Gabriela

"The Killing Vote" it's a drama about a killer named Gaetal, that makes a game when people vote to kill or not to kill criminals. Moo Chan and Joo Hyun are cops trying to find Gaetal's identity and stop him, but the more they find out about him, more their convictions are changing. Isn't really killing or is it justice?

The drama's theme is great, creative, intelligent, thought-provoking and each episode really pushes you to rethink your concepts. I can't say that I wouldn't vote for "Killing Vote", because justice doesn't work in all cases, in fact in most cases the guilty go unpunished and the victims' families continue to suffer, so why not take justice into your own hands?!

I didn't judge Seok Joo at any time, because for me his actions were justified, he lost his daughter and had to see the killers get free, as if nothing had happened, anyone would freak out in this situation, but he did make a mistake, which was putting Ji Hoon together in their plan. Seok Joo shouldn't have let Ji Hoon be part of this even if he wanted to, so in a way Ji Hoon's death is his fault.

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"The Tuxedo" it's a drama about a suit maker named Aiaoon. One day he meets Nawee and the two become entangled in each other's lives and fall in love.

The drama only has 8 episodes, so everything happens too quickly, even the relationship of Aiaoon and Nawee. The story had potential, but the development is shallow, there is no depth, neither in the story or in the characters. The main couple has great chemistry on scene, I fell in love with Nawee and Aiaoon, but I can't say that the drama is good, as it is flawed in several areas, the problem really lies in the story.

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"Ming Dynasty" it's a historical drama about Ruo Wei, who lost her family when she was just a little girl. She got separated from her sister, lived her life assuming another identity and living as a man. Ruo Wei crosses path with Zhan Ji, who's a prince. He becomes interested in her, but at the same time, thinks of her as a suspicious person. Ruo Wei ends up getting married to Zhan Ji, but with thoughts of getting her revenge.

The first part of the drama is lighter, with some fun moments, but when we enter the second part, the pace changes significantly, it becomes heavier and this kind of happened together with Ruo Wei herself, her personality accompanied.

I felt sorry for Shan Xiang, it wasn't her fault what she became. She was raised in the palace, with all those rules and being mistreated all the time, when she finally got some power, it went to her head. Her death scene is very beautiful, one of the best in the drama, specially because her sister Ruo Wei, was there with her.

The drama wasn't quite what I wanted, but it's an incredible production. What ended up disappointing me was the romance, in fact the lack of it. Ruo Wei never fell in love with Zhan Ji, I really thought that would happen at some point in the story, but she only stayed with him out of obligation, even her personality changed when entering the palace and that was one of the things I didn't like. It was as if Ruo Wei became another person, as if she had been tamed, I missed seeing her strength. Until the end, the only person she wanted was Xu Bin and I'm glad we have a little happy ending for both of them, even if it's late.

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"Ye Cheng" it's a drama portrays a world in which women have all positions of power in society, while men should only be a support for them, I found this incredible and it really was what captured me the most.

The romance between Shen Ye and Cheng is very good, they have a tangible chemistry, that's why I wish there were more scenes between them.
In the last two episodes, the intensity increased and I loved seeing this closeness between Shen Ye and Cheng, this passion.

The biggest problem lies in the story itself, in the way it was developed that ends up confusing you while watching. The whole time it felt like I should have seen something before, all the characters have a past and it felt like we should have known about it. Everything is very rushed, especially the ending. The entire central conflict happened in less than 10 minutes and it wasn't impressive at all, it was more confusing than anything else.

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"My Lovely Liar" follows a young woman named Sol Hee, that has an amazing ability, she can hear people's lies. She uses this gift to win money by pretending to be a fortune teller, but strangely her power doesn't work on one person and that's Do Ha, because he never lies. How she lives in a world surrounded by lies, Sol Hee is draw to him and eventually, the two fell in love.

This year featured two dramas with the title "My Lovely" and it's funny how they are complete opposites. “My Lovely Boxer” is interesting, exciting and funny, while “My Lovely Liar” is a dull drama and even though there is a murder in the narrative, it lacks tension and depth. The two main actors have no chemistry on screen, so romance is out of the question, at least something that is good.

Kim So Hyun was such a good actress as a child and in her early teens, but it seems that her acting didn't mature after that, it's too difficult to get caught up in her dramas now and here the same thing happened, but the problem isn't it was just her, Hwang Min Hyun also failed to capture my attention.

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"Meant To Be" it's a story about two women who's lives are switched.
Hae In lost her mother at a young age and lived in an orphanage. There she meets Jin Woo. Later she ends up living with Jeong Im, who is the secretary of Chi Hwan, the father of Hae In and she was friends with Hae In's mother. Jeong Im brought Hae In into that house keeping her identity a secret, because Chi Hwan is married and has a daughter named Se Na. The problem is that he learns the truth and tries to kill the two, to bury his secret forever. Jeong Im gets in an accident, but Hae In meets Yi Chang, an amazing person, that helps them. They become a family and Hae In leaves her past behind assuming a new name: Yoon Sol.

Here's the real twist, Yi Chang is actually the birth father of Se Na. Chi Hwan married Mi Kang without knowing she was already pregnant, so he raised Se Na as his daughter. The two girls fates were switched, but to be honest, Sol were lucky to not have Chi Hwan as her father, the man is a monster. A terrible thing happens and Yi Chang dies. Chi Hwan, along with Do Hyun and Se Na, frame Sol for the crime and she goes to prison. Sol then makes a plan for revenge, to make everyone that ruined her life pay for their crimes.

The romance between Sol and Jin Woo is sweet, but that's not the focus of the drama. Sol was set on getting her revenge for being unjustly imprisoned, for the death of her father Yi Chang and her biological mother. She also wanted to make Chi Hwan pay for his crimes. It was too much for one person to handle, so I understand that romance was the last thing she wanted as a distraction, but what the drama lacked to make it perfect was exactly that: cute moments between the couple, for distraction, for happiness.

Se Na initially seems to be the villain of the drama, but when you analyze the character, that's not quite the case. As the episodes go by, you realize who she really is and the ending ends up being a nice surprise. Se Na was a spoiled girl who helped frame Sol, but she was never a bad person, all she ever wanted in life was to be loved unconditionally and nothing was enough for her, living like that is sad, we should feel sorry for her, not hate her. She always loved Jin Woo and was never reciprocated, that's why she ended up choosing Do Hyun, who seemed to really love her, but it was a lie, he wanted to possess her, have control of her and her fortune. Thank goodness in the end she realized her mistakes and helped Sol and Jin Woo.

The drama started off really well, but it had some flaws during the development, but that's normal for a story with over 100 episodes. It's hard to maintain the same quality and pace, but the drama was great until the end. That year, I think it was one of the best productions of its kind.

Jeon Hye Yeon was an amazing surprise <3

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"Shining Just For You" it's a drama about Bai Lu, a young woman who has a gift of foresight. She's friends with the princess of Yebei, who's engaged to marry the emperor Xiu Ming, but the girl doesn't want to get married, so Bai Lu helps her escape.
Bai Lu goes to work in the astrology bureau and there she gets closer to Xiu Ming, eventually they become a couple.

I went to watch it mainly because of the two main actors: Peng Xiao Ran and Feng Shao Feng, but it turns out that the problem with the drama is exactly the total lack of chemistry between them.
Furthermore, the characters lack depth, their characterization is shallow, not enough to keep you hooked.

At some points, it gave me the impression that the drama wanted to copy "Goodbye, My Princess", the issue of tribes and the beginning, all the clothes, the setting. I think that maybe if there hadn't been the romance between Bai Lu and Xiu Ming, the drama would have been better, because it starts out of nowhere and didn't make much sense to me, especially because I really thought that Bai Lu was in love with Rui and Wu You was a wasted character, he was supposed to be the second lead and barely appears in the story, so it was difficult to root for him, since we didn't even know the character well.

It's something you'll watch and forget very easily.

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"My Lovely Boxer" is a drama about a young boxer named Gweon Suk. She was really famous, but she disappeared of the face of the earth, nobody could find her, that was because Gweon Suk changed her name and began working as a teacher in a school, she wanted to leave her old life behind and start fresh in a new place. The problem is, until now people don't know why Gweon Suk suddenly was gone and they still want to see her fight. Tae Young's friend borrowed money from a loan shark and to pay for that, Tae Young makes a contract saying that he will bring Gweon Suk back. He then makes a deal with her, one last match and Gweon Suk can retire.

It was my first boxing drama and I loved it. Kim So Hye is incredible, simply wonderful, you get hooked on Gweon Suk from the first episode, you understand all the trauma she has with the sport and hope she can overcome it and move on.

Gweon Suk really has a talent for boxing, but what's the point if it's something that scares her and doesn't make her happy?! We live so little and we have to make the most of it, but I loved that at the end she understood that it wasn't right to lose on purpose, that the best way to be truly free was to do your best in the ring and leave everything behind. Of course, in the animation of the fight, I wanted Gweon Suk to win, but I knew that Ah Reum deserved to win more than her, since boxing is Ah Reum's life. The two were incredible, they stayed standing until the end, they gave everything they had and didn't give up.. I think that alone was worth all the effort, they put on a spectacular show!

The romance really takes a backseat, but I thought that was a perfect decision, because that wasn't really supposed to be the focus. Tae Young was there to help Gweon Suk and obviously they created a bond that turned into something romantic, but there was no room for them to be a couple in the story. Of course we have cute and fun moments and that was enough for me. Because this last scene was so beautiful, this couple was worth waiting for.

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"Koi to Dangan" it's a romance about a normal woman and a gangster. Yuri meets Toshiomi and they are drawn to each other like magnets. This story is about their crazy love.

A simply captivating drama, it's been a long time since I enjoyed a jdrama so much.
This couple is intoxicating, you see them together and want to see more. The only flaw for me is that the development of their relationship is a little too fast.
They've basically been a couple since the first episode and throughout the rest, we see them strengthening this bond and falling more and more in love, but I think they could have left Toshiomi wanting Yuri a little more, if it weren't so easy for him to get what he wanted, but let's face it, the man is wonderful, right? Who could hold back?! HAHA'

The photography of the drama is beautiful, the flowers matched perfectly.

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"Unforgotten Night" it's a BL drama about Kim and Kamol, who met and have a one night stand. Kim wanted to forget his crush and Kamol wanted to find a new person that would agreed to his "taste" in bed.

It's a drama that tries to follow a similar style to "KinnPorsche", but obviously it can't be as good, because it's a very difficult, almost impossible task. Kamol and Kim's relationship is interesting and holds your attention, but the biggest problem for me was Yoon's performance, he looked like a robot the whole time, without any expression.

And the drama also has some exaggerated moments and others that are quite dull. Kamol and Kim started with extreme intensity, but after episode 6, the moments between them change completely and are just light kisses, but then in episode 10 they return to bondage. It becomes difficult to follow, they should maintain a more consistent pace. And what was with Kamol's three security guards making out in episode 10?! I didn't understand anything. HAHAHAHA'

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"Cold Blooded Intern" it's a comedy drama about a woman named Hae Ra, that goes back to work after being a stay home mother for a long time. Everything is more difficult for her, specially because Ji Won, who used to work with her now is her boss.

It has a style similar to an American sitcom, showing the daily lives of people working in an office. The acting is good, but the story didn't really capture me. The purpose of the drama was to show how the workplace can be a jungle and that instead of helping each other, sometimes people do the wrong things to survive.

Hae Ra wanted to go back to work so much that she decided to accept a job where she had to harm her colleagues and Ji Won told her to do it without even blinking, because she thought only of herself and of climbing higher and higher in her career, not caring about who she hurts in the process.
In a way, Ji Won learned this from Hae Ra when the two worked together. I understood that there was a big focus on this, but actually I was interested in other things. I wanted to see more about Yi Young, Hae Ra's husband, her family moments were what I liked most.

Ra Mi Ran made me laugh a lot <3

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"Dinosaur Love" it's a BL drama about a student named Rak, that is cheated on by his boyfriend, but then meets Dino, who's very interested in him and tries to do everything to make him fall in love.

How is it possible that a Thai BL is so ridiculous?! The two main characters are unbearable.
Dino, with an alpha male attitude who falls in love just by seeing Rak, without even knowing him well and Rak who acts extremely childish all the time and his reactions to Dino are strange, since he had a boyfriend before, flirting with a guy is nothing new, but Rak is scared, avoids it and is excessively effeminate, like a stereotypical gay man with no complexity at all.

At first, the drama was PG-12 level, with at most some flirting, but after Dino and Rak have sex the story changes completely and basically every moment of them together is exaggerated. I'm totally in favor of passion, of a greater intensity in BL, but this style of drama isn't just about that, there has to be a bond, a connection.

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"Enigma" it's a thai mystery drama about strange events happening in a school.
Fa is a normal girl, that finds herself entangled with Ajin, her new teacher, who's also a sort of exorcist. The two investigate the events and tried to find the evil thing that is haunting the school.

A drama that ended up positively impressing me with the story, the special effects and the way in which it managed to create an almost tangible tension, but at the same time as it has several positive points, the drama failed in the rapid development of the narrative.
Only 4 episodes weren't enough, the ending was too rushed, it wasn't as good as it could have been. They should have put at least 10 episodes, that would have given time to better explain everything that happened with Namsai and about that Enigma.

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"Heartbeat" follows Woo Hyul, who's a vampire that fell in love with a human woman. To be with her, he tried to become human by doing a 100 days sleep challenge. In Hae is a woman that receive his house as inheritance and breaks his sleep, stopping the process and turning Woo Hyul into a half-human.

First of all, I have to admire the choice to put Taecyeon in the role of a vampire, avoiding this ridiculous standard that the character needs to be pale and perfectly beautiful, like the image in a painting. Taecyeon is beautiful, extremely hilarious and was perfect in the role, I couldn't ask for anyone better <3
The problem with the drama was Won Ji Ahn, I couldn't like this actress at all. It seemed like she had the same facial expression when she was happy or sad, she remained the same, I couldn't even believe the romance, because there was no chemistry between them.

I'm not saying that she should smile all the time, like the typical suffering character in dramas, who even going through the biggest tragedies remains happy and good, because that's not very realistic, but it was difficult to understand In Hae, what she was feeling, it was as if I was watching a robot that is trying to imitate something, without completely knowing what that feeling was!

The story is good, as is its development. If they had cast another actress, the result would have been completely different.

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