Reviews

it was

Overall: the plot never grabbed me. Aired 59 short (couple minute) episodes on the VBL Series YouTube Channel and they were then put into longer episodes https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsvZaVybjXZccIazdEHkCmuCdvW3qAB_B

Content Warning: past death & grief, vomiting, blood, non con touching, non con kissing, slap

What I Liked
- an established couple
- visuals
- the plot idea of moving on from a past love
- sweet moments

Room For Improvement
- the plot never grabbed me, I had to restart this series 3 times
- with the main couple, they didn't hold my attention
- comedy sound effects

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Truly an entertaining and interesting watch

Disclaimer

What I am writing here are my views and thoughts about this series. Some of you may not like it. That does not give you the right to try to come at me with your opinions on why this series should get a higher or lower score and why it is better/worse than I think it is. You have your own opinions, and I have mine. Kindly respect that.

It is unfortunate that not a lot of people tuned in to watch this series, but I'm not surprised, as it's not from any of the three countries that a lot of us watch here on MyDramaList – South Korea, China or Thailand. And that's sad as a lot of people are missing out on an incredible series.

When I first saw this trailer on Netflix a few weeks ago, I instantly put it on my plan-to-watch list, as the trailer looked interesting. And I am so grateful that I did. This series has excellent acting from the casts, a good script and awesome effects, and it was able to keep my attention throughout the eight episodes. It was able to carry me throughout an emotional journey where one minute I'm smiling at the interactions between the characters, the next minute I'm tearing up at what I am seeing on my screen, and the next time I'm frightened for the main character, with the final strong moment of me cheering for the main character.

What I will say is this, which can be seen as a SPOILER –

The way it ended makes it clearly set up for a season 2, but I'm not holding my breath for it, as this is Netflix, people; they always cancel good series.

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A Fragile Woman and A Toxic Relationship

Why are we still cheering for this trope in 2026?

It is a question I found myself asking repeatedly across twelve episodes of In Your Radiant Season, MBC's latest romantic drama that arrived in February dressed in stunning cinematography, a genuinely moving OST, and a premise that had every reason to work. Two broken people healing themselves so they could meet each other in the middle. A narrative goldmine, in theory. What followed was a drama so bizarrely split between its own best and worst instincts that by the finale I had developed a full taxonomy of my emotional responses to it, ranging from genuine tears to genuine laughter, and not always in the directions the show intended.

Let me start with the cast, because this drama's greatest achievement and its most damning failure both live there. Chae Jong-hyeop as Sunwoo Chan starts as one of the most promising male leads in recent memory. His golden retriever energy is genuinely disarming, his carecore foundation in the early episodes feels rare and earned, and Chae Jong-hyeop carries the character's warmth with complete conviction. The tragedy of Chan is not in the performance. It is in what the writing does to him once the romantic machinery kicks in. Manipulation does not require malicious intent to be manipulation. It only requires consistently choosing your own comfort over someone else's right to informed consent, and Chan does exactly that, on a loop, across ten episodes.

The original sin was the website lie in episode two, the moment Chan consciously decided to control what Ha-ran knew about their connection. Not to protect her. To protect himself from a conversation he was not ready to have. The replacement pen sourced internationally from Boston. The "I don't want to reopen old wounds" justification that was never about her wounds. Every single one traces back to that one decision, and he had maximum opportunity to come clean before anything romantic developed, before the three month trial, before the camera, before the kiss, before his own internal monologue admitted "I know I'm being greedy." Strip away the soft lighting and the slow piano keys and what remains is a man who consistently prioritized his own emotional comfort over a grieving woman's right to know her own story. Textbook manipulation, dressed in carecore aesthetics. Which the drama itself admitted in episode 12.

Lee Sung-kyung as Song Ha-ran is my first exposure to her work, and I will say this honestly: her early episodes genuinely moved me. The specific brand of grief she carries in episodes one through three is precise and layered, less a woman who lost someone and more a woman who appointed herself responsible for that loss and built her entire architecture around paying a debt nobody assigned her. That reading held, briefly, and beautifully. Then the full picture assembled itself and the math stopped adding up. Ha-ran lost her parents at sixteen and functioned. She lost a boyfriend she had just started dating, long distance, at twenty-five, and spent seven years in complete paralysis requiring her grandmother, a coffee shop owner, and eventually a stranger with a camera to engineer her back into the world. And eventually, the performance flattened entirely under the weight of a character the writing had stopped protecting. By the later episodes, every new crying scene over increasingly minor provocations stopped reading as grief and started reading as habit, and my response shifted accordingly from empathy to apathy, and then from apathy to something closer to active irritation. That is the quietest possible indictment of what the writing did to both the character and the actress carrying her. Her own grandmother noted that she did not take her parents' loss this hard.

The drama offers this line sympathetically. It lands as an indictment. By episode six, Ha-ran was doing slow motion Seoul bucket list tours and heart to hearts with her grandmother because a man she insisted she was not that close to had failed to deliver a text message before switching to airplane mode mid-flight. She is thirty-two. She runs a design team at Korea's premier fashion house. And she is sprawling across her emotional floor over an undelivered iMessage. Song Ha-ran will be filed permanently as a prime example of a fragile Female Lead with zero emotional regulation, zero agency, and zero identity outside of her romance. A block of tofu would have been more compelling to watch. The show wanted her to be the lone woman walking into a snow field, poetic and wounded and profound. The timeline and the surrounding cast revealed she was just standing at the edge of a very warm room, choosing not to turn around. That is not a fortress. That is a preference.

Here is where this drama becomes genuinely extraordinary, and genuinely maddening, in the same breath. Because Han Ji-hyun as Song Ha-yeong, the middle sister, is one of the finest performances I have encountered in recent dramaland, and I am not being generous. Ha-yeong checks every single box of a strong female lead while occupying a supporting role, which should embarrass the writers responsible for Ha-ran enormously. Han Ji-hyun plays Ha-yeong on two simultaneous frequencies, the surface brightness that the other characters receive and the undertow of grief underneath that only the audience catches if they are paying close enough attention. Ha-yeong made her defining decision at approximately fourteen, standing in a funeral hanbok against a wall, eyes closed, saying "I have to be okay. I have to keep this family together." She has been executing that decision every single day since, converting pain into laughter in real time, for everyone else's benefit but also for her own, because someone had to hold and she volunteered without being asked. She cried exactly twice across eleven episodes. Both times voluntarily, both times with directional purpose, because Song Ha-yeong does not break accidentally. Even her grief has agency. Han Ji-hyun threads the needle of this character with extraordinary precision, never tipping into melodrama, never losing the comedy, never letting you forget that the loudest person in every room is also the one carrying the most invisible weight. Her confession scene, her "then start thinking of me that way" delivered at a dinner table, and her beaming nod in a blizzard after twelve episodes of patience, are the three best scenes this drama produced. I want a spin-off. I want it immediately. I will watch it in one sitting.

Oh Ye-ju as Song Ha-dam, the youngest sister, quietly surprised me throughout. Ha-dam is the most emotionally mature person in this drama despite being a high school senior, and Oh Ye-ju carries that specific brand of grounded teenage wisdom without making it feel precocious. Her trajectory as a young actress is worth watching. Lee Mi-sook as Nana Kim is the drama's steadying heartbeat, a woman managing her own quietly terrifying secret while remaining the warmest presence in every room she occupies. Kwon Hyuk as Yeon Tae-sok is perfectly cast against Han Ji-hyun in a way that feels almost unfair to the main couple. His contained stillness against Ha-yeong's unbridled energy creates a dynamic that generates more genuine romantic tension in a single sour candy detail than the main couple managed across twelve episodes of soft lighting. Kim Tae-young as Cha Yu-gyeom rounds out a remarkably strong ensemble, accessing emotional range well beyond what his age and experience would suggest.

The drama's greatest structural achievement, and its most accidental one, is what happens when you look at all four couples simultaneously. By episode nine, every supporting character had become a satellite lighthouse for someone in their orbit, taking care of others in the specific language only they knew how. Ha-yeong holding a family together for fifteen years while quietly watching Nana Kim for signs nobody else caught. Tae-sok stocking Ha-yeong's favorite sour candy and sweeping cemetery paths and begging supplier favors in secret so a designer could be fully creative without the weight of practicality. Yu-gyeom engraving "guardian" on a necklace with his phone number for a grandmother he met crossing a street because it was simply the right thing to do. Mr. Park keeping a coffee shop light on for seven years and proposing before surgery in one quiet sentence: "take a rest, by my side, with me." Ha-dam telling her injured, frightened boyfriend "then you can just be my Yu-gyeom who tried." Every single one of them demonstrating love as a verb, love as a daily practice, love as something you do without requiring an audience or a piano cue. And then the main couple, still locked in their manufactured tensions and their soft lit lies, completely absent from this constellation of genuine human warmth. The heart and soul of In Your Radiant Season is everyone except the people on the poster.

The OST deserves its own mention, because it is genuinely one of the stronger soundtrack collections this year has produced. I Feel You by Yegny and Beautiful Days With You by Youngjun carry the quieter melancholy of the drama's better moments with exactly the right restraint, while You Are My Color by JUNGSOOMIN and About Time by BANG YEDAM bring a slightly warmer, brighter texture that serves the ensemble stories beautifully. All I Wish by Seo Ja-yeong caps the collection with grace. My only complaint is that the same songs were routinely deployed in service of the main couple's manufactured emotional moments, which is less a criticism of the music and more a casualty of association. The OST itself is blameless. I recommend seeking it out on your streaming platform of choice, ideally divorced from the scenes it was occasionally asked to carry beyond its job description.

This is what makes the editorial gaslighting so specifically damaging. Three consecutive episodes dressed minor inconveniences in the cinematographic language of genuine tragedy. A cancelled work project became a world-ending emergency. A failed text message from airplane mode became the emotional equivalent of losing a person. A bucket list Seoul tour became the dramatic processing of profound grief. When everything is painted as dramatic with every trick available, nothing is. The result was predictable and devastating. By the time the actual dramatic revelation arrived in episode eleven, the genuine climax the show had been building toward, I was laughing. Pure schadenfreude. The moment a drama's climactic emotional revelation produces genuine schadenfreude in a viewer who wept over a laundry detergent scene and a man standing in the rain with an umbrella, you have your most complete and honest verdict on what went wrong. They did not just fail to make me feel what they intended. They inverted it entirely. That is not a stumble. That is a structural collapse.

To be precise about something before closing: I am not opposed to fragile or grieving female leads. Dramaland has given us devastated women written with full agency and complete internal logic, women whose grief scale matches their loss, whose healing arc belongs to them rather than to whoever showed up with a camera and a carecore foundation. Song Ha-ran's depression was not one of those. It was unearned, disproportionate, and structurally inconsistent with every other character in her own drama who survived the same foundational loss and chose to keep moving. Her resolution, chasing a man who lied to her face across ten episodes because she saw his drawing on Instagram, is among the most unearned happy endings I have encountered. The woman who survived losing her parents at sixteen, who built a career, who runs a design team, has her entire arc hinge on needing a boy to complete her healing. In 2026. With Ha-yeong standing right next to her as proof that the writers knew exactly how to do this differently.

With all of that said, I do recommend In Your Radiant Season, with one very specific condition. Watch it the way I eventually learned to, with a working FFWD button and zero guilt about using it. Because the moment you grant yourself permission to sidestep Song Ha-ran and Sunwoo Chan's manufactured orbit entirely, something genuinely beautiful opens up. A grandmother who was proposed before surgery in one quiet sentence. A profound and supporting sisterly love between the three sisters. A middle sister who cried twice in twelve episodes and meant it both times. Two high school sweethearts charting an uncertain future with complete honesty. A younger sister trying to recreate her late mother's scents. A man in a blizzard finally asking the question he has been circling for fifteen years. Every one of these stories is told with full hearts, sharp writing, and endings that land exactly as earned as the journey that built them. The ensemble of this drama is worth your time and your tears. They just happen to share a show with a main couple that is worth neither.

Which brings me back to where I started, why are we still cheering for this in 2026?

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The killer was more romantic than my ex......................pectations

Fairly addictive plot even when for majority of the episodes only a normal relationship between newly weds is shown. But I guess its simplicity is the biggest selling point of this drama. There is a hint of cuteness in their marriage like the FL who is actually an assassin trained in martial arts; behaving cute-sy, fragile and hiding her wine cravings cause she thinks her husband(ML) is gonna judge her. The same way ML is hiding a similar identity and making excuses to avoid getting caught by his wife. Their chemistry felt like a gentle breeze.
Soon they find out about their hidden identities and that they are fighting on either side of the bridge for the exact opposite causes, but they figure things out pretty quickly.
I love how the ML character is shown to be shy, reserved , gentleman like yet he adores his wife's feisty, outspoken sassy and truculent nature.
Music and other things were below average but in the short segment drama series who cares about that stuff.

Overall it was an amazing watch.
Give it a try.

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Less "second-chance romance" and more about "closure"

I really liked the slow and quiet vibes of this drama, but it does it so much at the cost of stagnating the plot, and I think I ended up being really confused.

The first few episodes were really great; I think the leads have great chemistry and were really cute in the high school scenes. They were both quiet characters but had distinct personalities, so it was nice to see two little introverts fall in love. I also just liked that none of their family situations were spelled out for us — we learned about them, slowly, through dialogue.

After the leads met again, I still really liked their chemistry. They both did yearning really well, and once again, the quiet vibes really let us just wallow in their lingering feelings.

As the episodes went on, I STILL really liked the quietness, but it became pretty obvious that the plot was missing movement, and the vagueness started working against the drama's favor — it became really confusing what events had happened in the past for the leads to get to this point, and when they were fighting or upset I wasn't really sure why.

I'd gone into this one thinking it was going to be a second-chance romance, and I kept thinking that once they promised that they would try to be more accommodating and not let distance and timing be an obstacle. But then, in the last two episodes, the leads barely have ANY screentime together, and it became pretty obvious the show was going, instead, for the lesson "sometimes people just can't be together even if they love each other, but it's important to end things warmly."

So, spoilers for those who haven't seen this yet: it's NOT a happy ending. I don't mind this, honestly, but I think the show took far too long to decide what it was trying to do.

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here for the vibes

Overall: I'm giving this an indie rating bump. Airing 8? (not sure how they are going to wrap this up in 2 more episodes) about 5 minutes each. Airing on YouTube https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLntTK4N-Qw93GF8vageNABiU2xjXfSzLm&si=ehzjFFMBeABmtkck

What I Liked
- unique premise
- a character's hair color makes it clear which universe they are in

Room For Improvement
- episode 5 and 6 should have been in chronological plot order because I was very confused starting episode 5
- there isn't really a relationship in either universe to root for

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One Amazing Agent

This was a very fascinating series involving a paranormal theme. The script was well-crafted with the perfect blend of comedy and drama. The beginning of the series did a great job introducing the world and characters. It also did a great job grabbing my attention and making me care about all of the characters. The entire cast did a wonderful job with their roles. This also had amazing cinematography, special effects, and CGI.

Random Note:

There is a bittersweet ending with one of the characters

They were successful creating an ending that’s both a perfect ending to a series and keeping the door open for another season.

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Decent start gone meeh

Another K that starts off really good but gets cluttered and drowned out by boring monologs and just a whole lot of nothingness... What started as a na 8 maybe even 8,5 ended up preachy and kind of meeh making me feel like they were trying to teach me about diffrent kinds of love instead of showing me it and making me fall in love.

There are several interesing characters in this, no annoying over the top characters and I dare say I liked each character in their own way... That said our male lead was not bad, but kind of dull, giving me slight SLS as the other guy would have been so much more interesting leaving me rather wanting more... I also would have wanted to see more of the intern and the other couples as all of them were more interesting than the lead couple, a couple carried completely by HanJi Mins charm until she got lost in the lad of monologs.

That said its a decent binge, one that could hav been a lot better, still worth the watch just mind the draggy ending.

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A big funny family , wonderful nature and interesting customs

I watched because of Wang An Yu. I discovered him in The Last Immortal and because I could not decide which of his dramas to watch, I chose a TV Show, my first Chinese/Asian TV Show actually. And I was not disappointed.

A big family, with 3 big brothers, a big sister and 4 younger brothers, travels throughout China and Italy, discovering new places, nature, customs, civilization, and history. While learning new places and things, they act, dance, sing, play games, have fun, and cook together. The landscapes in China are wonderful, they make you want to visit them, the dishes/ the food attracts you too, the games are very funny, some even educational, and the relationship among the 8 is very pleasant.

I first watched it on YouTube, where the sound and subtitles were occasionally missing, then I rewatched it on WeTV with full sound and much more material (for VIP Members), yet still with occasional missing subtitles.
The second time I understood the games much better and laughed much more.

I liked Wang An Yu from before. After my first watch I discovered Xiao Bai (Jing Ting) and after the second watch Xiao Hu (Xian Xu). Although all 8 are actually okay, and each has their role within the family, these 3 are my favorites and Wang An Yu is the most talented and funny of all.
The first guests were not special, but Chen Zhe Yuan and especially William Chan were very good choices .
I preferred the part with China, but the one with Italy was also okay too.
A big like for the post-production team : the special effects were very funny and inspired.
A minus for the fact that subtitles are missing here and there and another minus because they usually cooked outside and in the cold and Gina Jin didn't tie her hair up when she helped with cooking.

Overall, a very enjoyable, relaxing, educational, entertaining and funny show.

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This drama reminded me why I love K-dramas.

Okay… this was honestly one of the best Korean dramas I’ve watched in the past two years.

After being disappointed by so many K-dramas lately, I found myself feeling disconnected from most of the newer releases. I haven’t truly felt this invested in a drama in a long time — probably not since the Lovely Runner era. But In Your Radiant Season completely changed that for me.

This drama was wonderful in every aspect. It made me feel so many emotions throughout the journey, and it genuinely warmed my heart watching all the different love stories unfold. There’s something so magical about the storytelling and the way the plot develops — it manages to keep you engaged while maintaining a beautiful, steady pace, which is honestly not easy to achieve.

Some people might say it’s slow-paced, but I personally think it moves at just the right pace. I especially love dramas like this that blend multiple genres so well — family, life, mystery, romance, strong secondary couples, and even a workplace setting that’s actually enjoyable to watch.

Now, I have to talk about Chan, played by Chae Jong-hyeop. He completely stole my heart back in 2022 with Love All Play, and this was such a great project choice for him, especially after some of his more recent works felt a bit mid. His character was so interesting — like a golden retriever on the outside, but carrying so much hidden pain inside. I really connected to that. And his acting… just incredible as always. Every scene was a pleasure to watch. His emotional scenes hit so hard, and don’t even get me started on that smile — one of the most heart-melting smiles in the industry.

And then there’s Lee Sung-kyung… I could honestly talk about her for hours. I’m completely obsessed with her. The role of Ha Ran suited her perfectly, and she delivered such a strong and beautiful performance, just like she always does.

And their chemistry… wow. Just wow.
What an amazing pairing. I’m so happy they got to work together on this project — it truly paid off.

On top of everything, the family relationships in this drama were done so beautifully. The bond between the sisters was portrayed perfectly, and I loved watching their relationship. Even the moments with the grandmother added so much warmth. It all made the experience even more heartwarming.

And of course, the sisters’ romantic storylines — Ha Dam and Yu Gyeom completely stole my heart. My little favorites 🥹

I think I’ve said it enough, but this drama was truly wonderful. I highly, highly recommend it — do yourself a favor and at least try the first episode. It’s absolutely worth it.

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Disappointing Season 2

PLOT: Our two heroes, supposed to be a couple, are now on two different film sets (with potential love rivals). Furthermore, Akafuji is too in love to even touch Hajime, who ends up having doubts.

### What was funny in Season 1 becomes annoying and tiresome: unspoken words, irrational behavior, overacting, crude plot twists, over-the-top internal monologues, etc.

=> Season 1 had potential, but Season 2 failed to deliver. What a waste!
****************************************************
S2 décevante

PLOT: Nos 2 héros, censés être en couple, sont maintenant ds 2 tournages différents (avec des love rivals potentiels). De plus, Akafuji est trop amoureux pr oser même toucher Hajime , qui finit par douter.

### Ce qui était comique ds la S1, devient agaçant et pénible : non-dits, comportements irrationnels, acting surjoué, twists grossiers, dialogues intérieurs over-the-top, etc.

=> La S1 avait du potentiel, la S2 ne l'a pas réussi. Dommage !

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It's cute!

This drama is something simple and stress-free to watch, which can be a great thing! I watched this drama for Park Sung-hoon (one of my favorite actors lol). I loved his character and grew to like all of them towards the end.

While I am not a huge fan of love triangles, I would argue that it actually is not a huge part of the plot. I expected her to make her choice in the finale episode, but she chose who she wanted in episode eight. Additionally, in my opinion, it was obvious who she was going to choose.

That being said, I do think the wedding could have been better. The two exchanged rings, which was a sweet moment. But I almost wish we had a time skip to their wedding. I think that would have been a better way to wrap up the show and bring all characters together a final time.

If you want a simple, sweet, and easy plot-wise story, watch this drama! I thought it was great!

Note: discard rewatch value rating (I have not rewatched the show from start to finish yet)

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Not Just Good .. It's The Best

The warmth, relaxation, and comfort this series gave was phenomenal. I can't even move on from it for now. I haven't felt this way for so long. It’s all thanks to the writer for such a beautiful story, and to the director for making it come to life in such a perfect way.

And last but not least, the main actors conveyed the characters' depth very well even though they are new faces with such little experience. I can assure you that no one else could have played Duang and Qin as TeeTee and Por did. They were literally living the characters and acted with so much depth. I can't even imagine 'Duang With You' without them. And yes, they weren't great in every aspect of their acting, yet they successfully delivered every feeling and meaning the characters were meant to tell us such as the warmth, freshness, emotional depth, the cheesy yet cute moments, and being light and fun but still serious enough when needed.

In my opinion, this is the best BL series for me in recent years. There are undeniably a lot of great BL series with exceptional qualities, from production to acting details, but I can guarantee that no other series was able to pull off the same vibes as 'Duang With You' did in the same genre. I just adore this series and every part of the crew.

Some Extra Notes For Nostalgia:
I even remember the first time I found the 'Duang With You' Pilot (yes, not the trailer) and how I was literally hooked and rooted for it all the way. I vividly remember that was the time when Khemjira ended and 'Duang With You' just popped up in my YouTube recommendations. The view counts weren't that impressive back then and I didn't even recognize TeeTee and Por from 'Your Sky' because I didn't follow it that much. In fact, DWY had some of the lowest views among all the other DMD lineups at the same time (I'm not sure if it was for 2025 or 2026). But I gave the pilot a try anyway and it was literally my cup of tea, and I was so determined to watch this series for sure. Even though Khemjira didn't live up to my expectations, it still had such great production so I had no doubt that DMD wouldn't fail with 'DWY' either. Now that the series has ended, it's all part of the journey. I'm so delighted to see 'Duang With You' receive all the love and attention it deserves. Maybe I’m exaggerating with all the words, but I am more than satisfied with the results DWY achieved. I’m just glad I was there from the very start. This is just a side note for some nostalgic feeling.

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