Viajero

I watched the first couple of episodes way back when this first came out, but dropped it becuase I was burned out on reality shows at the time having just worked by way through multiple seasons of Terrace House and Single's Inferno. I came across the show again last week and this time watched it all the way through. It really is one of the best Asian reality dating shows out of the dozen or so I've tried. The only other ones as good or better than this one are the Korean Nineteen to Twenty, and My Sibling's Romance.

For once, a kdrama that started good and finished even better. Easily my favorite so far this year. I get the criticsm of GKP as the ML. They might have been better off leaving out his character entirely as he hardly plays a critical role in the plot. But that is pretty much the only negative and it hardly detracted from my enjoyment of the series. Park Shin Hye knocked it out of the park as the protagonist, the rest of the cast was great, it was hilarously funny when it was supposed to be, and the whole sting/heist type plot included the perfect amount of intrigue and suspense.

I'm waiting to start this one until its a little further along, but I've always liked Lee Sung-Kyung. In fact, becasue the story doesn't really grab my attention, she's probably the main reason I might give it a chance.

Oh, I know all about how things are rigged when it comes to kpop and award shows in general. But this article is about TV viewership ratings, which tend to be much difficult to rig.

Are TV ratings that easily to manipulate in South Korea? Usually they tend to be quite legitimate in most countries because so many advertizing spending depends on them. And even if they are manipulated on occasion, I doubt it would be necessary in this case. For once I agree with Korean viewers in that Undercover Miss Hong has been the best kdrama so far this year (not that this means much since its only March).

It's become easily my favorite kdrama so far this year. The rest haven't even been close.

The writers used to have to work extra hard to fill out those extra episodes for stories that often never came close to meriting 16 episodes. Unfortunately they often didn't succeed. This why so many older k-dramas really lagged in the second half of their seasons. Now they have more freedom to have shorter seasons. It's a trade off, as while this does sometimes result in rushed endings, its also less common to have series that drag on too long. It's a matter of personal taste which poison you prefer.

I've also paused watching it after episode 5, but only because it gets frustrating to wait for each episode when a drama is really good. And Miss Hong is really good. Easily my favorite among all the Korean and Chinese dramas I've watched so far this year.

Because the ML is a cringeworthy joke of a character and most of the humor falls flat? Oh, I can see why some people might like it, but there are plenty of us who don't. As for being the best current romcom, I would say that To My Beloved Thief easly has it beat in almost every way.

Is this supposed to be funny? If so, then its definately not my type of humor. It doesn't help that I find the character of the male protagonist to be totally cringeworthy. The only character that is midly interesting is the high school girl and she's a bit of a brat. Not sure how I made it to episode 6, but I think I'm going to drop it.

It used to be on Netflix in my region, but I guess they took it off. In typical Netflix fashion, they never promoted it the way they have this Korean version. A pity since I thought the Japanese version was signfiicantly better.

The Korean version isn't bad, but I liked the Japanese version quite a bit more.

That's simply because Netflix heavily promoted this film, something they didn't do when the Japanese version came out back in 2022. I only stumbled on that version purely by accident.

It's true that tragic romances are a common theme in Japanese films, but this is one of the very best in recent years - perhaps second only to Drawing Closer.

It's a remake of the excellent Japanese film Even if This Love Disappears from the World Tonight, which is not very similar to 50 First Dates other than it also involves short-term memory loss.

I thought this show was about on par with A Business Proposal and orders of magnitude better than Dynamite Kiss.

The second half is what elevated this from just another a run of the mill k-drama romance, albeit with great scenary, into something that actually had some depth that will make it a show to remember. Do Ra Mi was the best thing about this drama. I do agree that the second half could have used an extra episode or two.

I'm not necessarily a big fan of romances (though I can get into a good one), but this has turned into the light comfort show I can watch when I want a break from heavier stuff. I'm really liking the cast, particularly the FL. Overall, its one of the better Chinese contemporary romances I've watched in recent times and a real break from most of the other stuff I'm watching. I do have to admit though that I think I would still give the edge to the other Chinese show I'm currently watching. The Heart of Genius is more in my lane. A lot more complex and serious, along with one of the best depictions of father-daughter relationships I've seen on screen in a long time, in part because it features one of the most interesting FL I've seen in a Chinese drama (I can't think of any others I've seen that are remotely like her). Plus it actually manages to generate significant suspense out of academic competition and research in mathematics.

I couldn't disagree with you more about My Mister. For me the acting, directing, script, plot, cinematography, and soundtrack were all superb. I find it paricularly absurd to argue it has no depth or morals. One TV reviewer wrote the following about My Mister (which I saved because I think it perfectly captures the impact of that show on most viewers), ¨My Mister is a story about life, pain, healing, about humanity, about love...Watching this drama changed me. It got me right in the heart, just thinking about how beautiful it was makes me want to cry...” I also completely agree with this review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czVqSR-nnt. I'm sorry you clearly didn't appreciate this show the way a large majority of both critics and viewers have. I guess it just didn't speak to you.

It's true that remakes can call attention to the original, which I guess is positive. There have even been cases where I liked the remake better. Examples would the Japanese remake of Marry My Husband and the Korean remake of Mother. The originals are fairly good, but I found the remakes to be superior. But there are certain shows where the originals are so iconic that I can't imagine a remake being worth it. Besides "My Mister", examples of this include the Korean remakes of the Spanish "Money Heist", the Chinese "Go Ahead", and the Taiwanese "Someday or One Day". The remakes weren't bad when taken on their own, but were simply incapable of capturing the magic that made the originals so special and I simply couldn't help but come away disappointed.