Reviews

A Woman Against the Odds and the Epoch She Creates

An epoch generally refers to a specific period of time in history or a person's life that is marked by notable events, changes, or distinct characteristics. And, in this case the way Mi Yu’s life unfolds fits the definition perfectly.

Zhu Zhu is great in this show. Pure class. Wallace does what Wallace does best but I think with more of an even hand performance.

Except for the first five episodes, this show kept me watching episode after episode. I felt the initial episodes, despite setting the scene, felt out of place to me. There are some who watched this show and couldn’t relate to Mi Yu’s ongoing challenges. However, the payoff comes each time she triumphs. Even the little victories will bring a smile to your face.

Was this show about a mature romance? Not from my point of view. However, it was a cut above the romantic ideal seen in shows with much younger actors.

I did like Ji Feng. He was a professional and in some ways, Mi Yu’s character didn’t appreciate this aspect. However, her character was part of JiFeng’s softening process. I’m not sure Mi Yu really learnt anything from Ji Feng but I think the penny did drop that empowerment in the workplace is a powerful force regarding its transformation for the better.

Mi Yu’s family were awful, although I had a soft spot for her mum. Her first husband was a real prat and selfish beyond measure. Her nemesis was strong and a worthy adversary. Ji Feng had no family, so this is one element we didn’t have to contend with during our watch.

I liked how we got to see the different aspects of the hotel business in Shanghai. I thought this was very well done and I enjoyed how each aspect of the Puyong Hotel was resurrected by Mi Yu, a true powerhouse backed by Ji Feng as GM of the hotel.

I did pick up the tiniest of continuity errors - when Ji Feng was using a fork with his take out meal in his office. I thought the jazz musician storyline was a bit daggy but it did provide a different flavour to the show. The office politics was a little much but our OTP were just too good.

The final episode was okay. In some ways a solid Korean ending. Perhaps more of a Chinese opera type conclusion but without any deaths! I think we really needed two episodes to wrap up what was, a terrific story. Show is worth a look.

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"It takes courage to live" - Hsu Hai Yin.

"It takes courage to live", that single line stayed with me long after I finished The Victims' Game. It isn't just a quote said near the end, and it became the heart of the entire drama. Amidst all the darkness, pain, and death, it reminds us that choosing to keep living is sometimes the bravest thing a person can do.

Before anything else, I'd definitely say viewer discretion is advised. This drama deals with heavy themes, graphic crime scenes, suicide, and emotional trauma. It isn't an easy watch, but if you're comfortable with darker stories, it offers much more than just a murder mystery.

From the synopsis alone, I could already tell this drama was going to be different from the usual investigation thrillers I watch. Every episode carried a tense atmosphere, but what I appreciated most was how the drama incorporated his condition into his work. Watching him notice details others overlooked and connect each piece of evidence step by step was genuinely fascinating. There were a few moments where I even wondered, "How did he figure that out?" before the explanation eventually came.

One thing I genuinely appreciated was how every victim wasn't treated as just another case. They all had their own story to tell. The drama explored people's struggles, the pain they carried, society's perception of death, and how different individuals coped with suffering. Because of that, I found myself genuinely feeling sad for many of the victims.

The screenwriting did a wonderful job giving each character their own weight and purpose.

I wasn't the biggest fan of the reporter at first, but as the episodes went on, I slowly began to understand her more. By the end, I was completely on board with her character, and that made her final words hit even harder. Her message about finding a little hope even in overwhelming darkness was something I truly appreciated.

The investigations themselves kept me engaged from beginning to end. Just when I thought I had figured everything out, another twist would appear and completely change my perspective.

There were plenty of names, investigation notes, and clues to keep track of, so this definitely isn't a drama to watch while distracted. I even had to rewind a few conversations just to make sure I hadn't missed anything.

The acting was another highlight. This was my first time watching Joseph Chang in such a serious role, and he completely impressed me. The entire cast delivered convincing performances that made every emotional scene feel believable.

I also want to mention the behind-the-scenes footage shown at the end. It was genuinely worth watching. Seeing the amount of work that went into the props and special effects makeup gave me a whole new level of appreciation for everyone behind the cameras. The craftsmanship that brought those realistic crime scenes to life was incredible, and it made me respect the production team even more.

There were a few small plot holes here and there, but they never took away from my overall experience. If anything, this drama left me thinking more about the people than the crimes themselves.

Overall, The Victims' Game gave me more than just an investigation thriller. It was emotional, thought-provoking, and filled with stories that made me reflect on life, pain, and hope.

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chemistry so good i didnt care about the plot

i need this man booked and busy.
the way he delivered the lines, the emotion he was putting in every scene.
bao shang en my queen i love you i just met you but i loved your character
i cant lie, the story was hanging by a very thin thread called chemistry and nothing else. thank god i wasnt paying attention to anything else except these two, but that plot has some holes i cant ignore
jk i absolutly can
and boy he is a yearner he a real one i love when men cry let em cry i will watch it a hundred times
but now getting serious, what was that time jump? so uncalled for and unnecessary; why be separated for over ten years if youre gonna get back together in the next 20 minutes
i need tension, passion, love, hate, indecision—something that leads me to the HEA
i really liked this show i smoked it in like 5 days

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As vertical series go this is one of the better ones

Normally, vertical series just aren't good. They normally have very rushed pacing; the story is choppy, and the script is normally convoluted. The acting is usually meh as well, and the series are given no room for any real character development.

This series had all of those problems, but it was also interesting enough to keep me invested in the story and not counting down the episodes till it was over. A first for me when it comes to a vertical series. The acting also wasn't that bad. With this kind of plot combined with the relationship drama, it really needed to be a regular-length series.

There were some very confusing moments as well that I felt needed a little more explanation, such as why Yun Yeong Won thought it was a good idea to go to the wedding, and who the weird random guy was that was stalking him at the beginning? The guy showed up like an admin in a video game to fix a problem you're having mid-play session, and it was confusing.

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what the actual f???

sorry to say, but this is entering my list of most horrible/ridiculous endings 🥲

I don't really dislike open endings. but this one felt so bad that it felt like no ending at all🥲 it left me feeling so mad that i was wishing i could get my time back.

this drama had a pretty good start for me. even though I hated the second couple pretty much from the beginning and was skipping their scenes, i was genuinely liking the main couple.

and then things started going downhill from ep6. a series of nonsensical writing, biggest one being that suddenly we have a random GL subplot that made ZERO SENSE, and i couldn't care less about that couple. by this point, i (and i know so many other watchers as well) was skipping both the 2nd couple AND the 3rd couple 🥲

since then, each week the writing got more and more nonsensical. by ep10 i was just waiting for this to end. and that is never a good sign. however, i was still genuinely looking forward to seeing how they wrap this up. but oh boy....once again, WHAT THE F WAS THAT ENDING????

like i said, i don't mind open endings. i don't particularly dislike sad endings either. in fact, in this case a sad ending would've been perfectly logical. but what did we get? THAT SHITA$$ ENDING.

unfortunately, that ending ended up ruining the drama beyond repair for me.

I'm glad that there are some people who liked this ending, though. they don't have to feel as robbed as me and many other people 😭

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It was good but

I have finally completed this drama. The story overall was okay, but it was rather slow-paced for a kind of revenge drama (In the trailer, it looked really fast-paced; unfortunately, it was not). While around ep 23ish, I started another drama (it was also 40 ep) TFJ was too slow, I ended up finishing that drama before this (it was Meet Yourself)
Some parts I loved were the FL acting when she actually found out everyone died, I cried, and also the ending when she saw everyone again; I also teared up.
But this drama, the story was wonderful, how it was paced was not my cup of tea, so I give this an 8.5/10

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feelings

- nội dung : mạch phim hơi nhanh một chút, chắc do thời lượng có giới hạn, 8 tập nhưng mỗi tập chỉ vỏn vẹn 20-29ph nên chắc vì vậy có 1 vài chi tiết chưa được rõ ràng, kiểu như cái cách giải quyết vấn đề của cả 2 mình cảm giác vẫn chưa đủ, còn hơi lấn cấn xíu. Nhưng nếu xét chung chung thì nội dung khá ổn nha, phim dễ thương vô cùng luôn ấy !!!, 2 cái sự đối lập nhau nhưng lại vô tình như bù qua cho nhau ấy, và mình cũng thích cái cách 2 người đến chữa lành cho nhau nữa. Akira sợ yêu vì do chuyện quá khứ, nhưng nhờ cậu ấy mà Akira đã bước ra khỏi rào cản mà tiến thêm một bước
- Diễn Xuất, Màu Phim : cái này khỏi phải bàn rùi, mình cảm giác 2 người diễn siu tự nhiên ấy, nó chân thực lắm luôn, từng ánh mắt, cử chỉ. Còn màu phim nó thanh xuân vương trường, nó đẹpp mà nó hoài niệm. Nói chung với mình về phần này thì mình có lời khen cho phim nè

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This show is an instrument of torture sold as a comfy chair

Where shall I begin?

I'm not going to mince words. Our screenwriters love to bait us with moments of fun and sweetness and then trap us in their circle of hell. Let this be a cautionary tale for you, dear readers.

Them are fighting words, yes? Nay, I say. I threw away two drafts already because I'll be banned for using offensive languages and excessive ranting. Consider this the sanitised version. Still reading? Good!

To be fair, moment-to-moment, this drama is watchable. There are flashes of romance, growth and fan service. However, it failed as far as I'm concerned.

This drama looks like an idol rom-com from afar. When you combine the enemy-to-lover with the forced cohabitation trope, it should be a slam dunk. Alas, this show swam against the tide with determination.

To wit, our leads work, eat and play under the same roof. So far, so cliché. Easy win, right? Yet our OTP made no progress WHATSOEVER during the bulk of its run. The fact that our OTP looks good together and has decent chemistry made the whole situation even more baffling.

There are near kisses, near hugs, near confessions. They’d push each other away with extreme prejudice. Every. Single. Time. Then loudly proclaim they will never be together; there is absolutely nothing going on between them. You can hear me groan in frustration two doors away.

It is not just our OTP’s “relationship” that is problematic. As written, our FL is beautiful, diligent and smart. I won't dispute that, but she is a mess of contradictions as well. Not dumb enough to win the Darwin Award yet not smart enough to read the room. She reacts impulsively when she shouldn't and doesn't react when she should (mostly involving the ML). This FL's persona is diabolical. What have you done, dear writers?!

How does the FL survives in the cutthroat business world? Two words . . Male lead!

Our ML is her silent protector. He exists to coach her and to undo the worst of her mistakes. He fell for her soon after they meet. The fact that the FL ignores all his signals is mind boggling. She had a long-term BF, so she is not ignorant. If this is a xianxia drama I would have said she is some kind of rock spirit who has been cultivating in a cave!

So, after pushing through 30+ eps (help me!), I thought the HEA ending is nigh. How wrong was I! The writers hit us with the Angst Titanic™.

Not only are they pining for each other after a self-inflicted separation. She kicked him out of their shared home as soon as he confessed to her. Eh? What?! Her reasons are nonsensical to me. Does she love him or not? She is so self-centred and contrary. She stayed temperamental all the way to the end. Our writers should be sent to a re-education camp just for this crime against romance.

Of course, we ended up with more yearning and suffering. I am numb by now. The reappearance of the SML is a waste of time.

Oh, speaking of the SML (FL's ex-BF), I will just say the face swapping is sad. It ranges from passable to downright embarrassing. By the time this series was released years late, the original actor has cleared his name. Such is life!

Let's cover a few other issues while we are distracted. The 2CP (FL's BFF) is boring. They run through the usual couple issues. Fun!

The 3CP (ML's BFF) is worse. He is a mommy's boy. Naive and inexperienced to the max. He behaves like a stalker. His mum is next level. She is so controlling. Some of their scenes are cringe+. We got there in the end . . yay . .

OBTW, there are no Big Bad Antagonists. Some annoying co-workers/friends, meddling parents and typical backstabbing business shenanigans, that's about it. Most of them have their redemption, especially the SFL.

Speaking of the SFL, the pairing of the second leads is designed to fail. Their union was tenuous from the start and only becomes more strained over time. There is no rejoicing when they broke up.

In the end, this show is a letdown. The first few eps look promising. I was tempted to sloth quit mid run, but I was weak and I stayed for the small sugar hits. Then sunk-cost took over. Where is my therapy teddy?!

I won't lie. It is watchable at times. I kept hoping it will get good and we can frolic with the unicorns. It did happen in the very end. By then, I'm exhausted. Could this show be saved if it was 26 instead of 36 eps? Probably, but we will never know.

I think this is the first time I didn't drop a series with such a low score. That’s on me. Peace.

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A Gentle, Grounded Romance

I loved the leads in this. I also thought it was well directed, for the most part, and the conversations felt organic. The photography was nice, as were the locations. It was nice that, while it did resort to the bad communication and third wheel tropes, they weren’t dragged out, and were resolved without melodrama.

Did I mention that I love the leads? The music was exactly what I’ve come to expect from J-dramas, and while that’s not a bad thing, it’s also nothing to write home about. Call it “suitable.”

In case I haven’t said so, the leads are fabulous. Neither does the cartoonish overreaction thing that one of them, naming no names, did in a prior role. Oh, and both can act, together they have chemistry, and are believably comfortable getting intimate in NC scenes. They’re also very pleasant to look at.

This is a safe, pleasant, engaging love story, centred on an office workplace, but with distant past roots. It’s not alienating with homophobic tropes like gay for you only, or internal conflict over trying gay for the first time, and the one outsider who learned they are a couple was supportive and unshocked that there was gayness going on. I find strong reactions to queerness incredibly repellent, and the WTF reaction this character showed was that these two people were together, which was understandable, given their apparent relationship.

I do hope that being out of the closet professionally becomes more of a norm in Japanese dramas one day 🌈

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More holes tha a Swiss cheese

The premise of this series is so ridiculous that I couldn’t stop watching. I kept waiting for it to fall apart, but instead it kept pulling me in because I genuinely wanted to know where it was headed. A killer who couldn’t kill and a cop who couldn’t arrest, it sounds like the setup for a dark comedy, yet somehow the series makes it work. More than once I found myself wondering who was really in control.

The chemistry between the leads doesn’t hit immediately, but once it does, the performances improve dramatically. They’re complete opposites, and while that usually makes for an easy dynamic, this series takes a more unconventional route. Their relationship develops in unexpected ways, making every interaction feel like another piece of a much larger puzzle.

The biggest strength of the show is that it constantly makes you question what you’re seeing. You know there’s a twist coming long before it’s revealed, but you can’t quite put your finger on it. Watching it felt like walking into a game of charades where everyone else already knew the answer, and I was the only one trying to figure out the rules. That lingering sense of uncertainty kept me invested until the very end.

It’s not a perfect series, but it’s different and sometimes that’s enough to make it memorable..

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Mid Asfffff

This show is a time travel food porn comedy that is very bland.

The positives are that the acting is pretty good, the food (when it is focused on) looks delicious and makes me so envious of the characters enjoying it. The main characters are all memorable and fun to watch. There's also a fair amount of social commentary being done here, it is a little hamfisted, but I can't help but appreciate it regardless.

Li Yun Rui has caught my attention since LLTG… and he's rising as one of my favorites. This is my second time watching Wang Ying Lu in a drama and she's pretty entertaining here too. I did prefer her role in When Destiny Brings the Demon more, but this is still pretty solid. These two are great on their own, but I don't think they make the most compelling couple.

So the negatives.

Despite the show shaking up the trope by having an entire family time travel together, our FL STILL ends up solving most of the problems, comes up with almost all the ideas, and is also a sage who guides her family through trials and tribulations while being wise beyond her years.


There's too much of a plot.
I signed up for a food showcase where I get to see 2-3 new delicious things every episode… Instead we're investigating a treason case, dealing with corruption, rebellion? and the romances of side characters??? I just wanted to see some food NOT crappie overdone and PREDICTABLE plotlines from every other costume drama.

The budget???
I think that this show looks really… basic? The hair, the clothing, the sets. Nothing really ever blows me away. There's wire work in really unnecessary places while characters will pull up to a fight, beat someone OFFSCREEN and we cut to them rolling on the ground. That fight was never filmed, there was never an intention to film the fight.🤣 There's a bit more action towards the end, but I couldn't help be feel that it would have been better for this show to have skipped trying to do all this extra stuff.

I feel that this show wastes so much time. There was no reason for this to have been stretched out over 32 episodes.

SPOILERS!!!

Our main villain is responsible for the death of the ML's entire clan; he spends the entire drama being dumb and continuing to trust the ML even when he's clearly suspicious. When the villain gets got with a sword kicked (from the ground, lol physics) through his chest he starts crying and has a flashback of all the sweet moments he had with the boy whose life he ruined. Do you really expect me to feel sorry for him??? Apparently the ML does cuz he cries too. lol okay. Another example of the show wasting my time.

Don't get me started on the 2nd and final villian, it pissed me off so bad, you could see him coming from a million miles away.

Would be in**st for apx 90% of this show.

When this drama begins, we are told that our FL and ML are distant relatives. They're 1000 years removed from each other but her family wouldn't have existed if the ML didn't get it on with his future wife.

I know that the drama later tells us that they're not actually related (everyone knew that, it wouldn't work if they were 🙄) but it doesn't erase the several episodes that our FL struggles with her guilt for her desire for her greeaaaat granddaddy. I'm never getting that time back. Though the revelation of them not being related is now conveniently given (through head trauma) the ick remains. Hearing characters be like “OMG its not in**st, you can be together!” was NOT on my C-drama bingo card this year.

Also its so funny that our main characters make such a big deal out of FL having feelings for a man she would basically share no DNA with, when they married cousins several generations in a row back then.


The ending pissed me off too. It has the typical ending that these types always do, but it grated my nerves more for some reason.

The ML wastes OVER TEN MINUTES of my time in the FINAL EPISODE drawing pictures and having flashbacks of the Main characters after their existence is erased from the past.

FL wakes up in the future and none of their family members remember being in the past with her, but they get to keep all of the character development they achieved without remembering how exactly they struggled to attain it… BS!

Yea whatever.



P.S. I actually liked that 2nd ML more.

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