Reviews

Nothing New

it was interesting at the beginning but it became to lame and obvious when it proceeded. it's not bad. worth to watch one time.
They could have added more magical elements to the story but emphasized on their love which was really boring to watch. I mostly skipped their romance part.
The side characters are pretty good and kept the show for me. and the second leads where too.

And I don't know if a breakup scene is really an unavoidable scene in almost every KDrama. it's like the writter just wanted to include that scene so they made a lame excuse to break them off.... ughh ..
But still it was pretty good watch.
And I will never watch it again. ?

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Binged watched in 4 days!

I binged watched all 4 season despite being ill and had temperature. this helped me a lot.
It gave some hybrid korean zombie series vibes where zombies run and are much more dangerous but here its kinda more realistic, in the point of view of infection.

Of course tragic things can be character deaths where there are worse kill-off scenes of some characters who we met since first episode.
Characters are all amazing and the cast. it gives you the worrying aspect and actors did great job. same with plot!
music is also unique and gives METRO game vibes.

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Opposites do attract! Rom-com vibes with very realistic and emotional life challenges.

This drama tells the story of two seemingly opposite people who unexpectedly fall in love. The female lead accompanies her father to the hospital where she meets the male lead for the second time. During her father's stay in the hospital the leads heal each other emotionally and fall in love.

The male lead is a surgeon, dealing with his psychological trauma of losing an important patient while the female lead is a college student, striving to become a professional cellist. They are the complete opposites. He is 10 years older than her, mature and responsible, she is free-spirited, goofy and emotional. He is an introvert and a neat-freak. She is an extrovert and a queen of messiness and clumsiness. And yet they find a common ground and slowly fall in love.

The romance is slow burn (but when the leads get together there are tons and tons of cute kiss scenes!!!). The beginning is very angsty and emotional as the story focuses on FL's father who has serious health problems and the ML who is dealing with his past trauma. Around episode 10 the drama switched smoothly to more fun and light-hearted vibes which I loved. From episode 10 till the end it truly feels like a sweet/emotional rom-com but with still very realistic life related issues.

Overall I truly enjoyed this drama, although the beginning was very heavy emotionally. If you want a realistic rom-com, family dynamics and characters who deal with real life issues and overcome life's challenges this drama is for you.

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An understated landmark in queer Asian cinema and here's why

Now let me start off by answering some questions you may be asking yourself: Is this the greatest story ever told? No.
Is there anything particularly standout or special about any of the plot points, or characters, cinematography, literally anything at all? No.
But what makes it so incredibly enjoyable (and honestly objectively good in my opinion) is the way the show chooses to engage with its own genre. The whole things starts, as we know, with a fairly ridiculous plot by the university head to blackmail two of her students into producing shippy BL content and promote the university. This could have easily been stupid and downright problematic (kind of, more on this later), but the show holds absolutely nothing back in showcasing exactly why and how the entire thing is awful and problematic. Literally both goofy-ass, idiot main characters listen to the university head inform them of her plan and immediately go “Mam this is unethical as all hell”, with one main point they raise being that these sort of publicity schemes do nothing to actually help queer people or further queer liberation and both of them take issue with that big time.
This theme of calling bullshit on the fetishization of queer lives continues throughout pretty much the entire show, with a highlight being a montage of the two main characters working their way through a list of cheesy cliches to make content out of except every sappy and ridiculous moment devolves into all-out war (read – a slapstick level of physical violence) every time the camera turns off, funny and an incredibly clever and direct interrogation of almost every stupid, contrived trope this genre has ever seen.
The show also emphasizes the importance and beauty of authentic queer relationships by very deliberately juxtaposing them with the over the top, manufactured ship nonsense the characters have to crank out and they keep those themes going solidly even after the whole “we must make this BL content” storyline ends, which is fairly quickly (which I personally also found quite refreshing, I generally felt the pacing of the show was very well done)
Now why was I so blown away by this? Haven’t other shows done this exact thing except better, more in-depth, and more central to the plot? Why yes, they have, but the reason why this show sticks out is because a thoughtful analysis and deconstruction of a serious issue isn’t central to the plot or the themes whatsoever. What these showrunners have done is put all their energy into making a classic uni setting comedy-drama and then just casually tossed in some incredibly succinct and nuanced commentary on the realities of queer love in a time where such love is frequently and almost gleefully exploited for financial gain.
Combine that with some of the best and healthiest depictions of (queer) friendship I’ve seen in a long time (seriously, all six main characters support the hell out of each other and actually teach each other how to communicate, how to set boundaries, how to figure out who and what you want to be. They feel like real people with real thoughts and opinions who have things to say, want to learn and be better, and also happen to care about each other deeply. I may or may not have teared up a few times) and what you’ve got is a whole new standard for queer dramas going forward.

A quick list of negatives:
- As much as the show calls out the actions of the university head as being problematic, she still faces essentially no consequences in the end, and after she lets the boys off the hook and doesn't force them to produce more content for her, everyone just sort of has a collegial chuckle, going "Oh you, what a little scamp you are, uni head" and that's that. Compared to how well the aforementioned themes are handled during the rest of the show this just falls really flat for me.
- The show's one grand pitfall: the dreaded separation. Why do we still choose to do these, they are godawful, they make no sense, can you tell I'm just personally salty about it

In conclusion: An entertaining and sweet standard university drama that packs a little extra punch. If this is an indicator of what the average queer romance drama will look like from now on, then the future of the genre looks bright indeed.

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I'm not trapped in here with you, you're trapped in here with me

What an absolute thrill ride. I went into this expecting a fun, romantic romp disguised under the thin veneer of an action thriller and boy oh boy did I get more than I bargained for. What should, by all accounts, have been a slightly over-the-top, fanfiction-esque (which is not a bad thing, by the by, just a comment on the suspension of disbelief needed to enjoy certain types of stories) plot, somehow evolved into a fairly grounded and serious exploration of familial bonds and how they influence our lives, the concepts of forgiveness and betrayal, and the quiet deceptiveness of unsolicited acts of love. All this without ever losing its charm and comedy or its heartfelt, upbeat core message.
And now off we go into the (mild) spoiler territory.

Some personal highlights (aka Things I Loved):
- The relationship between Shao Fei and Tang Yi. This may seem like an obvious one, wow you watched a romance show and liked the two main leads, what a hot take. But what makes these two so compelling and sympathetic to me and what makes their dynamic stick out against many other pairings in romances, is how honest and direct these two are with each other.
From the beginning there is respect and fondness between them, buried under a healthy amount of animosity though it may be. That fondness and respect grows and evolves as the show goes on, developing at first into unconventional but genuine friendship and then into a mature and, dare I say it, healthy relationship. As soon as Shao Fei realises his feelings he is upfront with Tang Yi, pursues him openly while still respecting his boundaries and giving him time to reciprocate or pull away. There is no dramatic jealousy, no endless waffling about, no will-they-won't-they. These are two people who decide to love each other and support each other and damn everyone who tells them they shouldn't, destiny is what you make it and problems are best tackled together rather than apart and I am so on board with it.
- Jack and Zhao Li An. While I do have some personal gripes with Jack (such as wanting to come after his kneecaps with a baseball bat for the way he sometimes acts but we're letting that go for now) I do find him a very interesting and compelling character (morally grey, true neutral bastard my beloved) and I absolutely adore his relationship with Zhao Li An. Their dynamic is funny, charming, and their connection seems genuine. I do wish we had seen a bit more of their character growth during the last episodes but I still feel the two have been set up for a happy future in which they can grow together.
- The ending. A happy ending that feels truly earned and makes a point about the importance of facing up to past mistakes and choosing to move forward together with your partner. That is pretty much all I have to say about that.
- Tang Yi's relationship with his fathers. I can't go into detail at all here or I'd end up spoiling big parts of the show, but whoo boy was that whole plot fascinating and the way it all wraps up gave me goosebumps with how serious and just plain good it is.
- Zuo Hong Ye. An interesting female character with a rich and complex inner life who is absolutely badass but is still allowed to be a real human being, warts and all, in my gay romcom?! It's more likely than you think.

Some personal lowlights (aka Things I Didn't Like):
- Gu Dao Yi and his whole plotline. To be fair this isn't so much a "thing I didn't like" and more of a "thing I liked sometimes and then disliked sometimes and felt neutral towards on the whole". I appreciate the important part he plays in driving the plot forward and enabling Tang Yi to have some character growth but something in me just does not like this man.
- Some of the more explicit scenes are a bit gratuitous and unneeded in my opinion, but for what it's worth these two do have great chemistry and the intimacy between them feels both touching and real.

In conclusion: If you are looking for an intelligent drama that explores some interesting and somewhat dark themes but won't drag you into any pits of despair and tragedy and will even make you laugh sometimes then you should definitely give this one a go.

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Compelling weekend binge

if you decide to watch this drama be prepared for a wild ride! Its very adult with a LOT of very graphic violence, sexual themes and some very horrible characters.
BUT - there is a reason why I binged this over the weekend. The story is so compelling, I love that we have female characters of every generation and how the story reflects on different generation of women. The acting is absolutly incredible and the way the episodes are set up is great, every episode told another story within the story.
It is not for the squimish, a feel good KDrama this is NOT but if you like gritty dramas with interesting characters and developement in the story that are hard to forsee its for you.
I really like those shorter dramas now, this is something you can binge on a rainy weekend and the plot moves quickly.

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Love and joy in all their forms, told through the medium of Good Food

This show may have permanently rewired my brain and I don't regret a thing. This show Gets Me. It gets what it means to be human, what it means to love and let yourself be loved, what it means to reach for the joy and wonder that can be found in every day life, what it means to yearn for something. It explores what it means to desire; desire a feeling, desire food, desire change, desire a person. I could (and have, shoutout to my friends and my sincere apologies) spend hours ranting about the beautiful and complex use this show makes of food as symbolism, but I won't subject you to that.
Instead I will tell you this:
If you have ever known or wanted to know what it's like to outgrow and shed the shell you've been confined to all your life, to let go of "would have"s and "should be"s and grab for happiness with both hands, then this show is for you.
It is beautiful, it is intense, it is unafraid, it is pure joy.

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I Ship Pam & Dino

I enjoyed this drama.

I am not familiar with Thai dramas. I am, however, a connoisseur of the romance genre. And My Dear Donovan fits into the romance category perfectly.

It is a straight-forward romance drama where you know the players at face value - good guys, bad guys, grumpy grandfather. The hurdles the lovers have to go through to test their love for each other are adequte for this 16-episode drama. 

What I like: 
- The lovers liked each other from the start, and they were revealed their feelings early part of the series.
- Chemistry between the main actors is cute enough.
- You know exactly who the bad guys are. 
- The FL - she can do crying scenes well. Her puffy nose and redish eyes. Perfection.
- The ML - Great screen presence. 

What I find meh:
- The intrigues, reasons for break-up, and family dynamics were weak. However, it provided me with reasons to fast forward bits and pieces.
- Mr Aood - the apparent 2nd ML. He is unfortunately overshadowed by the ML's strong screen presence.
- Closure of the hurdles for the couple - it felt a bit of a rush towards the end of three episodes.

For romance genre lovers. This is not an epic intergenerational drama. My Dear Donovan is a drama to watch simply for enjoyment. 

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It's based on a true story although not everything but the main story is.

So first of all, I have watched this AMAZING k-drama twice because it's SO GOOD. And Ik that watching it twice is not enough since it's such a good drama but I couldn't bring myself to watch it again any sooner. And that is because it's too much of an emotional rollercoaster for me ... it feels like your heart is being shattered into pieces. The only k-drama that gave me this much heartache was 'moon lovers scarlet heart'. If you haven't watched it already then you're missing something.
The ending of this drama is where you can't help yourself but to bawl your eyes out (I did ever single time). I mean who wouldn't? You won't be able to move on from this drama after you've finished it for some time. "What if....?" Is the question I had to ask myself every time. I don't want to spoil anything big but just know that you need your tissues.

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The Wizards Entertained Me

This show was just plain charming. It does fall into the "overly sanitized" category of Japanese shows, but the romantic chemistry between the leads was so palpable and they expressed their affection for each other so often and so genuinely that I even started to have a little bit of fun with how much the show was teasing the audience with almost showing the two kiss but then stopping short at the last second. Sure it was frustrating (as, personally, I am someone who doesn't place too much stock in more explicit scenes, but does value realistic physical affection between characters who love each other, be it romantic love, or platonic, or any other sort) but by the end it felt almost tongue-in-cheek and some of those moments (looking at you, closing-elevator-doors-scene) honestly made me chuckle.

Some personal highlights (aka Things I Loved):
- The entire concept. It's silly, it's goofy, it's weirdly romantic, it shouldn't work but it really really does.
- Tsuge and his friendship with Adachi. Tsuge is a strange little man who feels too much, too often, all at once and it only seems to make him more determined to figure out what he wants out of life and how to be there for the people he cares about. I find him delightful and his relationship with Minato, while fairly uneventful, is quite sweet.
- Fujisaki Nozomi and everything she represents. While the word "asexual" is never explicitly used to describe Nozomi, she did set off my spidey-senses, my ace-detector if you will, and by the end I was convinced, yes this is an asexual woman not just existing but thriving and I adore her to pieces. Her storyline touches on the importance of self-love and directly counters the idea that romantic love is what makes life fulfilling. Not only is this an important and meaningful topic to address, it also serves to balance out the fairly romance focused main plot and lends depth and complexity to several other characters' arcs that may otherwise have been lacking.

In conclusion: This is a charming and easy-to-watch rom-com with some unexpected yet very welcome depth to it. It's fun, it's wholesome, go watch it with your friends, your family, hell, watch it with your grandparents, it's so clean and inoffensive they might just love it.

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MY SOUL BELONGS TO THIS DRAMA

More than 15 years of watching television and almost 9 years of watching Kdramas, I've stumbled upon a million different stories and various cinematic masterpieces. Many dramas have made me feel like home and gave me the best experiences, but no drama or series has ever resonated with my soul the way this drama has. For many it might just be a love story amidst war and chaos but for me its a million times more than that. Every episode made me feel the emotions that I CANNOT even describe through words...My eyes are filled with tears as I write this...
This drama is everything I could ever want. The story is perfect, the cast is spot on( seriously I love Ahn EunJin and Nam GoongMin sooooooo much), everything is PERFECTION

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I KNOW YOU WANT TO WATCH IT FOR BINBIN BUT DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME ON THIS DRAMA!

I usually watch any drama after reading few reviews and judge whether it is worth my time or not and I did the biggest mistake by not reading the reviews in this one and directly jumped in to watching it because of the soul reason - VIN ZHANG
On personal basis, it was not a whole time waste for me as I got to learn one thing from the drama, infact, from the negative character, Lin Hao, is that when we have a breakup with someone who was so close to us and we loved them truly, we often romanticize their personality, their traits and everything, but in real when someone does wrong to you and you find yourself blaming your own self is the biggest sign that you are not wrong and above that, the other person is never going to change or come and apologize to you (in real sense). even if they do, they will be there for some benefit only and not because they love you just like LIN HAO. I find this cruel and not so comfortable thing very real in this drama. Yes, we do have so many Lin Haos moving around us and over lives- the ultimate manual of RED FLAG was portrayed by the single chatacter and that was simply outstanding for me.

The drama has the capability of making you frustrated by thinking that in the poster they have shown Vin Zhang as the lead but the whole drama has surely more frame of the negative character than the male lead.

Some good points about the drama:
1. The character Yan
2. The learning of how to deal with a toxic ex.
3. Han Shuang's dressing style.
sorry no other...

Negative points
1. LIMITED LIMITED screen presence of both the leads.
2. Terrible trust issues among all the characters makes me feel like how come they have. shown the solid friendship amongst the people who have basic trust issues.
3. Too much stretched. (utter wastage of time)
4. Non sensicle entry of ML's ex
THERE ARE MANYYYY MANYYY OTHERS!

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Good potential but badly written FL

It had really good OST and great acting by the cast and but that was it.

I never wrote a review for a drama but I had to for this one as at the start i really enjoyed the show and thought it might become one of my favs but with how bad and irritating the FL was, it went downhill

So the story started off really good but slowly things got weird, is the FL a superhuman too? She's getting thrown around, fighting off a group of trained men and sometimes even when they had weapons and is ready fight again the next day. Things were good during the middle but In EP10 she was so heartless to her so called husband that she wanted him gone and never see his own daughter ever and even went as far as to say that they committed a sin by giving birth to their daughter because of his cured genes and she said all this based off what the people that were trying to kill them and threatened to kill her daughter and easily convinced the whole damm country that she's a murderer showed her and the story of black arm guy and red hair girl was much better than the ML and FL, they both wanted to protect each other while here at first the FL wanted to kill th ML then she married him then she wanted him gone and at the end she wanted him to come back like make up your goddamm mind. All he has done from when he met her is save her life again and again though she did took a bullet for him at the end when she wanted him to come back but it was too late.

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The First And Best

I'm pretty sure there is nothing I could say about this show that hasn't already been said. It is a masterpiece (or, as I have lovingly taken to calling it, a monsterpiece). It was the first Thai drama I ever watched and it irreversibly pulled me into the weird and wonderful world of queer Asian dramas and for that alone I will always love it.
But it's much more than just personal fondness that makes this drama so incredible to me.
This show takes what could easily have been a contrived, Romeo-and-Juliet-esque plot and turns it into a fiercely loving and genuine story about first love, self-determination, and the struggles of learning how to be yourself in the face of constrictive, sometimes even crushing, social and societal expectations. It touches on topics of sexuality, identity, compulsive heterosexuality, performative violence, and intergenerational trauma (in a "the sins of the father are the sins of the son" type of way) with a sensitivity and care that is still all too rare in cinema these days.
Now onto some (mild) spoilers.

Some personal highlights (aka Things I Loved):
- The deep respect and love Pat and Pran have for each other. Their relationship is tender, realistic, and frankly just plain fun as well, and seeing them both work so hard on building a healthy and lasting connection is beautiful and incredibly satisfying to witness.
- The pacing, specifically during episodes 6-10 in which the two of them just get to exist and grow together while tackling different problems facing them together and advancing their relationship step by step each episode. I know this sort of relationship progression isn't for everyone and hey, I get it, I love a good slow burn as much as the next guy, but personally I find that nothing compares to watching such an achingly real relationship unfold and grow, and seeing two people who love each other fiercely progress through their lives together rather than each of them struggling alone and pining from afar.
- The realistic depictions of sexuality. Specifically Pat letting go of his former infatuation with Ink and allowing himself to explore a romantic relationship he wasn't expecting until finally coming to the conclusion that he is attracted to all genders, which he then expresses out loud, with his words, as a direct response to a "oh but aren't you only gay for him" comment. Revolutionary, I know.
- Ink and Pa. I love my girls so much, they are both incredibly charming and compelling characters, yes I have huge crushes on both of them, what's your point
- The way the typical langkorn staples of sound effects, over the top silliness, and even the product placements (shoutout to Nivea, inexplicable make-up removal scenes my beloved) are utilised to underscore and enhance the story's genuine emotional moments. Beware, beware the danger of the artists who figured out how to use The Silly And Goofy to tell clever and touching stories.

Some personal lowlights (aka Things I Didn't Like):
- The ending. Don't get me wrong, I was very pleased with it being a happy ending and the end of episode 12 was just so goddamn charming it had me grinning from ear to ear, but I really disliked the whole "hiding their relationship" aspect. I would have loved to see them further develop the plotline of Pat and Pran actively defying their parents and refusing to live with and suffer for mistakes and heartbreaks they themselves had nothing to do with, and seeing the parents actually learn to let their kids live their lives for themselves. And if not that, then I could have at least done without them faking a break-up at school, that was just unnecessary in my opinion. Sure, there's a chance their parents would have found out about their continued relationship had they not hidden it that way, but that was seemingly a non-issue previously when they were openly dating so I don't see why they wouldn't have risked that. And lying to their friend groups (with the exception of Wai and Korn) just felt weird to me.
- Korn and his ilk in the early episodes. God but they were pricks, the lot of them. Korn especially irked me. He had a few moments that made me think he was actually becoming a redeemable character, but nothing came of them (see: that one moment in one of the early episodes where Korn reprimanded his friends not to make sex object jokes about women only to then just sort of continue making those jokes himself).
I will say though, that he did win me over by the end. His character arc wasn't as fleshed out as it could have been, but he did manage to pull his head out of his arse and learn to support his friend and put his needless feud with Wai to rest, so I am somewhat willing to overlook how much I wanted to punch him for roughly the first 70% of the show's runtime
- Wai forcibly outing his friend and how little it was discussed. I love Wai as a character (he is my little gremlin, my little weirdo, my scrungly boy) but forced outing is one of the most traumatic experiences a queer person can go through and for Wai to experience essentially zero consequences for his actions and even had Pran apologise to him really rubbed me the wrong way.

In conclusion: This is a wonderful, wonderful show by queer people for queer people and it remains a stand-out success and an absolute highlight among not just Thai shows, or queer Asian dramas, but among queer films and shows in general. Go watch it.

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