Brogana Sunfrog

Relatively free from heavy K-drama tropes, but Tissue up, there's a good deal of crying

A light drama series.
There is alot of emotion & a good bit of crying as the main characters work through a long series of misunderstandings, but the would be heavy drama parts were resolved rather quickly & really this is relatively free from heavy K-drama tropes. I thought it was well cast & the side characters weren't annoying. The last 3 or 4 episodes were unnecessary & sadly caused the series to "wind down" & end blandly [instead of on a euphoric high.] Pretty much everyone's story/relationship is resolved. I feel that too often the writers try too hard to make sure that they impose a good dose of reality onto the story at the end. Still, I will watch it again (but I might end it with an earlier episode!)
Music: was good & songs not were not repeated enough to make them annoying.

Read More

Felt like a one sided romance with plot device rehashing

As with alot of K-Dramas, J-Dramas & C-Dramas, the male lead is a reincarnation of Pride & Prejudice's Fitzwilliam Darcy; the epitome of Tsundere - cold, aloof & emotionally unexpressive. This was an O.K. series but I wouldn't watch it again. Zhao Lu Si's character never seemed to really be that into the romance & again & again you see the male lead being the invested on and doing the "work" in the relationship. Even in the end it felt like he was more committed & more serious & more romantic , so it kinda felt alot like it was a one sided romance .I felt like they dragged this series on a bit too long & repeated things that they had already done.

Read More

Not romantic and over all kinda bland . Obtuse,Hard to follow plot

This felt like it was a 2015, not 2020 production.The staging the camera angles, the times without any background music. The plot was very obtuse and the flashbacks just weird & hard to watch they were so blurry, making it was really hard to follow. Also, the subtitles were sometimes off (like using the word "faith" instead of the word "fate"- pretty significant difference !)

For a series about love - it was incredibly bland and I didn't find it romantic. The main couple never kissed, but you aren't really hungry to see it since they have such poor chemistry.
The end made watching this a waste of time- did they not listen to Mr. Destiny who pretty much said :"if you stay together you will keep getting physically hurt"-which seemed to imply that the kind of hurt would escalate & death was definitely an option in the "hurt" category .


oh, & by the way:The girl lead has blond hair throughout-NOT the black seen in the cover art.

Read More

Bad balance of sweet & annoying . Bad role for Jung ll-Woo

I SO much wanted to see Jung Il-woo in a lead romantic role, but this series did not deliver the satisfaction I was looking for. Just as Revolutionary Love ruined Choi Si-won for me (as I was also looking forward to seeing Him in a lead romantic role), this series has Jung Il-woo making more unattractive facial expressions than I thought possible while also being a jerk without an excuse for being one. This series might have still been able to limp along & deserve at least another star if it hadn't been for Lee Si-eon's constant & gratingly over the top comedy. there just didn't seem to be a good balance between the sweet & the annoying. I give myself points for seeing this through till the end, but though the end is mild & "happy" , I felt like the series was a waste of my time.

Read More

Male leads do not disappoint, But Age gap too wide.last 5 episodes are tedious & serious

I watched this in 2024. I really wanted to see this because both Seo In Guk & Lee Soo Hyuk were in it . (I Have to say: they do not seem to have aged !) Both male leads do not disappoint, [nor do they stray far from how they are generally typecast]. my problem with this drama is that I had to keep lowering the bar for my ethics & comfort zone. The10 year age gap between the leads is really unacceptable . Jo Han Chul is incredibly irritating with too much screen time. Thankfully, Kim Won Hae is reigned in a good bit so at least he is not as irritating as Jo Han Chul. One episode is all hockey. There's too much family melodrama. What really sunk my happiness boat was the last 5 episodes. Things got tedious & serious. A death, rehashing things [that had been resolved previously.] Female lead keeping secrets after a big scene where she declares total honesty. Tired Tropes of supposed noble sacrifice that were totally just insecurity & fear of rejection. There is a happy ending but it was rushed-which was meant to be comedic, but failed so they added on a 3 year time skip into the future that should have come 4 episodes sooner. I wanted to love this & I'd like to think that with a good editing down to 11 episodes that this could be great, but over all, in the end, the female lead being so much older and the male lead being 18 during the bulk of the plot- yeah, just doesn't work

Read More

Pay no attention to the drama poster -it's Melancholy & All the females have jagged edges

Melancholy & hard to warm up to. Female Characters all have jagged edges to them
See the Smiling couple on the Movie Ad ? They don't do that for 98% of the movie.
The actress actually does not have a black short haircut, but has long reddish brown hair throughout.
The theme is heartbreak from lost loves & how hard it is to move on. Sounds unenticing ? Well, it gets deep about why are we obsessed with things. Male lead can't remember that his girlfriend is dead but instead thinks that she left him. He meets another girl in a library. The ending is sort of happy but what comes before it is all heavy stuff.

Read More

Navigating an unpleasant swamp of gooey drama & despair

This has sweet moments but there's never any viable reason for the romance & this drama has tropes (especially over bearing males) that haven't aged well, so it's hard to fully embrace it. While the drama implies that it's the female lead that has the mental issues, there are alot of characters that even more messed up. They tried way too hard to connect the leads & so it felt very contrived. [Some of the characters themselves express disbelief at the connections!] While at first the lead's relationship is tested they weather it well. But the writers pile on the difficulties resulting in too many break ups & make ups for my patience. The tone of the last half of the drama is maudlin. Yes, there is a happy ending, but we have to go through an unpleasant swamp of gooey drama & despair with the characters first , [with a detour off the main story to the uninteresting storyline of the policeman, a poorly written character who isn't able to figure himself out.]
A big negative was the overbearing lead males, thier glaringly rude attitudes & for all they say they care; they both push the female lead around alot.


*****Spoiler*****
Any sweetness in the lead's romance turned a bit sour for me when (somewhat drunk) they sleep together early on in the series- It's an important plot point for what follows, but still, it kills the warm fuzzies that had been building because they don't even like each other, [indeed the female lead is infatuated with the policeman !]

male lead's sister) is really really annoying for most the series


******Heavy Spoiler:
they went too far in making the female lead connected to the male lead's past- yes it was a plot twist, but the male lead's mother & grandfather have been cruel to the female lead [blaming her for a past accident], knowing full well that she is not at fault!
How are we to be convinced that it's right for the male lead to choose his family over his lover, when it is that very family that has neglected , lied to & driven his love away from him with lies?

Read More

Grey areas of morality. A boatload of trauma & creepy. Alot of crying +Tragic twist

This was a huge disappointment. I really, really, REALLY wanted to like it.
I would have avoided it altogether if the reviews had been more thorough!

Here's the key:
the genre.
There's only a tiny bit of romance & only a tiny bit of comedy, but heavy on the Suspense, Thriller, Mystery & investigation. And there is here ALOT of melodrama with so much crying. But mostly, there's a freakin boatload of trauma & creepy. I was hoping for something along the line of Strong woman Bong Soon, or Healer, ( both favorites) but This is less balanced with a tragic twist that ruined the series (for me). The surprise reveal is brilliant, totally unexpected & feels like a knife of betrayal being thrust into the viewer. At that point you simply continue in order to see it revealed for a lie, but no, it becomes a horrible truth. There's SO much back storying in this series. Explaining everyone's tragic history, [trying to squeeze sympathy from you] & it's exhausting. They want the viewer to see that people are not just all bad or all good, but wow! They really "push the envelope"! The end is incredibly disappointing as it tries to leave you on an upbeat/positive note.(Which isn't possible to achieve because of the horrific reveal of that 1 beloved main character). It gives resolution to all the character's stories but has a lame unsatisfying immature resolution to the romances.
Story was very well crafted & had alot of moral issues presented from various sides, which made you think (& be confronted with many grey areas of morality].
I'm a simple person; I want my good guys good. They can be flawed, but only if they are redeemable flaws. Characters who rape ,murder or torture can't be redeemed.

OST: unremarkable. they replayed the main theme too many times .


***Spoilers***

One of the 4 main characters will die. 2 of the "good guys" will be proven to be bad guys. 1 (of the 4)beloved main characters will been shown to have done something horrible, that cannot be fixed & heartbroken you will find yourself screaming : "NOOOO" at the TV screen !

****Heavy spoilers****
Big brother prosecutor is guilty of multiple murders
there's no coming back from that.
Main couple decide to live together at the end. Their dating is mostly implied (with a year of skipping ahead at the end) and for him to take her hands in his & just say :"let's live together" really isn't romantic.

Read More

Unexpectedly deep, Lee Soo Hyuk + (low key) happy ending

free on youtube
reminded me of the Mystic Pop up bar [where fallen deity has to complete 1000 good deeds before they can return to heaven ] The tailor Woven, really should have completed his task a long time ago , so it begs the questions ; why all of the sudden is he now just starting to be affected by human emotions & care for them & why this particular human ? It's a nice "bite sized" mini drama that has alot of unexpected depth to it. I felt that it was too short & it was missing an episode. The "romance" is so low key that the drama is over right as you become aware of it. Don't expect any kisses or warm fuzzies with your happy ending, because the drama is not really about the main couple. I was disappointed that the subs were sometimes wrong & the worst part was the title in every episode "Put Your Handsome" which is nonsensical unless you add the little word : "on" . Still, it's well done & earnest in serving up something that while lovely to the eye is also meaningful in message/theme.

Read More

Bromance! Romance-meh

I watched this after seeing other newer dramas with the male leads in it, so that influenced my feelings a bit. I do want to mention though, that smart phones aside, this did not feel "dated", considering it was 7 or so years old.
Review:
Firstly; the bromance is WAY more interesting than the romance & the male lead (s) interaction with each other are the most interesting parts. I found the female lead's character annoying & yeah, like everyone has mentioned; her being in high school at the start & also at the end puts a damper on how you feel about the main couple. They really tried hard not to cross inappropriate lines, but still, it is very uncomfortable .

This fun overlooked fact gets an honorable mention for being annoying :
it was ALWAYS fall in Canada- like, could the Goblin control that ???

The frequent Product placement was pretty obvious.

***Heavy Spoilers are necessary to explain my low rating.

1) I hated how the grim reaper's storyline went. OK he gets a happy ending, but it was too little too late for me.
2) I Loathe time skips and this drama has a 9 year one near the end. I get why they put it in, but I hated it & wished it had happened around Ep. 4

3) I never really connected /understood how the female lead was a part of the Goblin's past & his attraction to her was inexplicable to me.

4) we get a happy ending once the Goblin came back from the in-between (or whatever that was), But WHY is he still a Goblin ???? He's still immortal, his lover is not! What is his purpose ?

5) They overused Crush's lovely song

6) they give us a happy ending, but spoil it by throwing in the proverbial "monkey wrench" of putting the lead couples through yet more, MORE pain AND separation before they finally let us have the final, final happy ending. It's like pouring gravy on icecream [make up your mind, one, but not both!!] So these things, added to the other misc. annoying bits , just soured the ending feeling.
rewatch; no- and it kinda breaks my heart to say it

Read More

Ep 1-4 are alot of fun, Flubbed ending

I ALMOST loved this-then they had to switch gears and turn things around so you wonder if it's the same drama at all. The first 4 or so episodes were alot of fun, with the leads playing cat & mouse, a who done it mystery, disguises and clever stories within stories. Then that quirkiness and fun does a full stop and the characters loose thier shine. The series gets fixated on fighting sequences that hilariously end with the female lead deciding she's just had enough & isn't going to wait to be saved. The unraveling the mystery was fun, the actual interaction with the villain is tedious at best (with so much obviously fake blood !). But even that leaves room for a fulfilling happy ending, yet the writers chose to drag things out with inane fillers at the end. This reminded me of Doom at your Service, where the happy ending is given to you at half power in the 2nd to the last episode then fails to follow through ,instead focusing on tying up everyone's story in a bow so that what they end up giving us are crumbs, & not a truly satisfying lead couple moment to end the series with.


Spoiler rant:

The Kiss between the leads is so poorly set up and the timing is off ! He's crying, she's standing there and then without any segway, she's in his lap & they are kissing. What !? You feel like; ok it's such a nice kiss that you can forgive them for whatever they cut out that shows how she got into his lap

Read More

Bromantic dramady. Boring surgery scenes. Unsatisfying romances

Rain & Kim Bum give stellar performances in this mostly bromantic dramady. I gave it fewer stars though because I found the surgeries overly long , (SO much squirting blood), & what looked like the same fake skin being sliced open every surgery. Also, I was disappointed that Kim Bum's storyline wasn't given more romantic development. Rain's romance was a bit unsatisfactory ,though it did end happily. It just felt a bit rough & awkward instead of warm fuzzy romantic. Don't expect any kissing in this series. It's all about the hugs. overall the cast did a great job & there was a good balance between the drama (difficulties & obstacles & scary stuff) & the development of the character's relationships. I'm not a fan of hospital dramas, but as with Hospital playlist , this won me over. It's good to see Rain in his acting element ; the bromance & defender of justice genres suite him well.

Happy endings for most "good" characters.

Read More