I do believe that it can be interpreted in many ways but I think the way it was intended to be interpreted was as a story depicting how young girls are "used" (I do not mean to offend in any way, this is just how I interpreted the film, sorry!). To quote Mitsuko from the end,"stop using us like toys" is what she says, and very much the message that I think was trying to be portrayed.
The story was very.. wild. lol. Jokes aside, it really drew me in, although it did get a little confusing at times. The beginning was very "wtf is going on" but I think the film definitely improves as it progresses, so keep watching!!
Excellent cast in this film, the main 3 girls and Aki were just brilliant. Aki was a very believable character, probably the most believable of all. She really brought a sense of realism into the film, and whenever she was calming Mitsuko, it felt like she was bringing me back to earth too. The side characters (ily Sur!!) kept me interested and the antagonists were.. questionable, at most.. but I suppose they were doing their job if it was keeping the audience's focus on the main characters.
The music was tense when it needed to be, and suited the mood pretty much all the time. I think the music definitely helped induce my hysterical sobbing halfway through the film (pillow fight by the lake T-T ) Others might notice that at the very start of the film, the music is the same as The Walking Dead! Honestly, I think it fits! The end credits are worryingly soothing but OH BOY that didn't stop my crying.
This film left me doing ugly hysterical sobbing.. yet I would still choose to watch it again (and I've seen it twice now) although I'm not sure if everyone is the same as me because this film was just very "up my alley"!
I'm no film expert, this is just my opinion. But if you choose to watch the film, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did!!
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A sincere, heartfelt depiction of rural Isan teen life
To understand where Nha Harn is coming from, one needs to know the social background of Isan, Thailand's impoverished northeastern region. It's home to a third of the country's population, but is mostly left behind by economic development. For the common folk living in rural areas, opportunities are rare, their futures uncertain.Most depictions of Isan have tended to either sensationalize or romanticize its people's struggles, but Nha Harn does neither. Instead, it just tells personal stories of teens living the typical rural Isan life, through non-judgemental lenses that amount to their own views. Building on a trend since 2014 of successful indie comedy films by Isan creators targeting Isan viewers, Nha Harn was originally made as a movie in 2019. TV Thunder's series adaptation, by the same director, Chantana Tiprachart, re-packages the story with more mainstream aesthetics and production values, while remaining faithful to its origins.
Nha Harn The Series is a sincere, heartfelt depiction of rural Isan, a rare spotlight on the regular lives of kids from poorer families so commonly overlooked by mainstream media. It beautifully showcases the charms of the region, from the dialogue, which is almost entirely in the Isan language, to the exquisite locations and scenery, to the music, which infuses mor lam and luk thung influences throughout.
This is on top of a very solid (though not perfect) production. Technical quality is consistently good. The actors, many of whom are on camera for the first time, portray the characters very believably, even if their delivery isn't always on point. While the plot isn't the most original, and the early idyllic storylines might not capture attention by themselves, this is more than offset by the subject matter. The series doesn't try to make itself into a piece of social commentary, but when it does touch on the pains of hardship faced by the people represented by its characters, it does so with such a raw, searing intensity that it's impossible not to feel for them.
Nha Harn might not exactly be Hormones' counterpart for the working class, but it comes quite close. And for successfully depicting Thai society's marginalized kids in such an appealing manner, it is highly recommended.
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The best duo and the best chemistry
How I thought this would be another mediocre drama but I really enjoyed this.
Our female lead, Qin Yan… she really never gives up. my main reason to love this character is her spirit of never giving up and her tricks. I love how witty she is and the fact that her self confidence comes from all those books that she has read is something even better to see in a historical drama.
Qin Yan does gets help from the male lead very often but she still stands out differently because of her never-ending persistence. she believes men and women are equal and bravely fights for herself.
And what will happen when this witty girl meets someone wittier. Liang Yi is the powerful, rich and perfect typical male lead who is also cold but he is very righteous in heart. the way his aloof face brightens up with a smile in the later half is just the best part. I like how supporting he becomes and goes to great lengths just to protect her. Liang Yi is already my favorite character of the year.
It's so fun to see both of these bickering over and tricking each other until they fall for each other and together fight the wrong.
Acting — it's like cherry on the top. All those expressions, from Qiao Xin smiling mischievously like that after every plan to Jeremy Tsui being the combo of cold + caring. they really compliment their characters so well.
OSTs —
✼ Beautiful words to say – by Xu Wei
✼ Yi Jue – by Luan Yi Ze
✼ Wish – by Feng Jiaqi (Queena)
The songs were all so sweet and pleasant to ears.
Favorite dialogues —
✧ how nice it would be if we're this wisp of smoke and we can go anywhere we like with the wind
✧ Even if it's just a wisp of smoke it will go straight to the blue sky… we'll get options as long as we don't give up
✧ We're ordinary people. Ordinary people are not perfect.
To conclude, of course like any other drama, this must have it's own flaws but the essence of this drama is that it has the right amount of everything you can add and the viewers do not get bored. I enjoyed watching it and would definitely recommend "The Autumn Ballad."
✿ ~ will talk about how this drama lost it's one star in the comments section under spoiler tag…
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Story: 1 more vampire love story to add to the list for me. 200+ year old vampire finds love after losing his previous girlfriend before he was turned. Its been done. The actors are what saved this drama for me, but the little twists that help bring the couple together just add to the fluff.
Acting/Cast: This could have easily turned into a horrible drama that tried wayyyyy too hard, but it wasn't (not for me anyway). The actors did a great job of making the characters entertaining and likable, so I was interested in how the story would unfold for them. And let's be honest, Tang Danson plays the brooding vamp very well: dark, mysterious and aloof....which made his scenes where there was comedy involved even funnier. The female lead, Hei Lam, was great too. She's not your average damsel in distress, the girl takes judo for fun and can kick some butt, BUT she still needs to be rescued every now and then.
Music: I didn't really notice anything special, but when the action started it did help amp up the mood.
Rewatch Value: Sure! Its only 9 episodes. So if you're craving a bit of fluff from a genre that is usually all dark and brooding, rewatch away!
Overall: Its not the greatest drama of all time, but it certainly was entertaining and the actors made me fall in love with the characters and kept me interested for a 9 episode marathon. The ending is a bit...meh...but it gives you a bit of everything and some nice eye candy that I highly recommend.
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This review may contain spoilers
Best GMMTV Series To Date
A Tale of (a) Thousand Stars was the best BL that GMMTV has ever produced. Period. From the quality of production, acting, setting, and story, TOTS will forever remain a stellar series that has pushed the agenda for BLs to come.Let's Dive In.
I'll keep my review pretty precise since there are plenty others to read from, but this series really brought me to tears, which isn't easy. Tian's character development was some of the best I have ever seen, and it was done with such subtleness and delicateness that was shown through his trials and tribulations with wanting to belong amongst the villagers and his students. For this to be Mix's (Tian) first-ever acting gig, he did a phenomenal job, and I hope to see him in many more series to come. Earth was finally given a decent role! the last I had seen of Earth was when he played a rude swimmer, but in this series, he served as the stern officer, who became gentle when around Tian. Phupa was a delight and I really enjoyed all that he brought. The chemistry between the two was off the charts. When you can present a connection that is so strong to the audience without the need for physical affection or intimacy, then you know it's good. A huge pat on the back for Mix and Earth.
The plot was phenomenal, nothing more is needed to be said. Everything connected in one way or another, and I NEED to see more well-thought-out and detailed plots like this with GMMTV. No toxic ex-girlfriend, no homophobic characters, and no plot holes. Perfection is the only word needed to exclaim this plot.
When looking at the behind-the-scenes, it was obvious how much effort and hard work was put into producing this series, and that right there deserves a ten for itself. I've seen Backoaf's (director) other work, but this one was the best one he has done yet. Seeing at how difficult it was to make this series, I doubt that we'll get a season two, but where we left off was perfect and a really good ending.
Yod was by far my favorite character. He was the comedic relief to this series (as well as Rang), and it was some of the best I had seen. I hope to see Champ in future projects because he was pure bliss to see on screen. Khaotung did a fantabulous job here, and I liked him way more than his other character in Tonhon Chonalatee. I liked how he served as kind of this discreet hint of jealously that Phu had because it just spiced up the plot even more. We don't see too much of Torfun in this, but her actress was fantastic and had such a bubbly and happy personality with the kids. Speaking of the kids, I am so impressed with all of their acting. While it was not the best ever, it was still a lot better than some other child actors I've seen on these series. My favorite would have to be between Ayi and Khao. Tul was the friend that everyone deserved. He was accepting and kind right off the bat, cheering on Tian the whole way. Now that's a best friend.
Overall, this series did a phenomenal job at basically everything. Some of the low rating reviews I've read complained about nit-picky stuff, or the fact that Tian and Phu didn't have enough physical affection. While I agree that Phu did come off as a bit too stern at times (especially towards the end), he did what he thought was the right thing to do, and even though pushing away Tian wasn't the right decision at all, he believed so out of the depth of his heart. With the whole intimacy thing, yes it was nothing big or flamboyant, but it matched perfectly with this couple, and quite frankly if them kissing and shangidy-shang-bang-banging is all that you're worried about and not the actual falling in love part, then the few of you need to do some soul-searching.
This series is definitely going on my top 10, and I highly recommend it, especially to people starting out in BL (this was supposed to be a short review, but I love this series so much, so oh well).
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“Are you shoveling to survive, or surviving to shovel?”
This lone stretch of dialogue succinctly sums up the thematic heart of Woman in the Dunes. It is a momentous parable that speaks of the human condition—but which part and to what effect? Is this a story of emancipation despite physical confinement? Perhaps our characters are two Sisyphuses, doomed sinners and prisoners twice over. Or maybe things are more hopeful, despite the bleak atmosphere of the story. What if all of us are digging away at the sands of life, just trying to stay ahead day by day, lest we be crushed? We might be stuck struggling at the bottom forever, but at least there –is- still a bottom. And we may not be alone down there forever, either. What do you think it might be?
Woman in the Dunes speaks to the viewer on a visceral level, using shots so finely detailed as to tickle the senses. There are times the sand moves vibrantly across the screen—one might expect to dip their fingers through the television and feel the grains. Once when the male lead drinks from the limited water, I cringed, almost tasting the salty corruption of the sands.
Our leads engage in an intense sexual relationship, one desperate yet almost like a calculated carnal exchange. The woman acts as a seductress—to bind the man to her?—yet something about the scenes build up and inflame to suggest more as the film rolls along. Please be prepared for sexual elements as they play a large role in Woman in the Dunes. It is not quite a “pink film,” however; we predate those by several years.
Despite the exemplary cinematography, my favorite element of this film must be the score. Without the stylings of Takemitsu Toru, the uncanny atmosphere of Woman in the Dunes would be shattered. He lends scenes an off-kilter feel, sometimes even palpable suspense, though they might seem otherwise quiet. This helps build the overall effect of the film to its crescendo. One effect in particular left an impression on me: a high-pitched sound, as if rocks were scraping across a tin roof.
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Sweet and pure high school life
This drama i recommend! it's a good watch. Even tho its the school genre this one is done well with a lot of refreshing elements. The storyline keeps it from being boring or the same kind of story, like studies, test etc.The female lead is the class monitor, where she has to collect other students homework and turn it into the teacher. There she meets the male lead who is good at running. They are on bad terms because she successfully collected the male lead 's hw . The male lead is part of the track and field. He somehow has to combine classes with the female lead ( who studies english)
This drama is about their interactions and how they overcame each area, from the students in the english class and the students in running class not liking each other to overcoming their bias to help each other out. The male lead becomes more serious in his study and the whole class helps him fight of that he cheated in his test, to having a new celebrity idol come to the class, the female lead's sickness etc. They all go through i together.
The relationship between the leads was super cute too ! It was super sweet , pure and innocent. They finally had one kiss in the end. I really liked their puppy dog love. The times they spent together is super cute. Would love to see a sequel, maybe when they are in college.
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PLOT
This drama is about a girl, Jie An Jie (AJ), whose father is a rich entrepreneur. However, her life is nowhere as easy as it may seem - due to unfortunate events she was in exile for six years, experienced a car accident; first lost her boyfriend and then was abandoned by someone who took a really important place in her heart.
The premise of the drama is really good - we get to follow the struggles of AJ as they are unveiled throughout the drama.
The thing that bothered me about the plot (I will refrain from spoiling) was that there is one important fact that AJ does not know about - but any viewer can guess it within the first few episodes; most of the other main characters find out about it somewhat later, but she does not find out until much later - at which point, whilst it does have an impact on her, it seems like quite an anti-climax. I think that the script did not make the most of that aspect of the story.
Also, the plot did slow down in the third quarter of the drama... I would say that skipping a few episodes around that time might be a strategic move (unless you enjoy the side plot which gets a lot of attention at the time).
CHARACTERS
Another thing is that I found AJ's character rather weak, especially with regard to interpersonal relationships - most of the time she escapes from problems or at best shows a passive attitude. Though in fairness, she also shows good character development in other areas, as she makes substantial efforts and progress both in her work and art.
The main lead character seems in order, but I could not quite help but wonder what made him so interested and devoted in AJ... He is really talented and fierce in his work and really gentle and caring in love - pretty much an ideal combination!
The other characters were fine - AJ's brother, Piao Zheng, was a lot of fun to watch - he cared about AJ a lot, but also had an interesting and entertaining love story.
There was also some valuable character development to be seen in other characters (I shall not spoil) - during the course of the drama some of them realised their mistakes and corrected their ways. Though it was a little annoying that they usually did it when it was already too late to reverse the effects of their actions... I guess that it is more heart-clenching and educational that way.
There were also some other pairings in the drama. Though I found it weird that one of the really side characters suddenly became really prominent around 3/4 into the drama. He appeared for a total of about 3 minutes in all previous episodes and suddenly his love story and problems at work became the main focus of a few episodes, at the expense of the OTP (who hardly appeared at all!), which added to the dragging nature of the third quarter of the drama...
A cute, but sometimes overused aspect of the drama is that similar situations seemed to be happening to a few people at the same time - for example, we have one couple experiencing some problems - a scene later: similar thing happens to one of the other couples... This was applied to some important events, but sometimes would involve something as unimportant as multiple characters being in restaurants at the same time.
ACTING
I was pretty satisfied with regard to acting - my main regret was that AJ's character was not as interesting as I would have liked it to be for Wang Ziwen - she is such a versatile actress, but it seemed like this character was a little too bland.
MUSIC
OST was appropriate, though as far as I remember did not include too many songs. The two songs that it did contain were pretty and nostalgic.
OVERALL
I enjoyed watching this drama, though it was far from being among my favourites. It was pleasant to watch, had some weaknesses (the major one being the script - such a missed opportunity!). I would give this one a go if you have nothing else to watch or if you are looking for a nice, entertaining, neither summery, nor wintery, lukewarm drama.
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Simplicity at its Finest
The story is revolving about the government, mainly looking for the stolen money of the government then with that the plot started to branch, and the love connections between each of the characters… the story was really good because it does not mainly talk about romance all the time so I did not get bored of watching it at all, the only thing that I’m going to comment was that in the story we are looking for the stolen money but sometimes it is being forgotten and another topic/issue they’ve come across and is driving unto another issue to be solved while the stolen money thing is being dragged along and it’s just being delayed making the story long, but then that’s how story plot works I still enjoyed it anyway.Now let’s talk about the characters for me I like with pairing of Caesar Wu and Hui Wen they both really did well as for the Hui Wen’s character Mo Yan some don’t like it but for me I think it’s just okay and that they we’re saying that she has no improvement and childish, will I think for the first few episodes it’s just cute for me to watch her character because it’s so much and even if she’s childish I read something from the comment section that she is I think around 18 and more younger on the novel so I think that explains why, but then as the story go by I noticed that she became more mature.
For the other characters I loved them as well they made the story more fun.
The OSTs are good, their opening sound track is the best for me.
I recommend that you watch this drama, especially if you’re looking for a balanced plot and also this drama is not so heavy and not super complicated.
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The drama was very cliche in some ways but it did keep me on toes after every episodes
Here are some pros:1. Only 12 ep without unnecessary dramas.
2. It not only focuses on the main two characters like typical romance kdrama but also other characters and their relationships. This factor made the kdrama interesting to watch
3. The "bad" character's actress was so good it made me really hate her character lmao. Her character and her actions made me continue watching the drama.
4. Its available in Viki for free lmao.
Cons:
1. Nothing legendary or big for me to give this more than 8 stars.
2. The main couple (with Jaehyun) route is very cliche. If they were the only focus this drama would have been so boring.
3. The chemistry between the main couple was only 5/10 in my opinion. I dont know if its the acting or the screenwriting but i actually didn't care much about them.
Overall the drama was okay. One time watch but it was interesting and kept me interested to finish this. If you want a chill college romance drama then you can watch this.
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South Korea's first ever lesbian dating show.
This is the first dating show I've ever watched, and I've really enjoyed it. Let me start with a brief summary of the show before describing what I liked, and what I didn't.* Show Summary
The show starts with seven women, all lesbian, bisexual or pansexual, arriving one at a time at the location where they will be living together for a week. There is plenty of awkwardness at the start, as each person arrives to greet those who arrived earlier. The more extroverted personalities stand out while the more introverted people mostly sit back to observe. Room mates are assigned, eyes wander and people start to get to know each other. Each woman is then given the opportunity to write an anonymous note to whoever first caught their eye. The one who receives the most notes gets to go on a date with the person of their choice.
The following day, our "catfish" contestant arrives to even out the numbers at eight. She immediately chooses an existing contestant for a date, while the remaining six women remain behind. Over the rest of the week, various activities and games are played, conversations happen, advice is sought and given, gossip is shared, misunderstandings occur, meals are cooked, tears are shed and life is lived. Towards the end of the week, more one on one dates happen giving contestants the opportunity to spend time together.
* Show Quality & Other Observations.
I found the quality of the show to be quite high. It was professionally filmed with good quality sound (including the outdoor scenes), and was quite well edited. The location was suitable, although I would have preferred it was filmed in summer rather than winter.
One thing that caught my eye from the very start was just how good looking all the contestants are. (A skin care company is also a sponsor of the show). Also, there was zero skinship shown on camera, with a focus on contestants interacting and bonding on an emotional level. Consequently, there are numerous scenes of extensive dialogue between contestants.
* The Controversies
Unfortunately, some controversies have diminished this show, which is quite disappointing. I will only mention here the two known issues that affected the show, and not any of the other rumours and accusations that were made.
1.) Before episode 3 was publicly released, the showmakers became aware that one of the contestants had previously worked as a Cam Girl. Consequently they decided to "remove" that contestant from the show. Because filming had already been completed, they chose to edit this contestant out of many (but not all) scenes she was in.
[UPDATE: A new "extended version" of this series has now been released which does not remove the contestant.]
2.) One of the contestents is only 19 years old, much younger than the other contestants, most of whom are in their early 30s.
* What I Liked
I loved seeing same-sex attracted women represented in a "normal" and genuine way, especially in a country that is still largely homophobic. Although imperfect (as we all are), all contestants seemed to be kind and sincere people who were choosing to participate in the hope of finding love. We got a glimpse of their weaknesses, strengths, hopes, fears and humanity.
I generally liked the structure of the show, although there were some things that I would have preferred were done differently.
I liked that they didn't have a panel of commentators interjecting their thoughts into the show, taking time away from the contestants.
* What I Didn't Like
In my opinion, semi-erasing one contestant from the show was a silly decision and an over-reaction by the showmakers, and it resulted in a poorer show than what it could have been. It sometimes resulted in important interactions with other contestants being deleted, leaving viewers confused about why something was now happening. [UPDATE: The "extended version" corrects this.]
I thought it was unfair to accept the teenage contestant when the rest of the contestants were (in some cases) old enough to be her mother. I have no problem with age gap romance, and if she did end up with one of the other contestants, I would have been very happy for her. However, I think they should at the very least, have told her the ages of the other contestants so she could have made an informed choice about whether or not to participate.
I thought the instructions that went with the "love notes" were sometimes ambiguous, and because these notes were anonymous, it sometimes resulted in confusion and misunderstanding.
None of my 'shipped couples ended up together, but that is hardly the fault of the show.
We didn't get to see all contestants do their final confession on the last day. It is unclear if those contestants chose to not participate in this, or it was just edited out.
I really hope there are more seasons of this show in the future, and other companies also begin to produce GL dating shows.
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I applaud the show for managing to sustain my interest - enough for me to binge-watch it in 3(?) days, despite its mystery/crime genre, which I'm usually not as motivated with. This is attributed to the overall fast pacing, compelling lead characters and relationship tension, dashes of appropriate humour, and interesting cases (though this point, I say with contention and will be elaborated on later).Before I proceed on to sound like I'm nitpicking, I would like to say that I am still quite personally fond of this drama, which is why I am feeling a little indignant about its unlived potential and significant writing flaws.
The cases are sufficiently engaging, for how the cases are set up with imaginative and intriguing leads and premise. I'm not one to get picky with mystery shows nor are they my biggest concern when I watch such shows. Even so, I have also watched a fair amount of them for someone who hasn't been that particularly interested, so I could sense in my guts that there has been something about the storytelling and portrayal of the procedural which often left me kinda empty.
I won't pick too much on some details like how sometimes I question the ethics and methods of the profession (like, CZ and LL revealing details of ongoing cases to outsiders - is that even ok?). But what truly bothered me the most is with how convoluted and imaginative the methods of crime are, the reveal often turns out to be anti-climatic. The reveals tend to be abrupt - the true backstories comes gushing out all at once when the arc approaches the end, instead of a slow build-up. (Though with this, it's interesting to note that the knowledge we have as audience about the cases can be different from what the lead characters know - I wonder what is the significance in this choice of storytelling.)
And most importantly, my main gripe with the writing of the cases is how there usually is a significant disconnect between the severity of the crimes and the perpetrators' personalities and motivations. (eg. A motherly housewife who suddenly lost all sense and planned an elaborate and cryptic murder after the death of her son; a money-grubbing, loafing, family planning an elaborate insurance fraud, etc etc.) Despite it being understandable that they're filled with hate and greed, but I still see a huge gap between the timid-looking or ordinary commoners, and psychopaths. The string of suspended disbelief usually snaps for me during the big reveal; being unable to see the justification of them being driven to such distances. It felt almost like the writers started off with thinking about ~the most exciting crimes~, without connecting it to the people who could have committed them.
Although of course I won't say that this issue is applied throughout every case and its involved characters, it still happened more often than not. (ie. I did appreciate the last two cases because it was easier for me to see what had driven the murderers to such corners, and how they went about developing the crime was realistic for their circumstances.)
Having said these, I could close an eye on the flaws of the writing because understanding and sympathising with criminals usually isn't the most important thing. And what matters to me more are the lead characters, especially in this story.
So yes, Lu Li and Chi Zhen! I started being interested in this drama when they first wrapped up filming for the drama. I see Yin Zheng and Zhai Tian Lin, both actors who I know/heard are good actors despite this not being my type of genre. Double male leads? Ah, ""brotherhood"" ... then until much later I read about them having their respective hetero love lines, it was kinda disappointing, because I didn't want to be queerbaited. Then I put this drama aside until it aired, and saw that many of the fandom friends and some cdrama commentary videos highly praising it.
Indeed, I was not disappointed by the leads' performance, especially Zhai Tian Lin! I haven't seen him in anything before, though I've heard good things about him. He's a very charismatic and expressive actor, he brought Chi Zhen to life. Yin Zheng's Lu Li pales slightly in comparison due to the gloominess of his character, but did well too.
What is the best about this show really, is the lead characters. Both of them carry with them emotional burdens - a sense of guilt to some extent for what had happened beyond their control. And with this, their lives intersect - their tension first comes with their roles as a police and lawyer, then eventually to revealed to be families of an accused murderer and murder victim. Chi Zhen is broken - he believed that nobody truly cared about him and he had been lonely his whole life, yet he was evidently still so full of empathy. Lu Li is broken too - his entire world view built since young had collapsed after his father's arrest, and once managed to open up, and that ''normal'', blissful family life left him once again. Both of them thus indirectly found solace through their professional duties - their intertwined pasts fuel their drive to uphold justice.
With the amount of time given to the cases, the unlived potential is definitely of how I don't see enough of the leads and their interactions - and their storyline in general. The show puts in effort to draw some parallels between the messages drawn from the cases with our leads, but they were extremely subtle and was kinda lost halfway through. I want to see more of our leads, I want to know more about them - we haven't gotten to the case of LL's dad and CZ's sister. I had expected more from the backstory of CZ becoming a businessman, as it seemed to involve conspiracies and bigger implications with the triads. And these are what I am looking forward to in the second season...!
Now, regarding the last episode. My main and only confusion with the story only surfaced in the last episode with Dong-ju's involvement in the last case. He has always been around, and we know he does play some a role in the background as a grey character - but there wasn't significant build-up on what would lead to his actions in the last arc - and that really came abruptly out of nowhere. Thus, it made the climax felt rushed - I didn't really feel much for LL/CZ's emotional scene in that and there wasn't enough build-up/time to process CZ's actions at that point.
This eventually developed into the infamous ending which unleashed fury on Weibo from the netizens. I didn't actually feel strongly against it but the ending left me perplexed. Chi Zhen *can* die (and his last words with the train tracing back to what he said before really was an emotional punch), I'm ok with character deaths if they're justified. Perhaps CZ was already cornered to the point he might as well be dead instead of being a fugitive... but being conveniently stabbed by a rando? That was just ridiculous. And while I was still struggling to figure out CZ's decision to kill Dong-ju and ended up on a runaway, his abrupt death leaves one stunned. To top that, CZ had been so sad and lonely his whole life, and he died when he was so close to love and being supported, it's understandable how anybody would get mad at his unjustified ending.
And here is the twist: it seemed like the 24-episode's ending was made this way because of some internal conflicts within the production team. We do know that CZ is actually not dead in the bonus clip - as it seemed to be planned by the scriptwriter initially. And now, we look forward to season 2!
If we didn't have a season 2 planned, I would be even more disappointed. Ideally, this shouldn't have been 24 episodes - but should have had a couple more episodes to resolve LL and CZ's backstories, and it would have been a complete narrative. There was so much more the drama could have achieved, so much more I had expected at the start - but it didn't fulfill, as much as I would have loved to rate it more highly.
Nevertheless, if you're contemplating to watch this, I would say that it's still a relatively worthy watch - but do so with managed expectations.
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I love the Xiao Tian's character very much (just my type LOL)Anyway I honestly didn't expect to enjoy it. I've read the comments and some said that it was good but was kind of put out since they said that there was no kissing scenes. As an avid fan of romance, I was skeptical. So I tried it and said that if it doesn't get interesting until episode 20 then I'll drop it but moving pass the line, I just couldn't stop myself from watching episode after episode. I have watched every episode and could concur that there was definitely no romantic kiss on this one. They did have the "bloody kiss" (watch it to understand) but I don't think that basically counts.
The love story was definitely sweet and romantic but to warn you, don't expected very romantic scenes. I kind of respected and at the same time resented the writers and director for that. Would it hurt to like put more romance in to it?
Another reason for my skepticism was the number of the episodes. I think by far this is the longest one that I have watched (forgot the number of episodes on other dramas) but I guess I learned my lesson, not to judge a drama by the numbers LOL.
To rate this one, I'd say 8/10. Was hoping for a better ending but I guess it was good enough. The ending kind of insinuated that there might be MIGHT be a sequel since it was in some way an open ending not technically an epilogue.
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BOTH leads are very handsome they have Killer smiles and lips. the innocent man that has never tasted love will taste it for the first time . this film is a must see u will leave with a satisfied ending and along the way laugh from the good comedy it has.
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Give it a try, don't be drawn on the first episodes impressions.
I like this drama, the general idea, the setting are interesting despite some shortcomings in the script, direction, editing and acting. I wouldn't have believed it but the second part is much better and allowed me to appreciate it.We follow the story of these 3 couples with different trajectories but with a common passion for sports.
If the couple Torn and Fah didn't impress me during the first episodes, I liked the evolution of their story from episode 6 onwards. Without realizing it, each wants to be the best in their sport, basketball. Here, there are no usual misunderstandings, no love triangles, no misplaced jealousy, just a guy who can't find his place in the shadow of his professional basketball boyfriend and the so-called boyfriend who doesn't understand his needs. Their relationship shows that love isn't always enough to make a relationship work, but also love on the other hand is what pushes one to understand the other, to forgive and to improve.
As for Aii and Saen, they are ultimately the most classic couple in this story, despite a beginning that would have made us think the worst. They support each other, they trust each other, they love each other and that's enough.
I conclude with the duo that has the most impact on me, by the simplicity and at the same time the complexity of their relationship, Dome and Wee. How do you react when you meet the right person at the wrong time? Is waiting enough or do you let your feelings fade over time and remain only a fleeting moment in your life?
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