Reviews

Love You Teacher is genuinely one of the best series I’ve watched in a long time.

I already had high expectations after watching the pilot trailer, but now that the full series has aired, I can confidently say that it exceeded them. This is the kind of series that has been amazing from beginning to end, and every part of it, from the directing to the writing to the acting, works together beautifully.

I don’t give out 10/10 ratings easily. Even when I personally enjoy a series, I still try to be fair in my ratings because storytelling quality matters a lot to me. So the fact that this series ended up being a 10 for me really says something.

What impressed me the most was the directing.

P'Dome did a phenomenal job bringing this story to life. Every creative decision felt intentional. From the camera work to the color grading to the visual framing of the flashback scenes, the series constantly showed a clear artistic vision. There are so many moments that stood out visually, but one of my favorites was the scene where the camera moves together with the fan. It’s such a small detail, but it reflects how carefully thought-out the direction is throughout the entire series.

It’s honestly rare to watch a BL series where the director’s identity and vision feel this clear, and it made me an even bigger fan of his work.

The writing is just as strong.

I’ve heard that the original novel is excellent as well, which makes sense, but adapting a novel into a series is never easy. A lot of adaptations either rush through important moments or spend too much time on unnecessary scenes. This series manages to find an almost perfect balance with its pacing. The emotional moments are given room to breathe without the story ever feeling slow.

Last, but not least, is the acting.

Perth and Santa have incredible chemistry together, but what really impressed me is how believable they felt as a couple who had already been together for seven years. That’s actually much harder to portray than a new relationship, but their dynamic felt completely natural from the start.

Santa especially stood out to me because he essentially had to play two roles at once: Sun and Solar. That’s a difficult challenge for any actor, especially during scenes where the switches between the two happen rapidly, but he handled it perfectly. You could genuinely feel the anxiety, confusion, and emotional exhaustion right alongside the characters.

I honestly feel like I could keep talking about this series forever, but this is one of those shows that people really need to experience for themselves.

I can’t recommend this series enough. If you’ve been thinking about watching it, do it. I truly don’t think it’ll disappoint.

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The show had all the perfect ingredients to be great but did not have the time to cook

Heeju, a rich ceo who is not taken seriously in the business world due to her status ends up in a marriage of convenience with a nonchalant prince to bring up her status. All of this started very well, Heeju was a fire-y character and I was thoroughly entertained by all her antics. Prince Ian trying to catch up with her was also fun but they never had time for us to properly enjoy them.

The whole monarchy was a comedy. First of all who even considers a child as their king? How could the people ever take them seriously. Secondly they were all acting like the whole country depended on them for everything when they were just glorified pr ambassadors. The political stuff took up so much time but did not add anything.
With this even their reason to get married looked stupid, Heeju will not get to run her company so what's the end goal of her doing all this.
People finding out that their marriage was fake should have been such a big conflict of the show but it is brushed away for the political plot.

The Prime Minister Min was such a weak character. When he is introduced you would never suspect that he likes Heeju but suddenly after she gets married he becomes angry enough to become a super villain??? Literally wth.

The queen was also a shallow character. She seemed to only care about keeping the crown in the family and showed no concern for her child but suddenly by the end she helps everyone due to her emotions. Weak writing imo.

Heeju's family was also badly done in my eyes. In the beginning it looks like her father
neglected her emotionally since childhood and the whole family separated her and were just waiting for her downfall. But then they turn around to be this caring and loving family who help her and only want to protect her. The castle group comes to the crown's rescue multiple times for Heeju and it just doesn't make sense. If they showed her this much care before and included her, she would not have to enter this fake marriage.

The romance could have been nice but we started rushing through the story. The prince liked her since school but we mostly see that only through the epilogues at the end of the episode and we don't have an exact moment where Heeju falls in love. I liked the parts before their marriage where the prince is losing his mind over all the couple activities they do and Heeju looks chill on the outside but is denying her feelings to herself. But we don't get the time to sit and watch them as a couple cause we immediately have the marriage and then people start to assassinate them. No time to enjoy.

This was kind of a different role for IU compared to wlgyt and I think she did well given the material. Byeon Woo Seok was kind of weak here.

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Freenbecky and monmaw are a perfect combo ?10/10

Loyal pin is one of my favorites and it is definitely rewatch worthy coming from a person with a tiktok attention span and don't regularly watch dramas😭. The show has perfect pacing and there is not one moment where the romance feels rushed. Becky as Anin and Freen as Pin is just absolute chef kiss!!! I loved this story so much I read the novel (very worthy of reading) and the writing style was very descriptive but at the same time not that complicated so one who's not that fluent in English could understand. It got me very hooked that I read the other works of Monmaw and say that they didn't disappoint. Idol factory did a good job on choosing this work for freenbecky ^_^ Though, my only complaint is (spoilers for novel & show(?))............

why didn't padmika and arphanumas get a happy ending💔 they were the real doomed yuri and it kills me that pad was probably trying to stop pin bc she saw aninpin as her and arphanumas 😭and she wore the ring for all those years what a yearner

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✨ Perfect Crown — A Royal Masterpiece ??

Perfect Crown pulls you in from the very first scene and never lets go. It’s emotional, beautifully acted, and crafted with such care that every episode feels like a gift. IU and Byeon Woo‑seok deliver performances full of depth, longing, and quiet intensity, and the whole drama flows because every element works perfectly together.

The supporting cast were phenomenal — every character feels alive and meaningful, from loyal friends to scheming nobles. No weak links, just a rich, fully realised ensemble. 🌟🎭
Visually, the drama is breathtaking. Sweeping palace shots, intimate emotional close‑ups, stunning lighting and colour — every frame looks like a painting. 🌅✨

Overall, Perfect Crown was a beautifully crafted drama with standout performances, a flawless supporting cast, gorgeous cinematography, and an unforgettable soundtrack. Heartfelt, addictive, and absolutely worth every minute. 💖🔥

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É um roteiro bastante ambicioso, porém executado em uma curta duração, que por fim se torna uma grande bagunça acelerada e com pontas soltas. Se eu não estou enganada há outras histórias similares que são bem melhores desenvolvidas em dramas um pouco mais longos, já que a FL se aproxima intencionalmente do ML para descobrir a verdade por trás da morte do pai.

Acho que foi a terceira colaboração entre o Cao Tian e a Zhang Shan, e infelizmente a mais caótica de todas. Apesar da sintonia ser boa, os figurinos bons e a química ok, o desenvolvimento e envolvimento do CP é deixado de lado muitas vezes por causa das falhas de roteiro como mencionei acima.

Os antagonistas são meio que ardilosos, mas ao mesmo tempo me pareceram bem inúteis kkkk

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Worth the try, but I don't know if I would rewatch

So to be brutally honest, I liked the first season better. It lived up to it's name perfectly and delivered exactly what I expected and wanted from something called "Only friends." But we're here to talk about the second season which did disappoint me in some ways, but it was still watchable. (I'll compare these seasons a bit to show what it was missing in my opinion.)
To start with the positive things, the acting was pretty good, especially Mix's. It's visible that he's skilled and knows what he's doing in each scene, he was my favorite in this season. The storyline was also decent, but I think it needed way more messines and spiciness just for the pure fact that this is ONLY FRIENDS, not just any bl. I don't expect a lot of drama or spicy scenes in other bls that perhaps don't need it, but to me Only friends is literally built on these things (and other things of course) and that's what makes Only friends "Only friends."
There was drama for sure, but over childish things (more or less) and not the amount I seeked. I've also had this feeling that some of the characters lacked a certain depth unlike the characters in the first season.
But the biggest problem I had with this was the mischaracterization of Boston. Y'all made him come back just to make him a saint? Back in my days he was an iconic walking mess who made the show so much more interesting to the very end, but now he's the best guy around? No thanks. I know GMM cares about pairings so much that they don't let the characters kiss each other or, godw forbid, more, but ruining Boston's character to fit the shitty pairing rule was lame af. It'd be much more interesting if he was allowed to interfere in somebody's relationship the same way he did in the first season. I'd understand it more if he got some character development in the previous season, but doing it now is just dumb.
The ending was good, but why are we scared of letting one couple separate? Earthmix couple could've absolutely go their separate ways and move on but no. Realistic endings never hurt anybody, not everything has to be perfect. So honestly, this would be much better as a separate show. It's not really "Only friends" worthy.
And since we're getting a third season, let's bring the energy of the first season, shall we? Don't ruin it

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Heartfelt But Uneven Coming-of-Age Drama

The strongest element of Twenty Twenty is undeniably its portrayal of toxic parental relationships. Chae Da Hee's suffocating relationship with her overbearing mother feels painfully real, and the drama handles these moments with a sensitivity that's rare in the youth web drama space.

The pacing is a persistent issue throughout the series. For a show with 20 episodes at around twenty minutes each, you'd expect things to move fairly briskly — but the drama has a frustrating habit of stretching out quieter moments far beyond what they warrant. It got genuinely boring at times, which is a hard problem to forgive in bite-sized episodes.

The romance felt undeveloped — the chemistry between the leads wasn't properly built, and the love triangle came across as half-baked. There's no electric tension, no butterflies — it's all very flat, and that's a fundamental flaw in a youth drama where the love story is supposed to be the heartbeat.

A-Teen worked because it balanced emotional weight with genuine fun — the characters felt like real teenagers who laughed, bickered, and goofed around. Twenty Twenty almost entirely abandons that lightness. Everyone is remarkably serious, all the time. The one character who attempts to inject some humor feels less like comic relief and more like a caricature — the jokes don't land as clever or even charming slapstick; they come across as clownish in a way that's more awkward than entertaining.

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A lovely finale

I was going to watch this drama only when it had completed airing or during the week of the release of ep 11–12. However, I was tempted to watch it out of curiosity as it kept appearing in my reels. I binge-watched ep 1–8 and had to wait for the weekly updates for ep 9–12. The finale was sweet, but I feel that this series could have been made with longer episodes, maybe 14–16 ep to elaborate more on the details. E.g. what happened to Lee Wan’s mother, who died in the accident, who tampered with Huiju’s car (it could be the Queen’s mother’s dad, but it wasn’t explained thoroughly), etc.

Since the title of the drama is Perfect Crown, it would be great to see Lee Wan manage the nation as the new king and Huiju as the queen. However, it’s also great to see them abolishing the monarchy system as it’s kinda sad that Lee Wan’s wish was for Huiju to call him by his real name since he was bound to the royal family and no one ever called him by that name. I just wish there were scenes where Lee Wan spends time with his nephew after abolishing the monarchy.

Anyways, all the casts did well to bring the characters to life 🎉
Gonna miss wanseong alot 😭
Bye wanseong, hi post drama syndrome 🙃

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Why so American?

Felt more like a Disney adaptation of a Korean story than an original Korean story….. if I wanted an American story I would go for Hollywood…. Overall, I felt like I watched some dubbed version of a weak American PG13 Hallmark movie…. Someone else had posted in this section that the villains don’t have proper motive…. I agree. The villains were hollow. I like romance, don’t get me wrong. I always have. I liked the romance. If there was going to be politics, it should have been more logical. Arbitrarily placed rules that pop up without sequencing or logic.

Loophole: If I An was a reagent, wouldn’t that mean he was also part of the so called cabinet? Wouldn’t he be head of the so called royal council/family? But he was supposedly the most sought after person in the kingdom. There is no sense to this.
If the Grand Prince is the opposition to the royal council, then he should have close ties with the cabinet members even without the PM. At least, he should have had money. But he is dependent on the cabinet to approve his expenses. He is either the most powerful person or just a puppet. Can’t be both at the same time.

I could find many others if I gave enough time. This was clearly a romance genre meant for 13 year old girls produced by mentally teenage Americans. Sorry to have wasted 12 hours of my time on this. It banked too much on nostalgia.

Scene: IU in the same hospital room as Son Hyejin. Byeon Wooseok running in a similar fashion to Hyun Bin. Many of the actors were also part of the CLOY cast. It felt nostalgic, but did nothing to enhance the current story.

What happened to Huiju’s talented board members? They play no role in the plot. They could have been very useful. What exactly was the royal FIL wanting to achieve by killing a reagent? Democracy? His own sovereignty? Not clear. Why exactly did the king have to abolish monarchy? It already looked like a watered down monarchy with the king as a decoration rather than tool. So what purpose did that serve? Wouldn’t it have been better to punish all the wrongdoers?

Clearly, the political side of this drama is ********. I liked the romance, but it was not enough to cover for the very American plot. Someone dm me when the Kdrama scene becomes better. I’ll try not to watch any more till this ridiculous Americanisation persists🥲🥹😢😢😢

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Missing the Forest for the Trees

God, was this a disaster of epic proportions (and not in an entertaining way)!

If I had to summarize its problems in just one sentence, I would say that they went for what was obvious and advantageous rather than what was challenging.

S1 of Only Friends was messy (intentionally), but there was more to it than that. It didn't just point the camera at its possessive, broken protagonist hitting on someone and then shove a cheeky third party in the picture. Through its leads and their problems and mistakes (romantic and not), they thoughtfully weaved a narrative about second chances. How you can't always tell whether they were deserved or not. How some people change, and some never change. Time is what reveals it.

Only Friends: Dream On seemed to look at the success of Only Friends and miss the core of it: This is about hook-ups and flirting in front of a crowd! It wanted the messiness without challenging views or casting any of its actors in a bad light as their characters. Likely because of changes in the crew and the creators wanting to make sure their fixed pairs didn't appear blurred, if you ask me. Which, if you're making a second season of Only Friends, should not be one of your priorities!

Predictable and safe. That's what it was.

Without intending to, they made one of their leads into a painfully oblivious villain, dragging others down and going back on his word, all the while bemoaning slights against him as if they were daggers to the heart. Meanwhile, viewers were meant to sympathize.

I could not find a deeper meaning here, no matter how hard I racked my brain, probably because there wasn't one from the start. If it was supposed to be "wanting someone you shouldn't," based on the conclusion, the drama seemed to disagree with its own messaging.

And what was originally a unique storytelling device: interview-like segments interspersed throughout to get a read on the characters' thoughts, became characters performing for the camera, and ended up feeling like an exaggerated, dragged-out wink and nod to the audience as if to say, "See what we did! It's just like you remember! Aren't we cool?"

Fitting for a story centered around a stage play to feel like bad theatre.

I'm disappointed and in the mood to go rewatch the original Only Friends.

Side Note: Rome and Raffy and Dean were the saving graces of this drama.

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I really looked forward to this drama...however, it still fell short in certain aspects.

I really looked forward to this drama, mainly because of Byeon Wooseok & IU being paired together for a romcom set in an alternate universe where the monarchy still exists. However, it still fell short in certain aspects.

Firstly, I'd like to commend the casting for both the major and support roles; honestly, I couldn't have imagined other actors who would've played the parts. Production was also of high quality, with me going "damn budget!" almost every episode. Not to mention, the OST is great as well.

Now onto the plot: I genuinely appreciated that the narrative written for Huiju's character was a strong, independent woman who doesn't necessarily need a man like a knight and shining armor to "save" her. I like how Huiju & Wan's dynamics balance and complement each other. In addition, sufficient context was given regarding why Huiju is the way she is through the drama. Sadly, I was not able to see the same kind of nuance with the other characters, especially Wan and Jeongwoo. After watching the drama, I still have unanswered questions lingering in my mind: Who tried to sabotage Huiju's car? How did Lord Inpyeong & Jeongwoo conspire? Also, the ending felt a bit rushed...

Not gonna lie, this drama really had the potential to be a 16-episode one, and that would've probably addressed the lingering questions I have. Needless to say, I enjoyed watching the drama for the most part; everybody was just so fun to watch. I just wished more nuance was made to give justice to such a creative plot and the huge budget.

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