Kannadin

Lol it's a whole other debate but I'm a long K drama viewer... We're talking more than 20 years here... There's always good and bad shows, but the success of Squid Game has let to an overall drop in the quality of K dramas. They have never looked better yet lots of these stories feel flat now. Anyway, there's a really good video about it by Asian Boss here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1_j6izmEX4

As for reviews... It's just a matter of practice. On MDL, anything with an overall rating of 7.5 or below is to be avoided... I would even argue anything below 8. That's just the practice on this website.

For most people a good show is 8 or above a mid show between 6 and 7.5 and anything below sucks.

I wouldn't trust any review though... whichever the website. I personally really loved Jupiter Ascending and John Carter, both film tanked from what I know, Jupiter Ascending getting a huge amount of terrible reviews, yet rewatching it I still don't understand why this film was so critisized.

Anyway whether it's about bashing or praising a drama, just really reading the review should tell you if the review is honest or not...
I'd say most reviews on MDL are honest, but you do have to be careful about certain actors and actresses, such as Lee Min Ho, Kim Soo Hyun, Esther Yu, Zhao Lu Si etc., whose fans and anti-fans are busy polluting the space with copy-paste reviews and comments.

The most severe case of that being currently Kim Soo Hyun... Never in my life have I seen how much stoopid people can get about a random actor they'll never meet, yet these people are barking like mad about any critic made even it's only about the drama and not the actor in question. Talk about lacking brain cells.

Anyway, stopping here. I don't want this comment to turn into a long rant against fanatics but also done with that lot.

Unlike what she claims, she doesn't lose weight for her roles.

She has a serious issue with food and is also probably suffering from body dysmorphia. It's been a couple of years that she honestly look sick in every drama she acts in and it's getting worse each time. I don't understand why SK is still making articles and speaking of actresses losing weight as if it's something great when most of them are already abnormally thin.

Park Min Young is on whole other level though... Even with all the makeup and filter, she can't fake the healthy apparence because there's literally close to no meat on these bones.
That's what all that pressure is doing to some of these women... I'm not sure the fame and glory is worth torturing oneself to that degree

I really hope she gets some help because no way in hell is this ok even considering how actresses are supposed to look "good" by being slim.

I started the first novel over a month ago and I'm currently watching the Donghua... It's so much more romantic compared to The Untamed. It's so good... So I used the search bar to see if a drama had been made...

I mean the casting for Xie Lian and Hua Cheng is perfect. WHY OH WHY this will NEVER AIR????

I refuse to accept this.

I sort of get it for the first episode because I honestly thought it was hilarious but then they toned it down a lot and the story itself was too empty to keep me there, but good for you if you've enjoyed it.

Actually I'm not really sure your comment is accurate. BLs might be more popular abroad but that's not necessarily the case for Lakorns in general which are pretty popular in Thailand.

How many Thai BL actors would like to switch to straight shows yet very few have managed. Most of them get stuck in BLs and honestly... Yeah, sure, there are some good BLs out there but plot wise, traditional lakorns are overall way above.
It's just that since they're not translated in English as much as BLs, they're not as popular overseas.

It's also a matter of public. The BL audience is overall way younger, when you go for straight shows, you get a way broader audience but as mentioned by the previous commentor you also have to compete with other Asian productions notably Chinese and Korean which are the most popular.

Doesn't mean it's impossible though. There's a public for every story but catering to an overseas audience doesn't seem to be their priority for straight shows at least.

I'm not a movie person and let's be honest Sci-Fi is really not my cup of tea most of the time.

However I did enjoy this movie. Found it entertaining for a one time watch. The CGIs were great and I teared up quite a bit.
Scientists or people a bit more savvy about science in general probably thought this film was a huge joke but as somebody who doesn't know sh*** , it was pretty cool.

The only thing that I just found very funny during the whole movie is humanity uniting to save the Earth from the Sun blowing up when we are currently destroying it and all our great leaders don't give a fudge.

Honestly, our impending doom already announced in the 1960s doesn't worry any of these people in power, so I doubt humanity would even manage to get to survive long enough to witness our Sun blowing up but I disgress.

Anyway, I had to switch off my cynical brain about the state of our current planet to enjoy this.

Most of our main characters survived by some weird last minute miracle and the end was a bit too rushed for my taste but ok.

Thanks! I actually dropped two shows today ^^The Untamed and Me and Thee. Both with very high ratings... Glad I did... I'm getting better. Dunno what to start but I've just started a 2 hours movie so I'll finish that first and I'll see later which long drama I start ^^

Yeah well sorry to rain on the parade but after 4 episodes, I'm throwing the towel... It's yet another GMMTV Mid show.

Fear not the haters' police though, my negative opinion won't affect the overall ratings since I don't rate shows I dropped.
I could elaborate, but there's already a few reviews out there that speak of these issues and I feel the same GMMTV problems pop up everytime so I won't bother.

This is just for you lone soul who is wondering if you're the only one struggling in spite of the very high rating, and to you, I say you're not alone and it's fine.

Well... Just for the record...
I've decided to drop it AGAIN.
I'm back from holidays and I just don't have that much free time so I'd rather invest the time in a show I'm really drawn into instead of a show I struggle with... Maybe this show is just not for me and I have to make peace with it...

I also looked very very hard in the review sections of the untamed and found a couple of rants.... That helped 😎

Oh ok thank you. I didn't know it was only 8 episodes. I think everybody can just stop panicking then. It's gonna air as planned. I mean I haven't looked into it much, but whether it's true or not, it's a money scandal... Not something linked with drugs or sexual misconduct, as far as Netflix is concerned, no need to cancel a whole show for that.

Oh my! Same!
Well I wish the both of us to get "cured" this year 🤣

Here's the thing though... I can't fast forward for the life of me, let alone skip episodes... Also I globally know the story, but there's quite a lot of characters in this series, it's not that easy to follow once you've let it on the side for a while.

I watched the donghua by the way and really enjoyed it though they skipped quite a LOT of the main story.

Anyway... Right now... I'm still deciding... Still on my "Thai phase"... Giving myself a couple of days to make a final decision.

I might watch a couple of Chinese movies in-between... That will give me more time to decide...

Is it a Netflix exclusive? Or wasn't it supposed to be aired on some Korean channel as well?

(If it's a Netflix exclusive, I'm sure it's gonna air no problem but if it was supposed to air on a Korean channel that's another story...)

[Putting the spoiler tag because this comment is too long]

Chinese dramas are the worst to drop...

Like, since lots of these dramas are novel adaptations, you sort of feel obligated to watch quite a number of episodes to get into the "meat of the story" and yet, once you're past the long introduction that usually takes 10 episodes or so, it becomes difficult to drop the whole thing.

Right now I'm in the middle of wondering if I should drop the Untamed ( And yeah, I know EVERYONE loved that show). I've watched 10 episodes... I just can't get into it... But here's the thing. I already dropped it once 3 years ago... I went up to episode 17 or 27 from what I remember... and it was a struggle...

I started the novel a bit after that and I enjoyed them ( though due to lack of time I haven't finished them but planning on picking them up again at some point) but for some reasons... I just can't with the drama.

SO

I already dropped it once... If I drop it this time, am I going to pick it up again? I just don't want to bother rewatching episodes I already watched because I forgot the story. So I know that if I drop it NOW, I'm never EVER gonna bother again...

But everybody says I would be missing out.

This is the worse case scenario because I feel I should like the show but for some reasons things are not clicking. I already gave it a try years ago and people said that after a while you get into it but how long exactly is the "while" in question?

So here I am stuck. Usually I try to switch between languages: Korean Chinese , Japanese ( often with anime instead of dramas or movies) and Thai... So right now, I should switch to Chinese after a couple of episodes of the Thai drama I'm watching...

But I don't want to start something else... Otherwise the list of shows become too long and it becomes complicated to complete. Apart from when I'm on holidays, I try to keep my watching list under 5 dramas and/or anime, 1 in each language with eventually one currently airing drama/anime.

Anyway here I am.
What do you think I should do?

HA! Good luck to us. I've only managed to drop shows which I know there's several seasons. Take Taxi Driver for instance. The show didn't grab me and knowing that there's 3 seasons and how much I HATE this idea of having multi seasons shows, it was easy to drop... But for the classic 1 season dramas?

More than 20 years of Asian dramas under my belt... and I still haven't learned my lesson.

Nah... It doesn't get better for the OST. If you don't like it, I doubt you're gonna change your mind later...

Personally I would advise against watching this slowly if your intent is truly to finish it... It's one of this show that if you put on hold, you're never going to finish... There's just absolutely nothing that is going to make you want to go back to it whether we're talking about the main intrigue or the romance.

Honestly, I was on holidays until last week, which is why I managed to finish it and IT STILL was one heck of a struggle but if I was working... I'd have dropped it. Waste of my free time.

Well you'll see how you do... But if you put it on hold... I'm 99% sure you're gonna drop it.

Ha... Well if that's how you feel... I'm sorry to tell you that it's not gonna get better. We do get an explanation for the villain in episode 12 or 13 from what I remember ( I was bored so much by brain erased most of the drama quickly after I finished it)... still as far as I'm concerned, some of his decisions still don't make sense even knowing his tragic story.

Depends on you I guess... Personally, if I had been a rational person, I would have dropped it at episode 6 because everything you said... is exactly how I felt as well... and sadly, these feelings stayed up to the end. But since I'm stupid and thought I was almost halfway, I finished it.

I consider it a pure waste of time. I gave 5.5 as a ratings for the cinematography and the actors... but not for the story....

So in conclusion... if you're smart, drop it. If you're stupid like me, keep on watching.🤣

PS: The OST is crazy good though.

How the murderer got scot-free to until almost the very end can only be summed up as "botched investigation" or " lazy writing" and I wish we could have witnessed the Prosecutor's father's downfall...

But apart from that, it was a well-paced very enjoyable show. Although it wasn't romance focused, the kisses were some of the best I've seen in a K drama so that's another plus.

Overall I'm left with a very warm feeling. It's not a flawless show but still a show I'd recommend for a good one time watch.

I think for me, the really positive point is the pacing. Honestly I've seen so many terribly paced C and K dramas as of late that for once, getting a drama that does the pacing right AND gives a satisfying ending that doesn't feel overly rushed nor long comes literally as a miracle.

Anyway, a solid 8.5. Won't rewatch it... but hoping Kim Jae Yeong does a rom com next. I dropped most of his recent dramas because they didn't grab me but this guy just knows how to give his viewers butterflies.

I know. I thought he would get a lead role after the success of Semantic Error but I guess going to the army was sort of mandatory given his age and that sort of postponed his rise. It's fine though. Hopefully he'll be the ML in his next drama.

I mean I get you but if it was that, it would have been surprising but then you'd have to give a proper reason and I don't think they could justify it in the little screentime we had left... If they did it, it wouldn't have made sense without proper explanation.

As for the rest, to be fair, I think that any culprit would have felt anti-climatic.