Pincolino

I liked it. Such stories where being gay isn't that big of a deal so that the characters get together pretty fast are once in a while refreshing. The interaction between the characters felt very natural. I wished for more kisses or touches, but the one we got was great. Overall the story was a bit mysterious and not that well done. I wouldn't want to watch such a movie only because of the second story line. But hey, why not trying out different things? It was an ejoyable watch with some charming characters. I had to rewatch some scenes because I liked them so much. So go watch it! It was nice.

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Good series

I don't know where to start.
People say this series is underrated. Yes, it is. Most likely because of two things. First, the crazy BL fangirl plot is too cringy and annoying. Second, despite this series being a BL series (no doubt about that, it has many gay characters and relationships), the main couple is hetero. We all know that a lot of BL fans have an irrational aversion towards hetero couples.
So yeah ... To make it short: I wasn't happy with every development or every character, but this series was really smart and emotional. It got me invested into the characters, their feelings, their ambitions, their motives. That's very rare, honestly. I was watching it and trying to understand what they were thinking. Normally you know the characters, the plot developments are cliché, as a viewer you don't have to dig deep into their behavior and what they are saying. Not in this series, though. There were some pretty interesting dialogues, and overall this series had a very well written script.
Also, the music, the cinematography, the coloring, it was all great. Very great for such a small series.
I want to mention, like I have seen others already saying, that the main hetero couple was adorable. My favorite couple. I wasn't the biggest fan of the gay couples and their chemistry. But their story was very well told, very interesting, and made me really think about the characters.
So yeah, go watch it.
I'm so damn tired at the moment, but I forced myself to write this review. That's the least I can do. The series deserves the praise. The rating is too low.
On a sidenote: Stick with it, and try to not get too annoyed watching the first episode. If you make it through the first episode, the rest is pure greatness.

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No joy in life

You know, nothing is perfect, and there is a lot to love about this series. The acting was out of this world, many dialogues were brilliant, the characters were all very well crafted.
I'm sure, enough people praised this series to the moon and back. It made me very, very emotional and I cried a lot.
But I can't give 10 stars, because the series made me also angry. Some stories and characters were beautiful, others were rather annoying. At the end, I wasn't annoyed anymore, because everything came together, but throughout watching the drama, I had a lot of rather negative emotions towards this series. Not gonna lie, the teenage pregnancy plot made me almost drop it. I enjoyed the girl with the disabled sister, and I seriously think her story was one of the best, only matched by the dying mother story at the end of the series.
Well, I don't want to spoil, and I know this review is a mess.
I was raised by a very poor family myself. My mother could be one of those old women, working her whole life. She also came from a very poor family. Her mother, my grandmother, had five children, one died. Life was hard back then, but not as hard as portrayed in this series, where we have a woman at a similar age as my mother, who lost her parents when she was only six, her older brother died some years later. Then she married a good guy, had two children. The husband died in the sea, her daughter drowned. Come on! This is against all odds! I would start believing in a revengeful god if this is reality. Maybe I'm ignorant about South Korea's history, but this is too cruel and unbelievable. This is the most extreme example, but almost none of those characters was raised in a healthy and happy family with father and mother. Dead parents, gambling, suicide etc. seems to be normal on the Jeju island. Really? I enjoy realistic series, but when they overdo it with the drama just to have a story to tell - I don't know.
Back to the title I gave this review: No joy in life. There were moments, where I felt exactly that: those characters were all miserable. They said it themselves twice: no joy in life.
The after credits said something like: We are on this world not to suffer, but to be happy.
This series didn't make me happy at all.

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Breathtaking

I wonder why I never wrote a review for this 2nd season. I was hooked from the beginning to the end and enjoyed it more than the 1st season. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. Some characters were just incredible, the acting was overall pretty good, I even started to like the main guy. The plot was as intriguing as in the 1st season, but this time they tackled some moral questions that really got me thinking. It's a while that I watched a series, and I had to pause it just to take it all in and get my thoughts straight. This series really deserves the hype.

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Today I'm on a Tin&Can-marathon. I enjoy the new season ACTL and I watched 2Wish, which I really liked. So I thought I would give ReminderS a second chance (the first time I watched it I couldn't get into it). I must say I still don't like it. The story is all about insecurity and jealousy how it's written in the description. It's just tiring. An hour and a half full of misunderstandings. Mean's acting is a bit ... hard to get used to, and Plan plays a character who isn't very likable. In 2Wish we have the same characters, but they feel differently and there is a different power balance. Saint and Perth ... well, I don't know. I liked the story between Phun and Noh the most, I guess. Not impressed. Sorry.

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I'm dropping this. Ep 1 & 2 were a good start, and even though there were some flaws (stiff acting, bad music, mediocre cinematography, strange editing), the plot had potential. I really appreciate how realistic the forensic stuff is shown. I also think the author had a plan, and this is not one of those silly BL series where you know the writer just sits there, does zero research, and writes whatever comes to their mind. Now I'm at Ep 6, and unfortunately they didn't fix the flaws and the little enjoyment I got from watching this series is now completely gone. There is nothing I look forward to. I don't care who killed Jane. The actors have no charm and look lifeless most of the time. Max&Tul could still save this series with their charisma, but the characters Tan&Bun are also extremely boring. I don't know why the writer decided to make their love story so uninteresting with that kind of premise. This could be passionate, intense, exciting with all the mistrust on both sides - it's not. I expected mind games, and I got a soap opera. They are playing house like a married couple and telling each other emotional stories about their life. When they are standing somewhere in the big house and talking to each other I feel like watching The Bold And The Beautiful. It's not engaging. It's a waste of time for me. I'm a big Max&Tul fan, I watched Bad Romance 3 times, I watched TWM, also the next chapter. I watched interviews, TV shows (the one where they travelled to Japan). Even though it hurts to say this, but those two aren't talented and versatile actors. I always knew it. Still I hoped for them to grow and show us something new. This is not a good performance. It could be worse, sure, and I see they tried. But the result is not great. The whole series is mediocre on every possible level. It lacks artistry, good performance, good film making. I honestly refuse to believe the people who worked on this had fun and were passionate about what they were doing.

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The biggest weakness of this series: It's a bit slow, and it takes its time to build the world and the characters. Normally, that's considered a good thing, but I must admit I couldn't get into it for the longest time. I really enjoyed the 1st episode, with young Ta Gon, Asa Hon and their children, the Neanderthal she was in love with, I got invested into the characters and their story just to see them all ... vanish. We got a time skip, and everyone was gone. Ta Gon is still alive, of course, but the actor was replaced by an older one. I felt like someone was throwing me out of a story and into a completely different one. I didn't enjoy Eunseom's and Tanya's friendship/romance, because their characters were too childish and innocent. It was meant to be like this, I know, but it was a bit tiring watching them living in the tribe. So what changed? I don't remember which episode it was, but suddenly I was hooked. I was fascinated by Ta Gon and Taen Al Ha, those characters (and actors) just stole the spotlight. Their performance, their intensity and their political intrigues and mind games were incredible. I also started to admire Tanya, and I saw her growth and potential. Of course, the whole plot about the twin brothers was very intriguing. So I went back and rewatched the first episodes and finally understood that this series is brilliant.

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I heard a lot of good things about SOTUS. To be honest it's one of the smarter stories out there. I'm not familiar with those university systems. It seems it was highly exagerated in the series but something similiar does exist in Thailand. It really was interesting to see how someone like Artit seemed to be the bad guy, but at the end there were no bad guys. It was really touching, intelligent and you can learn some life lessons. To see the diference between the senior Artit and his self in private was really cute. He was such a different person. The love story makes your heart beat faster, that's also a plus. My only complain: Such characters like Kongpob who can do EVERYTHING (intelligent, talented, righteous) are getting boring fast. I'm not a fan of the actor either. His facial expressions were always pretty similar. He was a tipical nice guy and that was it. I don't need bad boys but I prefer characters with more interesting personalities and more conflict going on in their mind. Overall the series is as good as people say. For me a bit to cheesy at the end but hey! Ohters will like it. A big plus: I didn't feel like skipping parts even though the series is pretty long. It was really well done. They all looked like models and it was very "polished" which I don't prefer so much, but well, why not.

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I'm not so happy with this one. First, the two boys lack chemistry, but they behave very natural and seem at ease when they are together. That's a plus. No awkward gazes in each others eyes for hours. No awkward touches which seem to mean the world to them. Both characters have distinctive personalities especially Mai Ding who is an adorable dork. I loved the scene in the cinema. He was so annoying I wanted to punch him myself. The humor is sometimes very good. Another plus.

What I really didn't like was the lack of intimate scenes (kisses, touches). I don't know if it had to do with the censorship, but there is really not much going on. And then there is the uncut version where we have sex scenes that makes you speechless. Watching the censored version your impression of this love will be completely different.

Overall it was a nice watch, the acting was okay, the music annoyed me several times. The filming was very amateurisch, but it gave the whole series a more realistic touch.

I can recommend "Like Love" if someone likes to see characters who are funny and behave (in a relationship) very differently. It's not the type of cute love with lots of shyness and insecurity you see in many boys love series. It's more a funny and straight forward approach with two strong minded characters.

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Just lovely

I will make it short: The plot is not existent. I tried to read the manhwa at least five times because of it's popularity, and couldn't get into it. Creative out-going guy meets nerd that thinks and behaves like a computer. That's the whole story. They hate each other, then they fall in love. Never seen that before, right? So yeah ... not impressed. But why the high rating? The production was great, the soundtrack too, the non-existent plot worked surprisingly well, and THE LEADS WERE FANTASTIC! That's all you need to know about this series. Both did a good acting job, had incredible charisma, a very lovely chemistry, and were extremely good looking - not only individually, but also as a couple. Those two fit each other so well. Not to mention that they were capable of delivering a proper kiss. No akwardness, no shyness. Just cute. This is the type of series everyone can enjoy. Despite having two guys fall in love, it felt like a rather causal love story, and not your typical BL. It was not perfect and not really that out-standing, but it was sooooo lovely. I will give it 10 stars. I'm generous today.

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They blew it

I'm sure many people will praise this series (the rating is very high), so if you want to read what's great about it, read other reviews. I will talk about why I dropped it near the end, and won't bother watching ep 23&24 (the finale) after seeing the preview.

So first, let's be honest: those characters are cliche. We have the good, naive, weak guy and the ruthless killer/tough mercenary. Nothing new under the sun. But since they did a fabulous job with the whole apocalyptic plot, there are a lot of things happening that create tension between those characters and gerat conflicts.

So we have different story arcs. First story arc: Lin Zai saves a wounded A Leh. They build trust slowly, you can feel the affection growing. Second story arc: Relationship changes completely since A Leh is now a kidnapper, and Lin Zai the victim. There is a lot of tension, lost trust, Lin Zai wants to run away, A Leh is very rough towards him. Third story arc: they get closer again, they talk, we get passionate love making. Until then everything was fine, and the series was brilliant. But then the last story arc ruined it all.

SPOILER! If you don't want to ruin your fun STOP READING.

So ... what happened? Lin Zai didn't want A Leh to know about him participating in the experiment to save his brother. His solution? Pushing A Leh away, breaking up with him and hurting him badly. And A Leh was hurt very badly. He was desperately trying to change and make this relationship work, he was willing to do everything, he was crying in his car. It was heart breaking. Most likely, Lin Zai was the first person to love him and be with him – and Lin Zai pushed him away. He said a lot of hurtful things, and even though, as a viewer, I got angry at Lin Zai for being stupid, unfair and weak, I have to admit he had a point. There was truth in his words. They had a lot to unpack and communicate to make this relationship work. But what did the writers do? They almost killed Lin Zai, and when he woke up again, he was like: Nah, I didn't mean any of it.
So what's the problem with this?

1) Lying to A Leh, hurting him just to push him away was very immature and questionable behavior of Lin Zai. Makes you think what kind of person he really is, and how he solves problems. He was feeling bad about it, but at the same time he was whining about himself not being able to let go. It was all about him and his brother and not about A Leh. Seeing his brother in this state was traumatizing for sure. So even though I disliked Lin Zai's behavior, it was a very tough situation with no easy solution.

2) Why did he even do it? After the near death experience he was suddenly very open and told A Leh the truth. A Leh's reaction? "Baby, I will help you and be a good and supportive boyfriend." WTF? They should have at least argued about it, since it was obvious at this point, the research can kill Lin Zai. So in a logical world with logical characters A Leh should have been even more against it now, since there is real danger, and only after Lin Zai desperately making his wishes, fears and hopes clear, he should have agreed to support him. But that didn't happen.

3) Imagine being A Leh. Just for a moment. There is this guy you really love, and he puts you through hell and back emotionally –just because he thought that's necessary (which it wasn't). Do you trust such a guy? A guy that hurts you on purpose, lies to your face with those cold eyes? Do you feel safe with him or are you like A Leh: "Baby, now we are together again, I'm so happy!" This makes honestly no sense that they suddenly are lovey dovey, everything is forgiven, and the ruthless mercenary is now the cooking husband who has to care for his sick boyfriend like good mother. Honestly, their honeymoon phase seems so awkward to me after everything that happened between them. It just doesn't fit the mood of the story. It's like a quick solution. They whole conflict feels fake and fabricated now – which it apparently was, since he didn't need to lie to A Leh in the first place.

They could have saved this easily by showing us a big emotional fight between A Leh and Lin Zai, where they both tell each other about their struggles und build trust again. But nope. The actors would have been capable of such an emotional scene, but the writing team said: Nah, not needed. Be lovey dovey instead, look happy (or sick in Lin Zai's case).

They also emphasized constantly that A Leh is a ruthless killer, that he is dangerous, that his hands are too strong, so he can hurt others (Lin Zai's words). Even during the love scenes he is very tense and passionate that it almost looked like he is forcing himself on Lin Zai, which he wasn't, since he asked for consent, but still, Lin Zai had to fight him off to make him stop twice (or three times if you count the kiss later). Why doing this? To make the story cool or what? They didn't go anywhere with this plot. I expected them to address A Leh's passionate and forceful behavior. They didn't. I also expected them to have a very soft kiss after they got together again which shows us that A Leh calmed down. They had a kiss, and Lin Zai initiated it, but it didn't have the impact I expected.

They had so many conflicts, trust issues (Lin Zai lied to A Leh because he didn't trust him) and unresolved problems, and the writers decided to not address them. Unbelievable. It makes me think that all those great conflicts and the incredible tension between the characters was not the result of brilliant storytelling, instead it was just pure luck. The story just developed like this, and the writer didn't even understand what gem they created.

They blew it. After episode 20 I lost interest in this series.

For people who don't care about good storytelling and just enjoy two good looking guys kissing and being in love –they won't be bothered by this big mess as much as I am bothered by it.
Talking about kissing and making love: the 2nd couple is terrible. Bad actors, bad story, and I don't want to see two people making out, when one of them is a zombie. It's disgusting. How they tried to force that couple onto us, is very strange. But again, those writers aren't serious people, they are just making a cute little BL series with lovey dovey ending and a 2nd couple to check all the boxes.

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What are you waiting for? Go watch it!

While writing this review, the rating is 8.6.
Well deserved, if you ask me.
When this series was announced, I got immediately interested because I couldn't wait to see Tay and New in a series that isn't cringe and cheesy. I like those two actors, and their great chemistry, but I despise their soap opera productions they seem to focus on as a couple. I'm a bit tired of them playing the same stereotypical characters. I was craving for another dynamic.
And I got it.
I like New's character a lot in this series. The very first time I could witness his great acting talent. He outshined Tay, who also did a great job. Everyone did a great job. There was not a single bad actor to be found in this series.
Enough of the actors. What makes this series so great is the writing. It's honestly one of the best I have ever seen, not only from GMMTV, but in general. This is a series of ghost hunting with a bigger story that unfolds to the end. So we get a ghost hunt in every episode, and honestly, I still can't believe how they managed to make me so emotional in such a short amount of time. The writing, the cinematography, the acting was so superb, that you could feel the pain of those characters, even though their story was told in a single episode. With very little, they did so much. I had no idea that GMMTV was even capable of such great writing. Nothing was dragged out, we got many twists, the suspense was high until the end.
The messages were beautiful: this was about friendship, family, and love.
It was a very deep series.
Last but not least: the humor. It's worth mentioning. I really enjoyed it. It was never misplaced, the timing was on point, and it always lifted the mood.

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Part 3 of this series didn't disappoint either. It gets better and better, because we learn more and more about the character, it's getting more tragic, more intense, as a viewer you're more invested with every episode. I'm not sure how popular this series is since it took forever for a second season, and they even changed two of the main actors, which honestly is a crime, but for me this series is much more enjoyable as other very popular shows like Game Of Thrones for example. This is indeed my favorite fantasy series, and everyone should give it a try. The writing is really good, and the actors are phenomenal. It's just hard to get into it, but it's worth it.

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I watched this series months ago, but never wrote a review, since I was at loss of words. Part 2 is most likely my favorite, because of Ta Gon and Tae Al Ha. Those characters and actors are just incredible. They aren't the good guys, but you can feel for them, and I enjoy how both play their games, how both have a strong will to succeed. Ta Gon is a truly tragic character. Both are, their upbringing and their fathers made them who they are, and that's why they are a good match. We got great fight scenes in those episodes too. Not to mention episode 12 which was one of the best of the whole series when everything came together, the tension was insane.
Again: Brilliant.

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