scenophile

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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Heart-warming but bittersweet

I have too many thoughts. It's true that this drama focused less on the romance plotline and more on friendship and family, which I can get behind. BUT—for fifteen episodes, the romance barely progressed, and I honestly found myself thirsting for any sort of development. The triangle was one of those situations where for once I wouldn't mind who got the girl because I loved both love interests so much. It definitely wasn't who I expected at the beginning, where I was firmly on Team Jung-Hwan, but the way they went about making Taek the husband was so natural that I fell for him HARD along the way, and their hotel kiss scene turned out to be my favorite scene. which I've rewatched at least 50 times since finishing the drama an hour ago.

I really appreciated that Deok-Sun fell for him on her own and, unlike the other two, didn't just like the idea of being liked first (in which she was unlikable and had stilted character development); to add, the fact that she lied and didn't chase after him because she cherished him so much as a friend...that broke me into a million pieces. Their relationship was honestly all kinds of natural, and even though everyone treated him so preciously and she did too, she was also one of the few who weren't afraid of wrestling him and treating him like everyone else. Like I said, even though Deok-Sun seemed to have some stilted character development because she was such a passive part of the love triangle for so long and didn't even understand her own emotions after the time skip, I really liked how everything ended up playing out—I just wished her pacing was less bunched up towards the end.

My heart still hurts for Jung-Hwan, especially with all those episodes after the time skip, and I wish he had more development even after it was clear Taek was the husband. But one huge thing I loved about Reply 1988 in comparison to the other dramas was that, even though it was heart-breaking, it teaches that you have to ACT and fight for what your heart wants. Jung-Hwan might've loved Deok-Sun, but he never fought for her, treated her indifferently, said hurtful things, and for once the tsundere-with-lack-of-communication didn't have that hail Mary / miracle at the end and get the girl, which is a much more accurate representation of real life. Jung-Hwan's episode 18 revelation was one of my favorites: when he sees that Taek got to her first, blames the red lights, then finally realizes that he had had all the time in the world and could only blame his own hesitation and cowardice. It can all be summed up in that on scene where Deok-Sun says she has indigestion, JH only asks if she's okay, but Taek follows her out and gives her medicine.

Taek was the one who was always there for her, and even after knowing about Jung-Hwan's feelings and folding his own, Taek still dropped everything for her—not because didn't care for Jung-Hwan, but just because Deok-Sun was that much of a priority.

The time skip in this one surprisingly didn't bother me as much, even though I still felt kind of iffy about it at first, as I do with all time skips. Unlike Reply 1997 where Yoon-Jae and Shi-Won didn't talk to each other for six years, I liked that characters kept in touch throughout the years and still met up, which was why their relationship was so natural even though we could see them growing up.

The ending broke my heart, and honestly I wish it ended at episode 19, where everyone was happy. But since we DID have episode 20, I wish the things introduced in that episode were wrapped up, like their family and friends' reactions to Taek and Deok-Sun's relationship.

I also HATED Bo-Ra at first, because she was rude and angsty and bossy and yelled ALL ThE TIME. But she grew on me, and I loved that her political activism was a storyline. Her relationship with her dad was also a dark horse that I didn't expect to cry so much for them.

One thing I wished we had more of was friendship for Deok-Sun within the group. I loved her scenes with Dong-Ryong which were JUST friendship, and I loved the bromance between the other characters. But since Deok-Sun was the only girl, I couldn't help but feel like she was left out of some of those deep talks.

It took me a little longer to understand who was who, simply because this one had the most adults and family members. At some points, there were some plots that I didn't care for and felt like they were filler, but they really grew on me as the story progressed.

Another thing that really didn't work for me was the different actors in the present day scenes. I liked that it meant we didn't have the guy's face obscured at all times, but I really felt like I disassociated the older characters from their younger selves and just could not get used to the different faces and voices.

Lastly, the 1994 cameos were woven in beautifully. They tied into the message of the episode perfectly. I loved the Reply 1997 characters and their cameos in 1994, but I wish they had the same impact as the ones in this serial.

I honestly would give 10/10 for the last 3 episodes because they had the perfect balance of romance, friendship, family, culture, etc...but overall, my rating would still be 8.5/10. As much as I liked that this one didn't focus on romance, some of the episodes felt more filler, and I felt like some of the plotlines were recycled from previous Reply dramas, like the realize-you-have-to-treat-your-parents-right-after-a-health-scare.

ALSO - give the actress for baby Jin-Joo an Oscar. She was hilarious, adorable, and stole every single scene she was in.

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Light and cute

The leads are really cute have really great chemistry, but I think the show could’ve done a much better job of tying the romance in with the overall plot. I’ve noticed this about other GMMTV dramas, but here it really stood out to me.

We have moments where the leads’ romance is developing and they’re being cute, and then we’ll cut to moments of tension with the antagonists’ plan, but it feels like there’s very little introspection in between. I wish we got more of an internal struggle on Pam’s part; when we get to her breaking point where she says “I can’t keep lying to Dokrak anymore,” I felt like we hadn’t really seen a lot of internal conflict.

The entire arc for Nene as the antagonist feels a bit murky. The premise is absolutely there — someone who has their live destroyed wants to get revenge, but starts connecting with the bartender and the families she’s trying to ruin. But it’s never really clear what her plan actually is; “revenge” is vaguely repeated often but by the time it seems that her plan was just revealing everything, which is neither a grand plan, nor something that Pam really played a role in.

Overall, the chemistry between the leads is there and the acting is great, though I wish the characters could’ve been more developed into their roles. I love the premise and being able to see everyone finding happiness, but I think the drama was more light than I’d anticipated, and the plot could’ve used more thought.

P.S. I love the OST titled "More Than Words." Such a beautiful song.

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Amazing first half, okay second half

I came across some clips on YouTube and just fell head over heels for the main characters, for the subject matter, for the aesthetic...for everything.

And for about 10 episodes I continued loving it and I continued getting those butterflies in my stomach.

Then the story started to drag a little and it seemed like all the great communication the characters had before went out the window. I understand that it's a melo and they definitely were going for realism; the issue is that they made it so repetitive. The second FL getting in the way followed by the main FL getting insecure, etc. and it seemed like they never got anywhere.

Another issue I had with this drama was just the conflation of the career plotline and the romance plotline — it's understandable that things would get a little messy, but I'm always a bit annoyed at characters like that and I'm not sure if it was an issue with the character or with the writing.

With that being said, the most disappointing part for me was the epilogue ending for our main FL — after everything she had gone through about following your dreams, self-confidence, independence, etc. It just felt like all those mini-lessons and references went out the window. I really thought her career plotline would have a lot more oomph, and it felt almost like SA was turned into nothing but JY's love interest at the end.

Some of the characters were also just annoying and said things that made no logical sense — again, I know it's a melo and the aesthetic kind of made it not as annoying as it would've been in a low-budget 2010 drama, but I still found it annoying. There were pretty underutilized side characters.

Ultimately though, I still enjoyed this one quite a bit, mainly due to the aesthetic, the classical music references, and just the amazing OST. The acting was great and our main leads actually had a lot going for them, but just not much to work with. I love myself a good melo but I'm still a bigger fan of episodes 1-8, before they got together and actually had better communication.

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All problematic stuff aside, still boring

I feel like I have to discuss this drama in two parts — one covering the problematic issues that it has and one covering it as a drama and nothing more.

On the first part —it's insane to me that in 2022 we're still dealing with the issue of the so-called "Third World" being portrayed like this. The story starts with Gong Tae-sung in Africa for some charity work, and right off the bat it was problematic that they not only kept referring to his presence in Africa (no specific country) as if the continent was a monolith, but also that the charity work that he did was digging wells, building schools, and "bringing water to Africa." I felt like I was thrown back in the early 2000s with this sort of outdated stereotype, not to mention the yellowish filter that was placed over all the shots in Africa, as if the entire continent was nothing but mud and dry dirt.

This all took place in the first episode, and I was grateful that GTS came back, hopeful that there would be no more mention of Africa if that was how they were going to portray it. Unfortunately, there was, and every time Africa was mentioned it just completely took me out of the show. It was always either in the context of saying how great of a person GTS was for his charity work, even saying something super weird like how there was an African child that did not have a father and so GTS "became his father." All of these mentions just felt utterly unnecessary — there are much better ways to show that someone is a good person and I can't believe that all those scenes, with dialogue about how Africa now has water and education because of this savior character, got through the writers, the directors, the actors, the editors, etc. and made it all the way to air.

Now, all that aside, I felt like I didn't connect with the drama at all either. Immediately I realized that there were far too many characters. I rarely like ensemble dramas and this is a perfect example of why. Every subplot felt half-assed and incomplete, and every character felt boring and cookie-cutter. There were several romantic ships and my interest in each of them went up and down; the writing for them just felt boring.

At the start, I was most interested in the main leads — after all, enemies-to-lovers is a great trope when done well, and I definitely liked some of their bickering scenes and their flashbacks to college. But even though the chemistry was quite good, the development for them was awkward and almost sudden. Another thing I really hate is when two characters completely alter their personalities and dynamic with each other after they get together; it often makes the relationship suddenly boring and that's exactly what I felt about these two. No more bickering (not even playfully) and while some scenes were still sweet and fun, it got old very fast.

The two main side ships were okay but I definitely felt like they were just THERE and going through the motions of getting together; I started feeling that way about a lot of side characters individually as well, even when there started to be a backstory plot with GTS's mother and also a friend who had died. Both of these plotlines felt like they could individually take up the entire 16 episodes if the right depth and emotion had been dedicated to them, but it just wasn't and combined with a bunch of anti-fan and drama-filming subplots it all just felt like a big hodgepodge of plots where none stood out.

It's funny because despite how much I was watching for the main ship at first, my favorite part of this drama ended up being a very minor side ship that had all but a few scenes every episode together — Jaehyun and Yuna, the actors from Be My Boyfriend who now play two actors. They captured the enemies-to-lovers really well and I really loved how cute the arc of their plot was.

Overall, I just felt like this drama was really messy. There were some funny scenes and interesting characters but the writing of the plot really didn't allow any of them to shine. Along with the problems that the drama had, I felt like this became something that I just watched without feeling any sort of emotional investment whatsoever.

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Unbearable

This was horrible to watch. I know dramaland has a history of rude/jerk MLs that do nice things behind the scenes, but it is my belief that the latter probably doesn't matter if the former is just that hurtful to the FL — and this hinges a lot on how the FL takes it.

In this one, the weak and whiny FL was annoying, and the ML's coldness was just over the top. It was one of those dramas where jealousy wasn't funny and their entire relationship just seemed very toxic.

Something about the relationship progression with them being brother and sister first just felt very weird and unnatural to me.

Everything about the plot was very cliche, and it was just full of misunderstandings caused by the evil SFL.

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Mixed feelings about this drama! It started off with sort of a ghost-of-the-episode style where every episode there was a new sub-plot that was introduced and solved. This was interesting and added variety, but it also reminded me too much of American kids' shows like Phineas and Ferb where the overall plot never moved forwards.

I was invested in the kidnapping mystery and I liked the reveal around it — the way it played out was kind of anticlimactic but the reveal was good. I kind of wish there was even more built up and that the plot was carried better, as I wasn’t too fond of the ghost-of-the-week style and was craving a loot more of this plotlinne.

Other aspects of the drama like the romance fell flat for me. I’m just not a fan of the cold CEO / ditzy poor female pairing and this drama kind of took it to another level. Also, maybe I’m just DUMB but the dialogue between the main leads whenever they talked about their relationship was so weird all the time and always went way over my head.

The last few episodes really felt like they were dragged out longer than they had to be, especially with the addition of a new character and a supposed obstacle to the romance.

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Mellow but underwhelming

I know this one is getting glowing reviews but it really felt underwhelming to me. Objectively I think everything is well-written, but I just didn't really feel the spark in it.

To start with the good things, it's definitely a mellow, down-to-earth drama. No conflicts feel overblown, there aren't any purely evil villain characters, and misunderstandings are understandable and realistic. I also think the age gap was handled really respectfully; they talk about it explicitly and emphasize that it began one-sided (that it would be weird otherwise). By the time feelings are revealed, the characters are older and wiser, and the romance is mature and communicative.

Ironically, I think this is one of the few dramas that would've benefitted from having a little more drama so that I would feel more stakes. I don't know if the story with the ML's backstory got as much closure as I would've wanted, considering it was the most interesting part since aside from the romance, SZ unfortunately doesn't feel that well-rounded.

Another thing is that the side characters feel lacking. The best one was Sang Zhi's older brother; the sibling relationship was perfectly depicted and hilarious, but I do wish we knew more about him outside of it. Similarly, we get hints of the friends, roommates, and coworkers of our two leads, but they're not really fleshed beyond the cookie-cutter roles of side characters in dramas (the boy-crazy one, the smart one, the tomboy, etc.), and they definitely felt sidelined in favor of the leads. It's understandable — after all, they are leads — but it made scenes where the leads weren't together feel bland.

I really do think this would be enjoyable to viewers who like romance dramas that are low-stress, mellow, and mature, like You Are My Glory. For me, I think there's an element of liveliness that I really missed, whether it was between the leads or the other people around them.

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Namhyeok supremacy

I have to start this off with my favorite part of — Suhyeok and Namra, who totally stole the show, both individually and together. I just loved Namra's character arc in particular, and though romance is by no means a main focus of this show, their scenes are the ones I keep going back to rewatch.

With that being said, I think it was really good that romance wasn't a main focus, and yet it was there in certain light-hearted moments, reminding us that these characters are still kids who deal with crushes and first kisses and butterflies. I think both of the main relationships were done absolutely beautiful and we got just the right amount for them.

I think my main criticism with this is just the massive amount of unnecessary characters there are. I liked the two main groups for sure (although I admit some of those characters felt extra — it was as if they were to die in case someone needed to be killed off) and some of the peripheral characters like parents, and I anxiously awaited moments where their paths would cross. But other than that, there were a lot of other character groups and arcs that took up time and got incomplete arcs like the politician, the livestreamer, or the pregnant girl; I either didn't care for those or were downright annoyed with them. Even some of the characters that were more relevant kind of had their character development swerving off-kilter in a non-sensical way.

I also felt like the last episode was really rushed; I felt like taking out some of those unnecessary characters and spending more time with the main group could have given the changes in the last episode more screentime — I also wouldn't have been opposed to having this be a full 16-episodes so we could see more about the aftermath and maybe get an ending that was more satisfying. It currently stands a bit bittersweet and I have mixed feelings on that.

In conclusion - watch for Suhyeok and Namra.

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Needed more

I thought this season would give us some answers and it would all culminate in an epic finale, but it looks like we need a season 3, since we're left with still, more questions.

Even though there are only 6 episodes and the world itself is quite chaotic, somehow the pacing felt really slow. The scenes of riots or religious rallies have escalated from season 1, but they're exactly as you'd expect and it all gets a little repetitive once you've seen one. The scenes of people talking or debating each other go on for longer than I think is necessary, especially once their stances are already clear. Other than that, though, I do like the plot developments we get to see. I wish we got more of them and that they were more cohesive, rather than scattered throughout the show.

In terms of characters, I feel like the only one that truly captured my attention was Jung Jin-Su. The re-casting, although it does take some getting used to, actually works well. Kim Sung-Cheol does a great job acting in both his manipulative cult leader scenes, and also in the more personal, emotional moments where the show explores the character's trauma.

The other characters are recognizable if they were already established in S1, but for me they now seem more like representations of different aspects of human nature, rather than individual characters with stories that I could emotionally understand. There was one character story that I really did enjoy (the husband whose wife got wrapped up in religious extremism) but the way it was confined to a single episode made it feel like it was in its own bubble.

Overall, I still think the premise is really interesting, but I really wanted a bigger focus on new world-building infrastructure, like the resistance movement or on the researchers trying to figure out the origins of the monsters, the decrees, and the resurrected. Especially with the latter, it feels like we got left with "we are observing them but haven't found out anything," which is a good place to start but not a great place to end after 6 episodes. Addressing the symptom (society's spiral) is a really important part of this story, but I just wanted to learn more about the initial problem too.

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Romance, friendships, and growing up, together

This surpassed my expectations in every way and it's definitely become one of my all-time favorites. As a light-hearted coming-of-age youth romance...it's pretty much perfect.

The dialogue and plot progression is one of the most natural I've seen in ANY Chinese drama. There were no conflicts that were overdramatized; misunderstandings were extremely understandable, realistic, and were solved quickly and with the best thing of all: communication.

This brings me to my favorite part of the entire drama — the two main leads. The chemistry was top notch and I absolutely loved both their personalities. They were independent and true to themselves throughout the entire drama, both were intelligent and yet fun and chaotic at the same time, and both stood up for their own beliefs and supported each other through things. And yet, they each had flaws and struggles — they were just both very three-dimensional and well-rounded. They went through character development both individually and together and the relationship was really healthy and still gave me so many butterflies. They're now one of my favorite couples EVER.

I honestly just love the entire cast; there was definitely less time spent on their subplots (which is to be expected) but the other side characters in their friend group really grew on me as well. I know I'll miss that entire group now that this drama is over. Best of all, there's no evil second lead, disapproving parent, mean teacher...there's just no villain or annoying characters at all and any interpersonal conflicts they ran into really felt realistic.

Overall, I'd really highly recommend this drama. I'm not one for rewatching things but this is one that I would 100% revisit from beginning to end. And I'd love it all over again.

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Comforting but a little boring

I think this drama would be good for people who enjoyed Run On, Because This Is My First Life, and Racket Boys — all dramas that were pretty mellow and comforting, where any romance was pretty simple, straightforward, and honestly a little distant. I do love good communication between characters and I also loved seeing strangers get to know each other but I felt like I never really felt giddy or that invested in them. The relationship is almost too mellow for me (as someone who just wants a little more playfulness and casual banter).

There are also some cliches in the plot that felt a little out of place for 2021, and the pacing was a little weird with not focusing on the male lead at all until near the last few episodes.

I'm also pretty on the fence about the side stories — there are some scenes that were very touching and heart-warming but overall I definitely wasn't that invested in their stories as much and I even found them a little annoying at times.

I know 6.5 might seem like a low rating but it's not and it's really more out of indifference than dislike; I've watched worse dramas that made me feel more.

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Fun action, but not very deep

Overall I still quite enjoyed this quite a bit, but it had the potential to be a lot more. Being a huge fan of Train to Busan, I kind of couldn't help but compare and it felt like the stakes never really rose in #Alive.

There were a lot of mini "deus ex machina" moments where things just seemed to happen and save the main characters, or they just seemed to be able to fight back: plot armor, if you will. And suspense could have been handled better, I felt like the loud music was kind of a giveaway that something was about to happen, and even silence could have had more of a feeling of anticipation.

I liked the relationship between the main characters but the FL was not really developed — I wanted to know things like why she was so good at making those gadgets.

Some things were also just kind of predictable. The social media/web aspect was a little less of the story than I expected and kind of seem unnecessary altogether.

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