Only good if you're a big fan of EarthMix
Out of all of EarthMix's projects, this one is by far the worst. While the two have great chemistry, who thought that this plot was a good idea?Win (Mix) is in a car accident with his sister, Lin, and when he wakes up he's in his sister's body. He then embarks on a journey with his former friend Korn (Earth) in order to retrieve holy water to return to his body. Along this journey, past issues between Win and Korn resurface and as the two learn to get along again, feelings between them emerge - but does Korn have feelings for Win, or does he only care about the body his soul is transported in?
The entire conflict of this show being "is he into me or is he into me because I'm in my sister's body" is crazy. What even. Regardless, watching the relationship between Win and Korn change was very enjoyable, and the fairly slow burn friends-to-lovers was fun to watch. But thank god it was only 10 episodes because I don't think I could have watched much more.
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They couldn't have come up with a plot that didn't involve falling in love with a dog...?
Definitely a cute, short little show with a unique concept. I think reincarnation plots can be very interesting but this one was a little...different. Normally I would advise just getting past any of the weirdness that this entails, but this one was hard to move on from.I would have rated this higher if it weren't for the fact that any time you remember those people used to be his pets. Any time you think of that, any kind of romance that was going on feels a bit odd. Best watched if you don't think about it too much!
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I thought this was supposed to be good???
I watched this because I kept getting tiktoks about it since the second season dropped and I was thoroughly disappointed. The main characters are so annoying and unlikable that whatever plot they were going for just didn't work. Hira constantly gets bullied by his classmates but when it's Kiyoi he likes it? Then throw in a weird time skip, a much better potential boyfriend for Hira, and a whole lot of unnecessary conflict/miscommunication and that's about all that happens! Did they like each other the whole time? I guess so! Too bad they never actually told each other this or else the show would have been over in the first episode.Was this review helpful to you?
Cute, but nothing special
When the rich kid is forced to live on his own and support himself he ends up living with the landlord of his apartment complex...who is also his subordinate at work. Interesting dynamic between them but I feel like they could have done a lot more with it than they did.As is typical of Korean BLs, I feel like the characters didn't have a lot of room to grow throughout the series. I wish instead of unnecessary breakup plot points, the writers would allow the characters to properly develop over the course of the show. Overall a fun and easy watch.
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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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More Nuanced Office Romance!
Enemies with Benefits was a fantastic office romance GL that managed to deliver a lot more than just the typical "coworkers aren't allowed to date" type of forbidden office romance that I expected. They did an excellent job developing the characters and giving them solid reasons for their actions, even when sometimes the viewer learns these reasons after the actions have happened. I really enjoyed the combination of them slowly realizing they have feelings for each other, needing to be professional at the office, AND Wine's backstory coming back as a major conflict. I thought all of it was done super well. The only real issue I had with this one was that the constant getting together, calling it off, then getting together again got repetitive towards the end, with miscommunication conflicts driving this issue every time, but overall I still really enjoyed this one! Definitely a GL worth watching!Lal (Jan) recently became the head of the sales department, and learns very quickly that everyone at the office is scared of Wine (Jingjing), the head of accounting. Wine runs a strict program and will be sure to call out anyone that makes errors in their reports. While the two don't get along at work, at a company dinner, Lal notices Wine being pressured into drinking and removes her from the situation before the men there can make it worse. But when the two head back to Lal's place to sober up, they also end up hooking up, starting a friends with benefits relationship. Since relationships are strictly forbidden at the company, the two of them keep this fling a secret, but it starts to develop into something more.
I love an office romance, AND I love shows where grown actors play grown adults (yes I am sick of 30 year olds playing students). This show delivered great acting, a great plot, and AMAZING chemistry. Jan and Jingjing do an incredible job acting together, and I really enjoyed just how much I could sympathize with both of their characters, even when I knew their actions would cause conflict. I especially loved how Wine's past comes back to haunt her later on in this series, and the way it plays out is really really well done. It doesn't take away from the romance, but adds new layers to the characters' relationship. This one is definitely worth giving a shot, and I'll be on the look out for all of their future projects!
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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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