Completed
Please Come Back, Mister
7 people found this review helpful
Apr 19, 2016
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 10
Story 9.5
Acting/Cast 10
Music 8.5
Rewatch Value 9.5
As always, I will keep my comments short and sweet. Charming92 posted a wonderfully in depth review if you are interested in a "deep dive".

Come Back, Mister is a brilliantly acted, laugh out loud funny, and deeply heartfelt drama. I cannot say enough good things about it. It's difficult to pull off unique and original these days because there are SO many dramas that everything has just about been done at least once. Yet somehow Come Back, Mister succeeds in doing just that.

Rain has some of the best acting skills out there bar none (and he looks better than ever!). Oh Yeon-seo? O-M-G-! Spectacular performance! The chemistry between her character and Honey Lee's, was really something to behold especially in k-drama land! If this woman does not get recognized come award season, something is seriously amiss.

While I am anxiously awaiting for Yoon Shi Yoon's return in Mirror of the Witch, Come Back, Mister is the best drama of the year hands down for me thus far. : ) Highly recommend!

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Completed
The Imperial Doctress
19 people found this review helpful
Apr 18, 2016
50 of 50 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 9.0
Story 9.0
Acting/Cast 10
Music 7.5
Rewatch Value 7.0
Imperial Doctress was a great drama that showed you the hard life a woman had defying the odds in Imperial China. This drama covers nearly 22+ years of happenings in 50 episodes but each episode is totally enjoyable and keeps the watcher engaged and on baited breath. I do not normally watch dramas with more than 50 eps because I get bored easily but this one was perfect. I even had to Wikipedia the historical facts so I could find out how the story turned out!

The Good:
1. The main actors are tremendous! I started watching because I liked Wallace, but in the end I fell in love with Cecilia. They played the main characters perfectly portraying the chemistry and forbidden romantic tension between the emperor and the doctress. Although these actors were awesome, just like in any other drama some of the supporting cast got the side-eye.
2. In a long drama like this it is difficult to tell if days, months or years are passing, I liked that the drama gave hints to the timeline of how much time had passed so we wouldn’t be confused.
3. Overall, the story line was particularly thoughtfully written and didn’t stray too much from the main story of the happenings around the doctress. At every turn she was learning something new, meeting new people and being a total bad a@#.
4. I love a strong female lead character. This drama had one of the strongest female characters I have seen in a long time. Once she learned how to bat an eyelash and flirt a little she was unstoppable!
5. The character development was remarkable and well planned. I was so happy to see so many characters developing and having “life”
The Bad: Well… There isn’t much bad to the drama but in 50 episodes you find stuff wrong.
1. I HATED their lace front wigs, they didn’t match the hair colors for women and above all I saw clothes tags. smh. I couldn’t focus on what some of the characters were saying because of bad lace-mustaches… and don’t get me started on Essen’s drawn on eyebrows!! Hair and makeup should be ashamed, but the costumer was extraordinary.
2. Plot dragging- While the story line was good; there were some plot drags after ep 25 or so. The emperors temper tantrum would last way too long, or the empress’ despicable plotting would go on for way to long and I would be forced to jump ahead.
3. The evil stepmother. There were so many evil stepmother/evil women in this story I was sick of them. These women were overly evil, cunning and had poor excuses. I understand that this is historical based but the evil women in this were almost overwhelming.
Overall- this is worth the time! This has a unique somewhat happy ending but don't get your hopes high. If you like historical dramas with strong female characters, or if you just like strong female leads this one is for you!

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Apr 18, 2016
4 of 4 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 7.5
Story 8.5
Acting/Cast 8.0
Music 5.5
Rewatch Value 5.0
I only watched Adolescence Medley because one of my chingus recommended it to me since I wanted to watch a short drama before I did lots of revision for exams. Initially, I was hesitant because it didn't look very original and I wasn't familiar with any of the cast (besides Lee Jong Hyun, who played as Ah Yeong's brother). But it was surprising pleasant and cute. I quite enjoyed it, and although it wasn't the best short drama I've ever seen, it was worth the watch.

The plot of the story wasn't very original, like I already stated, but it's not completely cliche either. Bringing boxing into the story instead of using only fists for fights is an interesting touch, and I liked the concept. It brought the drama together a lot nicer as well. I'm not sure if I was the only one who experienced this while watching it, but I kinda like the idea of Ah Yeong ending up with Yeok Ho instead of Jeong Woo, but I still liked her with him as well. I don't know, their relationship seemed more pure and less awkward. But oh well. I can't escape the second-lead syndrome.

The acting in Adolescence Medley was also better decent. Like many people have also complained, I don't like how they changed actors for Jeong Woo's older self, while they didn't do that for anyone else, but both actors did a great job of their role. I have to say that the best acting definitely goes to Choi Tae Joon, who played Yeok Ho. He was so believable and lovable, I'm not surprised he's gotten bigger roles since then as well.

The soundtracks, however, could definitely do with improving. Although there was only about 4 tracks to listen to, the only good one was Running in the Sky by Huh Gak (also the song the band played at the competition). Every other track was very boring and didn't match the rhyme of the drama.

I probably won't rewatch Adolescence Medley because it's more of a one-time thing.

Overall, this short drama could do with a lot of work (especially in the music department), but it was quite well done for a 4-episode drama. I would recommend to anyone who likes cute romances in a school setting.

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Completed
Reply 1988
2 people found this review helpful
by SDS
Apr 18, 2016
20 of 20 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 10
Story 10
Acting/Cast 10
Music 10
Rewatch Value 10
It was a very very very very very good drama. But the drama could've been perfect if they showed us how ** and DS got married. How did they announced they're dating?
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Completed
Piano
30 people found this review helpful
by Malu
Apr 18, 2016
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 1
Overall 9.5
Story 9.5
Acting/Cast 10
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 7.0
If you are hesitating to see this old drama, I beg you to give it a try. I honestly have no words to express how amazing it is. I guess not in vain it surpassed the barrier of 40 rating points.

Story:
The story is simply stunning, exceptionally well written, well-constructed characters with very human and powerful conflicts. It's different from other kdramas because, although there is a forbidden romance, what is really striking is how it shows the strength of family ties through many souls who can't find happiness because they are tormented by the past (and here, the past is represented by the piano).

To recapitulate. An incompetent former mobster, who has just found out that he has a son, marries a single mother. A few years later when the woman dies in an accident, the stepchildren hate as much the stepfather as one of them ignores him and the other is given to low life almost like revenge.
Thus in this story no one is willing to forgive: the stepchildren don't forgive the stepfather, the stepfather not forgive himself and the stepfather's son can't forgive himself for loving his stepsister. The only one who seems to be happy is the last daughter, who while filled with light the family, at the same time turns out to be the guilty to make the lovers' romance impossible.

Acting:
Absolutely outstanding performances. If I had never seen this drama, I would never have known that Korea also has its Al Pacino and it's called Jo Jae Hyeon. I take my hat off to his talent. On the other hand, I had never seen any work of Jo In Sung, but surely if you see this drama you will never see him in the same way. Most of the time he is covered with wounds and blood, hating his life and his stepfather. His performance is just extraordinary.

OST:
I started watching this show because I listened "Spring days of my life" by CAN, one of the most memorable songs in Korea. In the videoclip they showed scenes of the drama and so I decided to see it. Apart from this popular song, the OST is really very original.

To end. This drama is full of homesickness and teaches us that we never reach happiness without forgiveness. The stepson never understand the love and good intentions of his clumsy stepfather until he discovers how much he can love a child that is not his. Beautiful reflection and sample of how life turns on a dime. Deep message that leaves you thinking how ironic we are as human beings. Furthermore, most likely you'll end up with a fervent desire to learn to play piano.

1000% recommended!

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Completed
Signal
6 people found this review helpful
Apr 18, 2016
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 10
Story 10
Acting/Cast 10
Music 10
Rewatch Value 10
I always thought of writing my first review on a 'worthy' drama. When I first looked into the MDL profile of this drama, only around 23 people watching it and the ratings were a bit shabby. As per its genre, the poster, the name of this drama, all gave me a mystical vibe, that's why I chose to watch right while it was airing.
The fateful first episode aired and I was like- BOOM!!! What did I just watch? What was that mysterious feeling I was having over this drama? This was the very thing I have been waiting for... I instantly forgot Sherlock, forgot True Detective, this is the ultimate MYSTERY DRAMA!!! The detectives here were simple people, nothing extraordinary like Sherlock Holmes but the level of sincerity they showed during solving each cases, made them fantastic and more realistic. A drama aimed at solving REAL cold cases was purely ingenious, that too by mixing a bit of a supernatural element. Forget the idea of it being a remake, it wasn't anything like Memories of Murder, it was purely THRILLS and SPILLS. When it was airing, I remember waiting anxiously each week for those blessed 2 episode, the wait seemed like forever.
When the drama ended, I was crying, not because it ended so quickly (being just 16 episodes) but because of having fortune of being able to experience such a drama- the acting, the plot, cinematography all were in SPOT and also fortunate enough to have the unique of waiting for new episodes to air (while it was still airing).
I know many fans won't be willing to have a second season fearing they might ruin the "impression" but I truly wish that if the directors can pull off such a great drama at first go, they won't be looking into dampening their hard work at the second season. So people, wait no longer and get into the experience of this spectacular drama. :)

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Completed
Descendants of the Sun
6 people found this review helpful
by Amelia
Apr 18, 2016
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 9.5
Story 9.5
Acting/Cast 10
Music 10
Rewatch Value 9.0
This show was so great! Everything about it was great: it was funny at times but also really sad but also had interesting themes and topics and the plot was actually pretty decent. However, the last two episodes were horrible. The 16th episode was a trainwreck. Between the attempt at wrapping up the story line but including the huge deus ex macchina (it was sloppily completed), the bits of comedy, and the extremly strange wall breaking ending, it was a general mess. I wish it wasn't ended like this. I'm highly disappointed by the conclusion to this amazing drama.

Definitely worth watching though.

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Completed
Descendants of the Sun
17 people found this review helpful
Apr 18, 2016
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 10
Story 10
Acting/Cast 10
Music 10
Rewatch Value 10
IS THIS DRAMA OVERRATED?!
Been waiting for this drama every since I heard that Song Joong Ki came back from the military last year and was accepted to do this drama. In August - September 2015 I didn't have much expectation for this drama since they just announced that its gonna be film soon. So the info about the plot was vague and unclear back then. So my expectation for it wasn't big. But in 2016 when the drama started to air in February and throughout March. Hearing that the rating was super high and the drama was a huge hit makes me happy cuz after all Song Joong Ki and Song Hye Kyo is starting in the drama. Then I watch the trailer for it and it was super good.
I don't know if it's just me or maybe others out there are the same but I hate watching Korean Drama right after it come out cuz u have to wait every single week for new episodes and it's a pain. So for every single drama that I watch I always wait for all the episode to come out and finish the whole drama in like 2-3 days.
So it's the same for this drama too. The only different is that since that drama was so huge every since its was air it's hard to keep my expectation on the same level for 2 months. So it keep rising and rising.
One thing for sure is that this drama is not overrate. Since I think everyone have such high expectations for this drama and since the bar is too high. For me is the same, my expectation for this drama is SUPER high unlike others drama so when Descendants of The Sun meet my expectation I was super happy and this drama was amazing but I kinna loss the surprising element since I already expected to be good. Because in my opinion when people have low expectation for something and it turn out good they get surprise and like it. But since the super huge expectation for this drama is already there, most people enjoy it but doesn't not get surprise. And I think losing that surprise element make some people think that this drama was overrated. The bar was raise so high for this drama Worlwide and since it definitely meet and went over the bar people think it's overrated.
Over all the casting was SUPER. And the actors did an amazing jobs bring all the emotion of their character out. I really like their natural gesture forward one another. I like to watch drama that doesn't seem like the actors r trying too hard to act. And this one does a wonderful job!!! Song Joong Ki fighting!! Can't wait to see u in a new drama.

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Ongoing 18/18
Bromance
3 people found this review helpful
Apr 18, 2016
18 of 18 episodes seen
Ongoing 0
Overall 9.0
Story 9.0
Acting/Cast 10
Music 9.0
Rewatch Value 9.0
A quirky romantic comedy that keeps you guessing through each and every episode. What makes this drama a winner is the exceptional acting of the female lead that immerses herself into the role of being a "male" and a "brother" to the male lead. However, as each episode progresses you see her as a female wolf in sheep clothing circling and capturing her prey. As a man she is an alpha female and you love the interactions between the two. Unfortunately the secondary leads are too weak to add to the enjoyment and pull down the rating. You also find yourself debating with yourself which is fun in itself.
The does he or doesn't he question is the fun of watching. I would definitely recommend with some fast forward moments and some skipping.

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Completed
Page Turner
1 people found this review helpful
Apr 18, 2016
3 of 3 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 8.0
Story 8.0
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 5.5
I really liked the show, because of the very good actors for the main leads...
I really like the character of Kim Soo Hyun :) And theres comedy and, in fact, there's romance too. I wouldn't say everything I saw was friendship.

But I didn't like that there wasn't one more scene at the end. Because sure she will find out about that kind of exchange... .:D And then there'll be trouble.
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Completed
Jang Young Shil
2 people found this review helpful
by HasCo3
Apr 18, 2016
24 of 24 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 8.5
Story 8.5
Acting/Cast 10
Music 7.0
Rewatch Value 5.0
I started watching this drama because of the cast mainly and i got to tell you it didn't disappoint me at all.

So let me start with the story, well the plot in this drama is one of kind because instead of adding action elements to the political part this drama has added a scientific element and i have to be careful when i say scientific element because in big part of the drama it's the main thing.

while the scientific part was brilliant and you can see how much effort the directors and the producers put in it the political part was kind of flat, even boring sometimes but honestly this didn't bother me that much, i still enjoyed the story and the plot plus the comedy moments in the drama were really funny ^_^.


How about the casting, well as i said before i watched the drama because of the cast and honestly all the actors were great starting with song il gook, kim sang kyung, lee ji hoon and my personal favorite kim do hyun who did a great job as lee chun and made me really like this character a lot.


Going to the music i have to say it was really nothing special, there's no Osts in this drama so don't expect much anyways there were some tracks which i really liked when they were played and overall the musical arrangement was good.


In the end i want to say that i really liked this drama, it wasn't perfect or epic but it was really fun and amusing to watch.

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Completed
Descendants of the Sun
546 people found this review helpful
Apr 17, 2016
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 35
Overall 6.5
Story 4.0
Acting/Cast 8.0
Music 6.5
Rewatch Value 5.0
This review may contain spoilers
When I think of Descendants of the Sun, the first thing that comes to mind is cheese! This show is extra cheesy, and honestly I love cheese! Unfortunately, I am also kinda lactose intolerant, so after eating a certain amount of cheese I am left with regrets, and a stomach ache. That's exactly how I felt after watching the last episode. *Cue the rage of a thousand fans*

I think the biggest problem I had with this show is that it tried to mix in three genres without a coherent plot to bring it all together. It's part rom-com, part military drama, and part hospital sitcom. The love story is probably what makes most people excited about the show, the military scenes are a cool action bonus, and the hospital sitcom keeps things from getting too heavy and depressing. Unfortunately, because the script is so weak, I was too disconnected to keep caring about the show, and it started to become very boring. I kept watching for one reason only Song Joong Ki.

Song Joong Ki is oddly cast in a lot of ways. He has a super baby face, and boyish charm, but still managed to be a believable bad@ss soldier. I would easily rate his character/acting 10. Not only did I develop a 16 episode crush on him, but I really cared about his assignments. The show would have been a million times more enjoyable for me if they just let his story be the center, or rather, the bromance between Shi Jin, and Dae Yeong. Their relationship was my favorite part of the show. Their characters didn't have much depth individually, but their bromance was solid.

There is also great chemistry between Song Joong Ki, and Song Hye Kyo, but not much to their overall story. Every moment with them is exactly the same - they flirt, they separate, she gets mad, he's extra charming, they flirt again. Early on, I really started to dislike Dr. Kang Mo Yeon, which made it hard to sympathize with her anger at him. Eventually I started to like her a little more, but no matter how cute their flirty scenes, or how strangely amusing their brink of death dating was, their story is still repetitive, which gets old quick.

The 2nd leads also had a romance, that had a few more obstacles thrown their way (parents, distance, almost dying), but was just as repetitive - fight, confess, spontaneous affection, fight. It's like each story just filled in the same blanks for each episode. It was actually the older minor characters who had the most interesting love story. I thought Seo Jeong Yeon and Lee Seung Jun were really cute, and deserve an honorable mention.

The supporting cast was pretty good. Some were much better than others, and some were almost completely useless (the head of the hospital... that ditzy doctor... ugh). I had to bring the acting down to an 8 because of that, but the cast is really the only good thing this show has going for it.

What was the point of this drama? At first it seemed like a way to show how hard it can be to date a soldier, but because the show didn't take itself seriously, it was hard for me to take that too seriously, even with that emotionally manipulative 15th episode. The conflicts at the hospital were ridiculous, and mostly filler. The best episodes took place when the medical staff went overseas to Urk, but once that was over, the show seemed to have no clue what to do. Did they run out of travel budget, so they decided to just wing it for the last episodes? Even in Urk, the plot was super predictable, and totally unrealistic, but it was still very entertaining (yummy Cheese!!!). When they returned, my feelings about the show went downhill, and I was no longer excited about watching the next episode. Then suddenly things got very serious out of nowhere, only to end with the silliest (and worst) last episode I've ever seen in any drama (yes THE worst!). I wonder if episode 15 was the original ending, and then it was changed last minute to avoid a backlash. That's the only thing I can think of as an explanation for why it was so bad.

The music? meh. The scenery? epic. The english spoken? decent. The shirtless men running? Daebak.

Would I rewatch? Not unless someone makes an edited version of only scenes with Song Joong Ki.

Overall It's like they rolled a kdrama dice and just threw stuff in at random to get people hooked, then they just focused on all the ways they can successfully incorporate product placement. Maybe that was the real point, to see how many ads they could sneak into a drama.

Even though there were moments I really enjoyed, I can't recommend this drama, especially after sitting through that ending. I wish they cut it down to 10 episodes, removing all the unnecessary fluff, and sneaky ads (subway, hyundai, make up, coffee, snacks, hiking equipments, travel apps... umm... except for the self driving car, because that scene was actually cool ) then maybe it would be a drama worthy of all the hype.

Or maybe you can treat my review like lactaid. Now that you know what to expect, maybe you can better digest all the cheese this show has to offer.

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Completed
Descendants of the Sun
5 people found this review helpful
Apr 17, 2016
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 10
Story 10
Acting/Cast 10
Music 10
Rewatch Value 10
Yes I rated everything with a ten but I have a reason because everything in this Drama was just perfect. It was well produced, the cast was the creme de la creme and the music was fantastic. I am still listening to the OST every now and then.
I really enjoyed watching DotS after waiting two months for it and I cried, laughed and felt with the characers in the Drama.
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Completed
Please Come Back, Mister
3 people found this review helpful
Apr 17, 2016
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 9.0
Story 9.0
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 8.0
This drama has got to be in my top favorite dramas of the season. I highly recommend giving this a watch because how great the story was and all the funny/ cute moments. The writers really did a great job on their twist of a body switch. Overall i think it was very well planned out and a must watch drama of the season.
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Completed
Beautiful Secret
23 people found this review helpful
by Richel
Apr 17, 2016
39 of 39 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 4.0
Story 4.0
Acting/Cast 7.5
Music 5.0
Rewatch Value 2.0
As someone who's grown up in a Chinese family, I've watched my fair share of mainland dramas. For me, the newer ones generally fall into one of two categories: nostalgia or just-plain-frustrating. I would put the second label all over this drama.



Let me first say that how this drama was marketed made it incredibly misleading. The summary and the promotional posters make it appear as if this is a show that's at least partially about our main protagonist achieving stardom despite all the obstacles that can get in her way. Spoiler alert (one for potential viewers' benefit): it's not. The plot is instead a disgusting mess of irrational decisions made by barely-likable characters that had me mentally writhing in my seat for 40 minutes at a time. There are predictable stories that can still be amusing to watch, and then there are stories like this that are just outright maddening. This whole show I was waiting for the promised moment when our main character would show her talent to the world and I was brutally disappointed.



The cast was possibly the least of all the evils that this show had to offer, and I ask that people take this even with a grain of salt. The reason for that is because no matter how in-character these actors were, the characters they played all were so unbearable by the end of this show that I wondered what on earth was going on in the writers' heads. Take for example Victoria's character, Mei Li. The drama shoves her in your face as the innocent, selfless, embodiment-of-kindness protagonist who, when she does something wrong, was righteous in doing so. Over the period of 40 episodes, this gets old pretty fast and a previously likable character becomes someone so unrealistically depicted that I was left astounded.



Admittedly, the only thing that saved this show from bombing even more than it did with me was the acting. Especially with some of the older actors, they portrayed some of the more emotional parts with enough persuasion that I did feel some sympathy.



-----



tl;dr: This show was a combination of irritation and crying from boredom.

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