autumn carrot

The curse of the 16 episode Kdrama strikes again

For me, this show was a solid 8.5 when I first started it. I have to say, I had no interest in this show. Then I heard about the plot and how it's about a girl going back in time to save her favorite idol...I thought the plot was so pitiful and sad! I started this out of pity! I just feel like it's sad when you have regrets about people you can't save. And the show didn't disappoint. The start of this show was exhilarating. It was relatable and emotional and so sincere. Then after the sad start, there was the humor, and the love interest developed into one of the more endearing male leads of Dramaland as he wore his heart on his sleeve and was just dorky and handsome at the same time. Not many can pull that off so kudos to Byeon Woo Seok for that. In addition, our leading lady is a tried and guaranteed good actress. The chemistry was sizzling, the plot was engaging, the humor was delightful, and the second male lead was not too annoying...it was all too good to be true. And it was, in fact, too good to be true.
It is a truth, universally understood but everyone is too chicken to acknowledge it, that all kdramas have the potential to end on episode 12 but get dragged on for four more episodes until the show loses all its unique charm and rots away in the cesspool of cliched stereotypes. My only wish while watching a kdrama is either for it to end with 12 episodes or if it has to go on, at least go with grace. Very few shows do that.
I was really rooting for this show. I really was. But sadly, the show started to stutter around episode 10/11 and by episode 12, the plot was lost, dead, and buried.
Here's the thing, you need to let your MacGuffin macguffin! You need to let your plot device be a device to drive the plot ahead. Not for the plot to run after the plot device on a bicycle! What I'm trying to say is that a lot of Korean rom-coms add murder mysteries or thriller subplots to their shows both to make them longer and to spice up the plot. And I'm gonna assume at some point this worked but lately, these subplots are becoming so intense, convoluted, and clunky that they totally derail the show and ruin its final arc. Here it was no exception as the plot began to fall into a repetitive cycle, the female lead lost all her brain cells, misunderstandings and miscommunications ensued, and characters actively made choices to sabotage the progress of the story.
Girl, you're traveling back in time. Putting aside the ludicrous shock of such an event, after figuring out the rules (which the show took as guidelines, instead of rules as they frequently and shamelessly broke them for plot convenience) why do you keep repeating the same pattern of behavior, hoping to get different results?!
The plot really fell in a loop. It became exhausting. Then the murderer plot became too big and it was like the villain had extra superpowers because why was he absolutely undefeatable for 16 bloody episodes?!
It was just too much and then episode 15 rushed to close the plotlines while most of episode 16 was fan service. The pace of the show was a mess. They should've established better rules for their universe and stuck to them at least in important plot moments. Unfortunately, logic and narrative were sacrificed for melodramatic effect, ultimately ruining the second half of the show beyond repair.
Now the actors were okay. I would especially say just the mains stood out as good. The side actors were so-so. The subplot of the brother and best friend was really bad. It was boring and wasted time more than anything else. Every other character was written only as background decoration or comic relief, making them too caricaturish to be taken seriously.
Production was minimal but it worked. Music was tolerable I guess. But I was still tired of the ballad by the end.
I won't rewatch this. The second half ruined it for me but the first half will always remain an exceptional "One that got away" for me.
I wish they had done better by the show. It deserved better. It could've been so much better. I still think if you really wanna watch it, it's a good rom-com and the leads' dynamic is worth enjoying. Just maybe prepare to clench your teeth in the second half.

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UGH

This is like The Emperor's New Clothes. Like why is everyone praising this show? I would love to know what stood out so magnificently from this that everyone is throwing up their guts praising this. This show is probably one of the most pointless drivel I have watched since I started watching Kdramas. The only reason this isn't a 0 out of 10 stars is that: 1) Production was good, 2) The character of Death was okay, and 3) Episode 4 was actually good.

Summary: Dude kills himself. Get punished to die 12 times again. But he's given the chance to try and save himself and live as that body. Then he proceeds to be an idiot 12 times in a row. 12 times is not enough. This dude should just be punished to die over and over for eternity. How is he so stupid and selfish and annoying and-

Plot: The premise is interesting but the execution is so far from good that it makes the premise sound stupid too. There's no proper stake here. You would think eternal damnation vs. a chance to reinvent yourself would be such a simple and driven goal, right? Wrong! Because the main character makes no move to actually save himself. The lives are too short, too so you end up not really connecting with any of these characters. What we learn about them is thrown at us as exposition in little montages. That is just unimpressive. The relationships that could be invested in like the girlfriend and the mother are not there long enough for it to go anywhere. The personalities are disjointed, especially in case of male lead who first comes across as a simple and dejected young man but through out the reincarnations or whatever you call it, he's just a greedy, pathetic, selfish loser who wastes every chance he's given, never tries to guard the precious lives in his hands and instead focuses on power trips he was denied in his first life and money. Why would you root for such a character? A jerk. And the reincarnations aren't better either. With the exception of the the kids and the last one, the others are just nothing characters. Bland. I couldn't care about any plot point because all I was focused on was saving these lives and this dude was into everything but that. That's a dissonance between what drives the character and what you as a viewer want from this show. As a result, it was a dissatisfying watch with very very VERY annoying beats. Plus, most of the show is just focused on nonsensical, sensationalized fight scenes or special affects moments which while impressive as a production fact, didn't really add flesh to this flimsy plot. Episode 4 was slightly better but having watched episode five since then, I know that the show did nothing with what was built in that episode so the potential for any character development was wasted away too. Making even that one good episode feel like a pointless blip.

Acting: This show is stacked with heavy weight actors. What a waste!

Music and production: Music was, I don't know, okay? The production value is very high. But this is a classic case of sacrificing substance for technicalities. The show is made with high technological value but what's the point of all that pomp and ceremony when the plot is nonsense and weak?

Rewatch value: None

Negatives: Everything.

Overall: I don't know, if you liked this, we probably have vastly different taste and could never recommend anything to each other. I hated this. Awful. Horrible.
Edit: You wanna read my part 2 review too...trust me!

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This was actually a tragedy.

I DID IT! I FINISHED IT! Please...a round of applause for me for finishing what has slowly turned into an archnemesis of a watch. I want to clarify, I didn't hate this show. I loved a lot about this show. (Mainly, Mr. Hong.)(But more importantly, his house.) (I freaking love that house, actually!) I like the cozy, summery vibes, and it has funny parts and a lot of good bits. I love the support characters, I love our male lead...and then there is the "romance" and unfortunately...the female lead.
You see, usually my favorite character in a Kdrama is the female lead. Even when they are ditsy or written to be helpless or contradictory, I am rooting for the girls! Sure, it's not helped by the fact that male leads are usually overhyped or straight-up abusive but a lot of times MLs are also unrealistically nice and rich. So it all balances out, and I am rooting for everyone by the end and it's all good.
I think this is the first time I genuinely hate the female lead in a kdrama. It's not just that she takes forever to learn a lesson. It's that the show never manages to shake off her elitist philosophy, her snobbish behavior, her blind selfishness, and her extremely age-inappropriate childishness even after many episodes of providing her with character development ingredients. She has character growth, thankfully. But by the end, the show tries to gaslight us into accepting that she has grown more than she actually has, based on a few lip service moments.
You see, our female lead...is written to be a little too main-character-coded! To quote Taylor Swift (in a manner she would set me on fire for), Hye Jin suffers from terminal uniqueness, lmao! The level of self-unawareness the show displays by having TWO city girls move to a rural coastal town and then show one of them struggle and have this fish-out-of-water narrative where no one, truly...not a single human in that town, can relate to her...not even the girl sleeping in the room next door, going through the exact same thing as her(?!) is wild. Did no one think this was just a tad too...pick-me?! And while on the topic, the show is so dumb about this, they sometimes forget where Mi Seon is spending her nights! Like, where was she during the storm?! It's so I'm-not-like-other-girls of the show to have such a tilted view of their own characters and it pisses me off because it just reeks of pretty privilege in narrative motion. And she is so unworthy of this favorite daughter treatment.
Why is this 34-year-old woman having character arcs that a healthy human person should go through between the ages of 18 to 24?! She talks to Mr. Hong like a petulant girl who is having her first encounter with the opposite sex. This is not helped by the disturbing sequence when she forced them to dress like high school children and act like they are 17! WHY?! I'm not even 34 yet (and I even think I'm pretty immature) but I can't for the life of me figure out how massively arrested one's development needs to be for them to wish themselves back into f*cking high school at thirty-four! Seriously! Her circumstances, her background, and even her tragic backstory, none of it explains or excuses how she is written! And yes! I am mad at how she treats Hong Do Shik. Because how out of touch with reality is this worldly woman to not realise what a ridiculously good catch Hong Do Shik is?!???!!?!?!
Girl! Just look at that man!!!! LOOK AT HIM!
And once you're done with that, observe how this man behaves and see how this is a man who will never go a day hungry in his life because he has enough skills to always provide for himself and his family. And then look some more because on top of all that, he is handsome, kind, intelligent, empathetic, open-minded, and funny!
And to rest my case, your honors...he owns...A HOUSE. In this economy! He owns a freaking house! His own!!!House!!!! Nay...he owns THE HOUSE. That house...that house is the reason for 6 out of those 7 and half stars. *wipes tears away* That house is the love of MY life! The woodwork! The Kitchen! The books!!!!! Every single thing about his house is a love letter to me personally. Music to my ears. Beauty beyond compare!!!! I would marry a man for that house! (I digress...)
My point is, this dude is a catch and then some but Hye Jin acts like he is a chewed-up gum under her ugly, tacky-ass silver shoes that is graciously scraping away...girl! He is ABOVE your level! You are dating UP. You are NO catch. Seriously! She may be gorgeous and a doctor but her qualities end there. She is immature, rude, selfish, has no financial self-awareness, and she is snobbish in that very specific way that new money people in South Korea are. She is more emotionally stunted than a rock! And she can barely do anything besides the one thing she does as a job (okay, incompetent queen, relatable! But still! At least, I know a man like Hong Do Shik who looks like that is way above my dating pool...)
I could not for the life of me figure out this romance. The "why" haunts me to this day. I have never been sad that the main characters of a show got together because I honestly think the male lead was wasted!!! This has never happened to me before! This was basically a tragedy! If she had dragged his poor ass to Seoul, I would have campagined to add the tragedy tag to this.
I have ranted so much about this, I can't even spend time talking about the dumb backstory for the ML or how I felt about the supporting cast or how the SML is ON-SIGHT for me! That man is possibly my second most disliked second male lead ever and it's a testament to how much I disliked Hye Jin that until episode 15, I was lowkey hoping she would end up with SML...like those two deserved each other...actually SML was written in such an annoyingly Mary Sue way, she doesn't deserve his squeaky sparkling butt either probably...but I dislike him so she can have him!
Anyway! I only watched this show for the town people and ONLY for Do Shik...'s house! That man was written to be way too attractive. He looks like a freaking 90s heartthrob in every scene and acts like the coolest intellectual on earth. He is so competent, it brings tears to my eyes. And they made him date a girl who thinks golf is peak chic behavior and tacky silver shoes are high fashion! *ugly crying* The TRAGEDY!!!!!

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Much Ado About Nothing

"Expectation" is a dangerous thing. Our expectations and assumptions set us up for disappointment and heartbreak. In a lot of ways, Snowdrop is a story about just that; thwarted expectations. It’s about realizing that the person you loved is not who you thought they were, realizing your belief system was a house of cards. It’s about realizing that at the end of it all, no one is coming to save you; you’re on your own.
I felt that shattering disappointment myself when I watched this show and I have only myself to blame. I had this very detailed expectation for what this show was going to be. I thought, for some reason, that this was a historical romance set in a politically sensitive era of Korea’s history, about a student protestor who is injured and seeks refuge in the girl’s dormitory where he is given shelter by a fellow student whom he had dated before. I thought the show was going to be about how the ANSP creates this narrative that he is a northern spy and they eventually catch him and kill him based on those accusations. Suffice to say…I was wrong!!!! That was 95% wrong.
I was disappointed. Still, had the show delivered an intriguing story, I wouldn't feel as underwhelmed as I do now. The show isn't horrible. The production is good and it had its moments. I did enjoy it for a while, but ultimately, it wasn't my cup of tea.

So, you should only watch this show if:
1. You’re not here for the romance!
2. You like the actors VERY VERY VERY much ‘cause I’ll be frank, I like Jung Hae-In a normal amount and this show made me like him a little less. I watched SITR at the same time, just to like him again!
3. You’re craving spy movies.
4. You like political jargon stories all about corruption and stupid politicians. Not a single brain cell here.
5. You’re really desperate for that 80s aesthetic.
6. You love shows that the main cast consists of villains only and a wild doe-eyed virgin running around, crying.
7. Hot guys…JHI does shirtless push-ups…just saying…
8. You like fictional history that doesn’t have to make 100% sense.
9. Romeo and Juliet AUs
10. You like the movie "Die Hard"...Idk...hostage movies...?
11. Tragic endings

Plot: (okay this section is ALL rant)I’m almost embarrassed that it took the screenwriter ten years to finish this. It doesn't feel like it was worked on for a decade but it does feel ten years *old*. The romance plot is stale as one-month-old bread. The tone and pace of the show were all over the place. There were too many themes that the show tried to tackle, with a never-ending web of backstories that were either not thoroughly developed or were just plain boring. The dark comedy is a bit gauche. Like a giant child squirming around and slapping and breaking things with its awkward limbs, the dark humor here just flapped around, desperately hoping that its unsophisticated theatrics would land with its viewers. It was not funny. Not even in a dark way. Landing dark humor needs a level of elegance that this show only had the posture for but none of the finesse. Overall the show felt both overstuffed with content while also extremely repetitive and empty. The middle episodes all had the exact same formula. They used the exact same trick to thrill the viewers which after a few episodes stopped working because you could just predict what would happen next. The stakes were both extremely high but also extremely low. The plot just had too many characters that it did not know what to do with. It only moved them around with little significant plot drive and refused to kill anyone for the longest time.

Sidenote on the romance: I think telling a story about a whirlwind romance that develops solely during a high-stress situation can be really interesting, but the show didn’t really do that. As a thriller with too many plots and characters, the show just didn't have the time to focus on the romance. The build-up in the first three episodes was alright, had the show have a proper follow-through. But then certain things happened and the events developed in a certain direction that I couldn't buy their later connection down the narrative, at all. It felt unearned. This show is low-key a two-male-lead show. While it's true that Young Ro is the defacto female lead, her significance is only in sparking the events of the show. For the rest of the series, she is pointlessly there with little character development and even less purpose. Instead, it's the two male leads who have the most significant character arcs. The same can be said for the rest of the female leads, each to different degrees. If anything, I think Boon Uk was the real female lead who had an important character arc.

Sidenote on politics: So this show makes very little political sense. Allegedly this is around the 1987 election but it was fictionalized beyond recognition and the show doesn't really make an effort to introduce the viewer to its own fantastical setting so it's just a lot of confusing conversation about god know what. Though I guess if you don't know anything about the history, it wouldn't matter.

Acting: It was fine. Some actors overdid it. The mains were all good. I believe this was Jisoo's first role? I think she did fine considering what she was given. She doesn't quite have the hang of proper expressions yet, but I compare her with IU in Moon Lovers and I think she did okay. Jung Hae-In was wasted in this show. I'm actually upset he was here. From what I've seen him in, JHI does a good job of micro-acting. A lot of which was lost in this thriller-action show to weird editing or just focusing on his newly acquired biceps. He tries to bring in his style to it but...*sigh*. Kim Hye Yoon was the stand-out. Despite the fact that her character was antagonistic, she brought a great deal of charm to her performance that made watching her enjoyable albeit also frustrating. Overall, I would say the characters lacked charm and charisma for a great part of the show and only really settle into themselves later in the show. I don't necessarily blame the actors for this, however. I think the writing did little to help the characters.

Music: The music was actually good. Both soundtrack and background music were lovely and I liked them. They were also used well.

Production: We have finally arrived at where this show excelled at! The production for this show was great. Beautiful set design, costuming, and props all over. The directing was good, the cinematography wasn't my favorite but it had its style. What I loved about this show's production was the attention to detail and the things that we might not notice but made a lot of difference in the overall quality of storytelling. (Not gonna give examples because they were super specific) In fact, I enjoyed the story that these details were telling a lot more than those ambitious scripted moments.

Rewatch: No, thanks.

Negative: Addressing the elephant in the room. So this show had controversy due to the time period it portrays. Ultimately, it manages to clear its name but I think there are certain implications in the story that will make a case against the show in some ways. It sort of did romanticize the ANSP. It wasn't much but it did bring a great deal of sympathy for the members of ansp and I can see how that could upset some. There was also a lot of anti-North propaganda in it which helped with softening whatever it said about the South's government...I thought it was all tasteless. Overall, a whole lot was said and argued over nothing. This show was just not worth all the noise that was made about it! I bet it would've flown so far below the radar that it would be beneath the crust of the earth if only it didn't have its prolific cast attached to it!

Overall: I don't recommend this. So watch it at your own risk. I was disappointed but I would be lying if I said I didn't enjoy it at all. It was good enough to get through once and it has enough interesting parts to be enjoyable. However, story and plot matter a lot to me, and Snowdrop lacked in that regard. Therefore it ended up being just average for me. It could be someone else's cup of tea.

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I'm like...so what?!

So like, what was the point? Is this gonna get a second season because this felt like a prologue to a story that was never told!
The atmospheric buildup was interesting, but it was so short that nothing was properly developed. I had barely any emotional investment in the characters; the only thing keeping you watching is the bizarreness of the core elements of the story and the millions of questions that it inspires but by the end, the show answers maybe two questions?!
In the grand scheme of the confusion it inspires, what it answers is so little that I feel like it wasn't worth the trouble. The core character dynamics are weak, like why am I supposed to care about this romance if I have only watched two scenes between these characters? Why should I be invested in that investigation when the show itself doesn't even try to establish the facts of the events first? So the whole thing is a bit underdeveloped and confusing.
Then, on the other hand, it seems like the show has a format of exploring different case studies from episode to episode but the balance is so off. They sure make you feel uneasy, which I suppose was the effect they were going for but then how these B-plots connected to the ongoing A-plot that runs through the whole show was very weak.
This whole thing felt like a modern theatrical performance more than a TV show.
The acting was alright, the set design was good, but the plot was...I don't know, a bit pretentious but shallow? It was trying too hard to be mysterious and provocative, and it didn't always manage to land it right.
Overall, I didn't mind watching it, but it wasn't a stand-out watch either. You won't regret watching it if you really want to but it's also equally skippable.

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The One that Got away

I always avoided youth dramas. Not for any specific prejudice. I've just spent my whole life watching high school dramas and I'm kind of over it now. I also never really got drawn by the youth cdramas I came across until I found "A river runs through it". This show took me by surprise with just how good it was. The emotions it stirred were so authentic that it reminded me of my own unrequited love AND this amazing story with an unrequited love that I had read many years ago. It just brought back all those feelings and squeezed my heart. That's why I liked this show because it managed to reach a genuine and true emotion. Unhappy love is such a universal concept and the show manages to capture that bittersweetness to the fullest.
Special shoutout: This show had one of the best opening titles. It was so cute that I didn't like to skip it.

You should watch this show if you like:
1. 90s retro aesthetic
2. Unrequited Love romances
3. FRIENDSHIPS
4. Complicated romances
5. Devoted male leads
6. School/University life
7. S l o w B u r n . . .
8. Weird epilogue
9. Love quadrangle...?

Plot: The show is based on a book and you can tell it was a proper novel because the show also has a very clear form to it with cohesive themes, tone, and pace. It stays focused on the concepts it tries to explore, has a good mix of comedy and melodrama, all the side stories are developed in thoughtful ways, and it keeps a firm grip on its themes. I thought the pacing here was nice. In fact, I have almost no complaints about the show's story except for how it ended...I'll get to it later. I loved the development of friendships and romances. The main romantic plot was just so good. The focus is not on the characters' studies so it's mostly sidelined to the melodrama but when there were b-plots focusing on it, I found them to be thoughtful and logical as well.

Acting: I saw Wang Rui Chang initially in TLB and I just really didn't like him there at all. I won't sugarcoat it; I thought he was pretty bad at acting. I was gonna avoid him forever. But then I started to watch this because everyone was raving about Lu Shiyi and I was blown away! He was just so good here. Perfect comedic timing. He just did such good physical acting and also with his voice and eyes and omg! What a talented young man! Hu Yi Xuan was also very good. Her performance did not overwhelm. She was not whiny, nor did she overact, she brought Xiao Ju to life. The supporting cast were just fine. I especially disliked Judy Qi's performance. It was bland and really watery. She had no soul and I just wanted her scenes to end as fast as possible. Everyone else was sufficient.

Music: I don't remember the music at all. Sorry!

Production: Shoutout to one of the most gorgeous and adorable opening titles. I wanted to say that because I thought it was just special and I loved it. This show is set around the turn of the century and the general vibe of the era was captured. I loved how they paid special attention to the male lead's weird fashion sense. It was very adorable. The sets were also meticulously made, everyone had their special style. The coloring of the show was pleasing to the eyes with a nostalgic haze that made the heartache more powerful.

Negatives: So the novel's ending is different from the show... as in it's not a happy ending. I think the creators wanted to reward the viewers with a happy ending and I appreciate that but the last two episodes of the show were some of the worst things I have ever watched and that's why this show is not a 10 for me! I almost lost all my faith in the scriptwriters because the moment they lost the book's guidance, the show just went to the dogs. If you stop at episode 34, you'll hate the ending but I think it saves the dignity of the production. Those last two episodes with their weird time jump are just skin-crawlingly bad. All the things that I complimented before: good writing, good acting, good lighting, and set design, it's like they all fly out the window. I have this theory that those were a part of the "extra" but they stuck it at the end as a consolation prize. I wish they hadn't. The main couple's dynamic is super off in those scenes; it's like they digress back to their initial state and lose their character growths, there's a scene that reads like r*pe to me...it's very weird, I hated it. Those two episodes are full of cliches and I would delete them out of existence if I could. Episodes 35 and 36 are not canon for me. They are just a bad dream I had after I finished watching the show. Don't get me wrong; I wanted that good ending so badly which is why I didn't stop after episode 34 but I wasn't satisfied with how it happened. It almost ruined the whole show for me. So even though the show has a happy ending, I still had to mourn when I finished watching t because it felt fake. It really didn't feel like the end was a part of the show.

Overall: I really loved this show. It was cozy, nostalgic, sweet, and funny in most parts but it also captured the bad parts of love in a way that the heartache was so palpable. Everyone was yearning for something they could not have. This added substance to this show and elevated it above an average youth drama and I wish more shows were like this. I recommend this show but my personal suggestion is to stop watching after episode 34 and just watch the extras!!!! It'll only be a little confusing!

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Twelve Nervous breakdowns & one multiverse later

I always find it so incredibly difficult to write reviews for shows I absolutely love. It's not just that I can't be objective (I'm never objective! I'm too emotional not to let it color my judgement), it's just I have no idea what to say! I don't know! I loved it! Go watch it!
But this show deserves a beautiful review, so I'm gonna try.
Rarely do I come across shows that I'm excited to watch before they start airing and then watch the show and actually love it! Usually, I either have anticipation for a show then end up disappointed in it or I accidentally come across a show and love it.
Twelve Letters stands out because I was ridiculously excited about it, waited for the countdown to the airing and everything, and when I watched it, I absolutely got sucked into the world within the story and loved it too. Twelve Letters isn't a typical fantasy show. It's not even a typical youth drama. Which is why it stands out because while it includes those genres and elements of those types of stories, in execution, they prioritise telling the story perfectly over upholding the genres' stereotypes.
This show actually reminded me of this story that I love very much and have reread maybe five times over the years. Both stories are about wounded teenagers who are failed by the incompetent or negligent adults in their lives, and with no one to turn to, end up saving each other. It just claws at your heartstrings. And while the show is heartwarming in showing how even the most broken and hopeless of people can find beauty and love and live little beautiful lives, it doesn't shy away from showing the raw underbelly of suffering at the hands of family and society. The camera stubbornly stands and zooms in on the violence and injustice and forces you, the audience, to stare at it too. To feel along with these characters, their anger, their helplessness, their grief. And it makes you feel helpless for not being able to help, to stop it, to fix it. I appreciate that the show doesn't just put on a beautiful warm filter over the ugliness of that life and pretends it's all okay because the power of love fixed it. I love that it doesn't just cutesy its way through young love. I love that it doesn't just preach at children to study and weather the hardships no matter what. It allows its characters the grace to be angry and petty. To neglect their studies because their world is unraveling all around them. To be violent when they are left with no choice.
There is a line in the very first letter in the show that I'm gonna rephrase: They lived as insignificant weeds by the side of the road, ignored and unimportant but it was the best time of their lives. The ugliness of reality is not lost on the characters but they still had it in them to seek the beauty of life in the small, safe place they made together. I love that the show found a good balance of displaying both the good and bad, like that. In addition to all that, the drama shows us how sometimes found families aren't enough; you really can't fight off a system that is rigged against you, and despite everything, you may lose. They show us this losing hand to its bitter end. But they're kind enough to take pity on us and give the characters a second chance, anyway. Therefore, this show has a unique quality of giving us both a sad and a happy ending, like a choose-your-own-adventure story. You can either go the realistic dark way, or you can hope that things could still change. I personally appreciate the happy ending option!

Acting: In addition to their beautiful storytelling, this show is incredibly well-acted. I can't believe I've slept on this cast for so long! They are so talented! How did I not know them? Anyway, perfect performances all across the board.

Production: This review is not complete without a total meltdown over the principal photography of this show, the perfect cinematography, the gorgeous golden filtering, the on-point makeup and costuming, the detailed set designs, and the beautiful music. Even the angles they captured in this show were so precise and intentional. It was so well-produced. It's like not a single hair is out of place. Every detail is agonised into perfection. The poor girl? She wears cheap and simple clothes that are bought without care or attention to charm. The rich spoiled brat? dressed in brand, gaudy outfits. The orphan who is raising himself with dignity? Simple and basic pieces that are always clean. And the houses! Each set shows the class and status of each character. From the Yu's simple worker apartment to teacher Ye's clearly intellectual, well-off apartment, to the gangster's den masquerading as a temple and the illegal gambling den, it was all so detailed and thoughtfully made. I also appreciate that the show has seasons and different weather!!!! The switch between the harsh snow and the blue skies not only added depth to the world of the show, but it also highlighted the emotional roller coaster we and the characters are on. Also, this show is just beautiful. It's so beautiful to look at! Furthermore, the high quality of production is accompanied by high-quality storytelling. So many times, the show is expensively made, but so what?! The plot is a hot mess. Not Twelve Letters though! They have it all.
Now the music was beautiful too, but sometimes I wished they would stop playing it so I could hear the conversations better. So it was good, but Cdramas still need to tone it down.

Rewatch: I feel like I might rewatch this. It's short and beautiful.

Negatives: So this wasn't totally perfect. I feel like they owe us another extra 30 minutes of footage at the very end, and so the editing, to me, leaves a bit to be desired. I don't even want fan service so much as I just wish we had gotten a final report of where every character ended up. The 12th letter wasn't enough to heal the wounds the show left on my heart! But I still gave it a 10/10 because I enjoyed this show way too much not to do that.

Overall: You're gonna suffer but you're gonna be happy about it! To me, this is one of those not-to-be-missed Cdramas of the year. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go watch all the shows from Light On series! lol

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Being married to a possible serial killer doesn't have to be a bad thing!

I mean if he cooks, cleans, cherishes you and your child, takes care of the house, creates beautiful metal works of art, and looks like Lee Joon Gi, does it really matter if he is *allegedly* murdering someone in your basement?! I mean no marriage is perfect!!!!Right?!
Jokes aside, this show was one of my favorite shows that I watched this year. I didn't so much as watch it as I inhaled the show!

Let's get to it!

You should watch this show if you like:
1.Mystery stories
2.Detective stories that develop in a non-traditional manner (not a police procedural standard plot)
3.Established relationships
4.Handsome husbands who do the domestic works while their wife kicks ass
5."Sometimes I look at my spouse and wonder if they ever murdered someone..."
6.Psychological thrillers
7.ROMANCE THAT CUTS YOUR HEART OUT AND LAUGHS AT YOU AS YOU BLEED ON THE FLOOR
8.Happy endings that really put you through the wringer for it!
9.Cliffhangers
10.Childhood Trauma
11.You know this east Asia trend of watching hot men suffer and cry A LOT? It has that! (I love it!)

This show starts with a happily married couple, Baek Hee Sung and Cha Ji Won, and their little daughter. Everything seems great about their marriage. Ji Woon is a detective and the show starts when she gets assigned to a case of domestic violence. She believes in the sanctity of family (since hers is so perfect) but this journalist she knows tells her about this really terrifying serial killing case from almost 20 years before, and how families can cover some messed up secrets. Then she ends up exhuming that very same case when a copycat shows up. Soon, she keeps getting vibes that her perfect (truly perfect) husband might be involved in this gruesome serial killing case from the past, in a very sinister way and everything starts to fall apart.

This show has an amazing plot! Everything moves so seamlessly and the plots connect so well. There is not much time wasted on pointless B plots and what it does have in that regard is connected to the main story in a way that moves the story forward while still being compelling separately. It does wrap everything up in the end with a neat little bow but I personally liked it. Some people prefer dangling unrelated B plots that just waste time and lead nowhere and mean nothing to the main plot, maybe, but I preferred the way the show did it. It's such a thrilling plot too, I mean I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. Now I didn't totally get hung up on the "Is he? Is he not?" suspense of the show because I just liked the character immediately. Halo effect activated (or was already activated, I won't get into it because SPOILERS!) and I was just rooting for the story to move forward instead.
The romance is very good in this story too. I usually prefer detective shows without family drama but this show managed to change my mind by intertwining love, family, and trauma so perfectly together with the murder, mystery, thriller side that I was in love with where it was going with it. Every episode has some kind of tie-in from the romance into the events and the couple is so endearing that it just melts your heart. The supporting couple duo was also well-done. I really liked how that relationship developed so realistically. It was very mature and self-aware and not just there to be cute which I really appreciated. I know some didn't like the happy ending because it seemed like fan-service. I have my own theories on why it wasn't fanservice and why it mattered that it ended like it did but that will be spoilery so I won't write it here.
There are essentially two timelines in the show which slowly come together. I really liked how we got a drip of information from the past, it made everything that much more interesting.

The acting in this show was PHENOMENAL! Even then the 3-year-old baby was good! Lee Joon Gi was perfect obviously. He just acts so hard it's like a punch in your gut, right? Anyway, Moon Chae Won was amazing too. She did this thing with her voice when she got emotional that was just perfect. Their chemistry was perfect too. I think they are my favorite pairing from the 2020 shows that I have watched. They really sell the "we are already married" dynamic and they are both good in both the emotional scenes and action ones. Jang Hee Jin's performance was subtle, Nam Ki Ae and Son Jong Hak were terrifying. Kim Ji Hoon was...a bit too much for me. I felt like it was a bit too melodramatic next to the other actors and it amped up the whole show's melodrama level because then Lee Joon Gi became too melodramatic and ... I get why it was like that but...didn't love it! The detective trio was great. Their comradery was so organic and endearing. And the baby was also great! So cute.

Cinematography, lighting, and set-design was aesthetically homogenous. They all looked like they belonged to the right show. They were all well-matched for the psychological thriller set up and helped amp up the tension and atmosphere.
The music was ok. -_- I don't know. It was music!
Negatives: Some would complain about "coincidences" in the story but let me just get that out of the way. There are really only two coincidences in the story (the rest are just, at least to me, natural consequences of the situation the story has laid out) and I wouldn't call them that either. I would say they were rhetorics of the story. These two coincidences are not really there for the convenience of the plot but there to actually set up the plot. What I mean is that each story starts with some given facts. The "what if X happened/what if Y did this and then... the plot starts". So basically in order to tell a story, you have to create a situation that you will put the characters into and then see how they react in those circumstances. That's what this show does on several fronts.
What if a detective is married to a high-functioning sociopath who has been tricking her, their whole life?
What if two characters' fates are forever entangled because of a mutual acquaintance?
What if your past comes back to haunt you?
What if you get a chance to solve the mystery that has been haunting your adult life?
These are all the situations that the plot wants to address. If we say "well, it's too coincidental for a policewoman to meet a psychopath" then maybe you shouldn't watch this show because that's literally what this story wants to explore. There are tons of shows where the detective is married to a fridged-spouse or a teacher or something. You can watch those if you hate this plot! lol. So yeah...not a valid complaint. Especially when you consider the fact that every single Kdrama has ridiculous coincidences right and left. Everyone knows everyone since childhood. All ten Korean characters who make the main cast have all met each other in a foreign country at the same time! Everybody is related... that's just how they are. Just turn off your coincidence-meter when you watch Kdramas!
Now I'm not saying there weren't any plotholes or that situations weren't conveniently solved BUT overall, the show was enjoyable enough that it didn't matter. The point is to have a good time watching a show and this delivered and it was above average. WAY above average.
Also, just asking viewers, if they'll forgive a murderer husband in favor of him cooking, is such a profound question. I have been thinking about it for weeks and I still can't come up with a genuinely moral answer to the question!!!! I mean he's super handsome too! He's not just a good cook and a perfect dad!

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My lil overhyped cartoon pop! *boop*

I enjoyed this animation a moderate amount! lol It wasn't bad at all, but I wouldn't say it's as amazing as the online obsession with it suggests. Some have been comparing it to Encanto, and as a person who loved Encanto, I can't see it! lol! Encanto has a soul to it; the plot is very sincere, and by the end, that sincerity is felt through the development of all the characters. Here, however, though sincerity is a part of the story, it's not really felt. Nowhere more so than in how it treats two out of the three main characters. But the most important thing about this animation, in my opinion, is that it's a well-made piece of work made by a production team that isn't Disney, and that's something we desperately need, for variety reasons.
I found the promotion around this film very icky. As well as my overall contempt for kpop, this made me approach the film with ire, but I was pleasantly surprised that it was simply a light-hearted entertaining cartoon which can be enjoyed by children and their families together.

Plot: That said, I found certain elements in the plot a bit underwhelming. For one, the narrator makes it sound like fans are very important to the main force behind the plot, being who helps the artists create the honmoon and all, and pointing out how without them, there's no point and such. This should mean that fans should be respected by the narrative as precious and beloved entities, right? However, throughout the film, fans were only treated as a brainless mass who follow like sheep where they're led, only good to be milked for profits. Fans were the butt of the jokes all the time too. So maybe that's true to how kpop industry sees the fans but it's a bit odd to make it so obvious in your PR film for the industry, lol?!
Secondly, the story is supposedly about a trio, but truthfully, one character has the main arc in the story, and the others are oblivious and rather shallow sidekicks who barely get any development besides a few dramatic lines in a song at the very end. They could have done more with all three?
Lastly, this film tries sooooooo hard to make the idols seem like relatable girls next door....it was trying a bit too hard. They were so media-trained-to-look-like-humans-but-actually-have-no-soul-behind-their-eyes feel to them! lol
Now for the positive part: Rumi's plot was really interesting. (I still think the payoff wasn't satisfying enough.) The demons are fun, and the comedy is actually funny. The whole plot works. I think it operates really well as an average Children's film. It has positive messages, with a fun friendship-centric story and a generally entertaining introduction to Korean music industry ...even if it's not true to life at all! lol It doesn't need to be though, it's fiction.

Acting: The voice actors were great.

The music: It's not really my taste. I don't like kpop and I didn't like these but they weren't so bad as to skip. You can sit through them once.

Production: I think the strongest part of this project is the animation. It was genuinely well done.

Rewatch: Hmmm, I thought about it, but I haven't actually done it yet. I might watch it again once but it's not gonna be something I would rewatch over and over again like Howl's Moving Castle or Spirited Away or like...Lion King!

Overall: Sure, watch it! It's a fun lil film.

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Come for the yaoi, stay for the supernatural trauma symbolism

This was an okay show. It started very strong, with a story that was both intriguing and entertaining. The biggest problem with this was an unstable quality across the board from plot to acting, which diminished a good part of my enjoyment. This went back and forth throughout the show causing both frustration and confusion. But still, it had enough redeeming qualities to make the time spent on it, worthwhile.

First on the plot: So the story follows Khemijira who carries a centuries-old family curse on his back that will result in his death, once he turns 21. He already has terrible luck and ghosts follow him everywhere, trying to harm him. Desperate and inching closer and closer to his birthday, he and his best friend petition for a great shamanic master's protection but the master is reluctant, for unknown reasons.

Right out of the gate, the setup for the story is great! We have flashbacks across multiple timelines to help tell the story, we have ghosts and murder attempts, we have mysticism and spiritual rituals, and I would say the strength of this show was in its scenes of traditional practices and focus on religion and folklore rituals. When they worked with those elements, the show was a ten out of ten for me. Showing the vicious cycles of resentment, revenge and karma was brilliant here. Not only was it interesting to watch, but it was also executed with care and attention to detail. The ritualistic chanting was beautiful. The ways that karma is shown to be felt cross lives was enlightening. Even the simplest subplot about ghosts and karma was interesting enough and in "some" cases, it was connected to the main plot, so the story wouldn't feel stagnant. The thing that was dragging the show down, however, was the main plot!

So the romance plot: In my opinion, the romance was weak, underdeveloped, ham-fisted, and not engaging enough. The show does this very boring thing where we are told about a past connection between the main characters, and then no more attempt is made to make this romance work! There is no attempt to build a connection between these characters as they are now. There are only external elements pushing them together; a pre-destined connection, jealousy of potential rivals, and the forceful jeering of side characters. These are alright situational plot devices to draw characters together; however, the show needs to actually build a basic chemistry base for these characters, first. They barely talk to each other! The master is constantly avoiding Khemjira like he killed his pet kitten as a child, and Khemjira just cooks and cleans like a modern cinderella, giving kicked-puppy eyes to everyone but mostly the master, as if doe-eyes and a dream are enough to build a relationship around. The two of them are not put in enough one-on-one plot situations to build any kind of dynamic together. They are mostly kept away from each other in the main episodes focused on their romance which not only made those episodes drag with barely anything happening but also, just wasted those episodes because the curse-plot was sidelined and nothing was happening on the romance front, either. Well, unless we count the really boing romance between the supporting characters as development, which I don't. On that note, I did not like the second couple. It was just very forced. Their scenes bored me. Most of the romance was focused on their lame dynamic, and there was this sense of "this is gonna happen, anyway" to them which made it feel like this was not happening because the story was naturally headed in a romantic way but because this was a genre trope that could not be avoided. This was true for the main romance, too. There is an automatic feel to all of it. Like two great hands are grabbing these characters like dolls and smashing their faces together for a kiss. As a result, I did not enjoy the romance. I like my romances with massive build-up. I like them heavy on the conversations and building of connections, so when we are just expected to accept they are destined to fall in love, and no one actually tries to explain their attraction in any way besides "Pretty boy! Me kiss kiss!"...yeah, not my cup of tea!

To make matters worse, the actors had NO chemistry. I get it! They are handsome men! But you can't just put beautiful people together and call it a day! They were so awkward together. The actor who plays Khemjira is so obviously a tall and broad man, while the actor who plays the master is clearly lean and delicate in the features, and they tried SO HARD to make the master seem domineering and macho while Khemjira was delicate and dainty...and it was not working! I could SEE Khemjira slouch in on himself to appear smaller when the men were clearly the same height! lol (also his head was way bigger than the other actor which lol, doesn't mean much just...the doe eyes were not working!)This made everything feel so odd. Like, why are we making this giant man act like a sweet, feminine, tiny person?! It was just odd, and the effect was unsuccessful, which made Khemjira's character uncomfortable to watch. I wish they would just let the guy be an ordinary, not-dainty, but just kind and sweet, person. Which is how the show started, before the romance was introduced and how the book depicts him (heck yeah! I read enough of the book, to judge the show's adaptation skills, for it!) but once the romance starts, they start to feminize the character which while there is nothing wrong with more feminine male characters, it was just not working here!

None of this was helped by the fact that the core four main actors are bad at acting. There! I said it! I'm sorry. They could not act. They stood out like sore thumbs too because the supporting cast was good! The subplots about ghosts and folklore that made up the best parts of the show were the parts that mostly dealt with side characters, and I would say these supporting actors were doing the heavy-lifting when it came to acting. Even the child actors were better! I guess these guys were cast for their looks and to sell that yaoi aesthetic because they have to work a lot harder to sell...anything! The crying was awkward, the lovey-looks they gave each other made me cringe, the sex scenes were a torture to watch (weird choreos there, too), the line delivery was bad! I suffered! The acting was bad. Not the support cast, though. They were fine! Some of them were actually good! Not the mains, though.

I will say one good thing about the casting, the casting team's ability to find past lifetime equivalent actors who look so similar to the mains was astounding! The female counterparts of the male actors looked so similar to them that I was totally speechless! In fact, all of the production on this show was great. I will give them that. The multiple past lives were gorgeous and I loved those parts.

So, to sum it up, this show had 4 solid episodes of intense plot, focused on the curse and developing the base for the show. Then the next 4 episodes that focused on romance were boring, not good. Then from episode 9 onward, one episode would be amazing, and one would be lackluster. This level of unstable quality across the whole run of the show is what was slightly disappointing to me. However, I gave this show an 8 because I thought the good parts were very good and I was invested in the show thanks to them. Shoutout to my favorite character, Ramphueng. She was what held this show together. Vengeful, wronged, chaotic, yet pitiful. She was so compelling that you both felt for her and feared her and resented her actions all throughout the show. I honestly would have given this a 5 if the show had messed up the ending with her but the show ended the plot surrounding the curse so beautifully (at the 11th hour, too! lmao) that I raised my rating from a 7 to an 8, just because of how emotional it made me. The plot was dragged though...
I also enjoyed the past live plots. I will not spoil anything but what was happening there was told much better than the modern era. I liked those moments so much. I wish the show had been more focused on those lifetimes.
There is also plenty of fan-service after the main plot, which I know a lot of viewers will be happy about.

Overall: I do recommend this show! Weirdly enough, though I didn't like the romance, I loved the other parts of this show enough to recommend it. The production is great, and sans romance, the story is compelling too. It's not too scary either, as far as horror stories go, since the show breaks a lot of tension with cheap BL-exclusive humor. You will enjoy it even if (like me) you don't like horror.

Fun fact: There is a scene at the end when one of the characters just lists all the plot holes. Very funny! lol

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Why you should instead watch the director's cut

This is not a proper review. Yes, this show is amazing. The story is heartbreaking but beautiful. The acting is professional and the entire ensemble did a great job. The show is gorgeous with beautiful sets, costumes, and wonderful principal photography that highlights these gorgeous setups. The ending is sad and the romance is nothing to write home about but it's intentional and very well done.
But I am actually here to tell you to not watch this and instead go watch the director's cut version of the show.
Yes, it's only three episodes longer and it does have more parts that are not directly related to the romance plot but:
1. The story makes more sense
2.The flow is better
3.This is a very classic cut with weird jumps and messy editing but the editing in the director's version is better and more professional. It actually is just an overall better production in that version because it's how the director meant to tell the story.
It's technically the same but that one makes more sense and it's a better watching experience.
So if you are turned off by the first episode or if you haven't started this yet, jump over to the Director's cut version and watch the superior one!

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Good show, nice plot

This is a lovely show about feeling like the wrong puzzle piece in your own life and then realising you have the power to change that by connecting to other people and asking for help. Such a beautiful message and executed in a very simple and concise manner. Oh, and they sort of epilogue this with a gay romance too...
I will say this though, romance is not the focus here, there is a shadow of it throughout the show but it's not central. Mostly this is a wholesome drama about being the best version of yourself to create your best version of life and it was very heart-wearming and nice.
Nothing special to add here. I think this is a relaxing show that can definitely be enjoyed by everyone.

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They waste so much water in this movie, it was actually painful to watch

I had desperately wanted to watch this movie for ages. I just couldn't get my hands on it. Finally, it turned out the VERY legal website I literally watch all the other East Asian shows on actually had it this whole time and I just never thought to search for it...go figure!
Anyways, when you wait to watch a movie for so long, the danger of being disappointed goes up exponentially. Thankfully, this was not the case with this movie. I have to say though, I did not expect it to turn out the way it did. Somehow, I had missed the fact that this is a queer story. I thought it was about two friends who fall for the same girl and then they go on a road trip?! It actually reminded me a lot of "Your Name Engraved Herein". Almost like that was made in response to this.
I don't know. I just enjoy moody movies with ambiguous secrets lingering unspoken in the air. This is the exact type of love triangle I love: All points connect, everyone is sabotaging each other, and they're all miserable by the end! That is that good sh*t!!!! Yes!
Nobody should be happy when they are actively working to make each other miserable like that! I still felt so sorry for our main character, Jonathan. It has been a minute since I watched a lead character who bore mistreatment so quietly. I know the other two were miserable, a great deal too but maybe when you're that cruel, you deserve to be miserable. Just a thought! Not Jonathan, though...he was there only for the abuse victim vibes.
The aesthetics of this movie are very nice, and overall, it looks amazing. The dubbing took out a little bit of its raw and unpolished indie aesthetic away but it wasn't a severe issue.
I saw a review of this that criticised the female actress' acting, and I am going to have to agree a little bit. I think she could have given us more emotional depth. But Ray Chang was amazing, and Joseph Chang (wait, they have the same last name...?!um...) was good. Still, the film has that indie style of movies where everything seems a little unnatural in the extreme attempt to be natural. Like, people hold silences for too long, and the gazes are too naked for how little they communicate.
I enjoyed it. In fact, I feel like going on an analysis tangent about it because I saw the comment section for the film, and it feels like most viewers are missing multiple key elements of the narrative. So I guess there is a lot that can be discussed.
I enjoyed it. It's not a romance or a comedy, so there is no satisfying payoff by the end. You won't get a happy ending wrapped in a bow. There are no concrete solutions at all. The characters don't reach catharsis or free themselves from their burdens. It's a slice of a messed-up life. You watch along, helpless as they swim through misery and then you stop getting a glimpse at them.
I think it's good but it's not for everyone.

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Well how the turns have tabled....

Heh...yeah, I actually ended up watching this after all! For context: I dnf-ed this back when I first discovered k-dramas in 2020. I hated the male lead so much, I started hating the actor as a result. I couldn't stand him, I couldn't stand the show and just avoided both. Then I slowly watched him in other stuff and ...okay! I admit...he doesn't suck! Whatever! *eye roll* And then I sort of ended up watching this with my family and they loved it so we kept watching it and...yeah, okay, this was actually good. It was watered down and dragged longer than necessary, and nothing will make me ever warm up to those slow-mo music video style edits that Kdramas shove into every other episode. But I loved the lore and the whole concept of unfinished business after death and the grudges that keep our souls company. That was just so genuine and authentically explored. IU's character was tons of fun! I loved her brattish petty behavior and I was very curious about her past, though I feel like the payoff was lackluster. I was expecting something more dramatic? I don't know. It was also fun to see a female character have multiple proper love interests who aren't in competition for her attention and I also like the somber ending.
The ensemble cast were good too though I disliked the side-character romances...weird...and uninspired!
Overall, I love that this uses Korean mythology and beliefs in its plot. It was FAR better than the new kdramas we get these days which are bland, boring and lack the spirit that these older shows have. I also can't believe I'm calling this "old" it's from 2019! That's like....yesterday! The fact that it was still far better than stuff we're getting now shows how bad things have gotten lately...
Anyway, watch it! We need more stuff like this.

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cult classic

I think at this point, either everyone born in Asia has already watched this show or they will watch it at some point in their life! Watching this show is basically a rite of passage! An absolutely iconic classic, this show has started whole terminology and lifestyles. "Be like Oshin!" is a real threat and advice.
So how do you rate a show which is more than the sum of its part, that has had generations of people grow up watching it that that they will swear by Oshin, she is like...your long lost impressive rich aunt that everyone in the family loves and will kill for.
Fun fact: did you know Japan intentionally exported this show to help reinvent its image after their imperialist ambitious came to an end?! Kind of puts a damper on the enjoyment of the show if you think of it as an intentional propaganda drama....so let's not! lmao! Oshin is too iconic to mess with and also the show is not at all in favor of the government so I don't see why I would punish it for the crimes of others.
The most impressive thing about this show is Oshin, herself. This character is insane. You will only get it once you finish watching this and try watching the other dramas of the same production company which are more or less imitating this show and you will realize that it wasn't because Japan is just unnaturally good at historical storytelling. Oshin is just iconic on her lonesome. This woman is beyond impressive. Her character is so meticulously designed and written that she genuinely feels like a real person but also so unnaturally perfect. She's like a real life version of a mythical creature! The second most impressive thing about this drama is how well it holds up almost 60 years later! The show just looks good. It doesn't look as perfect as modern drama, obviously but it is so well-made and it spans such a long and impressive era of time that you can't help but be impressed with what they pulled off. Shoutout to the make up artists who aged the characters, especially Oshin's mom because WTF??! Those make ups looked way too real! I still gotta laugh at how they probably hired a 45 year old man as a 20 yo just so they could keep the same actor for the next 60 years of plot! That was perhaps the most offensive act of the production team. lol
The plot...is infuriating. I have never felt such violent emotions towards a farmer, a feudal's wife, a fabric selling merchant, and a child...though the child in question is already a grown up man at this point... these characters, these situations are so unfair, irritating and just...so upsetting(?) that you will basically hate every character but Oshin. Gosh, they sure knew how to rage bait back in the day. We might be living in a hell where hit tweets by @fartsforlife are giving you migraine spirals but people in the 80s were getting those exact same headaches thanks to that devil-spawn mother-in-law of Oshin. So I guess that's how generations connect.
Just go watch this show. You will understand so many more Asian conversations once you know who Oshin is and why she is so beloved.

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