Reviews

A Grim Game Of Greed: Play Or Skip?

Trigger Warning: blood, death, gore, gunshots, physical assault, burning, NSFW, flashing lights, graphic imagery, hanging


The recent Netflix hit Squid Game is a thrilling, and emotionally layered survival series which plays off the idea of free will, economic disparity and privilege and turns it into a grim game of greed.

The whole thing starts with when someone offers a desperate man the chance to play a child's game of flip the card and wager on the outcome. As that offer escalates, it turns out that more than 450 other desperate, immensely debt-loaded people have been lured into a similar brutal contest, where they’re playing popular childhood playground games for the chance to win 45.6 billion Korean won (about $39 million), only if they manage to eliminate all the contestants and be the last person standing.

All the nine episodes take place in present-day Korea, and the players are invited who are on the margins of society. It seems like the entire game could very well be secretly undergoing with none the wiser. Recent Korean cine stories like Parasite and Itaewon Class have adeptly addressed wealth inequality and class struggle in real-world circumstances, rather than through the lenses of American fantasies like The Hunger Games and Elysium. Film director Hwang Dong-hyuk (known for My Father, The Crucible) follows this trend with Squid Game, his first drama series. In spite of unrealistic elements, the show seems to have been designed to convey that our present reality can be just as hellish as any imagined world.

The script is a ticking clock that will glue you to the screen as shows of this genre should do by constantly making the audience question "what would I do in that situation?". The whole point of shows like this is to become extremely relatable. Despite the cold violence, gore, and blood, the story does not lack all the emotional impact that it's supposed to generate. The haunting score by Parasite composer Jung Jae-IL only adds to this constant terror and suspense.

However, I could not help but feel disappointed by the final leg of the series. In episode six, which is a total emotional stunner, it feels the series has reached its summit plot-wise but then suddenly veers into unsatisfying and predictable story decisions, with quite a number of glaring plot holes. The last three episodes seems highly underwhelming in terms of intensity and insight of the earlier ones.

Thankfully, everything else appears to be immersive and brilliant. Beautiful scoring, enchanting set design, and immaculate visuals are some of the ingredients that will keep you hooked. Along with exceptional performances from a remarkable ensemble. The personality changes that Ki-hoon (played by Lee Jung-jae) goes through is an acting masterclass. Other notable work from actors came from Anupam Tripathi, Wi Ha-Joon, Oh Young-soo, Kim Joo-ryoung, and Lee Byung-hun. Although, Gong Yoo's cameo acts as the cherry on the top. His brief appearance both in the pilot and the finale episode acts as a captivating device as well as a friendly reminder to our Goblin ahjussi.

Squid Game grips you through 9 episodes that are realistic enough but watching it is uncomfortable and is certainly not for everyone. Keeping the multiple trigger warnings in mind, the show should not be viewed by both kids under 15 and adults undergoing mental health issues as some scenes can get quite traumatic. The drama is tempting to fast-forward, either to skip the gore, or to bypass the sense of dread when the show stretches out some of the lethal rounds. While the discomfort could be written off as the price of admission for watching a deadly game, it really affirms our own humanity. The fact that this show has become an overnight global phenomenon both seems like an irony and a sad reality.

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The Best Drama Ever

I enjoyed the drama from day 1, every episode ends up making me curious to know what happens in the next episode. The storyline is pretty much simple but the story itself is awesome.
The Male lead is super handsome, who is also my favorite Chinese actor and the female lead is awesome and her acting is really good.
I still have 4 episodes left to watch, I am left with curiosity and anticipation to see what happens in the next four episodes.
This is my opinion but this is the best drama ever.
The OSTs of the drama are awesome and worth listening to them again and again.
Overall, everything about this drama is good.

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Thin Storyline

I came here to watch Lusi.

The FL and ML's chemistry was good. Good enough for me to want to watch until they made it into a couple. Then I couldn't get myself to carry on to continue watching the subsequent episodes.

Lusi did her best of being her usual a lively character, which I love. But the storylines are not interesting enough. I have zero interest on the side characters stories. SPOILER: the guy who used to have a crush on FL changed his course and fell for FL's maid, who treated him so rudely in the beginning. She was over the top rude!

The story of ML and FL is a bit unsettling. A student and teacher in a romantic relationship? My heart couldn't take it, I was always on my toes that they wouldn't get caught by the others in the academy. I understand both are in the marrying age, but it just feels so wrong for a teacher to "abuse" his position that way. He just seemed to be a horny guy whenever he saw her!

I have to say the SML is the coolest character here.

I wouldn't recommend this drama. I'm now looking forward to watch Lusi's next drama with Yang Yang!

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They deserved more

Korn and Knock deserved better than this. In the description it says that outsiders try to come between them, and I hate that type of plot. At the start, we couldn't see any real growth in their relationship, and then with Korn cheating on Knock with that idiot---GAH! Made me crazy. The only thing that held me together was the fact that Knock had been such an ass to Korn, ignoring him and acting like a kid, that it almost seemed like he deserved it. But they never got into that, so the lesson--if learned--was wasted.
And we got no resolution with a lot of the misunderstandings, such as the boss lying to Knock and saying Korn didn't drink that night, etc.
The conflict with Korn not wanting to tell his dad about them and Knock being eager to was commendable.

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Disclaimer: ML is unbearable and FL is a doormat, watch it at your own risk

No female programmers, just coz one messed up hard in the past... now just think of scenario vise-versa if it was a male programmer, then what? no male programmer rule, I don't think so. And I know this mentality sucks.. as the drama.

One might think...'Cute Programmer' is cute, sweet fluff, but other than having a cute programmer there's nothing cute or even much programming. It's rather more frustrating and torture.

The first thing that got me to take interest in drama was cross-dressing and as a fellow fan of the gender bender trope, but it is merely there like 1/5th part of the drama, and it's not the only reason for my disappointment... it is poorly done as if they didn't even put any efforts... this girl with eye-liner (clearly visible) full makeup disguises as a boy... wow I mean just wear short hair wig and baggy clothes there you go, you're a boy! Which company out there recruites employees without any documentation only on the resume? what a lousy management team from an IT company.

Okay she disguises herself as a boy (even when I'M GIRL is written all over her face), and then she takes the advice on how to behave like a boy... from a friend who is the girl (if you have watched plenty of dramas then you, of course, know what kind of 'advice' leads get from their friends lol xD here the problem was supposedly 21-22-year-old girl don't know how boy behave. I mean she doesn't have any encounter with any boy in her life lol... now on this subject, throughout the whole drama it is almost bombarded female programmer is once in blue moon thing, so I assume she must have the majority of male classmates during her college days... and in those 4 years, of course, she doesn't do anything other than studying right? that's why she doesn't know how boys behave.. #dramalogic

The story is pure trash, and definitely not made for 2021... too old, tropey, and torturous, sometimes even challenges morals. The thing is being sooo stupid and illogical, things just don't make sense wasn't the only problem... I've good endurance illogical or bizarre plots but when characters are messed up then... it's a big NO.

Lu Li other than being smart (only book smart lol) and talented in programming she is no different from our female leads in cdramas super naive, gullible, innocent... sometimes even worse. She doesn't even have self-esteem or confidence. The fact that makes me annoyed by her was for-no-good-reason she's head over heels for our male lead (who isn't even likable let lovable aside) not to forget... she loves him for a long time, now taking consideration of out MLS persona, one might thing... he must be saved her life or did something magnificent that made Lu Li blind in love, pff, no there isn't any blockbuster backstory lol, and her love or obsession towards him doesn't make any sense.. honestly shallow as he has no other qualities than being smart and handsome... I want to scream girl get a life! every time I see her lol

Yi Cheng.. ah what can I say, unbearable? his attitude sucks, even after brain wrecking I couldn't find a single thing that I like about him. He is just so childish, stubborn, rude-arrogant for no reason dude... He gets on my nerves every time he appears on the screen. He is so narrow-minded...if you're sensitive then you might get super irritated by his homophobic behavior in prior episodes.

Well, their actions make me want to punch on their face, as both characters are stupider than high school kids. I know there's nothing wrong in having a high IQ with very low EQ or not being street smart even if you are book smart... but at least give them some maturity lol, their mental age and decision-making ability aren't even par to their supposedly high IQ brain.

Where leads were more than enough to annoy me to death... voila! don't forget our bitchy sfl whose life purpose is just to destroy leads relationship, as if she doesn't have any other purpose for her life, not to forget zero consciences. Of course, her action makes you wanna strangle her. Not to forget she gets plenty amount of screen time to make our blood boil.

Even leads are poorly written what can we expect from supporting roles lol, Yi Ming is like stereotype sml flooded with all good qualities.. apart from all the mess I do appreciate the fact they didn't create a love triangle thing with Yi Ming and let him just be a good friend for Lu Li, though I wish him to run away from Zitong every time coz she is just so noisy, annoying and clingy, their story didn't make me interested coz Zitong almost forced herself onto him.

The story sucks, characters suck more... ah now just little expectations from acting. Zhao Lin is a master in such roles coz he's just the same as his past roles before... maybe a little more annoying. So I wouldn't say I've encountered his extraordinary acting skills. Oh gosh it was hard for me to endure Bambi Zhu's acting apart from her silly, poorly written character, she just can't act... even in emotional scenes I can't feel sadness or any kinda feelings from her, I also don't like when she uses weird smile during sad scenes I'm sad inside but wanna show I'm happy scenes, it gives me chills. Acting is on par level... can't save this sinking ship.

In this whole mess who bothers to concentrate on music with being busy in ff lol I didn't even notice any other song other than the intro. The production quality is okayish but the last episode's green screen was meh.

But surprisingly I stuck to it till the end... yeah just for sake of ranting about it, but this ridicules sometimes a bit vibes of makjang, can be entertaining in the purpose of bashing or making fun of it... coz it was a pleasure to write this whole rant xD

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it makes me feel so happy

here's a tl;dr: short and sweet little gem of a show. a must watch if you like bl or just need sweet romantic drama to watch. also the music is god-tier.

story: polar opposites attract. seo jun is like a puppy. ji woo is like a grumpy cat lol. very good characters but some parts of their reactions to things isn't explained whatsoever (hopefully s2 will explain). its a "and they were roomates!" situation lmao. seo jun is famous, scandal happens and he hides with a very annoyed ji woo. good easy plot.

acting: yooo chemistry is off the charts. the damn kissing scene was wow. just wow. are you gonna actually eat his lips or smth? son woo-hyun is an incredible actor. he really shines in this role. kim kang-min is really good too. he has a really sweet smile. the cooking scenes are *chef's kisses*. supporting actors were good too.

music: the osts for this show are so good. i listen to them daily. i fall asleep to it, my alarm is the ost, my study playlist is the ost, my cooking playlist is the ost. what im saying is, the osts are seriously so good. i'll be there (the one that was played during the basketball scene) is god-tier.

rewatch: i resisted rewatching the day after i finished it. but i ended up watching the movie ver which is basically the drama in a movie form so yeah. i also rewatched it again today. yeah i really like this drama. it's my favourite drama now lol.

overall? a must watch. very sweet and it'll leave you feeling warm and happy but also lonely. after watching i was like wow, i want a girlfriend now :'). very easy plot to follow. the characters are great. the music is (im saying this for the 3rd time damn) god-tier. it's a really good drama so give it a watch.

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Life is a strange thing; funny and worth living for, as well.

"Be My Dream Family" truly defines what a family should be like despite of difference in opinions & personalities, least communication and distance. I watched this with lots of anticipations after finishing "Once Again" earlier this year and this, for my 2nd Korean soap opera, is very pleasing to me, if not as good as Once Again. Rather it has more realistic elements and less melo stuffs than Once Again.

Soap operas with big fat joint family drama, do not have a solid plot development; instead a goal at the end, leading to a happy family life for everyone and this drama is no exception.

Geum Jong Hwa & Kang Mo Ran are in their twilight ages and happen to be single when they meet each other as neighboring business owners. As they hang out with each other, both fall in love so much that decide to marry only after 6 months. Both of them have their big families already but now that they become family, they have a hard row to hoe in order to bring all of them together to one plate. The drama is about the journey of the family members going through various challenges in their personal lives as well as fighting among themselves, until they come to embrace various shades of each individual, finally accepting each orher as their own.

Both the screenwriter and director have done a good job in this drama I swear, it's like developing a perfect partnership. The way the script is interlinked between different scenes and director's editing work upon that are very nice. For 80% of the story, one scene starts with a conversation on the topic upon which the previous scene's conversation had ended. The 120 episode dailysoap might feel a bit slow for the first 10 episodes but it definitely gets better as you watch further. There is almost no background score for majority of the drama but again, that's another feature of Korean daily soaps.

Since soap opera family dramas don't have a solid plot, rather daily live happenings are showcased with an ultimate goal leading towards a happy family life, together, I don't there is much to talk about things. So let me just talk a bit about the characters.

I loved the character development of all the characters...

# Geum Jong Hwa: Lonely, aggressive old man to a loving father.
# Kang Mo Ran: Loves and cares for every single family member and tries her best to bring everyone together despite problems.
# Geum Sang Gu: Naive, jobless, family man to a good businessman. Loving husband & father.
# In Young Hye: Responsible mother & wife who craves love. Becomes close to step-in-laws very fast.
# Geum Sang Gu: Rude, arrogant drama PD to caring son and loving husband.

Oh Min Hee: Ambitious actress coming back to industry after 20 years hiatus. Despite difficulties and public backlash she holds onto things and detrmines to do better. One of the best character development of the drama. Loved the way she changed over episodes.

# Geum Sang Min: Twin daughter. Hardworking yet struggling & dirt broke artist of years. Becomes a better son.
# Geum Min Ah: The 20yo SNU student, hardworking yet stubborn and does things without any thought. The cutest probably.

# Geum In Sol: Twin Son. Another best character development. The 20yo guy was neither studios nor decisive. Clueless with what to choose, he tries various job in order to decide what he wants. Regardless, a very good son to parents who thinks clear and takes care of his family.

# Han Geu Roo: 32yo single, with a closed heart. Protective of her family to a great deal and does a very good job work as an editor.
# Han Da Bal: Widowed, a single mother and an amazing judo artist. Loves her daughter and family a lot but still not open to have another partner.
# Min Ga Eun: Orphaned girl living with sister inlaw's family. Very ambitious at work and works hard. Soft-spoken and bubbly.
# Min Sol: Thoughtful despite of her age, loves her mother a lot, loves to befriend everyone.

# Choi Ji Wan: Divorcee, loving father, an amazing CEO of Aarang Publication. The humblest yet clueless.
# Hyun Shi Woon: Temporary marketing head at Aarang. The friendliest and mood maker. A cupid to many lovers. Loved the way he talked.
# Choi Yi Jae: Very shy kid, stuck between separated parents. Changes a lot by opening up to his father with Da Bal and Min Sol's help.

# Ki Young: Physiotherapist, alcoholic, divorced, friendly yet hard to open up to.
# Im Heon: 20yo brilliant student yet a stupid guy just like his wife, Min Ah. Causes trouble together.

COUPLES:

Jong Hwa & Kang Mo Ran: Married at their twilight years after falling in love. Becomes closer with time. Together, bring the 2 families together.

Sang Baek & Young Hye: Felt in love in highschool, married despite situations, care for each other and together manage their small family. Concerned for their children.

Sang Gu & Min Hee: Fall in love as asst. Dir. and rookie actress, marry after pregnancy. Maintain a bitter relationship but later turn in into a loving couple and embrace each other's flaws.

Sang Min & Ga Eun: Formerly student & teacher, met each other after years as step families. End up staying under the same roof, working together and finally falling in love with each other.

Geu Roo & Shi Woon: With a embarrassing first impression, both avoid each other at work but while helping Geu Roo as a cupid both fall in love unknowingly and faced difficulties to maintain it.

Da Bal & Ji Wan: Both the single parents had to go through various challenges to end up together till the end because of their children , family and situations. It was like contrasting characters attracting each other.

Min Ah & Im Heon: Married at 20 bcs of unexpected pregnancy. The cutest couple, both clueless and immature. Cause trouble for family but decide to do everything for their baby to come.

So many important things anf factors of life at different places like home, education, workplace has been portrayed along with various aspects of life. A number of relationships and their various shades are beautifully represented. I am very glad after watching this drama.

Many other things that's also been thrown light upon are: stress from study, early pregnancy, failed business, family responsibilities, alcoholism, fraudulent, cheating, extramarital affairs, highschool first love, dirty sides of entertainment industry, hatred & online abuse, sincere worker, struggle in performing and creative art sector, atmosphere in publication company, child mental health, divorcee life, widower life, love & care within family, understanding, privacy, concerns, etc.

Ep 100-115 were the peak of the drama where life-changing events happened for most of the characters. It has literally everything summed up and despite many problems, the last 5 episodes ended the drama in a very good way. Loved it.

I am happy I decided to watch it soon, bcs I don't really watch daily soaps (this is my 2nd). This drama brought out all kinda emotions from me and I was laughing, crying, smiling widely, cursing and all through out the drama. This drama is in fact more of a funny comedy and ngl, my laugh has become uglier after watching this TT. Korean daily soaps grow on you no matter how you watch it, ongoing or binging.

PLEASE GO FOR THIS.

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Squid Game is not worth your time

The premise of the show is similar to Hunger Games- lots of people in an arena who are pitted against each other and only one can survive. The show starts off okay with an okay protagonist who has his share of problems many of which he is responsible for himself. Then it manages to grip you for the next two while establishing that the games were created to be fair and equal to these miserable participants. Unfortunately, it goes sideways from the fourth episode and seemingly stops being fair and introduces some other characters only to give our protagonists a chance to appear smarter. The games themselves aren't very novel and exceedingly turn away from children's games into the aforementioned hunger games. All is then conveniently wrapped up in the last two episodes without any explanation. It really irked me how many useless plot threads were introduced and remained unresolved. The show-writer believed perhaps that the audience would be dumb and hence enjoy the gorefest they have prepared without any sense. For each major plot thread to be wrapped up completely, each "grey" villain was turned into a complete psychopath as most villains at the end of k-dramas do. The games are built such that females do not get a fair and equal chance at them instead of that being the whole premise of each game. The actors themselves act well and deliver convincing performances. The music is forgettable.

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Stupid and annoying ML

It’s my first low rating after such a long time. I dropped this drama at episode 8 btw so this might not be helpful and just take my review as a pinch of salt. I just wanted to rant. I tried to persist on and watch further but I couldn’t stand the ML. He is annoying, stupid, rude, narcissistic and just plain terrible. I don’t find anything likable about him except for his is good in his field of work. So I do not understand and does not ship the main leads at all. Plus there is no logic in this show, I usually does not care a lot about logic because it is a drama after all, BUT hell no I’m not with this drama logic. ABSOLUTELY NOT.

I had hope that there is character development but I found out that in the later episode the ML ex is back and he did stupid things again which made me decide to drop before the angst get over me. Overall it is already filled with angst for me in the early episode because of how unlikeable and annoying the ML is that is why I drop the show. A romance show with terrible lead’s character, poor character development and full of misunderstanding is just a waste of time to me. The story is not even interesting and the romance couldn’t even make up for it.

Conclusion: I usually does not drop a drama easily and tried to find good in a drama therefore I seldom give low rating like this. Anything enjoyable would have at least at a rating of 7.5 from me. But this is terrible. Watch at your own risk who knows you might actually like this kind of drama with annoying ML ?

Kudos

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A cut above.

This is a wonderfully produced drama that deserves a lot more attention. It is a riveting tale of sibling rivalry that spans a time of rapid change and turbulence in modern Chinese history. Jiang Mosheng and Lu Yuanzhi are both adopted and apprenticed by Master Su Jingan of Sancai (Triple Cut) House, couturier of the Qing Imperial Court. Sancai House routinely outshines other rival houses in the workmanship, symbolism and design of the intricate ornamentation of the Dowager Empress' court robes, allegedly due to their seamless stitch, a tradecraft that is passed down from one generation to another. Master Su's most bitter rival is his former fellow apprentice, Master Bai Henian of Sihe House.

Jiang Mosheng is the older, steady, responsible brother and heir apparent, whose great talent is meaningfully enhanced by his passion and dedication. Lu Yuanzhi is the hot headed, audacious and visionary brother; a rare talent whose brilliance is nothing short of genius. His recklessness however lands him in serious trouble. To save him, Mosheng cuts ties with Sancai House, defects to Sihe House and accepts Master Bai as his foster father. This sets the brothers down a complicated path of reluctant rivalry, conflicting loyalties, mutual friendships, convenient alliances, mistrust, betrayal and forgiveness. The most prominent feature of this drama is the Abel and Cain relationship between the brothers and it is well written, consistent and riveting. Both of them are flawed characters and neither is completely blameless for how things play out between them. Although Yuanzhi learns to rein in his recklessness and temper as he matures, it still manages to get the better of him. His culpability over Mosheng's sacrifice constantly lingers in the air between them. Even though he can be such an ass, I have to sympathise with Mosheng's battle with his own worst instincts in the shadow of someone who is perpetually a cut above. Both Zhang Haowei and Hong Yao delivered excellent, empathetic performances, alternately frustrating, enraging and beguiling me at all the right moments.

How the design of the cheongsam or qipao evolves to reflect the changing attitudes of times is the main, fascinating centrepiece of the drama. While not in the same league as the more modern and sophisticated qipaos of Wong Kar Wai's iconic In The Mood for Love, all of the outfits from the Qing court robes to the Western flapper dresses are simply gorgeous and I truly enjoyed the mini history of Chinese costume. How the female characters are dressed is also symbolic of who they are - Yaoyao is a remnant of the past at sharp contrast with Lijun, the ultimate, progressive modern woman. Kang Ning sits in the middle - she embraces change in a way that marries it with tradition; and thus she is truly Yuanzhi's muse. True to character, both Kang Ning and Lijun have a very refreshing attitude towards relationships and love that I truly enjoy and they fight to write their own stories even when events conspire against them. The only character I didn't like is Yaoyao who is your typical c-drama archetype but she is written that way as a foil for the other two. There are enough dimensional, grey and consequential characters in this drama that I am very satisfied with the character aspects of it. Most of these key roles are performed by veteran actors whose acting often surpasses the quality of the dialogue. I laughed my head off at the dynamics between Lijun, Feiyu and her father.

This is largely a character driven drama where the main characters have to cope with the changing times as they transition from the Qing era to the Republican era and Japanese incursion. While the pace is fast with many exciting and unexpected turns along the way, not all of the sub plots and arcs are consistently well written. Some of the stressing events that the main characters face are a bit contrived, can be lazily written and at times defy logic. But between excellent acting and all the interesting character developments, I found the plot holes quite easy to forgive. I do appreciate how all of the characters go through rough times, experience loss, how actions have consequences and justice is often blind. The villains are decent but less interesting than the characters themselves, some of whom are quite grey if not outright vile.

I am happy to recommend this as a very enjoyable watch with some good fresh takes on old tropes. Overall for me this is an 8.0.

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Beautiful Story About Love, Loss and Friendship

I have been struggling to find the words to accurately describe how much I loved and appreciated this drama. The writing made me laugh, cry and think about the ways I could relate to the lessons being shared in each episode. All the characters were beautifully written, especially our three leading ladies, and I found myself being instantly attached to them since the first episode. I was blown away by how well the writers were able to flesh out almost all the characters(especially considering how large the cast was)without it becoming too overwhelming, and the plot was never convoluted, messy, or predictable. The lack of predictability was something that really shocked me since this tends to be a huge issue in kdramas, specifically melodramas. Towards the end of the episode, I had no idea what was going to happen next and the realization soon hit that going with the flow and letting the story do its thing was the best way to enjoy this drama.

The friendship between Jin Joo, Eun Jung, and Han Joo felt so incredibly realistic and it made me yearn for a friendship as beautiful and lovely as theirs. Eun Jung's brother, Hyo Bong, was also a part of this tight-knit group of friends, and his presence was natural and never felt out of place. These 4 individuals had so much love and respect for one another and you can see that in the way they spoke to one another and supported one another. There was a deep sense of trust amongst the group, and apart from little spats, we never actually see them fight. It felt warm and cozy watching the scenes where they all sat on the sofa at the end of the day watching TV, eating snacks, and just talking about their day or how they're feeling. It felt so natural and I would always get a warm fuzzy feeling. What sealed the deal for me is the way they handled Eun Jung's grief, which was a major theme in the show. The 3 of them never pressured her, never forced her to speak about how she was feeling, and graciously accepted her with open arms once she was ready.

On that note, the way Be Melodramatic handled the topic of grief and mental health was so well done. Oftentimes, kdrama's tend to fail horribly when it comes to addressing those themes, but BM was certainly not one of them. Despite the fact that 2 years have passed, Eun Jung has yet to address the pain from losing her boyfriend, Joon Woo. Because of that, she's found a way of coping by tricking her brain into thinking that he is there with her and even carrying full-on conversations with him. She pretends that she is fine but once she realizes what she has been doing, she is hit with the harsh reality that Joon Woo is gone and that he isn't coming back. It's a poignant scene that reminds the viewers that Eun Jung is still in a great deal of pain but hasn't learned to deal with it. What was great is seeing how Eun Jung willingly sought therapy after her brother urged her to and how these scenes were taken seriously. The therapist genuinely cared about her wellbeing and what it is she had to say, and Eun Jung genuinely made an effort to answer the therapist's questions to the best of her abilities. It was nice to see her go back to the same therapist a few episodes later to show that she was still actively receiving help. Mental health and grief are usually not taken seriously in dramas and tend to be solved easily, but BM handles these topics with care and presents Eun Jung's journey of healing as realistically as possible. By the last episode, she still sees and speaks to him, but it is clear that she's in a much better place and is beginning to learn how to live her life without him. There is no clean-cut conclusion because grief and healing are not easy and it was such a beautiful open ending to her story.

God, I have so much more to say about this show. The way the comedy fit so well with the quirky atmosphere, the way both romantic and platonic relationships were written so nicely, the way the plot was clever and nicely paced, the way every single character, pairing, and group had immense chemistry, and especially the way the actors did an incredible job portraying their characters. My one and only complaint is the way the plot twist is thrown in the last episode where it is revealed that Han Joo was actually dating someone the entire time. We were never given any indication that she was in a relationship and it felt like a cheap way to let the viewers know that Han Joo and Jae Hoon were strictly platonic. It was genuinely frustrating considering the fact that the show had led us to believe that there were romantic feelings present, but since they wanted to show that they were just friends, I wish they had done a better job at revealing this fact. Because it is such a small issue within a sea of perfection, that one flaw isn't enough to bump down my 10-star rating and I highly, highly, HIGHLY, recommend this to anyone looking for a cozy and heartwarming drama to binge.

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How thoughtful ML towards FL

I don't usually enjoy high school series because the plot always similar. When in comes to high school love story, there will always have a kind guy, a naughty guy and cheerful girl. Where the story will go to love triangle.... pattern? I guess.

I found this coincidentally on tiktok and I just decide to watch it on the spot because I felt bored atm. Most of the time when I watch Chinese series, i don't watch it till the end. Because I could predict what will happen next. When the story goes over cringy, I immediately dropped it. And I also thought the same when I start to watch this. I thought, "I might drop it at the half of the episodes." Because that's what I do to cdrama.

HOWEVER, I NEVER THOUGHT THAT I COULD WATCH IT TILL THE END. Surprisingly, there's not much cringe part in this series. A LOT OF IT IS CUTE!!! Damn! It just soo cute ?? I am totally in love with the way ML TAKE ARE OF THE FL. Like, every single thing without missed, he take care of the girl. OANXIJAHXJ. I can't ??

I'm really afraid about how the story will take turns. It's my first time I can't predict what is going on. In my mind I was like, maybe this will be like thiss? But no, it doesn't!! Each of the episodes, I truly enjoyed it.

I'm gonna say, the most fav line in this series is "We've known each other for years and we've lost too much time. But the time and distance made me confirm my feelings for her." BABE LIKE WHAT!!! I AM SOO DONE !

Anyway, praise to the actors because they played it REALLY TOTALLY WELL!! I imagined the ML will be kind of awkward, but nahh.. he plays it really good. It DEFINITELY LOOKS NATURAL. AND HE'S FUNNY! His character is unpredictable, it just soo cute.

Lastly, to those who don't really enjoy too much of cringe, love the type of 'tom and jerry' friendships to lovers, and love the naughty guy becomes ML, I RECOMMEND THIS TO YOU DUDE!!!

thank you for reading my 'luahan hati'. <3

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