Reviews

PDA and sweetness off the charts!!

First of all, I don’t agree with most of the other earlier reviews. This is a very sweet drama, no-frills, yes a little typical, but it’s genuine and very touching. I didn’t like Forever and Ever or You are my glory- those two dramas were too hyped up and too fake.

The story, character and relationship development were all very good. It seems rather long with 41 episodes, I wasn’t bored until probably the last 10 episodes. It then got a bit repetitive. 41 episodes is too long for a rom-com, cos you can’t go any further with the comedy or the storyline. It would have been better to finish it off by 30. There were however many touching scenes which surprisingly made me cry!

The love story between Sheng Jing Chu and Cheng Liao was very sweet. The PDA and romance was off the charts :):):) Lots and lots of it! So unlike Forever and Ever which was SO HARD to come by, even though that couple was older and more matured? Yes the FL can be overly cute, but I didn’t find that annoying at all. The ML (he was one of the guys in Love O2O) yes he was stiff, but I believe that was the portrayal of his character.

I also particularly liked how the scenes from the GO competitions would change to virtual Kung-fu battle scenes! I enjoyed that very much! Good blend of comedy and some wrongdoings as well.

Ignore the other reviews. GO watch this for a lovely sweet drama :):)

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Rife with gaslighting

This started out okay but then the director and scriptwriter made some choices that not even Jasper's smile and Zhou Yu Tong's acting can save.

I found the ML's mood swings, especially when it comes to the FL's "work ethic", bewildering. I find it difficult to reconcile myself to the power differential between them. Furthermore, the ML seems to be withholding important information about his identity, and is making decisions for her (i.e. either through good intentions or through a lack of understanding) which end up making her life harder than it needs to be. If you are going to assert professional control over someone -- senior v junior -- then keep it to that. Stop making it personal and/or using personal information to manipulate the other party forcing them to come around to your way of thinking because you think it best.

How can the FL trust someone who takes away so many of her choices when it comes to self-determination. That is not love. This is an exercise in control. Furthermore, the FL started out well. Sure, she was a little frivolous, a little serious, has her pride -- who among us doesn't. And doesn't always make the best or smartest choices -- again, who among us does? But the systematic chipping away of her agency, making her look unprofessional - when she started out fine, and generally someone who is constantly on the back-foot -- apologising for herself? None of this is cool.

I don't watch dramas to get angry at chauvinistic nonsense. I see enough of that in real life. And if I wanted to watch people playing life or death games trapped by limited choices and circumstances I would watch Squid's Game. Not a drama that describes itself as a rom-com.

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I wish the drama would have been better !

The drama starts with a beautiful night scenery, martial art fight and music. The strong female lead character enters and the plot starts to fall down with intrigues that keep you hooked.... until episode 15-17.
Then there are a lot of holes in the plot, maybe due to the too many twists in the story, but lot of scenes unfold without making lot of sense and you can fast forward the drama and still understand everything.
Now, Leo Luo actes brilliantly as always .... his character is my favorite. Jing Chao was a bit disappointing though as I found his expression was the same whatever emotion he tried to demonstrate.

⚠️ ATTENTION HUGE SPOILERS !!! ⚠️

- It is so frustrating that Rong Le is not intrigued by her pay and flash backs. She never looked for her true identity (but 2/3 lines in the scenario) until Xiang takes initiative to find the truth after only one sentence she heard (“-“)
- Episode 15 - Long yue dies to allow the princess to escape, yet she doesn’t and so she died for absolutely nothing. Prince Li was literally 2min away on his horse yet ..... he never arrived while Rong Le is stopped by her brother, she is screaming, crying ...
- That scene when Xiang and Rong Le cry and fall asleep together and never talk about it ... is so weird. We know from that their relationship as viewers. But that scene isn’t well captured in the scenario.
- Rong Le knows martial arts and don’t hesitate to fight against dozens of men but don’t stand against 1 man when majesty’s life is threaten, nor to get rid of one of the main male leads
- Episode 40 - She knows how unhappy she was when she was forced to marry someone she doesn’t love ... yet she offers Ya Li to marry General Luo. Then Ya Li turns into a vilain that is completely out of character because she feels alone. She loves 1 then another one ... so weird.
- There are some politics intrigues but from a scene to another, wars are settled
- After the adultery episode, she comes suddenly comes back from Chen with Wi You and the warhorses and the matter is also settled just like that.
Episode 52 - princess comes back to southern land freed of all doubt of adultère because they came back with horses from Chen ! Just like that ...
- Episodes 56-57 are so frustrating. My heart aches for Emperor Qi. He is The real hero/victim is actually Emperor Qi! He never had anything, his mother never gave him love, and he lost the only person he ever loved ... while she hated him all along, he actually saved her multiple times and did everything in his power for her to be happy with the man she loves ! Yet, she doesn’t understand his actions while she can understand General Chou and Wu You ??‍♀️
And when did Ke arrive ? The only episode that actually made me cry is the last one .... for emperor Qi and love that Rong Le should have had for him all along ?

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DO YOU LIKE REVENGE?

If you like a drama filled with revenge, this is the drama for you. Every single episode has some form of it. Revenge was all over the place…the main couple, the side couple, the side/side couple, friends, fellow employees. It has love, hate, jealousy, violence, resentment, plot twists, oh, and did I mention revenge… The acting, writing, directing, producing all were excellent. I couldn’t stop watching it. One minute I was crying, the next I was angry, then I was rooting different characters on. This is a very heavy drama that maybe everyone wouldn’t like. At times my stomach was in a knot. It does not leave you feeling “happy and light hearted,” that’s for sure. If you decide to watch it, be ready to be put in a kind of anxious, sort of sad mood. All I can say is this is a must watch! One of the best revenge dramas I’ve seen, actually THE best.

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SUPER RECCOMENDED TO WATCH!!!

This drama is very interesting to me and i personally really like this drama(rewatched this drama 2 times),i also really like the actors, their acting are good. I would say this is a pretty light drama with some family elements , cried on some scenes.
I also really like their character especially young hong dae yong (lee do hyun)
i really like the scenes when (young) hong dae yong interact with hong shi ah and hong shi woo (his kids), it is very cute and heart warming

Honestly i really like the overall drama and very recommended to watch this if you are bored

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We don't eat deserts as the main course... they should be served as deserts, and the same goes with fluffy rom-com. Go Into Your Heart is nothing more than a very long and unnecessary drag with content that needs no more than 24 episodes to wrap up... so 41 episodes give nothing but boredom due to things happening just for sake of extending the plotline and annoying characters every by and then.

Though I'll admit the main couple is kinda cute and acting from them is promising as Landy Li can always pull out that cute adorable role and Niu Jun Feng may seem stiff and robotic throughout the whole show but that is what his character is made up... I adored Cheng Yi's character a lot... but other than that nothing impressed me or even make it worth watching, as the story forwards in a vague direction every time.

I don't get why dramas have to glamorize every profession? Like from when Go players are treated like celebrities or idols for fangirling... or news anchors make scandals for drinking or going to club or spending their time with whomever they want. It doesn't make any sense... The whole fingerprint thing was nonsensical, and why they have to make a lead who's just soooo surreal almost not relatable at any point, but then yes male lead should be the most intelligent and smartest person alive where female lead clumsy, naive, and the innocent type who isn't even par to male leads aura. Ah, that kinda sucks.

Maybe I would have appreciated it if they made Sheng Jing Chu more human-like, not LEGEND... I mean his girlfriend calls him legend all the time, doesn't he deserve some human-like treatment?

As of the fact, this is 41 episodes so sure it takes a time to get leads together... both being adorable I did enjoy their time and moments together. But apart from the leads side couples were a bit off for me, I wasn't rooting for anyone lol Yu Da is mood but he's just childish and so immature and I was annoyed by his actions most of the time. Xu Chi was just so trying to fit in the mold of perfect which made him a bit stiff and unreachable. I guess Xi He would be the only one... I enjoyed seeing him on screen every time, I also liked his moody style changing so every time he looks like a whole new person with a different persona.

The production value or quality doesn't matter to me most of the time, as a strong story is more than enough than beautiful cinematography. But when you try to do some-not-really-needed-but-just-for-visuals-things do it properly. The whole graphic thing during Go matches was poorly done... it almost felt like if I'm watching any cheap animation movie without any context.

In conclusion, it's nothing unique or delivers something that's out of the box.. you have a lot of free time and the ability to turn off your brain for some time then you can give it a try at your own risk.

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Sleepless Society? I skipped that one featuring a creepy little boy, but this one I found rather watchable: just the opening credits are great. Also thankfully this series features no supernatural, ghost or horror (I was afraid at first, seeing the posters).

The main characters in 'Two Pillows & A Lost Soul' are past their twenties, we don't deal with annoing "teenagers" in this one. Wife let off some steam wrong time wrong place, at the party that ended bad. She's far from selfless but she's got her share of grief. She has a horrendous mother (who keeps ruining her life since childhood), too. Husband beats the wife, but apart from that he's having a cute gay romance line. No black and white characters here. They all have some pretty dark moments but I could relate. The sleep issues are incorporated well, which is stylish for this series theme. Same works for music.

Amongst all this, a romance blossoms that involves Bee Namthip, who is still so beautiful I didn't mind the age gap, yet it kinda even more underlined the loneliness of her character. Watching her getting on with complete stranger still had a depressed tone for me. Their bed scene was good, though. I can appreciate it as I've recently watched another age-gap series with Nune Woranuch, who was even older than Bee Namthip, and yet she still wasn't able to do a simple onscreen kiss better than twenty years ago.

All these characters just being themselves would make a strong drama even without the whole murder case.

Unfortunatelly, things get even darker than would be my taste.

I didn't like anything that happened in episode 9.

After that, I finished the series but it wasn't the same anymore.
I found the ending rather cheap.

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Great acting and healthy relationships

You Are My Hero is the rare romance drama that has real, actual, natural acting and believable characters/relationships, but I guess it aspires to be more than just a romance drama as it tries to portray the pressures and challenges of being a SWAT officer and a doctor. Not always realistically, but it tries.

The ACTING. Most of the actors so perfectly portray their characters grounded in real human emotion - the uncertainties, the joy, the awkwardness, the fear, the fun, the pressure. They have believable, specific personalities and you almost forget that you're watching actors and start to think these are just real people in real situations.

The RELATIONSHIPS. Thank goodness we can have dramas that portray healthy relationships without dumb misunderstandings - people who trust each other, support each other, and communicate. And we have different types of people having different types of relationships - we get to see the awkwardly sweet courtship, the bold chase, the mature adult certainty, and more. And not just romantic relationships - XKL's relationship with his sister is just... *chef's kiss*.

The only reason why this isn't a 10/10 for me is that the story and pacing is just ok. As much as I loved the characters and relationships, I was pretty heavy on the fast forward throughout the drama. It starts with an exciting beginning scene, but then the first 10-15 eps are heavy on trope-y setups, and then various plot arcs around the SWAT stuff and the hospital stuff (while they seem to be well-researched and portrayed) I liberally fast forwarded through since many of them had very little impact on the advancement of characters and relationships, which was what I was there to see.

Where this drama shines is in showing the relationships and interactions between the main characters (and 2nd and 3rd leads). The trust. The communication. The adorable awkwardness of XKL and MK! The amazing sibling relationship between XKL and XKY! XKY and SYH's adult maturity! So much to love!

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There's two sides to every story

There is some seriously excellent casting in this drama. I can't imagine anyone else playing their roles. The actors own them.
My favourite character has to be the Scheduler! He supplies the comic relief and I love his snappy banter with Shin Ji-hyun at the beginning. He has a seriously amazing wardrobe! The answerphone messages are great indicators of his mood. I feel sorry for Seo Ji-hye who plays Shin In-jung, she has been stiffed with another role where she's unlucky in love...again! Think...CLOY! The soundtrack is memorable and fits exactly. At the beginning I was watching and thinking, this is tight there are no inconsistencies, which is strange for a supernatural kdrama but keep watching and you'll find them later on. The makers struck a good balance between humour & tragedy...at the beginning that is. Around episode 13 I was thinking... hmmm what more do they have left to say to fill another 7 episodes and it just dragged, unfortunately. It would have been much better to end it at 16 episodes, and for a happy ending but I think that would miss the point of the story which is how do you carry on living after you lose love. I'm sure more people lose love than keep love and it's important to show it can be done. I like how Song Yi-kyung is portrayed as depressed and still can't get over it after 5 years, this is what actually happens to a person if you don't have family support. I can't believe the end where they turn out to be sisters! For some reason I kept thinking her brother was really Kang Min-ho! So, no this sisters story line ticked me off...it was a little too convenient! I liked how the supernatural was portrayed in a realistic way, and applaud the makers for tackling a tricky subject, but I would hesitate to rewatch as it's kind of heavy in parts.

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Stressful and intense

Squid Game (2021)

Likes
1. Loved the six games and how each game levelled up the intensity and danger. Esp the tug of war and the glass bridge. I didnt like the honeycomb. I probably would have died in the first game! ?
2. The killings were brutal and i was stressed every single game, but knowing that the leads wont die til the very end made the game less fun.
3. At one point i thought the lesson of the show was to learn to share and not be too greedy. Or find a way to work together and get out alive not kill each other and they will all get the money. But i was wrong both times.

Dislikes
1. The main lead mostly passed the levels because of luck or someone else. Same with Saebyeok, she also didnt fo anything but sulk. Sangwoo was strategic but in the end he lost against the morally nice guy. Is that the message the writer eants to tell us?
2. But then the reveal of the main guy and his explanation didnt make sense. Why go through all of that and kill hundreds of people every time just for the fun of it?
3. After all the blood sweat and tears, Gihun sat on the money for a year and didnt use them! At least pay off Sangwoo's debts and get Saebyeok's brother out. But dumping the money and the brother with Sangwoo's mom was also terrible. I was hoping Gihun will be more responsible after this but he's still dumb.
4. Felt like Junho had a separate story that didnt feel connected with the rest. And why Inho became the host was not explained.

Rating: 8/10

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this show isn't getting what it deserves

I've seen so many people talk about this show being disappointing, but I honestly disagree.

Firstly, the two main leads did such a great job. I love their chemistry. Also, lots of people are saying that Jimmy's acting is lesser than the korean actors but I don't think that's the case. Yoon Oh and Dr Moon are much more emotionally heavy characters then Peach. Personally, I feel Peach is someone who doesn't display his sad emotions, rather opting to give out a screen of happiness. Even if you still believe that Jimmy's acting wasn't good enough, he still did a great job portraying the emotions of his character.

Next, the story. I think the script was realllyyyy good. I'm trying to not spoil too much but the ending was perfect in my opinion. It didn't try to give us an unrealistic/hypocritical of somehow rising the dead. It was a nice ending. And the writing was really good. Nothing cringy or unneccassary.

Overall, if you're hanging on the fence, I'd say just watch it. It's fairly short and I don't think you'll regret it. IMO this show is much better than some thai BLs with a higher rating.

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Love-hate relationship

One of the most important elements to a successful drama is how satisfying /fulfilling the ending is.

It's not about what we might think is fair but what makes us exhale in ease at the end feeling it's finally wrapped and tucked nicely in our memory.

That wasn't the case here.

-We follow an mc who is very poor, very in debt, has an ill mother and a lonely daughter who will be taken away from him forever if he doesn't do anything.

None of that gets even remotely solved! Zero!

-We grew to know and love characters like Saebyeok and her scattered family and her last hope to bring them together.

Again, NOTHING CHANGES!
*well except a very very weak last minute forced scene that had no absolute value!

- We're introduced to a police officer who we expect to be the end of this organization. But guess what he adds to the story?
Right, NOTHING!

We, as viewers, are attached to these characters, feeling what they feel. We, and them, endured the horrors of the game bc of a purpose. We wanted them to achieve their goals, we wanted to see them happy at last. or at the very least for something to change!!

But to make all of these stories and characters and games and twists and emotional manipulation to keep everything exactly the way it is, is just weak writing in my opinion.

Even if they were planning on a season 2 from the start, (which I really hope so, for their sake. Otherwise this was the worst drama ending I've ever seen) they should've made it a little more (or any) satisfying to the viewers. They sacrificed the ending for s1 to build for a s2. But even that was very poorly written and executed.

The drama was great in the beginning, amazing even. I was at the edge of my seat the whole time, binging episode after another in anticipation. That's why I can't give it a lower rating.

All was great until the last two episodes or the last one really. It left me confused, mad and disappointed. And all I could think was "wth did I just watch?"

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Not the slow burn I was expecting

I think my expectations were too high. The first 4 episodes had me hooked, I was in love. I didn’t mind the pacing, it was more action packed than expected based on the other reviews I read. But it truly broke my heart watching them fall in love only for So Joon constantly doubt himself, not listen to any of the advice he was given, and just lie to Ma Rin. I understand their relationship was new, but the lack of communication was maddening. I appreciate the message of the show, to enjoy what you have while you have it, but I expected a slow burn romance and I got a frustrating heartache. Everyone was wonderful in their roles, I wish the other couples/side characters had more screen time. It’s a good show, but it took me through too much emotionally all for a guy to learn how to apologize. Ma Rin deserved better. But at least her two men came through for her in the end.

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Equal parts amazing and infuriating....

CAST:

Choi Jae Hyun as Yoon Oh and Jimmy Karn Kritsanaphan as Peach are not only perfectly cast in their respective roles, but are absolutely amazing together. Their interactions and character relationship is so comfortable and natural that if you saw them walking down the street together you would think they really were a couple.

Jung Ae Yun as Moon Sung Sook [Yoon Oh's mother] was incredible in the moments where the character showed emotions, but there was also a lot of it that felt very devoid and flat, which given the way the character was written, I think comes down more to that than her actual performance.

Tommy Sittichok Pueakpoolpol as Mario was just kind of there, he served his purpose at the beginning but then the more the series went on, the less and less parts of his character and story made sense.

STORY:

This is where the "equal parts amazing and infuriating" from the headline comes into play. If you separate the whole two meet meet, become friends, fall in love, and cherish what time they have together part from the rest of the story, then it's an amazingly beautiful story. Unfortunately, it's the rest of the story that really left so many holes in the plot and missed opportunities that you really have to turn off your brain.

The whole one person being dead, them being in love/falling in love, and trying to help them move on definitely isn't anything new, not even in BL dramas, and honestly other series and movies have handled the execution of it so much better. I personally think a lot of the issues cold have been easily addressed if the series had been longer or if several scenarios were written and or executed differently. We've seen other series like "He's Coming To Me" actually address the other people question why things are floating around, why is this person talking to themselves, the different costume changes, etc. and take those into consideration in the series.

OVERALL:

It's a beautiful series with more holes than Swiss Cheese, but if you can get over that and enjoy it for the beautiful moments of two people cherishing preciously short time together, it's definitely worth it.

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