Reviews

coulda been but wasn't

So great visuals, cast not bad, story could have been intriguing but the damn writer(s) kept lifting plots and story lines from so many other BL's. What hacks. Was akin to a low budget GMMTV offering which is pretty common these days.
When in the 6th episode they "lifted" a core plot of Ai Long Nhai I just had to stop. Just saying. I will continue to watch just to see how many other plots they can "lift". Not just common BL tropes but plots. And a doctor whose only advice is breathe deeply and let it out..... Sheesh. But they are an attractive cast.
Alright I have now finished and adjusted score slightly. The last two episodes got pretty mawkish/sentimental and all the difficult stuff got tied up in an easy bright bow in about 2 minutes. But the actors overcame the bad writing and ended on a grace note.

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Me ??‍?? Slowburns

I live for romance like this.

It was a slow comforting show even if it depicts serious disturbing problems.

The main couple was great even if in the past Sang Yan gave a bit stalker vibes when he went to her city.

The side couple was cute too and didn't outshine the main.

I love how when Sang Yan started his sentence by " Wen Shuangjiang" you knew he was about to spit the facts to reassure her or support her.

There is just one thing that I could not comprehend: the part where Wen Yifan is gone during 6 months to HongKong and then just changes her mine when Sang Yan pop up? like, what was the use for this? idk unless I missed something...

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Somewhat similar to "13 Reasons Why"

There's no doubt that the show's story is controversial; issues such as dysfunctional families, domestic violence, sexual assault, substance abuse, adolescent sexuality, gender, death, and bullying are depicted in detail and explored throughout.

Queen (the central character) projects herself as this charming, alluring, and mesmerizing person who has it all: good looks, thousands of followers on social media, an opulent and privileged background, and the ability to get along with just about everyone and anyone. When a night out ends in her unfortunate death, Phaphaeng and Gale, her two best friends exhibit shock and horror; they can't quite understand how she died.

Gale (the secondary character) seems to be the character struggling the most; her mother is an alcoholic and a gambler, her father is dead, she is struggling to land roles that can allow her to pay off her mother's gambling debt, and her boyfriend (Toy) is vitriolic, explosive, possessive, verbally and physically abusive, and controlling. Phaphaeng (the tertiary character) is a promiscuous party girl who has had encounters with almost every man on campus. Chivas (the quaternary character) is a character with a mysterious connection to Queen; he claims she was the "most important person" in his life, and he offers to help out the other characters discover the truth of what happened that night.

As the show goes on, each character's struggles and complexities are highlighted in depth, and it seems that they are all somehow linked to what happened on that tragic night. Expect major twists along the way.

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The Perfect Crown for the Worst Acting

This drama is the perfect example of beauty over substance…

The production is visually stunning, but that’s about it.

There’s no real emotion, no chemistry, and the acting is very poor in IU’s case. She doesn’t perform well at all, it almost becomes unintentionally laughable at times, and her facial expressions are quite unconvincing.

I watched three episodes and I won’t be going any further it’s disappointing. I keep giving it a chance, and every time I end up let down. There’s no improvement, which is frustrating for an acting performance that feels very amateurish.

As for the story, there’s nothing particularly remarkable. Honestly, it feels more suited for a younger audience, around early teens.

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POV: The demon to my sleep paralysis

You don't like this drama? You actually do 😐🔪.

Twinkling Watermelon is like the demon to my sleep paralysis. You think it's done with you just because it didn't showed up for months? You think you can keep it away from you by having a regular sleep schedule? You think you can feint it by faking falling asleep? No it will always find its way toward you 😈

On a more serious note someone help me, this is my favorite tv show ever, I've watched it countless time during the last 3 years and still can not get sick of it.

There is the perfect balance between serious and light moments, a lot of characters are well developped and will move you (not only the main 4). It simply healed the teenager inside me and will remain as the most comforting show ever.

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Incredible Plot, Underwhelming Ending

Although I really liked the premise of the series, I was disappointed by the ending. The last two episodes felt too rushed. Rei's mom suddenly solving all her issues with her daughter was unrealistic. The three-year lapse after Prim signed her contract with the Korean agency was barely noticeable. The girls' engagement and marriage felt a bit forced. Sometimes going for what the audience usually wants is not the best decision.


Anyways, let's now talk about the good stuff. The kissing scenes were incredible, and don't get me started with the intimate moments! I think it was one of the few GL's that showed a different kind of intimate moments (if you know what I mean) and I was soooo into that. Whoever came up with those ideas, I know what you are.

I would recommend this show, nonetheless. I had a great time watching it.

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Watchable but very dry

The series visually looks great but after 15 episodes and a few story arcs, it still feels really dry. There's nothing particularly offensive about it but there's also not much to look forward to. The ML was interesting in the first two episodes but stayed pretty flat thereafter. And there is way too much screen time with him running off to his songstress love interest, and way too many cases that just so happen to involve her somehow. His two bandit companions are also equally as dry and there's just no chemistry with any of the characters.

The story arcs are just fine but nothing very intriguing either. They over-dramatize the sound effects and music but nothing really dramatic is actually happening. It's also quite boring for the culprit to ALWAYS be someone who's somehow close to the ML. And because there's very little character build up in general, you're just watching it play out with no actual attachments.

It's quite unfortunate because the overall production was actually done pretty well. It's a good super casual watch if you just need something to pass the time and if you need something you can drop quite easily.

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It’s a cliche but everything works perfectly

Not sure abt the other reviews but for the first time I found a cliche plot line story addressing every issue with no plot holes. When I noticed that qin was initially giving in very easily to duang I was wondering if they will ever explain why he gave the okay sign only to duang while he straight up rejected the others. But I absolutely love the flashback which gives us the reason qin noticed and let duang pursue him 😭😭 I also love how duang’s friends warned him regarding the thin line between pursuing and stalking. It made me feel more comfortable seeing him pursue qin after getting his consent.

There is soo much I can talk abt the plot alone but the acting and chemistry between the actors was honestly mind blowing. I had no previous knowledge of teeteepor as I hadn’t watched their reality show so the only idea of them I had was when I saw their acting in your sky which was leaning heavily towards porteetee. At that time I found that the roles suited them really well and it didn’t seem odd at all, so you can just imagine the shock when I found that they did a whole 180 and switched roles in dwy which still worked perfectly????? It was like seeing a whole new character which is exactly how acting is supposed to be like. Teetee going from acting in a quiet role to a very energetic one and Por going from a very confident role to a quiet role with a lot of emotional trauma. Also the chemistry and dynamics between the two friend groups???? There are sooo many duang trio shenanigans clips that I go back to rewatch because of how chaotic they are. They absolutely nailed the friendship dynamics!!

Would definitely rewatch and would definitely recommend it to first time bl watchers as well!! (Already trying to make my sister who doesn’t watch bl dramas much watch it. Saw one clip of the trio shenanigans and she was hooked 😌)

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POV: you can sit at Moon lovers table

Yes this drama can sit among the legends such as Moon lovers, My dearest and Empress Ki.

I have only rated 7 dramas as 10/10 and it is one of them. After having watched hundreds of kdramas, this one remains in my top 5 and as the most underrated drama in my opinion. The spectacle of emotions offered in front of us can not be described.

First of all, I don't even think I need to talk about Woo Dohwan. I knew before starting that he would not disappoint me. He simply is the best actor out there.
I could say he carried the whole show but everything was perfect, from the rest of the cast, to the plot, the music, the cinematography... Yang Sejong was a discovery for me, he also did a great job at portraying emotions. Jang Hyuck was even more impressive, and SeolHyun was great too despite her character lacking something.

For the rest, I simply want to say that I feel bad for people who refuse to watch saggeuk because they are missing on the most emotionally gripping and epic stories. If you are hesitating, go for it and be prepared to shed tears.

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BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR

Girigo follows a group of high school students who download an app that grants any wish. The catch? Once the wish is fulfilled, the user only has 24 hours left to live.

I found the show not that scary. What it does instead is drown everything in blood. The frequency of the bloody scenes was just too much. After a while, the gore stops being shocking. You see someone slit their throat and you just shrug because the bloody mess doesn't give you the chills anymore.

The acting was decent; No one embarrassed themselves, but no one blew me away either.

But the real strength of the drama was the plot. I especially liked how the wishes were connected to shamanism. It's refreshing to see a phone app used as a medium to pass on curses. It makes sense because the characters belong to the digital era. The writer did a good job of tying the origin of the curse to the lives of the main characters and making the backstory feel like an important part of the story.

I also appreciated the drama’s logic behind the curse, which I found more frightening than the horror scenes themselves.Each person only gets one wish, and once that wish is granted, death follows within 24 hours. Since none of the characters know the price beforehand, their wishes are driven by personal wants. That made their choices feel believable. It also made sense that none of them used their wish to stop the curse. Doing that would mean sacrificing their own life for everyone else, and realistically, most people would not make that choice. That selfish but human reaction made the story feel realistic,despite the supernatural setup.

Honestly, I found Girigo to be a solid watch. It won't exactly have you sleeping with the lights on, but the concept is actually cool.It was truly a fun way to kill an evening.

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Great Reboot Minor Flaws

The performances are amazing, and the themes they are dealing with are always pretty relevant but the ending feels a Little hopeless, while the ending feels like a
reflection of reality I mean there is literally a scene super similar to a real life thing that happened it kinda risked being unsatisfying due to the bleakness.

at the end of the day, story atleast to me feels like it says, people have identities , they identify with a group and defend their group identity to death and in the process start hating people who arent part of their group, these tensions are further used and pushed to keep people under control, democracy went from a tool to make leaders emerge from people to a reason for leaders to let people be broken into groups so the leaders can get support from their groups.

True equality comes when all groups realize none of them are above other and stop discriminating against other groups.

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Quite Subjective

I finished this series for the sake of finishing it. Until the end, I was trying to figure out what is the practical guide to love. It is quite subjective since we see only a few characters who navigated their relationship. So, this review is more on the characters portrayed:
1. Ui Yeong (played by Han Ji Min) - at her age, she seemed to be clueless as to what she really wants in a relationship. She was surprised to hear Tae Seop telling her to date with marriage in mind. Is dating for her just a pastime? Was her concept of marriage tarnished because of her parents' relationship?
2. Tae Seop (played by Park Sung Hoon) - we may say that he is a level-headed person, matured and understanding. However, some may say that his character is flat or boring. We only see his anger when he found Ui Yeong with an aggressive and forward client. He may be boring, but how he navigated his relationship with Ui Yeong is with much patience and kindness.
3. Ji Su (played by Lee Ki Taek) - young and passionate, yet directionless when it comes to his career path. perhaps affected by his father's mistress. for him, he will pursue who he likes but soon learned to give in when Ui Yeong chose Tae Seop.
4. Ui Yeong's friends who got intimate before even having a date. This one is relatable to some who are not really serious with their relationship, testing the field so to speak. Still, we see in them the desire to be faithful to one.
This drama may be forgettable after a few months. I think the title of the drama isn't appropriate - perhaps something about navigating love since no one can really truly say there is a guide to love.

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POV: your sleep paralysis demon comes back into your life

I have terrible mixed feelings about this drama but probably not for what you think.

In short:
- traumatic on a personnal level
- annoying choices from the scriptors
- Woo Dohwan being his majestic self as usual (in french we say " the bread of the bakery")

Now for the full review:

The first time I watched it, I really wanted to like it but I just couldn't.

First of all I started to watch it because of Woo Dowhan which is simply my favorite actor all times. But this time his incredible acting ability may have been what made me feel uneasy. The toxicness of his character was too much to handle for me at the point that it was hard to watch without wanting to cry.

Maybe the show hurted me personnally because of a past experience but still I think WDH's performance was what made it so hurtfull (so this is not a diss toward him but the opposite). I felt like I was watching a depiction of my own life at some point, and it's probably why this show is so popular, a lot of the viewers could relate to the female lead since we almost all have experienced disppointing/traumatic relationships and felt like someone was playing with us.

Regarding the plot there were a few things that didn't felt right with me.

First of all the fact that Hae Jo was selfish enough to make a comeback into Jae Mi's life, knowing that he was dying and that he didn't deserve her after he destroyed her in the past.

But most importantly I could not stand how Eo Heung was treated by the show. I get the fact that sometimes you are not the right person for the person you want, and I'm not saying that Jae Mi should have forced herself to stay with Eo Heung, but she could have handled the situation better. She clearly knew the extent of her romantic feelings for him (which is to say 0%, I don't care that she had "affection" for him) from the begining AND she knew the moment Hae Jo popped back into her life like a sleep paralysis demon, that she would follow him to the end of the planet. But she still made Eo heung suffer because she could not make her decision.

BUT the worse in all of this, is how the scriptors of the show settled the situation. Why did they make Eo heung accept the situation by staying on good terms with the couple, when he clearly should have protected himself toward such disrespect he suffered. It made him pass for a stupid character who could not stand for himself (and the little time he spent in his room angry toward her doesn't make up for it). In my opinion he should have hold more grudges. Nobody is that nice in real life, his character was not credible at all in my opinion.

Anyway, to conclude it was very hard to watch the first time and after I finished I was so frustrated and confused because it made me pity myself

BUT

seeing how the show gained popularity and how people didn't seem to mind that Hae Jo was a complete *******, I decided to rewatch it but this time being aware of the toxicity of this drama. And this time I could fully enjoy the romance without wanting to k my self lol.

So yes this show is great, with great actors, great cinematography, and yes despite everything I still think they are endgame like all of you (but still the most toxic couple ever u_u).

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Very entertaining & a cute romance

I believe both of main actors did an amazing job and portraying their characters from the novel. The show follows the novel almost to a T, which is always nice to see. However, I would argue that the show did an even better job. Outside of the main actors, everyone else also did an amazing job.
The storyline was fun to follow along with and I was able to really connect with the characters and the actors of this show. There are some cringey moments, but those are apart of the characters as they were written.
I also think that the building of the relationship between the two main characters was really well done. It was a gradual build up & by the end, the two characters were extremely close.
I would say that this is mostly a cute romance, but there is also added depth to the characters and emotional scenes.
Overall, it was extremely well done and I really enjoyed it!

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