A Good Drama, but the Supporting Cast Stole the Show
I would rate this drama 7.5/10, mainly because of the female lead and the dialogues. While the story had some good moments, the overall dialogue writing was not particularly strong and often felt underwhelming. The female lead’s acting also did not fully meet the mark for me, especially in emotional scenes. At times, her expressions in sad moments felt exaggerated and came across more like cartoon-like reactions than natural performance. Because of that, the emotional impact was reduced. She definitely has potential, but she needs to improve her acting skills, especially her delivery and expressions in serious scenes, to make her performance more believable.That said, the secondary characters did an amazing job and brought a lot of charm to the drama. In fact, I found myself liking the second and third couple even more than the main leads. Their chemistry felt more natural, and their scenes were often more enjoyable and engaging to watch.
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A familiar plot, beautifully packaged.
Nothing new in the story, characters, and the scenes. It is highly predictable; you can see the next scene, and sometimes even the dialogues, from a few hundred miles away!It is not at all a bad series, just an incredibly familiar one. Still, it is worth watching (If you want familiar cozy story) and the opening credit is top notch!
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I really appreciate Director Ann Pan Seok and his work.
I subscribed to Viu Premium just to watch Director Ahn Pan-seok's work on 'The Midnight Romance in Hagwon'! His directing style, ambient sound design, and acoustic soundtrack choices are pure perfection. Please keep bringing high-quality mature slice-of-life melodramas like this to the platform.I really appreciate all his drama, the cast and everything. I watched late for the ONE Spring night, then the Something in the rain and now The midnight romance in hagwon. I hope to be able to watch his new drama again.
it all started from ONE SPRING NIGHT. and now I cannot move on. and Please more Jung Have In.
The feeling of " afraid to finished this drama because everything will ended" always haunted me.
Thank you for the excitement you bring.
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ABSOLUTELY WOULD NEVER RECOMMEND
This was one of the worst bl's I have ever watched....you would think with these great actors it would be good but no...it was a complete disappointment. I told myself I wouldn't watch it yet decided to watch it. I hate that I did. I waited 4 damn years for this piece of trash? Jeff and Barcode are such good actors but it felt like they were reading off the script while acting. Their acting was so bad in this. their voices were so monotone. This show feels like something a person wrote when they were bored and didn't even read it after. I am sorry but no!Was this review helpful to you?
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The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (of adulthood)
This drama showed me the reality of adulthood, and I guess specifically womanhood. The three women have their own distinct personalities, ambitions, and values in life. (I don't wanna dwell on the men characters because men ain't shit lol)- Nan Nan is deeply a romanticist. She seemed to me as someone who just ~goes with the flow~, lives in the moment, and cherishes her relationships a lot. She can quite easily connect with others then get attached. This is both her strength and a weakness as well, for she can get caught up or blinded by her emotions.
- Han Han can also be quite romanticist. She is firm on her beliefs, on what she wants and what she deserves. She got caught up with her feelings as well which led her to bend her own principles. Yet, her strong personality shine through. At the end of it all, she loves and respects herself.
- Han Su is practical and realist. If she wants it, she have to get it. Being competent is part of who she is which also both her strength and weakness. She is clear on her goals yet struggles to have a work-life balance. A non-nonsense woman but slowly showed her vulnerablity.
These three (I wanna add Zhen Cheng) are far from perfect but I love how they tried to resolved their own personal shortcomings. This story is a good representation of the people navigating their adulthood in terms of romantic relationships, friendships, career, and identity.
- The Good: Ah, Freedom! Free will at its finest. You can relatively do anything you want, be friends with anyone, and go anywhere.
- The Bad: But better face the consequences of your actions. This liberating feeling of adulthood also comes with great responsibility.
- The Ugly: Life challenges is inevitable. It would really challenge you, it could make or break you. It might even lead you to questionable or painful decisions that you never thought you could do - just to survive in this harsh world.
This drama speaks a lot to me as someone who is having a crisis in adulthood. This brought me comfort, and seemed to tell me "you are not alone."
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Forceful Kisses
what is it with chinese dramas and forcefullkisses? like its not hot when she clearly is struggling like a dying fish. and please like the male lead cannot take No for an answer, if he wasnt the male lead he would be a stalker ...COPYING HER HOUSE KEY ??? CmoneAll in all it was a bit suspenful at times but in general i was skipping the "sweet" parts believe it or not
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Exceeded All Expectations: A Truly Worthwhile Watch
Honestly, I didn't have high expectations for this drama at first, but after watching up to this week's episodes, it is absolutely worth it! The acting feels so realistic. Even though JJ still needs a bit of improvisation, everyone is already doing such a fantastic job. I absolutely love how Net and JJ interact; it’s so natural and not cringe from the start. I really love it. Their chemistry is just as natural as Khem and Pheem/Pharan in Khemjira.Was this review helpful to you?
1Dazzling and comforting love story ??️?
Such a cute love story , the entire cast is doing well and I'm absolutely in love with Gege Wu ..... I wish I could also get someone so protective, caring , soft hearted but very strong hardworking guy in my life .....the vibes 💞, the visuals , the sound track of this c drama is so comforting to watch ....make me feel like to go to a sea beach and feel the warmth of the sun and get embraced by the sea breeze..so romantic..I love how the love plot is developing between the fl and ml ....Awww!!! I'm finding this c drama very cute ..it's making my heart blushWas this review helpful to you?
Good Plot, But the Main Leads fall Short!
This drama actually has a lot of potential, but the chemistry between the two main leads feels a bit cringe. While the actor playing the seme delivers a solid performance, the uke still lacks the ability to convey his emotions properly. I’ve seen them together in a previous series, and it's disappointing to see that his acting hasn't improved. Please step up your game—don't just rely on the fanbase, but actually build real acting skills!We don’t need another BrightWin situation where popularity overshadows skill. At least Win Metawin is showing better improvement now, but Bright is still stuck in the same place.
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She was a green Subaru to his black Porsche...
I want to treat this show kindly because I basically liked it...But I can't. Because I saw greatness in it that never manifested properly. And I hate to say it but some travesties occurred. So I'm going to shred it. But that's not out of hate. I don't hate this show, I don't hate anybody that worked on this show. Okay, that's a lie, I hate the hair stylist. But I digress. I was saying, I don't hate anyone on the show. I say these critical things that I'm about to say from a place of love. Just remember that.
Now the biggest problem (and I mean of course ASIDE from the hair) is the FL. Jade Cheng is not a terrible actress... at least I don't think. Not really sure. But her approach to her role was all wrong for the script and the co-starring ML's energy. She went into this like it was some Sherlock Mystery series, or Dr Quinn Medicine Woman or something. She had lines ALL OVER THE PLACE that could have been delivered in a VERY sexy way, that the ML could then have played off of with his next line. She missed her opportunities, and instead sat there with a placid, bright smile on her face, her bodylanguage and her responses to him, her line delivery, showed that she was not tempted or unsettled by him in a spicy way at all. He could have been the effing mailman and she would have acted the same towards him. She stomped all over ML's cool and his sexy vibe. She was a green Subaru to his black Porsche. And there's just a hint of 'psycho-eyes' vibe in her acting, like it's too performative. Maybe Jade and Jerome got in a fight offscreen or something idk. But whatever it was, she strikes a distinct note of 'Oh yes I love you so much, imma go comb my hair k bye.'
Because of this, we did not get to see Jerome Deng shine in a dark sexy role, because FL refused to let the vibe go dark sexy. Great, now he needs a do-over. Smh.
Hair was stupid. Costumes okay. Sets were done on a serious rush job, but not too horrible and this one's got excellent snow. Love the snow guys they should get a bonus on their paycheck. Direction was mixed feels. Not mid. But just all over the place with some shots very beautiful in a sort of 90's mtv video kind of way (and i mean that in a good way), and other shots lookin like he told his 10 year old cousin to take over for a half an hour while he went to eat a sandwich.
The ost/bgm/sound/dubbing was all total TRASH. This is literally one of those one-in-fifty shows I watch that I freakin make a playlist of songs myself, turn the entire show's audio OFF, and listen to music of my choosing as I watch. What this does for me, is preserve my ability to watch the ACTORS the way they MEANT the performances to be given. Without the cracked out bastard input of the audio department getting involved and wrecking everything. Zero is not a low enough score for the sound on this one.
The screenplay itself is really kind of cool, lots of good lines and good side quests and a good plot, good pacing... interesting but not confusing.... it deserved so much more than what it got. Same goes for the ML. He also deserved a better shot than this to really spread his wings and show what he can do. FL sucked all the energy out of the room, I don't know what she was thinking here, as far as her interpretation of her role and the love between the two characters. She was flat and boring. Snow Kong would never have played that role like that is all I have to say.
But all that having been said. It was fun. It was entertaining. And the story held up all the way through. Not a bad effort, I think this is worth a one-time watch.
7,5/10
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Confusing Story Details
The details written about this series are incorrect. It is NOT a man who goes back 2,000 years, it is a woman who time travels back to ancient China circa 215 BC.The series was lacking colour, the storyline was confusing and the actors didn’t have appeal.
Reviews must have a minimum of 300 words ~ this is the first time I find this a struggle. When a show or series holds your interest and is good, it is easy to write about it, but when the series is dreadfully dinghy and boring, it is no easy task.
To sum this up in one sentence, this series is boring, the plot mediocre and the actors/actresses uninteresting. Don’t waste your time, choose something else to while away the hours.
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This review may contain spoilers
Every emotion possible in this cute little Rom com
Well I wasn’t expecting that! I came for PerthSanta and left with another level of aww for this talented pairing.The story is about Solar and Pobmek, a pair of young lovers who meet as roomies at college. Solar has always wanted to be a teacher and Pobmek follows him into the profession once he realises that he hates the idea of becoming an accountant which is his mother’s dream for him. Trouble is, Pobmek doesn’t really want to be a teacher either as he can’t connect with the kids in his class . After an accident Solar’s personality splits so that sometimes he is still Solar but other times he becomes Sun a 7 year old version of himself. Over the course of the story Sun/solar encourages Pobmek to see things from a child’s perspective and slowly but surely he falls in love with teaching.
The humour in this drama is wonderful and PerthSanta and Sammy were delightful as Pobmek, Sun/Solar and Principal Sodchuen and this trio was enhanced by the socially awkward Jee, played by Kay Lertsittichai another titan from the GMMTV stable.
What I wasn’t expecting was how bereft I felt when Sun ceased to exist, I felt he had died (Solar’s explanation that he’d gone into a deep sleep absolutely killed me). I think this had as much to do with how well Santa played the character and how important Sun was to all the principal characters (both main and support). The way this was dealt with was utterly heartbreaking but in a good way and I get the impression that both Perth and Santa’s tears were genuine when they said goodbye to Sun at the beach (as I write this I’m tearing up!). So powerful and an absolute chef’s kiss to the writer and director.
The kids were brilliant and cute and believable and I can imagine filming with them was fun as they took on their various roles so well. I loved Elsa’s ‘teenage bitch’ swagger. These kids will all go far if the industry doesn’t chew them up.
My only criticism would be the way that Pobmek’s mother’s and Solar’s father’s plot lines developed but I guess their terrible parenting wasn’t really what this drama was about but even so, they got off too lightly. I knocked a point off for this.
Would I watch this again? Absolutely, if nothing else but for the fact an adult was jumping on a bed!
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"In the pursuit of gold, the only thing you lose is yourself."
**Gold Land** delivers a gripping, above-average thriller where greed systematically dismantles humanity, anchored by Park Bo-young’s transformative performance as Kim Hee-joo.The narrative excels in its bleak finale, revealing Hee-joo’s tragic descent as she points a gun at her boyfriend Do-kyung, signaling that their love is dead.
A major spoiler reveals the shocking twist that Detective Jin-man is actually Hee-joo’s father, adding a layer of generational trauma to the crime saga.
The series peaks emotionally when Hee-joo brutally rescues her ally Woo-gi, killing his captors despite her own moral decay, showcasing her complex survival instinct.
Villain Park Ho-cheol’s gruesome death, tearing a rival’s carotid artery, underscores the show’s commitment to visceral, unglamorous violence.
Ultimately, Hee-joo rejects a fresh start with Do-kyung, sending him to Cambodia alone while she remains trapped by the blood money she cannot wash away.
The ending refuses a happy resolution, leaving Hee-joo alive but spiritually hollowed, having traded her soul for the gold that ruined everyone around her.
While some pacing drags in the middle episodes, the intense character studies and the devastating conclusion elevate it above standard crime procedurals.
It is a dark, exhausting watch that successfully argues that in the pursuit of wealth, there are no winners, only survivors.
**Gold Land** stands as a compelling, if depressing, masterpiece of modern noir that lingers long after the credits roll.
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Overall Great Production, directing, and acting
In an escape from a political marriage a chaebol escapes to Macao where she is trying to find her father's illegitimate son who wants to take over her spot as heir. She meets an enforcer of the casinos and becomes entangled in each other's mess. The chemistry is off the charts and the writing and directing was done VERY well. I love how forward and sharp the FL is. She came for a purpose and she got it.Was this review helpful to you?
