Reviews

* SPOILER ALERT *
I'm really annoyed that we didn't get 2 episodes this week ( i was really expecting it ), but other than that, i loved it . Was surprised to see the couple from " Be Loved in House " in here but not as surprised as a was to see the main couple from "HIStory 3 : make our days count." I look forward to seeing next weeks episode . I would definitely recommend this series, and i am looking forward to seeing where the main couples' story is going. It seems like it's getting interesting . *EDIT* i clearly only read the synopsis. Otherwise, i would have seen that the HIStory 3 and BLIH couples are credited in the cast, and of course that the series ends in Nov. I'm still annoyed about the 1 episode per week, though

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Only Friends are not real friends

[Episodes 1-6]
Honestly, watching ForceBook in here is like watching an extended version of themselves from 'A Boss and a Babe'. I know the actors have been friends for years (both extremely talented actors) and I didn't want to compare but unlike in ABAAB, there's a strong sense of familiarity between Top and Mew when they're supposed to be strangers. It could be the director's choice/style but I don't like it. There's no spark between them like there was with Gun and Cher.

I'm a huge and I mean HUGE fan of the friendship genre so when all the friends in here are shit, it's a major turn-off. First off, everyone refused to take Ray home and allowed him to drive drunk. There was a plot hole here; Boston clearly said he couldn't take Ray home because he wasn't free and yet somehow Mew heard it as 'I can/will' because in the next scene, while on the phone with Ray, Mew asks 'where's Boston? He said he'd take care of you'. I'm sorry but weren't you there??? You even asked the question that was shot down??? Secondly, if Mew is a virgin, there has to be a reason for that but his friends don't respect that and Namchueam went as far as suggesting he loses his virginity to a random hot guy. Are we in high school? Thirdly, Boston's friendship with Mew and Ray is so messy it ain't even funny. Mew and Boston threw each other under the bus on multiple occasions. Mew basically said Boston was easy and Boston made Mew out to be a liar and manipulator. I don't care how much you want a guy, friends don't do that. At least not real friends. I don't understand why friends this toxic thought a hostel business for a group project is a smart idea. I mean, I get it. If someone else is pouring their hard-earned money into my business and there's no consequence if we fail then I would do it too but wth?

I liked the idea of them running a hostel together BUT NOT for a uni project. I thought going into the series, they would already be running one. For a group of third-years, I'm surprised they party and have sex more than study and/or work. At this point just drop the uni part and it'll become a 100x better series. Since episodes 2-3, I've been skipping Top and Mew parts (only when they're together alone).

Nick is great but that's kind of it... I love Sand, he's the most logical and consistent. And finally, a genuine reaction when you hear that someone's parent passed away. I'm so tired of zoned-out-robot-voice-'I'm so sorry to hear that'. And I am super curious about his relationship with Top too.

I know I'm ranting quite a bit but I'm definitely staying on top of this series until the end for FirstKhaotung. I was excited to see FirstKhaotung and ForceBook's interactions but meh, unless the characters for Top and Mew change, I guess the behinds would be more interesting.

So far this is a 6.5/10 but we'll see how the later episodes do and if it deserves a higher rating :) Cheers!

Edit: 8/10 for episode 6's performance! Khaotung, First, Neo, Mark, and Book killing it!


Edit & updated on 10/29/2023: 7.5/10 for the [Completed] series
Finally done! This update is going to be an unpopular opinion for sure. As I had high expectations from the talented cast alone the finale has left me more than disappointed. Despite my criticism above and below, I’m not blaming the actors but the material they were given to work with.

This series could have easily been a 9 if not 10 out of 10, had they obliterated the university, hostel concept, and characters TopMew and AprilNamchueam. I love ForceBook and Lookjun, don't get me wrong, but I could care less about their characters. I skipped all of TopMew’s parts from episodes 3-12. I did not care for their back-and-forths. The hostel concept unaided is interesting, but not when it’s a byproduct of a uni project. I stand by what I've said above. Also, the only one who seemed to care and was running the business was Namchueam. If Mew, Ray, or Boston had any involvement, it was mostly done off-screen. We also never got to see what came of it at uni or how it was doing business-wise.

I hated, and I mean hated, all of the friendships except Sand and Nick’s. Other than referring to each other as friends, the four friends’ relationships lacked substance and were equally disconnected and unhinged.

Mew and Boston never felt like close friends, only that they had a mutual friend; Namchueam. Mew and Boston, even before Boston screwed up, never supported or cared about each other and were complete opposites in all aspects. They also looked down on each other. Mew and Ray’s friendship suffered when it was tainted by Ray’s one-sided crush on Mew. Making it impossible for them to spend quality time together without Mew unintentionally leading Ray on. Mew and Namchueam have a sibling-like relationship but the turn-off is Namchueam constantly pushes Mew into Top’s arms. I did not like her for that. Firstly because Mew was someone who had been protecting his virginity and relationship status until his third year in uni. Secondly, Top was a stranger and a player at that. Even if Mew was my enemy, I wouldn’t want his first relationship to be with a player no matter how handsome or rich said player is. It was just asking for trouble.

Ray and Boston aren’t close either though we learn that Boston would occasionally drive and take care of Ray when he drank himself drunk. Ray and Namchueam have an unbalanced relationship that isn’t built on trust but on Namchueam fancying Ray’s wealth. Except for Mew, at one point, no one bothered to help or improve Ray’s drinking, depression, and drug usage. The only time Namchueam made any attempt was when Mew was dragged into it. In other words, their lives outside of uni and the hostel don’t blend, affect, and matter to one another; it’s like watching three series in one.

I feel Mew and Namchueam are THE friends while Ray and Boston merely tagged along because they’re too rich to work, go to school, and had nothing better to do that didn't involve clubbing and partying.

Every time First is on screen, he’s always got my full attention as Sand is frankly likable and relatable. His characters’ backstories, interests, and hobbies stayed constant and he’s one of the few characters whose actions spoke louder than words. I like that he never told Sun that he’s his son. Yes, it’s sad that they might have missed out on a beautiful father-son relationship, but that was the reason Sand and his mother are best friends. Also, Boeing being Sand’s ex blindsided me. I completely forgot he had an ex who dumped him for Top. :/ And not Boeing dropping in the last three episodes just to kiss Mew, and make out with First, Ray, and Neo. Only Friends world is TINY

When a series is character-driven but most of them are unlikable, it makes it hard to power through. And it’s not even because of their toxic traits. Rather than ForceBook’s acting abilities, I think it was ForceBook themselves I couldn’t buy as TopMew. I have no expectations of TopMew but Force’s voice is too soft and although Mew acted with his life, his cute/pretty face isn’t intimidating. It might just be a me problem. It wasn't that they didn’t work but their real personalities softened the supposedly serious and intense mood of the series.
And precious Neo was struggling with Boston’s hardcore character. Instead of getting the sense that Boston was starting to care, he simply became depressed and moped around. I don’t understand his sudden sadness for losing his friends when they were never close and he didn’t attempt to rebuild bridges either until Namchueam invited him to the New Year get-together.

Also, is it me or Neo wasn’t comfortable on rollerblades? His legs were shaky and he had to correct his balance a few times.

Luckily I watched episodes 1-9 as they were released each week before binging 10-12. Had I tried to binge the whole series I would have called it quits before I hit episode 6. And that would have been a bummer because Khaotung and Book’s performances in episode 6 were outstanding. Overall, this BL wasn’t for me, and personally, it’s a 5 out of 10 but I’m raising it to a 7.5 because although it's not my cup of tea, the majority enjoy it and I wouldn’t want to deter others from possibly checking and loving this series. Despite my take, it was still a well-done series.

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Excellent crime drama with suspense and thrilling. Highly recommended.

I usually don't watch much drama from Taiwan, but Copycat Killer is one of the best crime dramas I have seen. It's much better than crime dramas that come out of China.

It is short, only 10 episodes long, with 60 minutes per episode that you can binge-watch in 2-3 days. It was suspenseful and thrilling, and I didn't expect the killer to be someone else, and the person who played the killer did a very good job.

The only thing I didn't like was that in each episode, a woman got killed; not to spoil the ending, but his ex-girlfriend got killed, and Guo Jian went ballistic. The killer was narcissistic and crazy; he still wanted the camera to be on him even to his death.

The acting is good for the entire ensemble. Highly recommend this drama, and I give it an 8.5 rating. The production quality was good with realistic facial colors, and everyone was painted white like dramas come from China.

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Had to watch twice to digest.

The first time i watched this I was really expecting a love story, so i was let down rapidly from the first episode.

You know? I really loved Hira's character, not only because how well played we was by the actor, but because i kinda feel him in some ways too. I feel like im just as much of a misfit as he does and i want to be just as invisible as he wants, so him being bossed around and straight up bullied made me feel an intense pity for him.

I wanted him to end with the other guy. The guy who helped him when he needed, the guy who told him not to apologise properly, a guy who genuinely cared for him. But i had to watch this show twice to understand that that's not what Hira wanted.

Even with how toxic their dynamic is, Hira and Kiyoi seem to be perfect fot each other, and they're happy too, so whatever. It's a show anyway.

It is pretty interesting to watch, outside the real life parameters of healthy relationship I recommend. I'm just concerned with the many people that truly believe this is a beautiful love story.

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I'm giving it an '8', but I didn't like it.

I'm torn on this one. It's well-written, exquisitely filmed, well-directed and pretty much excellent in every technical way.

I usually defend shorter works, but in this case, it's too short for the material it covered. Not plot-wise - all the story arcs conclude and while I wouldn't say it's a blissfully happy ending, it is realistic and convincing. It's in the emotions. It's bleak for too long with an awful person dominating the story, and there's only 3 minutes of relief.

I may be missing something, but I didn't see how the two stories were connected or how they complimented each other - it felt like two entirely different stories stapled together, and while the color grading and other skillful 'tricks' made it very clear what were flashbacks, the jumping around made the story feel even more disjointed.

And because there is rarely any context to what's going on, it's hard to figure out. Why were Archie and Kelvin at a high school at the end of the series? My guess was that Archie now teaches there and Kelvin found out and went there to find him, but then he was surprised that Archie had been there, which was just confusing. I may have all that totally wrong, but that would only amplify my point.

Anyway, I understand this is being made into a long series, which would be welcome if it's the same production crew, but I hope they find a better way to handle Archie & Kelvin's story than have a horrible, evil female character that sucks the desire to watch this out of me. It could be more nuanced with societal and family pressures driving Kelvin's decisions - making him get trapped and have no choice just makes him pathetic, and if I were Archie I wouldn't touch him with a 100' pole - he brutally dumped me once for her, why should I believe he won't do it again?

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Good series

I enjoyed this series. It was a bit slow and redundant in a few places but it got really interesting later into it. I liked the main characters and watched it mainly to see Deng Wei whom I really like his acting. Dylan Wang was great too. This has some good twists and turns to the storyline. I would recommend it too. I also like the girl who played the little bird character as she was very interesting in her role. I think Deng is getting some challenging roles after see him in Lost You Forever. This role was equally challenging as he was really quite different. I liked all the people chosen for these roles. Well acted in general.

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Half-boiled plot Hard-boiled fun

Double is at it's best when the Narumi Detective Office is solving problems around the city of Futo. Monster of the week really works for the premise if you're into that. The writers have captured the feel of a small town really well using reccuring characters and a fun, and memorable supporting cast. Despite saying that, the latter half of the series' more serious plot is arguably the weakest part of the show in my opinion. Regardless the series remains good throughout it's run, I was sad to be leaving Futo when it was all over.
Give it a try if you like the sound of that, or if you just think Double's suit is cool. You won't be dissapointed.

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A Good Drama that with some flaws

Start-Up is a a really interest drama that across the board that plays well into the concept of start up tech companies and the different troubles and trials that they face, that special unique concept was enough for me to start up this drama. It starts off pretty well with the drama moving along the story pretty well at a good pace but quite a few issues arise in the middle of the drama which really hamper the overall story of the drama.

The very first episode does a great job in establishing the entire drama's main cast backstories like Dal Mi, In Jae, Do San, and Ji Pyung which allows you to get to know each character's personally. The following first few episodes do a great job in building upon those characters while introducing new characters. However the drama suffers from a really bad midseason slump where some episodes seem to drag on and some characters make some quite annoying decisions. However the show is able to regain its focus in the last two episodes which help put things back together which finish off the drama in a good way.

The two main characters, Dal Mi and Do San were portrayed perfectly by Suzy and Nam Joo Hyuk, with Nam Joo Hyuk putting on an absolutely fantastic performance, probably one of the best performances I have seen from a male lead ever. However Ji Pyung's character despite how much the drama tries to make the viewer sympathize with him, all the actions and the way he acts comes off completely sociopathic some times. Han Na plays a perfect ice cold business woman with her character In Jae, with her character growing immensely at the end, its a shame the drama didn't have more scenes with In Jae. The rest of the cast was great with the Samsan Tech crew all being portrayed perfectly. Also I very special mention for Kim Hae Sook, she did a perfect job with her portrayal of her character's disability, as someone who also has a grandmother who has lost a good portion of her eyesight, the portrayal was spot on.

The cinematography was great, the production did really fantastic job all around with the presentation of the drama. The locations were perfect and felt just right for the story. The soundtrack itself was great with the theme song being easily one of the best drama theme songs ever in my opinion. Future by Red Velvet was a fantastic song and the rest of the OST was great as well.

Overall, a good drama that I would recommend people to watch but warn about the midseason slump.

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Mature and beautiful and so very relaxing

My favorite dramas are the ones I can watch with minimal eye-rolling and this one definitely fit the bill. Here’s why:

—I think this is one of the few dramas I’ve watched where the characters feel real and the adults behave like they’re actual adults.
—The drama tropes are kept to a minimum and the interpersonal drama is realistic and never lasts more than an episode.
—A’Yao and Hongdou are such beautiful people with their respective struggles and strengths and their journey of coming together is so fun to watch. The attraction, the teasing, the PINING. The complete comfort these two have around each other really sells the relationship and the slightest expression had me grinning like a fool. Definitely a solid slow-burn
—The villagers could very easily get lost in the shuffle of side characters. But the aunties and the grannies and uncles and kids were so memorable and though there were moments I would get confused, it was pretty easy to keep them straight. A’Yao’s A’Nai was my favorite and a particular scene with her towards the end made me laugh so very hard.
—Yunnan province’s scenery is so beautiful. The “product” placement definitely did its job. Every scene was gorgeous to watch and the cinematography that made Yunnan look so bright and calming and gentle was such a perfect contrast to Beijing’s dim lighting and dark shadows.
—THE MUSIC oh my gosh. Most, if not all, of the OST immediately joined my spotify playlists and i’ve been listening to 日日 on repeat.

To recap. This is a great palate cleanser drama, a relaxer drama, a drama to watch with a cup of tea and a blanket, a break from the excessive tropes and over the top acting that gets old after a few episodes. I’ve never watched a drama like this before, but I hope more are made like it. This one shot to my favorites list and I hope to rewatch it again in the future.

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Trapped...yes they trapped my heart

I must say that a few first eps i was skeptical because of obsessing over chasing that mafia guy. But i was so wrong.
The story is great its well written the characters are written so well there is so much chemistry and tension and the plot is kinda predicteble but still not.
I must say i fall in love with side couple... they were incredible here i wish they would have their own series cuz so good.
The main couple started off a bit awkward but lazer their became smth great.
The OST was good.
I liked this HIstory sm that i wish there would be so2.
I really recommend watching it.
Rewatching it is makes me so emotional and happy.

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A soild good drama

When i started watching i put the drama on hold for like a year than i came back and i wished i watched it sooner.
The reason why i didnt watch it sooner is because of unrealistic and not very good quality of the fight where FL beats gangsters.
So yes the reason is boring.
Anyways i really like the story cuz its uniqe and its good from start to end.
I must say the cast was picked so well. They had this good energy and the chemistry between them was amazing.
FL and ML gave me butterflies many many times the acting was so good. Also i am happy they are (were idk) dating in real life cuz their personalities match so well.
Also there was a second lead sydrome of police officer he did a really good job too.
Talking about the OST the music was great too. If i listen to it now i recall all those funny sad moments.
Talking about sad scenes they are a few and they brought my tears out.
The ending is also very nice.
I recommend the drama and i really liked it.

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Magnum Opus!

Sheer perfection. Without exception, this is one of the best acted and most talented ensembled cast of actors/actresses I have seen in a long time, perhaps ever. This is a love story between two young men. I know it comes from mainland China and it is not supported to be a love story let alone a BL, but it is, and they know it is. It is way too obvious to be otherwise. It is a story of love from the beginning. Sure, it ebbs and flows like a river, but the one constant is, like any river, it flows in one direction. And that direction is always towards a deeper and more profound love not only for each other but for life in general. You cannot possibly summarize this series that would not equal the length of this series. All you can do is try, inadequately, to capture its impact on you. But surprisingly, it is not so easy to do. Yes, it is pure artistry, but it also has a magical quality about it in the sense that it makes these characters come to life. Every single one of them. You feel them. You sense them. You ARE them.
To read my full review, pleas go to BLBliss.com.

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I wanna start by saying that THERE IS NOOOO WAY people call this bromance. There's just no way. It was subtle, but all the hints and signs were there. It's like you're watching a drama with a straight couple in it and you see all the slow motion, chemistry, and kisses on the cheek and say it's FRIENDSHIP, c'mon don't be dishonest.

The chemistry between the leads is unreal. I knew the actor who plays Su Yu, but I never really paid attention to him, in this drama he shines, same with Wu Bi.

The story is soft and cute, and I loved everything about it, I just felt like they could've kissed I KNOW WHY IT DIDN'T HAPPEN, but I was just rooting for it every single moment. But even though it was disappointing, didn't affect the story or how I viewed their romantic relationship.

I'm happy to know that there's gonna be a season 2, can't wait.

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this drama makes u feel happy,joyful with a beautiful love stry like we dream about our love life

some people really acted like silly and giving bad comment ...when this dramas plot r made for love and fun...all things are their is fictional...so we don't have to be serious bt enjoy it and get entertainment...tbh...I loved it very much...lee jun hui and I'm Yoon ah companionship is very beautiful...they were so natural that's make me feel it's real...all comedy scenes specially Arab prince scene was horrible..I laughed so much...and other scene were amazing ?...and this drama s ost also good to listen...over all it's the best romcom drama of 2k23 that gave us the vibe of 2016..

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