Reviews

The unsolvable case of whatever it is that the author wanted

(⁠╭⁠☞⁠•́⁠⍛⁠•̀⁠)⁠╭⁠☞ Disclaimer :
This review might contain spoilers, it's solely based on my personal feelings and opinions and highly influenced by them, it's not meant to encourage/discourage anyone from watching so feel free to agree/disagree with it.

Well, this isn't exactly how I expected my return to writing reviews to be but I'm a little glad it is. In all honesty I wasn't planning on watching this series, mainly because I have a mile long plan-to-watch list that has been shoved time and time again to the back of the drawer, but if anyone has happened upon any of my older reviews, you'd know I'm a sucker for the crime/thriller genre, regardless of how I feel about the intimate touchy feely scenes, suspense is one of my many addictions so I couldn't refuse this one, so now after all this pointless rambling and without any further ado, let's get on with the actual review:

Plot/story :
I hate to be the one to say it but this is this series' weakest aspect, don't get me wrong, the premise of it is highly intriguing and the potential this had was off the charts, but I can't help but find the inconsistencies in the writing very.... well, inconsistent. I'm unfamiliar with the author but it really feels like they don't have much experience in writing crime, however, if it's their first attempt in this genre, I would say it's an ok start.
The case was one of the weirdest written plots I've seen in a while, nothing about its proceedings or how it was handled made sense, it genuinely felt like children playing in an escape room rather than an actual case where corruption blurs the lines between truth and lies, evidence was being collected like Pokémon cards, the "villain" felt like an afterthought, Chaeha and Taesan's past being quite vague was also a little irritating, them supposedly being sex partners while having slept with each other only twice was a bit of a hmmm moment for me, and many many other things that I low-key forgot because I unfortunately lost my notes on the episodes, but nonetheless I digress.
My review might make it seem like I didn't really enjoy the show, but I can assure you that I very much did, definitely not my favourite series to date but I feel like if you take the plot as it is and just surrender your brain to the story and its nonsense, these inconsistencies wouldn't bother you too much, now, is this the most well thought out plot you'll ever find? No, but is it interesting enough to keep you coming back? Absolutely, and while I did side eye the minor oddities here and there, I wouldn't say it's that terrible, matter of fact, I kinda like the way this ended, because while some might point out the way it was rushed so we could reach that famous happy ending for our 2 miserable leads, the ending surprisingly was left open, yes you heard that right, this ending was not obviously or explicitly happy, the way it was filmed and Chaeha's internal monologue didn't exactly give off "happy ending", and the scene at the end was filmed and framed in a rather "ethereal" way, so while some may argue it's a happy ending, I interpreted it as rather tragic, it genuinely felt like Chaeha died and that scene was basically his wish playing out for us, so I'm a little surprised and slightly amused with the ending.


Acting :
Here comes the star of the show with its slight shortcomings, the acting.
The actors did very well, and our 2 MLs were honestly good, but I wouldn't say they were particularly amazing, especially Park Si Woo who at times turned the deer-caught-in-headlights expression to the max even when it was uncalled for and at some scenes felt like he was fighting every fiber of his being to say the next line, but other than that they did quite well, even the minor characters were decent.
I have no comments on the MLs' chemistry because they genuinely did well, I didn't perceive any awkwardness from either actors and their intimate scenes were very well done, so yeah, no complaints form me on their pairing.

Music/Ost :
K-BLs did it yet again with the BGM, I've rarely if ever had anything to say about the music in Korean shows because they genuinely know how to give you a solid playlist, so overall, very good BGM.

Production :
Honestly the production was decent, and while the opening with its AI-y elements had me side eyeing it a little, I can't say it was a deal breaker for me, the camera-work was good and the sets were neat, nothing too awe-inspiring but definitely done with effort.

So yeah, these are my 2 cents on this series, my review might come off as very disjointed but that's because it's quite early in the morning, I haven't slept yet, and I'm very much out of practice here, especially considering I accidentally deleted the actual notes I had stored on my notes app on this series while trying to look for them, but yeah, you'll probably get my general thoughts on this K-BL from this "review", I'm sure the rest of the reviewers will have more articulated thoughts to add to the general consensus on this series, so I would recommend checking their reviews out for more input and opinions, otherwise, the series genuinely would get a recommendation from me if you have a little free time on your hand and are looking for something fun and slightly dark to enjoy, definitely a good show to pass the time.

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Hunt

A very intriguing and adrenaline-filled movie that differs quite a bit from director Na Hong-jin's previous films, though it feels similar in pacing and tone to The Chaser.

I also think they got the movie title wrong. This film is not Hope, it's Hunt. I honestly don’t know what the “hope” is supposed to be in this movie — maybe something the main characters want but failed to express or communicate. But the title Hunt is extremely fitting because the entire film is one big hunt. Our protagonists are constantly switching roles — sometimes hunters, sometimes prey — and the chase continues from beginning to end, constantly shifting into a higher gear.

In my opinion, this is the film’s greatest strength: the nearly three hours fly by in a fast-paced, ever-intensifying run that builds tension right up to the so-called ending. It’s hard to say much more about the story without spoilers, so I’ll stop here. On the surface it seems simple, yet it’s surprisingly effective.

Although the characters themselves aren’t at the center of the story (they all serve the larger narrative), the actors are charismatic and have interesting personalities. However, in the midst of all the chaos, there are often awkwardly funny scenes. I’m not sure the humor was really necessary here.

The camerawork is excellent and truly artistic, following the action as if the camera itself is participating in the chase. A lot of effort was clearly put into the scenes; they had to prepare an entire city to look the way it does, and you can see the immense work and dedication from everyone involved in the production. Visually and atmospherically, the film fully meets expectations. The epilogue at the end will certainly spark plenty of discussion, which should help this movie be remembered in both Korean and world cinema.

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kacau balau sih serunya

Zombienya off siang on malam kayak kelelawar yaa hahaha
Teror meneror yang kerasa banget lohh

Sialan banget para pejabat rakyatnya nih... rakyatnya dibuat seolah olah kayak binatang peliharaannya
Gak di anggap, di cuekin, di siksain, pokoknya rakyat kelas bawah dibuat kayak sampah

Rakyatnya hari hari makan makanan buangan gitu atau yang tidak layak banget untuk dimakan...kondisi lingkungannya juga parah sih,gua maklumi kenapa bisa begitu

Lingkungannya yg kotor,air selokan kayak air hitam gitu ada dimana mana..gua rasain banget sih kayak lagi di pasar pasaran gitu kondisinya

Bau, tidak terurus, banyak yang terlantar abis abisan, kasiannnn

Kalian pasti sama kek gua pas liat rakyat miskin makan sup daging gitu mana pake daging manusia yg udah terjangkit virus loh

"Ahh....modar sia...modar anj...lahap bet lagii..."
Pasrah banget plisss...njinkkk

Filmnya ini dia gunain kelaparan sebagai pendorong horror dan itu salah satu argumen big nya... kenapa??

Karena ketegangan tuh ada disitu btw...
Sore menjelang senja/Maghrib itu wahh wahh
Mulaii dapet dikit demi dikit, detik demi detik .

Kelaparan mengintai dibalik tidurnya yang lelap di siang hari, disitulah gua greget sekali pas mau hampiri suatu daerah mati

Terus gak hanya disitu juga momen menegangkan nya sihh...masih banyak hahaha
Kepungan mayat vs kepungan politik sombong dibalik dinding istana yang megah, rasa tegang nya kayak ngantri bergiliran

Itu horor bener bener horror realita bet mau gimana lagi saat perut kosong dan udah nggak punya opsi lagi buat bertahan hidup sihh..ya gua maklumi lahh

Sementara para anj itu, di seberang sana, pejabat kerajaan pada pesta makan enak, mikirin silsilah keluarga, dan sibuk sikut-sikutan tahta, hallaahh

Dapet banget ya sentilan sosialnya, sindirannya juga tajam, dinamika nya ini kayak relevan banget sama indo Anjjj

Pejabat asyik sibuk faksi-faksian, rakyat di bawah disuruh makan angin buat ganjal perut...Apa coba njirr

Gak nyesal ngasih rate tinggi...ya gimana ya hiburan nya gak cuma picu adrenalin aja , senang kesal,marah,semuanya gokil

Zombie " nya juga asal muasal sangat bagus beda smaa zombie" lainnya, Virus nya aada karena lingkungannya yg kotor dan tidak terurus

Eh hampir lupa..pas momen mereka berkumpul untuk menumpas seluruh zombienya dimalam hari itu...deymm brohh gua sih bisa nebak nya bakal terjadi kayak gitu

Tapi tetap greget hahaha mereka udh percaya diri dan bingung juga itu, menit demi menit di dieps itu terjadilah pembalikan trope

Suhunya berubah dan memicu virusnya yang dramatis secara visual, geleng geleng kepala gua sumpah pas momen itu...kacauuu

Dan endingnya aduhhhh.....epic dan hampir lupa bernapas nontonnya wkwk..kok bisa yaa...njirlah
Udh sampe klimaks nya nihh film

Pas danau esnya pecah disitulah diperlihatkan counter dari virusnya wkwkwk

Saya lagi nunggu info terbaru kingdom juga nih
Hanya bisa berharap yg gak berlebihan hahahaa

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Comfort series

It’s still a heart-warming series with a lot of good food and different bittersweet stories from different patrons at the midnight diner. I think the characters' backstories in the second season were much deeper than in the first season.

Although I didn’t empathize with some patrons, I guess those types of people do exist in real life. I think ‘Master’ did a good job as a sincere listener and witness without interfering deeply into his patrons' personal issues. I think it would be nice if there were a midnight diner like that in real life. I would love to become a regular patron as well, even though I can't even drink.

I don’t remember clearly every patron’s story now, but Ryu-chan’s backstory in the first episode made me cry a lot. I also cried in a few other episodes. I’m also glad that I got to see most of the regular patrons from the first season. I loved those people very much.

It's a drama that I enjoyed watching slowly. I sometimes picked one or two episodes to watch before bed. I have to say I was surprised every time, about how the stories turned out. Wow. What is life? Even Odagiri Joe's character, who always had some iconic lines about life in a lot of episodes from the first season, became speechless for once in episode 9. I was also speechless in that case.

As I just mentioned about Odagiri Joe’s character, I felt so sorry for him, after seeing his backstory in the last episode. It was so bitter and painful to watch. I wanted to root for him, but I guess the other ending was pretty impossible in that case. His old life was already lost and he couldn’t just take it back. Once again, he took a lonely path for himself and left the diner again, without anyone noticing, just like in the first season…

Although I watched this series on Netflix, I never skipped the opening song and intro and the ending song in every episode. My heart felt so warm every time I heard the opening and ending song.

One more thing I love about this series is that the regular patrons always gathered at the diner in the last episode, and ‘Master’ cooked them a lot of fancy food, like they were celebrating a special event together.

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This move was weird

This is my first movie review & I'm honestly not sure where to start, so I'm doing a likes and dislikes list.

Things I liked:
* The way it was filmed.
* Fighting choreography was decent.
* Jin just saying "f**k it" & just desides to kill his rapest.

Things I didn't like:
* The script was confusing. Like there was enough there to connect the dots, but sometimes it was unnecessarily confusing and violent.
* I don't understand Kai's obsession with Jin.
* They don't show us some things. For example, Jin's arson & his death.
* The rape reenactment at the beginning shouldn't have made me laugh. But it did. I feel really bad about that, and I really hope that victims in Japan don't really have to do this. Telling the story would be bad enough without having to show the police step-by-step what happened and what was said.
* Jin should have simply moved to another city. I get that Kai wasn't the rapest, but he admitted to it and was following Jin everywhere and was causing problems whether he meant to or not.
* The singing at the end was psychopathic.
* The RAPPING was so bad that I skipped large parts of it or played it at X2 speed. The music parts in general weren't good. There were also way too many of them, and they lasted too long. Also, I get that Kai was trying to help Jin get over his rape by making him rap about it, but it was creepy.
* The ending. After all the shit Jin went through, we couldn't give him a happy ending? How did Kai not wake up while Jin was being killed? How did Jin die anyway? His rapest/killer was heavily burned and in pain; you couldn't even see his face, so how did Jin, who had learned how to fight & was in perfect health (in comparison), lose?
* If you're going to try to kill someone, especially when that someone is rich & powerful, maybe make sure that they are dead? Just a suggestion.
* How did Mr. Rapest find them at the end? They were in the middle of the woods. Even if it was the location Jin followed them to previously, why would he go there randomly? I don't think he followed them because he had to bandage himself up, and a long time had passed. IDK, it just felt very random.

The movie wasn't bad. If they took out all of the music/rapping parts and focused more on exploring Jin and Kai's backgrounds and relationship, I maybe would have been sad, more than annoyed, at the ending.

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Very Good drama and Must watch it

The rating is not right!! I almost belived it but luckily i watch it . People who dont have bad intention will give justice to this epic drama. They are so GOOD and the drama got classy. Tells about family story and educate us about real love needs sacrifice. I reads books and assessing each character and Overdo drama have the qualities and very not like typical drama who always show happiness and good things . The plot all great ! Please watch and you will love it!!!! So bad and very unfair to give low rating and this drama should get more rating. they deserve it!!!

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Trying and succeeding

This was an absolutely wonderful season of television. I feel like it took a few episodes to fully get into the swing of things, but when it did, it just completely drew me in. I was always looking forward to the new episodes every weekend, and I'm a bit bummed that it's over.

I absolutely adored the performances and chemistry between Koo Kyo-hwan as Hwang Dong-man and Go Youn-jung as Byeon Eun-ah. It was a very unconventional relationship, and I loved the direction they went with it. The entire rest of the cast knocked it out of the park too.

Pretty much every episode made me laugh and cry multiple times. It made me really invested in all of the characters, and I liked where pretty much all of them ended up by the end. I'm really glad I decided to check it out. It will definitely be one of my favorite seasons of TV this year.

Favorite Episodes:
Episodes 6, 8, 9, 11 & 12

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The Wonderfools absolutely rocks.

This is easily the most fun I've had with anything superhero related in a very long time.

Park Eun-bin is the main reason I ended up watching this and she did not disappoint at all. Absolutely stole every scene she was in. She's just the best. The entire cast around her was also just so good from top to bottom. The other Wonderfools, Choi Dae-hoon, Im Sung-jai, and Cha Eun-Woo all absolutely crushed it too.

This show also did something with its villains that I found to be incredibly interesting. They were all very intimidating, but (pretty much) all of them were sympathetic characters who you could fully understand where they were coming from. Both the heroes and the villains had super creative ways of using their powers over the course of the show as well, which continued to surprise me as the show went on.

I just had an absolute blast with this. I seemed to like each episode even more than the one before it, and I was entertained from start to finish. Easy recommendation from me.

Favorite Episodes:
Episode 6 - All Roads Lead to Chae-ni
Episode 7 - The Guardians of Haeseong City Part 1
Episode 8 - The Guardians of Haeseong City Part 2

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A comfort show with a fantastic lead performance

This show is phenomenal and pretty much exactly what I needed right now. It immediately became a comfort show for me.

Woo Young Woo is just such a wholesome and loveable protagonist played to perfection by Park Eun-bin. I think it has been a while since I've connected with a protagonist on a show. She made the most of every single moment she was on screen and though I was worried the character was going to be a bit gimmicky at the beginning of the show, but it really ended up being such an incredible and nuance performance of character with autism. I loved when she went into her rants about whales or the the law, and I always got pumped every time she had one of her "whale moments". I really loved the Maytree song that played every time she got one as well. And the theme song. It always made me happy to hear it.

The rest of the cast and characters were all great too. I really enjoyed how certain characters and their relationships with Woo developed over the course of the show. I liked how the relationship between Woo and Kang Tae-oh's Le Joon Ho was a bit complicated and took a little while to develop. I really liked his performance in this as well. I loved how the relationship between Woo and Ha Yoon-kyeong's Choi Soo Yeon started off a bit antagonistic, but once Woo told her how she felt, they were pretty solid friends after that. I also really liked Dong Geurami and kind of wish there was more of her over the course of the season. I absolutely loved their little Woo to the Young to the Woo Dong to the Geu to the Rami thing. That made me very happy every time it happened.

Not every episode was perfect, there were times toward the middle to the end of the season where things felt like they were possibly beginning to wear a bit thin, but then the finale was just so fantastic. It really made me feel a feeling of fulfillment.

As I was writing this review I bumped it up from a 4.5 to a 5, because the the more I thought about it the more I really loved it. If there is a season 2, I very much look forward to it. If there isn't for some reason, this was a pretty fantastic season.

Favorite Episodes:
Episode 8 - A Tale About Sedeok-dong II
Episode 16 - Though Unusual and Peculiar

(Copied from my Serializd review in 2022)

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Absolutely incredible.

Just beautiful. It was hilarious, it was heartwarming and at times absolutely devastating.

This series got me so completely invested in these characters. I loved the decades spanning stories that all cast the younger and older versions of characters so well. Every version of Ae-sun and Gwan-sik was so good and I was always rooting for them. IU was fantastic in her double roles as Ae-sun and Geum-myeong to the point where it took me a bit to realize they were the same actor. Moon So-ri, Park Hae-joon and Park Bo-gum were all great too.

I expected this to be good based on the reviews and everything, but I didn't expect it to hit me quite as hard as it did. One of the best seasons of TV I've watched.

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A romance fantasy with a yearning male lead and a determined female lead

The current reviews are harsh. I do agree, this show would have done better if it came out closer to its production and completion. I also do with we got those seven cut episodes because I do think it would have buffed out some more under explored aspects. That said…I loved it! If LBFAD can have an 8.7/10, I don't see why this show can't hit at least 8.

It gave me Love Between Fairy and Devil vibes not because of the demon lord vs fairy concept but the coloring and overall production — but with an arguably more satisfying ending.

The things about this show I loved:
- Though the romance was overall more lowkey because of Jiang Li Fei’s (rightful) distrust of Lei Xiu Yuan for much of the show, their chemistry and tension carried. Lei Xiu Yuan also did such a great job yearning so I was satisfied with that.
- The group friendship(s) were super cute and I loved them a lot
- I enjoyed the general side characters. I think the antagonists were a bit one dimensional but the various antagonists make up for that. I also liked the different masters than look out for the main leads, they were all so great with distinct personalities.
- I loved the costumes and overall production vibe – pretty pastels and fun energy
- Baili Ge Lin and Lu Li were very cute and I super enjoyed not just their romance but relationship and personalities.
- Ri Yan and Qing Cheng’s friendship was fun but I liked Qing Cheng’s background a lot.
- Some people said it was slow but the pacing felt perfect to me, it’s one the first shows in a long time that I DIDN’T watch at 2x speed. I actually watched 99% of the show at 1x speed which says a lot. While parts of the editing and story continuity were chopping, the plot was always moving forward in a way that made sense.

The things about this show I didn’t love:
- Ji Tong Zhou’s storyline wasn’t unexpected but I would have loved him not not have fallen into the cliche obsessed route
- Miao Qing was a great character but I’m not sure I liked her ending. She dies for a man that literally did not give 2 cents about her. Even before he becomes consumed with evil, he was pretty indifferent to her so I’m also a bit lost as to why her death made him grieve so much and why it’s what does him in. We could say it’s regret for not appreciating her but I just don’t feel like that was well insinuated or built up towards.
- I wish we got more substantial flashbacks of Ye Sha & the Divine Tree in the past.
- She always dies for him to help him but then the calamity is a curse due to the immortals killing her so I feel like there could have been a lot more provided her rather than only the make out and death scenes.
- I felt like I missed something in terms of the demon land and how they got stuck but finally went back but then started coming back again at the end 10 years later
- Someone pointed out that big reveals are glossed over.
- I watch a lot of romantic fantasy and they all follow pretty similar beats so I didn’t think much of it in the moment but I do think the fact that the main leads just casually remember their past without much fanfare holds that fates intertwined aspect back.
- I think they glossed over some pretty big deaths quickly. Si Mo is mentioned and mourned but his head was literally cut off??? Like excuse me?? And then even with the ending IDK if I feel like Ye Ye and Chang Yue’s deaths made sense. Like they did but also didn’t. It all happened so fast. Shao Min’s death was “fine” ig but I hated that she died fr.
- I loved Lei Xiu Yuan’s puppy sick love for Jiang Li Fei but it gets undercut by her stubbornness. She loves him and argued that fate could be changed only to be completely apathetic to his pleas for finding a middle ground and even now I still don’t understand why she doubted him? Like I get be betrayed her when they were younger but we already established his real reason was to save his brother and that he was more or less tricked and she forgave him eventually so I still don’t understand why she suddenly became so cold to him again…I think this links back to those missing 7 episodes.

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Strong episode one, and goes downard from there, until a horrible ending.

Some scenes are way too long, and others too short.

Barely any chemistry between the main characters.

The only thing that saves this show is that I watched it with friends.

The acting was as plain as boiled chicken breast without salt. I know it's going to sound very rude, but the direction of Boon's and Win's acting was so bad, I actually think cardboard cutouts would have had more emotion as well as better chemistry. What makes it worse is that whenever they are acting possessed they seem to have more emotion and intent.

Boon does what amount to nothing, and everything she does is basically worthless and ends badly... Like nearly every single time she does something, either a prayer, a spell, a good thought, no matter what it calls the ghosts and ends badly.

I know it's gonna sound insane but the fact that Win doesn't stop crying is annoying (it does sound insane cuz everything goes wrong in Win's life so she has a reason to cry), as well as the constant laughter of Jomkwan that interrupts the slight suspense that builds up, it seems she laughs all the goddamned time, girl shut up.

The entire past life plot was so bad I have to laugh, what do you mean they broke up (multiple times btw) and still Jomkwan has haunted them for "75" lives (I put 75 in quotes because it makes no sense that the whole thing happened 60 years ago).

My friends and I where constantly confused over what was happening, and had to rewatch a couple scenes over only to realize how dumb everything was.

Such a messy family too, Pol sucks (and also why even have a pseudo incest plot anyway?).

Jomkwan's ghost is also too broken, too OP, literally nothing works against her. I kept wondering how they would defeat her, so obviously they didn't.

It also ends in a cliffhanger for a second season that never came (and never will, I think).

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