This review may contain spoilers
Who needs depth when there's mood boards to bring to life
To me, the most important parts of a story are consistency in the plot and developed characters. Hierarchy had all the ingredients: the setup, the characters, the world, the aesthetics. Yet somehow it all felt empty. Like the people behind it cared more about how it looked than how it felt. Which they did, it's obvious.They didn’t seem to understand how to give the characters real emotions or motivations. Things just happened without enough reason or buildup. They romanticized everything — the heartbreak, the obsession, the pain — but didn’t do the work to earn it.
We’re told these characters feel things, but we're not shown how in a way that sticks. And that emotional depth is what makes a story hit. They had this idea for Rian and Jaei in which they're tragically meant for each other no matter who comes between them. One scene in which they are younger running around in a house doesn't tell me about the deep unexplainable bond they're supposed to have.
But that's also the thing. I love that deep unexplainable bond they have. I saw the same in Tempted and I was happy to see it here too. Jaei and Rian had something real, and if they’d taken the time to show us the layers of their connection, it could’ve been unforgettable. Instead, it ended up being surface-level — beautiful, but lacking the backbone to really make me believe it.
That being said — the visuals? Insane. This show is visually stunning. The styling, the cinematography, the whole vibe — unforgettable really. And I genuinely liked the characters, even if they didn’t get the depth they deserved. Well, at least some of them(Jaei's father and brother, i'm looking at your evil asses).
Speaking of, it was kind of refreshing seeing just plain evil characters. Sure, it's always better if they have motives, tragic backstories and stuff but seeing pure evilness sometimes everytime Jaei's brother appeared on screen, brought back memories when characters on tv shows used to be absolute menaces with no excuses.
I do wish we got more from the friend group too. I wanted to see more of their dynamics and how their relationships actually worked — but with only 7 episodes, I get that there wasn’t much room.
And also, if you haven't noticed already, I just chose to exclude the main character from my review completely because it was clear they were trying to remake Elite's Samuel but instead, we got a main character with unclear morals, failed and I don't know if even attempted revenge story, and a love triangle with Jaei which was extremely illogical because of the whole revenge attempt. I don't even know if I can call it a love triangle really.
Hierarchy was a show I wanted to fall in love with and for a long time I thought I did. But being pretty isn't enough. Next time, I hope they focus less on creating a mood board and more on creating a story with soul.
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Comfort show but there's no comfort
Let me just start this review off with the fact that Shut Up: Flower Boy Band has managed to make its way to my top 3 dramas of all time and every few months I have to watch at least some episodes to feel complete again.With that said,
Every single episode felt like a punch in the face and then a hug right after and then I got punched again. These guys never catch a break. They get hit with things that feel way too heavy and I watched these characters get dragged through everything possible. One step forward three steps back - constantly. I get annoyed when stories do that just to keep the drama going. Not Flower Boy Band, they're different.
There’s something about the way this show handles struggle that doesn’t feel forced. The main character especially, he’s got this constant push and pull between wanting to hold things together and watching them fall apart anyway. He’s not perfect, he screws things up, but I never stopped rooting for him.
And the people around him, his friends, they’re not just side characters or plot devices. They matter. Their relationships feel lived in. Messy. Sometimes quiet, sometimes explosive, but always with weight behind them. You believe in their bond even when they’re pushing each other away. And that’s part of what makes it hurt because the pain doesn’t come out of nowhere. You see how much they mean to each other. You see how hard they’re trying, even when they don’t know how to say it out loud.
That’s probably why the show hit me the way it did. I’m obsessed with shows that actually take the time to show how complicated people are. How they react to pain, how they deal with guilt, how they try to protect things that feel like home even when it’s slipping out of their hands. This show sits in all of that. It drowns in it really and rooting for these characters made me feel like I was rooting for the underdogs from my neighbourhood that are trying to make it big or something.
I'd recommend this drama to anybody. I know, it's full of tragedies, but it taught me to embrace and sit with the pain no matter how big the discomfort instead of running away the moment things get bad.
Eye Candy, you will always be famous in my eyes. Shut Up: Flower Boy Band, my diamond in the rough.
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Pet, Partner, Sanctuary
This drama is weird. Like, truly, beautifully, confusingly weird. It’s a story that, on paper, sounds borderline absurd—career woman takes in a younger man and lets him live with her under the condition that he becomes her "pet"? It hints at something kinky, something a little off. And yet, somehow, it becomes one of the most emotionally real shows I’ve ever watched.The dynamic between Sumire and Momo is where everything lives. It’s not just about romance—it’s about safety. It’s about having one space, one person, where you don’t have to perform. Sumire, who’s suffocating under the expectations of being the “perfect woman”—successful, beautiful, obedient in all the right ways—gets to be messy, silly, emotionally fragile around Momo. And Momo, despite the pet label, is never dehumanized. He chooses this role.
That’s what makes it hit so hard. These characters are lonely, but not in the aesthetic, Instagram-caption way. It’s the kind of loneliness that builds up in your bones because the world doesn’t allow you to be soft. Watching Sumire allow herself softness, and watching Momo hold space for her without trying to fix her or push her, is healing in a weird, low-key way. The show doesn’t spell it out, but you feel it. That aching kind of connection that doesn’t need grand declarations to mean everything.
The characters feel like real people. Their decisions are messy, human, and sometimes frustrating. The places feel lived in, the emotions unfiltered.
The drama feels real because it’s not about big twists or dramatic reveals. It’s about micro-emotions. The awkward silences. The way people lie to themselves. The strange comfort of finding someone who doesn’t need you to be "normal." And yeah, it’s psychologically weird. It toes the line between healthy and unhealthy. But that’s what makes it honest. Relationships aren’t always clean. They’re built out of need, fear, compromise, and longing. This show doesn’t flinch away from that.
It’s not about whether you’d want a relationship like this—it’s about understanding why someone would. And by the end, you do. You feel it.
Or at least I did:)
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Spectacular give me 14 of them right now
Amazing how Coffee Prince, as a drama from 2007, was so ahead of its time.You often see the classic "girl gets mistaken for a guy" trope in dramas, but it’s usually played for laughs, or the male lead finds out early enough to avoid any deeper complications. Not in Coffee Prince. You actually see Han Gyul’s feelings develop before he knows Eun Chan’s real gender. You watch him wrestle with the possibility that he might be falling in love with a man.
Hangyul, a 20-something irresponsible and charming "playboy" almost, finds himself swayed by this younger, short, scrappy and clumsy "guy" who works for him. Watching his internal breakdowns — the confusion, denial, frustration, and eventual acceptance — is honestly one of the most compelling character arcs I’ve seen in a K-drama. It's really done with sincerity and not for the sake of comedic misunderstandings which for me, I don't know how to tell you, was a breath of really fresh fucking air.
Yoon Eunhye, who plays Eunchan, actually makes the disguise believable. And not because she might really look like guy, but with her body language, mannerisms and the way she carries herself, even the outfits were a great choice if you ask me. Like, in the drama, I got why people mistook her for a guy(can't say the same thing about you're beautiful).
Even the supporting characters have depth. Most of the time they're comedic relief, yes, but each one gets their own little moment. The second lead couple does lean more into melodrama and gave me a whole bunch of unnecessary headaches but even then, there's something realistic about their struggles. Especially them two, felt really human.
All in all, coffee prince just feels real. The writing trusts the audience to to sit with the discomfort and ambiguity. It doesn't back away from complexity, which again makes me amazed by the fact this was released in 2007. I wasn't even born then haha
This is one of my favorite dramas of all time and it's one of those rare ones where I could genuinely appreciate at least one thing about every single(and i mean every single) character. It still holds up beautifully and its emotional honesty is something I almost never see nowadays in modern shows.
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Might need a Yankumi in my life too
I didn't expect Gokusen to become one of those shows for me. The kind you think about long after you finish watching it. But here we are ig.Yeah, the structure is the same in every episode. One or more of the boys face some type of problem, refuse help, then Yankumi comes in, beats up whoever was the problem and gives an aggressive motivational speech. But guess what.
It works. Every single time. For all 3 seasons. I never got tired of it. Every episode I looked forward to the situation they'll be facing and who the episode will be focused on. That way I got to pay attention more to the characters that I maybe didn't look at that much. It builds character depth and backstory, gives reason for why some characters are the way they are, and it's always so real.
I'm a sucker for stories about found family(it's my favorite trope really), about misunderstood outcasts, minorities, kids who just need a little guidance in life and trust from adults. And Gokusen has all of that and some more.
The boys, self-labeled and also labeled by society as delinquents, are actually layered, emotional, loyal, deeply good at heart and have very strong morals they abide by. They're not stupid or villainous, they just most of the time don't know how to express themselves in a world in which they are being ridiculed for being different.
Yankumi sees past those labels and so begins all. She believes in them, trusts them, and refuses to give up on them when they want her to. She eventually becomes the only adult in their life that they can rely on, be themselves with.
And there's something so comforting about that. Kids who have been let down by everyone else get their hope back and are willing to have dreams about who they would want to be again.
In a few moments, you see that she also grows as a person alongside them.
Just because you're different doesn't mean you're bad. Just because people look down on you doesn't mean you should stop trying. Every episode left me feeling something and to me, that's what great storytelling is all about.
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