Reviews

Love Light-on Series from iQiYi - Homesick is a good suspense drama.

Homesick is another light-on series from iQiyi, and I like it a lot. This was the 6th or 7th light-on series, and I was not disappointed. Most of them are good and decent drama, and Homesick was no exception.

I like the storyline a lot, and there were a few suspenseful moments the characters in the drama are good. The only thing I didn't like was the police department seemed to be useless until the end, which is typical both in eastern and western dramas.

The lead actress, Zhang Zi Feng, has a lot of potentials to be a good actress. The supporting cast in this drama is awesome, and I didn't expect Wang Yan Hui to play a bad guy because he normally played the good guy.

He did a good job fooling everyone except his wife and Chen Youxi characters. He played the role very well; he should get some awards. Overall, I really enjoy it. I am giving it an 8.0 rating.

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This is the best drama that I have watched!

This Chinese drama, which I'm currently viewing for the first time, has a unique premise and is excellent. Given how excellent it is, it doesn't matter to me whether I watch it again. This is another one if you guys are well-known in high school plays. If you guys are also well-known for the love triangle in this drama in which two boys fight after the same female, here is another thing. I hope you all watch the entire drama without skipping a beat; it can also be accessed on Tencent Video and Youtube. This is history's greatest drama.

Jiang Chen, Chen Xiao Xi, Wu Bo Song, Lin Jing Xiao, and Lu Yang make up the majority of the cast. Characters Chen Xiao Xi and Lu Yang are the prettiest, while Jiang Chen is the most handsome. Ling Jing Xao is known as Pretty Girl. They do a good job acting as characters. I hope you enjoyed this drama.

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Reflections on Fate and Choices

Lost Track of Time is an entertaining and enjoyable period drama with a philosophical twist: the clash of Fate and personal choices in our life. Do we really choose the path of our life or is Fate more powerful than our choices? Lu Aran is a jolly privileged and naive girl who lives her life trusting too much her own good nature and doesn't consider that Evil hides where you least expect it. She believes herself lucky and happy but is it true? When she opens her eyes and sees the reality of her life, she cannot take it. But what if she had another chance? Can she change her life or is Fate too strong? Great performances from the three main characters. Costumes are beautiful. Loved the soundtrack too.
SPOILER
Jing Chao's performance is outstanding: he always brings a great depth to his characters, and several layers of feelings and reasonings. MuZe's Fate is to live a lonely cold life: he wasn't loved as a child and his father the Emperor never appreciates him. His greatest ambition is to become Emperor so he can bring justice to his dead mother. In order to do so he has to get rid of all his enemies and even of his allies. The only joy in his life is his relationship with his younger brother MuChuan who he wants to protect at all costs. He marries LuAran for her shipping company but he really falls in love with her.
In the first part of the story, it's not believable that he doesn't really care for her or for their son's death, because they were the only warmth in his life.
In the second part of the story, LuAran never explains him what happened in her previous life, so MuZe never really understands LuAran. I personally believe that at least at the end she should have told him.
Besides, in her previous life LuAran really loved MuZe and it's not believable that in her new life she never feels anything for him: certainly in the past, before finding out he was plotting against her family, she must have felt love and warmth from him or she wouldn't have stayed 10 years with him.
In the second part of the story, the authors did a good job portraying how MuZe has to follow his ambition, protect his brother, try to conquer LuAran while knowing that his brother loves her too: he has a lot on his plate!
This drama is good and I will certainly rewatch it.

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Great show overall. Really liked the new games shown, lots of interesting characters new and old and all of the actors I feel nailed their roles. Good score and special effects. Not 100% sure I buy the ending, but also am not sure what alternative would have been a better way of exploring the borderlands without cheapening it somehow, or already having been done. For rewatchability I imagine I will rewatch it in the future but probably will skip over some parts and stick to the main games, as there is some filler since they couldn't really flush out 12 face-card games in the season, which is why I only gave it an 8 for the story and rewatch categories.

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One of the best k-dramas of 2022

This drama is the perfect representation that a drama doesn't need so many extravagant elements to be an amazing and memorable drama. Summer strike is that drama that leaves messages of self-discovery, what life means and what happiness is, so watching this drama is a journey with the main character in search of those answers but it's also a drama with characters so real and human that it's easy to identify with any of them. This is a drama for any type of person because it not only fulfills its goal of entertaining you but it also ends with a sense of happiness, comfort and leaves you wanting to begin your journey in search of your own answers.

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Crazy Ending

Generally, I think this drama was done extremely well. The acting especially was phenomenal and I'll definitely be watching more dramas with these actors.

The characters were my favourite aspect of this drama. I loved how all the female characters weren't painted as damsels in distress that couldn't do anything. They were smart and often helped the situation instead of making it worse, and two of the female characters had redemption arcs that were handled really well. I also liked the main couple both together and separately and thought the main second lead couple were done really well in which they were interesting and cute enough to be invested in but not interesting to the point where they would drive the plot if they were the leads.

The plot likewise was pretty good, but this is also the part where I have the most problems with. At the end where Rong'er is presumed dead or unconscious, why did they make her come back to life by getting struck by lightning? I feel like this came out of nowhere and completely threw off the tone of the drama, and therefore I was unable to rate it a 9 like I had originally planned.

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Kinda actually a really good series!

I truly do not understand all the hate that this series got. The only thing that I saw that was unrealistic in the show was the support that the two ML's got from their friends and family, because that doesn't happen to the extent that was portrayed in the show. Support is often there, but rarely do people go to such lengths for someone else's happiness. At one point, Fah was talking about a side couple and (to paraphrase) he basically said --I know how they feel but it's not my business. They'll figure it out.-- That caught me completely off guard. I mean, it's a drama and you're not going to get involved?? But it worked with the character's personality. (Heh, my example may not sound like support, but in my opinion it was.)

The cast is all new actors, and honestly, they did a great job. The director kept the show moving and the writers didn't let us sit with scenes upon scenes of slow dialogue, as is often the case. Occasionally there were some pauses when the characters were talking, but it was more like natural conversation than a lot of BL's I've seen. The plot included the necessary drama, emotional growth of the characters, varying locations, and several different types of relationships. I've seen comments about the toxicity of the MLs relationship, but it seems to me that the toxicity was more self-induced than anything else.

I think the fact that they had to fight themselves as well as each other in order to find a happy middle ground for a relationship made this so much more realistic. Trust, love, jealousy, lust, passion, hope, disappointment, pain....it was all within these 12 episodes. It's nice when people can have a perfect relationship, but often it's a facade, hiding the truths and deceptions of one or more parties within that relationship. Having to work together towards an understanding of each other, through trials and tribulations, makes for a better bond than taking everything at face value. This leads to my favorite line of the whole series: "I'm trying."

I saw some comments about how bad the kissing was, and I can only assume that those people don't realize that not everyone kisses the same, and oftentimes you have to adapt to the kisses and physical touches of your partner. Personally I think it's refreshing to see people portray the intimate actions differently. And different moods call for different actions. For instance, being thrown into a wall and kissed hard can be thrilling and passionate at times. Other times, it can just hurt. LOL. I'm not trying to make excuses for the acting or directing. I actually liked the kisses. They were reactive, and not just dead fish lips.

There are very few dramas that I will rewatch, but I can guarantee that I will be revisiting this one. I let the comments sway me and waited, but I'm glad that I finally watched it. Although it does still have the effeminate 'I'm going to break them up' characters (which is a trope in itself) as well as the oh so recognizable fujoshi-type character, for the most part I enjoyed the side characters as much as the main leads. This show didn't leave me all in my feels and hugging myself in comfort or happiness; rather it left me more contemplative... but satisfied.

I do wish Tar would have had his happy ending though...

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unnerving, unsettling and uncomfortable

TW: this show has animal death, attempted sexual assault, and lots of blood/gore

I honestly didn’t know what to expect with this show as I hadn’t heard much about it, but it really did exceed my expectations.

Initially I was drawn to this because *Lee Dong Wook* but if I’m honest, Yim Si Wan really did steal the show. His performance was fantastic and he really nailed that slow descent into madness; he managed to convey the real and terrifying aspects of depression, anxiety, paranoia and doubt. That combined with the PTSD of the character’s time in the army was absolutely perfect in the most devastating way.

The supporting cast were extremely unnerving; I’ll be honest, Lee Joong Ok’s performance as Nam Bok (ie. The Pervert in 313) made it very difficult for me to watch. He just oozed creepiness, and I have to give credit to the actor for managing to pull that off. Lee Jung Eun as Mrs. Eom was also a very unsettling performance; sickly sweet but pushy with a very dark side. I admit that the twins (played by Park Jong Hwan) was maybe my least favourite; there’s something uncomfortable about having a mentally disabled character as a villain, especially when the character is abusing animals – it just feels a little stereotyped and unfair. I will say that the characters of the twins were interesting in their differences to one another.

Lee Dong Wook as Moon Jo was mesmerising and terrifying. This was such a different role for me to see him in and he nailed it. He was absolutely fantastic opposite Yim Si Wan; I’ve seen some people argue about Moon Jo’s feelings towards Jong Woo, and I can see most points. However, my interpretation of Lee’s performance was an all consuming obsession with Jong Woo. It was uncomfortable but absolutely fantastic.

Ahn Eun Jin as the young police officer was a great choice; she managed to imbue the feeling of being a rookie but with a good head on her shoulders.

Stangers From Hell is an uncomfortable, unnerving and unsettling watch, and I absolutely loved it.

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Love you Forever....

Love the drama love the actors especially the two main leads, Chen Fei Yu and Zhang Jing Yi. But the story got a little convoluted at some points which took a little bit away from the overall flow of the drama for me. Some silly mistakes had me like why would they do that??‍♀️. But I did like it for the most part and the original soundtrack is stellar!!

You can't control who you fall in love with and life choices are often times based on emotions, and always feeling the need to be on top of the world regardless of collateral damage were 2 main take aways in this drama.
But I did enjoy it for the most part and I would watch it again and did I say the soundtrack is stellar!!!

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FAV DRAMA OF 2022

I have been seeing the picture of the drama on Netflix for a while and then one day, decided to give it a try. I wasn't expecting anything when watching the first episode but then I got really intrigued as the episodes passed by. the ML appeared and then I KNEW I would love the drama. I am fond of psychopath / sociopath ML or concept of stalking / obssession (Just as the american serie "YOU").

I absolutely was amazed by the acting of the two protagonists, less by the female police officer. I thought it was really new to see explicit scenes in a Kdrama. I got very much bored of the amount of sex scenes to be honest. I can tell that this drama is not for everyone. I saw in the comments that a lot of people were triggered already by the "cat scene" in the beginning which I understand. I think it's really worth watching the drama even if you do have to skip some scenes for the most sensitives ones.

I loved how raw and real the acting and the atmosphere was. Really had a "Art et essai" vibe and the soundtracks were so great ! I'm looking forward the actress who played Kim Sum (FL) on other dramas. Same for Kim Young-Kwang (ML) who is, in my opinion, one of the best actor playing as an evil protagonist I've seen until here. I didn't know him until "Somebody" so, seeing him acting in "The Secret Life Of My Secretary" was weird to me.

To sum up, the best drama I've watched this year for the realness and darkness of the drama.

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One of the best short series!

I decided to write a review as this short series deserves higher rating. Personally I feel this is one of the best short series!
The story plot is interesting, light hearted, a little exciting and yet it has a touch of comedy romance. It is not draggy nor silly, production is of a higher standard compared to some other short series. The acting skills of the main leads are considered quite good. Overall it is worth watching.

Really hope there is part 2 as promised at the end. Hope to see the couple win the war and return to get marry and live happily ever after.

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