When it rains, it pours.
At first glance, this is a tribute drama with low audience appeal. The topic of gaokao 高考 or national college entrance exams is already stress inducing. Throw in the pandemic and the average viewer would head for the hills. I snuck a peek because I like to keep an eye on Rong Zishan's growth as an actor. To my surprise, I was hooked from the first episode of this uplifting story about the resilience of youth in the face of great challenges.This drama is not about China's urban elite. It is set in Jinhe County, where most of the households are among the two thirds of Chinese households that are not part of the middle class. The pandemic disproportionately affected high school seniors from this class of Chinese society. Gaokao is a life changing rite of passage for them. All the hopes and dreams of their families are staked on their gaokao performance. With less resources and uneven access to the internet, online learning is less effective for many of them. The pandemic exacerbated the economic and social pressures these families were already experiencing. This drama offers some insight into why the Chinese leadership has clung to an extreme zero tolerance covid policy so different from the rest of the world.
The narrative focuses on five students of Jinhe County No 1 Middle School (Pan Xianxuan and Gao Mingyu) and Jinhe County No 4 Middle School (Zhou Bowen, Wu Jiajun and Tian Wenwen) and their principals Wang Benzhong and Shi Aihua. Because it is a small county, there are about three degrees of separation between the students, teachers, their families and the broader community. Bowen, Wenwen and Jiajun are fast friends at No 4 Middle School, where Bowen is the star pupil. He intensely disapproves of his deadbeat dad Zhao Meiren, who is charismatically portrayed by Wang Xiao. Wenwen is left to fend for herself after her grandmother passes away as her absentee parents run a business in Wuhan. And aspiring artist Jiajun suffers from the nightmare oversight of the ultimate tiger mom. They are part of an online student chat group with Pan Xianxuan and Gao Mingyu, students at the No 1 Middle School, which is a boarding school. My favorite character, Pan Xianxuan is a savvy and commercial doer who is not academic oriented. Despite his father's wealth, his is practically homeless as both his divorced parents have long moved on. And finally Gao Mingyu, the most impoverished and driven of them all whose only family is an ailing grandfather. They form a fast friendship and benefit from the care and affection of their principal Wang Benzhong, who is more like a surrogate parent to them both.
Every time I watch a drama with young actors matched up with veterans like Chen Baoguo, Wang Quanyuan and Wang Xiao,I am floored by the seamless and natural the performances all around. I feel fear for the current generation of popular actors whose flaws only become more obvious when they act across veterans because the next generation is growing up fast and there are lots of them. This cast made me invested in their stories from the get go and sharked me into enthusiastically watching a flag waving, sappy, inspirational story, the kind that I have a very small yearly quota for. The message of the story is very clear - often in life, when it rains, it pours but it is in times of hardship that we find our best selves.
While this story does carry some powerful and moving coming of age messages beyond surviving a pandemic, what I didn't like is it is a bit too good to be true. The pandemic turns every flawed character into a better version of themselves. The strong sense of community and the dedication and fighting spirit of parents and teachers can prevail over an amorphous enemy and natural disasters alike. Most of all, the pandemic didn't seem as isolating and as disruptive as it probably was and the government's pandemic control measures are portrayed as very mild. To be fair, this is not set in a densely populated community and it is during the first 200 days of 2020, during which China had effectively contained the outbreak to Wuhan. Nonetheless,, I feel there is a bit too much sugar coating and white washing in this drama that avoids the uglier, more realistic aspects of the pandemic and China's response to it. It also loses focus at times as a result of trying to acknowledge too many every day heroes from educators to health workers.
For a flag waving drama, this is a surprisingly good watch and the propaganda aspects are non intrusive. The youth aspects are well written and wonderfully portrayed. I am happy to rate this a very solid 7.5.
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This review may contain spoilers
Who is good and who is bad?
The series wonderfully shows how multifaceted a family can be and how differently everyone perceives it.The dynamic between the three older sisters and the youngest makes you curious for more. You can really immerse yourself in the story, and I thought it was wonderful that each sister had her own story. The story was exciting and had some good twists to keep you gripped while watching.
The male characters were all more in the background, but they had an important impact that added more details to the story.
The acting was really good, and overall, it was a really good plot.
Unfortunately, I have to say that the ending didn't completely grab me, but maybe there will be a second season. I have the feeling it's a series with a lot of potential for more.
Nonetheless I highly recommended it.
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This review may contain spoilers
Microhabitat reveals the choices, sacrifices and comprises people make as they become adults.Miso, the title character, makes a living cleaning houses and lives on the edge of homelessness. Her joys in life consist of cigarettes, a glass of Glenfiddich whiskey, and her poverty stricken boyfriend. When her rent increases and the price of cigarettes doubles she makes the decision to move out of her unfurnished room.
Miso then begins the adventure of visiting her old band mates who have moved on and become more of what society expected of them. It’s a movie divided into chapters, each with a different friend she encounters with her meager belongings on her back.
Each of her friends have changed so much she barely recognizes them. They are all tethered to their own suffering—a stressful job, a loveless marriage, unwanted motherhood, divorce, etc. Despite her situation she brings understanding and kindness to each doorstep even when she is met with a lack of understanding from her former friends.
Like a warm breeze blowing through their lives, each person’s quiet desperation is revealed and Miso’s contented nonconformist life doesn’t seem quite so absurd.
Microhabitat is more observation than strict storytelling. Esom brings a serene almost ethereal quality to the screen as she shows Miso’s quiet determination. Her friends’ “normal” lives seem almost manic in contrast.
Microhabitat touches on what we value, the compromises people make, the economic fragility of people’s situations, and the depth of friendships. It’s a slow film with moments of humor, tenderness, and biting revelation. Miso’s choices may not sit well with everyone but they raise questions about what brings us joy, what we are willing to sacrifice, and the need for safety nets we all need whether emotional or financial.
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Poong, the Joseon Psychiatrist Season 2
12 people found this review helpful
Loved Season 2.
This was nice! I love Kim Min Jae (Yoo Se Poong) I loved how he became persistent in clearing his character's name. I didn't realize how tall he was until I saw him standing next to Kim Hyang Gi (Seo Eun Woo) who did very well playing the widow. You will have to watch Season 1 to find out why she was a widow. Kim Sang Kyung (Kye Ji Han) who played the father and leader of the medical crew, was very delighted by him. I loved how became a protector at night ninja style. lol, I cried, I laughed, and even threw my shoe at the TV... Finally, an ending that was solemnly good and at peace.Was this review helpful to you?
Another example that it doesn't need many episodes to make a good GL.
Here's another proof that an awesome series doesn't require a lot of episodes. It's all about the storytelling! While book-adapted series would usually generate more buzz and excitement, "AI Girl" proved that a unique concept combined with great execution are the keys to making a series stand out.Mame, the brain behind this series proved her writing skill once again with how well-structured the story is. While 7 episodes may seem short, "AI Girl" manages to pack a punch with its concise storytelling, solid pacing, and well-defined character arcs, without relying on unnecessary subplots. The focus remains on the central theme of forbidden love between a human and a AI-powered robot, creating an entertaining yet emotional journey for viewers. The 50-60 minutes runtime of each episode allows for ample time to flesh out the story and develop the relationships between the characters. The balance between comedy, romance, and drama is handled masterfully, keeping viewers engaged from start to finish. And the best part? No annoying parents or exes!
Other than the story, the acting is something worth mentioning about this series. Despite it being Myyu Khawisara's first series, she delivers impressively. Her years of stage experience allow her to bring Gen to life effortlessly, conveying the layers of emotion and conflict within Gen with such depth and nuance. Meanwhile, Chanya Amarit nailed the contrasting characters of Ai and Irene, enriching the story's complexity. Plus, the chemistry between Myyu and Chanya is palpable, drawing viewers into Gen-Ai blossoming romance. In addition to its well-developed story and impressive acting, this series also excels in its execution, production quality, and attention to detail. Hats off to the props and makeup departments for their amazing work in designing the sets and giving Ai such a believable humanoid look.
Out of many good points, one drawback of this series, in my opinion, is the lack of proper backstory, which I think lowers the overall emotional impact. Irene's story unfolds very slowly, to the point that the mysteries around her make her seem more like a filler than a central figure. Also, Gen's family issue feel quite shallow. Hence, I don't think it deserves more than 8.5. And while the love story between human and robot might not sit well with some people, it's a fiction anyway.
Overall, "AI Girl" takes a refreshing turn from conventional romance plots by exploring the complex dynamics between the human protagonist and a humanoid, and it worked! In a saturated market of GL dramas, this series exemplifies how prioritizing overall quality over mere chemistry and hype can create a good GL series that will definitely stick with viewers for a while.
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As they say, power makes careless
While I thought that the first season had its flaws, I overall still found them negligible and they did not impact my viewing experience to the point where I could not appreciate the concept and ideas presented in the show. This season, however, did not improve upon the problems from season one at all but instead amplified them by a hundred.Now, I had already had my doubts about this season from the very first episode. I had expected season two to continue where season one had left off but instead, I was faced with an unexpected two-year time skip and a new set of main characters. Still, I really wanted to give this a fair chance, so I kept on watching, which was really my own fault since I could already tell that this was not for me from the very beginning.
Firstly, the new characters range from absolutely unbearable to utterly forgettable. The season starts off with our new protagonist, Time, wanting to reinstate the Gifted Program as he believes it will somehow benefit him in the future despite people repeatedly telling him that it's not a good idea and that the program was abolished for a reason. Despite already having received his potential prior to taking the placement exam and having interacted with Gifted Class XV, he doesn't even try to understand their reasoning at all and just stubbornly sticks with his idea. Without any care or regard for the words of others, this supposedly smart character just keeps on pushing forward with his agenda and excuses his own actions by saying that it will not only benefit him but also every other kid in school. Yet, he is also somehow not confident enough that people will actually want to join his cause, so he decides to fake the results of his petition with the help of Grace, who sides with him because she wants to... keep her perm? Needless to say, their motivations are shallow and I could not understand them whatsoever.
Third's character, while not nearly as atrocious as Time or Grace's, still suffers from being incredibly underdeveloped. He starts out as someone who seeks out validation from the adults by acting as a student inspector and who is tempted by the idea of gaining further recognition through getting accepted into the Gifted Program, while outwardly being against its reinstation. He was by far my favorite out of the three new characters because I thought if developed correctly, he could make for an interesting character and maybe even tread the line between good and evil to become an even more compelling sub-villain than Wave was in season one. But what they really ended up doing with him was... nothing. They simply used him to incite some small conflict by temporarily siding with Miss Darin for maybe 5 minutes in total for an honestly pretty understandable reason and in the end, his "evil actions" didn't even have any ill effect on anyone really since the reason Time collapsed after Third used his potential on him was not because of him but because of the NYX-88 virus. If you cut Third out of the story completely, it would literally make no difference at all to the plot of the show, which just goes to show how little effort was put into him from the start.
Furthermore, instead of at least further developing the pre-existing characters from season one, they somehow managed to make them progress backward. Sure, it was shown that some of them had improved their potentials but that was about it. The characters did not grow at all and while they acted like they had become such good friends who had united to fight for the same cause and had set aside their individual problems for the greater good in the first few episodes, that illusion was shattered so quick, which was really disappointing because the reason for their failure in season one had been that their opinions had been too divided to agree upon one definitive way to defeat the director and now they basically started their next fight in an even worse state of division than before while expecting a different outcome.
The entire group solely places their trust in Pang for some reason, which to me makes no sense because he is not only the least academically gifted, he is also the one who uses his potential the least and is, therefore, the only one who has barely progressed with it at all. Instead of making decisions together, they just all look at Pang for the answers, who is understandably overwhelmed by it. When Korn betrays the group and spreads the NYX-88 virus, he tells Pang it's his fault for not looking out for him and asking him if he was contend with the solution they had collectively come up with. However, this makes no sense as they had, well, supposedly collectively decided that this was the best option and he had the chance to oppose it but just chose not to. Pang even asks in the drama why Korn didn't step forward at the end of season one to agree with him that the erasure of all potentials was the only true way to equality if he thought that the Gifted Program was the root of all evil, to which Korn simply responds with some nonsensical argument that "Well, erasing the potentials wouldn't actually change anything," which doesn't even make sense because he literally said he thought it was the only way out a second prior. His character is supposed to be motivated by the fact that his potential brings him more harm than good and that he feels unseen and unheard but really, none of his actions would even solve his issues. What good would it do him to only try to kill Gifted Class XVI while Gifted Class XV stays healthy? One group of students dying wouldn't really change a thing if the ministry or the director was really hell-bent on continuing the Gifted Program as we have already seen that they don't shy away from covering up any deaths or even killing people themselves if needed.
Chanon's storyline also has much of the same problem wherein he is supposed to be tormented by the years he lost to his memory wipeout but instead of blaming the person who is actually responsible for it, which is Director Supot, he lets out his frustrations on his former best friend Pom, who was a literal child when all of this happened, actively helps the director, and then just stays as miserable as he started. I think the writers also noticed that neither Korn's nor Chanon's motivations and actions were really consistent with their characters, so they just casually threw in the fact that they were secretly manipulated by the director all along and are actually still nice people to make everything make sense and redeem their characters. But at least to me, their redemption arc did not work at all because they were still saying and doing horrible things outside of what the director had initially ordered them to do and I also don't believe that some of the characters like Pom, who had been injected with a possibly life-long, incurable illness by Chanon, or Punn, who had been slashed in the gut by Korn and almost driven to insanity, would really forgive them that easily.
I also did not enjoy what they did to Punn and Claire, who had been my favorite characters in season one. Punn just randomly starts developing severe trust issues in Claire just because he is no longer her number one priority and she now sometimes focuses more on other things and people as well like her childhood friend Korn, who is going through a tough time and whom she had basically neglected for Punn until now. Her setting some boundaries should not be enough to send Punn off into insanity as it did this season because it is such a vital part of their relationship in season one that they both care and love each other to the point where one of the main reasons why Punn doesn't go completely insane in season one is exactly because of Claire. After his whole character arc in season one, I cannot believe that his trust would be so easily broken by a one-time instance like Claire not telling him that Korn is the culprit right away but instead choosing to try to peacefully resolve the conflict on her own first. Not to mention that Punn's evil arc doesn't even add anything significant to the plot besides causing a rift between the gifted students for two episodes or so because he never actually ends up using the powers he copied for anything really bad.
As for Claire, she pretty much faces the same fate as Mon this season. They say that they want to take matters into their own hands and try to help Korn before he ends up in jail for the rest of his life or something even worse happens to him since he is still their friend after all. This whole thing is framed as some girl power move in the show, which is ironic because they just vanish for the rest of this story arc after outsourcing their plan to Pang and Time, making them rely on men once again to solve their problems. It also heavily plays into the stereotype of "girls are emotional and boys are logical," while simultaneously praising itself as some feminist plot point.
But Pang is by far the character that was hit the worst this season. Instead of showing how he grows into some charismatic leader that guides his friends into a bright and hopeful future, he just gets treated badly by them all the time. Everything he does gets framed as something terrible and he is held responsible for every single little thing, even things he doesn't have anything to do with. He does what they want but it ends badly? That's his fault. He ends up going with his own idea and resolves the problem? The other students feel betrayed by him for not listening to them. He is nice to his friends? Probably just because he wants something from them, that sly manipulator.
No matter what happens, he cannot win. His friends believe he doesn't truly care for them the moment he even makes a small slip-up and all his hard work trying to accommodate for them and their needs gets unrecognized. He could easily use his potential to simply make them do whatever he wants instead of playing friends with them but the other characters don't even stop for a second to consider that he is sacrificing his own mental health by refusing to use his potential on them just so that they can have their freedom.
He gets blamed for not saving Korn and for not realizing that he had this whole evil scheme planned from the beginning when really, there was no way for him to know because it was shown that despite his inner dissatisfaction with his own life, Korn was actually still planning to warn his friends of the virus instead of spreading it before the director interfered. But instead of putting the blame on Korn, or later on the director after they find out about the manipulation, they just put it on Pang, who at best only indirectly influenced the whole thing. After Pang witnesses Korn's suicide attempt, not knowing if he survived it, and he is led to believe that Time has died under his watch, too, none of his friends offer their condolences or mental support to him. We only see a half-hearted scene of Ohm knocking on his door once to check up on him but that really doesn't change anything because right after, Ohm suddenly decides to also blame Pang for everything and says he's ruining his nice and carefree life, which really doesn't suit his character at all because he is supposed to be one of Pang's best friends. Even Wave, who suddenly becomes uncharacteristically sweet this season, just lashes out at Pang as he seems fit, and then when the writers need him to, he goes back to loving Pang unconditionally. Really, almost all members of the original cast turned into detestable characters in the second season because all of them were willing to let their juniors die from the virus to keep their own comfort and literally didn't bat an eye while blaming Pang for their own mistakes and driving him into such a deep depression that he even says in one episode that he'd rather die than continue on just to push forward his ideals, which ended up just bringing him more pain than good.
In the end, Pang isn't even the one who really affects any change. For the last two or three seasons, it suddenly becomes "The Gifted: Grace is the Best" and the writers conveniently give her some clairvoyant ability to fix all of their problems, not even addressing the whole can of time paradox they have opened by doing so. Yes, Pang makes the final decision in spreading the soundwave and making everyone in the whole country gifted but before that, he just passively stands around while Grace cleans up the whole mess.
But really, the biggest problem this season has is that it just feels like the writers thought they needed to change things up a bit so it's not entirely the same plot as in the first season, so they simply resolved what should have been the main conflict— getting rid of the Gifted Program and creating equality amongst the students of Ritdha Wittayakom High School— in the first few episodes and forcibly introduced some new, even bigger problem with NYX-88. The characters already struggled to solve the much easier to solve problem and now this? A basic "a deadly virus has spread" storyline like in every other dystopian piece of media? Really?
The writing just felt so uninspired and it really just infuriated me at some point. Characters changed their personalities at the whim of the writers instead of actually developing or developed new abilities as needed. The story jumped from Director Supot being the villain to Miss Darin being the villain to the ministry being the villain to Korn being the villain back to Miss Darin being the villain again but this time with Punn's help to Director Supot being the villain again but this time with Pom's help to Chanon being the villain to Director Supot being the villain once again to even future Grace being the villain for a brief second at the end. I saw people praise the writing of the show in the comments under the episodes but really, nothing made sense. The writers just hoped you wouldn't notice that there were so many plot holes as long as they made the story convoluted enough.
Just to address some of the things that really made no sense: Why did the ministry suddenly change their opinion on the Gifted Program? Because someone else took charge of it? Am I really supposed to believe that the Ministry of Education is the highest-ranking entity in the entirety of Thailand and one man has the capability to shut down a whole project that was framed as crucial to the development of the country until now just because he wants to? And there's also really nobody in the entire government who questioned whether it was ethically and morally correct to let a batch of kids die because of some useless power play?
Also, if Director Supot has the ability to make a person believe they are a whole other person, why not just use his potential on the minister from the start, before he could notify anyone else of his potential and take security measures, if the minister is the only member of the ministry standing in his way? Why not make him believe they are best friends or even make the minister make him a part of the ministry so he can closely monitor their actions? And if you can actually use your potential on someone else with the same potential as long as they are mentally weak enough, why didn't Supot at least try to use it on Pang while he was clearly depressed and mentally unwell?
It also makes no sense to me why the director would send Namtaan overseas because her ability could be a danger to him since she can see the past but not use his ability on Namtaan herself by telling her to stay away but on her mother instead. If Namtaan was never under the influence of his potential and knew that the real reason she was sent away was that she was a danger to the director all along, why did she not try to get back by herself? Why did she not tell her friends about it and encourage them to steal some of the director's belongings, ship them to her before he found out, and she would then proceed to uncover all his secrets far away, securely tucked away in her overseas home? And if anything, wouldn't it be more secure for the director to not tell Namtaan she's a danger to him and then quickly infect her with NYX-88 to make her compliant as soon as he got his hands on it? I get that Namtaan's actress probably really didn't appear in the series because of some scheduling conflict but then why even say that that was a possibility?
I just really feel like it was such a shame that they decided to waste the perfectly fine story from season one by continuing it like this and I honestly would not recommend this season to anyone, even if they were fans of the first season. I felt like I was wasting my time watching it and it just make my blood boil with how bad it was. The more time I spend writing this, the more things I find that either don't add up and I could keep going if I wanted to but I think this much is enough.
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Watch it for Park Min-Young
Sometimes a show is made by the cast and not the story. This is the case with Her Private Life. This show is about Park Min-Young. She is just incredible in every single scene. Her facial expressions, the subtle shifts in tone, were always delicately done and yet so brilliant in creating a character suffused with this inherent warmth. I cannot emphasis how much I became infatuated with her acting. The only other actor who had an effect like this on me was IU in Hotel Del Luna and My Mister.Min-Young's chemistry with Kim Jae-wook is incredible. The two fill the show with this beautiful, tender energy. Their relationship reminded me a little of Because This is My First Life but it works better here I think because both these characters are more animated. In fact what I appreciated about Kim Jae-wook was that he wasn't closed-off. I was worried that the trope of the quiet, good-looking man would lead to a wall-off heart and mind and episodes built around Park Min-Young's character trying to unravel his secrets but he was largely open and honest with her. This was refreshing because the show didn't need this as a conflict. Nor did it need the love triangle/square planted in the show but that's a predictable kdrama cliche you are now prepared for. I wish that amount of screen-time had been devoted to showing Kim Jae-wook's character troubled by his early memories.
The plot twist near the end isn't surprising. We all knew immediately why those paintings mattered to him, and that makes it more gratifying that we didn't waste an episode of him not telling Park Min-Young's character what we could all see.
The main blemish is the support cast. I simply wasn't sold on them and that was enough to make me score this a very high 8.5 rather than a 9. I think k-drama writers need better conflicts than love triangles that simply aren't plausible. There was something a little incestuous about this one because of how one of the characters was initially introduced to us in the beginning episodes. Once that was established, it was jarring to suddenly reconfigure it.
I would say though that Park Min-Young was consistently a 10/10 in this show. She made it extremely enjoyable and I'll always rewatch it simply for her acting.
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I can't get more specific without ruining the plot - let's just say that the writers love their Noble Idiocy but can never quite nail the Noble part and end up only hitting the Idiocy.
It's a shame really because the premise is good, the acting is actually not bad (but the dubbing is atrocious) and the OTP have some nice moments of realistic cute. But the rest is just woeful and at a whopping 48 episodes it's a waste of time.
The biggest problem (apart from the endless Idiocy) is that the writers didn't actually know what to do with the dream-swapping and mostly used it for shallow diversions into lame romantic fantasies. There is a point in the plot where the ability of the leads to share dreams could have actually been used to enhance the plot. But in the end, it was just a conceit and not a well-utilised one.
By the end, this became one of the worst shows I've ever seen. Boring, bloated and pointless.
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Nan Fang is tough, care free bar singer, Ding Bo is a illegal courier who's avoiding college entrance exam and Fatso is his side kick with no apparent job. This three party hard, hop freight trains, get into trouble again to solve it in same carefree manner. They lodge with a Peking opera bluff when they are evicted from their apartment. How they deal with this huge generation gap on their own when they are also dealing with their own problems covers the rest of the story.
This movie is well scripted, very well edited, good ost and has a solid cast. I have to mention the cinematography which is so real that it gives you the feel as if you're actually there. The view from the train top and bridge makes me want to go there right now.
Lastly, I will recommend it to anyone willing to watch a soulful tale of love and loss.
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The main characters are actually likeable. Maybe that's because of the backstories they have. I kind of like a character more when they have an interesting backstory, and believe me, these ones have pretty good ones! And the actors were also amazing! They did their jobs pretty well. I literally didn't know any of them before, but I am already in love and want to watch other dramas with them.
But do you know the thing I loved the most in this drama? The OST! The OST was really good, I'm always listening to it. I must tell you to try it since it is pretty awesome and your life's gonna change!!!!!
Now, I feel like I should talk about the ending...... IT WAS THE BEST THING EVER MADE! Ok, maybe I'm exaggerating, but I have been waiting for an end like this since I started this drama watcher life. And the best thing is that I wasn't even expecting it! I admit I was thinking what would happen once she discovered he was a killer, and what happened wasn't even part of my thoughts. Maybe that surprise and the fact I actually would like it is what made me like it so much.
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While I found the investigation aspect tight and fascinating, palpable suspense falls somewhat low. There was definitely an air of “racing against the clock,” but the actual culprit becomes apparent too soon. Nevertheless, learning about that person’s mindset and motivations retain interest. My attention often caught on the atmosphere built by the depicted time period; the clothing, cars, and social activities truly seemed accurate. And the feeling of a city ready to host the biggest sporting event in the world? That was well presented too, though the viewer’s time is spent primarily with the case. I would note that this SP leaves me with little desire to see it again; enjoying it once seems to be enough. Time will tell.
How about that cast? If one takes a quick peek at the listing, one might be taken aback at the sheer amount of star power contained there. Names such as Amami Yuki, Kuroki Meisa, Sawamura Ikki, and many more represent the supporting cast alone. Of the leads, we have Takenouchi Yutaka and Matsuyama Kenichi, both remarkable whatever the role. Matsuyama-san in particular performs with great energy and depth, though Takenouchi appears fresh-faced and blue-collar heroic. My only complaint would be how crowded the drama feels at times; it’s a little weird to see so many familiar and famous faces at once, even should they perform well.
Incidental music suits each scene nicely. Most offerings add something to the instance they are used in. Unfortunately, none are particularly memorable after the fact. This also accounts for the lack of vocal pieces, which typically add to score memorability.
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Give it a try!!
Personally, like very personally, I liked the series!I think that the pace of the drama can't be categorized as slow or fast. The drama sort of follows its own pace. Sometimes it is reasonable, sometimes a bit fast but not rushed and sometimes not exactly slow but not fast either. It varies greatly and of course also depends on what is slow and fast for the viewer watching it.
Because it is not supposed to have spoilers, I will just say that all female characters grow and become better. Ren Ran's growth was moving for me as I loved how she learnt to let go, to accept (but maybe her new love life came a bit too early). Sun Yi He was such a bright character and despite the many drawbacks you will watch, you can still not stop liking her. Karen was also a nice character, strong and weak at the same time. Ding Ding was a very cute character with a mostly cute love life.
Coming to the male characters, I will only mention my favorite, Yu Tian! No matter what he does, as long as he is on the screen I smiled, even when he was heart broken. I loved his and Sun Yi He's friendship (sometimes more than the girl gang's friendship).
The ost was really nice, it actually went with the show . The acting was wonderful, maybe lacking sometimes, very rare times but still wonderful.
As compared to other dramas with female centered plot and female friendship (like Ode to Joy, Dear Missy etc) it may be a little dull... But overall it is a drama you can at least give a try, and if you are going to, please be patient for at least 5 episodes. Good friendship, good romance and good slice of life too.
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The Only Girl You Haven't Seen Season 2
12 people found this review helpful
This review may contain spoilers
Great season 2 but not for the faint of heart
This is a really good short show. Season 2 is more serious and in some parts dark. I’ve read a lot of comments saying this is a bad season and I considered not watching any of the seasons based on that. As you can see I ended up watching anyway - and I’m glad I did.Some of the controversy is about using rape as part of the story - not once but twice. I can understand why that is unacceptable for a lot of viewers. Since I’m european I have a different tolerance to things used in a show/movie and even if I don’t condone the use of rape, I will not let that keep me form watching an otherwise great show/movie.
The first rape was unnecessary in my opinion since the problem could have been solved otherwise. The second was more relevant since it served as a way to show how much the desire for power had corrupted him (trying not to spoil too much).
It’s kind of sad that what’s being discussed after season 2 is the rapes and not the story of these two in many ways great people who love and support each other so beautifully. They help each other get revenge and heal their wounds. In the process they mature and become the pillars the country needs to stand on. They are by far the best power-couple I’ve seen so far.
So, if you love a somewhat lighthearted romantic drama - and can see past the use of rape - this is a “Must Watch”.
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