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It is going to be long riview
I can’t believe I almost missed this series—this is seriously such a good one. I’m actually surprised it isn’t more popular. The plot is engaging from start to finish, and every actor really gives their best.At the beginning, Charlie comes off as this cute, soft character, while Babe seems more rough and dominant. But as the story develops, those roles shift in an interesting way, and we start to see who’s really more vulnerable underneath. Babe truly lives up to his name—he’s like a scared little puppy, emotional and fragile at times. Charlie, on the other hand, might look sweet and harmless, but he’s actually very smart and strategic.
One thing that didn’t sit right with me was Charlie’s return after his “death.” The scene itself felt intense, but it was strange that only Babe reacted strongly while others didn’t seem to notice or question it. That part was a bit disappointing.
The chemistry between the couples is amazing. Both Charlie & Babe and Alan & Jeff are incredibly cute and believable. Their interactions feel natural and heartfelt, which really pulls you into the story.
When it comes to acting, Babe does a good job overall and puts a lot of emotion into his scenes. But personally, his crying didn’t make me feel as emotional as I expected. The ones who really stood out in emotional scenes were Alan, Way, and Sonic—their performances were powerful and genuinely moving. Charlie also did a great job overall.
Character-wise, I found most of them interesting. Way isn’t exactly a “good” person, but I didn’t feel angry at him—his actions felt understandable. Same with Kenta. The only character who truly made me angry was Winner, not even Tony.
Alan has this unique charm. He's really handsome, and his smile is really captivating. Jeff is just naturally adorable and Kim is also a good character—honestly, it’s hard to find someone like that in real life or even in other dramas.
I almost forgot our iconic couple, North and Sonic. They are such a cool couple in this drama, and their scenes are really funny. North is especially a very funny character—every time he appears, it’s entertaining. He actually reminds me of that Korean actor “Gwengana Gwengana” type of vibe—very expressive and comedic.
Overall, this drama has everything: story, romance, friendship, pain, and loss. It’s emotional, engaging, and definitely worth watching. I’d absolutely recommend it.
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Most definitely NOT a political thriller
From the plot synopsis, you may think that that this is the standard run of the mill political thriller that gets shown every year. A man with ambitions to become President gets tangled up in the corrupt machinations of the elite yada yada... Alas, if you have come in expecting that, you would be sorely disappointed. What this show is, rather, is a convoluted mess of lackluster revenge plots, half-baked social commentary and a somewhat weak(debatable??) attempt at LGBT representation in a conservative Asian society.Writing/Plot - The politics plotline of this show is really thin. And when I mean thin, I mean that if you combined every politics-related scene from the whole show it probably wouldn't be enough to fill the runtime of ONE episode. The show spent way too long setting the scene in the first few eps, resulting in a mad rush to close things up towards the end. The whole "I'm gonna try to get elected plot" basically kicks in after ep6?or 7? which is not enough time to fully develop this plot considering that this is only a 10 ep drama. I actually liked that the show was leaning into the whole "show, don't tell" method a lot, but the whole mad rush resulted in the political angle veering to the "TELL, DON"T SHOW" extreme towards the end to make up for time which was jarring.
Characters - I really really liked that almost EVERYONE in the show is morally grey and basically pieces of shit to varying degrees. Too often we get Mary Sue FLs who can do no wrong but in this show, the FL (Chu Sang Ah) is basically an expert liar and manipulator, who instigated 2 separate murders (both of which failed lol). She went through hell of course, but wow am I amazed at how manipulative she is. To me, she is probably the most complex character in this show. Her motivations were never clear to me - fame? wealth? popularity? Does she love anybody? The only genuine relationship she seems to have is with her (girl?? more on that later)friend Jisoo, and it is ambiguous if she even likes the ML (Bang Tae Seop), who she married. Which honestly, I never understood why she married him of all people. Surely she has had richer and more powerful suitors than a low ranking (at that time) prosecutor. I don't feel like she truly likes Jeong Won either, and was just making use of her right till the end. Others seem to interpret her last conversation with Jeong Won as sort of a confession of feelings; rather I interpreted it as more like an attempt to manipulate Jeong Won to come clean about her leaked sex tape. She knew from the start that Jeong won likes/is enamored by her and would do anything (even murder!) for her. And through that "confession" she was hoping that Jeong Won would help restore her reputation. I'm pretty sure Jeong Won would have agreed to (she was shown wavering after the confession) if she weren't murdered so unceremoniously. Even the scene where Sang Ah wails over Jeong Won's dead body comes across as contrived - they had literally acted out that scene previously (foreshadowing?) in that Four Seasons movie which Lee Yang Mi bankrolled! It was almost like for like with Jeong Won lying bleeding in Sang ah's arms.
Bang Tae Seop on the other hand, is more of the standard "guy from a humble background with political ambitions" character. His motivations from the start were quite clear - to get into the Blue House no matter what. Even getting married to Sang Ah was part of the plan, though he seems to have caught feelings for her. He goes to great lengths to save her and her career, and literally all of the revenge plotting/scheming are masterminded by him. Sang ah is merely a pawn in his game (something I didn't like - wish she was written to be more of his equal intellectually instead of relying on him to strategize).
To be honest, I felt like Jeong Won was the most badly written character in the whole show. Her character development completely turns on itself with the whole leaked sex tape plotline which made no sense at all. Like firstly, why would she even allow herself to be blackmailed for Park Jae Sang's murder when she didn't actually murder him?? She literally entered and exited the room almost immediately upon seeing him already dead? And secondly, WHY would she even agree to set up Sang Ah when it is shown that she seems to be enamored/obsessed with her? If you liked someone enough to want to KILL for them, would you even agree to effectively DRUG AND RAPE them later?? Geez. And the way she was just killed off ... I just... not sure if the writer/director chose to do so because they want to "close" the LGBT plotline.. which brings me to my next point - LGBT representation(?)
I was debating if this show would be considered queer-baiting but I'm honestly not sure as this show was never marketed as a GL. None of the characters explicitly call themselves "gay" and there is some degree of plausible deniability with Sang Ah being married to a man. Sang Ah and Jisoo were never confirmed to be anything more than "friends" and some of the kiss scenes were effectively censored. The revenge porn plot is essentially Sang Ah being drugged and raped against her will. The only other consensual intimate scenes between Sang Ah and Jeong Won are due to "show within a show" plotline with them filming the movie together, and not because the characters themselves are in a relationship with each other. I must say that Jeong Won seems to feel something for Sang Ah - just that it is unrequited. To me, Sang Ah probably feels some guilt (she is not without a conscience...) towards Jeong Won and that was why she imagined Jeong Won in the audience clapping for her at the end. And then the ending with Sang-Ah and Bang Tae Seop holding hands and walking out like a political power couple... a heteronormative closure for the conservative crowd? I guess this is still an improvement for LGBT representation...?
Acting wise this show really is a masterpiece in acting. There are MANY MANY closeup shots of the characters and both the ML and FL really had the acting chops to pull it off. The micro expressions, the eyes, the smallest tremble in the lips, it was just perfection acting wise. I love Nana, but her acting was the weakest among the cast. She wasn't as expressive and her over filled lips were distracting lol. Cha Joo Young's acting here was a bit exaggerated but I'm not sure if it was due to the bad writing. Her character was a very one dimensional, cliche mistress character that had absolutely no character development so I don't blame her for that. The cinematography was beautiful and some of the scene transitions were just brilliant. I was getting arthouse movie vibes lmao. There was some attempt at social commentary about celebrity culture and elites looking down on the commoners but never properly expanded on. The writing was really the weakest link. I liked that the ending was sort of bittersweet - showing the leads sort of succeeding but at what cost? And how the cycle of political struggle would never end. HOWEVER, this type of ending also hints at a potential season 2 which this show does not need. Unless the writer is able to think of more sophisticated strategies that do not include constant blackmails and online video leaks, there is NO NEED for a season 2!!!!!
TLDR: WOW this turned into a whole ramble. Watch for the phenomenal acting, or if you're a Ha Ji Won fan who wants to view her return to dramas. DO NOT watch if you dislike unrealistic/shock value plots or if you dislike potentially gay characters. I treated this drama like some absurdist makjang comedy(!) and actually enjoyed it.
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Heartbreaking
I don't even know how to start this. This is such a beautiful love story, but also such a necessary portrayal of how war affects people. We tend to create emotional distance between ourselves and what's happening out there (because it happens far away), but this drama will bring you right into the battlefield, into the frontlines, where you will suffer as much as everyone else.The acting was phenomenal. Chen Zheyuan is such a versatile actor. He was soft, he was strong, he was brave, he was vulnerable. He was hurting. Gods, every time I cried in this drama was when he was hurting (and he gets hurt a lot). I also never expected I needed a Chen Zheyuan in a military outfit... That was hot. I knew him from Hidden Love and always thought he had this innocent aura, until I watched him in this drama. We've been blessed!
I didn't read the novel, and I watched this drama completely blind, and still, I immediately understood there was romantic tension between Sa Xin and Benjamin. Unfortunately, due to the censorship, there are only very subtle hints and a Dr. Pei who tries to dispel this feeling (it didn't work for me; Dr. Pei felt like a third wheel). I wish we had a drama just for them!
The ending is terrible. Not in the sense of being bad, but in the sense that it broke my heart into a million pieces. After everything we witness in this drama, it hurts so badly how things end. Even if it's an open ending and they try to make it soft, it's easy to understand the meaning behind it, and unfortunately, that is the reality of a lot of war veterans.
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makjang makes a comeback
Im Sung Han is back with another fresh makjang that keeps you on your toes. The makjang genre has cooled off with the rise of OTT platforms and changing trends. But if you’re after an unhinged classic makjang fix where you genuinely don't know whats happening next this one delivers. Due to its highly dramatic storyline, it’s been getting a lot of online buzz and memes in korea, so if you enjoy that kind of chatter, you might get a kick out of it. That said it definitely isn’t for everyone, and the ending is an absolute shocker.Was this review helpful to you?
Adorable but slow
The whole cast is very lovable and sooo cute.The plot is very slow and i catch myself watching it sped up until some kind of romance is happening.
What in the world is wrong with Mon's mom, shes getting on my last nerve! In the episode where the boys are taking trip, and she calls professors all angry to bring them back??? Like who died and made you the president, shut up.
Main couple is also super cute but story is slow moving. From kissing immediately to denial and avoidance, a bit weird
Anyway, the show is cute and chill, i didnt finish yet but its a bit boring. Cast is saving the script with being so cute!
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great concept that was a bit lacking...
this drama started off very slow paced for me, at first I didn't like how the FL was very cold "although it is only fitting to her character yet I didn't like it " and how ML was so mysterious and you couldn't tell if he was a good or bad character yet after the episode when she saved him and the made a pact to exchange 5 sense it became better .overall this was a well balanced drama they didn't drag out one arc on the expense of the other yet sometimes the story was rushed , here are some parts of what i am talking about :the love story that was starting to develop between jingyuan and fang ji , fang ji's death ( what kind of death was that😅) , yan ke killing simu's father we only got to see it in a flashback , Jiang ai and bai sang xing backstory what made them hate yet love each other?, yan ke trying to kill simu and threatening to do so yet when he had the chance he didn't, I am confused wasn't power his obsession, did he really love her ? to me it was an obsession all along .
that being said it was a great love story, him willing to sacrifice his life to give her his 5 sense and her giving up her spiritual power to become mortal and be with him.
loved the extra episode it would have been devastating to end with him dying and her being alone all over again.
still a great drama although it lacked depth and was rushed at some points.
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People hating this gem for no damn reason
It's a really cute, sweet, fluff slowburn BL. The characters start dating in the last episode i am guessing that's the reason people said it's rushed but i disgree i feel the pacing was just right. It was 15 mins per episode and i think they utilized it well. Both actors had great chemistry dispite the lack of NC scenes. We only got like 2 kisses in the entire drama.I like how there was no major misunderstanding or problems. Just pure unrequited love kinda set up. One thing kinda unique here was that the top was the innocent type 😆😆 bro kept misunderstanding ramen the whole time. He was soo damn adorable when he was trying to do things for Ji Yu and Ji Yu was just clueless about it n cussing him😆😆
I wanna just stuff both of them in pocket🥺🥺 overall it was good i enjoyed it.
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Most unexpected plot twist ever !
Last winter, we parted is a thriller that had the most unexpected plot twist ever! Usually, in movies, you can pick up on certain signs or details that hint at upcoming events, but this movie completely took my breath away;I didn’t see that twist coming at all!I love Japanese thriller because they are dark and often explore the craziest situations ever. The characters in these movies tend to be incredibly complex, twisted, and deep, and this particular film was just perfect example.
One aspect I really appreciated was how the cinematography matched the story seamlessly. The use of cold tones perfectly complemented the macabre feeling conveyed by the plot, and the cinematography significantly elevated the entire movie.
I highly recommend that you watch this movie without reading any plot summaries or watching trailers. It’s truly an amazing experience, and I believe that approaching it blindly will enhance your enjoyment even more.
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simply ahead of its time
I’ve watched a fair share of kdramas, and this still stands as a personal s-tier production. Weaving korean mythology, fate, and reincarnation, backed by a strong ensemble cast and one of the best kdrama soundtracks, composed by Joe Hisaishi (studio ghibli). The only drawback is the ending, which feels slightly abrupt after being adjusted due to Bae Yong-joon’s leg injury during filming. The original staff later shared the full script, where the characters are reincarnated in the present and reunite, giving a far more satisfying, full-circle closure. Overall, a stellar production simply ahead of its time.Was this review helpful to you?
Dilraba & Chen Feiyu’s Chemistry is Addictive! Cast Them in a Modern Drama
Love Beyond the Grave is the series I was most looking forward to this year, and I have to say — it didn’t disappoint me even a little bit!The story follows He Simu, the powerful and immortal Ghost Queen who lacks all five senses. She appears cold and detached on the outside, but deep down she’s incredibly fragile. Then there’s Duan Xu, the young and mysterious general with a brutal past, who turns out to be fiercely devoted and surprisingly gentle with her. He’s willing to give everything for her. What begins as a chance encounter gradually blossoms into a beautiful, intense, and heartwarming love that transcends the human and spirit worlds.Both lead actors delivered fantastic performances. Especially Dilraba — she was outstanding and played the role with such depth. She beautifully portrayed the transformation from an emotionless, icy queen to a young woman slowly learning about love and vulnerability. Every scene she’s in looks stunning and majestic. Chen Feiyu also did an excellent job conveying Duan Xu’s obsessive love and inner pain with subtle, nuanced acting. Every glance and every action makes it crystal clear how much he loves her.The supporting cast was generally solid, though I really hated Yan Ke’s character — he was so annoying and frustrating that he genuinely made my blood boil. On the bright side, Wei Zheming was great, and Zhang Li looked absolutely glamorous in her role as Jiang Ai.
The production is spectacular. The visuals are premium-level, the CGI and fight scenes are well-done, the costumes are incredibly intricate and gorgeous, and the soundtrack perfectly enhances the emotions of every scene.
What I loved the most is the chemistry between Dilraba and Chen Feiyu — it’s off the charts and so addictive! Their skinship feels so natural, both on and off screen. Every time they share a scene, the chemistry flows effortlessly without any forced moments. It really feels like the whole world disappears and there’s only the two of them. It’s such a shame that the production cut out so many kiss scenes in episode 30. Those were some of the best kiss scenes ever . I really hope the leads do another drama together, maybe a modern one next time.
Overall, Love Beyond the Grave is a romantic fantasy series that was absolutely worth the wait this year. The leads have incredible chemistry, the production is grand and beautiful, the fight scenes and CGI are top-tier, the costumes are stunning, and the soundtrack fits perfectly. 10/10 — I highly recommend everyone to watch it.
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A stupidly funny mini-series that made me yearn for more.Hibiki's humour reminded me a lot of Haruta's in Ossan's Love - characterised by silly, exaggerated facial expressions and confused colleagues who have no clue what is going on beyond the fact that the former is a strange man.
Each character was nicely introduced and depicted, considering the series' short-lived reign - although I would have loved to learn more about each bartender. The bonds between the customers were pretty well-encapsulated, too - and I loved the accompanying cut scenes for each couple.
It goes without saying that I also loved the inclusion of historical explanations and recipes for each drink; learning what inspired each beverage and where they came from was incredibly interesting. Regardless of whether people are interested in making said beverages themselves, it is pretty cool knowing what makes up a mojito or that the screwdriver can be traced back to oil field workers in Iran.
All in all, an incredibly effective, crazy-funny drama - I think I'd definitely rewatch.
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But overall not great when all the men in this drama sort of float between "take or leave it" performances, really hammy villain performances that feel like tonal whiplash considering the often extremely dark ripped from the headlines plots, or Giho who I started out disliking and outright ended up hating. Han Do starts out slightly annoying, gets okay in the middle, but man his character reverts back to being annoying in the last few episodes. I'm sure Jung Sungil is a perfectly competent actor and I'm really not here to shade any of the cast but his character ends up being one of the most generic leads ever. None of the personality quirks he's shown to have end up mattering and he just dissolves into this Ken doll of a man who has a conscious apparently but never really does anything useful for anyone, and the lack of chemistry between him and KHS is apparent. I don't think either of these actors thought a romantic subplot was a good idea here.
Maybe this deserves a season 2, maybe more so if they elaborate on the final scene, but I'd honestly rather the talent here just did something else. Or, at the very least, we get something more focused in what it wants to be. More importantly, less men acting as the saviours of the plot despite not really doing anything and taking out all the oxygen in the room when any female characters try to take up space. We had a good thing going in that middle third and clearly that was too much to ask to continue.
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I watched this only for siwan with zero expectations, and honestly, I’m satisfied. The acting was so good that I almost cried at one point because I felt bad when they kept bullying him. This kdrama was really fun to watch and had some funny moments too. At first, I thought that when the boy regained his memory, he’d side with them, but nope. This was worth binge watching all the eps were interesting and it was like you wanted to know what will happen next. can't wait for s2! Was this review helpful to you?
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Trauma or Tyranny? How Rebirth Fails to Gaslight Me Into Hating the Victim
This show has a big big problem. Now ,I’m only two episodes in and granted I didn’t watch the original and I haven’t read the source material but… by showing the Jiuyou Platform massacre in such visceral, soul-crushing detail, the writers created a hole so deep that no amount of moral fibre from the other characters can fill it.The show has backed itself into a corner because the emotional math doesn't add up for me. They gave Yan Xun (2ML and main antagonist) a 10/10 trauma, but they expect the audience to turn on him when he reacts with 10/10 ruthlessness.
The moral lead looks weak compared to a man who watched his family’s heads rolled out on a plate.
Are they trying to show how scary Yan Xun is becoming, because to me he seems to be the most proactive and honest character. He isn't hiding behind grand stability, he’s calling out a corrupt system.
I can already tell that the show is basically going to spend the next 38 episodes trying to gaslight me into thinking the people who stayed silent during the massacre are the "good guys."
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