Reviews

had potiential but didn't hit for me

Everyone says the same thing about how great this is, and only one thing that I can agree on is that the cinematography is great and the actors did their thing with the script they were given. I personally found the story confusing at best and poor/lacking at worst. It was around like 4/5 where I was like wait do these characters know they're gay? Like the whole show is about subtly and realism but for the couple I just don't find it realistic to be romantic with one another and like be portrayed as like acquaintances?? I'm not sure, it felt gaslighty to the audience and didn't add any intimacy to the main couple. Like yk the flirty looks and stuff work and the intimate touches work in the beginning but if there's something there and theirs like weird cuts idk. I wish they delved into jae wons brother/depression also there's like a lot that can cause depth to the show, but it felt underwhelming which was disappointing. The therapist could have gotten some great lines but her character was a flop so was that ex gf. Some shit is stupid as well
I know it's like one of those creative projects that is like greatly praised for it's story and cine, so I kinda hate y'all for this. If the purpose was to be pretty it did that but don't expect to much like I did

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This is what I get for thinking Zee is really pretty

I will preface by saying that I'm not really a fan of mainstream Thai BL for multiple reasons, but watching "Why R U?" altered something in my brain and I might be terminally in love with Zee. Which was my main reason for watching "Cutie Pie".

Before you continue reading - yes I have watched the entire show (without skipping any scenes, though looking back I wish I would've skipped all the Yi\Khondiao scenes), but....... On 2x speed. After trying to power through the first episode "normally" I just couldn't bear it anymore. I have slowed down back to normal on the prominent Lian\Kuea scenes but other than that, my expectations were horrendously low so I didn't see a point in being properly invested in the show.

Now for the good parts:
- Acting! Nunew, who was in 90% of the scenes, did great with what he was given. Sometimes he was given really really bad stuff but he still managed to make it look as honest as possible and he gets huge kudos for that. He was never cringier than the script and I truly enjoyed watching him. Zee, my love, was great at what he does - being pretty and in love. He was always really pretty and he's exceptionally good at acting in love so he did not disappoint me in those areas.
- Chemistry! Needless to say, Zee\Nunew are great, and the supposed confirmed IRL nature of their relationship was also a convincing factor for me to watch the show. I get it! I truly get it.
- Some "progressive" parts, like a scolding for "are you angry because you're on your period" and the reccuring talk about the legal status of same-sex marriage in Thailand in a show centered around a (future) same-sex marriage. (Though the "love who you love" falls short when you realize that we're still kinda talking about an arranged marriage here. Also, the beginning\ending speeches were out of place to me and I feel like the show didn't actually get that point across at all. And as they say, actions speak louder than words so it was really unnecessary to me)
- The Boun\Prem cameo which reminded me I should check out "Between Us".
- The scene with "The cauliflower looks yummy" - "It's broccoli" - "I can't cook" - "It's okay". Peak cinema.

The bad parts:
- The plot? For the life of me could not explain to people what the show was about. Even the premise is a bit confusing. They're in an arranged engagement but they're childhood besties but they don't really talk more than once a week but they love each other but now one has decided that he doesn't and. Again I watched it on 2x speed and some episodes just had nothing happening in them which was a bit insane. Nothing really moved and nothing really changed and Lian\Kuea fought out of nowhere and reconciled really quickly every time and it was just. Unsatisfying. The last episode almost went into a really cute, IMO, direction, and then it was ruined again by the sameeeeeee dynamic, again. And it basically ended at the same place it started, but Now Kuea Wears A Leather Jacket In Front Of Lian.
- Everything about Yi\Khondiao, and just Yi in general. To say he's controlling is an understatement. Showing us how Khondiao is literally scared of him in certain scenes was supposed to make me what, coo at how "fiercely protective" Yi is? They didn't even explain their whole backstory properly, either letting me piece together the hints or just saving it all for the spinoff (which I'm not watching if it's the last show on earth). I hated their dynamic, I hated their acting, they don't have any chemistry and don't look good together. To think that some people believe this to be a normal relationship in any way is genuinely concerning to me. (I even hated every scene Yi and Lian had together because they just seemed like bad friends to each other)

The songs I simply did not care about so I don't have anything bad nor good to say about them. I also expected to like Syn\Nuer more but I didn't, mostly because it felt like it came out of nowhere. The comedy was also not funny to me most of the time. Just a lot of things about this show were very wattpad-y, in a bad way.


In short, would not suggest it to anyone unless they're insane about Zee Read More

Our Gloomed Youth

The story kicked off with the female lead getting falsely accused of murder and the prince is connected to the incident. So how would they structure the drama around this narrative? They had the female lead spend most of the drama hanging around the prince waiting for something to pop up for the story to move again, which didn't happen until the last few episodes. Unbelievably long and draggy for little to no story or character development. Everything can be summed up with 6 episodes without compromising anything from the narrative. The romance and the secrets were too delayed to care about, instead of laying them out evenly. Which made romance redundant by the end. Aside from the initial few episodes, I don't see anything appealing in this drama.

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you will not remember this

actually I didn't remember this drama, I watched it probably in 2017 in my early beginning of watching asian's dramas, and I remember finding it entertaining. but I had no comparison, or very few ones. then I stumbled again on it, watched it, and remembered the drama on episode 5 or 6, then watched it again because I didn't remember much and needed a second view on it, and felt disappointed.

that's entertaining if you have nothing else to watch and have not much time to spend on dramas, because the episodes are short and the story is very shallow. it's funny though, if you don't overthink it, because the guy is an obvious narcissist. on that point, I learned a lot about narcissists last year, and this drama felt to me like a "how do narcissists choose their victims and why do they get interested in normal and loving persons in the first place?". like a class case.

how do they choose their victims? they just keep the one who is unable to protect himself/herself from them. that's all.
why are they interested in normal people? because they lost their ability to feel their emotions, and they are longing from them. that's why they love empathetic and loving people because they can pray on their emotions through them. and if they feel unable to pray on these emotions, they will destroy the victim out of frustration. this drama is very awful if you overthink it. but you can also do both, enjoy and overthink it.

when to watch? when you are bored and don't want to make any effort.
audience: family friendly.

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Sungkyunkwan Snoozefest

The drama felt like it was held together with duct tape. Unbelievably long and draggy for little to no story. Everything can be summed up with 6 episodes without compromising anything from the narrative. The drama was infested with pointless repetition that didn't serve any purpose other than stretching it thin. The romance, the identity reveal, and the secret all were too delayed to care about, instead of laying them out evenly. By then, you would be bored out of your mind with no interest left in anything. On another note, the directors weren't paying attention to Yoo Ah In at all, half of his dialogue was muffled and barely picked up my the mics. This isn't not how to make a character speak quietly.

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Poong, the Joseon Virgin

The earlier episodes of the first season were decent and promising but there was a clear and undeniable pattern slowly starting to emerge after a few episodes. The drama was heading in a downward spiral throughout its both seasons. There was no clear direction to its story, I wanted it to remain as a slice of life but even that was not attractive on its own. Each passing episode felt like a downgrade of the previous episode. By the end of 2nd season, my interest had plummeted and it lost any remaining appeal. The only plausible reason for this drama to get a season 3 is if the studio wanted to commit some kind of money laundering/tax fraud scheme. It's never a good sign to adapt something and have its serialization based on public perception. This will most likely result in incomplete stories and padded semi-soft endings unless its creators were to pull through and be the exception. In more than one way, the Anime sphere shifted mostly towards this scheme in the past 6-7 years and it turned into a survival of the fittest type of race. The Kdrama is slowly heading in the exact same direction.

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Poong, the Joseon Virgin

The earlier episodes of the first season were decent and promising but there was a clear and undeniable pattern slowly starting to emerge after a few episodes. The drama was heading in a downward spiral throughout its both seasons. There was no clear direction to its story, I wanted it to remain as a slice of life but even that was not attractive on its own. Each passing episode felt like a downgrade of the previous episode. By the end of 2nd season, my interest had plummeted and it lost any remaining appeal. The only plausible reason for this drama to get a season 3 is if the studio wanted to commit some kind of money laundering/tax fraud scheme. It's never a good sign to adapt something and have its serialization based on public perception. This will most likely result in incomplete stories and padded semi-soft endings unless its creators were to pull through and be the exception. In more than one way, the Anime sphere shifted mostly towards this scheme in the past 6-7 years and it turned into a survival of the fittest type of race. The Kdrama is slowly heading in the exact same direction.

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My Weekly Dose of Sweetness

I really loved how sweet and cute this series is! Tutor is the consummate straight man to Yim's funny man. I did not realize until this series just how angelic Tutor looks during his closeups. As Jade and Mai, they made a great acting team with great chemistry and the ability to be vulnerable when necessary. I also liked that both lead characters had warm and loving relationships with their families. I think that Asian families are often unfairly portrayed as very cold, homophobic and forcing ambition on their children. As an Asian, it's simply not true. Just as in other cultures and ethnicities, Asian families come in all varieties. It was nice to see two families where the parents and all of the siblings were close and loving.

There are so many serious topic and intense supernatural series airing at this time (winter 2023) that I needed a ray of sunshine from behind the clouds. There was only one other series (a serious one) that I looked forward to watching every week, due to the acting and storyline. Yes, the sports day episode wasn't my thing, but I've worked for places where we have sports day (without uniforms) and they are super fun. Ym and Tutor has such great chemistry, and their love scenes were both hot and loving and the same time. No, I cannot gush enough about Jade, Mai, Tutor and Tim.

The second couple, Tong and Gus were a cute couple, but they never fully explained by Tong was so rude and mean in the beginning of the series. I would love to see Leo and Tai in another series.

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The Forbidden Scam

A girl pretending to be the Crown Princess's ghost, a spirited leading lady, and a minor hiccup in the grand scheme of historical tales—the ban on love. It sold itself as this wild, carefree series, promising easy laughs and a blissful escape. However, the writers tripped hard trying to weave in melodramatic and political plots because the original concept was unsustainable for more than a couple of episodes. They birthed these laughable plots and pitiful antagonists in the process. The female lead, originally devious and witty, took this nosedive into becoming this sad, serious persona spouting profound but empty and hypocritical lines. It was hard to believe or feel anything she said or did after this drastic change in character. Again, forcing a systematic change across the board after a couple of episodes. At the end of the day, this is just another poor cosplay show.

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To warm your heart!!!

If you are looking for something cute and funny to watch, i sincerely recommend you this. The enemies to lovers story is hilarious and sweet. Sang wpp character it’s such so damn funny because he literally doesn’t know how to express his emotions and feelings and it’s just really cute watching him learning how to do it. Jaeyoung is literally the funniest person ever. This couple made my heart warm. It’s both good and addictive in a way that makes you want to know more and more and keep watching it. Gonna be serious: i almost gave up on the second episode because i wasn’t enjoying it but then BOOM. I feel in love. The characters are honestly so freaking cute, it’s cuteness overall. And most importantly: it’s healthy. I didn’t give it a 10 because i wanted and needed more, i wished we could have more scenes of this couple and more interactions between them and Jaeyoung friends.

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an okay follow up to Ossan's Love: In The Sky

Overall: though there were some fun parts I felt this 2 part special lacked in some areas. This should be watched after Ossan's Love: In The Sky. 2 episodes about 20 minutes each and you need to watch both. Aired on GagaOOLala.

Content Warnings: manhandling

What I Liked
- funny parts (i.e. the pillow fight and the beginning of episode 2)
- hair drying was nice
- some good advice

Room For Improvement
- wanted them to split out the two couples, so 1 couple in ep 1 and the second in ep 2
- still seemed to lack resolution
- characters were antagonistic for too long

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But if you love Aouad, Das, Aib and Sgame then this drama is exactly the one for you.

The only bad thing I will say about this drama is I kinda got traumatized with the choice of the music, I can’t really see another high school drama with the same music choice without thinking about night has come. Aka the school bell 🔔🫢

But otherwise I don’t have any bad to say about the show.

The story will keep you thinking from start to the end. make you wonder, love and hate different characters.
Because I have seen some similar dramas I could predict some of the plot twist but HOW they became to be or HOW the series showed us the plot twist was different from what I thought they’d be, so that was entertaining itself.

I watch this show while it aired from 1-4 and waited till every episode dropped. it was nerve wrecking to wait for episodes to come out and I envy a lot of people who can binge watch in one sitting.

The actors did a FANTASTIC and excellent acting 🎭 in this series, especially Cha Woo Min who plays Kyungjun ~ either you really came to love his character Kyungjun or you came to really hate his character. No in between 🤭

and

Ahn Ji Ho who plays Jin Da Beom. He was so talented, him in the later episodes, I could feel the emotion.

In my opinion, you’re allowed to disagree, I think Kyungjun carried the first half of the series and Da Beom carried the last half of the series.

I was mesmerized by Woo mins acting and hurried to watch what else he acts in, they’re both young so I was surprised when I found out I’ve seen both before ~ Ahn Ji ho in All of us are dead and Cha Woo Min in Weak hero class 1.

The female lead, Lee Jae in did an amazing performance. I’ve seen her in Racket Boys where I fell in love with her acting, and she’s so young too, only 19.

I’m not familiar with many of the rest of cast but I can’t wait for what new projects they get. They all did a good performance.

All I can say is I loved this series, it was just what I needed while waiting for season 2 of All of us are dead, and can’t wait to the 2nd season of this one when it drops someday.
Hopefully soon they’ll announce 📣 a 2nd season 🙏

Some 📣SPOILER📣 and theories down below 👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇


Have you seen Weak hero class 1?

As we all know Weak hero class 1 first season is a flashback/ prologue to the WEBTOON and it starts up in the WEBTOON where Seiun is at the school in the end in episode 8.

Maybe this, Night has come, series is similar to above. They rushed the story, didn’t flesh out some characters or plot cuz they’re doing it in season 2, this season is meant for us to just get to know the characters ~ to get a feeling of how they’re are or are supposed to be like. For an example, ~ Kyungjun, he didn’t get a redemption arc or anything, that could he get in season 2, and the same with the mafias, none of them was fleshed out except Da Beom a little.

With the civilians not doing anything, they could show improvement in season 2 cuz we already know they didn’t do well in this game.

With the ghost thing, that’s implied as just a bug or them remembering something they don’t know ~ they got their memory erased so they didn’t remember Se eun ~ and that scary so that could be an answer for you.
also every flashback Fl had could be answered as her slowly getting her memories back, both from previous games and from real life outside the game.

For your question ~ why the parents erase the kids memories ~ can be answered as if they know who is mafia ~ we’re going from the assumption that every game is mafia ~ then in next game they 1) know who to not/ who to trust, 2) if they knew they weren’t dying irl they would really care who’s mafia or even want to play the game/care if they died, 3) they’d easily ~ all civilians ~ keep wining cuz they already know who’s mafia + 4) if they know it was all about Se eun they’d just put 2+2 together like Kyungjun did with Woo ram, camera guy, and the girl he killed.

And the ending does lead up to a 2nd season with all the unsolved questions it gave us, it feels more of an introduction of the characters, rules + plot etc. and every weird happening from earlier episodes like the one where Kyungjun got up 2nd time could be explained as a glitch in the game. We also do not know a whole lot of what the characters did in between the day ~ they woke up, talked or fought a little and then all met up at 11 at night before voting and then they showed a little of the mafia at night towards the end. What did they do in between, just counted their thumbs?

They could show us a different version or what they did, in 2nd season they could flesh out more of the characters course you already know them or flesh out the game more course you already know the rules and what could happen etc.

If any have anything to add or their own explanation or theories, please feel free to comment ：３ I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Like this if you like myself pray for a 2nd Season 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

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IAM BEING CHEATED BY WISHFULNESS

When I got to the end of series, I felt like I am being cheated by Hua Qian. At first I thought 'Scent of Time' is another drama version 'Story of Kunning Palace', a story of reborn woman whose redeeming her mistakes to her new life but there's a twist that makes it different from other. The tragic love between 4 individuals Zhong Xi Wei, Hua Qian, Zhong Ye Lan & Mu Yao. Beginning episode Hua Qian was being hunted by soldiers and witnessing the dead of her mother and brother. She's collapse and wake up in different reality on the time marrying Zhong Ye Lan, the man she's fallen in love with since childhood. Hua Qian realize then that she's reborn and determine to redeem her mistakes from previous life so instead of being a jealous and hateful wife, she tries to reconnect her husband Zhong Ye Lan to his childhood love Mu Yao, she approves her to be concubine and demand divorce for herself. Hua Qian comes clean for all the wrong doing and determine to be a nice person to people around her. While Zhong Xi Wei is still in love even after her marriage to his brother, as the head of Zhong family he happily agrees to give divorce degree so he can pursue her as a single woman. As taboo as it sounds, a divorcee woman can't remarry the brother of ex-husband. He pursue her tirelessly...convince her that he'd be there if she would just trust him. Besides all the disputes between Hua & Mu family, fragrant big family business, death of love ones, hatred and misunderstanding, also appearance of faithful lowly guard Hua Rong Zhao (Zhang Yi Jie) as her sole console and protector in her position.

Hua Qian's desperation is the fruit of hope to start her miserable life all over again, admitting mistakes as a new person . Curiously this drama should be ended in ep 26 but no...continue to more lighter version to finally grand finale. I like Zhong Xi Wei (Wang Xing Yue) here although Xing Yue has been taking similar character in his other dramas (Zhang Zhe in Story of Kunning Palace & Liu Zixing in One and Only) the guy with irreconcilable love, in this drama though he's more stellar to fight for the woman he loves. Wu Shuo Mo (Li Yun Rui) is outstanding, better than his role the Last Immortal, he can take role both coarse or dignify (in LLtG) character as his next project. Hua Qian (Zhao Ye) though isn't too convincing in few of scenes (drunk scenes and traumatic life experience scene on last episode) her dimple is so pretty when she smiles. Sadly, none of them smile. I find this despondent love story is beautiful...we implore emotion in love, regret, hope, struggle, trust just to be forgiven.

What I like about this drama?
* Beautiful costumes in my favorite dynasty with little hair ornaments and bare make up
* All actors are collaborating nicely, great supporting actors, love the OST
* Unusual plots and twist in very creative story telling
* It's a beautiful tragic love stories with happy ending

Last episode Hua Qian says sober farewell to Hua Rong Zhao as she go back to consciousness after 26 months coma where she's been recreating her imaginative longing different life as the real life struck in bitter facts that she has to deal with. All 29 episodes are wishful aspiration from a woman who realize many flaws and errors she committed but there is a man who won't give up on her and love her no matter what. Whispering calling his name soft 'Zhong Xi Wei'.......he's so happy. That's love.

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