Reviews

I really enjoyed this movie.
The story is actually quite simple but it worked well and was good.

I loved Yoo Hae Jin here. His character and acting was perfect. As for Lee Joon, his acting was great but I didn't like his character that much. I wish his character was better than that. I would have enjoyed the movie that much or maybe even more if his wasn't here.
But I liked the ending and I maybe wouldn't have enjoyed it that much if he wasn't here.

Anyways, the acting is great, the music suits the movie well.
I would rewatch it and enjoyed it that much I think.
This is just a lovable movie. Perfect if you want to want to watch something light and not think too much.

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Unfortunately for Lee Min Ho, he looked much older than the high schooler he was attempting to portray and his hairstyle was ridiculous, an obvious attempt to make him appear youthful but a distraction throughout most of the episodes. He seemed overly committed to the role of F4's leader, Jun Pyo -- a rich, arrogant asshole with mommy issues and at no time did I root for him to be with Jan-Di. If I were her parents I wouldn't want my daughter anywhere near an unstable prick subject to violent outbursts. I mean, if this show is a reflection in any way of South Korea's culture at large than the entire country is filled with a bunch of romantic bullies! Jun Pyo's infantilizing treatment (a paternalistic father knows what's best for the child) of Jan-Di was difficult to watch but what was even more difficult to watch was her suffer from a kind of Stockholm Syndrome where the victim identifies with her attacker.

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A quick one, because there have been so many others written already:

I doubted this show in the beginning. The premise sounded great, but the first episode didn't grip me. The second wasn't much better. So let me just post a quick rundown of reasons why I am ever so glad I stayed with it:

- The Male Lead: Really, he is too precious. He is caring and awkward, afraid but powers through it, competent, confident and content to stay in the background at the same time. He truly cares for his employees, gives everyone a second chance, takes responsibility for his actions, stays with his friends and he's just an overall cutie. Really, this show was about him growing into himself as much as about romance, and I'd have watched at least ten more episodes of him becoming happy and confident.

- The Female Lead: Couldn't stand her at first, but she suddenly gets better after episode 5 and you'll forget you ever hated her. She's super cute, too!

- The characters and their struggles: There was hardly any black/white storytelling. Every character was shown to have multiple motivations, strength and weaknesses and I just enjoyed seeing people in this show instead of cardboard cutouts.

- The relationships between the female characters: Really, all around people were just so supportive of each other, it was incredible! But what stayed with me most is the relationship between Roo Won and Hee Jin. The best relationship between two girls fancying the same guy I have ever seen, refreshing but heartwarming.

- The relationships in general: You'll watch everyone almost grow into a family and it's so emotionally rewarding!

- Of course, the relationship between our main couple: They're adorable, full stop. They bring out the best in each other and support each other and it's wonderful to see

- THIS POINT CONTAINS A MINOR SPOILER: We see a glimpse of a trans character! And for me, as a cis person, it seemed like a really good portrayal! Of course, if someone who is trans themselves sees an issue with the way the point is handled in the show I'd rescind this point, but so far I've read of no complaints.

- Semi-accurate portrayal of mental illnesses that isn't just depressing: I know this one is hard, but as a person struggling with some of the same stuff the characters struggled with, I saw myself represented here. And in a good way, too! Their actions aren't excused, they aren't used as pointless reasons for some actions, but everyone has their own thing they struggle with and it's really well portrayed.

In general: This is probably one of my favourites now. The music is cute, the cast is amazing, the story is exciting, suspenseful, funny, romantic and heartwarming. It has that TvN flavour. If you're looking for a show that will make you feel a range of emotions and leave you with a smile on your face, try this one!

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I would not be lying when I say that after finishing this movie, I needed a three hour nap to recover from it. The Bow is another great masterpiece from Kim Ki Duk that I would truly recommend, that is, if you can find where to watch it.

Let’s talk about atmosphere because I believe one thing Kim excels in is creating a memorable atmosphere. It’s a quiet and stifling one here, as the Girl and the Old Man live their lives on a boat in the middle of the sea. This tranquil silence is only interrupted by the fishermen who rent it out and bring some life to both the movie and the characters. Just as us, the viewers, these strangers try to interrupt the two’s life and constantly question the relationship between the two. Ultimately, their life changes due to one of these interruptions.

For me, this movie was also a sort of coming-of-age of a sheltered girl. Though we do not know the details of her upbringing, we know she is sheltered and kept from the world (literally), not having the opportunity to mature or progress. That is, until she experiences her first love and shows the viewer how much of a teenager she is. Until the end, it’s a very organic and understandable maturing, despite the ending being rather…mysterious.

Lastly, I have to mention the music – what a score. Quiet, haunting, and beautiful, the score for this movie makes it all the more captivating. Building up the atmosphere of traditions versus the modern (if you can count mp3 players modern, anyway), it’s a score that will captivate you.

This movie ends ambiguously, leaving the viewer to form their own meaning and thoughts. It’s a sort of quiet ending, as is the rest of the movie, but one that will most likely stick with you for a while.

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This was a cute light hearted watch for me. It was obvious show was trying to be a little more suspenseful but I couldn't really take it seriously.

Taecyeon's improved a ton in his acting from Cinderella Sister and Dream High and I'm excited to see the improvement. I've never seen anything with Kim So Hyun but I was absolutely delighted with her. I did find the age gap between the two actors a bit of a concern. So Hyun is only 17 when this is being filmed and Taecyeon was 27.

The music was okay but I don't think I'll be listening to it again. It never got annoying though. But nothing was very memorable about it either.

Honestly the shining light of this drama is In Rang and Cheon Sang (played by Lee David and Kang Ki Young respectively). Their friendship was both hilarious and sweet. I found myself laughing whenever they were on screen.

This show would have been better if it embraced the campy, fun feel instead of attempting to make it overly suspenseful with weird sound effects and dragging out the plot.

Still I really enjoyed watching this drama. It's fun and cute.

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I pretty much cringed, eye-rolled, and retched my way through every episode. The suspension of disbelief was too great. Megan Lai's character, Pi Ya Nuo, seemed to be more of a mockery than a genuine attempt at being "one of the boys". She came across more as a lesbian with a terrible sense of fashion. The chemistry between the romantic leads was nearly extinct, registering somewhere between zero and lame. Some of the fight scenes looked like they were choreographed by Richard Simmons and Baron Chen never convinced me that he was a mafia boss' son. He would be more believable as the leader of a Disney street gang comprised of a bunch of aging, disgruntled, former idol pop stars. If it wasn't for the fact that I'm completely in love with Mandy Tao I would've abandoned this show early on. Don't get me wrong. I do enjoy T-dramedies, but not this one.

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Having been a huge fan of season 1 of this show, I was extremely excited that there was going to be a season 2. I will try to avoid spoilers as much as possible.

Story:
I read the books the show was based on a long time ago and reread book one after I watched season one. I decided to reread book two while I was watching season two whenever I had the time as well, so this review will most likely be compared to season one and book two. The story is a continuation of season one, and continues telling the story of all five women. It followed the book as closely as possible imo, however they made some significant changes in regards to Xie Tong's character and Andy's storyline. Xie Tong was a police officer in the books and not a singer, and Andy actually got pregnant before marriage in the books as well. But I think because XT's police officer character in the books did some bad things, the production team was probably afraid to paint police officers in a negative light so they changed it. Same thing with Andy, having a kid out of wedlock isn't commonly accepted in China so that's probably why they changed it as well. However, some people might think that the storyline's logic got kind of confusing because they didn't reallly clean out these changes that well. Personally, the first half was really really good, but the latter half dragged a bit (however the second book also dragged a bit so I guess it followed the book pretty well). Not all the characters had happy endings, which I think is really nice because that's how real life is. I love how this show portrays life in quite a realistic way, especially coming from a Chinese background, so many things were painfully realistic and relatable. I think all the characters had character development, although some had more than others and some developed but then went back to point one and developed again. But I think that's the beauty of this show, not everyone can develop immediately and even real life people end up going back to their nature sometimes. The last episode is really nice, it feels that everyone made pretty smart decisions in regards to their future. Also I absolutely adored the friendship and support of these ladies!!!

Acting/Cast: Same cast as last season so I'd say the acting was all pretty good! :D Props to Jiang Xin though, her acting for her character was great, even though her character was annoying at certain points haha

Music: This isn't some chinese historical drama so I'm like quite sure they didn't put too much effort on the OSTs lol but it was like okay not too disracting or anything

Rewatch: I think it's rewatchable, however, it might be easier to fast forward through certain parts when rewatching.

Overall: Loved it! I followed this drama the day it aired and watched all the episodes the day they came out. It's a very precious drama in my life XD

Disclaimer: I gave it a 9.5 on my personal ratings, but for the review, I decided to give it a more objective 8.5 as a whole.

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Is this the best show on the planet? No.
Is the plot cliche and predictable? Pretty much.
Did I enjoy it? I definitely did.

I have struggled to love and like Kim Min Jung's character. And it kind of ruined the romance part-development of the show. But it had great comedic elements to it amid all the action. I found myself waiting for a new episode each week on Netflix. And it was an enjoyable watch.

This isn't for everyone and many will critique it, but even so I would recommend everyone to give this show a try. It starts off slow and develops over time. Maybe a bit jumping over some character and plot developments at times what make it a bit hard to believe. But hey, rarely any is perfect. And this drama kind of managed to get me back into the kdrama land, from which I had disappeared for years. So, it clearly isn't a bad watch!

The bromance is the greatest part. I just loved it!!

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I particularly enjoyed this drama, and since the previous review didn't give fair credit to it, I thought that I should write a review :) However, I do think that it might not be to everyone's palette and the best way to decide is to watch it :))

I felt that the drama was light and easy to enjoy in comparison to other secret agent dramas that I have seen! There was no great conspiracy, loads of secrecy, huge amount of fighting scenes, etc etc. I liked that the plot focused on a secret agent who becomes a bodyguard to an actor and still carries out his duties as an agent: it made the story work - of course very unrealistic but which drama isn't xD

I have to say the cast was great! All of the actors fit their characters and made the drama work. I really have to give kuddos to Park HaeJin's acting in this! His actions and facial reactions just brought the drama a kind of humour I really enjoy! And maybe because of this as well that it was nice to watch, and more light hearted than other secret agent dramas.

Of course, I did have a hard time to come in terms with Kim Min Jung's hair - seriously they cut her hair way to short!!

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This is a new experience for me. I literally sobbed my heart out at the end of the show and it had nothing to do with the story line. It was because the show was over, and I am heartbroken that I will never be able to spend more time with these characters again. I gave this show a perfect rating, not because the show had no flaws, but, like when you fall in love with someone, you love them despite flaws, and they are perfect to you. This show, from start to finish, was perfect to me.

I have to caveat this with the fact that I was just slightly spoiled: I knew who Doek Sun would end up being married to in the end before I started watching. Okay, so that's more than being slightly spoiled, so I don't know what my watching experience would have been like if I hadn't known, because I wasn't frustrated by the whole love triangle thing, but was able to sit back and enjoy all the different relationships in all the iterations.

And that really is the heart of this show. These characters, each and every one of them, and how they live and love and grow together. This show had me grinning from ear to ear the one minute, and crying the next. I was emotionally invested in each of their stories and rooting so heard for them. Not just the kids, but the parents too. This is what family is about -- the silly, heartwarming stuff, and the real, heartbreaking stuff, and all the things in between.

What also got to me was the show's nostalgia. Maybe it helped that I grew up in the 80s and 90s as well, and there were so many, many things in this show that I could relate to and made my heart warm with remembering, despite the fact that I grew up in a different culture, speaking a different language and a whole continent away in Southern Africa. Some things are just universal I guess.

And finally, I fell in love with the show and all the characters, but one in particular stopped my heart. Park Bo Gum's portrayal of the Baduk star Choi Taek was nothing short of breathtaking. Having seen him in Moonlight Drawn by Clouds, and he certainly impressed me there, his portrayal of Taek was even more impressive when you see how different the characters are and how he makes it hard to believe they are played by the same person. On top of that, with as straight a character as Taek is, how amazing is Park Bo Gum in being able to show so much emotion with just the slightest expressions. Ok, I'll stop gushing now.

If you haven't watched this show, don't wait, but do get yourself a box of tissues (for all the happy tears) and do clear out your schedule because you're not going to want to press pause.

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Its been very long since I watched a K-Movie and could not help but love every single aspect of the movie and without thinking twice give it a 10/10!
I don't know if anybody has this problem... cause for me, I have been watching too many dramas that I do not have patience to watch a movie anymore and I end up dropping the movie half the way.
But this movie had me gripped from the first scene to the last! It had everything that I would look for in 'beautiful' movie! Great actors, cinematography, setting and simple but a heart touching story!
I am not sure if I would like to term it to be sad story (even though it tear jerking)...cause although the movie has a sad ending, it seemed to be satisfying. I would call it a bittersweet story!

A tragically beautiful movie about family, love(not romantic), loss and reunion and death. If you have had a grandma whom you shared a good bond with, then this movie is gonna take you down the memory lane and would make you miss her!
My only problem was that Choi Min Ho's pretty face was such a waste in this movie cause of the very brief role he had to play!

I would suggest this movie as one of the best Korean Movie!

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This story has attempted rape that no one seems bothered about. A VERY offensive "gay" character that often dresses up as a woman and is just disturbingly ridiculous. And there's basically no fan service at all.

Don't waste your time. Most of the episodes are just kids going to college. You'll go 3 or 4 episodes with almost no mention of the fantasy side or seeing any fan service.

The only thing about this show is there's two or three attractive actors. THAT'S IT. You could easily watch anything else and get more fan service, less rape, less offensive stereotypes, and better production quality.

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