Reviews

I Came for the love story, I Left With Existential Questions

ThamePo is, WITHOUT DEBATE (I will not allow any), an absolutely incredible drama. It has everything, and honestly, even more than anything we could have expected. A genuine reflection on fame and the pop industry, insanely talented actors/singers/dancers, and then just WilliamEst casually playing with our breathing and heart rates every single time they appear on screen.

Seriously, this BL managed to break me with a force that somehow also turned out to be capable of healing me.

This whole reflection on the T-pop industry, and more generally on the pop industry as a whole (especially in countries like Korea, where boy/girl groups are basically at the heart of everything) made me question my own relationship with fame as a fan.

And I came to a few conclusions. Thank you, ThamePo.

Generally, we tend to build an image of an idol or a group, and I think one of the mistakes fans often make is confusing that constructed, idealized image with the actual person behind it.

We love the image we have of them, and because we watch so many interviews and livestreams, we can mistake that feeling of proximity for actually knowing who these people are. And sometimes, that makes us feel entitled to be intrusive about a life we shouldn’t even have a say in.

Anyway

William portrays Thame with a disarming kind of accuracy. All it takes is one look at him to understand the entire duality of his character: someone who constantly prioritizes the well-being of everyone around him, with this endless energy that never really allows him to focus on his own feelings.

And when Po enters his life, of course a strong connection forms.

Because Po doesn’t just teach Thame how to identify his own feelings. He gives him all the love and attention that Thame himself has spent so much time giving to everyone else.

You know that quote:

“Look at yourself. Comforting others with the words you wish to hear.”

When Thame lets Po into his life, he finally allows himself to be comforted by the very words he had been carrying inside him. Po gives him the strength to reignite that spark that was slowly starting to fade away.

Also, Lykn’s performance is simply breathtaking. Musically speaking, the ThamePo OST is just one banger after another, and the dances are visually captivating. And no one here can deny the insane connection between the members.

You genuinely feel like you’re watching a group of friends: people who share laughter, challenges, difficult moments, and acts of solidarity.

The characters are incredibly well written. Every member of MARS has a personality that makes sense, and they constantly surprise us with how well they complement one another.

I’m going to be completely honest, but… NUT!! On top of being insanely handsome, I inexplicably loved his performance as Jun 😭

Obviously, I can’t finish this review without talking about the absolutely captivating chemistry between William and Est. I thank the Lord for blessing us with actors this talented because THEY KNOW BALL ABOUT YEARNING!!!

I could talk for hours about how Thame and Po’s relationship is not only healthy, but also so much more complex than it might seem at first.

Do you know what’s worse than watching a relationship slowly fade away? Having to end it because the consequences of staying together are bigger than you.

Not being able to live your love because other people have the final say over what you’re allowed to have.

And of course, it’s episode 11. It’s ALWAYS episode 11.

I was crying so hard my shoulders were literally moving.

Thank you, William and Est.

Thank you for the eye contact, for the shy little “huh?”, for the tears, for the laughter. Everything becomes an excuse to get way more emotionally involved than expected.

This couple somehow takes possession of your soul, breaks it into a thousand pieces, and then carefully puts it back together.

Thank you for the thorns, but most importantly, thank you for the rose.

OVERALL, I obviously recommend this BL 100000%. For the actors, for the artistic and musical performances, for this incredibly precious representation of love, and for the deeper reflection it encourages.

(HOWEVER. I am a veryyyyyy resentful person, and I WILL NOT FORGET what that awful CEO did. And I do not forgive.)

Anyway, I mainly recommend ThamePo because it somehow managed to raise my standards AGAIN.

And they were already ridiculously high.

“Even if the world doesn’t welcome us, or is falling apart right in front of us, I will stand with everyone and with you.”

Bare minimum. ( ˘ ^˘ )

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I feel good romcom/mystery/ghost story/corporate intrigue

A feel good mystery/ ghost story/ romcom/ cheabol corporate intrigue. I think that’s all the genres covered. I think if this had 16 episodes we would have seen more ghosts, But the current industry standard is 12 and you could feel it with the mystery storyline. I think they would’ve added more ghost stories otherwise .As a romcom, it was really well done and fleshed out. the corporate intrigue was not over blown or filler, but stayed on the plot points. while there was a good bit of accidents, they served the overall themes and we’re not plot advancements. I really enjoy these actors, a real standout crowd. I looked forward to every episode each week.

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they forgot about the ghosts ….

Writing


Review
I really enjoyed the show until episode 5. After that, I don’t know what happened to the writers, but I think they completely forgot the whole point of the show!! The story went from mystery, ghosts and fun to some poor drama that felt super cliché and unoriginal.
I got really sad because it had SO MUCH POTENTIAL!!! The actors were really good too! This was 100% bad writing in my opinion. Such a shame because it started with a lot of promise and could have been so much better.

Oh well… definitely not watching again, and I wouldn’t recommend it to anybody.

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Acabei perdendo o interesse ?

estava achando bem legal e interessante mas acabei perdendo o interesse durante o tempo.. mas todos os episódios que eu assisti achei bem interessantes, 8.0! ￴￴￴ ￴ ￴￴￴￴￴￴￴￴ ￴ ￴￴￴￴￴￴￴￴ ￴ ￴￴￴￴￴￴￴￴ ￴ ￴￴￴￴￴￴￴￴ ￴ ￴￴￴￴￴￴￴￴ ￴ ￴￴￴￴￴￴￴￴ ￴ ￴￴￴￴￴￴￴￴ ￴ ￴￴￴￴￴￴￴￴ ￴ ￴￴￴￴￴￴￴￴ ￴ ￴￴￴￴￴￴￴￴ ￴ ￴￴￴￴￴￴￴￴ ￴ ￴￴￴￴￴￴￴￴ ￴ ￴￴￴￴￴￴￴￴ ￴ ￴￴￴￴￴￴￴￴ ￴ ￴￴￴￴￴￴￴￴ ￴ ￴￴￴￴￴￴￴￴ ￴ ￴￴￴￴￴￴￴￴ ￴ ￴￴￴￴￴￴￴￴ ￴ ￴￴￴￴￴￴￴￴ ￴ ￴￴￴￴￴￴￴￴ ￴ ￴￴￴￴￴￴￴￴ ￴ ￴￴￴￴￴￴￴￴ ￴ ￴￴￴￴￴￴￴￴ ￴ ￴￴￴￴￴￴￴￴ ￴ ￴￴￴￴￴￴￴￴ ￴ ￴￴￴￴￴￴￴￴ ￴ ￴￴￴￴￴￴￴￴ ￴ ￴￴￴￴￴￴￴￴ ￴ ￴￴￴￴￴￴￴￴ ￴ ￴￴￴￴￴￴￴￴ ￴ ￴￴￴￴￴￴

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An overlooked banger

I have no idea how this became known as the original black sheep of the franchise other then people just not being up for a new lead, because it is one of the best toku shows I've watched in a while. The stylistic one off episodes that make up a majority of the series are just brilliant aesthetic experiences and the main story is really charming by the end of it. Sure, that min story is a little run of he mill for the franchise and the acting isn't anything better than you'd expect, but the reversal of the main character and love interest's personalities for the new duo is really entertaining and some of the effects they use to show that story and the way they shoot them can be just stunning at times. If you like Garo or are into toku for the filmmaking and haven't checked this out, it is well worth your time.

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Misunderstandings

Unfortunate circumstances and a friend that hides and twists the truth, causing such a huge misunderstanding. Fortunately Jeong U wasn't going to let him slip again. I am so happy with this sequel, we needed this after the open ending of season 1.
Good visuals and music.

These 2 actors match very good together, they have great chemistry and kisses.
Not long ago i watched Blossom campus with Choi Dong Ho and his acting was awful in that drama, but he has grown so much since then.
And i really like Jeon Yu Bin, the only drama he played in i didn't like was The guy next door, and that was the fault of his co-actor...

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Unexpectedly a good series!

I was curious about this series and if it's good or not. But its unexpectedly really good series and i enjoyed watching every episode and then i was hooked. It made me laughed , jumpy and startled
at the same time. I've enjoyed watching this series from beginning to end. Minhwan i feel bad for him because the clan didn't love him because he was adopted. The only person who love him is his adopted mother and Jinhwan. Deep inside the anger, hatred, jealousy keep building up. That's why he did what he did. They both love the same girl but his jealousy and animosity towards jihwan is build up towards that day that he had enough.
I just want to say all the cast did a fantastic job in this series.

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? She Lost Her Memory… But Found a Boyfriend!

I did enjoyed My Sticky Love. The acting was good, and I thought the storyline was interesting enough. That said, it did feel like a story we’ve seen before, just with different people and a different storyline around it. It was entertaining, but it didn’t quite have enough originality for me to rate it higher.

I did like the two leads, but I have to admit that I didn’t always feel much chemistry between them. The FL was really trying, especially with her memory loss and her belief that the ML was her boyfriend, but the ML could be quite cold at times. I found myself wanting him to give her a little more back! 😂 Their relationship had some sweet moments, but for me, the chemistry wasn’t consistently there.

The FL losing her memory and genuinely believing that the ML was her boyfriend created plenty of funny, sweet and complicated situations. It was interesting watching the ML deal with her version of their relationship while everything slowly unfolded.

One of my favourite parts was definitely the SES Club. I loved the three women and their friendship, and I really enjoyed having their own stories running alongside the main romance. They brought a lot of personality to the drama.

And of course, Grandma! ❤️ I absolutely loved her. She was like a proper granny — full of personality, opinions and always involved in what was going on. She was one of those supporting characters who made the drama more enjoyable whenever she appeared.

I also liked that most of the side characters had their own storylines rather than simply being there in the background. It made the drama feel more complete and gave us plenty of different characters to follow.

And then we had the baddie… who turned out to be his dad! 😮 To be fair I did think that it might be the case from very early onwards.

Overall, My Sticky Love was an enjoyable enough, some lovely characters and plenty going on. The SES Club and Grandma were definite highlights for me, and I liked the leads individually, even if I didn’t always feel their chemistry as a couple.

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Better Than Expected

This drama came as a surprise because I didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did. The mystery element was probably what kept me watching. I found the mystery interesting and was genuinely hooked for a good portion of the drama. I liked how the story slowly introduced questions and made you want to figure out what was actually going on. There was always something that made me want to keep watching and see where the story was going. There were certain arcs I felt like dragged a little too long, but overall the story was pretty solid.

This is one of those dramas where you really have to push through the fighting scenes because you've got people flying around all over the place. Yes, I'm aware it's sci fi, so I wasn't expecting everything to be completely realistic, but I still wished they kept some sense of realism when it came to the physics. There were moments where the action felt more like people being thrown around by wires than actual fighting. I know that's part of the genre, but when the choreography is already stylized, having characters constantly flying through the air made some of the scenes harder for me to take seriously. There were certain moments where you could clearly tell the actors were doing a choreographed routine and counting their movements. The slow motion and constant zoom ins didn't help either. Instead of making the fights look more dramatic, it sometimes made the choreography feel even more obvious and, honestly, kind of cringey.

I always say this when it comes to dramas that drag, but I really don't think this needed to be 32 episodes. I honestly think 28 episodes would've been enough. Cutting out some of the slower parts and tightening up the storyline would've made the pacing feel much better, especially toward the later episodes. There were moments where I felt like the story was going in circles when it could've just gotten to the point. For 32 episodes, you'd think they would've tied up most of the loose ends, but nope. There were still quite a few things that felt underexplained or unresolved by the end. I never read the novel, so I don't know if those questions were answered there, but as someone who only watched the drama, I definitely felt like there were some plot holes and things that could've been explained better.

The cast as a whole, especially the "Phoenix Squad," had great chemistry when it came to their friendship. Their group dynamic was actually one of the things I enjoyed because their interactions felt natural and they worked well together as a team. I also appreciate that the romance wasn't the main focus because, honestly, I just couldn't feel the chemistry between the two leads. Their relationship didn't really do anything for me, and I think the drama was better when it focused on the mystery and the group's dynamic rather than trying to push the romance.

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The Xianxia That Got Me Hooked

Love in the Clouds was my first xianxia, and apparently I chose a very good place to start because I binged the whole thing in just a few days.

Hou Minghao and Lu Yuxiao were absolutely amazing together. I genuinely think this is Hou Minghao’s best role so far. He completely owned this character. The charm, confidence, playfulness, and the more emotional moments all worked so well for him.

And their chemistry was OFF THE CHARTS. Every interaction between them was so much fun to watch. The flirting, tension, banter, and emotional scenes made me completely invested in their relationship. They just looked and felt right together.

Since this was my first xianxia, I wasn’t sure how I would feel about the cultivation world, immortals, different realms, and all the fantasy elements, but I ended up loving it. The world was beautiful, the costumes and visuals were gorgeous, and the story pulled me in very quickly.

It was also ridiculously bingeable. I kept telling myself “one more episode” and somehow finished the whole drama within a few days.

Love in the Clouds was such a great introduction to xianxia for me. Beautiful, romantic, entertaining, and with a main couple whose chemistry I couldn’t get enough of.

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Not for me

You can watch it on GagaOOLala: https://www.gagaoolala.com/en/videos/5239/fc-soldout-2025-e01

It wasn't necessarily bad, just not my cup of tea. That series was definitely a one-and-done kind of watch for me.
One thing I want to mention is that out of THREE couples, not a single one was actually good:
* Kay and Min Su are underdeveloped, forgotten halfway through a series, and never even end up being a couple.
* Tae Yeong and Seon Bin had zero chemistry in my opinion, I'm sorry.
* Ji U and Gang Jae are the only couple with at least some story or something, but even then I feel like they could've been better.
I really wish that they would've put all their focus into one couple instead and just actually tried developing their story a bit more.
Overall it was more or less entertaining. There is nothing that really stands out for me, but that series really wasn't all that bad; it's just really nothing special in my opinion.

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Starts strong, ends weak

This story begins well. The two leads meet and the female lead accidentally leaves the male lead seeing ghosts. this is something she has been doing for years since she almost died in a boating accident that killed the man she loved. The Part where the male lead is seeing ghosts and they are working together to solve their deaths is fun. The ML is scared and ill at ease in a fun way. Eventually he comes to see that if it’s this hard for him with support it must have been terribly hard for her with no one to tell or consult.

The biggest problem is that the ghost aspects disappear by halfway through. The story focuses much more on things going on with the second male lead who realizes he has no chance with Yeo-ri and starts doing nefarious company rival stuff.
The second half of the show is fairly boring aside from fun interactions with and about secondary characters. Sometimes I find 16 to 22 episode series a bit long. in this case more ghosts through out and a longer lead in to the resolution might have helped.

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