Mun too!) shipped Khun Luang and Mae Orn together and all had great comedic timing. My most replayable moments besides the romance is the servants being silly and interacting with the leads. Khun Luang's mom was awesome as well because despite her initial prejudice, she was able to see Mae Orn as a good person and the one who her son loves. Mom Tos was also an awesome 2nd ML. I actually also liked the villains Maggie was killed it as Mae Bua), although I have an issue with them that I'll discuss next.

I had some issues with this lakorn that came up repeatedly that I couldn't ignore. The biggest one are the villains; to start, I liked how terrible and cruel Mae Bua and Mom Thep were because although they made my blood boil, you can't deny they added excitement and propelled the story forward. What I disliked was how one dimensional they were and how they would repeat the same mistakes over and over with very little consequence until the very end. It got tiring to see the same cycle of either Mae Bua scheming to kill Mae Orn, or Mom Thep scheming to get with Mae Orn. After their failures, they would get told off but that did absolutely nothing and they would repeat the same shenanigans. Honestly, I wanted to see some growth from them or them having other goals other than to harm Mae Orn. Some of the editing also felt a little choppy and abrupt; we'd be in one scene feeling sad then cut to another scene that's happy, but before you could feel happy, you get cut back to the sad scene. I also wish Mae Orn had a bit more backbone when dealing with Mae Bua. I'm also salty about P'Jun; the actress who plays her tends to play the villain roles, so I was happy to see her in a good role. But then her character got stupid (I know it's following the novel but ugh) and I was very disappointed that she got with and stayed with Mom Thep despite all the shit he put her through. It was somewhat cathartic for her to end him, but I felt like her character was tragic when it didn't have to be.

The music was absolutely stunning and I love both OSTs a lot. It was played appropriately and guided the mood of the drama very well. I also loved the boran sound effects and background music. Overall, if you couldn't already tell, I love this drama a lot and had a great time watching. I was pretty much obsessed from the beginning and it got to the point where I knew I had to spare at least 2-3 hours for each episode, because of how much I would pause to take it in or to replay certain moments. I highly recommend this if you love time travel love stories and will certainly re-watch this on my own time.

As a side note; I've been a Mike/Mook fan since 2020, ever since I saw them in Maturot Lohgan. That drama has a special place in my heart as well as this pairing. Somehow, the chemistry of these two hits me differently than other pairings, and I always go back to them when I need a serotonin boost. I'm quite thankful that I was able to watch three different types of quality lakorns with these two as the leads, and if this is the last, then I'm beyond satisfied that this was the one to end it off. Of course I wouldn't complain if they were paired up again...but maybe after some time passes haha

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Completed
Mr. Socrates
5 people found this review helpful
by bmore
Jun 28, 2015
Completed 0
Overall 8.5
Story 8.5
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 6.0
Rewatch Value 8.0
Really terrific movie. Filled with dark humor and even darker life lessons, it melds the unquestionable illegality of the criminal with the questionable legality of the cop. Beautifully acted by Kim Rae-won who has the ability to 'become' the character in whatever role he assumes with an ease and smoothness unmatched by most actors out there, imo. He is why I watched the movie, but the plot was more than just entertaining and is what kept me watching. It moves quite rapidly and I found the story of Dong-hyuk to be engrossing not because of the violence and action that usually draws me to these types of movies, but because, as is so typical with especially Korean film, the story had its deeper lessons to teach. In the small parameter of what could be expected from a deeply flawed character such as Dong-hyuk we get to see growth and development from a deeply flawed and lost hoodlum, to a still flawed but purposeful cop. No perfect fairytale ending, but it is its own 'success' story despite that.

Don't remember the music (I watched this a year ago).
I definitely want to watch it again one day, given TIME! This is the kind of movie that tells you more about the characters and the story as you pay more attention. And, I love KRW.

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