Brogana Sunfrog

Whose vengeance is righteous ? "Heroes" are just as bad as villains.Romance doesn't work.

why the low rating:Song Joong Ki is not the reason ! it's the cast of characters closest around him that foul up the drama. For the first half of the series it was unexpectedly fun -yet the gritty, cold violence increasingly escalates & is very disturbing. The females in this series are all crass, crude, irritating & unpleasant. The good guys are playing the same games as the bad guys, so "good" is a matter of perspective ( who has tortured & killed less ?). Hero's by my definition are not cruel, so this eye for eye vengeful plotline pushed my level of tolerance to it's limit. OK it's fun to have a cool guy going around righting wrongs, but where's the line you don't cross ? Even Vincenzo admits that there is a time when he becomes a monster in order to fulfill his agenda. And the sad thing is that he inspires ( infects is a better word) those around him, putting them all in danger by following his example as well as turning them into deviants.By Episode 14 I just wanted to enjoy watching Song Joong Ki do his snarky cool thing, but the irritating female lead is like fingernails on a chalkboard & you wish someone would "off" her. I have zero desire to see the lead's in a romantic relationship at this point (& that never changed) .I gave myself a week off from watching before finishing the drama- I didn't find the building occupants interesting or amusing & the violence had started to be too much. The rest of the drama was set on driving home the theme that the justice system doesn't work as it should & so vigilantism is the only solution.[wait, by being a torturer & a killer driven by your own moral compass, how are you better than the evil you are trying to eradicate-as you go about unchecked on your self declared righteous "crusade" ?] The last episodes are grim & a blood bath of Vincenzo getting his revenge. They throw a bit of romance in that doesn't go anywhere because he can't stay in Korea & then there is a year time skip with the teaser that there might be a season 2. The ending is unsatisfying & if you step back from the fact that the actor playing the lead is so great to watch do his James Bond sort of thing, then you realize that you don't like the dark character he's playing, who will always be a killer.

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Female centric action comedy had Charlie's Angels vibe but no romance to speak of

if you saw the trailer you've gotten a good sense of what this movie is like. Female centric adventure really has a "Charlie's Angels" vibe with the mix of action & hijinks . I'm giving it a low rating because one of the lead female characters freezes everytime she sees s person from her traumatic past-causing her to basically faint -when she should be fighting. (think kryptonite & Superman) I thought it was a stupid trope. Also, that same female lead will NOT get her romantic happily ever after, (though one of her fellow girl fighters will). I felt like there were some plot holes & even some scene holes. I wouldn't rewatch it. Not horrible, but also, not memorable or all that interesting

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Tsundere /Mr. Darcy archetype male lead & heavy "Second Lead Syndrome

simply:
1) male lead is written too cold
2) female lead actress is annoying as is her character
3) 2nd male lead- the only reason you are watching this
4)2nd female lead character is a selfish shrew & not romance material
5) they throw in a time skip at the end that actually fixes nothing but proves that the male lead is superior to the female lead in how he acts.
6) yes, happy endings all around, but the only character you care about gets stuck with the worst partner, & with the time skip (& everything that has to do with it- it felt like a very damp unmomentous ending
The long explanation:
The female lead is one of my least favorite actresses. Her character here is unappealing- she's super needy in a cringingly whiney way . Then at the end she's suddenly cold & independent which doesn't match what we're supposed to believe about her. Honestly, neither lead sells the romance & you find yourself crushing hard on the second male lead (who is being chased by a harpy of a woman that you wouldn't wish on any man). SO, there is no satisfying romance in this drama, though there are happy endings for all 4 major characters as well as some side characters, but really, the romances were lacking all around. The ghosts in the first half are scarier than the ones in the second half. The male lead & the second male lead really are endearing. Sadly the female characters are not.
i liked how the male leads had character evolvement .
I think I probably rated this higher than it deserves (in light of how many things I didn't like about it!) though there were some very cute tropes and some lovely touching moments. As I finished it I felt like I would watch it again, but I probably won't when I could just rewatch something I like better

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SO many montages ! No romance, but Very Cringy cartoony cat manifestations

If you are here for Ding Yu Xi & you enjoy watching just about everything he does, you might want to rethink watching this. Yes you will get enough closeups to feed any obsession you might have, & yes, he does an admirable job acting, BUT there is no nice way to say that this is a bit of a dud for all reasons Not Ding Yu Xi. Firstly you must set your expectations as there is no romance for his character & really the character that has a whiff of romance in their storyline is really not worth mentioning.
I wonder if Ding Yu XI was tired of being the romantic lead in insipid dramas & wanted to enjoy himself & do action scenes ??
What you need to know is that this tries really hard to sell bromance & present it as a buddy ensemble drama. It focuses on the mysteries that need to be solved in each episode that propel the plot forward as each mystery solves a piece of the over arching puzzle. They mysteries aren't bad, but it's good to know ahead of time what you are getting into.
I did try to like this ,but it was not that entertaining to me.

Where this goes wrong:
One character is a Foreigner & he 's just handsome enough that they don't want you to be distracted by that because they want you to focus on Ding Yu Xi as the male lead, so they give this guy a uni brow, & a hairstyle that will remind you of America's disco era. He is also shackled with a dumb name :Alibaba ( & yes they do seem to indicate that he is from someplace middle eastern) When he speaks his native language, it just dialogue played backwards. He's part of an ensemble of buddies that will eat up way more screen time than they are worth . The group of guys is meant to be a brotherhood of sorts, that provides comedic relief. They are much less than endearing & the humor depends on your personal taste. Ding Yu Xi transforming into a cat doesn't actually happen that often & when it does ,the animation is very colorful but ....it just doesn't work. I'm exaggerating a bit here, but it was awful and the proportions are weird. Thankfully Ding Yu Xi is able to convey dangerous & angry [ cat ] without transforming the majority of the time-which is a huge relief.(honestly& sadly, the CGI cat IS embarrassing)
Another negative is that there are a ridiculous amount of LONG montages, where memories of a character are paraded in front of you & characters don't even have to die for the montages to be thrown in.

I'm not sure that this deserves 8 stars, but it is beautiful looking & then there's Ding Yu Xi & also there are the "mysteries" that get solved that are somewhat interesting [& really the focus of the drama]
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spoilers ahead:
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A big tragedy is that the character that you think is Ding Yu Xi's nemesis really isn't & besides
Ding Yu Xi, that's the character ,(& thier relationship with Ding Yu Xi, ) that you most care about, so when they "off" that character, it taints how you end up feeling about the drama over all.

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Feels like badly edited super short version of a full length drama

There are alot of abrupt flashbacks of things that supposedly happened that we only see in flashbacks & it make you feel cheated because they are flashed on the screen & then gone. This drama reminded me a bit of the Korean drama "Feel good to die", as it uses the "groundhog day" time loop, deals with a disgruntled employee & a supposedly mean boss romance. I wasn't impressed with this drama though, as it suffers from being way too short. I feel like they shrank down a 10 episode (of 40+ min each) drama into whatever bit sized thing this is. [ mini drama seems a bit to generous !] Yes, there is romance, but it's really low key and the kisses are basically just a screen shot & that's all. Though it's super short, it still felt like an unsatisfying waste of time

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Story wise, this drama is a true melo drama & suffers from the bloat. Long winded melodramatic rants & romantic switchbacks, with relationships ping-ponging around & zig zagging all over the place. It also doesn't serve up satisfying relationships, even though there are happy endings all around for the main characters.
Roy Chiu's character starts out with an over the top swagger that has him literally bouncing as he saunters around and it is neither believable or attractive. 20 episodes later he sheds that persona & THEN you see the Roy Chiu you came to see.
The second male lead has 2 faces; happy & morose. He will spend 90% of the drama looking worried & confused as his character pathetically waffles between women. The writers didn't seem to have much imagination as the second female lead ALSO is morose & prone to spacing out.
There are some tired tropes, such as:
the First love gets dibs on their first love, no matter how many years have gone by. Then there are the obligatory relationships with the ridiculous misplaced imposed duty & responsibility (to a relationship that only one person wants): with the ever supposedly "noble" sacrifices being anything but noble. People go around guilting each other into action & unilaterally making decisions for each other (just so the drama can meet it's 42 episode quota!?)
A good edit would have pared down the parts where they just talk everything to death.

I searched for over 4 years for this drama & finally found it on youtube (complete with English subs). This IS a 2014 drama & so it feels dated (I watched it in 2025). The outrageous hair styles (that change with a character's development/maturity) are sometimes distractingly outdated. Zhang Bo's tragic hair style can only have been imposed on him in order for us not to wish too hard that he would over come the second lead syndrome! The makeup artists couldn't figure out what to do with the female lead's beauty mark (mole) on her chin so they initially covered it up (& ding such a poor job of that it actually appears to be a pimple.) The mole continues to play hide & seek with the camera throughout the drama .
The secondary couple get way too much screen time & they aren't even likeable. The main couple get only 1 screen kiss in all 42 episodes (& really, it's barely a kiss at all) the ending, though happy , is bland and you feel cheated.
5 1/2 stars is being generous & is only that much because of Roy Chiu's star quality, which only shows up 1/2 way through the drama

Note: Roy Chiu does do quite a bit of singing both on camera and in the background (OST) so if that appeals to you, you may want to sit through the this mess of a drama

Wine Beauty can be found (Aug.2025) on youtube Channels

Drama Box Exclusive (all 42 Episodes)
Drama Box English -(which only has 40 episodes for some reason)

The Audio & Video quality on both are excellent. But be aware that there are a few times when the dialogue isn't subbed this is a problem whenever anything written or texted on phones is shown on screen. It's unfortunate that the subs are in white as they disappear when the back ground is sold white, [which happens surprisingly often]. The Sub writers also deserve to be virtual noodle slapped for being so bad at thier jobs that they frequently got genders mixed up and present us with words that were nonsensical. Sadly, they also disfigured English grammar to the point where you have to pause the screen so that you can figure out what the seemingly guillotined word might be. The drama is still watchable, it's just annoying at times to have to deal with bad or missing subs.

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Endearingly campy with questionable morals/ethics orated in every episode

Overly enthusiastic rookie teacher cheer leads her underperforming students to graduation in such a way that it amuses everyone around her. Do keep in mind how old this and don't expect much from it! The cheesy preachy exhortations the rookie teacher gives are a bit long winded at time, but delivered in a heartfelt way. The lessons/morals being given to the kids sometimes feel a little propaganda-ish AND are a bit questionable at times, but how seriously can you take them, given that they are delivered so zealously that it's reduced to folderol (silly). Overall, it's a cheesy ,yet heartwarming, " watch the under dogs" zig zag their way to the graduation finish line, while learning life lessons along the way. I came in & out of this, using it as a drama filler & it was a bit over the top for me, so I will pass on season 2.
As for romance; the female lead does get an ending that implies she is on the romance track , but I was not impressed with the object of her affection as he seemed up for being with women casually , too often giving them the wrong impression & not caring.

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Is better after Ep.2, but social agenda of theme & cartoony male lead meshed oddly

I really didn't like the first 2 Episodes. Both leads presented poorly & there were no sparks to make you want to see them together. The tone suddenly changed in Episode 3 , with the female lead doing a 180 degree in her personality. Her softer & higher pitched tone made her seem as if she was trying to persuade a child or give the impression of innocence & femininity. (the drama trope of faux sweet temperament) . It was as if the writers changed! The theme of government officials matchmaking people is timely as South Korea is actually doing that to a certain degree, but it didn't seem like they were actually doing much of that in the drama as it focused on very few couples. Did they intend to show that those in thier 20's & 30's aren't that interested in marriage ? Because that's how it came across. There were really too many "what the heck" moments for me to rate this higher. Sadly, it requires spoilers to explain well, so will add them to the bottom of the page here.
I was disappointed that the *main male lead was like a caricature of some old man from the countryside (who lacked a fully functioning brain !) He & the second male lead were hyper focused on obliging the female lead -which made sense for the one guy (who felt guilty for "cheating" on her,) but the main male lead *"Mr. Clowny pants" was just perplexing. I was really disturbed to see that 2 times men got away with inappropriate behavior & werer not held accountable .[see spoiler at bottom]. It was a bit jarring to have things like that happen in such a light weight drama.
Though I was glad that the element of having young children as part of the main plot didn't prove to be annoying, I was side eyeing the scenes where the uncle was frequently leaving them in the apartment by themselves. It's not like he was new to parenting them, so why are kids under 10 unattended for really long stretches of time ? Also the children were conspicuously missing in the happy ending (see * spoilers at end) The kids were just kind of snarky side kicks there for comic relief & were conveniently just not around alot with no one watching them.
The female lead did waffle around alot when it came to choosing the male lead & that did not make her endearing.
I found the end to be surprisingly lackluster & though the leads get a happy ending, it didn't "hit me in the feels".

It will take spoilers to explain

**Spoiler**

#1
guy targets woman to take advantage of her (in unimplied way) & when she is passed out, he takes photos of her exposed legs & plans to defame her. It is unclear if he intends to do more to her, but when he is caught, he is let off with the warning : "don't do something like this again or I will come after you". !!!! what ? ! Next time !?
another incident is that the deviant's father (the mayor) begs for mercy for his son. (instead of the son begging for mercy) and says to let him off the hook because the son was born out of wedlock & his mother abandoned him so he doesn't know what love is. The son is 29 !!! So really both the son & the mayor (who tried to pin the incident on an innocent person) should go to jail !

Spoiler #2
at the end main couple are together chatting & get into bed together......wedding, what wedding ? when ? and kids, where are the kids, the apt. looks open , no closed doors for privacy...so kids are where ?

Spoiler#3
rich annoying chaebol chick was really brainless & selfish, very intent on what she wants. So at the end when you find out that; Nope, she & 2nd male lead did not even consider dating ( though it was shown over & over again that they were very similar & compatible ) but she is suddenly marrying some guy that never had screen time & seems totally fine with it!

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Forgettable with unsatisfying ending. Think: 50 first dates

you can tell from the start, that there is no way, short of them inserting a miracle , that this can have a satisfying happy ending. Somewhat interesting plot really stretches you to suspend disbelief that these 2 would even meet. Weird plot holes, like was the female lead really out of the country or was it just in her head ? What exactly was her relationship with the male lead's deceased girl friend ? As for the ending; it left me underwhelmed & though it was nice that the main couple were together, the way they tidied up that wasn't very warm fuzzy inducing. All & all, unmemorable

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NO my usual genre , but well done & Not a mindless revenge fest. Plus there's a happy ending

I went from "not interested" to "completed" and it's solely due to the format & the story. I like light dramas so this genre is not "in my wheel house" . Plus, it starts out with some horrific scenes & introduces you to a female lead that you will struggle to warm up to for 98% of the drama. Though there are guys everywhere & alot of action & violence, this story revolves around the female lead. Which makes it hard for you as a viewer if you find her to be more psychopath than leading lady. (cause you're not wrong!) BUT, wait, I will try to convey why this might be worth your watching., But first:
I have seen the male lead in Resident playbook (which I dropped) & he seems to be playing a similar bland "deadpan, droll" character who doesn't do much emoting . So the leads are a difficult pairing character & story-wise. The drama format has flashbacks to show you how things were done contrary to how they seemed to be done, as well as the female lead "breaking the 4th wall"- (speaking directly to the audience) which really works well. This is a multilayered story, with the layers of each character getting peeled back to reveal what's at thier core.(some characters get more peeled than others !) With revenge being the driving force of the story and with all the violence that ensues, it took me off guard when the plot revealed that 1 person's forgiveness & determination to take the moral high ground infected/inspired those around them to follow suit.
Actually there are 2 characters, whose doggedly attempt to do things within the confines of the justice system, while at the same time supporting characters who 'appear' (key word) to be deviant . What's surprising is that though the plot is full speed ahead set on one course, the male lead, (who comes across as anything other than a course changer), will prove to be the catalyst for diverting the story from a forgone sad conclusion.
I normally don't shy away from heavy spoilers, but with this drama, they would essentially really spoil it.
The drama surprised me, it drew me in, & yes there were a few episodes that I could have done without, but I really liked that they had characters question thier own perspectives & some even evolved, learning how to reconnect with thier humanity when they & other characters thought it impossible. I liked that they had many characters standing up to take responsibility for thier actions. I was a tiny bit disappointed that they didn't give us one more millisecond of what passed for "romance" as a nice way to conclude things, but there was a "happy" ending for the main characters and I will spoil it to say that though the lead's 'romance' (if you want to call it that) is implied at the end, I was glad to see they didn't force things.

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Decent drama with happy endings for all, but marred by music & 3 bad actors

reviewers said: " If you’re looking for romance then look elsewhere."
BUT, I was watching the Korean drama : "Potato Lab" & was ready to bail, so decided to try this & while it WAS better than the Potato lab, [& much more watchable] it didn't completely win me over.
First off:
this is a SLOW burn romance that is so slight you might miss it if you blink for the first 3/4 of the drama, & yet there are romantic undercurrents as well as a happy ending for most all the mains & thier BFFs.

I can't emphasize enough that the Music that's sung in English [& there is ALOT of it] is overused and TERRIBLE !
Plus they show people lip-syncing & their mouths are out of sync with the words! [it's laughably obvious that the voice is not the person you see on the screen !]
The actress who plays the Female villain Elise supposedly speaks many languages but her mouth is almost always out of sync with the words! [I don't even think it's the same language].
The character Blu put on weight as the series progressed & his acting was a C+ at best.
Villain Boris also failed to impress.
Basically the acting of all 3 of them really detracted from the quality of the drama.

This also got reduced points for tired tropes like :
1) Noble sacrifice [that's actually NOT noble but just an indication of inability to trust.]
2) Obsessive , selfish[won't take No for an answer ] love that says :" I will hurt you (physically) if it means that it will make you stay near me & then I will risk your life because I think more of myself than I do you.
3) I will make major life decisions for you/us & am stupid enough to think it's noble & you will thank me later.
4) Ridiculously resolved serious issues-[just go with it, it's a miracle !]

It must be mentioned that after the happy ending, there is a montage of cast & crew members lip-syncing s to a song as they [literally everyone] dances nonsensically around . {happy to be done much ?!]

not horrible, but too much irritating stuff to rate it higher or make it a rewatch.
one last comment: seeing the male lead's jaw go unattractively slack as he tries to emote being stunned, distraught or overwhelmed got old really fast as it was repeated ad nauseum.

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Once again time skips magically fix everything, though the ending still falls short of satisfying

Bland & easy going beginning ramps up into something cute & then deflates into a flat waste of time. I'm reminding myself that it's fiction, but still;
1) male lead doesn't seem to wash (?) much if at all (?) his lack of self care & lack of self esteem is not endearing. At the end they show a clip of the female lead seeing the male lead panic as he discovers he is wearing mismatched socks & THAT singular moment is cupid's arrow hitting the mark (??!!)
2) As for the Male lead's root of affection- there is NO reason (or even process of him) for him to 'fall in love' with female lead - he is only attracted to her superficial qualities as he has no actual interaction with her in the year he is crushing on her
3) They never show male lead putting the perfume on after the initial spritz, thus indicating that he didn't continue using it . & I'm not 100%, sure, but I thought they showed the perfume bottle mostly full & him throwing it away, so , unless he didn't wash at all after the initial spritz (for like, weeks) or the stuff doesn't wash off....then as one scene shows: her affection for him is NOT based on the perfume
4) Female lead confronts male lead & seems reasonable & asks for his side of the story, only to storm off in anger without letting him explain.
5) ending is bad; after parting ways, a year goes by & in that time the male lead has discovered hygiene, and confidence (how??) Female lead is now in a happy place with her mother & sister & when Male & female lead meet, they smile &we are supposed to imagine the rest.

Wow ! whatever happened to them during that year, it was a game changer...time skips are the magical answer & cure all for relationships

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Left me nonplussed. Somber topics &

While there are some definite make you smile moments , this drama just didn't inspire me to care about it to a high degree. Little things combined to dampen my enthusiasm.
1) the female lead was insipid. her stature & very young look gave her a childish air.
2) the group being called Tea party , thier songs & choreo were cringy childish
3) people getting really upset with group members for dating, [& pretty much forcing them to stop,] then they themselves date with clear conscience !?
4) unclear resolution for the over arching problem.
5) made fans look creepy obsessive & objectifying, but never addressed that as the real problem
6) makes you feel like the idol life sucks -which was true but depressing
7) Suicide topic was a depressing plot device
8) yay ! for the way SHAX chose thier own path, but what exactly is that path ? This & how a male idol just left the business & went roaming about about- very unclear in the logistics
9) only the male lead & Hwi Young were really interesting & Hwi Young's part wasn't that well fleshed out
10) Kim Min Seo's part was too strong a personality, she [& her great singing voice] over shadowed the female lead

the last episode was basically all a music showcase for all the music groups that had been introduced. It showed off thier talent, but it bored me.

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Familiar faces ,engrossing story unexpected villains, out of body experience

I'm not a fan of the format of this drama as it jumps around from the present to the past & back again throughout the whole drama. (2018,2019,2020). It made the flow of the story a choppy ride, [even if it cleverly keeps you from solving the mystery prematurely], still, it was disorienting . There were too many familiar faces that just didn't mesh well with the genre. [Jo Han Chul, Kim Young Ok, Um Hyo Sup, Sung Dong Il]
However , Oh Jung Se's acting swung from being basically wallpaper to full on oscar nomination. Emotions run really high in most episodes, with rangers in emergency mode launching themselves onto the mountain in thier obsession to save people. The Town at the base of the mountain is full of rebellious, secretive people with a disdain for rules. It was hard to care about them as they blatantly thought they are a law unto themselves & even in tragedy rail loudly against the rangers while refusing to take responsibility for thier own actions.
Female lead is prickly & lacks charm. Male lead has a special relationship with the mountain. They both have emotional scars. They form a bond, but keep your expectations in check because though there is a slight romance in this drama, it's not with the leads [& it's heart rending.]
I was both relieved & annoyed at the ending. I felt it was contrived & forced. But really, since the drama puts the viewer through so much action, suspense & alot of death- I'd say they did right to pander to our need for a happy conclusion so we could end with a sigh of relief [& a spectacular view].

The cinematography was stunning, the scenery captivating ,the weather whimsical & often deadly.

I had this drama in DVD form sitting on my shelf for 2 years as I was pretty sure it was going to be too dark, too depressing & too unsatisfying . I'm glad I finally gave it a try as it exceeded my expectations & was good entertainment.
Final note: I rarely mention the music, unless it's noteworthy & it is worth giving credit here as the OST had a good variety & Kim Seok Jin's song "Yours" was well placed, giving it a charm it doesn't have without a context.
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I deducted points for:
1)Actors who are over used-& didn't feel right for the drama. gave wrong vibes
2)Towns people were loudly annoying & dimwitted deviants
3)Time waffling-the back & forth made it hard to track the story properly
4) Unpleasant female lead
5) Mountain is a deathtrap !

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