Reviews

Who doesn't love a bad boy/good girl romance? With all the thrills and problems it implies . . .

*Discussion of Red Flags at the end*

This modern romance has the life/death feel of a historical drama set in the present day. Li Xun is your black sheep general or heir, highly strategic, intelligent, competent and cold as ice. Zhu Yun is your earnest and bubbly sheltered daughter of a palace adviser who has a hidden righteous fury. Li Xun could conquer the world in one step, if not for his weaknesses which are the family and friends around him especially Zhu Yun. Their journey to happiness takes years of twists and turns, revenge plots and separations.

The beginning creates a lot of suspense by jumping back and forward in time. The end is touching and perfect acknowledging the years that have passed. In the perfect last flip of perspective, Li Xun never says it, but we get to see that Zhu Yun was the best thing that ever happened to him.

Chen Fei Yu as Li Xun excels at a smirky teenage cool. Zhang Jing Yi as Zhu Yun excels at a straight-forward eagerness and stubbornness. They have excellent chemistry together, but limited range. Even as the years pass, you do not get a sense of any time passing for their characters. There's no large moments of self-doubt, no hidden flaws or temperaments that only come out later on. What you see is what you get. Zhao Zhi Wei as Gao does a much better of job of changing into a more bitter, muddle headed adult.

Music is fine, and I wouldn't really rewatch.

I grade on other criteria:

Complex Themes: 9.0
Men who have chips on their shoulder, jealous, unscrupulous and thirsty to succeed can indeed be bad partners. But, these men can come from any economic class. It's wrong to assume that ambitious men who grow up in poorer circumstances will have bad values compared to those from other wealthier backgrounds. Upfront, straight-forward, reliable people of whatever background are worth a dozen schemers.

Complex Characters/Character Growth: 5.5
Gao changes a lot and it’s a very believable change, that he was unable to accept his own limitations, and had unhealthy level of grudges and aggression that grew with time. Li Xun and Zhu Yun stay very consistent throughout.

Complex Women/Complex Relationships Between Women: 7.5
Zhu Yun and her mother have a very complicated and contentious relationship. With her mother unable to see her potential, and so sure that her daughter is the same as her. So, some points there. Otherwise, there are women friendships and characters but they are drawn a bit thin.

Production Value/Cinematography: 5.0
This is filmed very straight on with not too much creativity to clothes or sets let alone camera angles. There’s a camera choice for the very end where it switches to Li Xun that is powerful, but otherwise this category did not stand out to me at all.


*RED FLAGS*
Both Li Xun and Gao display numerous red flags including: smirking in the face of distress, not showing vulnerability, taking away people’s choices, defensiveness, feeling like you are ‘above the rules’ or ‘above the law,’ a lack of friend/familial relationships, uncomfortable feelings, dreams outsized to current reality, quick to sacrifice other people’s feelings to meet your goals etc.

The highly problematic myth of the bad boy/good girl romance is that the love of a good woman can ‘tame’ or soften a bad boy and these traits, and that myth is highly on display here.

What’s worse is that Zhu Yun shows all the signs of someone in the thrall of limerence/obsession running after Li Xun and getting crumbs for 95% of the show. She declares at the end that she knows he will soften/ripen like a peach, but we the viewers see little indication that that’s the case.

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An average one.

I am writing this review right after finishing the last episode. I decided to watch this drama because of Hyun jin (I love her acting), though I didn't like the story because it seemed too much, but I decided to give it a try and yes, overall I can say it was an average drama.

WHAT I ENJOYED:
• Great acting as expected from Hyun jin (FL) plus (ML) and all the actors, they did a good job.
• LEE DA HEE WAS MY FAVORITE CHARACTER IN THIS DRAMA! She was a character I could relate to and I truly loved how she was changing slightly and realistically. Although at first all she was doing was being rude and mean to the ML, the one time when she was fooled and then started crying in the car calling herself "stupid"... she made me cry. What an impressive acting Lee Da Hee. Good Job. As for her partner, I didn’t like her partner. neither the actor himself nor his character, but I forced myself to watch their scenes because I liked her.
• I loved the friendship between FL and her friends. It was warm watching them comfort each other.
• The OSTS.

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE:
• FL character. I am sorry to say this but I have hated her many times for her attitude. The way she treated her mother was too mich. At one point she literally yelled at her for accepting gifts from ML even though she was dating him?? She also never apologized and but instead she decided to call the ML and complain about her mother ?????? Also, the way she was getting annoyed at the ML before they became a couple, was very childish to me and not cute at all. I'm a little disappointed in HYUN JIN. I think she could have made the character better even if it was poorly written.
• Lack of good writing and very predictable and cheesy plot. I think the drama could have been done in 10 episodes max. The last few episodes have been completely unnecessary.
• l skipped a lot of romantic scenes because I got tired of watching the same lines being repeated over and over.
• The second ML (Ryu Eun ho) was A HUGE FAIL. What's wrong with him??? I knew he is supposed to be the super nice guy but seriously, he was too much. At first he would appear ridiculously in front of Kang-sara every single time and literally every where????? I didn't expect this silly plot to be in 2018 drama. Anyway, and then he constantly flirting with her, but when she starts liking him and confesses her feelings he simply rejected her saying he was just being nice????? Suddenly he falls in love with her and decides to change his dream only for her even though he barely knows her. And after dating each other, she was the one who was acting like the man in the relationship, and he was accepting everything from her without hesitation. He even accepted a car from her and she literally asked his parents to marry him without discussing it with him??? and he accepted it with a smile???? How ridiculous LOL. I mean, you're he is the man here, what's wrong with him.

- I watched “because this is my first life” for the ML so I felt he was somehow similar to his character over there, but maybe he was slightly funnier in this drama.
As for the FL I watched “Another miss oh”and I LOVED IT SO MUCH. That is why I am disappointed in her in this drama.

I didn’t plan to write a long one but I’ll stop here.
I won’t rewatch it again, once is pretty enough.

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Great production, wonderful visuals quality

I think when it comes to costumes, sceneries and CGI, this drama has one of the best ever, I really enjoyed the visuals. I can tell that the production team payed a lot of attention for this Xianxia.
Dylan and Esther's costumes are breath taking, especially the details on Dylan's clothes.
I think what I didn't like was the body switch, was kind of unessesary though it was funny sometimes.
And I'm not a big fan of the "cute FL image" in general, too childish for my taste, I liked when she became more mature but the actress delivered her character well in all parts. Dylan is a candy for the eyes, great performance and chemistery from both.

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good but could be better

if ur a huge fan of comedy this is for u! the scenes were super funny 😭(esp joonki's) i also rlly liked how soo a and dong gu managed to be friends despite being exes. but i wasnt a huge fan of seojin toxicity like when she made joonki stop doing stupid stuff and also of seojin and joonkis romantic relationship bc i wished they'd just maintain their bickering and not completely switch to cheesiness 😬 also i wish they'd make yoona less boring 😞 they shouldve made her fight back just abit more to add depth to her character. the scenes where she was with the baker guy was unwatchable bc both of them r like so boring tgt 😭😭😭 but other than that everyt else was pretty good! esp the ost!! 🤩

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If your pet best friend came back from the dead

(╭☞•́⍛•̀)╭☞ Disclaimer:

This review is based on my personal opinion/experience while watching, it's not meant to persuade you or change your opinion/thoughts on this series, you're free to agree/disagree with it.


Fine, I admit it, the thought of your dead pet coming back to life as a human is both the most amazing and terrifying thing you would ever experience, the absurdity of the situation is off the charts, but that aside, you cannot tell me that we didn't all wish for that to happen at some point. Sure, we wouldn't want our puppy to come back as a handsome beefy guy, but the idea of having your best friend back even if it's just for a couple of minutes is really intriguing and exiting. As someone who knows the pain of loosing your furry friend all too well, this was both heart warming and sad for me, romance and comedy aside, this show portrayed the feelings we experience when we loose someone or something precious impeccably well, the never ending spiral of what ifs and should'ves, feeling like this was our fault because we didn't notice the signs, even the small moments where we call out for them only to realise they wouldn't answer, all were shown very well. I don't necessarily believe in an afterlife, but the idea of my puppy running around happily and watching over me from somewhere in the sky sounds very nice to me, it makes it less hard on me when I miss him or when I see my pictures with him so I really appreciate that conversation between Jungwoo and Choco when he asked him to leave, that being said, the way they showed how Jungwoo was dealing with grief and their absence and the emptiness we feel coming back home and not finding our dog or cat running to great us at the door was just fabulous and I applaud whoever was behind this plot, even if the thought of romancing your dog weirds me the f out, I loved this nonsensical fluffy take on this heavier topic. The ChocoMilk dou's shenanigans were the best, I laughed my ass off at their back an forth and their chaotic energy when they're put together.


Acting wise, I fell in love with both the cast and characters, the casting was very good, too good actually, especially for that of Choco and Milk, I find myself forgetting that these are humans sometimes, they made me believe that they are a cat and a dog inhabiting human bodies and not actual reincarnated souls. At first, I was very iffy about the romance, and I had a hard time getting behind the ChocoJungwoo pairing, I had to completely disregard the fact that Choco is originally a dog for me to enjoy his moments with Jungwoo and their lovestory, for the uncle and Milk, not so much, maybe because they didn't have the pet owner relationship but yeah, they were a lot easier to digest and let their story into my brain when I told myself that these two are not pets anymore, even if their behaviour and mannerism said otherwise. The little side story with the ex was really nice, I was thrilled to see a relationship that ended on good terms for once, no obsessive horrible ex boyfriend, no toxic relationship, no cheating, it was the definition of right one wrong time, Jongwoo's ex is a wonderful breath of fresh air and I really enjoyed how they concluded that chapter of their story. My favourite character was definitely Milk, I was slightly bummed that we didn't see as much of his perspective but I really appreciated it in episode 10 so the show gets a pass for this one but yeah, Kim Seonghyeok did fantastic in this role and I really look forward to his future projects.


BGM wise, the music used was honestly some of my favourite from any series. It had that nostalgic melancholic vibe to it when needed and the upbeat fun tone when the mood shifted. The product placement was hilarious but not in a bad way, also, the food lowkey made me hungry, except for that sad sad popcorn in episode 8, it looked like it was dunked in water and thrown in a bowl and served.


All in all, this was an absolute delight to watch, it's very entertaining and funny all while handling a heavy topic quite well, was it perfect? No, but was it a really good watch? Hard yes. Watching this one episode at a time is impossible, once you start you won't be able to stop, it's one of the most bingeable miniseries ever, I highly recommend it especially if you don't know what to watch and want something short and sweet to pass time, and if you're like me and have gone through the loss of your pet whether a long while back or more recently, this series will put a smile on your face and it will hopefully make it a little easier to cope with their absence.
Enjoy your watch everyone.

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Another Great BL From Strongberry

Before watching this series, I'd seen a few of Strongberry's short BL movies which always impressed me because of how much they could do in a short time. I was introduced to great chemistry between actors that even some full-length BL series couldn't pull off. When I found out Strongberry would do a series this time I was excited to see what they could do using more to work with. I can say I was not disappointed! With this strange but interesting and funny plot, I saw that chemistry between the actors again. What stuck out to me was the portrayal of the roles of a cat and dog. I couldn't stop praising the acting while watching the new episodes in the mornings. I also really appreciated the music and fun theme song in the intro and outro of each episode. All actors, editors, and staff did a great job in the production of Choco Milk Shake!

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It teaches me a lot--literally

I watched this as I wait for the next episode of Summer Strike and it was the best thing that I did last week! God, this drama is so good. This slice-of-life drama doesn't only get me reflecting on my own life but also triggers my strategic thinking. The way the characters interact with one another also gave me some ideas on how to handle different people. The plot is also quite good, I didn't remember watching this quality in slice-of-life drama back in 2014. The scenes are all efficient. Everything that happens has its' meaning that we can see later on. There's no useless scene, really. I enjoy watching every moment in it.

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So much good yet eh

This was one of my first dramas I’ve watched in a long time and I wanna give this drama perfect scores but I just can’t.

Let’s start with the good!
The chemistry between the main couple is adorable when they eventually ACTUALLY get together. They're dynamic after they get together is so fluffy and cheesy it's really cute.
The transitions and the overall camera work is very good and the music is pretty.
Them openly talking about the LGBTQ community was very nice, it felt like they actually cared about it and not only had a BL just for fan service and for them to not give a crap about the community they are trying to represent.
Also it’s unproblematic in the sense that all the kissing scenes are consensual and there’s no insensitive joking as you see with a lot of shows.

Now on to the things I didn’t like!
It is sooooo slow in the beginning and the overall dynamic between the main characters is just weird and so dragged out.
The fact that the parents wanted them to get married since Kuea was born was just icky, like I know its an arranged marriage but asking a 5 year old to marry this person who WAS JUST BORN AT THE TIME-
Also why tf was the same tropes were used for multiple characters? Like we get it, you're a closed off rich guy that can't show emotion and you're dating another rich person who can't stand up for themselves? Like it feels like a copy and paste, make it their own original story?

With all these cons I wouldn’t completely knock it, it just depends on your taste and how high expectations you put on to it.

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Adorble and clever

This is a story about a man's dog and cat coming back from the afterlife as humans - I don't think so much reincarnated as incarnated.

The casting and acting are wonderful - although human now, the pets still act like a dog and cat - Choco (dog) follows his former master everywhere, even at home, and escapes to follow Jung Woo when he goes out (especially if he's on a date), and Milk plays the "love me. Stop touching me" game of a cat.

There's no particularly important message to this, other than perhaps Carpe Diem, but it's relentlessly pleasant and fluffy without ever being cloying.

My only criticisms are, and the first is specific to me, the guitarist on the soundtrack kept sliding his fingers down the fret, which sets my teeth on edge and I often had to watch on mute.

More substantially, this is overly sanitized from the source material, being a hard G-rated. Choco is just plain sexy, but other than that, there was no heat between the leads - they had decent "hug" chemistry, but it felt like a primary school romance rather than an adult one, and that limited chemistry made it hard to invest as much as I would have liked to in the romance.

Still, this is one of the better series that aired this year, and is one you can go back to over and over.

The finale clearly set things up for a S2, which would be welcome.

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Very Different Plot, But Very Good!

STRONGBERRY, you did it again! This is a really, cute, well acted Drama, right up there with Long Time No See. The dog and cat coming back into Jung Woo’s life is really creative. The actors cast to play the cat and dog are perfect. I am so looking forward to the last episodes, because I’m not really sure how this will end. I usually have some kind of idea, but with this I’m not sure. This definitely has some sad moments, romantic moments, along with happy and funny moments too. I will edit this with my final review after I watch the last episode. But so far, so good!

Just watched episode 10, so good!! Looking forward to the last episode 11. I suggest anyone watching the Drama, go on You Tube, and watch the interview clips. One of the clips is about Choco and Milk’s journey back to earth, and how and why it all happened.

Finished the series, and I thought it had a great happy ending! I really wasn’t sure it would, until the last half of the last episode. This is what I like about Stongberry, their Dramas don’t leave you hanging or completely devastated. You feel good after watching them, and that is what this Drama did! A very enjoyable watch!

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A series that wasted a good story based.

The very original "2 moons" was the third university based BL that i watched after Together with Me and SOTUS. What i can say, this third remake/continuity of the original story has become a mess.

1. The acting was so bad despites their line up of good looking actors.
2. Audio problem. I have a sensitive ears. There are several scenes that audience can differentiate the layering of audio in the scene with something like voice over. You can feel it like he is talking behind your ears.
3. Storyline, dialog are messy, unorganized and weak.

In conclusion, do not waste your time for watching this series. Thank you.

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Which one is the ML??

I love this so much. I picked this drama randomly, not knowing any of the actors and actresses. The FL is not the average pretty girl but boy is she so funny, how can you not love her.

The story is about two men who have lost their love seven years ago. One's dead, the other one went missing.

I am really looking forward the see who will end up to be with the FL. The King, or the Officer. Who do I prefer? Both are dashing, so only time will tell.

At the current latest episode (4), it looks like FL has fallen to the King. But it might change? Because that officer is soooooo nice, I'll be devastated if he happens to be the one not getting the girl.

#####SPOILER#####

Update: I dropped this when I found out the FL will end up with the King!

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Drama that rely on ML and FL popularity

The story start well but after a few episode it started to become boring that all
So many thing that are not logical
I think i cant find the chemistry between FL and ML
The character are perfectly potray but no chemistry between them
too many toxic relay in this drama but writer prefer let them stay
SML and SFL relay is also a toxic one because i dont the man love his current GF same as previous
What the point if having new relay but you are still remember your ex
And last episode, suddenly the GF return to the boyfriend like WTF never settle less
The other couple which is her brother relay is really toxic come on after so many cheating and argument they still together and the FL who always potray like powerfull female character is just the same

I really hate the law firm they always taking afvangtage of qin shi and qinshi is so naive and her only goal is only want to be the partner of the agency which is i think she can achieve more when she go solo just like Li Dai
And the bosses is like typical bosses who are always stick to the rich people red flagg
And only call qin shi when they make mistake they know qin shi will always loyal to them

And my complained after 30 episode each episode the story line is getting weaker

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It could´ve been so much better!

Ok, I´ve finished watching it. I doubted before I started to watch because of all the posts about the bad editing, which is absolutely awful. Too many fundamental scenes were cut and made my heart ache because this drama had a great production and the plot had many great highlights to explore.

What was missing:

- The first kiss of the MC in episode 6 when ML was drunk
- Also at the end of episode 6 when ML proposes ingame and FL asks to the FL how she wants to be called (Wife, darling, honey etc) and she says if he agrees to have a real relationship she will pick one.
- Confession in episode 16... Come on!!! WTF??? how do you miss that???!!!
- When ML discovers his boss is FL´s older brother.

What could have been better:

- If the writers wanted a "love triangle" for the FL, then director/production please cast someone that could´ve been seen as an opponent to BWJ, not an actor close to an uncle. Or if you wanted an older suitor, please mind you are filming an Idol Drama and cast someone aesthetically coordinated with the rest of the cast.

- ML´s grandpa was adorable, he could have had a couple of scenes more sprinkled in the last episodes.

- Writers: did you try to make a SC with Lu Guang Han & Gu Qiao Bei a bromance, a BL, a mentor/disciple or a dage/didi relationship? Because you hinted all that and finally we didn´t have either. I think could have been better if you didn't force a girlfriend for LGH in the last episode and just leave it open for viewers to interpret.

- Please send a red fat envelope to "S**ting Stars" because the hidden top actress/absent mother and the assistant/mean top actor we´ve seen it last year and better done.

- First drama I´ve watched with Bi Wen Jun and Zhang Xue Ying and for me, she ATED IT. Cute without being dumb or sickly sweet, quite natural. BWJ flunked the first half for me because his "tsundere" was lacking personality. Few actors can pull a tsundere without being confused with a brick. Park Seo Joon in "What´s wrong with Secretary Kim?" set the bar too high for me and quite difficult to reach for the majority of idol actors. The second half when he starts to pursue the FL more out in the open and he warms up is where he starts to shine. When he ends up as a cute henpecked boyfriend in the last couple of episodes he takes the crown.

- Regarding what is missing in edition, is not the first time government makes cuts in dramas, but is the first time the production didn't fix it properly. I don't remember any other drama where the editing was so lame that made the plot lose sense at some point. Oh... I forgot "She and her Perfect Roommate".... sorry "Husband". After all the cut scenes between YM and XK we went from a chocolate cake in the trailers to a pudding when it was released, but at least the plot made sense.

Is it worth watching?

The production and the game scenes were on point. Red carpets and awards ceremonies were also great. The ending was one of the most satisfactory for me in the recent same niche rom-coms.

The chemistry between the leads was good and ended even better. The the dage/meme relationship was insanely well done and fun to watch. Is one of the highlights of the drama.

The conflicts were solved quickly and the evil-doers got the reward they deserved.

If the writers polished the script and the editing was done better after the government review, this drama could have been easily a "Love O2O" 2.0. Had the storyline, the actors and the production to reach the same level or top it. BWJ is not yet at Yang Yang´s level, but his FL was far better than Zheng Shuang, at least for me. So that makes the MCs even.

If the viewer is warned about the missing scenes and wants to watch a good quality production rom-com, worth the try if there isn't another drama on queue.

Rewatch Value:

Yes, I probably will rewatch it. I don't know yet if it is because I really enjoyed the good points listed above or because my brain is still trying to put all the pieces together.

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