✒Buda-bust: The Education of Kim Hyun-Jun & The Evolution of Lee Byung-Hun °Excellent°
"In Greek mythology, the river that flows in front of Hell is Iris." Mega-talent Lee Byung-Hun (Mr. Sunshine-9, Our Blues-8.5, Squid Game-8.4) is Kim Hyun-Jun. He looks so young! "Keep an eye on him, or he'll turn into a terrible monster," the lead behavioral scientist warns. I also say, keep your eye on him - Yes, he's gorgeous, & he goes through he!! Lee Byung-Hun is a world-class talent. My first look at him was In Squid Game-8.4. All he does is take off a mask and look at someone, but I was smitten-on-the-spot by his projection. That doleful, pensive stare said volumes. He's that good."You have a solo mission. Just like Hungary played a pivotal role in the reunification of Germany, you'll be able to play the same role in unifying the Korean Peninsula, if you succeed in your mission." For anyone not familiar with Korean politics, that's no trifle. Hyun-Jun does succeed in his mission but he's shot and stranded in Hungary, left hungry for the support he needs to escape. He holds up at the safe-house. The cheerless black-suits are closing in. Things go slip-shod; fade to black. Next, the filtered light creates a dreamy quality. We are with Hyun-Jun on a lush college campus in another place and time. We're back at the beginning.
Iris is a 2009 release that is rated 89 on AWiki. It is 2 seasons consisting of 41 60-minute episodes, with only S1 available to stream on Netflix, currently. Ep1 has a Hollywood action feel and jumps from the present to the past. We don't get caught back up until ep4. The Budapest mission becomes Buda-bust. Something is terribly wrong. The rest of the series will be devoted to up-ending things that have ‘turned’, as many things have started to go the wrong way.
Kim Tae-Hee (Welcome to Samdal-ri, 99 days with the Superstar-7) is The Girl, Choi Seung-Hee (SHee). She totally shoots ‘like a gurl’, but she is beautiful and capable. They meet on the first day of college; she's smarter than he - sort of. He wows her with his photographic memory. She out-drinks him. He wakes up alone… She isn't in class... He's ghosted. He learns from the prof that SHee was just auditing at the request of the DOD. In the last third of the show SHee changes, becomes frumpier, and gets alittle irritating. I believe that is designed as a plot device to make her less attractive, but it doesn't play well.
Jeong Jun-Ho (SKY Castle, The Tale of Nokdu) is Hyeon-Jun's buddy, Jin Sa-Woo. He meets SHee somewhere else and also falls for her instantly. The guys don't know they've fallen for the same girl. As it turns out, she's no ordinary girl and she's a much harder 'get' than either of them realize.
Kim Seung-Woo (Basics of Love, Their Embrace, Late Night Restaurant, 71: Into the Fire) is NK agent Park Cheol-Yeong, and he's a fabulous presence. Kim So-Yeon is NK agent/sniper, Kim Sun-Hwa. She has the look, hair, and gravitas to play a badass agent anytime, anywhere. By the end of the show I preferred her. Maybe it's the hair... Other successful roles for Ms Kim are Tale of the Nine-Tailed 1938, Two Weeks, and The Penthouse series. The directors are Yang Yun-Ho (Grand Prix, Criminal Minds) and Kim Kyu-Tae (Our Blues, That Winter, The Wind Blows-7). There's 3 writers: Kim Hyun-Joon (Secret Royal Inspector & Joy, Ho-Gu's Love-7.4), Jo Kyu-Won (Different Dreams), & Kim Jae-Eun (Korean Ghost Stories & Bad Boy).
You might think the training is extreme. I've read about Korean congressman fainting from intensive training /videos/ in the last part of the 20th. (Apparently, politicians aren't built for sacrifice, pain-for-gain, or inner strength anywhere in the world). Iris is superb through 16 episodes. As there's an excess of Kdramas that start out great but unravel before ep10, that is commendable. What's wrong is that Iris just had to be 20 episodes long, and eps 17-20 feel tacked-on. They aren't nearly as good.
Let's deal with eps 1-16 first. The budget was in excess of 40 billion won (US$34.97 million) and it shows. One thing that stood out is that communist agents look the same on film whether they're Korean, East German, or Russian: Straight-laced, severe black garb, cheerless. (If you want the full flavor of living in a surveillance-laden, clamped-down, cheerless society, watch Chernobyl-10). There's excellent writing, acting, and directing that make a near perfect spy thriller. It is one of the most Hollywood-feeling K-features I've seen. The cadence is perfect: They have 20hrs; they can take their time, but it's not slow. The second unit didn't cut any of their film school classes - the action is exciting. I would not hesitate to confidently recommend this to the action hounds in my sphere. In fact I did recommend it to my niece when I was on ep8. She ended up finishing it before me and came at me demanding answers. Whoops! Knowing what I know now, I still would recommend it - but I would slap a warning label on it.
Maintaining integrity is one of the themes. "He could become a monster." "I fear whether we will become monsters, in the end," we hear. But then there's this: "A man who lets his conscience or sense of responsibility weaken his ambition can never achieve anything." So says one of the brass at the agency. Sounds like a lofty statement to cover sleazy undertakings. Hyun-Jun loses his way for a time & makes a directional change that hurts. There are understandable temptations, and he was misled, but it's still a difficult pill to chew on.
In the aftermath of 911, the way the CIA operates came under discussion. Some wanted to cut ties with any slimy characters while others argued that in the world of intelligence, agents, assets, and the pay-for-info crowd, that is all there is. One can't deal in trading classified information without brushing up on slime. In Iris, the world of secret agents gets convoluted. Around the midpoint we have two agencies working against eachother. The supposed “good guys" have an agent who's actually trying to facilitate the nuclear attack, while the “bad guys” have a guy who's working at stopping it. Who are the good and bad guys? It gets muddy. It depends on the way the wind is blowing on certain days. The mid eps through ep16 are crazy CRAZY good.
Another theme is the shadow power behind the power. Yep, another conspiracy piece. Conspiracy theories are a blast. They can't all be true, but it's naive to think there are NO conspiracies in the world. That's not the nature of power. I, pretty much, believe that politics is a big distraction, and that we effectively have the illusion of choice. The money and effort we put into political leaders, who don't deserve our love or respect, would be better spent elsewhere. They're all good at pointing out problems. Oh, how they excel at that. It's solutions (actual ones, not words) that give them trouble. The only thing politics has accomplished in the last 40 years is that we all hate eachother. Having said that, don't skip the show's quote at the end of this article.
The soundtrack is excellent. It ranges from instrumental, to rap, to Kpop. Dreaming Dream (Kim Tae Woo) is VG. Their trip to Japan is just wonderful and romantic. He gets in trouble for not remembering "White Day". On March 14, in Korea, men are expected to show appreciation for the chocolates they received on Valentine's Day by giving women candy. SHee expects candy. Hyun-Jun is from Mars, so he doesn't get what the fuss is about. There's quite a few more people with tans in this show than the average bleached out Kdrama. Unfortunately, most of them don't end up in a great place. East Asia needs to rethink their shallow skin color preferences and diversify more. Ditto for the rest of the world.
Eps1-16 are as good as it gets. Now for the last 4 eps. This show would probably have been perfect at 16 episodes. Ep17 is sort of a pause, recap, and flashback episode. Okay... The main plot did just have a conclusion of sorts. The last 3 eps aren't /bad/ (perhaps they are, slightly), but they feel tangential. They definitely don't augment the show - they bring it down a notch. I rate eps1-16 at 8.6, for example. S2 sees a big drop in the ratings and eps17-20 give us a preview of the decline. The 2nd half of ep20 is really good. BUT, with 5min to go, something feels ominous...
My word of warning to all is: Consider stopping at the end of ep16. I doubt anyone will heed my warning, but there it is.
〰🖍 IMHO
📣8 📝8 🎭8.5 💓7🦋7 🎨7.5 🎵/🔊7.4 🔚6 ♦ 🌞3 ⚡8 😅2 😭5 😱5 😯3.5 😖4 🤔4.3 💤0
Poli-wagging - 2/10. The NK agents are humans in a difficult place. The REAL DEVIL is the Japanese agent. What 2 countries in this world have the worst opinion of Japan? Korea and China, based on some brutal history that won't be overlooked any time soon.
Age 14+ violence, sexual situations
Rated TV-14: Parents Strongly Cautioned.
Re-📺? Name, rank, and serial number only
QUOTE📢 In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way. ~Franklin Roosevelt~
~ you may also like:
Adrenaline
Sisyphus 8 (give it 2 episodes, ep1 is confusing),
A Shop for Killers-8.7,
The First 1st Responders-7.8,
The Devil Judge-8.2,
K2-8,
Moving-8.5
Revenge of Others-8.1,
Oldboy-9,
The Worst of Evil-7.7
Heavenly Sword and Dragon Slaying Saber 9-Kung-fu!;
⚖Spies, ©🅾🅿§ & Robbers (some w/ a fantasy element)
Mad For Each Other-7.7 ~ silly fun,
Vincenzo-8.2,
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Man to Man-6.7,
Bad and Crazy,
The King: Eternal Monarch-8.3,
Oh My Ghost-10,
Big Mouth-7.4,
Han River Police-7.1,
Bad and Crazy-8.4,
Inspector Koo-8.4,
Missing: The Other Side-8.3,
A Beautiful Life-7.4,
That Winter, The Wind Blows-7,
Vagabond-8,
Prison Playbook-8.4,
Private Lives-8.1,
The First 1st Responders-7.8,
K2-8,
Tunnel 8.5,
When the Camellia Blooms-8,
Parasyte the Grey-6.9,
Signal-8.6,
The Worst of Evil-7.7
Revenge of Others-8.1,
The Good Detective-,
Sisyphus 8 (give it 2 episodes, ep1 is confusing), The Defected-8.2,
Iris-8,
Awaken-8.7,
D.P.-8.4,
The Man from Nowhere-8.9,
Moving-8.5,
Beyond Evil-7.4,
The Defected-8.2,
Gangnam Bs-Side-7.2,
Flower of Evil 8.9,
Oldboy-9,
A Shop for Killers-8.7,
Black 9,
The Cursed 8.3,
The Wailing-8.8,
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✒ ♟️ Tails, we win ♨️ Now Pay the Tab °8.7° °Outstanding°
IC is the story of a man on a mission. Park "Sae" Ro Yi's been cruelly abused & tossed in the 🗑. Now, it's his goal to beat his enemies at their own game ~ He's the /tenacious/ type. He has a 15 yr plan. Ain't nothing gonna turn his head to the right or the left. He will not bow to anyone - his knees don't work that way... Until she changes everything.Smack dab in the middle of Seoul, Itaewon is one of the wealthiest streets in one of its wealthiest sections. IC takes place there. There's 3 whole eps of set-up. In ep4 things start to roll, and it's magnificent. It's rough: Business is a 🐍 pit. It's a satisfying watch, & in the latter eps, when so many shows resort to padding & bad writing, IC sprouts wings (and claws) as it becomes stronger & more forceful w/ newfound depths.
Park Seo Joon is our ML, Park "Sae" Ro Yi. He looks completely different w/ that hair~squared. In What's Wrong with Secretary Kim-6.8, he's quite beautiful (WWWSk has an excellent cast & many wonderful moments, but suffers from the occasional directing & writing miss). In IC, he's more rugged. He's manly. He's controlled on the surface & seething underneath, while exuding pain from every pore of his body. He's a star for a reason. He has score to settle with Chm Jang & his son Geun Won. He decides to start a pub across the street from theirs and beat them at their own game. The Chm will not allow him to survive.
Kim Da Mi is one of the best characters anywhere, ever, Jo Yi Seo. She's got a dangerously high IQ & a dangerous amount of snark. She's been described as a psychopath. She's the type of girl to decide her future w/ the flip of a coin. "If it's heads, I'll live the life my mom wants. If it's tails, my mom will cry." She decides to work instead of going to school: She's matriculated in the Itaewon Class. As the show goes on, her part gets better & better & better & better. Sae has never once disappointed her. She's decided she really likes him. "I'll kill everyone who's been bothering him." She declares for team Sae. He should be very frightened, but he just doesn't know it yet.
Kwon Na Ra portrays Oh Soo Ah. I've only noticed her in Bulgasal: Immortal Souls-6.1, which should have been better, but its problems didn't emanate from her. Yoo Jae Myung plays chairman Jang Dae Hee. He's horrid, but his backstory is heartbreaking. He was the oldest of 4 & lost all his siblings to the food shortage. That's a dark part of Korea's history that is mentioned in features every now & then. His part seems like he's a typical 2D psychopathic CEO & derelict father, but his character takes on extra dimensions in the last third. In ep10, his performance is stunning.
Ahn Bo Hyun is the chairman's spoiled son, Geun Won. He's so good at playing a jerk that you wouldn't know how adorable he can be if you haven't seen some of his other stuff. In Flex X Cop-8.5, he's cheerful & irrepressible. In Her Private Life-8, he's earnest & determined. In My Only Love Song-8.7, a comedy I adore & have watched a couple times, he plays the big silent type. He's completely different in everything, so he's as versatile as he is good looking - & he /is/ a specimen. This is the first time I've seen him play a loathsome bully. He only ends up serving as a great motivator.
Kim Dong Hee is Jang Geun Soo, a part-timer who makes a very disappointing decision. Lee Joo Young plays Ma Hyun, a chef dealing w/ major changes. Her character is a lovely human being. Not everyone is going to agree on everything all the time. We do, however, have a moral obligation to treat every human being w/ kindness, dignity, respect, & care. IC is the 1st Kdrama I've seen showing an actor w/ skin browner than a paper bag. Chris Lyon plays Kim Toni. He's an American born actor who made friends w/ some 🇰🇷 exchange students, visited 🇰🇷, & that led to some acting & music gigs. He's wonderful & projects a sense of genuine warmth & care.
IC is great drama, really good romance, & an overall philosophical treatise on pride, revenge, success, & what is really worth living for. The theme is: Happiness. "Beliefs. Ambition. They're words used by those who have nothing but their ego. If you gain nothing, that's just being stubborn & foolish," says the moral-degenerate. Wait a sec, let's define GAIN 1st, before we sign on to any philosophy. Is successful revenge GAIN? Sae thinks so for most of the show. Sae tries to live a life motivated by hate & revenge, all while maintaining his moral principles. He keeps it up for a long time but finally must let it go. He finds he's lost nothing.
Leadership style is a theme. Chmn asks an employee why s/he continued to devotedly work for a hated boss? "It's servility," the Chairman explains to the blank stare facing him. "You've been tamed to my taste. I pressure everyone around me... It's easy to control them, & I despise them." The Chmn is held up in direct contrast to Sae, who elevates everyone around him (except for the slobs he's trying to bring down). Sae picks up nobodies & takes them to the top WITH him.
Pride is a theme in most Kdramas. 'It's about The Company.' 'The COMPANY provides for my family.' 'Ultimately it's about my FAMILY,' we hear. No.it.isn't. It's about pride. These are the utterances of a person who is probably genuinely self-deceived. Speaking of pride, that's what's up between Sae & the Chairman. "Will life be better if I get on my knees?" Sae is fed up. "Why is everybody obsessed w/ putting me on my knees?" Pride: It always lies. It's what makes us lie to ourselves. 'Bow to me,' Sae hears every few episodes. (What does that even do, other than provide a temporary illicit thrill?) In the end, Sae understands what's really important. It's important to maintain dignity, but pride never does anyone any good; it's only a roadblock to living free.
"Do you know what sympathy is? It is this wasteful emotion where you look down on someone & get comfort from it." There's a gem from Yi Seo, who can be hard & cold. She's analytical, not touchy-feely. Sae is a caring mush & rigidly principled, which is contrasted w/ Yi Seo, a pragmatic utilitarian. Life is about balancing both sides: Both feelings & logic must be present, & balanced, or we fall into error. Her interactions w/ Seo transform Yi Seo b/c she is not only smart, she is wise. She quickly understands what true fulfillment is. Yi Seo & the Chairman are contrasted. If she hadn't ended up falling for Sae she would have been /worse/ than the Chairman, who had the blessing of Sae's dad but learned nothing, & just took advantage. Wise Yi Seo chose a better life over mere 💰. She ended up w/ all of it, but she chose the right path 1st; the rest followed.
"You can't gain anything w/ your conscience," says Chairdad. Bad dad = bad son. A man w/ all the wrong values ended up raising a destructive monster. No surprise. "Everyone is just born evil. You know the evil nature principle. The theory that human nature is fundamentally evil. But if people stick to their instincts, society will collapse. That's why people repress themselves w/ manners, consideration, morals, & the law. Repression? It's stress." Now that's a tantalizing quote. Hmm. Theologians would point out, about now, that we are born in the image of God, but we are fallen. Therefore, we know what is right in our 💓s, but we are, tragically, unable to do it on a consistent basis. It's a subject worth giving thought to. Doing the right thing is never the easy thing, but it shouldn't cause undo stress. I would avoid anyone who claims it does. Speaking of evil, sometimes it's a matter of opportunity. Rich people do heinous things b/c they /can/.
IC isn't perfect, but it isn't far from it. One character pulls an Anakin Skywalker & goes too evil too easily. Yes, it's sad, but it's also cack-handed. They should have built up to it better. There's no dead zones or padding. I don't have many criticisms.
There's oodles of tasty treats. They serve chicken & they can play chicken. Watch & see. Two women are vying for a man. One really loves the guy while the other seems to love the attention & sense of importance & control she feels from his devotion. The first girl puts everything into her love, while the 2nd woman never put an iota of effort in. Only one of them is worthy of his 💘. Sae happens to be out together w/ these 2 women, though he's unaware of anything when it comes to love & sex. When he leaves the table they have a riveting discussion. It's unforgettable.
There's laughs & good cheer. Sae is actually pretty funny, he's such a rigid dunderhead in some ways. "What don't you like about me?" Geun Won thinks he can win over Yi Seo. Her answer: "Let me see... Your face, the way you talk, your voice, your pupils, teeth, eyelashes, pupils... Did I say that already? I don't like anything about you..." She is totally self-actualized, until Sae... 🤣 Yi Seo doesn't have the answer for once. The soundtrack is GRADE A. Soft guitar & vocals augment the scenes w/ an almost indie vibe.
They give us a satisfying wrap up, something missing from too many Kdramas, though recently, that bad trend is dying out. At the end of all the years & all the junk, we learn: He who bows last bows most. So don't start the bowing game & make enemies in the first place! Live in peace, b/c "Living is a difficult thing to do".
QUOTE📢
You have no right to determine my value... I'll do anything I need to... My life has just begun
Everyone makes mistakes. But not everybody takes responsibility, only the brave can do that.
Life is repetitive, you know... And it's predictable.
I'm doing it now... I'm not going with you... I have a date.
〰🖍 IMHO
📣8.6 📝8.8 🎭9 💓8 🦋5 🎨7.5 🎵/🔊8.5 🔚9 🤗8 ▪ 🌞7 ⚡5 😅3 😭5.5 😱3 😯4.5 🤢4 🤔7 💤0
Shazams: Still Fighting It by Lee Chan Sol & Kang Kyoung Yoon, & Say by YOON MIRAE
Age 14+ violence; Language: scattered R-rated
Re-📺? Definitely
Originally 〰️🖋 2/2025
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Modern Day -
A Witch's Love 7.8,
Love to Hate You 8.9,
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My Liberation Diary-8.9,
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Mine-8,
My Mister 9.5,
🎎 -
My Only Love Song 8.7 ~ excellent comedy,
Mr. Queen 8.5,
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⚡️/🛸 -
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Why Her?-8,
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D.P.-8.4,
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The Man from Nowhere 8.9,
Black 9,
Squid Game 8.4,
Kingdom 8.3,
Sweet Home 8.4
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✒MK Ultra ⚗ Korea Edition °8.7° °Excellent°
“If you take one more step, you will see something so terrible that you will never forget it.” Too late, I'm pretty much there. DANGIDY DANG. This show is good. It's the watch that can't be wrong. 🅰 is a 2020 release that is rated 89 on AWiki. It is 1 season consisting of 16 70-minute episodes.↪Wakey💥wakey↩
28 years ago, under a burning orange conflagration, it opens. There's fire, mayhem, & bodies, strewn everywhere. A boy wanders through the chaos appearing oblivious to the carnage. White Night Village is no more. “I did this...” the boy declares. “I have partial amnesia just like you. All I know is something terrible happened there,” we later hear from a survivor.
The next scene is current day insanity involving 3 box trucks and a police chase. Apparently, some nefarious unknown tipster (“The Architect”) has been auguring about what's about to go down. He appears to be behind a series of 17 robberies. The robberies are funding his next endeavor: Murder. Someone's going to die at a party at a nightclub tonight, the note reads. The police aren't able to stop that, either. Is it murder, though? These guys are killing themselves. They weren't suicidal, and they're killing themselves in very strange ways, often by the method most frightening them, personally. Oh, and there's the warning notes. The deaths always follow the cryptic missives. The police believe it's murder.
Namkoong Min (My Dearest) is Do Jung “Woo”. “I see a deep darkness in your eyes,” one cellie opines. He assumed he was talking to another criminal. Woo is a police officer, he's just a little different. He likes to catch a nap in the holding cells every now and then. I haven't seen this actor before. I want to watch something else he's been in to see if he sports that I'm-cool-slouch all the time or not. Someone get this guy a good dentist! He must go through a dozen 🍭 a day. (With Supt. Do around, the bad guys will all be licked). Strangest of all, when Woo causes trouble, why does the General Secretary of the Blue House get involved? Woo is associated with the #113. K-writers don't randomly assign ###; there's always a deeper meaning. 113 is associated with progress, optimism, communication, personal freedom, curiosity, intelligence, adventure, self-determination, sensuality, and self-reliance.
Lee Chung Ah (Because This Is My First Life-7.7, Celebrity, Northern Limit Line) plays the OCD afflicted Jamie Leighton, a special investigator/criminal scientist from 🇺🇲 If you aren't used to East Asian programming, it's common for them to feature people, supposedly from 🇺🇲 who clearly speak with a heavy accent. Her English is completely unconvincing, but that's a minor thing to have to ride along with. She suspects Woo immediately. His intuition is so good that he's more likely to be the culprit. Woo says: ‘Rightbackatcha, babe. That's just what I was thinking about you.’ It's obvious they are drawn to e/o as well, though not on a conscious level at first. On top of that, they each have lost memories from childhood, they are both orphans, and they each have a darkness inside of them. Her # is 114, which extends to family, Independence, exploration, focus, harmony & self-reliance.
Kim Seol Hyun (Summer Strike, My Country: The New Age) portrays Gong Hye Won, one @$$-kickin girl. I love her. She loves Woo, & she actively resists this truth. When she starts to suspect him, she has a conversation with her father, who replies, “We can never truly understand the minds of people… You can't truly know someone, so believe what you want to believe. People's hearts can't be fixed. It's not like your heart does exactly what you tell it to do. Based on every decision we make, everything keeps changing. When people say that everything in life changes, I don't think that it only applies to good things. Even bad things change. If you believe in someone, that can turn a bad man into a good man.” The more I think about that, particularly in the context, the more interesting it gets. The first half of the statement is shown to be entirely true in 🅰, the rest, only partially so. Yoon Sun Woo (Hot Stove League, Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart) plays Ryeo Moon Jae Woong/127, a # associated with great intelligence, Exploration, Self-determination, Independence, Self-reliance & Teamwork. He goes through lots of changes and the actor handles them well. Kim Won Hae (Revenant, Black-9, Signal-8.6, Sunny, and so much more) gets to play angry police brass - Deputy Chief Hwang Byeong Chul. I'm a fan. I don't believe I've ever seen him rant on screen before. It was a new look. Baek Ji Won (Be Melodramatic-8.7, Mad for Each Other-7.7, Dream) is Lee Taek Jo, Info Mgmt Director. She gets lots of work because she's good as a strong career woman - not the type to be trifled with. Choi Dae Chul (Ssanahui Sunjeong, Vagabond-8, Inspector Koo-8.4) plays one of the cops. He impressed me enormously in The Golden Spoon-8.1. Lee Shin Young, the pretty boy from Crash Landing on You-9.1, is also on the squad as Ofr Jang Ji Wan.
Choi Jin Ho (The Heirs-7.3, Beyond Evil-7.4) is Son Min Ho. He usually doesn't play a good guy, so it's no surprise he's a big baddie here. Kim Tae Woo is the high level government official of the series, Oh Jung Hwan. He improves every production he's in: He's so SO good. I've seen him in That Winter, the Wind Blows-7, Black-9, The Spies Who Loved Me-4.5, Romance Is a Bonus Book-7.9 & Mr. Queen-9. He always impresses. Ahn Shi Ha (The King: Eternal Monarch-8, Longing for You) plays Ms labcoat, Jo Hyun Hee. Well. She's creepy. The actress indwells her roll to the point of the viewer's unease They actually seem to blacken her eyes in some scenes to make them look like black holes. In ep14 as it closes, she shows up in a vampire red coat. It's super-duper icky. I think it's a law in Korea that Woo Hyun appear in ½ of the shows made. He plays Jung Soon Gu here. The directors are Jo Soo Won (Pinocchio, Doctor John) and Lee Soo Hyun (Sh**ting Stars). The screenwriter is Shin Yoo Dam of Marry My Husband-7.5.
One theme is that it's the quiet ones you need to watch the most, but the main theme is that we cannot trust powerful people. Power invites corruption and a feeling of superiority. The rules don't apply to superior people, do they? This goes double for politics. The powerful have a discussion on how to distract the public from the truth: “Get this off the trending news and pull down the blinds!” “Then, even fools will know that something is off. If all the information they were reading disappears, it will backfire and they'll become obsessed with it. We are currently managing all the posts on active online forums. It's important to make them think that they're seeing everything. We'll gradually take the related items off. Once they are off the list, we'll make sure no one can access them online. We can distract the people without making it look so obvious… Making this story disappear should be easy. There's so much else to see.” And the show is titled: Awaken. A work of fiction? Not all of it. History is riddled with stories (and proof) of heinous corporate and government programs. We'd like to think that's all in the past, but is that truly the nature of people and power? Ask some Africans. They will tell you illegal drug testing on children is a regular occurrence there, they firmly believe.
I grew up firmly believing the 🇺🇸 was a force for good in the world and people are basically decent. I'm not convinced anymore, though. Most people have a sense of decency, but too many don't. The world is full of sociopaths, psychopaths and damaged individuals who hurt others. I'm currently undergoing a serious reevaluation of how I see government and the world. There's so many rumors, reports, and recollections like the ones in this show. People also love attention and love a good story - they'll lie for attention. It really is difficult to sort it out. “Ominous feelings are never wrong,” the show reminds us. The world feels ominous.
🅰 goes even deeper, right into lucid dreams: Believing dreams are real and reality is a dream. Is the author trying to tell us something? “Dreams were meant to be achieved,“ we hear from one of the most coldly /eee-ville/ players. The kids escape the island by using lucid dreams. By causing the adults to believe they were dreaming they opined that some adults would actually want to let the kids go, that they would know what was happening to the kids was wrong and actually help them ~ in their /dreams/ at least. But these adults had let themselves become so depraved, they'd forgotten about the kids long ago! What they were concerned about was resentment and hatred over their own hurt pride. When they thought they were dreaming, they started attacking eachother! It's a very interesting look at the evil side of human nature. It doesn't feel like fiction.
From science and physics and dreams, how can we leave out faith? “Faith is deemed unscientific. But the question is what separates the scientific from the non-scientific? In 1814, Laplace said that if someone could determine the location and momentum of every atom, using physics, they'd explain everything that happened in the past, what is happening at the present, and what will happen in the future. The areas which most people deem unscientific are considered to be within a realm of science to the people who realize this. That's why I'm going to take a scientific approach.” 🅰 covers it all, primordial soup to lollipops.
There aren't many survivors of the fated inferno that wiped out the facility 28 years back. Woo meets one who is in dire need of medical treatment. “I'd rather die than have them take me back,” she moans. The underlying premise of the show is heartbreaking. One of these poor, lost children decides to be an enforcer for his oppressors when he's older. He's decided to side with power; what he thinks is the winning side. “You decided to become their hunting dog,” Woo accuses. 99 is associated with this person and corresponds with humanitarianism, compassion idealism & tolerance. Will this person change course? He's become a plantation overseer. Unfortunately, this mentality is too common for weak and selfish minded individuals. If we all stood up together against evil, it wouldn't have a chance. Weak decision makers like this are those who enable evil. “You gave up seeing right and wrong. Who's going to respect that?” Our ML doesn't parse words.
When 2 individuals with a combined IQ north of 350 have a conversation, we might learn a new word or two. 🅰 teaches us a great new word: floccinaucinihilipilification, which is the estimation of something as worthless & making something worthless by evaluating it as such. For u word geeks out there: “floc·ci·nau·ci·ni·hil·i·pil·i·fi·’ca·tion” or “floxy noxy nih hill ih pill ih fih ‘cay shun”. I can't wait for the chance to use it! There's some laughs, though probably not enough. They have typical fun with typical jokes about the ME and the autopsy room. “Can we disregard rank for a moment?” Woo’s underling wants to know. Then she slugs him😅. There's a love story tucked in there. It's beautiful.
🅰 isn't beautiful, but it's deep, layered, and meaningful programming - the good programming meant to counter the bad programming. I recommend a heavy dose.
QUOTE📢
Death is the only thing that's fair to everyone.
Once you decide you're going to lose you don't get mad at anything, anymore.
〰🖍 IMHO
📣8 📝9 🎭8.5 💓6 🦋🎨7.5 🎵/🔊8.4 🔚8 🤗6 ▪ 🌞3 ⚡6.8 😅3 😭5 😱8 😯3.5 🤢5 🤔10 💤0
Age 16+ The subject matter is very serious and could be disturbing, especially for kids.
Rated TV-15
Re-📺? All-in
In order of ~lite&trite~ to ~heavy&serious~ you may also like:
💘:
Mad For Each Other-7.7,
Love to Hate You 8.9,
Crash Landing On You 9.1,
Oh My Ghost 10,
It's Okay Not To Be Okay 9,
Because This Is My First Life-7.7,
Law School -8,
Anna-8.1,
My Mister 9.5
⚡/🚀 -
Flex X Cop-8.5,
Big Mouth-7.4,
K2 8,
Han River Police-7.4,
Private Lives 8.1,
The Golden Spoon-8.1,
Inspector Koo-8.4,
Uncanny counter season-1 only °S1-8.4 S2-4,
Vagabond-8,
Sisyphus 8,
Beyond Evil-7.4,
Tunnel 8.5,
When the Camellia Blooms-8,
Signal 8.6,
Why Her?-8,
Mine-8,
Blood Free-8.5,
D.P.-8.4,
The Cursed 8.3,
Flower of Evil 8.9,
Mother-8.8,
Iris-8,
Parasite-9,
The Man from Nowhere 8.9,
The Wailing-8.8,
Black 9,
Squid Game 8.4,
Kingdom 8.3,
Sweet Home 8.4
Dark government programs -
🇺🇲:
Zoolander,
Stranger Things-8.6 (S1-3)
Split-7.8
Gattaca
Altered Carbon S1-9
🇯🇵:
Assassination Classroom-9
Psycho Pass-8.6
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✒Long Hair ⚖ Short Hair ☀ Long Romance ⚖ Short Engagement °6.5° °good°
Let's get this out of the way. The plot line is a little silly, like cheap romance rag silly. And that's what it's meant to be. This is a dimestore (dollar store, for you GenZees and younger) romance novel committed to screen. If you don't like that sort of thing then you won't like this show. If you do enjoy all kinds of romances, it's actually pretty well done. In the first third of the show I thought it was just passable, but the plot picked up just enough in the second third.M☀ is a 2015 release that is rated 7.9 on MDL. It is 1 season consisting of 32 45-minute episodes. They play it out as a heavy melodrama, but it never goes far below the surface. Here's two people nearly stunted by the pain of their failed relationship, yet they're still in love with e/o. One difficulty for the viewer is how, for half of the show, our FL Mosheng only sports pained looks and often has her head downcast while she says nothing. Everybody has a line between something that works and something that becomes silly. Mosheng manages to stay on the working side of the line for me, but her act, early on, brushes up against the line like a cat who walks by and lets the tip of two hairs touch you. It comes very close to that line. The fact that I had to stop and think about whether it was too silly and too melodramatic says something.
It opens quite a bit like Here to Heart, from 2018, which I didn't get to finish before it left Netflix. Ep1-18 I've rated a 3.9, though it does have lovely romantic moments. M☀ works quite a bit better than HtH. Though HtH has higher highs, it is caked up with bad acting, directing, music, costume, and dialogue. M☀ has a much more natural feel.
Mosheng has a crush on He Yichen, the #1 desirable in the law department. Not only is he the best looking, but he's the smartest. He also doesn't reciprocate interest in any girl that approaches him. Mosheng is not daunted by statistics (it's doubtful she understands them at all). Her brain tends to be more artsy. She approaches Yichen again and again. He brushes her off less and less - in micro degrees. It's subtle. One day it's the usual tit-tat / back-n-forth it seems, but /he's/ decided they're going out. (His plan was to wait til after college, but since he met the right one, he says he doesn't see why he must delay). Mosheng is utterly shocked when he tells her.
After awhile. they have a sudden and painful break up. Mosheng doesn't know why he's so angry, so she escapes🇺🇸 (It appears to be over drama related to their parents, but they don't handle the breakup well. The viewer remains confused). She's there for 7 years and bonds with her next door neighbor who is in an abusive relationship. When her neighbor goes to jail for stabbing her husband, she asks Mosheng to look at her son and protect him from his father.
In the 🇺🇸 at the same time is Mr Ying. Mosheng is completely unaware of it, but he's indebted to her because she invested in his company when he was about to go under. That money made the little difference that turned everything around for him. Now he's an internet billionaire and about to bring his search engine back to 🇨🇳.
They meet at a time when she's desperately in need of help. As a single woman with limited income and no parental or family connections, Mosheng has no legal standing to help her friend or her friend's son. When Mr Ying hears about what she's going through, he offers to help by way of a sham marriage. It's obvious that Mr Ying only agrees to this because he's starting to fall for Mosheng. Now she has the mom's recommendation, the husband, and plenty of money. They adopt the child until his mother is released. Ying is always hopeful the marriage will become real, but Mosheng is still hung up on Yichen. When that chapter of her life concludes, they get a divorce and Mosheng returns to 🇨🇳.
As a wildly successful attorney, He Yichen is the most eligible bachelor in town now. True to form, he never dates women. It's not long before Mosheng sees Yichen again. He /hates/ her. It becomes clear that he hates her and he's obsessed with her. When he's suddenly paying attention to Mosheng, it creates quite a stir. Ya know that Ying is gonna head back home too. He makes it his mission to win Mosheng over. This sets up a Clash of the Titans. The secondary romance might be more fun. The male character in the 2ndary takes alittle getting used to, but the female is one of the best characters in the show.
Tiffany Tang (Blossoms Shanghai, The Princess Wei Young) is the girl, Zhao Mosheng. She claims she has a preference for things from the past. One of those things is her lifelong (since college) love for Yichen. (In their backstory, I think he's horrible. She shoulda stayed gone, imo).
She's headed home after 7 years abroad. Her first stop: A job interview at Treasure Mag. Mosheng is said to be average, all-around, by onlookers. She's actually quite adorable. Her haircut is dreadful looking like a weird 1960s space helmet and meets an Egyptian wig. Her helmet hair is so bad in the opening episodes that it caused me physical pain. When she gets it cut she looks better. She should have gone even shorter, her face is beautiful. When they fast forward a few years she has long hair. It looks nice, but this actress's best look would probably be super short hair. The wardrobe isn't very good either. Mosheng changes for dinner and emerges wearing the same oversized graphic tee and leggings that she wore to go shopping the other day. It was completely out of place. All she wears is graphic tees, mostly oversized, every one awful. All those bad t-shirts are like her: Cute & uncropped. Besides her face and slender figure, Mosheng is sincere and loving. Yichen tends to brood. She does brighten him up. She is his ☀. Men don't always want the hottest, smartest, most beautiful, or most exciting girl. Many men want a woman that feels like home. The best men do. Mosheng feels like home.
Mosheng has some baggage to clear out, though. Even when I started to like the show in the teen episodes, I got tired of her hanging her head low. She's acting like an abuse survivor. They did show significant neglect on the part of her mother, but she was close to her father and had him around until her teens. I'm not trying to minimize what she went through, but a woman who's had a very positive relationship with her father usually holds her head high, with dignity. I don't like her subservience and the way she cowers all the time. She's reminding me of the female lead in the show Love 020-6.8. One of the problems with that show is that the female lead is too demure. Too demure is okay for half the show, but for it to work, a FL should lighten up gradually. Mosheng does brighten up in the last quarter of the show, which is a relief.
Wallace Chung (The Sword and the Brocade-8.6, Adoring) portrays He Yichen. He's actually 50, now. When he did the show he was over 40 and he Looks more like 30. Her first credited work is 1993! Tan Kai (Sweet Guy, Blossom) plays Ying Hui. He's impressive, particularly his voice. I'd pay for his podcast just to hear him speak. He's manly, too. He's far better than the dour ML, imho. Screenwriters sometimes come in teams: Gu Man (Love O2O, You Are My Glory-5.9), Mo Bao Fei Bao (One and Only, Amidst a Snowstorm of Love, Go Go Squid!), She Fei Xian (One Smile Is Very Alluring-5.7) & Jin Guo Dong (Boss & Me-7) round this one out. The director is Liu Chun Chieh (Lighter & Princess, Boss & Me-7).
The viewer is expected to ride along with them on a pretty bumpy road. For the longest time, it's unclear as to why he broke up with her in the first place. They each have amorous hangers-on that take things alittle too far. In the meantime, he hates her, but he loves her, and when she's debating with him as to whether they should even see each other he says he'll give her an answer in the morning and struts off. The next morning he shows up and tells her to get in the car. They're getting married. Off to City Hall for the most perfunctory marriage ceremony ever seen; it was somewhat angry, too. After City Hall, Yichen immediately goes on a trip for a week. He makes no attempt at physical contact. Who gets married and sleeps in separate rooms? They don't even try to touch e/o? He only takes her on a honeymoon when he finds out from Mr Ying that the divorce may not be official. This is a weird romance. It works well enough, though.
The music is above average - it's excellent, really. Featuring mostly mellow piano, there's some contemporary pop mixed in. Some of it has an indy vibe. Shazam didn't recognize any of it but I brought the whole playlist up on Spotify. In Yichen's office there's a crazy bumpy ramp instead of a staircase. I love it.
The last couple episodes have an extended sequence in which they revisit their dating experience and then get into some “what ifs” all reenacted by the adult cast. Then we get the final wrap up showing them going forward. Don't worry, they look like they may have forgotten about the other couples, but the viewer gets a peek at them in the final episode. It's about what you'd expect: an exasperated mess😂. In the final analysis, M☀ should shine brighter. I can't decide if I would opt to watch it for the first time, given sufficient foreknowledge. If you go into it, just know that the forecast has plenty of warmth but heavily scattered clouds as well.
QUOTES📢
The two things that are most sacred, constant and ever-changing, that are most surprising and shocking, are the starry skies above and the moral law in our hearts. ~Kant~
The actual English version is this:
Two things fill the mind with ever new and increasing admiration and awe, the oftener and the more steadily we reflect on them: the starry heavens above and the moral law within.”
〰🖍 IMHO
📣6.6 📝6.5 🎭7 💓5 🦋5 🎨5 🎵/🔊8 🔚6 🤗4 ▪ 🌞4 ⚡2 😅2 😭2.5 😱2 😯1 🤢1 🤔3 💤2
Age 13+ A pregnancy from a ONS; PG-13 language, but not much of it
In order of ~lite & trite~ to ~heavy & serious~ you may also like:
💓 -
C🇨🇳:
A Little Thing Called First Love 8.5;
Find Yourself 8.9;
The Romance of Tiger and Rose 9.8;
The Sleepless Princess 9.1;
Wait, My Youth-8.4
Romance junkies only: Accidentally in Love-6.5 ‘18 B-level scripting, acting, and directing, but still fun/strangely relaxing to watch,
Well-Intended Love-7.5 Rom-porn - extra points for the dopamine but many object to an outrageous stunt the ML pulls,
When I Fly Towards You-7.8,
You are my destiny-6.8 cute and sweet and 1/2 padding,
Meteor Garden-7.4 - 70% flowing 30% dragging and BOF is better,
Hidden Love-7.8
K🇰🇷 :
A Witch's Love 7.8;
Love To Hate You 8.9;
Touch Your Heart 8.2;
Crash Landing On You 9.1;
Oh My Ghost 10;
It's Okay Not to Be Okay 9;
Hospital Playlist 9;
My Mister 9.5;
🎎 -
C🇨🇳: Overlord 8.4,
Under the Power 8.6,
The Rebel Princess 9.1,
The Sword and the Brocade 8.6 (in ancient Chinese opera style),
The Rise of Phoenixes 9
K🇰🇷:
My Only Love Song 8.7 excellent comedy;
Mr. Queen 8.5;
My Sassy Girl 8.5;
The King's Affection 8.3;
Mr. Sunshine 9
🔮🐉-
C🇨🇳: Love Between Fairy & Devil 8.9;
Douluo Continent 9.4;
Handsome Siblings 8.7;
Ancient Love Poetry 8.6;
Love and Redemption 10
Japanese🇯🇵 lite romcoms: Maid Sama-10, Mischievous Kiss Love in Tokyo-7.8, Love, Chunibyo And Other Delusions-8.4, Toradora-8.5
Taiwan: The Fierce Wife-8 & Two Fathers-7.5
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✒⌨ 2D Love °5.9° °good° ?%?
Gamers don't need a dating website because they can make good matches while gaming. Our protags are fans of the RPG (role playing game) Chinese Ghost Story/CGS. FL, Wei Wei, even has an in-game spouse - until she gets dumped. She won't be in the dumps for long, though: Her white knight is in the wings.Computers don't just facilitate hook-ups; they make identity theft pretty easy, too. While Er Xi may not have stolen Wei Wei's ID, she did borrow Wei Wei's CGS game character, which leads /Wei Wei's/ crush to pursue /Er Xi/ in the game, thinking he's hanging out, virtually, with Wei Wei. It also leads men at Er Xi's summer internship to believe that SHE'S the top female CGS player. Er Xi, unawares, is getting all kinds of attention in the name of Bei Wei Wei, and Bei Wei Wei wouldn't have it any other way-way-way.
That's the same paragraph I used for the show review because, in curious fashion, 2016 saw a show and a film released that were based on the same story. I watched the show first and find myself unable to assess this film without comparing. It feels like a completely different story in many ways, thankfully. But the core programming is identical:
Xiao Nai is the school ‘s supreme catch. Not only is he finishing up school, but he's designing a new game with his buddies. They are marketing it to companies and will run into all kinds of sleaze👾 in the business world. He's also a serious gamer and CGS is his 2nd home. He witnesses the top female player being game-divorced and decides it might be nice to pick her up as a game-wife. He's also glimpsed Wei Wei playing CGS at an internet cafe 😍. He's making 2D and 3D moves on her. Wei Wei is “The Belle of the Computer department,“ but her paths haven't crossed much with Xiao Nai ~ she /thinks/. She's been hanging with him on the CGS servers, she just doesn't know who her game spouse is IRL/in-real-life. In the meantime, Er Xi uses Wei Wei's alternate ID to play the game and ends up being mistaken for the top female player in CGS. This brings her into virtual contact with a guy chasing Wei Wei IRL. He thinks he's flirting with his crush and Er Xi believes she's developing a new virtual relationship that could become a real world fling. One of them is more wrong than HE would guess and the other is so wrong, but so right.
That's the setup. They are meeting in the game and building impressions in their imagination. Next, they will face and deal with the IRL implications.
Both the show and movie are watchable and enjoyable for romance fans. I don't think either feature does anything but toss lite snacks to the romance fan base. They aren't going to please any other watching group. So, you romantics out there, this is worth watching for the first kiss; it's swoony. The romance is mutual. Xiao Nai is “The Man”. He only plays for keeps.
I know my rating makes it seem like I didn't like the film. I did - it's definitely over the line of demarcation. It has some great moments along with its corresponding problems. Until recently, China consistently put out (arguably) watchable, relaxation-inducing, but mindless drivel under the guise of modern-day features, while at the same time they cranked out all-world fantasy and historical pieces. I have my theories about this… China's modern day features have been cluttered up with wooden acting, inane dialogue, and lazy plotlines. Things started changing noticeably around 2018. Now, there's many modern-day Chinese features I have been able to watch and not just enjoy, but LOVE - without wincing in pain at all. Coincidentally, many characters in these new-and-improved contemporary Chinese works will mention watching Kdramas. It's like China got a memo. They've responded well.
As for a comparison, the film is 100 minutes and the show is nearly 1400 minutes. The show should be better. The movie has more natural looking people and a more natural feel when it comes to interactions between the characters. It's so loose and free feeling, compared to most Chinese modern-day features (2016 & earlier), that I double checked to make sure it wasn't a Taiwanese film. Because of that, the film feels differently from the show, even with some of the same scenes. From the start, the characters feel real; this movie is part of the positive jump forward. There are minor pacing issues, though, where things almost drag.
The FL isn't awful in the show, but she's just better in the film, being feisty and active in the relationship. She isn't shy. She becomes part of the team, not a piece of fluff on the side. It makes more sense how the film has Wei Wei actively involved with the company and making the game. She is a computer major, afterall. In the show she acts more like a liberal arts major and soon-to-be 50’s housewife. One of the show's deficiencies is how Wei Wei remains too demure. A confident and capable Wei Wei would have been a welcomed sight.
Er Xi in the show is said to be homely, when she's definitely north of an 8. She's one of the show's assets. I rolled my eyes every time they denigrated her character's looks. (The show focuses on looks too much. It gets wearisome). Show Er Xi could play Tinkerbell, she's so cute. Movie Er Xi is perky and would qualify as less than a 7 based on looks alone, though the actress beams an uplifting carefree air. I'm only commenting on looks because it's a theme in the story - perhaps the main theme. The truth is that there are very few ugly people, and confidence is the sexiest thing. The rest of the movie-friends get alot less play due to the 1300 minute differential. They didn't utilize the friends well in the show, either.
As the credits start to roll we hear about one of the guys falling in love with a female game character who turns out to be a man. It's a bit that got alot of screen time in the show and was handled particularly well, except for the wrap-up.
Overall, the flick has higher highs and lower lows than the show. The characters are solid and there's great moments. It is quick & abbreviated, with light drama that is resolved too easily. Just keep that in mind.
QUOTE📢
If you go outside the wall an inch, I'll move the wall an inch. If you go outside a foot I'll move it ten feet.
〰🖍 IMHO
📣5.5 📝4 🎭7 💓6 🦋7.6 🌞5 🎨7⚡5 🎵/🔊6.5 😅2 😭2 😱0 😯2 😖0 🤔1 💤2.5 🔚6
Age - there's nothing objectionable and nothing about which to make an age caution. As soon as kids can keep up with the subtitles they are good-to-go with 0-2-0.
Re-📺? Doubtful
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⛵ Fish Tale About An Angel⚓Fish Out Of Water ⛲️ °7.2° °VG°
🐚LOTBS is a dreamy onscreen excursion about a plunge into the pool of 💞. Roundabout there's beautiful scenery & other trappings that will hook a viewer. Based on a Joseon era fable, it tells the love story of a man, Heo 'double hooks' Jun-jae “JJ” (Lee Min-ho of Boys over Flowers-8.3 & Pachinko) & a mermaid, Shim Cheong “Shimmy” (Jun Ji-hyun from My Love from the Star & Kingdom: Ashin of the North-7.5) that is destined to end tragically. Even more tragic, is how they are fated to repeat this ♻ again, perhaps again-lessly.⛵Ep1 sails to Spain, dazzling the viewer w/ refreshing scenery (though the 🎥 location is Palau). We meet JJ, who's in a sub-set of con artists. As if Lee Min-ho's looks aren't mesmerizing enough, JJ has the ability to spot hypnotize his 'marks' if quick lures are needed. He looks in a person's eyes while speaking softly & flicking his lighter. This is usually distracts the poor saps long enough for his gang of fleecers & scalers to work their agenda: Stealing pirate💰booty. These 'pirates' are all people as crooked as a barrel of hooks. As JJ& Co just steal ill-gotten 💴, their crimes cannot be reported to the police, nor the coast guard. Thus, these boys aren't so bad... They're just lovable scamps, really, like 🐬🐬.
⛲JJ's in Spain for 🏖 after a big haul. He's shocked to encounter a confused woman in his hotel room. She's a real strange 🐠. Shimmy cannot talk, has curious cuts & scrapes on her feet, & she's wearing one of his 👕, while looking quite the 🐡 out of water. He has the police take her away to cold storage. We learn, though, that this pair will not escape e/o. There are not plenty of other 🐟 in the sea for them. They're in a school of 2.
🐙JJ has a picture caught in his head of how pitiful "she" looked, & he can't 🐡 it out. She didn't try to con him, she didn't steal anything, or even 🐠 for compliments. Obviously, she has other 🐡 to fry. Most significantly, on her lovely wrist is a jade bracelet that could be worth over $6mil. That ain't 🐟 food. Swept off his feet in a tide of compulsion to care for her (or at least the $6M) he tells the police he won't press charges.
🐳Once she's released, he soon encounters her crouched under an overhang near the police station, looking utterly forlorn. It turned out to be a snag: He can't cut the line in which she & he are tangled. Before he snaps out of it, he's already fed her & taken her shopping for 👗 & 👠. Soon after, they escape from hitmen sent by a "victim" who wants JJ to sleep w/ the fishes. To hiss amazement, Shimmy is extraordinarily strong, & she can hold up in a tight spot. She's sort of pretty (scorchin hot) too... Hypnotized, his will drained, THE 🌊 crashes over him: He's amazed by her! He's catfish crazy over her! He takes the deep dive from a high cliff & crashes hard for this exotic, yet perplexing beauty.
🚣Like sunlight beams in water, when JJ is dreaming, we get flashes of past-life regression showing their woeful experiences in the Joseon era. Flashes later morph into flashbacks of past-life memories for JJ, along w/ several other characters that are being spun out & sucked back into the whirlpool alongside the two big fishes, our protagonists.
💦Things we learn about mermaids💦
💧Mermaid tears become pearls: In the Joseon version, a mermaid is locked up and forced to manufacture pearls.
💧Mermaids have super strength: This debones many situations.
💧Mermaids heal rapidly: This is also a lifesaver on occasions.
💧Mermaids are highly intelligent, learning at the speed of sonar: Shimmy teaches herself Korean by watching dramas all night. She picks up on culture along w/ pearls of wisdom, quickly surpassing JJ&Co regarding the latest looks, lures, & expressions.
💧Mermaids can wash away memories: We see several memory wipeouts.
💧When mermaids beach themselves for love & it's not reciprocated, they'll die. The same thing applies when they are separated from their love. It will kill them. Shimmy jumps in anyway, w/ 2 feet. She won't be like a cat that will eat a fish, but not get its feet wet. She commits fully.
🔥Things we learn about Jun☂jae🔥
☂His father's a Duke, um... I mean a CEO, & he's one cold 🐡. When JJ was young, his father cast out his mother in order to bring in a mistress, um, /new/ mistress of the ⛴. Once divorced, his mother abandoned ⛴, believing that JJ would be better off in his father's house, where he would want for nothing. She drifted away w/ very little salvaged from the divorce.
☂Stepmom turned out to be fishy. She's bait wrapped around poison. They needed her like a 🐠 needs a bicycle. His father is hooked, only seeing the bait. While in HS, JJ escapes the net & departs home to swim in other waters.
☂A chummy con man w/ a fish eating grin, Jo Nam-doo, takes him in (uses him for scams) & teaches JJ the trade (he teaches a man to fish🎣), as it were. Nam-doo may be friendly (most con men have "friendly" mastered before their first grift) but he's serious about his trade. From lips to tale he's hella serious about 💰. Don't be confuzzled on the subject.
☂While JJ has been looking for his Oma, she's been hiding 'under decks' avoiding detection, somehow believing that's better for JJ. (Big plot weakness).
🏊The show freestyles back to SK. We see our mermaid arrive in 🌇Seoul w/ no clue what to do. Her first friends are small 🐡: A bag lady, ahem, - excuse me - a /homeless/ woman, & a little girl instructer-&-scolder. It's as cute as it sounds. Eventually she learns to handle herself, including learning to 🍺 like a 🐟.
💦W/o ruining any big splashes, there's a tackle box of fun gear in LOTBS. There's chases w/ guns, flying 🐠 jumping off of cliffs, cons gone bad, cons gone good, & cons long gone. We're introduced to additional players from the Joseon era as the show unfolds. There's a secondary romance & other lively side characters. There's several shots of beautiful 🌊, water, & shore. We see escape on a 🚲, a An Affair To Remember moment, secrets & more secrets, messages in & on vessels from the past, & a backlit shot of an exquisite kiss while a fin fishtails dreamily. At the show's end, JJ has a 🐡 of another species dropped in his aquarium of friends - it's amusing.
🌅There is tension over the issue of fate & whether the repetition of the past & fate itself can be altered. The primary theme in LOTBS is, in the words of Linda Hamilton as Sarah Connor in Terminator 2 Judgement Day: "There is no fate but what we make". JJ will not accept the outcome that seems fated to be. At both ends of the fishing pole, the past & present, he works actively against fate, believing that his actions & his decisions determine his future🌄.
🦑We see a bit of a fashion show. They're far downstream w/ the couture. Shimmy is beautiful enough to make Jacques Cousteau come back from the grave, but if she's hungry, or if she just watched a Bruce Lee movie, or read Moby Dick, avoid her like a Great White 🦈. Ms Jun is swimmingly at ease, playing at first an awkward newbie-to-everything, & later a naturally & affably uninhibited woman. Her comedy scenes, such as when she's eating, are clean nets, unslimed by the juvenile, trash filled, slobbering pig humor we see Hollywood drooling out. This hottie can actually ACT. It underscores how condescending Hollywood is to their audience. Afterall, isn't their declining quality why we love Kdramas?
🏄Besides the regular obstacles, misunderstandings, & outstanding warrants, there's also criminal matters that must be investigated. They drop hooks w/ a tantalizing bit in which JJ injects himself into an investigation & starts ordering the detectives around. They start complying before they realize what's going on. It's straight Mcdonald's fish sandwich&🍟. So tasty.
🛥While LOTBS is mostly treasure, & as a romance it's on solid ground, pertaining to film craft, it's a bit out to sea, as follows:
🦀LOTBS is only trying to be a surfs-up-fun-in-the-sun romantic cruise, not a deep water expedition, so it has less depth than JJ's feelings for Shi-ah.
🌀It suffers from overdone, too oft seen Kdrama devices.
🔻MMP Missing/misplaced parent(s). Here's yet another show where parents (especially a mother) get separated from children. I haven't seen one Kdrama yet that has separated couples co-parenting. It must be frowned upon in Korea. No reasonable explanation is laid down for JJ's mother to hide. They should have been tidier w/ it.
🔻MSS (Mandatory Separation Syndrome, where couples, once they commit, are physically separated for a period of time). LOTBS suffers a minor shipwreck & takes on water due to MSS. Anyone familiar w/ Kdramas knows what I mean. This is one of the worst cases I've seen. It's that 4th day w/ houseboat guests. The show threw a few 🐟 too many into the aquarium, crowding it out & making the presentation worse, not better.
🍤But the worst thing about Ep21 is how they cut the line on nearly every mermaid rule they had reeled in earlier. It kept stinking more as time sailed on & freshness waned. That isn't good filmmaking. Just be warned that Ep21 could near filet you, if consistency is important to you.
🚤One final caution: In Ep1, subtitles can fly by too quickly, especially when JJ is doing the hypnosis. After a couple times early in Ep1 it rarely, if ever, happens again. Don't be thwarted by that.
🏝To summarize, for cute escapism, LOTBS is like riding some perfect waves until we hit a bit of chop at the end. w/out the quality dip in eps20-22, LOTBS is easily in the middle to high 8s. The last thing we see, as LOTBS pulls up ⚓ & 🚢 away, is a couple sitting on a bench watching the turquoise 🌊 from a snowy beach, in a lovely & serene bon-voyage. It's been a good trip.
Quote🗣
I regret nothing❕ 〰homeless (I'm no bum) lady〰
IMHO〰🖍
🎬7 🎭7.7⚡6.5 🤔5 💓 7.5 🦋7 🎨8 🌞5 😅5 🔚5.
Age 12+
👁📺again? Eps 1-20✅ then w/⏩️
Loving someone from “another world” - In order of ~lite&trite~ to ~heavy&serious~ you may also like:
Mr. Queen-9
99 days with the Superstar-7,
Live Up To Your Name-7.6;
My Secret Romance 7 (if you ff thru overdone flashbacks),
Boys Over Flowers 8 ~ melodrama to the max,
The Bride of Habaek 7,
Hotel del Luna-8.4,
A Korean Odyssey-7.2,
Romance is a bonus book-7.9;
Oh My Ghost-10,
Heirs 7.3,
That Winter, The Wind Blows 7,
Something in the Rain 9,
C🇨🇳: Well-Intended Love 7.5 Rom-porn - extra points for the dopamine,
You are my destiny 6.8 cute, sweet & 1/2 padding,
A Little Thing Called First Love 8.5,
Find Yourself 8.9
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A Terminator Dishes Out Revenge ⚔ To The Biting End °7.5° °VG°
They pi$$ed off the wrong kid.KAOTN is part of the popular Kingdom franchise. It is a prequel to S1 and it ties in seamlessly.
The filming is gorgeous, though tense and creepy feeling- exactly as it should be.
We follow Ashin over several years as she plots revenge against the murderers of her family. Members of a secretive and proud tribe, the Pajeowi, were found dead in Joseon. The Josean officials informed the Pajeowi that a tiger killed all 15 of their brothers. Ever skeptical of the Joseon bureaucracy, the Pajeowi don't believe that.
The Pajeowi take their revenge on the first village they encounter, which is Ashin's village. She is left with nothing. She agrees to work (slave) for the Josean officials as long as they help her avenge her father. Kim Shi-ah, as young Ashin, is fantastic. She was around 12 when this was filmed, yet the anger and determination of her character is palpable. Her performance is arresting: She's that good. "I didn't want Asin to look weak," she said in an interview. "I thought the eyes were important to show a strong figure, and I tried to convey that solidity with my eyes." We need to keep an eye on her career. We can expect her to just gobble up her roles.
Ashin works hard as she grows. When she's not serving the Kingdom of Joseon, she is sinking her teeth into perfecting her archery and fighting skills. It will all come in handy later. We watch Ashin close in on her prey like The Terminator, or a zombie. She won't turn to the left or the right. She consumes. She. Won't. Stop.
The creators continue with the same theme started in S1. Having gone into S1 without knowing anything about it, I will refrain from releasing any spoilers about it. The acting and special effects of the 'attackers' are excellent. This crowd was designed to startle the viewer, and they fulfill their purpose.
While KAOTN can stand on its own, it would be better to also watch S1&2 of this mystery/horror saga. Yes, it's classified as horror. The focus is not all blood and guts, however, especially compared to a Hollywood production. The horror is real, but it's constructed in the viewer’s mind as much as it's outwordly performed for the viewer's eyes. Fundamentally, this is just good drama.
The film does incite thought about the concept of mercy. Should Ashin relent and show mercy toward her enemies? Do any of them merit that? You'll have to take the solitary and painful journey with her to sort it out.
We are still in want of a S3. Until then..... Enjoy this snack.
IMHO…
🎬7 🤔7 🎭8 ⚡7 🎨7
Suggested Age 15+
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✒♥️ Is Anything More Nonsensical Than Tennis Scoring? 〰〰〰 ☯ °6.3° °good°
I won't lose. Lu Xia always says that. He's almost always right.PoT is a 2019 release that is rated 8.4 on MDL. It is 1 season consisting of 40 45-minute episodes, and is based on the Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Takeshi Konomi. It's also an anime… A movie… A musical! …It's a HIT.
A Chinese show that is based on a Japanese manga invariably makes a tennis club seem more like a martial arts sect. That's the spirit, the vibe, the plot, and the appeal. The characters are the show’s strongest assets. They are likable, being written and acted out well. Moon ascend volley. Snake ball. Twist serve. The Australian Formation. Celestial Drive. The vibrating Ball (it's an optical illusion). Their signature super-shots have amazing names. Some of these balls don't even bounce up, but spin on the court like they will bore a hole through the clay. One team works so hard to be able to defend the Snake Ball ~🐍~ only to be hit with the /boomerang/ snake ball!
Peng Yu Chang (I Am Nobody) is ML, Lu Xia. His father was a tennis star - a stratospheric one. All he wants is to beat his dad. He's the only freshman to make the starting team. His father appears to be a cheerful goof and their relationship is intermittently competitive (more on Lu Xia's part than dad's) and supportive. Ireine Song (Ever Night, Different Princess) plays a girl, Qi Ying, who's infatuated with him. She is a tiny, adorable thing. He doesn't seem to mind her presence around him at all.
Dong Li (Arsenal Military Academy) is Qiao Chen; Zhang Yi Jie (Scent of Time) portrays Zhuo Zhi; Xie Bin Bin (Please Be My Family, The Code of Siam) is Mu Si Yang; Zhu Zhi Ling (The Sleepless Princess-9.1) portrays Chi Da Yong; Xu Ke (The Last Immortal, A Love So Beautiful)
Plays Tang Jia Le; Wu Xu Dong (The Eternal Love) is Zhang Bai Yang; Herman Li (Detective Samoyeds) portrays Yan Zhi Ming; and Fan Lin Feng (Good Bye, My Princess) plays He Xing Long. Their personalities are all over the place. One is a sweetheart until he picks up a Racket. Some are morose, others dutiful, cheerful, coldly analytical, playful, angry, aggressive… They are a team of distinct individuals. In addition, Xiang Yun Long (My Roommate Is a Detective) makes an impressive appearance as Tian Zi Long, an anger-riddled competitor with dramatically white streaked hair.
TPoT reinforces teamwork and individual achievement. It asks competitors to reflect on their motivations. It incorporates a cycle of mini-dramas set around tennis matches. The soundtrack and soft spoken Mandarin seem to be designed for a peaceful effect. I found the characters likable yet I had trouble focusing as the show went on. Halfway through the show I had involuntarily stopped giving it my full attention. I think if I just watched an episode or two a week I would have been able to stay with it better, but It was leaving Netflix and I had to watch one or two episodes a day. It's lots of cyclical plotlines where each match and story arc looks quite a bit like all the others, so it started feeling redundant.
They ramp up the drama and the players’ special skills. As it's based on manga, that is to be expected. For a team with near super-powers, however, the show still felt slightly pedestrian. Viewers who prefer realism should take their ball to another court. Actually, viewers who prefer realism aren't apt to like nearly anything that China puts out; they may have to avoid the country altogether. Viewers who like manga, sports- tennis in particular, relaxing soft-spoken voices, low drama, and Chinese shows to begin with, will likely enjoy this show.
QUOTES📢
Someone who doesn't want to admit their weakness can only show their evil side to the whole world.
Losing is not a frightening thing. What's terrifying is that we can't learn a lesson from it.
〰🖍 IMHO
📣6 📝7.3 🎭7.5 💓5 🦋3 🎨5 🎵/🔊6 🔚? It goes on… 🤗3 ▪ 🌞5 ⚡4.5 😅3 😭2 😱1 😯2 🤢1 🤔4 💤5
Re-📺? I couldn't give it 100% attention the first time.
Age 9+ Language: d@mn
In order of ~lite & trite~ to ~heavy & serious~ you may also like:
💓 -
C🇨🇳: Accidentally in Love 6.5 ‘18 B-level scripting, acting, and directing, but still fun/strangely relaxing to watch
A Little Thing Called First Love 8.5;
Find Yourself 8.9;
The Romance of Tiger and Rose 9.8;
🔮🐉-
C🇨🇳: Love Between Fairy & Devil 8.9;
Once upon a time in Linglian Mountain 7.5;
Douluo Continent 9.4;
Handsome Siblings 8.7;
Eternal Love 8.3,
Ancient Love Poetry 8.6;
Love and Redemption 10
⚡/😱 -
C🇨🇳: The Kings avatar-7.9
Heavenly Sword and Dragon Slaying Saber 9-Kung-fu!;
K🇰🇷:
K2 8;
Private Lives 8.1;
Sisyphus 8;
Tunnel 8.1;
Signal 8.6;
The Man From Nowhere 8.9
Black 9;
Squid Game 8.4;
Kingdom 8.3;
Sweet Home 8.4
Japanese🇯🇵 lite romcoms: Maid Sama-10, Mischievous Kiss Love in Tokyo-7.8, Love, Chunibyo And Other Delusions-8.4, Toradora-8.5
Taiwan
🔪🇹🇼Age of Rebellion-9.5
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✒✨️ Ji-had Redo: From Drab to Fab ☣OR☣ Protect yourself, don't project yourself. °VG°
The 1-sentence review: 〰This is a pre-packaged, off-the-shelf, watchable romance that has some nice seasoning & truly bright moments for romance fans〰Is it in the top 20 that I would show to a viewer new to Asian programming? Nope, but for a romfan it will pass the time very nicely. I'll stick some toes over the edge of the cliff & say it's worth watching for Song Ha Yoon's performance alone. She EATS her role up. PMY is always worth watching. NIW isn't bad to look at, either.
This drama is actually an advice column. There's plenty of useful truths to be gleaned, such as:
👠Shoes your friends wisely - eh, ‘Choose,’ I mean.
👠We accept the love we think we deserve (from The Perks Of Being A Wallflower).
👠Keep your friends close & your enemies closer (until the battle is over)
👠Statements don't grow up to be cliches b/c they're mostly false.
👠Some people just get used to losing. Some losers don't realize what (big picture) losers they are & will do anything to avoid (small picture) losing. Losing once in awhile is not a bad thing, as pride is always the biggest problem. Humility is good for the soul. Being a doormat, though, will rob your life's essence.
Ouch. Ep1 HURTS. Kang “Ji” Won has led a painful life & now she's close to death: Stage 4 cancer. “I never knew happiness,” she says. Horrible husband. Horrible family. Horrible friends. Her husband & bff cause her death & now they will enjoy the life insurance payout. The End.
But wait! There's more! After the end, Ji gets a reset. She wakes up back in time, year 2013… Meltdown! Is this a dream? If so, is 2023 the dream or 2013.2? Let the Chippies fall where they may… & Ji has a couple snagging Chippies in her life.
To go along w/ MMH one has to be accepting, as there's no acceptable reasoning for the time slip. It's connected to the FL's father, but that's all we know. Our FL learns that fated consequences are FATED and must occur. In her prior life she had a crescent-shaped scar on her arm from a coffee pot burn. She manages to avoid getting burned the 2nd time, but, instead, our ML gets burned w/ a scar /exactly/ like Ji's. Therefore, she proceeds slowly. Methodically. Carefully. She won't break up w/ her bf & future killer until she's certain she's transferred /that/ bad fate onto her frenemy, her killer's aider-and-abetter, her lifetime friend: Soo-Min. They lay down a satisfactory (enough) premise.
It's illogical at times. It's constructed in an almost lazy way, as everything is attributable to fate. Fates can be transferred to others, but not avoided. They use physical objects, like shoes & candy, to reset the scene in order to channel ill fates to bad actors. After a person opens a door s/he never would-or-should have & allows another party to barge in (ep15) - it just wouldn't happen - I then had to stop, reflect, & admit that the whole show is built on an arguably silly premise. But I'd been enjoying it w/o a care-to-logic until then, which is indicative of skill & good execution. Just take the ride & don't think too much. If you can do that, the show is good.
Otikay?
It's 2013. Again. What does Ji do?
🍬Break up w/ the jerk.
🍬Buy stocks.
🍬Stop being a doormat.
Being a doormat is not an easy habit to quit, though. Ji gets help. She's made new friends at work & she, unbeknownst to her, has an angel watching over her. 19 hours of programming gives the show ample time to methodically stroll through the plot. It takes our leads awhile to pair up as they have legitimate concerns: The prior timeline was brutal to Ji. After the break-up, the coffee pot/scar incident occurs, so she decides to soften her stance on her status w/ ex, Min Hwan - just until she leverages the potential outcome.
Park Min Young, a truly special talent, is the FL, Kang “Ji” Won. I've seen her in What's Wrong with Secretary Kim-6.8 (apologies, it's cute, but overrated IMHO) Forecasting Love & Weather-6.8, When the Weather Is Fine-9 (it's brilliant) & Her Private Life-8 (This one deserves the accolades that Sec-Kim gets. It's adorabs).
Na In Woo (Spark-6.4) plays Yoo Ji Hyuk. He's a tad geeky & wears ill fitting suits that look like tents. That's by design, as his character gets a needed upgrade after exposure to our FL. Purely observationally, this actor looks like a giant next to the ladies, & he also has the largest Adam's apple I've ever seen. He's an impressive looking man.
Lee Yi Kyung (Eulachacha Waikiki) portrays the weasel bf, Park Min Hwan. Song Ha Yoon (Intimate Strangers) portrays Jung Soo Min, Ji"s frenemy, & she does It marvelously. The character is yicky-icky, but the actress has a tough job, acting as a near split-personality who does drama better than ElizabethTaylor, & she sticks the landing. In fact, by ep10, I was most impressed w/ her: She's amazing. Other than guest appearances, Choi Gyu-Ri's only other role is in Behind Every Star. In MMH she plays Ji’s new work friend, Yoo Hee-Yeon & she's darling. I hope to see more of her. Director, Park Won Gook also brought us Special Labor Inspector Jo, & Screenwriter Shin Yoo Dam wrote the high IQ show, Awaken-8.7. The worst criticism of MMH is that it's boilerplate stuff, but the execution is above average. It also has worthy themes.
Theme #1: Some people don't know when to stop. “Gosh, I can just never win against you!”, exclaims 1 conniving mean girl after losing at chess. “Well, I could predict your moves b/c you tried to take it all,” is the reply. “A good leader should know how to let go of what is not theirs,” is the follow-up pearl of wisdom.
#2: I am not my mother… Messed up parents leave a massive pile of refuse on top of their kids’ heads. I'm not trying to beat up on anyone. I doubt there is such a thing as parenting w/ zero regrets. The perfect parent has yet to be discovered. We need to try & keep the baggage to a minimum & the 💘 at a maximum. Many kids can't dig out from underneath the mess & go through life at a disadvantage. Ji's mother ran off with another man - in a town so small everyone knows how many ‘spoons are in each house’. The vicious gossip piled pressure on Ji to not be like her Oma. She must look perfect. Act perfect. Cast no shadows. That's why she accepted the love she could “get”. She accepted the scraps that Soo Min & Min Hwan threw at her. There was no real love there. They only used her to bolster their own egos. She was a disposable ladder for them.
#3: We have another theme that is 1 of the harshest & cruelest truths that I know: Weakness is not OK. Weakness invites aggression, & enables evil: In the end, it's not much different than evil. It's easy to have compassion for somebody who's in a weak state, & we're all liable to be weakened at 1 point or another. That's just part of being human. Perhaps people who are weak enjoy the compassion & the attention tossed their way. But, in the long run, it's only going to allow in a bunch of trash. Evil must be opposed. It's like weeds. If you don't stamp them out they'll take over. I know this is brutal, but it happens to be 100% true. Sometimes, running away is the best opposition, sometimes fighting back is. Lying around to be someone else's doormat is never the right course. Never, ever, ever, EVER. And: Wallowing in self-pity is not only pathetic, it's contemptible.
The writer dropped more pearls of wisdom for us. Min Hwan is jealous of the boss b/c of the way Ji's been looking at him & visa-versa. He pulls her aside & unwittingly lets his character show: MH: “ I told you that jerk likes you.” JW: “He has a girlfriend.” MH: “You are so naive. Do you really think that matters to a guy? Do you know what? Every single man is a cheater. So he has a girlfriend? A guy could be married & still like someone else. You know what a man's dream girl is? An unfamiliar lady that he doesn't know yet. That's just how men are…” By the time Ji has this following exchange with Soo-Min she's grown significantly: S: “Why do you hate me?” J: “You're self-centered. Some people have a way of eroding those around them, & you are exactly that type of person…You don't trust easily. And it's only b/c you can't be trusted. You think that everyone is like you, & so you can't trust them.” When people tell you who they are, please believe them & protect yourself accordingly. Protect yourself, don't /project/ yourself.
Acting ✔. Writing ✔. Directing ✔ - all are good. The artistry is also smashing. The wardrobe is outstanding. Both of our leads dress in DRAB, until they decide to do better - to BE better. Then they go from drab to fab. “People are already treating me differently b/c of my outfit.” Ji just gave herself a makeover. She's experiencing 1st-hand how important appearances are in public life. It may not be right, but it is so. Turns out, once Ji Hyuk's in a suit that fits right, all the ladies in the office are checking him out, too. By the beginning of ep6 they look like a matched Ken & Barbie in ⚫ & ⚪ chic. A gorgeous wedding dress adorns one episode. The music is quite good, too, such as The Journey, by Kelley McRae & Wounds of Time, by Kim So Yeon. Half of ep16 is a well executed wrap-up - what has been lacking from too many Kdramas in the past. As long as you enjoy Kromcoms, this one has its savory appeal.
In parting, I'll quote one k!ck@$$, self-actualized woman from The Terminator movies, Sarah Connor: “There is no fate but what we make.” Ji-had enough. Enough to go full Jih@d on her enemies.
QUOTE📢
The mother of success is failure.
You're right. I'm a pushover. That's how I'm most comfortable.
Being considerate has its limits. Bad people don't recognize it when you're being considerate to them.
〰🖍 IMHO
📣7.6 📝7.4 🎭8.3 💓7 🦋5 🎨7 🎵/🔊7.3 🔚7.6 🤗4.5 ▪ 🌞4.5 ⚡5 😅2 😭6.5 😱4.3 😯4 🤢3 🤔4.9 💤0
Age 15+
Limited but present language: $h!+ F💣
Rated TV-15
Re-📺? neutral
In order of ~lite&trite~ to ~heavy&serious~ you may also like:
Workplace Romances:
Crazy Love-7.8,
Touch your heart 8.2,
Romance is a bonus book-7.9,
Her Private Life 8,
Love to Hate You 8.9,
Oh My Ghost 10,
Be Melodramatic-8.7,
Hospital Playlist 9,
Call It Love-8.4,
My Mister 9.5,
C🇨🇳: Find Yourself-8.9,
Boss & Me-7
Modern Day -
Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha-8.2
Crash Landing On You 9.1,
Familiar Wife-8.5,
It's Okay Not To Be Okay 9,
Love Struck in the City 7.3,
Cheese in the Trap-7.7,
Our Blues-8.5,
My Liberation Diary-8.9,
I'll See You When the Weather is Fine 9
Something in the Rain-8.6,
🎎 -
My Only Love Song 8.7 ~ excellent comedy,
Mr. Queen 8.5,
My Sassy Girl 8.5,
Saimdang 8.5,
The King's Affection 8.3,
Mr. Sunshine 9
⚡️/🛸 -
Flex X Cop-8.5,
K2 8,
Private Lives 8.1,
The Golden Spoon-8.1,
Tunnel 8.5,
Why Her?-8,
Romance junkies only -
My Secret Romance-7 (if you ff thru overdone flashbacks),
Boys Over Flowers-8 ~ melodrama to the max,
The Bride of Habaek-7,
Heirs-7.3,
That Winter, The Wind Blows-7,
C🇨🇳: Well-Intended Love-7.5 Rom-porn - extra points for the dopamine,
When I Fly Towards You-7.8,
Wait, My Youth-8.4,
A Little Thing Called First Love-8.5,
Find Yourself-8.9, Hidden Love-7.8
Consider a Chinese 🎎/🔮 romcom: The Romance of Tiger and Rose 9.8, Love Between Fairy and Devil 8.9, Love and Redemption 10 or Japanese romcoms: Maid Sama 10, Mischievous Kiss Love in Tokyo 7.8, Love, Chunibyo And Other Delusions 8.4, or Toradora 8.5
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✒ ♥️ Blood Ties °7° °VG & simple romance°
“Everyone keeps an eye on our every single move. No one thinks we'll have a happy ending. If I'm in love w/ an assistant, it doesn't matter. But I'm in love w/ the big boss.”Shan “Shan” is a small town girl. She's considered to be of average looks, intelligence, & capability. Even still, the whole tiny town saw her off when she left for Shanghai & her new job. She hadn't been a big city girl for long when she got a call in the middle of the night. The Chairman's granddaughter is in the hospital w/ an emergency. She has a rare blood type - the same blood type as Shan's. Very politely, they asked Shan if she would donate blood?
BaM's 34 45-min eps are exactly like a romance novel committed to screen. Though simple, it's not dumbed down - it has an average IQ & is quite intelligent at times, just like Shan. This blood-favor puts her in the sights of the CEO (it was his sister who was ill) as well as the head of the design dept, “Handsome Qi”. It also causes Shan to doubt herself & why she was hired, and she will continue to doubt herself for the balance of the show. The necessary exchange of “thank-yous” & courtesies follow, but for other reasons, Shan keeps running into the CEO, “Feng” Teng. Shan is a cutie, but it's her simple genuine nature & her warmth that catch Feng's attention.
While this is going on, Shan's cousin shows up in Shanghai. Shi An Ni plays Xue LiuLiu. I find her interesting. She holds her neck and shoulders too tightly and looks as if she has a cervical injury. As soon as the actress started talking, the screen lit up. She mimics her overbearing mother and it's hilarious. There are times she seems too stiff, but at all times she's unique, which is refreshing. I am looking forward to seeing more of her because I don't have a handle on her skills yet. Anyway, LiuLiu doesn't stay long. She soon moves in w/ her bf who basically ignores Shan when they meet. He doesn't seem like a good match for her cousin. I love how LiuLiu never has a hair out of place & Shan is constantly a bit disheveled.
Zhao Li Ying is Xue Shan-Shan. How cute is this gurl? Very. She's an absolute delight & makes the show. Hans Zhang is our ML, Feng Teng. He's certainly not my type. Too prickly. He's good w/ numbers but not people. But he does seem to have a good heart. To him, Shan feels like home. Marry a person who feels like home. You don't have to be the smartest, the richest, the brightest or the most beautiful, you just need to feel like home for your spouse.
Huang You Ming plays Zheng “Handsome Qi”. He's Feng’s partner, BFF, & the social one of the 2. Li Cheng Yuan portrays Yuan LiShu. She's fashioned herself in love w/ Feng for years (they grew up together) & she don't wanna go down easy. They make the point several times that she's hyper-competitive, which does pave a nice long road for her bad behavior.
If it's meant to be, the attraction is always mutual. If it's 1-sided, move on & work on yourself. Lishu (finally) chooses self-improvement. "Because of Feng, I found many dark sides of mine in love… I became jealous, calculating, & untruthful in love. The dark LiShu is too frightening to be recognized by myself." That's good thinking. Self-reflection & honesty, w/ a dash of humility, will NEVER render us more unlikable! Quite the opposite.
This is a classic power balance romance. The man appears to have all the power in the beginning, but it's really Shan that comes out on top in the end. All's fair in love & war, & all's well that ends well, right? If a manipulative male is a trigger for any viewers, they may not enjoy this. Feng has no idea how to woo a woman. His intentions are good, it's his method that is sketchy.
As a “thank-you" for her help w/ their health emergency, Feng’s sister starts sending in lunch 🍱 for Shan. Food is the way to Shan's hungry heart, but the whole company knows about this immediately because the secretaries are delivering the 🍱 directly to Shan's desk. Before long, she scuttles off somewhere quiet to eat alone. She's found the perfect place - a little balcony area that nobody ever comes to, w/ a beautiful bench to boot. She eats. She exults In her happiness exercises. She jumps around & throws her arms up & says: “You are a ray of sunshine loaded w/ happiness.” What she doesn't know is that on the other side of the mirrored window is Mr Feng. He's been watching her, enjoying her, & eating right alongside her w/ only a thin pane of glass between them.
Both of Fengs's secretaries are darling, but Long Yi Yi (Love O2O, My Sunshine) as Linda looks as good in a suit as any woman ever. Li Fang Ding (Inside Man) portrays Zhou Xiao Wei, who is a superb worker and an awful human being. Shan forgives her too easily. I'm not against forgiveness, I'm against evil: Xiao Wei should be fired. She will only ever cause strife, misery, and chaos, so the company is better off without her. Jin Guo Dong (My Sunshine) & Gu Man (You Are My Glory-5.9, Love O2O-6.8) are the screenwriters. Liu Chun Chieh (Lighter & Princess, Two Fathers-7.5) is the Director.
“When he called my name just now it felt so intoxicating. Why does my name sound so amazing from his mouth?” The actress sounds like an excited 4 y/o at Disney. But Shan can't handle the stress of all the attention. Feng's behavior is attracting the entire company, not just Shan. He's used to bossing people around & he has never had to chase a woman (especially an employee) so he starts forcing her to be around him. When Shan tries to stop the 🍱, she ends up being invited to eat w/ Feng directly. She still feels like a blood factory. (Does HE know she's a human?)
She ends up faking illness as an excuse to avoid lunchtime altogether. It backfires. We're not even up to ep10, but the next thing that Shan tries is to say that she can't have lunch with him because she needs to study for the CPA exam. She's promptly ensconced in his office at lunchtime with a bunch of CPA exam guides. ‘This is the perfect quiet place for you to study,’ he explains. The truth is, he's tired of the glass between them. His motivations are actually pure underneath his improper forcefulness. (This is just a TV show. IRL, this behavior is usually intended to take advantage of someone sexually & discard them. That's not what's going on here. A controlling man separates & isolates his woman. Feng is a blessing to all who support Shan).
Everybody's abuzz over her relationship w/ Mr Feng. Nevertheless, the steady 🍱 cause Shan to feel like he's a wolf & she's a pig that he's fattening up for slaughter, eh, as a blood bank, rather. It would never enter her mind, at this point, that he might be interested in her personally, even when all of her attempts to avoid him backfire. Well before Feng & Shan get together, her friends were already swooping in to tell her that trying to make it work w/ a rich guy is a MISTAKE. She'll be dumped b/c rich guys have endless options & temptations. Her parents even tell her: "We don't want you to bring home someone wealthy." This is all contrasted w/ cuz LiuLiu, whose mother is the opposite. She tries to force her daughter to stay w/ a horrible man only b/c he's loaded. Another contrast is Shan's roommate, whose parents don't like roomie's new bf b/c he's not successful enough. Opinions. Everybody's got one. The people giving Shan advice know nothing of her relationship w/ Feng.
All this while, Shan fashions herself enamored w/ Handsome Qi! Handsome, friendly, and pretty much a chick magnet, he's the type of guy that everybody's a little bit in love with. Mr Feng is more complex and difficult to love. “When you give up a tree that doesn't belong to you, you'll find that there's a whole forest there waiting for you to explore,” Handsome Qi says to Shan. They've just had a discussion about how they like each other, but like isn't love. They're friends - another reason e'erbody at the company is talking about & watching Shan.
BaM is about adjusting. He declares his love ⅓ into the show. When Feng&Shan finally get together, it's a secret. She's depressed. She doesn't feel secure in the relationship… & /why/ doesn't he want to celebrate Valentine's Day? Everyone else got 💐. As Valentine's Day approaches, He remarks that his grandfather was traditional and they never celebrated any Western holidays. At the same time, Shan's friends are asserting that Feng must not love her. One of the family's close friends is living at his family's house because she's going through a trauma. Shan's friends put unnecessary pressure on her by insisting that Feng's two-timing her. There's a thin line between cautioning someone & arrogance. This segues nicely into the theme of BaM - the destructive force of gossip.
Let's gossip about gossip. Why do people do it? Why does it feel good? Gossip is a function of pride. Pride always compares & competes. We humans gossip to make ourselves feel superior by comparison. We usually have no idea about the real story, the person's challenges, strengths, weaknesses, abilities, flaws, advantages & disadvantages, background… Gossip is basically a vat of lies that we enjoy taking a bath in once in awhile. Not only is it pathetic, but it's cruel & pernicious. Anyone who gossips IS part of the problem. And Shan is feeling the weight of her many problems.
The gossip at work keeps getting worse. When he was bringing her to the office to eat, they weren't dating, but everybody assumed that they were. Once they start dating, they keep a distance, so everybody assumes that she was tossed to the side. Every incident is misinterpreted in the most vile way. She's a pariah, constantly measured & found to be not good enough. As Feng is hard to read, she's always ill-at-ease. When they finally do go public, Shan has to deal w/ a whole different kind of gossiping. She's become a zoo exhibit. Everybody suddenly wants to talk to her, greet her, & suck up to her. Everyone in Feng's sphere thinks the beautiful, composed, & sophisticated LiShu is a better match. Shan is adorable (she wears that tedious bun in her hair most of the show, and it ain't her best look) but she doesn't care about clothes & makeup (just food), so there's constant comments that she's mid. While Feng is under pressure, Shan is the one who really suffers, while Feng remains mostly oblivious to it. As Feng is also hard to read, she's always ill-at-ease. Shan even stresses over her raise, concerned that it will be lower to prove there's no favoritism. When she gets her raise, people comment on how it should have been more, so she isn't /that/ special. There's no winning this contest.
Another common theme in Chinese entertainment is that it's lonely at the top. China excels at showing how none of us are truly free. They often portray CEOs & kings as miserable people in miserable places. The Great Gatsby factors significantly in the show. It's a story about a man going to extraordinary efforts to attract a woman's attention, but in the end, the woman is a shallow person who doesn't deserve the love & effort he invested in her. Shan's the furthest thing from greedy. She prefers a simple life & that's a huge chunk of her charm.
Some of the fashion is painful to look at. Mr Fang actually has a shirt w/ a leopard plushie collar. It's beyond awful. There's a 🚲 trail scene that is very pretty. The soundtrack isn't bad at all. Roll the Dice, by Shan Gao is good.
BaM is a romance for romance junkies, not the general public. This show is the perfect formula for me when I'm exhausted & my brain doesn't want too much stimulation. China actually excels at such prozac-effect entertainment. Where BaM truly does itself proud is that it does have a worthy message. "Don't try to change yourself only for me." Feng loves her as she is. Shan's feelings of inadequacy made both of them uncomfortable. We should all never stop working on ourselves, but her motivation should be /self-improvement/, not to feel that she's /worthy/ of him. (Whatever. She can't eat that 😆).
This ain't Shakespeare. But it has its moments. Shan decides that the only thing to do is to become the best version of herself so that she can stay on proudly next to Feng. That's the answer. 🔔🔔Ding.
QUOTE📢
That's the way marriage is. You can't choose the best one, you can only choose the right one
〰🖍 IMHO
📣7 📝7.5 🎭7.5 💓7 🦋6 🎨6 🎵/🔊6.8 🔚7 🤗6.5 ▪ 🌞5.5 ⚡3 😅3 😭2.5 😱2 😯3.5 🤢1 🤔5 💤0
Age 14+ mild adult situations & sexual content including sex & pregnancy outside of marriage. Language: b!+ch ×1
Re-📺? not as rare a possibility as RH- blood
In order of ~lite & trite~ to ~heavy & serious~ you may also like:
Power Balance Shifts:
Find Yourself 8.9;
The Romance of Tiger and Rose 9.8;
Wait, My Youth-8.4,
A Little Thing Called First Love 8.5;
K🇰🇷 :
Crazy Love-7.8,
A Witch's Love 7.8;
Oh My Venus-7.4,
My Roommate Is a Gumiho-7.9,
Crash Landing On You 9.1;
Oh My Ghost 10;
Call It Love-8.4,
My Mister 9.5;
Taiwan🇹🇼:
The Fierce Wife-8
💓 -
K🇰🇷 :
Another Miss Oh-7.5,
Love Struck in the City 7.3,
Be Melodramatic-8.7
restored
Love To Hate You 8.9;
Touch Your Heart 8.2;
Something in the Rain-8.6,
Romance junkies only: Accidentally in Love-6.5 ‘18 B-level scripting, acting, and directing, but still fun/strangely relaxing to watch,
Well-Intended Love-7.5 Rom-porn - extra points for the dopamine but many object to an outrageous stunt the ML pulls,
When I Fly Towards You-7.8,
You are my destiny-6.8 cute and sweet and 1/2 padding,
Meteor Garden-7.4 - 70% flowing 30% dragging and BOF is better,
Hidden Love-7.8
🔮🐉-
C🇨🇳: Love Between Fairy & Devil 8.9;
The Sleepless Princess 9.1;
Douluo Continent 9.4;
Handsome Siblings 8.7;
Ancient Love Poetry 8.6;
Love and Redemption 10
Japanese🇯🇵 lite romcoms: Maid Sama-10, Mischievous Kiss Love in Tokyo-7.8, Love, Chunibyo And Other Delusions-8.4, Toradora-8.5
Originally 〰️🖋 1/2025
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Catch a Ride Don't Sweep By °7.6° °VG°
‘That haul is worth $500.00.’ That thar haul’s a massive load of metal ~ the size of a medium building ~ and they give him 500 bucks. Space sweepers are scrappers who sell what they find floating out in the expanse. Making a livin ain't easy. They are paid in cash, because people that aren't citizens of the UTS Corporation aren't afforded any credit. Our crew runs into trouble when they're scrapping a wreck and find a little girl in the rubble.There's pictures of this little girl all over the news. Apparently, she's an android with a hydrogen bomb planted inside of her. By the time the crew realizes this, they already have her on the ship. They're terrified, until they realize they could probably make some money off of her. That's how it starts. They keep the action flowing. It goes by fast for the time allotment - there's no dead spots. SS is a 2021 136-minute release that is rated 70/78 on RT, 6.5 on IMDB, 86 on AWiki, and 8.3 on MDL.
Song Joong-ki (Arthdal Chronicles, Descendants of the Sun-8.3, Reborn Rich) is ML, Tae-ho. Kim Tae-ri (Mr. Sunshine, Revenant) plays Captain Jang. Yoo Hai-jin (A Taxi Driver, Exhuma) gives voice to Bubs. Kim Hyang-gi (Along With the Gods: The Two Worlds-7.2, Salon De Nabi) is Bubs' New Body. Jin Sun-kyu (Uprising, Through the Darkness, Revenant) portrays Tiger Park. Richard Armitage (The Hobbit (liked it), North and South(loved it), & Castlevania-8.4) portrays James Sullivan / The CEO of UTS. Kim Moo-yul (Forgotten, Juvenile Justice) plays Kang Hyun-woo, and Oh Ji-yul (The Glory) is Su-ni. The screenwriter/director is Jo Sung Hee of A Werewolf Boy and additional screenwriters are Yoon Seung Min & Yoo Kang Seo Ae. The film is based on original creator/webtoonist Hongjacga's work.
SS is a classic style Sci-fi film. The primary criticism would be that it's formulaic. It follows some familiar flows and patterns, as well as recycled plot devices typical of action films. At this point in entertainment, we can't expect new things all the time, because most human stories actually do follow similar patterns. Human behavior is such. What's good about SS is the acting, the artistry and the sets, which are excellent with their well used, dirty, not pristine state. The plot may feel familiar, but there are a couple departures. There's a little twist at the end which is rather nice, and everybody does not get what they want.
SS doesn't deserve the 6.5 rating that it currently has on IMDB. I arrived at a 7.6 which means it doesn't quite reach an 8, but it is very good. This is for people who enjoy space films. Everything in SS is solidly competent. One has to wonder if people turned away when they realized it wasn't an entirely English-speaking film? It's primarily Korean, but several different nationalities and languages are featured before things settle down with the one K-crew. It has an international feel which is rather nice.
I've been hooked on foreign features for a while, as Hollywood has been so dumbed down it's insulting. With their overabundance of outstanding actors, Asian features are my current favorites - The thespians are definitely there for their merit. I'm a big fan of Korean shows, and the confidence & range of their child actors is always astounding. What's been missing is the high quality special-effects, but SS represents a change. Kdrama and Chinese features are getting more popular and their budgets are booming. So, hop on SS and other foreign features for a great ride.
〰🖍 IMHO
🎬8 🖊️〰7 🎭8.5 🌞8 🎨7.5 ⚡8 😅6 🤔6 🔚9
👁📺again? Not opposed
Recommendations:
⚡/🚀 -
K2 8,
Flex X Cop-8.5,
Private Lives 8.1,
When the Camellia Blooms-8,
Glitch-8,
Vagabond-8,
Uncanny counter season-1 only-S1-8.4 S2-4,
Inspector Koo-8.4,
Sisyphus 8,
Tunnel 8.5,
Signal 8.6,
Revenge of Others-8.6,
Blood Free-8.5,
Moving-8.3,,
D.P.-8.4,
The Cursed 8.3,
Flower of Evil 8.9,
The Man from Nowhere 8.9,
The Wailing-8.8,
Parasite-9,
Mother-8.8,
Black 9,
Squid Game 8.4,
Kingdom 8.3,
Sweet Home 8.4
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This review may contain spoilers
✒THE GRINCH REAPER ~♠️~ Whoa, what just happened to me? °outstanding°
[Spoilers are contained at the end]The red string that stings 💮 The red thread of the dead 💮 The red cord of discord 💮
The red rope without hope ➰💔➰ Red, Red, Redeaux 💮 The red line that binds 💮 At the end of the line
~MY HEAD HURTS~
🅱 is a story about a grim reaper who inhabits a fresh body to conduct an investigation. He ends up uncovering a tragedy of Shakespearean dimensions that's encapsulated in Ha-ram's mother's declaration: "Everything that happened was wrong." While it's altogether 💓-wrenching, it's also cathartic & oddly satisfying. 🅱 is simply profound.
The wham-crammed-jammed final eps gave me palpitations. I'm still trying to sort it out & get back in rhythm. Just b/c a concept is opaque or lofty doesn't mean we should bypass the effort to get to the heart of the matter. So ~ a-digging-I-go ~ Found~~>> Unpopular Opinion: 'Hated Black's Ending? Well, You're Wrong,' by Joelle Halon. She hella-helped lift the veil.
The names & numbers of the main characters were chosen w/ care. Ms Halon mentions the significance of Black's reaper#. 444 stands for death & misfortune, but the alternate meaning is a sign of God's love & protection. Ms Halon digs out Easter 🍳s that the writer tucked into her work. Our protag will embody both the +&- of #444 thru the course of 🅱. Ms Halon's article helps w/ the complexities of the last couple eps. Though 🅱 is challenging, it's worth the effort. The 📝 embedded meaning behind every detail. Once you've seen 🅱, the following is likely to produce chills:
#416 is an optimism stamp. The glass is half full. Look for a + in the broken pieces.
#419 signifies being chosen to unleash true potential & let ☀ shine. Guardian angels are watching.
#420(Prisoner#): 420 is about fulfilling potential, or life purpose.
"Ha-ram" means that, in love, it's best to make decisions w/ the ❤. Refrain from behaving in emotional ways at work.
"Joons" suffer the life challenge to avoid disillusionment.
The name "Soowan" warns that there's a limit to how much a person can influence others. Anticipating one's own emotional changes & vulnerabilities is the challenge.
"Man-soo" augurs how patience can take personal plans a long way.
Pay attention to the ⬆⬆ for a rewarding payoff.
Huck Reaper⛏ When we first meet 🅱 he's loathsome. Cold, rude, dismissive... we could throw the 📖 of Hateful Adjectives at him & give him the maximum sentence. But 🅱 goes from sneering at humans to sacrificing himself for one human. In fairness, he was giving up himself to save ALL the victims of the collective horrors depicted on screen. The transition 🅱 undergoes is similar to that of Mark Twain’s Huck Finn. Unlike 🅱, Huck is a kind person, though he hadn't challenged society's view on Africans who were forcibly captured & enslaved. Like 🅱, the odyssey Huck found himself living out completely transforms him.
Huck's traveling companion is Jim, who is of African descent. At 1st, Huck looks at Jim thru society's eyes & unconsciously presumes his own superiority. As things progress, Huck is confronted w/ the realization that Jim is as human as Huck is. Soon, Huck starts to see Jim as a friend… then a brother… by the end of the book, Huck is ready to /die/ to protect Jim: He valued Jim more than his own life. 🅱's triumph over his prejudicial nature is just one of the positive messages that arise from the ooze in this show.
🅱's primary msg is messianic. Other themes include the dark 🖤 of humanity, self-sacrificial love & painful parent/child relationships. Sadly, most of the parents depicted in 🅱 are deplorable.
2 primary protags are Moo-gang & Joon. Joon has a strong sense of justice. He's a protector. We see it ♻ver & ♻ver. As a child, Moo-gang shows how brave, loyal & protective he is. It's no surprise he becomes a policeman. As the story progresses, we see those commendable qualities are continuously pumped into their consciousnesses. Their good ❤s mature as they mature. Moo-gang's mission is to investigate a tragedy that his family suffered: It will lift the lid on a cesspool of shocking corruption & other muck that seems almost too-2-too vast to neutralize. He has a monstrous task ahead of him.
Many viewers are tripped up by 🅱's deficiencies. Ha-ram is incredibly stupid to go after villain Wang Young-choon (WYC) herself, yet she does w/o communicating anything to the police. So irritating. While Go Ara was amazing at 🕞s, Ha-ram, unfortunately, spent most of the show in a rattled panic attack. Her heavy breathing while gasping out words was overdone by ep4. In addition, 🅱's timeline includes things that aren't possible. While 🅱 takes leaps that lead to logical ⚫holes, the director & 📝 still created a superbly crafted story. Avoiding spoilers prevents sharing of most techniques.
The series is powerful not only b/c the inspired script, but also its skillful construction. We are able to get our romance fix filled to the brim with SK's other offerings, so don't fret that this is not the romance you wanted. 🅱 is something much deeper. It is as thought provoking as it is a bit of a mindrape. Yes, on the pure romance scale, it's mundane. YET - 🅱 is one of the most romantic things EVER.
The stage is set early: 1st, by the name of the series (there's no mistaking what to expect) & also w/ the close-up of a skull as the post-prelude opening shot. They spread out a menagerie of subtleties, grey areas, circle backs (or spirals), as well as visual metaphors, cues, links, & juxtapositions. Like a shadowy blanket, irony covers 🅱. Almost /every/ line poin⬆s ↖somewhere↙or↘somewhen↗ else.
Meet Moo-gang, the cop who, ironically, can't l👀k at a body. He meets Ha-ram, the girl who sees t👀 many bodies. Watch for mℹsℹnformatℹon. Whenever 444, or anybody else, says: "That's n🅾ne of my business/That's has n🅾thing to do w/ me," it's probably n🅾t so. Don't assume that any assertion is correct. There is also irony of scale, or phrases that mean much more than what was 'intended'. "Do you know what I went through so that he could live⁉", queries 1 mother- Trust me, you have 🅾 idea.
🅱eat, 🅱eat, 🅱eat, 🅱 is a drumming debate over fate. Foreshadowing is 1 of its c♻nstant tenets. Cut to Ha-ram, who has a vision of Joon telling her: It's cold; she shouldn't sleep there. This dream will take the viewer below the surface. A 🦋 watch cycles in & out of the spotlight. It's an odd design for a man's ⌚, unless it's a symbol of a 🦋's passage to new life. Repeated w♻rds & c♻ncepts make a showing. In one scene the word "black" is used a dozen or so times within 3ish minutes, as if it was a behind-the-scenes dare.
🅱 mercilessly forces the 🔪 & bleeds out every bit of our ❤s. 444 is warned: Don't make eye contact w/ any person in love, or a horrible tragedy will befall you. Such c⚠utions are meant to be heeded. The filming has Ingmar-Bergmanish redolence of iconic bleakness in the scenes where Ha-ram & Moo-gang discuss what's occurred.
Then we have the H🔥T 🅱lack-🎱n-bl♠ck-💣n-Bl🅰ck shower scene, which is absolutely necessary to move the plot & not the least bit gratuitous, thank you very much. Perhaps I'm being a little gratuitous about that. 🤔Hmm. Anyway, it's a m👀d-lifter.
🅱 is icky at times. When police examine the murder scene of a stabbing victim, Det 444 handles the victim's intestines w/🅾 gloves. Then his lunch arrives▶ "Who the he‼ ordered food⁉", says one cop. 444 eats his dinner of intestine🥘, even the chunk that went in the goo and it is so over the T😱P. So far over. Good stuff. I have an appetite for more.
Strangely, there's lots of laughs. Humor lifts the pressure release valve, thankfully.🤧. Teaming the Joseon GR with a middle-school wannabe rapper is a new twist on The Odd Couple.
Ha-ram calls 444 loser. He calls his ex-partner loser. You'll have to watch to appreciate it. 🅱 gets nostalgic when he's separated from Ha-ram. He recalls every 🕞 Ha-ram kicked or clocked him, or cursed & yelled at him. He drops his head & says that he just wants to hear her voice. It's 🅱lack humor by 🅱, thus it's metaphorically funny too. The police squad is a whole fruit 🍰 of nut jobs. A couple seasons following them around would be full-on fun. Nothing's as special as a 1st💋kiss, right? Seeing a man go bug-out-🦇-crazy over the experience makes it even better. The scene is perfect.
While 444 & Ha-ram are just starting to circle r♻und eachother, she says she'll keep her 👀 on him & make her /own/ conclusion as to his character. He tells her to N🅾T keep her 👀 on him. But just #l👀k at him in that 🅱lack suit! What woman could keep her 👀 averted for long? 🅱 is, well, just adorable when he takes Ha-ram to his doctor to explain his odd behavior as due to the bullet in his head. His expression is priceless.
But for Ha-ram's shrillness, the acting is ✨. WYC, 1 of the bad guys, is used in some twisted ways that dovetail w/ his personality. Not only does he take a beating over the course of the show, but they generate some oddball laughs at his expense. 444 is pressing him for ℹnformatℹon, when WYC bellows: "I didn't kill your brother‼." Kudos to Woo Hyeon for the spot-on acting. He's deranged, but entirely credible. I believed him. Go Ara dispatched some serious acting skill in the last 5 potent minutes as she reviews the staggering entirety of her life. All the cast made the cut. 🅱 is a quality production on every level.
Most of the 'problems' are minor, except for a couple quagmires that remain a big ?mark. Just bypass all that, as 🅱 is colored like no others.
~MY 💔 HURTS~
〰🖍 IMHO
🎬10 🎭8 〰🖋9 💓7 🦋8 🤔10 🌞1 🎨8 🔚9
Age17+ extreme violence
👀📺again? ✅🔂 I'm upset because it hasn't been available for streaming. I went to put it on for family and, to my dismay, it wasn't to be found. I am waiting for it to return so I can get a team watch going.
⛔️SPOILER SECTION⛔️
💮 More humor:
The kiss hit him like a train, not a car. Who's to believe the scene where this totally scrumptious man is checking out guides on how to kiss, or smearing ice cream on his face hoping that Ha-ram will lick it off again?😅 Those b@$t@rd$ didn't even allow him to kiss her much! All that practice went to waste.
Luckily, 🅱 came up with a plan, b/c misfit squad was about to electrocute him! They only wanna help him regain his memory... Shades of Airplane, or Bugs Bunny, smh🤣.
💮 More romance:
Falling for Ha-ram is 🅱's trigger for change. It starts quickly. By ep6 he's already acting a tad jealous, though still one cold, heartless jerk. In one of his many deaths he says: "Why, when I was dying, did /that/ girl pop into my head? That's so annoying."
By ep15, he's thinking of Ha-ram 1st, and even Ha-ram's mother begged 🅱 to stay.. 🅱 decided to find Joon for Ha-ram's sake. In the end, he's selfless even when he's being selfish. He decides he 'deserves' to live a happy human life➡with Ha-ram. That is not the complete story, though. He wants a life with Ha-ram, in part, to protect her from ever finding out what happened. That is why destroying the laptop is a priority, even if it would have exposed the truth of his horrific death & lead to the justice for which he had strived. Knowing the details of that woeful night would eviscerate Ha-ram, and those details are on that laptop.
💮 More filmcraft:
💮 The 1st of the many devices the director used to craft this intricate work is constant foreshadowing: As it turns out, it's not entirely false that Ha-ram brings misfortune. Also, when Ha-ram screams at her stepfather, "How can someone die like that!?" Think: JOON.
💮 Visual cues are employed: After 007 talks about the mall collapse & all the kids that died, his head turns to 416.
💮 There's brilliant juxtaposition: Leo's filming a movie & 🅱 is on live-feed jumping from a moving car to latch onto the window of an also moving bus. It looks like Leo's been upstaged.
💮More irony:
Both 🅱 & Ha-ram comment on suicide early on. 444 refers to the grim reapers who had committed suicide as "these idiotic pathetic ones that used to be human." Who will commit "suicide" later?
Moo-gang & Ha-ram BOTH helped WYC, unwittingly
444 tells 007: "That woman will never be able to save anyone's life. I'll make sure..." Then HE saves multiple lives through his sacrifice.
20 yrs: Mad Dog says he's been making the same hangover soup for 20 years. That means he's needed hangover soup since he lost Clara. The camera pans from Clara dying to a label: "Handle with care."
Speaking of pushing the 🔪 in, heartbreaks are alluded to by the dozens, it seems. Most of the characters die in the course of the show, including Black's 7 deaths (+ the scene: Get out of Moo-gang's body! Now! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang❗ is in addition to his other deaths).
The most difficult scene in the show is when 🅱 goes to visit his mother at the restaurant. She thanks him for figuring out who killed Joon. Then she tells him that she went to prison for Joon. Compare that to his adopted mother. "It's too unfair!," he laments. He's like every other "pathetic" dead person: Caught flat-lined.
💮 About the ending:
Ha-ram tells 🅱 that her life doesn't have to be fabulous, but she's going to live to be an old lady. She asked for it & he's listening.
The ultimate penalty is that his existence will be denied. No one will remember him. 🅱 still exists, so it's the memory of him, and likely his existence on earth, that is being revoked. In doing this, he takes on the alternate meaning of 444, and becomes a redeeming messianic figure. The messiah theme is reinforced by a verse in Revelation where it says: "I make all things new," which 444's sacrifice effectively does. As we said in the 90's: Be kind & rewind.
Ms Halon's insights are also worth noting here: Some cultures believe people die three times, the 3rd death being that no one remembers them anymore. "...by exposing the loophole and having #419 remember him for Ha-Ram, a third death did not occur because memories of Joon were preserved."
"What kind of ending is that? That poor GR!," laments Ha-ram.
When Black comes to retrieve her, she lies about having been "very happy." It's on her face. Ha-ram got exactly what she asked for. The fact that her soul emerged as the young Ha-ram signifies which life was the most important to her, per Ms Halon.
The worst logistical prob: How would a Reaperless Leo have known to prevent Ha-ram's father from getting in an accident?
Just bypass the issues, as 🅱 is colored like no other. This is really black.
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✒ ☕️ Just Desserts °6.5° °good°
This is a 2-episode follow-up to the show No Gain, No Love-7.4, which is a medium-low IQ romance made just-for-fun. NGNL is a pre-requisite to this show; there's no “getting it” without watching NGNL first. In SUOL, we dive into the plot of one of Bora's novels. They cut from the novel to the scene where she faints and Bok Gyu Hyun takes her to the hospital. When she wakes up, SHE'S inside of her script as the heroine. She looks great with the long black hair, BTW. This 2ndary couple's is FUN.Her novel's ML is based on her longtime friend (crush) Yeo HaJun, so that is who we see with the heroine in the opening scene. When Bora wakes up, she is inside her FL and the ML is not HaJun - it's that loathsome hate-commenter! They are still enemies at this point in the story. I'm becoming a fan of actor, Lee Sang Yi, and it has nothing to do with looks. He sings for the soundtrack too.
Awesome special effects augment one scene. She's in a bus and is startled to see him on a billboard. His billboard image comes to life and starts talking. It even breaks the 2D plane and leans down towards her, coffee in hand. Later, he flies through the air and catches her when she's in danger, in another scene. When they land, it's with enough force to crumple the pavement. That whole scene is right out of Chinese fantasy, which is arguably the best fantasy entertainment in the world. In fact, the plot is not unlike the absolutely marvelous The Romance of Tiger and Rose-9.8, where the writer falls into her script. In TROTAR, the FL is transferred into a character that gets whacked in ep3, so she must scramble to save her life and then complete the plot so that she can go home. Every move she makes creates a ripple effect, though, and her villain isn't as villainous as she wrote him. In fact he's…. Ha! Just watch the show.
In TROTAR, the FL maintains her autonomy. In SUOL the FL has bouts where she must engage in the plot (one steamy encounter after another), despite her desperate desire to not do so. She LOATHES The ML. Yet she can't push his lips away from hers. And she doesn't loathe what's going on completely. She's fighting against herself.
It's a bit of afterglow fluff. It could have been better, but it's 2 fun little episodes. If you like the main dish, NGNL, there's no reason you won't enjoy dessert.
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There are no accidents ~⚠️~ The Romance Of Turning Red Lights Green. °6.5° °Good°
On many levels, this is a wee bit Hallmarkish and possibly goofy, but it does touch on some difficult issues as well.So often, what others imagine is way worse than the truth. MSB is a reminder that if we aren't honest about our vulnerabilities people will fill in the blanks with some of their darkest thoughts. It's a worthy message.
FL, Ms Chae Ro-won(CRW) and ML, Mr. Eun Hwan-gi(EHG), though completely opposite personalities, are each isolated by broken down families. EHG's father is coldly domineering. EHG and his sister are always grasping for cover to cloak their scars from an unfriendly, unfair, and unfamiliar world. Unfortunately, they end up hiding, which feeds their entrenched isolation. CRW lives in a dead home. Her family died when her sister, Ji-hye (Han Chae Ah from The Bridal Mask), committed suicide.
CRW has always been suspicious about what led to her sister's death 3 years prior. Brain PR, her sister's employer, is hiding the truth behind it. She's #certain. All the signs point directly at Ji-hye's immediate boss, EHG. So CRW, determined to expose the truth and get justice for her sister, obtains a position at the company.
Brain PR was started by said domineering dad, Eun Book-dong (Kim Eung Soo from Because This Is My First Life-7.7). Mr. Eun had stepped down and passed leadership of the company to EHG and Kang Wu-il, his future son i/l, so that he could pursue poli⬆ical📶goals. Mr. Kang and EHG have been friends since childhood. Kang is polished and a veritable savant at making dramatically successful presentations. EHG is shy to the point that it's a debilitating disorder.
While EHG knows the names, details, strengths and weaknesses of every BPR employee, and while he would like to forge relationships with them, his employees only see a privileged rich kid when they look at him. They take quietness for condescension, and averted 👀 for disdain. Most employees are terrified of him. The resplendent Mr. Kang is the leader that they want.
Enter The Can-Opener: Ms Chae. If anything, this singer/actress is too headstrong. She infiltrates Brain PR and rips the lid off, allowing light and air in. Such is the premise. The execution is not bad. Their goal, obviously, was to make a cute r💓mance: Nothing more, nothing less. They succeeded. In typical Kdrama fashion, two people are introduced to viewers that are extremes of themselves. Ms Chae is obnoxiously uber aggressive in the first couple episodes, and young Mr. Eun is agonizingly and exasperatingly recoiled within himself. He is terrified of human interaction.
Some things they do well are the likable characters, the fun PR projects they take on, and an above average first kiss. The actors are amazing at displaying character changes via physical manifestations. Some stand up straighter and become more attractive as they grow, as others start to slouch over with drooped, pale faces from guilt weighing them down. Director, Song Hyun Wook, has gifted us with The King's Affection-8.3, Another Miss Oh-7.5, & the popular The Beauty Inside, but he's also responsible for the underwhelming Revolutionary Love-5.7. He seems to be taking 2 steps forward and a step or half-step back in his career - he's growing. The King's Affection is a masterpiece. Actor Yeon Woo Jin (Queen for Seven Days) is our painfully shy boss who gradually finds courage once he's forced open by the electric actress and magnificent singer, Park Hye Soo (Saimdang, Light’s Diary-8.5). Gong Seung Yeon (Flower Crew: Joseon Marriage Agency-7.4 & the marvelous, outrageously funny My Only Love Song-8.7) displays fragility in MSB as EHG's sister, while Yoon Park (What Happens to My Family?) as Kang, her fiance, begins the show as if he's conquered the world - until things don't go his way. The whole cast is excellent, and the acting is one of the show's strengths.
At other times, there's sloppiness, odd plot points and a bit of wandering around that felt like padding. Ep16 is strange. The last scene was satisfying, but there were many things that didn't happen that might have taken the viewers to deeper insights. MSB chose to remain in the shallows. That isn't the worst criticism. Entertainment should challenge us at times, but other times we need to veg.
Lovers of r💓mance are likely to enjoy taking a mental break at Brain PR, but if 💓 is not your genre, close the door and apply elsewhere.
Quote:
Being under the impression that you know everything is dangerous.
〰🖍 IMHO
🎬7 🤔5 🎭7 💓7 🦋5 😅6 🎨7 🔚3
Age 13+
👀📺again? ⛔
Originally 〰️🖊 10/2021
Other shows that are good viewing for younger audiences are:
9+Trollhunters-9.5 (slightly scary. Worst language is “butt snack”)
10+ C🇨🇳 Accidentally in Love-6.5 B-level scripting, acting, and directing, but still fun/strangely relaxing to watch,
Holes-8,
Howl's Moving Castle-8.9,
K🇰🇷 A Love So Beautiful-7,
My Dog Skip-8,
K🇰🇷 Part Time Idol-5.5 (suicide addressed),
Paulie-7.4,
Saiki-8,
K🇰🇷Spark-6.4,
K🇰🇷 Strongest Delivery Man-6.6
11+ Belle-8.5,
K🇰🇷 Flower Boy Next Door-7,
Girls Und Panzer-8.1 (1 each d@mn, he!!),
Labyrinth-7,
C🇨🇳 A Little Thing Called First Love-8.5,
Love Chunibyo And Other Delusions-8.4,
K🇰🇷 The Miracle-7.7,
One Piece-7.5 there is scattered PG-13 language,
Watership Down-8.5
12+ K🇰🇷 99 Days With the Superstar-7,
Colourcloud Palace-8,
Farming Life in Another World-7.7,
Goonies-8,
Here Comes Miss Modern-7.8,
Hotel del Luna 8.4,
1995 Jumanji-9,
K🇰🇷 My ID is Gangnam Beauty-7.5 ,
C🇨🇳 Love Between Fairy & Devil-8.9,
Piano In The Forest l-8,
K🇰🇷 So I Married My Anti-fan-6.8,
Your Lie In April-9
13+ K🇰🇷 Boys Over Flowers-8.3 ~ melodrama to the max;
K🇰🇷Cinderella and the 4 Knights-5.6,
K🇰🇷 Heirs-7.3,
K🇰🇷 My Shy Boss-6.5,
K🇰🇷 Playful kiss-7.3,
Princess Resurrection-7.6,
Senryu Girl-7.5,
Special A Class-8.2
14+ My Runway-7.5
Princess Principal-8.6,
Toradora-8.5,
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✒⛩️ Phooey on FuYa °4.9° °a real downer°
🎑The princess is to be beheaded. For Pan Yu (FuYa), it's just a Tuesday. She's always under threat of death for one reason or another.TGIC is a 2011 release consisting of 44 45-minute episodes. And it can be pretty rough, at times. The show never grabbed me and it gradually got worse and worse. By the time I was halfway through I had lost interest, almost entirely. I let the episodes continue to play to keep up with the plotline, but I couldn't bring myself to watch attentively. I opted to let it drone on in the background while I was doing other things. The more I kept up with the plot, the more I started to hate the show. For reference point, I love the following titles:
Overlord 8.4,
Under the Power 8.6,
The Rebel Princess 9.1,
The Sword and the Brocade 8.6 (in ancient Chinese opera style),
Ruyi's Royal love in the palace episodes 1 - 49. I abandoned the show at that point because I found out what was coming and I didn't feel like dealing with 30 episodes of steadily encroaching heartbreak. If one stops at episode 49 there's a happy ending and it's sort of perfect.
The Rise of Phoenixes 9,
The Romance of Tiger and Rose 9.8;
The Sleepless Princess 9.1.
Except for the last two entries, which contain fantasy elements, those titles aren't fantasy, and I like Chinese fantasy shows even /more/. I also liked Legend of the Two Sisters in Chaos-7.7, though the ending is bittersweet. While I wasn't able to finish it before it left Netflix, I started Foresighted Liu Bo Wen, which is dated and less sophisticated than what China is putting out
now. I liked it. But I loathe this show.
Ruby Lin (The Victims' Game, Three Kingdoms) plays Ma Fu Ya / Pan Yu / Lady Yuan. She's the princess of Chu. Her uncle usurped the throne and murdered her father - in front of her eyes. Yan Yi Kuan (Burning Flames, Ensanguined Youth) Meng Qi You / Crown Prince of Shu. FuYa runs to Shu and becomes embroiled in the court there. Wallace Huo (Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace, Battle of Changsha, Suddenly Seventeen) is Liu Lian Cheng, prince of Han. He falls hard for FuYa when they meet while both on the run - I like him way more than the ML. The 3 Kingdoms are in heightened tensions, and FuYa is right in the thick of it.
Meanwhile, back at the palace, Jennifer Hung (Dear Mom,The On1y One) plays Ma Xiang Yun who can't get a break. She's FuYa's cousin, her dad is the new emperor of Chu, she's pretty and talented, but no man will look at her with FuYa around. They must be able to sense how rotten she is - to the core. My favorite character happens to be FuYa's eunuch. He's fabulous. Miao Hao Jun (Are You the One, Douluo Continent-9.1, Stories of the Tourist Agency) plays Hua Zi Qiao. FuYa just calls him “grandpa”. The director is Lin Feng of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Three Kingdoms, and Sai Shang Feng Yun Ji, so he's capable. Everyone has an off project every mow and then. The screenwriters are Shao Si Han (Singing All Along, Swords of Legends), and Shao Xiao Yi, who in addition to collaborating on those two works, also scripted Noble Aspirations.
The theme is that it's lonely (and thoroughly deadly) at the top. Don't get attached to many characters because not many will survive.
As I started watching TGIC I was wondering if the ratings were too harsh. It gets off to a strong start despite having an aged feel. Midshow, I started to get it. The show keeps circling the same drains with too much back and forth revisiting the same old retread. It isn't awful (maybe it is, north of episode30), it just never launches off of the ground and soars.
By the time the episode count reached around 30, I hit a roadblock. I didn't like FuYa's romantic choices. She was getting on my nerves a little bit. I found the ML unlikable. His nasally voice was getting on my nerves. The overwhelming number b!+che$ snapping at them was getting on my nerves ~ the show has an over-abundance of mean girls. I got into a cycle of trying to pay attention and then inadvertently starting to do other things. The other shows I was watching on the same days did hold my gaze - including some pretty brainless romances. A brainless romance can still stir the heart. TGIC only stirs up an overload of bile. I recommend you skip it.
〰🖍 IMHO
📣5 📝4 🎭7 💓3 🦋4 🎨6 🎵/🔊6 🔚4 🤗0 ▪ 🌞4⚡4 😅1 😭7 😱3 😯4.5 🤢3 🤔4 💤5
Age 14+ Violence, mild references to rape and prostitution
Language: d@mn, $h!+, he!! - but not very much.
Re-📺? With the benefit of the foreknowledge I now have, I wouldn't opt to watch it for the first time.
In order of ~lite & trite~ to ~heavy & serious~ you may also like:
💓 -
C🇨🇳:
A Little Thing Called First Love 8.5;
Find Yourself 8.9;
The Romance of Tiger and Rose 9.8;
The Sleepless Princess 9.1;
Wait, My Youth-8.4
Romance junkies only: Accidentally in Love-6.5 ‘18 B-level scripting, acting, and directing, but still fun/strangely relaxing to watch,
Well-Intended Love-7.5 Rom-porn - extra points for the dopamine but many object to an outrageous stunt the ML pulls,
When I Fly Towards You-7.8,
You are my destiny-6.8 cute and sweet and 1/2 padding,
Meteor Garden-7.4 - 70% flowing 30% dragging and BOF is better,
Hidden Love-7.8
🎎 -
K🇰🇷:
My Only Love Song 8.7 excellent comedy;
Mr. Queen 8.5;
My Sassy Girl 8.5;
The King's Affection 8.3;
Mr. Sunshine 9
🔮🐉-
C🇨🇳: Love Between Fairy & Devil 8.9;
Douluo Continent 9.4;
Handsome Siblings 8.7;
The Princes Royal
Ancient Love Poetry 8.6;
Love and Redemption 10
⚡/😱 -
C🇨🇳: Heavenly Sword and Dragon Slaying Saber 9-Kung-fu!;
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