Sometimes you encounter a show and it feels like you hit jackpot
Similar to many others who probably got hooked due to the plot about time loop and enjoy a story about solving mysteries. I was intrigued and started on the journey about a timeloop that happens on a bus.What I didn't expect was how much more depth than it just being a time loop story full of suspense. It delivered in so many ways. Each character brought the story to live with so many emotions left for the viewer to deal with in the end. The protagonists, the antagonist, every minor character left such a inpact as each episode followed.
For an author to write such a dynamic and deep story for it to then be translated to a script for a TV series and executed so wonderfully is something that is rare and hard to come by. Having watched hundreds of shows over the years. There's only been a handful I'd give a 10 star rating to and even less shows I feel incline to leave a stellar review.
However reset ticked so many boxes that many dramas have missed a couple of pros in my books.
The story though may come of as repetitive draws you enough to stay. It's like slowly opening a Christmas present thinking it's one thing but the. being suprised with something even better than you thought. There were funny, frustrating, sad, happy and all the other emotions one can feel in this drama.
You love the characters you're supposed to love and hate the one's you're supposed to hate and feel frustrated at the right moments because everyone played their role amazingly that you were invested and solely focused on the story and what it tries to convey beyond the surface level plot.
I feel like I can't stop singing praises about it and feel grateful to be able to have come across such a worthy series. Definitely would rematch. There was so much character growth and great pacing, I feel so awed, this one will definitely stay in my memory.
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Enjoyable Chemistry, Mixed Execution
I thought this was an okay watch. For me, it was a nice in-between show, but nothing I took too seriously. It had some nice moments, while others felt like they only skimmed the surface. I mainly watched this for Quan Yilun, and I thought the dynamic between Sebrina Cheng and Quan Yilun worked well—I genuinely enjoyed their storyline. I probably would have edited it down to about ten episodes to cut out much of what didn’t work for me, especially the dual relationships and personalities, as well as the overly expanded romance. Still, I liked the overall concept and the idea of fate transcending timelines and finding peace in each one.Was this review helpful to you?
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better towards the end
Overall: it was messy but not the fun kind of messy until towards the end. 45 minutes total. Aired partially free on SecretofUs YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7BSona1dmx7Nwy2nRWBcWBhXAr4TAiUT&si=BNGqxc7yI1HJczyA and GagaOOLala https://www.gagaoolala.com/en/videos/7334/black-out-2026Content Warnings: non con touching/attempted kissing, vomiting, non con touching/restrained against will
You could just start this at 34 minutes. The beginning relates to cheating and being so drunk that characters didn't remember what happened. Good visuals with a lackluster story. They could have done something unique at the end, but left it on a cliffhanger.
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Not perfect -but for sure an epic watch with memorable visuals ~
Was this perfect ? No. Was it at times overtly complex for the sole sake of complexity? Yes.Was I systematically entertained and marvelled at the great sense of esthetics, the acting achievement and high production value ? Yes, definitely !
I really enjoyed the journey on which the series took me, with its layered lore and amazing gallery of characters. Even if towards the end, it got a bit too convoluted and heavy to digest, with maybe some more apparent weaknesses in the writing, I did not mind it at all as I was really deeply immersed and invested into the storytelling of the romances and all the relationships.
This series is also (and maybe before everything) a feast for the eyes. The camera work, the costumes, the way they found interesting ways to sell the story was impressive. The fights scenes were good as well with enough variety and balance to never feel repetitive. I also really enjoyed the music, it was always hyping (or soothing) me at the right moments.
The casting was also amazing : the four main leads did very well as well as all the secondary characters. Tian Jia Rui did once again stand out to me, thanks to his ability to shift and morph himself into various persona, as well as shedding some of the prettiest tears to be shot on screen. Ju Jing Yi, Joseph Zeng, Chen Du Lin and Yan An also had all at some points some incredible moments. I'm finding myself very curious to see more of them all, as well as Wu Han who had an excellent debut role here.
I would recommend this to people looking for an epic journey featuring awesome characters, extensive lore, skillfull camera work and esthetics at all time. Even if the last arc could have been better articulated, the powerful storytelling and the characters build up makes definitely up for it.
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The Wonderfools was quite fun and entertaining watch. The drama revolves around four chaotic losers who suddenly gain messy, not so cool superpowers and somehow end up becoming the people responsible for saving Haeseong City. It mainly balances two genres, superhero and comedy and while the superhero aspect is decent, the comedy is where the drama truly shines.What makes the series different from typical superhero dramas is that most of the powers are intentionally underwhelming and awkward. These arent flashy chosen one type heroes with overpowered abilities. Half of the time, the characters themselves dont even know how to properly use their powers, which creates many hilarious situations throughout the drama. Still, despite how messy and useless they seem individually, the team eventually works surprisingly well together. Among all four characters, Choi Dae Hoon’s power honestly felt like one of the most useless while Cha Eun Woo’s power was easily the coolest and most visually exciting. I think thats mainly because his ability resembles the kind of stylish powers we are already used to seeing in superhero dramas, so naturally his scenes create the coolest action moments.
The drama actually felt like a mix of Hifive, The Witch and Cashero but in my opinion, it succeeds in areas where all those projects struggled. Hifive and The Witch felt limited because of their shorter runtime, whereas Wonderfools takes its time building the world, explaining the powers and exploring the characters at a steady pace. Meanwhile, Cashero struggled with developing its supporting cast and villains properly but Wonderfools avoids that issue completely. From the very beginning, the drama carefully builds every character, their backstories, how they obtained their powers and the emotional baggage they carry. Even the villains receive proper buildup, motivations and depth instead of simply existing for the heroes to fight against. Because of that, the story never feels shallow or surface level.
The comedy was honestly one of the strongest parts of the drama. Park Eun Bin, Choi Dae Hoon and Im Sung Jae completely carried the chaotic humor and timing of the show. Their chemistry together made even the simplest scenes entertaining. Whereas Cha Eun Woo does exactly what his role requires. While the others dominate the comedic chaos, he brings the cool factor and emotional weight to the story. His character feels just as important as Park Eun Bin’s character especially during the more serious moments.
Another thing i liked was how naturally the drama shifts between seriousness and comedy. It can go from emotional or intense scenes to complete chaos within seconds but somehow it never feels awkward or out of place. The tonal balance actually works surprisingly well.
I do have one complaint regarding the superhero aspect. Personally i was expecting cooler and more powerful abilities but at the same time, i understand that the entire concept of the drama is centered around B grade superheroes with flawed and unimpressive powers. Even the original korean title basically refers to a team of B grade superheroes so the drama fully embraces that idea instead of trying to make them look overly cool.
Overall, i think The Wonderfools is an entertaining watch and it overcomes many of the flaws that most korean superhero dramas struggle with. All in all, it was a good one time watch.
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insulting in so many ways
**Dropped after episode 13**Okay so I have a handful of complaints, but the thing I want to talk about most is something I haven't seen *anyone* else talk about and given how this character was handled, I'm honestly really really angry that no one is talking about it. So let's talk about Yunwan, the youngest(?) Rong sister who is mentally disabled to the point that she needs a caretaker to help with even basic aspects of daily life.
Yunwan is not a character. Yunyin treats her as a punching bag — constantly taunting her and threatening to physically harm her. Yunxi and Yunshu aren't as egregious with the mistreatment, but they clearly don't see a problem with Yunyin treating her this way. I actually really liked seeing Shanbao's protective streak with Yunwan, I thought it was the most likeable part of her character. But it does feel like a shortcut to making the point that Shanbao is The Good Character™️by having her basically be the only person who treats Yunwan with any dignity and respect and care, rather than putting in some effort to show her moral compass (which is.... inconsistent, from what I saw at least). But back to what I was saying — Yunwan is not a character. She is a prop. She exists solely to show that Shanbao, while having an icy exterior, does feel sympathy and care towards others and to highlight how cruel her other sisters can be. The narrative loves to infantilize Yunwan, with basically everyone referring to her as being a child (which unless she was egregiously miscast, I'd say Yunwan is at the youngest late teens and probably at least 20) and people expressing (performative) pity about how helpless she is. Then after the narrative actually does something interesting with the character by implying that she maybe possesses "the tea bone" (not going to get into the details cause I only vaguely understand it, but basically a special ability to determine what plants will make the best tea), she is swiftly tricked by a servant into going into the courtyard late at night, abandoned there, and then drowned. So like..... way to tell me that you view mentally disabled people as subhuman and worthless!
As for my other complaints...
Hou Minghao and Gulnezer both did a great job with what they were given but oh my god HMH's character was unbelievably f*cking dull. Lu Jianglai starts out with promise as he initially wants to get close to Shanbao for the purpose of recovering his memory and he's supposed to be this really smart investigator and a super capable fighter, but all that is immediately pushed into the background so he can spend 75% of his screentime staring at Shanbao with heart eyes. And it'd be one thing if there was an actual foundation to their romance but it's literally just like a switch flipped bc in ep 7 they go from their dynamic of being slightly contentious and him pushing back against her making unreasonable demands and then his very next scene he's suddenly jealous of her being alone w another man and borderline refusing to leave her side...... like. @ the writers explain to me what the hell happened. QUICKLY. And then their dynamic isn't cute either bc the inherent power imbalance as Shanbao can completely ruin his life with the snap of her fingers. Hell, there's a scene in.... I want to say ep 12? where Shanbao comes to Jianglai's room late at night and brings a lot of her comforts from her room to make it clear that she is staying with him and she kisses him and while the narrative implies he likes her in that way and wasn't against the kiss, he still asks her to leave bc he's uncomfortable with her spending the night there and she's like "don't make me force you" 🤮🤮🤮🤮 Repugnant shit.
The last complaint I'm going to discuss is how this show wants to present itself as a matriarchal society but it completely fails if you look past the surface. It's verrrrrrrry clear that the show wanted to be "male brothers fighting for the throne" except make it about a bunch of women which is cool in theory. But when we live in a deeply misogynistic society and there are stereotypes of women being jealous and vapid and catty, that shit doesn't work if you just mindlessly reproduce it! The show is just uncritically like "Yeah. Shanbao's sisters have no reason to dislike her. Literally no reason, they're just deceptive and untrustworthy and are just laser focused on making Shanbao lose favor with their grandmother and keeping her from becoming the next leader of the Rong family by any means necessary." And the show wants me to think this is feminist I have to f*cking laugh. It's just as misogynistic as the dramas where women exist solely to be the love interest and have no interiority.
And then the gender politics in this worldbuilding just don't make sense in the first place. One of the Rong family servants is seduced by a significantly younger man and they quickly start an affair bc he is using her to infiltrate the residence, and once she becomes aware of this and tells him he's going to be thrown out, he threatens to tell the Rongs about their sexual relationship and she's just like "that doesn't matter to the Rongs lol nice try" and she gets the guards to beat him and throw him out. But then like 5 episodes later when Shanbao has to choose someone to be her husband at the tea ceremony, one of the potential suitors blackmails Shanbao into choosing him.......... if a servant can get a man from a respected family beaten and thrown out with no repercussions, how the f*ck could blackmailing Shanbao ever work?????????? And then as a result of Shanbao choosing this guy, she's scolded by her grandmother for not choosing her favorite of the suitors and she's like "if you were a man you could have a wife and a concubine, so choosing badly wouldn't matter" so......... is this a matriarchy or not bc it sure sounds like the men have rights that the women do not!!!!!! Ugh god I could keep going about how the show utterly fails to be a matriarchal society and how it's just replicating systems of harm but with women in power this time (allegedly) and there's absolutely no insight on any of these power structures so of course the writing isn't clever enough to deconstruct any of this either.
Anyway, whatever I'm going to stop talking about this I don't need to raise my blood pressure any more than I already have.
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Perfect Rom com fantasy- But characters are the real highlight!
This drama’s totally worth it! Amazing characters, beautifully written, all of them no matter how small are significant to the plot. Plot twists are crazy! Romance is a slow burn that melted me with it 🫠. Such a witty, smart and charming female lead! She’s simply badasss, such a refreshing character istg. I must say, I LOVE THE FEMALE RELATIONSHIPS in this story! The plot is so good, I quite love the male lead too. The pacing is slow, but i never once got sick of it. Even the side couples were chef’s kiss. And OMG the visuals are INSANE 😍. The cast is amazing, fl’s actress is crazy good ant what she does. The ending is just soo precious 🥹.The one sided love with 2nd male lead is killing me 😣. I love a yearner, but they turned him into a watered down ver of Chu Zhao. Fu Yue deserved WAYYY better. I hate how dramas always turn 2nd male leads into obsessive freaks- i wish they continued with that sweet melodramatic friendship. They could never make me hate you Situ Ling 😕. Although some of the plot points were a bit over used, they did try their best to make the best possible ver of a story with such plot. BUT other than these few complains- it still stands out, exceptionally. Def recommend!
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The best season so far !
The production team really managed to renew this tv show by making it a team competition between countries. It felt more interesting and balanced, as each team had the same number of female and male participants. There were also less participants which make it more easy for sharing screen time, as most of them have a bit of it.They also brought up some fun mini challenges and moments making it more easy to observe the various dynamics between and within the teams. The esthetics with some of the challenges being arbitrated by people in Korean costume was also on point.
That being said, even if they improved a lot compared to the past season, the finale felt underwhelming and I would have loved to see even more variety in the type of physical competitions as those were mainly featuring strength. I would have loved to see also more one-to-one face off and more cultural moments given the variety of teams present.
I would recommend this to people that enjoyed the previous seasons, as this one has definitely improved on some of the elements that were a bit frustrating in the past, like the unbalance between team challenges. I'm really hopeful we get a new season of it !
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So sad that maybe I could not rewatch
There is a special quiet acting in this role that was needed, and park ji-hoon nailed it. As always his acting was great, it has my approval for such a sad history.For someone who is just a fan of the actor, it brings them closer to knowing the dark history of the county that their favorite films and dramas are made at, a perfect retelling that made us laugh in the first half, just to strip it away and make the true ending of the story of the king, sadder.
"I do not wish to die at their hands, nor by the poison they grant. Even in death, I would not accept that"
Those lines were the end of the happy era of the movie, and they were delivered perfectly.
I can understand why so many people watched the movie, it was simply worth it.
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Potential to be great but questionable
I only started to watch it because I realized the ML was from the strange tales of Tang dynasty. And so far, I don't know how to feel about the FL ? I'm only at ep 7 right now, but tell me why, after the news of Jirong's death, she was more concerned about the fact that her friend was deemed as a suspect. And ML, as the close friend of the deceased, didn't even have time to mourn her death properly and instead, she's arguing with him and getting mad at him like huh ? Isn't it supposed to be the other way around ? Doesn't make sense that he has to be the one to tell her to calm down while he is the one who actually lost his long time sister-like friend. I know there's supposed to be more to the case, that's literally the whole point of this drama, but gosh for a journalist who's portrayed as honest and hard working, her critical thinking skills fail her at some times, since the start of the series. The writers need to do better at writing female characters lest they make every FL seem insufferable.The ML is supposedly the annoying one but I'm feeling the opposite 😃🫠 I shall update after finishing the whole series. Yes, I will finish because I like the ML actor.Was this review helpful to you?
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AHHHHHHHHHHH
I literally have no words to explain how amazing this show is and how much I love it. I usually take so much time to finish 12 ep series, let alone a 40 ep but I could not stop binging this one.I'm a sucker for such unique characters falling in love in such unusual environments. We have an orphaned pig butcher Changyu who saves a man who turns out to be the Marquis of the nation. Both of them end up in a marriage of convivence and slowly fall for each other and then we are torn apart by war and fight for the people and for each other....how can I not be hooked on this?!?!?
Changyu is such an amazing character. Her strength and resilience, her kindness and willingness to learn were all were so amazing. Truly an amazing female lead. Her rise to the army general was a great plot, her witness of the violence of the war yet learning new lessons and deciding to fight for her people were such well done plot lines.
Xie Zheng, our male lead was also a well done character. He was a silent guy (compared to most mmcs I have seen) yet we could feel his affection and care for Changyu and everyone around.
What I loved the most about their relationship was how they both let each other grow and flourish. They did not hold each other back at any point and knew that they had to take their own paths. Both of were protective and possessive but they never stopped each other from their own missions, they never felt embarrassed or troubled by the power the other had. It was so refreshing to see that kind of love.
The side couples were also nice. We have a cute, green-flag couple and a toxic couple(?) Both of their stories were done well. The princess and Gongsun's meeting, the chess game, both of them driving each other jealous, THE PROPOSAL....all were so cute. The parallels between Gongsun and Xie Zheng with the way they loved their women was such a good detail.
Qian Qian and Qi Min....it would a disservice to call them a couple. He was a toxic and abusive monster but I don't exactly understand what Qian Qian thinks/and feels about him at certain points. She definitely hates him but it seems like she sympathizes with him at some points. This is mostly due to how much we know about Qi Min vs how little we know about Qian Qian.
Qian Qian is definitely an interesting character and I have a love-hate relationship with how much they showed to us about her. She is a transmigrator and that is very much obvious with the way she runs her life and the things she teaches. I was so confused when she first mentioned cavities. They had cleverly added all the hints about her not being from this era with stuff like pepper spray, cpr, rock-paper-scissors, her marketing ways etc. I wanted to know how, why and when she time travelled and a whole lot about her journey. Also about her conceiving Bao'Er, was she forced or did she actually like Qi Min at some point??
But at the same time I like the air of mystery around her and her story. It makes her an enigma of some sorts.
The villans here were so complex. Qi Min, Yuan Qing and prime minster Yan were all characters who were kind of forced to be the villains but they chose to stay on the wrong path that they reached a point of no return. The show showed them (and the war) with as much nuance as possible.
The whole plot of 'what happened 17 years' ago and Changyu's family's actual identity was built up and stretched for so long and the climax didn't pay off well. We don't really investigate and find out, we just have a bunch of characters narrate stuff and have a lukewarm fight to end things off. My one complaint is how much they underutilized Changyu in the final fights. It felt like Changyu and her relationships were sidelined in the last few episodes.
Another thing I feel like cdramas do well is creating a community for our main characters that feel real. The Lin’an town and its people felt so real. The pig butcher gang were such a wholesome addition to Changyu's family. Their massacre was such a heartbreaking segment.
The whole Lin’an arc was nice, the characters and their romance were developed nicely. This was many ppl's fave arc but my favourite arc was their time in the war before the whole past drama. Changyu finding her way in the army, Xie Zheng missing her and trying to protect her from far, the whole army trying to hide that he was the Marquis and her eventually finding out and the angst that follows....top tier. I feel like I will be rewatching those.
I'm so sad that this has ended, I wish they had more episodes and more of the Marquis and Marchioness. I would have been seated for more of the princess and Gongsun or even a spin off of Chang Ning and Bao Er.
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You have to watch to know what it really is.
I heard about this series first i guess in 2024 , that it's gonna be a thing. And i was very excited cuz one of the actors was Ok Taec yeon. Even though it took me 2 days to finish(cuz of my schedule) but i enjoyed every second of it. I was not expecting anything like this. I mean even when i watched the trailer i was like yea okay it seems normal lets watch it. But when i started it yesterday, i couldn't help but giggle to every scene. Every thing seemed so cute and just natural that i just wanted it to never stop. Though i was sad about Arata, but I wouldn't call it anyone's fault, i would say that the situation wasn't good.All the characters went through thick and thin throughout the series, something searching for warmth , support and compassion, while at other time, not wanting to burden the person on the other side, isolating themselves. But everything proved to be beautiful as they all supported each other.
i am mainly very disappointed about the fact that why johan everytime. i mean he's been struggling since childhood and in the end he got als too... that was so heartbreaking. and also Seichi too TT
i swear i cried throughout the entire last episode cuz it was so painful yet so beautiful. I dont usually like these kind of endings but this one was worth everything, ignoring every other element.
this was a meaningful watch for me cuz i learned that love doesn't comes easily. you have to let it grow and flourish. you have to be patient. you have to support yourself and the person on the other side. you have to understand them. but most importantly , you have to be you.
this might sound like some random rant but it was an eye opener for me...
*Saranghae*
*Aishiteru*
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So so
I preferred the first part of the drama when the FL was pretending to be a man—it was very funny, and she was so sweet and likable. However, the show took a bad turn for me later on. I really hated it when she hid her pregnancy and left him. In my opinion, keeping a secret like that and just walking away is completely inexcusable and unforgivable. She acted so selfishly in that part of the show, which ruined her character for me. I just couldn't understand or justify her choices at all.🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑🐏🦊💦🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵💚💚💚💚💛💛💛💛💛💛Was this review helpful to you?
Silly moment
The drama started out well, but I just couldn't warm up to the female lead—there was absolutely no chemistry between the main characters. Honestly, the only reason I even finished the show is because I love the male lead. The plot had too many childish moments, and I really didn't like the way Louis ate. Plus, he depended way too much on others, both during his amnesia and after he was cured; he just wasn't independent at all. Because of this, I found myself fast-forwarding through a lot of it.Was this review helpful to you?
Makjang-Adjacent
Crazy Love is a makjang-adjacent rom-com with uneven tone that piles on a myriad of tropes then unwinds them in a satisfying way. The ML and FL maintain the focus as various well-acted support characters build tension with visible story-telling that resolves in sequential and satisfying ways. Both leads fully commit to exaggerated actions with visible thinking and plenty of material to demonstrate their character's emotional journey. This series is an excellent vehicle for Kim Jae Wook to demonstrate his acting range which is both broad and deep--so satisfying!Was this review helpful to you?
