Reviews

I want back the three months of my life that I wasted on watching this series!

I don't even know where to begin with this series. I decided to give this show a watch because of two reasons. One—the synopsis sounded interesting, and I wanted to see how this story would be translated. Two—one of the main characters, Kad Ploysupa, I knew from watching him in supporting roles from shows that were produced from Star Hunter Entertainment. I liked him in those supporting roles, so I decided to support him in his first main role here. I have now come and regretted it.

I have gotten some form of emotions from other series that I have rated low (even the 1's), be it anger, disappointment, confusion, or disgust—some kind of emotion. That was not the case for this series. I felt that the first two to three episodes were okayish, with me having this series between a 6 to 6.5. I believe that was due to the fact that Kad's character was really, really carrying the show then. And then afterwards...I just felt that watching this series became a chore for me, as I just felt nothing for any of the characters, be they main or supporting. Oh, I'm supposed to feel sorry for Elyes as the reason he has become a man wh@#e is because he was cheated on by his ex-boyfriend. I'm supposed to feel sorry for Elyes' ex-boyfriend, Run, because he went with Fei Long, who is Elyes' business enemy, because he gave him an ultimatum to be with him so that Run's brother will be safe in prison?! (Why the frick on the frack didn't you ask Elyes for help with that? Is it because Fei Long has a connection to the mafia, so that made him the better choice? Oh, no, it's because you guys were sweethearts, and you still love him even though you left him due to whatever circumstances and started dating Elyes. I call bulls@#t.

And, please, from what I interpreted, Run and Fei Long's relationship to how it was presented to me—that's not love. That's Stockholm Syndrome. Hey, I'm not saying that they weren't in love before—just what I saw with my own eyes watching this series. What was presented to me was Stockholm Syndrome. Also, why in this day and age are we trying to make one person jealous of another one due to some past girlfriend coming back in the person's life? We don't need that—we are past that, and I felt that part was pointless (and yes, I know she was there to tell Pat about the other bad guy whose name is eluding me right now for him to know that that person is not a nice guy and the person who's working with them—another name that is eluding me—is having relations with said bad person). And not only this, but the evil people kind of suck and just made me not care and be invested in this series. Everyone and everything sucked. This series gave me the feelings of nothingness due to the blandness that was seen in their acting skills, as well as how the storyline was portrayed. And no amount of 'eye candy' or smexy scenes in the last episode is going to save this show for me or make me give it a higher score than one.

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I thought this would be one of those decent Noona romances the Japanese are usually adept at producing, but this isn’t the case with this drama. I would say that it was lackluster at best and uninspired at its worst.

First, there was the unconvincing romance between two leads who were more awkward with each other than being comfortable. One has that stiff upper bang, and the other with round fish-eyes who seem to be surprised that some people could be nice because she’s been dealing with lechers at her work place all day, when there’s really only one in particular. Tomoko goes along with the flow, and somehow accepts that this guy Ryohei, who did not seem so interested in getting into her pants, but actually is, but was just not so obvious about it. She could not have fathomed that this guy, who seems to be a “dumb delinquent,” could actually be harmless.

Then suddenly, Ryohei appears everywhere she is, from meeting her friends to meeting her parents. And even claiming to be so-called “friends” with the guy who had been trying to date Tomoko? That was really a stretch for me, especially when he did not even have the decency to leave when Koki was trying to have a personal conversation with his grandmother. Isn’t he just being nosy or oblivious? Then the revelation that came out of the left field, as if the writers could not come up with a convincing excuse to write him out of the love equation.  

Anyway, I thought the drama could have been better with more developed characters and conflicts, but I understand it may have been limited by time and length. They could have just focused on one or two issues instead of trying to tackle so many things in one already-short show. It’s like trying to make a salad with 10 different things but not mixing it well. I’m pretty sure 3 or 4 ingredients would have been enough, and the same applies here.

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Lovely Runner Review

Do you know a series about a girl that loves a boy so much, she goes to the past multiple times just to save the boy she loves? Well that series is called lovely runner! Its my favorite K-drama right now! This series was directed by Yoon Jong-Ho and this series came out at April 8 2024. The actors that played in this movie are Byeon woo-seok and Kim Hye-yoon, these are the actors that played as Sunjae and Im sol, they are also amazing actors! And the genre of this series is romance and fantasy.

In my opinion lovely runner is the best and most popular K-drama this year. I also have 2 reasons and evidence for this, first, all the actors are really good and actually can act well, if you watch the series yourself you can see how they can act well as the character they are playing and all their expressions fit the scene. Second, The movie is actually very popular and the actors are popular too, one of the reasons are lovely runner was top 1 in viki for 6 weeks! That’s a long time isn’t it? In addition to this, the actors are also popular, one of the evidence for this is Byeon woo-seok became the top Korean celebrity in brand rankings and also won the Outstanding Asian Star Korea Popularity Award (Male) at the 19th Seoul Drama Award in 2024. Lovely runner also had another version, the webtoon version, however I didn’t read that version of lovely runner so I personally feel that lovely runner series is better.

Lovely runner seems like just a normal romance K-drama, but it also has something we can learn from it. Firstly from this series we can learn how God already planned our life, like how Im sol erased her and sunjaes memories together but they still ended up together, that’s how God already planned them to be together, a bible verse for this is Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future". It means how God already planned everyones life before they were born, like how Im sol and sunjae are still together after everything that happened, its fate. Second, we should trust in God for everything since he already planned our life, our future, we have to trust in God because everything he plans for us is good and is whats best for us.

To sum up, If you want to watch a romance movie with great actors you should watch lovely runner!! I would give this a 5 out of 5 stars because I really think this movie is interesting and fun to watch, I just love everything about this series and I really recommend this series, try to watch it!!

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"Courage. Love. Trust. Hope."

"Beppin-san" is my 25th asadora [Have I really watched that many of these lol]. This is a very solid asadora, though I have some issues with the plot which I will get into later on. "Beppin-san" reminds me of two other asadoras, "Ohisama" and "Carnation." Coincidentally, Nagayama Kento and Kora Kengo both appeared in "Ohisama" but in opposite roles. The lovely Charlotte Kate Fox from "Massan" also has a small role in "Beppin-san."

First, let's address the heroine, aka Bando Sumire (played by Yoshine Kyoko). She's a very understated heroine, being quiet and absent-minded. Surprisingly, the attention isn't always on her though this is still very much her story. It's interesting to me because it shows that a "normal" person is the main character of their own story. Sumire, however, can be assertive when she needs to be and becomes self-confident over time. Another interesting part of her character is that she had a relatively sheltered childhood, which makes her a bit of a naive "ojou-sama". I really enjoyed watching her grow as a character.

"Beppin-san" has some wonderful side characters, particularly Sumire's lifelong friends: Akemi (Tanimura Mitsuki), Ryoko (Momota Kanako), and Kimie (Tsuchimura Kaho). Each girl goes through their own character development and I really love the friendship between these girls and Sumire. My next favorite character is Norio-san (Nagayama Kento), Sumire's husband. Their relationship is really sweet, but also shows that marriage isn't all smooth-sailing. You have to make an effort to understand each other. And then the next best character is Eisuke-san (Matsushita Yuya). His arc is surprisingly poignant and made me cry on more than one occasion. Honorable mentions go to Sumire's father (Namase Katsuhisa) and mother (Kanno Miho, also narrator); her older sister Yuri (Renbutsu Misako), her daughter Sakura (Igashira Manami); and Kimie's son Kentaro (Furukawa Yuki). And really there's so many more~

Now on to my issues with the plot. The first three weeks of "Beppin-san" kind of rush through Sumire's childhood, marriage, and then giving birth. It's a bit of a whiplash moment, though I realize it's because they wanted to get to and then through WWII relatively quickly. I liked the pacing of the drama much better after the war. Halfway through, there's a time-skip to Sakura's teenage years. Honestly, I really hated this plot. Mostly because it dragsss on for four weeks worth of episodes. I actually understand Sakura's feelings, having a workaholic mother myself. However, it some point it just becomes too much and the plot felt like a chore to watch. Thankfully, Sakura becomes a much better character afterwards. She's assertive without being bratty. In the grand scheme of the asadora, I think these are minor complaints and overall it's very good.

I really liked "Beppin-san", despite said minor complaints. It has a really cohesive theme of friendship and parenthood. I love the whole four leaf clover meaning "Courage. Love. Trust. Hope." Sumire and her friends each represent these traits and I think that's why their children's clothing company works so well. On the technical side, it was interesting seeing every step of the company's growth. It's also ironic that Sumire and her friends aren't ambitious and really just go with the flow. If you liked the asadoras "Ohisama," "Carnation," "Gochisosan," or "Toto Nee-chan," I think you'll really like "Beppin-san."

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A must watch drama

I don't typically write reviews, but if you're reading this, do yourself a favor and go watch Crazy Love—this underrated gem is a must-watch. Everything about it, from the storyline to the cast and even the romance, is top-notch.

The plot itself is incredibly unique, making it stand out from many other K-dramas. It's not your typical love story; the twists and turns keep you hooked from start to finish. I was genuinely invested in the characters, and I found myself eagerly waiting for each new episode. The story blends humor, drama, and romance in such a way that it feels fresh and exciting, without being predictable.

The cast truly brings the story to life. The performances are stellar, and each character is well-developed. They make you care deeply about their individual journeys, whether it's the main couple's whirlwind romance or the more secondary storylines. There’s a real emotional depth to the characters, and you’ll find yourself rooting for them from beginning to end.

The romance is one of the highlights of the show. It's heartfelt and intense, with great chemistry between the leads. What makes it even more interesting is the balance of drama and sweet moments that make you swoon. It's the kind of romance that feels both thrilling and touching, pulling you in emotionally.

All in all, Crazy Love is a K-drama that deserves way more recognition. If you're looking for something unique, with a great plot and memorable characters, give this one a chance—you won’t regret it!

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Lovely quick binge

The episodes are very short, which makes the show an easy binge. The short eps definitely let to a more brisk pace and maybe less depth to be explored along the way, but it still managed to be of a quality level only slightly below a full length drama, and still a large step above other "short ep web dramas".

The lead, Gia Ge, is absolutely fantastic in this. The camera loves her and her gaze can just hold its attention in a very powerful way. The plot has beats of romance, revenge, melancholy, beauty; and the show handles each with vividness and care and emphatic emotional impact.

The only criticisms I have are there were a few plotlines that get kind of dropped, or at least not as resolved as I would have liked. But everything still made sense in the end, so it was mostly just the short length not having a lot of room for more, and the writing decisions to be only... somewhat bloodthirsty ;)

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I can KIND OF see the effort but..

I’m convinced there‘s is a good story buried somewhere inside this garbage mess but it’s barely visible. This series made very little sense.
It‘d be too long to go through every little and big thing in detail so I’m not gonna do it but to put it bluntly: nothing made much sense, including characters’ decisions and accusations. Even the first half of the show made barely any sense but the second half was complete idiocy. This show had several scriptwriters how did nobody catch the nonsense?

The first episode was actually quite good (good enough) but onward ep 2 it got exponentially worse until in culminated in full-on ludicrousness.
Absurdity of the plot aside, the show also struggled with extreme tonal inconsistencies. It didn’t know what it wanted to be, comedic or dark. It’s possible to carefully combine both genre elements but you have to know what you’re doing and the writers here were not up to the task. The whiplash I got from the clumsy, radical tonal shifts was insane. One minute it’s a serious scene and the next minute it’s suddenly turned into badly written gag comedy. Bizarre!
Some of the scenes were painfully overdramatic and were portrayed in a way that made them unintentionally hilarious. It felt like they wanted to make certain scenes look really cool but ended up making them look ridiculous instead. The direction felt incredibly amateurish and I know that the director isn’t an amateur but he obviously didn’t know jack about directing action scenes and it shows.
Now that we’re on the topic, this is not an action drama, it’s not a romance drama either, it’s an awkward and weirdly paced family drama with some clumsily sprinkled action and romance scenes in between. Oftentimes the dialogue was painful to listen to and most of the time it was on the nose with a lot of telling (AND sometimes showing). It genuinely felt like the dialogue was taken out of a bad shonen anime word for word.

Now onto the romance:
There was so little attempt at romance that I didn’t even care if Jack and Joker ended up together. The romantic chemistry and interactions were nurtured so little that I didn’t care to be invested in their supposed romantic attachment.
I don’t mean that we need to see them confess and/or make out with each other every other episode bc romantic chemistry and build up can be shown in a lot of different ways that don’t have to include sexual intimacy but you gotta have at least some build up, no?
Where are the stares, the slight flirtation? Sometimes it’s briefly there but then it abruptly stops, removing any possibility of a smooth romantic build up. It’s really awkward and at the end doesn’t amount to much. I’ve seen many types of bromances (Western and Asian) that have so much more romantic and sexual tension between characters where they barely even touch each other and this is supposed to be a BL but the romantic tension barely exists here. You can’t just haphazardly throw in a couple of romantic scenes in between all the plot and call it a romance. There’s an art to properly weaving romantic subplot into the main plot of a different genre. Talking about other BLs, Manner of Death did it right, Kinnporsche did it right, even Triage did it right and that one had barely any romance in it.

War is a good actor and Yin def. has improved but in this drama their acting felt slightly off kilter for a lot of the time. I might be wrong but it seems to me that the people heavily involved in this project, YinWar included, didn’t know what exactly they wanted it to be, weren’t sure enough in the direction of this story/plot/theme and that’s why almost everything felt wonky about it and the project itself felt unstable on its legs.

One last thing I want to mention about the plot is that it wanted to showcase how poor people were being taken advatage of by rich people but the poor people didn’t make the greatest decisions either. One example that really jumped out at me was the bit about Jack‘s parents.
They committed suicide bc they thought that their life insurance would be able to pay off their debt but bc they didn’t care to properly read the contract it didn’t work the way they expected it to (bc insurance doesn’t pay in cases of suicide, which was written in the contract!).
Why did they make Jack‘s parents seem foolish by making them not read the full contract? Why not make it a legal loop or make it some other type of refusal to pay out the insurance? Why not lean into the obvious unfairness and scam of the society that openly prefers and protects rich over poor? This was a missed opportunity and made Jack’s parents seem rather stupid instead.
Anyway, my criticism notwithstanding I do appreciate the idea and the grind. I see the effort behind the show and I respect the effort. I know that I’m in the minority in my dislike of the show and I think it’s a good thing that many other people liked it. I do wish for Yin and War to succeed in the entertainment business and I’m sure Jack and Joker will contribute to their future success, I just hope that their next project will be more to my liking.

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IT WAS OKAY

Let me just break down the couples :
1. The main couple ML (Kim Ji Uk/Kim Young Dae) and FL (Shin Min Ah/Son Hae Yeong)
2. The second couple (Lee Sang Yi/Bok Gyu Hyun)and (Han Ji Hyun/Nam Ja Yeon / Yeon Bo Ra)
3. The third couple that shouldn't have existed (Joo Min Kyung/Cha Hui Seong [Hae Yeong's friend]) and (Heo Jung Min/Yun Tae Hyung)
4. I don't know if they are a ship or not but they are married so 4 couple (Jeon Hye Won/Kwon I Rin [U Jae’s wife]) and (Go Wook/An U Jae)

Let me start with the MC first I had one problem it's the fraud marriage I felt like they were trying to brainwash women into doing marriage fraud to get the advantages that come with becoming married such as a paid honeymoon/ hotel furthermore trying to make it seem like its a good idea to do a fraud marriage which is not

I have no problem with the 2nd couple it was actually the one ship that I don't mind.

I have a lot of problems with the 3rd couple like really what were the scriptwriters thinking paring up Cha Hui Seong and Yun Tae Hyung back up together it was one of the worst couple. 1st off I don't have any problem with the actor or actress of the characters I just hate the characters that they acted. One minute they in a relationship next break up and then they are in an idk what phase like honestly the character Cha Hui Seong should have stayed the single mom instead of giving a chance to Yun Tae Hyung again. IDK if they are trying to brainwash women into thinking that they need a man/father to raise a child in Korea or some shit; lets be real there is nothing wrong with a single mother can creators normalize single mother troupe it's not that hard to do. Like bruh normalize breaking up with wishy-washy guys.

Now on to the 4th couple oh dear god I don't know why the creators made the character Kwon I Rin forgive An U Jae; HOnestly, An U Jae should have never been forgiven because he cheated on both Kwon I Rin and FL (Shin Min Ah/Son Hae Yeong) IDK know why they gloss over that. Also once again felt like they were trying to brainwash women to stay with trash like really; feels like Kwon I Rin had to forgive that cheater because he was her husband or some shit like that.

I will repeat this once again I have no hate towards any actors or actresses I just hate some of the characters that is all. I really wish the 3rd and 4th couple had never existed because they don't even feel like couple feel like the woman characters were forced to be in a relationship with the male characters in both the 3rd and 4th couple. I hate how they ended the 3rd and 4th couple honestly the 3rd couple should have broken up and Cha Hui Seong never forgive Yun Tae Hyung as for the 4th couple they should have been fucking divorce . I don't understand why the character Kwon I Rin was still married to that trash An U Jae also Kwon I Rin had the upper hand because she is more financially stable than that trash husband she has,

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BROMANCE or ROMANCE?! Absolutely loved it!

If you’re thinking whether to watch this series or not. PLEASE DO WATCH IT! This is by far the best drama from GMMTV this year. It felt like I was watching censored chinese bl drama lol with the amount of 'friend' love confessions and proposals that we got from Shin and Saint. The guys even say 'I love yous' at the end before cringing together lmao! Honestly love this new couple!

I do admit I had to be patient for the first two episodes but later the plot and story picked up really well and I was hooked on the series!
The casting was perfect! Both teachers Miss Jan and Mr Sung were great! Thats how all teachers should be tbh!
I can't think of anybody else playing Shin and Saint apart from Nani and Sky. These guys were fantastic with their roles. And our adorable Chedjan played by Mark Pukin was the best side character/angel boy anyone could ask for!
What I LOVED about this series was that all characters, MLs, side characters, everyone had good screentime and a lovely growth arc. We have Ken turning into a good boy, we have Shin finally being close to forgiving Saint for hurting him and abandoning him, we have Saint learning to take responsibility for his actions, we have Chadjen breaking out of his shell and making new friends, we have Peeta and Eve growing closer after their fights, we have the teachers getting better at understanding their students and not trying to judge them from first meetings. We have Saint's dad being the best parent, the principal and Ken's dad turning over a new leaf.

For me this series had everything, from love, bromance, friendship, hate, revenge, fights, drugs, gang war and more! And the directors and writers did a wonderful job with bringing on complex emotions and dialogues into the play.
And I have to say that Nani and Sky have become my new fav couple. Nani with his 'eye-acting' was fabulous. I don’t know how this guy can look so pretty while crying and being in pain. I only knew Nani as MJ from F4 and now Nani as Shin was something totally different! This guy CAN act and act he did!
Saint our cute big puppy with a gummy smile trying to make up to his friend for betraying him! Sky was very good with his role, and I'm so happy these guys are getting more recognition.
Waiting on the new 'WU' series! I'm sure it's gonna be wonderful!

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Seo Dong-jae's long con

Dong-jae, the Good or the Bastard is an outstanding first chapter about the journey of redemption of one of tvN’s favourite and most loveable, crafty characters.

Spinoffs can be a tricky business, especially when it’s centred around one character and all the others that you got to know and love don’t appear in the new show. But this kdrama it’s not only a great continuation but also an excellent stand alone, thanks a smart and dynamic script. The script writer also makes it a point to expand the world we all got to know in the first season of tvN’s Stranger, build conflicts and opportunities for character development, all with incredible resolution.

On the technical aspect, the score is fun and dark. A mix of genres with a milonga as Dong-jae’s life soundtrack: dramatic, hilarious, uplifting.

The cinematography it’s one of the best and most beautiful I have seen all year. From the choice of lenses to camera work, lighting and framing. Top notch from beginning to end.

Overall, I am incredibly happy with the quality production of this kdrama and, if you have the chance, I would absolutely recommend you watch it.

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everybody's dumb

I usually structure my reviews in positive points and negative points, where I try to be as objective and critical as possible, but I don't think I will be able to do just that with this one. No, this one is going to be pure rant and little else.
The disappointment is still too fresh as I'm typing this, but I don't want to wait to cool down before writing, because... I don't want to devote any more of my time to Gyeongseong Creature, honestly.
It's not a terrible show, I would like to make it clear; it has had its good moments and the first episode started strong, promising a thrilling and suspenseful trip in secret government structures and terrifying depictions of human experiments and the horrors of war and enemy occupation, but that didn't actually happen and I find more annoying things than great ones.
Reading the summary, I had expected a completely different plot, but that's on me for creating mental fan fictions before actually watching the thing. For some reason I convinced myself the monster (which had no human past, but came from another dimension) was haunting an abandoned hospital and built my own expectations from there.
But back to the review.
What really gave me the ick with this drama is how absolutely, utterly dumb the characters and the writing are. I will point out a couple of examples to clarify what I mean.
Let's start with the nature of the monster itself.
For 8/9 episodes out of 10 I thought the little germ they found in the glacier caused the mutation, but that bit was actually the humans. The najin solely makes the person an aggressive apex predator whose only want is to attack humans and eat their brains (basically a zombie, but without the rotten skin). They are faster and stronger than a normal human being and can heal from any kind of wound in literal seconds. The only weaknesses: fire and sunlight (but not really).
So why, WHY, even inject that mad scientist formula to begin with? You already have a superhuman, you only need to find a way to tame them. Why turn them into three-meter-tall monsters with tentacles and all of that jazz that you can't even keep in a cage? I understand those doctors are psychos, but they are just creating a problem where there could easily be none.
But I also understand they needed a disgusting monster for this show (it's in the title, after all), so I'll let it pass...
I mean, they could have omitted the part where it's the human-made injection that causes the mutation and blame it all on the najin, but let's not go there.
Other rather dumb behaviours can be found in the prisoners (and I feel bad in saying so, but it has to be said) and our protagonists.
So, you are a prisoner and you know terrible things are going on in the place you are being held in and nobody returns after they are taken from the cell, so explain me why
1) you eat and drink without a second thought the things your psychotic captors are offering you. I know you are likely starving, but you should also have some sort of survival instinct and a lot of trust issues given what you experienced. But, nope, just gulp it all down. The soldiers don't even need to hold you at gunpoint to force you.
2) WHY are you touching the weird spores flying out of the menacing and tightly sealed carriage pushed by soldiers covered HEAD TO TOE in protective suit? I was just about to scream in frustration when I saw that happening.
Now, onto our named characters.
You very secretly get into a dangerous and off-limits enemy base and you don't want them to know you are here. So is it REALLY necessary to kill those (already unconscious and taken care of) guards with a katana? Is it REALLY necessary to swing it freely around and above your head so that the soldiers standing guard in the tower can see what's going on and give the alarm? Don't think so but the writers decided it was, apparently.
At least they are consistent in making the characters dumb, I'll give them that. We got dumb villains, dumb heroes and dumb victims.
This show saving grace could have then been the horror part, but the creature itself lost its impact and horrific nature the moment it was fully and clearly showed. The CGI wasn't even that bad, considering it's for a Netflix k-drama, but I believe showing the monster is a common mistake many horror movies and shows make. After all, what is more terrifying than the unknown?
I only felt some kind of chill and anxiety during the very first episodes, when we still couldn't see the creature, just a confused shape hidden in the shadows and tentacles jumping out of nowhere. My imagination did the rest in creating a scary monster, but the instant they showed THEIR monster... it was all gone. I find it ridiculous more than anything and I even stopped feeling disgusted whenever it sucked brains with its tentacles. Which, admittedly, was the ONLY truly horrifying thing it did as the big bad monster of the show and the only time I looked away from the screen.
I truly believe with a better writing (and a little less wooden-looking FL) this drama would have been great and unforgettable, because the idea was good and the first episode very promising.
Instead we got something unoriginal, poorly executed and with underdeveloped characters. There was no built up to the experiment and the monster (although I liked the fact it was the mother our FL and her father have been looking for for ten years) and we're pushed right into the action minutes after meeting the characters. We don't get to know and care for them nor they get to know and care for each other – the love story between those two makes no sense, because how many interactions did they actually have, besides the ones where they are either fighting or running for their lives?
The more I write, the more frustrated and disappointed I fell, so I'll end it here.
I know I should watch season two to understand what was going on with the very last scenes of the season finale, but right now I really don't care nor feel like wasting any more of my time. In the future, perhaps – or I'll just go read some reviews with spoilers of s2 and spare myself another possible disappointment.

- Mei

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For Fans of the Friends to Lovers Trope

Fight for My Way is friends to lovers at its peak. The show spent time building up the friendship between Ae-ra and Dong-man so that it felt really believable that they had been best friends for decades. Their banter, jokes, familiarity, and teasing felt very genuine. Fight for My Way felt very different in its portrayal of friends to lovers because there was a lot of honesty and vulnerability when they were coming to terms with their feelings for each other. I loved that they were constantly saying little things before they got together about how the other was making their heart flutter or that they had the impulse to kiss. The two of them were navigating their feelings together and being very cautious about it because it is the most important relationship in their lives. The evolution of their friendship into something more was an absolute delight to watch and the show leaned into the awkwardness that would come with wanting to be romantic and physical with your very best friend in a very charming and endearing way.

While I did have some issues with the storyline around Ae-ra and Dong-man, especially their last minute breakup, most of my gripes were with the other storylines. They have two other best friends that are a couple and he just did not deserve her in any way. Seol-hee was wonderful, genuinely so kind, and seeing the way her boyfriend treated her was so upsetting. It felt like the show really let him off the hook when he did not deserve it. She could have done much better and I would have preferred seeing her storyline be about finding someone who really appreciates her and her getting the life she’s dreamt of. Dong-man’s ex was another character who it felt like the show took it really easy on. She was infuriating to watch and a lot of her behaviors were actually illegal.

The show would have played much better if they just wrote out the entire landlady storyline. It was not executed well and it was very rushed because they waited until the end to reveal anything. It wasn’t needed and it would have been better if they used that time to focus on other relationships in the show that did really work, like Ae-ra and Dong-man’s families.

I loved both Ae-ra and Dong-man individually as characters, in addition to their relationship. Both actors had great performances and fantastic chemistry. This is the perfect pick if you’re looking for a show with the friends to lovers trope.

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Chinese BL dramas are hard for me to watch I'm still not over Addicted from 2016! But after seeing so many TikToks about this series, I decided to give it a chance.

That being said, I have to admit I really liked the cast. The actors had amazing chemistry and looked stunning on screen. However, there was something off about the storyline. For example, Qi Lu’s parents’ behavior toward him was absolutely questionable and downright toxic, that’s putting it nicely. And don’t even get me started on Tan Yin’s relationship with the professor. Like, he reminds you of your deceased brother, but you’re romantically interested in him? That dynamic threw me off several times.

Then there’s the ending… those last episodes. They left me with no closure at all. The show builds up all these events and delivers a constant flow of bad situations, so you’d expect a satisfying, dramatic conclusion. But nope. The protagonists end up leaving and lying to each other. Then the series jumps to future clips, leaving viewers to assume they got back together. This is followed by a rushed explanation of seven years of their lives in quick text, capped off with just five minutes of happiness.

Again, while I love the cast, the storyline just didn’t work for me.

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