scenophile

Forgotten plotlines, Frustrating people

I was a pretty big fan of Part 1. The large cast really grew on me and I quickly felt emotionally attached to the entire class, intrigued to see how they would face the "new world" together. Part 2 really dropped the ball on a LOT of plotlines, and they did it in exchange for shock factor.

Sergeant Kim, who I thought would have a vital role to play after the events at the end of Part 1, isn't in this at all, and there's not even a name drop or throwaway line that explains why. The lovelines are kind of fun to watch at first but it devolves into nothing. The characters never get anywhere physically, which means you never get to see how the larger society has changed and how our characters would fit into it. It feels like aimless wandering. The hints from Part 1 about the spheres getting more intelligent is not addressed at all — in fact, the aliens are barely a part of these episodes, leaving you with more questions at the end.

Instead, it's a lot more about in-fighting and worst of all, doubling down on that one annoying, selfish character.

Don't get me wrong, I think that character is necessary in survival shows because it reveals the worst of human nature, but here's the thing: you need your OTHER characters to adapt and push back. If you don't, you just get one really annoying person dictating the plot. Essentially, they made the most unlikeable character even more unlikeable, and then they gave this character everyone else's screen-time. Evoking empathy only works if that character is going to develop or at the very least have some redeeming qualities. Without that, it's just frustrating.

The second issue is that shock factor is always temporary. What happens once all the adrenaline wears off? What are the consequences of being alive? That's always the most interesting part of survival shows; I can forgive the drama for starting off with a time jump but I can't forgive it for ending with one. We never got to see how characters might get their strength back after the worst days of their lives. That would've been the most powerful character development, had we gotten to see it.

And part of that is really just an issue of personnel; some of the survivors are the most random, unimportant people (I promise you, there were much more worthy characters to keep). Combined with all the other issues of the time jump and misplaced screen-time...the ending just feels abrupt and you finish the show feeling unsatisfied.

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Run-of-the-mill

I was hoping the show would have a quieter and slower touch, and that it would talk about movies more and have some references for film-lovers like me. It ended up being a little bit more high-level, a more general romance drama where the main characters just happen to like melos and movies. We don’t actually see much of the movie or the music our characters are working on. I think this would’ve been the perfect opportunity to reference a different song or movie in each episode.

And so, while I think this drama is enjoyable as a romance, it did end up feeling very run-of-the-mill. Two romances, both second-chance trope, with the characters vaguely in the same industry to facilitate their run-ins.

The romance of the leads was interesting at first but ended up feeling a little flat once the original issue of him leaving her was “resolved.” I don’t think I felt their relationship take the next step after that.

Unlike most people in here, I actually really liked the second couple. They gave the angst that I wanted, though I think it could’ve been paced a little better and I’m not sure it gives me complete closure.

I think another thing that was missing was the feeling of friendship. We have a tiny bit of it, but I was hoping we’d get more of the four leads together, but everyone always felt very fragmented, especially the main female lead. Especially since one of her backstories was that she didn’t have friends because she was hard to get along with, I think the show could’ve focused more on giving her friendships despite how prickly she is. The tidbits we got between her and the second female lead were very fun.

I am also not sure if it's just me, but I felt like this show had an abnormal amount of narration, and once I noticed I couldn’t un-notice it. Oh well, it’s small potatoes.

Overall, this was just fine. It’s a sweet watch but I don’t think I’ll remember much.

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Binge it if you can

I’ve never read the webtoon so this is based off this show as a standalone drama and not as an adaptation. I started watching this 4 episodes were out because I saw that hair-tying scene on my Twitter/X timeline and it completely convinced me. And the show proved me right — I binged all the released and couldn’t wait for next week. The main leads had amazing chemistry, the antagonists felt like actual threats, and I couldn’t wait to see how the revenge would play out.

As the weeks came around, I still enjoyed the episodes, but I did feel like the show started losing steam.

First, the main leads’ screentime dwindled and we got more and more scenes of our antagonists (of which there were many). It added good tension to see things from their perspective, but it also added frustration. The leads had so much chemistry and tension and we only got to see a few minutes of that every week.

And as more episodes went on, we ran into a different issue: we did get screentime for our leads, but it didn’t necessarily feel like they were progressing. We’d get the same hugs and conversations where they talked about being there for each other and fighting together against the bad guys. These scenes were cute but it felt got sort of repetitive, especially now that we’d gotten all the tension-filled conversations out of the way earlier and it seemed like the next plot development wasn’t happening anytime soon. I still really enjoyed scenes where they cared for each other, but all the stakes felt a little lower by this point, and I started to feel like the revenge was almost too easy. Sides had been chosen, secrets were already revealed, and most importantly, the main antagonists had stayed quiet or had lost too many battles in a row.

Honestly, I was pretty lukewarm on the entire plot by then. Looking back, I don’t remember a singular satisfying moment where our main female lead got to face off against her mother in a moment where I felt like they were on equal footing, where the stakes were high and I truly didn’t know who was going to win. The revenge plot seemed to delve into smaller moments where they would address this one thing first and then that other thing, and I wasn’t sure there was a climax. Even the build-up to some other reveals and to the ML’s perspective felt overdue and a little underwhelming.

Episode 11 was a turning point. Things that needed to be revealed had been revealed, it felt like the revenge had been finished, and the antagonists had been out of the picture — most of which was off-screen, I might add, which made the story feel somewhat incomplete — long enough for The Time Jump to happen. Yes, the dreaded time jump. I’ve never been a fan of the time jump. It’s fine as an epilogue but I’ve never once enjoyed it done in the middle of the story and this was no different. It just felt kind of…weird. Like they didn’t know what to do after all the villains were put away, so they had to bring them back, but had to wait some time for them to be able to. Story-wise, it was a bit confusing to have it happen after everything was seemingly over, but ultimately I don’t think it was blown out of proportion, which was good.

I think part of the plot simmering down also had to do with the female lead, who was really proactive in the first half and then started being more aimless in the second half. Still, I liked the message the drama left us with — that the best revenge for her was having a happy marriage, a healthy family, and a good life. Despite the slowdown, I think this drama had a really good finale episode.

Overall, it was still a pretty good watch — this was my second favorite watch behind Castaway Diva during its runtime, but if I were to recommend it to someone I would suggest binging it rather than watching it slowly. You might be able to retain more momentum that way.

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Needed to be longer

I haven't read the original source material but I can feel that it's so rich and really needed more than seven 30-minute episodes. So many things happen that we needed a lot more scenes where the main characters could just simmer and go about their daily life, rather than jumping from one plot event to the next without really showing the development of emotions in between. The non-romantic angst is one of the most intriguing parts of the story and I feel like it didn't nearly get enough screentime. Towards the end, there were a few time jumps that felt very sudden and overall it made the pacing uneven. The final few episodes solely focus on the romance but I feel like it was also scattered and there were a lot of loose ends I wish were revisited.

The acting of the main leads was just okay — it was very obvious that they were rookie actors, and so the more light-hearted and fun scenes were great but I don't think they were able to carry scenes with more emotional weight, especially because the scenes felt disjointed already.

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Messy but pretty to look at

Aesthetically this was different from the first season for sure, but it was still pretty to look at despite the different style, and the sketches were reminiscent of It's Okay to Not Be Okay.

The story was a real mess though, in terms of romance, the traumatic backstory, and the social commentary. It just felt like there was zero continuity with the first season. They completely dropped the ball on Jojo's backstory when it was such a big part of her trauma and decision-making.

Big questions around Love Alarm were about the role of technology in modern romance, privacy, the pressure of being perfect on social media, imposter syndrome, etc. and I had been really excited for it to delve deeper into a society so reliant on it, but they never really did. A lot of characters and plots weren't explained well and everything just felt all over the place.

Instead, the drama focused so much on a love triangle that wasn't really there to begin with, starting this season. The characters had little to no character development and were kind of brushed to the side, with a sprinkle of backstory here or there.

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Potential lost in a jumbled mess

When I was a pre-teen, I LOVED writing fanfiction. And I especially loved the enemies-to-lovers trope because the angst that it delivered was impeccable. I wanted the arguing and the tears. Unfortunately, I had no idea how to actually get there. And so what resulted was a string of incoherent moments, the most random and petty arguments just to get to the angst that I wanted, and my ships jumped from “I hate you” to “I love you” but skipped the most important part in between.

That was what watching this drama felt like.

I really think this drama would’ve worked much better as a character-driven drama instead of a plot-driven one. You have all the great archetypes in this cast, but instead of diving deeper into their motivations (Phukao’s loneliness, Plu’s desperation to help his grandmother, Kongkwan being associated with a murderer, Zo’s habit of hiding everything behind a smile) and showing growth, it was like the drama kept throwing conflicts (kidnapping, affair secrets, family death, a big scary mob boss, etc.) at the characters just to watch them react to it and be upset.

Speaking of which, a sidenote: nothing about the mob boss was scary. Random punches and gun-wielding minions are not enough to convince me of someone’s power and it felt more “cartoonish.”

Anyways, as the plot gradually unraveled it became clear that character motivations weren’t thought out and there was no hierarchy of conflict; the romance, which had been what I was looking forwards to most, had no logical progression beyond their childhood connection. And the murder and Lak’s “sacrifice,” which was supposed to be the big hurdle, faded into irrelevance both because its reasoning was nonsense and because everything else was treated equally dramatically.

With the situations so overblown, it felt like the acting didn’t live up to it and this is where I blame both the writing and skill/chemistry. Most of the acting (even the side characters) just felt like they were going through the motions, which is really unfortunate because this was a drama that really tried to sell every character’s pain.

Part of that is, once again, the lack of character motivations. But the other part is simple chemistry. Lak/Mai and Zo/Nink were one of the few duos with good chemistry — it was lacking with all of the parents and there was NONE between Phukao and Kongkwan.

Which brings me to my biggest character problem: Kongkwan. Her character was quite simply, pathetic. When she wasn’t crying she was looking depressed. She had no personality beyond that and honestly, Tu’s acting didn’t help — I can see her doing all the right facial expressions but I just never FELT it. Without any sort of character trait other than “I'm sad my life sucks so I need this doll” there was nothing to connect with.

My favorite character is honestly Lookzo, and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that she’s probably the only character without some sort of tragic backstory, which even most of the side characters were saddled with. Despite that, Zo had best writing out of the four mains; her happy-go-lucky, spunky personality contradicting the secret difficulty of how hard it was to be happy was very relatable and emotional, and I think View killed it with her acting. Her relationship with her father was lovely to watch. June was fantastic as well, and the chemistry between Zo and Nink was also good.

I also want to give a shoutout to the child actors for the main leads, especially Little Phukao, who got some of the most heart-wrenching scenes and actually made me feel every bit of it.

Overall, the OST is good and I still think the premise has a LOT of potential, but in the end it just felt messy. The love triangle was unnecessary and they should’ve just focused on the characters healing and digging up the past instead of focusing on new spectacles. It’s unfortunate because there are really great lines of dialogue and questions about family and forgiveness, but that’s all they are — separate moments that are few and far in between.

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Short and fun, but...

This was overall a fun watch! I really love these type of AU shows and the premise of this one is super interesting.

Considering the premise though, I wish they had been brave enough to be a little more unconventional than just making it a mistaken-gender drama. The main leads could have gone through the entire falling-in-love and questioning-my-sexuality process without the soulmate AU. And that's why I sort of had second lead syndrome too, because I just felt like it would've been a much cooler plot and it would've made use of the soulmate AU if the character had to "go against their destiny" for real. Also, just as a person I pick longtime friends-to-lovers over everything else 99% of the time.

For this reason I also felt myself more invested in the second ship: two people who were unnamed in a world full of named people. Two people who had to find their own love while everyone else's was written out for them. They honestly had a more bantery relationship and I liked how outspoken Sae Rom was.

Overall though I did like the little life lessons — like Reply 1988 anything about getting off your butt and taking action to not miss your timing really hits home for me.

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My god. The acting was SO bad in the beginning. Everyone was speaking rhythmically, and it just sounded like they were reciting lines. The acting got better for most characters, but there were still a lot of scenes later on where I felt like the acting was robotic. When I watch shows I love to pay attention to the little gestures by characters who aren't at the center of attention in the scene to see how they play off the script when they are only reacting. In this show, that was all very unnatural; the "little gestures" looked awkward and TOO scripted and exaggerated.

The cinematography also got better, but the first few episodes had so many internal monologues, even by characters that I didn't care about, and not only did it make the plot move super slowly, but it just felt like they were trying to cram in all the tragic backstories at the start so that we didn't hate the characters.

I was super excited about the plot at first, but the way dramatic irony was implemented meant that I was just constantly frustrated because I knew about secrets maybe even TEN episodes before the characters would figure them out. I was also super annoyed by the "problems" that the characters were facing—most of them were caused by the characters not trusting each other and miscommunicating.

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Strong start, but...

I think this drama started out super strong — the show wasn't afraid to be violent and gory, you could clearly differentiate between the classmates and what archetypes they represented, and there was so much intrigue around both who the mafias were and why the gamemaker decided to choose them.

As the drama went on I definitely think it lost a bit of steam — Mafia reveals were interesting but you can only do that a few times before the audience wants to dig deeper and actually find out how and why the game started. Instead, the disorganization of the students lasts for a little too long.

So I think the backstory reveal started a little too late, and it introduced a new character that I couldn't really bring myself to care about so late in the story. The backstory itself wasn't fleshed out very well, never going in depth with some of the things they had hinted earlier about how each student was involved. I still don't understand why students were chosen to be Mafias, Citizens, the Doctor, or the Police, and if it was random it really lessens the importance of every one of them.

Without these specifics, the gamemakers didn't feel much like "masterminds" with a thought out plan, but just some people with a thirst for revenge and instilling suffering in whatever form. I would've much preferred it if the game had been a more direct reflection of what happened in the past, and if it was repeated until each student learned a specific lesson (with Yoonseo being the first to learn that she should've been there for her friend), as opposed to the ultimate purpose simply being "I want them all to suffer as much as possible."

I'm also part of the camp that feels mixed about the ending. While I've seen open endings that are done well, the one here feels too "unsustainable," meaning that I know it definitely can't last forever — there has to be more than the story and whatever it is should have been shown.

Overall, I still had a lot of fun with this. I don't know if there will be another season but I hope there is — there's a perfect set up for one and it would give the show a chance to delve deeper into its backstory and each kid.

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Best kdrama of 2023

This is probably my favorite 2023 kdrama. It really just had me by the first episode, where we saw the childhood backstory of our two leads. It was heart-breaking but also beautiful seeing how they went from simple classmates who judged each other to two people who stood with each other against the world.

I was a little nervous going into this, since the premise of “a girl gets stranded on and island and wants to become a pop star when she returns to civilization” seems sort of like a goofy premise…but the first episode completely dispelled all my worries. There are stakes in this, for sure. There’s the familial abuse plot, which was what I was most invested in, and I really loved how we got a “found family” aspect amidst all of it.

I also just loved the dynamic between our characters after the time jump. You had our leads, who had amazing chemistry despite one of their identities being hidden. It’s really a testament to great acting and directing that most people started shipping them so early on. And despite a bumpy road at the start, they grew into a communicative, trusting relationship where you could see how much they wanted to protect each other. It’s really refreshing that how real and human all the characters seemed: they tried to stay kind but sometimes wavered out of fear and made selfish decisions, or it could be something as simple as they tried to lie but weren’t very good at it.

The side characters were all well-rounded as well. The second male lead had his own backstory and emotional growth — although I do think his part in the love triangle was unnecessary, but it was good that it wasn't blown out of proportion — and the family members also played their part in the story, with their own heart-warming backstory. It was beautiful. Even Ranjoo had her journey of becoming a singer and her fall from fame, which tied together with Mokha.

I admit I cared a little less about this plot; don’t get me wrong, I LOVED all the songs — both actresses are so immensely talented and the songs are definitely new additions to my playlist — but the ickiness of the entertainment industry’s power struggles, rude fans, pushy reporters and press conferences…I think I would’ve been happier with less of it.

Overall, I still really loved this one. In addition to great characters and story, you can tell a lot of thought went into the cinematography and set design (I looked into an art print in one of the shots and it totally had symbolic meaning) and it really just added that much more to the atmosphere. Definitely recommend this one.

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Great sismance makes up for a lacking ML

I'm usually not one to harp on acting but the ML here really feels woefully miscast. I watched the actor in Silent where he was sort of the quiet, studious type and I just think his role there fits him so much better. Here, the charisma that he's supposed to have as Mr. Popular just isn't there, and neither is the subtle gentleness he shows towards the FL. The acting just feels forced and awkward; the show keeps telling me about how charming and lovable this guy is, but I don't really feel any of it and I just see him going through the motions.

With that being said, I don't really think the romantic chemistry is there, but it is between the FL and her friends! I know this is a romance but the part that really shines through for me in this drama is the friendship between the three female leads. It's beautiful and heart-warming and any conflicts that they do run into are very realistic. Even the quote-unquote "evil SFL" isn't overly terrible, which is always refreshing to me. All the actresses were perfect (even though the FL is obviously gorgeous and people being afraid of her doesn't make sense, lol).

Overall, the plot is just wholesome; there aren't any overblown dramatics and communication is learned through very well-done character development. The pacing of the side plots goes a little up-and-down, but I still enjoyed them for the simple fact that I liked the 3 female leads.

Simply put, this is a comfort drama.

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Big romantic gestures do not make a romance

It's a shame the plot turned out the way it is because I usually will eat up a college-setting romance, especially a reverse harem. And the first two episodes were extremely promising too, with some really amusing over-the-top scenes that seemed to be making fun of old tropes, and with a female lead that was a little cliche — bright and bubbly — but still ended up sticking up for herself. And I love the bright pastel visuals.

As the drama went on, it felt like the show stopped doing tropes the fun way and just started doing them for real. I felt like I was watching something that should've come out in 2010. The manipulative ex-girlfriend plot device is especially tired, especially when paired with a male lead that just...doesn't communicate. And the way they handled the study abroad plot was so immature and frustrating.

Which is kind of a big issue throughout the drama that really made me stop caring about the leads. The show uses scenes of big romantic gestures to push the leads together, but the two of them pretty much fall flat in everything else. Maybe I'm old now but constant slow motion scenes of the leads saving each other from random situations, or running to each other to say "I love you" doesn't really mean anything to me if they're not going to actually talk to each other in between those scenes.

The side characters feel pretty underutilized. But props to Hong Min-ki for showing up to serve face for a few episodes.

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I felt like I had higher expectations for this. Having watched #Alive and Train to Busan in the past year, I had gotten used to zombie movies with fast action — TtB set the bar super high with its social commentary, and I kind of thought Kingdom would have combo of emotion and action. But it had a lot of politics in it, with a lot of administrative characters that I found hard to tell apart and just wasn't that interested in.

Ultimately, I still really like the aesthetics of the show, and there's a twist that I enjoyed quite a bit. I really like the main characters of the Crown Prince, Gun Guy, and Physician — but didn't really click with anyone else. I also liked the zombie plots in general, but overall it was too much politics, too many side characters who I didn't care about.

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A beautiful multi-generational story

Oh I sobbed so hard, especially in the last two volumes. The themes — both of the bravery of parenthood and of finding a romantic partner who supports you and your loved ones without thinking twice — are so realistic and moving, and I love the focus on womanhood.

I think the drama did take a little while to pick up for me. While the first few episodes have some similar themes, it didn’t hit me as much as the “second gen” story in the later volumes. The romance between Ae-sun and Gwan-sik is cute, and the relationship between Ae-sun and her mother is touching, but it felt like were in “prologue mode,” whereas the parallels really start to shine after the halfway point.

The entire drama, ultimately, is really powered by the long timeline of the drama, and by the end of the drama I felt like I’d really lived a lifetime with these characters, and I didn’t want it to end.

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Cute but could have been more

This was overall a really cute and wholesome watch, but I can't shake the feeling that it could have been more, even if it was just given hour-long episodes instead of 45-minute ones.

I'm a huge fan of the friends-to-lovers trope, but I can't help but feel like the pacing for things was kind of fast. I wanted more domestic scenes where we saw them just talking to each other and doing things they liked — it doesn't have to be related to archery or about Chi Chi's parents or reminiscing about the past, I just wanted more of their banter. That was one reason I had a soft spot for their high school flashbacks.

The problem was that they tried to fit a LOT of years into not a lot of screentime, and there weren't enough markers in the plot — holidays, year-end competitions, summer trips — that let me know how much time had passed. In essence, it felt like everyone acted and looked the same, and I while I thought only days had passed between events, it was actually months.

While I also liked the student-athlete addition, I felt like Skate Into Love did it better in that the sport felt so embedded within every character's personality. Their paths to becoming better wasn't always smooth simply because they had things to learn, and not just because they got a disorder (which honestly feels too much of a noble idiocy trope for me to appreciate).

Some of the editing also took away from some emotions I wanted to feel — for example, fading to black before revealing competition results kind of took away from my ability to stress about it while watching it happen because you already knew what the result was going to be. They honestly could've used some more people sitting in the crowd as well just to have the sound of cheering. Energy goes a long way towards hyping up these competition scenes. I also hated the fast forwarding that they used to zoom in on faces.

I appreciated the heaviness given to Chi Chi's family situation, though it meant that her parents were some of my least favorite people even though there were attempts to give them redemption arcs.

Ultimately, I did like that there weren't any overblown misunderstandings, and the side pairings were really cute as well. The side characters were given enough background but not too much (though second lead could've used a LOT more development, and he just sort of fell off the face of the earth), and it was a fun friends-to-lovers watch.

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