MPL88

Interesting exploration into marriage without intimacy, before nosediving into absurdity.

This series took an interesting look at marriage and how things can break down over a lack of communication and intimacy.

Considering how things went for the two couples profiled in this, I thought their marriages had reached the point of no return. Makoto's wife was more interested in her career than having a family, and in turn denied him emotional and physical intimacy.

And Michi's husband did not want kids at all and rather work a mediocre job and play video games, while at the same time denying her emotional and physical intimacy for more than two years. In the mist of all that he decided to physically cheat on her with his colleague and had little remorse for it until she (Michi) started to pull away from him.

Makoto and Michi became emotionally involved due to their loveless marriages and ultimately divorced their spouses, but break up with each other after the divorces. Still they continue on with their lives. Makoto working on growing his career and Michi doing the same, but also learning how to stand on her own. I thought the story ended in a good place at the end of episode 10 and should've stopped there. I didn't understand why another episode was needed.

Imagine my surprise when the main couples spent all of episode 11 ignoring what had destroyed their relationships in the first place, some of which were things that could not be overcome i.e. one person in the relationship wanting kids while the other didn't and extreme selfishness by one party in the relationship. Only to get back together in the end.

It was good to see Michi try to work on herself. Thus, it was extremely disappointing to see her reunite with Yo just because he told her he loved her. SMH. Very elementary and immature of her. This guy never worked for their relationship, except when that work would result in him getting what he wanted from her. Their relationship was never about them or even her. It was always about him. Moreover, he was unambitious, emotionally stunted and extremely selfish. In no way a match for what she envisioned for her life. It made absolutely no sense that he'd suddenly decide to leave the coffee shop and open his own. Honestly, I don't know how the shop he was working for stayed in business when there was never any customers in there.

This had to be one of the worst series I've ever wasted time watching and it was all due to the ending. I honestly had no investment in Michi and Makoto. I didn't care whether they ended up together or not.

However, I did think enough had been shown to logically conclude that both of their marriages were irreparably damaged and that they needed to move on. What a cop out to have them a) still interacting with each other, not just their exes, but the exes of their former "lovers" and b) to have the suddenly realize they belong together and reunite with their spouses. It made no sense whatsoever. Overall, the only good thing about this was the acting, which was actually pretty good. That aside though, this is not a series I would recommend and is obviously not worth a rewatch.

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The Irony of Nirvana is the main theme in this tale of conspiracies chaos and corruption

A curious and carefree Ci ventures out from the safety of her village in the mountains to explore the world below only to literally land in the middle of a political firestorm.

Ci’s journey led her to the political home of Pei, where she learned medicine , became an enemy, friend then lover of Wei. She traveled to surrounding villages to bring healing and kindness to the people, and justice for women, landed in the royal palace as a princess, and encountered a couple of wars along the way. Her adventures were nothing short of exciting .

The conspiracies and corruption could at times be convoluted but it was interesting to watch the characters investigate and try and unravel the mess. The show missed an opportunity with the Shadow Sect. Their secrecy and strategy made for an intriguing part of the story but was dropped halfway through the series due to the plot turning more towards war and political wrangling in the palace.

Though Pei started off toxic and controlling towards Ci he evolved nicely into a man who recognized the error of his ways and in turn became a fierce ally of Wei and Yueluo. But like other plots within the series, his political endgame of wanting to raise his status in the court was essentially dropped.

The leads, Wei and Ci, had chemistry and a lot of potential but unfortunately that potential wasn’t fully realized. They had some sweet moments but didn’t become a couple until the last few episodes and even then they barely shared any scenes due to the war. I think they kissed once, finally, in the second to last episode and that was only because they had sex. SMH. There were some missed opportunities for them to be physically closer ie hand holding, kisses, hugs, which would’ve given their romantic bond more credence.

The last few episodes got bogged down with too many war strategy meetings and battle scenes. Sadly, the ending was disappointing but not surprising. My heart broke for Ci. She lost everyone she loved most, which was painful to watch. And though I was not a fan of Pei, I felt so bad for him. For in the end he lost everyone he cared about either due to death or by their choice to leave him. Granted much of that was his own fault but it didn’t make him less sympathetic due to the losses. This was a good series. The acting was good and overall the plot was strong. However, if you’re looking for a romance drama you won’t find it here. It’s mostly a political conspiracy and war drama.

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An Office Romance Wrecks Havoc on the Fragile Career of An Elite Educator

Interesting insight into the elite education field for high schoolers in Korea. Though the FL was very good at what she did her approach, at times, could be off putting. The ML being brought onboard predictably stirred things up and inevitably led to the FL being humbled a bit but it was growth her character needed .

Though the show did a good job at capturing the atmosphere of the elite Korean education system the story wasn’t deeply engaging. There wasn’t anything compelling about the FL standing outside a door waiting for the ML to finish his teacher’s entry exam, watching him do a mock lecture or watching administrators and teachers try and outwit each other to become the next *star* educator at the school. It’s difficult to make a series centered around the classroom interesting, which is why this show struggled to capture this viewer.

The romance wasn’t enough to make up for what was missing in the main story. The leads chemistry wasn’t great, just passable. Their love story was okay. It was a little icky that the ML had a thing for the FL back in high school when she was his teacher. She gave in to his advances almost immediately. It would’ve been more realistic had she resisted his romantic overtures given their past teacher/student relationship, not to mention the risk to her career, for which she’d worked very hard to find extraordinary success.

Overall, this was okay. After I finished the last episode I realized there was nothing memorable about this show. Is it worth watching? Depends on the viewer, but honestly not to me. Is it worth a rewatch? Absolutely not.

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This movie reinforced how tired zombies are

Though zombies had their heyday over a decade ago, entertainment with this theme can still be great if done right. Unfortunately, this movie couldn't rise to the occasion. I didn't care about the leads and their love, and that he was willing to risk life and limb to save her. The situation with the zombies was uninteresting too. Moreover, the fact that ML was mostly taking down zombies with his bare hands was ridiculous. The FL was annoying, but not as annoying as the kid whose only lines were "get away from me. Stop." to the mindless zombies who was determined to kill him. Carl Grimes he was not. Lol. I ended up turning this off about halfway through because it just wasn't good. I didn't care about any of the characters. Or how they'd get out of the mess they were in.

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Ready Set…Should’ve Been So Much More Than Love

This started off like it was going to be light comedy built around a love story with all the bright set colors and silly incidents with the FL. But once the story started to unfold I found that there shouldn’t have been anything light and fun about this series. Or if there was going to be comedy it should’ve been used to lighten the story when it got too heavy.

The premise of the show was interesting and original, but the writers failed to do a deep dive on the themes they were throwing out. For whatever reason the birth of boys had severely declined. We are never given a reason why or even if research was being done to determine why they were rarely being born. As a result of this decline, there was a shortage of men in the world, so the government’s response was to essentially hold every boy that was born hostage at “The Farm”. They had this national reality game where women would compete to marry a man , but then we are told that’s just a scam and the marriages don’t actually happen.

It seemed as if TPTB were forcing the men to be with women whom they chose, for the purpose of…we’re never told why? The assumption was also if a girl was born, she was allowed to be out in the world and free. It was said that some women’s son’s were stolen from them and taken to The Farm if the they failed to comply with the law in giving up their sons. And those women would then be drugged and imprisoned. But if all men were held hostage at the Farm, who was impregnating these women in the outside world?

So again, it wasn’t clear what the government was hoping to accomplish with imprisoning boys at the Farm and marrying them off to what appeared to be wealthy families. As previously stated, this show had an interesting concept. There were many social commentaries at play ie “fake” vs “real”, population decline, human rights just to name a few.

With all the other more pressing story threads going on the love story was really irrelevant. And at times it seemed as if two shows were being explored within one, but the writers didn’t know how to merge those stories into a coherent show. The leads looked good together and had nice chemistry. It was sweet that they got their HEA but it seemed so out of place within the context of the story, much of which was not properly explored.

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"Love" Story with Problematic and Antiquated Relationship Tropes

The forced marriage that turns to love can be fun with the right writing. Unfortunately, this series fell short. Though the leads had great chemistry their relationship was problematic. The ML basically pays the FL’s adoptive mother $50 million dollars to “rescue” her from her adoptive family i.e. mother who treats her like trash. Mind you, the FL had no romantic interest in the ML as she was in love with the SML. Once married, the ML proceeds to yell at the FL, manhandle her and lock her in the home when she doesn’t respond to him the way he desires.

Granted he does secretly pay for her incapacitated brother’s care, but that still doesn’t make up for his possessive treatment of her. When they finally divorce, which he initiates as he decides that he has to “let her go” so that she can be happy, he then follows her around town (essentially stalking her) and continues to do things to control her life, such as arranging an apartment for her without her knowledge and ensuring that she chooses that place for her new residence. Of course, the FL finally realizes that she loves him and, in the end, they reunite, but honestly I don’t see why. Despite them being close schoolmates in high school and him doing a couple of honorable things that would warrant appreciation, that evolving into her having a romantic love for him made no sense.

The SML and SFL were a cute couple. They had nice chemistry and a descent love story until that relationship was destroyed by the SFL’s mother and unfortunately materialistic needs. The corporate drama wasn’t well played and the storyline with the FL’s incapacitated brother seemed to be an integral part of the story to start, but then was immediately dropped and was only revisited for a blink and you miss it moment, late in the series.

This was a very entertaining show. I did find that I wanted to see what happened next, but the writing wasn’t good and neither was the love story. The acting was hit or miss and some of the designs of the scene settings i.e. the homes and businesses, left a lot to be desired. Is this worth watching. Not really. Would I re-watch. No.

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A Compelling Journey of Peril and Perseverance, Abandoned for a Ridiculous “Love” Story

Started off as a brutal look into the struggles in immigrating from North Korea. The journey was tough to watch as Loh lived off the grid with his mother in China while she worked to raise enough money for them to escape to some European safe haven. Things don’t go exactly as planned when they are discovered by the Chinese police and his mother is killed while they’re attempting to flee.

Loh makes it to Belgium but continues to encounter some very difficult hardships. Though his encounters with the locals always escalating to violence, on their part, was heavy handed and unrealistic, his struggles for work and warmth and a roof over his head were authentic.

The part where this story goes off the rails is with Marie. A woman whose rebellion against her father over the death of her mother involves doing drugs and being the pawn of a Belgium gangster. It’s not love at first sight with these two being that she steals his wallet, which has all he has left of his mother and what little money he earned from her death. But soon their lives become entangled when she promises to get his wallet back and gives him a tip which results in a job.

There’s nothing more to their love story except a shared meal over which they didn’t talk but spent the entire time stuffing their faces, but somehow they came out of that being deeply in love, with Loh willing to do everything from OD on drugs, face off with gangsters and risk his ability to gain citizenship to save Marie. It was utterly ridiculous.

The movie seemed to have spent more time on the “love” story and Marie’s drama than on what should’ve been the focus of the story, Loh’s journey to freedom. In the end he finally gets citizenship in Belgium and in a voiceover states that he faced “many storms to get there. It would’ve made for an excellent story if we’d actually seen it. Instead his story became about saving Marie, then giving up his citizenship to go be with her on some island in the South Pacific. Needless to say I was left a bit perturbed by this waste of two hours.

I will say the Korean actors were great in this, but the premise advertised is not what this turned out to be.

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A Revolving Door of Souls in One Body

This sequel promised to bring more intrigue between the opposing factions of mages with Uk now being possessed by the Ice Stone and perhaps a swoon worthy love story with Go Youn Jong replacing Jung So-Min as Naksu. The latter was certainly true being that Go Youn Jong and Lee Jae Wook’s chemistry smoldered unlike his interactions with the previous actress in the role of MuDeok/Naksu.

However, disappointingly, the intrigue with the mage factions came to a screeching halt. With most episodes consisting of Uk falling for Buyeon/Naksu again while killing the monster of the week. Mu continued his nefarious agenda of trying to do….I’m not sure as his agenda got lost in his weekly schemes that never panned out, allies who were sometimes apart of the schemes but their roles weren’t made clear and just the lack of clarity as to why the royal family kept him as an advisor considering the actions he’d precipitated against the monarch in the previous season.

Of course it is learned in the 11th hour of the series that the monarch had been in league with him all along, along with the Unanimous Assembly. Learning this did add some logic to the earlier decisions these characters had made, but still failed to make sense of their end game. Their greed for power was understood. First via the ice stone, then the firebird. The former agenda made more sense than the latter. For the firebird would be difficult to control and would leave the world in shambles. How would this help those greedy for power? It was never made clear.

Moreover, out of all the mages on the Unanimous Assembly only one (too late I might add) realized their plan was a bad idea. It was hard to believe that many seasoned mages who’d seen a lot of good and bad in their lifetime thought Mu’s firebird plan would end with the result they desired. They all came off like a bunch of novice idiots with stars in their eyes over a half-baked plan to grab a smidgen of power, rather than intelligent beings who knew from their ages of experience that this plan would do more harm than good not just for others but themselves. Speaking of Mu his villainy was played out from the first episode. He should’ve been killed in the previous season with another adversary taking on Uk and his family/friends of mages. Mu became unbearable to watch. So much so he nearly ruined the series for me.

Another story thread that became tiresome was Buyeon/Naksu’s soul drama. It didn’t help that every episode changed the story behind what was going on with her soul. First her soul was Naksu, but her blood was that of Buyeon. Hence she could open the ancestral vault of Jinyoun. Then Naksu and Buyeon’s souls were coexisting in the body, with Naksu’s soul soon to disappear. Then it was Cheon which was the name she was born with or perhaps a reincarnation of Seol. By the time the series was over I didn’t know who the heck she was supposed to be.

Despite the confusion surrounding Buyeon/Naksu’s ever changing identity and why it was changing, the love story between she and Uk was well done. The closeness that grew between them was a natural progression and thus believable. And though Buyeon’s connection to Uk and their budding romance was supposed to be due to her soul being that of Naksu, I didn’t feel that she was Naksu. It felt like she was a completely different person, a new person, melting Uk’s heart. Their love story was sweet and their chemistry was amazing. However, I feel the writers took the audience up the mountain but failed to reach its peak. These two had some amazing hugs and kisses. We did get the wedding, but then after that no more smoldering romantic interactions. They may as well been good friends rather than starcrossed lovers who finally beat the odds to be together. Disappointing.

Similar to the first series, the writers missed some opportunities for epic moments within the series. For example, Mu’s death, it should’ve been more painful and dramatic. Uk discovering that Buyeon was really Naksu. He didn’t even blink upon learning this truth, which was odd. Yul being cured of the blood parasite should’ve been more challenging as should’ve been Uk dealing with the firebird. There had been several episodes discussing the dangers of the firebird being awaken and the difficulty in dealing with it only for Uk to wave his sword a couple of times, easily destroying it. Again disappointing. Uk taking on the firebird should’ve been a real battle as I got the impression that on its own it was just as powerful as the ice stone within him.

Though this season had its disappointments, it was still very good and worth watching. Will I watch again? Probably not. There was nothing about this season that was extraordinary enough for me to want to experience it again.

That said, I would absolutely watch a show with the adventures of Uk/Naksu/Buyeon/Cheon/Seol finding the relics that escaped Jinyoun. Provided Naksu/Buyeon/Cheon/Seol doesn’t add another identity/soul to her repertoire. Lol. I think a show about her and Uk’s adventures would be a fun .

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An Ambling Story of Glory

This show started off interesting even with the typical cliches of the leads having met in high school years before and one having a crush on the other. In the beginning I was concerned that the story would spend too much time on the ML training the FL on gaming but thankfully the show pulled back from that as the series progressed.

The leads are attractive, most especially Yang Yang who is beautiful. They had nice chemistry and looked good together, but the story just wasn’t there. The gaming training provided some story as did the conflict that arose when one of the leads wanted to date while the other didn’t. Then it was just episode after episode about the everyday boring minutia of one of the leads lives. Seeing this had nothing to do with the overall story and was time wasted on nothing. This went on until the leads finally got together. Then when they got together the story was over. The series was basically about the leads happily dating without any conflict.

I can appreciate a show not going the typical route of interloping exes or people who never dated the leads but think they are more deserving of their love. I can appreciate a series showcasing a healthy and loving relationship. However, they didn’t need 32 episodes to do this. Most of the episodes was a hodgepodge of poignant moments in the mist of meandering story threads. Honestly there were no story threads. In essence this was boring.

The writers could’ve done a lot with the FL being a famous actress/singer and the ML being a Aerospace Engineer, but they squashed any story potential in the first few episodes. I will say the writers/directors and actors did a good job making the coupling of the leads believable. They actually kissed, hugged, slept together etc. they acted like adults in a romantic relationship which ironically enough is oftentimes not displayed in these romance dramas. But that was about the only thing that was really good about this series.

With the lack of conflict and story, this series could’ve wrapped in 10-12 episodes rather than 32. But more importantly this series is not worth watching.

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Fantastic Premise Build Around Food, but Neglects the Meat of Story with Filler

As soon as the FL mysteriously traveled 400 years into the past there was instant intrigue. Her disbelief at her transition and resulting responses to the situations she encountered was highly entertaining and hilarious. Her journey to the past did not erase her love for cooking and food. Thus from the moment she arrived in this new world, food played an integral role in driving the story forward.

Unfortunately, the story eventually gets lost in political mischief and cooking competitions. The latter of which didn’t hold the magic that was the earlier stories. And the former, having the potential to add some interesting layers to the ML and overall story but did not receive the attention needed to develop in a way that would make the audience care.

The leads had nice chemistry. But I wasn't particularly invested in their love, mainly due to the ML, who was the king, ill-tempered and immature. He spent more time threatening violence and feening for the FL’s tasty dishes than than being crafty and cunning when dealing with his enemies. He would leave the palace and venture into the out of regions and fly off the handle at the most inopportune times. Even worse, in the end, this guy abandoned his kingdom and his people, that was in chaos, to run to the future after the FL. Not a good king, nor a good character at all.

That said, the lead actor in this, Lee Chae-Min, was fantastic. He did a great job with the material. This was a great series to start but lost it's charm halfway through and was unable to regain it through the end.

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A Ringing Phone Leads to an Interesting Mystery and a Sweet Love Story

To start this drama seemed a bit ridiculous. Why was the FL living her life as a mute when she could talk? And why was she secretly harassing and blackmailing her husband, the ML, when she could’ve simply ended their marriage if she didn’t want to be with him. Well as the story progressed it was quickly revealed that the situation wasn’t as simple as initially presented.

There were layers of reasoning behind the FL’s selective muteness, her arranged marriage to the ML and the incident that started the secretive harassment/blackmailing scheme. Of course in the mist of all the lies, crime and betrayal, love blossomed. The show had the usual trope that seems to be present in most k-dramas with the leads having known each other as children. During which time they formed a close bond of comfort and support.

The side stories and characters tied in perfectly to the main plot, and there was hardly any filler. Each episode moved the story along at a good pace. However, there were some questions left unanswered. Why did that special cell phone never need charging? Lol. Who was the ML’s mother? Did she abandon him at birth? Did his father take him from her by force and took measures to ensure she remained out the picture? Didn’t understand what the FL’s stepfather got out of covering up the murder of his son. What exactly did he get from the ML’s father that was worth covering up such a horrific crime? The ML claimed he’d been in love with the FL since forever, which is why he made sure she was the wife in his arranged marriage. And even claimed to have married her to free her from the “prison” that was her natal home. But then he is cold to her and treats her like she doesn’t exist until the harassment and blackmailing starts. His reason for being cold to her didn’t really track either.

Despite these questions, this was a really good series. There were a lot of unexpected and interesting twists. The acting was good and the leads had great chemistry. The ending was the best. It was wonderful to see them get their HEA, after all they’d been through.

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So Much Potential Lost in Love and Repetition

The series opens nearly 80 years after S1, with the mystery of a biotech company - Jeonseung Biotech, which it turns out is the Japanese continuing their horrific experiments from World War II, but to what end? There is a serial killer on the lose who is obviously human but kills like the GyeongSeong Creature, Chae-ok is alive but living somewhat in the shadows. TaeSang is still alive too but living with amnesia as Ho-Jae. All these stories quickly converge to make for an excellent setup to what should’ve been an intriguing new phase to this story.

Unfortunately, the story just as quickly started to go nowhere. It became all about TaeSang/Ho-Jae and Chae-ok’s love which was always the weakest part of the series. The actors have no romantic chemistry whatsoever. With this pivot to love, the story just became repetitive. Chae-ok would get mortally wounded and/or she and TaeSang/Ho-Jae would end up in a trap set by Jeonsueng Biotech, leading to a death match with the security forces of the former. They’d get through it. Surviving, but then it’d start all over again the next episode. Wash, Rinse, Repeat.

I did like it being revealed how TaeSang and to a lesser degree Chae-ok ended up in the present. I also liked that almost everyone around TaeSang were descendants of his friends from the 40s or people he helped back then. There was so much potential with Seung Jo, the son of the pregnant mistress who got infected with the parasite in S1, but his storyline was all over the place. The writers really missed an opportunity in showing how he formed such a strong attachment toTaeSang, which would’ve made his complexity more tangible. Lady Maeda was back. Still mad and wrecking havoc because TaeSang wouldn’t f*** her 80 years earlier. SMH. She was a pathetic sociopath. I’m glad she finally met her end.

Like the first season there were many questions not answered. Too many to get into here but one of the biggest ones was Jeonsueng Biotech’s endgame. Was it really to poison all of Korea with the parasite? Or was that Seung Jo’s psychotic plan after taking over the company? I’m guessing it was more the latter than the former.

I did like the ending. Chae-ok had been through so much horror up until that point. I’m glad she was given the gift of forgetting and can live a happy life with a positive motherly figure and likely friends, not knowing the horrors she suffered…at least until things go bad again in the next season (if there is one). I was also fine with she and TaeSang not getting their HEA. He was alive but they were separated due to circumstances. Fine by me because they were never believable as a couple. As terrifying as the ending was with that parasite infected bottled water being distributed to all of Korea, it will make for a great set up for a third season. I just don’t know if it’ll be any better than what we’ve already seen.

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Tried to be risqué, but failed

The idea of a guy whose secretly into S&M finding a Master at his job could have been an interesting setup for a hot and steamy story about pleasure and pain, but this was just bad.

How it was discovered that the ML was into S&M was so contrived. Why would he have a submissive collar delivered to his job when he lives alone? The FL suddenly becoming curious about S&M and thus willing to be a Master seemed random, considering she’d never participated in or been curious about such behavior before. And though she was interested in the ML had only just met him.

The leads had no chemistry whatsoever, and the S&M scenes were tamed at best. The office storyline was boring and many of the scenes between the ML and FL were silly. The best thing about this was looking at Lee Jun-young’s pretty face. He’s an attractive guy who has talent. He can do drama and comedy well, but he could not elevate the material here. Neither could Seohyun, who is also a very good actress.

Going into this I knew that the chances of it being good was going to be a long shot because Korean dramas just don’t do well with risqué material or anything involving a couple being sexual with each other. However, I watched because I like the actors and thought the synopsis sounded interesting. Unfortunately this was a fail.

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A Foursome of Friends strives to be Fabulous in the Fashion Industry

This is a simple, yet engaging series that gives a peek into Korea’s fashion industry. What holds this show together is the friendships between the four leads. They’re all 20 somethings either working to find or maintain success in the fashion industry. Their friendship is endearing as they support each other through their triumphs and struggles.

The career storylines floated between the monotony of the day the day for those working in the fashion industry, but also spiced things up with demanding celebrities, strategic failures and business relationships overlapping with personal entanglements, which resulted in a few awkward situations.

The love story at the center of the series was okay. Woo-min and Ji-eun were certainly cute together and the will they won’t they had some entertainment value, but I honestly didn’t get why Woo-min broke up with her in the first place. I enjoyed their friendship more than their romance. The storyline with Ji-eun’s boyfriend (Nam-Jin)then ex-boyfriend, then boyfriend again was one of the worst plot contrivances I’ve seen in a while. He broke up with her early in the series. It wasn’t just a break up, but what he said to her during the breakup. He was cold and condescending. He basically told her she wasn’t good enough for him. Then not even a week after he breaks it off, he’s desperate to get her back because he realizes she’s “different just like he suspected.” Ji-eun takes him back because she wants to “make it work.” Why? Is beyond me considering what he said to her when he broke off the relationship and her not seeming to be all that into him in the first place, considering she cheated on him with Woo-min. It was obvious their reunion was solely to stall the ship that was Ji-eun/Woo-min, which is not unheard of in a romance drama but this was poorly written.

The storyline with Doo-young was pointless. The character and the stuff he got up to was only there to fill out the hour of the episodes. I get what the writers were trying to do with him, show a character’s initial entry into the fashion industry as the other characters already had some type of established career in the industry. But though the actor was cute, he did not have the face or charisma that made him becoming a model believable. Moreover, he was meant to be comic relief but more often that not he was too chipper, and just annoying. Lol.

I liked Seon-ho the best. She was tough, yet could be vulnerable. She didn’t take any sh*t from anyone. I like that when her successful modeling career started to wane she was proactive in thinking about what was next for her professionally once her modeling career was completely over. What was disappointing was the writers backed off this story thread having her miraculously revive her modeling career after being blacklisted. I think it would’ve been more interesting had we seen her go all the way in exploring a new career away from modeling.

The eight episodes were just enough, and really I think they could’ve tightened the storylines and stopped at episode 6. This is a fairly entertaining and feel good series. If you’re looking to watch something that’s light with basic storylines and minimal drama, you might like this.

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A Day In the Life of Lovers Who Live to Play Pool

Really liked that the story took place in Finland. Loved that the ML was instantly smitten by the FL upon first seeing her. The originality of the story being set around professional pool players was intriguing.

Unfortunately, the story dragged. There was no story really just the monotony of daily life for the leads and their friends. The show didn’t need to be 30 episodes. They could’ve told what little story they were gone tell in 10-12 episodes.

The leads did have nice chemistry and again I enjoyed the backdrop of the story being winter in Finland, but there wasn’t any substance to the series. It was literally episode after episode of the leads (and their friends), dating, working and playing pool. No conflict. No angst. No start building towards a climax then move towards ending the story. No nothing. Just a day in the life…everyday life for these characters during this period.

If you’re looking for a series about the day to day life of a couple and their friends then this may appeal to you. Otherwise I would not recommend this show.

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