scenophile

Healthy, adorably awkward

This is probably one of the healthiest relationships I've ever seen in a drama ever, but it was even more than that. They captured the innocence, the awkwardness, the purity of first relationships so perfectly between two characters that just completely believed and trusted in each other. No dumb misunderstandings and breakups, and just consistent communication and mutual support...THIS is what I've always wanted to see in a drama relationship. The side ships were really intriguing as well and overall everyone just acted like real people, which was really refreshing.

This drama spends a decent amount of time on the leads' respective jobs, and it did a really good job in showing what day-to-day was like, as well as tying them together. If anything, however, I wish I saw a little more of Ruan Qing Xia's work — it felt the entire time as if she was kind of an add-on to the drama. Don't get me wrong, I loved her romance plot and her character, but she never had much independent screentime.

Overall, the main leads are also so independent and strong on their own. All the conflicts were resolved really satisfyingly, which is good, though there were times I wish there was some sort of conflict or angst that brought out more emotions in me.

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A beautiful and satisfying masterpiece

I'll admit I went into this one with a bit of trepidation; I haven't watched many period pieces and the first two episodes were just confusing and loudly overacted — and the CGI was kind of bad.

Now having finished all 50 episodes, everything hits different. This is one of those dramas that I, who never rewatches things in full, would actually rewatch because there is just SO MUCH to the story. It's big-brained and even though I found myself figuring out small plots pretty quickly, it was still enjoyable to see the characters figure it out, and the final wrap-up was satisfying and mind-blowing. Essentially, this drama is intensely plot-driven, every episode moves the story forwards and even small scenes are endearing, foreshadowing, or have delightful easter eggs in them. This is one that grows on you over the episodes and sticks with you forever.

There are so many characters but that just adds to the beauty of it; upon rewatch you see every character differently, you notice their habits, you revisit their backstories, and more. The character development and personalities for everyone are so natural, and this drama perfectly depicts morally gray areas. Every single character plays their part in the story and they do it so well.

I'd be remiss if I didn't point out the two leads especially, who are such intriguing characters and have such fleshed-out stories and personalities. Thank GOD for such intelligent and communicative characters, who actually figured things out to move the plot forwards instead of having things occur by happenstance.

And yes, it's censored but they did such of a good job of showing the WangXian relationship implicitly; the chemistry was there, and there are just so many little hints (visual symbols, motifs, quotes) that make the slow burn just that much better.

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Realistic but unremarkable

I had heard comparisons between this and Go Ahead, which I loved; LCDF though, just didn't hit me the same way. On the one hand, I appreciated that no drama was over-the-top (which is understandable, considering that it's based on real events), but on the other hand, it felt almost boring.

I definitely enjoyed second ship which seemed to have a little bit more spark, but at the same time there were moments where they just kept things from each other for too long.

Ultimately though I still enjoyed the subtle way in which the leads fell in love, and I liked that there was no over-dramatic third-party villain. The characters were realistic, their problems were relatable, and the family issues were touching.

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Nostalgic but messy

I had my reservations going into this, thinking that the story itself was a little creepy. It was, but it wasn't as bad as I thought and I actually quite liked that the main characters had to really get to know each other slowly.

Ultimately though, my issue was with a lack of depth in the characters. This includes the mains, but also refers to the side characters; none of them felt likable, whether it was because they were constantly a doormat or because they acted like a SFL that the drama was trying to pass off as a good character. The only character I really loved was Zhang Ming-Rui, but it really felt like he got the short end of the stick.

Regardless, I actually enjoyed the relationship between the two leads and their backstory for the first part; unfortunately, like a lot of C-dramas, once the big conflict hit, it felt like everything just fell apart. Misunderstandings skyrocketed, there was the dreaded lack of communication time skip, etc. Things just got really messy and it felt like nothing in terms of family background was explored as much as it could have been.

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The best kind of stressful

First Thai movie ever! This was so intense and I swear no movie has ever made me root so hard for academic dishonesty. The best part of this movie is undoubtedly the cinematography and sound; it might feel over-the-top for some, but for me, it really felt like the movie bought into its own story and that made me buy into it as well.

Bad Genius was so much stress, but I became so invested in it and was really rooting for all the characters. The way the movie talks about class inequality and moral ambiguity is also just so subtly and artistically weaved into the movie.

Enjoyed this so much — a story about cheating on standardized exams may not seem like much, but there's a lot to love.

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Better than I expected

I read the short story right before this and honestly didn't think a film would be able to do it justice, with how mysterious and nameless the characters are. But this movie really managed to create that atmosphere of impending doom, of a question you're just on the brink of answering. This is one of those movies you feel.

And they kept a lot of the original lines from the original short story, and the William Faulker reference! I was really worried they take that out. The only thing that maybe bothers me is the fact that they did greenhouses instead of barns.

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Wholesome

This had a really pure, aesthetic ASMR-ambience kind of vibe — the kind that makes me want to sit in a tea shop for an entire afternoon. I appreciate the communication between the leads and the lack of ridiculous drama tropes, and just overall the simplicity of everything.

Ultimately — this is an ad for a tea shop in Korea (which I will look for for sure if I ever visit, so it accomplished its goal) but there's really not much plot at all (and honestly it's not very heavy on the romance aside from implications) but the vibe of the show is really enjoyable.

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Revenge dramas are ALWAYS fun

I'm a sucker for a revenge plot, and this one caught my eye because it was business and brain-oriented, not like the other revenge dramas where the main guy just goes around beating up bodyguards and secretly recording corruption. No, Park Saeroyi did everything BY THE BOOK, and I appreciated so much that he was willing to play the long game.

I was super into this drama for most of it. Even though the romance was unusual, I actually didn't have an issue with the age gap, because we saw Saeroyi fall in love with someone who stuck with him through the years, instead of the typical "first love" trope.

One point of the romance that did sit badly with me, however, was a non-consensual kiss which I would've preferred was actually a dream.

A lot of people have complained about the car crash writing of the last three episodes, and I pretty much felt exactly the same way. I would've loved it much more if PSR just continued with his plan and most of the conflict remained business-y, instead of suddenly throwing over-the-top kidnapping, gangsters, car-of-dooms, and hostage situations into the mix. In doing this, it essentially didn't give me the redemption arc that I wanted (that would've been more realistic and heartfelt) but also seemed to make the situation much less realistic and out-of-control.

Still, I loved how this drama managed to balance smaller sub-plots with different characters that addressed LGBTQIA+ discrimination and racism in Korean society. It's definitely not something you see in every drama and they handled it pretty well.

A gem of a character I wish got more screentime was Ho-Jin, the nerd who was bullied who went on to be a genius financial advisor. I loved that he had such strong character development and found it in himself to "forgive" his bully at the end, knowing that being successful and happy was the best revenge he could've gotten. Beautiful scene.

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Action over substance

In theory, this was a really good story about a righteous detective going up against a corrupt chaebol, but the execution of the movie turned out kind of rambling and messy.

I spend a lot of time at the start trying to figure out who was who, and it definitely took a while for the story to get started.

All in all, this felt like a lot of action and not a lot of substance, and the actual detective work seemed to take up less time than hand-to-hand combat and physically running around after people, rather than using brains (which is usually what I prefer to see). The story turned out to be a lot more simple than I expected, which was a little disappointing, even though the action itself was really good and it held up.

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MLSHR honestly had a lot going for it, but it ended up devolving into a mess.

I was surprised to see how much hate it got in its earlier episodes, because that was the part I loved the most. There were funny fish-out-of-water scenes for our female lead — but she wasn't stupid, the chemistry with both male leads was building, and there was the backdrop of people willing to take extreme measures for the throne so there was always the feeling of there being high stakes.

Once things started ramping up, however, the sub-plots disappeared and even the main competition for the throne started feeling less high stakes when all the cards were pretty much already laid on the table.

The romance dwindled as well, mostly self-sabotage by the characters who were lacking development and seemed to constantly be changing their minds without good reason.

And much of this has to do with the terrible use of time skips. Time skips where nothing really changes BETWEEN characters really have no purpose, especially since we were given such little context for why things changed. To add, they started adding more characters and focusing on side ships at the halfway mark who I didn't care about.

They really underutilized the time-traveling aspect as well. Hae-soo had visions every once in a while, but her role in history was very passive and reactive.

All in all, I honestly felt everything was predictable, especially the ending. The difference was, at the start, I was emotionally invested in it and by the time it happened, the dynamics between the characters had changed so much I stopped loving them.

Also: a "gotcha, they're not actually dead!" moment for a villain simply shows me to that they didn't build up the infrastructure for a system of obstacles and needed one character to drive the whole thing. It also feels lazy to have not one, but TWO kings descend into madness — neither of which were explained very well.

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This is seriously close to one of my favorites, and it could have been, with a few tweaks. Other than that, the premise is seriously intriguing, the cinematography is gorgeous, the romance was natural, and the plot twists were gut-wrenching.

I think I just wanted a bit more mystery with the criminals. There were some, but the show used a lot of dramatic irony — telling the audience who was at fault before the characters knew. It's a powerful tool for sure and I loved the frustration it caused me, but at the same time it got very formulaic, especially when it came down to The Big One at the end. I think my favorite subplots were the earliest ones — the car accident which was one of the best first episodes I've ever scene, and the domestic abuse one when cop and reporter's dreams clashed.

Going off of that, I think the show did a really good job with the mini-mysteries style. I'm usually not a fan of these because it reminds me of kids' shows where trouble pops up and is resolved in an episode. But WYWS tied them into the lives of our main characters really well and that's why I felt so emotionally involved in every case. Still, I kind of wish that the characters hadn't won pretty much every case they had, because I felt like a loss at some point would've made the antagonist (already a very powerful character) seem more competent.

With that being said, I thought the antagonist lawyer was a really good character but could've used more backstory that was unrelated to the main characters. He did a lot of evil things but at the same time seemed to have a conscience and some disgust towards his clients. He seemed to be really powerful and good at being bad, but because the main characters always seemed to defeat him, I never felt like he was on the same playing field.

I also wish the dreams were utilized more in different ways; I loved it when the question of knowing and changing the future became unclear, and the drama discussed how changing the future doesn't always mean "better." There's a lot of potential in what "the future" entails but the future mostly used it only as a tool for the main characters to get ahead in their reporter/prosecutor adventures.

With all those things being said, however, I still really loved a lot of things about this drama, especially the Investigator plot twist that totally BLEW MY MIND.

The ending mostly wrapped things up with a nice bow, though I have to say I have an aversion to the Vehicle-of-Doom trope despite how they reasoned it. The main characters were really good together and I loved both their personalities (humor was an added bonus), and I think the OST and the aesthetic of this entire drama really completed it.

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I'm surprised that this is getting so much hate because I actually really enjoyed the fact that there was a "villain" and that they were so good at what they did. The other two additional characters were also really lovable, especially A-hoon, who was adorable.

My favorite part of this was Seol, who went from the antagonist in S1 to my favorite character in this season. She was straightforward about her feelings, good at thinking through the situation, and knew when to stand up for herself and her friends. Loved her in this one.

What I didn't enjoy was that there was a serious lack of communication between the characters, especially the two main leads, who I lost a lot of love for. They never talked to each other about anything, and conversations were either unnaturally bubbly or just awkward and not there at all. They really didn't seem like the same people they were in S1 and I felt like some of the issues (like that goddamn TEACHER) were never really resolved. Between the main girl and her best friend, there was also a sudden lack of communication that annoyed me.

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There was something here. It was full of cliches, but it also had a few things that were really unique. We had the rich airhead female lead, the less well-off male lead, while the side characters were the poor, working, clumsy girl, and the other rich chaebol male lead...and yet nobody was a cliche character, and what this drama did was essentially mess with the Meteor Garden/BoF rich vs. poor formula. I respect that a lot.

Even so, however, the drama was a little too goofy and ridiculous for my liking; I don't have an issue with that itself and I actually appreciate that the drama didn't take itself too seriously, but overall, it was hard to get emotionally invested because of it.

I also felt like it trailed off at the end a little with very repetitive reasoning.

Other than that, the character development of the rich characters were actually very well done, and I especially grew to love the second lead. The male lead was a great character as well but he didn't change much. The second female lead was probably the weakest of all. Even though her character was initially interesting, ultimately her character development didn't really go anywhere and it was hard to pinpoint exactly what her personality was. The main character grew a lot too, but the acting left a lot to be desired.

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