Reviews

This was very whimsical

I know this was 15 minutes long, but it will still get a review from me because I love writing lmao. I will give it a 9 (8.9) out of 10, and truthfully, there is no plan for this review; I am just going to rant.

For starters, this was really cute, and Dee Hup needs to lock in and make this a full series; I will help fund it, I swear to god. I have grown to love Tee and Heng so much, so I actually don't play about them.

If you are looking for a well-thought-out show, this is not for you, like at all. But if you want whimsicalness and joy because you are currently watching don't be too emotional and getting your heart dragged through the mud, ESPECIALLY with the most recent episode; this is so for you. I loved this so much, and it would have been perfect if we got a kiss, but you know what a girl can dream.

I loved how cute they looked in this, especially with Heng in the glasses; I love him with glasses, my lord. Also, Tee with his hair down and actually not evil I love to fucking see it; so cute. I would give my life for these fools.

Regarding the plot, they also had a love-at-first-sight kind of vibe, which was really cute. And then that kind of gave way to this repetition that also felt really cute, so good for y'all, because we actually did our big one with this shit. The whole thing where he falls onto his lap was adorable; I am a fool for that shit, I can't lie. And yeah.

Here is my final quote from the final episode: "Maybe get off the Gemini dupe and go talk to him bruh. They are adorable lmao. AWEEEEE THEY ARE SO CUTE. DUMB ASS SHOW. THIS WAS VERY CUTE."

Loved this; it was cute, so just go check it out because it is 15 minutes in total, bruh. Okay bye!

Read More

A Surprising Gem That Completely Won Me Over

I went into this with absolutely no idea what to expect, and somehow it ended up giving me way more than I ever bargained for.

At its heart, it's a sweet, simple story about a genuinely relatable lead finding his place in life, growing one meal, and one challenge, at a time in the kitchen. Set against the backdrop of a military outpost, it blends heartfelt moments, lovable supporting characters, and nonstop comedy into something that just works. Seriously, it works so well.

And can we talk about how funny this show is? I laughed in every single episode. The cast absolutely nailed their roles, making every character feel memorable and easy to root for.

Bonus points for the soundtrack, too. That pop-punk/rock anthem had me instantly hooked, bringing back memories of carefree, youthful summers blasting punk music.

This series completely caught me by surprise, and I loved every minute of it. Season 2 can't come soon enough.

Read More

The ending kinda ruins an otherwise wonderful series.

Overall, a fantastic, classic wuxia ... until the final episodes. More on that later. First I just ant to laud a few key points that I liked. This show has so many strong elements starting with a script that create very real, very complex characters who, with the possible exception of the villainous She Wan Chen, were not 2-dimensional cartoon cutouts. Most of the characters in this drama were multi-layered, often involving sides of white right along with sides of black and of course, lots of grey. In particular, the 'love triangle' dynamic involving Miao Renfeng, Nan Lan and Tian Guinong was both angsty and heartbreaking to watch unfold, but also brilliant drama as all three characters show both good and bad sides. Renfeng may be pure heroic of purpose, but he was a negligent fool of a husband who broke his promises to his wife in favor of promises to dead people long gone. That was the first betrayal of their relationship. His essential abandonment and refusal to prioritize his wife and child pushed the insecure Nan Lan right towards his 'best friend' / hidden enemy, Tian Guinong. Who psychotically, obsessively coveted anything and everything that Miao possessed. Some viewers hated Nan Lan for 'cheating' on Miao. But in prioritizing his quest for the truth about the deaths of Hu Fei's parents over his promises to his wife, Miao was actually the first to, "cheat". He abandoned her again and again for months at a time, leaving her alone, vulnerable and scared. And while it was one thing to do in their first years together, once she had a child to care for, it became a ridiculously dangerous and awful thing to keep doing to Lan and Roulan. So she, like any mother, was attracted to the idea of the stable, secure home that Tian promised her. And Tian didn't just woo her with promises. He legitimately acted so sincerely nice and caring to both Lan and her child that she had zero reason to think he was anything but sincere towards her. Literally until late, near the end of the series when she finally sees the truth of the evil deeds that Tian has done, she had no reason to think he was anything but a good man. And I think he DID really love Lan and even, for a time, Roulan. But his love was less than his evil psychosis. On the other story arc, Hu Fei is a bit of a strange character. He starts off as a street smart clever child able to survive alone even after his "uncle" is killed ... but when they time-skip to the 'present day' storyline he immediately acts like a naive, overly-trusting idiot who keeps stumbling blindly into trouble. He only very, very slowly grows more smart and cautious and is a bit irritating to watch make the same dumb mistakes again and again. But he's wonderfully nice and pure of heart and a fantastic fighter and so easy to root for. The two women in his life are both complex, loving him dearly but both chained by the script writers with their own 'noble idiocy' drama tropes that unfortunately, get carried out all the way to the end of the show and never released. Ziyi hid her relationship with her father and her commitment to the agenda of her nutcase 'master' all the way to the end until it was too late. And Ling Su hid her poisonous fate until it, too, was too late.

And this brings me to my biggest complaint about the show. Yes, I understand that the source material is a very old story that purposely ended ambiguously with only two likely outcomes, both being unhappy for one reason or another. So sure, the original source material ("The Flying Fox of Snowy Mountain") did not have a 'happy ending'. So I guess that meant the writers of this show felt compelled to also not have a 'happy ending'. Fine. But the problem with the final couple of episodes isn't just that the show ended with so many unhappy fates for so many characters. The problem was that almost every single one of the 'bad fates' was pointless. There was nothing gained plot-wise or thematically by the deaths of Ma Chun Hua, Miao Renfeng, or Cheng Ling Su. And there was absolutely no point to having Yuan Ziyi tonsured to the life of a nun. Each of these fates was awkwardly contrived and forced upon the story almost as if to purposely trigger the viewers. Yes, the show teased some of these fates from early on so they weren't pulled out of nowhere at the last second. But to tease these dumb fates doesn't validate that they made sense story-wise. Ziyi becoming a nun was based on classic drama trope false-guilt and false commitment to crazy teachings pounded into her head by that nutcase "All-Knowing Nun" that were abslutely logically stupid and made no sense to anyone with half an ounce of rational thinking. It just made no sense. Renfeng staying outside the doors just to get shot to pieces made no sense. He wasn't saving anyone by doing so. And so on. So the whole thing felt at the end like the writers forced all these 'bad fates' purely for the sake of doing so.

And jeez I didn't even get into wondering WTF happened to the twins and Xiaomei at the end of the show? The fates of those three were completely glossed over by the writers. Just ridiculous.

Read More

Much Ado About Power

Ashes to Crown began with all the ingredients of a gripping political revenge drama, but unfortunately it struggled to maintain the momentum.

The story opens with Chu Zhao, the headstrong daughter of a powerful general, determined to marry Prince Xiao Xun despite her father's objections. Against all expectations, she gets her wish and eventually becomes Empress when Xiao Xun ascends the throne. It initially looks like the familiar tale of lovers overcoming parental opposition—but that happiness is brutally short-lived. Xiao Xun murders her father's trusted deputy, has her father killed to seize control of the army, and finally strangles Chu Zhao.

She awakens in the past, standing before the tolling bell of a temple, with every memory of her previous life intact.

This time, she resists the marriage. Armed with knowledge of the future, she takes a completely different path. During the rebellion that claims the Crown Prince's life, she allies herself with Xie Yan Lai and fights her way to becoming the guardian of the young emperor, the Crown Prince's son, and the Grand Princess.

From there, the court becomes a battlefield of political intrigue, with four major players vying for power: Xiao Xun, Chu Zhao, Xie Yanfang (the young emperor's uncle), and Deng Yi, the emperor's mentor. Later, after Xiao Xun escapes the capital to his father's feudal territory, the struggle narrows to a three-way contest for a short period.

The strongest aspect of the drama is undoubtedly the verbal sparring. Court debates and private confrontations are packed with clever arguments, half-truths, distortions and outright lies. Watching each faction justify its actions while tearing down its rivals was often more engaging than the political schemes themselves.

Unfortunately, the actual political manoeuvring never felt particularly convincing. The strategies employed by the various factions seemed surprisingly shallow, and despite all the plotting, it often felt as though very little was actually happening. Ironically, that sometimes resembles real-world politics—plenty of scheming and endless arguments, but very little progress.

Beyond the political debates, there are the obligatory fight scenes, a few battles and the expected romantic moments, but none are especially memorable. Familiar tropes also make regular appearances—the "only one bed" situation, characters hanging perilously over cliffs, and other scenes we've seen countless times before. Contrary to some reviews, I also found the pacing rather slow.

There are, however, several positives.

Chen Duling delivers an excellent performance, effortlessly balancing kindness with a hint of darkness that keeps you wondering whether Chu Zhao herself might eventually cross the line. The rest of the cast also perform well.

One unexpected strength is that even some of the villains evoke sympathy. Several are intelligent and capable people who could have achieved great things had they not become consumed by ambition, greed or their own twisted beliefs. Their downfalls are surprisingly moving, while the eventual triumph of justice is genuinely satisfying.

The overall premise is intriguing, but as the story branches into its numerous subplots, much of the intrigue dissipates. By the end, it feels like a great deal of plotting with relatively little payoff.

One final mystery remains: I still have no idea how the English title Ashes to Crown relates to the story.

Overall, this is a decent political drama with strong performances and an interesting premise, but one that does not quite lives up to its potential. If you have a quiet weekend and have run out of dramas to watch, it is worth a look—but I would not put it near the top of my recommendation list.

Read More

Taking Palace Intrigue to the Extreme

So many historical Kdramas focus on the control of power by way of controlling the throne. I've seen many historical Kdramas where there was a plot or subplot of someone (usually a high ranking official) who wanted to assume control of the throne, so they plotted and schemed to get the present king dethroned or killed, or the Crown Prince was killed so someone else's pick for heir would move up in line. This specific drama revolved around the consequences of such scheming for power.

For 30 years, the bloodline and heirs of the king, were mysteriously killed off one by one. Deemed a curse by the pond spirit, the king engaged a young man gifted with the ability to cross over into the spirit world to do battle with this resentful, angry spirt who cursed the royal family seed because she was unfairly and tragically murdered. But once the pond spirit was gone, the deaths still happened. The plot thickens as the main characters discover that the evil doesn't reside with the spirits, it resides with the living. Spoiler alert---Those in power who have committed such atrocities, have to continue to kill anyone who finds out about their secrets. This is the story of murder after murder all for the desire for more power and control of the throne, and to silence anyone who finds out about the secret killings.

This made for a thrilling drama with all sorts of twists and turns. Acting, sets, costumes, fight scenes, and the ghoulish-side of it all were executed extremely well. My only criticism is the confusion of trying to keep straight who did what to whom and why. Plot twists are great in mysteries. Just when you have things figured out a twist is thrown in. I love these. This drama had that, but there were twists upon twists that, in my opinion, made the storyline a tad too complicated.

The two main leads, played by Nam Joo Hyuk and Roh Yoon Seo, were outstanding in their roles and really carried the drama. The visuals and special effects were also outstanding especially of the spirit world. And this drama gave birth to a mischievous little side character/spirit, Kkeomeoksali, who has taken the internet by storm. I predict this cute but evil little creature will be the next trending Labubu.

All in all an enjoyable and thrilling Kdrama, and at 8 episodes, it was just right.

Read More

Tainted

Zongyi, a top student, finds Zerui, a gang member, bleeding on the street and is forced into bringing him into his home.

What I Love
On one hand its a sweet story, it has elements of healing, creating your own family and waiting for your soulmate. On the other hand, it’s a tragic story with elements of loss, betrayal, rejection, separation. And it’s all tied up in a mafia trope with action sequences too. The plot twists are amazing and I didn’t see any of them. The side couple also pairs really nicely with the main couple. The rest of the characters are brilliant, especially Zongyi’s family. This show was so addictive it was amazing.

What I Hate
I was confused if Zongyi was in college or not…. then it became clear that he was a high school student, so I assumed he was 18. No, Zongyi is 17 and Zerui is 25, that’s nasty pedophilia. There’s no reason for him not to be 18 and it negatively effects the story. The show also never acknowledges that Zongyi was essentially assaulted.

Nitpick
I wish the series was more developed, especially after the time skip. There’s so many things I wanted them to explore and circle back to.

Read More

Watch for sweet but psycho Ju Tae Seon

Note: The drama's intro theme has been created using AI.

To start with, I would suggest not reading the plot summary. Part of it ruined my watching experience. Unless you prefer to have all your facts in advance then go ahead.

Lee Chae Ha decides to become a police officer after struggling being labelled as a son of a murderer. He gets called to work in the prosecutor's office under Ju Tae Seon who detests murderers and bizarrely Chae Ha as well. So it doesn't make sense why he wants to work with him. Even more bizarre is when he angrily kisses him. The show definitely wanted to give us a wild start! It was quite intriguing as to why he was behaving this way so I enjoyed the journey of his evolution.

Chae Ha seemed to have some level of guilt so even when his senior was clearly abusing him, he refused to walk away. Professionally, they seemed to do well together despite the bickering and the disgust Tae Seon felt for him.

There are 2 cases that are the focus of this show - one is a murder in the present and second is the murder of the past committed by Chae Ha's father. In my opinion, the mystery wasn't great. The presentation of the murder case they were working on was confusing and I lost interest in it. I just barely followed along . Similarly the case of the past, I couldn't fully grasp the significance of the murder. Some clues are in the intro. If it wasn't for the two leads and their relationship, I wouldn't have cared about this drama even though I love crime thrillers. I felt like this was the weakest aspect of the show. Also, it was pretty obvious where the show was headed.

The final episode was nice and everything was wrapped up pretty quickly.

I still applaud Korea for trying something new even if it wasn't perfect. At least I enjoyed the journey and that's what I mainly gave it points for. I especially loved Kim Yoon Sik's acting and portrayal as Ju Tae Seon. He's definitely eye candy!

The OST is pretty good too. I just wish they didn't use AI so I had to deduct points for that.

Read More

Adopt, don't shop!

Dog Days was a sweet, heartwarming-if predictable-tail of people being made more human by the love of a dog. The sight of four-legged sunshine aka a Golden Retriever, was enough to help me stick with this film through a ruff intro. (I promise to keep the puns to a minimum.)

Landlord Min Sang hates dogs, dog poo, and the veterinary clinic renting space in his building. When he’s not threatening to kick Jin Yeong out, he works at a company attempting to land the bid for a new resort going up. Retired architect Min Seo lives alone, her only company her dog Wanda. A delivery boy becomes entwined in her life when she has a health issue. Jeong Ah and Seon Yong have recently adopted a little girl named Ji Yoo. They are concerned with how to make their new family work as Ji Yoo keeps to herself. A band has lost their lead singer and Hyeon his girlfriend when she left for a job in Africa. All Hyeon has left is her Golden Retriever named Sting and her ex-boyfriend Daniel who has visitation rights.

Ostensibly this film highlights the roles dogs play in our lives and the value of adopting them. But surprisingly, they also showed the joy of adopting a human child, something rarely talked about in Korean entertainment (at least positively) as adoption isn’t common for a variety of reasons. Child actress Yoon Chae Na once again convinced me that Korean child actors are the gold standard. She gave a heart tugging performance. Kim Yoon Jin was believable as the mother seeking to connect to the little angel that had come into their lives.

Aside from the adoption story I really enjoyed the aging architect played by Youn Yuh Jung and her relationship with the delivery boy Jin Woo as portrayed by Tang Jun Sang. It was a tropey mentor bit, but well executed. I judged the character Hyeon rather harshly early on when he only grudgingly took the Golden in and made numerous mistakes. Fortunately, they quickly rectified those issues. It’s always a delight to see Kim Seo Hyung in a lighter role and she was sublime as the veterinarian with a heart of gold and questionable hygiene habits.

While the film dipped its paws into doggy melodrama it managed to avoid pandering for a tear fest. There were forced resolutions and too quick personality turnarounds. The best moments were the ones that were organic to the story and felt natural. The humor was generally gentle and the dog poop jokes were kept to a minimum. They did showcase the desperate need for adoption to save dogs lives advocating to adopt not shop. And of course, they also presented how rewarding adopting a child can be. Though I struggled with the first part of the film, I found it to be entertaining overall. Some stories were stronger than others. Could I recommend this film to a dog lover? Pawsitively.

24 July 2026

Trigger warnings: For sensitive dog lovers-Three dog in danger scenes-one illness, one lost pup running down a crowded street, and a euthanasia scene. Unlike another dog film I’ve watched, thankfully no physical abuse of the animals.

Rating note: This would normally be a 7.5 on my rating scale as the beginning was slow, but Sting/Floyd and Wanda won me over, bumping the score up by .5

Read More

From Tears to Laughter

Twinkling Watermelon has one of the highest ratings on MyDramaList, and after finally watching it, I can see why. Strangely enough, I had put it off for ages. The synopsis mentioned time travel and I thought, "Oh great... not another Back to the Future copy." With so many time-travel dramas around, I was not particularly excited.

The opening episodes did not help. Ha Eun Gyeol is the only hearing member of his poor family. His parents and brother are deaf, and he endures relentless bullying from the neighbourhood gang. It was so gloomy that I nearly gave up after two episodes, unable to withstand the emotional torture.

Thankfully, that is when everything changes.

Eun Gyeol is sent back to a time before his parents met and runs into his teenage father, who has absolutely no idea this strange boy calling him "Dad" is actually his future son. Watching his father's growing annoyance every time Eun Gyeol blurts out "Father!" is hilarious.

From then on, the series is a delightful mix of comedy, romance and heartfelt family moments. It keeps you laughing one minute and reaching for the tissue box the next, while keeping you guessing how every change in the past will affect the future.

Things become even more complicated when Eun Gyeol discovers his father was not born deaf. Determined to prevent the accident that changes his life, he soon realises he has another problem—his father is in love with the wrong girl. Suddenly, saving his father's hearing is no longer enough. He also has to make sure his parents actually fall in love, or he and his brother may never exist. Yes, it sounds a little like Back to the Future, but the drama takes the idea in its own heartwarming direction.

He also discovers that his mother endured a miserable childhood, mistreated by her cruel stepfamily while her father, consumed by his business, was largely oblivious to her suffering. Now he faces yet another impossible mission: how can he rescue her from this living hell?

One aspect I particularly enjoyed was the music. Eun Gyeol and Yi Chan form a band, and their performances are fantastic—good enough to give many contemporary pop bands a run for their money. I was so impressed that I even looked up whether the actors are from musical bands. Nope! They simply did a remarkably convincing job.

I watched the drama on Netflix with the English dub. While the dubbing was well done, I do wish Netflix had also provided English subtitles for the songs, especially when Yi Chan was serenading the girl he loved. Those lyrics would have added even more emotional depth to some already memorable scenes.

My only nitpick is that the younger and older versions of Cheong Ah (Eun Gyeol's mother) do not resemble each other very closely. Both actresses were excellent, but a better physical match would have made the transition more convincing.

To borrow another reviewer's word: wacko. The title is wacko, the story is wacko, the characters are delightfully wacko—and it is all incredibly entertaining.

With excellent acting, charming leads, convincing period settings and an engaging story, Twinkling Watermelon is one of those rare dramas that I almost dropped but ended up thoroughly enjoying. Definitely a thumbs-up from me.

Read More

Peaceful but uneventful

A very nice slice-of-life show that was mostly refreshing because of the FL's personality; I always love watching dramas where the female lead is really practical, down-to-earth, and genuinely good at what she does.

I did, however, find it really hard to get into and stay invested in the overall plot. I cared about the main character and her healing journey, but I didn't care about the side characters at all and didn't connect to the location enough to be invested in the plot about improving tourism in the area.

This is ultimately just a peaceful and calming watch, and I know lots of people will enjoy it for that, but I think it was just too slow for me.

Read More

A good enough crime genre of BL with a mix of freakiness

I’ll be honest off the bat, I don’t know why many people who watched this show describe it as the best piece of BL media they’ve watched. It wasn’t bad don’t get me wrong but it also wasn’t THAT good…

The premise is pretty typical and it reminded of a fanfiction you could easily find on Wattpad or AO3 with this same exact storyline and trope. It’s nothing crazy never done before, and actually quite a lot of things were easily predictable and every plotwist they saved for shock value wasn’t shocking at all to the point where it’s making me think maybe they didn’t really pay attention to that and purposely made it obvious?

The audio quality and the way this show was filmed (angles and camera movement as well as editing) it was all so low quality. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a BL that looked high quality during promotions actually have this low quality of a production. The one thing that mostly bothered me was the audio cuts that would often happen during the show. Sometimes the camera would capture another character sighing in the background and then abruptly cut to a new scene where the characters sigh was cut short, as if watching a Youtube video lol.
There were also many awkward cuts in scenes but if you have low audio quality I wasn’t expecting the cinematography to be any better either so I guess they match each other lol.

Other than that, I liked the characters, they were a bit corny and spoke like a 13 year old girl writing a fanfiction wrote the script but it was bearable because the acting wasn’t that bad. I’m assuming the actors (both MLs) are rookies so they did pretty well for their first role.

But don’t get fooled by my previous complaints, this is just something that personally bothered me because the show actually keeps your attention somehow. The tension between the MLs was quite something. I’m not a strong lover of a ML who lowkey forces the other into a kiss and I didn’t like how the bottom kept acting like a damsel in distress all the time. The only time he ever showed any type of personality was the last episode where he defended himself. It feels like the top is the only one who changed.

But regardless they had a lot of chemistry atleast in my eyes they did. Their kissing scenes actually had me gasping, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone that hungry to kiss👀.
Their ‘spicy’ scenes were also insane, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a korean BL this bold with their love making scenes before!!! It was quite the experience.

So really on the BL part I have no complaints, they delivered what they offered but outside of that I found quite a bit of things that bothered me and made me confused why so many people compliment it as if it’s the best piece of BL media they’ve watched 😂

All in all, it’s not a bad BL by any means but it does have its flaws and in my opinion it had quite a bit of flaws. The scenes albeit serious made me laugh sometimes but that’s alright, I was entertained and that’s what we’re all hoping to be when getting into it!

Read More

Absolutely Adorable (So Far)

I don’t know… there’s just something so refreshing about it. I found myself laughing so much throughout the first episode, and not because it’s trying too hard to be funny. It’s just funny.

I think my favourite part so far is that these characters don’t just feel like teenagers, they actually are teenagers. The actors themselves are around that age, and it makes such a difference. It’s nice watching young people just be young while they figure out this completely new environment. They’re awkward, clueless, dramatic, and chaotic in the cutest way. When I say it’s adorable, I don’t mean in an “aww, look how cute they are” kind of way. It’s more that it’s refreshing to watch kids actually behave like kids instead of acting like tiny adults.

And as usual, we have the classic Thai series “convenient inconvenience” trope (at least that’s what I call it), where two people who can barely tolerate each other somehow end up having to spend even more time together. It’s such a funny setup because it’s almost always expected, but it’s funny every single time it happens.

Read More