I Wasn’t Ready to Fall This Hard
To My Beloved Thief is honestly one of the best saeguk dramas I’ve ever watched. I loved it so much from beginning to end.The chemistry between the leads is incredibly good—even with the noticeable age gap, they made everything feel natural and convincing. The dialogue in this drama is also deeply touching. So many lines felt meaningful and stayed with me.
That said, I do have one small issue—the body swap trope. Personally, I’m not a big fan of it in this drama. I feel like the emotional delivery during those scenes didn’t fully land. Nam Ji-hyun seemed to be trying hard to portray the switch, but for me, it didn’t completely feel natural. Meanwhile, Moon Sang-min did a really good job—I could clearly feel the difference in his acting when he played Prince Do Wol versus Hong Eun Joo.
Thankfully, the body swap element wasn’t too dominant, so it didn’t ruin the overall experience. Honestly, even without the fantasy aspect, this drama would still be amazing because the story itself is already that strong and well-written. I think I would’ve loved it even more if it stayed purely non-fantasy.
From the very first episodes, the story was already engaging and well-paced. I ended up binge-watching the entire drama in just two days—and now I’m completely not over it.
The romance is another highlight. There aren’t many kiss scenes, and the romantic moments aren’t overly dramatic. Still, they gave me butterflies. It’s soft, simple, and very heartfelt.
I know some people might get second lead syndrome, but personally, I didn’t. He felt a bit too much like a red flag to me—even if he improved later on. He just couldn’t compare to Prince Do Wol, who was such a consistent green flag from beginning to end. Honestly, that kind of character is just impossible not to fall for.
Overall, this drama is incredibly well-written, emotionally engaging, and deeply satisfying—even the ending was perfect.
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An Amazing Build-Up Ruined by a Frustrating Ending
I went into Part 2 already knowing that the ending was bad, but because Part 1 was so strong, I still had high expectations.At first, the drama continued well. Since Part 2 only has four episodes, it started with solid pacing and quickly pulled me back in. However, one thing that immediately felt jarring was the transition from Part 1 to Part 2. The story suddenly jumps forward by about a month with barely any explanation, and the characters’ circumstances have drastically changed. Instead of showing what happened during that period, the drama simply throws viewers into the new situation without proper context, making the transition feel abrupt and confusing.
There were also several characters who seemed important in Part 1 but were never addressed again in Part 2, which made the continuation feel incomplete and poorly planned.
Episode 2 frustrated me because of a poorly handled burden-type character whose development felt more irritating than meaningful. Thankfully, Episode 3 picked things back up, and by Episode 4 I finally understood why so many people had become attached to this drama. The chemistry among the cast felt stronger than ever, and the bond between the characters genuinely felt deep and heartfelt.
Then the final 30 minutes happened.
And everything completely fell apart.
I knew the ending beforehand, but even with spoilers, I was still left speechless by how absurdly bad it was. Instead of crying, I literally laughed out loud because the entire thing felt so unnecessary, ridiculous, and bizarre that I could not take it seriously.
It genuinely made me question what the writers and director were thinking when they came up with that ending.
How do you spend an entire series building tension, relationships, and emotional investment—only to throw it all away in the final 30 minutes?
And that is exactly why it disappointed me so much—because I actually really liked this drama. I cared about it enough to feel genuinely frustrated by how it ended. Despite everything, I still gave it an 8/10 because overall, I truly enjoyed most of it.
That is what makes the ending even more heartbreaking: not because the drama was bad, but because it had the potential to be so much better.
It is such a waste because the CGI, production, pacing, and overall setup were all so strong—only for the drama to ruin itself at the finish line.
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Fast-Paced and Thrilling, but Lacking a Standout Lead
Honestly, I think Duty After School is one of the better survival/monster-themed Korean series I’ve watched compared to others in the same genre.What stood out the most to me was the pacing and storyline. I’ve watched many Korean survival dramas where the characters spend too much time talking, and the tension ends up feeling weak. But in Duty After School, the story moves quickly and includes a lot of action, which makes it genuinely exciting to watch. The comedic moments added throughout the series also helped balance the tension nicely.
Another major strength is the CGI—it’s surprisingly good and makes the monster scenes much more immersive and believable.
I also appreciate the characters in this drama. Unlike many survival series where the cast can be frustratingly weak, selfish, or simply a burden, the characters here are actually competent and brave. They feel capable, useful, and much less annoying than what I usually see in this genre.
However, my biggest issue with the drama is its character focus.
Even though the show technically has many main roles and supporting roles, the screen time feels distributed almost equally among everyone. If I hadn’t looked it up online, I honestly wouldn’t know who the actual leads were.
Because of that, no single character feels properly highlighted. What frustrated me even more is that some of the most impactful and important scenes are often given to supporting characters instead of the supposed main leads, which makes the main characters feel less significant.
On top of that, the “main leads” are constantly grouped together with supporting characters rather than being given their own distinct focus, so the spotlight feels too scattered. As a viewer, it becomes hard to know who I’m really supposed to care most about.
Usually in survival dramas, there’s at least one standout character I become attached to—but here, I couldn’t connect strongly with anyone because no one was given enough individual prominence.
Overall, Duty After School excels in pacing, action, tension, CGI, and competent characters, making it a very entertaining survival drama. But its inability to properly establish and emphasize its main characters makes the emotional experience feel weaker than it could have been.
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Beautiful, Deep, but Not Something I’d Rewatch
When Life Gives You Tangerines is honestly a really good drama—deep, meaningful, and emotionally rich.As a slice-of-life story, it focuses on everyday experiences and personal growth, which makes it feel very real and relatable. The writing is strong, and you can tell that a lot of thought was put into delivering a meaningful story.
However, some parts felt quite slow and even boring to me. In fact, I actually dropped the drama at one point and only continued it again after a few months. That alone says a lot about how the pacing didn’t fully keep me engaged.
Surprisingly, I didn’t find it as sad as I expected. Even though many people describe it as emotional, I personally didn’t cry while watching it. The story is touching, but it didn’t hit me that deeply on an emotional level.
Overall, I still think this is a great drama, which is why I’d give it a 9/10. But at the same time, it’s not something I truly enjoyed watching throughout, and it’s probably not a drama I would rewatch.
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Not As Thrilling As I Expected
To be honest, I watched this movie a long time ago, so I don’t remember every detail—but I still remember how it made me feel.I’d rate this movie a 5/10. It’s not completely bad, but it just didn’t feel enjoyable to me.
What stood out at first was how similar the opening felt to a webtoon I had read before. The early scenes were almost identical, so I actually thought it was a webtoon adaptation—but turns out, it’s not. That part kind of threw me off.
As the story went on, I just didn’t find it that exciting. For a zombie movie, it lacked the tension and thrill I was expecting. Instead of feeling hooked, I ended up feeling bored at some parts.
Overall, it’s not the worst movie, but it’s also not something I’d rewatch. It just didn’t leave a strong impression on me.
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Soft, Simple, Yet Deeply Moving
Pavane tells the story of three people, each struggling with their own life problems. At first glance, the trope of a handsome man and an “unattractive” woman might feel familiar, but this film presents it in a refreshing and different way.I genuinely loved everything about this movie—the storyline, the characters, their chemistry, and even the cinematography. It all comes together beautifully.
What makes the story feel so fresh to me is its setting. It focuses on the lives of a mall parking attendant and a sales promotion girl (SPG), which is something I’ve rarely, if ever, seen in films or dramas. And surprisingly, I ended up loving it so much—our “poor couple” really stole my heart.
Even though the film has a slow pace, I didn’t feel bored at all. In fact, despite its nearly two-hour runtime, it felt surprisingly fast to me—which says a lot about how engaging the story is.
As for the chemistry, I honestly didn’t expect much at first because of the noticeable age gap. However, their acting completely changed my perspective. They made the relationship feel so genuine and beautiful. What stood out even more wasn’t just the romantic chemistry, but also the warmth of their friendship. Even though they didn’t have many scenes showing them spending time together, simple moments—like eating together after work—felt incredibly meaningful and intimate.
The acting overall was amazing—truly a perfect cast. Moon Sang-min did an especially great job. I could really feel his emotions in every scene, and his performance left a strong impact on me.
The film doesn’t go deeply into each character’s backstory, but somehow, you can still understand their struggles and why they live the way they do. That subtle storytelling makes it even more powerful.
Even though I didn’t cry, the ending still left me feeling sad and bittersweet.
The cinematography and overall tone of the film are also incredibly beautiful—I completely fell in love with them.
If I could rate this movie, I wouldn’t just give it a 10/10—I’d give it a 10.000/10. It’s just that good.
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