Reviews

People Are Strange

First off, the hate for this show is insane. Folks complain every drama is the same. Then when something different comes along, they hate it.

With that being said. A sociopath is hard to portray on screen. Kim You Jung was PHENOMENAL as Baek Ah Jin. She blew me out of the water and man, was she EVIL. Sometimes i felt bad for her. Other times i wanted to slap her. That is how you know the actess is doing amazing

Is she mad as a hatter? God, yes. Does ahe deserve any sympathy? A little bit, but not a lot. She manipulates all the men around her and does it to perfection. Fans always love the psychopath MEN, yet seem to have an issue when it is a female.

Me, personally, I throughly enjoyed this show and will re-watch it again with my aunt. Kim You Jung was utterly robbed when she wasn't nominated for best female lead performance. Sush a shame.

And for the haters, stop begging for something new, unique, just to turn around and whine about it. You obviously don't want "different"...

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Artistic

I find that most C-dramas are tailored to be profitable rather than artistic. Tragedy, beauty, and romance are so excessively used that they become meaningless. I am pleased to say that "Twelve Letters" does not fall into that category. There is tragedy, but there is also boundless resilience and hope. There is beauty, but it is not ungrounded. There is romance, but it is neither insecure nor saccharine. "Twelve Letters" is real, and because it is real, it is deeply moving.

It is a slice-of-life, so I'll refrain from overelaborating on the plot. I will say—for those who are sensitive—that there are significant mentions of poverty, abuse, assault, homicide, and suicide. However, the story refrains from being maudlin given its decisively hopeful tone. "Twelve Letters" features moving found-family relationships; the purest of young love stories; and flawed but ultimately good characters whom life dealt bad cards.

While there are plenty of stories with similar concepts, "Twelve Letters" differs in its fantastical element and level of execution. The fantastical element of the story stems from a mailbox which can deliver and receive messages from the past to the present (and vice-versa). Throughout the story, a young couple from 1991 messages their future children (living in 2026) through this mailbox. This messaging—appearing to be somewhat of an authorial afterthought at first—later becomes critical in solving the story's main mystery. Additionally, it introduces questions regarding the cost of trade-offs, sacrifice, and love. This supernatural element meshed well with the slice-of-life premise to create what is one of the only "magical realism" adjacent C-dramas in recent times.

As for the level of execution, few Chinese dramas are on par with "Twelve Letters." The cinematography is breathtaking. Every single shot in the show is beautiful, especially in the 1991 Mei-Wan Zhen (梅湾镇) setting. What I particularly love is how artfully the scenes are shot. Each frame is a masterclass in proportion, and there is a bittersweet green tint applied to the footage. Despite the pursuit of beauty, nothing is overdone. The actors are not wearing jarring amounts of makeup or clothes the characters could not afford, and film is not aesthetic for aestheticism's sake. Here, grittiness is not compromised by misplaced romanticism.

This extends to the actors' portrayal of their characters. Wang Yinglu egolessly blends into every role she plays; Zhou Yiran never sacrifices sincerity for superficiality; and every supporting actor/actress performs with utmost conviction. There is not a single weak link, which is almost unheard of in recent C-dramas.

Finally, "Twelve Letters" musical choices are extremely effective at building both joy and suspense, especially in the first seven episodes. After episode 7, I found the OST to be overused or forced in certain moments (despite its excellence, it was probably unneeded). I was introduced to the band FloruitShow (福禄寿) through this drama, and they are now my absolute favorite (they are also unfortunately barred from performing as a trio now; they now perform as a duo under the name DOUDOU).

To be honest, I initially dropped this drama after the fifth episode and only recently picked it back up. The pacing can be slightly slow at times, but I found the ride to be worth every minute and every tear.

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Whew!! Spicy!

Okay, from the jump; Sorn going at it solo while watching an AV with his pants down with the fish watching is crazy 🤣🤣, but to pull Jun into the mix is even crazier 🤣🤣! Then the spiciness continues from episode 1!

This series has no real plot to it, some of the acting was subpar, yet to be able to act like you're really doing the "horizontal tango, solo play and double solo play" had me shook to my core! Yoon, to me, has never been that good of an actor to me anyway. His performances always seem so fake and it didn't change in this series either. However, Boat and Oat did a fabulous job acting; which is the only reason I was invested in it from the first episode.

However, I wasn't a fan of the gaslighting that Sorn would constantly do to Jun. Sorn clearly had feelings for Jun, yet didn't express them well. In the beginning, Sorn was using Jun as a "friends with benefits" partner to relieve his sexual tension under the guise of "teaching" while constantly sleeping around. Sorn was a complete and total sex addict and I disliked seeing Sorn treat Jun like that and then make Jun feel bad; emotionally, if he went out wanting to sleep with other people too. Sorn was a giant red flag in my opinion and the toxicity level he gave off was immense and Jun didn't deserve that kind of treatment, yet the spiciness they delivered was WOW; hence is why I watched it all the way through.

I would have been more invested in the "second couple" had their acting been better. It felt "fake" and lacked spice. The acting with the second couple just didn't tickle my fancy. I will rewatch it again, because it does have just enough spice to keep me hooked onto it because spicy BL's are right up my alley. Just wish the acting was a bit better between the second couple.

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Convoluted plot, but loveable characters

Director Edward about Tian Jiarui: I want that man in countless headbands! And I want him to cry at least once an episode! Also get him a brother! It doesn't matter if they die or if he's just a replacement brother, make it happen!

What can I say about this drama? I think at this point I know what I'm getting into when I watch this director/writer's work. He's fantastic at creating relationships and characters that feel so alive. He's not so fantastic at creating coherent plots. It's often convoluted and confusing, and I think that's the dividing line for people that enjoy his work and those that don't. For me, I love his characters too much to really care about the messy plot, and honestly even if it is messy at least it's different and interesting (unlike the many copy and paste cdramas coming out every other week).
I will say that Veil of Shadows is certainly one of the most convoluted of Director Edward's dramas. It really got confusing at the end and if he is going to have five climaxes and deaths (oh wait! they're alive again!) it begins to loose it's impact. I totally respect the people that didn't like this drama, but I'm not one of them. I'm completely aware it's not that great, but Li Jing and the rest of the crew were there pulling me along all the way to the end.
So keep it up Director Edward! Keep making your messy dramas. But please hire Tian Jiarui for them all.

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Not the best, but still BEST

I’m actually writing my first review because this show had me on chokehold….and probably always will have. I love this series so so much. It’s true that the story is not that special, it’s a simple romance with some family drama but the ACTING and EMOTIONS are out of this world when it comes to TeeTeePor. It’s actually really hard to believe it’s theirs first main role, cause they delivered an amazing performance.
But also the production was incredible. You can really see what makes a good show amazing and it really don’t have to be some deep plot, The feeling in camera shots (especially in NC scenes) and that you can really feel the actors love their roles and the environment they are working in is making this show stand out.
I hope DMD will deliver us more of these masterpieces and I’m here (un)patiently waiting for another TeeTeePor project.

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Too Ambitious for its Own Good

Without a doubt, this show suffers from (oddly) too few episodes. The production decisions and rushed editing, especially in the beginning, created a disjointed introduction that only suffers as more characters, sects, and prequel plot lines invade the show. A storyline as complex, emotional, and generational deserves double the episodes. Both generations should have had their own show to make the impact be what they wanted.

The actors did well, the OST was nice, and there were some truly touching moments that can bring tears to the eye. If only we were allowed the time to sit in all such moments, this show could have been incredible.

Zhou Yiran and Bao Shangen carried this show, with their friendships following close behind. The middle third of the show is where it hits its stride. Unfortunately, the show suffers when it doesn’t focus on their romance, because of the long list of plot lines that overwhelmed it.

It was a fun watch after I got through the hurdle of the first arc. If you watch, don’t expect too much from it. I watched for the couple, but even that took a while to get interesting due to the terrible introduction.

Another bout of wasted potential due to a piled-high cutting room floor. I will keep an eye out on the screenwriter and the actors, as I do see their potential.

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Not the Best but still Good

Somehow it feels a lot of good series ended these days, yesterday "Duang with You" and today "My Romance Scammer". The premise was some mix of known elements. Rich and not so rich people becoming couples, scam and lies, breakup and getting back together. While it was nothing new, the mix had a potential to be great. But I felt in end, despite enjoying it mostly, it felt odd and lacking in some aspects, and it wasn't easy for me at first to see exactly what it was.

The series starts well enough with two different types of scammers fishing for rich people to get their money, and two different scam targets. First to the actors: Junior and Mark are a tested pair and played their roles well, and I was very happy to finally see Poon to get his long overdue main role, which he played out excellent, with Ohm being his new partner, whom I felt was a bit the weak link in the four of them. But then Poon and Ohm are new as pair and I am sure a somewhat better script and directing can give them more growth. I am quite clear here: the acting of the four MCs was good, but it wasn't perfection to write home about, which I assume is due to directing, where I have my biggest issue.

The story felt kinda all over the place. Handling two main couples and four very different characters IS challenging by any means. And that requires a very good pacing, which I felt just wasn't there. While didn't feel any particular scene in itself was bad, the connection of scenes was somewhat lacking. I enjoyed the start up to the revealing of the scam the most, and felt it went a bit downhill falling apart from there. During the scandal wedding it was way too quickly clear that each couple would stick together. I mean, duh, we knew this, but such a deep betrayal of trust was done, especially given Tim and Pai were together a long time already, with was done away too quickly and easily. I really would have liked to see some more lasting drama, some suffering from the guilty, when in fact right after the scandal revealed it was in a very slow and sort of tiresome path towards the second marriages. And this being so clear so quickly felt like the rest of the episodes dragged on without really much having to tell, and I blame this square on the directing of the series.

Still, I can't deny it was a feel good series, though just personally speaking I am a bit overfed with billionaire families. And not this is a mere cultural comment, not a political one. It just has a certain sameness having it seen for a bit too many times now and the harmlessness, so to speak, felt a bit like a fallback to past Thai BL years. There should have been more dramatic tension, more played out dark moments and emotional darker moments, to make the happy end feel actually something of weight. Especially if I recall the very great last episode of “Duang with You”, this last Episode was largely exhausting, somewhere nice but a bit too much “finally done” leaving me entirely clueless what to think or feel

While that all sounds quite negative, I still felt by far the positive entertainment was more than the critique I have about pacing and directing. I just wished the characters had been emotionally more intense, given the plot. Maybe making it a Rom-Com was just a bad choice, where a drama would have fitted better. With the background ensemble being solid, the location being scenic (though a tad bland) I rate this series a well meaning

7.5/10
Solid but fell short of it's potential.

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médico légal vs enquête

tout d’abord je dois dire que j’ai vraiment un faible pour les séries de procès, mais la spécificité ici c’est que tout s’articule autour du médico légal avec un responsable du médico légal qui ne pourrait avoir d’autre comparatif que le docteur House, un mec avec un caractère de cochon, mais avec un historique personnel terriblement lourd, avec lui une procureur extrêmement efficace qui ne lache rien au fil des sed enquêtes, a eux deux, le duos est incroyable, les enquêtes s’enchaînent toutes plus passionnantes les une que les autres.
mention spéciale à tous les seconds couteaux de l’équipe, que cela soit les enquêteurs du procureur ou les assistants du médico légal… et mention EXTREMELENT spéciale à Stephanie Lee (Start Up) qui est sans doute une des plus belles femmes dans l’industrie du kdrzma, mais que malheureusement on ne voit pas assez, sans doute du fait de sa nationalité américaine ?

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Sad that looks trumps acting skills

Dropped. Couldn't get off into it. I tried and watched up to 3 episodes. Just not for me. The problem with this MDL site, people vote higher if it's their favorites and based on looks. Even if my favorite actor is in a badly written drama, I will not rate it high, and I will drop it. So many dramas, especially thrillers, get the lowest ratings, but silly romcoms get the highest. I just find this site hypocritical and voting and reviewing fairly is something that doesn't exist here. I don't know if some people are lonely and they latch on to romcoms so they can live in a fantasy or what. It's weird. I like some romcoms, but this one isn't good. My opinion, not anyone else's

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this show did not know what it was trying to be

I wanted to like this show, I really did. I have been in love with JuniorMark ever since I witnessed their amazing chemistry in Perfect 10 Liners. So naturally, I expected to see something similar here. Fortunately, the chemistry was still intact but unfortunately enough, everything else was falling apart.

This show started off somewhat promising. With a premise like this where fake love, real marriage, money extortion and scamming is involved, one would naturally expect some kind of angsty big reveal where everything blows up and the characters each face the consequences of their actions as deserved. But none of that happens here. Tim is already failing to follow his initial plan and falls for Pai by episode 2. Which was pretty off putting considering they could've shown him struggling with his feelings, he acceots it pretty fast. When it didn't happen, I thought the more satisfying part would be when Tim gets exposed but instead after the much awaited reveal, the show goes downhill so fast it gets painful to sit through it.

Pai was hurt but not hurt enough, Tim was trying but not hard enough‐ none of them could reach to a level where Pai's pain could devastate me or Tim's redemption could satisfy me. Infact, he did not seem to get a redemption arc at all. He showed no remorse, no guilt, no regret. All he did was be silly and giggle at Pai's misery which, to my absolute surprise actually cause Pai to be done sulling and go back to Tim again, like, are you kidding me? That man broke your trust atleast take your time. Both their characters lacked depth. If Pai could show the rage and hurt that someone in his position would actually feel, and Tim could beg on knees to be forgiven because that's what you should do when you scam someone and break their fucking heart while also claiming to love them, this show could've been way better.

I won't talking about OhmPoon at all because I did not care one bit about them or their story.

The worst thing is that JuniorMark did a good job. They weren't asked to do anymore than what they did. Both of them have the potential to give devastating performance but no one demanded that. The director was certainly satisfied with the half assed storytelling. I wasn't.

I really hope JuniorMark get projects that do justice with their potential as well as chemistry. They deserved better.

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