Reviews

I finally got around to watching this and honestly, Park Bo Gum's smiling face as male lead Kim Jin Hyuk was probably the only thing that got me through this.

While this was a nice, slow-paced romantic series, I was disappointed in the writing of the female character Cha Soo Hyun played by Song Hye Kyo. I felt like her character lacked any real depth or personality. She plays a guarded CEO mostly throughout the entire series. In the end, I wondered why Jin Hyuk even liked or fell in love with her. There wasn't enough to her personality to make her a loveable character. Most of the time, I either felt sorry or pitied her or just felt uninterested.

This is a story of a guy who chases a girl to the end of the world and you have no idea why.

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slightly disappointing? [EDIT: COMPLETED]

don't get me wrong from the title of this review. but let's break it down...

legends: YYZ [male lead, yan yun zhi] SQ [female, sang qi] ZWY [2nd male lead, zhuo wen yuan]

the story:
short detailed summary: SQ is the first female student of the imperial college with a goal to graduate and get good grades there to fulfil the dying wish of her late brother and to also prove to the whole nation that females deserve a chance to study at an institution. in the midst of studying there, she fell in love with the polymath of the imperial college that she is in and that is YYZ. Alongside the romance line and the school story, YYZ and his side character friends are investigating a bad organization and their wrongdoings.
Moving on, let's start with the romance line,
this is a small spoiler but YYZ is the best friend of SQ's late brother and that was also a catalyst of their relationship. The romance between them is lighthearted, funny and hand in hand, they investigate the death of SQ's brother. Up to ep24, their relationship did not go through that big of a rollercoaster [by rollercoaster, I mean like separating for more than 2 eps]. Some of yall might not like it but I think it's okay? Though for ancient dramas, I do prefer those harem chaos and betrayal shit. But as everyone knows, Zhao Lu Si [SQ actress] rarely acts for those chaotic dramas. I don't think it's much big of a spoiler but there is some love triangle shit.. YYZ and SQ are together, but ZWY [childhood friend with SQ] is madly obsessed with SQ.
What I don't like much about the love line is the lack of creativeness, like I don't get the sweet romance/first love kind of feeling that usually gets me slamming my table because it is so sweet in between them. And what I mean by creativeness is that the feelings or the plot between the lovers are like not fresh? Like the reason they fight or have a quarrel, is that usual common reason, not sure if you can guess what is the reason cuz I'm tryna spoil bare minimum.
Moving on to the 'Investigation' part of the drama, ehhhh i think it's very boring. Not thrilling, not exciting. Some reactions that I get from good 'Investigation' plots are when it leaves me hanging and anxious about what the bad guys are gonna do next. But for this drama, they basically sit under a roof, drink tea and discuss shit like "Don't hurt XXXX" and their moves are predictable? Like some of the good shit are from Princess Silver, or like Legend of Fuyao [10/10 recommend this two if you love really MESSED UP stuff and really really good plot twists], Oh and actually Legend of Yun Xi is not bad too [9/10 recommend for a messed up story]

I would recommend drama if you like dramas with good visuals or a drama for relaxation. I would pick this drama if I have just gone through dramas and dramas of a really torturous (虐) storyline. I will update when the last episode airs!

EDIT: COMPLETED 30/30
well well well. it hasn't been a hot minute and I'm here.
For those who don't really want to read this whole part. Watch 25-30. It's where all the mess starts and ends!

Ah, the ending. Very complete I would say! I must admit the middle part of the drama isn't very well done but the ending is really good IMO. Within 3 episodes [28,29,30] Lots of emotions, LOTS OF PLOT TWISTS that got me screaming [for real] and the last episode was beautiful. Truly beautiful. This show ended with all questions answered and all dreams came true! Worthy to watch for the ending!! Now I'm renewing my stars from an 8.0 to a 9.0 :) The only flaw being the middle plot not being well done and some parts being boring. Everything else is good!

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Great Collaboration between Thai and Korean BL!

Starts off shaky, but from the second episode the drama starts to make sense.

Honestly, I wish there was more than 10 episodes because this left me wanting more.
I'll go into detail in a bit, but I would like to say that the other reviews about Peach of Time and it's plot holes are valid.
However, I feel like most of the issues could be resolved with a few more episodes rather than the 10 we were given.

Peach of Time is a good drama with too many ideas and too little episodes.


STORY:

Yoon Oh is a Korean boy who is retaking his college entrance exam for the 4th time. Yoon Oh's mother also seems to resent his birth. On his way home from his job an accident happens. Peach, Yoon Oh's Thai friend arrives in Korea two weeks later. Peach stays at Yoon Oh's home and catches up with Yoon Oh and his mother. A few days later Peach receives a box meant for Yoon Oh's mother. When he accidently drops the box the contents spill out revealing the freighting news that Yoon Oh had unfortunately passed away. Shocked and surprised Peach runs away from the ghost of Yoon Oh, who is also shocked and scared of this revelations. While running away from Yoon Oh, Peach finds Mario, a Thai man who he had bumped into at Yoon Oh's place. Mario reveals himself to be a ghost and tells Peach he must help Yoon Oh solve the deep sorrow in his heart, so he can rest in peace. If Peach cannot help Yoon Oh than he might turn into a bad spirit and never be able to rest in peace.

Peach of Time definitely has a unique concept in BL. While it's not the first to tackle the ghost boyfriend troupe, the troupe is still new in live action BLs. (Only manga and anime have done ghost boyfriends in the world of BL.) He's Coming to Me and Y Destiny are the only two BLs that have tried to tackle this troupe. (That I'm aware of.) While Peach of Time is similar to the others, with the human trying to help his ghost boyfriend solve his issues so he can rest in peace; Peach of Time is also different because Peach and Yoon Oh were friends before his death and Yoon Oh didn't even know he was dead. There is also the issue of Yoon Oh's relationship with his mother and whether or not his death was a suicide because of his mother. Yoon Oh's mother also has issues of her own, ranging from her guilt over Yoon Oh and the malpractice issue over the girl in the hospital. Mario also has a small side story of his own.

As amazing as Peach of Time is for tackling all of the drama, it only has 10 episodes, each being only 30 minutes long. As a result, there were quite a few plot holes and many important scenes were missing or brushed over. At a glance, the story wrapped up nicely and it's possible to over look the plot holes, but if you were really enjoying the drama, you would have many questions.

As I said earlier, this drama has too many ideas and too little episodes. This resulted in a very rushed first episode. There was no build up for Yoon Oh before bringing in the drama with his mother, so it was frustrating to get through the first episode. We didn't care enough for Yoon Oh to entertain his mommy issues. Peach also randomly showed up in Korea speaking Thai, confusing everyone about whether he was Yoon Oh's boyfriend or just a friend. It really wasn't until the last 5 minutes of the first episode that you learn about Yoon Oh and Peach. Personally, I wish they gave us some background into Yoon Oh and Peach's relationship before the present. I literally had to go back to rewatch the first episode again just to understand and care about Yoon Oh's issues. From the second episode, the drama continues on rather smoothly because we now have some background into the characters. However, I wish we had time to look into how Peach and Yoon Oh met, their relationship before Yoon Oh's death, Yoon Oh's childhood/background with his mother, Yoon Oh being bullied (since they show that as a reason he couldn't step out of the resort), what exactly happened with Yoon Oh's mother and father, as well as what happened with the malpractice issue, the actual conclusion to Yoon Oh's death since it wasn't a suicde, Mario's background with Soo Jin, what happened with Mario after he made up with Soo Jin/ did he rest in peace, and Peach moving on after Yoon Oh. All of these things were big plot points, but got skimmed over by the conclusion of the drama. It would have been great to see it, but the drama was still decent, even with the plot holes.


KOREA/ THAILAND CROSSOVER:

Peach of Time is a crossover drama between Korea and Thailand, so you do get the best of both worlds. The drama itself takes more inspiration from Korea. It has the stereotypical hateful mother, chebol doctors covering malpractice, police detectives that are inadequate at their jobs, and a beautiful love story between two very hot leads. The only thing Thailand seemed to contribute to the crossover was Jimmy and Tommy, two amazing Thai BL actors. However, there is no complaints in the crossover because Korea is known for better dramas, but Thailand does have a more prolific BL fanbase. It was great to see the two Thai actors stepping up their acting to match the high level of Korean dramas.

If there is any complaints about the crossover, it would be that it's a Korean drama. There is no juicy scenes... aside from Jimmy randomly being topless while Jaehyun is always clothed. I personally am okay without the bed scenes since they do sometimes make me uncomfortable, but the kissing is very Korean. It's not really a big problem, but it's a little unrealistic and stoic. Aside from that I loved the Korea/Thailand crossover. I would love to see more crossovers like this with more experienced actors. While Jimmy and Tommy are great actors, they did seem a but stiff compared to the Korean actors. It's not a big issue because they are still good actors, but what if we had great or amazing Thai actors along side the Korean actors. I could name a few that I would like to see in these Korea/Thailand crossovers, but since they aren't in this film, I won't mention them.


Peach & Yoon Oh

Peach and Yoon Oh were an odd couple in the beginning, but as the story goes on they grow onto you. Peach is constantly this ray of sunshine that is not only good looking, but also very kind. Yoon Oh is the polar opposite being more stoic and moody. He has a lot of issues to deal with and his home life isn't great, so it's understandable, but as he hangs out with Peach we see a different side of him. Around Peach, he is caring, attentive, and a bit clingy. All of his good qualities are reserved for Peach and he still has his shell around others, also he softens enough to understand his mother by the end of the series.

Peach and Yoon Oh are a cute couple. I wish we could have seen more of them having fun. The main focus of the series is Yoon Oh's issues and solving them, so they usually are having deep talks. It's only the last few episodes were Yoon Oh and Peach start acting like a couple because they actually have time to act like a couple. However, all the scenes the have together, cute or not, it really shows that Peach cares for Yoon Oh and Yoon Oh only has Peach. I wish Yoon Oh didn't die, but if Yoon Oh wasn't dead I'm not too sure how they would have ended up dating. Unless Peach grew a pair, Yoon Oh would have been oblivious for a while since he seemed to be stressed over his mother before his death.

Yoon Oh & His Mother

Oh, the drama. I really feel bad for the both of them as clearly his mother loves Yoon Oh, but she failed to show it. After his death she was living in so much guilt, she went the extra mile to prove his didn't commit suicide. Yoon Oh was the target of her emotional abuse and didn't have a great life because of it. His only moments of happiness seemed to be when he wasn't with her. It's sad that they couldn't make up with each other in life, but through Peach they come to understand each other. While his mother started off as the typical hateful mother in Kdramas, she actually was a complex character and I enjoyed watching her on screen.

Mario & Soo Jin

I was so curious about Mario since he was a random character that seemed to just show up out of nowhere. At first, I was confused by his appearance, but as he began to help Yoon Oh and Peach, I began to get curious about him. He had an interesting backstory of dying in a fire and waiting as a ghost for 20 years. Right when we thought we would get an answer to his storyline, nothing happened. He found his long lost love, Soo Jin, and they had a moment together, so shouldn't he have rested in peace? I'm so confused. I love that Mario found Soo Jin, but after she was introduced nothing happened. Even the ending with Mario is so strange. Mario deserves to rest in peace!


OVERALL:

Peach of Time is a nice drama. I wish there was more. While it's not perfect, it's definitely a good drama to watch. I honestly think if this drama was around 20 episodes or so and all of the plot holes could be fixed, it would have been the best BL of the year.

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Life and how our reality works.

This drama pictures our realities in this world. Things happens, sometimes as we expect and other times not.
Some factors make us act, think and plan things a certain way.
We take some decisions, it happens what it happens, we experience things until we learn the lessons so that we can turn a page and start a new chapter and finally let place to the best to happen and why not to what should have been since the start!
There were a lot of emotions, there were situations, experiences hitting hard.
That's our life, the reality we live in due to ours socio cultural parameters and circumstances it creates.

Another good one for me!

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Adorable and cute

The fact this is a contract marriage already makes me biased. The mains are simply cute like their chemistry is off the charts. Their interactions have me grinning non stop, especially after they confessed to each other. Both are childish, the male lead more than the girl. The plot is cliche, predictable and full of troupes but I don't care. The love triangles, personally not a fan of but what is a contract marriage without one. The second leads were beyond toxic like dang, no means no, learn to move on. Obessing gets you nowhere. At least the second male learnt to accept that he wasn't going to be more.

Wang Zi Qi's acting is great, really fits the role, feels natural and all. Wang Yuwen's acting is good that I don't feel that her charater is unnecessarily annoying. She became a tad dumb as the episodes went on though. I absolutely love the grandma, like she is adorable and I like how she plots opportunities for them to be together. The same with Fei'ang (the male lead's assistant), wanted him to have more screen time as I didn't get the second couple at all. I skipped a couple of their scenes as the CP was not it. Honestly thought that Fei'ang and the female lead's best friend would be the CP as their little interaction seemed interesting. I'm surprised that both the moms weren't a problem in the show, quite supportive of the relationship which is rare.

The editing is weird, some scenes don't make sense. Such crappy cuts and transitions. The way that the male lead manipulated the female lead is nowhere close to being justified. Just plain wrong, I expected better. I hated the useless misunderstandings, especially when they could be solved by just communicating. Ending was the best, it is filled with typical charaters but decent watch to pass time.

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Don't mess with the eunuch.

Unfortunately, the times of the Tang dynasty and not only show the often bloody political influence of eunuchs over the centuries.
It is the 9th century and the court is ruled by the mighty eunuch Qiu Zi Liang (the prototype is the figure of another eunuch, Qiu Shiliang), who after the historic incident in Ganlu (the Sweet Dew incident, December 14, 835). ) takes a cruel revenge on officials and their families who, together with Emperor Wenzong, planned to eliminate him from the political game and deprive him of influence. Qiu Zi Liang murders families and factions favorable to the Emperor, with the apparent help of the young, ambitious heir to the throne, Qi Yan. But what we see does not quite turn out to be true. The game of appearances begins. Whose intrigue will be more effective, who will outsmart the enemy, who will actually win, we don't really know until the last episode. The young emperor, eunuch, uncle or Prince Guang (the prototype of Emperor Xuanzong II).
The bloody, cruel times of the struggle for power are well reflected in the plot of the film. From the somewhat caricatured character of Qiu Zi Liang, the arrogant, confident and cunning eunuch, to the personal protector of Emperor Cheng Ruo Yu, her sister seeking revenge for the family tragedy, various secondary generals, to Prince Guang, so impenetrable and mysterious, to a tormented but quite clever emperor. And here my applause for the good use of the historical background to show the characters of the drama and the development of the romance against the background of political games.
I liked the main characters of the drama, Qi Yan played by Cheng Yi, more than in Love and Redemption. This time, although he was stabbed quite a few times, he did not spit out hectoliters of blood as in Love and Redemption. As for the acting, I have no objections and I think that he coped brilliantly in both dramas.
As for the figure of the ever faithful, loyal guardian of Cheng Ruo Yu, I have only reservations about the credibility of being a great adept of martial arts. Being so frighteningly thin and without muscles, she just wouldn't have raised her sword. But I understand that actors are picked up on lines and various phrases require featherweight from them.
Mickey He's acting was great too, though caricatured. It is an attempt to give a certain personality to the character played. Controversial, annoying, disgusting, cruel.
Impenetrable, cold and then warm and caring Qiu Yan Zhi, applause for Xuan Lu.
In general, acting is a plus, although the characters of the drama themselves did not really convince me, as did I have small reservations about the logic of the plot.
Music made me nervous sometimes and sometimes it made me laugh. As in the drama Once and Only, the music was perfectly selected and worked together to add value to the drama, here I felt the singer was singing desperately when there should be silence. The soundtrack itself, however, is ok.
I don't know if I will be able to watch this drama again in the near future, because at times I felt torment, though not as intense as the young emperor.

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original mystery treatment of the exam pressure trope

nearly dropped it after slow confusing episode 1 but after that it became EXTREMELY good mystery plot around the pressurised exam system but looked at very much from the teacher's viewpoint and examining their interactions, characters and motivations as well as how the students handle it 〜good example of Japanese drama taking an overused trope and seeing it from a new angle it has the best qualities of a mystery story in making you want to know what comes next and how the characters develop so I finished it very quickly〜you need to like following plot details and reading character, there is not so much action, but if you like a drama of this type the effort is worthwhile〜 ?

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Different, mostly in a great way.

Chief of Staff is definitely different, 'mostly' in a great way. It managed to pull of a serious story that illustrated many issues in the world we live in today, with a hint of realism that isn't apparent in other dramas of it's kind (politics genre etc.). I really liked the production, especially in filming and editing of this too, and while, story-wise, I felt like I desired something that wasn't there, I was still impressed from the end. The first couple of episodes are quite slow but eventually by the third/fourth episode you'll get into the story more. Acting was top-notch quality by nearly everyone, accompanied by a great OST.

Re-watch value is normally low for me anyways, so don't read into that too much. If you are a fan of these kinds of dramas, I definitely recommend watching Chief of Staff. If you are new to this genre, of haven't watched a great deal, I would suggest something different for you as it may not be to your taste. All in all, a decent watch.

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Deadly Tales

Thai BLs are known for their diversity in setting up their stories. We can find almost no two dramas alike. The characterisation is unique to each show as well. Clearly this was sarcasm and anyone who's watched Thai BL shows has already figured it out. We have the few rare exceptions like A Tale of Thousand Stars, but experimenting with the genre of crime thriller in BL, a world that has been predominantly romantic so far, is a new and fresh take that is really unique.

In that sense, MoD has much to offer. Once unraveled, the plot is relatively simple despite how convoluted it initially appears to be. It's this simplicity that's brilliant- the motivations of the characters that caused them to act the way they did, the manipulations, the betrayals, losses and the subtle gore are all well written. At no point of time does the show attempt to gloss over the gruesome parts; it confronts them head on and incorporates them into its core. Much like the Voice series, there is no shying away from the depiction of evil in its barest form. It is a particularly commendable effort.

Contrasting these heavy themes is the sizzling hot romance of Bun and Tan that is excellently brought to life by the insane chemistry of Max and Tul. There is the equally cute side pair of That and Sorn which is just as pleasing to watch, butterflies in stomach included. There is a blink-and-miss moment between a third pair as well towards the end of the series and honestly, I want to see more of them.

To watch MoD, however, we need to set aside certain basic standards of logic and reasoning, in fields of both medicine and law, that we have grown accustomed to. Townspeople don't appear in the show again after that brief stint at the beginning. The hospital neither looks like one nor has any significant number of staff or patients or doctors. Even if I'm not a native of Thai, coming from the medical field, I do have a small amount of medicolegal knowledge that felt challenged at every episode- like how a police personnel is not present during autopsy. The investigation of the murders, or what we should understand as one, feels incomplete and inadequate. It's as if everyone forgot fingerprints or GPS tracking existed. Even the media, when it is called in as a plot device, is hardly more than an announcement heard over mobile phones. There are several other loop holes (the villains failing to catch the leads despite having force at hand) and lose ends (the mysterious second memory card) that remain unexplained.

The problem is, all these avoidable mistakes decrease the credibility of a well written story. It was sometimes quite challenging to sit through the forty minute ordeal. Yet, none of the scenes could reasonably be called fillers. So what was the issue? The poor amalgamation of the various intersecting story lines. Until That and Sorn became involved in the crux of the plot, they were barely just more than extras. Romance runs parallelly and is often abrupt. The car scenes didn't appear to be filmed properly. On the whole, it gives the appearance of a haphazardly patched up cloth of rags that is torn at best and missing at worst. The story frankly deserved better treatment.

Characterisation was not bad but there was an overabundance in some characters and a glaring lack in others. Bun is the multitasker of the show. He is firstly a medical examiner who doubles up as an emergency doctor performing surgeries (without proper equipment) if the need arises. He investigates the case on his own on the side and at home, he is a chef. Tan pales in comparison, having nothing next to a protective instinct towards Bun and a sad past to back him. He could have been a little more twisted for how grey he was. On the other side, the mastermind behind everything is shown to be far more evil than the perps who actually did the deed. They are equally bad and should have been shown as such. Similarly, Inspector M was an interesting character who deserved more depth than he was served.

One of the best things the show gets right is also, ironically, the character dynamics. The single straight relationship in the show is unequal and imbalanced. Por, Pued and Tan and Rung and Jane represent textbook definitions of toxic relationships. They are crafted well and the tension amongst them is brilliantly utilised and portrayed. I'm pretty sure I've never seen a more despicable character than the villain here and that I will continue to despise them even if I re-watch the series later, is a testament to how perfectly sketched they are.

The background score is suitable and the soundtrack is good. Cinematography could have been better, especially of the hospital segments. All actors give decent performances but Max and Tul often appeared somewhat restricted. Bhu, Putter and Great were comparatively free in their expressions. Overall production value seems low but is not as off putting. At 14 episodes, the story felt drawn out, only coming together towards the end, in around 3-4 episodes. I would recommend it solely for its unapologetic portrayal of the Bad but I'm not going to re-watch this show.

Manner of Death deserves every applause for exploring dark themes and is a hit or miss, depending on the audience's taste. If only it was tighter in all the places it is weak!

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A very stupid and annoying ML with zero abilities to manage his affairs

Watching this drama suddenly reminded me of another of the ML's drama: you are my destiny. Both drama are very similar. A forced marriage, love comes later, then the ML is a complete idiot, they separate and he realizes what he has lost or is about to lose and how he feels and then boom he is back chasing the FL and somehow they make it to the end which is a happy one where the FL forgives him for everything. But in between you see how the ML can not handle his old flame who manipulates everything yet he trusts her completely without trusting his wife, very stupid character. But alas we all crave a happy ending and that is what we get even if he does not deserve it and most of the time i just wanted to smack the fool so hard..hmm...

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Awesome drama

I don't know why people are giving less rating but i personally can say it's really a good drama than the overwhelming male lead, its very cute and sweet no cliches and not only main leads but other side couples too i like them especially i love the age gap couple love story the guy acting was so so sco cute i don't know how is he in real life but seriously i also need such type of cute guy than matured and serious guy but still he pulled his responsibility very well till the end with a girl he loved and other couple who were flirting with other people is now a reality based story most of then experience it its good to be in reality and comes to main couple its good no fights nothing just a sweet lovey dovey couple which we all like overall i really liked this drama actors, story was really great hence giving 9.5 but they could put more episodes with some spicy things like other cdrama with 35 episodes anyway happy for the cute and simple story

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Good until episode 14 then it just goes...

I was really enjoying this drama even though there really isn't much substance to it at all. Like many dramas, it started to drop off by the later episodes.

Seon-gyeol seemed so eccentric in the beginning and I was like, ‘this is way too over the top!’ But then it’s explained that he actually has a condition and has lost the ability to control his compulsiveness.

I really liked Oh-Sol’s character. She was so bright, fun and happy.

I liked the cleaning crew and thought they all gelled well together.

I was low-key confused why Seon-gyeol and Oh-Sol suddenly liked each other. Their romance literally bloomed from nowhere. They just kinda fumbled their way into it and she supposedly helped him not be so compulsive with his cleanliness? I couldn’t see the attractiveness from either sides because they are literally polar opposites.

I had second male lead syndrome for a while there. Towards the end of the show I was thinking that Oh-Sol may even end up with the second male lead. I’m not sure what I was thinking ‘cause in all dramas they end up with the main guy.

It annoyed me how she completely went cold turkey on Seon-gyeol just because his grandfather was involved in the accident resulting in her mother’s death. Being reasonable, I understand that it would have been a shock for her when she found out, but why did she leave it two years to finally start over with Seon-gyeol, and with her dad’s permission? Things must work differently in South Korea, but literally, as soon as her dad gave her the go ahead she ran.

Not gonna lie, I was a little disappointed that we didn’t get to see the outcome of Oh-Sol’s friend and her brother.

Besides the whole situation with Seon-gyeol’s grandfather and Oh-Sol’s mother, there really wasn’t anything deeper than that.

It was such a cliché how it ended with them being like, 'Oh, the name is Clean with passion for now.' And then they all just turn to the camera.

-E

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