Zogitt

Good girl wins it all!

What a sweet love story. It might start off with the usual hate-hate relationship but when they fell in love (organically) they were in deep. Whilst I dislike the usual breakup trope used in most k/c-dramas, I didn't mind it too much here. It was still hard to watch the sadness and angst but it really served to prove to the world just how much they loved each other and you just can't break that bond. There is also a fair bit of skinship and it was done with feeling and maturity. No plastic or fish lips kisses here. OBTW, the show can also be titled "good girl wins it all". Enjoy!

Read More

Trope heavy, standard fare that went on for too long

The show started as a typical office romance rom-com. It moved along steadily for a number of episodes and there were some funny moments and a bit of cute here and there. The story line is the standard cool/aloof boss, bubbly girl pairing. I won't say that there was great chemistry but enough to sustain the plot. There are a decent amount of skinship in the last 1/3. It really took a turn for the worse when they introduced the ex GF trope about 1/3 way into the run. No problem with that as it is so common in dramaland but some bad writing really gave me pause. Not only was the ex manipulative (given), a bit evil (also given) but the story had the ML and 2nd ML doing nothing to spare the FL all the pain and suffering at the hands of the ex even though she was caught red handed in the backstabbing act. She was allowed to keep working in the same office and in a management role no less. I suppose so that she can keep harassing the FL for many, many episodes for our "entertainment". When you consider the ML brought all this on from the beginning and kept digging a deeper and deeper hole is depressing. Complete failure to communicate is not a good plot device. It is just annoying in my book. The saving grace is Dean (2nd ML), he is a true and loyal friend, smart, handsome and protector of the FL. Which only makes the ML look worse by comparison. When you consider the ML final confessed to the FL at the 2/3 mark, I would have given the show a higher marks if they wrapped it up there and then (with a final happy ending episode) but the show went on for another 8+ hours! This means Just about every trope got an airing. It went from a rom-com to melo to farce! Nobody is ever punished for any misdeeds and EVERYONE gets a happy ending, serious?! It got to the point that I was skipping scenes in the middle episodes because it was so annoying and predictable. The needy ex GL served no purpose other than to generate angst and extend the show for way too long. Use that trope by all means but please don't labour it. Finally, don't be fooled by the episode count on Viki. They are double length episodes. On Netflix, it is 39 episodes about 42 mins each. It is not a short nor a quick watch.

Read More

A breath of fresh air but not without flaws

I think this series held a lot of promise but not all were delivered and some mono-tonal writing caused it to lose some points. I have to give the writers kudos for including so many societal issues in the plot(s) and hence generated a lot of online reactions in the Chinese social media. While that was a breath of fresh air in the local TV scene at the time, I can't help but feel that it was done largely to generate the said traffic and viewership but most of the issues are not really explored, a bit of issue du jour? This is not helped by fairly shallow character portrayal. Especially the two youngest women, Qiu Yingying and Guan Ju'er. One was naive and immature to the point of being almost an airhead while the other is timid and grey. When so little character development happens in 42 episodes, you have to start asking questions. Not that they don't play their roles, it is just that it almost becomes a caricature and tools for the writers. The whole love line for GJE was just ridiculous. Why/how does someone have an instant crush and then nothing come of it in the drama. Even if she put up a fight for him, it would have been good but it was just side glances and deep sighs. I have to say that Andy as a character was the most complex of the five but then again, I find it hard to ship the relationship with Qi Dian. The writers tried their best to build chemistry but I never felt it exited the friend zone. How hard he tried to get inside her pants was also a bit off putting. The show also have some double standards. They are happy to highlight social issues but at the same time, they also push success and wealth to the front. While they didn't go so far as using the "rich dude get away with murder" trick, so many times fun is equated to staying in 5/6 stars hotels , clubbing with the elites and eating in fancy restaurants. Don't even mention fast cars as they are on full display as moving PPL. On one hand, the masses will identify with the 3 struggling women on the 22nd fl but the have's and have not's are also in stark contrast so that there can't really be happiness unless you have money and power. I did enjoyed a lot of the show but there are moments when I have to stop myself from shouting at the monitor when things get stupid and/or dragged on. OtJ2 is over 50 episodes.

Read More

Stop the angst train!

At the end of Flourish Peony, things are looking up. Business is booming, their fake marriage could become real with one kiss. While it didn't exactly end on a high, it was full of promise. I was genuinely looking forward to the continuation of their story.

The start of S2 dashed my hopes. It was disaster after disaster. I can even accept the pain if the love line moves forward. The leads are obviously in love, but they kept dancing around each other. It went nowhere for 11 eps. The final straw is when the ML played the all-mighty Noble Idiot Card™! I was ready to rage quit.

Ye gods, I haven't felt like this for a long time. The show is still great. I can't fault the acting nor the production, they are S tier (as you would expect). It just feels like the show is mocking me. The drama kept teasing me and giving me false hopes. Yet it delivers naught. Consider we waited patiently for 6 months for this, it felt like a gut punch.

I have no doubt this drama was caught in the middle of the rule change regarding drama length. The production company chopped the show in two with scant consideration of how the halves will work after a 6-month hiatus.

As it stands, 2/3 of this new "chapter" feels jarring. We are dropped into a world of hurt. The OTP made scant progress with their relationship but faced setbacks after setbacks. It is literally all pain and no gain.

We finally hit paydirt in EP.17. This is the equivalent of 49 eps and 6+ months in real time before our leads are finally official! So much teasing, meaningful gazes and pining at the moon. Thankfully, the skinship quota went from 0 to 100 in 3 seconds. So much penned up passion on display! We give thanks for any fan service we are about to receive. Amen.

Will you be surprised if I told you the writer then hit us with the weaponised kitchen sink PLUS dishwasher combo? Ep.19/20 are the crème de la crème of angsty twists. Thankfully, the plot armour or maybe the Force is strong with our leads.

This is where I think the show is too focused on the palace intrigue. It sucks all the oxygen from the OTP's storyline. Granted, the antagonist's endless scheming is a ready source of angst, but it is so transparent. There are no subtleties with their machinations.

I rated Flourish Peony 9/10. This part is an 8 only because the last few eps bring home the bacon, otherwise, it would be a 7.5. If it was one 60 eps run, it would have worked better. The forced break in the middle did the show no favour.

It is done and dusted. Peace.

Read More

A cheap wine is not always bad, but a drama can leave a bad taste in your mouth

First of all, do not confuse this with the 2015 k-drama with a similar name.

The premise of the Show is based on the rich guy/poor girl trope. The one key change is the ML has a "rare" genetic disease that cause him to grow younger every day and the FL is the cure. When we first meet the ML, he appears to be around 18-20yo. This allows the Show to turn this into an idol drama. There is nothing new about a young handsome CEO in this genre but it is more problematic here. The issue is that the ML is supposed to be in his thirties, a high profile businessman and a man of the world.

I did try to meld the two characters together but it only serves to break my immersion far too often. I’d do a double take between scenes when I’m trying to realign my bearings. Am I watching the ML being himself or an older man acting out of character? Neither options are a good fit for the Show.

Let's just say it out loud, our young ML just don’t have the acting chops to pull this off. He looks, dresses and acts like an idol. He doesn't possess the gravitas nor the maturity to pull off heavy duty scenes and when he is with the FL, he is just a young gun in love. The script has to share some of the blame because it did little to hide his shortcomings.

On top of that, this Show’s plots are both transparent and predictable. That is a fatal combo in my book. You really don’t need a crystal ball to foretell the future here. Most of the trials and tribulations are piled on in set pieces instigated by cookie cutter antagonists. Some are even self-inflicted.

The antagonists' motivations are crystal clear and their schemes are rudimentary to say the least. To paraphrase a famous movie quote, “of all the trouble spots in all the towns in all the world, the FL walks into every one of them.” Inexperience and naivety can only paper over so much before you start to facepalm as the next pain point approaches like clockwork.

I accept that C-dramas and tropes are two peas in a pod. I can put up with cliché characters and tropey plots as long as the show is enjoyable. Fourth wall/immersion breaking can be fun and an effective tool of the trade but when this is a regular yet haphazard side effect of the plot then it has the opposite effect.

One final thought. With so many c-dramas being produced, new setting and themes are hard to come by. Gaming is popular, so are the medical and business worlds. However, this is a double-edged sword. Some shows do well with the help of learned consultants and industry involvements. You can see and appreciate the effort they've put in. Others resort to a jumble of jargons and make-believe scenarios that are more sleight of hand than creditable. Thus it is brave of the Show to choose the local wine industry as the setting.

It started decent enough, While the narrative is skewed, it is mostly harmless. However, the longer it goes, the more fanciful it becomes. This feeds into the immersion issue I mentioned before. When the plot and acting are good, you can ignore minor issues. In this case, you just can’t unsee/unhear some of the crazy stuff them put up as truism of the whole wine culture. It might sound ok to people who knows nothing about wine but for anyone else, it can be laughable if not downright grating.

Acting wise, I've said enough about the ML. The FL turns in a passable performance but this is essentially a bread-and-butter role for her cadre. The support cast are not doing much better. Their roles are one dimensional and the bar is set fairly low. Nobody is rushing to set a PB.

So, after 13 episodes, I have decided to drop this Show. It is not unwatchable (I have seen worst) but I have lost all interest. I could shelved it indefinitely but why bother to pretend. Maybe quaffing a bottle of vino like they do in the Show would help but my bottles are my Little Precious so I'll take a raincheck instead. Peace out. ;)

Read More

Will they? Won’t they? Do I care?

This is not a bad show, but it never reaches any real heights nor offered anything fresh. It is not exactly draggy, but it lacks a certain spark. It is happy to amble down a well-trodden path at its own pace.

To wit, the A-plot is the classic trope of a hard working FL falling in love with a chaebol heir. The slight twist in this case is that rather than rejecting the offered bribe to leave the ML, the FL accepts it and set a deadline to break up with him.

That is a little unexpected but promises an interesting twist. It came as no surprise then that she found this an impossible task as she discovers how much she truly loves him. Ditto, the ML was initially hurt by the sudden change of heart, but he clings to her like a lovesick limpet. There are cute and swoon-y moments and the pair looks good together. However, 10 hours is a lot of empty space to fill when your A-plot is one sentence long. Half the show is just their slow dance around each other.


Needless to say, to fill the hours, we have the token SM/FL who didn't contribute much. There is a little bit of angst from that quarter but there are no real antagonists. Rivals become friends, evil mum becomes fairy godmother, and everyone gets their fairytale endings. The older brother and his "estranged" wife actually provided some much needed sweet diversions. Their journey of falling in love long after their arranged marriage is a proven trope but a nice counterpoint nevertheless.

On the flipside are the FL’s coworkers. Ye drama gods! They are caricatures of the worst kind, so cringey.

In the end, the show is delivered with workmanlike efficiency but little imagination. I think It would have work better as a fast-paced movie romp or even a mini series with a bit more depth but its current length is just a bridge too far. A decent filler with all due respect.

If you are looking for a superior example of this genre, check out Something About 1%.

Read More

What is better than one swoon worthy CP? Two, of course!

I was reading a review of a movie and the reviewer made a salient point, a movie is supposed to make you feel something and by extension, dramas should do the same. This pretty much summed up why this show is so good. The writer-nims really know how we want to feel when we watch a rom-com and they delivered in spades.

There is no point is pretending that this show has no clichés or tropey plotlines. In its defence, it was done in such a way that it piqued our interest, pulled us through the door and then threw away the key. It conditions us with little swoon worthy and feel good moments. Angsty bits are fleeting, and it is always followed up by a bit more sugar. We are addicted and want more.

This is aided and abetted by the CP's deep love for each other and they were largely unshakable. This core tenet is what gave the Show an edge over others. We have all seen this before, romance dramas go through the sundry meet-cute and feed us a large dose of artificial sweetener before expending a lot of negative energy to pull them apart. It can be so wearing that we find it hard to ship the CP. We don’t have that problem here. Most viewers should be able to ship the two leading CP’s and ship them hard!

Speaking of the CP's, we have two primary couples (Tae Moo/Ha Ri and Sung Hoon/Young Seo) and a secondary pair (Eui Ju/Kevin). The primary pairings are great with oodles of chemistry and matching good looks. In all honesty, the 2OTP was almost as interesting as the 1OTP and should have equal billing. The 3OTP was ok but I do wish they'd tone down their overacting a bit, especially the 3ML.

Is the Show perfect? If you had asked me before the end of episode 11, I’d have said yes but it did stumble towards the end. The intimate scene of the 1OTP was oddly lacking. It was a long time coming, the stars were aligned but it just felt clunky. Compared that to the intimate scene of the 2OTP much earlier, it was night and day.

The next slip up is the forced separation of the OTP. Simply put, it was a waste of time. The FL was doing fine winning the granddad over and they could have kept going along that line. The 1 year time skip took up precious time and the show lost momentum. I would much prefer they give us a wedding scene (or two!). Maybe even the honeymoons.

It felt like the writer-nims phoned in the last 15mins of the Show from a beach on Jeju-do. The granddad's illness has little emotional impact nor their separation. Why bother at all?

The ending is as sweet and happy as you’d expect but it could have been much more of a fan service. Our two beloved couples were left with just a promise of eternal love. It would be much more rewarding if they followed the webtoon a little closer and gave us the key milestone moments. :P

OST was good. Rewatch value is high.

Read More

Masterfully produced drama with the odd chinks in the armour

I deliberately waited for the hype to die down before I watched this but seeing season 2 is in the pipeline I thought I'd better get a move on. By the way, when I wrote this, there is already 12 pages of reviews so I don't expect mine to stand out but seeing that I binged the show in 2.5 days, I thought I should at least leave a few words for prosperity. :)
No doubt many of the reviews have highlighted the skilful story telling, the direction. the stellar cast, friendship, the feels, etc, etc. I totally agree with the bulk of the sentiments and it was an ode to the doctors, nurses and allied health professionals (standing ovation). However, I did find a few chinks in their shiny armour.
First of all, the show started very confusingly. The size of the cast and the physical setting was just too big. This drama had five central characters plus each had his/her staff and then you have administrators, other doctors (both senior and junior) and nurses in at least five departments (not counting ER). The hospital was also huge physically. You just don't feel like you know how the place worked. You were bounced from people to people, location to location. This did get better after a few episodes when you start to recognise faces and group them into cliques (this is from a non-Korean point of view).
Some reviewers have commented on this show being realistic. I am not going to argue every case but I found a lot of the time, surgeries were carried out on patients who literally had a consult the day before. That level of availability would be the envy of the whole world.
Finally, I wished the drama would deep dive into some of the issue de jour. From migrant worker health care to child abuse to injury/death by overworking (and more) were touched upon but almost all of them came and gone within a few scenes and not always with a resolution.
Otherwise, the show was designed to hit you with the feels and they definitely delivered. You would expect no less from the team that brought us so many top notch hit dramas.
BTW, it begs the question, was it a medical drama with a strong romance undertone or a rom-com set in a hospital?
Acting - fantastic.
Production value - excellent.
OST - loved it! You gotta laugh at the joke they played on the FL.
Rewatch - absolutely (maybe not every episodes)
One final thought, the last episode was extra long and I appreciated that they gave all the characters time and space to tidy up their own story arcs but while some questions were answered, more were left hanging so please bring on season 2! Ppalli ppalli!

Read More

A tale of love and healing told in a masterful way

When I write a review, I usually have some key points and highlight in mind so that it was a fairly straightforward list of likes and dislikes or particular problem with the plot/acting. I find it a lot harder to write about this show, the odd thing is that nothing super dramatic actually happened (other than the accident). Now, don't get me wrong. This is not a meaningless fluff. If anything, it was the exact opposite, it was a masterclass in storytelling. There is just so much to talk about.
The core of this drama were healing, growth and regrets. Healing of wounds made by guilt, shame, envy, lost love and others. Growth in maturity, growth in acceptance, understanding and more. This was all done with consummate skill and dexterity. There were no dramatic set pieces, no shock revelations, no cliché breakups nor even a true villain! Yes, mistakes were made by a number of people but they were not evil.  Regrets was a constant undertow and it was a powerful, yet invisible force that shaped so many character's behaviours and their lives.
In terms of acting, the M/FL were superb. Shin Hae Sun was great in Mr Queen and she was every bit as good here but in a more nuanced way. ML was a tortured soul whom you want to soothe and cheer for. The 2ML was so sweet, earnest and innocent. You'd cry and laugh at his antics. Your heart ached for him when you see how much he wanted to grow up but this would only bring heartaches. The support cast was a true ensemble. Jennifer(Lee Yoo Jung) was a standout both with her unique character, her heartbreaking backstory and ultimately her strength. 2ML's band of rowing bros were so much more than comic reliefs as they were the bedrock that he could anchor on when he was feeling adrift. The younger version of the 2 leads were fantastic and pulled their own weight.
The script and direction were superb. It will make you happy and sad in equal parts. There are so much love between the "family members" that you can feel the warmth through the screen. The show had many themes and motifs which was used time and time again in clever ways but always consistently. Symbolisms were the backbone to the narrative which allowed the show to remain grounded and not become overly sentimental and tropey. Even flashbacks that felt overused and tired in other shows were welcomed here.
The show was a journey. Akin to a designated path through an art gallery. We need to take our time to appreciate the curator's skill and be moved by the art. When we (and the show's characters) are ready then the show will let you move on in measured steps. The pacing was spot on.
It also had one of the best ending have seen in any drama. Time was taken to give every significant subplots and threads their dues. It was heart-warming and uplifting at the same time but countered by a tinch of sadness. I have re-watched the last hour twice already just to savour the feels.
Ultimately, the show made us think and appreciate how we have a choice. We can choose to be shaped by our memories and negative emotions or we can see beyond that and do what is right for us today and tomorrow. To grow and seek happiness bravely.
Don't Think! Fil!
Oh yes, the OST was very good and used well. Rewatch value is very high.
Please watch it and enjoy this beautiful journey.

Read More

Rainbows and unicorns!

This is a rom-com that was big on romance. We are talking about the sweetest, purest type, not puppy love or confused feelings (that took 40 episodes to sort out) but undying love between mature, intelligent adults. Yes, it was tropey and had lots of cliché moments but love stories are the oldest stories ever told (well, shortly after "how I single-handedly killed the mammoth" one). The problem for modern audiences is that we are fed too many romantic shows that are trying too hard to be relevant. OTP going strong? We'll add the psycho ex-BF. Life too sweet? We'll add the evil Mother-in-Law. Drama for drama sake is a curse nowadays.
This is why this show worked for me. It stayed focused on the main plot and added spices to make it interesting and developed the plot but never to the point where you facepalmed. It is dramaland after all so there were unrequited love and love triangles but they were dealt with sensibly and maturely. Peoples' feelings were hurt but they took it in their strides and moved on. Misunderstanding and jealousy were just islands in a sea of sweet love rather than the other way around.
It helped that the main actors were so good and they were playing roles appropriate to their age and style. Initially, I thought the ML was going to be the tropey cool, aloof male god type but I was so wrong. Before the end of the first episode he transformed into the most adorable love sick puppy and he stayed in character for the whole show!
I'm particularly happy with Fei Xing, I watched her in "Put your head on my shoulder" and she was a naïve college student back then and did well (not as good as this show). She was a trainee lawyer in this show and she had definitely matured and grew. This I'm so happy to see as I have seen other actors being type casted in the high school/college student roles and can't ever grow up. She looked beautiful in most scenes and both the chemistry and skinship with the ML were great and believable. Swoon!
The 2OTP were interesting too. Definitely had a more complicated relationship compared to the leads but it was good to see that they weren't standard pairing of the best friends just to park them somewhere while the OTP was put through hell and back. They had their significant moments and you could ship them easily. It was a bit of a shame that their storyline seemed to ran out of steam once they got together. Not that they didn't have more cute moments but I felt they had peaked.
All the support casts were good. They helped to move the plot along and give us the feels when it was warranted. Some of their banters were great and helped to bring us into their world.
OST was very good. Nice happy tunes and love songs to match the tone of the show. Rewatch is mandatory if you liked this show in the first place.
This was a sweet, warm and uplifting show. It never pretended to be a slice of real life. This was 100% fluff but what glorious fluff! There are positive messages but not preachy or straight out propaganda. Anyone who wanted angsts, break-ups, forced separations, evil plots should watch something else. Just leave me to binge this while eating a tub of chocolate ice cream. Bliss!

Read More

Awesome drama but for one narrative misstep

There has already been dozens of review written on this popular k-drama so I'm not going to go into great details about the bulk of the show other than to say that it was amazing, funny, sad, heartfelt, thought provoking, exciting, etc. Definitely worth the watch.
Superb acting by the FL and the ML was great as well. Oodles of OTP chemistry. Support cast was top notch. We'll just say no more about the palace intrigue plot, it was integral to the story but nothing new.
Now, some of the reviews focused on THE ending. I understood their sentiments but I don't agree with the more extreme views that the show was ruined by the ending. Yes, it was a bit of fancy foot work on the writer-nims' part in last 30 minutes but to do it otherwise would be to create and ignore longer term problems. You can't really have a 21st century person living the rest of their natural life in the Joseon era without turning history into swiss cheese. Even the few month he was there was already throwing up narrative issues that will make you cross eyed if you think about it. The problem is that most of the negative review all centred around the point that the 21st century person should be allowed to stay on and live happily ever after in the past because he earned it. Is it possible? Viable? Butterfly effect? What happens if he dies in the present?
The writer-nims did their best to push the two threads back together and it was done in a fairly light hearted and conclusive way. Let us not forget that the main relationship between the OTP was getting messy and confusing and it was sustained by the "true love conquers all" motif.
Other reviews also assumed the FL's soul was completely banished and it was obviously not true. By the half way mark, you can see glimpse of her old self popping to the fore. My reading of this is that the FL's soul was always there and can see, hear and feel everything but it was in a passive voice. So the original FL was a "silent" partner and fell in love with the ML along the way, possibly more so. She might even had taken the lead (subconsciously) at some key moments (you will know what I mean if you have watched the show). So it was not that much of a stretch for her to carry on once the 21C person departed. Her later comments and actions all pointed to her being aware of everything that had happened. Her eventual persona also changed a bit so it was a two way street. On the other hand, if they let the 21C person stay on then another segment of the audience will rail against that ending because of all the timey wimey and interpersonal issues.
It was brave of the writer-nims to go down the time travel/body swap theme and it was a deep rabbit hole they went down. At least with this ending, we can have the unicorns and a workable conclusion that I can live with and still smile at the happy thoughts.

Read More

Bad show comes with great hair loss when you pull them out in frustration

This show caught my attention because the director helmed My Liberation Notes. The ML also starred in Notes as well as Because This Is My First Life. The FL was in One Spring Night and Our Blues which I rated highly. As you can see, it is quite a cabal of industry veterans and they pack serious firepower.

It certainly started in a quirky and off-beat way. Not exactly laugh a minute but I can see the potential but there are red flags. The characters are painted with bold strokes if you want to be generous. The ML is rude, crude and takes no prisoners. The FL fairs a little better, but she is a wimp and doesn't behave like a 35 years old vet. Most of the supporting cast are opaque or caricatures of the usual motley crew.

The A-plot of the show is focused on the FL having to "reluctantly" touch a living being’s posterior to see fragments of their memory. I'm sure it got more than a chuckle at the pitch meeting.

What we ended up with is a collection of gags and ideas that already feels tired after 4 episodes. There are glimmers of hope in the early episodes, but EP.4 final jumped the shark for me.

Let's backtrack a little. Many funny and engaging shows have quirky and edgy themes, but we need some basic ingredients in the special sauce to make it works. For instance, charismatic lead(s), engaging story and/or strong internal logic. Unfortunately, this show is a fail for me. Please allow me to elaborate.

A charismatic lead allows us to overlook serious character flaws and even turn them into endearing traits. We want to be invested in our leads. In this case, the ML is bellicose from the start and behaves more like a thuggish bully than a police detective. He can also turn into a bootlicking toady with the blink of an eye. To say that his moral compass is spinning freely is an understatement.

On the other hand, the FL is a frumpy doormat. How can a vet get shanghaied without kicking up a fuss? Not to mention her whole career is a facade to appease her grandfather who wants nothing to do with her.

For a fleeing moment, I even entertained the idea that our leads is the OTP but to be honest, they have ZERO chemistry. However, the scenario of the FL going nuts over Suho just because of his good looks feels like an attack of the hormones. This plot idea walked with the dinosaurs.

In terms of internal logic, the show is a mess. So much of the settings, subplots, etc are nonsensical. Rules are either abused or ignored on a whim. A case in point, hair loss is a major issue for the FL. The show makes it clear that overuse the special power equates massive hair loss, simple. However, all through EP.4, she touched so many butts! How does this square with her phobia? I facepalmed when I saw the boomerang shoe. Ye gods!

As you can imagine, there are many dodgy gags, cringey slapstick moments, mostly involve the FL and awkward encounters. It is weird to watch the FL manipulating her BFF’s bum like a touch screen, swiping left and right, pushing and kneading for finer control. Sights of the white handprints on the firm buttocks of the gym junkies is just puerile. More excuses to watch the FL debase herself in front of the ML. The same ML who would blackmail, bully or cajole her mercilessly.

BTW, what police procedure would green-light a police captain charging into a drug kingpin's hideout solo . . armed with just a pencil. Yes, cute John Wicks reference but it works a whole lot better on paper. I’m also perplexed by the ML's (il)logic in randomly tasting white powder in shops as a legitimate way to spot drugs. I am exhausted.

The final straw for me is the abuse/harming of a young woman purely to inject some unnecessary shock/horror. What is more egregious is that the victim was only rescued by our leads from her abuser at the end of ep.3. The show spend the whole of ep.4 denigrating her so that when she was dragged away by a faceless assailant, we can feel "okay"? Nobody deserves that. It is callous and lazy writing.

At this stage, the Show is unwatchable for me. I might give it more leeway if it is a traditional farce. So why reach for the sinister plots and gratuitous violence which changes the tone completely? What would motivate such well regarded director and seasoned actors to sign on to this project. I hope it is not just money.

Can I watch 12 more episodes of this? Not unless I get hit by a meteorite.

Read More

The peony is mightier than the sword

I'd often start a review with "this show starts promisingly". It is not so straightforward here.

The issue with this series is multifaceted. Firstly, I can't escape a comparison with the Joy of Life series. The cocky ML and his modus operandi are uncanny. There are differences but the subplots regarding famous poems, and the spy master mentor are too close to ignore.

Secondly, the tone of this show is inconsistent. It starts off light and breezy. It even lean towards slapsticks at time. This makes it harder to change things up. For instance, the ML is sentenced to death in ep.15 but within minutes, the tone shifted again. How serious is serious? We are always expecting a get-out-of-jail card.

Thirdly, the ML's sudden appearance in ancient time was never explained (at least by ep.20). He has no problem assimilating into his new life and gains new skills in the blink of an eye. Granted, he is charismatic and a smooth operator. Everyone is fawning over him. It just feels contrived.

We are told he is a police academy graduate, so he is presented as some kind of Chinese Sherlock. The problem is that we don't see much real police work at all. He would "review" a case and just pronounce "the butler did it!". To tell you the truth, that was one aspect that I was most looking forward to. I was hoping to see some scientific approach to crime solving but alas, it was not to be.

Needless to say, the writer is holding all the cards and we are drip-fed information. It is all designed to show the ML in the best light, but at the cost of narrative logic.

Fourthly, we are sold a strong romantic line regarding our leads. Unfortunately, the chemistry is weak (up to EP.20). It is obvious from the start that they are the OTP but I don't get the feels. This is partly due to the way the FL role's is written. The FL plays a ditzy princess who is constantly competing with her royal siblings but not in the deadly game of thrones way, more like petty squabbles. Her schemes are borderline childish. It really throws shades on her intelligence. I'm sure the writer will right that ship in due course but at this juncture, she is just another tropey character. This drama is well populated with such standard characters.

Lastly (for now), there is no rhyme or reason why the ML should suddenly wake up in ancient Dafeng after a staff dinner (see next paragraph). The show goes hard on its own lore but we are none the wiser unless you have read the web novel.

It is full-on xianxia. Monsters, wizards, warlocks, flying heroes, the works. Everyone is cultivating, just not peonies. ;) This means we are running to catch up with who’s who and what’s what. Sects and agencies, both official and secret, are everywhere. They all slot in somehow but there doesn't seem to be a prime directive other than lore, petty jealousy and powerplay.

Of course, all that pales when they played the Ancient Evil card. Yes, it spices things up and pushes a lot of the filler subplots aside. May be there will be some clarity at long last. My money is on the ML being the Chosen One™. Old tropes but good tropes, I suppose.

None of what I listed are deal breaking but when you add them up, I am foundering and losing heart.

This is where the scheduling god played a cruel joke. In the middle of its run, Flourished Peony starts airing. This shines a harsh light on our Guardians. Once I sampled FP, it became an one-horse race. I'm shelving this series until I finish FP. I'll give it another go then. Peace.

Read More

Mea culpa!

I wasn't going to write this missive (I'm not going to call it a review), but it has been  on my mind for some time so I'm just going to put it out there.

As you can see from my scores, I don't hate the show.

On many levels, it is an excellent production. However, I just can't get into it. There are too many barriers to entry for me. 

This show is set in the 1950's so there is more a near history than a historical drama. It is a very turbulent time in Korean history. The Korean War has just ended and the whole society is in flux. Added to that, the traditional female only theatre trope is uniquely Korean. I appreciate their skills and artistry but it is largely opaque to me. 

I tried to enjoy the show purely as entertainment but the nuanced historical backdrop and subtle cultural mores have me foundering. There are some familiar tropes but it is a trap for the unwary. I find it unsettling as I struggle to get a toehold. I think some viewers might be in the same boat. That is why I decided to write this. Your level of enjoyment is definitely subjective in this case. Much more so than I expected.

It is on me that I can't understand and enjoy the show to the fullest. Maybe one day I will do the necessary research and tackling it again with more confidence. Peace.

Read More

Why does this show exist?

I liked the leads from their other starrers, but this show have me scratching my head and in need of a stiff drink.

The premise of this show is that the FL is a game tester for a new “farming” game set in a generic ancient China. The technology side is very vague.

She enters the game Fortnite style, and we know it is a game because big bold computer-generated graphics will pop up from time to time. She also talks about NPC, internet and her cell phone while she is in character. As a play tester, she never takes notes nor critique the gameplay. I hope she is not pay by the hour.

Dramas have used computer games/e-sport as backdrop for some time. A lot of them are based on wuxia games or contemporary shooters like CrossFire. Usually, the drama is firmly rooted in RL and only use recreated game segments to add some spice. However, this show is almost completely set in game except for the first few minutes where the FL was seen in the company's modern office. Oddly enough, there is very little CGI used.

Initially I was attracted to the concept but I end up finding the show very problematic. The biggest issue is the script and the setting. The FL was given a game winning goal which is a tough ask. She can’t exit the game until she reach that goal. This is an odd concept for a commercial game. What is the correlation between game time and real time? There has better be a health warning on the box.

This is not helped by the “world” being very confusing and, to be honest, sloppy. Sometimes it behaves like a game where anything goes and logic be damned. At other times, it is just like a normal world with rules and consequences. There is no clear boundary. We are left guessing if the show is going to play nice or jump the shark on the weakest pretence. This is further complicated by the ML running a more serious plot parallel to the “gaming” one. The player has no control over him, yet his actions/reactions are far more intriguing.

By the end of ep.6, the show has evolved into a tropey feudal family melodrama. Are we still watching a "game" or got bait-and-switched? I am so confused. The FL has little influence on what is happening around her but it doesn't faze her at all. There are no further hints that this is still a computer simulation. That's taking role playing and immersion to the next level.

I know this is a very circular way of asking my original question. Why does this show exist? It is disjointed, confusing and farcical. There are so many "NPCs" but most of them are awkwardly portrayed. A game can get away with it by design but not a proper drama. The show seems to have taken a shortcut to parachute the FL into the plot but then it becomes a completely different beast. The plot is lazy and self-serving. It flips from a farce to a tragedy without stopping for breath. What happened to cause and effect?

BTW, production value is questionable. Acting is definitely hammy and patchy. OST is adequate.

Maybe it will git gud later or the plot will actually make sense. How long are you prepared to wait for that to happen? It is exhausting to watch for me and I'm done. I still like the leads but I'm dropping this show on principle.

Caveat Emptor, my dear dramaland friends.

Read More