Time I will never get back
I decided to watch this C-drama because it only had 24 episode (which is short for C-dramas), but once I got started, I quickly realized that this could have been completed in half the episodes, and it would have made the whole thing more interesting. I felt that this show REALLY needed a different editor, there were some episodes that, once I got to the end, I realized that the entire episode was a complete waste of time. I really felt that a lot of it was like watching paint dry - boring as all get out.I suppose the actors did a good job with what they had to work with. The problem was the script. The main character of Tu Mo was so irritating. First, she'd been liking a boy for years, and that boy was one of the most irritating characters I've seen in a show recently. Then, I couldn't actually see what Gu Wei Yi saw in her. Then, she always seemed to be mad at the male lead for something, but rather than talk to him about it, she did a lot of clomping out of the room, slamming doors, and generally not being very nice to him. She was very immature.
Overall, no chemistry between the leads, too many irritating characters, too much dog and cat sound effects, fish kisses, and multiple unnecessary scenes/storylines.
It was sad for me to realize, after watching this, that most of the C-dramas are along these lines and not, for me, overly enjoyable. Love Me If You Dare and Dating in the Kitchen are the gold standard for me, and I will continue to hope that I happen upon other C-dramas that live up to them.
Was this review helpful to you?
Law related, heartwarming slice of life
The story itself is realistic with no plot holes, it introduces a really cozy nostalgic feeling like the show Friends, where you get used to them having lunch together in Sochodong. It's a bit surprising they found eye candy main actors, when the show is actually has real substance.My only complaint is the really light romance, which is normally my preference
Was this review helpful to you?
Was this review helpful to you?
It had its moments
This dramas started out great with two seasoned kdrama actors, acting was never going to be a problem. Premise was good, medicine is one of the most stressful careers, doctors suffer a lot there was a lot of potential in the story to explore real issues. But the drama fell on its own sword when the driver of the mental imbalance came from half baked external sources. FL story was more compelling, but the ML story involving the criminal case was so unfortunately bad that it derailed the plot. No matter what the genre is when you have professional elements involving law, business, medicine or others care should be taken in maintaining some level of authenticity otherwise it ruins the viewing experience when we start poking holes at the plausibility of certain events, in doctor slump neither medicine or law was well researched. The bigger problem was there was never enough story to sustain 16 episodes, at best it could have been a decent 12 episodes drama. Mental health was more of a plot device than a subject of honest examination. Bottom line idea was interesting but the execution did not deliver, in the end it was all foregettable.Was this review helpful to you?
Pretty entertaining, but not without its faults.
I didn’t have super high expectations for this series as I was not the biggest fan of Manner of Death, but after seeing good reviews and a high rating I decided to give it a try. I was surprised to find the story to be entertaining with a decent mix of comedy, drama, mystery and intrigue. Although I found the series to be over dramatic at times.This series had some solid acting. I was loved to see a strong supporting cast, and I particularly liked Sing, Fukfang, and Rit. Tae did great portraying Tin’s growth throughout the series, and really made you root for his character. At first I thought Tol might be a bit of a flat stock character when they first introduced him to the story, but I didn’t think that for long. Tee did a good job bringing his character to life (or death haha).
The romance between Tin and Tol had a good pace and chemistry, and didn't feel out of place. They worked well together despite how strong the secondhand embarrassment could get.
The soundtrack wasn’t anything too spectacular, and there were a few tracks I thought were fine. Overall, it was okay and once again fit for your average TV drama.
Unfortunately the series lost its compelling aspects in the last few episodes. The main issue being that the story starts breaking its own rules when it comes to how things work in the time loop. They shifted towards using cheats and external help to beat the time loop, instead of using their heads to plan strategies and solve problems. Also, the personalities of everyone in the cast changed... Yeah.
(Spoilers ahead relating to the last few episodes) The shift in POV that starts at episode 10 contributed to a loss of some of the previous tension, and felt like a discredit to all of Tin’s hard work and character development. The most jarring change for me was how the loop Tol entered didn’t feel like any of the previous time loops Tin had experienced. Instead it felt like Tol was transported into some kind of alternate universe.
Tin acted like a completely different person (which only kind of made sense as he hadn’t met or had to try to save Tol yet), but regardless the change still felt quite extreme. Sing and Gap were suddenly dating with no explanation of why they are together. Gap’s feelings for Sing were pretty clearly hinted at throughout the series, but it made no sense that Tol entering the time loop would make it so things that never happened in any of the previous loops would suddenly manifest out of the blue.
Even though the writing wasn't particularly good, Triage was a fun watch to take as it is. I doubt I will be rewatching it though.
Was this review helpful to you?
STORY: Quite well-done. Yes, the nang rai (Pisamai) is a little typical, aka super possessive and crazy. But they make an effort to show you that she really is hurt by Prajak's associations wih Wanida, which honestly is understandable. Prajak made me both want to pull my hair out and grin like an idiot at the same time. I appreciated that his character wasn't perfect, because we're human and no one is perfect. Lakorns often portray either the male or female leads as perfect little angels that can do no wrong, but that just isn't true in reality. None of us are like that. Prajak's hubris was that he couldn't stand up for himself. It drove me crazy, but his character was also kind, understanding, and loyal, which counteracted his weaknesses. Wanida's growth as a character really added to the drama. She starts out as a spunky, naive young woman who gets into trouble constantly; later, she matures a woman who still has that spunk, but has a little better idea of when and how to channel that spunk.
I liked that while this was an arranged marriage drama, the leads didn't follow all the stereotypes, such as sleeping together, having to kiss at social events, etc. I also liked that Prajak didn't fall into the lakorn stereotype of the nang rai accusing the nang ek and the male lead blindly believing the nang rai. Prajak reminded Wanida that he "knows what kind of person she is," so when people talked bad about her, he would listen to her side of the story as well. The mother's "deathbed repentance" scene was a bit much, but whatever. And I had a hard time buying into the storyline with clearing Wanida's grandma's name because it just felt superfluous.
The story lags at the vety beginning and at the very end, but the pacing is good everywhere else.
Montree honestly made my life. He was hilarious and hot at the same time.
ACTING/CAST: I can't imagine anyone better than the people in the drama. Tik has got the loving look down-pat, he's on the same level as Colin Firth in that respect. Aff was simply gorgeous, and she did well in playing the naive, childish character without overacting and without becoming annoying. Wanida's father was hilarious. Prajak's brother was cute. The servants had AWESOME chemistry together, though Aunt Thom drove me crazy because of how badly she overacted.
MUSIC: Beautiful soundtrack. This is the only drama I've seen that didn't suffer from using the same music too often; the songs switched up once in a while, so you would expect the main theme, only to hear another very pretty and very fitting song. The only fault I found wih the soundtrack were the "soap opera" tracks used in a million other dramas for the dramatic moments. They felt out-of-place and a little obnoxious.
REWATCH VALUE: I would definitely watch this again, though probably just for Tik and Aff ;)
All in all, a very enjoyable drama that I highly recommend. Though it has its faults, the drama as a whole is so beautiful, any viewer will be willing to overlook its faults.
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
Like many people have said for those who have little experience with lakorns might find this disappointing but for us who have more experience with them, this show wasn't as frustrating as some of those out there. For starters yes there is an evil character who tries to mess with the lives of the leads but what series doesn't have that cliche. Our two leads didn't have any big misunderstanding because they saw the true colors of the evil character and they were careful. We also don't have the cliche of one of the female lead friends falling in love with the male lead and teaming up with the bad character. I was skeptical about mint at the beginning but from start to end they kept her character loyal to Aim. We also have Mr. Natt who I thought was going to be a headache but he ended up respecting the choice of the female lead and he helped her. I won't lie and say when they first introduced Preuk(male leads half brother) I thought we were going to have another evil character since that's a cliche that happens with most lakorns and dramas in general but again I was proven wrong and he was a good character. Overall this is one of the best lakorns out there especially since they didn't include many cliches and we only had one real antagonist. Would I rewatch? Maybe in the future, because I already know the small plot twists etc...
Do I recommend watching? Yes!!! You won't waste your time with this drama, from start to finish it was good. It's not full of fluff but we have a couple who has little to no misunderstanding in their relationship once they begin and we have wonderful supporting characters that helped them. Also for once, we don't have a weak female lead who needs saving from the male lead.
Was this review helpful to you?
2Eclectic cocktail that blends goofy comedy and deadly suspense
‒Short Unspoiled Review‒This is a drama with a distinct storytelling style that I've yet seen in crime dramas. It seamlessly blends a laidback, whimsical comedic style with a deadly criminal investigation. Given this odd combination, it's easy to botch the tenor and pacing, yet the director will keep you waltzing along to his unique style, while appreciating his idiosyncratic visual styling.
Unlike most psychological suspense stories, this maintains the suspense and cerebral speculation without making the experience feel too serious and weighty. As a result, this is an easy to watch, easy to binge drama, while still filled with intelligent twists.
The actors all did a solid job, while fitting into the slightly absurdist mood of the drama. Though compared to my other favorite entries like 'Interlaced Scenes', 'Beloved', 'The Bad Kids', and others, this lacks the same level of poignant characters and social commentary.
Ultimately I really appreciated the originality of the storytelling and cinematography. I hope more dramas will follow suit and more viewers (esp in China) will tune in to such shows. Without traffic actors and expensive sets, this show managed to deliver a gem on probably moderate budget.
--Category Ratings--
- Overall - 8.1 -> 8.5 MDL
- Plot - 8
- Theme / Concept / Impact - 8
- Acting - 8.2
- Visuals - 8.5
- Audio / Music - 8
- Rewatch - 7
- Cultural/Topical Accessibility - 8.5
- Subtitle quality - 8.5
Was this review helpful to you?
The couples were all cute, and I liked the secondary character friends, especially the guys who talk in unison. They are definitely beginning actors, just a tad stiff, but far from the worst I have seen. There did seem to be some chemistry between the couples though. It was also nice to see a different part of Thailand, and something more rural.
There are parts of the story that could have been explored deeper, and some parts are rushed or glossed over a little bit. That being said, the pace of the story, and story itself was fairly good overall. And for those of us that have watched lots of Thai BL, nobody gets hit by a car, no sad breakup ending, or any of that type stuff you see in many series. A happy ending is nice sometimes.
The only reason I marked it down was the short length, and maybe a half star of mark down for the stiff or uneven acting (maybe that is the directors fault?). These couple of improvements would have made this one of the higher rated series I have seen this year so far.
Was this review helpful to you?
Okay Royal Court Drama! (Surprisingly)
“The King’s Woman” was actually one of my very first c-dramas. I watched this drama without the same criticism that I have today. However, I remember this drama as one with a good cast, including Dilraba (one of my favourite actresses) and Vin Zhang, who I thought played the role of the emperor quite well. The story… could be better, but I think this is still a decent historical drama based on the royal court/family. If I were to watch this drama again, I don’t think it would be all that interesting, because I never really rewatch dramas, to be honest. Overall, I give this piece a 6.5.Was this review helpful to you?
A fabulous melodrama
By the end of the first episode a premise is established, and you might wonder why one would want to watch this show if they are going to stick to this premise to the bitter end. Well, they do stick to the premise all the way, but manage to stick the landing about as well as one could hope. Along the way there are a couple of surprises that are also quite moving, and there are good, uplifting themes that provide warmth and light in what otherwise would make for a pretty dire story arc.It is the story of a boy named Sun (Taiyo) and a girl named Rain (Ame) who fall in love in high school and promise to meet again once they achieve their respective dreams. Eight years later Ame returns to town and neither of their aspirations have been fulfilled. It is a story of sacrifice and love for the pair at the center of the story and for their families. Over the course of the series they have to face an unquestionably terrible fate in their near future mediated by two mysterious supernatural beings who have been chosen by the heavens to witness the story as it unfolds.
It does end up being a bit of a crying contest between Yamada Yuki (Taiyo) and Nagano Mei (Ame). I prefer Nagano as a comedian, but she can cry on cue apparently effortlessly, and so she often gets booked for these kind of roles. Here she manages to bring her bright personality and charm to the character which goes a long way to preventing this series from being the emotional slogfest that you might expect it to be given the premise. Yamada has the more stoic role to fulfill, and he does match Nagano tear for tear in the scenes that call for it. The pair have a solid chemistry together, and they have a nice romantic arc, but that romance pretty much has to be sexless because of the set up.
It bears mentioning that the series is beautifully shot with consistently excellent blocking and composition. They have chosen a color grading that makes almost all of the daytime shots feel like golden hour which also helps to keep the series from feeling dire and grey.
If you like melodramas, and want a good cry, then this series is probably exactly what you're looking for. I tend to avoid melodramas as a genre and tend to think that they can be emotionally manipulative for little payoff other than the tears. And so I was pleasantly surprised that this series had a bit more depth than merely saying "life sucks and then you die". And so I'd say the series is also well worth the watch for anyone looking for a nice little fable about love and pinky-swears.
Was this review helpful to you?
Not Worth The Hype
Before watching this drama, I had heard so much hype about it. Everyone on Tiktok and Twitter were losing their minds over it. So, I decided it must be really good if everyone talked about it so much.But honestly, it really just felt like it was trying too hard to appeal to an audience who was looking for a more "mature" drama. The main reason I even watch dramas is because I love watching the pure build up to a relationship. And I think that many shows have done that very well.
This drama was a rare case where I loved everyone but the main characters by the end of it. The female lead is exhausting to follow, the male lead is just a walking red flag (as dubbed by viewers on social media) and the conclusion is frustrating at best.
The only good part of this show was the soundtrack. I added well over half of the OST to my playlists because they're just so good.
In closing, watch this drama if you want to understand the hype. However, just be prepared to be annoyed for most of the 10 episodes.
Was this review helpful to you?
Can anything be messy like this? Um..... NO
It's the perfect example when someone tries to put romance, mystery, comedy, and little fantasy together but in the end, nothing makes any sense other than turning into a perfect disaster.. sounds like a big word right but it was all messy and till the end, we get nothing more than. Why I watch this?I guess it's becoming a trend these days for authors to become part of their own novel. So it started with all confusion having no idea where's the story going or why many things are happening at the first place. The story was just okay okay but it was bad in the execution and I didn't felt the chemistry between leads that much, yeah there were some sweet moments but more cringy. The side couples um I'll say fine. But honestly, the most boring part was the mystery thing. I mean when you have mystery as the main genre, it expected to be the core of story but it wasn't a mystery at all for me coz my all guesses were right in the end.
Well if you have a lot of free time then you can give it try but it's not worth it... just average drama which even isn't average. Not recommend watching, still if you are insisting you can give it try to the first few episodes, and then decide.
Was this review helpful to you?
Secret Campus was actually pretty realistic. It had the guts to tackle real, actual issues that teens face on a daily basis. I could relate to a lot of the issues because when I was their age, I went through many of the same things. Most school dramas are watered down and focus more on romance and drama. While Secret Campus did water down some of the more serious issues, the fact is, it actually *did* confront them, watered down or not. Besides telling the story of a group of high school friends and the pressures of getting good grades, it also dealt with bullying, grief, suicide and homosexuality. Each character had a story to tell, a problem to face and an outcome to take responsibility for. While some of the issues were less serious (such as the crushes on the teachers), it was showing that every issue was important to the person who was going through it.
The teen actors did an ok job playing the characters. Most never went on to do much else, but two did end up being mega stars. Park Bo Young was absolutely adorable here, though she was probably the weakest acting of the bunch. Keep in mind that she was very young and that it was her debut drama, so that's to be expected. Lee Min Ho's charisma makes him stand out, showing that even in the earliest days of his career, he had that special something. Even with the 2000's hairstyle and some acne, he was easily the most handsome of the guys. Seol Sung Min was really good and it's such a shame that he hasn't done anything since 2007. I was really impressed with his acting and would like to see him now. The same goes for Seung Hyun, who played the deceased Seung Jae in flashbacks. Unfortunately, he too hasn't done much else since.
I would definitely recommend this drama to anyone who is looking for a realistic Korean school drama. Just make sure you can deal with the outdated hairstyles! Also, one thing of note that really made it more realistic. All the teens actually look like teens in this. Real teens, too. There are no plastic faces and perfectly applied make up. Like I said above, you can even see Lee Min Ho's acne. I find this a major plus for the drama, but others might not.
All in all, I rated this drama 8/10.
Was this review helpful to you?
If you want a romantic movie this is not it
After reading the plot I thought it was very weird and interesting. Because it is a movie and not a whole drama, I thought I should give it a try. I read the comments, so I was a little prepared.First of all, it was a little weird and awkward movie indeed. I mean, a stranger comes to your grandma's house and claims to be her student, but he also has a key from the house and you take him in although he is just a stanger to you? Many things could go wrong starting this way. Fortunately, they didn't. He wasn't a pervert or murderer.
Also, right from the start, he stayed in a different part of the house which was good and safer for the female lead, but he was behaving like the man of the house. They ate together the food she cooked, he gave her his laundry and he asked her to do things for him like a husband would do. He also stated many times that he would marry her, without her permission or acceptance. I don't find it very romantic...
Their relationship was nonexistant from the start to almost the end. Emotions were not expressed through words from the start to almost the end. If you have imagination you could guess that some actions in the second half of the movie were because of affection or love or just care. For the most part they were not even talking to each other.
This was such a quiet movie, filled with silence, which didn't help me understand what was happening. If I use my imagination I can understand that this was a quiet love, but I think it was almost mute. They didn't properly show affection to each other. The age gap between them was huge, but I wouldn't mind it so much if I saw the romance between them. It was like he came to the house and became possesive. Suddenly he wants to marry her and the viewer doesn't know how or why.In the end the care or romance between them starts to show a little.
I would say that this movie is about a love story from the past, when love was not expressed very much. It was a very introverted love. I still am not sure about female lead's feelings. I felt that she was just lonely and disappointed from love, but although she waited for male lead to come back at the end, I am not sure if it was because of her love for him or because she was left alone.
I don't think the movie is bad, but I definitely think that I don't like so slow and silent romantic movies that barely have any romantic gestures and by the end of it I am not sure if I saw a romantic movie. I don't like the very romantic, cheesy and unrealistic ones either but this was not even enough.
Was this review helpful to you?
