Viajero

I thought the first two episodes were very very good. The first really pleasant surprise of the fall. I hope they keep this up for the rest of the season.

I'm intriguied. The critics are all raving about this movie (100% on Rotten Tomatoes) with many calling it the highlight of this year's TIFF. Lee Byung-Hun, Son Ye Jin, and Yeom Hye Ran are all getting high priase for giving Oscar worthy performances.

We definitely have different tastes. Nine of my Top 15 all time favorite k-dramas have been released since S1 of Squid Game. And while this does include series that premiered internationally on Viki (Twinkling Watermelon, My Dearest, Youth of May, and Lovely Runner), my list also includes recent Netflix and Disney+ originals (Moving, When Life Gives You Tangerines, My Name).

As for this year. So far I've watched several kdramas that I thought were quite good in addition to When Life Gives You Tangerines. These include: Our Unwritten Seoul, Our Movie, Study Group, Head Over Heels, Nine Puzzles, and Friendly Rivalry (in roughly that order). I have just started Bon Appetit, Your Majesty and so far so good.

My top Chinese shows for the year so far have been First Frost, Twelve Letters, and Reborn. None of this crop of Chinese historical shows have impressed me (with the highly touted Prisoner of Beauty particularly disappointing). I've ended up dropping most of them. I may give When Destiny Brings the Demon a chance just because I was so blown away by Wang Ying Lu's performance in Twelve Letters and wonder how she does in a historical drama.

Your arguement makes sense from your persepective. I just happend to disagree with two of your key assumptions. First, I think k-dramas produced from 2017-2018 onwards are on average superior to those produced in prior years. Almost all my top favorite all time k-dramas were released from 2018 onwards, including many 12 episode dramas and several that came out over the past 3 years. The other assumption is that Chinese dramas are better because they keep your attention for the equivalent of 30 or more hours of viewing. I've dropped far more Chinese series for becoming repetitive and dragging than I have Korean series. Furthermore, most of my favorite Chinese series were far shorter than 30 hours (Reset, Hidden Love, the First Frost, Twelve Letters, etc.). These are all proof that the Chinese are capable of producing shorter tightly written series that provide plenty of character development without storylines that meander all over the place. Too bad they don't do it more often.

Who Are You: School 2015 features female twins. I still think it was the best of the school series.

I hope so. To me its very simple. I've watched far more 16 episode (or more) kdramas that went downhill because they tried to tretch things out too long than 12 episode kdramas that felt rushed.

I watched it on a Philippines Airlines flight. It was one of the movies they had available. It was entertaining enough and probably deserves a higher rating.

This movie is currently available on United Airlines domestic and international flights. I thought it well worth watching even though its not really my favorite genre. I guess its a feminist movie of sorts, but it doesn't demonize the male characters. Relationship problems are shown to originate from both sides and are quite relatable even for non-Chinese viewers. It always helps when you have belivable well drawn interesting characters.

Personally, I thought the second season was significantly worse for every single one of those shows you list. This ranged from slighty worse (Taxi Driver, Yumi's Cells) to awful trainwreck worse (Sweet Home). The only non-medical k-drama that occurs to me in which the second season was significantly better was Missing: The Other Side

Love the two leads, but please not another love triangle where a guy comes between two best friends.

I really like the previous times I seen both female leads. Kim Da Mi has been great in everything I've watched her in, no more so than in The Witch Part 1. Meanwhile Shin Ye Eun was great in Jeongnyeon and Revenge of Others, among other shows. I just hope this doesn't turn out to be love triangle where the guy gets between two best friends.

I had a much more mixed reaction to this series. Positives were the highly sympathetic leads and that the strong women empowerment message doesn't detract from the story. Unfortunately, I thought the series fell short when it came to good execution and direction. Though it has a strong start, the plot could have been much tighter, getting increasingly sidetracked on quickly resolved unnecessary secondary storylines, before beginning to drag towards the end, with some noticeable plot holes. When it comes to Chinese historical fiction from 2024, I thought Blossoms in Adversity and The Double were significantly better.

I thought she was fantastic in My Mister. Despite playing an introverted character who barely speaks, she still managed to perfectly capture the complex mixture of toughness, tenacity, cold calculation, low self-image, vulnerability, and desperation of her character. What she gave us wasn't some over the top soap opera acting, but rather true artistry.

I find that their subtitles are often pretty bad. I usually use it only as a last resort.

This sounds like something I would want to watch. I wonder when, if ever, it will be made available in my region? I hate it when Disney+ buys the international rights to Korean shows because they are much less likely than any of other streamers to make it available worldwide.

Interesting. I thought the FL brought the most depth, with the most realistic and appropriate reaction to her circumstances. Both MLs basically played exagerated charicatures.

I can't figure out the order in which the reviews are placed on this site. I always kind of assumed that the reviews with the most likes (the most helpful) were listed first. But in this case, they put all the negative reviews up front, including several with much fewer likes than positive reviews. What gives?

I felt her stiffness was a good reflection of the character she was playing. A world-weary young woman with deep wounds who doesn't easily trust anyone around her. She's built up thick walls to protect herself from the world. I've seen Bona act much more expressive in other shows like 2521, when it better suited the character she was playing.

I really liked it. One of the best romantic dramas I've watched this year. Plus a great cast. I can see why they cast Kim Hye Yoon in Lovely Runner.

I haven't finished this show yet, but so far I'm liking her character here much more than her characters in Lighter.