Reviews

As usual, Yaya & Mark did a great job! Been a fan with these two together with their other love teams but never have I thought that they will also have a great chemistry!! Watching their scenes together made me smile and say "The one you hate is the one you really love." :) Hope they will have another lakorn together in the future.

The story for me was kinda new, with twists that leaves you surprised and excited for the next scenes to follow. It's not the usual Thai drama story and I really like it.
Yaya's acting was superb! Even when she was still starting out, she could already act but in here her acting skills not only improved as well as the way she handled herself that made her stand out in this lakorn. Yayas' acting during emotional scenes was very natural. Crying for her in front of a camera feels like so easy.
For Mark, I was quite impressed. His acting has also improved. Back then, he had a hard time crying in emotional scenes but here he did it so well and to think he had to do it for lots of times in this lakorn.
For the supporting casts, I couldn't asked for someone better to portray their roles especially Joonkiat Jarinporn as Piak! She's so good in her role that you will surely hate her!!! I think Chaiyan's too good for her!

This is a must watch Thai drama! You should really watch this now :)

P.S. Who else skips Piak's tantrum scenes?? :D

Read More

So, I got to watch the movie last night at the Houston AMC theater in 3d. Let me tell you.... We were in a there that was half packed. By the end if the movie, there people there (including myself and my husband) were angry. If you liked the drama, this will be a huge letdown to you. If you've never even watched the drama, then this movie will be confusing. Like others have said, the graphics are amazing, but that's just about it. Riceball was adorable, as well as YeHua and Bai Qian. Had they focused more on the writing, rather than on the graphics, this could have been a much better movie. In the end, I wish I would have just watched a bootleg copy. At least I wouldn't be out the money that we spent to watch a horrible movie version of what was an excellent drama. That ending made me want to slap somebody LOL. It was awful.

Read More

I have no idea why the rating is as high as it is for Survey because the story was so weak. Not until episode 4 do we actually get substantial drama, which is far too late if you ask me. The OST was meh and the romance was lukewarm until episode three. I did not get any vibe that either character was interested in each other. I think the writers were going for passionate hate that turns into love but to me it felt more like I hate you but I need you...so I will keep you around but I am still gonna be mad about it. Not the worst of the series but you could definitely skip it and live,

Read More

It’s been a while since I put a pen to paper and a while since I felt the urge to write a drama review. Korean dramas have become too cliché for me to bother and Chinese dramas which have become an integral part of my like as crisps have more often than not build up these expectations in me that…more often than not have not materialized. Then comes Cubic, out of the blue. I read such a compelling comment about the drama that made me want to watch it and I didn’t stop until I watched the final episode.

Cubic is not a perfect drama. It has so many flaws but for me, currently used to watching flawless dramas with terrible production, I want to scream kind of directing and flabbergasting endings, Cubic was perfect!

The story of the youngest daughter having to repay her dad’s debt instead of her sister by working under a Mafia boss and both ending up falling in love with one another is far too simple and uninteresting considering Thai dramas Mafia themed action love stories mass production. Yet, Cubic has this unexplainable feeling that keeps one glued to the screen without knowing why. A smart and resourceful ugly duckling falling for a powerful Mafia swan who turns out to love her in return is a replica of Beauty and the Beast in reverse minus the talking furniture and the castle.

Cubic shows that outer appearance is not a reflex of interior beauty and that interior beauty and character make someone beautiful. It also demonstrates that beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. Nowadays society seems so hard bend focused on appearances, forgetting that one’s inside beauty shines through the surface but one’s outside diamond like beauty can hide a very ugly interior. Appearances can be deceiving and Cubic portrays that to perfection!

The characters are stereotypical indeed however, the rawness of the energy they give leaves one in complete awe. Lin Lan Ser as a character is interesting on paper, performance wise Manoonsil Taninwhich, an unquestionably handsome man depending on one’s taste with his beautiful eyes and hands and everything else, has not made the character memorable for me. He stares so much, so much and he thinks so much and he’s so stiff and he doesn’t speak enough in the drama. At times I was left wondering if the production team wanted to make Cubic a 40% silent drama as a homage to the silence movie era of the beginning of the 20th Century but in colour. Either that or the script writer might have thought, here I have a very good looking actor, he doesn’t need to talk much, he just needs to look pretty on screen and stare so that the female audience can swoon at him and Cubic can get a high viewing rating. Ruthainark was cheeky and fun and energetic and hardworking and motivated and passionate and really well portrayed by Vijitvongtong Chalida when she wasn’t on a staring contest with Lin Lan Ser. That was like mirror, mirror on the wall who’s the fairest of them all? But with mirror, mirror on the wall who stares most of all? Lin Lan Ser, Lin Lan Ser, yay.

Music wise, the OST was nice but only as memorable as the staring contest went and there was so much of it at times it felt like a metaphorical version of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows with their tent scenes. The movie had so many scenes with the leads in a tent it was surreal! Cubic had the same with the staring. Aw, the staring, so much, so much but good!

All in all for me Cubic is a 9.5 out of 10! I loved it! Yes, it flawed from beginning to end but we are all flawed and those flaws are what make us who we are and we should be proud of that, for that reason Cubic was special and it will continue to be special for me, perhaps because deep inside all girls/women at one point in our lives feel like Ruthainark and long for the love of a man that loves us more than any other woman that we might feel to be more beautiful than us.

Read More

This is the first time I'm writing a review for a drama. I just had to write one because this drama amaze me on so many ways.

I usually watch more of Korean dramas but decided to give this drama a try when many of my friends were watching it. I didn't expect anything much because I never really watch a modern C-drama. At this point I've only watch the ones set in old time.

This is the first time where I've watch a drama with a plot like this, it was very interesting and it got me hooked right on the first episode, There was not cliches rich moms nor a super jealous and evil second lead but it still carry on and keep the audience interested in the plot. The editing for the game world was beautiful, the outfit was great.

Now onto the couple. Their chemistry super adorable, they got me feeling jealous that I don't a BF, watching them blessed my soul. The reason why I liked this couple is because they have trust in their relationship so there was nothing that could break them apart. Others drama that I've watched have so many misunderstanding between the couple, it got me frustated. They both are such a good looking couple.

I'm currently rewatching this drama again because it's so good. The only other drama that had this effect on me was Love in Tokyo and Reply 1988.

Read More

What can I say? I'm disappointed. I'm usually very patient with dramas, and I'm willing to watch 1/3 of the way if it means at least getting to a better and more improved plot - but I literally skipped through more than half of this one and read recaps all the way until the last 6-7 episodes.

Why did I pull through? Why did I still give this drama an overall rating of 8/10? Because of Yoo Seung Ho, Kim So Hyun, and a few other side characters such as Gon, Hwa Gun, and Master Woo Bo. Otherwise, the drama itself would have been unbearable. The plot was super bland - but arbitrarily convenient in certain settings just so that the leads would MIRACULOUSLY be saved with a scrape or two. I've seen enough Sageuk dramas to predict a few things here and there, but not enough that I would be able to basically feel out the remainder of the story as I did with this one.

I honestly did feel as if YSH and KSH's fullest potential was not demonstrated in this drama, and I could understand why - the plot was lacking the structure that would allow for the leads to express the right range of emotions. I felt like KSH held back in certain scenes - maybe due to discomfort or just a disconnect with her character? YSH had a great presence, but because the plot was so lacking, it felt as if his acting was uncomfortably overpowering? Don't get me wrong, I've seen both of the leads' previous works before, and they are definitely talented - but this drama did not put them in a position to perform at their fullest potential.

Also, this drama dragged on for a lot longer than necessary. Like seriously, it could have ended 5 episodes earlier of both parties stopped feigning ignorance 45 times in a row just to have their plans spoiled.

With that said, I would not recommend this. The actors and actresses alone are not enough to save the drama as a whole!!! P.S. I'm still a big fan of YSH and KSH though, and I hope that they will star in another drama in the future :-)

Read More

Ok, let me just first say this, I actually did enjoy watching this drama (well most of it) but still it was such a disaster :D lol!!! Let's talk about "the good" first. I loved the main couple, they are both talented actors (especially Park Yoo Chun he's such an amazing actor!) they had a great chemistry and a very nice storyline. I also liked the twist that she could see smells! It was quite unique although I don't think the writers took full advantage of her ability, still it was refreshing!

Now to the disaster part: Well basically the story and the writing were horrifyingly bad ... this was supposed to be a crime drama, but it was as if a child (not even a teen) was trying to write a crime story and was hoping to put twists to the plot but failed miserably each time. The end result was me rolling my eyes and shouting 10 different ways that the whole plot could have been solved. on top of that it was 16 episodes ... like really why this long ...

obviously when the story lacks, the characters have to be weak as well. Hence the detectives were extremely unqualified and simply put very very very bad at their jobs. They were dreadful ...

There was no character development, no nothing, the story was just bland and flat. The only redeeming feature was the main couple's relationship, they were very cute together, bringing light fluffy feelings to the drama. Yeah, it's hilarious how through all this horribleness I still managed to enjoy myself! lol! I guess if you're in mood for some cute adorable love story and not caring much about anything other than couple's relationship give this a try :D !!

As for me, I would love to watch Park Yoo Chun in something well written next! :D

Read More

First of all I am so glad I hadn't watched She was pretty, if I had I wouldn't have been able to finish this drama. I know a lot of people complained about the main female lead and that she was too dumb and stuff, but I thoroughly enjoyed her character. I thought she was quirky and was open to everyone and would be courteous enough to others to listen to whatever they had to say. Did I think maybe she was too lenient on her "best friend" and what she did to her? Yes yes I do believe that, but really by the time everything was uncovered my anger towards her best friend had already dissipated. Overall this drama sometimes feel like its moving at a crawling pace, and definitely could've been shortened by half. The rating is so low because, to me, it didn't really emotionally pull me into the characters and the story although I did really enjoy the female lead, but I wasn't captivated by this drama. God was the only one who gave me the strength to finish this lol so would only recommend if you enjoy dramas that move especially slow, but the story line was still interesting.

Read More

I wanted to watch this because the synopsis sounded interesting and I have a soft spot for male-lead-falls-in-love-first, and for a spell of unrequited love angst (a lot of my favourite dramas have this trope, lol).

STORY (No spoilers)
The synopsis is a good summary of the overarching plot-line of the show. However, it is best to adjust your expectations accordingly if you were expecting a realistic depiction of military manoeuvres or setting, or of proper medical procedures or protocol. I mean, I won't say I'm an expert of both but even I could see how contrived, artificial and 'convenient' certain actions and scenes are played out. Logic or sense or the natural laws of physics, hygiene or danger should be conveniently shelved if you want to enjoy this drama.

Having established that this is a show that likes to bend its settings and circumstances for its own convenience to the plot or to the development of the relationship between characters, you can make lemonade out of lemons by inferring that common sense notwithstanding, everything that later happens on-screen is there to drive the story in a particular direction i.e. to add to the main leads' relationship building. This may cause some loss of tension during some dramatic scenes but I don't think this show is trying to sell itself as a slick military show, but instead is a romance that happens to be in a military and medical setting.

The pacing of the show is not bad, really. There is a lot of forward movement in plot and in action. The romance is actually rather cute for the first half of the show when the main male lead is on a mission to rescue the main female lead. However, once the rescue mission is over, probably in order to create some conflict so that there is some drama over the second half of the show, the romance starts entering the territory of misunderstandings, missteps, anger, unforgiveness and grovelling. Throw in some additional issues such as terrorist groups, weapons brokering, resistance movements, other love-interests plotting to separate the two, and you have quite an interesting recipe of a show (perhaps to your taste, or perhaps not?).

I personally felt that some of the charm from the initial romance fizzled out towards the second half. And that unrequited love angst and internal conflict which I was so looking forward to from the main male lead was... pretty short-lived and stunted.

I liked the panoramic pans of the mountain scenes and the jungles though! Lovely scenery in this show, where you have them.


ACTING/ CAST
WEIR SUKOLLAWAT - first time seeing him act in a lakorn for me and it took me a while to warm up to him because I'm a little bit of a superficial person and moustaches are not really my thing so that took some adjusting and getting used to. He is not a stiff actor though, and has a knack for carrying off cocky and cheeky personalities. I'm not quite convinced of his ability to carry the internal conflict and angst scenes though, so it was probably just as well that they were not too prolonged. He was a good enough leading man for me in this show, but not really a standout performance.

PEAK PATTARASAYA - was also serviceable enough as our main female lead. Perhaps it is the character script but I quite liked her for the first half of the show as a rather assertive but kind volunteer doctor out in the jungle but once the romance hit the rocks after the rescue mission, her character sort of went into a bit of a tailspin, which was a pity.

I quite like the supporting casts though! The Krating team members, the various key people in the resistance groups, especially Chayin, were nice additions to the drama. I also liked seeing how the second female doctor evolved through the series.


RE-WATCH-VALUE
On the whole, this lakorn was not sticky or absorbing enough for me to consider re-watching it again.
However, overall, it is not a bad romance drama placed within a military and medical setting. Don't expect any 'Descendents of the Sun' production slickness or any proper realism from a military or medical perspective and you're good to go!

Read More

After having watched it, I can understand why this movie is receiving a lot of flak from its viewers.

STORY (No spoilers)
As a stand-alone movie, the way the story was told was choppy and incoherent - there was often little connection from one scene to the next, and from one character's actions to the next - so the viewer is often left confused and disoriented with what is happening and why the characters are behaving the way they do. Therefore, in terms of story-telling, this movie falls down pretty hard. For those who don't know the story behind the movie beforehand, the film would come across not making much sense, which, I can imagine, would be a pretty disturbing and disappointing watch.

Those who do know the story beforehand are generally able to fill in the blanks and insert all the backstory in between scenes but even speaking as someone who knew the backstory beforehand, I still found myself trying to figure out what was happening on screen and where the scene fitted in within the whole. It was terrible because your mind is having to adjust and place the characters and circumstances in the right place as each scene flashed by so you're always playing catch-up and whatever emotional connection you had with the characters ends up getting lost. You're no longer feeling the story or the characters any longer, you're playing catch up to what's going on.

It is worth noting that as the movie attempts to condense and reduce a very lengthy story into a 2-hour telling, the production team naturally had to make some changes to some characters and events which will inevitably differ from the original source material. While this is entirely understandable, it can also hamper the watch experience because in addition to the 'playing catch-up' process, the viewer is then also having to make sense of the changes within the movie-context in itself.
I personally found some changed plot-lines and new scenes baffling and bizarre, and to this day, still have no real idea why certain things happened, or what the director was trying to tell. A good example was the way the movie ended - haphazard, chaotic, baffling and bizarre.

In terms of pacing, the film was rather inconsistent. Some scenes were given plenty of space and air-time while other scenes flashed by so quickly that just before the viewer had time to absorb who was on screen and what was happening (especially for those having to read subtitles), it has ended and you're confronted with a completely different and new scene and your mind is having to adjust from the whiplash.
It made for a very scattered and disconnected viewing experience and I can't help but think that if the director or editor had spent less time dwelling on certain scenes (e,g, the long pan and introduction into Qing Qiu being one of them), there might have been more time to allow other scenes to breathe better.

I also found myself wondering why the director chose to use or dwell on certain scenes which do not really add value in advancing an already fast-moving plot e.g. there was an extended sequence of Ye Hua cooking for Bai Qian (let's not even go into how that scene was depicted). Precious minutes spent on a cooking class when there is still so much ground to cover.


ACTING/CAST
The choppy incoherent story-telling and inconsistent patchy pacing issues probably did not help (maybe even compounded to) the perception of underwhelming acting from the cast. Characters were not given enough time to establish their roles and personalities what more for them to show us their evolution throughout the movie. As a result, it made it difficult for the viewer to understand their motives and their actions as the movie progressed. With the lost emotional connection, it is easy to pan the actors/ actresses for bad portrayals of their characters. Perhaps some of it can be put down to lacklustre acting ability, but I do also believe that another part of it was down to poor scripting of the characters, and to poor directing and editing of the movie.

Yang Yang and Crystal Liu were suitable for their roles - looks-wise.
I thought Crystal was serviceable as Bai Qian but some key scenes which required her to exercise her haughty authority as the Queen of Qing Qiu did not have as much impact as I would have hoped for.
Yang Yang portrayed a rather different Ye Hua from the original source material in terms of personality and attitude. Some viewers might enjoy this fresh take on Ye Hua's character, while others like myself might have found it off-putting and borderline disturbing.
The rest of the supporting cast had too little airtime to really provide them with proper personalities therefore a lot of them came across as one-dimensional, one-note characters with a very set purpose to fulfil in advancing the plot along. They were there to do this, or do that, or say this, or say that, and their job was essentially done.


MUSIC
As I was too focused on trying to follow the plot and the happenings on-screen, I had very little time to appreciate the music score, except during that long pan of Qing Qiu.


RE-WATCH VALUE
Unfortunately, all things considered, I have to say that it was an unpleasant watch for me. There was very little I enjoyed or liked about this movie, therefore a re-watch is not even a consideration.

Read More