Reviews

Silent tears are the most emotional kind.

I cried a LOT, but I'll get to that later.

I'm going to start with the negatives! Which there are not a lot of. Pretty much the only thing that annoyed me was Cha wanting to give his grandson Zefang his body back, but puts zero effort into figuring out how. How did Cha know that drowning himself would even work? That is a big risk to take on the fly since it could have just killed them both. No one was there to help when he did it! I also would have liked to see Cha have to come to terms with the fact that the grandson he raised, the last member of his family, was truly gone. It didn't have to be long, just something.

Other than that, I wanted to know how Zefang lived at college up to the accident. No one liked him but Guan Ri Qing. Why? What did he do to everyone? What was his and Guan Ri Qing's relationship really like? Why did Guan Ri Qing know that no matter how loud he yelled, no one would come help? Was it because of Zefang? Guan Ri Qing? Or something else? Why did he like Hai Yuan so much? Everything must have been pretty shit for him to let Cha live in his body and move on. There is so much about Zefang's character that we don't know, and if anyone knows if it's covered in the novel, let me know.

I really enjoyed everything else. The acting was really good, especially Martin (Cha/Zefang) and Yaron (Guan Ri Qing), who really impressed me with his crying. Li Ting (Qian Sui) is also adorable. The cuddles are so good, and the nose rubbing in episode 8 was so cute!

I know a lot of people won't like someone like Guan Ri Qing just based on the first interaction, but I couldn't help but feel sorry for him even after he locked Cha in the locker. (He was truly sorry about that as well.) But I like to put myself in the character's shoes, so even though I wouldn't act this way, I know that if my boyfriend came back from visiting family a whole different person, wanted nothing to do with me, and was clingy to someone who hates me, I would feel so incredibly hurt. He only wanted someone to love him, and for all we know, Zefang may have been the one person who gave him any real love at all. I cried when Zefang said goodbye to him, and when he realized he still hadn't told Zefang that he really liked him, and now it was too late. I'm tearing up just thinking about it.

I also cried during Cha and Zefang's heart-to-heart, like during the whole thing. I had to pause multiple times to wipe my eyes and clean my glasses. I'm a very empathic person, so I cry easily, but I haven't cried this much to a show in a few months.

Was the story lacking in giving us past context and the character building of Zefang? Yes. Did it hinder my enjoyment? Very little, I was mostly just left wanting more so I could fully understand Zefang's actions. Would I rewatch this series or a sequel? Yes and Yes. I was very reluctant to watch this series at first because I didn't think they could make the relationship work out given the age gap, or make me believe that the grandson would really just decide to move on when he has his whole life ahead of him. Somehow, they made it work.

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Watch it for JoongDunk

Watching this was enjoyable. Unfortunately, I probably wouldn't rewatch. They had a great storyline. The idea being outside the norm for bl dramas was refreshing. There was a lot that was left to be desired. Joong and Dunk played their roles amazingly. Flirty Joong with a much less flirty Dunk was cute. It fit Joong well because it matches his real personality imo. Stern no nonsense in the beginning was also very nice. But being smitten with Jade was absolutely adorable. The side actors needed work. The horrible "crying" scenes were almost unbearable to watch. The delivery was there but the execution was lacking. NOW Jades tattoo situation was horrible! You could see the less straightened lines in some scenes. The last episode in the pool you could see it running and fading. I have seen the kids stick on tattoos look and stay on the skin better and longer than his. The production team must have had a budget of $3 usd between that and some of the other actors. The sound team also needs some work with some scenes being louder and some quieter to the point where it's hard to hear. The OST was meh and the rest of the music was the same.

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a new top drama

Yang Yang's name was what drew me to this show initially, and I was over the moon when I discovered I would actually be able to watch it with my current subscriptions, but other than having Yang Yang as the lead, I did my best to find out nothing about it so that I could go in without any expectations, but in hindsight it wouldn't have mattered if I'd had expectations because Zhan Zhao Adventures completely blew them away.

Yang Yang's acting was gorgeous (and so is he, naturally), but he wasn't the only one. Zhang Ruo Nan handled the complexity of her character wonderfully, balancing Huo Ling Long's personal desires with her familial obligations and still managing to pull off some excellent martial arts. Alen Fang was the real surprise for me, though. I'd not seen him in anything previously and his skills as an actor, especially his comedic timing, were a delight, and he also did a wonderful job portraying Bai Yu Tang's emotional growth from a petulant pest to a sincere friend. Credit, too, to Xu Wai Luo as Ming Zhi Er and Chun Yu Zhe as Chang Hong Bi. Those two young actors kept up with their more seasoned cast members and did a superlative job in every scene and I hope to see them taking on bigger roles as they grow up.

A final thing I want to touch on in this review are the martial arts on display in Zhan Zhao Adventures. Simply put, they are breathtaking. The fights are beautifully choreographed and the actors and martial artists perform with tremendous skill. I found myself wishing I could slow them down to appreciate them more fully, and had to make do with going back and re-watching them over and over. Seriously, Yang Yang and Alen Fang were incredible, and the stunt artists did their jobs convincingly. I loved the martial aspect so much.

This is easily one of my top dramas, and even though I've already watched it twice, I know I'm going to want to rewatch it again just to enjoy how exquisitely it was executed.

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I'm glad that I found out early in my watch that this show "doesn't have a romance," even if I disagree with that assessment. That said, the lack of romance is the source of the only complaint I have about this show. My soul yearns to see the hinted-at romance between Zhan Zhao and Huo Ling Long realized on screen. There are lingering looks, obvious pleasure in the other's company, and genuine concern for each other's well-being, but not even a press of hands, let alone a kiss. Obviously, I'll have to go looking for fanart.

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Worth the watch

I have rewatched this 3 or 4 times now. I love the actors and the acting was great. I do wish they had ended TinCans relationship better. It was very spotty and the viewer was just left hanging kind of. Though in the second one, it is way more in depth. Though had been restarted from the beginning with their meeting. Anyway, this is about this one. The plot was very sweet and wholesome. Some of the side couples were questionable though. Their story was wuite interesting as well. AePete were such a cute couple. The love for one another was unmatched. Tin being more orange flagged than he should have been with Can. Overall worth a watch and rewatch.

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A little too "real" for me (real downer)

My Rating

7.5/10

Review

This is an offering in the friends-to-lovers category, which is usually one of my favorite romance tropes. I like happy endings. That's just me. Some people prefer stories that are more dramatic and feel more "real." If that's what you enjoy, you may like this movie a lot more than I did.

The film hits all the high points of a strong romantic drama. The characters are well developed, the story is compelling, and the relationship feels authentic. I was invested in both Han Jeong-won and Lee Eun-ho from the beginning. Their friendship was easily my favorite part of the movie. They were great friends, and I had very high hopes for them as a couple.

Visually, I loved the choice to have the present-day scenes in black and white while the past was shown in color. It was a beautiful way to reinforce the idea that Jeong-won brought color and life into Eun-ho's world. It was also pretty obvious that she was the inspiration for Jane in his video game.

Unfortunately, I found the overall experience sad rather than romantic. Once Lee Eun-ho and Han Jeong-won became a couple, Eun-ho became increasingly moody, and it didn't always feel consistent with the character we had come to know earlier in the story. By the end, I didn't feel like the movie delivered a satisfying payoff for everything the audience went through with them.

I wouldn't watch it again, and I would only recommend it to viewers who enjoy emotional dramas and realistic endings rather than happy ones.

Spoilers

I really loved the friendship between Han Jeong-won and Lee Eun-ho. Their chemistry as friends was fantastic, and I was rooting for them the entire time.

I found it heartbreaking when they broke up. It was also sad that Jeong-won seemingly did not maintain a relationship with Eun-ho's father after the separation. Their shared struggles and eventual successes made me want to see them enjoy the rewards of all that hard work together.

One thing that left me confused was the ending. Eun-ho appears to have a son, which made me assume he eventually married, but the film never really confirms what happened. It leaves a lot to the audience's imagination.

I was also unsure about the pregnancy storyline. At one point, it looked like Jeong-won was looking at an ultrasound, but the movie never seemed to fully address what happened afterward.

As someone who is highly empathetic, this movie was honestly a terrible choice for me emotionally. It completely dragged me down. Their ending felt incredibly sad. Yes, they reunited, but then they went their separate ways again. The film presents them as the great love of each other's lives, and I've seen plenty of real-life couples work through challenges like theirs and come out stronger on the other side.

To me, it felt like they gave up on each other.

My interpretation is that Eun-ho let Jeong-won go because he believed he was holding her back. I understand that reasoning, but I kept waiting for the story to bring them back together later. After taking the audience through all of that heartbreak, the fact that they aren't even friends by the end felt pointless and depressing.

The movie clearly wanted to make a statement about timing, dreams, and how love isn't always enough. It succeeded. I just didn't enjoy where that message left the characters.

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Ghost Illusion

The most interesting thing about this movie is the folklore behind it — the real-life stories that inspired the creators. Salmokji is a real place where many strange occurrences have been reported, so of course a movie was made to exploit it. I can say that for the first half, I was intrigued to see where it was all going, but in the second half, I just stopped caring about the characters. The mystery remains a mystery, and it’s hard to definitively conclude what really happened.

The movie is full of cheap jump scares. They build tension in a scary scene, then a ghost suddenly appears, the movie immediately cuts to the next scene, and the ghost is gone. It feels like the producers used every opportunity to insert a scare without thinking about the consequences or consistency. For example, there’s a scene with a character on a boat who changes appearance to another person and finally he disappears and the movie just continues as if nothing happened.

What I did like was the camera work. They experiment with different perspectives and shots, showing some nice filming diversity in a few interesting moments. But in the end, this is just a forgettable movie that had potential but wasted it on cheap horror tropes.

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... the ending ruins it all

sorry for instant spoiler but i watched 24 episodes to see a resolution and not this cliffhanger sad stuff, seeing whatever main guys name is heart broken....

other than that they talk a LOT. like it's 70% talking dialogue, 20% fighting stuff and 10% story. it was interesting enough to continue watching but i had several moments where i fell asleep.

i loved the cast and the characters so it was interesting to watch all of the side characters stories and the backgrounds.

the music was great, i usually dont care for that but i actually listen to the songs in my free time.

sometimes it was a bit confusing as to why some people could fight the badass people easily or not easily and that kind of stuff, like the skills were weird. why was that qian girl so good it in fighting jin fan but ran away when the sister showed up.

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What lesson are they trying to teach?

I caved and watched Teach You A Lesson. Let me tell you: a student getting slapped around should be the least of your concerns about this kdrama.

There are some serious WTF moments and the way some issues are dealt with are definitely laced with korean right wing ideology.

Spoilers ahead.

As usual, when talking about social issues from other countries, disclaimer: I am not Korean. Just an art curator studying asian cultures and histories to better understand the creative processes. I am not here to put my western POV into this story, just to point out some things I found interesting.

Yes, Teach You A Lesson is a fantasy-action kdrama about confronting severe school bullying and protecting victims when institutions fail. I will also say it puts in the table school violence and educational issues that are rarely dealt with in a proper way in South Korea.

First, you should approach it as part of the kdrama family of Weak Hero Class 1 and Study Group. Except here, it’s a government agency doing the dirty work and not students beating the lights out of each other. The power dynamics are not the same.

Second, some episodes are really well done. I liked the one about a primary teacher being harassed by an overly critical parent telling them how to treat their “precious” children. There’s been several reports primary teachers taking extreme desicions because of it and government remains inactive.

I also liked the episode dealing with a mother pressuring her son to get into one of SKY med schools. It shows how children are pushed to extremes (mentally, emotionally and physically) to the point of pill dependency and burn out before they are even in university.

There are other issues such as online game gambling, something that has become a problem for high school student and parents around the world. Also, wealthy parents paying teachers to get exams ahead of time to the detriment of middle class/poor families whose children work and excel on their own.

BTW, the kdrama treats all kind of addictions as a crime and uses prison as “rehabilitation” but never questions if there should be new legislation to deal with this crisis, nor offers any message about access to psychological treatment.

And sure, a few episodes are pure fantasy.

With that said, let’s move on to the episodes that made me rise by eyebrows: A teen influencer accuses her male teacher of sexual harassment that leads to his death. Spoiler, she lied. This my first red flag.

Teach You A Lesson ot once takes this girl’s accusation seriously and offhandedly writes it off as a bully acting out. Using THIS particular issue to make a point about “teachers right to protect themselves against kids” is wild.

This episode could have been a good opportunity to explore the complicated relationship between teachers and students in a hyper-mediated environment. How both are left to become victims due to lack of government legislation or the naturalisation of a culture of online shaming, doxxing and harassment. Some reports published lately could have been enough for a solid episode if Teach You A Lesson really wanted to lean into a more realist approach. But this is not that kind of kdrama and you should be aware of that when watching it.

There’s also a direct or underhanded commentary, depending on the story, about kids hierarchy according to social status and economic circumstances. As well as “broken families” being an excuse to dwell into crime, even when we see some of these rich kids are probably the worst of all.

There’s a lot of talking about violence when it comes to this kdrama but I don’t see anyone saying anything about corporal punishment becoming an issue in South Korea only in the 2000s. And it was only by 2021 that all corporal punishment of children was banned under South Korean law. This means that, until 5 years ago, physical punishment was widely accepted in families, schools, the military and the justice system. And it’s likely still very much a thing today (when people are not looking… or not). Just giving context for those following the discourse of Teach You A Lesson.

Now, the most WTF moment of them all (for me): a governmental office illegally holding in prison four juvenile delinquents (shaved heads and all), refusing their parents habeas corpus, and exposing them to hardened criminals for bullying and dealing drugs is perhaps a right winger’s wet dream.

The fact this comes in the coattails of Shinsegae Group’s Starbucks Tank Day campaign leaves me speechless. This episode is truly tone deaf or outright propaganda.

Teach You A Lesson’s production team had no way to know this “controversy” would happen weeks before the release of the kdrama. But it does give pause, to say the least, they everyone involved in this kdrama thought that practices usually seen during dictatorships or extreme right wing regimes was a proper resolution to the issue of juvenile delinquency. Characters are criminals or victims. There’s no middle ground.

I said at the beginning this kdrama belongs to a particular genre of kdrama but, unlike those, Teach You A Lesson seems to want to deliver a message about the education system. That’s why I think it’s a missed opportunity to point out the need for legislation and educational reforms.

You can read more about the very real social issues the kdrama and original webtoon are based on here:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-66655572
https://thediplomat.com/2025/06/south-koreas-education-obsession-is-a-national-emergency/
https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/2187691/how-south-koreas-metoo-generation-fights-sexual-abuse-schools
https://world.kbs.co.kr/service/news_view.htm?lang=e&Seq_Code=192623
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gwangju_Inhwa_School
https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/southkorea/society/20260515/80-of-teachers-fear-child-abuse-accusations-for-routine-classroom-guidance
https://www.koreaherald.com/article/10576776
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/06/starbucks-south-korea-tank-day-promotion-blunder

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Justice for all

While devoted fans of the original work that perhaps started it all in the world of wuxia (The Seven Heroes and Five Gallants) may balk at the changes made in this drama to certain characters and events, this show is a worthy entry into the broader genre of wuxia that has been lacking in recent years.

This story highlights Zhan Zhao, chronicling a formative period in his life where he develops his strong sense of justice. You may think of it as a sort of origin story, and it largely works with a engaging mystery-laden plot and an understanding of how to develop strong villains in contrast to our heroes. Zhan Zhao is joined by the charming if hotheaded Bai Yutang and the bright-eyed but equally steely Huo Linglong as the trio make their way through treacherous places in search of justice for themselves as well as for the people of Song.

While the plot is not entirely original nor inventive nor the mystery quite so mysterious (one can guess quite early on who is who but perhaps that is not the main point), the antagonists and villains are given a fuller depiction than in most period C dramas of late, supported by a cadre of veteran performers that bring each character to life. Yang Yang gives one of his best performances in recent years, and Alen Fang deserves more time as Bai Yutang if a second season ever comes to light. Perhaps the weakest of the three in our trio is Zhang Ruonan as Linglong, but to be fair, she is not given much to do onscreen after the gripping initial arc.

If you enjoy period dramas, especially wuxia, you cannot miss this one in 2026.

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Great wuxia action let down by rushed ending

Let me just start by saying the action sequences in this show a top notch 10 out of 10. The action sequences are why I rated this show high for rewatch value. I have already rewatched two of the fight scenes multiple times before I finished the drama.

It is a pure old- school wuxia. No green screen or visual effects. Just people with skills and wire work and a whole lot of practice and devotion. They do not make many shows like this anymore. Kudos to cast and crew. But if your preference is pretty cg-enhanced action, you will probably find this plain.

The old-school vibe carries over to the characters too. This is a spin-off of the old Justice Bao and Seven Heroes and Five Gallants stories. The two MLs are exactly as they should be. I love that the show respected the characters and did not change them for the modern audience. Zhan Zhao is a government official. His job is to bring villain to justice by rule of law not to kill them. Bai Yu Tong is the jiang-wu hero who exerts justice unbound by rules. For me, the casting and acting and characterizations and constrast of these two are 10 out of 10. But if your preference is instant jiang-wu justice (i.e. encounter villain - kill villain), this show is probably not for you either.

Where the show lose points for me is the story and pacing. I prefer my mysteries to give clues so I can solve it along with the characters even if it's predictable. I do not like rushed expositions that serves as info-dump. I hate unresolved/unexplained plot points.

This show has one overarching plot that can be subdivided into about four cases each unmasking a major helper of main villain. The first two cases took 2/3 of the show. Some people find the early section slow, but for me, that was the right pace. They find clues, investigate, fight some bad guys, then find new clues till the case is solved.

The last two cases were cramped into less than 10 episodes. There was no time for clues, so they either make it super obvious or just told you the solution. The ending is the worst. They cram everything into one episode and don't explain key plot points. It literally made me go "huh? what happened?". If I had to rate episodes 1-28, it would be a 9.5-10. If I had to rate 1-36, it dropped to a 9. Rating 1-37 made it go down to a 8.5.

Still, the cast chemistry is amazing and I would happily watch another season of the same cast going on another adventure.

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So much potential...

What a shame, this could have been so much better. I still enjoyed it, but i also anoyed me.
The story was good, the visuals and music beautiful. But the production was bad!
The actors did a good job acting, but it was a bit destroyed by the voice overs. It felt flat.

There was chemistry with both couples, but i really dislike it when one of the actors at least tries to give good kisses, but his partner hardly moves his lips.

And i have two things that were really bad:
Li You En was taken by the loansharks, Zhai Qiu Yu goes in, and saves him. Then he asks the loansharks how much is owed, he reaches for his phone and transfers the money. A nice gesture, but where did he wire the money to? He didn't ask the loansharks where to wire it to. Just a little mistake, but i hated it when such mistakes are made, it makes it less realistic..

And those pour goldfish!!! Kept in a bowl so small they couldn't even move in it! Animal cruelty at its max, no wonder the goldfish died!

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