Sakura_Falling

Middleman's Disgrace

It's hard to believe that Middleman's Love and Bed Friend are in any way connected. They're so completely different, it's almost jarring. While I wouldn't say that Middleman's Love was a series I was hotly anticipating, I was curious about it and looking forward to it to some degree. Bed Friend had a host of issues, but Jade was not one of them. I thought Yim's portrayal of him was a bit one note and there just wasn't a whole lot to the character, but with the focus on him and a proper storyline, there was potential. Unfortunately what we got was a complete disaster. Where Bed Friend tried to be darkly sexy with a healthy dose of trauma thrown in, Middleman's love went for a rom-com feel, heavy on the slapstick comedy. It doesn't work and it was almost physically painful to get through. If it was any more than the eight episodes it was, I would have bailed and I very nearly did within the first fifteen minutes, but clung on because of comments that it improved. And while there is some improvement in the last two episodes, it's far too little, too late to make a difference.

The story is a pretty generic office romance between an employee and his intern. It had the potential to be cute, but there's so much crap and unnecessary drama to bog it down that it's anything but. And sometimes that's redeemable if the characters are likeable, but they weren't. I guess there's the theme that there's someone for everyone, but it definitely could have been done better. I was put off almost immediately by the animation sequence that started things off. It was weird and unexpected and pointless. There were a couple more instances of that and they failed to add anything beneficial. They just continued to be weird and pointless. Equally off-putting was the abundance of comedic sound effects. Those were eventually toned down, but still very much overused. Given the title, I anticipated the fact that Jade always found himself in the middle would play a larger role than it did. In effect, it really played no role as it was mentioned a couple times, but that was about it. I think the drama could have been much more interesting if they had leaned into that concept and how always being in the middle really affected Jade. The NSFW scenes were...interesting to say the least. The scene between Gus and Tong felt abrupt. There had been the whole push and pull between them for a while, but when they finally got to the point where they were a couple, they immediately jumped into bed. To me, it felt out of character and out of place. Jade and Mai's scenes were even more out of character. Considering how Jade is Jade and that he was a virgin, the level of sensuality he gave was not believable to me. There needed to be some awkwardness and fumbling and not straight to sex god. Also going to say that the two of them eating the rose was just weird. There were, however, a couple things that I did appreciate like the theme of consent that continued over from Bed Friend. Gus actually verbally giving consent to Tong was nice to see. I also really liked both Jade's and Mai's families and how supportive and loving they were. With Jade's family, the conversation they had where they acknowledged his feelings was very well done and I wish we'd had more scenes like that.

The characters were pretty much irredeemable trash.
-Jade in Bed Friend was cute, a bit quirky and eccentric, but not in a bad or obnoxious way. He was a good, loyal friend who seemed to have a solid head on his shoulders. But with this series, it's like they took his eccentricities and magnified them a thousand times to the point where it didn't even seem to be the same character. And that was a major downfall because Jade ended up feeling more like a caricature than a character. He was loud, awkward, and painfully self-conscious, not at all cute. Other than getting over his fear of rejection to pursue Mai, there was very little character development. There was a lot of potential for Jade and if they had retained his original character, I think the romance between him and Mai could have been quite sweet.
-Mai was a besotted puppy who truly was essentially perfect. He was not one of those characters who seems perfect on the outside, but as things progress his flaws are shown. No, he was portrayed as being the perfect employee, the perfect boyfriend, the perfect son, everything. He lacked any kind of dimension or interest. He revolved around Jade and that was it.
-Ueau and King returned to serve as love advisors for Jade and Mai. We didn't get to see a whole lot of them outside that role, but the few moments we did revolved around petty drama. The fact that Ueau couldn't have a simple conversation with another man without King getting his hackles up was absurd. And while Ueau was still pretty much himself, they neutered King. In Bed Friend, he was confident and sexy, and while he pretty much always caved to Ueau, he had a personality and was his own man. Middleman's Love saw him turned into a simpering puppy whose most frequent line was calling Ueau Teerak (darling). Sort of cute the first time or two, but it quickly became redundant. He as a name, King, consider using it. Also, be done with the jealousy. It's not cute.
-Gus and Tong were a cute secondary couple, but their back and forth and where they stood got confusing at times. It would seem like they were getting somewhere and then next scene Gus would be sulking for some inexplicable reason. They needed more screen time to really build on their relationship. Also found Tong's comment that Gus never annoyed him and that he was just foul-mouthed to be utter BS. You were acting very annoyed a time or two there, sir, being foul-mouthed had nothing to do with it.

I'm not going to hate on the actors because they had garbage to work with. The script was a disaster and should have been shredded then burnt. Watching the behind the scenes, you can see how much effort they put into it, but there was just no saving it. As much as I couldn't stand Jade, I will give Yim all the kudos because I can only imagine how hard portraying him was. Playing high energy characters like that is exhausting, but he remained consistent. Tutor, again, just had nothing to work with. I know he's a good actor, but there were so many close ups that I don't think he had a chance to really spread his wings. He wasn't wooden though which he easily could have been and there was expression in his eyes so I'll give him that.

The production needs to be fired. How they looked at any of this and thought, yeah, this looks great is beyond me. They let down their actors who deserved so much better and they let down the fans who had been looking forward to this. There were a number of scene cuts that were very awkward and really killed the flow and tone as well as a few scene jumps that were equally awkward. In both cases, they made the story progression more confusing than it needed to be. The opening credits with the bobbleheads was not cute or funny. That was one of my first indications that this series was not going to be what I expected. And the music, particularly during the NSFW scenes was either forgettable or distracting. For the NSFW scenes, it didn't fit and I ended up muting eventually. I don't understand why they feel music is necessary for those kinds of scenes. If you have to have it, use instrumental pieces, it flows better.

To sum it up, Middleman's Love was a dumpster fire that should never have been made as is. The few cute or wholesome scenes are buried so deep, you have to sift through a mountain of garbage to find them. This is such a case of wasted potential and I hope Tutor, Yim and the other actors are given better opportunities to show their talents cause this was not it.

Read More

Too Big A GAP

Going into watching GAP, I wanted to like it, I really did. Especially with it being, from my understanding, Thailand's first GL focused drama. Also considering it had Becky and Freen as the leads, I was hopeful. I was, unfortunately, sorely disappointed in it. It started out strong but just went downhill from there and eventually there was simply no coming back. It became repetitive, tedious, and downright boring. I severely struggled to get through those last couple episodes. I think what I find saddest is that it had all the ingredients for a solid, if not spectacular, drama, but instead it just imploded.

The plot is thin here, razor thin. Okay, fine, I can work with that. Character driven dramas can be great too if done well. Except this wasn't done well. I liked the beginning with Mon and Sam reunited but with Sam not remembering Mon. I thought it was a stretch for Mon to expect Sam to remember her after so long, but, again, we'll go with it. The build up of their romance was okay if not great. They both seemed a bit too obtuse regarding figuring out their feelings. If you're biting each others lips and noses, it's a safe bet that you're probably not just friends. A lot of the problems though came once Sam and Mon actually got together. We got thrown into a repetitive cycle of fights and misunderstandings followed by making up only to do it all over again. Also, the waterworks. There was hardly an episode where one or both didn't cry at least once. I'm fairly certain the water level in the Gulf of Thailand went up an inch or two. And what all that bickering led me to wonder was if they even really loved each other. There were so few moments of them actually happy together, it made it hard to believe that they were each other's happiness. The pacing was awful after the first couple episodes. By the time I hit Episode 10, I was seriously wondering if I would make it through. It was just rehashing the same things over and over again and I was so done with it all.

There were also some aspects that were left unanswered or unexplained.
-One of the big ones I had was what exactly did Sam's company do? Their spin off that Mon worked on, Diversity Pop, seemed more social media oriented, but the rest of it was unknown.
-I don't believe Sam's parents and where they were or what may have happened to them was ever addressed. I would assume they're deceased though given that she and her sisters were raised by their grandmother.
-And where were Mon's parents? Their daughter was shacked up with her boss and there were no questions? No discussions? I mean, her parents seemed willing to agree to anything regarding Sam, but it was odd that they just kind of disappeared.
-What was with Nita? The flirting with Sam was very weird and awkward, I thought that was going to come back up at some point, but then she never appeared again. What purpose did that serve?
-There were a couple of times, particularly in Episode 11 though, where Yuki would be present, but she would be asked to do something to get rid of her. One, I didn't get why, it wasn't like they were sharing state secrets, and two, even if they were, they weren't lowering their voices at all so she wouldn't hear what they were saying. It was just weird.

The characters of Mon and Sam were an interesting pair given their differences. I liked how Sam was created. She was just bitchy enough to show the character's development throughout as she softens without making you absolutely hate her. Her awkwardness and struggles with communication also leant her a level of realism as well as giving her background more believability. However, I didn't think we were given enough insight into her emotions and thoughts. She loved Mon, but had she really given any thought to their future? She knew how her grandmother had reacted previously so why hadn't she put any thought into what would happen when her grandmother found out? It was all fair too vague for my taste. Mon was interesting because her appearance belayed her actions. She appeared sweet and innocent and yet when it came to things like continuing her relationship with Sam despite Sam technically being in a relationship with Kirk, she didn't put up much of a fight. She was portrayed a very much a people pleaser, something that came back to bite her a few times. With her I also had the question, prior to Episode 10, of whether she ever saw a future for them together. That lack of insight again was frustrating. And neither character had particularly great character development. Minimal at best. Together, while the theme seemed to be that differences attract, their relationship was not fully realized. Yes, they had chemistry and physical attraction, but very little beyond that was explored. There was a constant failure to communicate effectively despite several conversations discussing how they needed to communicate and by the end, it didn't feel like their relationship had developed to any real extent. Not every relationship in dramas needs to be sunshine and rainbows, but it does need to be established why the couple is together and what they're fighting for. Aside from Mon's hero worship of Sam, I really didn't get why these two were together.

Mon and Sam together also created a level of interest due to their moral ambiguity. It's not a primary focus, and it's never really addressed as such, but essentially Sam was cheating on Kirk. Despite the fact that she had no feelings for him, they were in a relationship that was headed towards marriage, willingly or not. While Mon shows some reticence towards this treatment of him, she never pushes it and Sam has no qualms despite being fully aware of Kirk's feelings for her. Now this can make it easy to view Kirk as a victim, however, that's hardly the case. While not the same big bad as Sam's grandmother, Kirk is an antagonist in his own right, albeit a more sympathetic one. His privilege comes screaming through in his actions, forming the deal with Nita, pressuring both Mon and Sam about the wedding, taking Sam's grandmother's words as gospel, all of it comes together to reveal that he's a man who doesn't really respect or value Sam regardless of what he says. His actions speak louder. I really appreciated his character for all his dimensions because you really don't view him as an antagonist initially. He's sweet and handsome and likeable and it's easy to think he's been ill used until you examine his actions more closely. Although proposing to Sam at Jim's wedding, that was an asshole move.

Yuki, Tee, Jim, and Kade were vastly underutilized characters. They pretty much popped up whenever Sam and Mon had a fight and oddly, despite being primarily Sam's friends, were always seen supporting Mon. The typical excuse was that Sam was unreachable, but I would have preferred if they switched things up with sometimes being there for Mon, other times being there for Sam or dividing and conquering. Although generally over the top all around, they added a good dose of humor and served as a source of support and advice for Mon. I just would have liked to see their characters fleshed out more and given more screen time. At some point, Tee and Yuki appear to have started a relationship, but it's never fully confirmed and never really shown either which I found disappointing. A side couple to divert from the main couple would have been very welcome.

Sam's grandmother was the big bad of the drama and frankly I was really disappointed with how she was used. I hated that they gave her a redemption arc as it was done far too quickly and unrealistically. If she had found out about their relationship earlier on and had been given more time to reconcile to the idea of them together, then I could have maybe gotten on board, but as it was, I was disappointed. Considering how set in her ways she was and how obviously firmly she held to her beliefs, it felt contrived that she changed her mind so abruptly. I would have much preferred to seen her stick to her guns and instead have Sam finally have the cojones to break free like her sister and damned what happened to old biddy. But that wouldn't be a totally happy ending and we can't have that.

While all the crying got very tiring after a while, I was impressed with both Becky and Freen for their ability to bring the waterworks. They were, for the most part, believable in those many emotional scenes. They had to be absolutely exhausting though. Becky's acting had a bit more a natural and raw feel to it, whereas Freen sometimes seemed almost too controlled even within the character. Still I overall their portrayal of their characters and they did have great chemistry together. Yo who played Sam's grandmother deserves a shout out because she made me legitimately despise the character.

The production quality was nothing special. There are some shaky shots that, while infrequent, I found distracting. Flashbacks are massively overused, particularly in later episodes. The songs used were repetitive and got old after a while. Basically the usual occurrence of the same song is played every time someone's happy, someone cries, etc. The instrumental music utilized varied from fitting to almost discordant. In particular, there was a scene in Episode 9 where the music was very loud and distracting and did not fit with the scene. It was awful.

Despite all the criticisms here, there were aspects that I enjoyed of GAP. The lesbian representation was obviously a highlight as was having a large female cast. I also appreciated that unlike BLs which have a tendency towards misogyny and objectification of their female cast, that was not the case here. The few male characters were treated as full characters and actually utilized within the story. I was uncertain about how the sex scenes would be portrayed, but they were aesthetically pleasing and well done.

GAP lacks a lot. In my opinion, it is not worth the slog to get through it. However, I am hopeful that GLs continue to be made and gain popularity and traction so that at some point, something truly great can be created. I would love to see a female director take the helm to bring a non-male perspective and perhaps even a full female production and film team. Only time will tell.

Read More

Nobody's SuperStar

Be Mine SuperStar can be summed up in single word: disappointing. This was a drama that had a potentially cute story, good actors, gorgeous filming locations, and yet still managed to completely fail. The plot is all over the place, the characters were a combination of cringe, problematic, and charming, the comedy aspect was boring, and the supposed love between the characters ranged from almost nonexistent to only about sex. Getting through those last few episodes was almost physically painful. If anything, this drama gets the reward for most pretty crying scenes in the shortest amount of time.

The premise didn't sound ground breaking, but it doesn't need to be either to tell a good story and be fun. I mean, how many of us have dreamed of meeting our celebrity crush and them falling in love with us? It seemed like if nothing else, it would be relatable and an entertaining rom-com. It wasn't. Frankly, I don't even know where to start with this mess. The plot was a bit all over the place and very inconsistent. It was only towards the end that it became a bit more cohesive. The comedy aspect was forced and overdone. Very little of what was played for laughs was actually funny. There were a few amusing parts, but they were few and far between. The angsty drama, mostly centered around the managers, was excessive and unnecessary. It was, I think, supposed to be amusing. It wasn't. It got old very, very quickly and took far too long to get resolved. Some arcs felt a bit unfinished, particularly with Priew and Title. Priew was arrested and Wan released the video of Title threatening to hit her and then that was it, there was no real resolution as to what happened to them. There didn't need to be a huge deal made about it, but something along the lines of mentioning that Priew was being prosecuted or Title was thoroughly disgraced and no one wanted to work with him would have wrapped up their stories a little more cohesively. The love stories were both very lacking. The romantic chemistry between Achi and Punn was almost nonexistent. Achi was too passive and Punn seemed more obsessed with Achi than in love with him. It just wasn't well developed to make it believable that these were two people in love. Lack of communication is almost always the source of conflict in dramas and this one is no difference. Despite being advised to communicate with each other, we never see them communicate effectively. Throwing Title in as the villain to their love was cliche and boring. He was not an effective or interesting villain. Muang and Ning's story was both troubling and boring. Muang was a red flag multiple times during his pursuit of Ning. The way they actually entered a relationship was glazed over and rushed. One second Muang is clinging to his leg begging him and the next they're having a drink and talking. There was too much left in the air. And once they finally did get together, pretty much every scene they had together was a NSFW scene or they were talking about their friend's problems. Other than obviously being sexually compatible and physically attracted to each other, I have no idea why they even liked each other. In general, both relationships lacked substance and meaning. The pacing was inconsistent, it positively dragged toward the end and ended being mostly filler with a lot of pretty crying and staring wistfully into the distance. It was a very anticlimactic ending to an anticlimactic drama.

The characters were lacking...a lot. Very little background on most of them which was disappointing because having that background can make or break a character. In this case, that lack didn't allow viewers to get a better understanding of the characters and help them understand their actions and behaviours. I had initially gotten the impression that Punn's history with Achi was going to play a bigger role in their story, but it was pretty casually brushed aside and basically only served as the starting point of Punn's love for Achi. A lot more could have been done with that to enhance the story and characters and I was disappointed that didn't happen.
-Punn was a struggle for me. There was a part of me that kind of liked him, but mostly I just found him to be incredibly immature and his behaviour to be very cringy. I don't know what they were going for with his character, if he was maybe supposed to be socially awkward or neurodivergent, but it didn't work. One of the questions I feel like his character brought up is whether the love we feel for our celebrity crushes can be romantic love or just a form of hero worship. True, Punn met Achi before he became famous, but it's clear they never actually knew each other and Punn's love for Achi did seem more hero worship than romantic to me. He came across as obsessive at times and he also didn't seem to fully appreciate or understand the boundaries Achi set for when they were in public given that he broke them multiple times. He just didn't seem mature enough to really be in a relationship. And some of his actions made zero sense. For example, when Priew was blackmailing him, rather than going to Wan who he knew would be in his corner, instead he went to Muang who also didn't suggest going to Wan and told him to sign the contract. What exactly were they thinking? And then there was the absurdity of his reaction to Achi's notes which served as the catalyst for their fight that took up the last couple of episodes. I feel like it's fairly common knowledge that actors and artists in general infuse their emotions and real life experiences in their art. That's part of what makes it realistic. So Punn taking Achi's notes as a sign that Achi was using him seemed unreasonable. Also, Punn had proven himself to be gullible at times, but to so easily believe Title when he knew Title didn't like him and was in love with Achi just seemed unrealistic. I really wanted to see Punn grow in maturity and come into his own as the drama progressed, but that just never seemed to really happen.
-Achi was a bit of an enigma. I struggled with his character because he seemed too passive at times. His words and actions just didn't match up for me. He said he loved Punn, implied that he was the love of his life, but I didn't feel it and didn't really see it. He seemed to find Punn's hero worship of him alternately amusing and, at times, vaguely annoying. I can understand if his character wasn't meant to be overly demonstrative but there needed to be something to show that he truly loved Punn. The build up of his love for Punn was also lacking. You could see him coming to tolerate Punn more and developing a certain level of affection for him, but where that crossed over to love wasn't clear. Essentially, there was a clear physical compatibility between them, but not so much a mental or emotional one. His lack of setting up boundaries with Title became an issue and why he didn't communicate that he was off the market, even if he didn't specify who he was with, is beyond me. In general, he was just a bit too trusting and seemed almost naive at times which didn't quite track with someone who'd been in the entertainment industry for a while.
-Muang was the highlight of this drama for me and for the most part I really loved him. He was funny, loyal, selfless and generally just a gem. Except for one glaring fault which would be with Doctor Ning and their second encounter together. I get that Muang was head over heels for him, but the fact that he was willing to take advantage of him when he was inebriated was a huge red flag. And then it was pretty much brushed aside and never mentioned again. That didn't sit well with me and felt out of character. In general, Muang's behaviour regarding Dr. Ning prior to them getting together was not great. He essentially stalked the man and wore him down, but not in a healthy way. Their relationship in general didn't seem particularly healthy and I was not a fan of it. For all that Muang said something to the effect of their relationship was not just about sex, that's pretty much all we saw them do. So that aspect of his character, I didn't like. Muang as a friend though was great. I liked how he took Punn under his wings and really did in some ways become a father figure to him, helping him, guiding him and supporting him. He was also a good friend to Achi, serving as a sounding board at times and supporting him as well.
-Title was boring. I know he was supposed to be the big bad coming between Achi and Punn and causing issues between them, but he was such a cliche that I just found him to be pointless and ineffective. His whole spiel of if I can't have him nobody can was eye rolling. The thing is, I think he could have been more interesting if he was given more depth and purpose.

The actors did a decent job given the garbage they were working with. Both Ja and First are talented actors. I've watched almost every drama they've been in so I've seen that they have good chemistry and work well together. Here though, the story and the script just failed them and they seemed to struggle. I was excited to see First in a more serious, mature role and I think for the most part, he did a decent job except for when it came to the romance aspect. He was too stoic and, like I mentioned before, I struggled to tell if he truly had feelings for Punn or not. For Ja, again, I'm not sure what they were going for with his character, the level of second hand embarrassment he generated was extreme, but he was consistent with it. I wasn't overly fond of the character, but Ja did commit himself to the role. Their chemistry was lackluster, nothing like in previous dramas such as Don't Say No or Remember Me. Bosston did a good job as Muang. He generally lit up the screen when he was on and was the one overall bright spot in this drama. His physical chemistry with Jo was good, I just would have liked their characters to have more than that. Wayo worked well with what he had. His character was just lacking in addition to the script and I can't really blame him for not being able to save it. I hope he has better opportunities in the future.

The one production aspect of this drama that really shone was the costuming. The costumes, whether within the drama they were filming or their regular clothes, were so well done. The sets were also well done, particularly the filming ones. Beautifully designed and they were well used. The cinematography, particularly in Japan, was beautiful. They really made use of the snow and snowfall to create some really beautiful shots. Some of the shots on the drama set were well done too, I particularly liked the one of Achi and Punn looking at each other through the fan. It was creative and oddly beautiful.

I was excited for this drama and the seemingly fun, romantic story it was going to tell. I was excited to see Ja and First again since their last drama, Remember Me, wasn't particularly good. And I was excited for the beautiful scenery the trailer showed and all of it's possibilities. The only aspect that didn't disappoint was the scenery. The rest was a bust. I kept hoping that things would get better, but they never did. It got to the point where I was looking forward to the next episode just because it was one step closer to the end and I wanted to be done with it. This isn't a drama that I recommend. It's got a few good parts, but overall, it's just not worth it.

Read More

Sweetly Sung

Sing My Crush is a sweet, breezy little drama that manages to keep a good balance of fluff with a little bit of angst and drama to keep it from being cloying. It's easily bingeable and can be completed in an afternoon and is a great de-stressor after a long day at work. I speak from experience. The characters are endearing, the plot simple, and the music divine.

The story is simple and it's simplicity is an asset considering the limited number of episodes. There are no deep dives into the characters' backgrounds, no real flashbacks, just a steady progression as the characters grow and it works. The story is overall cohesive, there are a few loose threads, the issue with Sangin doesn't feel fully resolved, for example, but nothing huge to complain about. The pacing is steady and overall well done despite a few laggy moments, but they're not enough to hold the story back too much.

The characters aren't overly complicated; on the surface, they're fairly transparent.
-Han Ba Ram is a sweetheart who, after being burned by love, is a bit hesitant to confess again. Being gay also complicates the matter and elevates his fear, so he keeps it a secret and continues living with the man he loves until his first love re-enters his life and complicates things. There's an element of frustration with him, the feeling that wouldn't it be better to just confess and get rid of the proverbial sword hanging over his head. But, having been in his shoes, I can also understand how incredibly difficult it is to confess, especially when you're afraid of ruining the friendship that you have. I was impressed with the character growth seen in such a short period of time. You can really see his confidence grow both in his music and as a person.
-Im Han Tae has to be one of the most dense characters I've seen. I truly thought he was already in love with Ba Ram up until Ba Ram confessed and he was totally clueless. His actions and behaviour afterward left me alternately laughing in exasperation and wanting to bash my head against the wall. It's a good thing he's cute. Nevertheless, I appreciated his loyalty and steadfastness when it came to Ba Ram and even when he wasn't 100% certain of his feelings, he still took care of and protected him.
-Sangin annoyed me from the get go and just got worse from there. He was far too handsy for any kind of reputable teacher and the way he baited Ba Ram into trying to kiss him to prove his love was disconcerting. Coming back after the fact and trying to steal Ba Ram's song was the cherry on top. I found it disappointing that he never once took responsibility for his actions, but continued to blame Ba Ram till the end. As a side note, he seemed too old be debuting, not that I'm any kind of expert on that and frankly I think expanding the age range would be great, but realistically, I didn't buy it.
-While they didn't play huge roles within the story, I liked Young Mi and Jeong Pal. They were cute as a couple, but I also liked their friendship and dynamic with Ba Ram and Han Tae.

The acting was good all around. Do Yoon and Hyun Woo had good chemistry. Even their first kiss, which I would normally consider a dead fish lip press, actually worked for them. It was hesitant and sweet and felt realistic for a first tentative kiss. They just seemed very comfortable around each other and I liked them together. I felt both actors did their character's justice.

I loved the music. Both "Letter of Apology" and "Second Wind" are beautiful songs. "Letter of Apology" was utilized throughout the run but it was done in such a way that I didn't get tired of it or feel that it was overplayed. The rest of the music was pretty generic but those two definitely stood out.

This is not a deep drama, it's too short to delve into any kind of real issues, and again they were smart to keep it simple. But simple doesn't mean without it's merits and it does touch on elements like having confidence in yourself, growing as a person, and pursuing what you love. I found it to be an enjoyable diversion for an afternoon and one that I would recommend and will likely come back to in the future.

Read More

Super Special Commercial

So this super special episode is essentially an extended commercial for laundry detergent. It's like those ones you see where the kid brings in their super dirty clothes and mom or dad uses the detergent being advertised and everything comes out perfectly clean, except this commercial is 15 minutes long instead of 30 seconds. That being said, it's still fun and it's still cute.

The story here is simply that Tinn wants to hear Gun say that he likes him and he goes to various lengths to get Gun to say so dirtying his shirt considerably while doing so. Gun also dirties his shirt and so they need to wash them, hence where the laundry detergent comes in. We're also treated to Gemini and Fourth singing their song You're Blushing.

It doesn't add much to their story, it really is just light and sweet, a pleasantly short diversion. But after the disappointment of their episodes in Our Skyy 2, this was a much more satisfactory way to wish the characters farewell.

Read More

Save the Date

Our Dating Sim is a drama with a lot of heart in a small package. It manages to combine a lot of well known tropes into a cohesive, well paced story that's cute and entertaining without overdoing it on the fluff factor. It presents characters that are likeable with enough of a backstory to also make them compelling. The game component added another layer that was engaging and further drew the viewer into the story. It was an all around fun little romantic comedy.

The story is relatively simple and uncomplicated which, with such a short air time, is smart. Flashbacks are kept to a minimum, just enough to give the viewer the gist of the characters' past relationship and it's importance. The pacing is very well done. It's not rushed, but the story is constantly moving and it never gets boring. It is very much a fluff fest, but there are a few tenser moments and some angst thrown in to keep it from getting too overbearing. Those scenes also allowed glimpses of characters in their more vulnerable moments.

Lee Wan and Gi Tae both presented as compelling characters. I liked that Gi Tae was a confident character, but he wasn't a bully like those types of characters often can be. He was clearly comfortable with himself and he shared that positivity with those around him. Underneath that confidence and positivity though was the pain of having lost Lee Wan and once he found him again, that pain turned to fear, the fear of losing him again. The scene where he thinks Lee Wan has disappeared again and he goes searching the streets for him is a poignant one. You can feel his fear and distress. And then once he does find him, his relief that he hasn't disappeared again is almost palpable. Much like the plants that he loves and cares for, Gi Tae takes root and really doesn't change much. His character is pretty much unwavering, but that simply allows Lee Wan's character to grow more.

Lee Wan is a bit more complex. One of his defining characteristics, at least initially, is his flight instinct which is very much active. Interestingly enough, they're typically preceded by moments of bravery like confessing to Gi Tae or accepting the job interview. He's an admirable character. He throws himself into his work, pushing himself, striving to learn. He's not a wallflower, but he also doesn't stand out. His journey has more ups and downs than Gi Tae's as he discovers more about himself, finding that in a way, Gi Tae is his roots, the reason he started drawing. He stops running away, instead accepting and declining opportunities after considering what is the best option for himself.

Lee Seung Gyu and Lee Jong Hyuk absolutely delivered with their performances. Physical intimacy is generally poorly done in Korean BLs but they brought their A game and everything about them was so effortless and natural. They both had clear understandings of their characters and their performances were believable and nuanced. I also really liked Sung Ryung as Sunny. She had a great presence and while she didn't say much, what she did say held weight.

The production value was fabulous. Having the dating game theme continued through pretty much every part was very engaging. The game stages at the end of each episode were cute and fun. I personally took them as an example of how the game they created was played and thought it was nice way to incorporate it.

This is not one of those dramas with a lot deep, thought provoking content and it doesn't try to tackle any issues, but it doesn't need to. It serves as something light and fluffy to take your mind off things and give you something to smile at for a bit. It's a very well done, short drama that I would absolutely recommend for multiple viewings.

Read More

The Gift of The Thousandth Star

Going into this final stretch of Our Skyy 2, I found myself with conflicting feelings. I was not expecting to see Bad Buddy and A Tale of Thousand Stars combined. None of the other stories were connected and I'm wondering why they decided to do so here. It's not bad, but I feel like the focus is more with the Thousand Stars story and Bad Buddy is the side piece. Like many other viewers, the Bad Buddy and Tale of a Thousand Stars episodes were the ones I was looking forward to most. They're the two oldest and so the nostalgia is stronger with them since it's been a couple years since we've seen these characters. As much as I anticipated these episodes, I found the first two just fell flat while the last two and particularly the final episode served as a suitable ending .

When it comes to Bad Buddy, I'm not sure how much of a fan I am in going back in time to just after Pat and Pran pretend to break up. I feel like a lot of the plot in that first episode is a rinse and repeat of what we've already seen. I would have preferred if it was a continuation from the end of the series after they graduated. We'd seen the rift between their parents starting to heal and things had reached a point where they weren't going to need to hide their relationship. Going on from there, continuing to show that healing, the novelty that they could be together openly, all would have made for a great conclusion to their story and would have focused solely on them. Its placement also limited the amount of character development that could be done since it did need to coincide with the ending of Bad Buddy.

Their relationship, while very similar to how it was in the series, does have its differences here. There was a good balance in Bad Buddy of mischievous/playful and sweet moments between them. I liked that it was a series where both leads were strong minded young men. It gave a whole different dynamic that worked very well. In the first two episodes though the sweet moments were few and far between while the mischievous/playful moments take precedence. And those few sweet moments are by and large initiated by Pat at which point Pran pushes him away or something interrupts them. It's been a while since I watched it, but I felt like they were on more of an even keel in the series of who initiated physical intimacy of any kind. That's not to say there aren't some sweet moments between them, there are, it just overall didn't feel quite in harmony with the series. And I was expecting a lot more of those sweet moments once they were away from their friends and parents since they wouldn't have to pretend anymore, but they took a back seat even then. As a side note, Pran's reaction to up and leave without Pat because of Pat's comment felt over the top. Since they were pretending to still be enemies, it would make sense that Pat would be bad mouthing him or making it seem like he was superior. Considering that Pran typically came across as relatively level-headed previously, his taking that comment to heart and deciding to abandon Pat didn't seem to quite fit with his character.

And while I wasn't a fan of those first two episodes, it was like a flip was switched for the final two. Suddenly we're getting more sweet moments between them, little ones as well as some genuinely heartfelt moments like when Pat finally admits that he can't live without Pran. It's a really beautiful little scene the likes of which were completely lacking in those first episodes. There are also little throwbacks to Bad Buddy like Pat asking Pran to rate his "performance". Things just seemed much more harmonious and back to normal between them in those final episode. I loved the play. I don't know why exactly, but I actually teared up a bit watching it. It was just well done and it was fitting that the two of them played the parts of Tian and Phupha. Their ending was both sweet with their kiss as well as funny with Pat's sister interrupting them again. It just suited them.

There were a couple of things, however, that just didn't quite work. Pat and Pran are supposed to be broken up and back to being enemies at this point. However, they don't act like it at all. They're constantly together in public without showing a bit of animosity and we're supposed to believe that their friends are in the dark. Yes, they're questioning it to some degree, but seriously, those two are so obvious a blind man could see they're still together. Besides that, it also appears that they're living together. Living across the hall from each other and sneaking into each other's rooms is one thing, but how on earth does them living together work? Do they just not have any friends who aren't in on their secret over? What about their parents? The other part that didn't work for me was how little time they spend together. With the first episode they spend a good portion of it together, but once the second and third episodes hit and they're in the village, they're pretty effectively separated for much of it. I would have preferred to see more of them working together rather than their divide and conquer strategy. There's also the matter of the play. If memory serves, Pat's father gives him grief for acting in Pran's play in Bad Buddy. But here, it's made out to be no big deal. Even with their kiss, Pran comments that his mother is proud of him and knows it's just acting. Um, did his mother have a lobotomy or something? She would have flown off the handle over something like that in Bad Buddy, but suddenly she's chill with that, no questions asked? That explanation really didn't work for me.

Ohm and Nanon are both very talented actors and two of my favorites. Their chemistry together in Bad Buddy was phenomenal and their interactions were just very natural. I've heard rumors of some kind of conflict between them, it's not something that I've really looked into, but after watching the first two episodes, I did have to wonder if there was something going on between them. The spark they had previously just wasn't quite there. I can't put my finger on it, but something felt a bit off. And then, with those last two episodes, the flip was switched again and it felt like they were back to normal. They seemed more comfortable with each other and everything between them went back to feeling natural. I have no idea what changed, but I'm so glad it did because it made a huge difference.

A Tale of Thousand Stars was a series that I really enjoyed. I liked the story which I felt was overall well done as well as the characters and acting. I was very excited to see Tian, Phupha and the rest of the characters from their story again and I have to admit I'm a bit disappointed at how few of the characters were brought back. For their story, I was hoping for a continuation from the end of the series focusing on Tian getting reacquainted with the village and villagers and settling back in with them and into his relationship with Phupha. I was not hoping for angsty, teenage drama between two grown men.

The inconsistencies between the series and Our Skyy 2 are grating. Phupha seems to have undergone a personality transplant because initially he's just coming across as an unreasonable jerk. He was a serious character in Thousand Stars, but he wasn't totally unbending and there was a tenderness about him whenever he was with Tian that was very endearing. That was just gone. Their conflict felt very contrived. In the series they generally came across as two reasonable adults, here though they feel more like sulky teenagers. I was hoping to get a better explanation for why Phupha didn't want to accompany Tian than he doesn't like crowds. That reasoning just seemed like BS since we saw him at at least two gatherings in the series. I was glad that was cleared up, but it still felt a bit BSish. I don't understand the popularity of keeping a secret from your SO that's causing damage to your relationship just so you can surprise them later. It doesn't work. Sticking with Phupha for a moment, his fainting just as he meets Pran also felt off. This is a man who very rarely showed any kind of weakness, so to see him keel over because he hadn't had breakfast felt out of character. There was also Tian acting like he didn't know how to get to Pha Pun Dao initially when he went there alone, in the dark previously. And besides that time, he'd gone at least two other times, if not more so his uncertainty of how to get there didn't make sense. When Phupha meets Tian's parents, it almost seemed like he didn't know Tian's dad, which, if memory serves, he had been Phupha's superior officer at one point or something along those lines so I didn't understand the disconnect there. There are a few other minor details that don't quite jive with the series which was more just annoying than causing any actual issues.

The final two episodes mostly made up for the crap from the second one. I liked that Tian and Phupha started to at least try to communicate to some degree. Not well necessarily, but the scare of Tian being lost seemed to knock some sense into the both of them and make them realize how much they actually cared for each other. Phupha surprising Tian in Bangkok was kind of fun. Again, I don't approve of those kind of surprises, but Tian was obviously thrilled so all's well that ends well, I guess. They felt more in tune with each other during these scenes, and I'll attribute part of that to Phupha finally reading Tian's diary and gaining a better understanding of him. Again, not a fan of the whole birthday surprise, though it was kind of adorable to see how happy Tian was when he saw Phupha standing in front of him. That scene though when Phupha essentially proposes to Tian and gives him their thousandth star was beautifully done and had me in tears. That scene alone made up for everything else honestly. I also found it hilarious how the final scene was basically a mash up of the ending of Bad Buddy and Thousand Stars. Perfection.

Similar to Ohm and Nanon, Earth and Mix didn't have quite the same spark between them in those first two episodes as they did in the series. Even when they were in conflict, you could feel that magnetic pull between them. Maybe because their bickering here just felt petty more than anything, that pull didn't seem to be there as much. But, again, flip switch with those final two episodes and it felt like they were back to themselves which made me very happy. The angsty teenage drama and attitudes were gone and they were back to being reasonable adults. It also reminded me just how good these two are together. They communicate so much emotion just through their eyes and it's amazing to watch. Truly phenomenal actors.

Having these two series combined did create some interesting and entertaining moments. Pat and Phupha waking up and panicking about what they may have done together was a particularly funny scene. Also the fact that Phupha offering Pat his shirt was a direct call back to a scene from Thousand Stars. Phupha asking Tian to rate him after their night together as well as the ending between them both called back scenes from Bad Buddy. The friendships that developed between Pran and Tian and Phupha and Pat were really neat to see. Tian and Pran had the more heartfelt moments and you could feel a real connection between them whereas Phupha and Pat were pure chaotic entertainment.

While I love both Bad Buddy and A Tale of Thousand Stars, I didn't think I would love them combined. To an extent, I still feel like we were robbed of Pat and Pran's story in favor of one centered on Phupha and Tian. I don't think combining them was necessary and I think there needed to have been a really good reason to do so which I just don't see. If it could be redone, I would ultimately prefer them to be separated and each have their own two episodes. However, since that is not what we got, I will say that the final two made up for the severely lacking everything of the first two. There were some really beautiful and heartfelt moments and it felt like things got back on track. All in all, I would say that they served as a fitting conclusion both to A Tale of Thousand Stars and Our Skyy 2.

Read More

Doesn't Make the Cut

I expected more from this drama than what I got. The premise sounded interesting and I was especially intrigued by the fashion aspect. However, the synopsis was misleading and this turned out to be a terribly paced, terribly told story that was just disappointing. The worst part is that it had potential, it just completely failed to live up to it.

The story suffered from a serious lack of information and direction. I'm fine with minimal background information as long as it's done well and it explains enough to give meaning to the character's actions and motives. And parts of it did work. We didn't need a drawn out backstory for Ki Jin and Yi Bin's relationship. Likewise we didn't need to delve deep in Yeong Woo's history. In each case, just enough information was given to provide meaning to the story without any excess. However, the relationship between Yeong Woo and Yi Bin was never explained or explored which begs the question of what happened there? Were they former lovers? Friends? What? More information was needed than a handful of flashbacks that basically did nothing but lead to more questions. Also, the fact that they're suddenly friends at the end when the last time we saw them together there was definitely some animosity since they both liked Ki Jin made it seem like something was missed.

And then there was the complete lack of direction for the story. I have no idea what story was even trying to be told here. My initial impression was that it was going to be about Ki Jin striving to become a noted fashion designer and he ended up finding love along the way and that's kind of how it started, but partway through, it just completely lost its way and we're left with a lot of unanswered questions. What was with him suddenly turning all moody and morose? Yes, Yi Bin gave him his break, but did he really think he was chosen solely for that? What exactly happened during his last meeting with the chairwoman? Why did he apparently ghost Yeong Woo? The impression I got is that his show was cancelled in order for him to go to New York, but judging by the crumpled ticket in the trash that Yi Bin saw, that didn't happen either. So where was he for that year? Did he open his own studio? That's what it seemed like at least. And why did Yeong Woo forgive him so easily? They were both way too calm about that impromptu reunion. The farther I got into the drama, the more questions I had and almost none were ever answered. It was a very unsatisfactory ending to be left with so much unexplained information.

The acting was okay, nothing spectacular. Bum Jun and Choo Suk Young definitely stood out as the amateurs. They weren't bad per say, just definitely lack in experience. I think both have potential given more time. Eom Se Ung was the best of the three and gave the most solid performance. He was expressive without being over the top which I liked.

The production value was not great overall. The quality just seems pretty average, there were some sound issues, and the editing was obviously not great. Flashbacks were used far too frequently. The time spent showing the same scenes over and over again would have been better spent on fleshing out the story and answering some of the questions left unanswered. On the other hand, some parts of the cinematography were good. I particularly liked the ending shot with them on opposite sides of the street. The OST, while a bit repetitive, was still good and I did enjoy it.

One of the things I liked and I felt was a subtle nod to the fashion premise of the drama was the evolution of Yeong Woo's style. He starts out dressing, not sloppily, but very casually. Baggier clothes, oversized overshirts and the like. The actor's a good looking guy so none of it looks bad on him, but it's definitely not refined. By the end though, while he's wearing similar styles of clothing, there is a sense of refinement there. The clothing fits better and looks better, but it's still very much his style. I liked that it showed he had changed and yet, at the same time, he was still himself.

This is really not a drama I can recommend unfortunately. The lack of a concrete story and the need to try to piece all the parts together yourself just makes it a waste of time, in my opinion. There is no reason to ever rewatch it and this is one that I would just avoid.

Read More

The King Has Fallen

I have rarely watched a drama that put me through such emotional highs and lows. What it did well, it did very well, but where it struggled in pacing, it struggled epically to the point that I shelved this drama for several months and very nearly dropped it. It is, in my opinion, a fairly flawed drama with an interesting concept but not nearly enough background or explanation for how things work. That being said it overcomes those flaws with colorful characters and an underdog story that keeps the viewer engaged.

The storyline as I mentioned before is, at its heart, your typical underdogs take on the big guns and come out victorious. It is also a comeback story for lead character, Ye Xiu, after being forced to retire from e-sports. It's overall quite heartwarming. It's fun to see this team slowly taking shape, to see the many personalities coming together and forming a cohesive unit. The first half or so of the drama focuses more on Ye Xiu and his comeback as Lord Grim, building up his new weapon and establishing his new character and the second half focuses more on the building of the team and their efforts to turn themselves into a professional team. Pacing during the first half is an issue with some real highs and then a lot of just filler that kills the mood. In particular, I believe it was around episodes 16-20 the pacing got so bad that it very nearly made me drop the drama. Thankfully things picked up again around episode 21 or so and the pacing improved significantly, but it was less than stellar there for a minute. One of the things I really appreciated about this drama was the lack of romance. I kept waiting for it to happen and was pleasantly surprised when it didn't. I enjoyed the focus on the friendships and felt that it was stronger remaining as such rather than evolving into something more.

This drama, overall, had a stellar cast. But there were a few that really stood out and a few that really didn't. Jiang Long as Shao Tian was a riot. I absolutely adored him and he was so entertaining to watch. He completely brought his character to life. I enjoyed his chemistry with Gao Han Yu as Yu Wen Zhou, they played off of each other really well and I overall just liked their friendship. Lai Yi is always a pleasure to watch because he just disappears into whatever character he's playing. He was so entertaining as the goofy Bao Rong Xing and I appreciated the chance to see him in a new kind of role. Daisy Li as Tang Rou did a good job of bringing her character's aloof arrogance while also showing her softer side. I've seen Yang Yang in a few dramas now and, in my opinion, he's mostly just a pretty face. He's not a bad actor, its more that it doesn't seem like he's really acting, like he's just being himself. He's not quite able to showcase more complex or subtle emotions. There's just a sameness to a lot of what he does that makes him a bit boring to watch. I really didn't find his character all that interesting and in part that was due to his acting. Lai Yu Meng as Su Mu Cheng had similar issues in that I felt she was very stale in her acting. Same facial expressions, same reactions throughout with very little variation throughout the drama.

Despite the large number of characters, I was overall quite impressed with how most of them were given enough screen time to make a meaningful contribution to the story. I was also impressed with the character development of many of the characters, particularly Sun Xiang. I really appreciated the fact that while his character improved and he wasn't the irredeemable jerk from the beginning, it wasn't like he'd turned into a saint either. He was still himself, still cocky, but not quite with that same I'm-better-than-everyone attitude. Chen Guo is another one who goes through quite a dramatic development from bullying internet café owner to supportive team manager. Her journey is definitely a bit more up and down and I found myself alternately really liking her character and finding her incredibly annoying. When she was being her bossy, badass self, I really liked her. She was a no nonsense, get stuff done kind of girl and I appreciated that. But once she found out who Ye Xiu was, I found her pandering to him to be annoying and out of character. And then once she became the team manager initially, her wishy washiness and weak willed attitude also seemed out of character. Once she snapped out of that and got back to being a girl boss, I enjoyed her character again. (As a side note, I had zero issues with her age. I didn't think she looked too old at all.) You also have characters like Yi Fan who starts out lacking confidence and acting as a doormat for others and by the end has gained confidence, is vice captain, and helps lead the team to victory. Each character has their own journey and there are a lot of characters who make personal discoveries through playing Glory and finding themselves better for it.

I was not overly fond of Ye Xiu's character for a number of reasons. First and foremost, he was just too perfect. I find characters like that supremely annoying because of how completely unrealistic they are. They're unrelatable and because of that I personally find them uninteresting. Similarly, the fact that he goes undefeated in the game until his weapon breaks, again, just seems unrealistic. I don't think he thought of himself as superior to anyone but his preachiness got irritating after a while. No one always knows the right thing to say in every situation.

Though limited, I really enjoyed the OST. The opening and closing songs were amazing and I enjoyed the other songs as well. My only complaint is that I felt they were overused. You had the same songs used repeatedly and it was noticeable after a while.

Despite overall enjoying this drama, there were definitely some flaws/things I didn't love.
-I like knowing how things work so one big issue I had was not having more information about Glory and the game's dynamics. With that I was left with a number of questions regarding Ye Xiu's Myriad Manifestation Umbrella. Could any player create their own weapon? And how exactly was that done? Were there any limits? And so on and so forth. Obviously not all of those questions could be answered, but I feel like a few of them could have been to give some basics.
-Sticking with game dynamics to an extent, more information on the guilds too and how they were laid out would have been interesting. They didn't play as big of a role after the first half of the drama, but during the first half it would have been nice to have a little more information.
-One aspect that I consider a flaw is that no one seemed to suspect Lord Grim of being Ye Xiu. Ye Xiu retires and suddenly this new, extraordinarily skilled player appears and no one finds that suspicious? Really?
-In these kind of underdog stories, I hate when they throw in gimmicks to make it so they win when they actually lost. They did that twice in this drama, the first time due to an issue with the referee's timer and the second in the finale they only won because Ye Xiu broke a record. To do it once is bad enough, but twice, especially in the final competition is just lame.
-I know Team Happy needed certain types of players for their team, but I didn't love the way they manipulated people to get them to join. Yes, they gave back game cards even after they'd taken them and ultimately no damage was done and people joined willingly, but they were still manipulative and that didn't sit well with me.

To sum it up, this drama left me with a mix of emotions. There were several scenes that left me feeling quite emotional, for example, when the captains and Shao Tian meet Ye Xiu in the Heavenly Domain and welcome him back and when Team Happy all assembles on stage at the conference. Those scenes were so well done, but a lot of the time, those highly emotional scenes would be followed by filler episodes or scenes that just kind of killed the mood. This drama was truly an emotional roller coaster and not necessarily in a good way. I'm glad that I finished it, but if Season 2 ever comes out, I don't think I'll be watching and I don't think this is a drama that I'll be rewatching, certainly not anytime in the near future.

Read More

Poetry in Motion

Chinese dramas are always hit or miss for me. I often find that they struggle with pacing, overinflated casts, and solid storylines. Ancient Love Poetry, to my extreme pleasure, suffered from almost none of these and is on par with Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms in terms of quality. Nearly everything was perfect from the acting to the sets to the OST. I enjoyed every moment of watching it and will definitely watch again in the future.

The story is relatively simple, but I found that to be a strength. Instead of getting bogged down with multiple side stories or an overcomplicated plot, it pretty well stuck to the main story. And that story is played out very well, with enough action and slow moments to balance things out and keep the viewer engaged. It is, at its heart, a love story, and not just romantic love, but also the love of family and friends and how that love changes and shapes the characters. Pacing, something that I nearly always find fault with in Chinese dramas, was actually quite good. The first few episodes are necessarily slow in order to set the background and build up the characters and story, but I didn't find it boring. There are certainly a few episodes that seemed more filler than substance, but I can't even really complain too much about those as I didn't feel they dragged too much.

The acting is superb, I truly couldn't find much to fault with any of them. Zhou Dong Yu and Xu Kai were excellent in the leading roles. I was very impressed with how they both created such unique and separate character for Shang Gu/Hou Chi and Bai Jue/Qing Mu/Bo Xuan respectively. While they appeared the same, obviously, their characters were so different that there wasn't any chance with confusing one for the other. Jenny Zhang was fantastic as Wu Huan, just every part of her performance was flawless. She made Wu Huan into such a complex character and I really enjoyed watching the character development or devolvement, in her case. I've always enjoyed watching Lai Yi, he's an excellent actor and he just blends into whichever character he plays. While I enjoyed his performance as a younger Gu Jun, I was truly impressed by his acting after the fall of the God Realm. He perfectly played the role of doting father as well as aloof god. His interactions were Zhou Dong Yu were so sweet to watch and I was impressed with the both of them considering there's only a two year age difference. Liu Xue Yi was very entertaining to watch as Tian Qi, I imagine he must have had a lot of fun with that role. As I said before, this was just such a phenomenal cast, from the leads to all the side characters, they all just did such an amazing job bringing this drama to life.

While I often find that Chinese dramas have overinflated casts where there's no possible way to do justice to all the characters, I found that Ancient Love Poetry didn't suffer from this nearly as much. There were a handful of instances where I wondered what had happened to a character since they just seemed to be forgotten, but overall, I was very impressed with how well all of the characters were incorporated and given their own stories. I enjoyed the side couples and was pleased to see that they weren't neglected and actually had solid storylines for the most part. I truly enjoyed each and every character and I didn't really feel that any of them were overly superfluous or unnecessary. I also appreciated the amount of character growth seen, whether good or bad, in many of the characters. Even some more of the minor characters showed significant character growth and I enjoyed seeing that.

Another issue I tend to have with primarily Chinese dramas is their tendency to let off the villains lightly after they've hurt or killed countless people. I have mixed feelings about how Wu Huan was dealt with. On the one hand, her going mad seems to be letting her off easy, but if she was just killed, that would have been too good for her. I also felt like Jing Zhao got off pretty easy with just losing her voice. However, what offsets the disappointment of the villains getting of lighter than I would like, is the fact that nearly everyone who dies comes back. I was so happy to see Hong Ri back there at the end, as well as to hear that Gu Jun and Jing Jian were going to be coming back as well, though I would have really liked to see them reunited with their loved ones.

The OST was gorgeous, the songs fit with the story and emotions of the episodes. I was really impressed with it and have been enjoying continuing to listen to it.

The production was well done, it was obvious that this was a higher budget drama. Despite the extensive use of CGI, for the most part, it didn't look or feel fake. I particularly liked how each location had its own theme in terms of style and how it fit with the characters. The costuming was gorgeous as it always is in these dramas. I liked how the character's costumes changed depending on where they were in life. There's a subtle, but distinct difference between how Shang Gu dressed and how Hou Chi is dressed and the same goes for Bai Jue and Qing Mu as well as other characters. It was all very well done.

I really cannot recommend this drama enough. It captured me from the opening credits and held me until the end credits of the final episode. It was a very enjoyable experience and one I look forward to repeating in the future.

Read More

Unexpectedly Lovely

I didn't have particularly high expectations going into this drama. The synopsis sounded relatively promising and it was short, so even if it was terrible at least I hadn't wasted a huge amount of time on it. This drama, however, proved to be anything but terrible and is one of the best I've watched in a while. I literally stayed up until 4 am just to finish watching it.

The story for me was a fascinating combination of simplicity and complexity. The overall plot is fairly simple, friends who make videos investigating the paranormal. The complexity comes from how the character's lives interweave with that simple story and how their relationships with each other change and grow. Its truly beautiful to watch. I was never bored, despite there being a few parts during the middle when things were a bit slow, but I don't feel like those moments really take away from the drama either. My only qualm is that I feel like they could have used the mystery of the nunnery to better effect. I was really fascinated with it in the beginning and it just kind of fell by the wayside eventually and only cropped up when convenient.

The acting was so good. Erek Lin in particular as Amber was amazing. Every time he was onscreen, I was just riveted by his performance. The depth that he managed to portray with simple looks was truly impressive. Lukas Huang as Le was also quite good. Where I could really feel Amber's pain and distress and believe it, I didn't find Lukas as believable when having to portray more extreme emotions. I really noticed at the end when he talks to his mom. The scene and dialogue are beautiful, but his acting just feels a touch forced and inauthentic. Otherwise though, I really enjoyed his portrayal of Le. Tannie Huang also did a lovely job as Yu He. She portrayed a character that could very easily have been annoying but she managed to find a balance that really worked and I ended up really loving and feeling for her character. Lin Wei Jie and Leo Guo were equally good as Li and Gwan. Though I found Li's portrayal to be a bit over the top at times, he was overall a loveable guy and not too terribly annoying. Gwan sometimes felt like he was just kind of there and I felt like Leo could have used his facial expression to better effect at times, but overall enjoyed his performance as well.

One of the things I loved about this drama was how overall well-rounded the vast majority of the characters were despite its short length. Particularly the characters of Le, Yu He, and Wen-Wen. I know a lot of people found the flashbacks to be annoying, but I personally found them to be very interesting in comparing their personalities as children and then as adults and seeing the ways they were still the same and the ways they had changed.
- Wen-Wen aka Amber obviously had the biggest change, both physically and mentally. Even when he is first introduced as an adult, you can see how mentally and emotionally fragile he is. He is no longer the carefree child. But what is also obvious almost from the get go, is his love for Le and how that has never changed. He is such a sweet character and his story is so unique in terms of BL stories, I've never seen one with a similar character. His rawness and vulnerability are so beautifully portrayed by Erek. And his fear of being found out and rejected is almost palpable. I honestly spent half the drama just wanting to give him a hug. I really enjoyed watching his relationship with Le grow, in a different way from when they were children. The ending with the two of them was just so heartwarming and I was so happy to see him accepted and loved unconditionally.
- I knew I was going to like Le from the first moment; everything about him just screamed that he was an honestly good person. And he did not disappoint. He was a bit of a typical BL guy in that he wasn't interested in anyone and wasn't really looking for love. His sexual preference is never really overtly discussed. Wen-Wen was his childhood sweetheart, but aside from her, there's no impression given that he's ever liked anyone else. But there is an obvious connection between him and Amber pretty much from the first. He's protective of him and far more affectionate towards him than his other friends. While its obvious to anyone else that he has feelings for Amber, he's oblivious to those feelings until Yu He talks it out with him. I think all of it is handled very well. His confusion regarding his feelings is understandable. Are they because he loves Amber for Amber or is it because Amber reminds him of Wen-Wen? And what I love is that he's able to separate the two. He loved Wen-Wen because of who she was when they were children, but he fell in love with Amber because of who he was before he even knew he was once Wen-Wen. Their conversation at the end when they're in the forest was just sheer perfection and really showed to me how far Le had come.
- I was not sure what I was going to think of Yu He initially. Her loud mouth and big personality gave her the potential to be annoying, but this drama did what a lot of BL dramas don't and actually utilized their female character. Instead of having her serve no other purpose than comedic relief or just to push the story along, she was her own person with her own hopes and dreams. I really came to love her character and to appreciate the hard situation she found herself in. I truly admired and appreciated the grace with which she gave up her love for Le, which had to be so incredibly hard since she'd loved him since they were children. They could have turned her into an absolute harpy and used her to hurt both Amber and Le but I'm so happy they didn't. Her reaction to finding out about Amber was completely heartfelt and I really liked that their friendship, though definitely changed was still intact. With that in mind, I can't agree with everything that she did, but I never felt that her intentions were in any way malicious. She came across as very human and relatable. She was just an all around fantastic character and I wish BL dramas had more like her.
- I'm going to lump Li and Gwan here together as I didn't have particularly strong opinions about either of them. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed them and I thought they made a cute couple, but I wasn't hugely invested in their story and they kind of faded out after their little tiff and making up. There just wasn't a whole lot there to really interest me. What I did like and found unique was having a secondary couple that was already established; they'd been together for four years. And with that was the simple domesticity of their living together. Most dramas are so fraught with the drama of the couples getting together that scenes like that are few and far between if present at all so I did like that addition.
- Le's mom was frankly awesome. She was such a tolerant and supportive mother and that last scene with her and Le was just so heartwarming. I also just loved how she was basically everyone's mom and always welcoming and caring to all of Le's friends.

I really enjoyed the music. The opening song was fun and catchy and the song they used for closing several episodes was really beautiful.

Gorgeous cinematography. Sweeping view of Taiwan's stunning country will never get old.

I adore this drama. It was beautiful and heartfelt and so worth the watch. It had a few minor bumps, but overall I felt it was a well-rounded, well-told story with characters that truly drew you in. I highly, highly recommend watching it. The first couple episodes are maybe a tad slow, but its well worth sticking it out.

Read More

Mechanic Needed

Going into Love Mechanics, I was expecting something pretty special. I'd heard some pretty high praise for it, not to mention the high rating, and based on the hype, I figured this was going to be one of my new favorite dramas. But after watching it, I really don't understand that hype. It was decidedly mediocre, certainly nothing to write home about. The plot, what little there was of one, was repetitive. Miscommunication ran rampant, more so than in a lot of other BLs. It got to a point where it was just tedious. What other absurd reason are the writers going to come up with to keep our leads separate? And what makes it even more disappointing is the fact that Yin and War have fantastic chemistry, but we get so very little time of them actually together and happy, not fighting or sulking or some other terrible emotional state. This drama gets added to the list of ones that had potential but just went nowhere.

Love Mechanics gets added to the ever growing list of dramas without a plot. I know I've said this before, but why is it so hard to write a story that actually has a point? What happens essentially is that Mark and Vee get together, or almost get together, something or someone comes between them, they fight, one or both gets blackout drunk, rinse and repeat. I'm not kidding, that is exactly what happens and not just once, but three or four times. It's ridiculous and sad. Especially the drinking. Almost every character here needed to go to AA. I don't think I've ever seen a drama where drinking was so prevalent. Scenes of characters going out and getting drunk were featured at least once an episode, sometimes more. And besides the drinking being repetitive, the conversations that went with it were equally repetitive. It was a constant conversation of who liked who, trying to force confessions, or woe is me I'll never find love. It got old very quickly, especially with people, Yihwa especially, trying to find ways to force others, namely Mark, into revealing their feelings. Who needs or wants friends like that? It was all very toxic.

Ploy, Vee's ex-girlfriend, was a repeat offender when it came to separating our leads. That being said though, I didn't hate her. She was not portrayed as the villainous woman who deliberately came between them. Her cheating on Vee was, of course, unacceptable and she acknowledged that and that she had made a mistake, but when she found out that Vee had moved one, she didn't maliciously try to sink her claws into him to stay. That final kiss between them was a mistake on both their parts, Vee for putting himself in a situation where it could happen and Ploy for letting her emotions get the best of her, though considering what she'd been through, it's understandable that she'd be a bit emotionally fragile and unstable. But she still tried to make things right, explaining what had happened to Vee's friends and trying to explain to Mark as well. Having her become a source of contention between Vee and Mark three times though was just overkill because then you had Mark misinterpreting their relationship during the photo shoot. What I found most disappointing in regards to Ploy and Vee's relationship is that there is an element of Ploy being depicted as the bad guy for cheating on Vee, however, at the same time, you have Vee cheating on Ploy with Mark and not only does he never tell Ploy of his philandering, the fact that he was cheating as well is never really brought up. That aspect felt very sexist.

Miscommunication is always a popular method of causing drama and moving the story forward, but Love Mechanics took it to the next level. It was just miscommunication after miscommunication between Mark and Vee and it got to a point where it felt very lazy. I began to wonder if they were ever going to get together and there were more than a few moments where I just hung my head because, yup, here we go again with one of them saying or doing something stupid and causing the other to misunderstand them. I really wanted to see these two sit down and have a long heart to heart conversation which, naturally, never happened.

Everyone falling in love with Mark was just weird. Yes, he's cute, but to have multiple men positively pining over him seemed highly unrealistic. Krat especially came out of literally nowhere and started pursuing Mark hard. That whole plot line was just super weird and out of left field. It really didn't fit in well and since by that time I was beyond sick of all the roadblocks that kept popping up for our couple, I was never going to be a fan. Nuea's relentless pursuit of Mark wore thin pretty quickly as well. Consent was not a strong point in this drama as Mark told both men that he wasn't interested and that didn't faze them in the slightest and they just kept coming on to him.

The characters were a mix of good and bad. Mark, Vee, Bar, Kan, Yoo, Mark's mother and Vee's and Yoo's parents were the sum total of characters that I overall liked. Despite the drama between them, I did mostly like Mark and Vee. Mark's moments of immaturity towards Vee when he was trying to push him away and the way he essentially taunted Vee with whether or not he would forgive him were his less endearing traits, but overall I don't think he was a bad guy. Loving Vee was certainly not easy and there is an element that some of what he did was done in an effort to protect himself from further harm. He was shown though to be a good and loyal friend. And even though it hurt, I appreciated his maturity in letting Bar go once he knew he was taken. His sassiness was entertaining and I liked his strength of character. Vee was basically a teddy bear. He never seemed to learn from his mistakes and his heart ruled his head most of the time, but he was overall such a sweetheart. He kind of liked to play the bad boy, but he obviously wasn't and he had a nobility to him that I found endearing. I liked how Bar and Kan to a lesser extent were the only two of Vee's friend group who were actually supportive of he and Mark together. Bar as Vee's best friend was featured more prominently and it was refreshing to have someone who actually seemed to have Vee's best interests at heart and was a kind and sympathetic friend. Unlike Vee's other friends who constantly razzed him and got in his business, Bar was the quiet voice of reason and someone Vee could actually trust. I really enjoyed their friendship. Yoo had some great moments as Vee's brother. He had some very entertaining one liners, but he was also a voice of reason for Vee, trying to shake him out of his stupors after yet another misunderstanding with Mark. He acted very much like I imagine a big brother would in the situations he found himself. I liked that Mark found a second home and a second set of parents at Vee's home. Vee's mother especially was wonderful, just warm and sweet and understanding. She immediately took Mark in without question, loving him and taking care of him like he was her own. Vee's father was not demonstrative in his affections, but I really liked him. His tidbits of wisdom, like the one he bestowed on Vee regarding his motorbike, were a subtle display of affection and a way to prepare his son for the world. His defense of Mark and his family from Mark's own father was a great scene as was the one shortly thereafter when he has a one on one conversation with Mark's father. Mark's mother was also very sweet in her own way and I liked her quietly momma bear ways. She was certainly more moderate than Mark's father and it was clear that she loved her son and only wanted what was best for him.

The majority of Vee's and Mark's friends were overwhelmingly annoying. Everything with them felt like a cliché from their entire friend group being gay except for Yihwa who filled the gap of the female straight friend to their over the top antics. Mark's father came across as a very unpleasant person initially, I truly wondered how he and his wife ever got together, but after speaking with Vee's father and revealing a bit more of his concerns, he became much more understandable character. I still would have liked to have a bit more information on him and what exactly made him tick, not to mention an actual conversation between him and his son where they came to some kind of understanding, but I liked that he was given some depth and wasn't a raging asshole for no reason.

Yin and War are the standouts in terms of acting. They both expressed their characters so well and seemed to have a real understanding of them. Their chemistry was one of the few high points of the series. They were just phenomenal together and had a real connection that translated very well to the screen. It's a pity that everything else didn't reach their level.

The production was overall pretty decent. I really liked some of the cinematography, there were some great shots and angles in there. The music was another highlight. Aside from one or two tracks that I wasn't hugely fond of, the rest of it worked very well.

This is one drama where I wish I'd read some of the reviews beforehand to have a better idea of what to expect. I don't think I would have been quite as disappointed in it if I had. I'm not going to say that it's a drama to avoid. It has it's redeeming features, though not many. I think in the end, I would say it's worth watching once. It's not one that's worth watching more than once though. Then again I'm not a fan of that level of angst and miscommunication and drama, so I'll leave repeated viewings to your discretion.

Read More

La Pee-ew

La Pluie started off promising enough with an interesting concept and characters that worked within that concept, however, it quickly snowballed with ridiculous, unnecessary drama that contributed nothing to the story and eventually concluded by ghosting one of its leads for almost the entire episode. It could have been much better than it was if the creators had a more solid grasp on what kind of story they were wanting to tell. As it is, it strays into the absurd and eventually loses any kind of credibility. This is one drama that almost isn't worth the watch because the script is so bad.

The concept of rain related deafness was interesting where the person is unable to hear anyone except their "soulmate". It's not well explained or really developed, but at least initially that was fine. You have Saengtai and Phat who have experienced hearing loss for at least two years at the time the story starts and are soulmates. However, due to his parents divorcing, Tai doesn't believe in soulmates any longer and actively ignores Phat whenever he tries to communicate with him. I liked Phat and Tai initially. The fact that both of them were determined to defy their destinies and then ended up falling for each other in the end was cute. There was a decent build up and I liked their interactions. What ended up killing it for me was throwing Lomfon into the mix. The drama that created was unnecessary, particularly suddenly having Lomfon develop hearing loss and hearing both Phat and Tai. From there it was just a constant back and forth of misunderstandings that got tiring to watch. The final episode sent Tai on the hunt to find Phat and we spend almost the entirety of the episode Phat-less which was certainly a decision. He finally shows up with about 5 minutes remaining, they make up and everything is great. Throughout the series there's the side couple of Saengtien, Saengtai's younger brother, and Lomfon who start to develop feelings for each other, but it's complicated by Lomfon's feelings for Tai as well. Basically everything gets neatly and conveniently wrapped up and leaves you wondering why it took so long to get to that point as well as feeling like nothing was really gained.

I do feel a lot of issues would have been cleared up if the parameters of the rain deafness were defined. This is supposed to be a medical condition and yet there is absolutely no rhyme or reason to how it works and I lost interest in the idea of it as it was manipulated to forward the story. Lomfon, who has feelings for Tai, doesn't seem to have a chance because he's not Tai's soulmate until he very conveniently develops the hearing loss and can hear both Tai and Phat which, it is never addressed or explained that he seemingly can hear both of them, he just focuses on the fact that he can hear Tai. They also talk about how it's not possible that they can hear more than one person which makes it seem like this is a complete anomaly and again, isn't that just convenient. And then when Lomfon and Phat start fighting over Tai, all Tai has to do is yell that he doesn't want this destiny and suddenly they're all cured? It just completely strayed out of the realm of plausible within the confines of the story to the absurd and took away any and all credence it had to begin with. And I do get that a lot of it was probably deliberate. Half the point of the drama is this debate of whether soulmates are real or not. But there needs to be some level of grounding as well and there was not.

I started out overall liking most of the characters, particularly Phat. They each had their own distinctive personalities and I was hopeful that there was going to be some real character growth, but I was frankly disappointed the farther along we got.
-Saengtai was one of my least favorite characters, but I also found him interesting in his decision to defy his destiny. I didn't approve of his treatment of his mother and his childish behaviour regarding his parents' divorce. The fact that he laid the full blame on his mother and evidently made absolutely no effort to understand why his parents had reached the point of concluding things were not going to work out was frustrating the more that got dragged out. That his parents had to sit him down and explain things in detail that didn't feel like they should need an explanation was ridiculous. He was old enough that he should have been able to figure a lot of that out himself. Aside from that, I also found his passiveness to be frustrating as the story progressed. Things that seemed like they should have caused a reaction didn't and especially after he and Phat broke up, he was just far too calm about everything. And then there were other times he made unilateral conclusions without waiting for any kind of explanation. All in all, he came across as quite selfish and self-absorbed at times.
-Phat started out pretty perfect. He was friendly, kind, compassionate, and an all around good guy. He was incredibly patient and considerate with Tai, he communicated and communicated well both with Tai and with his ex, Nara. Even with Lomfon he was initially polite. He was an absolute breath of fresh air but in hindsight a little too perfect. He lacked some personality. But then Episode 10 hit and his character went up in flames. His reaction to finding out Tai had lied to him and finding Lomfon kissing him was to beat the crap out of Lomfon. The sudden aggressiveness that permeated his every action that episode was completely out of the blue and out of character. And he never shows any real remorse for those actions. He never apologizes to Lomfon for attacking him nor does he apologize to Tai for going off the rails. It's all very neatly swept under the rug. He later goes to try to make up with Tai, sees him talking to Lomfon and immediately interprets that as them being together and decides the best course of action is to disappear. We see him in Episode 12 for a grand total of about 5 minutes during which he mostly stares blankly at Tai while he monologues. It's a disappointing ending for the character.
-Saengtien is a loveable, mischievous brat and I absolutely loved his relationship with Tai and him as a character. I don't recall a good explanation being given for why he and Lomfon are at such odds initially, other than they are very different people. Lomfon is obviously more introverted and Tien is much more extroverted. I liked the way that Tien's attraction to Lomfon was developed as it felt natural. I truly felt bad for him when he saw Lomfon and Tai kissing and his reaction and his behaviour afterward felt justified. The love confession scene with Lomfon is such a good scene, just his hesitancy to believe, rightfully so, and then the hope. It's beautifully done and the range of emotions always gets me. The ending though where he suddenly develops hearing loss feels a tad ridiculous. Again, I know it's driving home the point of the show, but still.
-Lomfon left me feeling conflicted regarding his character. On the one hand, I liked his interactions with Tien and I liked the build up of their relationship. And initially there was nothing wrong with him liking Tai because at that point, Tai was single. His continued pursuit though of Tai even after he had entered into a public relationship with Phat was over the line. At that point, it didn't matter if his feelings were conflicted as to whether he liked Tai or Tien. Even with developing the rain deafness suddenly and being able to hear Tai, the fact that Tai was already in a loving relationship should have told him that he was now off limits. His continual pushing of the matter made me lose a lot of respect for his character. And while I was glad he did apologize to Tai, he also owed an apology to Phat which he never does. I do still love his confession to Tien though and I think they're adorable together.

The acting was overall decent. I liked the chemistry between Suar and Copter. I felt it was lacking more between Title and Pee, but I think that's in part because there were times where it felt like Title forgot to emote and his expressions were just dead. They did have their moments though, just not enough to be consistent. Aside from the last episode where he just seemed devoid of any real emotion which felt out of place, I liked Pee's performance. Suar was great and I was impressed with his chemistry with everyone he interacted with. Copter was a bit wooden at times which worked to an extent with his character, but I did feel he could have given more.

There were several elements that were thrown in without much explanation that really didn't contribute much to the story. One of the main ones being that both Phat and Lomfon had history with Tai without any of them realizing it. Phat's grandmother had lived next door to Tai and he and Phat had communicated via notes over the years, however, had never actually met. And then Lomfon had his own connection to Tai as Tai had saved him from being hit by a car, that one encounter resulting in Lomfon falling in love with the stranger who saved him and making Tai Lomfon's first love. Nara and Dream's developing relationship came out of left field. While cute, I don't think there was time to give it the attention it deserved so it wasn't well executed and felt rushed. And finally, in the last episode, we have a random couple show up to help Tai when he runs out of gas and for some reason get their life story. They get more screen time than Phat.

This was essentially a drama with an interesting concept and a decent cast that was let down by the writing. It started out well but went downhill during the last couple of episodes and the ending was disappointingly anticlimactic. Frankly, this is one drama that you're not going to be missing out on if you skip it.

Read More

Perfectly Vengeful

Perfect Marriage Revenge is not the kind of drama I typically get into, but every once in a while one catches my attention and I'll end up watching it. And what fun it was! Brought back to life after suffering a lifetime of abuse and neglect, Yi Joo comes back for revenge, but along the way finds love and the family she'd never dared to hope for. It's one of those dramas that you know is going to have a happy ending, but the ride to get there is a touch bumpy and the drama is delicious.

I tend to struggle with Makjangs because they always feel slightly too long and somewhere in the middle things start to lag and I lose interest. At 12 episodes though, Perfect Marriage Revenge mostly avoided that issue because there was so much going on that there just wasn't a whole lot of time for filler nonsense. There's a fairy tale element here, I think someone mentioned Cinderella, which is certainly apt given the evil stepmother and sister vibe, but in this case, Cinderella is, in many ways, her own fairy godmother and the handsome prince is more than just a pretty face. Yi Joo spent her entire life as a door mat, letting pretty much anyone and everyone walk all over her. Yet, despite the extreme abuse she suffered, she refused to let it turn her bitter, at least until she's on her deathbed and begins to realize just how deep that abuse ran. Given a second chance at life, she sets out to take revenge on her adopted family and utterly destroy them for the pain they caused her. Her first move, is stealing her sister's love interest, who is all too willing to join forces with Yi Joo. Do Guk had fallen in love with Yi Joo before he even really met her, her paintings capturing him, and when they died on the same day, he wished for her to find the love she so desperately wanted. Also given a second chance at life, he throws his lot in with Yi Joo, determined to help her seek her revenge and make her fall in love with him along the way. Of course, it's not smooth sailing. Their enemies, namely Yi Joo's adopted mother and Do Guk's brother, aren't entirely stupid and they manage to win a few hands, but in the end, good prevails and evil falls. Being a soap opera, naturally you have to throw common sense out the window and just go along with the absurdity. There are plenty of twists and turns, most fairly obvious, but with one or two that actually did surprise me. The ending was a tad prosaic. Everything gets wrapped with a neat little bow and it's almost too perfect. Still given everything our leads went through, I suppose they deserve a non-dramatic ending. The pacing was decent all things considered. It did get a tad laggy about midway, mostly with repetitive scenes, particularly between our leads as they reassured each other that they were in this together and they would succeed. Yes, we got that the first five times you said it. But otherwise, things progressed pretty steadily.

Ah, the over the top characters, dramatically plotting, hunting down secrets and desperately trying to conceal secrets, righting the past and attempting to destroy the past. They're all larger than life and almost to a man, or woman, polarizing.
- Yi Joo is the perfect woman. Despite her family's abuse, she continued to go through life with a smile and refused to let their hatred tarnish her. But once she set her heart on avenging herself on them, she was ruthless, meticulously tearing them apart. The change in her from the first episode to the next is stark. Gone is the naive, trampled young woman and in her place is someone who knows her worth and is willing to go to bat for herself. While the need for that change is clear, it's still abrupt. And while not apparent in that first episode, it's quickly shown that she is a very intelligent woman, though how she has some of the knowledge she possesses is unclear. Her relationship with Do Guk, while slow moving, is overall well done as she grows to trust him and then to love him. Despite the drama surrounding them, their relationship is relatively drama free, save for when she discovers that he was also brought back. Even so, they maintain communication and soon overcome that obstacle. Yi Joo's character development, despite having a few moments where it stalls, is also well done. While Do Guk certainly serves as her biggest support, she is not without agency and is pivotal in changing her own life around.
- Do Guk is the perfect man to Yi Joo's perfect woman. Caring and loyal with a strong moral compass, he comes alongside Yi Joo to help her accomplish her mission in taking revenge on her family. Obviously taken by Yi Joo from their first meeting, it's not revealed until much later just how deep those feelings go. While the reasons Yi Joo fell in love with Do Guk are more obvious, Do Guk's reasons are more shrouded. His feelings originated from how her painting made him feel and grew from there. He serves as a safe space for her and she for him. His character development is much more subtle and yet it's still present as he comes to find his own purpose and gain the strength and courage to pursue it.
- Jung Hye is Yi Joo's deliciously malicious adopted mother. Rotten to the core with a cruel streak a mile wide, she made Yi Joo's life a living hell, until she comes back and Jung Hye finds that she's met her match. A woman willing to do absolutely anything to get ahead, she is a master manipulator. Lying comes as easily to her as breathing even when it comes to her own daughter. She's consistent in her vile ways until the bitter end when she's left with the knowledge that she has been utterly forsaken.
-Yoo Ra is the worshipped daughter of Jung Hye who can do no wrong. She looks down on her older sister because she's adopted, flirts with her sister's husband, and is a pampered princess. While not generally taking an active role in her mother's schemes, she attempts to do her own damage to Yi Joo and discredit her, though she's rather inept and her own reputation is damaged instead. Piece by piece she is brought down as she discovers she's not even her father's daughter, her mother has been lying to her, and she's pregnant with the wrong man's baby. I was concerned for a bit that they were going to go for a redemption arc with her, but was very glad they didn't as that just wouldn't be as satisfying.
- Jung Wook is Do Guk's conniving older brother. The presumed heir to the family's company, his moral compass points in the exact opposite direction as his brother's. Willing to cut corners, lie and cheat his way to success, there's very little he won't do to get ahead. Holding the event that left him with an injured leg over his brother's head, he actively seeks to leave Do Guk out in the cold, making home an uncomfortable place for him and reminding him of his supposed superiority. While Jung Wook never shows any remorse for what he does to his brother and Yi Joo, he is eventually brought down a few pegs when his father reveals that all the resentment he'd built up and held onto, blaming his father for abandoning his mother, was all for naught as it was in fact, his mother who abandoned them.
-Honorable mentions go to Do Guk's mother and grandmother who were both badass women in their own ways. I loved them both and how willing they were to accept Yi Joo as a member of their family. And, of course, can't forget Yi Joo's own mother who overcame so much to be reunited with her daughter. The one character I did feel a bit bad for and whose ending wasn't wholly deserved was Se Hyeok. There's certainly an element of he made his bed and now he has to lie in it, but he at least seemed to have actual remorse for his actions and was trying to turn over a new leaf. It's a pity that he couldn't escape Yoo Ra.

This series had a great cast that really embraced the drama. Jung Yoo Min was lovely as Yi Joo. She did a great job of combining Yi Joo's softness with an iron will. Sung Hoon was effortlessly charming as Do Guk with an added depth that gave the character dimension. Together their chemistry was a little more subtle, but also very much present. They didn't need excessive amounts of PDA to show that they loved each other. Lee Min Young did her job very well as I absolutely despised Jung Hye. Kang Shin Hyo as Jung Wook, however, was not as compelling. I certainly didn't like his character, but my feelings were much less strong when compared to how Jung Hye made me feel.

The production was quite good. I liked the cinematography. Possibly because painting and art work played a part in the story, there seemed to be a higher level of attention paid to color in the costumes, set, and design in general. It was very pleasing to look at. The women's costumes in particular were gorgeous. It was clear that a lot of time and effort was put into those. The men's, however, was lacking a bit and it would have been nice to see them given the same attention to detail.

Perfect Marriage Revenge is not a drama to take seriously or try to find sense in. It is a soap opera so anything goes, no matter how absurd. But there is humor to be found in the absurdity, fun in the drama, and satisfaction in the knowledge that good will triumph over evil.

Read More

Fired the Weatherman

It's been a minute since I've seen a drama so completely lackluster and pointless. My expectations weren't high, frankly I wasn't sure what to expect, but I certainly thought it was going to be better than it was. I truly don't understand the relatively high rating this drama has. The relationship is toxic, which is fine, not every relationship is sunshine and daisies and it can be interesting when those kinds of toxic relationships are explored. But there is no exploration here, no sense of why these people are together, and no character development to bring clarity. It's just eight episodes of nothingness that left me wondering what the heck I'd just watched.

Plots are apparently boring as there is barely one present. I kept waiting for something to happen, for some kind of progress, but nothing ever happened. It's basically two men going around in circles and nothing ever gets accomplished. It was incredibly frustrating to watch and I kept wondering, how on earth are they going to give this a satisfying ending? The answer quite simply is that they didn't. The pacing is mediocre, just good enough to keep me watching to the end. That's the best I can say for it.

The characters are frustrating and weak. They're supposed to be in love, but neither one is good at expressing that love or even admitting to it. They can't even communicate to any real degree. Their conversations are by and large short and stilted. There are several instances of miscommunication because they are both incapable of opening their mouths. Segasaki is a meteorologist who's charming on tv, but at home is less than agreeable. He treats Yoh as more of a servant than someone he cares about and that never really goes away. Rather than developing positively as the series progresses, he grows ever more possessive of Yoh to the point that he literally ties him up to prevent him from leaving. Yoh, for his part, is a very passive person who fails to speak up for himself or really do anything for himself period. He takes Segasaki's treatment and while he contemplates leaving him, never actually does anything to facilitate that idea. He's just such an ineffectual character. The ending is very similar to the beginning, except they're supposedly happy. Yoh has apparently come to the conclusion that he likes Segasaki's abuse and Segasaki is ever so slightly more attentive, though still very possessive. They both just lack any kind of real depth of character and there's nothing present to make me care about either of them. It's a huge disconnect between them and the audience. And despite the fact that their initial history with how they met and connected is shown, the in between of that time period and the present is left a mystery. The character development is basically nil which is disappointing because there could have been a lot more to it.

Both actors are fairly generically cute and that was the biggest thing they had going for them since their acting skills left something to be desired. Even if characters lack in vocal communication, a lot can be conveyed in other ways. Unfortunately that didn't happen here. Their overall performance was as lackluster as the story. Funnily enough, their chemistry during the intimate scenes was actually quite good. It's just a pity that didn't translate to the more mundane scenes.

The production value was good as is to be expected with a Japanese production. The opening and ending credits were very aesthetically pleasing with music that meshed well.

Ultimately I found this drama to be disappointing and incredibly mediocre. It's aesthetics are about all it has going for it and that's simply not enough. With a stronger story and characters, it could have been compelling and unique but unfortunately, it is neither of those. If you want a drama that leaves you feeling unsatisfied, this is the one for you.

Read More