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Bad-Ass Bloody, Beautifully, Bloody, Blood, Blood... with a side of cuteness and a lot of REVENGE
Prepare yourself for a lot of blood splatter as you get up close and personal with some of the underworlds most gorgeous and interesting people...This drama surly has it all from hot steamy bloodbaths to hot and steamy other stuff... twists, suspense and gorgeous visuals. Making it hard to know who to root for and seemingly blurring the line between the usual good-guy bad-guy type of deal. I found myself hoping some pretty bad criminals would get away and actually think oh no how how are they going to make up for that loss of pretty dangerous drugs that are really bad for you...
I also found myself thinking oh he is so cute... accompanied by aww that must hurt... and oooh they are so cute... and awch, awww, how the ***** did they survive that... and D*** she is so cool... still human but oh she is so cool... and WTF happened here...
in only 8 too short episodes, my nails have been bitten, my heart has fluttered, I have laughed, yelled and almost cried and looked a way a lot...
The characters are well casted, well written and have 0 annoying tendency's. I would not say this is easy to watch because of all the raw fight scenes but it is highly bingable (even though I watched it with my husband in the evenings after my kid had gone to bed)...
I defiantly recommend this to any action lover who does not mind some blood splatter...
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Sooo good yet so draggy...
Once upon a time there was a lonely prince who lived in a palace where toxic masculinity and rivalry ruled... The women where abused and used as objects owned by men. Tradition was supposedly strong in the palace and any one male or female who tried to go up against it was tossed in to a marriage against their will, pretty much forced to commit suicide or ended up in prison. People where scheming plots all over the place...But one day the prince met a girl whom was warm, funny and loved food above anything. And while he could not make her his wife he made her is concubine... Which made for the start of a whole bunch of people working towards new lives... and yes A New Life Begins...
The drama has a lot of everything, maybe a bit to much of everything as nothing seems to get fully explored and both drags out for what seems like an eternity only to be wrapped up with a few lines here and there... maybe a slow mo scene of the result but the turns are fast and the process extremely inconsistent. Is this the result of poor writing, censorship or a writer who just wants to include a bit to much I do not know... But it did feel very off at times. Which is really sad because there is so much good in here.
Both leads are lovable, good actors, have great chemistry and lovely interactions with each other with some pretty steamy kisses. Unfortunately. their story does not get nearly enough screen time as all those other side plots take away from their time together. However I do have to say that this is a male lead who even though he grew up in the toxic palace actually seems to have some kind of respect for women and can both take no for an answer and seems to try to avoid forcing himself on the female lead even if they are supposed to try to consummate the guy seems to want to the girl to actually want to consummate before consummating. Showing some type of consent culture.
The food in this drama is mouth watering, making you hungry every single episode.
The side couples are mostly lovely and show a bunch of ways of power relations and personalities... As we get to see the difference between domestic violence practiced by people with power and violence in the relationship practiced by people with less power. Non are good but we do get to see a nuance done pretty well.
We also get to see a lot of women empowerment, sisterhood and a potential poly relationship that could have been so good if the drama was not so obsessed with monogamy vs concubine culture.... There is one truly annoying character but she grew on me after a while, but then she pretty much disappeared from the plot.
This drama is a good pick for those who like c-historical with many episodes and do not mind the draggy parts. For those who want to see 100 years of woman's rights battles cut down to about 3 or 4 years and are okay with getting pebbles of great romance between sisterhood, friendship, family relations, politics, food and pretty much everything in-between...
However if you are like me you will miss the pebbles and find it draggy and may find yourself struggling to finish it wanting to drop it yet still not being able to score it to low because it just has so many good parts in it...
Also the predictability is pretty high so do not expect to be kept on your toes, at all.
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When life gives you tangerines you get see a whole Pie of life
This is not just one slice of life but a whole pie with cream and what not of life. As it offers us a bunch of glimpses in to several generations of life, struggles, love and more struggles.Ordinary people, in some extraordinary circumstances showing us that it can be the little choices that define us. And that being loved matters more than being controlled.
The main couple is as sweet as sweet gets. Pure, loving the type that will litterally do anything to protect each other not only physically but mentally too.
"You have six people in your in your house hold, why do you only buy five fish?"
Showing us how to stand op against family oppression, tradition and prejudges. They may have been poor but they gave their children love and tools to stand up for them selfs teaching them not to settle and know their worth. Without skimping on the hardships poverty brings.
I loved the village, and the it truley takes a village feel to this, I loved the family, the aunts, the kids, the pain... the sweetness. The window in to the different decades and society and day to day life as it was, without diving in to politics. Showing common people. I also enjoyed them showing us even more pain and the time skips with the date and time shown like they used to on old photographs.
I did not like the last 30 minutes or so of the drama, it had a bit to much of a preachy tone and did a bad job with making me believe IUS character was over 50. It also has one moment that feels a bit off and over the top in this otherwise pretty down to earth drama. Making me lower the score from a 9,5 to a 9. Then all the yelling crying, and more yelling knocked off another 0,5 stars giving this an 8,5.
A good drama indeed, and apparently there is a lot you can do with tangerines, if it is life or some one else who gives you them is however a different question as the tangerines seem to be the first to go when poverty hits.
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Why did I watch this? I do not know...
This drama has some good moments, and times that kept me interested, especially the historical versions of the leads who at first offered great balancce between the old and the new until the villain started getting exposed and it pretty much went down hill from there... as the drama goes a bit like this:Bam a lot going on Meeh... confusion flashback... sloow....confusion m nothing to see here cliffhanger... meeh... flasback to cliffhanger... meeh cliffhanger... flashback... cliffhanger... wtf... meh oh come on... cliffhanger... confusion , oh well... so you are going with that trope... flashbak meh... cliffhanger...flashbak confusion.
Our male lead has several interesting personalities but is mostly a look I can say a lot of words with a tone of old autoraty meets wimpey,..
our female lead has 0 self esteem and has more changes of heart than a top thorax surgeon in a transplant centre preforms...
At times I wonder if the actors smiles are acting or if they are smiles of shame... the type born out of the feeling of "do I really have to say these cringy lines"
The kisses and chemestry between the leads are as explosive as a matchbox cought in the rain.
Her friend is annoying as ***** *** ****
But the ex girlfriend has some kind of crazy charm I guess.
The villain has this horrible supposed to be creepy voice that is just ridiculous in every single way possible... But I made it all the way through this. And for that I deserve a badge, pat on the back or an intervention telling me to drop stuff more frequently.
The high score is for the past and the slightly interesting story... that could have been good if only they made the characters more interesting.. and cut out a bunch of stuff... Also these actors can do better, I have seen them do a lot better!
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Hook ups, throw ups, fuck ups, hiccups...
Only friends does not really have much of a story at least not the first few episodes as there will be people touching each others genitals in pretty much every single scene making me wonder 1. did they use protection and 2. how durable are the skin and muscles of youth down below...Pretty much every single one of the men in this is despicable at one point or another with the exception of the bartender who just had to little screen time to be so...
Only friends can apparently do a whole lot of shit making me wonder if these people really are friends forget the only, I would settle for acquaintances at some point, s this is probably the loneliest bunch of friends I have seen in all of Dramalad.
The main characters;
Sand- Smile to die for is shown to be this kind of saint but deep down we kind of know this guy is disloyal and can easiely throw his friend under a buss... He is however a good influence on some and has the best t-shirts.
Ray- Boy is crying for help so loudly... he does give up some psychopath vibes and I keep on going between wanna hug the guy and wanting to put him behind bars...
Top- Man is good looking, the ultimate bad boy you want to tame and make go good... but for the life of me I do not get what he sees in Mew... badboy desrservs better
Mew- I really do not get the guy, selfish annoying, fake... Psychopath... yes he has a nice smile but that is where the guys character ends. Why can't this actor get better parts?
Boston- Dude is crying for help... I hate him I love him I hate him again... I have had issues with Neos acting but honestly this time he nailed his character and did a great job.
Nick- One pretty huge mistake but after that I think Mark finally made my crush-list the most charming of the bunch...
Bowing- I have no words... dude needs to get some help...
Actually the whole bunch could use some help....
That said it was an entertaining watch, it completely lacked substance (unless you count saliva as substance), but it was indeed entertaining and filled a whole yers quota of watching people hook up!
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The definition of mediocre
This drama is so mediocre it is impressive!The dialog- mediocre
The chemistry- mediocre
The kisses- mediocre
The acting- mediocre
The scenery- mediocre...
EVERY SINGLE DETAIL SCREAMS MEDIOCRE
With one exception Song Han Hee who played Yoo Sin Bi / Mikael was actually pretty good and impressed me in her role, she reminded me a bit of IU....
But I guess that is the exception that reinforces the rule... But there really is nothing bad about this drama but nothing good either.... it just is...
So all on all... Mediocre... did I mention it is mediocre?
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Half of a really good cupcake
Indeed this is a cupcake for two, a little to little to satisfy you but sweet, pretty and lovely as it has lots and lots of sweet moments (literally) .Had it been a bit longer it may have gotten a 9, the characters are lovable, fun to watch and aware of both issues concerning power relations and consent. That said they do show that awareness of these issues does not always mean actually practicing the awareness... but that is a different story.This very short series, is otherwise a pretty typical office romance with the twist of a mid life crisis, not a lot of drama, some fluffy icing that does a pretty decent job showing the very sad reality that gender conventions hinder men from enjoying most of the good and sweet in the world. But I would have wanted more of everything.Definitely worth a watch, and a show i highly recommend to all rom-com lovers out there, just do not expect to get a full dose of sugar.
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Watered down tea...
Tea that look like cocktails brighten up this otherwise bland, and I mean really bland Altdif commercial, yes I checked there is such a brand and they have a tea house you can visit and probably try all the tea you see in this show if you ever go to Seoul.The tea house is as sterile as sterile gets feeling more like a lab than a cozy place to drink tea.
However being completely starved by lack of GL it is nice to see girls interact, and slightly awkwardly flirt in what I would not go as far as call enemies to lovers as it is more of a slightly disagreement to flirt kind of deal.
The 3 characters seem to do what they are supposed to do without much drama, as the supporting character truly is there to support the leads to get closer and does not really do much more.
There are no annoying elements here, but then again there is not much of anything here... having the highlight of the show include some foam on the lips and an indirect kiss...
It is not bad, it is not good, it truly just is a cup of water someone dipped a tea bag in for like 2 seconds leaving some colour but not much taste...
Still since it takes about 30 minutes to complete this, I will say go watch it support the little GL we get, as there is nothing wrong with it, nothing annoying and it is a pretty smooth watch. Just do not expect much of anything and all will be fine!
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Dark, Darker, Darkest...
This is the type of drama that will make you (or me) feel a lot of rage and kind of loose all hope for humanity... It is dark, bloody as... making me want to cover my eyes...The first couple of episodes had me feeling completely lost not knowing where this was going at all but as the plot unraveled, the twists became easier and easier to guess, it was still interesting well done and had me yelling what the ***** + why would you do such a thing!
It has some pretty interesting symbolism and bible references here and there, and does teach the audience a lesson or ten about all kinds of stuff that would be considered spoilers so I will let you figure those out on your own. This is not for the faint hearted but definitely worth a watch.
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Not as confusing as it seams, and brilliant just brilliant
This drama is like an extremely entangled ball of yarn that turns in to a gorgeous sweater.... Okay maybe not but it is probably as entangled as the ball of yarn yet surprisingly easy to follow.This drama sounded very confusing and to be honest it started of surprisingly light and easy to follow. Portraying loss and sorrow in the most beautiful and honest way. Showing a person trying to keep it together holding up a facade but completely broken inside of longing. Those episodes offered comic relief by introducing some very cheap jokes and annoying side characters. Luckily, they did not take away from the main story. I could have done without them but they are such a small and insignificant part of this drama that I decided not to let them affect my overall impression of it but I will warn you about them here.
As the story progresses, we are invited in to this extremely complicated suspenseful murder mystery romance braking the time space continuum. Showing how complicated time travel really is and how every single persons choices have consequences on both others and both the past and the future.
The female leads characters are extremely well written and executed, it can not have been easy to portray so different characters but the female lead did it in a way that made it easy to see who she was at any given time while allowing character growth and showing a complex range of emotions and thoughts.
The male leads characters where not as complex but showed a verity of emotions and where just the most adorable characters ever making it easy to fall in love with both of them.
The main couple is one of the sweetest and I dare to say healthiest couples I have seen in dramaland and though there is a slight love angel it is not overbearing and is portrayed in a very mature and loving way.
I like that this drama touches important issues such as sexuell harassment, stalking, bullying, homophobia, ableisem, self-hate and self-harm. All are done really well but I would have loved it if they had gotten in deeper in to these issues. I also wish for another season (rare for me seeing I hate extra seasons) where they dig deeper in to some of the side characters. There is one more thing I really want to write about but since I fear it might be a spoiler I have decided to add it as a spoiler tagged comment to this review.
I do not think this dram made me laugh but other than that I experienced a wide range of emotions, it kept me interested threw out the hole drama the twists where very unpredictable and I found myself truly curious about what would happen next as well as how on earth are they going to end this. I am not really sure about how I feel about the ending but it had one, I think I would have preferred another one but this one was okay too.
All in all definitely one of my new favorite dramas.
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80s nostalgia at its worst meets suspence and 80 nostalgia at its best
This movies starts off all colorfull as it ooses of 1980's refrenses making me wonder if the writers/stylists started this movie by just googling the 80's-1990's USA and then copy pasted whatever words they could find.As The Fast and The Furious/ Oceans goes to Seoul, the view of tiers burning to the sound of disco is actually not that bad. What is however a ceime against humanity is how they could take some of koreas most good looking men and make them look unatractive as no one and I mean no one not even Go Kyung Pyo can look good fake gold chains, 1988 or not.
While I get that the point of this show was action and nostalgia, it could have been achieved without ruining the boys images. As the sight of Yoo Ah In in gold chains is now forever loged in my brain. However Park Ju Hyun won the styling lotteri in this as she got to wear the best if the 80s and came off bad ass and cool unlike the boys who just look silly most of the time. Jokes aside this drama does have some ok stayling for the boys here and there too, as well some good car roaring vibes, not to mention raging lunatics, some beloved old characters without a pulse and beautiful use of colors and PPL that shows the evolution of popular brands combining nostalgia with modern day product placement. All light... And to be honest not that interesting/slightly annoying.
But once the first hiest is over the movie turns dark (not only the lighting) and becomes more and more bloody, nailbiting and interesting (styling gets better too), thus making pretty good use of colors, light and contrasts working perfectly together enhance whatever they are trying to enhance, and creating a situation where dark/light, betraial/loyalty, comedy/suspense, friendship/rivery, issues/nonsense... work together pretty well. And though Ill admit most of the comedy is not really my bottle of vintage coca cola the twists and my appreciation for these contrasts did end up making me go from thinking this is meeh lets just get thrue it to see what happens to thinkig oooo now this is interesting.
So in numbers:
Suspence: 8
Nostalgia: 10
Friendship: 9
Cinematography: 8,5
Emotional: 7
Annoying elaments: yes
Twists: 9
PPL:10
Styling: -10
Explosions: 8
Use of cars/trucks/skatebords: 10
So deffenetly an ok watch once you get passed the first half of second hand imberrisment and meehness
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Funny, fluffy, with some serious drama too...
This is such a sweet hidden gem, with drama, fluff, more drama and more fluff... Oh and some humour too.Though the main theme is a little bit out there, taking body swap just one step longer having two people in both bodies at once. Making way for som fun, fluffy, (yes I said fluffy again), and awkward situations with a focus on time zones instead of the oh so popular over used gender. giving us a lovely bickering couple who can bicker a lot without actually meeting each other... Watching these two use all kinds of self harm to fight each other is funnier than I thought it would be, and though there may be some slight second hand embarrassment that would otherwise bother me, it could be my mood, but it did not bother me at all.
Both leads are lovable, and there are no purely annoying characters as each supporting cast seems to do their role well, all are well casted, some I would say extremely well casted (Patrick Shih) and the movie is well written with good pacing keeping me curious and interested from start to finish.
I am willing to admit that some parts of the plot are a tad predictable, however they do have their own touch as well as great visuals and again fluff, fluffily, fluff... Ok there is also a guy in a coms, loneliness, a guy who crosses the line here and there, people being treated badly, lack of privacy and death... but it is well imbedded in fluffy cover of white snow... Making you forget all that stuff and only remembering the fluff... Just kidding... the pain and struggles are very much real and are well balanced by the fluff, how well is up to you to find out if you watch this movie.
If I should complain about one thing it is the idea of you must love yourself to be loved that is repeatedly mentioned here.... I say a person who truly cares will love you no matter how much you hate yourself... So forget pressure about having to love yourself or find yourself to be loved, that you can do regardless... So just take the love stuff out of the equation.
Definitely a movie I recommend, and it is even available with subs free and legally on you tube!
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Why woman love? Could be because apparantly they are incomplete without a man?
This drama seems to be some kind of tutorial towards how to win the heart of a woman, could also be the heart of a man... But after watching 24 episodes I can not tell you why women love... If you figure it out please do feel free to tell me, but apparently women who get married choose to give their all to the man they marry and that is also apparently worth waiting for... A strange message in a drama that seems to try to empower women... But besides that the most important thing seems to be sincerity wether it is love, friendship or work... Be sincere and love will prevail... or something like that.@ Things I like about this drama:
-The friendships, most of the characters are lovable and even if there are a few characters that seem to need help, there are no really truly annoying characters.
-The humour, there is not a lot of it, but this does have some pretty gunny scenes here and there with good fun bickering humour.
-The Male lead is a sweetheart, fine he is a bit of a spoiled brat in the beginning but he is a sweet spoiled brat, not afraid to show affection, take charge... go on the thing line between persistence and stalking... ok maybe he is not that perfect but he is mostly nice, patient and understanding... and does not force himself on the girl even once.
-The female lead is kind of bland but does have her moments, the combination of the two is pretty good and the best part about her is that even if she is supposed to be stupid in love she is actually pretty smart... Shocking for a C-drama I know!
-The OST is pretty good (maybe a bit overused, for those who binge, but pretty decent)
@Things that bothered me:
-The Second Female lead... How her delusional, clingy... behaviour was not only accepted but enabled by the people around her.
-The 9999999 PUBLIC love confessions with flowers, balloons and what not... For a drama promoting sincerity... there are ways to show sincerity without involving pollen and peer pressure.
-The endless love monologs... We got it you love her, you love him...
- Endless flashbacks the dram would be several hours shorter if they just cut the flashbacks in half.
-Inconsistency... one moment the guy knows the girl is allergic to flowers the next he buys her a huge flower bukeet ...
-Extremely heteronormative Family, Couples propaganda ish... Fine a woman can take charge but she does seem to need a man to be complete, and She is allowed to be a career woman but again, she needs a man... Did I mention that no woman is complete without a man?
So to sum it up, it was okay, nothing really new and the few parts that had potential to be revolutionary fell short... But I have seen a lot worse and it is pretty funny, and do not forget all the good stuff I mentioned above so it is definitely an okay watch.
Bingeabilaty: Ok but not high
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Left me lost and wanting more
This is one of those dramas that lives up to it´s name delivering the feeling of loss to the fullest, showing a beautiful completion of loss without overcomplicating or overthinking things. A true feel lost, feel sad, feel real... Without hope and unnecessary positiveness.The drama started of a bit weak, but wheeled me in and actually did manage to touch every part of your soul with it´s imperfections, portrayals of depression, loss and relationships.
It also had me wanting to strangle the mother in law over, and over again letting me feel the aggravation as a contrast to the rest of the characters who where mostly lovable, complex, interesting , no one was perfect, no one was pure good, all made mistakes. though I may not always agree with the characters dissuasions I could clearly understand what lead them to make the choices they made. I honestly fell in love with the way this drama portrayed all these different perspectives with stories that need to be told. Ironically enough this drama feels honest in a way though it portrays a whole web of lies and secrets that have been kept for a very long time.
I can not stress enough the slightly subtle but realistic and important portrayals of domestic abuse, depression, power abuse, power relations, poverty, and all round issues that effect women, elderly and the less wealthy in modern society.
Though the mother in law brought out my violent side the way she talked about her daughter in law was extremely spot on, full of prejudice and blaming her for her situation.
The way the father portrays hid deteriorating health, while trying to stay strong is just heart wrenching. I loved the conversations he had with his daughter as well as seeing him interact with the people around him.
The husbands first love almost double life, was also really well done, sometimes I hated her some times I loved her but most importantly I could relate to her and really appreciated the way she showed the perspective of a loved one slowly watching someone disappear, saying something like: To others it may seem like he is just lying there, but there are days when he smiles more,he gets sad when something bad happens in the ward... '
I also got a full blown crush on Ryu Joon Yeols character, the way he handled the situations around him, I loved all the bits where we got to hear his voice telling us his inner thoughts and then seeing what is shown to the outside. This guy was very subtle and good at reading the room and though he was not the typical male lead. He does have a charm it was hard not to fall for him, and that beautiful smile.
There is also something special about the way this drama portrays intimacy, with extreme attention to detail.Somehow even simple situations could get really intense and had my heart race...
So to sum it up this is may not be a feel good drama, but it is beautiful, intense and is sure to make you feel things...
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A sweet preview
This little short two episode series/short ilm feels like a great preview ro what could have been a decent drama, short sweet a series that offers lovely chemistry and probably one of the best kissing schenes I have seen in a long time.Yes I wish this had a bigger budget, more episodes and just more of everything but considering how short this is they did a pretty impressive job. So hats off, and if you have about 20 minutes that you are not sure what to do with, watching this would be a pretty good use of that time.
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