Reviews

The four horsemen ride again!

There appears to be two types of c-drama watchers, those who has seen L&P and those who have not. Due to some quirk of the space-time continuum, I find myself in the later group. I have since remedied that and I tender this as proof. 😉

BTW, as this drama first aired in 2022, there are already a lot of discussions and countless reviews. I shall focus on some thoughts and spare you the repetition.

There is no doubt this is a good show. While the series is tropey, it managed to weave them into an enthralling story. This is ably assisted by the acting of its young cast and interesting subject matters. I particularly enjoyed the sojourn into the programmer's world as I was a C/C++ programmer in my past life. Their struggle is real.

Our ML is a tortured soul. The FL is a strong-willed young woman who has to grow up fast to save the man she loves. As a chingu said, she must put Humpty Dumpty back together again.

I'm not saying the show is perfect. There are issues. Its unwavering focus on our OTP helps the narrative in the long run. Their journey spanning years is the backbone of this series. We are all in for a bumpy ride.

As you can imagine, they are put through the wringer, especially the ML. This is a 36 eps c-drama after all. The hour before dawn is pitch black for him. His absolute nadir starts around episode 20. Within a few eps, his world has completely collapsed. Before he sunk to his lowest point, he executed a diabolical Noble Idiot scheme. He pushed the FL away so hard that she landed on a different continent! So much pain, so much yearning.

Yes, it is the cliché "how low can he go" scenario. This also allows the writer to pave the way for his redemption in the last third of the series.

Now that we covered the rough plot outline, we need to talk about tropes. This drama is powered by four very powerful ones. I like to call them the Four Horsemen of Tropes.

The first one is the Madonna X Bad Boy trope. The ML is a genius. He is several steps ahead of his peers. The problem is that he is always misunderstood. Just name an antisocial trait and it will most likely be him. It is hard for him to make friends and even harder to keep them. The FL is the one who must do all the heavy lifting in this relationship. She is pretty and righteous.

This brings about the second Horsemen, backstabbing friends. It is sad that friendships can become toxic over time. Jealousy, ambition, love triangle, etc can strain a relationship until it turns sour. The fallout is devastating. The antagonist never walk away unscathed. Redemption is not guaranteed.

Speaking of devastating, we need to look no further than the trope du jour, Noble Idiocy. This show didn’t hold back. Our leads went from cruising along their romantic journey to taking a ride in the Titan submersible (too soon, my bad). It was a desperate act by the ML to push the FL away because he knew he is going to ruin his life. It was a difficult watch. Horsemen #3, tick.

To round out this gathering posse, we have the omnipresent Queen Bee. The FL's mum has been controlling the FL from near and far for years. She is always pulling strings and planning her life. Of course, it all comes down to "mother knows best". This creates a lot of friction for our OTP. The mum's reasoning has scant relevance in this day and age. We mustn't discount the wisdom of elders, but when it is unreasonable, biased and must be obeyed then it spells troubles. While the FL has been passively resisting her machinations for years. Ultimately, she must act to secure her own happiness.

As if to reinforce the pervasiveness of these tropes, I just finished Love For You (2026). In that drama, the ML also pushes the FL away with extreme prejudice mid show. Oh snap! Both dramas have the same FL. Is that just a coincidence or a curse?

Re-watch the whole series will be a bridge too far for me. Just the last few eps is doable. OST is fine. Production value is above average.

Credit to the production team for managing all these tropes. I won't say I enjoyed every minute of it. That is part and parcel of drama watching these days. The downside is its success helps to cement the prevalence of such tropes. You win some and you lose some. Peace.

P.S. 3 bonus observations;
* There is a Big White Truck of Doom™. Enough said.
* How come the FL's mum does not know about the OTP's relationship for 3 years?
* Love the little company that can. A lovely found family. Respect!

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I ended up taking a bit of time to finally finish watching this film because the beginning part felt too slow; I had a hard time focusing on watching it. Like, I get it that the film first needed to establish that Ip Man's new beginning in HK had been rough, and it took a bit of time for him to properly start his own martial arts club, but I wished that they could've sped it up and got the clash with the other clubs sooner. And I also wished that the film could've shortened the bits about Wong Leung picking up fights with Man and others before getting his humility kicked in cos yeah, the way he's written in this film annoyed me so much. Though, compared to the first film, at least this one felt less like a documentary and more like a slight peek into the early life of Ip Man in HK.

Action-wise, Donnie and Sammo Hung don't disappoint, and we even have Louis Fan's character making a brief appearance in the middle. But yeah, like the first film... the storytelling in this second one was not too great. Like, some pacing could've been faster, and some scenes could've been slower or longer, like how Ip Man was still finding time to spend time with his friend who suffered brain damage after trying to help Man's family escape Foshan. While it's good that most of the scenes where people were fighting were done well, when the story part of the racism plot, the conflict between the clubs and Ip's challenges to support his family were treated less in detail than the fight scenes... the film really felt a bit imbalanced. Like often enough, I felt like speeding up or skipping some of the slow scenes because it was so slow that it was very frustrating to watch. Overall, if you're watching the movie for some Donnie-Sammo fights, you're in for a good time, but if you're looking for a 'deep' story, umm... nah.

Considering that there were mentions of Bruce Lee being in this movie and how it's supposed to cover a bit of his life before becoming Ip Man's student, it was a bit disappointing to only see that near the end and mostly as a montage. Like, I thought we'd see how the kid even heard about Ip Man and how that got his interest, but nah. While I understand that it took time to get the approval from Lee's family to even add the mention, I wished that they'd put them in the next movie rather than just barely being mentioned in this film. Like yes, Wong Leung was based on the person responsible for mentoring Bruce, but we don't even get to see them together properly! That said, considering how the early part of the film had focused on Ip Man trying to care for Chow... it does feel off to not actually have a scene after the end where Ip finds out that his friend had finally remembered him after listening to the fight on the radio. So yeah, this film had some great fights, but the story was all over the place.

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Don't waste your time

Don't waste your time watching this drama. The premise is just like any other, the ML has long harbored feelings for the female lead (he just being a coward simp) but never dared to speak up because FL was already in a relationship with her fiancé. Even after repeatedly discovering her fiancé's infidelity, she clung to the relationship because his mother had raised her since childhood. Despite maintaining the engagement, she ended up sleeping with the ML while drunk and frustrated over her fiancé's cheating. This ambiguous situation dragged on for nearly two-thirds of the drama.

It took a full two hours and fourteen minutes before this foolish FL finally decided to call off the engagement. FL doesn't deserve to end up with the ML, who is portrayed here as incredibly handsome and the heir to the wealthiest family.

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I could rate this a 4 or an 8

It's difficult to write a review for a show like this since you could be rating

a) the production and concept of the show itself

or

b) the storyline, how things turned out between the contestants.

Either way, I do admit that it is frustrating to watch. This could be the editing, but I feel like most of the time the contestants just talk about who is their first choice, instead of actually getting to know each other. But it is also kind of the point of the show - the contestants not really knowing how the whole dating thing is supposed to go or what to say.

Nevertheless, it is super fun to watch and almost impossible not to binge (now that it is released completely). Even though I was super frustrated most of the time, that was part of the charm, so I can't help but give this show a higher rating.

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simple straightforward romcom

kinda surprised nobody else is bothered by the choice to make the webtoon on the usb to be the first main driving point? the side character’s role contributed just about nothing to the story and neither did her usb, even less than the other 2 supporting characters. it didn’t even make sense for anyone else to have seen or know of the usb the way the situation was presented. just a very weak story that blatantly exposed itself as an amateur youtube project despite the fact I watched it on another platform without any prior knowledge. as several others have said as well, the story is told moreso in brief vignettes, which didn’t do it any favours. the stronger point in editing seemed to be the music choices being nearly all piano pieces, giving the show a bit of a theatrical tone that seemed to suit the comedy genre they attempted to achieve that I personally enjoy. though that could possibly also attribute to an amateurish impression too, depending on how different viewers perceive it. more points for characterizations not being bland like most others in the genre. and despite the setbacks, the overall plot was still able to be engaging and wasn’t as boring as other shows in the genre with similarly weak plots. good de-stress watch, light and corny

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THE MOST AMAZING CDRAMA OF ALL TIME....

I'm writing this review after my 5th Rewatch....I literally can't move on from this drama even though it's been almost one year......No matter how many dramas I watch, I always go back to Ji Bozai and Ming Yi....Their chemistry, their love, their sacrifices are on a different level......I just finished my rewatch now; my heart is truly aching.....I can literally feel the pain in my heart that the drama ended.....it's only a drama which is finished here.....I won't see them again....Like I can't explain the feeling....
This is the only drama which has left me in this yearning state....whenever their edits come in front of me......i automatically smile and blush.....and when it's finished I feel hurt that It's only a drama.....Their acting was soo soo soo good and chemistry was so so so so so gooodd that it felt absolutely real......

Now I pray for only one thing......Please pair them again in another drama..... I don't care about the genre plz cast them again......I believe only then will I be able to move on from Ji Bozai and Mingyi.....and start my next yearning on that drama.....
Please Please Please.....now let's just wait....

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Great addition for an era of KBLs that include more genres

For the longest time, KBLs stuck with basic, easy-to-produce/film pieces, but this drama is just another proof of the leaps KBLs have been making. After Secret Relationships, I didn't watch any KBLs for a long time because it gave me a true taste of what I wanted in my KBLs, which is a variety of genres. So you can imagine my happiness when I found out the SR director is also directing this.

PROS:

1. First of all, I absolutely love that we got a drama in this genre, and I hope SK continues experimenting with the type of shows they create.

2. The main characters had sizzling chemistry. Their love-hate storyline was fascinating to watch, and the actors’ chemistry made it even better.

3. I particularly have to appreciate Kim Yoon Sik’s (Tae Son), Cho Min Kyu’s (Ha Neul), and
Seo Han Gyeol’s (Ja Hyeon) performances. The way they were able to emote and perform truly made me feel a lot of emotions, so props to them.

4. While the crime plot wasn’t anything new or out of this world, it still managed to keep me engaged and curious about what was going to happen after each episode. The show managed to create a good balance of romance and crime plots.

CONS:

If I had to critique this drama, there are a few things I would say:

1. This story could have really benefited from having longer or more episodes to flesh out the characters and the crime plot better. I felt like the last couple of episodes were a tad bit rushed in that regard. There was a lot of ‘say, but not show ’ stuff going on.

2. Some might not view this as a con, but for me, this was an annoyance.
A) The AI intro for the drama.
B) The use of AI to edit the ending scene.
I'm not the biggest fan of AI usage in my dramas, but if you're absolutely going to use it, it should at least be well-made or not so obvious. The very obvious use of AI in the intro dimmed my initial excitement going into the drama. However, because the actual story was very engaging, I was able to get over it. That was until I saw the ending scene. That ending scene felt like it came out of some other low-budget drama that has no correlation to the rest of this drama. It really took me out of the moment because I couldn’t stop face-palming and laughing at the stupidity of it. For me, that’s a fairly big blunder to make at the very end of the drama, where you’re supposed to feel emotional and content.

3. I feel like Park Si Woo’s (Lee Chae Ha) character was made to be a bit weak. If you’re an ex-cop who switched to be a prosecutor, I feel like you should at least have some basic defensive skills. However, this drama made this character a tad weak and unable to fight back against suspects, which is quite odd, especially since he’s an ex-cop who’s been to police school and was one of the top students. This aspect made the believability of this character go down for me.

Overall, this is a still a pretty great show to watch if you want something fresh out of Korean BLs. It has an engaging plot, great chemistry, and a good romance plotline. I would recommend giving this a try!

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Really traumatic and Bizarre!

Tbh, I don't get traumatised ever. Hardly anything ever has traumatised me as an audience. I have a big and strong appetite and tolerance.
But, this movie!!!!!
This movie overturned everything I knew about Japanese cinema in terms of queer love.
I thought 'Sing In Love' would be like Given or Sing my Crush or sth like that..

But this.. THIS WAS UNANTICIPATED, UNPRECEDENTED AND stands UNRIVALLED!

I have never seen anything so RAW, so confusing and so messy, so illogical and so bizarre that I am reeling with confusion and pain in the wake of this movie.

The actors did a phenomenal job. Truly believable, truly agonising, truly wonderful. The plot? Couldn't be more confusing, the way things kept on escalating even at the end and when the story points reconcile to make us understand everything.... The audience has become exhausted by then because of the raw force of push and pull dynamic between the protagonists but still we try to decipher everything.

I felt lost, then found and then again lost.
The movie should be watched, if not for understanding or cinematic appeal, then for the ART that it created.
Art is rarely ever unquestioning or easily tolerable. It leaves you with questions, with a lingering sense of 'WHAT?' and this movie achieves that.
You cannot deny its role in making you more aware, more enlightened and more empathetic.

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A good story ruined as it was too slow and drawn out.

This drama initially annoyed me so much I dropped it and went back while waiting for other dramas to drop. The drama is so very slow and boring In parts that it becomes difficult to watch without hitting the Fast Forward button.

The leads have an awful experience growing up and at least the first 10-12 episodes focus on the period when the lead characters are growing up in the 90s. The abuse and neglect by their parents is hard to watch. As the older brother, Chen (ML) does heavy lifting when it comes to protecting and providing a safe home for Miao (FL). As a result Miao (for me) becomes a somewhat annoying helpless female i”but when she returns to Teng city 6 years later she is stronger but still demanding and secretive. The twists and turns as her role starts to gradually reveal itself in episodes 12 onwards is gripping. This is where the drama really starts to develop and become watchable. The love story and chemistry between Chen and Miao is the routine push pull and distracting third parties creating intentional misunderstandings. While some may see this as a main storyline I enjoyed the side plot more and the love story is complementary.

Teng city is a gritty poor environment which is a good change from the glamorous settings of Shanghai and Beijing etc. Chen has been recruited into a world of crime and is trying to break free by running his own small business. The pace is slow and raw. The head gangster (Zhang Bin) is menacing in his calm emotions, and manipulating those around him. He was mesmerising. There are some loud aggressive types but the quiet boss of the underworld is disturbing as his threats are so subtle that one wonders if it is really a threat or good advice.

The three lead actors Song Wei Long, Zhang Ji Yi and Zhou Tie play their roles brilliantly.

Production was generally good and supporting characters never overshadowed the main characters but provided the necessary context for them. I think the Director overused the ‘quiet’ reflection scenes, drawn out scenes such as sickness, death and burial of Miao’s mother and memory flashbacks that contributed to the dragging slow pace of the drama.

Overall I think this drama would have been better if kept to 20 episodes rather than the 32episodes. If it wasn’t so slow and drawn out I would have given a 9.5.

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The Best Military Drama Ever

A Masterpiece!!

I never expected to be so engaged in a military drama. But this drama did it. The plot, acting, fighting, character development, emotions; all were on point. Another thing that I like about this drama is that the plot is so realistic.

An important thing to say, don't expect any romance here. In the cast, it might seem like that Li Yi Tong is the female lead. There's indeed that kind of thing hinted at some point of the drama, but trust me, it has no romance. And she didn't appear in the drama much either, only a few times and nothing special. I couldn't figure out why she is there, 2nd in the cast list, many supporting characters had more screen time than hers. Anyway this is a great drama with great team bond and brotherhood, but not romance.

You should definitely try this. Highly recommended.

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It’s a nonsensical comedy,, may not be everyone's cup of tea.

The story is good and suitable for a comedy movie.
The cast is absolutely gorgeous and you have no scope to complain about it. They all portrayed their roles and characters so skillfully that everyone is bound to be captivated by their performance . Their performance is topnotch.

This movie is not for them who want a serious and a deeply meaningful story line like the story line of a gritty movie or ahard hitting movie.

Remember, it's a comedy movie, not everything may make sense.In a comedy, things don't always have to make sense—that's part of the fun. Comedies don't need a logical plot; their absurdity is what makes them great.

Won’t give any spoiler here but It’s worth watching.
Watch the movie and then find out yourself if it was worth watching, for real.

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