Reviews

Incredibly heartwarming and realistic

Not going to spoil anything, but I’m going to say that this drama is one of the best Taiwanese dramas I’ve ever seen. It’s probably up there with one of the best dramas period. I believe the storyline is quite realistic. I really enjoy that the characters each have their own arc, and they also all connect to the mass shooter. They each face their unique battles in different ways, and the ending was very satisfying. There are a lot of times where there were tears shed. 10 out of 10 would recommend. If you like anything to do with drama, but that’s not over the top. This would be perfect for you.

Read More

Chong Sheng Hou Bei Wan Ku Lao Gong Guan Huai Le (2024) is a nice rebirth miniseries with : Yi Tong Ceng as Leng Yan and Hou Cheng Yue as Mu Xue in the leading couple’s roles. On her second life, she accepts Len Yan’s marriage proposal and, from then on, a strong alliance and a steadfast love between them make them a force to be reckon with. They joined hands in bringing down the ones who wronged them and also had their happy ending. There are some plot holes on the drama and some on the supporting cast need to improve their acting skills but the main couple really did a good job bringing their characters to life and they had very good loving and playful interactions. The drama can be found on YouTube under the caption: After the girl was reborn, she married her cheating boyfriend’s mortal enemy and was spoiled rotten.

Read More

It was nice but I don't think I'll rewatch it

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it a lot. I just don't see it as something that I would watch again. It's more of a "I've seen it once, no need to see it again" type of show. In my opinion at least...
The acting was really good and the story was captivating for a while. Honestly out of all of the Kdramas that I've seen this one was the most realistic one. No curses, no past lives and no rich person who spends a lot of money that seems to never end. There was that crazy ex bf who was trying to kill Jin A but that actually happens more than you think. It happened to a distant relative of mine.. poor woman.
The relationship between Jin A and Jun Hui was cute. They both changed for the better because of the other person. It did feel weird over time when Jin A started to keep things away from Jun Hui, things that weren't even that bad to talk about.
I hated the mom. She was CRAZY! It was so hard to find anything good about her. She still abused her family even though they were all adults. She just wanted things to go her way even if it meant that others weren't happy. The best words I could describe her as is a b*tch.
You should give this drama a try if you want, you might like or you might not. Who knows?

Read More

Unlike any other crime drama

Under the Skin (1-2) is a unique and fascinating police and crime drama. The heavy focus on aethetics and ambiance makes it different from the conventional police procedural dramas. It doesn't try to be realistic and isn't, in the way the crimes are solved.

Producer Zhang Yiyun explained:
“Traditional crime dramas often focus on realistic styles, hardcore reasoning, and strong plots to tell stories. But we’ve been exploring how to create a non-traditional crime drama in terms of narrative style, visual aesthetics, and thematic expression. For example, we avoid overly complicated cases, gruesome criminal methods, or overly brain-twisting reasoning processes. Instead, we focus on the dramatic changes in character fates and relationships, using them as the core suspense and plot twists. The show emphasizes the emotions and humanity behind the cases.”

Much of the drama revolves around forensic artist and psychological profiler Shen Yi's thought processes and observations, which he expresses in visual form in his drawings. Captain Du Cheng is the more solid bread and butter police. Their teamwork and differences are enjoyable and the essence carrying the drama which consists of episodic cases.
The pacing is excellent. When the most interesting aspects of a criminal or a case are revealed, the plot moves very quickly on to a new case.

I enjoyed S2 even more than S1, bc they really went head on to unchartered waters. There was an even heavier focus on psychology, aesthetics and cinematography. Some scenes are utterly poetic, like the garbage magic garden (case 2), the streamer girls' doll room, and the wedding-that-was-cancelled decorations.

We learned more about how Shen Yi did his psychological analyses. The scenes with Shen Yi getting face to face with suspects in their own environments, encouraging suspects to open up and tell their stories, telling allegorical stories to them, explaining the meaning of artifacts in their homes, are my favorite ones. Priceless, really.

Shen Yi was the key character this season. The police chiefs were hoping that Shen Yi's insights into the human psyche and way of interpreting traces could be turned into a manual that helps also other police in psychological profiling. Shen Yi's writing of is the "Human Atlas" that is talked about in the last episodes. In the end Shen Yi's art, his "portraits of the heart" as the second level of portrait drawing, constitute this atlas.

The cases I enjoyd most are the AI chatbot case, the opera case and gene editing case.

The last case about gene editing was again very realistic, as was the AI chatbot case. The means for tampering genes with the CRISPR scissors already exist and gene therapies are introduced without much or any long-term testing. Although I absolutely hated it when Shen Yi didn't seem to dispute the Fenk Kai Yi the Mad Scientist's claim that all humans are by nature evil. But he was actually just listening and making his own observations and conclusions, as always. In the last episodes Du Cheng also finally had the opportunity to shine, something I had been wanting to see more. In the last episodes he emerges the strong pillar that he was in S1. The moment when he takes SY off the case bc derailment in wrong direction, was very satisfactory. The friendship between the Mad Scientist and SY on the other hand was difficult to swallow, as it made SY look weaker. As if he had actually been choosing and believing the freak. I wanted to yell "go back to your teammates" at the screen.

But the season ended beautifully with SY and DC honestly talking things out and summing up how they complement each other. Those last dialogues were exceptionally fine writing. I'm ready for S3 and even more experimentation from the writer and producers. The team made a fantastic drama. As for the the last scene (SY stabbing DC), I think the meaning was again to say that within every human being is both good and evil and that they'll explore this further in S3.

Zhang Lai said: "Writing about crime is not to showcase evil, but more importantly, to explore the multifaceted nature of humanity. Good and evil stand side by side, but love is the antidote to redemption, and the law is the thunderbolt that punishes evil. This is our ultimate message."

Read More

It was nice

I mean... it did take a while for me to finish this series because I wasn't 100% into it at first but after putting it on hold for more than 5 months I weirdly got the energy to continue it. The actors did a good job and the story was interesting.
I did feel a little rush towards the end but it wasn't too noticeable.
Not trying to sound mean or anything but the whole trouple thing isn't my thing so when Pan, Ken and Seji all became a couple.. I wasn't the biggest fan. I found it useless to add Seji's feelings towards Ken in the end because it felt unrealistic or something? As someone who wants to go to film school, I would have done it where Seji chose Pan and Ken had to realize that his and Seji's friendship was too great to ruin which leads him to moving on. JUST SAYING.
Honestly the series isn't my favorite but at least I have it a shot. Would I reccomend it to others? I don't know.. maybe?

Read More

Documentation

Comeback of Ju Ji Hoon to romcom and paired with jung yumi, as a long time kdrama watcher who wouldn't be interested in this drama. Well, after watching it it was very decent, nothing incredible or nothing crazy but it delivered the romcom genre really well, never too comedic, never too romantic, never too dramatic. Also the cast for the young characters were pretty nice, especially Haesu, and young Yoon Jiwon, they're both "actress"pretty. I liked that the love triangle was handled really well, nothing too frustrating and the second leads character was really commendable. What they did a little bit iffy was how forgiving the grandfather was and how easily did characters forgive each other, but to be fair it's only 12 episodes. Also nice cameos in episode 12. Overall, it's really decent, it's easy to digest and good for some laughs and romantic thrills, it's some extra dopamine pretty much.

Read More

Melting like butter

This series will either make you melt like butter or cringe from the romancing—

For the story . . .
If you are looking for a peaceful romance drama with sum additional food content then you've come to the right place,

Some may score this drama lowly because it has no 'meat' in it and I respect that thought too,

But I think that the plot IS the romance . . I smiled the entire time like an old fool! The story is fun yet at the same time unrealistic for me, with the age gap of the main leads. . If you want to watch a simple drama to pass time then I recommend this . . I do believe that the pacing was alright but the story felt stretched, I think it was not necessary for the story to go up to 30+ episodes. . >. <

Other than that I highly appreciate this series for introducing me to the dubbing world, it made me realize the true value and respect I have for dubbing & voice actors/actresses out there! You guys are incredible ! Thanks to this series I am glad to have seen the beauty of being a dubbing artist. .

For the acting:
Kodus to Zhou Ye and Tan Jianci's acting! I regretted not watching this sooner- their chemistry was pretty good! They were an interesting pair. . The side couples were even cuter!

What I enjoyed most from this series was probably the music, its truly amazing- hearing Tan Jianci's voice in the OSTs was even better . . ^^~ His food content and recipes made me drool even more as well haha, Overall I miss Qiang Qingci! ! ! Tan Jianci's talents truly shine here, with his cooking, dubbing, singing, and acting. .

Read More

jang juwon, heesoo's father

i got to know this drama because i saw people saying it was good so i wanted to give it a try. im not gonna lie, at first it was hard for me to get involved in the story, like i felt that everything that happened in the beginning wasnt that important to me. the guy who was k*lling people and looking out for their children was confusing to me. i know i needed to keep watching tho but i stopped doing it for a while before i decided to watch it again and it was when it started to get better. (as you can see, i enjoyed it way more so dont jump at me)

i especially want to talk about juwon. i liked the backstories about bongseok and heesoo's parents but juwon's just got a place in my heart.

he was a gangster, he wasnt afraid of anything since he could heal and kind of didnt die. then, after his boss got something like a partnership with a guy because he wanted money and jungwon didnt want to. he was doing it for their men, not because he will get something out of it. at the end, he found out he got betrayed by his boss so he let him drown in the car they were. he got revenge from the guy also betrayed him.

later, he let people ran over him just to get money to keep living at a motel, where he ends up meeting his wife, jihee. at the street, he was looking for the motel if i remember correctly. he saw her and asked her for directions, she gave it to him but got lost and when they saw each other again, he was crying and their love story started.

it was so cute, the way he took care of her all the time and was such a gentleman :( it broke my heart when he got the news that his wife had passed away. he took care of heesoo the first days at the hospital, and then went to see jihee at the morgue. he literally got in the elevator and started sobbing uncontrollably even when he changed his clothes and i was also crying so hard.

i know he was a really good father, and also a really good husband and i just love him so so much. i dont know if people do it, but i hope he has a lot of attention, too.

Read More

Painting the portrait of Justice

"Genius suspended above the abyss"

The story so far. .
The first few episodes in this season felt unfamiliar yet familiar at the same time, exploring the numerous cases one by one I think the plot was carried well, some of the cases were heavy but some balanced out the other. There is still a part of me that is confused with the scenes surrounding the little girl in the red dress and who slashed the painting in season 1, i thought it was pretty vague or some kind of loophole. Overall .. I've still got my own questions and I look forward to season 3.

I'm glad that we got the chance to delve deeper into the lives of the other members in the squad, it definitely made me- as an audience feel more connected to the characters since season 1. I feel even more happier knowing that the series revealed/included the issues surrounding AI and the art community, I think that was genuinely thoughful of them to add in the show. . I think I was confused more on what Shen Yi's role is, because slowly he seemed more like a criminal profiler than a portraitist to me. . It heavily reminded me of Criminal Minds as well. The show did well in showing us the bond between the main leads by being eachother's compass,

As for the acting. .
I really felt fascinated and impressed with Tan Jianci's acting as Shen Yi, he portrayed his character so well, but I believe Jin Shijia did amazing too in bringing Du cheng's emotions and inner turmoil to life as he tries to support/encourage Shen Yi's passion and at the same time protect him from falling into the abyss. . I felt uneasy along side him. . I also think that Fang kaiYi's actor AKA Zheng Yulong was incredibly talented! Fang kaiYi's character was intriguing and sorta reminded of Moriarty, a cunning genius. .

OST was amazing, my headline is literally a lyric from one of the OSTs as well . . The songs and its lyrics were good too. Its worth listening !

Overall, I had fun watching this season a lot more than season 1 ~ If you heavily enjoy watching crime series with some thriller, suspense, mystery with interesting and different cases, (with a bit of comedy) I recommend this ! I look forward to season 3 !

I rarely write reviews, infact english is not my first language so apologies for any confusion-

Read More