Reviews

Great premise succumbing to strange writing choices

I don't need a drama to have a happy ending, that's not at all why I dislike the ending of DAS so much (other than me having basically hate watched a drama for the first time overall) but the ending of Duty After School didn't feel earned. Had they all been massacred by the aliens I feel like much less people would have complained about the ending, even though it would have been just as sad. I think the issue comes up with this decision clearly having been made in the last two episodes. While yes Yeong Soo had been established from the get go as weird and a bit of an outcast at times, none of his behavior previously was showing signs of being prone to psychosis, sexual assault or violence. So to be faced with a character suddenly doing these things from a viewer's perspective is odd.

From a character perspective or even real life you definitely never know when someone will snap, you might even call the sudden change realistic in that case but again, we are watching a drama, we are a viewer from the outside who thrpughout the drama always had a 3rd perspective on everything happening with details unbeknownst to the characters. So based on that perspective it didn't feel conclusive. Instead it felt like they were suddenly looking for a reason to give the viewers a shocking ending. Especially the way it cut immediately to the end of the literal apocalypse with the solution to the very problem they spent 8 episodes fighting being mentioned on the side with a quick "Oop they developed a new weapon and now all is well." Those two aspects in combination were jarring when you just spent a whole drama watching characters being focused on survival just for it to all end abruptly by something they didn't spend time building up to.

There is of course so much more wrong with the drama than the ending but I don't wanna write more paragprahs about all the plot holes, strange characterizations or bad chemistry. In the end the acting is really great, the premise is fun but the drama succumbs to a lot of bad choices and for me personally, a lack of relatable or even just sympathetic characters.

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The sweetest couple!

First of all, I like impacting stories for unique experiences, and that's why the rate I gave wasn't that high.

This title is about daily life, work, co-workersand bad supervisor orders. But they gave their soul on characters, I could feel every single emotion, and that makes feelings surrounding the story wonderful to me.

I really like how responsible they got and how silly it was to discover Hiro's desire to have someone by his side.

Also, I am still thinking it is hard to watch stories talking about childhood love. Luckily, it isn't about it at all, but this made my score lower.

Gave them a chance if you want to feel your stressful thoughs being hugged by two sensitive guys, who juat want to go home and feel safe! ❤️‍🩹

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Celebrity Panelist mentioned Cupid visited this season and I have to agree

9/10 is my rating. This is a 2022 Chinese dating reality show with 21, 95-122 minute episodes.

First I provide a unique synopsis then review

Synopsis
This is the Chinese version of the Korean reality dating show of the same name. The show starts with six singles, three men and three women who enter the chosen house location one at a time the first day. They cohabit the “signal house” (which changes each season) with the women sharing one bedroom and the men sharing two bedrooms. The overall goal of the show is for the singles to go about their daily lives while freely flirting/sending signals with the other occupants of the house. There are few organized activities, the main focus is on them living together and getting to know each other more naturally. At the end of each day they send a signal (an anonymous text) to the opposite sex single of their choosing and the detectives must determine who will send a signal/text to whom.

Celebrity Panel/Detectives

Angelababy formerly known as Angela Yeung Wing. Hong Kong actress, businesswoman, investor, model, and singer. She was born as Yang Ying and later went under mostly her stage name. Her birth year us 1989.
Meng Ziyi  is an actress. She was born in actress. She was born in 1995.

Sikence Wang, Wang Sulong, is a Chinese pop singer-songwriter and record producer. He was birn in 1989..

Wu Xin also known as Orfila. She is an actress and television host. Born in 1983.

Lee Seung Hyun (English name: Nathan) is a Korean-American pop singer and actor. He is a former member of the disbanded group TAKE. He currently works in China as an actor. He is married to Chinese actress/singer Stephy Qi, and they have a daughter and a son. Born in 1984.

Seungri known more formally as Lee Seung-hyun is a South Korean singer, songwriter, actor, and former member of the South Korean boy band BigBang. His career took a nose dive when he was brought up on criminal charges and served time in prison..

Chen Linong (Nongnong) Guest panelist episodes 5 to 8. He is a Taiwanese actor born in 2000.

Du Hai Tao Guest panelist episodes 7 to 10. He is an actor born in 1987.

SINGLES

FEMALES

Li Nie Shuang Yu - Lena Bear. Futures contracts. Researcher of Macro Aggregate of a financial institution. BA in accounting, Michigan State University. MBA in marketing strategy at Imperial College London. Born 1997. 25 years old.

Wang Qiuyi - Autumn Potato Consulting in life sciences. Senior Consultant in Anyong China. Double degree in Financial Economics and Visual Arts from Columbia University. Born in 1995. 27 years old.

Li Wanqian - Secret Media Blogger. BA in Mass Communications from Penn State. Master in Digital Marketing King’s College London. Born in 1996. 26 years old.

Jin JiaYue Graduated from communication University of China. Sports event host. Born in 1998. 24 years old.

MALES

Xue Zheyang - A Tall Sheep Wealth Management Business Strategist in a European Bank. BA in Finance at Penn State. MBAs in Finance at John Hopkins University. Born in 1995. 27 years old.
Haoran - Leo6 Musical Actor. BA in Opera at Central Academy of a Drama. Born 1998. 24 years old.
Zhang Genyuan - Eat More Vegetables/broccoli Investment and Financing Consultant and Manager at a local bank. BA in economics at NYU. Born in 1999. 23 years old.
Chen Zonglun (Jolan) BS in German studies from Shanghai International studies University. Worked as a Customer Service Manager at a major accounting firm. Born in 1996.
Sun Xin (Xuao Pai). Patrick. Double degree in computer science and statistics from University of Waterloo. Product manager with a dot com company. MA in Information Systems Management from Hong Kong University. 26 years old.

Review
This is my favorite Heart Signal season so far out of both the Korean and Chinese version and my all time favorite couple from this one. The heartwarming romance between some of the singles is a joy to watch. It will confirm that love is alive and still one of the most beautiful human emotions. They all got along really well and there were tears among all when the show ended because they formed such a strong bond in such a short time. I highly recommend this show for anyone that likes romance and particularly reality dating shows. It is a must watch in that genre.

Spoilers
I skipped to this Season after watching all of the Korean seasons up to date and the Chinese versions up to Season 2. I could not find Season 3 or 4 in any easily accessible format. Some have suggested watching it where TenCent posts on You Tube and then having it auto translate but auto translate was turned off for me. It is hard to find anything about the Chinese version likely due to all the discussions would be on Chinese media platforms and not likely translated. What little I could find was that one of the singles had a criminal history so they had to edit their scenes out of the show. But that doesn’t explain why the other season is really hard to find. Maybe due to the pandemic? Maybe the CCP censored it for some reason? If anyone reading this knows why these two seasons are harder to find, pleas note in comments.



#LiNieShuang
#LenaBear
#WangQiuyi
#HeartSignal5
#LiWamqian
#JinJiaYue
#XueZheyang
#GuoHaoran
#ZhangGenyuan
#ChenZonglun
#SunXin
#Jolan
#SunXin
#XiaoPai

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simple series

it's cute✨and simpler than other series, le min hoo handsome ✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨

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Gorgeous Cast

The Sign gave us something different in the BL series realm, of course the romantic angle is there but with a mix of action, political intrigue and historical fantasy and let’s give credit to Idol Factory for stepping up to the challenge of presenting variety to the audience. The cast really stood out for me, well, primarily because they are all gorgeous. Leading the pack of delectable men is Billy and his slutty waist. A real eye candy but he also gave us some credible acting. It is my first time seeing Babe and he definitely has one of the most beautiful faces in BL right now, perfect in all angles. Also, special mention is actor Gap who exudes a throbbing sensuality at the same time a sweet boyish charm. The cinematography is also something to be applauded for together with the special effects which were executed cleanly. I do feel though that there were some scenes that dragged on like the crying scenes which would tempt you to hit that fast forward button a little bit but again, commendable effort in trying to offer something that is not expected for a BL series but still making sure not to deviate far from the boys love theme. I can say that I enjoyed watching this series and looking forward for what other series this production outfit can come up with in the near future.

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Basketball VS Football

I might be biased because basketball is my sport, but this drama was just right on every level. The desire of the main protagonist to play basketball when everyone is interested in football is a good allegory of the unique talents that every child brings and the difficulty to adjust to the group. Young actors were great. The story is simple yet very authentic and therefore emotional. It helps us grownups to understand children and their emotions which can be very complicated.

This drama manages to touch on many themes in only one hour of duration (sport, school, children, friendship, romance, family, …) and that makes it a great choice to watch. I still didn’t watch the entire “KBS Drama Special 2023” but for now this is my favorite of the season.

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What in the world was that ending?

I was one of the few people who supported the drama when people were losing their shit over the bullshit writing. I still had hope. I wanted to give the writer the chance to redeem. But god did he disappoint and how!

wtf was that ending? And just like that, bam! She died. It was all so pointless. I wasted my time. The story started off really well, but they completely lost the plot half way.

Second ML and FLs relationship was also given a bland end which I found to be extremely disappointing.

Please don’t waste your time watching this show.

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Wei Wu Xian and Lan Wang Ji stole a place in my heart ~~~

The story is beautifully built. Each of the narrative arc is interesting not only for the storylines but as well because they participate so much to characters development. There are a lot of clues spreaded through the script that results in highly satisfying payoff. The characters are very well written: they remain consistent during the whole saga and their motivations and actions make sense, which given the length of the show is quite an achievement in itself. The pace of the series was very good, you feel immediately compelled to watch the next episode. There might have been a bit of overexplanation scenes toward the end (it can feel slighlty repetitive, especially if you guessed some of the revelations like I did)...But at the same time the ending offers so many rewarding and great moments for the viewer that I was really happy with it.

The acting was really good. Especially regarding the actors playing the central protagonists: Wei Wu Xian and Lan Wang Ji. Wei Wu Xian was my favorite character and Xiao Zhan portrayed him with a lot of charm, candor and charisma...The variety in his acting game really seduced me. Wang Yi Bo who portrayed Lan Wang Ji had a difficult job as his character is very cold/reserved but he managed to do a lot in terms of micro-expression and you can see the evolution of his character as the series progresses. The secondary cast was also very convicing in incarnating the support roles (such asJiang Cheng, Jiang Lan Yi, Wen Ning...so many interesting parts who shined through with amazing and emotional scenes.) Overall, the ensemble cast was very good with maybe some weaklinks on a few very secondary roles.

The production value was good but lacked in some way. I'm probably nipicking because I loved this series very much but I truly wish they had a bigger budget for some scenes (the battles ones), the fights in small numbers were good and special effect were okay in overall. But clearly there were some obvious limitation when showing scenes in an impactful / big picture way, the grandiosity was not there (or at least not as much as I feel the story deserved). I wish the special effect make up would have been much better because it was frankly not good. The music was lovely: mainly the musical themes, as some of the characters plays instruments to fight, the soundtrack theme was of utmost importance. It was very nice and pretty.

I would strongly recommend this to people looking for an historical saga splendidly built, with amazing characters and relationship developments as well as some great acting. It is an adaptation of a Chinese BL novel (which I have not read -yet) and despite the censorship in China regarding those, they manage quite successfully to make the viewer understand the subtext behind some of the relationships.

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Silver Screen Insights: The Sign

| GENERAL SYNOPSIS

Among each BL that was released in 2023 (with the exception of the phenomenal 'I Feel You Linger in the Air'), The Sign has secured its place as one of the top 10 BLs of all time, and has set major expectations for future BL series. I was hooked from e1 and was eager to learn more with every episode released afterwards. To conclude, The Sign is not a perfect series, but the performance from all actors and the team behind this series was constructed excellently.

| Spotlight of Excellence (Positive Elements)

• All of the abs (especially Gap Puribhat [Yai]) and butts shown in e1 was a sight to see LOL
• Billy Ounsa-ard (Phaya) gave us everything in the last few episodes and should be applauded
• Each couple had sweet moments which was appreciated
• Nat Sakdakorn (Art) out-acted everyone in this series with only 20m of screen time
• Phaya & Tharn have beautiful chemistry and really fought to remain by one another's side
• Saint's cameo at the end gave me goosebumps (in a good way)
• Subtle inclusion of a GL couple was nice
• The NSFW scenes were excellent and had me blushing
• The police and special forces aspects were well done

| Shortcomings and Flaws (Negative Elements)

• Khem taking the bullet for Thongthai was unnecessary
• Overall the CGI was wonderful but looked cheesy at times (take notes from Game of Thrones)
• Tharn's plan for justice/revenge for his parents' deaths could have been executed better
• The antagonists (except for Chalothon) were lackluster

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Heartwarming Love Story

I love the story, plot and setting of the series. The first few episodes are filmed in Finland which gives the story a beautiful, panoramic view and post card like setting, a perfect place for Leo Wu and Zhao Jin Mai to showcase their amazing chemistry and acting skills. The story evolves with these two young couple, Yin Guo and Lin Yi Yang who are both talented in playing billiards. Lin Yi Yang fell in love with Yin Guo at first sight and he slowly and purposely pursue her. Their love story gradually develop as the story progresses.

It's my first time watching Zhao Jin Mai in a series and she's really a gem, her micro expressions are on point and her acting skills are brilliant, as for Leo Wu, he never fails to deliver, he's such a talented young actor.

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Who wouldn't love a dimple couple?

I loved Hometown Cha Cha Cha. You know the feeling when you got home from work, tired as hell, take a hot shower and go to bed then do absolutely nothing. It's just that feeling of comfort that this drama gives. Well, at least most of the time. In the drama, nothing really happens, you just follow the characters chaotic daily lives and that's pretty much it. Some romance here and there, some past traumas, some heartwarming moments and life lessons.

I can see why a lot of people have problems with the show because it is actually quite problematic, but it all depends on how you look at it. Let's start with the female lead; I guess you can say that if you meet a person like her in real life, you'd try to avoid her because she just doesn't have good friend vibes. Why would you want to be a friend with someone who talk behind other people's back? Or a friend who don't know their own emotions and act childishly because they are immature and can't take responsibility for their own actions? Yoon Hye Jin is not a good character in everyone's eyes, but it's okay, because I loved her. Somehow, she felt like a real person. We're all used to main lead either being strong and independant, or exaclty the opposite, weak and relying on someone else. She's somewhere inbetween. Her character is hard to digest, but once you get past and accept her for what she is, you'll be able to enjoy the drama.

Hong Doo Shik is exactly her opposite. Too good to be true. Maybe that's why they look so good together, opposites attract is the best thing you can say here. They have a nice chemistry, it's easy to look forward to their scenes and they make your heart flutter.

I think we are all already used to kdramas and the tropes the screenwriters use. You saw them in the previous drama you've watched, you see them here and you'll see them in the next one, too. That's just how it works. The point is how these tropes are used in the plot and how they connect the overall storyline and in Hometown, I think they aren't much of a burden.

The side characters take a good part of the screen time so your skip button might be useful. I loved some of them, some of them I couldn't care less about. The performances of all actors are great but Kim Seon Ho is the star in my opinion. He was the best Hong Doo Shik you can ever dream of. Overall, a well-chosen cast with great chemistry between every actor.

Overall, Hometown Cha Cha Cha is a good show, but not for everyone. It depends on your mood, it depends on what you're looking for. It depends on what kind of characters you like, it depends on how much of a patient viewer you are. The show delivers the messages pretty straight-forward, it's not that complicated, you shouldn't expect much of it. But it's worth giving it a try.

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Stunning! A masterclass in storytelling. Deeply emotional and affecting.

Expertly filmed and acted, this Priest adaptation offers more than the average BL. It’s about love but also about survival, found family, and commitment.

Here’s the premise: Wei Qian and Zhi Yuan are orphaned boys trying to survive. The older boy, Qian, joins a gang in order to earn money to feed himself and his younger sister Lili. He finds Yuan, who is around 4-5 years younger, literally sleeping in the streets. Taking pity on Yuan, Qian takes him into his home and they live together as chosen found family.

Zhi Yuan looks up to Wei Qian and will do anything to make him happy, including joining the school running club or working part time after school to contribute to the family’s income. Over time, his feelings for Qian transform from gratitude and brotherly affection into romantic love.

There is a natural progression to the way we see Yuan express his feelings for Qian. He loves him through his actions, taking care of him when he's sick or exhausted. Eventually, his feelings bubble to a bursting point and he confesses. (This isn't a spoiler because ep 1 opens with this scene, and we return to it later on.)

In contrast, Qian is singleminded in his focus on his work and family. He doesn't seem capable of romantic feelings toward anyone. It's the last thing on his mind. Yuan and Lili are the most important people in his life, and all he cares about is ensuring they are secure and healthy. This all comes to a head, however, with Yuan's confession.

Content warnings: In the first episodes, we see that these boys are dealing with harsh realities, including parental abuse (shown on screen) and homelessness. Their traumas aren’t downplayed but are sensitively represented. We need to see these scenes so that we understand where these boys are coming from and what they’re overcoming.

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