Reviews

Best Costume Drama of 2023

This drama is solid, and the characters are well-written, so I wanted to give it a 10/10. Xiaobo, the sweet kid who helped ML, was done wrong by the writers, so they only received a 9.5/10. Apart from the prince and princess and the one who denies relations, the Xu family is dreadful, and they can catch these hands. Watching Duke Xu's son be arrogant and hateful throughout the show was triggering to the point that even I wanted to fight him.

Now let's talk about two of my favorite characters:
Xie Wei is dark, flawed, and sometimes unhinged, and this show did not disappoint. I remember reading a comment that described the ML: "He is a walking red flag, but I am colorblind," and yes, I too am colorblind; I might have early memory loss too, because when he says 'Ning'er,' especially in that angry deep tone I forget everything and fall deeper. It's like I'm hypnotized; ML is captivating. It's like being enchanted by a beautiful voice, even when you know the speaker is threatening, which he is most of the time. ML makes no secret of the fact that he is no saint. He is like yes, I am terrible, but love me. He is entertaining to watch and very petty and jealous, even at the end. The character wasn't written for people to sympathize with. He is who he is, and I love that. The FL's relationship with him is a delicious mess because he is sometimes unhinged, and I enjoyed it.
Overall, it was an excellent performance, and I'm looking forward to more of this actor's work. Now I have to watch everything this actor has acted in because he is so talented. I was today's old when I found out he was in 'Love Between Fairy and Devil.' honestly, I have struggled to watch that drama. I don't find any enjoyment in it, and I blame all the people who hyped it because my expectations were set high. Stop the overhyping of dramas.

Now, let's talk about Yan Lin; usually, I'm not too fond of characters like this due to how they are written. However, these writers did this character justice. He is loveable, and I wanted to protect him, and he deserves the world. This beautiful character is the opposite of Xie Wei. He is the guy you yearn to be with; all your family and friends want you to be with, but too bad you are addicted to the bad guy. He is a loyal friend, an excellent son, and a loyal brother. Honesty, most of my favorite scenes from this drama include him. The scene where he gave a well-deserved ass whopping to Duke Xu's hateful son after he disrespected the FL and slapped her. He said, 'You wouldn't disrespect her not in front of me.' Next is the scene where he is in prison and talks to the FL. He asks her why she doesn't like him when she thinks he's so great and is willing to do anything for him. I love his relationship with the FL lead; it is healthy and well-written.

I have no complaints about this drama except for how they treated Xiaobo, which makes me angry. He was loyal, cute, and deserved better.

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It's worth the watch!

The start might be a bit confusing or something like "???". But as the drama goes, it's coming better and better. I gave it 9 because i am expecting more when ja myung returned to Nakrang Palace- like an intimate family dinner of her with the king and 1st queen, or in the ending like 1st queen atleast made a heartfelt farewell letter to Ja mYung (atleast the king said her name in his last breath). But as for the 1st queen, i was so disappointed on her character as Ja myung birth mother. And I want more of Hodong and Ja myung love story (could be a short clip for their reincarnation 😆)

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Literally The Cutest C-Drama In 2023

I just finished watching this c-drama today. Binged the whole drama in two days and i never really do that with c dramas that are usually this year BUTT it was that amazing that i did. The acting of all the actors especially the main ones of the family really did such a fantastic job expressing emotions and everything. I LOVVED the little boys the most haha he was just too adorable. He stole the show for me. The story itself was o testing kinda basic but not too the point where i couldn’t watch it. The music i don’t remember but there was this one song that played during intimate scenes which i liked. The only two things that i didn’t like was 1. How slow the romance of the story progressed 2. how the female lead acted towards the male lead at certain moments. ( like not giving him the chance to say his side). Overall i loved the show and wish that i get to see them together again in another drama because there chemistry is cRAZY. P.s The ending was perfect. Couldn’t ask for a better way to end the drama.

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Most fun I’ve had in ages!

I love Korean variety shows and this one had so much heart! Admittedly, I wasn’t all that sure given the really long introduction episode, but the cast is just so wonderful. Not only do you laugh a lot watching them learn the basic rules and techniques of basketball, but you get attached to the players and really root for them. I knew absolutely nothing about basketball and learned along with the cast. I found myself cheering and screaming at the TV because I could see how hard they were trying and I was just so proud!

Honestly, Netflix recommended me shows of athletes learning other sports or amateur men’s baseball players forming teams but I just don’t think it’d be the same or nearly as entertaining as this was. This was a perfect storm of a group of women that were so willing to let themselves look a bit silly at times and truly put the work in to become a good team. I would honestly watch them learn other sports like volleyball or soccer or anything really. They had such fun chemistry with each other and the managers.

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decent and well made drama, but needs more episodes to flesh out the story

I liked most of this drama, but had some issues with the overall story. This definitely could've benefited from a few more episodes to flesh out Jiyong and his backstory. The audience does understand why he's doing what he's doing, but I think it was an abrupt escalation from assaulting bad guys to killing them. And maybe I'm just dumb, but it took me a little bit to realize that he was actually killing the bad guys. In my defense, it never actually showed him finishing them off, and it seemed like he gave some of them an option to repent (ex: the rich guy who hit the old lady with the cardboard).
Beyond giving Jiyong more of a full character, a few more episodes could've given us more depth into relationships between the characters and made us feel more for them other than a passing interest (maybe it's just me, but I wasn't too invested in any of the characters and most of them seemed a little one dimensional. Other than Jiyong's Number One Fanboy. He was great.). I think the bad guys and their evil plan could've used more depth as well, but given that it was only 8 episodes, they crammed a lot into them and it was a complete story.
Overall, a decent and well-made drama, but needed a little bit more to really flesh it out.

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Bloody brilliant!

A little late to the party, but I'm still glad I watched this drama. For starters, I love action series with a pinch of drama. It was refreshing to see Woo Do Hwan in the role of a boxer who fights for his family and the people he loves. The first series I watched with him was the drama "tempted" or "the great seducer", it depends on how accurate the English translation is. I didn't write a review for that drama because I'm still in doubt whether I liked it or not, but I have to say that I remembered him and his way of acting. In "Bloodhounds" I was really captivated by his innocent look and sensitivity that I had to keep watching. Plus seeing him as a boxer holding his heart in his hands was really emotional and wonderful.

The bromance is real! He and Lee Sang Yi were a pairing that I never expected to love so much and I really hope that I will have the chance to see them together again. If not, I can rewatch the drama all over again haha.

As for the story, it’s a typical story of revenge for one's family, which was wronged by a criminal. I'm not saying it's bad, I love such stories and watch them no matter how many times it’s repeated, but here's what really bothered me. I had the impression that the writers helped the criminals more than the good guys. I know that sometimes there is karma and sometimes something happens that you didn't expect, but it really seemed to me that the criminals had everything delivered on their plate, while the good guys struggled until the end.

But all in all, it was an amazing drama that I watched in one day and I'm saddened that it's so short. I would like more!

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I Refuse to Believe Beak Mi Kyung Wrote This

I can not stress this enough, quit while you're ahead. The story at first seems promising, but the added side quests, stupid character choices, and lack of having the ML & FL in the same room for more than 5 minutes doomed this to be the worst show I completed in 2023.
There is entire side quest with a homeless couple that goes nowhere. They dont stay close with any other member of the cast & break up after both receiving money from FL's mother for helping her.
The fake daughter had so much potential for storyline, but they fridged her in the end.
The FL had more screen time with the villain of the show as he was her boss and in closer proximity to the FL. Having her stay in the ML's apartment could have been a way to have them interact more, but he's almost never there when she is. They never take the time to flesh out the FL's feeling when it comes to her relationship to ANYONE. She has a long lost TWIN brother...has dinner with him 2 or 3 times.
I figured out who the "big bad" was during the first episode they appear.
If they wanted a story for 16 episodes instead of 20 like the previous series, they should have cut the fat. The uncle storyline wasnt necessary in the least. Why are we having multiple scenes with a doctor we never see again, and why do we need him to learn more about the secretary/anchor woman? Answer...we dont.
As a final note to end on...what senior detective, not just a cop but SENIOR DRUG DETECTIVE, touches an unknown substance that is known to KILL people with their bare hands and then proceed to stick the drug covered finger IN THEIR MOUTH! When the supposed smartest person in the room is too stupid to live I should have known to cut bait.

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Cried like a baby

Where to even start? First and foremost the amount of times that I cried in this show is actually horrendous. Like babes I’m not even joking with you right now (actually tearing up rn). The acting: the acting was really good. Natural chemistry between all the actors.
The characters: Kuhn Yai. Oh that sweet talking handsome man. Kuhn Yai will forever hold a special place in my heart. Jom was okay. The amount of times his character gave me anxiety in this show was too many. Actually the amount of anxiety Yai and Jom gave me throughout the show was WAY TOO MANY.
I loved the lesbian side story because we don’t get much WLW representation in general so THANK YOU for even just this side story. But the KISS! That’s was so unexpected but gladly appreciated. In BLs WLW relationships are terribly represented so I was so shocked at the good scenes with the side GL storyline.
The plot. This is where I have some unanswered questions. Throughout the story we are introduced to a bunch of things that you would think by the end would be of importance or have a role to play later on but a lot of things did in fact not mean anything. We are introduced to a ring that didn’t mean anything, a gift from Yai to Jom that looks like a time turner from Harry Potter and dreams that Jom had but never touched on. I definitely feel like the director could’ve done better. Jom found pictures in a chest from a new house project he took on in the beginning. Later we find out he drew them himself but when he rediscovers them after he comes back from the past it’s like they lose their value to us as a watcher because we’ve already seen Jom digging through the chest finding the drawings and gift.
Having Jom see “ghost” of himself and Yai from the past while being in the future and vice versa was confusing. Also the ending with there being some kind of threshold that allows past Yai and future Jom meet? Like I like a happy ending but wtf is that?
Why introduce a possible season two with some weird warrior timeline with a RIDICULOUS mustache for Yai and have him not know remember Jom but Jom remember him? Is Jom the same in every timeline but not Yai. Why not have The same Yai and Jom because that would make them feel like actual soulmates?
They could have easily made Jom wake up from a coma and had Yai as a doctor and they meet again like that. Or Yai could’ve been the new house owner of Joms new house project and had that as the ending. Would have been so much better.
Anyways rant over lol. It was a good show and highly underrated and ofc I’m hoping for a season two.

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Typical romcom Chinese drama and could have been shorter

In general I like it, there are things I liked and things that I didn’t. It made me smile and laugh, but also annoyed me at time. I also like a drama with multiple couples. I think it’s more interesting then a drama concentrating more on a love triangle, with like the 2 leads and a side or 2 SL with unrequited love. That was here a bit, but not for the entire drama.

I didn’t want to start at first because I wasn’t feeling this pairing for the leads. But it wasn’t that bad, they were kinda cute together. The kissing scenes were good, much better outside the drama though. Annoying censorship, they were shorter with not good angles for a lot of them in the drama.

I was annoyed at both of them after her secret was out (how she was using him at first) :
- she was making no efforts and only thinking about work. She lied for so long, she deserved the silence treatment in the beginning. Also, her spending time with Yi Yang was so much annoying, like girl should have told him from the beginning that she’s not interested in him and she should have told him no to hang out (she told him later, but should have done it in the beginning). That guy was so annoying and weird. Bro literally showed up at her parents place and try to get with her went she was already and a relationship, in love with someone else.
- I agree that he had the right to be mad and ignore her, but he still could have let her try to explain too after a while. The breakup was too damn long, both of them incapable of talking was annoying.

The plot was a bit draggy, too many episodes, but still enjoyable. It’s a romcom, you can’t expect much more than that for a plot.

The third couple could have had a better and more interesting story. Their chemistry was amazing, but the misunderstanding and their story kept going in circles before they got together. Since they were already in love at the very beginning of the drama, they should have made them get together sooner, since also all the couples got officially together quite late.

I loved the second couple, I think they were cute. I was looking forward to their scenes, I was patiently waiting for YY to realize is feeling and get jealous.

Anyway too many ongoing dramas, time to pass to another one😂 but I think I would recommend this drama, not everyone would like it. It can be cliche, cringe and dragging misunderstanding for like all the main couples, but it’s an okay romcom

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We got an satisfactory ending!!

This is going to be a short and sweet tidbit since I am fresh off finishing the show.

After having a nice buildup of plot, characters, and suspense, I for sure thought we were going to get a terrible cliffhanger ending that would never get a second season. Plus, as someone who hasn't (and doesn't really plan to) read the webtoon - it would be a very anti-climatic and disappointing end to the 8 episodes.
BUT.
All I'm saying in this review is that we got a conclusion, we. got. a. conclusion. A good one, a satisfactory one, and one that does leave room for expanding. (If they so please to do).

I loved the action, the blood, and the personalities of the characters. Especially the fact that everyone was really consistent in the way they acted, not that they don't have character development, but that their actions stayed in line and made sense as t what their character was built up to be.

Do give it a watch, if you like this kind of genre - happy watching people :)

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Choi Woo Shik plays the fool for the umpteenth time (but he is really adorable in this one)

This drama is penned by the same writer of Because This Is My First Life.
Indeed, we get some recurring themes. For instance: the rape theme; couples as partners who help each other get through ordinary hardships; the upheaval of Korean social normativity regarding relationships and happiness (e.g. we get one love triangle but it is the most unexpected one).
Once again the writer touches on some heavy topics (i.e. homosexuality, abortion, rape, shame, suicide and motherhood as well as fatherhood) and yet constantly aims at keeping the tone light and avoiding depth and true controversy.
This effort is carried out through a series of misunderstanding plots in true Comedy-of-Errors fashion. Although the result is undoubtedly funny in the beginning and nicely offsets the disruption in the characters' relationships needed for their growth arc, the continuous mishaps seem to drag the story after a while. They get more ridiculous overtime and are clearly used as filler rather than effective plot.
I enjoyed the overall story nonetheless.

I think the characters were well written and their arc was coherent and interesting to follow.
Ho Goon is interpreted in the most endearing and believable way: he doesn't come off as absurdly foolish, cartoonish or nauseatingly sweet. Rather he is the most lovable soft-boy as well as one of the greenest flag in dramaland.
What I've come to love about the male characters created by this writer is the fact that they are full rounded people that don't follow the canonical gender-coded behavior we so often see in romantic dramas. They have the ability to be lovable by uprooting their classic social role and fully respecting the female characters' agency and choices.
They don't protect, instead they support.

There are a couple of judgmental speeches, by the male protagonist, regarding abortion and what a mother's love should look like, that I didn't particularly appreciate. But, overall, I liked how the writer handled emotion to convey her message and personal view.

I also welcomed the realism of the rapist being absolved after the first trial and the victim being ostracized (by police and the public). It was bitter but the protagonists weren't discouraged in their search for happiness and the ending was sweet and uplifting.

The kid is too cute, fantastic actor. Made me feel all the feels.

FES (5/5) The female characters are all strong and their strength is wittingly shrouded in unexpected fragilities. We have the popular, amazing athlete who is in love with a fool and thinks she is unworthy because of the terrible violence she suffered; the badass (so much cooler than her brother), intelligent (ace student) girl with a thousand suitors that is ashamed of her bare face; the queen of the house mom that has a soft spot for stray cats and wants an ordinary happiness for her son but is too compassionate to hurt someone else; the accomplished psychology professor who defers to her husband foolishness.
We bring ourselves down for the most absurd reasons. If only we could look at ourselves through the eyes of those who love us…

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The most emotional BL ever

This is by far the most emotional and sensitive BL series I ever seen 😭 😢, full of emotions and very good actors bringing to life the story and making you tremble and gasping through your tears , watching from the first episode to the last unable to pause it and living the action and the emotions especially at the end of the story when everything is more intense . The storyline will make you watch and rewatch the series and make you feel in love whit the actors, the music you will want to listen on a repeat and cheep brings you flashes of the scenes before your eyes.

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