Reviews

We're all trying here!!

A more apt title I'm yet to see.
A story with no protagonists and antagonists except life, it makes one think perhaps there's really no winning against life, just winning against moments rather.
It had an incredible cast, seemingly effortless acting that moved us to smiles and tears at the same time.
A story that makes on question the brevity and seriousness of life, honestly, why do we live so hard as if we'd never disappear?
A friendship like no other, not conventional but real brotherhood.
To all of us Hwang dong mans, may wel learn to just be human 'beings' and not human 'doings'.

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Well, it's a great escape movie, very action-packed. The original idea was great, and the execution was as expected from an escape movie. There was a mixture of comedy, even though it was mostly actions. The story has a lot of plot armours. Two main leads pulled ridiculous moves and survived multiple times. However thanks to the good directing, they were able to cover it up and it was really thrilling. Jo Jung Suk did really well here, outshining everyone including YoonA. She didn't look like a female lead at all here, I must say. He even had a better backstory while YoonA's character didn't get at all. The storyline was missing the part why they both stopped climbing in the first place. I didn't get why they kept running with gas mask on when there wasn't any gas around, even when knowing the mask was limited. On the other hand, the visual effects team had done well here.

Overall it's a good show to watch if you're seeking an action-packed story.

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Interesting Concept

I Hear Your Voice had a really interesting concept with Park Soo Ha being able to read minds, and honestly that was one of the main reasons I stayed invested in the drama. I'm not usually into supernatural dramas, but the concept here was interesting enough to keep me watching. The execution was decent for the most part, especially during the suspenseful moments where his ability actually added tension and emotional weight to the story. The mystery surrounding the drama was intriguing too, and it kept the plot moving even when the writing started to feel weak.

That said, the script itself wasn't very strong. Some plot points became overly dramatic and repetitive, and there were moments where the story relied too much on convenient situations instead of natural development. The biggest strength of the show was definitely the chemistry between Lee Jong Suk and Lee Bo Young. Their dynamic felt natural, emotional, and believable enough to carry a lot of the weaker writing.

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Heirs Was Carried by Kim Woo Bin

Heirs had a terrible script and honestly the only reason I kept watching was for Kim Woo Bin's performance. He brought more charisma and emotional depth than the actual storyline deserved. Every time he was on screen, the drama became more interesting, which says a lot considering he wasn't even the main lead.

The biggest problem with the drama is that most of the characters had nothing to offer outside of the romance. Their personalities, motivations, and development all revolved around who they liked or who liked them back. Once you remove the romance aspect, there's barely anything left to connect to. A lot of the characters felt shallow and repetitive, especially when the drama kept forcing emotional moments that didn't feel earned.

The writing relied heavily on clichés, dragged out misunderstandings, and overly dramatic dialogue that made it hard to take certain scenes seriously. Even the central romance wasn't compelling enough to carry the story. The show had a strong cast and high production value, but the script wasted most of its potential.

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Beautiful Palace Story but a Frustrating Main Romance

Years later I still feel like Sin Chae Gyeong should've picked Yi Yul. He was easily the more sincere and emotionally mature character, while Yi Sin spent most of the drama being unnecessarily cold, entitled, and mean for no reason. It made it really hard to root for the main romance when Yi Sin constantly pushed Chae Gyeong away and treated her poorly.

The script was honestly one of the weakest parts of Princess Hours. So much of the conflict dragged on because the characters refused to communicate, and certain emotional moments felt repetitive instead of meaningful. Yi Sin's behavior especially got frustrating because the drama kept expecting viewers to sympathize with him without giving enough real growth to balance out how cruel he could be.

That said, I did enjoy the overall storyline and concept of life inside the palace. The royal setting, traditions, political tension, and modernized monarchy idea were interesting enough to keep me watching. The atmosphere and aesthetics are still memorable years later, even if the writing and character development didn't fully deliver.

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Short, Sweet, & Silly

Incredibly fun, engaging story that is character driven. Like a comic book, with perfectly tailored villains that contrast the heroes in ways that work for the plot. Each of the main characters have a villain counterpart whose powers and personalities provide the perfect counter. Not only our heroes have resistance to the villain teams abilities, it's their flawed personalities that throw the villains for a loop. This is simply good writing. It couldn't have been just anyone to save the day, it had to be Chae-ni and her rag-tag group of new friends. The characters move the plot forward.

The show is well-written, humorous, while emotional. Even the villains have a tragic stories that create empathy in those who watch. You want them to make the right choice, even when they fail to do so. Along side the tragic stories, there are villain's whose pure evil makes us hate them even more. While it may benefit from an extra episode or two to give us more time to digest some info, the show is definitely worth the watch!

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The WONDERfulls? (Yes or no?)

If you could have a superpower, what would it be?
Me?
I'd pick the power to rewrite dramas that had so much potential but didn't really live up to them.
Not good?
Then I'll settle for my body turning into superglue every time I lie :(

I've actually been looking forward to The WONDERfools since it was announced, because read the synopsis and tell me it's not fun. I can't even say that after having watched it (we know it happens sometimes) it was super fun! And funny too, I'll admit it took a minute but once they were on a roll, they couldn't be stopped.
Watching three characters who inadvertently received superpowers try to manage it by following around another superhero they inadvertently found while an evil organisation plots the end of the world, set to the background of Y2K? That is fun.
The weird camaraderie between the four leads was a delight to watch, they may not be extremely expressive or outwardly affectionate, but those four cared for each and it was more than obvious.
And.. and..well, I still kind of wish some things were done differently.

To be clear, I am a huge fan of the "superhero saves the day" trope, I enjoy it no matter how outlandish it may be, and I wanted that here. Superhero with a side of relatability.
Even with the concept of superheroes whose powers are not really "super", Kdrama writers really do know only one way to execute, which is neither here nor there. If you're going to go for it, do it. Or don't do it at all! It's clear who the lead was even when there were four leads and I suppose it happens all the time but that's my point. It happens all the time, and why do the writers fear trying something new?
I guess that was my biggest problem - the Hero's Journey (which they clearly followed here) could only really be applied to Chae Ni's character. Un Jeong was the mentor, Son ahjussi and Robin her companions and that's nice, but I really wish the other characters had more depth. I will say they were headed there, and right then, the credits rolled.

Initially I was quite impressed with the balance between the mystery and the comedy, but the more I watched it was incredibly clear that this was a very tactfully marketed superhero series. Think about the story formula for any movie in the genre and it was it.
It is somehow both a Kdrama and a quintessential superhero story and I guess that's exactly.. that's exactly what it's supposed to be, but wait! Imagine the things that you would associate to any and every Kdrama or Marvel movie and they're ALL here lol.

I don't know. I'm just super confused about everything about The WONDERfools, even whether I like it or not and that counts for something, right? It's like for every positive I think, there's a negative I can think of, but right then there's another positive. I'd say the best option is to watch for yourself, pace yourself while you watch and yes, maybe you'll be just as confused as I am.. we can be confused together :)

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Game Show: Performance Face-Offs and Director Challenges

This is a game show featuring performance face-offs, where teams of actors are divided under different directors. Each episode presents a series of challenges, and these images represent each challenge per episode. Sometimes, team members compete against one another for seats and are graded by the lead directors. Other times, teams compete against each other, with the audience acting as the judges.

I had a lot of fun watching this show, which I started primarily for Guo Jingming. Since much of it wasn’t subtitled, it was difficult to consistently gauge the commentary, and I occasionally used a translation app to understand the praise or critiques given by the directors. Even so, I found myself really immersed in the clips and short performances, which I felt were the heart of the show and where the raw talent truly stood out.

Because the episodes are almost three hours long, by the midpoint this became more of a background watch for me. I paid closer attention to the parts that interested me most—such as the challenges—and less to the judging, unless Guo Jingming was giving commentary or performers I liked were on stage. That said, I plan to continue with season two, and I’m excited to see the performers that were cast.

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Hidden Identities and Palace Betrayal

I consider this drama a hidden gem because not many people were talking about it when it released, and it’s still one I rarely see recommended. Some people feel microdramas can’t be executed well, but I think this one proves they absolutely can. It avoids many of the pitfalls that other microdramas fall into, such as glorifying brutality against women or feeling underdeveloped due to weak scripting and production.

I absolutely loved this and easily consider it a top-shelf watch. It’s a hidden identity revenge narrative built around a false eunuch and assassin premise, but it also delivers genuinely hilarious comedic moments that had me in stitches. The villain and adversary dynamics were incredibly well done and made the conflicts engaging while also making me appreciate the antagonist. Add in poignant backstories, palace betrayals, and a romance that truly landed for me, and this became one of my favorite watches.

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Wow…

Man these Kishibe Rohan movies are really something else… who comes up with this stuff? It is utterly BIZARRE and I’m here for it. So this Japanese guy comes to Italy as a laborer and meets this other poor tortured Japanese laborer (how many Japanese are there in Italy? Probably not a lot, what’s the likelihood? Oh well..) who hasn’t eaten for 5 days. Well instead of offering him a sandwich when he asked for food, the mean laborer pretends to give him a sandwich and then takes it away and forces him to do his share with the promise of earning that sandwich. He is so cruel to his fellow Japanese man, and the poor tortured laborer basically fall down the stairs from extreme weakness and dies. Then as the mean Japanese laborer watches, the dead laborer’s spirit comes and curses the mean guy, saying at the height of his happiness he will meet his worst downfall. But did this incident change the mean guy into a good person with humility? No way. He is just as mean as he always was. And he is hit with one stroke of luck after another- the happiness curse, which is an ominous sign that something terrible is about to happen. So the mean guy tries to subdue and suppress his happiness by always tying himself with omens of bad luck like black cats and broken mirrors, but they don’t exactly work which just shows that those bad omens are also a lie.

Kishibe Rohan happens to hear this mean guy’s confession in a booth at a church in Venice. I thought it was kind of funny because it’s possible that neither of them were Catholic as far as the viewer knows, and if it was a real priest, he would have started with the invocation of the Christian trinity and ending the confession with an absolution of sins, but he just remained silent. And the mean guy was just like “Can I be saved?” lol… that should have been a clue that whoever was listening was not a priest. And Rohan also happened to be Japanese hah what are the chances? The mean guy wears a mask during his confession and I thought that was interesting- the symbolism of masks throughout the movie and the setting of Venice complements that.

Well there is this grotesque scene with the spirit of the tortured dead Japanese man coming back in the form of his daughter’s tongue which is so weird and off putting that I had to remove a star just for that scene- it was so unnecessary in my opinion- they could have done that same concept but with some other visuals, because this was just gross. But anyways, Rohan was awesome as always, and I feel like he was just caught in this weird situation and dragged into it, along with the mean guy’s daughter who is also bound by the same curse. Then for some reason Rohan seems to be hit with the same happiness curse as well. But Rohan is a rather comforting reassuring presence in a. Weird chaotic world, and that’s why his character is just so awesome. Takahashi gives life to that character in a way no one else could. And I love how he comes to Italy and starts speaking in Italian like his software just updated, and the same thing with French in the last movie. And he reads people like books because well.. everywhere you go, people are the same. So he is confident in himself no matter where he goes. H elbows who he is and is not swayed by the culture or its people. I like that.

As for the mean Japanese guy, his confession was essentially useless not just because he wasn’t talking to a priest nor received absolution, but rather because he had no remorse for what he had done, and had not changed himself at all. He was still the same terrible person, just trying not to die from the curse, and he was ready to ruin a anyone’s life including his own daughter’s in order to not die from the curse.

What was the moral of the story? I suppose none, except for seeing how Rohan stayed in his worn center the whole time, even though he helped people, he didn’t lose who he was to the curse, Italy, or any person.

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