Reviews

Ahjussis Assemble!

It didn’t take long as someone who has never seen the webtoon to realize Agent Kim Reactivated was based on one. Logic, the laws of physics and biology flew out the window in the opening episode. Once again, a father with a particular set of skills was unleashed in order to save his daughter who had been taken. Along for the bumpy ride were his only two friends who apparently owned one set of clothes each and like Kim seemed to have super powers in a world without super powers. AKR didn’t cover any new spy ground and tended to be repetitive, but it also had its entertaining moments as well. And So Ji Sub.

Manager Kim is the widower father of teenaged Min Ji. He meets up with two friends once a year. Han Su is a champion taekwondo master who owns his own school and teaches kids martial arts. Jin Cheol is married to the scariest woman on the planet and spends his days directing traffic and hanging out in his veteran’s trailer playing video games. All three have a past connected to far more violent fare. When the rich girl at Min Ji’s school goes too far bullying her, Kim is forced to shake off his mild-mannered alter ego and set loose a frightening set of skills to find his child, leaving a line of broken bodies in his wake.

What worked for me:
I enjoyed the middle-aged ex-spies, men not comfortable with their own emotions, showing utter loyalty to each other. All were trying their best to be good parents and struggling to understand how to deal with teenagers. I will watch So Ji Sub as a badass anytime, anywhere. Kim was played straight with an unflinching focus on the mission. The other two ahjussis-Choi Dae Hoon as taekwondo expert Seong Han Su and Yoon Kyung Ho as Park Jin Cheol who had an Iron Head and basement full of weapons brought the humor and heart. It also showed the generational technology divide between the ahjussis and teenagers.

The fight scenes were well choreographed and contained gravity defying wire work, but were generally well shot. The kicks often missed but the stuntmen sold the action.

Things that made me go hmmmm…
The three men all wore glasses but never lost them during vicious fights. Their physical abilities were beyond human and not consistent with the laws of physics. Characters sustained blunt force trauma to their heads with no repercussions, bullet and knife wounds also healed rapidly. Poor Han Su was stuck in his dobok for the whole drama. All three were their own one-man army, yet still had people sneak up on them.

What didn’t work as well:
Way too many kidnappings. I stopped counting at 5. Too many ill-defined villains. And the trope I hate, the hero cuts through the minions like soft butter and then lets the Big Bad loose-repeatedly. The drama killed time by showing lines of cars leaving and driving through the city or countryside on multiple occasions. Repetition caused loss of emotional impact. Long minutes were used on car rides and walks, padding the hour plus episodes. The de-aging of the actors in flashbacks was jarring. The natural culmination of the drama appeared to be at the end of episode 7 but continued on. While I could see the reasoning, they dragged it out too far. The product placements were ridiculously obvious, pulling me out of the moment each time.

To sum up:
If you like Ji Sub in battle mode, don’t mind a mix of gritty spy drama with humor, and can check your brain at the door, Agent Kim Reactivated could be worth your while. I feel like I overrated it, but for the most part I enjoyed the ride.

“We need another parents’ meeting to settle things.”

26 July 2026

Leia Mais

In my top fav list historical drama 2026

Ive seen alot reborn/revenge this one of the best ones ive seen in a long time the fact that i couldnt tell who the true villian was i love surprises like that usually in revenge drama you know first hand who the villains were. It being the grandmother i could see it towards that something was off about her m guo feng director who also worked on blossom out did himself with blossom of power meng zi yi and he yu characters were matched the actors had great chemistry was intense im only annoyed they cut the bathtub seen short ugh censorship. i loved the second lead couple to. Fan shuai qi did a wonderful job playing a male and female. Meng zi yi did such a good job playing a strong ruthless by the same time sweet fl she deserves a reward. Crown prince shameless appeal was everything i did cry when I thought he died though im glad they got happy ending. I high recommend this drama i def will be rewatching.

Leia Mais

All the water works! - just not mine

I honestly cannot recommend this lakorn at all. It is pretty cliche and nothing we haven’t seen before. Mean ML who never really redeems himself and super weak FL. I usually don’t mind kind of cliche, mind numbing lakorns - they’re nice to watch in the background while doing something else. But this one… I skipped way more than I usually do. The ML was just kind of stupid and didn’t really give off mean, dangerous guy vibes but seemed to be good but also confused but also wanted revenge but also not really… HOWEVER, my biggest gripe was with the FL. I have never seen this much crying by a FL before. She didn’t go more than 3 minutes of screen time without tearing up again. I felt bad for the actress cause she must have been dehydrated as hell by the end of the shoot of this lakorn. It was super super aggravating. I like slap/kiss but there weren’t even any real kisses where you could see lips touching. It was just the ML being rapey and the FL crying. I guess the slap in slap/kiss was correct cause I wanted to slap just about everyone on screen at some point.

Don’t recommend!

Leia Mais

Dalla serie A ai dilettanti: come rovinare un bel potenziale

Voto: 4 / 10 (e salvo solo i ragazzi della squadra, altrimenti sarebbe stato un 2 pieno)

Devo ammettere che ero partita un po’ prevenuta. Un drama incentrato sul calcio, per quanto scolastico, non è esattamente il mio genere, e temevo si trasformasse in un mattone o in un trattato tecnico infinito. Invece, nella prima parte mi ha davvero sorpreso: lo sport era usato semplicemente come pretesto per la crescita personale dei personaggi, senza mai risultare pesante. Anche la coppia protagonista mi piaceva molto, c’era una bella chimica e non vedevo l’ora che si avvicinassero ufficialmente. Poteva tranquillamente diventare un ottimo comfort drama da rewatch... e invece, a metà percorso, si è perso completamente.
I problemi veri sono iniziati quando si dovevano finalmente sciogliere i nodi della trama. Tematiche e traumi importanti sono stati liquidati con una superficialità e una fretta disarmanti. Il passato di Wang Fa viene risolto in un batter d’occhio, ma la gestione della protagonista è stata persino peggiore: viene accusata ingiustamente di aver avuto una relazione con un suo professore e nessuno le crede, dando subito per scontata la sua colpevolezza solo perché donna, bella e solare. Quando poi si scopre che era tutta una vendetta architettata da uno spasimante rifiutato, l'intera questione viene liquidata nel giro di un solo episodio. Ma come si fa a trattare un argomento così delicato con questa fretta? Per non parlare di quando la voce si sparge nella nuova scuola: invece di affrontare la cosa con al fianco il protagonista e la sua migliore amica, lei decide di scappare, lasciandoli nel panico col timore che possa tentare nuovamente il suicidio. Avevano ancora parecchie puntate a disposizione, era una dinamica che andava approfondita, non liquidata così.
E sugli ultimi episodi... stendiamo un velo pietoso. Una sequenza di immagini montate senza un reale filo logico, nel disperato tentativo di mostrare una complicità di coppia che ormai non c'era più. Non ho problemi con le scene romantiche o i baci verso il finale, ma qui non ci siamo: il primo bacio arriva tardissimo e non trasmette assolutamente nulla. Erano freddi, distaccati, dava l'idea che lo facessero solo perché scritto sul copione. La scena del "quasi-sesso", poi, è stata decisamente cringe e imbarazzante: davvero dobbiamo ancora ricorrere al solito cliché di "lei ubriaca e lui cavaliere"? Parliamo di due adulti fatti e finiti, con un lavoro e una casa, non di due ragazzini.
Se nella prima metà avevo sorvolato su alcune imperfezioni narrative e su come venivano gestiti i ruoli dell'allenatore e della psicologa, nella seconda parte gli errori tecnici mi saltavano all'occhio da soli. In primis quelli calcistici: ma come si fa a concepire una squadra composta da soli 11 giocatori, senza nemmeno una riserva in panchina?! 🤦🏻‍♀️
L'unica nota positiva?
I ragazzi della squadra. Ho adorato il senso di profonda amicizia che sono riusciti a trasmettere, il modo in cui il calcio li ha aiutati a trovare la propria strada e la certezza che il loro legame continuerà anche dopo la scuola. Mi sarebbe piaciuto approfondire le storie di ciascuno di loro e non solo di due o tre, ma è la parte che ho apprezzato di più.
In conclusione:
Un vero peccato. Ero felicissima di vedere Esther Yu in un ruolo diverso dal solito, e anche Chen Jingke come protagonista maschile,che non conoscevo, non mi è dispiaciuto, pur senza farmi scattare una vera scintilla (anche se per giudicarlo al meglio dovrò vederlo in altri ruoli). Purtroppo la sceneggiatura è crollata rovinosamente nei soliti cliché gestiti male. Un grande potenziale sprecato.

Leia Mais

Slow burn --- almost not worth it

I personally had a difficult time getting through episode one. I was kinda bored with episodes two through four as it is basically a long flashback. Episode five is where it really picked up for me. I enjoyed the prospect of exploring the idea of loving someone's soul, no matter the body it's in. Overall, the show is worth a watch.

I watched the uncut version, but in my opinion it wasn't very NC. There was two or so actual sexual scenes. One seemed awkward with the blankets moving and the other was kinda short as it panned offscreen for the sneeze. It really focuses more on the relationship between the two leads rather their sexual relationship.

Leia Mais

First impression

You can watch it on iQIYI: https://www.iq.com/album/your-third-2026-2aoejlaowv9?lang=en_us

So far i'm not the biggest fan of this series, it is alright, but I really expected something more. It is just another comedy series, and I genuinely find it upsetting that they once again give MaxNat a series that is just alright. With a lot of comedic sounds that only make it worse and humor that is not actually funny, unfortunately.

Episode 1:
* I like that we got PeterFluke as an established couple.
* Another comedy series for MaxNat. I feel sort of disappointed, I really think they deserve a serious and more mature series.
* The mustache has got to go...
* The actor playing Taibao's father is really bad at acting; it feels like he is just reading stuff off the screen with the script.

Leia Mais

Had to take half a point off.. but hear me out..

I truly enjoyed this show overall.. He Yu was the star of this show.. his character was so endearing and hilarious.. about not giving it a perfect 10.. was because of the writers. If you are going to introduce all these characters.. at least give them proper closure.. don't just end their story abruptly and lazily.. some people just got killed off and some villains weren't punished.. just disappeared off the story.. I also had the same feeling about the ending.. felt like they couldve added another episode to make the transition smoother not just remove things and throw something else at me at the very last minute.. As for the show in general I did enjoy it and I was excited for the next episode every time.. the seriousness of palace schemes was eased with He Yu's shameless antics that cracked me up throughout the show.. The story had so many twists and turns I kept thinking I knew who the villain was and then bam plot twist.. I also liked how eventhough there were so much tension between all the princes.. they all still genuinely cared for eachother and did not intentionally harm one another as in physically if you catch my drift.. As for Meng Ziyi.. I've gotten used to her being this type of cold, stern character every time and honestly l dont see her any other way.. I would rewatch this show and I would recommend it as well.. To those who haven't watched it.. give it a try 💜

Leia Mais

Bittersweet

I enjoyed this one and all the warmth and bittersweetness that came with it. It’s beautifully filmed and I really like how purposefully opaque and unreliable the story-telling is.

Compared to the original Chinese movie, this adaptation does seem a little more buttoned-up and less raw, which could be a negative. But on the other hand, I also found it to be much less frustrating — so it turned out to be quite an even trade I guess.

Ultimately, I still liked this one; I’ve been in the middle of the book for quite a while and now I feel more motivation to pick it up again.

Leia Mais