Reviews

Kinky But Intensely Loving

I loved this gem of a BL that had so many viewers clutching their pearls and being disgusted by its content. That I found odd and a bit disingenuous. For most BL watchers, there are seemingly no issues with quite popular BLs that have blatant sexual abuse, often paired with strong emotional and physical abuse as well. Oh, sometimes it is subtly committed by stunningly handsome characters to make it palpable, or they are produced humorously, or even sweetly displayed, and yet somehow, all of that passes muster. In fact, there is a whole subgenre of Bl literally devoted to abuse with hardly a peep and is called ‘innovative’. Where this series fell is in its production value. The script was generally weak and the editing in place was atrocious. Sound was inconsistent in many places. Although I honestly thought the two actors had good screen chemistry, the direction on what to do and how to do it was graceless and appeared fumbly. If you are going to do a series related to a specific genre like BDSM, then study the subject matter and make it look like these guys like it, or hate it, or one was into or and the other was not, or were uncomfortable – anything that gave us more emotional reaction so we know how they are actually feeling. It seemed quixotic.

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Nearly Perfect Drama, but I Worry About the Writer's Childhood

Nearly every mother in Go Ahead was a nightmare, but the way the children grew, adapted, and supported one another made this a rewarding watch. GA had everything: humor, heartache, struggles, triumphs, and healing. The family relationships were everything, as they sacrificially watched out for and supported one another. Family in this context didn't necessarily mean blood, as the closest individuals weren't related at all.

I'd just watched Shine on Me with Song Wei Long in which he played an attractive, competent CEO. He didn't have to work at being attractive and that role seemed an easy one for him, but he surprised me by his portrayal of a traumatized soul. He depicted the dead-inside, long-suffering young man well. Tan Song Yun was perfect as the free-spirited Li Jian Jian; Zhang Xin Cheng did admirably as the cautious overthinker; and Tu Song Yan was superb as the kind-hearted father figure of them all.

The drama never stayed dark for overly long. Sweet moments were interspersed among the serious scenes. The children as teens had many warm, loving interactions, some of the best parts of the drama. Beyond relationships, the drama featured many of my favorite things: food, books (I've put Our Starry Starry Night by Jimmy Liao on pre-order), and children.

There were so many relatable situations and characters. I was once asked for a metaphor for my parents, and I said "a black hole." Ling Xiao made that same comparison, and I could identify with his reasoning.

It took me a long time to decide to watch GA, because it had a "Melodrama" tag, along with "Depression," "Child Abandonment," and "Mental Illness." It didn't sound like a good time! I generally avoid melodramas, but this had enough sweetness and light to balance out the heaviness. There were tears, but they were mostly good ones, and there was plenty of laughter to counteract the sad times.

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Cacophony of Nonsense

MELODY OF SECRETS – REVIEW

A more fitting title for this series would have been “Cacophony of Nonsense.” Good Gods, I thought I’d seen the lowest point of logic with “Dare You to Death” (aka Bore Me to Death). Cops (Joong/Dunk) who are all lovey-dovey and totally fail as cops, while people are being gruesomely killed around them for utterly lame reasons. At least there was the possibility of a clarifying outside perspective with two cops.

Here in “Melody of Secrets,” that was completely missing, and crime mystery or not, I’ve never experienced such nonsensical confusion as here. I’m going to talk about Book and Force now, because it didn’t help that so many characters with partly similar names were involved in the plot. So, after a disjointed, out-of-context intro, we find Book, who lost his memory at the age of 17, and the series picks up TEN years later—meaning we’re dealing with a main character who, for the past 10 years, has known his mother, his grandmother, and absolutely EVERYONE solely based on the assertion that they are who they are. NOTHING in Book’s behavior suggests this. No, he just lets 10 years pass as if memory loss were nothing more than an annoying mosquito bite. Then Force shows up, and immediately they’re in love and in semi-NC scenes—and this is even BEFORE Book’s diary is mailed to him, where he recognizes his own handwriting and learns about all the happy years he spent with Force as a couple. And this is where it gets funny. If he lost his memory AT age 17, but had a romantic relationship with Force FROM age 17 onward, why does he even need a diary from the time AFTER age 17 to remember anything—that is, the last ten years, during which he actually had NO memory loss?

And that’s just one example. So he spends ten years satisfied with not recalling anything. For TEN years, he doesn’t encounter a single person who happened to know him—a guy in a restaurant who served him time and again, friends, classmates—and he himself doesn’t even notice how strange it is that, apart from his family, no one else seems to exist who knew him before, or how strange it is that the family apparently makes no effort whatsoever to reactivate his memory—on the contrary, they are very keen on him NOT remembering. And that’s when it became clear to me where this was probably headed, and I was right in the end. (Endariel Poirot's little gray cells!)

Before I get to that: what follows is a wildly edited string of snippets, jumping from character to character, from event to event, place to place in a way that’s more reminiscent of a roller coaster ride. The author had presumably written the novel backwards, and now all the events have to be crammed in—and as the series progresses, it becomes clear: the author has completely bitten off more than he can chew here. There are so many motifs and plotlines that they completely overwhelm the writer, director, and actors. Inspector Dao’s “subplot” alone is just confusing, and I never really understood her motive until the end, nor the motive behind the main mystery: Book ISN’T at all who he thinks he is. The person he thinks he is died 17 years ago, and his mother and grandmother hypnotize a stranger to believe he is that person. Purpose? Zero. It never really becomes clear what the point of such an action is supposed to be. But it gets even worse, because Force is also neither the person Book ever knew as a real person nor as a fake person, nor were they ever a couple, and yet they jump into bed immediately. Why? To Book, he’s a stranger who merely comes up in a diary, and as we learn at the end: he has no memories or feelings—perhaps instinctive ones—because Force NEVER KNEW Book at any point. And why is Force even playing along?

And here comes the bombshell. Book’s fake persona, which he assumed through hypnosis, was in love with Force’s BROTHER, who—for utterly preposterous reasons—constantly introduced himself using Force’s fake name. By that point, at the very latest, a significant number of my brain cells had died.

I’ll leave it at that, because there’s a whole legion of illogical plot holes that are more reminiscent of a crumbling suburban road than a story.

I’ll leave it at that, because there’s a whole host of illogical plot holes that feel more like a crumbling suburban road than a story.

As for the acting: unfortunately, after “Only Friends,” my impression is confirmed that—forgive me—Force simply isn’t a very good actor. Whether it’s distress or sexual arousal, anger or determination—somehow it all gets lost in the uniform facial expression of tired eyes and raised eyebrows. As for Book, I’d say “Only Friends” shows he can act—I’d call him middle-of-the-road; they make for a pretty nice ship, but nothing that really blows me away. When Inspector Dao acts with more expression than Force in their scenes, it has to be clear: something’s just not right here.

So when the whole mess finally comes to light, I slap my forehead at having witnessed what is arguably the most idiotic collection of plots I can recall, thereby dethroning “Dare You to Death” in my book—a series I had previously dubbed the dumbest BL of all time. The fact that Book and Force decide in the end to start over as a couple using their real personas might be seen as a consolation for BL fans, but I just found it grotesque—because Force and Book exist as a ship, it just has to end this way. Unfortunately, that’s nothing new in BL series. So the love and NC scenes between Force and Book are the only thing that actually carries some value, which they act out decently – if you pull a mask over the immovable face of Force, that is. It was a punishment to watch, an insult to logic and hence I award this series, solely for the nice romance scenes which were good,

2/10

And now I need a strong drink.

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Clichéd but enjoyable

This is a story about people who have very difficult problems to face that have grave consequences in their lives if they choose to face them. But it's also about making the more difficult choice to live a peaceful life, and leading life honestly and genuinely. I can appreciate the story, and found the show to be entertaining, but I wouldn't watch this again, despite the impeccable casting and talented actors.

The music is repetitive and boring. The story is stupid, full of recording people talking, blackmail, and completely unrealistic misunderstandings and chains of events that just don't make sense. The comedy isn't funny. The characters have no nuance. It may be that since I haven't seen a K-drama in a while, my standards are higher than they used to be, or maybe I just don't like this genre. It's a comforting and silly show, and the cast is great, so if you don't mind a subpar story that's very predictable, go ahead and watch it! It'll be worth your time.

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Could give more.

As with most KBLs because of shortness of the series some aspects of the drama tend to progress too fast for the storyline and at times as the audience we just accept it because we understand they work with a limited budget.The story is alright but i feel there is no chemistry between the leads,the one playing U Jin looks good and is delivering his lines with ease plus we see early on he is smitten by the character Hye Seong.While there is something about the actor who plays Hye seong thats just not sitting right with me.I don't know if its how he constantly gazes down whether he is thinking, flustered or having a conversation he does not have a wide range of emotions with his facial.He seems rigid playing the character but It might also be the hair style he has both in the future and past.We see a clear distinction in the guy playing Tae Jun his haircut definitely shows how he is different in the past and future.

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Left confused

Saying this now but there are definitely going to be spoilers in this review so if you haven't Zomvivor, maybe don't read this?
This series is spectacular. Amazing actors, good cinematography and cool effects. You could really tell that they had a big budget and they used it right. They were really dedicated to this drama. But there were some moments where I was like: "Huh? Wait, what?"
Don't get me wrong, the story and the plot were interesting but the ending was so not what I expected.
What happened during that 1 month? Where are the other survivors? Why was Nonn in a cage and why did he have blue eyes like his mom? And where did Ning and Wiroj go?
The ending felt like such a huge cliffhanger and I want to know more.
Overall, Zomvivor is a really good show and I would 100% recommend it if you like this type of genre.

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A deeply emotional story about two lost souls finding hope in each other

I was drawn to the screen from beginning to end. There was not one scene I skipped, and that speaks to quality of the story and it's execution.

I loved everything about it - the plot, the characters and the music.

Haitang and Xun are both characters with a traumatic childhood, that have to endure the pain of having absent parents or even an abusive father. Yet, it's exactly this similarity that they both find comfort and love within each other.

I can't recommend this drama enough for people who look for something deeply emotional, but yet doesn't shy away from showing the pain the characters have to experience.

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Where to start.....

Please save yourself while you can. Seriously. I mean it. My Stubborn knew not to take itself seriously and we laughed along with it. When a series feels like it's a serious take and we get Playboyy and this, there is nothing to laugh with or at. The peach references to Elio and Oliver were not lost to the audience but the narratives were a bit overdone.

When a plot revolves around sex, it's already on thin ice. Then add poor acting, cringy acting, stiff acting, non acting....well you get where I'm going. Po's expressions that were meant to be shy and virginal came across as creepy. The 2nd cp took it to another level. Weird. There was no chemistry whatsoever. Sasom was the only character that was a smidgen better.

By ep 8 Po had to choose between having an unrealized fetish of being with a porn star and being with someone who truly loved him? I struggle to understand how this was an issue for someone who wasn't a drug addict or desperate for cash. If he needed closure, why couldn't he ask Sasom to wear the mask to bed? At least he knew to get therapy at the end.

Now to the forgotten threat. His father. The man had 9 ep to get to him but only showed up in ep 9. Did he forget he was dying or did the director? The fight scene? That was one of the most ridiculous things on film. Keep in mind we have Sorn's beard and the overstuffed briefs from Playboyy as worthy contenders. Sasom breaks down the thinnest door ever, rushes to save Po, fights off the henchmen, pauses to have a chat with Po while everyone stops to listen like a soap opera and then continues to fight, all of them, alone, with no assistance and defeats all of them. Including Po's father. Who makes a stupid comment on exit. Who wrote this mess should be banned from using any form of writing apparatus.

The repetitive vapid conversations made it even more torturous. The scenes went nowhere sometimes which detracted from the experience.

The final ep was cute-ish. I liked Sasom and Po together even with this script. They appeared comfortable with each most times. Sasom's alter ego was more captivating.

This was something. What is it exactly is the issue.

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A Classic Puzzle Mystery That Plays It Too Safe

From a mystery thriller perspective, the show is intellectually solid but dramatically restrained. Its puzzle-driven structure is well thought out, rewarding careful viewers with logical clues and a cohesive mystery. However, it lacks the sharp, memorable twists that define truly great entries in the genre.

More notably, there is a clear gap in how the crimes are portrayed. The series often does not show how the killer actually carries out the murders, which weakens the tension and realism. In a genre where method and execution matter, this makes parts of the story feel incomplete.

There are moments where the show almost reaches a higher level, especially scenes that hint at psychological intensity, like when a character watches a killing tied to their own intentions. That kind of moment genuinely gives chills, but the series holds back instead of fully diving into it. Showing more of these could have made the story far more impactful.

As for the cast, the criticism feels unfair. The performances are grounded and natural, fitting the tone of the series well. They may not be flashy, but they do exactly what they are supposed to do, and they do it well. If anything, the cast helps keep the story believable.

In the end, Nine Puzzles is clever and well-made, but for a mystery thriller, it plays things too safe to truly stand out.

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Thrilling Horror That Keeps You Hooked

If you are looking for horror, case solving, and genuinely scary moments, give this a go.

I started this show knowing only that it was horror, and it absolutely kept me on the edge of my seat. It was worth my time from start to finish. Every cast member delivers strong performances and truly deserves more recognition. The makeup and sound effects are outstanding, creating an immersive experience that made it hard to stop watching. I kept telling myself just one more episode.

The story focuses on a single case throughout the series, which can feel slightly repetitive at times in terms of the ghost and investigation. However, it never becomes boring because each cast member fully embodies their character and keeps the story engaging.

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Countdown To 2X

This felt like watching a small turtle wade through a pond of mud and the mud was on a low gradient hill. Then I realised the secret to making this more enjoyable: 2x which I did for ep 11. They moved and functioned at almost normal speed.

Although the pace was steady, a couple episodes of nothing could have been cut. I kept watching just to see if Minato's voice would ever raise above the hum of an idling car. It didn't. Even when rejected. Missed his calling as a funeral director. Seriously.

This could have been ep 6 and saved me 1 hr of mud watching. I won’t say they were bad but heavy and a little too slow. It was a pleasure seeing Grandpa still into Grandma.

Wataru took 10 ep to accept what he felt since ep 1. Why? Nothing stood in their way. No additional or external conflicts but himself. This was the very tedious part. Ep 11 cuteness made up for it. A little bit. Minato's patience should be studied.

Remember to 2x and it'll be fine.

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Folklore With a Twist

Honestly, Lu Ban Mysteries (鲁班异闻录) was kinda fun to watch. It’s this mix of mystery and folklore that actually keeps you curious the whole way through. I liked how it sneaks superstition into the story without getting all horror-y—just a little creepy, but still entertaining. The bits with ancient craftsmanship and old beliefs were a nice touch too, made it feel different from other mystery stuff. Plus, there are a few funny moments here and there that lighten the mood, which I really appreciated.
That said… those little ghost kids? Way too cute to be scary 🤣 so don’t go in expecting to be spooked!

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