If you like sports dramas, this is for you!
This was a solid blend of comedy, romance, and winter sports. Like seriously. A perfect blend. I haven’t laughed out loud this much while watching in a drama in a while.It was the winter sports that drew me to this, and I’m so glad I watched it. The plot was really great I haven’t laughed out loud this much while watching in a drama in a while.
It was the winter sports that drew me to this, and I’m so glad I watched it. The plot was really great, and the leads were absolutely phenomenal, especially the ML, and I loved how they stuck together through all the adversities they faced.
It did drag a bit, but, overall, the pacing is okay. They do an excellent job of wrapping up the subplots in the last several episodes so the last two can focus on the final competitions and happy endings.
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This review may contain spoilers
A Second Chance at First Love
As usual, Kim So-Hyun delivers with amazing acting and an eye for a good script. “Serendipity’s Embrace” is the wholesome romance we needed this summer.Pros:
• A solid cast. Our leads were amazing, first of all. KSH is one of my all time favorite Korean actors/actresses, and I fell in love with our male lead in “Unlock My Boss”. The rest of the ensemble cast was great too. I loved love loved the best friend and how selfless she was, and the rest of the cast stole my heart too.
• Slice of life at its best. If you follow my reviews (which I know a lot of you do and thank you for that ❤️), you may know I’m not a fan of “slice of life” dramas. There’s only been two within the genre that ever got me, “Hometown Cha Cha Cha” (KDrama) and “Hidden Love” (CDrama). But this one has all the best elements of the slice of life. The beauty of young love, friendship, and healing comes through splendidly in the day to day lives of each character.
• Adorable romance. These two are so lovably awkward with each other. It’s adorable. Their quirky relationship is so cute, and it develops and matures beautifully.
Cons:
• Crazy Mother-in-Law trope. I thought K-Dramas were outgrowing this one. Good grief. The toxic mom showing up in the last three episodes really annoyed me. And worse, how did we not get to see them finally beat her in the end? The whole ending is very much “in a few months to a year, we can finally overcome her meddling” instead of the mom either getting what she deserved or growing as a person. This drama was gonna be a ten but this really irked me.
• Chemistry. I found this just a bit lacking even though they were cute. It didn't have umph I was hoping to see out of the leads.
• JUSTICE FOR SANG PIL. Okay, this one may be silly, but the guy best friend deserved so much better than these writers gave him. 1. He looks back onhis life unhappy that he has dedicated it to work but does not change at the end. 2. He laments not having love, and he never gets it! Even at the end of the show, you get the feeling that he is in an unrequited love situation with the second FL. 3. He would have been a much better fit for said girl. But anywayyyy....
All that said, Kim So-Hyun never disappoints, and this is no exception.
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An Easy but Super Fun Watch
As far as webdramas go, this is great! I loved this show so incredibly much… in fact, I watched it in one sitting.Our two leads were just excellent in every way. I liked the personalities, the acting, and the CHEMISTRY. It managed to pack a lot in its 10-20 minute episodes, and so the pacing (for a web drama) was great.
The second FL was a bit hard to swallow as a character. She annoyed me quite a bit. And even though I lovex the main lead, the second lead syndrome in this drama comes hard at your heartstrings. I wasn’t emotionally prepared.
All in all, a fun watch, especially if you like webdrams like “User Not Found” and “Be My Boyfriend”. Definitely add it your list.
If you like this kind of drama, check out my recommendations on my “Short and Bingeable” list on my profile.
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A Dramatic Story of Love and Family
“Grand Prince” was amazing, simply amazing.It’s a story of the strength of love through incredible adversity. The leads deliver us a heart wrenching and beautiful journey of deep, enduring love. “Grand Prince” has stellar acting—STELLAR—excellent pacing, great romance (with some amazing kiss scenes), a great cast, and a captivating story. Oh, and it has one of the most satisfying endings ever!
Also, Jin Yang has to be one of the most compelling villains I have ever seen in a KDrama. He was written brilliant and acted brilliantly.
Absolutely recommend.
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A Comedy That Turns into Quite the Dramatic Ride
Initial Thoughts (Episodes 1-8) (Will post final thoughts after the finale):“Moonshine” is a charming story with an amazing cast. As always, Yoo Seung-Ho delivers compellingly, and it’s also worth noting that Hyeri is reminding us in this drama why she is such an up and coming actress in Korea. This drama’s initial strength is in its actors and its comedy. The comedic scenes are delivered very well and will have you laughing out loud. The plot, as a whole, is engaging and new. The prohibition and moonshine dynamic is fascinating.
The intrigue and action comes to a boil in the second half, and the love between the leads was so pure and beautiful. No needless breakup or thing keeping them apart. In the end, they—and all their friends—work together to bring about vengeance for those lost and a brighter future for Joseon.
Another great point was the chemistry of not just the first couple—though it was amazing and had some awesome kiss scenes—but the second too. I could have watched a whole drama based on their story. What a great ending for them as well.
The finale wrapped up the story beautifully, making up for any bit of slowness in the beginning. Truly worth the watch.
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Great Potential, Missed Opportunity
I was so excited for this drama, but here I am dropping it. Quite simply, its strengths aren’t enough to carry it to the end.It’s got beautiful scenery, costumes, good acting, and great plot to begin with, and more… but…
What starts as a brilliant enemies-to-lovers set up spirals downhill in its last half. The strength of this drama was in its leads. Both are written with depth, acted very well, and have tremendous chemistry. However, the writing begins to disintegrate their like ability. Our ML begins as a domineering but actually very kind general bent on avenging his parents death. He falls quickly in love with the FL lead and sparks fly. Our FL begins as a strong, loyal woman who is brilliant and independent. What they become? Due to the excessive angst of this show, our ML becomes blinded by his love to the point of selfishness and near obsession. Our FL becomes cold and distant and hyper-independent, and she is needlessly cold to him despite their love for one another.
They love each other, but she hurts him over and over because the plot necessitates it. (The writing here is very disappointing.)This is Romeo and Juliet, except Juliet wants to stay alive so she just treats Romeo awful over and over and Romeo tries everything he can to force her to stay against her will.
The plot idea itself is great, and the cast is awesome. But it simply falls short. Not to mention the subplots were so boring, and the characters who had the subplots were overall unlikable. (Except for one of the antagonists. He was awesome!)
Poor CGI, long and drawn out angst, and more ruin the amazing potential this drama had and the awesome way it started. I tried to give it my all, but I can’t bring myself to finish.
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A Vertical Drama that is Actually Quality
It’s very rare that a vertical drama makes it onto my lists, and it’s even more rare that I review one. In fact, this is only my second time doing so. But this one deserves it. In a world of crappy writing, tropes, and sometimes amateur acting—but yes we keep watching because they’re our hidden pleasure lol—this one shines. It truly shines.Why?
It feels like I watched a film that sucked me in entirely instead of a little cheap drama. It’s strengths line in:
• Cinematography that is beautiful
• Amazing acting/character development from our leads
• A story that feels fresh
• Fiery chemistry and Romance that actually has depth
• Happy (albeit rushed) ending
And bonus for me? ENEMIES TO LOVERS YES PLEASE.
It’s not perfect. Vertical dramas never are. But this one is excellent. Will definitely watch it again.
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A disappointing conclusion to 2025’s Kdrama lineup
This has not been a superstellar year for K-Dramas unfortunately (in my opinion), and this one wraps up the year in the same fashion. Our lead actors are amazing—so what went wrong?• Slapstick comedy — I love a romcom. I love a historical romcom. But slapstick jokes that feel ridiculous and out of place? Not for me. Unfortunately, “Moon River” has this in abundance.
• Body swap in the MIDDLE of the show — Okay, I’m not a huge fan of the body swap genre, but I gave this a try very open mindedly. But this was a crazy script choice. Why? It happens halfway through the drama. Not at the beginning. In the freaking middle. The show had started to come into its own, and then it takes a hard nose dive back into slapstick.
• Our second couple outshines the main — Tbh, while our two leads have great chemistry, they just didn’t do it for me. Our second couple? Oh my goodness. They almost were enough to keep me going.
“Moon River” has its strengths. It’s not an overtly bad drama. But, if I’m being honest, I can’t say it’s a good one either. 2026’s Kdrama line ups look amazing, so let’s hold out for January instead.
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Romance, mystery, and macabre
What a journey I’ve been on as I watched this drama. Truly a brilliant show—acted, directed, written, and produced with excellence.Pros:
* The romance — Very rarely do you find a couple like this. For one, our actors were brilliant and their chemistry was fire! They were so at ease with a multitude of kisses. Secondly, they are committed to each other. Totally and completely. No messy breakup or miscommunication. When they decide to be together in episode 16, they never—and I mean NEVER—go back on their word to fight side by side for justice. If you love Song Mo and Dou Zhao in “Blossom”, you’ll love Yan Chi and Shen Wan in “The Coroner’s Diary”
* The leads — I already know I love Ao Rui Peng, but I was new to Landi Li. They killed it! Their acting was just plain phenomenal. More than that, these characters were written phenomenally. Shen Wan is a FL for the history books. Drama writers, take notes. She is strong, brilliant, determined, just, and loyal. Yan Chi? Drama writers, take notes again. He is brave, resilient, protective, kind, and fiercely in love. Class one green flag.
* The writing — Very rarely I have I been able to finish an ancient historical detective drama. This one, though? It was top tier. The cases are so intricate, and the overarching political plot ended up being absolutely mind blowing.
* Production — The costumes will blow you away. The makeup will too. The OST? Excellent. The sets? Excellent. The action scenes? Excellent.
Cons:
* Gore galore — I love American cop shows so I didn’t expect to be a wuss when I watched this. I was not prepared for the level of gore that would accompany some of these murders. There were five murders in particular where I could barely handle looking at the body. There’s a serial killer arc in the second half that left me almost nauseous with how brutal the murders were. Violence, in general, is perhaps abnormally abundant for a romance drama, especially in the last half.
* Pacing issues — Typically in the Chinese mystery shows, a case will be wrapped up in two to three episodes. This one averages about five episodes per case, with every case having more than one murder involved. This lowkey annoyed me because I often was more than ready to move to the next case, but they’d just kill off someone else and it would drag out another episode.
* This last one is just an opinion thing so I won’t even call it a full con, but I think we deserved to flesh out our ML’s past much more. We got way more screen time of FL than the ML, which is fine, but the ML’s backstory ends up being integral to the main plot and so the fact that we barely see any of it kinda felt unfinished to me.
Overall, I get the hype for this show. “The Coroner’s Diary” is one of the best Chinese dramas I’ve watched this year. Definitely recommend.
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HIDDEN GEM
Where do I begin? Where do I ever begin? I watched “Rookie Cops” just because I had nothing else to watch and was desperate… The first night I sat down and watched it, I think I knew that I was about to go on one heck of a ride?The ultimate ensemble cast that makes you deeply love all these rookies as they do life together? Check. A romance that was simply amazing with fantastic kiss scenes, chemistry, and development? Check. Acting that is just plain great? Check.
Humor that will literally make you laugh out loud? Check. Suspense that will have your heart racing? Check. An element of mystery that honestly keeps you guessing till the end? Check.
“Rookie Cops” is a hidden gem here on MDL, and it is infinitely worth the watch. I loved “Police University” when it came out, but this is another level. Can’t recommend it enough.
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A Well-Executed Noona Romance
This drama has an excellent start, and I truly mean excellent. If it would have wrapped up at 24 episodes, it would have been a ten for me. But the last ten episodes really ruined the way he for me by needlessly dragging out what would have been such a perfect show.Pros:
• Chemistry, chemistry, chemistry — Our two leads have some of the most effortless, comfortable chemistry I’ve seen in a show. It’s as if the actors have known each other all their lives. They truly look like they enjoy what they’re doing, and every moment is perfect because of that. Plus, the kiss scenes are to die for.
• Lovable leads. Yi Ke and Guangxi were some of the most lovable leads in a C-Drama I’ve ever watched. They are strong for each other and never give up on their lives. Not to mention, the second and third couples were also very endearing, which isn’t always the case.
• An engaging and realistic love story — This avoids, for the most part, the pitfalls of over dramatic and unnecessary twists. Rather, what see is a couple that faces the realities of life and their age gap with determination and maturity, and, eventually, that determination pays off.
Cons:
• The last ten episodes — I’m irritated as I write this, because, the last ten episodes dragged out the story so unnecessarily. They added things last minute and added conflicts that left me frustrated. And, in the end, the last episode left me going, “That’s it?” Even though it was happy, I think we deserved to see more of their happiness instead of separation.
• Did they ever truly resolve the age gap? — In the end, because Guangxi is in a different phase of life, we see their struggles are not yet over, and, while it may be realistic, I was very unhappy with this.
Overall, it was great. It really was. I still recommend it. But the reality is I skipped and skipped through the last episodes and it was a chore to finish. But, all in all, still a great drama with even greater leads.
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Starts Strong But Fizzles Out
I am shocked I finished this. But here we are.It had some good moments; but “Miss Truth” falls prey to the pitfalls of many Chinese dramas: poor pacing and unbelievable twists.
Pros:
• The love triangle was one of the best I’ve ever seen in a drama (until the end which was so bizzare). It made the two leads getting together all the more satisfying.
• Chemistry of the leads - They were amazing together. Acting between them was so natural, and it left me longing for their scenes together.
• The scrappy FL is strong and flawed in a lovable way. Great acting on her part too. Would love to see more of her.
• Overarching plot was also good!
Cons:
• Awful, awful pacing. I skipped through a ton, and I wouldn’t have finished it if not.
• The plot twists were out of hand. Most of them were just straight up absurd and made no sense to the story. I was so freaking done with them that, by the end, when the real villain was revealed I actually rolled my eyes.
• The way the FL treated the ML for a majority of the storyline got too much for me. I was actually getting irritated with her right before they got together. Plus, when it finally happened, we barely saw them together and we got one kiss haha.
Would I recommend it? Not sure.
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This review may contain spoilers
Fun Watch with Great Chemistry
I have tried (AND DROPPED) many historical C-Dramas, but the amount I have liked has been slim. Knowing this was a web drama, I had even lower expectations. But “Supervisor Husband” far exceeded them. It was a fun watch.Pros:
• Off the charts chemistry! Our two leads were both good characters and actors on their own, but together they were dynamite. Not to mention, I’m just 6 episodes, there are SO many kids scenes, and they are done so beautifully and with real passion and chemistry.
• A funny parody of drama tropes. This story knows how to balance the seriousness of a historical drama with some hilarious tongue-in-cheek moments as it pokes fun at all the ridiculous tropes in C-Dramas. It made me laugh out loud.
• Good pacing. Because it’s short, this drama delivers an excellent story without dragging on. I watched it in one day and really enjoyed the whole experience. Plus, who doesn’t love a happy ending?
Cons:
• The second male lead (the fourth prince who was supposed to be FL’s original lead) is one of the most annoying characters ever. I cringed when he was on screen.
• The ending, while happy, was really confusing. I’m not entirely sure what happened, but, at least they’re together… I think.
• Bad acting from the supporting cast and extras. This is typical of web dramas and C-Dramas in general, but I found it distracting in this one.
Overall, this is a fun watch. It’s a quick binge with great chemistry and a fun story.
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Tropey and Cliche, but Somehow You Get Sucked In
Is it new? No. Is it tropey? Yes. Did I enjoy it anyway? Absolutely.Pros:
• The male leads in this show having some serious acting chops. Both of them bring emotion so much that you’ll get chills. And our main lead in particular is not only a great character but also just an amazing actor. Both of these guys were written and delivered very well.
• A good story that balances sweet romance and intriguing mystery. The story packs quite the punch in just 7 episodes, and it doesn’t drag. It reminded me of “Love Together: Trial Marriage” and “Begin Again”, two dramas I loved.
• When they face their major adversity in the show, NO MESSY BREAKUP! They handle it exceptionally well. Our FL brings her best acting here.
Cons:
• Tropey and predictable for the most part. The mystery was a little bit more complicated, but as a whole, you could see through it. What can I say? We’ve seen it before.
• The FL was often unlikable, and her acting was nothing compared to the two men or even the like ability of the second female lead.
• A little open ended. We get a happy ending for the main couple, but the end felt rushed, and we got no closure for the second male lead or his romance with the second female lead. That was disappointing.
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A Dark but Beautiful Revenge Romance
If you’re hesitating about watching this, stop. It is a RIDE. I have watched about ten dramas in the past month and have barely made it into any of them. However, this one… wow.“My Lethal Man” is an intense show. Intense emotion, intense mysteries, intense chemistry. The acting is phenomenal, and the writing keeps you hooked and guessing. Our two leads absolutely astounded me, both as actors and as characters.
This show may be the most beautiful one I’ve ever seen as far as chemistry goes. They are electric. The kiss scenes are quite literally the best I’ve seen in a drama. And these two look like they are actually in love. I don’t have words.
It’s a melodrama; so expect some of those crazy twists. But, surprisingly, it doesn’t fall prey to the ridiculousness of many C-Dramas. And, it despite the angst, the writers deliver an excellent ending with our characters having developed so beautifully and finally finding healing.
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