Reviews

An entertaining genre-bending series

"My Sexy Shadow" is an entertaining series that follows a hyper-masculine boxer and his drag queen twin brother who decided to swap lives to dig into some risky family secrets. The plot blends the fast-paced family drama, mystery, and comedy. However, the abrupt tonal shifts between emotional family drama and slapstick comedy, especially in the middle of the series, can feel quite jarring. The Sahakitwiset family's hidden secrets take a few episodes to be unfolded and with a lack of suspense elements, it caused some episodes to feel a bit sluggish.

While the story might not be super neat, Ken Phupoom's performance playing dual polar-opposite identities saves this series from being a flop. He skillfully balances the intensity of action-packed boxing scenes with the humor and flamboyance of the drag queen persona, showcasing impressive versatility. This dual role adds a compelling layer to the series. But I found that the shifting between Mek and Man can feel quite unrealistic given the distinct physical and demeanor difference. And some of the supporting characters lack impact to really enhance the story-driving. In terms of production quality, Monomax yet again proved that they can excel in any genre.

Despite a few flaws, "My Sexy Shadow" remains an entertaining watch, offering a fresh take on identity and family dynamics. While the blend of mystery and comedy may not always be seamless, the series delivers enough intrigue and humor to keep me engaged. Its bold narrative choices give something to reflect on the complexity of family bonds and personal growth. Overall, it's an entertaining series, but could've been done better.

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Modern fantasy with a dollop of happy sauce

This is going to be a weird review. Just saying.

I watched 9 eps when it was first released. I then lost track of it when I got swamped by other dramas. I only realised I never finished this series when I read that it has won the 2026 Blue Dragon award for Best Drama! Eh? What?!

Ummm, why am I lying on the floor?

Let's take a step back. This show looks like a workplace sitcom set in a small Korean army border outpost. An unique location and a quirky fish out of water plot is a match Made in Korea.

The ML felt directionless and joins the army after the passing of his father. There are some hazing and an undercurrent of corruption/embezzlement. Our indomitable ML must complete "quests" so that he can "level up" in his journey to become an army master chef(!).

Yes, you read that right. This show is gamified with a virtual AI assistant, power ups, interactive VR like display that only the ML can see and hear. He is rewarded with new recipes, abilities and level up his skills just like a computer game.

There is no explanation why he is the Chosen One nor what is his purpose. He wears no VR glasses, doesn't have implants nor sign of divine intervention. So how does it work? You really have to suspend your disbelief.

This drama is uplifting, funny, heartwarming and sentimental in roughly equal measures. It is a solid production with a decent ensemble cast. Our ML is an idol, but he is not a top star, yet. I don't think they had a big budget, but it was well used. I can't recall any OST.

There is also barely any romance. The ML is supposed to have a girlfriend, or should I say a girl claims to be his girlfriend while he looks on in shock during one early episode. She is doing all the chasing and heavy lifting. Yes, we did get confirmation in the dying minutes of the series, but that is so low key it barely registered. That's fine, it never claims to be a rom-com. Filler subplot, tick.

Just to reinforce that sitcom feel, the show has an episodic structure. The ML will be confronted with a problem/quest per ep, he must overcome it thus earning EXP which allows him to level up. It works and this is how games hook a player. The feedback loop gives you little dopamine hits. The desire to get good and level up smooths out gameplay bumps and make mindless grinds bearable.

Here lies my conundrum. After finishing this drama, I can see its good points. The show has a strong Band of Brothers vibe. Enemies becomes friends, friends become buddies. The underdog facing off with the antagonist. Hwaiting! These are all good stuff, if somewhat cliché. There are just enough angst to add some spice. Nothing too dramatic or dangerous. The show aimed to please.

On the flip side, it is hard to ignore the cliché characters and the simplistic world building. All the stereotypes are there. Mildly incompetent commander, earnest platoon leader, cynical career soldier and the practice of jamming square blocks into round holes, army style.

Most of those characters are from central casting. If they have a backstory, it is one sentence long. Of course, most of them have hearts of gold and they are just misunderstood. You get the picture.

OBTW, there are some nice food porn. They feel like magazine shoots. Beautiful and staged. The AI assistant literally tells the ML when the oil temperature is perfect and what ingredients to use and their quality/quantity. I want that assistant in my brain, now!

We do see the ML comes full circle in the end. It is a nice touch and is quite sentimental. I appreciated that until the ML’s father shows up and gives him a thumbs up. It is so cheesy.

I can see why the local audiences will give this series bonus points because they can relate to the characters and its many subplots.

In the end, the series is entertaining. It can be a hoot at times and who doesn't want to cheer on an underdog. It also has its flaws. Is it the best k-drama I have watched in the last 12 months? No.

Congratulations to all involved for winning the Blue Dragon. I shall reserve my judgement. Peace.

P.S. There is a strong hint of a second series. I can see it happening.

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Mid but not flat out awful. Just here for my babies, TutorYim

This might be the mediocre series I've watched this year, so far. The writing, the story and its pacing were not really at their best. The plot got thrown out of place. Scattered if u will call it that. Gotta be honest, TutorYim was just the saving grace of this series. The seriousness in scenes where their bar got burned and sabotaged was overlapped with loveydovey cheesy scenes and the sex scenes too. Hear me out, this is the series who first showed me TutorYim engage in sex scenes. Their previous series were just love but this one particularly branched their acting especially raking on mature roles and scenes. It's a comedic piece as a whole. I cant deny i was laughing at the absurd jokes and physical banter they have in this series. Need this if you're worn out of complicated storyline from other series. Not really their best so it wont be a rewatch series for me but i must say it kept me entertained for a long while. It never felt tiring for me to watch it. Neither this is a chore to watch. I know im not a fan of longer running time of each ep. Yes and that applies to series with episodes that exceeds 20 mins lol. They could've cut it down to like 25 mins and we're good. Nevertheless, this was a good entertaining watch for me. No hard feelings lol.

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An Unfortunate Case of Wasted Potential

It took me 10 weeks to watch this drama. It'll likely take less time than that to forget it. IMO, I believe the filming style was bad, and the script was worse. Here me out

In terms of script, this drama had 2 and a half excellent topics to work on, but failed them all

1. Classism
As Thai-speaking viewers online pointed out, the title is a literal metaphor: Toto is the dog barking at Kanit, the airplane. It's even shown in the credits where a simple ambulance chases a plane. Toto is reaching for a world completely out of his league.

The drama briefly touches on the stark differences in their lives, careers, and families, but it refuses to linger there. Instead of letting the audience sit in the uncomfortable reality of classism, the show immediately undercuts the tension with cheap comedy, a cute romantic moment, or some dirty jokes.

Throughout the drama, Kanit's and Toto's relationship is constantly fraught with the issues of money and class. However, because the series insists on staying happy and bubbly, it never gives the weight that this heavy topic deserved.

2. Lookism
This concerns Akki and Veha. The latter, after being ignored in school because of his looks, ventures into the real world, hits the gym for the gains and the plastic surgeon's table for the looks.

When he meets his former high school crush, he is plagued by insecurity: 'Does he only like me now because I'm hot? Why did the ugly duckling that I was back in high school not deserve the same attention and love that he's so willing to give now?'

If done right, this could have been a deeply profound exploration of insecurity, as well as the superficiality and shallow-mindedness of humanity.

Instead, the impact was ruined by Veha repetitively asking the same question 'do you only like me now coz I'm hot? 'aloud.

Also, rather than exploring both perspectives -i.e, Veha learning how to accept love as this new self (or something like that) and Akki confronting his own superficiality- the writers took the shallow way out. They tried to convince us that Akki never actually ignored Veha in high school. That kept his bracelet the whole time. *🙄🤦🏾‍♀️*

2a. Veha's Character Growth
This should've been handled better. He started as a side piece who didn't know his place. Rather than the audience walking with him through his journey of atonement and growth, we

⁕1st have to watch him be sorry for himself (back to the badly handled lookism topic above)
⁕2nd suddenly contend with the idea that he's a good guy now. He's changed and gets along with Kanit, the innocent party that he not only helped get cheated on, but also antagonized

The drama tells us that he's grown and changed. But it all happens off-screen. This, quite honestly, does not help his case whatsoever. Because his growth was completely invisible, I felt zero emotional connection to this second couple. Their conversations were repetitive and a total snoozefest.

There's also that sudden switch up by Akki; from calling Veha trash for his side-piece actions to caring for and falling in love with him.... *sense, out the window*

Final Thoughts
Had the creators fixed the script and used a moodier, darker cinematographic vibe—think Burnout Syndrome or Moonlight Chicken—A Dog and a Plane could have been a standout BL.

Instead, it reeks of wasted potential. The romantic comedy is cute, but the story as a whole is utterly forgettable.

But hey, I finally managed to finish a TayNew show (this is after dropping the Cherry Magic remake 3 episodes to the finale), so yaay me🥳🙌🏾

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Is reality truly what made us fall in love or was it the heat of the moment?

(⁠╭⁠☞⁠•́⁠⍛⁠•̀⁠)⁠╭⁠☞ Disclaimer:
This review is based on my personal thoughts and opinions, it's not meant to sway or change yours in any way, please feel free to agree/disagree with it.


See, I don't have much to say in this review (yes, this is going to be in the style of my recently preferred method of writing short comments instead of my in depth reviews, sue me) but I still wanted to add my two cents to the pile, because while it certainly wasn't perfect, and the ever present romanticism of non con and dub con is still an issue in these CBLs, I genuinely found myself overlooking these details because the series was truly done very well, again, I'm not excusing any of the problematic aspects of the plot, believe me some of the conversations in this script had me doing laps around my room, not to mention the toxicity both couples displayed one way or the other, but the author/actors truly gave it their all, and while it wasn't perfect, it was put very simply, very touching.
Regardless of my opinions and morals, all the efforts truly are worth the praise, and for the first time in a very long while, a series has earned a full 10/10 from me in the OST/BGM department, I don't think I've enjoyed the entirety of a series' playlist this much since TTEOTM, so it would be a crime on my part not to at least praise this work even if only briefly.
If you want deep analysis on the plot/acting, then I'm afraid this review isn't what you're looking for, I suggest browsing the other reviewers' opinions on it. Do I plan on going in depth on the plot? Honestly I don't know, but what I do know is that I definitely recommend checking it out, I don't think I've enjoyed watching any other BL as much as I have these past couple of weeks (with the exception of TPP and AWSWTWISHD), not because any of the newer releases are flawless or faultless, but something about this one feels very raw and sincere in a way not many shows have been for a while, it might be the novelty of having the Chinese industry in the race again, or it might be the break I've had from this genre still being in affect, whichever it is, I highly recommend giving the story of ZZ/GZ and ZX/FC a try, Ollie and Shuyuan gave a very compelling performance for being such young actors, I'm looking forward to their future endeavours in the acting scene, so yeah, I really encourage anyone reading my review to give it a watch, it might start slow and shaky but as I said, the sincerity is what really kept me engaged and coming back.
Hope everyone has a good day/afternoon/night 🤍🤍


P.S: me and some of the viewers have been constantly updating the "Deep in OST" discussion thread, so if anyone is interested in specific tracks, you might find them in the ones we've found and listed.

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As someone who has read the webtoon, I think this is a solid live-action adaptation. In fact, one thing the drama does even better is the comedy. The interactions between Manager Kim and the other ahjussi's feel much more natural and entertaining here than they did in the original webtoon. Their chemistry adds a lot of charm, and many of the funniest moments landed better in live action.

My biggest disappointment is how little they showcased Manager Kim's signature weapon, the eun-sa (silver thread). It's one of the most unique aspects of his fighting style in the webtoon, so I was hoping to see it used much more often. Instead, the action focuses on other combat scenes, which are still enjoyable but don't fully highlight what makes Manager Kim so special.

The ending clearly leaves room for a second season. If they continue following the webtoon, I just hope they improve the pacing. Personally, I think the strongest part of the original story was the opening arc, where Manager Kim rescues his daughter. After that, the story became less engaging as the world expanded, introducing more organizations, more characters, and eventually connecting to other webtoon universes. It started to lose the grounded emotional focus that made the beginning so compelling.

The only later arcs that I genuinely enjoyed were the ones exploring the past of the ahjussi's. Those stories added emotional depth and made the characters much more interesting than the endless expansion of the shared universe.

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꒐꓄ ꅐꋬꇙ ꋬ ꒦ꏂꋪꋪꌦ ꍌꄲꄲ꒯ ꋬꁝꄲꅐ ꅐ꒐꒒꒒ ꂵꄲꇙ꓄ ꒯ꏂꊰ꒐ꋊ꒐꓄ꏂ꒒ꌦ ꋪꏂꅐꋬ꓄ꉔꍌ
ꋬꋊ꒯ ꓄ꁝꏂ ꉔꋬꇙ꓄ ꒯꒐꒯ ꇙ꒤ꉔꁝ ꋬ ꍌꄲꄲ꒯ ꋬꉔ꓄꒐ꋊꍌ ꓄ꁝꋬ꓄ ꒐ ꏂ꒦ꏂꋊ ꉔꋪ꒐ꏂ꒯ ꋬꉔ꓄꒤ꋬ꒒ ꓄ꏂꋬꋪꇙ ꒐꓄ꇙ ꒻꒤ꇙ꓄ ꋬ 10/10 ꒐ꋊ ꓄ꁝꏂ ꇙꋬꂵꏂ ꉔꋬ꓄ꏂꍌꄲꋪꌦ ꄲꊰ ꅐꏂꋬꀘ ꁝꏂꋪꄲ ꃳ꒒ꄲꄲ꒯ꁝꄲ꒤ꋊ꒯ꇙ ꇙꋬ꒐ꀘ꒐ ꋬꋊ꒯ ꋬꉣꄲ꓄ꁝꏂꉔꋬꋪꌦ ꒯꒐ꋬꋪ꒐ꏂꇙ ꊰꄲꋪ ꂵꏂ ꋬꋊ꒯ ꒐ꊰ ꒤ ꀘꋊꄲꅐ ꂵꏂ ꒤ ꀘꋊꄲꅐ ꓄ꁝꏂꌦꋪꏂ ꂵꌦ ꊰꋬ꒦ ꇙꁝꄲꇙ ꄲꊰ ꋬ꒒꒒ ꓄꒐ꂵꏂ

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More makjang than political thriller

In a line : closer to being a modern take on historical-melodrama-political [ saeguks??is that the term ?] than an actual political show


I'll start with the strengths of the show :
An incredibly stellar cast of actors that deliver on the roles that have . A lot of it is understated , quiet performance. If you're looking for out and out dramatic dialogues this may not be the show .
The stunt co ordination , action ,vfx and the overall shooting ,landscape , wardrobe were well done and cohesive. Music was decent and added to the atmosphere, without taking away from the moments they framed.

The neutral :
I can respect the complexity of the theme they were attempting. Political plots are seldom easy to keep engaging , and this does that up untill episode 6. A leading politicians death [an assasination on this case] is layers of plot by itself - and here the cause that he stood for adds even more dimensions to the plot. It was interesting seeing the relationship between Minju and Park Sanho evolve and grow -the building tension , the subtle slow burn , and most importantly the events that allow them the space to become what they are to each other. That was well acted and reasonably written.

The falloff [ or why the show fell from an 8.3 to a 2.0 for me post episode 6]
There were too many layers ,unanswered questions, rushed plot lines shoved into an 8 episode plot. Given the calibre of the actors chosen , the layers the show hints at and the fact that this was a netflix production -this shouldve been at least 12 /14 episodes long ,if not a full classic 16. There are too many jump cuts between scenes , backstories reduced to 2 minute dialogues with dramtic scores and cinematography- leaving behind enormous plot not holes but craters . What was additionally upsetting , was the use of religious symbols throughout the show -that had next to no
purpose ,other than serving largely as an asthetic choice.
Lastly ,without dropping all my spoliers . Modern political heavy shows ,by virtue of the genre for me -require a degree of anchoring in reality. They can have impossible concepts , but must lead audience to believe on this seemingly impossible concept. This is where Tempest fails .
After episode 6, for me the show looses its grip on the many layers it is trying to cover. It attempted to be too many things at once and ,falls under this collective weight into a jagged unclear mess. Rather than the cutting sharp edged drama it aspired to be.

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I wish I could rate it higher

Things I adored

1 The premise. Perfect for a rom com and I anticipated so many wonderful moments. I was wrong to get excited. it never took off and the acting and the script were lackluster.

Things I loved

1 The outfits of the FL. I loved most of them and they suited her.

Things I liked

1 The FL. She's beautiful and she got talent. That said she didn't deliver here. She was too restrained, but I don't blame her. I blame the director. He didn't manage to get the best out of her. That said, I also felt like she went through the motions without feeling any of her lines. Frustrating to say the least.

2 Let's say I didn't dislike him. But I think he's not good at romantic scenes.

3 The aunt. At first I hated her and in the end she became the only character who entertained me.

Things I disliked

1 I didn't feel anything when they were together. It was too stiff, too bland. There was nothing that sparked anything in me. I didn't even care in the end. I'm not happy because I saw the premise and was so excited and since I like the actors I was sure it'd deliver. Where did things go wrong? I dare say the casting was a failure.

2 That I didn't see the villain pay.

Things I hated

1 The ex. What a pathetic character and this is the kindest thing I can say. But also what an awful actor. He reminded me of a spoiled child and not only the character. The whole demeanor of the actor shouted "bad acting". I can't imaginew ho chose him. That's why I say the cast was a failure.

Things I didn't care

1 The second couple. Not interesting enough for me and no chemistry.

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This was absolutely beautiful to me it's not a hot passionate love story but a slow healing love story. The acting is absolutely flawless and the visuals are breathtaking but the story is what i love the most of this drama. The story is executed to near perfection . This story is about two broken people helping each other out of their hopeless situations and supporting each other as they face the future together.

I have heard mixed reviews about the ending but i think it ended perfectly she finally let go of her past and her husband was there waiting for her .
I will definitely rewatch it in the future

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ZHANG LINGHE DELIVERS?❤️??

I'm loving this drama!!!! Zhang Linghe acting/presence is👌🏽🔥😮‍💨. I also like the plot, this drama may not be for everyone and that's okay. However I see where people are hating without actually taking the time to watch starting to wonder if they just don't like ZHL personally or because of POJ🤔. This is not your typical modern/historical drama, it is different which I like!!! Zhang Linghe proved to me that he can play any role I hope he continues to grow and shine✨✨. I also don't know why people are hating so much off of one drama I'm actually shocked in some people's behavior, if you don't like a drama simply move on!! I can name a few dramas I've watched that I dropped,🤷🏽‍♀️but don't comment on or leave negative post or reviews🤦🏽‍♀️it's easy to kindly move on😂

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