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little peace of advice
if you love noisy mothers , this drama is made just for you. without her being the center of the drama, i would rate it a lot higher. this drama was carried by leads who hardly even get romantic scenes together. don't get me wrong. i love a good business centered drama but this time, it added nothing to the story. not to mention, whoever wrote the body of work must have terrible family. otherwise, i can't explain a mother who gets away with treating her daughter by playing a victim until the end of the dramaWas this review helpful to you?
for mentally ill
this drama is filled with every possible emotion that you can imagine and that's why i like it so much. it's like writer was taking me on a roller coaster ride with two messed up people. also, casting director knew what he was doing while casting these leads. WDH and LYM's chemistry carries this drama.Was this review helpful to you?
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underwhelming but better than s2
i start this review of by saying that i really hated subplots of season 2 so i sort of knew that i won't be enjoying this season completely. military centered story lines which started last season didn't peak my interest even back then. i continued watching for ah yi (who imo was the best addition from previous season), lee siblings and hyun soo.good things about this season:
- no struggles with story spacing (major issue in s2)
- hyun soo seems to have decent amount of screentime compared to last season
- top notch cinematography
- great acting
bad things about this season:
- last season, writers brought in a lot of new characters to k!ll off (as i mentioned before besides s1 characters, i only liked ah yi for her mysterious aura and park chan young for his friendly non stereotypical military characteristics) . when most of them ended up dying, i didn't really care.
- i never read the books, but would've one romantic scene between CHS and LEY killed the writers? they already changed things in season 2
- the ending feels underwhelming because of the non existent built up for it. also, viewers deserved to see core 3 happy for one whole episode (i really hate when we don't get filler episodes when we need them)
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too much going on
i feel like they were trying to do too much with this drama. mystery and romance genres are really hard to blend with one another. that's why romance genre with random killing doesn't work. however, i appreciate this drama for it's healing factor. at first, leads were really distant and cold but trough story telling they grew as people. that's why they were the highlight of this series for me. also, the psycho ex had way too much screen time for my likingWas this review helpful to you?
i'm going to be hater
starting off with saying, i never got the hype of this series. sure, it the casting choices for this drama were insane and filmography outstanding and sets beautiful and clothing true to the time period. i feel like it could've been way shorter. from time to time, i felt that they were dragging out some storylines and throwing in too many storylines for side charactersWas this review helpful to you?
should've been at least 10 eps shorter
I can't believe that it took them years to release this series, and this ended up being the final product. Nothing wrong with actors, everything wrong with the writing. Initially, I thought that Ye Han and Li Xiao Xiao are the only MCs based on promo , so imagine my disappointment when I found out about other five characters who were quite irritating for most of the series. It caused me to skip a lot at some partsWas this review helpful to you?
good plot, meh ending
the biggest struggle with 2020s kdramas is delivering a satisfying ending—and friendly rivalry falls into that category. it might be based on a webtoon, but that's not a good enough excuse for the writing errors, especially in the second half. the cast was hit or miss in terms of acting. some actors made the show feel like a web series, while others gave it the quality of a netflix drama. however, the acting highlight was without a doubt lee hyeri. she shined throughout the series. hopefully, she takes on more mystery dramas because this genre suits her. as for the chemistry between the leads, it was okay. I don’t really understand the complaints about the lack of kisses. they did the best they could considering their environment (korea).overall, i would recommend this series to anyone who enjoys high school dramas with a touch of mystery.
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comedy is comedying
i went into watching this with no high expectations, but...- comedy bits weren't over the top
- full of action
- great cinematography
- easy to follow storytelling
- too predictable antagonist, but i can let that one slide
- happy ending
i would call it a great film for movie night.
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when life brings you to tears
i must say that the writing was excellent from start to finish and very well thought out. it’s meant for people who love slice-of-life stories or an excellent tearjerker. the cinematography was breathtaking. the sets and costumes fit the time periods they were meant to represent, and the overall scenery was gorgeous. i have no notes- except for two actors whose skills were somewhat lacking compared to the rest of the cast. however, I’m letting this one slide. IU has once again proven why she is a great actress by taking on different roles within the same drama. this drama wouldn’t have been the same without her.Was this review helpful to you?
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many good ideas, horrible execution
it started out so good, but last few episodes were painful to watch. this drama biggest struggle was sticking to the plot. at first, it was portrayed as typical fantasy/comedy series. after that drama's genre become a slice of life/comedy which didn't bother me. however, i started to question the outcome of the story when they introduced serial killer storyline (I hate that trend in general). last 2 episodes felt like a series on its own. it had all the previous genres mixed together. the character who suffered the most because of it was the FL. LMJ was a person with quite high motivation until she pretty much became suicidal in episode. distasteful comedy in ep 15-16 didn't help either. I'm so bummed because I loved this drama to tiny piecesWas this review helpful to you?
decent, but needed some serious trimming
give this drama a try if you’re looking for an easy watch. it has a fairly predictable premise, with a girl cross-dressing to keep her life safe. however, the cast did a great job with what they had. i really liked the chemistry between the main four characters, which made their interactions enjoyable. the pacing would've been fine if this series was 12 episodes long. even though the plot wasn’t groundbreaking, it had enough charm to keep me entertained. if you enjoy historical dramas, this one might be worth watching.Was this review helpful to you?
story lost it's focus
i won't lie about the start of this drama being good, but in the middle part, it kind of lost me. however, i still appreciate excellent acting by the lead actors and cinematography. there were side characters relationships revolving main characters that weren't handled properly. also, the villain's take down was kind of underwhelming and dragged out.Was this review helpful to you?
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maybe it's time to wrap it up?!
let me start off with a short rant about this season's writing. this will be an unpopular opinion but most of the new characters left me cold (since they were the replicas of season 1 characters), and so did their deaths. also, they decided to keep junho around but didn't know what to do with him, so every scene we got of him was him searching for the games' location (some of these scenes were insane fillers). the glimmering light of season 2's writing was the introduction of noeul, and complexity of guards. the introduction of new characters was boring to watch. i would have rather learned about their stories during the game. one thing i hoped for was learning more about HIH's background since he's also a previous winner (otherwise, it's hard to explain why he was organizing games in the first place). he even got a replacement, but we have no clue who that is. the cliff hanger of this season was so underwhelming. netflix harassed the hell out of SQ's screenwriter for THIS. overall, acting was great and song choices were fitting. however, i felt like this could've been a final season.Was this review helpful to you?
simple but works
i am so glad that kim woobin is healthy,, and starred in this film about catching predators. he filled the role of righteous cop, perfectly. for a second, i forgot that i was watching a character. the biggest complaint i have about this film is that it is maybe too long. it takes some time to warm up to the characters since it's so action packed.if you're triggered by SA, including every mention of SA then this film isn't for you.
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hit or miss???
it faces the issue as majority kdramas released this year. it's too predicable. here are some examples:- FL falling in love first and harder (in the scene where OWS admitted her feelings towards SDY , he looked like he could care less)
- SML /OWS's husband getting k!lled off after receiving typical redemption arc (i hated both of these things)
- the other brother kwording his brother and stepdad (they should've played around with this plot)
also, there were major issues with the writing in the second half. they focused heavily on the antagonists, instead of the leads. leads' relationship wasn't developed at all. the last scene they had together felt like they went back to zero.
honestly speaking, this series was heavily carried by the acting. so kudos to actors. if the cast was different, i wouldn't have finished it.
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