burhaa aadmi

A dark and depressing diamond of a detection Drama

one of the best murder mystery dramas I've seen with credible competent police investigation shown. The acting was top notch, with no duds & the 3 leads - Luo Jin in a dual role, Wang Zi Wen as the victim/catalyst and You Nan as the single-minded intelligent lead detective, all shone.
The drama was very downbeat, but realistically so. That realism showed in the color palette, the cinematography, and even the makeup. No chance of a Foundation General scandal here.

The twists and turns the story took kept me guessing, the raw emotions driving the characters, and the very matter of fact, low key smarts of the police team were all outstanding features of this excellent Drama

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Late Qing masterpiece

enjoyable drama Set at the beginning of the end for the Qing dynasty, it was an interesting period of history that allowed the state propaganda to be a perfect, natural fit and thus not intrude on the storytelling.
For me, the undoubted highlight was the presence of strong, independent women who chose their own destiny and took action to accomplish it. Both the female lead and the second female lead were completely independent individuals. They had the ability and determination to act toward getting what they wanted, and it was nice to see even a secondary character in the person of the male lead's childhood betrothed grew into exactly that kind of female character as well.

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Noona-dongsaeng done VERY right

This is my new favourite noona-dongsaeng romance. Or maybe that should be jia-didi romance. In the end I scored it a 10 because there was nothing substantially wrong with it, and it delivered a near-perfect blend of emotion and realism that left me feeling completely satisfied at the end. No makjang (often a plague in TW Dramas), minimal histrionics, and lots of real feeling. Several times it skirted landmines I expected it to hit, impressing me each time.
The Chinese remake Sunshine By My Side was very good, but completely different and lacking almost everything that this drama supplied. If you want a Drama almost exclusively focused on a woman succeeding professionally despite toxic Confucian chauvinism in both her personal and professional life, and with dialogue that ruthlessly skewers that mindset, watch the C drama. If you want a not dissimilar message presented more quietly and with the addition of emotion, warmth and romance - and quite a lot of humour - watch the original.

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J-Dorama doing what it does best

This drama was a reminder of why I love J dramas. The premise was straightforward: A grumpy, blunt, tactless paediatrician gets reassigned from the hospital to fill in at an elementary school infirmary after a patient's parent complains about his handling of a case. The basic arc was predictable, but the nature of the journey was still remarkable. Especially in the first six episodes of the drama, the uncompromising, unsentimental and clear-eyed approach to serious health issues faced by the children was outstanding. From a first grader dealing with a congenital heart defect to a sixth grader having self-harm issues, this drama did not flinch. It did not talk down to the children, or about them, and the doctor's blunt honesty didn't change, even as he learned to broaden his perspective on what it took to look after children.

The final third of the drama was heart-warming, in the final episode of the drama pulled on so many heartstrings my lacrimal glands were dry by the end. The drama basically did everything right. A male and female lead who both grew from their interactions with each other without a single trace or hint of any kind of romantic interest. And not for the first time, this was a J drama in which the really heavy emotional lifting in terms of acting performances was done by children. I knew after about episode three that this drama was going to be at least a nine, but in the end its balance of clear-eyed honesty and teary-eyed heartfelt sentiment made it a 10.

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RUN AWAY, SAVE YOURSELF

This show is REALLY old in its whole ethos - glorifying suffering and misery as a sign of inner purity and espousing the virtues of unquestioning filial devotion (to one's actual biological parents).

At one point, I was thinking about how Confucian the show's message seemed as the FL's awful mother continued to suck her dry and she continued to bear it heorically (with PLENTY of tears, ofc) when the mother ACTUALLY SAID "Like Confucius and Mencius said, support your parents"

The focus on enduring extreme, endless misery being proof of a person's good character was also very wearing. The non-stop shouting in the first 20-25 episodes was also incredibly hard to take, and another sign of the old school feel of the Drama. That kind of high decibel screaming and shouting was clearly intended at times to be comical, as it was/is in daily dramas.

It's worth stressing that this show was not very makjang in its story elements. Only light touches of makjang, but a whole lot of misery for our super-suffering FL. There have been wekenders in the past few years that shun this archaic formula, but this one embraced it enthusiasticall. The final irony is that in a Drama called "Live Your Own Life", everyone EXCEPT the FL got to do that for most of the show, while she finally did so only in the last 20-30 minutes of the final episode.

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Wobbly start, stunning finish

After watching Season One yesterday, we watched Season 2 today. The first couple of episodes were a bit meandering, lacking the tightness of Season 1. The final two episodes were very powerful, and for most of the final episode I was fighting back tears. Kawahara Eito delivered stunning lead performances across both series, but the final episode took his character to new emotional depths and he rose to the challenge magnificently. The first season had the edge in cohesion, and was much lighter viewing overall, but the emotional punch of the final 2 episodes of this series redeemed its wobbly start.

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Less really is more

"Kotaro Lives Alone is an excellent example of all the reasons why #JDramas long ago became my favourites. Emotionally moving without sentimentality, addressing a difficult subject with unflinching directness and sensitivity, a lot of laughs and doing so in ten 23-minute episodes. Imagining a KDrama version is a frightening thought. The episodes, despite being short NEVER felt rushed, just complete and dvoid of bloat. The emotioal impact was real, but unlike so many K Dramas, it was delivered with subtlety and understatement - often greatly increasing it's impact. All the actors delivered, but Kawahara Eito was AMAZING.

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Hīkari hits another homer

This was my first Asian Drama after a break of a year or so, and what a winner! I watched it for the beautiful and talented Mitsushima Hikari, and she did not disappoint. Her performance was superb, especially the complex, nuances of the relationship between her character and her character's son. The growth and healing of THAT relationship was almost the "second couple" of the story, a love story in its own right.

Of course, it was the reconnection with the eponymous First Love that made the Drama the sweet and beautiful experience that it was, and rather than try to dissect or analyse it, I will just say, "watch it - right to the VERY end', as other reviewers have noted.

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PARFAIT

The word "parfait" means "perfect" in French, and refers to a sweet dessert in English. This means it fits this very short, VERY sweet Drama "perfectly"

There was really NOTHING wrong with this Drama. Even the length was right. Seven super short episodes was just right for such a frothy, sweet, cute Drama, one with no "drama" in it. No angst, no bitterness, no clouds of darkness, just a sweet cute couple being sweet and cute together. I was originally going to rate it around 8/10 but upgraded it to 9.5 because it is a basically perfect example of a "dessert Drama". If you need a sugar hit, and want one free of toxic chauvinist tropes like tsundere ML gods, this one is just what the doctor ordered

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The eponymous central character in this Drama is something you NEVER see in Korean Dramas - a FEMALE genius. I was predisposed to like it for that reason alone, but the show went beyond that with a fascinating mix of characters, telling interesting stories.

There were some inconsistencies with the way the lead's character was presented in terms of her metereological education and experience, but overall the show was very enjoyable. In terms of the human relationships, kept hoping for one outcome at the end, yet the way the Drama went was the way I expected it to, precisely because it was the less conventional, less neat and tidy option. That raggedy unfinished feel persisted right to the very last frame it seems.

I did love that the female lead was shown to be superior to the male lead, but that he was also shown to have his own strengths, including a goodness and decency of character which it could be argued went not only unrewarded but was actively punished. Another episode would have been nice, I think.

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I started this ONLY for Kim Yeon Seo, and because her character and arc were well-developed and she did a good job, I'm ok with the rest of it. It's insubstantial fluff, but has some good lines, and the Ha Rim/BaDa story in particular seemed quite intelligent. I just hope that if a future series exapnds their story the writers leave her sharp, clear-eyed, cynical character intact.

There's nothing to dislike about this piece of Xmas fluff, even the Xmas setting was low-key, a plus for a devout hater of Xmas like me. Overall, an inoffensive timepass, and another step forward in the development of a young actor whose work I plan to keep an eye on

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