Reviews

Realism at its finest, with some minor discrepancies on some characters

This is good, story wise, if you like an ordinary working environment and realism, this is the one, ignore the harsh review or trashing about this, try it at least 3 episode, why? because the first one most of people are not gonna like it, but after that, its pretty enjoyable and keep us hooked with the story.

The bad ones are some bad character or as we can label it as (villain) here is not really getting what they deserved, it got the sudden change of character without any impactful story or explanation whatsoever, and it feels like the writer is trying too hard to justified the SML and SFL affair which is left a bad taste in my mouth, other than that, pretty enjoyable.

The acting was good it makes me feels like hearing some of my collague at works some of their life stories, relatable and each and every one of them here doin a really good job at it. And yeah, the chemistry of the main feels like just enough, almost lacking.

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Ammetto che dopo i primi 2 episodi volevo dropparlo ma per fortuna che ho continuato la visione, perchè nonostante alcune pecche evidenti, l'ho terminato con un sorriso stampato in faccia.

Non sono una grande fan di tutto ciò che riguarda il mondo virtuale, contenuti AI ecc... Alcune location oggettivamente belle dai colori vibranti e luminosi ma "troppo finte" per i miei gusti, così come trovavo noiose le continue sfilate di moda e i primi piani della FL che sembrava puro fan service. Inoltre non sapevo chi fosse Ji Soo ma mi stava un pò antipatica la sua voce, però andando avanti ho superato la mia avversione e non ho alcun pregiudizio verso gli idol che provano a recitare.

Diciamo che tutta la dinamica degli appuntamenti virtuali con i vari cameo, mi ha un pò deluso. L'unico "fidanzato" degno di nota è stato Seo Eun Ho interpretato da Seo Kang Jun che ho trovato veramente perfetto nel ruolo, grazie anche al fatto che ha avuto un arco maggiore; gli altri hanno avuto così poco screen time che li ho trovato sprecati, erano solo delle comparse che passavano troppo velocemente per lasciare una qualche impressione al pubblico.
In ogni caso meglio per me, perchè le cose hanno iniziato ad interessarmi veramente, solo quando il drama si è spostato sulla vita reale della protagonista e finalmente vediamo il ML prendere vita (è praticamente inesistente nei primi 4 episodi).

Ecco, forse il problema è che ho percepito il drama frammentato, come se ad un certo punto stessi vedendo una serie diversa. Ho trovato scollegate la prima parte con la seconda, perchè in effetti non c'è nessuna costruzione della dinamica relazionale tra la FL e il ML prima della confessione.
Comunque ho pensato che gli autori abbiano voluto appositamente farci questa "sorpresa" come se lo stessimo vedendo dal punto di vista di Seo Mi Rae, che era completamente ignara di ciò che provava il suo collega.

Ho adorato quando ci hanno mostrato le cose dal punto di vista di Park Gyeong Nam e mi è piaciuta abbastanza la fase dell'innamoramento tra i due, anche se era un pò frustrante vedere la protagonista scappare via continuamente in modo infantile e senza parlarne. Per i miei gusti questa era la parte migliore ed avrei desiderato viverla più lentamente, soprattutto perchè la protagonista era impaurita da una nuova relazione, invece c'è stata un'impennata di velocità e hanno scelto di mostrarci i vari spezzoni delle loro scene romantiche che sembrano arrivare troppo presto e smorzano l'emozione dello "slow burn". In ogni caso erano carini da vedere insieme ed il finale è soddisfacente per una rom-com leggera e spensierata.

Il cast è stato decente, come scritto prima è la prima volta che vedo la FL e mi è piaciuta maggiormente nelle scene iniziali che sono più "divertenti", nella seconda metà dello show in cui era richiesta profondità emotiva, l'ho trovata un pò forzata e con un'intonazione vocale strana (specialmente in due scene di pianto era troppo caricaturale), comunque penso che abbia dei margini di miglioramento e non è stata così orribile come ho letto in altre recensioni.
Seo In Guk mi ha un pò spiazzata, so che è bravo da altri suoi drama, eppure a volte l'ho trovato un pò sottotono e poco calato nel suo ruolo ma capisco pure che in termini di sceneggiatura non abbia avuto molto su cui lavorare dato che il background del ML è praticamente inesistente, è solo funzionale alla storia d'amore. L'ho trovato più credibile come Koo Yeong Il.
Tutti gli altri personaggi per me erano poco interessanti ed abbastanza piatti.

OST a mio gusto pessima, non ricordo nemmeno una canzone degna di nota, se non che alcune erano imbarazzanti e fastidiose.

Il mio parere complessivo è 7.5, era buona l'idea di partenza anche non proprio il mio genere, ma poteva essere interessante se sviluppata più a fondo con maggiore psicologia dei personaggi, invece sembra che gli stessi autori abbiano avuto paura e si siano rifugiati in un territorio più familiare e prevedibile. Un prodotto all'esterno ben confezionato, che vuole attirare facilmente il pubblico femminile grazie alle varie guest star, ma carente di sostanza.
Comunque è una visione breve e poco impegnativa che si presta molto bene per un bel binge watch in cui si vuole staccare il cervello!

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I started watching this mainly because of Fuaiz.

At first, Sun believes that his mother's death and his younger brother's murder were the consequences of his own actions as a debt collector. For five years, he lives with guilt, working himself to exhaustion and simply surviving day by day.

Then he discovers a shocking truth: someone deliberately manipulated the tragedy that destroyed his family.

That moment completely changes the direction of the story. What began as a tale of guilt becomes a revenge drama.

The entertainment industry setting is interesting, but what caught my attention most was Sun himself. He is not a typical heroic protagonist. He is broken, exhausted, and burdened by years of self-hatred, which makes him compelling to watch.

Fuaiz once again plays a character with a darker edge, something he seems particularly good at. Ever since 4Minutes, I've enjoyed seeing him portray morally complicated people.

The first episode is heavy and tragic, but it successfully sets up the revenge plot and leaves me curious about what will happen next.

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Cute, slowburn bl for foodies

Although I'm not typically a big fan of Korean Bl, I really enjoyed this one. To be honest I just randomly picked this series to watch since it had been on my watchlist for a long time. I always feel like romance and representation lacks when it comes to K-BL. What I do like about K bl is that it's always short. This series is 8 episodes and around 25 minutes long per episode. The bl did have some of the typical 'Korean drama moments', which were actually really cute.

The whole aesthetic is adorable and well dressed. It's a Kdrama so this might be a bit expected but the acting felt real and not uncomfortable. I love how it's super slow burn, but if you don't like slow burn I obviously don't recommend this series.

I normally don't like series with 'reunion' because it feels very unoriginal and repetitive. But this one is really different than others that use it. The old classmate becoming neighbour is actually quite nice to the plot. However, It also didn't take ages for Do Hoon to figure it all out, which is normally the problem I have with that type of plot. I do not like the flashbacks though, they felt really unreal and fake, probably because they looked older than high school students.

I LOVE the food plot. My mother has a food business and bl's with a restaurant always have a special place in my heart. The love through food reviewing feels really original. It felt like a super cute cozy bl and kinda felt like they already lived together. I love their relationship trope so much.

The whole love triangle was just perfect, I did feel like super bad for Do Hoon, even if it wasn't the fault of Yoon soo. The whole misunderstanding added a super well done plot. I LOVE angst so if you like angst this is definitely your series but don't expect the best angst ever. I really recommend this series especially for people who like slow burn, food and K-BL. Also for new Bl watchers since it's simple and just cute, not a huge plot or plot twist. I love it super much!!

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The Heavy Cost of Saving Each Other

Had I Not Seen the Sun is a mystery romance drama centered around a young serial killer Li Jen Yao, known as the Rainstorm Killer. At twenty-five, after murdering ten people, including his own father, he turns himself in, cooperates with the police, and accepts the death penalty. The one thing he never reveals is why. Years later, two journalists decide to make a documentary about him, hoping to uncover the truth behind the murders. As they begin investigating, strange visions and dreams start haunting one of them, and little by little the past begins to surface.

Most of the drama unfolds through extended flashbacks, telling the story of Li Jen Yao’s life, first during high school in part one, then in early adulthood in part two. His life is bleak from the beginning. He is abused by his father, repeatedly let down by his mother, chased by debt collectors, and constantly targeted by bullies at school. There’s very little warmth in his world.

The only real light in his life is Chiang Hsiao Tung, a girl he meets at school. She takes an interest in him and decides they should become friends. She’s everything he isn’t: bright, talented, surrounded by loving family and supportive friends, with a future ahead of her as a ballet dancer. For a while, she becomes the one beautiful thing in his otherwise miserable existence. But once she gets pulled into his world, everything slowly starts falling apart. The love that grows between them feels like it should save Li Jen Yao, but instead it turns painful and destructive, and in the end it leaves both of them broken.

The drama explores a lot of heavy themes: family abuse, sexual assault, corruption, the way powerful people use their influence to bury their crimes, and the issues surrounding the death penalty. It mixes mystery with romance extremely well, and there are even a few scenes with a horror-like atmosphere that genuinely unsettle you. It’s intense, at times graphic, and emotionally exhausting in the best way possible. The story keeps hitting both the characters and the viewer with tragedy after tragedy, with only a few tender moments between the leads offering any relief.

It’s a very bleak and heartbreaking watch, but if you love angst and emotionally painful stories, it delivers beautifully. What makes it work so well is that it handles all of those difficult themes with real care and depth. Even when it gets heavy, it never feels empty or overly dramatic. You just can’t stop watching.

The acting is phenomenal (especially Tseng Jing Hua as Li Jen Yao, and Moon Lee as Chiang Hsiao Tung) the casting feels perfect, the cinematography is beautiful, and the soundtrack is chosen incredibly well. And by the end of part two, when the mystery from the opening finally unravels and every piece falls into place, you’re left with this overwhelming heaviness and deep pity for the characters.

It hurts from beginning to end, and somehow that’s exactly what makes it unforgettable.

In the end, the famous line, "Had I not seen the sun, I could have borne the shade," rings hauntingly true. Had Li Jen Yao never seen the sun in the form of Chiang Hsiao Tung, he might have endured the bleakness of his own miserable life. But once he glimpsed that light, returning to the shadows became impossible, and ultimately, it was that glimpse of the sun that ruined him.

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Fast paced story of business and family

Currently watching ep 3/10
I wasn’t going to write review, I mean it’s not finished yet, but some people hating this for bo reason makes me mad.
✅ no romance
This drama has really fast paced narrative. And the directing never really drag things out. So from writing and directing, I’m satisfied.
In ep 1, they quickly established the relationship between all major characters and what happens in the synopsis all shown. I like this since I don’t wanna watch things I already know what will happen.
In ep 2, things heightened with some unexpected plot points which I think is great. I’m still feeling the surprise from what he wrote on that cheque.
For a drama about business this keeps surprising me with the character action. And this drama has strong actor lineup which I really appreciate.
In ep3, we finally see chairman prowess in hwang body! I love how he could control everyone and maneuver office politics with ease. So excited to see what happens tonight!

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Half a life left and what if it is the most interesting?

Fifties profetionnal is the type of drama you start without expectations and yet an hour later you find yourself playing the next episode right away.

The plot, imho, sounded very interesting and fun on paper and the drama actually delivered just that. It is very interesting, fun and full of action. The ensemble of actors is great, properly delivering their lines and bringing the perfect amount of comedic relief needed. I've got to mention LEe Hakjoo characater that has stole the spotlight for me during the 3 first eps! The storyline is enticing and the balance between past / recent events but also between the three leads/police investigation is quite intelligent, it allows the scene to breathe and for us, as viewers, to pick on clues and make our own investigation.

Very nice up to now, let's wait and see how the rest goes.

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A well-written story from the beginning to end

One thing that I didn't like about romcoms lately is the unnecessary focus on the company drama, where it is the same dynamic with predictable endings. But this drama really hit the balance and made sure not to drag all of that. The love triangle was also addressed before it got any messier. And all the things that could have gone wrong, considering all the failed recent romcoms, this drama was well-written till the end.
A good balance of romance and comedy, with a little overlook at company politics, it was a fulfilling watch. The leads had amazing chemistry, and all the characters had amazing character arcs.

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Katy Kung is so obnoxious in this

This drama was advertised as something spooky and scary and creepy. But when I started watching this and got 10 episodes in, it is just a run-of-the-mill fortune teller drama with the standard cynical characters trying to debunk superstitions like feng shui and so on.

So the drama stars Wayne Lai as this feng shui master who is extremely popular, and does live streams a lot to promote his expertise and business. I really like his character because it is just vague enough to seem like he really knows what he is doing and can speak with the dead, while at the same time he seems like he is also not really using his powers and is purely just very observant. This kept me guessing and I really enjoy his performance.

Then at the opposite end of the spectrum is Katy Kung. Oh my goodness, her character is the cynic and her character is unbelievably obnoxious, just constantly trying to debunk this or dispel that. The show informs us she had been doing this for so long that she had never dated anybody. Basically her life revolved around this obsessive behaviour. She spends most of the time just getting in Wayne Lai’s face and trying to prove he and other masters were frauds. For some reason, Wayne Lai hires her for quite a high salary and claims it is because her birth date and time were all Yin associated, making her great for contacting spirits. All this does is give her plenty of opportunities to see and try to prove what Wayne is doing was fraudulent and all the while being paid by the dame person. This made no sense to me, I mean isn’t this a conflict of interest and grounds for dismissal? Why hire such a person in the first place?

Then we have the side characters such as Karl Ting and Carman Ngai. These two can be annoying but not to the extent of Katy. Karl plays a guy who is in love with Katy but would not say it out loud, and when Wayne Lai makes a message seemingly from his mother appear using one of his techniques, Karl begged to work for Wayne Lai so he can hear from his mother. Now this I understand, but the dumb thing is that Karl’s salary is going through Katy, so Katy is getting his salary. This means he has to hope Katy remembers to transfer his money over to Karl every month. This is stupid on so many levels because wouldn’t paying Karl directly require paying less tax? Why pay Katy the large lump and subject the salary to a higher tax bracket and have her transfer Karl’s share over to him from Katy? This logic made no sense to me.

Carman Ngai plays a girls who has never dated so her dating status is A0. She always scares away men on the first date for some reason, and she blames Karl Ting because in the past he purchased a bottle of “cursed” water out of anger to curse Katy so she can never get a date after he said Karl would be single forever. Unfortunately, Carman somehow picked ip that bottle and drank it, and she believed it cursed her to never get a date. What a coincidence hey? In any case, she started working at Wayne Lai’s company after he saves her from a coma apparently induced by her spirit leaving her body, and has been a believer ever since.

It is an entertaining drama thanks to Wayne Lai’s presence but dragged down currently by Katy being this annoying person. Hopefully everything will make sense but for now it is literally just putting up with Katy’s pouting face while Wayne smiles at her.

Completed: lol the drama took a turn that I didn’t expect. So it turns out in this world the so-called feng shui master is all bullshit and they are all quacks trying to cheat people out of money. Wayne Lai felt so much guilt due to his actions helping his junior brother played by Andrew Yuen that he decided to plan a huge plot to expose Andrew and himself as dirty cheating quacks. This means Katy Kung - despite being annoying af - was actually in the right from the beginning. What blew my mind was when Wayne Lai exposed himself on purpose, Katy Lung was the only one who gave him any sympathy and wondered if he had a good reason to be doing this whereas everybody else just treated him like a bastard.

My favorite character is played by Carman Ngai. She appears to cute and innocent and was so naive it made me laugh. Her biggest issue was not being able to find a boyfriend, and we originally think it was due to the cursed water she drank but no! It was actually because she has Dissociative Identity Disorder. Her other personality is called Sister Sa, and whenever she detects a man trying to take advantage of her she would appear to beat the crap out of the men. Sister Sa has superhuman strength and a real mean streak, growling a lot and making threats it was just awesome to watch. The personality is called Sister Sa because her full name is Medusa, lol they took the Sa from Medusa genius haha! I liked watching Sister Sa in action over the annoying normal identity because she was bad ass and straightforward, so when she went dormant I was really upset.

So the big bad is Andrew Yuen. He used what he learnt as a feng shui quack from Wayne to cheat women out of their life savings, even having sex with women saying it would change their fates. Wayne purposely hired the victims family members - their kids - as part of his plot to expose Andrew and teach him a lesson. What made me feel sick was how Andrew climbed his way up and ended up with a super rich woman called Madam Kam played by Strawberry Yeung, and somehow he managed to convince her to give him 1% shared in her company. What? Somehow none of his previous women he cheated came out to tell Madam Kam that he cheated them out of money, he managed to climb into her pants with no resistance. Her son played by Leo Kwan saw through his trickery but his mother wouldn’t listen, so he sneaked around and managed to take photos of Andrew in bed with another woman. A much prettier and younger woman by the way. Andrew catches him and attempts to murder Leo for this, chasing him from a hotel room to a cliffside - somehow - IN THE DAYTIME and catches him, before tying him up with rocks and tossing his body over a cliff to die. Leo does not die from drowning, and somehow ends up floating ashore with the SAME ROCKS tied to him. Wayne somehow finds him IN THE DARK without any lights and saves Leo’s life. They then team up to plot a method to take down Andrew, staying at Wayne’s home secretly until they can achieve their objective. Meanwhile, Andrew continues to bump uglies with Madam Kam. I mean Leo, he tried to kill you just go and tell your mother immediately why wait so long? Wtf?

What happened later was that Andrew tells Madam Kam that Leo is dead and wants to do some seance so she can speak to her son. Andrew spikes her eater with LSD and uses some hologram projector (what? Where can I buy that) that projects her son telling his mother to accept Andrew so he can look after her. As they come out of the seance Katy Kung pounces and tries to debunk Andrew, and the coup de grace, Wayne arrives with a still living Leo to completely put Andrew in his place. It was supposed to be an epic reveal moment but I was so underwhelmed because it so obvious this was gonna happen.

To add to the whole Wayne redemption arc and close it, they bring his son from Malaysia to Hong Kong to visit Wayne. His son witnessed his mother’s death and was so traumatised he wouldn’t speak anymore. The show was trying pass this off as karma from Wayne cheating people out of their money leading to this occurring. Wayne visits his son but his son wouldn’t even look up to see his dad despite not seeing his dad for years, but suddenly, out of nowhere, he looks up at Wayne and says “Daddy”. What? Selective mutism does not just suddenly go away like this! The show was trying to show how Wayne had redeemed himself and his reward was his son suddenly speaking again. Suuuure.

Katy Kung ended up being not such a pain to watch near the end and her attitude had a purpose in the overarching plot of the entire drama, but man I could not shake that feeling of annoyance at the end because it carried through. The final scene was Wayne Lai getting on livestream one more time to tell people not to fall for quacks as they prey on the desperate. Good message, but this drama’s promotion gave it the feeling that ghosts and spirits were real so it felt like false advertising as I watched it. Don’t make the trailer have a horror feel if there is no horror in it at all.

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A drama that cuts deep but heals at the same time

For a show that is characterized by the loud tantrums and bickering between each of its characters, I wonder how much of the creation of those characters was done in quiet contemplation followed by the echoes of the click-clacking of the writer's keyboard. Park Hae Young, the writer of this show , has undoubtedly outdone herself this time but it's no surprise once you realize she has also given us similarly spectacular works such as My Liberation Notes and My Mister.

Particularly, I found the 'emotion watch' to be an excellent narrative device that gave way to the complex portrayal of each of the characters insecurities, worries and hopes. It features performances and writing so strong, that at times it made me wonder whether the creators of the show could see me through my screen and were talking to me directly. If you are not depressed, watch this show. If you are depressed, you MUST watch this show. Despite being a (sort of) meta-commentary on the film industry from the perspective of the writer, the dialogue pulls no punches and is happy to deliver potent doses of a wide range of emotions again and again and again.

If I had a dollar for every time I was spellbound when watching this show, I would have about 10. Which is not a lot, but it's surprising that it can happen to me when I'm 200+ shows deep into Kdrama viewing. Aside from a rushed ending, I believe this show is excellent and deserves all the praise it is getting and more.

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