Kannadin

Agree with your comment. This could have been exciting if the number of episodes had been 12 or 14 at most.
The main problem of this drama is the pace. They decided to drag this show for 20 episodes hence the "smart characters" end up appearing stupid and slow because given the clues given, it's incredible it takes them so much time to catch up with the villains.
Anyway. I've stuck with it for 16 episodes...
Too late to give up now...

I'm gonna see this to the end...

And after that, no K drama while they are airing for at least 6 months. I've been burned by The Heavenly Idol and this one... And this is not the first time. I don't know why but everytime I watch a K drama as they are airing, they turn out to be disappointments. And everytime time I swear to myself that I'm not gonna watch a K dramas live EVER again...

But then... I watch some GREAT shows which have already aired... and I repeat this awful time-wasting-loop.

Problem is: most K dramas are quite a time investment... I find it easier to drop shows that have already ended than shows already aired.
For some reasons, as long as all episodes are not out... You can still hope it will get better...

But once it's aired, if you realise it sucks... You can just check reviews and comments to see if it gets better and hence drop it faster.

Anyway, 2 weeks and it's the END of this loooooooooooooooooooong show. I won't be missing you, but you'll be another show on my complete list. It's ridiculous, but that's my current motivation.

I wish I could do "skipping" but I just can't...
It just feel like I'm not really watching the show. My mom does the same when she reads and I just... I can't.

But yeah, good for you. Skipping scenes is probably the best way to watch this show :D

It's an old fashioned way of editing video. Tvn is a private channel, and hence has more add cuts than the 3 national channels (namely MBC, SBS and KBS). I usually don't really pay attention to those but in this drama, it's very badly done. The transitions are just not smooth at all, it's like the director didn't take into account that most people are not going to watch this drama on Tv but on streaming websites without add cuts (and I'm including Koreans as well).

This drama is, in terms of pacing and editing , very much like old K dramas aired 20 years ago. Personally I'm struggling with the pace. It feels like a weekender and I tend to stay away from them since I find the pace too slow.
I'm too invested in the story itself to quit now but this is one of these dramas that I can't say is bad... but I can't enjoy it as much as I wished because it's going at a snail's pace in my book. If I had started it once it had finished airing... I'd probably have dropped it by now... But since I'm too invested in the plot now... and following it week by week., I found the perfect solution: I watch by halves of 30 minutes.

Ep 05: FINALLY!!!

And then?

Seriously? This series is finally delivering but nope. Gotta wait until the 19th of April. That's pretty nasty.

I agree with your comment above. It's a good story in itself but the title and the poster are misleading. The title particularly gives you this idea of "slice of life romance"...

I for one wasn't in the mood for anything political and only started to watch it because I was expecting some romance in a historical setting.
Instead I got some political historical which is a genre I tend to stay away from.

I'm also disappointed in that respect. If I am in the mood for some mystery centered story, I choose my drama accordingly.
I spent so many episodes waiting for the romance to take centerplace that ultimately I feel it's would be too late to give up now.
If it was a bad show, I would have dropped it... but instead I get a good show (not great though) I 'm just not in the mood in at present.

Problem is, I know myself. If I leave it now to pick up later, I'm bound to drop it at some point.

I also agree with your comment about the Red Sleeve and The King's Affection. Yes, there was some politics... But the story was much more romance centered as implied by their posters and titles...

Given how everything's moving so far... I don't have lots of hope for any form of true romance developing before all that political hullabaloo is resolved. Unless...

Unless the preview of episode 13 is accurate. Leaving the palace with all these eyes watching might be good for some character development.

Just finished. I'm like you for most of the review.

Regarding Earth being miscast... As somebody who actually is around the age of his character here( close to 40 but not yet there) and who often gets comments that I don't look my age... Unless you have a very good dermatologist and are filthy rich, you're bound to have some things that cannot be hidden. You lose fat on your face as you age and even if you don't have any noticeable wrinkles, you do get some deeper ones whenever you're smiling or express yourself. You can color your hair for sure... But that's about it and Leng is poor so that's some awesome coloring for someone who does it alone and not at the hairdresser's (because it is EXPENSIVE, which is why I personally have decided to just accept the white hair, society's expectations be damned). Ah and on top of that he's working late at night. As somebody who worked with flexible hours for YEARS, I can tell you, past the age of 30, you start to notice the difference in your ability to feel refreshed after a good night sleep. The older you get, the more your body doesn't like working night shifts and the bags under your eyes take longer to go away if you don't sleep and wake up at the same hour everyday. Women are worse than men in that area, but the problem is still there for both.

Anyway, regarding age, the only exception would be senegalese people of the wolof tribe. They're the darkest people on the planet, which means that they have the strongest protection against damages of the sun on earth. Unless they're smoking, wolof people living in Europe where there is not as much sun as in Senegal tend to REALLY not look their age and would definitely work as Uncle Leng here.
But they're dark, wouldn't work for lighter skin people. This is genetics, there is nothing worse for the skin than the sun and the darker your skin, the best protection you naturally have against its damages.

But like you, that wasn't something that spoiled my appreciation of the series. What ruined it for me... was the fact that Uncle Leng was speaking like somebody in his 80s and not close to 40. This is supposed to be this more mature tone or whatever, but most people my age, close acquaintances in their late 50s even, don't speak like that. Hell even my own parents, one over 70 now don't speak like that! On the contrary, some have teenagers, happy to get their freedom back, want to do the things they couldn't do when they had their kids. Those who didn't have kids and basically didn't meet Society's standards be it in terms of personal or professional choices, are still adventurous with lots of projects in sights etc.
Notably because, you do learn to be more cautious as you age, but you also have much more experience in life which makes you more confident in trying out new things. If you've got health and experience, you basically have the best of both worlds albeit for a few wrinkles.

So as I was watching it, I was thinking... The screenwriter is definitely someone very young. Only young people would have such a dark view of age, especially now that we live in an era where using filters to have an impossible appearance has become the norms. So I checked. He's currently 32. Not that young... But definitely didn't make his research. If you make a tv series focusing on the fears of a soon to be 40-year-old man... It would be great to at least DISCUSS with 40 year old people.

Anyway, the writing really didn't do it for me. To understand his very dark view of life as literally someone who thinks his life is finished at 40... They should have shown a little bit more of his past life. One love trauma is not gonna wreck your view of life the way they showed it. They also never explained why Leng and his sister left home.

I wasn't particularly enamoured with the young couple... Honestly didn't care for any of the characters except for Khaotung.
Anyway for me it was an ok show, but I'm not gonna complain too much because we got something different from the usual BL fare so even if I didn't like it as much as I wished I could... I still gave a 7 for the "trying something different" part...

I could probably laugh at these jokes... if I was 10 years old... or even younger.
Not gonna repeat what everyone has typed below...

I've sat through many terrible BLs last year, and this one is definitely not in the terrible category... But the disappointment however is.

This being said, tone shifts happen in series and I'm still hoping we're going to get what we had in the trailer, i.e something more mature and melo-like.

Another thing I didn't understand, even in the trailer, is why the "love rival" should be Party when the obvious choice given the prequel, should be Khunkao who is listed here as a cast member. Or maybe both I don't know?

(Btw I was personally disappointed by the end of the prequel... I wish Nan would have moved on, even if he ended up finding Phu. It's what he deserved as a person, and that would have been much more on par with the overall tone of the series. They missed their timing because Phu was a coward, now he can only blame himself for missing his chance.)

I'm going to assume that Nan is so happy to see Phu again that he's decided to keep his grievances to himself for now. In the prequel, whenever I would see Nan go to Melbourne I would think: DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH A PLANE TICKET COST?

The least that selfish Phu could have done is tell him that he had lied and that he was in another country but not Australia so that at least Nan would give up searching for him and spending money on travelling expenses every year. Could have done so many things with that money.

Anyway, I'm still crossing my fingers for some serious grovelling from Phu and a tone shift.

I'm an optimist.

Can't believe this is currently directed by one of the Kinnporsche director though. The shame.

Naksu was the only one who trusted him and thought he could do something of himself. All the others including his own friends didn't believe in him AT ALL.
Also Naksu had only him.

He knew, she had nowhere to go just like she knew, nobody believed in him apart from her.

Also... saying that Uk and Naksu trusted each other is taking it a bit far... They relied on each other for sure, but trusted each other? Not in the beginning. This is also why Naksu is such a well written character. She has an aim and an unreliable student. She manipulates him and others to get what she wants. I wouldn't call that a relation based on trust.
This only came in later episodes. I'm currently watching episode 16 so it's very much fresh in my mind. The full trust only came then. Before, they was already love and a little of trust, but it was a lot of Naksu manipulating Uk to get what she wanted. He just learned to understand her scheming better by the middle of the series and hence could understand where she was going. ( Not only him btw, since even the prince tricked her into becoming Ul's servant when he understood that he had been completed manipulated by Naksu)

That push and pull thinking cannot work here. Yi Hwan is the Prince. He's been told from the craddle that he can't rely on anyone. His brother has been killed, he's got no mother at his side, no political allies and he knows he's next on the hit list. His own father told him to fend for himself as he's already struggling with maintaining his position. They're not on the same level.

In spite of Uk being the supposed "master", he was basically on the same level as Naksu. He had at least in the first season, no responsibility and no expectations from anyone. He wanted to become a magician/sorcerer ( I'm watching the show with Korean subs so I don't know how it' s been translated) and that was it. As he grew to love Naksu, that's when he got a clear goal and responsibility which is to protect the woman he loves.

The Prince here is fighting for his own survival.

His own adviser, supposedly his best friend, a couple of days before, hid the turtle he found because he thought it would implicate his father. He had his reasons for sure, but Yi Hwan has know him for years and this is what he got. How exactly is he supposed to trust ANYONE?

Anyway, I disagree with the term "stupid" here. It's already a miracle he hasn't killed her. She could have manipulated him to gain his trust in order to stab him in the back more easily.

Uk is definitely the more likable one but these characters can hardly be compared. Their circumstances are just too different.

Anyway. People are complaining about the writing. I don't get the hate. I'm finding the writing solid so far. The pace is similar to old historical weekenders that used to be aired in the early 2000s when I started to watch K dramas. It's not necessarily a bad thing, though I understand that for younger viewers, it might feel very slow.

The editing though... Not so great. I don't mind the pace, but the choppy editing is not TvN level.

... Yeah Hope it will be available on another platform. Can't change the size of the subs and they're tiny. I wish every streaming platform would allow users to choose the size and the position of their subs like you can do on youtube or on your own video program. Sometimes subs are too low and in the black part which I find annoying ( looking at you Vikii and Heavenly Idol... If it was on Iqiyi at least the video would be tailored for my 2K screen as it should be), sometimes too small... That will a pass for me... I feel like I'm missing most of the action since I literally have to glue my eyes to the bottom of my screen. Maybe it works better if you don't have a big screen but mine is fairly big so it's really annoying.
It's also really annoying for users who don't speak english. If new subs come up they will have to see a double line... Just nope.
But I guess one can't complain since it's free but I just don't understand why they chose to do this when all the other channels just use soft subs.

So... The good thing about being warned the previous week is that I was expecting worse from 11.1.
Still wasn't a good end... But way better than what I expected.

11.2: Happy ending that doesn't make sense. Also in that scenario, Mum never met the other Dew again because the Dew he fell in love with originally was killed trying to save Mint from his world. So either he's offed by a car or he's offed by Mum from his own world. In both cases, he dies and it sucks... But the oblivious other Mum doesn't care because he's got another Dew in his world so fudge the other since you know they're the same.
I just don't like this type of trope. In that case, imagine there was no parallel universe. Dew and Diew are brothers. Mum goes out with Dew. Dew dies. He ends up happily with Diew.
Everybody would be like WHAT THE FUDGE?

11.1: Bittersweet ending that... doesn't make sense. I don't see the point of not seeing the parallel Mum if you've already broken up with the your world's Mint (Also, she's taking it pretty well so WHY?).

Anyway, nice change from the usual BL fare, but the ending just ruined the show for me so that will be a 6.5.
The aftertaste is just too bitter.

I wouldn't use the world "disgusting" but "puzzling" instead... But I'm with you for episode 11.1. Can't talk about Episode 11.2 since I haven't seen it yet...

BUT PLEASE! Check that fudging Spoiler box !

Err Thank you for the link...
But I go for the legal option. I already have a VIP account anyway.

Hmm you didn't need to edit any part...
I personally asked for some spoilers in my previous comment just below yours, I just posted the above comment for people who are averse to spoilers.
I however, can mentally prepare myself for next week though, your comment was vague enough that I don't feel spoiled too much all the while telling me which type of feelings I'm going to get... which is what I was looking for so thank you :D

Thanks for the spoiler...
But most of us we'll only get to the end by next week or in two weeks so please edit your comment and check that spoiler box so that people who don't want any are warned.

Watched on We-Tv but you need to have a VIP account. Otherwise you'll have to wait for next week to get episode 11.1.
Bottom line:
Buy the fast track i.e you're VIP BUT you pay extra, and you get the end today
Get a VIP account and you get episode 11.1 and the end of the series next week.
No VIP account and you get the end of the series in two weeks.

So I'm watching episode 11.1 Wake Up. And I guess we're getting a proper happy ending for Mum's World...
(We should probably change the episode counter to 12)
But based on the preview for 11.2 Dream On, we're going to get also a proper ending for Dew's world.

Also from what I've gathered, Dew and Mum are evolving in two separate worlds:
Mum in World 1 met Dew in World 2.
Mum in World 2 met Dew in World 1 but decided to only meet him once in order to not mess with Mint's life in World 1.

The only thing is that Mint in World 1 although persistent knows when to give up, Mum in world 1 is reasonable and was ready to give up Dew for his sister's happiness and Dew only met Mum from World 2 once so he didn't have time to get attached.
In other words, the characters in world 1, Mum's World, are "good people" I guess. Even Mint and Dew's friends are nice even though one of them has been in love with Mint since university. Also Dew had a very good relation with his parents in Mum's world.
So there's basically no problem for Mum and Dew there to get together.

In World 2, Dew's World however, everything is a mess: Mum is protective of his sister to the point of becoming a killer, Mint doesn't know how to take no for an answer and when she finally did Dew's cowardice pushed her to the brink. On top of that, Dew has family feuds with his uncle but also his own father and Mint's friend, A, who is in love with her, wants to force Dew into a relationship with Mint he never wanted. The other guy friend, B, is also blaming Dew for A's unhappiness who he's in love with ( Yeah sorry can't remember their name, too lazy to check). Dew basically has gotten with her because he literally wanted everyone to be off his back. But once he gave them what they wanted, he didn't get any peace.
Better cut ties and move abroad to a place nobody knows you, definitely less hassle down the line.

I'm DYING TO KNOW how they're going to wrap up Dew's world because it's a it's whole freaking mess and the last time we saw Dew there he was about to die from the usual vehicule of doom.
But I'm not gonna pay extra for Wetv which doesn't allow VPNs. Still can't watch Lovely Writer on it so sc*** them. Definitely not gonna renew my yearly subscription. I got it cheap last November for 28€ a year but it's not worth it. Gonna stick with Viki and Iqiyi (with a VPN ), at least for these two, I'm getting my money's worth.

Has anybody paid for the fast track for episode 11.2?
If you would be so kind as to share spoilers, that would be lovely...
Thank you in advance :D

Based on the summary it seems like the Korean live adaptation of the manga Parasyte aka Kiseijuu by Hitoshi Iwaaki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parasyte

I don't know for Jung E. But the story is the premise of the manga. In the manga, we follow a teenager who managed to survive because the parasite didn't manage to get into his brain but his hand. It's actually a great manga (one of my favorite) and it had a great Japanese adaptation made a couple of years ago:

https://kisskh.at/10760-parasyte-part-1
and
https://kisskh.at/10771-parasyte-part-2

What starts off as a pretty gory and disgusting premise turned out to be a very heartwarming story questioning our own humanity.
Anyway, I personally discovered the manga thanks to the live action and I love both versions though the manga does go deeper in terms of philosophical questions and whatnot. Highly recommend if you're curious.

I'm personnally pretty excited about the plot change. I love how Korea changed the original plot of the manga Liar Game. The core of the story remained the same but they had added that "Korean flavor" that turned it into one of my all time favorite K-drama so I'm eager to see what they're going to do with this adaptation.

Enjoyed it....
Although completely unrealistic: NOBODY can draw this fast and I know what I'm talking about. Also, it's very clear they were using different artists for the drawings because the style was changing depending on the episode. However if you can suspend your disbelief for the duration of the drama, it's actually quite enjoyable.

But I have to say I couldn't hold my laughter with the two last episode...
The irony of China talking about "protecting people's private life" is just mind blowing to me.
I'm sure even Chinese people were like: "Ok, I'll turn my brain off".

Seriously China? Do you think your people are stupid? Talk about failed propaganda.

Also, I'm not sure because I haven't watched many Chinese shows so far, but in Thailand for instance, you can hardly depict corrupted officials in dramas, so any form of corruption is always something that comes from a private individual.
So as I was watching that show and the "plot twist" happened, I was like "Given the censorship, it's just impossible that X did this, or that individual B might be working with blablabla".

It just kills the suspense all together. Censorship is the killer of creativity.

Anyway, It had been a while I hadn't watched that genre so I pretty much enjoyed it... But I think if I had watched some Korean Murder Investigations around that time I'd probably have enjoyed it less.

I'll be coming back for the 2nd season when it comes out though.

I agree with the fact Neung is spoiled... But for the rest, I don't. Or rather I just find the whole comment pretty harsh and uncalled for. At the end of the day, you react based on how you've been educated, your environment and your personality.

That comment for instance:

"He knows the kids in his school dislike the privileges he enjoys and he prefers to wallow in self-pity instead of reaching out to them to show his good side."

==> YEAH. SURE. As someone who was bullied at school, this type of comment annoys me to no end. First, because bullying doesn't happen for a reason. That's victim blaming. People find excuses to bully others because unless they find themselves excuses, they'd have a hard type looking at themselves in the mirror. Any bully has to find a "valid reason" to maintain their view that they're good people even if they behave as nasty pieces of sh** There is nothing that can excuse this type of behavior.
And you can't ask a VICTIM to reach out to his BULLIES.
I'm old enough to have kids that age now, and what I went through still hurts. So NOPE.

==> Self-pity

Teenagers are always wallowing in self pity, that's how they are. They're still too young to firmly stand on their own two feet. When you struggle with your own problems, it's obvious you're not gonna be sensible to other people's issues. That's why teenagers often argue with their parents, thinking they don't understand them when it's not because they don't understand, it's because they have circumstances and issues they have to deal with and take into account, which teenagers don't know. As you grow older, you stop blaming them because in hindsight, even if you don't agree with some decisions they made, you realise they just did their best. Maybe you didn't know one of your mother or father was going through a depression at some point in his/her life and tried his/her best to not show you they were struggling which made them acting in ways you couldn't understand at the time. Maybe they went through some painful experiences that left scars and would like to avoid you going through the same thing because they know how much it hurt them even years later.

In short... Don't ask a teenager to think like an adult. Nueng is already very much aware of the power imbalance, it's practically shoved into his face on TV and at school by his classmates. And what is he supposed to do? Right now he's a teenager attending school, give the poor guy a break.

==> Spoiled.

Sure he is. Now. Is the fact that you're spoiled forbids you to be unhappy? Because from the outside he has everything so he should be perfectly happy after all others have way less and don't complain that much?
Life isn't that simple. If being filthy rich made you happy, there wouldn't be so many rich people doing drugs, beings depressed or committing suicide. If life was that easy, everybody who have a stable job, a good salary, and a loving family should be happy. If so how come they're are so many people who are depressed? How come there are hundreds of thousands of people worldwide who one day disappear voluntarily on their loved ones without ever looking back and ever giving a reason?
Basically only those who are out in the street with no food have the right to complain I guess?

People are complicated. Life is complicated. Making comparisons about people's unhappiness as if it's a competition about who is the most unfortunate so who is more entitled to be unhappy is ridiculous.

==> The sense of entitlement

Well that argument was ugly for sure. I agree in part with what you said... The servant comment was awful...
BUT.
Isn't it what everyone thinks?
Palm's father told him to not call Nueng by his name. He even told him to go to the same school by foot when he's DRIVING Nueng every day.

Until that argument Nueng had NEVER called Palm a servant.
Yet In Episode 3, Palm was told by Ben that he was told he was Nueng's servant.
Thank you Ben for that by the way.
When Palm confronted Nueng regarding that comment, Nueng told him he had not said that, yet Palm had assumed he did... And told him it was the truth and it didn't matter what he called him.
Chopper also said Palm was a servant. Yes, he said it as a joke... But ultimately they both know it's true, not forgetting Chopper's father.

Palm himself, although offered the possibility to be treated as an equal doesn't ACT like he's an equal.

Can you blame a jealous idiot, drunk on top of that, to say such hateful comment when the party concerned is believing and behaving as a servant himself?

You can't be treated as an equal when you don't see yourself as such.

I'm not excusing Nueng's behavior. But I'm saying, this guy can't go out with a servant, he doesn't want Palm as a servant, he wants Palm as a friend... a friend he likes a bit too much. Yet Palm, although, living in the same house, attending the same courses, doing extra chinese homework with him, taking shooting lessons etc... He did EVERYTHING he could to have Palm being close to him. Even after ALL THAT, Palm still treats him as a Master and not as a friend.

Anybody would be frustrated.


I just think that the whole comment is very judgmental regarding Nueng.
Good Lord. Do you realise you basically threw his entire being under the bus because of one argument?

WHO has never said things he/she didn't think when angry?
Let's be honest here. We all did, and if you haven't yet you will.

Also, when people get emotional they sometimes act irrationally. The person who is most difficult to understand is oneself. It's easier to look at people and understand them than trying to understand oneself. And Nueng is a very confused teenager at present.

He's not perfect, but as his mom said he's a bit too kind for his own good. And yes he's a broody teenager but he's not having it easy. You don't choose your parents, you shouldn't suffer from whatever feud is happening between adults, yet he does.

Does he deserve Palm?
At the moment no.
Because Palm doesn't deserve him. And it's not me who thinks it, it's Palm himself.

Well I'm sure I could elaborate more but this reply is already too long.

"Even though this whole saga has settled into a bromance with wigs"

HA HA HA!
That comment killed me :D