Reviews

Revamp : The Dead Story!

This had everything it needed to be a guilty pleasure masterpiece, from vampires to forbidden love to century-old curses to a tragic painting, and most importantly Boun Prem. And yet, somehow, it manages to take all that potential and throw it down the drain.

The premise opens dramatically with a vampire sealed inside a painting, freed by a modern man who is calm about meeting a vampire that he even offered to make tea. To be very honest, I wasn't expecting much from a vampire drama, but then it never lived up to the lore it built.

Coming to logic, or what I call the abstract art here, interpret it however you want. Now, starting from the start, Ramil being trapped for a century should make him disoriented, right? This man adjusts to the 21st century faster than most of us figure out new trends. Again, not asking for ironclad things, just basic stuff.

The drama till the very end couldn't decide what it wanted to be. Was it supposed to be a bit dark? A romance? A parody of its own genre? It felt like this project was directed by different people. One wanted it to be slapstick comedy, the other just wanted to see Boun shirtless but there must be someone who actually wanted the vampire drama with angst, so we also see sprinkles of that. I respect all three visions, but maybe not in the same hour. Somehow, the tonal whiplash weighed down the drama completely and made it boring.

They also introduced a hunter's subplot, and I thought this would bring back some life and excitement in this domesticated tale of a vampire, but I was again proven wrong. They totally underused it to the point that it just started looking funny. Imagine a secret organisation taking on supernatural beings and declaring war, but all of their plans lacked any preparedness. I will not even question logic here.

The only aspect that I enjoyed was the bond between Ramil and the vampire brothers (Methas, Ciar and Mekhin). It wasn't the central plot but I wished it was. They had each other's backs and it was fun where they shared the screen. Again, they totally wasted potential to actually explore the 3 characters and bring in some actual plot. Ciar might come off as rude and presumptuous, but he was the only one who acted like an actual vampire.

Coming to chemistry between the leads, the romance is what sank the ship. It was just too much and everywhere. I like the leads and their chemistry but here all the focus was on their love story, leaving everything else (the actual plot, pacing, character depth) adrift.

Acting-wise, Mark as Methas captured my attention and it was good seeing Barcode on screen. Rest, everyone was forgettable. Again, not bad but nothing to run home about.
The production itself wasn't terrible. The manor was gorgeous, and the opening OST was good. There were inconsistencies in editing, but at one point, I stopped caring.

Overall, this isn't unwatchable but boring. Things kept happening, but nothing held my interest. Everything was half-baked. Again, I understand the main plot is vampires and it is expected to be a bit campy. In fact, I welcome that trope, but this wasn't even a fun camp.
So yes, Revamp tried to suck blood but ended up sucking energy instead.

Will I recommend it? No. I am definitely not their target audience for this.
Will I recommend GMM TV to stop attempting vampire dramas? YES. PLEASE !

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Ignore the Noise

Dear reader, I urge you to give this series a chance if you enjoy coming-of-age dramas (including talk of dreams, aspirations, failure, innovation, identity, family, friendship, feeling lost, finding love), as well as lovely cinematography, production design, and direction.

Does this drama have flaws? Yes, plenty. The writing goes up and down at times, some storylines are rushed (the revenge plot), and there are characters who should've gotten more screen time (Injae). If you're not a fan of romance in your dramas, then this show is not for you. If you're not a fan of love triangles, this show is not for you.

All that said, overall, Start-Up is a good time. All of the characters are complex and flawed, which makes them interesting. Every shot is absolutely beautiful, and the familial/friendship themes are effectively explored. If you've ever felt lost (particularly in your twenties, as those are the leads' ages) and weren't quite sure what you wanted to do with the rest of your life, you can probably relate. It is certainly not a documentary about starting a tech company in South Korea, but it does utilize its accelerator environment well. The strengths of Start-Up lie in its cast of colorful characters, its emotional throughline, and its visual excellence.

If you're thinking of watching this show but are wondering why there are people online who seem passionately invested in hating it as if this show killed their first born child (and you don't mind spoilers,) continue below:

The online reaction surrounding this drama while it's been on-air is some of the most ridiculous and inane I've ever seen in a K-Drama fandom (usually only present in large western or anime fandoms), and this is due to the ship war and the different "teams."

Here's the thing: while the drama did spend an unnecessary amount of time on the love triangle, it was never a true love triangle to begin with. From the first episode, when the cherry blossom petal flew all the way from Dalmi and landed on Dosan's head, if you've ever watched a single K-Drama ever, you should've known what the endgame was going to be. Even more so in Episode 2, with the slow motion walk toward each other during their first-meeting-cut-short and when Dosan showed up at the networking party looking like Cinderella at the ball.

Throughout the course of the story, Dalmi had shown exactly zero interest in Jipyeong as a man, either romantically or sexually. Not even when she was suspicious of Dosan being two separate people did she consider Jipyeong in a romantic light. She’d been curious about him, yes, and clearly valued his friendship and mentorship, but anyone who genuinely hoped she was suddenly going to finally see, in the eleventh hour, how he was the nice guy she’d been looking for all along were going to be sorely disappointed.

It was never going to be Jipyeong, but for some reason, shippers deluded themselves into thinking there was some sort of secret story underneath it all that only they could see. They wholeheartedly believed there was going to be a big plot twist (even though there was never any indication of such), and when the coupling went the way it was always going to go, they got all shocked Pikachu face. And then got angry at the hole they dug themselves into. The most ironic part is that the show has a good amount of symbolism and attention to detail. Just not the symbolism and attention to detail certain factions thought they saw.

Start-Up is not a work of genius, but it's fun and all the actors are fantastic. The OST is out of this world, and there is plenty of comedy and emotional heft to go around. In any case, this is a drama best binged, as it's more cohesive that way.

Ignore the noise and check it out if the synopsis seems interesting to you. And if you don't vibe with it, stop watching and simply move on with your life.

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Useless reality ever

What can i say, i was a huge fan of the 1st season even if the alliances thing of going all vs one annoyed me a lot, but in this season they did their best.
Funny how this should be a reality where the smartest win games but it turned out like a contest who make more friends.
Starting from the cast: Sohee and Kyuhyun should do acting and commentary because how can you play a survival game if you have no will to win; they annoyed so much with all of those sentimental choices like they are playing with each other lives, not even if they were in squid game where they are playing with people lives, just play the game for god sake. Hyunjoon, Jiyeong, Chuu and the 2004 guy were absolutely useless and since they know that they did everything to play in group because they knew that alone they would have been in disadvantage.
And here it comes the biggest problem: THE PRODUCTION. How can you put in every game the possibility of ruining it by playing in groups; of course people will do alliances to survive but if you put them in the conditions to use that to play games like kids in elementary school, i ask myself where is the fun of watching this show. The peak was at the game at the 11th episode: i don't wanna say what happened because i don't wanna make spoilers but all of what happened was absolutely ridicolous, just people who refuse to play the game and decided who would have gone to the final.
Basically if you start this season because you want to see people solve problems, competing in games and give their best (wich should be the concept of the program) save your time because all that you will get is people who tries to pass the game all togheter without playing it and leave behind the people who want to play alone. Only the prison games are a bit entertaining to watch, but there you can witness how bad are some people who always played in group when they're put in a situation of playing alone

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A MEMORABLE MINI MAKJANG!

***DISCLAIMER: This is just my opinion. We don’t have to agree and I’m not here to argue with anyone.***

I'm gonna keep this brief because I don't have the time to say everything I want to say.

Main Takeaway: "Revenge is a dish best served cold."

IDK IF THEY PUT CRACK IN THIS OR WHAT BUT FROM THE VERY FIRST EPISODE THIS DRAMA HOOKED ME AND I’VE NEVER LOOKED BACK. IT IS SOOOO ADDICTING!

First things first, "What’s better than a contractual time travel romance with mystery, revenge and lots and lots of drama?!" This show legit has it all. They said spicy makjang in 12 episodes and thats exactly what they meant!

When I tell you the pacing feels just right and no episode feels like a filler, just know I’m being so serious. I have never been bored for even one second. This drama starts out confusing in episode one but by the end of the episode and onwards you understand everything perfectly.

I LOVE LOVE LOVED the chemistry between Do Guk and Yi Joo!!!! These two are masterful performers and you can literally feel the tension, angst and passion dripping from them anytime they have a really intense scene together. The chemistry between these two is to die for and I feel like they truly fed us with the development of their relationship. They have definitely made top 5 best kdrama couples of 2023 for me.

AHHHH I LOVED EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS DRAMA. Even the characters I hated… you must know they’re doing an amazing job for me to want them to die, rot in jail or be hit down by the infamous big white truck. I know I keep saying it but drama is just so so so so good!

Like many others I do believe it is one of the best webtoon to drama adaptations. They kept the major plot points and original webtoon readers seemed to be satisfied with the outcome. So there aren't much complaints here!

One of the main things I disliked about this drama was the 3rd act conflict breakup. It was cliche and unnecessary to say the least. I also feel like Yi Joo struggled and endured so much even when she set out to get her revenge. It was heartbreaking watching her be in constant pain and agony as she uncovered all the secrets as the story unfolded.

Another minor thing I disliked was Do Guk's wardrobe. It was evident the production team went ham and spent all the money on the women's wardrobe leaving very little for the men. They definitely could have budgeted better and put more of an effort into our leading man's fashion. To be honest I just ovelooked it because Sung Hoon's visuals and performance made up for all of that.

Additionally there are some plot holes and aspects that could have been more properly developed but I feel like they did the best they could with the 12 episodes.

In my opinion, more makjang's should take a leaf out of this one. Unlike others it did not need 100+ episodes to make a good and convincing story. I feel like had the drama been any longer then people would have started to lose interest.

Perfect Marriage Revenge is definitely one of the most enjoyable dramas I've watched in 2023 and I would rewatch it in a heartbeat!

If you are on the fence about starting it I suggest you do so immediately! It’s seriously such a treat and you do not want to miss out.

With all of that said I gave this an 8.5 rounded up to a 9/10.

Tysm for reading!

❤️

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Enjoyable But... I Wish They Gave Us More!

***Disclaimer: This is just my opinion. We don't have to agree and I'm not here to argue with anyone***

(This review is entirely based on the show, I did not read the webtoon and went into this completely blind)

I really loved this drama... I thought the story was interesting, the acting was phenomenal and the OSTs touched my heart. I wish I could rewatch it for the first time and be able to experience and feel all the things I did all over again.

The way this drama had me in a chokehold for weeks needs to be studied! I honestly don't know if this drama would've had the same effect on me had I just binge watched it in one go. From beginning to end you can see the care / effort the writers put into bringing this story to life on screen. I thought the cast was beautifully chosen as the actors captured the essence of their characters so well. The emotions through the drama were raw / real and it was almost palpable through the screen. I heard the webtoon and the drama are different and that writers changed some stuff but idk I think that's the whole point of an adaption it gives the writers creative license and room to explore what the original story didn't have / lacked. Ahn Bo Hyun and Shin Hye Sun were so amazing. I need to see Bo Hyun in more leading roles... perhaps a historical drama next.

Overall, this drama was enjoyable. My only problem with it was that it was too short (12 episodes) and the last couple episodes seemed rushed and like they were trying to tie everything together at the last minute. They could've used the middle episodes to develop the plot further or have Seo Ha find out that Ji Eum was Ju Won's reincarnation earlier as well as her memories from her 1st life and how to break the curse. I found the shaman guy (Min Ki) so annoying. Especially the fact that they let his identity remain a mystery until the last two episodes, it was very underwhelming. They made it seem like he was a lover but as it turns out he was the reason why Ji Eum was cursed to be reborn each time she died. I found the ending of her forgetting everyone while they lived on remembering her very strange / not well thought out but I'm glad everything all worked out in the end and the drama ended on a happy note. I was initially so scared that it would end badly but then again I'm a lover of angst and pain. Either way I think I would've loved this drama bc the storytelling, acting and sequence of events was so entertaining.

I definitely would rewatch this drama sometime in the future. I think the key to enjoying this drama is just to go in blindly without any preconceived notions from the webtoon or constantly comparing it to it. As a reader myself it's just a fact that no adaptation can ever really live up to what you imagined in your head.

With that said I give this drama an 8/10.

Thanks for reading & happy watching!

❤️

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why ???

I know that watching c drama requires patience as it’s a long haul. I still struggle with this one. why going all the way to Finland to din only Chinese people to interact with ? why is the FL so cringy? She’s a grown woman and yet shies away from any romantic interaction with her obviously smitten boyfriend who irrealistically bears it all with a smile. Hello Hidden Love! Same age and yet more realistic isn’t it ?
And then why so much food ? they spend their time in bars and restaurants eating food all the time. he’s supposed to be broke and yet feeds her endlessly … The FL is cute as a button but she’s too cringy for my taste.
Anyway, like a lot of you have replied it’s not for everyone ! It’s nice to see that we respect each other’s opinions here. Enjoy the show!

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Polished, Pleasant… and a Little Too Careful

I understand why Love Between Lines drew attention. It’s visually clean, consistent in tone, and has an interesting dual-world premise: the blurred lines between a murder-mystery roleplay and real-life interactions give it a clever hook. Some of the quieter, character-driven moments are working well, and the drama feels safe and approachable. The atmosphere is soft and inviting, and it’s easy to settle into.

Where it falters is emotional weight. The romance is gentle and agreeable, but rarely compelling. Emotional beats are suggested rather than explored, and conflicts resolve before they can truly settle in. At times, uneven pacing and editing smooth over moments that might have benefited from lingering a little longer. For a story centered on intimacy and connection, the chemistry remains curiously restrained: I understood why the leads were drawn to each other, but I rarely felt it.

The writing hints at deeper themes, vulnerability, self-protection, the divide between persona and reality, but tends to play it safe. It prefers comfort over tension, smoothness over friction. As a result, the experience stays pleasant, but light. Nothing is particularly wrong, yet little truly lingers once it’s over.

This is why the high rating feels slightly inflated. The drama is polished, coherent, and easy to finish, but for viewers used to plays where performances and storytelling generate real emotional pull, this may feel too careful for its own good. I spent much of the drama waiting for the emotional hook to arrive, and it never did. For me, in generous terms, it settles at 7/10 — pleasant and occasionally charming, but emotionally lighter than the praise suggests.

If you’re looking for something calm, cozy, and aesthetically pleasing, Love Between Lines does its job. Just don’t go in expecting sparks to fly, or emotions to hit hard; this one prefers to stay safely between the lines.

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A Waste of Time

Honestly, this show was a huge letdown for me all around. The production value was great, the acting was overall pretty good, but the story? The relationships? A big, hot mess that never truly got solved by the end.

We can start with the positives. I liked the actors (for the most part— to be honest, New's crying scenes felt inauthentic at times), and the chemistry between the couples was pretty good. Not mind-blowing by any means, but enough for me to buy that they were actually attracted to each other. I loved pretty much all of the friendships, as well! Kuea and Kon-Diao were great best friends, and actually supported each other equally in a way I feel I hardly ever see in fiction. I also really enjoyed all of Kuea's school friends— they were hilarious and so much fun to watch on screen. And honestly, Syn and Nuer's little side relationship was the best-executed plotline in the whole show. The last positive was Foei, who was a side character that stole the scene every time he showed up; I enjoyed the comedy he brought immensely.

And now, the negatives. For starters, a lot of the storyline and plot felt very, very nonsensical. The arranged marriage aspect felt very forced, because there didn't seem to be an actual reason for Lian and Kuea to be arranged to be married. It was like the writers wanted to make us see that they were really in love and not actually being forced into marriage, even though that's the whole point of an arranged marriage plotline. There was also so much weirdness around how Lian and Kuea had known each other since Kuea was a baby, and yet at some point (we never find out when, because why would they ever give us any answers??) Kuea starts acting like a "perfect little doll" and hiding who he actually is. But it's also pointless because the viewer learns early on that Lian knows everything Kuea is trying to hide from him— so what is the point of Kuea hiding it? Why don't they ever just communicate about anything ever?

And that's not even starting on the mess that is the Yi/Diao plotline. Somehow, that one makes even less sense than Lian and Kuea's, since Yi and Diao aren't even together prior to the start of the show! It's weirdly written where it's made to look like Kuea and Diao are in the same situation of pining for their fiances while they think the Hias don't actually love them back, and yet it's not until way into the show that we find out that Yi and Diao aren't anything like that. And pretty much nothing about them and their situation is ever explained, presumably because the writers want to do a sequel series surrounding them.

In the end, the only way to enjoy this show is to just not think about anything and enjoy each scene for what it is rather than as it should be as part of an overall narrative. I wouldn't recommend watching it, as pretty much every other drama I've watched thus far has a more cohesive storyline with relationships that actually make sense.

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I was craving for a wuxia series when I started watching it. Maybe that's why I could tolerate a typical storyline and dragging pace of this series.
Nonetheless, it is one of the decent ones in recent wuxia/xianxia genre. It has good action/battle scenes. Even though it follows a typical wuxia storyline of a young naive boy becoming a hero, it is still enjoyable. The story is, however, quite dragging, sometimes it takes three or more episodes to go through a sub-plot.
As for acting wise, I am not that impressed with Li Yi Feng and most of the casts but I have always liked Zhao Li Ying since her older works.

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Average drama with an unlikely premise and a dumbfounding conclusion.

This drama had a lot going for it--strong cast, good production values, "romance" in the title--except a script. FL Son Na Eun with her glorious scowl/RBF and mom Kim Jee Soo were the most engaging characters, but they didn't have much to work with.

Most of the other (negative) reviews focus on the absurd premise of a hapless father abandoning his wife and two small children after going bankrupt and leaving them destitute, only to return 10 years (or more?) later with a pile of sketchy money and a not very well thought out plan to win their hearts back. But as bad as that is, it isn't even the worst aspect of the plot, which is the almost stupifying "I don't need no man to make me happy" conclusion. But who could blame them? In the almost complete absence of any redeemable male characters in the whole drama, the two principal female characters decide that they are better off/happy living alone. The icing on the cake comes when the young FL asserts she is happy continuing to live her celibate lifestyle and has absolutely no intention of ever getting married--despite her supposedly wonderful relationship with her nice guy boyfriend. (I wonder if she consulted him about this...) The writer even had the temerity to throw in a reference to South Korea's lowest in the world .78 birth rate in the same scene. And this was a "romance"? Mind blown.

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Again a wasted chance...

What's with all the "periodic" series in the past six months? It's all very lacorn style, over-dramatized acting, female villains and generally a story which does not make much sense. They build up a conspiracy against the crown which fades into nothingness. And because they are lazy writing a good script, there has to be a doppelganger which can be overtaken by a ghost...

I'm very sorry, this is also one of the series which is mostly bullshit. While I like BillyBabe (and of course their chemistry is undeniable being a real couple) and I think they can act, it's wasted with this kind of story. Maybe this only resonates with asiens or it resonates only with women, but for me it's just boring and unbelievable. This series makes some up with very good cinematography, very nice costumes, the dancing which was for sure a chore training for and the music in general.

Storywise this was a dumpster fire. Generally it's watchable, but mostly a waste of time.

Edit: Billy & Babe left Idol Factory, was anounced on 31st January 2026... good for them!

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Uhm okay, this drama was bad. Please avoid if possible. Yuck.

Generally speaking, I have a high tolerance for trash and genuinely enjoy dramas that may have subpar elements, maybe its weather or I’m uncharacteristically annoyed, but here I am with my review.

Upon reading the drama synopsis, I had the idea that I was about to watch a drama concerning a banished royal prince with high cultivation and a princess. They have romantic feelings and stand on opposite sides of a political struggle upon other situations, which they overcome to protect Kong Sang continent. Not true.

25 episodes in, the prince has high cultivation but has not progressed any further from when we initially met him. The princess has increased her own cultivation about 5% thus can shoot some flames instead of a spark. Hmm.

25 episodes in, the prince is suppressing his emotions and has only just about left the mountain to actually be useful. The princess has spent most of the time drinking, crying for the prince and talking to a few people. So, nothing generally useful.

25 episodes in, the plot has only just started to move after that random as Huotu tribe arc, whereby consort kills king, consort tries to kill and/or control princess, consorts son slits his throat on her behalf. We also have a lil sea dragon emperor plot finally brewing in the background OKAY.

25 episodes in, nothing memorable has happened and the plot is only just about happening. My time has been wasted. Nice
Also why is the crimson king, his warrior and his daughter all useless? Anyways.

Now at the 40th episode after suffering through 3 episodes that were randomly 90 minutes long, I have finally reached the end. What can I conclude?

In the last 3rd of the drama, princess gurlie has finally learnt some skills and the ml started being somewhat (BARELY) useful.
Before i can blink, more nonsense begins.

Emperor Xingzun using the ice clan because he is obsessed with Bai Wei for over ONE THOUSAND YEARS so wants to destroy Kong Sang and rebuild. Not a bad idea, but this was exposed randomly, and a big villain also killed randomly. And then we randomly see that its not over till its over apparently (insert formless God of Destruction). The whole Ice clan plot was undeveloped and resolved with zero effort.

Consort Qing, Azure King, 2nd Bai daughter, Yuan? Okay. Okay?????????

The part when Zhu Yan tells Shi Ying that she loves Yuan and wants to live a reclusive life with him thus finally shows some strength and uses a special technique for the first time in her life to protect him at the cost of her life? Shi Ying then shanking himself unironically out of jealousy/fear or whatever? Then Zhu Yan uses ultra majestic forbidden magic to respawn a memoryless version him at the risk of her own senses. Then he comes back with no memory, they do up romance with impending doom around the corner. She then leaves and nearly dies. Then he nearly dies leaving the priesthood. Then he actually dies again in battle. Then he resurrects this time on his own. WHAT?!? ITS ALL SO RANDOM.

For what reason? Such a pointless, plotless, boring, unromantic, dramatic and GARBAGE set of scenes. They just decided to spawn some random romantic angst that actually doesn’t make sense? ????

All this is because Shi Ying is actually dumb. Zhu Yan is also dumb. In fact, the director is also dumb as well.

I’m not gonna speak on that Sauron nonsense in episodes 39/40. All I know was that too many things happened and nothing made sense. Some shit ending as well especially after 120 minutes.


For something I hoped to enjoy, I found myself bitterly dissatisfied and disappointed with this drama. Cdrama producers and directors need to learn how to pace and appropriately edit to avoid putting out trash like this. With better focus on cultivation and the storyline concerning Kong Sang/Sea dragon emperor and the merfolk, it would have been better. Lastly, the power scaling doesn’t make sense, Shi Ying is too strong for no reason. 3/10 because CGI was nice and the main leads were good-looking. Bye.

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Great premise, stupid characters

Was really excited for this as the premise seemed interesting. Then we were introduced to Death. She's an annoying child throwing a tantrum because, according to her, humans don't deserve to kill themselves. She says there are way worse pain than living a crappy life. I guess people being sexually trafficked, liked the gangster's girlfriend, should just go on living no matter how hellish their life is. Oh, and she doesn't like being "disrespected", as if people killing themselves are doing it for fun.

The action scenes and the different lives are interesting, especially the gangster one. Sadly, this Death is not as cool as they could have had her be. She could have had a better reason for the game. Instead she just comes off as petty and silly. I just can't take her seriously with her constant threats, aka constant whinnying.

I know it's based off a webtoon but I honestly think it could have been much better with a different, more interesting reason as to why the game happens.

No hate to the actress. At least she has a cool look.

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By far the weakest arc!

This had so much potential, but as usual with thai shows, they just botched it. This arc had it especially not easy, because it was the last, but we saw so much of it in Part 1. When you know you will film all arcs of the novel, you should have started with THIS arc. Why? Because it starts at highschool and then fades into university. So the first 5 episodes don't belong into Part 2, they should have been in Part 1 at the beginning. Yes we would have been left hanging but it would have made much more sense.

Instead we get a time jump of three years in this arc which feels strange. And it just happens by accident that Mr. Mafia Boy confesses and that at the end of episode 6. They had the mafia subplot and Mr. Mafia boy did kill someone - no consequences - because it's Mafia I suppose. His then not boyfriend did not ask and Mr. Mafia Boy did not explain. Also no real explaination what the family really did, besides having a 08/15 cartoonish evil dad who had the decency to die without fuzz before causing more problems. As usual we have a not really gay but gay brother who is the same as Mr. Mafia Boy and then we have even one more couple which has not much screen time at all and they should have because the main story dragged on for too long.

They could have done something more with the mafia arc, but no. I have no clue if the novel is more exciting but this was not it. The order was wrong, the interactions with North & Johann are too short, Easter and Hill were not seen at all.

So for a standalone it was ok, but for the big picture of both season this arc did not work well. The actors were good for the most parts, the production was on a high level but the story is missing the kick to make it exciting.

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