Completed
Crush
0 people found this review helpful
Oct 5, 2021
24 of 24 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 9.5
Story 9.5
Acting/Cast 10
Music 9.5
Rewatch Value 10
This review may contain spoilers

Humble to the end!

I finished watching the drama on 13th August, but I'm writing the review only today because I wish more people will discover Crush.

Quiet, no chaos, pretty cinematography, greenish scenery. Basically the story about how the couple meet each other, breakup and reconcile again. Wuyan helped Nian Qin in the first half and Nian Qin helped Wuyan in the later half. Like our couple situation, Crush is imperfect, but it has so little wrong for me. You will find yourself being happy for them and cheer on their love story. ( I wish to be the piano in Nian Qin's villa so I can witness their love story lol! ) n_n''

Despite this being the second drama Yanjun shoot, he showed a good performance as Su Nian Qin. Wan Peng also did a great job potraying Sang Wuyan. I wish both of them will have a brighter future ahead in their acting career.

OST wise all songs are great! This is the first Cdrama that I never skip the opening credit. The ending credit for both first half and later half of the drama were great too. I have most of the songs in my personal playlist. Initially, I thought the weird gloomy bgm is not quite fit in the drama, but I found myself appreciate those bgm when I rewatch the show. I love it when there are moments when the side OSTs are playing and it will be like we are watching short MV in the drama.

Overall I am happy I discovered Crush and I'm currently looking forward for both Yanjun and Wan Peng's next project respectively. It is October and believe me I am still rewatching Crush clips over and over and the love butterflies in my stomach still linger on me. Su Nian Qin and Sang Wuyan love story will be the unforgettable one. \\(*^_^)//

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Completed
The Justice
23 people found this review helpful
Oct 5, 2021
42 of 42 episodes seen
Completed 9
Overall 7.5
Story 7.5
Acting/Cast 8.5
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 6.5

The Dark Side of the Moon.

This drama is about how a power couple that is well matched in terms of cunning, ambition and capability scale the upper echelons of banking and finance during 1930s Shanghai. The narrative vividly captures the wild, morally ambiguous, highly speculative, wheeling and dealing nature of the mafia dominated banking and finance industries during that early period of industrialisation.

Cheng Yizhi is a scrappy, enterprising, self educated young orphan with a knack for numbers and finance who is raised by a kindly shopkeeper. He starts out in a lowly position at a bank but his talent propels his rapid advancement to become the protege of banking magnate Huang Ruhong. Wu Lizi is the pampered daughter of a distinguished banker whose world falls apart when her father is framed and commits suicide. Hell bent on revenge, she marries Yizhi and ruthlessly uses his access to banking circles to investigate her father's downfall. Mutual lack of communication and a terrible, irreversible decision by Lizi ruins their marriage but leads to a very rewarding business partnership where they build a bank together.

Wu Lizi is one of the most selfish, devious, manipulative, ruthless and utterly charming female protagonists I have come across. It is such a treat to get complex and fascinating female characters like Lizi. That is why I kept watching this even though at one point I was enraged and disappointed to the point of almost dropping. I still don't like how they wrote Lizi to lash out so viciously and vindictively with such heavy consequences but I am glad I kept going because she really moved me with her stoic remorse and acceptance later on. Even though there were some rough edges to Cai Weijing's performance, overall she is tough, willful, curiously vulnerable and so charismatic that I could literally see how she tied Yizhi, Charlie and Xu Du up into knots emotionally.

Zhang Xincheng delivered a most excellent performance in this drama as Cheng Yizhi, a cynical character that well understands the dark side of the moon due to his upbringing on the rough side of town. So he is the ultimate nemesis of dark characters like Huang Ruhong because he can get into their heads and narrowly manages to stay one step head of them. In sharp contrast, he seeks the light in all of his dealings and finances some of the most promising industrialists of the day. At the onset Yizhi goes toe to toe with crooked businessmen and corrupt politicians with equally scheming and wily tactics. But as the story advances and his dark secrets are revealed, the character is whitewashed and becomes too perfect, so understanding with such shiny plated plot armor that I had to roll my eyes. I needed more flaws or to see him be a little bit petty or selfish and to play dirty sometimes. Instead Charlie, a far more interesting and lovable character rises to the occasion to do all the slightly shady things that need to be done in order to stymie their unscrupulous rivals. Nonetheless the lead couple has superb chemistry and the way their relationship blossoms from mistrust and suspicion into an incredible partnership on multiple levels is one of the drama's strengths.

The business subplots are quite interesting, well written and the financial concepts are kept at a simple enough level for laymen. The characters however are less well written and notably Lizi, is not consistently written. For such a smart character she does some retarded things that can only be put down to sloppy writing. Huang Ruhong's somewhat creepy and unfathomable hard on for Yizhe is also unconvincing and not in character for the leader of the criminal underworld. Indeed the true love triangle in this drama is the one between Ruhong, Yizhe and Lizi. This was such a promising antagonist at the start but gets sidelined as the ending arc digresses into yet another patriotic fight the Japanese invaders plot. I would have preferred to see a more satisfying cat and mouse takedown of this smart antagonist play out properly. Towards the later episodes, many key characters are gratuitously killed off to squeeze out the obligatory tears expected of a Republican period drama. This backfires as I only felt very sad for two of the deaths which only highlights that the other characters were two dimensional ones that I never got invested in.

There are many enjoyable and unique aspects to this drama that make it worth watching even though it falls down on messy plot, sloppy character writing and a lame ending arc. Charlie was my favorite character and his wit, style and wisdom saved the show. Overall this is just a 7.5 for me despite strong acting by the leads. And MVP Charlie (Wang Zijian).

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Completed
Start-Up
0 people found this review helpful
Oct 5, 2021
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 8.0
Story 7.5
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 9.0
Rewatch Value 7.0
This review may contain spoilers
I started it with high hopes.
The plot was interesting at the beginning. I really like the way they portrayed the struggles of millennials in finding jobs and doing what they loved in this era.
But after 9 episodes it went downhill for me.
Firstly i hated i never use this word but i hated the character of NDS, it gives me anxiety, they way he trembled, the way he spoke i just couldn't stand it. It was painful for me to watch. (The actor did a good job on portraying him) I don't know but i have problems with this type of characters and he didn't gave me the vibe of a strong ML.
Secondly SDM a strong woman, independent, i love her character so much. She inspires me to do better but sometimes she gets on my nerves, but overall she was great.
The best character to have ever existed HJP, it was perfect, hats down to the actor. He was the most realistic character in this series. He wasn't harsh at all he just put in front of them facts and nothing more. It was NDS problem that he was so blinded by jealousy that he didn't accepted all the things HJP said about his company. HJP started from 0 an orphan with only a little money and the trust he had in his self the work he did made him who he was. NDS was nothing in front of him and i just couldn't get it where he found the guts too confront him (sorry but NDS know your place, maybe I am biased but NDS sometimes sounded pathetic in front of him).
He did whatever he could to help SDM and never wanted smth in return. His love for granny was pure. He was just perfect in every aspect but the writers did him dirty.
WIJ was so damn pathetic, i just couldn't get myself on liking her just for the fact that she left her dad and sister for money made her even more gross in my eyes.
I won't rewatch it.
The OST was on spot. The cast also. But the way the plot unfolded wasn't for me.

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Completed
Asuko March!
1 people found this review helpful
Oct 5, 2021
9 of 9 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 10
Story 10
Acting/Cast 10
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 9.0

Inspirational message

certainly set in different background from usual school drama which I find interesting〜 there is room for some social class comment although of course a romanticised view of technical schools as this is fiction〜as to the girl in boys school trope、this has a different more original feel than similar dramas: of course heroine is too good to be true as we would all like to be but this is fiction!and then also a love triangle but it feels like this was put in as part of the formula and is not a main focus〜but interesting plot elements showing hard background stories of some students 〜such as one involving single parent、 another financially struggling〜 really add interest and are well developed though finally it is obviously intended as inspirational message for teenagers rather than realistic 〜still no boring part and I liked this more as I watch it really good show so 10 / 10

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Completed
High-end Crush
0 people found this review helpful
Oct 5, 2021
20 of 20 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 5.5
Story 5.0
Acting/Cast 7.0
Music 4.5
Rewatch Value 4.0

Good way of spending time when nothing better is avaiable

The story is plain and simple.
I am not interested in k-pop or the lives of the actors. I like k-dramas but that is it. Of course some male and female actors i prefer, but i am not interested in their lives...
So, for me, the backstage of professional singers, managers, etc it's interesting as a curiosity view of a major industry.

Choi Se Hoon is a sucessfull businessman that goes berserk when he falls in love without understanding those feelings. He take ages confessing to her...
Yoo Yi Ryeong is a girl that lived isolated from the world and enters in the k pop business as she lived there...

And that's it.
Nice ending, soft plot...

ACTING - didn't find awesome but it was ok.

MUSIC - i don't remember so, for me, not memorable.

PLOT - boring, simple, it is reduced to an egocentric and famous guy that falls in love for the first time.

REWATCH - well, i watch this last year and couldn't remember so i didi it again!

OVERALL - if you are a k-pop fan maybe it is good for you

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Completed
A Gentleman's Dignity
0 people found this review helpful
by Ciepao
Oct 5, 2021
20 of 20 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 8.0
Story 7.0
Acting/Cast 10
Music 10
Rewatch Value 4.0
I can say that I had fun watching this drama. All the characters are lovely, even though this drama revolves around 4 men who are childhood friends, I like the women more in this drama. The OSTs are good too. The only thing I find weird here is the age gap of Choi Yoon and Im Meari. Personally I think Yoon is too old for Meari, but I don't feel awkward when watching them maybe because of their acting skills and chemistry. They do look cute together.

I'll give it an 8/10. I found some scenes especially in the first episodes cringey(?) for example is when Dojin pinned Yisoo on the door. But overall it's fun.

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Completed
My Fated Boy
1 people found this review helpful
Oct 5, 2021
29 of 29 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 10
Story 10
Acting/Cast 10
Music 10
Rewatch Value 10
This review may contain spoilers

Cute and flouffy drama

Omg this drama is such a Masterpiece This drama doesn't have breakups and cringe scenes dragged love triangles This drama described friendship and family beautifully I loved the bond between ml and fl families The flashback of the couple in every starting of each epi will make u laugh The friendship between the fl and her friends was amazing u will be blessed if u get these kind of friends the ost were simply superb The bosses are just so cute they will be supportive of their relationship and there is no plot like in other idol dramas that u shld not love wen u re a celebrity I do t know y this drama has such a low views U guys will definitely regret if u miss this amazing master piece

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Completed
Vincenzo
0 people found this review helpful
Oct 5, 2021
20 of 20 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 7.0
Story 7.0
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 7.0
Rewatch Value 1.0

"Romance"

I had heard a lot about this drama when it first aired the first episodes, but I usually wait until all episodes are out and that was what I did time as well.
It is not often that I watch the trailer or read the description of the drama, I didn't this time eihter.
But there are a few things I do want to know, and I do scim through some recensations.

I just wanted to share something I would have liked to know about this drama.
That would have made my experience watching it more enioyable.
I feel like the information I found about the "romance" in the drama was misleading and it made me annoyed at times.
It had a lot of potential, it could have been really good, but now I feel pretty disappointed when I finished it.
I think there was great chemistry, there were a few teasers, but the season was 20 episodes long and there was only 2 kiss scenes.
So don't go in to this drama expecting romance because that is not what it's about at all.

(I truly liked the characters/the actors, it was entertaining)
(I haven't ever rewatched a drama yet, so that rating has nothing to do with the k-drama itself)

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Completed
Police University
50 people found this review helpful
Oct 5, 2021
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 7
Overall 6.0
Story 7.0
Acting/Cast 7.0
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 4.0

Use it as a trash watch or drop it, won't matter.

Police University should have come 5-6 years back to be accepted as something good (not even very good because Kdramas had such dramas back then too which did extremely good). With a basic decent plot, this production messed up with every different aspect of a show, creating several flaws that can't be ignored.

Police University is basically the happenings of a university which is definitely different than other academic educational institutions along with an accompanying plot of cybercrime thriller that the main cast tries to solve. Yu Dong Man (Cha Tae Hyun), an ace in homicide plus cybercrime investigation with 20years experience ends up in Korean National Police University (KNPU), as a disciplinary action due to messing up a high-profile case. There he meets Kang Sun Ho (Jung Jin Young) as a fresher with whom he have had bitter experience in recent past. Due to multiple encounters at critical moments, they decide to work together on the case and gradually grow fond of each other. Oh Kang Hee (Krystal Jung) a girl determined and hardworking, have had hard times because of her mother who has been prisoned multiple times. She also finds the case to be linked to her mother's conviction and helps the duo in solving it. There are also Roh Bum Tae (Lee Dal) and Jo Joon Wok (Yoo Young Jae) who are the lead couple's closest friends in the university and are also a part of the secret investigating team.

Other minor yet important characters are:
Park Min Gyu (Choo Young Woo), who is also a good student, in one-sided love with Kang Hee and plays cheap tricks few times; Choi Hee soo (Hong Soo Hyun), a judo professor; Kwon Hyuk Pil (Lee Jong Hyuk), law professor, Seo Song Hak (Kang Shin Il), professor of Scientific Investigation & Public Administration.

I can't say that the plot development is very bad but it's definitely below average and awfully dull. It was dragged at many points that it becomes boring and so many illogical as well as useless elements. There are plenty of instances of inconsistent writing and the there is a null character development for the even the main characters. The screenplay writing skills are of poor quality, no doubt the writer is a rookie. The story, plot or screenplay, none of them felt like that of a university life in 80% of the drama. I mean police university is different from the usuals but this was very far from that.

The story is dominated by Cha Tae Hyun and Jung Jin Young giving other very less screen-timing, making them insignificant. Whatever the characters other than these 2 did, awfully looked like mere showoff which was forcefully fitted to make the drama lengthy and attractive, which became a miserable failure.

Park Min Gyu who is supposed to be the 2nd ML turned into a noone after 5-6 episodes, adding to his pathetic acting; ngl, I don't think he's prepared for cable dramas yet. Jin Young needs to improve his skills; his character rarely did give off the vibes of a male lead, his expressions to be particular were not very suited according to the mood, also annoying. I wonder why Krystal accepted this drama where her character even as a FL is nothing but an annoying, immature girl and isn't appealing even in the peak moments. The character was only there to fulfill the ML's love interest. Firstly she's not a rookie actress and secondly she's worked in good dramas but this just---. I have admired Cha Tae Hyun from his pree 2000 dramas and movies and he's a nice actor but I couldn't get myself to like his character in here. May be he was directed to act like that but that also made him lose the essence of his own skills. And Young Jae plus Lee Dal duo who are supposed to be comedy sidekicks kept passing lame jokes till the end which weren't a bit funny.

Director could have compensated this bad script but even he failed to do his best. In fact, another major drawback for this drama is it's sound and screen editing skills. I swear it low-key felt like that of a pre 2010 drama but again, those drama did better job in this regard. The camera work sucked to it's core making the viewer lose interest to continue. OSTs are good, I gotta admit.

Comparing it to some of the dramas with similar setup, a very good drama comes to mind, i.e. LIVE (2018). Though KNPU things were for just one episode followed by the story of a patrol division, the movie did an amazing job seeking attention and winning hearts but look at this mixture of light comedy and lame investigation work. I'm not sorry that I couldn't even enjoy it as a light drama.

The story felt kinda good for the first 2 episodes. The rapid yet touching progression of the plot, Sun Oh and his adoptive father plus brother, his backstory and present life portrayal were all good but it somehow fell through in 4th episode and nobody could help it. I feel it should have been a 12 episode drama only for the sake of not making the viewers lose interest and eventually drop it in between. However, one of the very few things I liked about it was the mystery plot, as for to discover who the key personality at the top of the pyramid who have deployed so many people for his greed. They managed to keep that in suspense till the very end and the revelation was quite astonishing. I'm glad for that.

Overally, Police University (2021) deserve the least hype and I'm glad it ain't that popular in real time. I had so much expectations from the story because of the cast obviously even though I was aware of the skills for most of the characters but I came here to be disappointed. It's totally fine even if you don't try this. It's just me who is bad at dropping so I anyhow forced myself into finishing this. Or if you wanna kill time, use it as a trash watch.

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Completed
Guardian
0 people found this review helpful
Oct 5, 2021
40 of 40 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 7.0
Story 7.0
Acting/Cast 8.5
Music 9.0
Rewatch Value 7.5
This review may contain spoilers

Egy próbát megér...

Overall, I liked the series, although some of the details and characters weren’t elaborate enough, the ending was confusing and kissing. I’d rather not go into detail about the CGI effects, I would just say that they did surprisingly poorly in some places, but there were scenes where it was done well.
Of course, there was a directorial and screenwriting flaw in this series, but a flawless piece never exists. The music ... both the opening and the closing were only divine, the opening music has been a big favorite ever since.
And there were the more meaningful, more dramatic scenes where music was also well chosen. There were weaker episodes, but there were some very emotional, dramatic and already a bit romantic episodes where you essentially showed who was most important to him. There was a sense of camaraderie and teamwork, but sometimes I also saw a pull apart.
I don’t deny I liked the chemistry and connection between the two protagonists (which of course makes everyone “faint.” All the actors did a good job compared to the character, there were only a few characters that became (for me) forgetful (Da Qing, Zhu Hong, the ghost couple, Jin Ling), because they were basically just there, but I didn't experience any character development and they added quite a bit to the story.
What really caught on in this series is the relationship between Guo and Chu. I found myself starting to love them and their relationship more than any other character. Somehow I noticed the contrast more than them and then the process as they fell in love with each other. Real bromance, even a secondary pair. I would have rather put an end to the way Little Guo gets hurt, because maybe he would have been much more "fit" systematically into the story, I think
So, all in all: the end could have been better worked out (like Guo how he became a leader, why he leads new people and not the old team, why Yunlan's father suggested that it might be, Guo saves the world .. I would have been happier if Yunlan and Guo had even talked to each other because Yunlan was dying, last wish, something like that, it could have been a more emotional end to Chu and Guo's completion, it could have been the hug, not in the dream., and..Lin Jing's character was redundant he thinks to bring it back..because he said goodbye..so it was stupid.And that torment on the part of Shen Wei and Yunlan ... argh..etc. So the end is very confusing for me ...
Well, this series isn't necessarily spectator for me again, because of the mistakes mentioned above ... and the excessive torment of the main couple in the end ... and that last scene ... absurd ...!
I prefer to look at the Guo and Chu scenes again because they showed a lot of character development and I was better able to identify with them, and as I may have written before, their relationship is much more realistic and elaborate than that of a “perfect, fateful main couple”.
Sorry for the long writing.Good health everyone.

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Ongoing 6/11
Bite Me
5 people found this review helpful
Oct 5, 2021
6 of 11 episodes seen
Ongoing 0
Overall 7.0
Story 10
Acting/Cast 9.5
Music 7.0
Rewatch Value 1.0
This movie was highly anticipated by me. Infact i yearned for it. when i started watching it, i thought maybe the second episode would be better but to my dismay... it remained slow paced if not worse. they drag the dialogue for way to long. I assumed it was a technical glitch but all the actors except the plus size chef(who for some reason i feel deserves better time cos he is a great actor without effort... THUMBS UP TO HIM) all dragged their dialogue. i would have let it go because judging with out factors in place like the story time, the cinematography, story, music(a bit) and the actors , it should have be ok. However, this was the height of slow pacing from any movie i have seen

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Completed
Ancient Love Poetry
0 people found this review helpful
Oct 5, 2021
49 of 49 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 9.0
Story 9.0
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 9.0
Rewatch Value 9.0
This review may contain spoilers

Nicee

A bit of spoiler alert
Its overall nice. I cried in the Qingmu and Houchi arc. They did nothing wrong but their story is very tragic. I somewhat hate Bai Jue in here but the reasons were explained in future eps so thats not considered a plothole. Thank God. First few episodes are boring. Bai Jue fall in love with Shanggu too quickly thinking that he was the distant handsome guy trope hahaha. I love Shanggu but her hairstyle in the latter eps doesnt really looks nice. I mean, there's room for improvement. Houchi and Bai Jue's son really has a nice attitude. Love him ahahah.
I love the cgi nd vfx! Very surreal.
Its nice all in all.

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Ongoing 36/40
Jun Jiu Ling
8 people found this review helpful
Oct 5, 2021
36 of 40 episodes seen
Ongoing 1
Overall 9.5
Story 9.0
Acting/Cast 10
Music 10
Rewatch Value 9.0
This review may contain spoilers

Perfect female lead

Female lead is perfect almost like Mary sue but
As a princess, Her difficulties lies in planning revenge against emperor , so she cannot be not perfect when facing them . She is kind, calm , smart and plan many steps ahead , so without martial art she still badass. She is the best physician but got framed in lots of life and death situation from minor to the biggest.
So, Male lead who is martial art and equally smart as her should be the one who will protect her when she is in tough situation.

FL is perfect that she is also loved by other three men which means it is unique in this drama .All men are likeable ,each with their own style. Here, FL has married thrice before ML that we can imagine as three life time in Xian Xia , just kidding.

Chemistry between leads is amazing ,
everytime ML suspect her as chu jiu Ling ,not only sparks flying between the two, it looked like it is rolling inside of them too
Jiu Ling keeping emotion in and ling jiu letting emotion out. Haven't seen such an intensely emotional scene based on convincing conflict in a long while.

There is no misunderstanding between leads not even a bit, only joking about how they jealous each other unlike other drama which they put mainly a little.

It was really worth watching!
Highly recommended !!!

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Completed
Squid Game
1 people found this review helpful
by Kyungs
Oct 5, 2021
9 of 9 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 8.5
Story 8.5
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 9.0
This review may contain spoilers

The Extreme Measures for Money

Whether you live in a capitalistic environment or not, the universal term money is globally acknowledged as a main trade item for any kind of purchase. The interchangeable item is powerful enough to let anyone gain ownership of any item from miniscule stuffs to gigantic objects. With human’s eagerness of ownership, people could take extreme measures to reach their goals including being massively in debt thanks to their countless loans. Logically, for the boundless pledgees those loans can be hardly repaid. However, by stepping out of reality, if they were offered to earn an insanely huge amount of cash by playing several rounds of childhood games, perhaps they would like to give it a shot.

Welcome to Squid Game, players are welcomed to play six rounds of folk games in a span of six days. The winner is granted cash prize worth 45.6 billion won. Players are recruited unbeknownst of themselves by an anonymous company (that has a circle, triangle, and rectangle logo) at their lowest moments (in terms of debts). But at what cost? No one told them initially until it was revealed that losers of each rounds will be eliminated by literally being shot to death.

Squid Game has 456 players and many other extras. The show centers around Seong Gihun, a divorced man without proper occupation nor custody of his 10 year-old daughter. Additionally, Gihun has a high attraction for bettings. The ironic life Gihun was living depicted a harsh condition that perhaps a lot of people has ever experienced. Despite that, his humanity nature is delightful and brought a realistic touch to the character. His clever and notorious best friend, Cho Sangwoo, also happened to be in the game due to his business activities. From the short narrative alone, it is hardly surprising that Sangwoo turns out to be a sly, opportunistic, and egoist individual. Both characters are executed immensely by the actors.

On the other side, the supporting characters added dynamics within the players and the story in general. Kang Saebyeok, a North Korean defector with cold-yet-alluring persona was excellently performed by Jung Hoyeon (an impressive acting debut). The manipulative Han Minyeo, trustful Ali, thug-like Duseok, and the old man are some of other characters that made Squid Game interesting. Another important character, Hwang Junho, instantly became viewer’s favorite due to his fearless personality. Several other players noticeably added more fascinating elements to the drama.

Onto the story, Squid Game delivered a relatively slow yet thorough buildup from Gihun’s back story, player recruitment process, until the game itself. Some people might not enjoy the slower approach but I do think it gives the viewers a better idea in understanding the game, character’s emotion, and situations in which they were facing. Even though we must note that the main games are brought with rather sudden, thrilling, and sadistic approach. Within the tight span of 9 episodes, the 6 games and plots are generally distributed properly that it could raise many questions by the end of each episodes, leading to a binge-watching experience. Another point worth mentioning is Junho’s subplot. Although his character can be considered as an outlier, his infiltration to the game as a worker provided a nice different point of view of the game’s system in general.

While I do enjoy most of Squid Game, the series couldn’t hold its thrilling journey for the whole 9 episodes. It sort of wore off after the fifth game. Personally, I do think Squid Game was mostly carried by the dynamics and interactions of each characters. As soon as they kill the important roles, the excitement of this series began to let loose. Each episodes automatically have more gaps to be filled in. With a mountain-like structure, the Kdrama reached its climax on the sixth episode (fourth game) as it jumbled a mixture of vulnerability and moral dilemma that generated an emotional chaos for the viewers.

Another standout point of Squid Game is the fine extra attention to the details. Almost every single frame/scenes have its own symbolism or implicit messages. There are many moments worth mentioning but foremost it was in the dynamics of the players. During the team selection processes, the players depict several examples of discriminations—that can be generalized to communities across the globe. Whether it be racism to those who doesn’t look like a majority (in this case Ali for not looking like a Korean), sexism to women for being labeled as weak, or ageism (which only happened to the old man). Additionally, the VIPs being mostly old white man is a nice touch as to the picture of being colonized by white people or even their arguably terrible-yet-great acting in thinking they own “the world”.

The details didn’t stop there. Some people may or may not have noticed but the Squid Game creators actually dropped some hints ever since the very beginning of the drama (hence why I wasn’t really shocked for the twists). Gihun had been inescapably affiliated to the number 456: from his player number, until the amount of money he won from the horse betting (4.56 million won). He also gave his daughter a gun-shaped lighter as a present present inside a black box tied with pink ribbon—pretty similar to the “coffins” in the game. The old man was suspicious for numerous times including being excited on the first game, able to stop the night fight, and not wanting to switch shapes during the second game with Gihun—but he wrapped it perfectly with the dementia excuse.

The excessive details are honestly compelling yet some of them fell short and was left unfinished. Saebyeok climing arc was an interesting take with the screw not being attached properly. However, they just left her action the way it was—a wasted subplot there. Some questions were also left unanswered such as: how the workers get there, why Junho’s brother played such an important role and can remain MIA for over 5 years, The VIPs back stories, Junho and the police whereabouts. While those questions might bait the existence of a second season, I honestly pointed those out as Squid Game felt finished in general and it didn’t really have the necessity to continue especially if they are going to keep it centered around Gihun. Instead, if they decided to resume, it would be better to switch it into a spinoff about the workers.

A further point that made Squid Game distinguishable and attractive is the production. Having childhood games as the main theme, the series brought such sadistic and thrilling stories wrapped in colorful sets. The ironic contrast definitely left an eye-catching impression for all the viewers and even those who have only seen the short clips circulating on the internet. The consistency of the costumes also marked a strong point for Squid Game. Though the red jumpsuits of the workers might be similar to the ones in Spanish TV show Money Heist, the other styling still felt original and has its points of being iconic (that perhaps could be recited sometime in the future).

The viral sensation Korean Netflix Series, Squid Game, has an enormous amount of points to be remarkably acclaimed in the contemporary TV Shows landscape. Although, I must admit that the show wasn’t a completely perfect journey. Regardless of the decision whether the creator of Squid Game would like to continue onto the next seasons, the standalone 9 episodes (so far) are worthy to be the talk of the public.

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Completed
Police University
21 people found this review helpful
by Lipsi
Oct 5, 2021
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 10
Story 9.5
Acting/Cast 9.5
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 7.5

Worth watching❤

Story:
Ok i love the story so far. It started with A detective named Yoo Dong Man who is willing to catch the culprit of a illegal gambling site & Crossed path with a Hacker named Kang Seon Ho while tracking the illegal gambling site which kang seon ho hacked & stole money from the illegal gambling site for his father's surgery. Then Kang Seon Ho met a judo Ace girl named Oh Kang Hee & fell in love with her at first sight. While following her footsteps he applied for Korean National Police University & got accepted. He then again crossed path with Yoo Dong Man who is now a Professor at KNPU. They both basically hate each other but they grew fond of each other and started investigating the illegal gambling site along with other professors & students.

Acting:
They all are new to me as i started watching kdramas like from only 6 months. But i must they all are so good actors❤ i can't judge them as they are so talented.

Overall:
Police University is currently the best among all. It's neither a heavy thriller drama nor a typical Rom-Com drama. It has the perfect amount of thrill, mystery, suspense to blow ur mind, a cute healthy romance between the two leads to make ur heart flutter, a strong friendship and a heartwarming relationship between the teachers & their students. The way they all support each other is worth watching ❤

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