Reviews

Subs suck, but Story is good

The subs suck, they are a mess for the first half of the show, but with a little critical thinking you can get through it.

The story is nothing new but well executed, with a few sprinkles of cliche here and there, but it is rather nice than cringe. They are all young adults, new to love and serious relationships, so mistakes and dumb situations happen, but it stays realistic. Misunderstandings don't drag on and on, they talk it out.
The friend groups are great, they have their flaws but the love for each other is sincere and the support is amazing.

The actors did a really great job! The first few kisses and intimate scenes felt a little awkward, but it gets more natural with every new scene and the skinship continues once they got in a serious relationship. Not the typical "One and done" type, they are lovey dovey throughout the last few episodes and I ate it up! It was so refreshing to see a more realistic take on a newly formed relationship! There was no space between them when they talked, kissed or cuddled, no flinching back or eyes closed tightly when the other person wanted to kiss. It was awesome!

All in all I can recommend this show to everyone who loves a soft story with natural growth of characters and relationships, it is rather mature for its setting and the actors did a really great job! Every one of them! I really enjoyed this show and binged it in one day.... The ending was "perfect" ;) (You'll get it when you finish it ^^)

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Accidently Developed An Obsession

My 4 categories are Acting/Cast, Writing, Direction/SFX/Music, Entertainment Value.

I was excited for this one. Lee Dong Wook (이동욱) is one of my favorite Korean actors because of his ability to play all kinds of characters. I loved his role as a villain in Strangers From Hell. In A Shop For Killers, he's playing a darker role too, although not exactly a villain.

Acting/Cast: I love the cast and their acting. I think Ji An, the main character, has become one of my all time favorite K-drama characters. Min Hye is badass, too. I also like Brother, Pasin, and of course Jin Man. The only casting I didn't like was Ji An's childhood friend. I'm glad he didn't have much screen time. 9/10

Writing: I love the plot and the characters. I like the way that the story unfolded using the "잘 들어 정지안" (Listen well, Jeong Ji An) pattern. It gave the drama a certain kind of charm. I normally hate flashbacks, but these flashbacks were done in a way that felt artistic -at least the Ji An flashbacks did. There was a portion of the drama that had long flashbacks that I felt were unnecessary. They were scenes that the audience had already experienced, but more detail was being added in. I didn't need the extra detail. I liked the mysterious vibe that the scenes originally had. It was as though we were in the same boat with Ji An not knowing what the hell was going on and we were uncovering the mystery with her. But, because of these 'retracing our steps' scenes, I felt like I was watching the same scenes twice and I got bored. 8/10

Direction/SFX/Music: The best thing about the drama... This is how I accidentally developed an obsession. The camera work, the production value, the weapons, the choreography, the MUSIC - it's all so good. It was a bit reminiscent of John Wick (and John Wick is one of the greatest things to exist in the world of artful cinematography). I finally got all the songs I wanted from this drama on my mp3 player. I haven't been this into a soundtrack since...maybe Strangers From Hell? Well, the Doona! soundtrack was pretty good, too. By the way, the music played during the gas mask scene is called Minhye Action. I was looking for that one for a while. 10/10

Entertainment Value: This obsession really snuck up on me. I didn't think I was enjoying it that much. It was because of those repeated scenes that I mentioned earlier. I just wanted to get back to the action with everyone at the house. Don't keep me holding my breath. After the drama ended, I couldn't get it out of my head. I liked it more and more as time passed. This is the same thing that happened to me years back with Strong Woman Do Bong Soon. I gave it a 6 or a 7 upon finishing the drama, but I missed it so much once it was gone that I ended up putting that drama in my top 10 and increasing its score to 9.5. Anyway, I'm not usually one for sequels, but this drama needs one. I actually think that not having a second season will hurt this drama in the long run (unless the second season is terrible of course...Sweet Home...Strong Girl...send help. 8/10

Overall, I ended up increasing this drama's score from a 7.5 to a 9/10.
See, this is why I don't write reviews immediately after completing a drama. I have to give it some time to sink in so I can sort out my feelings.

By the way, I made 3 YouTube Shorts related to this drama - one features Ji An, one features Jin Man, and one features Min Hye. The titles are "Ji An | A Shop For Killers | Little Girl Gone", "Jin Man | A Shop For Killers | YUNGBLUD", "Min Hye | A Shop For Killers | Black Betty" and my channel name is The Enablers (@theenablers3846).

murthehelp

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Good story and great acting from the entire ensemble, especially Bai Jing Ting.

Always on the Move is a melodrama about railroad policemen solving crimes on the train and their relationship with the passengers from the 1970s to the present day. It also reviewed the revolution of the railroad industry in China. It is a good drama about the revolving relationship between the Ningyang and the Hacheng community.

The Synopsis:
In the late 1970s, on the steam train from Ningyang to Hacheng, young conductor Wang Xin diligently performed his duties among the bustling passengers. Mistaking the old railway policeman Ma Kui for a fugitive, they began an unlikely mentor-disciple relationship.

From initial dislike to mutual respect, Wang Xin and Ma Kui fought side by side on the front line of railway public security. They tackled issues such as theft, abduction, drug enforcement, patrolling, and combating thefts and robberies, prioritizing every passenger's safety, and selflessly safeguarding the security of trains traveling north and south.

Wang Xin and Ma Kui passed on the torch of railway police across generations, witnessing the development of China's railways from steam locomotives to electric locomotives and then to high-speed trains, seeing the rapid changes in China.

My Reviews:
1. The acting is good for the entire ensemble, especially Bai Jing Ting. I have not seen him in a very emotional scene where he showed his crying. He did a great job in this drama in episode 38, where his father-in-law died (spoiler alert)
2. There is little romance between Bai Jing Ting and Gina Jin's characters. It was implied that there was only one scene where they both kissed; other than that, only a little kissing between the main CP.
3. The drama focused on Wang Xin and Ma Kui's mentor and mentee relationship.
4. The link between the Ningyang and Hacheng communities was interesting and engaging.
5. The drama was slow and a bit long, but I didn't get bored. There are a few funny scenes,

Overall, I enjoy this drama and am giving it an 8.0 rating.

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brand new old

Comecei este depois de meses sem assistir absolutamente nada e no geral. É um bom dorama.
Foi como ver um remake de Goblin e Desgraça ao seu dispor,a história segue o mesmo rumo mas te prende de forma igual.

a primeira vista, você pode confundir os vilões, então muito cuidado ao julgar o livro pela capa, definitivamente não estamos vendo Vincenzo.

Particularmente, acho que faltou um pouco mais de maldade por parte do vilão, acho que todo enredo tem que ter um vilão que te faça sentir ódio só de olhar pra ele.

Teria sim dado um fim diferente para o aue poderia ter sido um belo casal secundário, ah teria!

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Sadly slow and boring

I have to start with the actors are cute and some are very talented, but the storyline and development left much to be desired. The series is super slow and drags on for too long. there is a lot of confusion at times and there is a strong lack of growth. The characters show almost no growth by the end. Mon and Saint are great actors, So i found it to be annoying and tiring to watch. The friends were funny at times and had little moments to shine but sadly still no real development. This was a slow and childlike bl to watch. Sadly would not recommend it and hope to see the actors in other series. The ending was horrible, with no real happy ending, and left you hanging with everything. Found this to be an annoying slow series that lacks story and character development.

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The story got weirder from episodes 18 onward, I am no longer interested and dropped it.

19th Floor is a suspense drama about a group of college students recruited to play a virtual reality game to save lives.

The Synopsis:
Unconscious after a car accident, university student Chun Yu and her best friend Qing You mysteriously find themselves inside the dangerous world of a VR game. Several other people have also unwittingly ended up here, and they soon discover they were all involved in the accident - except for substitute teacher Gao Xuan, who claims to have fallen asleep. Seeing no other option than to play the game, they eventually beat the level and wake up ... only to return the next night immediately.

Faced with deadly monsters, puzzles, and mind games, the players must learn to cooperate despite being unsure if they can trust each other. The pressure increases when it turns out that people who die in the game fall into a coma in real life. And then several more students are dragged into the game! The group spends their night.

My Reviews:
1. It is like Squid Game but less gory.
2. It had interesting plots with good thrillers and suspense values in the first 8-10 episodes. Still, as it progressed, it became draggy and boring. It would be better if it finished in 16 episodes instead of 30.
3. It was something different for Miles Wei, unlike his typical rom-com role. I am glad that he is branching out to other genres.
There is no romance between the main CP, even though it is insinuated.
4. It is predictable, and for every challenge they take, I know they do it without sacrificing someone.
5. I have watched 23 episodes and am no longer interested in completing them. I am dropping it.
6. The FL was hypnotized and stuck into a cocoon, and her dad is a chef who sacrificed himself to save her, which was weird.

I am giving a 5.5 rating because the story is getting stupid and draggy from episode 10 onward.

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Almost perfect

My wife is the drama addict, so I chose this as my first one to watch, to see what this is all about. I thought it was excellent. It clearly is a love story, all the side stories seemed kinda disjoint at the beginning, but in the end they all came together perfectly. My only disappointment is that QS exclaimed her love for YH to herself and everyone but YH, in the last episode I was so hoping to hear her say those words to him. I could feel it in her tears and see it in her eyes but the words never came. That would have been all that was needed to complete it for me. I was left hanging … was this intentional?

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This is my humble opinion. Just an office manager from Bds who loves dramas.

This is the first Korean Historical Drama I have watched, I have seen a few contemporary ones, but this is my first historical one, and it is a fantasy. So to be honest my expectations were not that high. After the first episode I was a bit skeptical and read the webtoon ( meah). I am not a fan of sad endings so before I went any further I needed to know that everyone wasn't going to die. (Trauma last year)

The ML played by Park Ji Hoon was exceptional, I don't speak or understand Korean (read the subtitles) but he acted 3 parts in this series and I could see the distinct differences in each character he portrayed. The Crown Prince (with all his past trauma), Ak Hee (The Evil Spirt or alter ego ) and The King (without the trauma) with the strength to overcome the pain within himself.
Bravo, exceptionally done. Especially for someone his age. He drew me into the story, especially the way he expresses his emotion with his eyes, I really hope he can keep this passionate acting up, looking forward to seeing more from him.

The FL played by Hong Ye Ji was not bad, perhaps she needs a bit more seasoning, I felt her emotion and understood her character, maybe it was the script, but she did not show allot of depth in her performance. She is beautiful and elegant and in this role meant to be strong willed, but her character lacked more. . . . . . . everything.

Grand Prince played by Hwang Hee, fantastic, I really began to hate his character from the beginning and that only grew till the end. Any actor who can play a antagonist role and have the watcher really feel that "I would like to slap you" feeling, is doing his job. Just needs to work on his evil laugh, not sure if it was meant to be humorous but it didn't work for him.

Lastly the ML father played by Kim Tae Woo. Wonderfully done, he showed the torment he was feeling, he showed the distain for his son, he showed the wanting to numb the pain. I was very moved by his performance and will look for more work with him, hope I am not disappointed.

The rest of the cast was bearable.

The storyline itself was quite fun and different from the usual drama. However it was shortened too much in some areas and drawn out in others, there were so many directions, plots, twists and turns that could have made the story much better. The soundtrack was ok. Cinematography was lacking especially for such a short drama, and the editing was not the greatest, despite this I enjoyed it.

I do have a few questions about some things and this is purely from a lack of knowledge and not a judgement.
1. why was it so easy for the FL to come and go from the palace as she pleased, I know she is meant to play an assassin but still.
2. the grand prince's mother, was her part just supposed to be the comedy of the series, because she was not funny and i did not see the point of her being there at all.
3. the beginning was well planned out up till episode 8 but I felt like the rest was rushed especially the ending (last 4 episodes), is this because of having a set number of episodes allowed.

If you are looking for something to kill a few hours this is it, not too much thinking needed.

RTRC

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Whatch this if you need a pick me up!

Perfect, cute, little romance drama. No dragging, no misunderstandings, just love.
What really got me was that the lead woman wasn’t this timid, little woman that needs saving but actually a woman that takes care of herself and isn’t afraid to lead. I appreciated that she was the one who initiated the kissing scene, because I’m just so tired of women always being the shy ones.
And the fact that there wasn’t misunderstandings!!! I’m ready to marry the scriptwriter, because THNAK YOU!! As soon as I feel that there will be the miscommunication trope in a drama that I’m watching, I drop it immediately, because life is too short for that.
also the male lead knew his feelings, want afraid of them and went for it, I wish we all could do that in real life.

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My Dearest 연인 The drama of the century

The most incredible drama I've seen, I finished it around 1 a.m.... I was dreading this moment when I finished it because it's such a masterpiece ? The story is incredible, especially for a historical drama, In this drama, boredom does not exist. The romance is the best I've seen so far, it's really perfect between the two, nothing to complain about. Even where sometimes I said to myself “no why is she doing that” or that kind of thing afterwards I understood.. if for example she wouldn't have married Mr Gu (I’m pissed) but it was important otherwise the story could not continue. Everything was logical ahaha sorry I don't know if we understand what I'm saying, I'm getting carried away but 10/10 I'll have to get over it after finishing it..

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How did they make a fascinating premise so boring in parts?

7/10 is my rating. This is a 2023/2024 South Korean supernatural romance drama with 16, 67 (average) minute episodes.

First I provide a unique synopsis then review

Synopsis

Do Do Hee (Kim You Jung) is the adopted daughter and heir apparent to a conglomerate company called the “Future Group”. She is known as a devilish, hard hitting, and “take no prisoners” executive who has won many awards. Her adopted mother, Joo Chun Sook (Kim Hae Sook) made it clear, when she was alive, that Do Hee would take over after she passed. This does not endear Do Hee to Chun Sook’s children who consider it their right to inherit all of their mother’s assets. The obvious solution to some of them is to get rid of the problem. In this case the problem is Do Hee. When a serial killer is hired to kill Do Hee, he nearly succeeds until Jung Koo Won (Song Kang) appears in his role as a Demon who strikes deals with mortals by granting wishings in return for their trip to Hell 10 years later. He originally plans to only save Do Hee if she enters into an agreement but then agrees to save her and then talk about the agreement. In the chaos that follows they both wind up nearly drowning and the tattoo that gives Koo Won his supernatural powers, transfers to Do Hee. Koo Won finds that he can still perform his role and have access to his power by holding Do Hee’s wrist where the tattoo is located. When Jun Sook tragically dies a condition of inheriting the business is Do Hee must marry within a year. Koo Won agrees to a contract marriage for mutual benefit, he needs to be close to her to touch her tattoo and she needs a husband to secure her inheritance. The two have twisted fate in the present, but things get even more fate based when it appears they also had a connection in the past.

Review

When I looked at reviews there seemed to be those that really loved this series but there was a near equal number that did not like it well. I am in the “did not like it well” camp. I think it is worth watching for the two talented actors, great chemistry and interesting premise if you can relax your expectations for a sensible plot. I was actually bored at times because the progress would hit a stall. I would recommend drama fans watch it once but I wouldn’t rush out to watch it.

Spoilers

I have seen hundreds of dramas at this point and that could be why I am among those that found this one very underwhelming. The main couple got together too early in my opinion. Then was no sense of anticipation. It did not make sense to me that she was so driven and determined to be the heir and then she just gave it up. I know they were trying for the “anything for love” angle, that she was willing to give up all the power and money to protect herself and the person she loved but it was out of character in my opinion.

The serial killer bad guy who was hunting her died too early. I was wondering what they were going to have happen next. It was just odd to have that particular bad guy gone so early in the story.

Two very annoying things in this one. Usually you feel somewhat sorry for 2nd girl or guy and I did like second guy but the 2nd girl was one of the most annoying I have experienced to date. They tried hard to gain our sympathy for her in showing how he saved her from abuse but, even that, did not excuse her toxic behavior later. She even tried to get main girl to drink poison so that the main guy, who is a demon who already lived hundreds of years, could live. Although she had hung around him for over a decade and he showed no interest she still blamed main girl for wrecking her chance. What chance? Her jealousy was misplaced and annoying.

The other annoying thing was the romance between the elder couple. It was fine they liked each other, even cute, but them hiding it for so long became ridiculous. I think it was supposed to be funny and they definitely did the big reveal where they thought they were hiding it but everyone already knew. Oh ha ha! Like we have never seen that play out before. It was unoriginal and just not funny.

When Netflix gets ahold of something I know it is going to be drawn out too much and there will be way too many flashbacks. That was the case in this one. The plot would already be dragging because so many of the major conflicts and reveals already happened and then, oh great, let’s rehash the whole script again.

They, of course, had to do the separating from you for your own good trope. I don’t like that trope. It is right up there with the amnesia trope for me.

I believe it was confirmed the leads were dating in real life and they definitely had that level of chemistry. It is not their fault the script was just awful at some points. Their acting was excellent but the content was off.

There was so much potential in this one. With a great cast and interesting premise this could have been a great addition to the supernatural genre. I am not sure how they managed to make it so drawn out and boring except the pacing and when they chose to do reveals.

#MyDemon

#SongKang

#KimYouJung

#KimHaeSook

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Unique plot for a historical drama about getting the throne

Acting:
I LOVED this drama, Park Ji Hoon's acting was amazing, I thought I wouldn't like Hong Ye Ji's acting because I've only heard bad stuff about it, but her acting was good. Her character is an assassin, it makes sense why she wouldn't really be very expressive. The ML is either possessed or has another personality (I am not sure, but I think historically they'd say a person is possessed if they had another personality), he went through a rollercoaster of emotions throughout the drama and expressed them amazingly well, I especially loved his portrayal of Ak Hee.

Plot:
The plot was really unique for a historical drama focusing on 2 'brothers' trying to get the throne. A lot of historical dramas about Kings/Prince's have this type of plot, but this one was unique mostly because it had a very soft ML.

Sajo Hyun did not like violence at all and hated how horrible of a King his father was, and I don't think he ever changed, he just stopped being meek. He also did not want the throne, neither of his personalities did, one wanted to make clothes and the other just hated politics (though he was very good at it). Honestly, there wouldn't have even been a fight for the throne had the Grand Prince (the brother) just been a decent person.

I loved Ak Hee, I had SLS for Ak Hee, but Sajo Hyun grew on me later on in the drama when he started to develop a lot of the attributes I like about Ak Hee. Ak Hee was such a hilarious (and adorable) character. I loved his sarcasm and his attitude, he was a mood. He truly did not care about anyone but Kyera/ Yeon Wol, I hated that she never saw his feelings as sincere. Ak Hee is treated as though he is the human embodiment of greed, and nothing else despite the fact that he is able to feel love and pain. He was only treated like a human at the begining of the drama, but later on he is treated as though he is just an evil spirit, and not part of Sajo Hyun.

There were a lot of plot twists in this drama, you don't really know whether Ak Hee is good or bad , if anything he was just greedy, which made him anxious, which made him do stupid things.

I also did not hate the Princess Consort, I didn't like her at all at the start, but then you get to see that even though she is selfish, she is not a bad person and she is also not really the MLs love interest. She had a lot of character development despite not having much on screen time.

I think the only thing I did not like about this drama was how Sajo Hyun and Ak Hee did not even try to understand Yeon Wol's hate of Sajo Hyun's father. Her hate and revenge were completely justified, though the vengeance itself was not very satisfying.

SPOILER - Ending:
I loved the ending of this drama. I never expected a satisfying happy ending for this type of drama, but this one had one.
Though Ak Hee is sort of killed of (I interpreted it as Sajo Hyun becoming mentally strong enough to no longer need Ak Hee), by the end of the drama Sajo Hyun becomes a lot like Ak Hee, and the pathological lying and greed aside, Ak Hee also becomes somewhat like Sajo Hyun.

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