cry0nic

Overly didactic. but a step in the right direction for women's rights in chinese society

Modern show that highlights women's struggles in the workplace in china. Liu's character tries to subvert expectations of what a woman should be but can come across as overly didactic at times. The third female lead had barely any screentime and I didnt even know she was a lead if she was not on the poster lol. Liu's character was also so overly kind-hearted it was unbelievable. An improvement in modern chinese dramas which are usually filled with cringey romance scenes and toxic relationships. Cinematography and music is good too, was surprised at the quality of this drama. Rewatch value is not high because some scenes are really realistic (if you are asian) so might hit a bit tooo close to home.

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Most disappointing drama of 2021

On paper, the premise sounds interesting: murder mystery set on the scenic Mount Jiri. Alas! This devolved into some sort supernatural sci-fi about ghosts wandering the mountain. CGI and camera work were extremely bad in the first episode; so much so that I wanted to drop it right there and then. Camera work does NOT do the scenery of Mount Jiri justice. I was honestly appalled by how bad it was; considering that this show had such a large budget. I've read that CGI and directing seem to improve in the later episodes but I did not stick around to find out. If the story had been good I would have stuck around, but sadly no. Plot is haphazard and there are many time skips (pet peeve of mine). Supernatural angle felt so unnecessary as well.

Acting wise it was average. The leads are big name actors but I was not wowed by their performance. Guy spends most of the time in a coma. Supporting characters have too many filler comedic scenes that don't seem to jive with the tone that the drama is going for.

OST was forgettable but I recall I did not like it.

TLDR: Jirisan travel vlogs on youtube are more entertaining than this mess.

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Dumbed down version of Gone Girl

Premise is interesting enough and it starts off fairly strongly. Then the story becomes more and more outlandish... and then everything is revealed and explained down to the very last detail. Why??? Do the filmmakers think the audience are 5 year old kiddos? I would have appreciated for more details to be omitted and the audience be free to come up with their own conclusions for some plot points... and this is coming from someone who hates unexplained endings.

Acting wise it is decent, Zhu Yi Long is great and so are Ni Ni and Janice Man. Would have loved to see more of Huang Zi Qi but her role was quite small in the show. Unfortunately the side characters aren't great and broke the immersion a little. Cinematography wasn't good, plenty of zoom ins and closeup shots that are reminiscent of Indian drama serials lol.

Overall was a really meh movie that was somehow vaguely entertaining but at the same time quite forgettable.

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Best drama of 2024

This drama is surely going to sweep the awards. From acting, to set design to the music... everything is just top notch. The acting especially wow... Every one of the actors, including the extras showed out. I would say that this genre of dramas require the most of actors; the musical scenes where it is essentially a show within a show requires multi-layered performances that not anyone can pull off. And yet Kim Taeri, Shin Yeeeun and the rest of the cast have done it. Singing (with their REAL voices, might I add) dancing, and the commitment to learn the techniques of the traditional art form...I would be shocked if Kim Taeri does not get a Daesang for this. She absolutely deserves it.

This is one of the rare few dramas where I actually wanted MORE of. 12 eps is simply not enough to do tie up all the lose ends and it shows. The last episode was horribly rushed and left me with more questions than answers. I'm seeing calls for a season 2 but as much as I like this show, I'm not sure another is necessary. The ending, while less than desirable, does paint a historically accurate picture of Yeosong gukgeuk. Its popularity died down in the 1960s after the advent of film/tv. It seems like there was a revival after but it was short-lived (please correct if I'm wrong). Part of the reason was also due to the fact that it wasn't designated as a "National Intangible Culture Heritage" like pansori and changgeuk was, which probably led to the lack of funding and successors. I can't imagine what story a season 2 would tell. The overaching plot of the rise and fall of Yeosong gukgeuk has mostly been covered. The traditional 16 ep length would have been perfect though, and would have allowed more time for all the loose ends to be tied up.

This show is largely based on the webtoon of the same name, though with rather significant changes to the plot. I have not read the original webtoon, but a central character, Buyeong - Jeongnyeon's original love interest was removed. In the drama, it has been largely replaced by Jooran, though the GL elements have been toned down significantly. There is subtext hinting at their "more than friends" relationship but at the same time its not overt enough and there's still a degree of plausible deniability. To me, it also seems more like a one-sided love from Jooran. Jeongnyeon does not seem to reciprocate in a romantic way. The relationship between Okyeong and Hyerang is more overt with them literally pressing their foreheads together in ep 2(?) and in general being more touchy feely. However, if you're expecting more than that, you would be disappointed.

I was honestly thisss close to giving it a 10/10, but I really felt like the the last episode was a letdown. I'm personally NOT a fan of leaving unanswered questions, and did not like the fact that the director/scriptwriter decided to write out Okyeong and Jooran, giving them 0 scenes at the end while at the same time dropping the fact that Hyerang actually is a mother. The existence of her niece/daughter was inconsequential to the plot and was only brought up sporadically so I'm not sure what kind of point the director/scriptwriter was trying to highlight right at that last moment with this reveal. Whereas Jooran and Okyeong had huge parts to play in driving the plot forward but they basically drop off the face of the earth. Hell, even PATRICIA, Jeongnyeon's jazz singing teacher turned up to watch her, and Okygeong/Jooran didn't? I honestly couldn't fathom it. On a side note, I also didn't like how the whole Hyerang/accountant embezzling money plot was explained and wish they had gone down another route to explain Maeran's financial downfall instead.

With that being said, these are just somewhat minor grouses in the grand scheme of things. I haven't seen a drama so well thought out and beautifully acted in ages, and I would definitely recommend this to anyone who's interested in musicals, or learning more about traditional korean gukgeuk. and of course, fans of Kim Taeri should not miss this as well! On a side note, I do want to see Kim Taeri in another GL after the handmaiden, too bad they toned it down so much in this show...

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Outlandish plot

The premise was interesting and I thought this would be right up my alley but unfortunately not. First episode started off strong (albeit violently) and my only gripe was the constant time skips that happened in quick succession. Second episode was going well until a barrage of new characters were introduced and I gave up trying to reconcile the adult versions with their kid counterparts. The whole in utero "psychopath test" was starting to annoy me because it seemed way too implausible and far fetched. Maybe if you're able to suspend disbelief but I honestly couldn't. I wouldn't have minded if the show decided to go into the ethics of the whole nature vs nurture debate based on this premise but it decided to veer sharply into sci-fi territory with brain surgeries and whatnot. I threw in the towel at this point since I was watching Beyond Evil at the same time and did not have the time and patience to keep up with the various plot developments of 2 different shows. When I saw the showrunners release a special episode just to clarify the relationships between the characters I realized I made the right choice. It is most definitely NOT a good thing if a show has to dedicate special episodes to make it less confusing to viewers. On the bright side, the acting was excellent, even the kid actors were great.

Conclusion: Watch only if you enjoy brain workouts. If you're looking for a casual serial killer thriller this is not the show for you.

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Kind of boring

So... not sure if I'm just dumb or skipped around too much but I don't quite understand some parts of this show. The gist of plot is about how the Japanese/Nationalist government tries to find a Communist spy within their midst with the codename "Ghost". In order to do so, they decided to lock 5 suspects together in a mansion (lol) and basically "interrogate" (torture) them. None of the characters know who "Ghost" is (except for "Ghost" of course) and can only make educated guesses on who the "Ghost" really is. Hence, what results is a lot of talking, gossiping, and plotting to try and tease out the identity of the "Ghost". This does not make for entertaining viewing when the characters spend chunks of time sitting around a table monologuing and trying to manipulate each other. 38 episodes of this gets old real fast and I had to fast forward so much because I was losing interest. I get that this is a espionage thriller but this is wayyyy too much scheming and talking for a drama. Doesn't help that there is an average of 3 flashbacks per episode to show the backstory of the characters and that is just too many flashbacks come on... Some plot points made zero sense as well. Also, the CGI was horrifically bad and the props looked extremely low budget.

The 2 female characters are Mary Sues. Li Ning Yu especially so with her being beautiful, extremely intelligent, a top rated cryptographer who also coincidentally has 0 flaws. Her relationship with the other female character Gu Xiao Meng was confusing (to me) as she seemed to treat Gu coldly then suddenly revert to being warm and vice versa. It was strange. Chinese social media shipped them together but I don't get it. Censorship like what happened in A couple of Mirrors? Who knows. Actress playing Gu also overacts a fair bit which is cringey.

Conclusion: Plot seems more suited for a movie. Strong propaganda overtones as well considering the time period this drama is set in.

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I'd rather watch paint dry

One word: Boring.

I'm not sure what this drama wanted to achieve. It was slow, cliched (the infamous kdrama meeting as children trope and chaebol patriarch with secret lovechild trope) and I'm not sure what the point of this show was? I skipped around because it was SO SLOW and the only good thing was the nice scenery of Greece. This show is touted as "healing" by some reviews but I felt anything but that. In fact I felt annoyed because nothing was happening. Also the ending sucked apparently from what I read but I can't confirm this as I was wasn't willing to stick around and find out. At least the acting was decent.

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