michelleoc

Unhealthy relationships, desperation and neediness abound

I'm apparently the only person that did not enjoy this show. I'll start with the positives, and you can blow off the rest of the review, if you choose, because my thoughts are definitely in the minority.
LIKED:
1) Yoo In Na - one of my favorite K actresses. Her size and her demeanor are always attractive to me. She's got a sweet vulnerability about her. She's totally gorgeous, but she's the kind of woman that men fall in love with, and women want to be friends with.
2) Yoon Hyun Min - I enjoy this actor. Understated, intense and he sure knows how to wear his clothes!
3) The young man that fell in love with Bo Ra's sister. Brilliant smiles, barely contained energy and he reminded me of a puppy, all nervous energy. However, he knew what he wanted, and he never wavered.
4) The line in the last episode when Soo Hyuk was talking about Bo Ra being little.
5) When Soo Hyuk was with Bo Ra when she was dress shopping.
SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS!
DID NOT LIKE:
1) Bo Ra - She was an absolute mess! As a love coach, her advice was about "playing" men to get what you want. The phrase "small and sparkly" was used at least 20 times in the first episode. It wasn't about being in love; it was about getting the ring. I got absolutely no feeling that she was in love with her boyfriend, but that she was just waiting for the ring to get married. So, when things went south, her reactions seemed extreme and out of character. Her over-the-top angst was painful for me to watch, just because I didn't think she really loved him anyway. Plus, it went on entirely too long. Almost half of the episodes were about how broken-hearted she was. Stalkerish, needy, inappropriate, and lack of self-esteem flowed from this character. "I was going to let myself like him if he says he likes me. I was going to love him if he says he loves me." She was always trying to GET something from someone. I did not care for this character nor empathize with her in any way.
2) Overabundance of alcohol. I know that drinking seems to play a large part in K-dramas. However, here the drinking caused people to behave in ways that made me really not like them. Plus, drinking alone is always a red flag. Drunken wandering in the neighborhood, peeing in public, drunken confessions.
3) Too many couples. Four couple storylines was too much, mostly because we only got part of an episode with the mains together. The rest was couples fighting, couples trying to get together, couples making up, and that was mostly the other three couples.
4) Soo Hyuk. Obviously, he wasn't in love with his girlfriend, he only bought a ring to make her happy. So, once they broke up, I wasn't feeling his sadness.
5) Overuse of the "I didn't want to be with you before, but now that you are with someone else, I want you back" trope. And we had to suffer through it with both leads!
6) Lack of realistic progression of the lead's relationship. He spent most of the drama listening to her cry and whine, then helping her "get back" at her ex, all to make herself feel better. They weren't really getting to know one another, he was just helping her. Then all of a sudden they were supposedly in love?
7) Romance is absolutely not a word I would use for this drama. The main leads getting together was literally less than 10 minutes. The rest of the time I had to suffer though watching unhealthy relationships crash and burn.

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Pretty boring with a large cast of evil characters

I was looking forward to this because I loved Rosy Zhao in Dating in the Kitchen. I was so disappointed! This drama could have been greatly improved by cutting the number of stories and the number of episodes. It seemed to go on and on forever. They have GOT to work on the dubbing! The thing that I noticed most in this show was everyone's footsteps, whether they were wearing tennis shoes or dress shoes. Why? I have no idea.
The concept for the story was cute, but it didn't feel cohesive to me. I understand that you have to have a "bad guy" in these shows to create drama and problems. Why were there so many in this show?
I didn't find the lead actor very attractive, but I loved the height difference between the two. There were some good kisses and some really bad kisses, but I didn't find the acting very good at all.
This was one of those dramas that, while I was watching it, I was wondering when it was ever going to end. And once it did, I was so glad!

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Time I will never get back

I decided to watch this C-drama because it only had 24 episode (which is short for C-dramas), but once I got started, I quickly realized that this could have been completed in half the episodes, and it would have made the whole thing more interesting. I felt that this show REALLY needed a different editor, there were some episodes that, once I got to the end, I realized that the entire episode was a complete waste of time. I really felt that a lot of it was like watching paint dry - boring as all get out.

I suppose the actors did a good job with what they had to work with. The problem was the script. The main character of Tu Mo was so irritating. First, she'd been liking a boy for years, and that boy was one of the most irritating characters I've seen in a show recently. Then, I couldn't actually see what Gu Wei Yi saw in her. Then, she always seemed to be mad at the male lead for something, but rather than talk to him about it, she did a lot of clomping out of the room, slamming doors, and generally not being very nice to him. She was very immature.

Overall, no chemistry between the leads, too many irritating characters, too much dog and cat sound effects, fish kisses, and multiple unnecessary scenes/storylines.

It was sad for me to realize, after watching this, that most of the C-dramas are along these lines and not, for me, overly enjoyable. Love Me If You Dare and Dating in the Kitchen are the gold standard for me, and I will continue to hope that I happen upon other C-dramas that live up to them.

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Time I will never get back

I'll start by saying that since this was from 2014, the production value was grainy and the dubbing (why do they insist upon doing that? These actors can't possibly have worse voices than the people dubbing!) was truly awful in some places.
WRITING: So many people said they found this fun and funny. I didn't find it to be either of those things. Full of stereotypes (which I can't lower the rating on, because they are in every Asian show), so many of the characters were unlikable and/or irritating. I'll address the main two: I found the character of Shan Shan to be the epitome of a silly, not-too-bright, ditzy woman, and she didn't seem to improve over the life of the show. The writers had her having internal dialog through the whole thing, which was very irritating, and I never could understand why Feng Teng liked her. Which brings me to Feng Teng: this character, for me, was completely one-note. I didn't necessarily have problems with his "stalker-ish" tendencies as others did, (I have to admit, I thought that him having lunch "with" her on both sides of the window was sweet), but he was not very nice to anyone, and the way he talked to his employees would have the human resources department very busy fending off lawsuits. Part of it, I think, was I didn't find him physically attractive, but since I tend to find attractiveness even more in a person's actions, I REALLY didn't find him attractive. All the women were fawning all over him, but it must have just been because he was rich. All of the scenes of the workplace made every female employee look like she was only working to 1) meet a man; or 2) gossip. And there were a LOT of scenes at work. This show would have benefitted from a good editor and half as many episodes.
ACTING: A lot of overacting was being done by people (perhaps trying to make the show seem amusing) and in the case of the male lead, a lot of under-acting - he had one expression and was not able to generate anything using his face/eyes/body. He was very wooden. There were numerous scenes where it felt like there were pauses waiting for someone to remember what their lines were.
MUSIC: I don't remember it.
RE-WATCH: Are you kidding me?!

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Way too long

What is it with Chinese dramas? They tend to be, for the most part, twice as long as they need to be. I will be upfront and say that my rating is based upon my enjoyment of the whole thing. I found myself getting bored (a lot) and I left it for two weeks and finally went back to finish it up, because I can't leave a show unfinished.

The main couple? I loved both of them. I really enjoyed her in Love Me If You Dare and I was so glad that their own voices were used. Dubbing makes the whole thing even worse. They were very cute together, the kind of cute that you just have to smile when watching them. I felt that toward the beginning she had some entitlement going on, which irritated me. She kept breaking rules and then didn't understand why he wanted her to leave the program she was in. She felt it was better to apologize than to ask for permission, apparently.

Second couple - if a woman continues to chase a man and he keeps shutting her down, my opinion of her lowers. It's like she has no self-esteem. His reason for shutting her down, when he obviously liked her, was missing so he irritated me as well.

The older couple - had an interesting back story, but I didn't feel overly invested in them, either.

A lot of the medical stuff was incorrect, as it tends to be in these dramas. Do you not have a medical consultant? That takes away from the story as well.

There is quite a bit of action, some bromance, and it's low on angst, so if you are patient and your expectations aren't too high, you might enjoy this show.

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This one got to me!

This is a slow (in a good way), simple and beautiful story. I'll start with the bottom line - it's been quite a while since I've cried watching something, and I cried a couple of times during this movie. I was swept into the story and could feel the nervousness of the female lead, but she wasn't portrayed as a loser at all. The meeting of the leads was shown in a good way, and I was rooting for them from the start. Wu Nien Hsuan as Yi Bin and Zhou Yi Ram as Tong Zhi Liao were perfectly cast. I could feel sparks between the two from the beginning. I was torn, I wanted to find out what happened, but I also wanted it to go on and on. It was a lovely journey of discovery and spoke to lost chances and regrets. The story line of the old lady and her regrets mirrored the lead couple perfectly.

Normally, I struggle with Chinese dramas, the episodic ones are normally too drawn out for me, and the movies often don't give me enough time to invest in the characters. add to that my problems with dubbing and overacting, you'll see my dilemma. This movie was, quite simply, a hidden gem. I happened upon it quite by accident. The script is good, and the acting is understated. There are no over-the-top characters, and they are all likeable in their own way. No love triangles, and there wasn't much time spent on any of the secondary characters, other than the old lady, so we really got to know the main couple.

I might watch it again, if only to get lost in the story once again. The ending is ambiguous, and I think that's for the viewer to decide what they want to happen. I choose to go the happily-ever-after route.

I can happily and unapologetically recommend this movie!

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The ending ruined the rest for me

First, they should have used the title Let Me Be Your Night, as it was referenced in the drama. Knight does not make sense in any way!

As I was watching this show, I found it to be a fun watch, fluffy and light. There were quite a few amusing moments, and I didn't feel the need to fast forward through scenes (the advantage of fewer episodes). It addressed numerous issues that idols must endure, and I found that interesting as well. It was a very cute concept for a show, and if you just want an easy watch and don't expect too much you won't be disappointed.

What I liked: Jang Dong Joo as 2ML Seo Woo Yeon. He's got a lovely, deep voice and I really liked the way his character was written. Admittedly, I had some SLS going on here, especially since the ML was not a nice person. The music was catchy. The LUNA actors all did an okay job, and I liked how each of them had their own style sense. The story didn't focus on just one or two main characters. That said, there were things that missed the mark...

What I didn't like: Though I love Jung in Sun as an actress and she did an okay job here, I felt that she was entirely too old for this part. I didn't feel any chemistry between the leads in the romantic sense. They were fun to watch when they were antagonistic toward one another, but the romance fell flat. There was an absolutely terrible, cringe-worthy kiss that looked like their lips were barely in contact with one another and her eyes were open the whole time. Though I liked the fact that there were multiple story lines, I felt there were so many missed opportunities to delve deeper into the characters, especially the LUNA members. I would have liked to have seen more of their interactions with one another. The interactions they did have made me think that they didn't care much for one another. The ML character was stoic and cold throughout and I never did become truly attached to him. With the FL being the "live-in doctor", I would have loved to have seen more of her helping the other members of LUNA, not just the ML. A secondary romance took up a lot of screen time and ultimately went nowhere.

WHAT I HATED: Misunderstandings are resolved, someone saves the other, feelings are verbalized, and then one of them leaves the country for an indeterminate period of time after saying "have a good life". WHAT THE HECK!!?!?! That made me mad enough, but the ending was just horrible - short, abrupt, no physical contact (almost like they were just meeting again!), and then just OVER! The last half hour of this show made me so angry I had to drop points. All that time wasted just to be disappointed. Why is it so hard to have a decent ending in so many K-dramas!?!

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Excellent chemistry against a backdrop of corporate intrigues

Unfortunately, I watched this show on the heels of Dating in the Kitchen, which in my mind, is the gold standard for Chinese drama/chemistry/romance, and a show that generally has it all. I've heard good things about Love is Sweet, so I decided to give it a try, hoping to continue to feed my romance fix.

The only thing I'm going to give away is that he's loved her for years. I always love that in a show. They meet up again and are, rather than friends, antagonists.

Leo Luo is the male lead and he's terrific. Always impeccably dressed, powerful businessman and extremely handsome. As when they were kids, he also bullied her in the workplace, but I felt that it was to better her performance at work. He, behind the scenes, always took care to make sure to protect her.

Bai Lu (Son Ye Jin lookalike, if you ask me) as the female lead was good as well. One of my favorite lines was when someone was looking at her and she said something to the effect of "People tell me I look like Bai Lu, have you heard of her?" A little tongue-in-cheek humor never goes amiss.

As a couple their chemistry was wonderful, but once they got together their romance took a back burner to the office intrigues, of which there were a lot. I found that aspect of the show to be very drawn-out and boring. Them admitting their feelings and acting on them was hot/hot/hot for a couple of episodes, though. There was the obligatory time jump, but it happened with about 6 episodes left, and their lives had settled and become pretty mundane. I think this show would have benefitted from tighter editing and less episodes (about 10 less!)

The costuming was good, especially when they were dressed in formal wear. The buildings/sets were visually interesting, as was the soundtrack. As with so many other Asian dramas, I was obsessed with the jewelry.

I never did enjoy the secondary couple. Though I have liked Riley Wang in other things, and he was good enough in this, I didn't feel they had any chemistry and she was a little too immature and stalker-ish for me. I kept hoping for some improvement, but it never materialized for me.

The female lead's allergic disorder was mentioned and addressed time and time again throughout the show, and then completely forgotten at the end, which I thought was a cop-out. I mean, c'mon, who wouldn't cry at that proposal?!?!

Everyone got their happy ending, including, to a certain extent, Du Lei, who was really a scumbag, but maybe he really did give up his wicked ways.

So, though I can recommend it as a show worth watching if you don't mind the multiple, endless and convoluted storylines, if you are looking for strictly romance, this one falls a little short.

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Lovely

There are spoilers interspersed throughout my review, because some of them were things I liked, some I didn't.

LOVED:
1) Zhao Lu Si as Sang Zhi. She is so beautiful and bubbly, I felt she was perfectly cast for this. Finally, a show in which they didn't put her in a lot of oversized outfits.
2) Chen Zhe Yuan as Duan Jia Xu. I've not seen him in anything before and I loved him in this. First, he's gorgeous. Second, the character was a warm and caring person.
3) Romance chemistry - just wow! The ML said things that most women would love to hear from their man. The way he looks at her, sigh. Good kisses.
4) Story - knowing someone for a long time and developing a relationship. For the most part, this was handled well.
5) Victor Ma as Sang Yan. He was a terrific character. The dynamic between him and his sister, and him and his friends was such fun to watch.
6) SPOILER: It seems like most romances have a secondary female that used to be a girlfriend that comes back after years and wants to pick up where they left off. She thinks she's entitled to him because she wants him. FINALLY, this show portrays the female the way I feel about the secondary women in other dramas. She's a stalker and not-just-a-little unhinged. And I love how the FL told the stalker's friend to go with her to get some counseling! END SPOILER.
7) Ending - I cried.
8) The voices weren't too terrible and the roommates weren't stupid and irritating.
9) The focus was on the romance of the main couple. Not a lot of wasted time.
10) She met him when she was in middle school. The way they handled her crush, her youth, and how he felt about her was handled well. This could have been kind of creepy if he liked her too soon. And the progression of how his feelings changed made sense.
11) The brother's reaction to finding out his friend was dating his sister.
12) The fact that the ML didn't drink alcohol.
13) I know it's not realistic, but I love when the people haven't had relationships before. When he came out and said he'd never dated...he got me!

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE: (SPOILERS THROUGHOUT)
1) Sang Zhi acted in a very immature fashion when she was younger. I get that she was young, but when a girl has a crush on a guy, especially an older guy, she does everything she can to demonstrate how mature she is.
2) She's had a crush on him for literally years. She grows up, he confesses his feelings, and she says she needs to think about whether she likes him. I wanted to smack her upside the head. I felt so bad for him, but thank goodness he was patient. I think he knew, even if she didn't say anything. I was mad for a couple of episodes.
3) Her friends saying she needed to "test" him, and her doing it. Game playing in a relationship isn't a good thing, and it, again, made her look really immature.
4) Her making herself cry (when she was younger) to get her way. Once she grew up, I felt that she was still trying to manipulate people.
5) Them saying they would be there for each other, but then keeping things from the other because they didn't want to bother/overwhelm them.
6) One of the last episodes, he's alone in the living room drinking. She comes out and asks him about it, and he never opens up about what the problem is. AND, I really had a problem with the fact that the first time they were intimate he was drunk.
7) Parents, especially, complaining about the age difference. It was five years, people!

Kudos to the writers for not making this a long and drawn out story. My fast forward button got a good rest while I was watching this. It's low angst, light, fluffy, cute, and all the other things when you don't want something heavy. It's one of those shows that I put off, thinking it couldn't possibly be that good, and then I was disappointed when it was over. I will definitely be re-watching it at some point in time.

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Could have been so much better

Not an original idea, by any means. However, I could have forgiven a lot if it had been better written.

Kim Dong Wook as Lee Jung Hoon and Moon Ga Young as Ha Na both did a good job with what they had to work with. My problems were these: 1) So he's able to remember everything - I don't see how that could prevent him from ever loving again. He held off and once he was interested in Ha Na I had a hard time understanding why. 2) Ha Na's character was too "stalker-ish" for me. He's not interested in her at all, yet she keeps showing up, asking him questions about things and generally making herself a nuisance. The actress is a beauty, and I loved the niceness of her character but otherwise she didn't endear herself to me. 3) Stalker storyline - that could have been written so much better, in such a way that it would be more of a surprise to us as a viewing audience. I was just happy to have it over with. 4) The two-year break up. So, you had fears of being in the public eye - hello?!?! You're public figures for heaven's sake! Her going to the US and them not having any contact at all for two years. In this age of technology (especially since she was always using her phone), it didn't make any sense. A breakup that lasts this long diminishes their love. How much could they possibly love one another if they are willing to be apart for that long? 5) The ending. Unbelievably rushed. No contact for two years, they run into one another in a book shop, and they act like virtual strangers. There wasn't enough time after this for us to get back to feeling like they were in love. Plus, the issues that drove them apart were magically resolved and not discussed. I really wish K-dramas would get a clue that we would like a little more at the back end of these shows, and maybe cut out some time-wasting stuff in the middle.

Liked:
The music was good.
Real kisses, thank you very much.
The very rare appearance of his smile
She's a beauty
Loved her sister

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This by no means was a comedy and shouldn't have been labeled as such

This was a hard movie to watch due to the subject matter. The evil in the world is never easy to watch. That said, I really enjoyed the acting and the action. Kim Woo Bin does such a fine job with micro-expressions, and I really liked the development of his character. There was a possibility of him going down a certain path, and I'm glad they didn't take that direction. Also, thank you for not trying to add in romance. (though I'd love to see him in a romance!)

I thought that the action sequences were very well-done.

Personally, I was glad this was a movie and not a series. It got straight to the point without wasting time.

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Not much to see here...

What I liked:
1) The main actors were excellent.
2) Original storyline.
3) She got over being a doormat quickly.
4) Mix of the old and new.
5) They didn't harp on the fact that she was older than him.
6) Some cute moments between them.
7) Some cute cultural difference exchanges.

Not so much:
1) Lacking in the romance department. Lots of ancillary stuff going on.
2) Even at the end, he was still calling her "teacher".
3) Too many episodes.
4) Not a lot of emotional feelings between the couple. I felt like they were telling me they were in love, rather than showing me.
4) The killer for me was the ending. What the heck!?! Neither one of them seemed very upset about going their separate ways. Obligatory (stupid) one year time jump, and he shows up in Paris out the blue. The fact that he was in traditional clothes led me to believe that he was just visiting and would go back to his own life. Nothing drops a rating faster for me than an ending that sucks.

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Blown Away!

Some shows you wonder if you should continue wasting your time watching them, hoping they'll get better. Some shows you are anxious to finish all your chores so you can watch them. I kept vacillating back and forth between wanting to forego my life just so I could watch one more episode, but then being sad in advance, knowing this wonderful ride was coming to an end. I was so thoroughly invested in this show, now that I've finished it, I have to say I'm really sad it's over.

STORY: A new village and a new set of people for our leads to get to know and come to care about. I'll admit, the long hair on Wook in the first few episodes really drove me crazy. But then I realized it really suited his kind of quirky personality. There were some new twists in this season, which brings me to the reasons that I gave this a 9 rather than a 10 - and here are the spoilers:
- Really, the whole thing is a suspension of disbelief, which is what I loved about it, but the reason (or lack thereof) for the captain not being able to leave her village didn't make any sense.
- Too many loose ends at the end. Which is fine, if there ends up being a season 3 (though PLEASE don't make us wait two years!)
- Mentions of other villages. Great concept but again, I didn't like that it was just setting up for another season. Because if it doesn't happen, then we're all just disappointed.
- Main bad guy - he was able to get away?! Please, don't have him in the next season. I don't ever like to feel like the bad guys are untouchable and that nothing can stop them. Plus, one of the things that I appreciated about this show was that the police knew what they were doing - I'd like to feel that they'd plan for any eventuality.
- You had BETTER NOT kill off Detective Shin. A mine field, really!?!
But other than that, I thought that this season was just as good as the first. I'll say again, what I said in my review for season 1, I love found family. Again, it was in the village, with the team, with the detectives, and I loved the addition of Bo Ra, and when Wook was explaining to her what it means to be a family, that summed it up perfectly.
The Oh Il Yong storyline - it was brilliant. I didn't get a good vibe from him in the beginning, which is what was supposed to happen, but his storyline was powerful and surprising. And I loved the relationship between him and Wook.
I loved that Jong A played a more integral role, as well as the fact that she stepped up to make herself more indispensable and figured out how to find more missing children. Gotta be honest, the potential for her to see ghosts is exciting, but there is something to be said for having someone on the team that is a little bit out of the loop. You lose some of the elements of surprise if everyone knows what's going on.
This season, the detectives were starting to figure out that there was something different about this team. I like that Detective Shin knows, but the others don't, but they know that there is absolutely something strange going on. That, to me, was amusing.

ACTING/CAST: Stellar. I was glad to see Thomas, even though it was too brief. I continued to be impressed with everyone in the cast, but this time around I have to give a shout out to Lee Jung Eun as the Captain. She's one of those actresses that I love her in everything she is in. That sweet/beautiful face and smile, her short, round body (I mean that in the best possible way - don't you think that she would give the best hugs?), I'd love her to be my grandma, but then I remember I'm old and she'd have to be my sister, but still. I liked the clothes that the costume designer put her in, Peter Pan collars, knit comfy sweaters, long loose skirts and sensible shoes. She just seemed so approachable. And to have her be the first person you see when you enter the village and have her say that she's made food, come in and she'll explain what's going on - she was the heart of the village. Jung Eun's acting is normally understated, but there were times in this show that her pain, anger and loneliness were almost palpable.

And that was the conundrum for these villagers, especially those that had been there for a long time. You want the children to be able to move on, but it's heartbreaking when they do.

MUSIC: I especially loved the theme song, I found myself humming it - I loved hearing it at the beginning of each episode, but at the end I didn't like it so much because that meant the episode was over.

REWATCH: For me, this isn't the type of show I would rewatch again, because I know what is going to happen.

However, if someone asks me for suggestions for well-written shows, with good character development, excellent chemistry between all actors and that have sucked me completely in, to the detriment of my "real" life, I'd definitely suggest Missing: The Other Side, Both Seasons one and two. You could probably watch only season two and figure out what is going on, but season one really does a good job of laying the groundwork for season two. Really, to be honest, I'm afraid that this show has set a bar so high for me that I'm doomed to be disappointed in other shows, especially since, as a romance lover, there has been so little good to choose from.

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How is it possible to get bored with only 10 episodes!?!?

The first few episodes rushed the whole story along and then they had to backtrack and add problems to fill in the rest of the episodes. I couldn't wait to finish this one. For me, this fell in the camp of "that's time I'll never get back."
Here are some of the problems that I had: 1) why did he like her? From just seeing her? 2) the ML was very one-dimensional, showed absolutely no emotion whatsoever throughout the show; 3) the FL starts out somewhat strong and has career goals for herself, and ended up just giving everything up for him; 4) Look up stalker in the dictionary - ML's picture will be there; 5) the show was unbalanced, it tried to go from ROMCOM to farce and then started to take itself seriously; 6) Almost every man in this show liked the FL. Why? 7) Large cast with inadequate development of characters. Grandmother was the cliche "bad guy" and the brother seemed to be thrown in to try to further the story and that whole storyline was not addressed in a way that made any sense; 8) No chemistry between the leads; 9) she spends a lot of time, in essence telling him to go away and not be a stalker, but then she's in love with him. Again, why?

This is a show that was actually irritating me as I watched it. For one reason, I think I've only ever dropped one drama and I felt compelled to complete this one, and that made me mad. As I was watching it, I just felt that, the leads especially, were just going through the motions. I couldn't relate to them and I didn't care about them.

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