This review may contain spoilers
Unfortunately infuriating
[I will tag where the spoilers begin]What can I even say about this show. A vampire plot that lacks any real vampire aspects, special effects that were laughable at best, and a script that was missing any kind of depth all rolled up into one show. The acting unfortunately fell flat, and I don't know whether to blame the lack of chemistry between the actors, the script writing, or the directing but I think I could blame all three if I wanted to. Every episode of this show made me more upset than the last, even though I kept trying to see if it would get good. All I wanted was some classic vampire romance - the fear of being bitten, the tension in a kiss scene, broken trust because of a vampire's true desire - and instead I got a college basketball tournament, a half-baked evil vampire, and a relationship lacking any real tension. I really hope that the fault lies in the crew and not the cast - I wanted to like JossGawin, but truly could not get invested in them as a couple during this show.
Tong (Gawin) has been raised in an orphanage. When he goes off to college, he ends up helping his friend at a job, where he unknowingly works with a bunch of vampires. It is quickly revealed that he has golden blood, irresistible to vampires because of the special powers it gives them. Mark (Joss) is a vampire tasked with protecting Tong from other vampires, but soon their relationship becomes more than that of a bodyguard.
*Spoilers start here*
I truly don't know how they went SO WRONG with this plot. I can get over bad special effects or clunky dialogue, but oh my god this show was actually infuriating. You're telling me Tong gets attacked by Mark because of his blood and this causes ZERO issues with their relationship? There was no real conflicts besides the whole "does he love me or does he just love my blood" which wasn't even well thought out! And then Neo's character dying out of nowhere, without any kind of "let's turn him into a vampire to save him"??? That's the oldest plot in the book!! Why was the basketball tournament so important in a VAMPIRE SHOW??? I really think there was no need to set this show in college - it adds nothing to the actual plot and instead just feels like an excuse for GMM to reuse one of the sets they've used before. Mond played the only character that I actually liked, because at least he was INTERESTING! Joss and Gawin really gave me nothing to work with here. They were always crammed in a tiny bathtub together, or Gawin was staring at Joss shirtless (which, I get it, but why is he shirtless THAT often), and somehow they STILL didn't have chemistry. I was hoping that at least during the makeout scenes when there wasn't any awkward dialogue that the relationship would have some tension, but somehow that STILL fell flat. Even the "twist" in the real villain was predictable from episode one.
This one just fell SO flat for me. While there wasn't any one thing that made it bad, the combo of a lot of small things made this show hard to watch. I really wanted to like it, especially because I think vampire plots are super cool, but I just can't recommend this to anyone.
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What happened to the mess?
Watching a sequel series, even with totally new characters, always means it will get compared to the first season and I gotta say, this season did not live up to the messiness of season one. Still, the show was very fun to watch, but given how wild season one was, I expected them to up the stakes of the drama, not dial it back. The actors did a great job, but it just felt like it was missing something.Jack (Earth) is writing the play for the senior theatre majors, and everyone expects his boyfriend Dean (Mix) to get the main role; however, now that they're actually ex-boyfriends, Raffy (Boom) plans to take Dean's spot as both the lead in the play and as Jack's boyfriend. Tua (Gawin), the costume designer, convinces his crush Arnold (Joss) to audition too, not thinking of how he'll feel watch his crush kiss someone else. Meanwhile, Raffy can't seem to stop running into his one-night stand Rome (Aou), who ends up working sound for the play. This group of friends (or more than friends) try to put on a play while tensions run high between them.
If this were a show that was not supposed to be a sequel to only friends, I would have rated it higher. The level of drama and mess that this show had didn't feel much higher than a typical friend group college BL. Considering in season one we had cheating, hookups and kisses outside of typical pairings, drugs, etc., this season felt so low stakes in comparison! Also you're telling me that with all of those actors we couldn't get a SINGLE kiss between two non-pairings?? Come on. Even Boston didn't make this show much messier, and he's BOSTON! If they end up doing more seasons, they better up the drama to be on par with season one again, because I felt like I was constantly waiting for the big drama-filled moment to come and it simply never did. I do think the show is still worth watching, and the actors do a great job with these characters, but don't expect the level of drama there was in season one because it's truly not there.
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Guilt, Grief, and....Cats??
I will start out with the fact that this is definitely a biased review - as a big fan of First and Khao (and cats, I suppose), I don't think I can give a very critical review of this. Is the premise stupid? Yes. Is the script and cinematography great? No. Did I enjoy every single episode? Absolutely. It's clear to me that they had no clue what they wanted the tone of this show to be - truly, this is a story about a son who feels guilty about the death of his mother, and with no way to make it up to her, feels this guilt as a weight he can't lift. And somehow, they thought the best backdrop for this story was a cat cafe and a debt collector that can talk to cats. It's stupid, but actually provided some balance to the heavy points of the show.Tiger (First) is a debt collector, or rather the son of a debt collector, who just can't seem to get money from his favorite debtor: Meow, the owner of a cat cafe. Even though Tiger is allergic to cats, he still loves to visit. However, after some medical issues, Meow passes away, but manages to pass on her power to talk to cats over to Tiger. Lynx (Khao), Meow's son, hasn't been involved with her life very much these last few years, but returns after her death to deal with the logistics. He decides to run the cafe himself, despite his issues with his mom (and her cats). Tiger agrees to help him get the place up and running again since he needs the debt payments, but really he just wants to get closer to Lynx.
I'm still genuinely so confused as to why they decided to mix a talking cat romcom with the guilt of being a bad son and the grief of losing a parent, but somehow it worked? I think most fans of these actors were well aware that this show was going to be sad regardless of how happy the premise sounded because - let's be honest - FirstKhao can't have a series where they don't cry! There were definitely aspects of the show that could have been handled better, especially the tone shifts during episodes. Still, this show kinda surprised me with how much I enjoyed it! It's one of FirstKhao's lighter shows, and it was fun to see them in some different roles than normal. If you're a fan, I'd give it a watch - but if you're not a fan of cats too, you might not like it.
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Selfish Desires
This is EXACTLY the kind of show I needed from OffGun. Dramatic, sexy, thrilling, and MESSY! Throughout the entire show I was upset with both of their characters, as well as Dew's, and that's what made this show so fun. Truly, this is a story of three people motivated almost entirely by their own selfish desires, and the conflicts that they end up in because of it.Jira (Gun) is a struggling artist, currently unemployed and unwilling to take jobs that involve AI because of his moral aversion to generated art. Even art isn't motivating him anymore, so his friend suggests he head to Burn Out Bar to meet other people in similar situations. There he meets Pheem (Dew) and the two hit it off - Jira listens to Pheem's stories of his overbearing boss, and Pheem is happy to have someone to listen and flirt with. Soon, Jira is offered a job working for Koh (Off), but the details are a bit murky. Eventually, Jira learns that Koh is one of the biggest names in tech right now, with an AI model in development that will blow the others away - but since Koh hates dealing with people, he hires Jira as his stand-in for in person events. As much as Jira hates AI, he loves the rush of inspiration he gets around Koh, and finally his love of painting is back and sexier than ever. Jira is torn between his feelings for Pheem and Koh, and the two men both struggle for Jira's attention, but it's unclear whether they're fighting for him because they love him, or because they want something from him.
I loved the way that this love triangle played out. Yes, one of the downsides of watching a GMM love triangle is that you always know who they plan on having together at the end, but the way the relationships developed over the course of the show as so fun. Koh is motivated by his desire to use Jira for his own gain; Pheem by his need to win Jira's attention; and Jira by his sexual fantasies of Koh and entertainment from Pheem. All of these characters seem to disregard the other characters' feelings for their own gain, and boy does that make this fun to watch!! And even as an OffGun fan, I absolutely cannot deny the chemistry between Dew and Gun - frankly, the show is worth watching just for that! Not to mention, the directing/cinematography of this show is GORGEOUS! I'm not gonna lie, I feel like it's rare that I say that about GMM shows nowadays, but WOW this show blew me away with how beautiful it was. My biggest complaints about the show are just that it could have used a little more time on the final conflict, since the ending felt a bit rushed, and I wish they committed more to the messaging around the harm of AI since it was a central theme of the show. Still, this show was VERY good and definitely worth watching if you're into messy and dramatic plots with very flawed characters.
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Supernatural Crime Romance?
The concept of GBYFD was really intriguing to me, and I loved the direction it went with the supernatural elements. While I do wish we got a little more backstory on the rituals and people performing them, especially before the big reveal, I still very much enjoyed how this show played out, including the investigation of the crimes. I do think there was a bit of a lull about 2/3 of the way through the show, where it felt like very little progress was being made each episode to move the case along, but I still very much enjoyed it - though watching it after it's aired might be even more enjoyable because of that lull.Thup (Pooh) has always been able to see ghosts, and now that he's on his own, it's become overwhelming. It doesn't help that Thup ends up the only suspect of a string of murders connected to a ritual. Singh (Pavel) leads the investigation, and while he once suspected Thup just as everyone else did, it turns out Thup's knowledge of the supernatural might come in handy. Singh decides to trust Thup, and as the two grow closer, a relationship starts to form between them.
I think anyone who enjoys crime and supernatural shows will really enjoy this one. I thought the main actors did a great job portraying these characters, and the story was fairly well paced and the ending didn't feel too rushed. I did think they could have expanded on some of the characters a little bit more, but overall it was still a super fun watch! Sometimes I did think the romance was being treated as more important than the investigation, and I know we were all expecting romance with Pooh and Pavel, but I always find that too much romance ends up feeling out of place when there's murders happening....maybe I just don't find murder investigations as romantic as these characters do. Regardless, this is still definitely worth the watch!
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All Action, Nothing Else
Mercy For None started off with a bang - intense action scenes, including killing off who you thought would be the main character in ep 1. However, I soon realized that they seemed to care a lot more about making the fight scenes bloody and violent than they did any character development.Nam Gijun left the bloody gang life 11 years ago and hasn't looked back; however, after hearing of his brother's murder, he's pulled right back in. According to the police report, a simple gang of runaway kids killed his brother, but Gijun knows better than to believe that. It seemed that the two gangs were getting along up until now, but Gijun's return brings back memories of what happened 11 years ago, and it seems another war now appears inevitable.
The fight scenes in this show were honestly great. The effects and fight choreography were so interesting to watch! However, it seems like that's the only thing they cared about. I was super excited to see some growth from Gijun, or at least some more backstory to see how he became such a cold blooded killer. Instead, we just get Gijun killing people again. and again. and again. If you're here for the action scenes, you'll love this; if you're looking for something deeper, this one misses the mark.
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Red Flag Offroad!!
As someone who loves action dramas AND DaouOffroad, I was excited for this. I thought Daou and Offroad did a great job as their characters, and anyone that's mad about Offroad's character being evil needs to remember that it's just a character (and a super fun character to watch!). Overall, I thought this drama was really well done - my only complaint was that the conflict got a little repetitive, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it.Than (Daou) is a former cop that lost his job due to allegedly taking a bribe during his work on a major fentanyl case. He ends up working for Pheem (Offroad) as his bodyguard, and realizes that the fentanyl case he was investigating is directly linked to Pheem's brother. Pheem promises Than that he will clear his name and get him back on the police force by helping him finally convict his brother of stealing and selling fentanyl - however, Pheem is not at all motivated by Than, but instead wants to ensure that he is the heir to his father's hospital. Pheem will do whatever it takes to drag his brother down, and does not care who he drags with him - even if that means his bodyguard that he's falling in love with.
There were so many things about this show that I loved. A truly complex character from Offroad, acted INCREDIBLY. And look, I hated Pheem for a lot of the show, and that's what made it fun! The betrayal that Than went through throughout the show was so entertaining to watch, and I love how it's unclear to the viewer whether Pheem is telling the truth or lying for a lot of things. It really keeps the viewer on their toes. I do think that there was a little too much of the whole "I need to leave you to protect you" thing and that Than and Pheem probably should have worked out a plan together instead of constantly going behind the others back to "protect" each other, but that's to be expected for the drama of it all. Regardless, I really enjoyed this show!
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Frustrating, Unlikeable Characters
Take this review with a grain of salt because in general, I don't enjoy memory loss tropes. Because it was Winny and Satang's first show as the main leads though, I really wanted to see how they would do. Unfortunately, I was very disappointed in this show. I found Winny's character to be infuriating, the plot was horribly rushed at the end, and the lack of character development with Satang's character for most of the show just made it really hard for me to enjoy it.Prince Davin (Satang) sneaks away from the palace with his friend Victor to enjoy a last grab at freedom before he has to train to take the throne. Instead of partying it up, he ends up washed up unconscious on the beach, where Lava (Winny) saves him. However, Davin has lost all memory of who he was or where he came from. He works for Lava and Lava's uncle who he's staying with, and while Lava learns how to be a responsible adult, Davin (or Wave, as he is called after the memory loss) learns how to be a normal person. The two grow closer over the course of the summer, but the summer can't last forever.
Lava was genuinely so annoying to watch. How are you going to find a man clearly traumatized from memory loss and head injury and then almost immediately want to hook up with him? That's so weird and predatory! It also got really annoying that Wave couldn't remember ANYTHING for SO LONG. We got ONE flashback where it seemed like he was going to start remembering things and that went nowhere?? And then towards the very end, they had to try to wrap up the royalty drama plot, the regaining memory problems, the relationship issues that come with being a commoner x prince, etc. etc. and they just did NOT have the time to do all of that. The pacing of this show was totally off, the characters were mediocre at their best and genuinely unlikeable at their worst. Maybe if you like memory loss you'd enjoy this more than I did, but just liking WinnySatang was not enough to make me enjoy this show.
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Lots of promise, but slightly unfulfilling
I waited THREE YEARS for this and will say, I enjoyed every minute of it. That being said, I really wished they just made this a longer series and actually finished it! The idea of a season 2 is great, as long as I don't need to wait ANOTHER 3 years. I really enjoy the route they took with the cause of the zombie, but I'm wary of a season 2 because zombie shows only have a few ways they can end. Normally I'd give a summary, but really it's your typical zombie apocalypse breakout - we're following students at a university that are trapped at the epicenter of a zombie apocalypse, and the remaining survivors better find a way to fight the zombies (and not each other) if they want to survive.This was a super fun, relatively short spooky Halloween watch. It had SO many good actors, and the plot was super interesting. Yes, there were a few too many characters and no way to know them all, especially with some of them feeling unimportant. I think they could've cut down on some of the characters to make the deaths more meaningful (why would I care about a character dying when I don't even know them?) I'm super excited about the idea of a season 2, but really just wished they dropped all of it at once instead...especially after letting all of us wait so long for season 1. Still, I thought the zombies were super creepy (running zombies are SCARY) and fun to watch, and that the actors did a great job. I loved the back and forth between present day zombie apocalypse and the past on how they got to that point. The twists in their personal lives were SUPER fun to watch, and I really enjoyed it. I know people assumed that this would have more romance, especially since ZeeNunew, MaxNat, TutorYim, and KengNamping are all in it, but don't get your hopes up - this is a horror zombie show, not a romance. Still definitely worth a watch for the creepy spooky vibes! But be warned: you will be ending on a cliffhanger, and who knows when/if there will be a season 2.
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Comforting, Sweet, and Lacking Major Conflict
I love MilkLove, and am happy that GMM has decided to give them more shows. I especially appreciated that their characters were actually adults this time (because as much as I loved 23.5, they have no reason to be playing high schoolers). While I enjoyed the overall premise and LOVED the relationship between the main characters, it felt like something was just missing. We had a little family conflict, a little relationship conflict, but it all felt so predictable that nothing felt too major.When Wan (Milk) leaves her corporate job and takes over her recently-deceased father's grocery store in a small town, she doesn't seem to fit in well with the locals. However, with the help of town-favorite Ph.D. student and handywoman Maewnam (Love), Wan slowly adjusts to this new life. The more Maewnam helps Wan, the closer to two become, and feelings quickly develop between them, though Wan is hesitant to enter into anything too fast.
The best part about this show was definitely the relationship between Wan and Maewnam. Milk and Love KNOW how to do a cute, sweet, loveydovey relationship and they nail it every time. However, I felt like if we either had one large conflict, or fleshed out some of the smaller ones a bit more, this would have been overall more engaging. It seemed like most issues were resolved within two episodes, and while that might be partially due to the 10 episode length (seriously GMM what's going on with that...what happened to 12?!), I still felt like at least one of these issues should have been made a bigger deal. Regardless, this is a lovely, comforting show with a sweet romance and lovable characters.
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This review may contain spoilers
Should've stopped before the ending
[I will tag where spoilers start]I LOVED this show. Truly, I think the world building, magic system, and characters are phenomenal. The villains were fun to watch, and all the twists were super exciting. I had a couple issues around the romantic conflicts, but not too much. This would have been a near perfect score if it weren't for the final episode.
Naksu, a skilled mage and assassin is found and cornered. With nowhere to go, she uses a forbidden technique - the alchemy of souls - to switch her soul into the body of another. In her now body, named Mu-deok, she ends up serving as a maid for young master Jang Uk, one of the few young masters to have not progressed in his magic learning. After a rocky start, the pair becomes young master and maid in public, but teacher and pupil in private, as Mu-deok teaches Jang Uk the secrets to be a successful and powerful mage. However, it seems there are people that want to ensure Jang Uk never reaches his potential.
*Spoilers start here*
Watcing Mu-deok and Jang Uk fall in love was super fun. I thought that some of the conflicts (like Mu-deok feeling insecure/not good enough) were a little unnecessary, but didn't take away from the overall romance. However, I was truly upset by the ending of the show. I know that there is a second season, but with they way they wrapped up s1 I honestly don't even want to watch s2. They had the ability to wrap everything up perfectly, and instead we got a murderous rampage, major character death (followed by resurrection), and ANOTHER soul swap. Genuinely, I think I would have enjoyed this WAY more if I stopped about halfway through the finale. It felt unfinished, even if there is a sequel. If they wanted to bring back Jinmu for one last evil act, why wouldn't that come earlier? Who does an identity reveal with FIFTEEN MINUTES LEFT IN THE FINALE! It felt so rushed and so out of nowhere that it wasn't even enjoyable. I feel like they could have set up for a second season SO much better: hint at someone knowing her identity, leave some things open ended, hint at another villain, etc. Instead, they took all the best parts the finale had going for it, ripped it away, and set up a cliffhanger for season 2. Frankly, it felt lazy.
That being said, the show was still very well done. Maybe if you go into it knowing there's a season 2 it would be better, or just know that the ending is not at all satisfying.
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KristSingto is Back!
I am so glad that GMM not only brought back one of their old pairings, but actually let adult actors play adult characters (and not just students). I wasn't quite sure what to expect from this show, especially because I had only seen clips of SOTUS at the time (and 2016 was a different time for BLs for sure), but I was very pleasantly surprised. While it may not be the most intense or life changing shows, I was thoroughly entertained.News reporter Padtaphi (Krist) has gained himself tons of fans through his show, but public opinion is quick to turn on him when the cameras keep rolling a bit too long - throwing a coffee in the face of another reporter is never a good look. Once he's fired from his show, he's desperate to find another producer to work with him on something else, but it seems no one wants to work with him. That is until producer Tamtawan (Singto) shows back up at the studio after years of being abroad and agrees to take the job. Naturally, this producer just happens to be Padtaphi's ex-boyfriend. The two of them must work together if Padtaphi wants a career in broadcasting again, but it seems that Tamtawan may have other reasons for taking the job too.
I really enjoyed the premise of this show. With it being only 10 episodes, I do think it was a little rushed and would have liked to have a little more time where the two leads aren't getting along. I also love a secret office romance, and wish we had a little more time before everyone found out about them. Still, I found the show to be super fun and entertaining, and was very surprised with how much I loved watching Krist and Singto act together. Hopefully they continue to do more shows together, because this one was definitely a fun one.
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This review may contain spoilers
S1 had a better ending than this.....
When Netflix announced they'd be making s2 and 3 of squid game, I wasn't thrilled. I personally liked the open ending of s1, and wasn't sure how they could come to an ending that felt satisfying. And honestly, it seems like they couldn't.Season 3 picks up right where s2 left off, after Gihun's failed attempt to raid the control room. Then, we're put right back into the games. Compared to s2, I did feel like the games in this season were a bit more high stakes and I was more invested in some of the characters at this point. Plus, the story with the detective really picked up in a fun way. But still, this season didn't wow me.
*Spoilers for the ending start here*
I understand the whole point of the baby being born into the games, but it felt like such a predictable way for things to go. You already hate the kid's father, so that part didn't even feel emotional. I thought it was so obvious what was going to happen at the end of the last game, and I was exactly right. It felt like such a stupid move too - Gihun's entire goal is to fight back against the system, try and destroy the games from the inside, etc. and NONE OF THAT HAPPENS! Instead he sacrifices himself for the baby which, again, I understand why he would make that choice, but the entire setup of this last game just felt so odd to me. To totally ruin the main character's initial goal by forcing him to sacrifice himself, leading to the games continuing on just not in Korea? I did enjoy Inho's moment of returning Gihun's items to his daughter, but it still just felt like such a waste of an ending. I really wish I just watched s1 and ended it there. And I definitely won't be watching any spin offs if they decide to continue making them....
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Enemies to.....Almost Lovers?
This show was honestly way better than I expected. When I initially watched the trailer, I didn't have much interest in a show that seemed to be about high schoolers fighting each other. However, this show was so much more enjoyable than I thought. While the beginning was kind of slow and missing the backstory for awhile, once it picked up it was fantastic. The chemistry between the main leads had me confused about whether or not this was BL (it's not) for the entire time.When two rival schools merge into once, the students have a hard time getting along. This is especially true for the students of class 2, who are all the known troublemakers from both schools. With a brand new homeroom teacher who seems unable to control the class, the students' rivalry gets out of hand. Shin (Nani) used to be top dog at his school, but with the merge it seems he's competing with Ken's (Kay) gang for that spot. Saint (Sky) seems to always be getting in the way, as he's determined to rekindle his friendship with Shin even though Shin has made it clear he's not interested. Old problems in their past friendship resurface as tension continues to build between the students - and their business with a local drug dealing gang.
Sky and Nani were FANTASTIC together. While I may have been hoping for a kiss, the "bromance" of the series was still super great to watch. I did feel like they could have sped up some of the plot in the first couple episodes, but as I approached the end, this series just got better and better. I'm super excited to see what Sky and Nani do next!!
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Predictable, but still fun
Kidnap was a solid show that, while fairly predictable, was a fun watch. I did hope for a little bit more on the whole...yknow kidnapping aspect? But overall I enjoyed it and am very glad that GMM has announced Ohm and Leng as an official pairing after watching this.Min (Ohm) works as an action stunt double, and with his sick brother, he's in need of some quick money. His agent sets him up on a job to earn a lot of money fast, but it involves kidnapping a rich kid named Q (Leng) for ransom. Min thinks this will be a quick job that he can forget about easily, but when he's told to kill Q instead, Min takes him and hides him. Naturally, Min is going to get in serious trouble if the client finds out Q is still alive, but keeping him quiet at Min's house isn't easy either. The two start to get to know each other and become wrapped up in the drama of Q's father's police investigation with mafia-like criminals.
Min and Q's relationship was very fun to watch develop, and I didn't think any issue was overly drawn out. I did think that pretty much every conflict in the show was predictable - it felt like we were going around in circles where Min and Q would take turns with the whole "we need to break up so you can be safe" thing. I also felt like this was one of the least convincing "poor protagonists" ever. You're saying you need money but you have TWO large houses?? I get he was trying to sell one but still, it felt a little off. Overall this show was a fun watch and the main couple had great chemistry. Even though I felt like it didn't do anything too new, I enjoyed it and am excited to see what Ohm and Leng do next.
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