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Office romance at it´s finest + Girl Power since Men are Evil
This could have been a solid 9,5 or a 10 if not for a dip or maybe a few wrong tunes towards the end that just took this otherwise very enjoyable drama and just cluttered it with propaganda (not that there wasn't any before that but it just became too much), anticlimactic endings to well built up side plots and a bunch of meeh.That said the first 35 episodes or so where packed with frustration of the best kind, romance, gazes, humour, cold vs hot... discrimination, friendship, fight the bad guy spirit... handsome male leads, gorgeous female leads, playfulness and so on. Yes there where a few annoying characters and situations but they did not take away from the amazing job the leads did in this.
The main villein of this drama is a man who is as shallow, two faced as it gets he will stab you right in the back while smiling warmly and making you trust him. He hates women for som reason, not really sure why and is cheered on by mostly silent men who just do not say anything and other men who also hate women. He is so bad I kept wondering what he had on the CEO of the company as that guy seemed pretty decent so why on earth did he keep such a jerk around?
The villains sexism and actions made way for a whole lot of feminist lines, an interesting speech, some important dialog and observations and female lead who shows how f*** hard it is to survive in a workplace where men are the norm. As our female lead is indeed portrayed as s super natural force of bad ass, yes she may be vulnerable at times too but overall she admits to her mistakes, takes the way, way, way to harsh punishment thrown her way, breaks down for a moment and then gets back up and fights over, and over, and over again... As her sense of justice may need to be toned down a bit... This could of-course have become repetitive and boring but nope, it had me captivated interested and MAD oh so MAD most of the time (in a good way) . The way she handles the male lead, her family, our villain and the western jerks of Australia with confidence is hilarious and I dare say she is probably my favourite c-female lead at the moment (I am just going to pretend those last 5 episodes or so never happened).
The male lead is cold, he has a lot of control issues and had me 80% frustrated 20% smiles an he has great presence on screen and with all the frustration there was also tension and a build up that was phenomenal. So if you watch this be were the romance is slow paced and frustrating but good and rewarding with one h*** of a kiss when you pretty much are ready to give up on them... So hang in there you will get the reward you want, after that things may go to down the drain again and so on... But you will at one point of this drama get one h*** of a kiss that will have you screaming watch out, and wonder if the two getting enough oxygen?
The male leads best friend is solid SLS material. The female leads mother is the type you will want to shove off a cliff and is probably 90%of the reason I had to lower the score. Though her presence does make way for some good old frustration, as well as some good scenes, my over all take on her is that the show would have been a lot better without her. The male leads mother on the other hand is a sweetheart. And so are the more mature pilot and flight attendant in this show.
So all in all I loved this drama, highly binge-able, Tan Song Yun is an amazing actress and if you have not fallen for her yet you will probably fall for her here. So be-were of the last few episodes but I do hope you enjoy the rest of this drama.
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Clichés in Contract with a sweet scent of broken flowers
The opening scen of this dram draws us in a we hear the narrative of a girl who was raised to become a commodity to be sold by entering the contract of marriage . Dark and orange red lights accompany us to the view of Go Kyung Pyo stepping in to the shower while she steps out though the dark apartments door in to a light hallway... Giving us a feel of high end dark and a bit naughty... However viewers are then thrown int to the light bubbly sweetness which is basically Park Min Young. Giving us a story of love, geometry, corporate politics and human relationships viewed from a bunch of angles.The budget for this drama seems to be pretty big, not only seen by the star studded amazing cast but also bu the amount of PPL to pay for it. As there is so much PPL in this that it is impossible to miss out on it, even though you may be shocked by the missing Subs from Subway and face masks you get cars, Kopiko and the ever folding Samsungs instead.
Go Kyung Pyos character is wonderfully portrayed, awkward, straight forward, introverted to the core, a sweet little puppy and as usual the king of back hugs, there is no doubt that this guy is good at his job making great use of his eyes and slow mo it is hard not to fall for this guy.... Especially when put next to a fluffy cat.. Kim Jae Young also delivered a memorable performance, with captivating flirty smiles, playfulness this guy is the warm bubbly, emotional, perfect contrast to the other guy. Having both the cat an girl between these two was a lot of fun to watch in this highly contracted and respectful (most of the time) love triangle. The addition of Lee Joo Bins character in to the love geometry was the cherry on top for this geometry lover (yes I admit it I love em).
The ex husband/roommate played by Kang Hyung Suk may not have added to the geometry but was amazingly casted, well preformed and made me wish for a spinn off (I rarely want spinn offs) where he gets to be the star of a rising star rom com of his own.
There where a few annoying side characters who got a bit more screen time than I would have wished for taking down the score a bit, however they are manageable and though they did make me reach for the mute button I did not feel the need to skip the scenes with them all together. There are a few decisions that seemed to be there only to prolong the plot without actually giving it any substance, most of the twists were highly predictable but I do not really mind predictability so it did not really bother me.
The umbrellas in this drama are top of the hill... Red warning umbrella was so well used I could not help but laugh at the sight of her. There are also a bunch of good poetic lines here and there, which come off as oddly funny when delivered by the cold male lead. " Broken flowers smell the sweetes" (or something like that) would have felt like a way to slick buttery line if not delivered with a stone cold face.
The story really is nothing new, had I seen this a year or two ago I would probably have rated it higher as it does indeed hava a bunch of cliches and stuff I love but since there is some meeh moments, a few draggy parts , highly mutable parts and other parts that could have been explored a bit more I realised that no matter how much I love the cast and found most of this drama enjoyable I could not ignore them completely and thus settled for 8,5.
So to sum it up, if you like the cast, enjoy geometry and do not mind a bunch of cliches go for it this is a good choice for you.
If you want something new and exiting and hate PPL pick something else.
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Something is just frustrating
About half way in i saw a few comments about this being frustrating, and while I had felt a slight hint of frustration nothing could prepare me for the frustration to come.In another bubbly (2 of them actually) meet stubborn icicle and get absolutely no where....
The side characters are okay, acting varied in quality and if you look beyond the frustration the story is actually not bad. Childhood friends turned lovers vs new guy takes over?
Will the frustration ever end and lead to some kind of romance? and if so who will it be?
Will the girl get her crush? or will this end in just a whole pile of frustrated viewers and one sided crushes?
It is short enough to make the frustration bearable, but damn did I want to shake some people up.
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An easy binge, mind the cringe
I have some issues with this drama but overall I was entertained, engaged in the story and found some parts of it to be kind of refreshing as this may be the first drama that shows Dissociative Identity Disorder, that I actually managed to finish.Things I appreciate:
Mental illness as part of a persons life, not so much stigma focus on treatment and the parts that work.
Found family and friendship.
Pain and suffering,
The female characters
The other male leads
Dimples
Smiles
Scenery
Things that made me role my eyes and lower the score:
Cringe,
Monologs
Deuett like speeches
Use of slow motion
The male leads plotline...
Unnecessary twists towards the end
But overall an easy binge, that almost managed to water my eyes
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The Lost and Lonly Ones
This is a story about friendship, family, and an over all feel of being lost... as well as probably shows two of the most lonly boys in all of dramaland.Yep lost and lonley ones... While I do have some issues with the make up that I otherwise realry notice most of the filming has some pretty decent quality and shots. The monologs and dialog of this drama say alot less than the gazes, mimcs, light and slow mo angles filmed. You could probably watch this with nieter subtitles or sound without loosing the ffel of the story or feeling the leas bit lost. You may even find yourself enjoying it even more (not that I tieied) .
If you are in the mood for something that will make you feel all warm and fizzy inside, this may make you smile once or twice bit the over all feel to it is kind of depressing, and more of a feel things than feel good type of deal.
A decent watch leaving you wanting more and wondering was this all they had to tell or will there be a second season?
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Manner of greatness dragged down by... Something
This is the story of the gorgeous doctor/medical examiner who stumbled on to the lips of an even more gorgeous stranger when he was drunk. After that a whole bunch pf people kept dyeing unfair deaths, girls kept disappearing and both powerful and less powerful people kept wanting to pin this on the doctor and the stranger... and kill them while they were at it... taking us on a journey with more or less predictable twists.. beautiful fight scenes and a lot of gorgeous greens and scenery...The two men who stumbled on to each others lips, do of course fall in love/lust/suspicion,.. The stranger has this lovely playfulness to him and boy knows both how to flirt and kiss.. as in not a dead fish kiss in sight... giving us som top notch romance... leaving me wanting more of that..
There are som fun friendships, interesting betrayals not many annoying elements... Some corruption, men that hate women, woman's issues.. all stuff I love to watch.. So I should probably have rated this higher BUT... Something was missing, I honestly do not know what it was but I was not captivated and on my toes even though the plot should have kept me there... That special "it" that makes me curious about what will happen next was just not there.
So with all the pluses, and trust me there are a lot of plusses in this drama.... I still could not rate it higher than an 8.
Also the stranger has a lot of great lines and is extreamly gifworthy...
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Unique and interesting story that could use a remake to take out all the annoying elements
This story is unique and objectively really good as it deals with several subjects rarely to be told. There is depth, complexity to the situations and some really well written lines here and there, and though I did enjoy many of the scenes I did find this drama cluttered with never ending boring conversations, people shifting blame, people yelling at other bring back my... Whatever they want back at the wrong person + asking someone to bring back their whatever, you should have died instead and how dare you breath when your kid died/killed someone just does not make any sense to me. Making me feel bad for judging their way of dealing with this. But also kind of want to choke them all...The story itself id you turn off all the (way to many annoying and draggy elements ) is really good so for those of you not sensitive to this behaviour and that do not mind the tag healing, go for it you may really enjoy it, as I am sure I would have rated it a lot higher if I could just pick those elements out of this. So I am for a remake!
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He's in to cringe...
This is so bad it is entertaining as h****, If you were to make a drinking game out of the love confessions in this drama you would end up in the E.R by the second episode. Heck if you make a drinking game out of the line "I will always love you" you'd end up with the same result as they say that more often than Whitney Huston ever did. Giving us grand gesture after grand gesture, flowers, lights, music... oh enough cringe and fluff to last till the next time you crave some cringe.However all these confessions amount in pretty much nothing and seem to be the leads trying to convince themselves, reminding themselves or to tie down the other I am not sure. But I honestly am not convinced the dude is in to her... Or has any clue about what love is... He is the jealous type, with serious trust issues, impulsive and in need of anger management... However the second male lead is way cooler and does seem to have more of a clue as to what love is... Who she ends up with is of course for me to know and you to find out.
Other than that the story is packed with lots of 90s teen drama cliches ( I identified 10 things I hate about you, clueless and Beverly Hills tropes here and there).
The acting is inconsistent the main leads acting and singing is fine but the side characters talent varies...
The side characters also vary in quality and of course add to the I will always love you theme of it... oh to be 17 and in lust...
The male leads father is probably the sole reason the male lead needs anger management, He is manipulative, lacks all common sense and does not seem to have the ability to listen or care for any one. A true off with their heads type of guy and NO ONE seems bothered by this in the whole show.
The plot is... was there really a plot in this? ok people are framed, others blamed, some disappear, some die.. I am sure they tried to make the audience feel stuff but since there is so much predictability and ridiculousness along the way I did not feel anything other then entertained...
All this said I do hope you watch it, just prepare yourself for cringe!
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Watashi no Otto wa Reitouko ni Nemutte Iru
3 people found this review helpful
Twisted, Twists with Killer Humour...
This short and very odd drama, is beautifully filmed with great use of angles colors and symbolism here and there (you just have to look for it), it is easy to forget that 90% of the drama is filmed in the same room.Shirasu Jin acting here is nothing less but brilliant, being both extremely sweet and an evil, evil gorgeous, devil...
Motokariya Yuika timid but strong was also well preformed.
This drama is twisted on so many levels, and I will admit not all great and some twists were more predictable than other and one heck of a twist in the end... pushing the score for an 7,5-8 to an 8.5-9 ish...
The drama is highly bingeable (it is very short), has no annoying characters, and really has killer dark humour for those who do not mind laughing at evil and murder... With killer cooking scenes, with food beautiful enough to die for... Yet oddly not the least bit appetising... And may make you want to become a vegetarian (if your are not already) But very pretty indeed.
Definitely not a drama for everybody, but 6 laughs in 6 episodes is a pretty ok score in my book...
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Sweet n´Slow...
This was such a slow paced, but sweet lesson about love, and the obstacles involved in wanting to change the past... Did I, who am used to watching dramas where it takes like 16 hours for people to get together just call a movie slow paced, yes I did... I really did...However slow as it may be it does come with an interesting lesson in connecting the past with the present without to many effects of interesting distractions.
The main coupe is mature, sweet and calm inspire of this very odd situation and time complication they seem to be in. there are a few interesting twist too but nothing really exiting to watch on screen but the story is good so I am sure the novel it was adapted from is better then the movie.
To be clear, the acting was good, the characters were lovable, and the story interesting it just lacks that extra spark and pace one would expect from a movie... So it was good but maybe not so entertaining...
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Our Painfully, Pain, Pain, Pain with a side of flufff
Prepare yourselves for some pain, and I do not just mean a little pain, I mean a lot of it as the team for this drama truly do all in their power to make you feel the prolonged suffering of the main couple with the use of dialog, visuals and a pretty painful OST.I was honestly surprised over how much could feel their pain, as I spent most of this drama with a lump in my chest. And as the true drama masochist I am I LOVED every moment of it... yep I did! If you are not a fan of pain step away and do not come near this drama.. because it has so many different types of pain and levels of brokenness, fear and pain making it one of the most painfully, pain, pain, pain dramas I have watched of course with some humour, cuteness and beauty... but did I mention pain?
I think I read someone say this reminded them of Reply 1988 and I am willing to agree, I am just not going to tell you in what way, so I won't spoil it for you... But there is deffinetly a familiarity between the two dramas.
This drama has a few (very few) slightly annoying scenes, but I would say this is a meet after a break up drama done right. though I did want to yell at the cast from time to time to TALK TO EACH OTHER... There was not a single character (ok one) that was not lovable at least once.
"My mother is dyeing and I don't feel the least bit sad" made me forget every single flaw in this drama...
Extra points for the way they portray how poverty affects people, as well as some pretty raw lines about bad parenting... minus for some other parts about parenting but then again some more for the good parents and what makes a family...
Extra points for the OST, showing how much ones mood affects the way you hear a song, as some of the songs felt sad and dark in some of the episodes but happy, fluffy and romantic in others... yes the same song, same piano... same tone, same voice... completely different emotion. Now that takes talent and color me impressed!
It also has some well done product placement, some a bit too obvious that will make you laugh, and some PPL that is just in the way... Also wrong botle of Soju... it was blue! very confusing. They make good use of umbrellas too...
This drama is not for everybody, so do not be fooled by the name Our Beloved Summer... there is very little beloved and even less summer (it is mostly fall and winter). But for all you fellow drama masochists out there, this will have you felling stuff, biting your nails and screaming at the screen!
Oh and most of the episodes are named after movies from the 90s... kind of cute.
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´Sweet cliches but Cant help getting annoyed by the OST..
This is just such a sweet cliche fest... Sweet, fun, well paced and actually pretty interesting story with gorgeous scenery!This is probably the first time the OST actually made me remove stars from the drama, if you looooove Elvis it may add points, the title of the drama should probably have tipped me off so there is no one to blame but myself. I am pretty neutral towards Elvis and did not have anything against "I can´t help falling in love with you" but after hearing this song play for the 99999 time in less than 2 hrs I felt like muting it all... So be where.
Things I enjoyed, the chemistry, the fluff, the scenery and the slight well made presence of trans representation (very short but good) as well as the relationships, friendships and the way they showed different ways of controlling a person in a relationship without using physical violence.
The male lead is such a sweetheart, and though he did marry the fl while she was drunk he is actually pretty good with grasping the whole notion of consent thing and is very thoughtful.
The female lead is fun, bubbly, distressed and considering her situation she could have easily annoyed me but no, I could completely follow her thought process as well as her struggles with her situation.
So all in all a pretty decent movie.
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Great potential and good start but after a while it went down hill...
This drama had such a interesting start with great chemistry fun scenes, fun twists and really complex and well made characters with pretty good stories attached.The portrayals of the friendships among the palace maids where definitely goals, and one of the best portrayals of friendships between girls out there showing true gals before guys, found family,... the works! I really liked all the different personalities among the maids. The grandpa is also such a sweetheart, killer kind and cruel paranoid ruler yet still just a big huggable teddy bear.
I really enjoyed some of the ways woman where portrayed here, how the line between super evil villain and fight for our rights is kind of blurry and the way the talk about the value of different lives. Because let´s face it women where not really that valued, and women from the lower classes could very much have been seen as nothing else but replaceable goods... And that was shown with brilliantly placed lines as well as twists...
The female lead was so cool. smart all round amazing the first half of the drama only to become highly frustrating bordering on pathetic the second half, almost making me loose interest in this otherwise highly bingeble show.
The male lead is also. smart, fun, most of the time respectful (not bad for a 1700 king), fine he kills a bunch of people and does not really know who to trust... but over all he is a sweetheart with pecs and scenes that are sure to make you blush... But he too does have the slightly wrong kid of character development...
Acting, music, cinematography are all really great and there are no truly annoying characters if you do not count he female lead during the second half.
All in all an a pretty ok drama, but slightly disappointing as it was off to such a great start , but I guess the life of a queen or a concubine in the palace is basically just life in a fancy prison...
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Cute, funny, touching and says many things that need to be said
This is one of those feel everything dramas, that show a lot of interesting issues thru the lives of a pretty miss-mashed group of people who share a common space but other than that have nothing in common.The different lifestyles and interest of the family's here is shown both at the first meeting but also thrue how differently they decorate their homes and well keeps on from there with conflicts, arguments, slammed doors and broken plants... However every single character in this drama (yes even the shortest roles) show great growth,
Why I rank this so highly is because of the way they say and show many things that rarely get to be said but truly need this space. Though there where times I was annoyed at how they portrayed the some of the characters as time went by they grew on me and I seem to have forgiven the writers (seeing I rated it highly) for making the pros cover the cons.
Important issues covered here are voluntary and involuntary childlessness, women's rights, men's mental health, depression, LGBTQ, found family, domestic violence, divorce, children's rights, self value etc. All well packaged with a lot humour and fun situations.
So yep go watch it enjoy and do learn from it!
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Great sequel to a lovely prequel
This movie takes of where part one ended, and it does it beautifully showing how these two keep trying to figure out what they want from each other. What triggers them and if and how they can deal with the inevitable end for the one week relationship that is playing games with their minds.This movie has several moments of tension, making the viewers wonder how will this go? is Seiryo really a masochist falling for impossible people? Or will he Skipp Yuzuru and go for his sister instead? Is Yuzuru really just a jerk? And what about that Shino girl that keeps calling and ruining things?
Part two was just as sweet and fun if not even sweeter, easy to watch and all round lovely... But do watch part one first! And well if you did not like pet one you will not like part two...
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