autumn carrot

Well, I did not enjoy that.

I'm not sure how I finished watching this show. Around episode 11, I realized that I wasn't enjoying this very much but I thought I'll finish it anyway. Around episode 18, the show became unwatchable and I had to fast-watch my way to the end.
After watching "A River Runs Through It" I became interested in youth dramas and I decided you watch a few more. "Our Secret" cured me of that. I think I am done with youth dramas for the foreseeable future and need a total palette cleanse with some seriously good shows to get over this nightmare. I don't recommend this. I just can't. I hated it.

Things that exist in this show that infuriated me beyond belief:
1. Sadistic younger brother
2. Unhinged, abusive, moody, and immature mother whose behavior is excused as caring
3. A second male lead who must possess a Time-turner because there is no way he achieved that character assassination in just three years
4. Dumbest university arc ever.
5. The female lead's voice. It was like having honey poured into my ears if honey was made of acid. -_-
6. Villain of the weeks who make you gain respect for scooby-doo villains
7. Regressive sexist rhetorics

Plot: This was like a slice of life, high school drama with an appendage arc in a fantasy university in which meeting drawing club deadlines is somehow more important than spending arduous hours crying over your engineering homework that you will definitely not finish anyway. The plot starts fine. It's a bit sad and I was really feeling for the FL. The characters were so balanced and nice, even though nothing important happened, I was enjoying it but before the show even reached its halfway mark, I was done with it. It was too long and things moved very slowly at first so eventually, everything became tiresome. The romance plot was sweet but they had to wait until they were out of high school to consummate it and that hurt the story because it took too long to reach that moment, made more complicated by unnecessary melodrama plots that were pointless and it just wasn't engaging anymore. So the story became lazy and exaggerated and boring.

Acting: The ML is fine. He isn't doing anything much. The plot doesn't require complex acting chops so moderate skills would suffice for all the performances. Unfortunately, the FL lacked for me, still. Her talking style was grating on my nerves. At first, it was fine but slowly...it just felt like my ears were bleeding. She sounded like a spoiled child who is constantly pouting. The ensemble was pretty subpar too as most fell into really cliche archetypes so again: bare-minimum skills required.

Music: Idk, most of it was copyrighted so the YouTube video's sound got muted...I wasn't gonna like it anyway. Generic, whatever sounds.

Production: I wanna say bad? This was supposed to be 2009. It looked very little like it was from that time. I was in school back then and save for their phones, the fashion, the decoration, and hairstyles all looked out of place. Just watch some shows produced in 2009 and you'll understand. Moreover, the concept of seasons was not one the creators had heard of. Characters wore freaking shorts in winter...how? This was probably filmed in summer. No matter what season it was, everyone was constantly in summer clothes. That is just lazy.

Rewatch value: Oh sure, I'll torture myself again.... -_-

Negative: The whole university stuff. This show should have ended after they took the entrance exam and ended my misery. I might have rated it higher.

Overall: If this is the best youth drama out there, then I was right to avoid them from the start. I'll have to write down my love for ARRTI as an anomaly. This show had no real direction. It must've been targeted at younger viewers. Perhaps actual high school students but even in that case, some plot choices become even more dubious. How can you encourage your young viewers to just take the abuse of bad parents? Or become a new person to appease a boy you like? wtf! Don't teach girls to put someone else's likes and dislikes above their own. Only in a fantasy world would anyone give a job to a person who is studying a completely different field. Trust me, I learned that the hard way...
At the last leg of the show, there is a sudden realization about the weird messages they have sent their young and impressionable female audiences and they try to fix that but it's just such a frustratingly silly fix that it made me angrier.
Anyway, I don't know how clear it is in my tone but I am so mad right now; mostly at myself for watching this but also at the creators for starting the show normal and just ending it so ridiculously. Dear creators, please make steadily good or bad shows so a b**ch can know her deal from the start and not waste so much time investing in a show that will crash and burn later.

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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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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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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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Cute and simple

I'm glad I was able to finish this drama. For a moment there, it seemed to be an impossible task and I was heartbroken but I finally had the chance to finish the remaining episodes. So I first thought this was going to be 10 episodes then someone said it was 8 episodes which made me sad but we ended up with 12 which was exciting but on second thought, this should have been 8 episodes! It was actually too long!
So this show is very simple and average. There is no huge and revolutionary events in it. It's the epitome of average. I liked the beginning better as it started very funny and mysterious but as it went on and the romance developed, it became more like a sketch of a drama rather than a fully developed one.
The acting is just alright for them to get away with it and the production and music and everything else is just enough too. If you want to watch a BL which isn't just a romance and has plotlines that exist independently from the romance but are still not too complicated, then this show is a good choice. It's a really light watch.

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Romantic and tragic

I watched this version of the Butterfly Lovers per AccentedCinema's recommendation. It's such a beautifully tragic story and I think this movie was a concise rendition that neither dragged the story out nor diluted it by over-simplification. There were attempts to add humor and depth to the relationships and I consider both done successfully.
The actors did a good job and while I'm not used to listening to Cantonese since I rarely watch Hong Kong films, I really loved the way they spoke. It just sounded so melodic and nice to the ears.
The production quality is alright....until they try to do special effects! hehe...it was very basic and when you remember this was 1994, it gets a bit awkward but honestly, it didn't redact from the emotional impact of the story.
The actress looks so beautiful in the costumes. The scenery is so gorgeous. The music is melancholic and touching. The whole story has such a romantic air to it. In fact, in many ways, they don't make movies like these anymore where the most important element of the film is the elevation of the human interactions that are being commented on. I wish they made more romance movies like this. It felt cozy and ethereal at once and I honestly enjoyed watching this more than films with much higher production value but vapid stories.
If you can find it, it's definitely worth a watch.

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A basically perfect urban fantasy about grief and obsession

I'm so glad I came across this show when I did. I had seen it around but to be honest, Taiwanese dramas haven't been on my radar much so I never looked into this, even though I saw a few mdlers watching it on feeds. I'm glad I found this through Avenue X. One thing is though she hates on a lot of shows in an exaggerated manner, she's at least reliable when it comes to recommendations. This show is nearly the perfect modern drama with an interesting plot, engaging narratives, great characters, humor, lots of emotions, and a professional production to boot.

Summary: The story follows Yiyong who's a descendant of some reincarnated demon or something and that means he's really good at calligraphy!!! But while this seems like just a random skill, it proves to have extraordinary connotations when he wakes up from a two-year coma and discovers an ability to communicate with the dead.

The Plot: The story develops very naturally. I don't think this is an adaptation and kudos to the writers because they've come up with an amazing storyline. Each plot connects very neatly to the other. The plot twists are thoughtful and surprising only when they need to be. I also love the fact that this is ultimately a story about grief and they manage to bring that up in such a beautiful, poignant way. The character developments are so well placed but...and it makes me wonder because these character developments are there but they could also go on? So I wonder if there's a sequel at work... The chemistry between the characters and the way each relationship develops (from Yiyong and his mother to the vengeful ghosts and the grandfather and everything in between) is very naturally integrated into the way that the plot progresses.

Acting: The acting in this show was really well done. I thought the humor landed well and everyone's timing was perfect and the three mains had great chemistry which made their friendship all the more believable and lovely. And did anyone else think Tseng Jing Hua kind of looks like Arthur Chen? They look so similar to me. He did a great job with the emotional beats and made me cry a lot. What's impressive is that the supporting cast are also very good. So good that you easily develop emotional stakes and start to care for them, deepening the investment in the show.

Music and Production: The music was fine. The production is great. The set designs and the outfits are very character-specific and tell us a lot about each character's personality. The camera work and lighting is not just good, it's actually way better than most East Asian shows I have seen. 100 times better than Cdramas...The CGI was so good!!! It had a lot of those and they were all done so well. So good.

Negative: There's a gag about how low the ML's IQ is and while I get the reasoning for it I didn't love it. It was a bit in poor taste.

Overall: Highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good urban fantasy story and mysteries. The show was an absolute delight with a balanced amount of humor, sadness, mystery, and whimsy. I wonder if there will be a sequel. I'm fine if this is it as the arcs close neatly enough and there isn't much need for a second season but given how the format is sort of like cases that change every episode, I can see there being more and that the show may develop more on what was already set up. I'm fine either way. 2nd seasons are usually bad anyway. But really!!!! Watch this! It's very good!

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