Brogana Sunfrog

Delightful

This is not a drama to rush through.It's a nice little drama that is best appreciated by not binging. Though I found it delightful, I also found it unmemorable, but not in a bad way ! It's something I will re watch & so am glad it's that way, because having something that's a reliable lovely thing to revisit is actually a great thing!
I normally skip episode intros, but this one has a different one for each episode - showing you how a different piece of chocolate /confection is made every time. I liked that they portrayed people in love yet it didn't mean that thier "issues" disappear & they become instantly healed.
Pleasant without too much melodrama.
I especially like the cross over element as the female lead is Korean & that factors into the story
There is a fun cameo at the end by Song Joong-ki & Kentaro Sakaguchi for no particular reason

Read More

not my kind of genre : juvenile humor- watch the awkward insecure girl & laugh

It makes me sad to not like this & i want to support Korean content on Netflix, but this made me want to quit only 10 minutes in. My problem is that this is not my kind of drama. High school is a hard pass for me. The angst, the awkwardness, the whole mentality, the fact that you can't really have a satisfying romance with a satisfying conclusion because; it's high school ! I tried to like this, but it got me cringing at the humor & when the female lead starts to pursue her crush, you know she's going to make a fool of herself & we are supposed to laugh. Again, this kind of humor is a hard pass for me. I've got other dramas I will enjoy better

Read More

Male lead smolders ,but only 4 out of 16 Episodes were good

I really wanted to like this The [premise was good, the actors were attractive, had good chemistry & did a good job]. BUT; episodes 1-10 left me more irritated than interested.
I put it on hold for 5 months before I went back to finish it Here's why:
1)The screaming mother who hit everyone.
2)Sindy the stalker fan
3) The BFF who was cold & uncaring about her long suffering husband but swooned over her idol singer.
4) Secondary characters that mooned over the lead characters & wouldn't take "no" for an answer.
5) Bickering. fan obsession.

The plot got ridiculous & I just didn't like any of the characters.
Then comes episode 10 and the tone completely changed to one of an abundance of
cutesy romance & romantic drama -with way too much sentimentality & much too much kissing (so that it felt like viewer Voyeurism!)
By the time the end of episode 14 came along I felt like it was the perfect ending as it gave a sense of completion tidying up most things (& had somehow pretty much erased my irritation from the first 10 episodes!) But, no, Episode 15 is just sad. It's about resolution of some plot points but it was totally unnecessary. It was like it was on a mission to make sure that EVERY plot point was completely tied up perfectly. And while the drama does avoid most drama tropes, the fact that everyone got thier happy ending seemed really forced.
The one plot point that they completely ignored was Ryan's adoptive parents- it would have been great to have known something about them (are they dead ?) I was so sure I'd love this but even though the male lead is smoldering & does a great job acting in this, I just won't re watch it because out of
16 Episodes, only 4 were good & that's not enough for me.

Read More

Mismatched leads=Relationship drama, depressing just pass

The first episode was hard to get through because of the depressing medical/surgery/ inter-hospital interactions.
I know that was the point in order to set up what followed but it was tedious & it didn't encourage me to want to watch more (because it made me depressed !).
There was so much I wanted to just rant about, but I will try to keep my objections clinical
1) Leads flirt too much too often, too soon + became a couple too quickly .
2) Thier high school rivalry was not a great building block for romance.
3) without asking why or recommending counseling, a Doctor says: "ah, you are depressed- here some meds" !
4) The leads do SO much drinking WHILE on depression meds !
5) Women hitting men. [Mother, sisters, girlfriends, wives, grandmothers, aunts]
6) The female lead became a black hole of neediness and nothing the male lead could not please her
8) What the female lead thinks is an ideal date proves they are incompatible
9) Female lead doesn't want to "own up" & be honest and so puts the blame of being humiliated (really? did he ? nah) on the [rightfully] clueless male lead.

The male lead did well & up until Ep 8 the female lead seemed to be doing a fine balancing act between annoying & warm hearted.
But As I came to the end of Ep.8 I regretted continuing this drama. I felt like it could have ended nicely on ep 7.

Read More

Heavy second lead syndrome. Tedious, painful, ridiculous drawn out drama

I know this is an iconic drama, but I hated it. And while I offering up myself for stoning, I might as well get this off my chest; " Lee Min Ho doesn't appeal to me & his acting here doesn't impress me much. [you can put down your pitch forks though because I thought he did a stellar job in The King Eternal]. But let's be honest, the character he plays here is a gutless apathetic jerk. That any female would find him boyfriend material must mean that, said female must be shallow [to be blinded by her attraction to his looks] as well a martyr, as he is so broken & needy she must take care of him {because no one else is dumb enough to want that job !}
And stating the obvious ; this drama is bogged down with a heavy second lead syndrome that it can't recover from. Grudgingly I will admit that there are some fun parts in this drama, but by the time I reached the end of the series I was numb from the recycled melodrama. Seriously, The main character's family has their jobs taken away from them, like 3 times !
By Ep 16 I realized how the relationships are going to be resolved - which just made me hate the rest of the story. Story plot lines are recycled/repeated throughout the series ad nauseum. Unsatisfactory happy ending with the dratted time skip has the story fast forwarding 4 years (!!!!!!!!) to reunite the characters & then end things abruptly (somewhat happily).

Read More

A disappointment all around with a happy ending as bland as cold dry toast.

I had high hopes for this, but it was a colossal let down. It had
1)Disappointing romance
2) disappointing end
3) gruesome violence
4) poor choice of characters to be the Villain,
5) barest hint of romance
6) 8 month time skip

Some dramas are slow to get into so I pushed through the beginning where there is SO much swearing -by everyone
I did not find the butt touching (an ongoing joke) funny-especially with it needing extended contact or more "vigorous" touching.
Too much time was spent on interpreting what dogs feel.
Humor didn't work for me; Male lead physically tossing the female over his shoulder onto the ground twice was not funny to me & certainly did not make him boyfriend material . I've seen the male lead in other things, but here he is not on his game or directed poorly because here he is totally 1 dimensional.
A mind numbing amount of neighborhood old people scenes .
The writers set themselves up to present us with a perfect "gotcha" by having the male lead "win" & get what he wanted while giving the female lead what SHE wanted -[neither of which was each other !] But, no, they dropped the ball . The leads did have chemistry, but it was not romantic and it made no sense that the female would fall at all for the male lead. (he also seemed equally confused that he was supposed to be attracted to her !!) Male lead never got likeable and was laser focused on his job. The tiny bit of character & emotional growth he achieved was not enough to make him romance material. They did a clunky job of forcing the leads into being a couple at the end. The premise for getting the second male lead out of the way was so dumb???The over used lack of communication trope !!!
The viewer is dragged through the mystery of which of the many suspects was the real villain while female lead skipped around as if there was no killer on the lose. Honestly, it was poor writing to choose the villain they did. He had absolutely no real reason, so they Should have made the villain be the Female lead's ex brother in law-who ACTUALLY could easily have had plausible reasons to kill all of the people that died. They drag out the capturing of the villain, and then the toss in an 8 month time skip, in which time the female lead has apparently gotten over her dead crush and is ready to move forward with the one person who is most responsible for his death. No kisses between the female lead and anyone at all in the series and the happy ending served up is bland as cold dry toast.

Read More

Great performances, but :too much family drama & spiciness void of romance

Jung So-min & Lee Min Ki are VERY good as the main couple. Just watching them together is a treat, but what goes on around them frustratingly detracts from any good feelings I developed over the storyline.
There are SO many negatives.
It's A romance , BUT with an incredibly jaded view of marriage: an outdated, unnecessary thing -a conclusion derived from the fact that [ridiculously] ALL the character's parents are in bad marriages ). Which makes the ending completely juxtaposing & baffling.
Too much family drama ,patriarchal fathers, submissive mothers pressuring thier children to get married is the "engine" that supposedly drives their children's dismissal of marriage .
A cavalier attitude towards sex is presented as an enlightened, modern sensibility-(said literally Every generation!) Side female characters pursue sex like a game of cat and mouse while they dismiss romance. Too many- open discussions about sex. Too many scenes of people jumping into bed with each other.
The character's touted generational superior worldview did not actually seem to lead to happiness and thier lives seemed devoid of anything meaningful, making them unlikeable sad people.
I Do like a story with strong women, but don't find it comedic relief for women treating decent men as inferior in a way that's toxic.


The bits that ruin the drama: [Spoilers]


1) girl walks in on her younger brother having sex. (AGH ! NO !!!)
2) BFF#1 whines like a baby & continually coldly bosses around her boyfriend of 7 years
3) BFF #2 carries around a condom in her purse,(just in case) wears no bra & bosses around the guy who likes her.
4) Male lead lived with a girl & got her pregnant 12 years before this story takes place. This IS integral to the plot & it's resolution And explains why he is the way he is - making the choices he makes.... but for me : it's a Nope !

Positives:
ALL the young people & couples grow alot but it's only shown at the very end.

All the younger generational characters decide that marriage is stupid, BUT all the couples get married!!!

I liked the OST but they did repeat one song way to much.

Read More

Plot revolves are suicide & reincarnation> Good Main character chemistry

Family & historical/period dramas are not something I ever watch, so I passed on this series for a few months, but eventually the good reviews & the promise of a happy ending got me curious enough to give this series a try. The first episode almost made me quit because it dealt with suicide & reincarnation which put me off. The whole plot hinges on these 2 things so in order to watch this I had to treat them simply as fantasy elements. The stories of the individuals that were being "helped" in every episode were unpleasantly heart wrenching & unbearably tragic. The over arching story was also extremely sad. What sold it for me & kept me going was not only the acting, but the the chemistry between the 3 main characters. Yook Sung-jae's character was particularly compelling, (like a stray lost puppy). I was satisfied to get an old fashioned happy ending for all 3 main characters. So, although loathed many elements of this series, I really found the family element & the premise of odd people finding their match, & redemption enough to give this a high rating. I typically purchase a series if I rate it highly, but this series is not one that I will watch again, just too much tragedy & heavy drama

Read More

messed up story with plot holes.

Set your expectations low. This is light on the drama with no draggy plot resolutions or too much intensity. Happy endings for most characters (that deserve it) & righteous justice for those who don't. There's enough kissing & warm fuzzies to keep romance junkies content. I gave this the same score as Love in Contract, My Demon, Immortal Goddess, Radio Romance & Trot Lovers, but I would rewatch this & Trot Lovers over the others.
Here's the parts of the drama that downgraded it:
Time skip : 1 year at the end. I hate time skips. I don't care if there's a good reason plot wise, I just hate them-they ruin the continuity and made the happy ending stutter instead of soar.
Male lead's brother changes hair color (& make up) so he goes from scary looking evil guy to normal attractive nice guy. It was unnecessarily blatant & just plain weird .

Spoilers*
no talk of replacing the pacemaker ? no other options except eminent death ? sick guy needs to limit his physical exertion, but then (much later) suddenly, it's not an issue as he fights bad guys & gets vigorous in the bedroom (speaking of which- knowing she was going back in time never to return- did no one consider she might get stuck in the past , but pregnant?)
But more importantly:
how many times do we have to see the female lead traumatized, by repeatedly dealing with the death of the male lead ??? The "happy" resolution of the lead couple felt sloppy as in the last few episodes they kind of ruin the lead's romance as they revisit the difficult love triangle (with 2 of the sides of that triangle being the same person, yet not). My affection for the female lead was on a see saw as she started with one version of her husband then got romantic with another version of him, went back to the original version, started to like him but then went back to version B again. The worst part being : that version A's love was rejected & he had to die twice. This made me want to swear as the whole triangle was an untenable plot device .
My solution would have been to simply have had the male lead go back with her & live in the past ( after his past self had passed or become one with his past self!!)
I require very little reality in my fictional dramas, but there were too many "what" ??/ huh"? moments for me in this drama to rate it higher.

Read More

SO much drama, so much crying & the end is ridiculous

OST: so annoying they repeated the main song so often. Some one please fire the wardrobe person that dressed a main romantic lead guy in a shirt that said "sexual fantasies" (in English). One of the girls went about in a daze most the time with her mouth open like a fish & bangs that were a joke, (that none of her friends ever cared enough about her to tell her it made her look like an idiot).I found this series tedious. Soooo many back stories, SO much drama, SO much crying, like it's an automatic bonding thing ? By the end there wasn't one single character that I actually liked. The guys were idiots & were sidelined. All of them seemed un necessary to the girls, like an accessory, (like a purse or shoes.) All the characters were seriously messed up. The end was ridiculous. This was such a waste of time. I don't enjoy shows where it's all about the female friendships & the guys that like them are senselessly devoted. This really isn't deserving of the time it's taking me to write a review.

Read More

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.

Read More

Engaging & heartfelt but Rugby IS violent !!!!!

I'm really not fond of Im Se Mi , but she does a credible job here playing her typical "tom-boy" character that's annoyingly disdainful, loudmouthed & physically abusive.

Yoon Kye Sang is infectiously upbeat as the "Peter Pan" man who still acts childish

The Rugby team is endearing

the Rugby itself is horrifically violent -it's more like gladiators going out to fight a fight they know may kill them

SO Rugby hating aside, this was alot more engaging than I ever dreamed it would or could be.

Here are the 3 things keep this from a perfect score:
(Do they really detract, from the drama or how much I enjoyed it ?
NO,......BUT still

****Spoilers****

A) despite seeing a former star player living with disability ( due to a Rugby injury) And knowing that high school players could be damaged for life-Yoon Kye Sang 's character vigorously recruits high school boys to play..& fails to live up to his own ethics & goals . When they are injured he let's THEM decide to still play despite it being against doctor's opinion. Worse, he has been very vocal about changing Rugby to be one that protects the players & teaches them to be better than the generation that came before them when it comes to self care. So, his noble ideals are really a sham. As an adult experienced Rugby player & coach, he should have acted as such when it came to decisions about injuries. That he couldn't notice one of his players constantly in pain- when he had only 7 players to keep track of- & then not insisting in the proper treatment (instead of letting a minor make the decision) was unconscionable as well as failing to uphold his own stated intentions for changing the game for the better.

B) at the end they totally gloss over the fact that Yoon Kye Sang 's character, despite surgery, has a degenerative disease that at best would allow him to engage in low intensity exercise-so letting him continue to coach is pretty un-credible. [They should have brought in the crippled ex star player to co-coach with him-that would have been believable]

C) The question of where Yoon Kye Sang was for the 3 years after his doping scandal is never answered

Read More

Disjointed-felt pieced together with plot holes

I didn't watch the drama of the same title & have not encountered the webtoon, so I had no preconceptions going into it. I see that the female lead is different from the 16 episode series of the same name, which made me wonder why this felt as if it could be just bits & pieces of the 16 episode drama series chopped, spun & thrown at a wall for the end product. By the end I had questions still unanswered. It definitely didn't make me want to watch the drama series ! For me, I would have rather seen the female lead with the second male lead, violent though he may be, at least he was an open book & easy to understand.

Read More

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

Read More