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Moon has it's own darker side
The Silent Sea may not be the most prolific korean series of the year, but it does something different by jumping into an altogether different genre, diverse from regular korean dramas.The cast, especially Gong Yoo, did a splendid job. The writing was solid and the initial couple of episodes were tightly balanced, however it got a bit sloppy at the end. I felt that there was no satisfactory conclusion to the series, leaving behind many questions which were supposed to be answered whatsoever.
That being said, I must also acknowledge that the series does not reinvent the wheel. In fact, it’s essentially a variation on the plot of a certain other space tale. Even with the weak ending, The Silent Sea is worth watching. It’s a chilling look at a future that could be closer than we think, as well as a scary story with a monster at the end of it.
My Rating : 7.5/10
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Enjoy the time till it lasts.
Twenty-Five Twenty-One is one of those series that has tropes of other romantic K-Dramas, but is more concerned with characters and story revolving around them, rather than meet-cutes and overbearing romance.Twenty-Five Twenty-One is a show About aspirations, conundrums that young people often face as they try and figure out who they are and what they want their life to be; the pressure to have certain ambitions and a life plan mapped out ahead of you.
Kim Tae Ri as Hee-Do was amazing as the main lead, comical yet mature at times, jolly yet serious about her ambition. That makes her a well written character. Although I do think that there should have been more backstory for Baek Yi Jin since he is the male lead and we heard a number of times about his part, but didn't actually encountered even once.
The story was well developed, even with the supporting characters and the constant shift between in the chronology was well maintained. Twenty Five Twenty One is a show that combines many elements such as romance, drama with comedy but above all a coming-of-age story. It's a story of youth that sees life in various colours and makes us believe that certain things may not be forever, but it should be enjoyed until it lasts..
My Rating : 9.5/10
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Too melodramatic, lacking actual depth
Hospice melodrama If You Wish Upon Me has spent a lot of time showing us the end of life’s journey – admittedly through rose-tinted glasses. Beginning and ending by the ocean, If You Wish Upon Me reminds us that it is not merely an end-of-life drama, it is a cycle-of-life one, too.The show had more surprises in store – we realised that not only had we witnessed the start of Gyeo-rye’s redemption story, we had joined Tae-sik midway through his own. Tae-sik is the beating heart of Team Genie, always eager to lend a hand or an ear. But behind his crinkly smile was a long story of woe, filled with tragedy and bad decisions.
All of this may be fitting, but the drama is not perfect and had problems. There was no character depth except Geo-Rye and Tae-Sik. The other side characters were merely a helping hand to the show, without exposing their backstory to the audience. The character of Yeon-Jeo felt like that she only mattered in so far as how she affected the male lead. The pacing was very slow and at times the story felt dragged at some moments. The contrived plot and sentimental send-offs made for a series that occasionally lacked the sincerity to convey the story it set out to tell.
My Rating : 6/10
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Good story, disappointing main leads
A spin-off of Hospital Playlist, Resident Playbook is centered around 4 1st year residents, as they go through the chaos in their daily routine of hospital life.Although the story starts well, with day-to-day medical emergencies encountered by doctors in real life. While the show was good, but it didn't meet my expectations and was a par show compared to another medical drama released this year, The Trauma Code.
The main characters didn't have an impact and while I love Go Youn Jung, she didn't seem at her best with this drama. The positives include good real-life medical setting with a sense of urgency and chaos and honest part played by the side characters. The negatives I would say are the leads, as expectations were high from them and a bit stretchy runtime with less emotional impact.
Overall, Resident Playbook is a good medical drama show that shows a real side of medical life, but couldn't reach the heights of being excellent due to a stretchy runtime with little plot and disappointing main leads.
My Rating : 3.5/5
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Unfunny and Uninteresting
A plot that has been used on a lot of K-Dramas recently, I watched Love Untangled with minimum expectations, and still got disappointed.The Plot - A Girl with curly hair wants to get it untangled so that she can propose her crush. A concept that is not unknown in dramas. What I expected to be honest that maybe the movie will preach about loving yourself irrespective of appearance, but it didn't.
Talking about the chemistry, I felt both the ML were miscast and the screentime for Cha Woo Min was insanely low. There was no emotional gravity, no bond built-up and lack of spark that made me lose interest in the characters.
The second half felt like watching something with a 2x speed, no development, rushed story, weak screenplay and an unsatisfactory ending. Honestly, the movie did try something, but felt nothing more than a pale imitation of other rom-com themes that I have seen in the past.
Overall, Love Untangled is a messy and a weakly written rom-com that neither romanticizes it's character fairly nor leaves a strong message of loving yourself with the flaws. A total disappointment.
My Rating : 2/5
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Kim Go Eun gives a commendable performance
This drama keeps you hooked from the very first episode till the last, with it's strong storyline and multiple twists. The plot is dark as well as emotional at times.The story moves in a good pace and keeps us guessing who's the real culprit behind everything. While some twists were predictable, the build-up was still pretty well done. And while I admit most of the story was really great the final 2 episodes were loaded with too much subplots, that even though the ending was satisfactory, it was not totally brilliant.
The acting of both the leads were amazing, especially Kim Go Eun. Her eyes itself expressed every grief and trauma she went through in her past, yet she stands fearless and emotionless. Her versatile acting catalogue is already stacked with some brilliant performances.
The writing was sharp and the characters were well-written, although you might observe few loopholes in the first half of the drama. The BGM fits well with the atmosphere and genre of the drama.
Nonetheless, The Price Of Confession is a strong mystery thriller drama that is worth a watch, especially for the fans of crime thrillers.
My Rating : 8.5/10
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An underdog story
A sports drama based on Rugby, The Winning Try is an underdog, feel good inspiring story that relies on sentimental tropes.A basic sports plot - a washed rugby star coaches a struggling school team. The drama focuses on resilience, teamwork and achieving your goals against the odds. The characters are well-written, although the political narrative is a bit annoying at times.
The highlight of the show is the layered character work and their struggles. Also, the protagonist's strength to go on and his bond with his students becomes a major strength of the show. There were many funny dialogues that worked well at times.
While the show doesn't dedicate itself just to the game of rugby, it explores themes of hardwork, politics behind sports and the courage to move forward. And while I say the plot was heavily predictable and cliché at times, it did felt good to see some optimistic drama.
Overall, The Winning Try is a compelling sports drama that depends on sentimental tropes and work effectively, if not absolutely.
My Rating : 3.5/5
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Journey ends where you expect it to
Ghost Doctor doesn’t have any heavy romance involved. This is a supernatural bromance between a star surgeon learning to shed his arrogant nature and a cocky young resident doctor learning to, uh, embrace the privileged circumstances he was born into on his way to the top.Started watching the show due to Kim Beum, but Rain was terrific as well. The importance of doctors, and saving every human lives is well portrayed in the show.
Although it may feel a little stucked with the narrative in the midway, but the last couple of episodes makes it up. Ghost Doctor ends where you expect it to and the familiar journey has been comfortable and to some extent, memorable.
My Rating : 8/10
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Promising 1st act, followed by terrible 2nd and final act
Starring Kim Da Mi, The Great Flood is more than just a disaster movie, and you won't realize it unless you actually give it a try. The outcome, for me, was a big disappointment.The opening 30 minutes is breathtaking, it is the movie's strongest point. It is a "breathlessly tense" survival thriller with impressive digital effects that capture the terrifying scale of a global tsunami.
The protoganist, An-na (Kim Da-mi), a top-tier Al researcher performance is also greatly appreciated. Her maternal role performance is praiseworthy. She carries the physical and emotional weight of the movie, making her desperate fight to save her son feel grounded and believable.
The biggest problem and the twist comes in the second half, where the movie pivots from a simple disaster flick into an "ambitious action-packed puzzle box". Drawing comparisons to films like Edge of Tomorrow and Interstellar, it explores a recursive, "time-looping" narrative. However, this tonal shift leads to a super complex plot with so many loopholes, that by the final act I already got tired of seeing it till the end, and yes it still disappoints.
My thought - The Great Flood is presented as a disaster movie, however the narrative moves deeper with high ambitions, and a very little payoff.
My Rating : 3.5/10
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Outdated yet bittersweet
Romantic comedies have been both a topic of interest and ridicule over the years. It is ridiculed by those who find it to be a candy-glossed version of reality. It is praised for its heartwarming rendition of romantic fantasies that feel wonderful to witness on a silver screen. Bang Woo-ri’s ‘20th Century Girl’ is a bit of both. The movie seemed to be alternate of Twenty Five Twenty One, with a small change in the end.The eye to detailing in the film is well done. We are in fact taken on a ride down the memory lane. As heart-warming as the 20th century romances looked like, relationships were also marred down due to lack of cell phones. Relationships were forgotten, first love rarely became last love, friends lost touch and the yearning.. never ending. The climax of the film is a painful example of how things were different back then.However, the film quite stretches itself way more than it should. Quite unlikely for a repetitive culmination of that kind, it’s indeed the climax that works in favour of the film. Although the whole movie felt cliched, it does have some old school vibes and the feeling of first love being a teen.
In short, 20th Century Girl is a one time watch. If you’re a nostalgia merchant and if you dig yearning and doomed romances, the film would work for you. The biggest quip of 20th Century Girl is that its just another forgettable love-story that banks way too much on yesteryear love, since we have seen a few of this kind in dramas over the years, with more effectiveness in the story.
My Rating : 6.5/10
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A simple plot wih some good action sequences, ending lost the hold
Netflix delivers a knockout punch with its barnstorming early summer K-drama series Bloodhounds, the tale of two fresh-faced pugilists who go up against the vilest loan shark that Korean screen entertainment has offered us in years.The drama takes place at the height of the pandemic. Characters wear masks in most locales, and check in to buildings with QR codes; sporting events take place before empty stadiums.
The storyline doesn’t delve into much social critique profoundly. The initial backdrop is set up as the launching pad (the pandemic scenes adding relatability) for the action that follows. Therefore, the series is more serious about how the action fleshes out till the end, and it’s not bad either because the show is equally aware of what it’s doing.
The last two episodes take a jarring turn. There’s no denying the fact that the cast adorably wins you over within the first few episodes, but the final ones go a little south. I would’ve definitely given it a higher rating depending on how much I initially enjoyed the series. However, the last two episodes turned out to be a let down in some spaces, especially with a main character suddenly out of the last 2 episodes and letting the antagonist live, even with an aggressive fight that we witnessed at the end.
My Rating : 8/10
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Fate can be a powerful thing
First Love is what the kids these days might describe as “a vibe”. The nine episodes Netflix series is based on two songs by Hikaru Utada– “First Love” and “Hatsukoi. First Love delivers those feelings of giddy young love, of painful separation, long absences, and sudden reconciliations in spades. It’s at least a couple of episodes too long, but it’s impressive in its construction, visuals, performances, and emotional power.This series spans over 20 years and tells the story of Yae Noguchi and Harumichi Namiki, two highschool students who fell in love in the 90s, but are then separated due to unusual circumstances. As a kid who was born in the 90s, it especially hits closer due to the flashbacks of the 90s era and how love used to happen in those times. A very good series under Netflix, First Love will feel like a slideshow presentation of young love, how it blooms and bundles of emotions that becomes a part of it.
My Rating : 8/10
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Opposite to the title, the drama is strong
Weak Hero Class 1 is a high school thriller series that follows the story of 3 students who doesn’t care about anything else, and somehow gets involved in constant fights due to bullying.Most of the school centric dramas are romance, which becomes monotonous watching after a certain point of time. Weak Hero Class 1,however, is a thrilling, yet sobering portrait of young students and the different struggles, difficulties and momentary joys they experience while growing up in a society that, too often, neglects and pushes them aside, that successfully stands out as one of the best dramas of 2022.
With just 8 episodes, the pacing is superb and the action sequences were well crafted. And perhaps what the series does best is to show the immeasurable toll such violence and abuse can take on one’s physical, emotional and mental health. Especially for teenagers who may be experiencing other types of abuse, hardship and struggles outside of the school walls as well.
School violence is certainly not a new theme for a K-drama. But Weak Hero Class 1 is able to take that familiar topic and present it in a way that focuses more on the characters, particularly the victims, and show the unfortunately lasting effects of such violence. The best part of the drama were the 3 leads who had an amazing chemistry on screen and their change in characters once the events turned dark.
Adapted from a webtoon, Weak Hero Class 1 is engaging, highly effective action packed school based drama. The finale teases a 2nd season and yes I am very much intrigued to see what happens next.
My Rating : 8.5/10
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Zombiecalypse nightmare
All of Us Are Dead is South Korea's latest entry into its esscalating body of undead mayhem (Train to Busan, #Alive, Happiness).
All of Us Are Dead pulls no punches and unleashes a savage and seemingly never-ending assault of fast-running zombies on an unfortunate squad of students who've managed to survive the first wave of a zombiecalypse. With 12 episodes running 1 hr long each, it gets a bit exhausting at times due to continuous gore and violence, yet it sticks to the basics and delivers a positive outcome, although there's nothing new.
All of Us Are Dead's zombie action is never not impressive. Whether it's giant chaotic crowd shots, massive ensemble brawls, or tricky "oners," this is massively kinetic storytelling that will drain you as emotionally as it drains our heroes physically. Likewise, there are dozens of instances involving astounding body acting.
All of Us Are Dead may not offer up anything exactly new in the realm of zombie carnage other than its somewhat cruel and unrelenting nature, but sometimes that's enough to pull off some damn effective survival horror.
My Rating : 7.5/10
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Nostalgia feeling with feel-good breeze
A romance drama about two grown adults who had their documentary shoot 10 years ago and relationship thereafter, which ended eventually. After 10 years, it happens once again and yes it feels nostalgic in every way.The best thing about Our Beloved Summer that catches the eye is the cast. The charms of Kim Dami and Choi Woo Shik, who radiate youthful energy, fill up the screen, and the chemistry between the two naturally leads the story. The drama emphasizes the images of summer and thanks to this, the play’s overall atmosphere is full of freshness. Also it might feel relatable to many viewers' teenage life they lived.
The cast, whether be the lead or the supporting, had a great connection. The soundtrack is soothing and melodious which fits the setting of the drama. The story had depth, but it was fairly executed, if not efficiently. Also the supporting characters weren't given much exposure as one would have thought. Although it doesn't come close to other feel-good romance drama (like Hometown Cha Cha or When The Weather Is Fine), Our Beloved Summer manages to hold itself through freshness and nostalgic moments of reminiscing the good old teenage life.
To summarise, Our Beloved Summer ends itself as a dama that conveys the sweetness of love and the freshness of youth at the same time. It's effective enough to catch viewers' attention with it's fair, if not excellent story and screenplay.
My Rating : 6.5/10
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