konstantina

Excellent show, heartbreaking ending that didn't make much sense

PROS: Great plot, excellent acting, kept me hooked on the scenario and the characters. Park Changho had a very interesting character development, half of my hypotheses about Big Mouse and his team ended up being correct, other half were wrong, which only made the show even more enjoyable for me. Choi Doha is a decent (I guess?) enough villain for me to dislike him, Changho and Miho have a beautiful relationship, Big Mouse's grey morality passes by in a way that eventually makes you side with the team and genuinely get upset over Noh Park's death. I thoroughly enjoyed the series, despite its negative parts and I would recommend it to crime enjoyers.

CONS: Small plot holes here and there that made me side eye the writer for a bit. Gong Jihoon is the comic relief character but was too annoying for me to laugh at him. Not enough details on what was going on at the Lab section of Gucheon Hospital and what the "model inmates" were forced to work on. Doha's motive is simply not convincing enough, and both his and Miho's too fast death don't make much sense, medically speaking, but I'm not a doctor so I can't be certain for all the related mistakes of the scenario. We never see Chairman Kang' infamous serial killer son and his addition to the plot seemed like an easy way to explain Tak Kwangyeon's significance. Took me way too long to figure out Big Mouse and Big Mouth are written the same in Korean and that's where the wordplay was coming from. What was Choi Jungrak even doing?

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Thailand's first GL, and also mine: not as impressive as I wanted but still enjoyable!

Pros: I don’t like romcoms but I wanted to start watching more queer dramas so here we are! Beautiful shots, nice humor, good acting from Freen. Mon is a kind-hearted and lovable person, I deeply sympathized with her character, and Sam’s friend group definitely steal the show – I know they’re comedic relief characters but they were my favorites. Excellent chemistry between the main actresses and beautiful social commentary on LGBTQ+ rights in Thailand. I even forgave Kirk’s annoying ass at the end. Really good sensual scenes.

Cons: Never fully understood what Sam’s company was supposed to be about. Mon, although lovable, felt a bit one-dimensional; her entire character and personality seemed to be focused on her idol throughout her life, does she have no ambition of her own outside of Sam’s existence? I was pleased with her initial decision to leave for England after their breakup, it showed her taking agency outside of Sam for the first time. Didn’t buy grandmother’s “redemption arc” either – I understand that her character was supposed to represent the older generation struggling with conservative views but she never truly loved any of her grandchildren and didn’t deserve forgiveness.

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Chemistry so good, you almost forget the coercion. Almost.

Pros: Very enjoyable show, hilarious dialogue (despite the cringe moments), everyone is attractive. Although it was based on a novel of questionable quality (let's be honest, a low-quality Wattpad fanfic at best) it managed to actually have good results - everyone is more or less morally grey but you don't hold it against them. The second couple stole the show for me (Guo Chengyu, my beloved) and Chi Cheng's voice actor is spectacular. Last, but not least, China's first BL with explicit scenes and dialogues, so I had to watch no matter what.

Cons: I like morally grey characters but I draw the line at sexual assault - Chi Cheng is a borderline sex offender and both the audience and Wu Suowei are supposed to just accept it and roll with it. Casual sexist statements exist in almost every episode up until the middle of the season.

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